Watch the new flimclip for Mick Medew and Ursula

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By The Barman

The Barman

31 May 2023

Hits: 3508

• i-94 bar records
• love is calling
• mick medew and ursula
• tracey walker

Masuak and Dog Soldier deliver in Canberra

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By DP Muir

DP Muir

31 May 2023

Hits: 5269

Chris Masuak and Dog Soldier
Il Bruto

Sunday, 28 May 2023

Smith’s Alternative, Canberra, ACT

I conquered a three-day bout of sciatic pain by doing some stretches and then dancing with total abandon for a few songs. Such is the delight that a pure, dedicated and quality trio can deliver to a discerning audience!

 

Thank you, Masuak! Bravo Dog Soldier! You’re all champs for coming to Canberra; so many others don’t bother to embrace this passionate regional audience.

 

• hitmen
• radio birdman
• screaming tribesmen
• chris masuak
• canberra
• dog soldier
• smith's alternative
• il bruto

Masuak's relevance bites at nostalgia's heels

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

29 May 2023

Hits: 4659

Chris Masuak and Dog Soldier
The Silver Dragons
Link and Pin Café, Woy Woy
Sunday, 21 May 2023

We still want to cling to memories of our youth and for some it’s easier than others. Some say this music thing is an affliction. Others joke that it’s a curse and others consider it fun.

When we were teenagers or aged in our early 20s and seeing bands I don’t think we would have imagined that some of us would still would still be doing so 40 years later. In fact, I used see the musos on stage aged in their late 20s and think they were really old farts.

Well here I am on a Sunday afternoon, on the noisy express to Newcastle full of screaming kids and even louder adults bellowing, as the train weaves snake-like past the Hawkesbury River, on my way to another afternoon gig at the Link and Pin in Woy Woy. Heading to see Chris Masuak and one of his rare Australian tours these days.

The Link and Pin is venue of another time: an oasis that exudes an old-time vibe as you walk in. It’s like you stepped into a place not quite rural and certainly not inner-city despite its rock posters and wall full of underground records. The beer garden is rustic and packed as the drinks flow. I have never have not had a good time there.

• chris masuak
• australian tour
• dog soldier
• link and pin
• 2023
• the silver dragons

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Wake up and reflect with MJ Halloran

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

22 May 2023

Hits: 2707

Woke Up and Seen my Reflection - M.J. Halloran (Torn & Frayed Records)

Well, it's been nearly a month since I was almost not here at The Bar anymore. And here I am, finally getting to a few reviews before I shut down again and get on with “my book”. 

MJ Halloran's “Woke Up and Seen my Reflection” was recorded in Melbourne live to two-inch tape with his long-time collaborators Steve Boyle (Moler, Hungry Ghosts, Rowland S. Howard, Brian Henry Hooper, among others) and Tim O'Shannassy (The Paradise Motel, Penny Ikinger, Belle Phoenix, Brian Henry Hooper, among others) with the addition of Andrew McGee (the founder of Shock Records), and guest performances from Kim Salmon (who you've never heard of, right?). 

There's a good back story to how it came about too.

Steve, Tim, Andrew and MJ decided to try, in Melbourne, what they'd done previously with Steve Albini in Chicago. That is, recording in one room without overdubs. So, they'd better get it right first go. MJ's press notes remark that Link Wray was a good reference point, as Wray did something similar with his 1971 self-titled record from 1971, which he recorded in a converted chicken barn.

• kim salmon
• mj halloran
• woke up and seen my reflection
• torn& frayed

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Catch a falling star

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By The Barman

The Barman

14 May 2023

Hits: 2432

Proby And Me. A Howling Tale of a Falling Star – MJ Cornwall (BookPOD)

The label doesn’t lie. “Proby And Me” is a runaway train of a story, a rollicking saga of a disastrous “tour” down under by the trouser-splitting, UK-exiled Texan-born ‘60s pop star who was, briefly, as big as the Beatles.

The context: Ex-publican Brett Stevens (aka Brett Eldorado) and former Hoodoo Guru Clyde Bramley had lured the man to Sydney - and he barely made it past the front door of the Hopetoun Hotel.

By 1990, Proby’s currency as anything but a cult item had well and truly faded. He was plucked from a housing estate in the north of England where his performing stocks were low, his live appearances limited to a circuit of scrappy workingman’s clubs and seaside summer resorts.

