Roadies. The Secret History of Australian Rock ’n’ Roll by Stuart Coupe (Hachette Australia)

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 October 2018

Hits: 6006

The “Secret History” part could have been easily replaced by “Sex, Drugs, Rock ’n’ Roll and Driving…Lots Of Driving”. There are more miles in Stuart Coupe’s book than a shipping container load of Gregory’s street directories, but it’s much more fun to read. 

The concept is simple: Speak to Australian road crew about their experiences and shape a chapter around each conversation. Do it chronologically. Change very few names to protect the infamous. You can guess a few of them anyway. This boat doesn’t need a lot of rowing. In most cases, the stories tell themselves. 

If you’ve ever worked with, alongside, as a payer of or have been reliant on a roadie because you were performing, you’ll know that the good ones are (a.) usually full of war stories and (b.) indispensable. They are, quite simply, the people who make rock and roll shows happen. They see the good, bad and the ugly parts. They know where the bodies (and the drugs) are buried. 

• stuart coupe
• roadies
• hachette

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There’s No Bones in ice Cream. Sylvain Sylvain’s Story of the New York Dolls by Sylvain Sylvain (Omnibus Press)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 October 2018

Hits: 7241

There are two undeniable take-outs from "There's No Bones In Ice Cream." One is Sylvain Sylvain's deep and abiding love of the New York Dolls and pride in their legacy. The other is a feeling that things could have turned out much differently had they been given five minutes during their time on the roller coaster to catch their breath.

If you're reading this review at the I-94 Bar you don't need to be told who the New York Dolls were or how important they are. Glam rock probably still would have happened without them, but punk's birth would have been very different.

The Dolls are influential because they proved that you didn't have to be good to be great. Their lack of virtuosity was as influential as their style.

Mainstream America didn't want to know about the Dolls. The image was just too fag-ishly confrontational. Their first lifespan was only two albums. Others who trod the same path - who moderated the look and sound and stuck at it like Alice Cooper and KISS - cashed in, big-time.

• new york dolls
• jerry nolan
• johnny thunders
• david johansen
• arthur kane
• sylvain sylvain
• there's no bones in ice cream
• omnibus press

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Get some Cosmic Love with Malcolm Hill

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 October 2018

Hits: 4516

Signed-up member of the Melbourne Music Mafia, Malcolm Hill, is premiering a new single with his band Malcolm Hill and Live Flesh.

"Cosmic Love", and its companion song "Anybody Seen My Girl", are a digital precursors to a full album later this star from Geelong-born Hill, a writer and staple of the 1980s Melbourne underground music scene with Buick KBT and Head Undone. Hill has guested with the likes of Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, Nick Cave and The Dirty Three so he's well-credentialled to say the least.

Grab a download of his new songs here.

• dave graney
• nick cave
• buick kbt
• malcolm hill
• melburne
• cosmic love
• live flesh
• head undone

Tamam Shud returns with short run of summer shows

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 October 2018

Hits: 3996

Where were you, and what were you doing when Australian surf and psychedlelic legends Tamam Shud last played some of their tripped-out live shows on the University Scene during the acid movement of the '70’s?

Most people probably wouldn’t remember and those who do probably weren’t there.

However, everyone recalls Tamam Shud for their input and timeless tracks contributed to Australian surf film classics, “Hot Generation, Evolution and the seminal Morning of the Earth”.

It wasn’t long ago Tamam Shud were onboard for the sold-out national tour for "A Long Way to the Top" arena spectaculars and "Delightful Rain: A celebration of Australian Surf Music" shows.

More recently the band has undertaken a brief East Coast tour in 2017 with Andrew Kidman & The Windy Hills, played a double-header with Buffalo Revisited and did sporadic shows on Sydney's northern beaches and in its inner-west.

The Shud has just wrapped up recording a new LP and with this release, an opportunity to celebrate their latest recording.

• live
• australian
• tamam shud
• shows

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Thanks, you Pretty Things. It's been fabulous.

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 October 2018

Hits: 6317

_{Dick Taylor and Phil May of the Pretty Things.} 

Lou Reed posed the question: "What becomes a legend most?" and it's a fair bet that playing a Wednesday night in Sydney at theFactory Theatre wasn't an answer uppermost in his thoughts. 

But that's the lot of the Pretty Things on this temperate Aussie evening. A fact of life for one of the original wave of British blues-rock bands and a band who were contemporaries of the Rolling Stones, briefly giving Mick and the boys their first bassist before they'd even settled on a name.

• live
• pretty things
• marrickville
• phil may
• factory theatre
• sf sorrow
• dick taylor
• jack woosey
• jack greenwood
• frank holland

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Melbourne launch for posthumous Brian Henry Hooper album

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

06 October 2018

Hits: 6536

_{Carbie Warbie photo.}

On 20 April, 2018 the world of rock’n’roll lost one its most charismatic and talented soldiers, Brian Henry Hooper. Best known for his work in the Beasts of Bourbon and Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Hooper’s resume extends to stints with Charlie Marshall’s Body Electric, Rowland S Howard and Andre Williams.

When he was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 2017, Hooper was mid-way through putting the finishing touches on his new album, What Would I Know?, one of two solo records he'd recorded over the previous two years at Andrew McGee’s Empty Room Studios in Nagambie.

• melbourne
• bang! records
• beasts of bourbon
• kim salmon
• brian-henry-hooper
• what would i know

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Bellissimo! A new Radio Birdman book hits the shelves

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 October 2018

Hits: 5858

Italian journalist and occasional I-94 Bar correspondent Roberto Calabro has had a Radio Birdman book published.

It's called "Radio Birdman. Il rito del suono selvaggio" (that would be “Radio Birdman: the ritual of the wild sound" for non-Italian speakers) and it’s published through Tuttle Edizioni.

Not just a historical recounting, it covers the whole story of the legendary Sydney band from the early days up to now with chapters about The Visitors, the New Christs and the work of individual members.

It’s only in Italian right now but Roberto is keen to have it translated and published in English. You can order a copy here. Comprendere?

• radio birdman
• book
• italian
• roberto calabro
• Il rito del suono selvaggio

Is Arlo Guthrie important? Go ask Alice

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

01 October 2018

Hits: 3532

The I-94 Bar is definitely the place to see a reminder that '60s icon Arlo Guthrie a) still exists, and b) coming to Australia. Why? Who is Arlo Guthrie? Is he important? 

I think so, but then I was a slightly aware teenager (just) from the middle of the '70s, and I remember watching a late-night movie called "Alice's Restaurant" on TV. So hilarious, smart, fun, pithy that I realised that although a hell of a lot of hippies were total knobs, some had good points.  

• tour
• australian
• arlo guthrie

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Los Chicos administer some post-grand final prescription medicine to Melbourne

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

01 October 2018

Hits: 5907

_{Los Chicos at The Tote.}

Schadenfreud is a German term that translates loosely to "watching Collingwood lose".

OK, maybe that’s too harsh: anti-Collingwood (that’s the Australian rules football team for those born above the Barassi Line in Australia, and any of the Bar’s overseas readers) sentiment is tied up with class-based bias, and a lingering resentment at the club’s rampant success back in the day. The modern Collingwood team is great to watch, and would have been a worth winner, had the battle-hardened Weagles not worn the Pies down.

The prospect of heading to The Tote, nestled in the edge of the old Collingwood flat, on a night of Magpie disappointment, was potentially worrying. In the end, the Pies fans were thin on the street, no doubt drowning sorrows in some other sporting bar.

• live
• los chicos
• the tote
• james mccann
• money for rope

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