powerline sneakers

It's double A-sided goodness from two of Australia’s best rock and roll bands, issued as a split-single to mark their shows together in Brisbane this weekend.

Melbourne’s Powerline Sneakers contribute “Miles of Love”, a harder-than-diamonds snarler from their “disasterpiece” long-player. Sly Faulkner’s soulful plea for his other half to come back is pitched against a background of his and John Nolan’s muscular guitars snaking in and out of each other’s pathways. Its lingering feedback outro is a signal to play it again.

Some Jerks have won a rep as Brisbane’s premier “surf garage rock” trio to see and “Star” is what you’d expect on the back of their “Strange Ways” LP. It sounds very ‘90s college radio (in a good way) without any false production veneer. It has an ethereal vocal and slinky bass-line from band-leader Vicki Watson and enough collective energy to light up the old Lang Park.

It’s the usual Buttercup deal (colour inserts, limited hand-numbered edition, this time just 300 copies.) Get it at the shows or drop the label a line.

Powerline Sneakers and Some Jerks play the Bearded Lady in Brisbane with Slumlawwd on Friday, August 31. Buy tickets here because Some Jerks shows there always sell out. Powerline Sneakers play an in-store at Sherpa Records in Brisbane on September 1.

There’s a beautiful, sleazy rock and roll feel to “…disasterpiece” that’s refreshingly hard to pin down. From the rumbling and seedy “Dream Feature” to the girl-group-on-steroids swagger of “Don’t Shit Me Now”, and even more Spectoresque glow of “Spectre” (ha!), it’s an avalanche of hard-boiled hard Rock Action.

That Powerline Sneakers rock like motherfuckers should come as no surprise, given the pedigree of the players. Lead guitarist John Nolan was in the Powder Monkeys and Bored!. Sly Faulkner, on vocals and guitar, fronted the Splatterheads, who were well regarded even if I never got into ‘em. Bassist Katie Dixon was in Ripe and Mark Hurst pounded the tubs for The Yes-Men and Gutternsipes.

Top Ten, in alphabetical order:

Datura4 @ Cherry Bar, Melbourne:
Holy moly, what an amazing show!! Twin guitar action plus rock'n'roll swagger.

Golden Rail -“Electric Trails From Nowhere" album:
Sweet jangle pop, includes the hit single "Oh My".

Grinding Eyes “self titled“ album:
Hi-fi heavy psych, reminds me of Motocaster.

Los Tones - “What Happened" album:
I love the haunting-garage sound of this record.

My top 10 albums for 2017 - and a cheeky top 5 EPs chucked in there, too.

Albums:
Control Freaks - "Mindless Entertainment"
Powerline Sneakers - "Disasterpiece"
Hana & Jessie Lee’s Bad Habits - "Southlands"
Meatbeaters - "Wrong Side Of Yesterday"
Sheer Mag - "Need To Feel Your Love"
Cyanide Pills - "Sliced & Diced"
The Hormones - "Legendary Junk"
Stiff Richards - "S/T"
The Molting Vultures - "Crowd Surfing With The Molting Vultures"
The Uglies - "Keeping Up With The Uglies"

EPs:
Control Freaks - "Don’t Mess With Jessica"
Les Lullies - "Don’t Look Twice"
The Cavemen - "Dog On A Chain"
Control Freaks - "No Action"
The Fadeaways - "Kicks & Chicks"

Juliette Seizure & The Tremor Dolls on Facebook

1. The Sunnyboys / The Flaming Hands / The Shy Imposters - Enmore Theatre
2. Descent into the Maelstrom : The untold story of Radio Birdman
3. 

4. Son Volt - Factory Theatre
5. Steve Earle - So You Wannabe An Outlaw CDLP
6. Tift Merritt - Stitch of the World CDLP
7. Lindi Ortega - "Til the goin' gets gone" EP
8. Ghost on The Highway : A Portrait of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club
9. Beware of Mr. Baker (Ginger Baker documentary)
10. (Far from) honorary mentions - 
- The Phringe Dwellers - recording new stuff with current line-up
- Dave Favours and The Roadside Ashes - releasing and launching 7" single + recording songs for vinyl LP
- Releasing my solo CD #4 "From Beth to Evie"

_{The Celebrity Roadie informs The Barman that he can't go out in public like that. As usual, he's ignored. Kyleigh Pitcher photo.}

This is a Top Ten of two parts. First, live gigs, and second, albums. You know. Second part, different from the first.The rule of not reviewing my own gigs goes right out the door from the get-go. Got an issue with that? See you in the carpark...

