When is a cover band not a cover band?

“Doing The Fall songs can often feel a bit like driving a juggernaut with no brakes, or falling down some stairs, pissed...” according to Ben Toft - one of the singers in The Fall tribute band,  The Look Back Bores.

So, no. It's not as easy as you think.

The Animals(and Friends) have just finished an encore tour of Australia with 83-year-old John Steel behind the kit and a well-seasoned group of younger English musicians, all steeped in r'n'b, boogie and so on. The band provides high quality entertainment, doing justice to a time and place that the participants can only remember but hazily.

^{Latter Day Saints: Chris Bailey (right) with drummer Peter Wilkinson and bassist Caspar Wijnberg, in Amsterdam in 2006. Elisabet Corlin photo.}

Here's some more news on long-rumoured posthumous recordings from late Saints singer Chris Bailey.

In an Instagram post today, Church Street Studios engineer Sean Carey flagged that the recent digital single, “Break Away”, comes from a forthcoming album, “Long March Through the Jazz Age", It is the first release of new material since Bailey's passing in 2022.

Recorded by Sean Carey in Church Street Studios, Sydney, Bailey is on vocals, guitar and bass and is aided by long term drummer, Pete Wilkinson and guest Davey Lane (You Am I) on guitar.

Guitarist extraordinaire Charlie Owen (Beasts of Bourbon, New Christs, Tex Don & Charlie, Paul Kelly, Working Class Ringos) is taking his “Searching For Charlie Owen” stories and song show on the road again in Australia in August and September, following last year’s run of sold-out gigs.

Presented by Soundpressing Records, I-94 Bar & Rhythms, the tour takes in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Part spoken word, part songs, "Searching for Charlie Owen" is an engorssing, emotional and illuminating journey through the ace guiatrist's back pages. Full dates and ticket link: 

Soundpressing, I-94 Bar & Rhythms present
Searching for Charlie Owen
Australian Tour
AUG
8 – Vinnies Dive, Gold Coast QLD
+ Dana Gehrman Duo
9 - Doo-bop Jazz Bar, Brisbane
+ Dana Gehrman Duo
10- The Citadel, Murwillumbah, NSW
+ Andrew Kidman
11 - Banshees Bar & Art Space, Ipswich, QLD (2pm)
+ Dana Gehrman Duo
16- Django Bar, Marrickville, NSW
+ Cam Butler + Peter Ross & The Sapphire
17 - Smiths Alternative, Canberra, ACT (8pm)
+ Cam Butler
30 - Wesley Anne, Northcote, VIC
+ Martin Frawley
31 - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, VIC
+ Martin Frawley
SEP
1 - George Lane, St Kilda, VIC (2:30pm)
+ Martin Frawley
Tickets
https://www.charlieowen.au/tour

Happy Hours Air Travel Club – O.C. Rippers (Ruined Records)

From what can be worked out their online footprint, OC Rippers are your typical punk rock band circa the 2020s: Feet firmly planted in their home turf (New Jersey), they’re not out to win friends or influence people and aren’t embarking on any world tours any day soon.

They’re not fussed being pigeon-holed because their influences are as varied as the quality of cocktails in a beer barn. They’re also realistic about their chances of hitting the heights because they’re aged (at a guess) in their 40s and not named Taylor.

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).

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.

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. 

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.