After 37 years, ME-262 reform for one-off Sydney show with the Green Spiders

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 August 2019

Hits: 3838

It’s a bill to have fans of lysergic acid punk or Sydney-via-Detroit Funhouse jams reaching into the cupboard for their leather jackets and Cuban heeled boots, when the Green Spiders pair with the long, lost ME-262 for one gig only at Marrickville Bowling Club on September 28.

The Green Spiders come from the DNA of the Lime Spiders, Adolphus and The Most – all staples of the Strawberry Hills-Sydney Trade Union Club circuit in Sydney in the early ‘80s. They play the songs of the Lime Spiders that Green Spiders members penned.

Lime Spiders members Ged Corben (guitar), Tony Bambach (bass) and Tom Corben (drums) are joined by Ripley Hood (Mushroom Planet) on vocals to deliver a potent parade of hard rock and ‘60s punk gems.

Some 37 years after they last strode a Sydney stage, ME-262 are reforming to play this one show.

Comprising teenagers Mark Roxburgh, Andy Newman, Tony Gibson (one of the best guitarists of the era) and drummer Alan Marr, ME-262 (also known as Trans 262 and not to be confused with MEO-245) could be seen regularly around inner-city Sydney in the post-Radio Birdman years of 1979-82.

Heavily influenced by Birdman and The Visitors they played support spots to Sunnyboys, New Race and dozens of others. issuing an EP before fading away to form, or join, other bands like Decline of the Reptiles, Chris Masuak’s North 40, the Visitors and the Deniz Tek Group.

This show will draw from the band’s posthumous 2017 compilation "Original 7” Tracks/Demos" on boutique label Buttercup, which comprised their EP tracks and other songs drawn from a recording session with Rob Younger.

Th Green Spiders and ME-262 will be joined by a mystery band drawn form a range of bands from the Sydney underground of the late '80s and '90s. Tickets are on sale here at a special early bird price. 

• live
• lime spiders
• marrickville bowling club
• ME 262
• green spiders

Broken Window Theory: Getting between the cracks with Jeff Ward of New York City's ElectraJets

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By General Labor

General Labor

30 July 2019

Hits: 7151

"There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in..." (Cohen)

One of the most exuberant and enlivening, new, modern bands I've discovered in what seems like forever, ElectraJets, is led by an Englishman named Jeff Ward and a Canadian named Cynthia Ross.  You might be hip to those names from the B-Girls, Gunfire Dance or New York Junk, but the forthcoming full-length album, "Transatlantic Tales", is by their Gotham band, ElectraJets.

It's a rocket through time and space, pulsating with an irresistible beat and likely to appeal to fans of Detroit protest music, Julian Cope's Black Sheep and "Cut The Crap" busking. There's something here for fans of Pretty Things or Blue Cheer, so beautiful it hurts Love & Rockets-style nocturnal pop, '60s prog, '70s glitter, Marc Bolan, Bowie and the Stones.

I told an old pal how awed I am by the ElectraJets' extremely formidable rhythm section, who have a total mastery of that boot boy stompin' 70s' Slade/Leader Of The Gang/Bo Didddley beat, that makes you wanna get out of  your sad old man chair and dance in front of the mirror. It's down the rabbit hole rock 'n' roll, with many varying moods, genres, textures and layers - from delicate memories to volcanic eruptions, bruised romanticism and rooftop hymns. It's far-flung and forward thinking, neon hued and cinematic, and it will make you involuntarily want to move your body.

• new york dolls
• glam
• black bombers
• thee hypnotics
• new york junk
• b-girls
• cynthia ross
• gunfire dance
• electrajets
• jeff ward
• tarbeach recordings

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Drunk and Disorderly is back: Episode 37

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By The Barman

The Barman

28 July 2019

Hits: 5023

Episode 37 of Drunk and Disorderly, the I-94 Bar podcast, is live on MIxcloud. Give it a few days, and it will be on iTunes, Spotify and all your other favourite streaming services. Ain't technology grand? This edition includes music from Aberration, Candy Snatchers, Ronny Dap, Chris Masuak and the Viveiro Wave Ridrs. Mick Medew and the Msmerisers and CTMF (that'd be Billy Childish).

• drunk and disorderly
• episode 37

Second Prize in a Beauty Contest - The Dunhill Blues (Outtaspace)

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By The Barman

The Barman

28 July 2019

Hits: 3441

How great are back-stories? Music on a record should always be able to stand up for itself, but the yarns behind it give context and (occasionally) help understand what lies beneath.

The tale behind "Second Prize in a Beauty Contest" is fraught with life. In the band's words, it encompasses "three divorces, one marriage, one baby, one European tour, countless Australian east coast tours, line-up changes (and) a 7” single". The Dunnies' last album (their third) was "Hulacide" in 2012. This one was recorded in two days in Sydney in 2017 and left to sit on the shelf while everybody got on with their lives.

