Turnbuckles tackle The Tote this weekend and are full of Tonic

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 June 2024

Hits: 1464

Pismo Beach's Kings of the Ring, the Psychotic Turnbuckles, kick off their anniversary "40 Years Undefeated" tour of  Australia's East Coast at The Tote Hotel in Melobourne this Saturday. Supports are crazy great Sydney glam rockers Starcrazy and hometown retro champions The Vibratones.  

Asked how the Turnbuckles would fare with no competitive matches under their collective belts since last October's triumphant Japan tour, frontman Jesse The Intruder told us: "Champions never fold. We've been training hard in the Pismo Clam Club gym and amping up on Turnbuckle Tonic. We will wipe the floor with those pathetic support bands". 

Man of few words and drummer Buddy "Bam Bam" Balam The Brooklyn Bruiser added: "They are bums. So are you. Get out of my way."

Tickets for The Tote, Sydney (July 13) and Brisbane (September 7) shows are here, and are presneted by The I-94 Bar (Melbourne and Sydney) and Punkfest (Brisbane).

• melbourne
• brisbane
• sydney
• psychotic turnbuckles
• australian tour

It's almost Aloha to those final Radio Birdman tickets

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 June 2024

Hits: 2007

Five of the eight Radio Birdman ”Birdman  5-0” Australian tour dates have sold-out and the remaining three are poised to go the same way.

The run kicks off at The Croxton Bandroom in Melbourne this Friday. That show and Saturday at the same venue are down to their final ticket allocations. 

All three Sydney gigs and two Brisbane dates have had the House Full signs put up and Adelaide on June 23 is showing signs of going the same way. Extra shows are not being added so go here to buy.

• radio birdman
• australian tour
• birdman 5-O

Saints Be Praised! Will you be Stranded?

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 June 2024

Hits: 2252

Controversy? Hallowed be thy name in show business. The Saints ’73-‘78 tickets are moving faster than Ed Kuepper’s downstroke with shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Castlemaine selling out and two extra gigs added.

Brisbane sold out in one day which prompted the addition of another show. Melbourne has an extra date and capacity at Castlemaine was increased to meet demand before the House Full sign went up. 

Supports have been confirmed and include relative new kids on the block Chimers, Parsnip and Alien Nosejob alongside veterans Kim Salmon & The Surrealists.

Meantime pre-orders for the deluxe 4-LP box set version of (I’m) Stranded (due this November) can be made here. 

• saints
• ed kuepper
• australian tour
• saints '74-'78
• (I'm) stranded

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Take a trip with Bad Drip

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 June 2024

Hits: 2097

Tales From Bad Drip – Bad Drip (Outtspace Records)

From out of Sydney’s Inner-West comes Bad Drip and they’re quite the thing if you’re partial to heavy blues jams. “Tales From Bad Drip” is only four songs but the vinyl-only EP packs plenty of punch.

The Inner-West Delta. It’s where Surry Hills’ survivors settled when gentrification pushed the inner-city rents up and the dole dried up. Some of them even got mortgages and have spawned kids. It’s a funny place, full of contradictions and probably ripe for urban renewal itself, but it’s also where most of Sydney’s music now lives.  

A lot of those Inner-West bands sound like fey indie rock or hip slacker drivel with no songs. If the cliche is reality, Bad Drip is refreshingly atypical. A quartet that’s only been around two years, this is their first physical release. Of course, it’s on vinyl.  

• sydney
• outtspace records
• bad drip
• tales from bad drip
• inner-west

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Disaffected? Dan Denton must be your new fave author

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By JD Monroe

JD Monroe

19 June 2024

Hits: 2080

The Dead and The Desperate By Dan Denton (Roadside Press)

Way back in the New Wave/Post punk era, one of my only friends was a kid with a very similar name to mine. He was really into Depeche Mode and Tubeway Army, and he had a real hardk nock life with a dead father, abusive brother and corrections officer mother,

We met at some troubled teen diversion program. He knew some Kung Fu and kinda became my protector, as I was a scrawny-ass make-up wearing Ramone who was always targeted by bully dumb-fuck Ohio males for wearing eyeliner and being like totally into Bowie and the NY Dolls.

