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pinkflag

  • pink flagCertainly the deluxe edition re-issues are part of their time. Can't help that.

    You know what they say of the younger fans of Green Day, on the occasion of their first listen to The Clash? "Golly, they sound just like Green Day!"...

    One of the weirder things is revisiting old men's records and realising that their leaps forward 40-odd years ago did the spade-work for mega-selling buttonhead bands by the hundred. I mean, come on. The late '80s and mid-'90s Britpop thing owes a huge debt to Wire.

    What is astonishing here, apart from the vibrant inyerfaceness of the pre-"Pink Flag" demos (recorded between May and August 1977), is that, like The Buzzcocks and The Clash, or Siouxsie and the Banshees around this time, how broadly creative Wire were over such a short space of time. Like The Clash and the Banshees, Wire were part of the punk burst, but didn't rely on its DNA.

  • mind hiveMind Hive - Wire (Pinkflag)
    10.20 - Wire (Pinkflag)

    First to the Rolling Rock ratings: "Mind Hive" gets a mighty seven bottles, and "10.20", six out of a possible five each... That's because I'm being stingy. Both these new Wire albums are series of pieces you simply play over and over. Then return to.

    The only comparison I'll make today is that "Mind Hive" reminds me of Hugo Race's recent "Starbirth" - both seem compelled to take a long, personal view of where we are and, with mesmeric power and grace, both give us a view refracted from the apparently oblivious mainstream. We're in a state of flux, with numbed and shaved antennae.

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The Living Eye


Right eye

I-94 Bar presents
Psychotic Turnbuckles 
“40 Years Undefeated”
+ Starcrazy + The Vibrajets
The Tote, Melbourne
- June 29
Tix
+ The Fadeaways (JPN)
+ Bahne Super-Flex 
+ The Strike-Outs
The Crowbar, Sydney
- July 13
Tix
+ The Dangermen
+ The Busymen
The Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
- Sept 7
Tix


Radio Birdman
“Birdman 5-O!”
JUNE
28 – The Triffid, Brisbane SOLD OUT
29 – The Triffid, Brisbane SOLD OUT
+ HITS
JULY
5 – Manning Bar, Sydney  SOLD OUT
6 – Manning Bar, Sydney  SOLD OUT
7 – Manning Bar, Sydney SOLD OUT
+ Hard-Ons

The Fadeaways
Australian Tour
JULY
Thu 11- Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine. VIC
Fri 12 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC
Sat 13 – The Crowbar, Leichhardt, NSW
(w/ Psychotic Turnbuckles) 
Sun 14 – MoshPit Bar, Enmore, NSW
(+ Jupiter 5)

The Stems
40th Anniversary Australian Tour
AUG
+ The Prize
23 - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine. VIC
+ The Prize
24 – Corner Hotel, Melbourne
+ Romana Ashton & The Reeds
25 – The Gov, Adelaide
+ Ups & Downs
30 – Mansfield Tavern, Brisbane
+ New Christs
31 – Manning Bar, Sydney
SEP 
+ The Rhinehearts
+ Vancool
5 – Freo Social, Fremantle
Tickets here

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

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 
Tickets

 

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