live

 
I missed the first band, but I’ve heard good things. I did catch The Pro Tools.

Led by the extraordinary Pete Howlett, ThePpro Tools hammer at you - they’re a lot of noisy, in-your-face fun; coupled with Howlett’s almost Dolls-esque behaviour.

“No-one flicks his hair with such elegant contempt as Johnny Thunders,” remarked fellow audience member Nazz Nassari tonight, in response to my observation that Howlett’s perfectly timed angry slash at his hair toward the end of their set expressed an eloquent contempt). I never saw Thunders, but Howlett has a sort of compressed loathing of his instrument, despite his dexterity and talent, as if somehow the instrument simply cannot do what Howlett wants it to. Therein lies part of the public persona/reality of the man.

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. 

Sydney’s premier cowpunks, Spurs for Jesus, are marking their 21^st year with a four-week run of free shows at regular haunt, The Botany View Hotel, in Newtown. Spurs will be spitting out three-sets on the first four Saturdays in October, from 5-8pm.

The gigs are going to be some of the last for guitarist Moose Morricone who’s moving to Queensland in December. Keen gig-goers may know his alter ego, Martin Martini, who used to grace the ranks of southern Sydney '80s faves The Trilobites.

Spurs have just released a split single with Deadwood 76 (reviewed here) and is rightly regarded as an iconic presence on the Sydney music scene.

I had this one marked on my calendar for months. On paper it doesn’t get much better – two of my all-time favorites on one bill at an excellent venue. And, Steve was planning an all Lou Reed set.

I realized when Lou died that I loved him more than anyone I had never met. When he went, it wasn’t like when I lost my parents or other loved ones, but I had never met Lou, not even at a book signing or anything. And when he died I really felt the loss.

During these past few weeks there has been a stream of classic 1977 UK punks band bands floating through, or announced to play in, Sin City, aka Sydney.  Names like Buzzcocks and The Stranglers have been something of a call-to-arms. And now a band that has less of a profile locally, Stiff Little Fingers, is playing.

Stiff Little Fingers emerged out of Belfast in 1977 as a bunch of teenagers playing in a punk band in a city with its soul ripped apart. It was a hard place but one that still had heart. Anyone who looks at news footage at the time knows Belfast was a warzone.

I remember a great uncle telling me first-hand stories of how brutal the city really was. Daily body searches by the English soldiers, ruthless gangs that murdered you for your religion and children that were bashed within an inch of their lives after school for walking down the wrong street.  Entrenched generational anger and hatred ran deep on both sides.

Influential first wave punk Stiff Little Fingers have announced Australian tour dates.

Formed in 1977 in Belfast, Ireland, Stiff Little Fingers were at the forefront of the punk movement with the likes of TheClash, the Sex Pistols,The Jam, Buzzcocks, Undertones, Sham69 and theStranglers.

They wrote initially about their own lives growing up at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. In November of '77, they released"Suspect Device"and"Wasted Life"on their own Rigid Digits label, and sent a copy to BBC Radio One DJJohn Peel - who started playing it every night.

These were the first of what became SLF's signature style: lyrics that meld the personal and political, music that combines the energy of punk with infectious hooks, and delivery that rings of honesty and commitment.

If the '90s and early '00s were the era of young folk aping the look of punk junkies (see Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the Twenteens will be remembered as the era of OI! BEARDFACE! YOU! FACE THE FUCKING AUDIENCE! You are PERFORMING! YOUR BACK DOES NOT PERFORM! YOU FUCKING TWAT!

Ex-Stooge Jimmy Recca (picured at the left in the 1971 photo) continues his return to stages on Friday with a gig at Empire club (formerly JAXX) in Springfield, Virginia, with plans for more US touring and a European visit.

Talks are underway to team Recca with confrontational vocalist Texas Terri and her band in Germany later this year, and a US tour is in the works for October with an ex-member of The Doughboys.

 Legendary garage rock icons The Mummies are almost certainly going to be making just two Australian appearances.

