Vi-Nil retrospective casts a different light on Sydney's underground heyday

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 August 2022

Hits: 3845

Indie Sounds From The Harbour City (1983-87) – Various Artists (Vi-Nil Records)

The Vi-Nil label lurched into life in 1983 with The Klerks and spawned more notable offspring such as the Hard-Ons and the Psychotic Turnbuckles before winding down at the end of the decade. This collection marks the label’s re-birth, and features a representative selection of its first era stable.

There are 20 tracks and it’s a diverse output, ranging from power-pop to acid punk and back to new wave and garage rock. Vi-Nil’s release of “Sockman” by the Lipstick Killers was my introduction to the label and to these ears it still epitomises the frenzied attack of the first era line-up.

• hard-ons
• psychotic turnbuckles
• lipstick killers
• conspirators
• labradogs
• the klerks
• the 22s
• stig can't clap

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An offer you can't refuse

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By By J.D. STAYFREE President of the USA! USA! Desert Southwest Godfathers Fan Club

By J.D. STAYFREE President of the USA! USA! Desert Southwest Godfathers Fan Club

02 August 2022

Hits: 2893

Alpha Beta Gamma Delta – The Godfathers (Cargo Records)

Whenever the one and only Peter Coyne switches up the roll call of the long loved Godfathers institution, the fans always fret momentarily and then the front doors get kicked in and here they come again, guns blazing, in full color and better than ever.

I did not know they could possibly be this good and do it again, but here they are still gigantic fucking towering monuments of Real Rock ‘n’ Roll, ya know ever since the Sid Presley days this lot has been as influenced by gorgeous, chiming, classic hit melodies from the golden age of pre-Pepper Beatles, as they have by the snarling rebel roar of the pissed-off Pistols, they still have all that in their sound, and they still write songs that are just unbelievably stick in your skull catchy, hand tailored for rock ‘n’ roll radios, if such a thing exists.

• peter coyne
• the godfathers
• Alpha Beta Gamma Delta
• cargo records

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Sydney mods Division 4 return with "Let Her Go"

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 July 2022

Hits: 2942

It’s 40 years since Sydney mod band Division 4 released their “On The Beat” EP, and to celebrate they have got together to record a new single “Let Her Go”.Division 4 are Kieren Fitzpatrick (ex-Love Minus Zero) on guitar and vocals, Brad Fitzpatrick (ex-Bam Balams, Gigantic and Rob Younger’s ‘60s band Nanker Phelge) on lead guitar, Mark Jago (ex-Stig Can’t Clap) on bass and vocals, and David Rowley (ex-Jump Vision and Watusi Now) on drums who replaces original drummer Joe Genoa. The new single was written by Kieren and Mark. Mark also mixed and produced the song and directed and edited the video.

• mod
• sydney
• division 4
• let her go

Pursuing redemption as a hornet's nest is kicked

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By Bob Short

Bob Short

26 July 2022

Hits: 4034

Faith and Practice in Bedlam
By Chris Masuak
(High Voltage)

The rock and roll biography, usually ghost written within an inch of near life, seldom rises above the squalor of tabloids in terms of literary merit. A chronological narrative structure occasionally framed as a flashback is as good as it gets.

Think of sports biographies with guitars.

Unsurprisingly, reviews of Chris Masuak's new book have been thin on the ground. Firstly, because the book will probably upset his old band mates and their wrath has become legendary.

Secondly, I suspect, because - like its author - this book is quite the odd duck.

When confronted by the unusual, most pundits wait for someone else's opinion before voicing their own. Especially when they don't want to miss out on the chance of potential support slots.

• hitmen
• radio birdman
• screaming tribesmen
• chris masuak
• faith and practice in bedlam

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Affirmation of life

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By The Barman

The Barman

25 July 2022

Hits: 3390

A Fire of Life – The Stooges (Easy Action)

Pertinent Question: Who else but Easy Action would have issued this and shown such a high degree of care? The Stooges are no more. Every listenable recording of the band during any of its phases surely has been exhumed and put into the marketplace by now.

Incorrect.

“A Fire of Life” is the Pop-Asheton-Asheton-Watt-Mackay Stooges at the height of their reformation powers.

The first half combines broadcast quality sets from Sydney (2006) and New Orleans (2003) while the second act is audio of a pay-for-view, live-in-the-studio 2007 set, showcasing one song from “The Weirdness” with five re-recorded classics. It’s rounded off with an in-store appearance by Iggy, Rock and Ron at Newbury Comics in Minnesota in 2003.

• iggy pop
• stooges
• steve mackay
• scott asheton
• ron asheton
• mike watt
• henry rollins
• a fire of life
• sydney big day out
• bdo

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This tale of London's rock and roll underworld is a gas gas gas

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

21 July 2022

Hits: 2888

Jumpin' Jack Flash. David Litvinoff and the Rock'n'Roll Underworld
by Kieron Pim (Penguin Books)

Who? Exactly. Except, here's a character who knew (to his cost) the Kray brothers (and many of their associates), introduced a very stoned Richard Clapton to The Queen Mum, and pretty much was the writer/inspiration for that enigmatic, brutal film “Performance” (starring Mick Jagger - he was in with the Stones as well).

