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booby traps

  • downtown3
    The Downtown 3 are (from left) Carrie Phillis, Craig Jackson, Scott Nash and Johnny Casino. Emmy Etie photo.

    During some lean times for rock and roll in Sydney, two staples of the live scene have been Johnny Casino & The Secrets and the Booby Traps. Casino (aka John Spittles) is a guitar toting veteran of hard-hitters Asteroid B612 and a variety of bands also much of his own making, The Secrets being the most durable (and essentially a two city collective with bases in Sydney and Melbourne) playing rootsy but righteous rock. The Booby Traps were a wonderful collision of fuzzy garage pop and girl group pizzaz, fronted by fetching songstress Carrie Phillis.

  • the hot sweets"Hello and Goodbye" is the debut album for The Hot Sweets, a short-lived Wollongong band that folded a couple of years ago. I’m here to tell you, there’s a lot to like about The Hot Sweets, particularly if melodic garage-rock/power pop be your thing.

    Yet that catch-all tag is only the tip of the iceberg. To better define The Hot Sweets sound you need to add in the following descriptors – likeable female vocals, melodic sensibilities, hard hitting riffs, infectious choruses and underscoring it all – pop hooks. For as I’ve written a zillion times, no matter what type of sound you are after, if a song don’t have a hook – it ain’t worth the paper it’s written on.

  • trade windsJohnny Casino albums are a treat for the converted and a revelation for those less fortunate. If you’re one of the latter, “Trade Winds” is as good a place as any to start.

    It’s been way too long between records for Johnny - both this album and its predecessor "Time and Time Again" are old recordings woodshedded for later release - but well worth the wait. The big fella from Sydney’s Northern Beaches makes Spain his home these days, where he plies his dual trades of tattooing and playing music.

    “Trade Winds” was recorded before he emigrated a couple of years ago with a crack band in North Fremantle, Western Australia. Drummer Warren Hall (The Volcanics, Datura 4, The Drones), a longtime Casino sideman, joined with Martyn P Casey (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds /The Triffids/Grinderman) played bass. That’s as fine an engine room as you’ll find. 



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The Living Eye


Right eye

"In The Zone"
CD Launch
The Mick Medew and Ursula 4
+ Lovejoy Surf
It's Still A Secret, South Brisbane
- Nov 16 (2pm)
Tickets

Kim Salmon’s Smoked Samon
How Did They Ever Manage Tour
NOV
3 - Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle (Free Entry)
9 - Merri Creek Tavern, Melbourne - Tix

Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
Victorian Tour
NOV
6 – PBS live to air
7 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC
7 - Shedshaker Taproom, Castlemaine, VIC 
8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC
9 – River Rocks, Barwon Club, Geelong
10 – St Kilda Bowls Club, St Kilda, VIC
11 – Last Chance Bar, Melbourne, VIC

Mucho Sonar
"Flight of The Bandito Tour"
NOV
8 - Hamilton Station Hotel  - Newcastle 
9 - Marrickville Bowlo - Sydney 
23 - Link n Pin - Woy Woy 

Hard-Ons' 40th Anniversary
Australian Tour Oct - Nov 2024
NOV
3 - Red Hill Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
4 - Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC
7 - Amplifier, Perth, WA
8 - Indian Ocean Hotel, Scarborough, WA
9 - Froth & Fury, Adelaide, SA
 Tickets

Los Chicos
Australian Tour 2024
NOV
3 - Red Hill Hotel, Chewton, VIC  (arvo)
w/ Hard-Ons - tix 
3 - St.Kilda Bowls Club, VIC (evening)
 w/ Private Function*
4 - Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy, VIC
w/ Mach Pelican * - tix   
8 - Marrickville Bowlo
w/ New Christs + Crankees * - tix 
9 - River Rocks, Barwon Club,
Geelong - tix   
10 - River Rocks Rehab, Barwon Club,
Geelong - tix 
* plus Human Toys (FR)