Proby’s would-be promoters flew him to Sydney, put him up in a Bondi hotel and paid his considerable bar tabs. At least his food bill would have been minimal. PJ sounds like a graduate from the Eating Is Cheating School.

Attempts to match Proby with a backing band were fraught - his preference was a full orchestra - musicians who “read” - and his promotional appearances in media were sporadic and booze-sodden. A warm-up gig in Newcastle and an inner-city stand at Paddington RSL that sparked a mini riot were the only shows.

Author Mark Cornwall tells the story through the eyes of Eldorado - or should that be ears as Proby never shuts up. It’s 321 pages of staccato chatter and patois - delivered like machine gun fire in the style of James Ellroy.

It’s a story that’s exceedingly well told, with grim humour and massive swathes of colour.

Proby namechecks everybody from Jimi Hendrix to The Doors, Marc Almond to Elvis and Kim Fowley to Jimmy Page, in recounting a storied life mostly spent clutching defeat from the jaws of victory. What’s more, the yarns have all been verified to be true, and their common denominator is that when it turned to shit, it was always somebody else’s fault.

• clyde bramley
• hoodoo gurus
• proby and me
• brett eldorado
• mark cornwall
• mj cornwall
• pj proby

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Turnbuckles warm-up with two bouts before Japan

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 May 2023

Hits: 1778

The pain will be real when the Psychotic Turnbuckles emerge from their palatial luxury homes in Pismo Beach and go on a two-city rampage in New South Wales in July.

The Turnbuckles play La La La’s in Wollongong on Friday, July 28 and Marrickville Bowling Club on Saturday, July 29 as preparation for a Japanese tour in October.

Lame-brain failed gym flunkies, The Dark Clouds, and limp-limbed Brisbane bovver boy pretenders, Shandy, are making up the numbers on both bills .

Prepare to see them out-classed in two no-holds barred elimination bouts, courtesy of the Turnbuckles, who are rightly hailed around the Intercontinental Rock and Roll Team Champions (undefeated).

“We’re heading to Japan to ‘say no to sumo’ but first we’ll practice our moves on The Dark Clouds and Shandy,” said Turnbuckles manager Chester Chitworth.

“We visited Australia for a training camp in a remote rural location earlier in the year and worked in our new bass man, The Infliktor, but this time is the real deal.

“We’re a hot commodity in demand around the world so who knows when your sad little country will see us again? I’m outta here – we’re going surfing.”

The shows are I-94 Bar promotions. Tickets for both are on sale via Moshtix (Wollongong) and Oztix (Marrickville.)

• marrickville
• shandy
• psychotic turnbuckles
• the dark clouds

A cup of Unfiltered Masuak to go

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 May 2023

Hits: 1866

• chris masuak
• australian tour
• dog soldier
• 2023

Lenny Bruce-inspired song scores a bullseye

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

10 May 2023

Hits: 2911

Tract Home Chippy - Chris Masuak & Dog Soldier (I-94 Bar Records/Gaga Digi)

Chris Masuak has been shredding guitar on Australian stages since he was a teenager with Radio Birdman in the mid-‘70s. It’s still hard to grasp that by the time he'd made his mid-20s, he'd played with Birdman, the Hitmen, the New Christs and the Screaming Tribesmen, surely four of the most rocking and influential acts to emerge from Australia in any 10-year period.

Fast-forward to 2023 and Masuak now lives in Spain; in recent years, he’s released a couple of stunning, riff layered, street level yet melodic albums in “Bruijita” and “Address To The Nation”. The new digital single “Tract Home Chippy”, released to concide with his first Australian tour in six years, is no different.  

With a weaving, melodic guitar hook that crosses several scales, it’s a clever lead-in that sparks off a pumping rhythm section that’s as tight as an ant’s arse. The song gets along like a roller-coaster, aided by solid backing vocals that add spark. Masuak’s own vocals is in fine form, and it’s wrapped in a shower of hooks. The song carries the classic Masuak trademark: a slab of guitar power with a hard edge that nods nod to garage rock and toll.

Lyrically (and

• single
• chris masuak
• dog soldier
• stuart wilson
• tony bambach
• tract home chippy

New Masuak tour single "Tract Home Chippy" lands in time for Bandcamp Friday

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By The Barman

The Barman

04 May 2023

Hits: 1918

• new christs
• lime spiders
• radio birdman
• chris masuak
• australian tour
• dog soldier
• stuart wilson
• tony bambach
• tract home chippy