A full sick night, mate

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

15 May 2019

Hits: 4616

"The Odd Night Out"
Botanic Gordon + Leitmotiv Limbo
+ r.domain + Vomit of the Universe
The Metro, Adelaide 
May 11, 2019
Photos by Somnambulist Dillinger

I'd never seen any of these outfits. Only heard of one of them, Vomit of the Universe (aka VoU), because my friends Adam Mondayitis (pictured right - sometime DJ at 3D Radio until they got gentrified, Hydrocephallus and Smallpox Confidentialist) and Jordy Dodd are VoU and ... well. You never know, do you? Might be dreadful. Might be wonderful.

The organiser wasn't sure what the order of play was until everyone more or less got there. So this is how the bands appeared on the FB event page (and yes, it's 'sic'):

Vomit of the Universe - guitar and drums duo plays slimey soiled rusty metal

r.domain - modular synths of megalopic proportions with a sea of wires

Botanic Gordon - formerly of the '70s organ synth, now renovating for future antiquity

Leitmotiv Limbo - clarinet sin storage, synth put aside, "just playing spring sculptures"

• vomit of the universe
• botanic gordon
• leitmotiv limbo
• r.domain
• the odd night out

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Shoving some Stranglers down our throats

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By Steve Lorkin

Steve Lorkin

10 May 2019

Hits: 4661

Hugh Cornwell
The Manning Bar, Sydney
Thuirsday, May 9, 2019

The Stranglers were the first UK Punk/New Wave band I ever saw. It was February 25, 1979, at the State Theatre in Sydney with opening band, The Hitmen.

Of course, The Stranglers were not punk or new wave or pub rock or ANYTHING. They played Strangler Music (god bless their drug taking, karate fighting, foul mouthed socks). A band like that couldn’t last forever. Lead singer/Guitarist Hugh Cornwell went one way, the rest of the band went another way…que sera sera …what ever will be will be.

• australian tour
• the stranglers
• 2019
• hugh cornwell

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Powertrane with Tek and Asheton, Scientists head revival of Grown Up Wrong label

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 May 2019

Hits: 5049

This could be the best news fans of raw and real rock and roll will hear this year: Esteemed Australian label Grown Up Wrong - th forerunner of Dogmeat Records - is back in business. Owner David Laing is kicking off with a bang with two killer releases to get the ball rolling (again.)

First  is a fantastic collection of primarily live recordings from the original Perth-based line-ups of The Scientists - back when James Baker of Victims/Hoodoo Gurus was still drumming for them. "Not For Sale: LIve 1978/79" is an archival set of recordings from the band's ragged powerpop days when they sounded like a collision between the Flamin' Groovies and The New York Dolls.

The second release is a reissue – with extra tracks, and for the first time on vinyl – of a rare 2002 live album called “Ann Arbor Revival Meeting” by Scott Morgan's Powertrane with Deniz Tek and Ron Asheton.

• kim salmon
• deniz tek
• scott morgan
• ron asheton
• the scientists
• grown up wrong
• dogmeat records
• ann arbor revival meeting

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Hugh's stranglehold on the hits

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

06 May 2019

Hits: 5057

Hugh Cornwell & band
The Gov, Adelaide
Sunday May 5, 2019
Richard De Pizzol photos

It's a chilly sort of night and I really don't feel like going out at all.

However, I have made arrangements and shall honour them.

Bad Bob arrives, leans on his horn and I am dragged from my chamber to encounter my chum, all chirpy and smoky, in a dinky little white car and we zoom off, leaving dazed possums and alarmed cats behind us.

• australian
• the gov
• the stranglers
• 2019
• hugh cornwell

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Where's The Professor? He's in Sydney this Sunday night.

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 April 2019

Hits: 4629

The Professors were formed in 1978 and were part of a booming inner Sydney scene that developed following the departure of temporary residents The Saints and homegrown Radio Birdman. They took their name from singer, Stephen Vineburg’s friendship with Chris Bailey of The Saints.

Vineberg - was name-checked by their friend, Saints vocalist Chris Bailey, in the lyuics of "Know Your Product" ("Where's the Professor?/We need him now").

The Professors were a prime example of the DIY ethos. They were largely self taught and established a successful music venue at the corner pub: The Royal Oak Hotel in Chippendale. They also played at most of the popular venues in Sydney including The Civic Hotel, the Rex Hotel, Paddington Town Hall and Henderson Road. 