The evidence of its difficult birth is in the music - some of it bitter and forthright. A song title like "That's a Fucking Lie!" doesn't reek of subtlety.

• garage
• sydney
• garage punk
• the dunhill blues
• second prize in a beauty contest

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Stitched Up - Tokyo Beef (self released)

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By The Barman

The Barman

27 July 2019

Hits: 3452

You’ll know the sound if you had your head in the game in Sydney after Radio Birdman had left their lasting mark. Two guitars, stand-and-deliver vocals and a good dose of hard rockin’ energy. Tokyo Beef are true to the genre.

Many of us couldn’t get enough of this stuff back in the ‘80s but it’s thin on the ground in today’s Harbour City, which is now a place where the kids would rather get hyped up on hip hop or take a chance on trance. In other news, someone thought they heard some guitar on a mainstream Sydney radio station last week. We don’t need pill testing as much as dill testing, especially when it relates to musical choices. 

But it’s not about the kids. Tokyo Beef are anything but. They’re Dad Rock but they’d be too raw to jag a place on a Day On The Green bill - if they were famous as well as superannuated. Beer gardens are their natural habitat. Or small, grimy stages in dark pub rooms where popular interior decorating trends or good old OH&S concerns have done away with the sticky carpet of days gone by. 

• garage punk
• tokyo beef
• garage rock
• stitched up

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Elysian Fields - The Stinkbugs (Swashbuckling Hobo)

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By The Barman

The Barman

27 July 2019

Hits: 3649

A tip for young players: If you want to be popular in the mainstream, don’t name your band The Stinkbugs. Call yourselves The Beetles. Or Beatles, even. Putting it bluntly, stinkbugs stink. Even after you’ve squashed them. No good can come from a pungent odour, even if posthumous. 

Don’t ask how this  Brisbane band took on the moniker The Stinkbugs or why they named their third long-player “Elysian Fields”. Of course, they'll never be written up in The Courier Mail or asked onto 4BK for a polite chat. And that album title is a reference to the place in classic Greek mythology where heroes went to die. Is this a case of being overly self-referential or just some high-spirited lads getting getting revenge for being kept in after their Ancient History class? You be the judge.

“Elysian Fields” is 12 tracks of typical Stinkbug goodness: Fuzz guitar, sludge bass, plodding drums and ethereal vocals. A little loose, for sure, but unmistakably the work of a psychedelic power trio from the back-blocks of deepest, darkest Brisbane. If you liked their earlier records, you won’t fall out of love on the strength of this one. 

• brisbane
• swashbuckling hobo
• garage rock
• the stinkbugs
• elysian fields

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This is... TROATT and We Want Beer - Troatt (EC Productions)

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 July 2019

Hits: 2854

A few weeks back, The Barman used the term “avant-garde” to describe a rather unpleasant band from Adelaide.

Got me thinking. Twattypedia reckons “avant-garde” means "people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society. It may be characterised by nontraditional, aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability, and it may offer a critique of the relationship between producer and consumer”.

Which I think is kind of bollocks. This is what the Tate (that's an art museum) (in London) (England) has to say;

• troatt
• this is troatt
• we want beer
• ec productions

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Birdman tag-team with The Stems for two-weekend run

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By The Barman

The Barman

23 July 2019

Hits: 4543

Radio Birdman is embarking on a short, sharp Australian tour with Citadel label-mates The Stems in tow. The five-date run will include Spanish band Los Chicos as guests on three gigs.

Tickets are on sale via venue websites.

Radio Birdman
+ The Stems
OCT
25 – Factory Theatre, Sydney
+ The LangLangs
26 – The Gov, Adelaide
+ Sunday Reeds
NOV
1 – The Triffid, Brisbane
+ Los Chicos
2 – Coolangatta Hotel
+ Los Chicos
4 – Croxton Ballroom, Melbourne
+ Los Chicos

• australian
• los chicos
• radio birdman
• the stems
• australian tour
• langlangs

More Filth than you can poke a stick at

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By The Barman

The Barman

22 July 2019

Hits: 3751

There's some more news about that one-off show featuring Filth with the Celeibate Rifles at Oxford Art Factory in Sydney on September 11.

A limited edition vinyl EP will be issued on the night, featuring four songs originally played by Filth in a run of just 150 copies. Roll-over the image to check out the tracklist. They are not recording by the original line-up.  

"Do You Feel Lucky, Punk" is the name of the event and tickets are on sale here.

It's part of the broader Sedition 2019 Celebration of Public Art and Protest in Sydney during the 1970s, more of which we'll be bringing you soon. Check it out here if you can't wait. 

And don't delay if you want to see The Aints!, Flaming Hands, Shy Impostors and The Professors at Paddington RSL on August 31 as part of Sedition.

Those tickets won't last long and are selling here. 

• filth
• celibate rifles
• oxford art factory
• sedition