Iggy and the Stooges: The Truth Is In The Book They Made

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 August 2023

Hits: 3101

The Truth Is In The Sound We Make 
by Carlton Sandercock and Per Nilsen
Wintergarden Books 

It is The Last Word in illustrated Stooges books.

Big statement, and the competition has been stiff. 

Change my mind. 

First there was 2009’s lavish “Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story” by Robert Matheu (R.I.P.) and Jeffrey Morgan that chronicled the band’s two careers in pictures and essays. 

Ten years later, photographer Ed Caraeff’s “Iggy & the Stooges: One Night at the Whisky” was a beautiful visual document of a 1970 Los Angeles show during the recording. of “Fun House”. It was limited in scope but evocative in execution.  

A few years later, “Iggy & The Stooges: Raw Power” by the late Mick Rock followed. Rock not only captured the memorable image on the cover of “Raw Power”, taken at the Stooges’ only UK show, but a slew of images of the boys during downtime.

“Total Chaos” by Iggy and Jeff Gold contained rare documents and handbills, but was mainly text and most of the live photos were familiar.  

So Wintergarden Books (publishing arm of Easy Action Records), has scooped the pool with this 300-page, hard cover behemoth. 

• iggy pop
• james williamson
• carlton-sandercock
• scott asheton
• iggy & the stooges
• ron asheton
• iggy and the stooges
• dave alexander
• per nilsen
• wintergarden

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Rats in the ranks

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 August 2023

Hits: 2024

Should Have Smelt a Rat – The Howlin’ Rats (self released)

 The debut album from this Newcastle, Australia, trio is an auspicious one. Its sound harks back to the early ‘70s, and it sits out in the blues rock cosmos like an orphan child of Chain, Blue Cheer and the early Deep Purple. 

Unlike the body of work that Chain left behind, it’s light on for the boogie beat. The Howlin’ Rats cook up a main of prog rock-tinged doom with a mild sense of psychedelics-induced foreboding on the side. It’s the blues, Scotty, but probably not as you know it. Someone get them on a bill with Datura4.

The Howlin’ Rats came about from a jam at a 2019 open mic at Hiss & Crackle Records in Newcastle’s Wallsend Delta when nobody else showed up.

• hiss and crackle
• howlin' rats
• the parade
• should have smelt a rat

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JJ McCann Transmission previews album with "Forces At Work"

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 August 2023

Hits: 2529

Veteran rock and roll force of nature James McCann is previewing his forthcoming Rob Younger-produced album with a fresh single, “Forces At Work”, co-written with his late mate, Spencer P Jones.

Now going under the name JJ McCann Transmission, the Melbourne-based singer-guitarist will release the full-length “Hit With Love” on Cheersquad Records on September 15.  

The new single and album are McCann's first new releases since he co-produced the acclaimed tribute to Spencer P Jones, “All The Way With SPJ”, which included Chris Bailey of The Saints, Kid Congo, Adalita, Violent Femmes, Alejandro Escovedo, Jim Moginie of Midnight Oil and The Drones.

A 30-year veteran of the Australian rock’n’roll scene, McCann knows something about the brutal reality of the independent music scene. After cutting his teeth in the vibrant Perth music community, McCann moved to Sydney in the early 1990s where he joined the Hard-Ons spin-off outfit Nunchukka Superfly.

• spencer p jones
• james mccann
• cheersquad records
• jj mccann
• transmission

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Johnny Casino back for shows in Sydney and Melbourne

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 August 2023

Hits: 1860

Ramblin’ gamblin’ guitar man Johnny Casino is taking leave of his adopted home of Spain in October to play two shows in Australia. 

Sunday, October 8 he and The Secrets play Petersham Bowling Club on a tribute to late Asteroid B612 bandmate Scotty Nash.

Support will come from The Carrie Affair, The Escapes, Dave Favours and The Roadside Ashes and Scotty and the Family Nash, a supergroup of Nash musical mates.

The handful of tickets that remain for the 4pm gig are here. 

In Melbourne, Johnny and The Secrets will play one night only at The Old Bar, Fitzroy, on Friday, October 6. Special guests are the Simon Juliff Band and Rockin' Pelmets. Tickets for that one can be had here.

• sydney
• johnny casino
• tribute
• Scott Nash

What's in a name? Dave Houston releases the Bats

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

14 August 2023

Hits: 2311

Black Bats guitarist and singer Dave Houston is slightly apologetic about the name of his Melbourne garage-surf-desert-psych outfit, Black Bats. 

Back in 2015, Houston was putting together a surf-garage EP when, searching for a name for his bedroom demo project, he looked to the Halloween theme for inspiration. 

“I was going to call it Black Cats but then I thought that was a bit um … [laughs] so I called it Black Bats, just this one surf-garage EP, then the name stuck and I’m stuck with it! It’s a terrible name!”

• melbourne
• Dave houston
• black bats
• stay dead
• cactus room

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R.I.P. Louis Tillett

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 August 2023

Hits: 6057

Singer-songwriter Louis Tillett has died in a Sydney hospital after lengthy health struggles, aged 63. The announcement was made online today, a week after his passing, by partner Rachael Slattery:

I am very sorry to have to pass on the news. One week ago Louis Tillett passed away. Jack and I were with him to the end. We thank Royal Prince Alfred and Concord Hospitals for allowing Jack and I to stay for days and weeks at a time leading up to his passing. 