Buzzocks Australian Tour
OCT
25 - Brisbane - The Triffid
26 - Adelaide - The Gov
27 - Fremantle - Metropolis
31 - Newcastle - King St Bandroom
NOV
1 - Sydney - Metro Theatre
2 - Melb - Northcote Theatre
3 - Lorne - Lorne Theatre
4 – Castlemaine - Theatre Royal
Tix

Mark Steiner & His Problems
featuring Pavel Cingl
Australian Tour
NOV
21 - George Lane, St Kilda, VIC*
+ Kim Volkman (solo)
23 - Taproom at Shedshaker, Castlemaine, VIC
29 – Cave Inn, Brisbane, QLD
+ Mark’s Paranormal Disneyland
+ Socket
DEC
1 – Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide, SA
w/ special guest Romana Ashton
+ Brave Mistakes
2 – Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville, NSW
+ Simon & Graham of The Vandelles
4 – Brass Monkey, Cronulla. NSW
+ Simon & Graham of The Vandelles
6 – One Star Lounge & Gallery, Melbolurne, VIC
+ Rosie Westbrook
- 8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC*
+ Kim Volkman & The Whiskey Priests
+ JP Shilo
+ Julitha Ryan + Eden

Chimers Australian Tour
NOV
8 - Old Bar, Melbourne
w/ Bench Press + No Hoper
9 - River Rocks Festival, Barwon Club,
Geelong
10 - Poison City Records
in-store (afternoon)
20 - Freo Social, Fremantle
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
21 - Old Habits, Perth
w/ Spacerhead + Lounge Tourist
+ Ten Cent Tiger
23 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
SOLD OUT
24 - Sonic Sherpa in-store (afternoon)
w/ Kellie Lloyd (solo)
24 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
SOLD OUT
25 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
29 - Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
DEC
7 - Trocadero Room, Sydney
w/ Antenna + Cammy Cautious & the Wrestlers
+ The Sevilles
15 - The Tote, Melbourne
JAN
31 -  La La La’s, Wollongong
+ special guests

“Hotter Than Donut Grease Tour”
Grand Pricks
+ Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes
+ The Tall Stories
NOV
1 - Link & Piin, Woy Woy
2 - Stag & Hunter, Newcastle
3 - The Junkyard, Maitland
9 - Golden Barley, Enmore
29 - Orana Hotel, Blacksmiths
JAN
21 - Tamworth Hotel, Tamworth

The Saints ‘73-‘78
NOV
13 - Adelaide Hindley St. Music Hall
+ Double Agents
15 - Castlemaine Theatre Royal (SOLD OUT)
+ Parsnip
16 - Melbourne Northcote Theatre (SOLD OUT)
+ The Double Agents
17 - Melbourne Northcote Theatre 
+ Alien Nosejob
20 - Fremantle Freo Social 
+ Chimers
22 - Sydney, Enmore Theatre
+ Kim Salmon & The Surrealists
23 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre (SOLD OUT)
+ Chimers 
24 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Chimers
25 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Chimers
27 - Hobert, Odeon Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Liquid Nails
29 -  Thirroul, Anitas Theatre *NEW SHOW*
30 - Byron Bay, The Green Room *NEW SHOW*
Tickets

“Pig Out On Punk #2”
I Hate People
+ The Owen Guns
+ Nunchukka Superfly
+ Flowers For Jayne
+ The Dark Clouds
+ The Pingers
Marrickville Bowlo, NSW
- Dec 14

The Stranglers
50 Years In Black  
2025 Australasian Tour
MAR
NZ
13 - Powerstation, Auckland
15 - Meow Nui, Wellington
16 - Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch 
AUS
19 - Enmore Theatre, Sydney
20 - The Tivoli, Brisbane
22- Forum, Melbourne
23 - The Gov, Adelaide
25 - Astor Theatre, Perth
Tickets

 

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