ron peno

_{Backstage at the Festival of Sue with (from left) BILLY POMMER JR, CLYDE BRAMLEY and ROB YOUNGER. EMMY ETIE photo.}

GIGS

GUADALUPE PLATA (Donostia, Basque Country)
GUADALUPE PLATA are an innovative 3 piece comprising (1) vocals and guitar (2) washtub bass/guitar and (3) drums. The play an eclectic and exotic mix of rock, blues, jazz and rockabilly. I saw them perform live after my solo show in Donostia, Basque Country this year. Pedro’s guitar playing reminded me of my own, at times, demented approach to guitar playing.

KELLEY STOLZ, (Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco).
KELLEY STOLZ is a singer, songwriter, musician from the USA. His music has been compared to that of BRIAN WILSON, VELVET UNDERGROUND, NICK DRAKE and LEONARD COHEN. He played an awesome show with SARAH BETHE NELSON as support. Kelley is an all- rounder – a singer, musician and song writer. The real deal.

“A FESTIVAL OF SUE: THE JDS ARE ON YOU” (The Factory Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney)
Friends of SUE TELFER banded together to pay tribute to this much-loved Sydney lady with proceeds going to Support Act. A line-up that included myself (with special guest BILLY POMMER JNR on drums), X, the NEW CHRISTS, THE JOHNNYS, KIM SALMON, THE CRUEL SEA (instrumental), FRONT END LOADER, THE MIS-MADE, THE HOLY SOUL, & THE ON AND ONS. Having BILLY POMMER JNR on drums certainly gave me a run for my money. Highlights for me included the NEW CHRISTS, THE CRUEL SEA, THE JOHNNYS and X. Unfortunately, I did not get to see all the acts. Too busy chatting with my friends. It was such a great turn out from Sydney folks! After my trip into the city, seeing so many old buildings torn down (which caused me a lot of distress), it was great to see that Sydney folks still have a heart – a very big heart!

In no special order:

1. The Damned at The Triffid, Brisbane, March 15
A school night: Wednesday. The Mesmerisers go on at 7.30pm to a packed house. We carve, the crowd makes us feel like they are there to see us. The Damned 's tour manager remarks that he has never encountered a support band being granted a bottle of Gordon's gin as part of their drink rider: another milestone ticked.

The Damned play for two-and-a-half hours - brilliantly. They are a big hit with the audience - and with Captain Sensible back in the band, they could hardly miss.

2. Perfect Match
Now I do know where she comes from: Banyo. I’ve got a Date with a Banyo girl, tonight.

3. Died Pretty, Radio Birdman and The Mesmerisers at The Tivoli Theatre, Brisbane, June 23
The crowd have all turned up early and turn on to us straight away. Died Pretty get better every time I see them. They always were a fantastic band.

4. Perfect Purchase
My Zoom H5 portable recording device does everything i wanted it to.

5. Gap Farmers Markets, Brisbane, June 25
Andrew Ross and Co sure know how to put on a festival . We go on before dusk. I wear my sunglasses for half the set. Michael again chooses the right shirt for the occasion.

Died Pretty has reluctantly cancelled its run of Australian shows in October due to health concerns for band members Ron Peno and Chris Welsh. In a statement on Facebook an hour ago, the band said:

It's been three years since Died Pretty last played on an Australian stage - as part of the Dig It Up concert series - and the same classic lineup of Ron Peno (vocals), Brett Myers (guitar), John Hoey (keyboards), Chris Welsh (drums) and Steve Clark (bass) has announced two sideshows as part of their partcipation in the A Day On The Green dates in March.

This will be a rare opportunity to see the band perform a selection of their most loved songs in an intimate club setting. Supports are to be announced soon.

Friday 4th March, 2016 
The Factory,Sydney NSW
Tix:Ticketek and SABO

Friday 18th March, 2016 
Max Watts (formerly The Hifi), Melbourne VIC
Tix:Oztix.com.auandTicketscout

Ron Peno, Died Pretty frontman and leader of his own band The Superstitions, has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment in Melbourne.

Died Pretty was scheduled to play festival shows with Bryan Ferry and two gigs of their own in Australia this month. Died Pretty's management announced Ron's diagnosis via their Facebook page:

Died Pretty Management sadly advises that due to ill health all upcoming Died Pretty shows have been cancelled. Ron has been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and will be commencing immediate treatment. Please direct any messages of support via this Facebook page and they will be forwarded to Ron. We know everyone will be hoping for Ron's speedy recovery.

You can send messages to Ron here.

There’s good news on the medical front for Died Pretty frontman Ron Peno, who has been fighting his own battle with cancer. The band posted a message on Facebook earlier today, indicating that the much-loved singer is on a long road to full recovery:

The program of radio and chemotherapy was successfully completed. Shortly afterwards Ron was operated on to remove the tumour in his oesophagus. The doctors have reported the procedure was completed successfully and they are confident that he will make a full recovery. The operation itself however was a major undertaking (lasting over six hours) and Ron will take an extended period to recover physically.

The good news is that the medical staff are confident that all the cancer has been removed from his body. Naturally there will be extended monitoring of the situation but this is the best possible outcome and we are very grateful for the wonderful job all the medical staff involved have done! We thank everyone for their amazing support and all of the messages of love and positivity.

It really is a Blue Sky Day. From the Good News Department comes this:

Much-loved Died Pretty frontman Ron Peno is returning to live performance after successful treatment for cancer.

Ron and his solo band, The Superstitions, will play their first show since January at Memo Music Hall in Melbourne on Friday December 6.

Friends of Died Pretty drummer Chris Welshhave launched a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for treatment for lung cancer.

Welsh, who lives and works in rural Thailand, has flown to Australia for treatment ahead of a series of shows with Died Pretty in October.