The Mummies play Max Watts (formerly the Hi Fi Bar) in Melbourne on Wednesday, March 9 with the mighty Mesa Cosa and Midnight Wolfe supporting. Tickets are available here. On March 13 they're billed to appear at Adelaide's Kustom Kulture Show. 

We're told that organisers will put on a Sydney date only if Melbourne doesn't sell - which seems highly unlikely - and there's no thought to playing anywhere else. 

Shayne Carter first emerged on the New Zealand rock scene in the ’80s with his high school punk band Bored Games and their “Who Colonel Mustard “ EP, which was one of the first releases on Flying Nun Records.

Part of the original “Dunedin Sound" scene, Carter went on to become a major player in the Flying Nun independent rock story as the singer-songwriter and guitarist in outfits such as Straitjacket Fits, Doublehappys and Dimmer. 

Carter is Melbourne-bound for three shows in February - hist first since 2016 when he and his band played a searing three-night residency at the Yarra.

Regarded as one of New Zealand’s greatest alternative rock figures, Carter has carved out a distinctive and innovative body of work that places him in the top pantheon of that country’s best songwriters.

His band Straitjacket Fits - a group that became well known to Australian audiences in the ‘90s - produced a blend of rock dissonance and melody that became hugely influential; predating both the shoe gazer movement and the angular rock of bands like Radiohead and others of a similar ilk that followed in Straitjacket Fits' wake. 

Seminal stars of the ‘70s Brit-punk movement The Stranglers are making their way to Australia in 2016, celebrating more than 40 years of raising hell.

Winding around Australia to all mainland capitals, The Stranglers will play hits and much loved tracks from their extensive back catalogue, from 1977's acclaimed debut “Rattus Norvegicus” through to 2012's return to form “Giants”.

Forming in 1974 in small-town England, The Stranglers are now revered as one of the most exciting, credible and influential bands to have emerged from the British punk scene. 

As far as The Stranglers go, he's the man who wrote the hits, sang the hits and played guitar on the hits. Hugh Cornwell was an integral member of the band until 1990, before carving out his own solo career.

Cornwell will grace Australasian audiences with his presence in May with a tour playing music from The Stranglers and his latest solo album "Monster". 

Expect "Golden Brown", "No More Heroes", "Strange Little Girl", "Always The Sun", "Nice And Sleazy", "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" and "Peaches" – the great songs that established the legend of The Stranglers - after a set of his own material with his crack UK band.

MAY  
1 - Christchurch – Churchills
2- Wellington – San Fran Bath House
3 - Auckland – Powerstation with The Murder Chord
4 - Brisbane – Triffid
5 - Adelaide – Gov
8 - Canberra – Basement
9 – Manning Bar with Little Murders 
10 - Melbourne – Max Watts
11 - Perth – Rosemount with The Painkillers 
Tickets on sale here

Comeback kings the Sunnyboys have announced a full-blown Aussie summer tour, along with deluxe releases of their second and third studio albums.

The 2015 tour will include shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide plus a slot at the Perth International Arts Festival, just the second Sunnyboys appearance in the W.A. capital since 1984.

Brisbane and Sydney will be treated to appearances by their former sparring partners, the Riptides. Other guests on the February tour include The New Christs (Melbourne and Sydney) young punks Bad // Dreems (Adelaide) and Dom Mariani's post-Stems vehicle DM3, in Perth.

_{Murray Bennett photo}

I set out this afternoon towards the Enmore Theatre with every intention of taking some notes, keeping a rundown of the songs, and trying to come up with the sort of review that some people actually get paid to write.

Unfortunately, this grand plan fell apart by the time I’d been at the Warren View Hotel for an hour and met 26 (yes, I counted them) people I knew and ended up in more shouts than it was feasible to manage. Coopers Red is a great beer but a lousy friend when you’re trying to make a plan come together.

By the time I got to Phoenix (or at least the Enmore) it was 7.15pm, the Shy Impostors had just come on stage, and I was carrying enough Red on board to ensure that an in-depth profound analysis of the gig was as unlikely as AC/DC inviting Dave Evans back into the fold. So you’ll have to put up with this instead.