I always tried to get the kid to work on his keyboards so he could join my dirty punk band, I thought that might give him a productive creative outlet and elevate our sorta stupidly primitive Ramones/Cramps sound. He dabbled with it for awhile, but would always get sorta distracted by girls. He saw the two of us as rivals, whereas, I saw us as more like brothers. I really loved the guy.

• dan denton
• roadside press
• the dead and the desperate

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Moot proves that punk is where you find it

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 June 2024

Hits: 2031

A Crowd Pleasing Extravaganza – Moot (Outtaspace Records)

It's a point hat has been made here before: Moot comes from the New South Wales Mid North Coast region and you’d struggle to think of a place with a more tenuous claim to being a spawning ground for punk rock.

Neat farms sit on rich alluvial land, squeezed between eucalyptus-lined mountain ridges and coastal towns that cling steadfastly to beaches or river inlets. The populace seems past or approaching retirement age. It’s a region devoid of (visible) dole queues or massive social dislocation – at least on the surface.

• punk rock
• moot
• outtspace records
• A Crowd Pleasing Extravaganza

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Getting back in The Grooveyard: Jon Schofield looks back (just a little)

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By Chris Virtue

Chris Virtue

16 June 2024

Hits: 2136

_{Jon Schofield leading The Grooveyard through a set with (fron left to right) Ian Little,  Richard Lawson and Bob Wackley.} 

A little piece of Australian underground rock and roll history was rescued from relative obscurity in April when the modestly-proportioned back catalogue (one 45 and an EP) of 1980s Sydney band The Grooveyard was re-issued digitally.

Grooveyard played ‘60s-influenced power pop in and around Sydney in the 1980s. Their recorded legacy kicked off with their Chris Masuak-produced “Avalanche of Love” single in 1984 and ending with the posthumous 12-inch “Grooveyard" EP in 1989. 

The Grooveyard was something of a supergroup. At various times, its ranks included future Paul Kelly and Messengers, Chinless Elite and Hell To Pay member Jon Schofield, Lime Spiders drummer Richard Lawson, ex-Razar member and future Screaming Tribesmen Bob Wackley, Geoff Rhoe (ex-Minuteman), Ian Little (Bambalams) and Sean Maguire (ex-Minuteman).

• paul kelly
• chris masuak
• Richard lawson
• grooveyard
• avalanche of love
• bob wackley
• ian little
• the coloured girls
• the messengers

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M'kay, this Premonition K is Special.

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 June 2024

Hits: 2636

Premonition K – Kilbey Kennedy (Foghorn Records)
I came not to praise Prog Rock but to bury it. You know, throw on a “Pink Floyd” T-shirt with a handwritten “I Hate” appended to the front of the band name, just like it’s the King’s Road in London, circa 1976.

The claws were out and the poison pen primed with ink. It was time to snarl about pomposity and pretentiousness, declare a fatwah on all hippies and kick out some serious wordplay jams . This War Against The Jive is relentless, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer truly do suck dogs’ balls.

• foghorn records
• steve kilbey
• kilbey kennedy
• premonition k
• martin kennedy

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Chris Bailey's estate slams Saints reformation

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By The Barman

The Barman

14 June 2024

Hits: 6965

_{The classic early Saints line-up with reformation participants, drummer Ivor Hay and guitarist Ed Kuepper at front, and Chris Bailey at the rear.}

The Saints reformation has turned ugly with the Estate of late frontman Chris Bailey going public with a condemnation.

In a tersely-worded media statement released overnight, Chris Bailey’s Family and Estate questioned the decision to reform The Saints with Mark Arm from Mudhoney replacing the late singer who passed away two years ago.

“Neither the late singer’s family, nor the Chris Bailey Estate, were informed or consulted, on this decision,” the statement said. “We are surprised that Mark Arm agreed to do this without consultation.”

The statement said the Estate owns “The Saints” name and its primary objective is “to honour Chris Bailey’s memory and the Saints significant legacy with integrity”.

• feelpresents
• ed kuepper
• mark arm
• chris bailey
• the saints
• australian tour
• bailey estate

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