The band’s singer, Ron Peno, is still undergoing medical treatment after a diagnosis of esophageal cancer in February 2019.

Says fundraiser organiser and former bandmate Robbie Warren: “Chris's extraordinary talent has helped to make Died Pretty the iconic band we all know and love. Unfortunately, Chris has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer, throwing his world and his loved ones into turmoil.

“Right now, Chris needs our support more than ever. Having dropped everything to return to Australia for urgent treatment, his initial lung cancer diagnosis lacks a biopsy leaving him very uncertain about the extent of the cancer.

“Chris is too humble to ask for help, so this fundraiser has been put together for us all to rally together and show our unwavering love and solidarity.”

Donate here.

Died Pretty Live – Died Pretty (Citadel)

Live albums were things a band pulled out of its collective arse when members were short on ideas and had “contractual obligations” to a label. These days, they’re a  quaint anachronism in a market that treats digital singles as a currency.

The only contractual obligation Died Pretty has these days is keeping their record label boss and manager, John Needham,in the lifestyle to which he is accustomed (that's a joke, John), so a live recording of a February 2008 performance of the cross-over album “Doughboy Hollow” at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre is probably of interest only to diehard fans.

Guilty as charged but thousands of others will take the same plea.

“Someday soon, will you tell us when it’s time to play for you?” asks iconoclastic Australian music legend Ron S. Peno, towards the nd of “See You When I’m Looking At You”, the nearly nine-minute long "chain" song from Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission and friendsand released this week. 

It’s a question that many artists hope will soon be answered, and one of many telling moments in an epic song, sung and worded by a cross-generational selection of some of Australia’s finest singer-songwriters in COVID-19 isolation.

Conceived by Thomas – the ARIA-winning singer-songwriter of Weddings Parties Anything – in April, “See You When I’m Looking At You” began life when Mick wrote a verse and a chorus while isolating in his Melbourne backyard.

Copies of these four songs have been circulating for years and two have surfaced on compilations. The balance were re-recorded by members’ subsequent bands. But don’t kid yourself that you don’t need this vinyl only 12-inch EP.

The 31st started when future members of Died Pretty (Ron Peno and Chris Welsh), the Screaming Tribesmen (MIck Medew) and the Hitmen/New Christs/Screaming Tribesmen (Tony Robertson) started playing shows in a strip club and anywhere else that would have them. Evidently, they played no one style of music - which must have been confusing for the Brisbane punks, boogie-heads and blues fans to pin a tail on.

The 31st were a future supergroup before those things were called that in Australia. They kicked around the undergrowth of Brisbane’s downtrodden music scene in the early 1980s, and fell to pieces before anyone outside of it saw or heard them.

Future Hoodoo Guru Brad Shepherd was to briefly become a member although he's not on these recordings. 

Lovegrinder The Album – Lovegrinder (self released)

There’s a popular theory - perpetuated by a few fans of Junkie Rock from Australia’s southern state's capital city – that the so-called salad days of Sydney underground rock and roll were a farrago based on an overdose of second-rate Radio Birdman copyists. 

Call it a typically defensive Sydney response but while the "Detroit" handle became a tag of convenience, most of the Harbour City’s bands of the 1980s/early ‘90s had tenuous musical links to the Birdmen. There was a handful of short-lived clones, but for the vast majority it was the energy and undeniable fuck-you-we’ll-do-what-we-want attitude of the Radios that were the hand-me-downs, and not their unique, impossible to replicate mutated musical mix.

Which brings us to Lovegrinder, yet another in the long line of Sydney bands that never progressed higher than the lower support rungs of the very crowded local live scene ladder. Not that there’s any great shame in that. For many, headlining the Tivoli or Selina’s wasn’t the goal because they had no interest in being on the rosters of the omnipotent Dirty Pool, Nuclear or Harbour booking agencies. Playing music was more about knocking around with their mates, consuming beers (or something illicit) and having a good time.

1. R.I.P Ron Peno and Louis Tillett
To start on a sad note we lost Two of our greatest vocalist/Front men within days of each other in August last year - Louis Tillett and Ron Peno.

I don't have any of Louis Tillett’s albums apart from The Wet Taxis’ “From The Archives” record, but had seen his live performances lots of times over the years.  Of course, there were his legendary shows with Paris Green during their residency at The Sandringham Hotel in Newtown in the late '80's, and I recall seeing him solo on piano at Bar Broadway in the early '90s.  The last performance I saw him was at The Factory Theatre which I think was one of his last gigs.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all and thank for your support throughout another year.  Things right across the board have been slower and less frequent although there are still many good things to report.

1. In March Ursula and I began recording out first full length album together.
It is due for release early March 2022 on I-94 Bar Records.

2. April 25 – Died Pretty  
Mick Medew and Ursula supported The Died Pretty  at The Triffid. Ron was in wonderful form as was the band and I continue to find The Triffid one of my favourite venues in Australia to play or have a night out.  

3. May 9  - Dave Graney and Clare Moore at The Junk Bar, Ashgrove. 

_{Ron Peno with his most recent co-writer Cam Butler at his last Sydney show with The Superstitions in November 2022.}

Died Pretty, The Superstitions and Darling Downs frontman Ron Peno passed away at his Melbourne home on Friday night after a four-and-a-half-year fight against cancer. He was aged 68.

Died Pretty announced the news earlier today. The band’s statement reads:

With great sadness we announce the passing of our singer Ron S Peno who left us peacefully on Friday evening in the presence of his loving wife Charity and his son Zebadiah, at his home in South Yarra, Melbourne. 

For the last four-and a-half-years as he battled cancer, Ron displayed a resolute positivity and a profound depth of character that has proved inspirational to his fellow band members, manager and many friends. In the face of adversity he was towering.