Oh, and he had a very nasty spat with artist Lucian Freud too, which appears to have been the cause of his facial scars - on either side of his mouth, like Hugo's “The Man Who Laughed”.

David Litvinoff. Half-brother of Emanuel Litvinoff (who famously read a poem calling out Eliot's pre-WW2 anti-semite poetry - at a gathering at which Eliot was present), thief, shoplifter, gangster, thug, procurer, fantasist, culture influencer, prankster and fascinator par excellence.

Keiron Pim has gone tumbling down and impossible historical rabbit-hole, “where wet lamplight glistened on the wet pavement as snowflakes met their swirling shadows ... unnoticed when I slipped cross-current through a crowd, they rhythm of footsteps inculcating the notion that I was floating”.

• london
• mick jagger
• david livintof
• jumpin' jack flash
• keiron pin

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Pure gold is calling

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By Ron Brown

Ron Brown

21 July 2022

Hits: 3328

Love is Calling - Mick Medew and Ursula (I-94 Bar Records)

Two years of lockdown were not wasted by Mick Medew and Ursula Collie-Medew. Besides getting married, they also managed to entertain every second Sunday with their live lockdown streaming gigs.

The streaming shows were wonderfully received, with Mick playing some classic songs from his back catalogue with the Screaming Tribesmen and others, plus new tunes, and Ursula sitting in on keyboards on a few. When words reached The Farmhouse that Mick and Ursula were releasing a new CD of songs written over lockdown, I for one was excited to hear how these tunes would sound with full production.

And it’s pure gold, folks.

• mesmerisers
• i-94 bar records
• screaming tribesmen
• mick medew
• ursula
• love is calling

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LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF

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By General Labor

General Labor

19 July 2022

Hits: 4276

_{Brass Knuckle Evangelists}

MASS EVICTIONS, FREE SPEECH RESTRICTIONS, SURVEILLANCE TECHLORDS CENSORING THE INTERNET, POOR FOLKS WHO DON'T REALLY GET A VOTE WITH ZERO GENUINE REPRESENTATION, CLAMPDOWNS, CURFEWS, GAS HIKES, & LAWS AGAINST PROTEST! (-GUTTER GOSPEL: Fitness, Health, And Beauty Pro Tips with your host, GENERAL LABOR!!!) 

He came down
Like a star tonight
He's was in love
With his lonely life
With his pick-up girls
He's a switchblade knife
No one loves him
But he takes it alrightHeavens inside, Somewhere
Heavens inside, Somewhere
Heavens inside, Somewhere
Let it out, Let it out, Let it out  - Generation X

For a population that never fully recovered from capitalist crisis of 2008, the mismanagement of pandemic and now the shifting of the burden of the Ukrainian war onto the backs of the working class with higher food, energy and inflation, has deepened legitimation crisis. And what is response from democrats? Vote for us and we will reverse Roe v Wade! - Ajamu Baraka

SHITLIBS ARE CANCELLING ELVIS, BAMBOOZLED BY BULLSHIT MEDIA, BURNING KENNEDY'S BOOK, FORGETTING ANITA HILL

It was always a joke of a lie when shitlib red carpet celebrities insisted they could "push Biden to the left", as he's got a 50-year long record of being a right wing conservative stooge for empire, an empty blue suit robot, and a fierce tool of the racist police state who helped write the Crime Bill & Patriot Act.

The stories about his crooked kid having ties to shady going-ons in the Ukraine with secret labs and crony capitalist oil promotions, drugs and hookers, and a coup army of proxy war mercenaries mighta been branded fake news by the Big 5 monopoly Fake News but Aaron Mate', Glenn Greenwald, and many others have proven AND CONFIRMED it was all true.

• generation x
• joe strummer
• elvis presley
• general labor
• brass knuckle evangelists
• brian smith
• the beat angels
• angels in vain
• scarlet rowe

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London calling

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 July 2022

Hits: 2974

The London Sessions – Iggy & The Stooges (Easy Action)

This is something for the Stooges obsessives rather than newbies looking for an entry point. But if the newbies take the plunge, is that going to ber such a bad thing? This is s a double-seven-inch pack of five songs from the 1972 pre-production and recording sessions for “Raw Power”, none of which made it to the album in these versions, and all celebrated in true Easy Action style.

There’s plenty you won’t have heard here even if you have the Easy Action “Heavy Liquid” box set. In fact, only one of these versions ("I Got A Right") has been offcially rleleased; “Tight Pants” is a Scotty and James instrumental run-through of what would become “Shake Appeal”. “Gimme Danger” is an early version of the album track that still resonates.

• raw power
• iggy & the stooges
• iggy and the stooges
• london sessions

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