It's 50 years since the MC5 recorded their seminal "Kick Out The Jams" album. While Wayne Kramer's celebratory MC50 project is on the road in Europe and the USA and is not showing any signs of coming to Australia, That's why Sydney's SC5 are having a party of their own on September 8.

I-94 Bar is presenting the KOTJ 50th Anniversary show at Marrickville Bowling Club, featuring the SC5 playing "KOTJ" in its entirety. It's 30 years since the SC5 - an inner-city super group of sorts aka the Sydney City Five - first gathered to play the music of the MC5. Members have included personnel from the New Christs, The Eastern Dark and Daredevil, with Radio Birdman's Deniz Tek sitting in. 

Support will come from Turbobelco (paying homage to Turbonegro) and Australis Uber Alles (in tribute to the Dead Kennedys) and tickets are on sale here. 

Jello-less since 2001, the Dead Kennedys are bringing their brand of seminal punk back to Australian audiences, 25 years since they first hit our shores and th first time since 2014. 

The band - these days that's East Bay Ray, D.H. Peligro, Klaus Flouride and singer Skip McSkipster - is doing a quick hit-and-run of four shows in a week.  

The Dead Kennedys had a huge impact in Australia in the 1980s. Their albums - “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”, “In God We Trust, Inc”, “Plastic Surgery Disasters”, “Frankenchrist”  and “Bedtime for Democracy” – sold by the thousand at a time when punk had yet to break into the mainstream, and kept selling big numbers for decades.

Garage-surf kings from the '80s, The Barracudas, reconvened for a show at the Finsbury in North London last weekend. Here’s some footage of "We're Living In Violent Times":

Brisbane’s legendary RAZAR will reform for a one-off show on October 14, celebrating that city’s punk rock history.

The Triffid is the venue for “Return To White Chairs Vol 2”, the second instalment in reunion gigs for the punk and counterculture music loving crowd that met and drank at the infamous Elizabeth Street bar in Brisbane City between 1977-‘87. RAZAR will be joined by Ipswich darlings The Toy Watches as the main support.

A massive undercard that spans punk, new wave and rockabilly genres and includes old timers The Horny Toads, Scrap Metal, Public Execution, The 5 Hanks, Vacant Rooms and The Chrysalids. Contemporary Brisbane bands Dr Bombay, Dangerous Folk, The Bollocks and Cultured Few will fill out the bill, which is raising funds for the Growing Nepal Foundation.

Hailing from the sleepy Brisbane suburb of Mt Gravatt in the mid ‘70s, RAZAR began as a high school garage band, comprising 18-year-old Greg Wackley on drums, his 16-year-old brother Robert Wackley on bass, vocalist Marty Burke and Steven Mee (both 16) on guitar.

Legendary Melbourne bluesman Chris Wilson (Crown of Thorns, Harem Scarem) has pancreatic cancer.

The multi-instrumentalist - best known as a stunning vocalist and stellar harmonica player – has been a fixture on the Australian music scene for 40 years, collaborating with bands and performers as diverse as Paul Kelly, Diesel and X.

A benefit concert is being organised at the Corner Hotel on Friday, August 24. The first round of acts on the bill includes Steve Lucas, Kerri Simpson, Finn & George Wilson, Jerome Smith, Barb Waters, Shane O’Mara, Barry Palmer, Tim Rogers, Dave Hogan, Jo Jo Smith, Matt Dwyer and radio’s Max Crawdaddy on the decks. You can buy tickets here. 

A GoFundMe campaign for the Wilson family is operating here.

Mandy Hall photo

Tickets for the previously announced Radio Birdman Sydney Manning Bar show on Saturday, October 6 are selling fast, with a sell out expected. The band has announced a second show at the same venue on Friday,  October 5 and tickets are on sale here.

Radio Birdman is doing a limited number of Australian East Coast shows over two weekends this coming September/October before heading off for a 22-date tour of Europe. Supports on the Australian tour will include Adalita (Melbourne), Brisbane's HITS (Brisbane and Sydney) and all shows will feature special guests from Spain, Los Chicos.

Last year's Australian tour with co-headliner Died Pretty was surrounded by the buzz of the limited cinema release of "Descent into the Maelstrom", the Jonathan Sequeira-produced documentary about Radio Bifrdman. The local release on DVD with bonus content will coincide with the tour with a special edition available at the band's shows.