The Wild Weekend comes to Melbourne

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 October 2021

Hits: 3089

One of Europe's top trash garage and go-go weekenders, The Wild Weekend, is coming to Australia for the first time. The three days of monstrous mayhem will run in Melbourne. From December 31 to January 2.

Presented by The Luwow & Zombie Zoo Productions, The Wild Weekend has been held in Europe since 1998. This insane weekender has blazed a trail for other trash festivals across the world and brings a wealth of entertainment experience and an insane level of production detail to a crazy event.

Zombie Zoo Productions’ Skipper Josh and Babz Collins present a weekend of retro fuzz, crazy Ccstume parties and vinyl throwbacks, set in various venues in the Melbourne CBD. The Wild Weekend features top retro trash bands, gruesome go-go goddesses, deviant decor, dastardly disc-jocks, crazy cabaret, mad movies, a boat cruise to nowhere and the Surf-fink Swap-meet.

Full details and tickets are here. Here’s the band line-up:

• trash
• melbourne
• straight arrows
• wild weekend
• drop offs

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Last of a dying breed: Junkyard's David Roach

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By J.D. Misfortune

J.D. Misfortune

20 October 2021

Hits: 6221

_{David Roach (centre) and Junkyard.}

Consider yourself lucky if you still have access to Vive Le Rock magazine from Merry Olde. They still write about real rock ‘n’ roll! That mag might write about the Cult, the Damned, Psychedelic Furs, or the Jesus & Mary Chain. They still put The Clash right there on the cover! Ya know?

I’m still livin’ in the’80s. I was mostly into like, Prince, Duran Duran, David Bowie, and Adam Ant, but I hung around with like the stoner heavy metal dudes who liked Ozzy and Dio and shit. Think “Beavis N Butthead”. That shit was real.

I miss newsstands and comic book and record stores, print media. I still don’t carry an iPhone. Where I live. Amazon killed all the book stores and the free press is dead in my country. Daniel Hale, Craig Murray, Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, John Kiriakou, Col. Ann Wright, Ray McGovern...all the real whistleblowers are slandered, hounded, tortured or kidnapped. Seymour Hersh is blacklisted. Max Blumenthal gets harassed. Amy Goodman sadly works for billionaires now and helps sell pro war narratives. Abby Martin, Ben Norton, Jeremy Scahill, John Pilger, and Glenn Greenwald get ignored. Color me depressed.

• hollywood
• los angeles
• junkyard
• acetate records
• iris berry
• guns 'n' roses
• david roach
• chris gates
• jd misfortune
• pat muzingo
• todd muzcat
• jimmy james
• geffen records

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Rock and Roll's Mr Everywhere

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By Diamond Dim

Diamond Dim

11 October 2021

Hits: 4756

_{Eddie Spaghetti (left) of The Supersuckers thinks it's all a bit loud but Frank Meyer begs to differ. Ed Culver photo.} 

Los Angeles musician, author and filmmaker Frank Meyer is a surprisingly talented singer songwriter and a highly skilled, captivating raconteur. He seems like a genuinely all around good guy, so I'm a little embarrassed I did not get that hip to his extensive discography much sooner.

I first became aware of both Frank Meyer and fellow feature article subject John 5 way back in the hazy distant past-maybe like, 23 years ago, in the pages of a glossy punk ‘n’ roll bible, “Pop Smear”, with both my boyhood idols, Evil Knievel and David Lee Roth on the cover. I was workin' at a news stand in the Midwest where long lines of unhappy barflies flooded in front of my cash register all day, incessantly wanting to buy the scratch off lotto tickets. "I'll take ten Lucky Pots Of Gold and five Leprechaun's Rainbows".

Frank seemed to have won the rock ‘n’ roll lotto when he got to hang out with John 5 and David Lee Roth, live, and in-person, on multiple occasions, and then, went on to write books and form his own bands that criss-crossed the country. He was playing bills with all the other bands I liked at the time and releasing a long and prolific stream of records I never really heard.

• psychedelic
• iggy
• stooges
• cheetahs
• streetwalkin
• bellrays
• james williamson
• runaways
• supersuckers
• the pink hearts
• frank meyer
• angus khan
• eddie van halen
• eddie spaghetti
• david lee roth
• texas terri

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They're back for more and you should be as well

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 October 2021

Hits: 3922

Back For More – The On and Ons (Citadel)

Regular Barflies need no introduction to The On and Ons. They are Sydney’s finest power-pop exponents. Their catalogue of two prior albums and a mini-album since 2015 is as much a testament to the songwriting abilities of ex-Kings of the Sun and Screaming Tribesmen guitarist Glenn Morris as the grooves and harmonies provided by bandmates Brian Morris (drums) and Clyde Bramley.  

