Do your research and help Ollie Olsen

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

02 October 2023

Hits: 3084

Alright. Where I live, the formal lockdown measures ended in early 2022.

Personally, I think one reason the employment rate is so low right now is because a whole pile of people around retirement age, or quite a few reluctant to retire, realised that hanging about the house wasn't such a bad thing after all. 

In fact, life itself wasn't meant to be spent piss-farting about in a drab office trying not to grimace at the forced jollities, the strict dweebness and the sheer bloody pointlessness of necessary screenwork. Sure, some things need to be done. But we seemed to get by without a hell of a lot of it during lockdown.

And don't get me started on the poor bastards who worked through the pandemic, the nurses and doctors who (as far as I'm concerned) all deserve a 10 percent wage rise (and, for those who actually worked with the Covid patients, an Order of Australia each).

• ollie olsen
• it records
• rock and roll prison
• taipan tiger girls
• live at the melbourne town hall

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Pat Todd and Mad Macka team for intimate Oz dates

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By The Barman

The Barman

05 October 2023

Hits: 3822

Cosmic Psychos guitarist Mad Macka has announced a run of shows with him double-billed with legendary Los Angeles figure Pat Todd.

Pat Todd is best known as front man for hugely influential rock'n'roll-punk band The Lazy Cowgirls from the early '80s to the early '00s, and more recently for his great high energy rock'n'roll band Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders.

• cosmic psychos
• lazy cowgirls
• pat todd
• australian tour
• rankoutsiders
• 2023

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That's Entrainment? I can't believe it's not metal

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

02 October 2023

Hits: 2879

It seems to me that the main truth of human nature is that we'll always do what we like if we can get away with it. Which is why we have laws, I suppose.

Because if we can take it and keep it, we will. Like dogs snarling over a stinky old bone. You know that thin veneer of what we call civilisation? Got it in one, we're animals with a slightly more complex language.

Talking about animals and humans, that brings me to eugenics. The National Human Genome Research Institute explains: “Eugenics is an inaccurate theory linked to historical and present-day forms of discrimination, racism, ableism and colonialism. It has persisted in policies and beliefs around the world...”

Well, yeah. Francis Galton, wiggy concepts of the “noble savage”, misinterpreted Darwinism and Mendelism. (No, I'm not. Look it up.)

• stafford glover
• john hannon
• entrainment

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Has Science Gone Too Far? Ask the Bahne Super-Flex

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By The Barman

The Barman

03 October 2023

Hits: 3449

DATELINE: Sydney, Australia - They were the product of a CIA experiment; rarely employed, driftless musicians from the 80’s, playing the independent scene, watching hours of American TV…

They were abducted with the promise of a headline gig, forced hallucinogenic substances in horrific experimentation (and then demanded the CIA did it again), and then cryogenically frozen for the next few decades. It was Night of the Many Deaths, that’s for sure.

But when a major condenser blew in the refrigeration evaporator, combined with a security guard’s mixed tape playing 70’s favourites through an old boombox, a course of events would be set in motion that not even the Central Intelligence Agency could understand, let alone control.

• celibate rifles
• mushroom planet
• trilobites
• old manly boatshed
• bahne super-flex
• southern preachers
• brass monkey

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Of unintended labels and everything being louder than everything else

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

02 October 2023

Hits: 3943

It was at band practice with Smallpox Confidential about four or so weeks ago that I discovered the car crash I had been in had walloped me so damn hard that apart from the soft tissue damage and concussion, I'd also lost a significant chunk of hearing. 

I'd not realised because it was a certain range of sound rather than everything, and I was so preoccupied with all the rest of the time-gobbling nonsense that until something is dead obvious, you tend not to really notice. 

Anyway, there we were in the same room in the same places with the knobs at the same volumes... and I couldn't hear Marduk's guitar. Naturally, I asked our bass player, Bob, to turn down, which he reluctantly did (do you know a bass player? do they EVER turn down?). Then I asked Marduk, to turn up, which somewhat puzzled, he did. Then I asked Bob and Marduk again, because I still couldn't hear the guitar. 

• robert brokenmouth
• smallpox confidential
• rock and roll prison
• catcher in the rye
• lolita
• american psycho
• dead city nights

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Make mine a Shandy with Harder Yakka

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 October 2023

Hits: 3495

Harder Yakka – Shandy (Bovver Boogie Records)

If there’s a higher energy rock and roll band in Greater Brisbane, weight-for-age, you know our email address. Only Dr Bombay comes close. So why wouldn’t you be onto this collection of pre and post-pandemic recordings faster than a Moreton Bay seagull on a chip? 

Remember sharpie rock? Shandy covers that base but with less overt boogie and more of the sort of rock rhythm that rolls. 

Recall Oi? The shout-out choruses are still here but the kicking is more to do with excising jams than taking off rival soccer fans’ heads. “Harder Yakka” has a larrikin charm that’s Australian-made, due in no small part to the distinctly Antipodean crunch in the guitars.

• brisbane
• shandy
• jj speedball
• harder yakka

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DoGs re-issue on vinyl is just the medication you need

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 October 2023

Hits: 1898

Hypersensitive – The DoGs (Heavy Medication Records)

Here are two truisms: Life is full of great bands that you’ve heard of but never heard. Hindsight is fantastic because it lets you make up for what you missed the first time around.

This album by the Los Angeles-via-Detroit trio (not to be confused with the French band of the same name) came out on CD in 2002. If you missed it, you’re excused because it didn’t have massive distribution. It re-appearance as a vinyl LP on Heavy Medication is your chance to make amends.

The DoGs grew up in Michigan in the late ‘60s – outside the axis of Detroit and Ann Arbor, it must be said – and were on undercards to bands like the MC5 and the Stooges. They made the move from Lansing to the Motor City as its place in the rock and roll firmament began to decline.

• detroit
• stooges
• mc5
• the dogs
• killed by death
• heavy medication records
• hypersensitive
• slash your face

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Masuak's Junkyard Dog set to bite France

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 October 2023

Hits: 2815

Chris Klondike Masuak will hit the road in France in November, armed with a band that has an impeccable underground rock pedigree.

Junkyard Dog boasts Masuak (Radio Birdman, Hitmen, Screaming Tribesmen) on guitar and vocals, guitarists Laurent Ciron (Dogs, Hydromatics, Cinders, Belleville Cats) and Gregory J Bowen (The Outside),  bassist Bruno Perrin (TV Men, Gunners and Trotskids) and drummer Gooloo (Holy Curse).

In a time when real rock and roll is struggling to retain a foothold in Europe, that sort of heritage is going to be hard to beat. Check with local venues for times and tickets. There’s a Facebook event here.

Chris Masuak & Junkyard Dog
French Tour
NOV
22 – Paris (tba)
23 – Breville/Mer @ Les Valseuses
24 – Vannes @ Le Barailleur
25 – St Brieuc @ Le Fût Chantant
26 – Rennes @ La Trinquette

• french
• holy curse
• gregory bowen
• 2023
• chris klondike masuak
• junkyard dog
• bruno perrin
• gooloo
• tv men
• toiur

Sonically speaking, Album Number Two is leaving the Garage

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 September 2023

Hits: 3151

Sydney veterans Sonic Garage will unveil their second album, “Dark Country”, at an early Friday night show at The Old Manly Boatshed on 6 October. 

Supports are hard rock supergroup Bahne Super Flex, featuring ex-members of the Trilobites, Celibate Rifles and Mushroom Planet, and new comers Capital Romantics.  

• launch
• sonic garage
• dark country
• old manly boatshed

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