Mick Blood’s life was turned upside down in June this year when an altercation in a pub in his new home of Newcastle left him in hospital with serious head injuries. 

The vocalist for legendary Australian band the Lime Spiders suffered brain damage and faces a long road of rehabilitation and recovery.

The Lime Spiders were one of the most influential bands to spring from the fevered Sydney underground scene of the 1980s. After the success of their "Slave Girl" single on Citadel Records, they went on to sign a global record deal and toured the world.

Over the course of three studio albums, four EPs and a live record, the Spiders cut a swathe through the Aussie music scene, appearing on the soundtrack to the “Young Einstein” movie and earning praise from the likes of Jello Biafra, Iggy Pop and Joey Ramone.

The cream of the Sydney scene is now rallying behind Mick in his hour of need with an all-star benefit show scheduled for the Bald Faced Stag Hotel at Leichhardt in Sydney from 3pm on Saturday, September 27.

That almost-reunion we told you about of Perth punk pioneers The Victims is bearing fruit with a recording session preceding a one-off show.

Original members Dave Flick (aka Hoodoo Guru Dave Faulkner) and mercurial drummer James Baker were joined by Hard Ons bassist Ray Ahn for a gig at Perth’s Rosemont Hotel on August 9, billed The Television Addicts. You can see some footage below with more after the fold. 

Organisers have announced the line-up for the seventh annual River Rocks festival in the Victorian city of Geelong (aka Gee-troit) and it's a good 'un.

Heavyweight stoner rockers Tumbleweed (pictured), rock royalty Kim Salmon & The Surrealists and Brisbane's peerless HITS head a gun line-up of 20 bands over over two stages at the Barwon Club on November 15.

They're releasing a new single, "Grey-11", from their acclaimed 2012 album "Songs Of The Third & Fifth" so The Mark Of Cain have announced their first Australian tour since March last year.

It will take in the usual hot spots and also includes a return to Newcastle (for the first time since 2002) and a trip to Hobart for the first time in almost 20 years.

Friends and former bandmates are staging a memorial gig in Sydney on Saturday, September 20 for the late Christian Houllemare, bass player for the Happy Hate Me Nots, New Christs, Someloves and Bad Brains. Funds raised will go to his family in France. 

Adelaide's fab Green Circles have announced a rare gig outside their home town, heading a mighty fine line-up at the Old Bar in Melbourne on August 8.

Joining the Circles are similarly credentialled mod veterans Little Murders, Ian Wettenhall's superbly gritty Wrong Turn and the bracing garage duo, Blue Stratos.