You can judge the quality of a pop album by its earwig-ability and album opener “Vanishing Act” sticks in the brain like a dose of dopamine. Wrapped in a simple, uncluttered ‘60s sound with carefully arranged three-part harmonies, it’s punctuated by finger-clicks and Morris’s parrying guitar.

• powerpop
• clyde bramley
• the on and ons
• citadel records
• glenn morris
• brian morris
• back for more

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Carry On, Maytron

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 October 2021

Hits: 2840

Sensible Shoes b/w Laughter Lines - Manja and the Maytrons (Robotten Records)

It’s a trio from the UK that plays post-punk-meets-garage-rock on a super-chunky slice of 45rpm splattewred vinyl. “Laughter Lines” is uncompromising with just a glimmer of light in the vocals. Drummer and co-singer Manja and bassist Mark S lock into a hard groove for Neil G to weave a thick layer of distorted guitar over the top. Part sung in German with the balance in English. “Disconcerting” and “different” are good words. So is “unconventional” which is probably the point. “Sensible Shoes” is an odd beast, too, with the bottom-end missing in action and to-and-fro vocal parts. The voices are placed well back in the soundscape in true post-punk style, and it all skids to a sudden stop. Wire springs to mind. 

Buy it

• postpunk
• robotten
• manja
• maytrons
• sensible shoes
• laughter lines

Smitty & B Goode's Pain! is a pleasure

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 October 2021

Hits: 3026

Pain! b/w  Wheels on Fire - Smitty & B Goode (Evil Tone)

 Been a long time since they rock and rolled in person. Sydney trio Smitty & B Goode isn’t the most prolific act in terms of releases, but they’ve put enforced time off to good use with this power-packed 45. “Pain!” inflicts more pleasure than its title suggests, flipping mild self-loathing on its head. Anger is an energy and Smitty’s assertive vocal and downstroke guitar is set against a fierce sonic brew, “turning gasoiine into a symphony of sound.” Tight as a fish’s, as they say. Flip it over for more of the same garage grit goodness. Carly’s sunny bass-tone suits the up-tempo mood. Succinct and catchy, it’s a short tun of 200 copies so grab yours here while you still can.

• sydney
• evil tone records
• smitty & b goode
• dark shadows

Foggy Notion's second dose of irreverence cuts through the lockdown haze

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

05 October 2021

Hits: 3638

Volume 2 – Foggy Notion (self released)

About 12 months ago, we made a bold resolution. “When things open up again, we’re going out as much as we can, just so we’ve enjoyed life before everything shuts down again.” (The immediate reaction amongst friends to our reference to the likelihood of further lockdowns was nervous incredulity.)

When venues opened up in late 2020, so we stayed true to our declaration, indulging as much live music as domestic logistics and financial realities would permit, preferably younger bands.

I’d seen Foggy Notion a few times before the world shut down, initially at the behest of James McCann back in early January 2018.

• melbourne
• country
• alt-country
• james mccann
• volume 2
• foggy notion

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Frank and Eddie deliver what the label on the front says

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By Ron Brown

Ron Brown

05 October 2021

Hits: 4895

Motherfuckin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll – Frank & Spaghetti (Kitten Robot Records)

Hello Barflies! The Farmhouse has been rocking these past few weeks because the principal members of two of my favourite American bands, The Streetwalkn’ Cheetahs’ Frank Meyer and the fabulous Supersuckers’ Eddie Spaghetti, have joined forces as Frank & Spaghetti to release a long player, “Motherfuckin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

“Motherrfuckin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll” is just that and follows a couple of digital singles by the duo (and friends), the epic “Shit’s Fucked” and a cover of Tom Petty’s “Jammin Me”.

• supersuckers
• eddie
• spaghetti
• frank
• frank meyer
• streetwalkin' cheetahs
• kitten robot records
• motherfuckin' rock n roll

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Echoes of surf guitar as Peter Hood's passing farewells an era

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By Robert Lastdrager

Robert Lastdrager

04 October 2021

Hits: 4795

_{Promo shot of The Atlantics 2012. Ashfield Leagues Club, before the last show played by the full lineup. Jim Skiathitis (guitar), Martin Cilia (guitar), Peter Hood (drums) and  Bosco Bosanac (bass). Mandy Hall photo}

The passing of The Atlantics drummer Peter Hood  in September closed the door on one of Australia’s most important surf bands. The Atlantics formed in Sydney in 1961, the group spawned the worldwide hit “Bombora” in 1963.

The follow-up “War of the Worlds” was an innovative 45 that arguably pioneered space rock before there was such a thing. It was unsuccessful and the band re-invented itself after the surf music genre declined in popularity.

Taking on singer Johnny Rebb, they pursued success playing tough R&B (among other styles) and their Peter Hood-penned “C’mon” is widely regarded as an Australian ‘classic, later adopted by the Wet Taxis.

• wet taxis
• surf
• beach boys

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