Please remember him as he was, in the words of Hellen Rose, a Cheeky Druid. He brought joy to our pain, light to our darkness, and a good dose of mischief. I have gone to great lengths to make his Music available everywhere possible. I will leave links in the comments for you to find them. Louis has donated his body to Science. There will be no funeral as such. But please stay tuned for news about his Memorial.

Louis Tillett will be remembered as one of the most talented songwriters of the Australian underground scene of the 1980s and ‘90s. 

Tillett released nine studio albums and a live recording in a career that started in Sydney in 1977 with an experimental version of the Wet Taxis. That band finally coalesced as a more conventional ‘60s punk-influenced outfit in the mid-1980s and supported an Australian tour by Nico. 

• Citadel
• penny ikinger
• wet taxis
• charlie owen
• louis tillett
• hot records

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Vale Ron Peno, frontman for Died Pretty, The Darling Downs and The Superstitions

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By The Barman

The Barman

12 August 2023

Hits: 2561

_{Ron Peno with his most recent co-writer Cam Butler at his last Sydney show with The Superstitions in November 2022.}

Died Pretty, The Superstitions and Darling Downs frontman Ron Peno passed away at his Melbourne home on Friday night after a four-and-a-half-year fight against cancer. He was aged 68.

Died Pretty announced the news earlier today. The band’s statement reads:

With great sadness we announce the passing of our singer Ron S Peno who left us peacefully on Friday evening in the presence of his loving wife Charity and his son Zebadiah, at his home in South Yarra, Melbourne. 

For the last four-and a-half-years as he battled cancer, Ron displayed a resolute positivity and a profound depth of character that has proved inspirational to his fellow band members, manager and many friends. In the face of adversity he was towering.

• kim salmon
• died pretty
• ron peno
• screaming tribesmen
• cam butler
• the hellcats
• superstitions
• darling downs

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Ex-Lazy Cowgirl Pat Todd lands Oz album deal, heads down for a tour

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 August 2023

Hits: 3859

Resurgent Ausitralian label Dog Meat Records is thrilled and proud to release a new album by a resurgent rock 'n' roller and an old friend Pat Todd and his band The Rankoutsiders.

“Sons Of The City Ditch” is the seventh album by LA's finest rock'n'roll band and comes some 36 years after Dog Meat’s first dalliances with Pat, back when he fronted the legendary Lazy Cowgirls. 

The new album shows that Pat’s voice and songwriting have only gotten stronger, and that he's got another killer band behind him, one that mixes classic '70s punk rock roots with country, blues and rock'n'roll in a manner that sits somewhere between “Exile on Main Street” and “LAMF”.

Pat Todd will be touring Australia solo, in a double-bill with Mad Macka from The Cosmic Psychos and The Onyas in late 2023. Stay tuned for details.

The new album is highlighted, as usual, by Todd's fantastic songs. A prolific writer with an eye on life in the margins - whether they be in small towns or the big sprawling city he has called home for 40 years - Todd routinely hits the mark where youth and the advancement of age find common ground in alienation and wilfulness. 

• mad macka
• cosmic psychos
• los angeles
• pat todd
• rankoutsiders
• sons of the city ditch
• dog meat records

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Spoilt for choice as Spawn and Cable Ties weave magic

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

06 August 2023

Hits: 3032

Cable Ties 
at Max Watt’s, Melbourne
Spawn 
at The Catfish, Fitzroy, VIC
Friday, 4 August 2024

I missed the supports for the Cable Ties  (pictured right) album launch tonight at Max Watt’s, not because of any indifference on my part – Maggie Pills, Porpoise Spit and Our Carlson are all acts worthy of checking out  – but because I was waylaid at The Catfish in Fitzroy caught up in Spawn’s sprawling psychedelic journey. 

I first saw Spawn at the Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood in late 2020. Coming a few weeks after the Victorian Government had released the shackles of the second lockdown of that year, the gig was liberating, a timely reminder of the critical importance of live music to the contemporary social and economic fabric. 

The fact it was also a benefit for Spawn bass player Jewel De Gelder, who, tragically, would pass away a couple of years later, added a layer of poignancy. 

Spawn is a band rife for observation, analysis and cerebral contemplation. Come for the stoner-psych riffs and pot pouri of cultural influences, stay for the trip. The concept of a personal journey is caught somewhere between the cynical discourse of the corporate management industry and the slightly disconcerting hand-produced flyers advertising self-help retreats for members of the information class lost in a middle-class existentialist void. 

But when you’re at a Spawn gig, you’re swept up in a spiritual quest. Close your eyes, feel the mood, roll with the moment. Sabbath-strength riffs, a sitar wielded like a stoner-rock axe, an Eastern musico-cultural inflection that renders 60s raga-rock a cheap middle-class white boy imitation in comparison. As for Sarita McHarg’svocals, wow, that’s like nothing you’ve ever heard before, in this world at least. 

• melbourne
• live
• cable ties
• spawn
• all her plans

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