Four years into their re-birth, Australian pop-rock champions the Sunnyboys are unleashing a live album on CD. “Best Seat In The House” was recorded at Enmore Theatre in March 2015 and will be released on February 27 through Feel Presents and Inertia.

You can read our live review here but rest assured that the band was in blistering form, playing with as much energy and vitality as they did in their first life more than 30 years ago.

Tracks include live favourites “Tunnel Of Love”, “I’m Shakin’” and “The Seeker” plus the hits “Happy Man”, “Show Me Some Discipline”, “You Need A Friend” and “Alone With You”.

Thirty-five years ago, Sydney's Sunnyboys released their eponymous debut LP. Containing the hit singles “Happy Man” and “Alone With You”, the album enraptured teenagers of the time (and generations to come) with an astute blend of hi-energy, pop hooks and brooding, longing wordplay.

In celebration of the album milestone and the premiere period from when it sprang, Sunnyboys will take to the stage in February 2017 for a handful of shows playing a set entirely derived from 1981; a set that will also include Sunnyboys, the album, performed in its entirety.

For Sydney fans there will be the added bonus of seeing Sunnyboys 1981 gigging partners Flaming Hands – featuring singer Julie Mostyn and songwriter Jeff Sullivan – performing their stripped back blend of ’60s style soul, R&B and psychedelia for first show since 1985!

Joining them on this momentous Sydney line-up will be legendary Sydney act Shy Impostors. Fronted by singer/songwriter Penny Ward and featuring the pre-Sunnyboys Peter Oxley and Richard Burgman alongside drummer Michael Charles, Shy Impostors existed for just nine months during 1979-80 and releasing one (great) record only; the posthumous “At The Barrier” single in 1981.

The Sunnyboys and Riptides show at Brisbane's Tivoli has completely sold-out. Due to this clearly overwhelming demand, both bands have agreed to a second Brisbane show, this time at the city's latest hot-spot, the all-new The Triffid, in Newstead on Thursday 12th March.

Tickets for this inspired pairing go on-sale on Friday from www.thetriffid.com.au or www.feelpresents.com and all OzTix outlets.

A heads-up that the Sunnyboys' February 2018 Australian tour is selling like wildfire with one Sydney gig (February 10) at Marrickville's Factory Theatre sold out in 36 hours, and tickets for a just-added extra date (February 9) now 85 percent gone.

Is it a surprise? No.

The fact is that the second all-oringal member incarnation of the Sunnyboys has now lasted longer than the band did in its first life. 

The time around, without the pressure of recording schedules and the demand for chart hits and with a mutual love and respect for the music they made, Sunnyboys can just do what they do best; play live. 

Joining the fun will be Sydney surf-punks The Celibate Rifles, who have carved out their own indelible history in the Australian music scene over a 35+ year period. The Rifles will join Sunnyboys for their first show on the Sunshine Coast since 1982; the Sunnyboys' first Brisbane performance since 2015, and most other dates.

Melbourne fun-punks Painters & Dockers, will join the rejuvenated Sunnyboys for a massive Melbourne Zoo performance.

Australia's iconic Sunnyboys love a party and they're inviting their fans to one on October 8 with a one-off gig in hometown Sydney.

Wednesday, October 8 at The Factory Theatre is where you'll need to be. It is a limited capacity event and tickets will sell fast.

To ensure your best chance to secure a ticket all you need do is sign up to the mailing list for promoters Feel Presents. The link is here. You'll receive an email on Friday, August 15 with the final ticketing details.

And so the return, and rise, of the Sunnyboys continues. If you said they could top this one, you’d need to back it up.

They billed themselves as Kids in Dust when they stepped back onto a stage for the first time in 21 years at the Dig It Up festival in Sydney on April 24, 2012. The nom de plume was supposedly to avoid performance anxiety or to ramp down expectations, maybe both. It didn’t matter; any tentativeness was swamped by a roomful of love.

Nor were there any misgivings in evidence at the same packed venue, the Enmore Theatre, last Saturday night. Just an irresistible king-tide of energy and good spirit.