Chris Masuak and the Sydney City Wave Riders:
This was a sensational run of shows- a mini-tour in and around Sydney because that’s all that time allowed - by Klondike and his crack band of Tony Bambach (bass) and Stuart Wilson (drums). Great players, top blokes. Armed with a killer setlist drawing on most of Chris’s back catalogue, the guys fired from the get go. Many of the versions surpassed the originals with Maz playing two guitar parts, as few people can. The shows blew away much of the skullduggery and malakarey involved with certain ghosts from the recent past.

HITS at Marrickville Bowlo
You can’t keep playing the same old songs or you’ll get staid and there’s no sign of HITS doing that just yet. Members are now scattered the length of the East Coast so it can’t be easy getting together…or maybe that’s a blessing in disguise because it keeps things fresh. They continue to be THE Aussie band to follow.

_{The Powerline Sneakers at The Day By The Green. Noni Dowling photo.} 

Well hello fellow I-94 Bar abusers! I took my skinny white bum down to Melbourne on the Friday morning – a 5am bus from the Farmhouse here in Dimboola, only a lazy 1000ks there and back - but folks, if they rock, I will travel. And A Day by the Green, the next day, was well worth it. Some call this long-running mini-festival “a day on the green”…well, it is held in St Kilda, after all.

They had a fabulous line-up, led by Melbourne rock royalty in John Nolan (ex- Powder Monkeys), in his most awesome band, The Powerline Sneakers. Also on the bill: River of Snakes, The Pro Tools, Seedy Jeezus , Cold Harbour, The Fiction, Me Graines and a couple of other bands that I missed (my bad.) I’ll be early next time.

SO FUCK DID IT RAIN. LET’S JUST GET THAT OUT OF THE WAY. Inside the dry setting of The St Kilda Sports Club, there were about 150 punters there when I made my grand entrance. No-one noticed, of course, because The Me Graines were pumping out a fine set of tunes, with a new drummer and a couple of well-chosen covers. They were right on the money - a $20 entry fee – and I got my money’s worth right there. And it’s only gonna get better.

One of Australia's most soulful rock and roll bands, Leadfinger, is unleashing its new album “Friday Night Heroes”. The Sydney leg of the launch tour is at The Factory Floor in Marrickville on July 15...which, fittingly, is a Friday night.

Leadfinger's fifth album was recorded in mid to late 2015 at Sydney’s Linear Recording with Wade Keighran (Wolf & Cub, Steve Smyth Band) behind the controls. It is out now on vinyl, CD and digital through Conquest of Noise Records. 

Supports for the Sydney launch will be Melbourne band Powerline Sneakers making their first trip to the Harbour City and Newcastle’s Rangers of the Universe. 

Powerline Sneakers feature Sly Faulkner (Splatterheads) on vocals and John Nolan (ex-Powder Monkeys) on guitar, Katie Dixon (ex-Ripe) and Mark Hurst (Guttersnipes/Yes Men) on drums. 

Rangers of the Universe is a new band featuring Scott Nash (ex Asteroid B-612/Carrie Phillis & the Downtown 3) and Jason Maljers (ex-Jim Cobain) on guitar.

Tickets can be procured here.

Here’s your first taste of the looming release by Melbourne’s Powerline Sneakers, whose album will be out early this year on Kasumen Records.

The band features ex Powdermonkeys guitarist John Nolan, with Sly Faulkner (guitar-vocals), Katie Dixon (bass, ex-Ripe) and Mark Hurst (drums, Gutternsipes.) Powerline Sneakers recorded their album with Paul Maybury (Rocket Science) and mastered it with Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring). More news as it comes to hand.

It’s said every great CD release deserves to come out on vinyl and the folks at Buttercup Records have been listening.

They’ve obliged by making Melbourne band Powerline Sneakers’ wonderful “disasterpiece” album, originally issued by Kasumuen Records on CD only, available on wax.

“disasterpiece” was one of The Barman’s choices in his 2017 Top Ten and it was easy to hear why. Gritty, hooky and raucous tunes from veteran survivors of bands like Powder Monkeys, Splatterheads and Ripe, it’s spent lots of time in the CD player and is reviewed here.

Limited to 300 hand-numbered copies on vinyl, it’s the usual bang-up Buttercup job - three colour variants, spectacular new artwork by Glenn Smith, double-sided insert and download card. Follow this link to order a copy before they're gone. 

Melbourne’s Baby 8 has delivered a smashing album full of songs about drinking, drugging and horrific nights out. It cuts straight to the bone. No love songs here, folks; just pure “boobs-to-the-wall” rock ‘n’ roll with some punk-pop thrown in.

“We Hate Each Other But We Hate You More” just kicks from the first track, “Nights Want to Kill“, which is the single. And what a cracker song it is.

Rachel Lendvay (vocals) shines throughout. Katie Dixon (Powder Line Sneakers) on guitar, Maureen Gearon (NQR) on bass with Matty Whittle (ex-GOD) on drums round out this powerful rock band.