• joeys
• bob short
• joeys coop
• conspirators
• the professors
• single launch
• oxford art factory

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"Like James Brown crossed with the MC5": Schizophonics land in Australia for two dates only

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 April 2019

Hits: 4415

Sensational San Diego trio The Schizophonics have announced two Australian dates in June.

They'll play Sydney's Marrickville Bowling Club on Thursday, June 6 (with Grinding Eyes) and Melbourne's The Tote on Friday, June 7 after a run of New Zealand dates. Tickets for both Austrralian shows are on sale here. 

The wild, gyrating, and down-right gymnastic, guitarist Pat Beers is joined by his wife Lety on drums and bass player Blake Lindquist...and yes, Beers is their real name. By day Pat teaches music but at night, once strapping on that guitar, he becomes a man possessed .

The Schizophonics are, in one word, EXPLOSIVE. Their frenzied live performances tap into the same unstoppable combination of rock ‘n’ roll energy and showmanship that fueled the MC5 in the heyday of the Grande Ballroom.

When they hit the stage, they grab your attention and don’t let go. They’ve built up a formidable reputation in their home base of San Diego and a fervent following among locals.

“One of my favorite live bands ever!” proclaims Tim Mays, who has run the Casbah for over 25 years and seen literally thousands of live bands come through his doors in that time.

• grinding eyes
• australian tour
• schizophonics

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James Griffin re-emerges for solo Sydney show

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By The Barman

The Barman

28 April 2019

Hits: 4959

_{The Subterraneans performing at Sydney University in 1986. From left to right, Peter Coutanche (X, Kamikaze Kids), Marty Willson-Piper (The Church), and James Griffin.
Photo, Kim Sandeman.} 

James Griffin, onetime inner-Sydney underground music household name now living in Melbourne, is poised to play his first show in living memory in his old hometown of Sydney this month.

Griffin will play the Golden Barley Hotel in Enmore solo on Sunday, May 19, reprising his extensive back catalogue of work with The Subterraneans, The Agents and as in his own name.

A successful poet, songwriter and broadcaster, James Griffin began his performing and songwriting life in the  early '70s. Originally an alt-folk/punk-folk solo acoustic artist, he built a successful live performance career around such songs as "20th Century Blues", "I Smoke Money", "I Don't Think I Drink Enough", "I thought It Was You On the Boulevard" and "Australia's Just A Suburb of the USA".

• golden barley
• james griffin
• subterranneans
• the agents
• angel run

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A Tribute to Sonny Vincent - Various Artists (Disturbed Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

28 April 2019

Hits: 4849

Three years ago, family tragedy thrust Sonny Vincent from being a cult New York punk legend into the role of full-time carer. 

Based in Europe for two decades from where he prolifically recorded and toured, he was suddenly pulled back to the USA by a home gas explosion and fire that left his son, daughter-in-law and grandson on life support in a North Carolina hospital.

Sonny’s family has survived but his music is on indefinite hold. Day-to-day life now revolves around his 12-year-old grandson Cayden, still undergoing skin grafts while trying to live the life of a schoolboy. Sonny hasn’t picked up a guitar since that fateful night and has been existing on donations.

• new york punk
• cbgb
• tribute
• sonny vincent

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Hippy Days in a room filled with quiet joy

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

25 April 2019

Hits: 4075

Arlo Guthrie
The Gov, Adelaide
April 24, 2019
Jeremy Tomamak photos

One of the things that really got to me the very first time I saw the film "Alice's Restaurant" (on late night telly, back in the days when Adelaide only had four stations) was the mutation of black humour, intelligence, and improbability running through the film like a twisted thread of opal.

Not least is the fact that Arlo was (in 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War and the draft) declared by the US Army as “not moral enough to join the army.”

As Arlo told Rolling Stone: "I never thought of “Alice’s Restaurant” as being an anti-war song, but you can’t run a war being that stupid. You won’t succeed in the war and you won’t succeed in other things either. And I think that’s some of the lessons we still have yet to learn, you know?"

And tonight, I wonder what we're in for. His father, underground folk guitar hero Woody Guthrie, died of Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea in 1967, at the age of 55, and when Arlo was just 20.

• adelaide
• the gov
• arlo guthrie
• hippy

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