_{Ups and Downs: Staying home for now.}

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is bearing down on the Australian coast and is already wreacking havoc on this weekend’s gigs in South-East Queensland. Today, it took down one in Sydney.

The sold-out Ups and Downs show with a reformed Crystal Set at Marrickville Bowling Club has been postponed as most members of the headliners are unable to leave Queensland for reasons that are too obvious. The band posted on Facebook:

Friends, it is with great regret that we have decided to postpone this Saturday's sold-out show at the Marrickville Bowling Club with the Crystal Set. Those of us who live in and around Brisbane need to stay close to home with family and friends as Cyclone Alfred approaches. The new date for the show is Thursday 10 April - all tickets remain valid, with refunds available if you cannot attend. Our huge apologies for all inconvenience this has caused!

Crystal Set’s shows at Smiths Alternative in Canberra on Friday and The Chippo in Sydney’s Chippendale from 5pm on Sunday are going ahead.  

The Saints ’73-’78 are celebrating 50 years since their first-ever shows this November with a month-long international tour, taking in New Zealand, USA, Canada, the UK, Sweden and Germany.

The Saints ’73-78 are surviving members from the original Saints, Ed Kuepper (guitar) and Ivor Hay (drums), joined by Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party, Bad Seeds) on guitar, Peter Oxley (Sunnyboys) on bass and Mark Arm (Mudhoney) on vocals. They will be augmented by a three-piece brass section and the band is fresh from a sold-out Australian tour.

UK tickets are available via Alltickets and dates are after the fold. NZ, Europe , Candian and US tickets are at feelpresents.com

Fresh from blistering Melbourne and Sydney shows with The Beasts last weekend, guitarist Charlie Owen is taking his “Searching For Charlie Owen” spoken word and music show across the Bass Strait to Tasmania, teaming with local comedian Anthony Morgan.

The Charlie Owen band history includes Beasts of Bourbon, the New Christs,  Tex, Don & Charlie, Tendrils and Working Class Ringos, and he’s collaborated with Paul Kelly, Chrissie Amphlett and Louis Tillett. 

"Searching for Charlie Owen” is a much more intimate affair than the recent Beasts gigs. It's a heartfelt trip through Charlie’s back pages full of warmth and reflection, and has sold out venues in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

The shows are supported by Sound Pressing Records and I-94 Bar. 

Charlie Owen
Tasmanian Tour
with Anthony Morgan
FEB
27 - Cygnet Bowls & Community Club, Cygnet
Tickets
28 - The Grand Poobah, Hobart
Tickets
MAR
2 Mar - Valentino Safe Co, Lilydale
(2pm)
Tickets

Dom Mariani, legendary frontman of garage rockers The Stems and power pop heroes DM3, steps away from his current blues-heavy outfit Datura4 to return to his jangle pop roots with a brand-new solo single, "Jangleland."

“Jangleland” is a breezy, country-tinged ode to the electric folk rock of the late '60s and the sun-kissed West Coast vibe of the early ‘70s.

It was recorded in Perth, Western Australia, and features Joe Grech (Datura4) on bass, drummer Salv Di Criscito, Peter Busher (The Lone Rangers) on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, and Luke Dux (The Floors and Kill Devil Hills) on pedal steel.

"Jangleland" is the first taste of Mariani's forthcoming self-titled solo album, showcasing the unique West Australian guitar pop flavour he helped pioneer from the late '80s onwards.

"I'd written 'Jangleland' some time ago and kept revisiting it, playing it at the odd solo show," Mariani explains.

"I'd accumulated enough material over the last decade that didn't fit with Datura4, and I thought it was time to put them all on one album. I've been a Byrds fan my whole life, and I'm still in awe of their sound. I was inspired to bring some of that spirit to this tune."

Dom Mariani's new single "Jangleland" b/w "Day After Day" is out now via Alive Naturalsound Records  and can be streamed or bought as a download here.

^{A screenshot from “20 Years in The Crypt: Embedded With Dead Moon”.}

Dead Moon is a revered name in Australia. They also had a firm following in Europe and across the underbelly of the USA. Now, a new documentary on Dead Moon will have exclusive screenings in Australia in March and April.

“20 Years in The Crypt: Embedded With Dead Moon” delivers two-hours of live footage and candid off-stage vision, shot in 2001 and edited down from 180 hours of footage. 

It’s the work of US filmmakers Jason Axel Summers and Kate Fix, who also brought you the “Unknown Passage” documentary about Dead Moon and, more recently, “I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”“I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”, the doco about Australian underground rock'n'roller Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm, of Lubricated Goat).

They were a first-time band for many underage gig-goers in the 1990s so there’s a certain irony in  Melbourne hardcore exponents Nursery Crimes paying a visit to Sydney with a show at Marrickville Bowling Club on April 26.

It will be a night of old and new with O.G. support in the form of Herbal Lunatics (Ben Brown singing songs of  his old band, The Hellmen) and Fun Again! (members of Bored! and Massappeal), with Northern Beaches upstarts The Darrans and newcomers Bugg Music opening proceedings.

Nursery Crimes were Australian pioneers of all age shows in the ‘90s and many who saw them back in the day now have kids of their own. The good news is that U18s are good to be at the Bowlo if accompanied by a (responsible) adult.

In their first life, Nursery Crimes were support-of-choice for international tourists like L7, Henry Rollins, Faith No More and Fugazi. They released two full length albums before breaking up the first time in 1994 and have reformed a handfull of times since 2006. This will be their first Sydney gig in 15 years and tickets are on sale here.