The Born Out Of Time mini-festival has been dormant since COVID times but is returning to Melbourne to deliver some savage Antipodean sounds.

Saturday May 17 is the date to be at the Town Hall Hotel, North Melbourne, for a bill featuring Gas Babies, The Tommys, Dino Bravo, young upstarts Howl, plus a mystery band.

It’s primo rock ‘n’ roll proudly presented by Munster Times Zine, I-94 Bar and Off The Hip. The shindig kicks off at 5pm, and entry is free. Delish pub grub is available from 5-9pm. See you there.

If Ash Naylor is Australian rock and roll’s Mr Everywhere for holding down spots in The Stems, Paul Kelly’s band, The Church and his own outfit Ash Naylor’s Spaceship, elder statesman Mick Harvey can lay claim to being its Busiest Utility Player.  

Harvey has played with The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Crime & the City Solution, his own bands and more recently with The Saints ’74-78 and now adds The Cruel Sea to his resume.

"Park Bench Gods", the first single from the forthcoming Astroid B612 album “Roads, Stars”, is here. John Morrison made the clip for what's described as" a raucous, full-throttle return to form that captures the essence of what made Asteroid B-612 an underground cult favourite". If streaming is your thing, play it here.

_{Jenny Risher photo.}

Just in case the news has evaded you so far, the original Alice Cooper group is reuniting to release a new studio album, "The Revenge of Alice Cooper," on July 25 via earMUSIC, the same people who have delivered a slew of studio and live Blue Oyster Cult releases.

There have been part reformations (without the late guitarist Glen Buxton), most notably for a scorching 2018 live release “Live From The Astroturf”, but this is the group’s first full album in 50 years.  Buxton will be present, via a guitar part tracked from a demo,

The first single from the album, "Black Mamba," is out now and features Robby Krieger of The Doors.  Click MORE to see the video.

Missing Link, Australia’s only tribute to Link Wray, is back for its fifth year and will fall on what would have been the occasion of the guitar great’s 96^th birthday, May 3.  The venue is Shotkickers, in the hip Melbourne neighborhood of Thornbury, and it’s a high volume multi-band line-up.

Heading proceedings are The Bluebottles, laying claim to being Australia's #1 instrumental surf group. All female Link Wray devotees The Wraylettes are on the bill and will be launching a new seven-inch.

Honk are bringing the rhythm 'n' roots with a set blending country music with a side serve of Spaghetti Western drinking songs.  

Completing the bill is the country’s longest-running Link Wray combo, Sydney’s The Missing Link Band, headed by ex-Deadly Hume guitar high priest Stephen Bones Martin.

The evening starts at 8.15pm and it’s $20 at the door.

It’s a recipe for Mayhem in Marrickville in Sydney on May 3: The night of the Australian Federal Election. Four rocking bands. Cheap drinks. Cheaper entertainment. Playing order to be decided by a draw on the night. All in a politician-free zone. 

"Mayhem in May" is presented by The I-94 Bar and features (in alphabetical order) The Jane Does, Jupiter 5, Moot and The Strike-Outs. Early-bird tickets are selling here. So here’s the rundown:

The Jane Does are two girls, two guys and a whole bunch of fun. Equal parts melodic pop and garage rock, they’ve been building a big base of fans in and around Sydney for a couple of years now and are threatening to release their first recordings. Jane Doe is a generic term for anonymity but their music is not.