One of the most anticipated acts announced for the Soundwave 2016 festival series was L7. Soundwave collapsed but L7 has been confirmed for a run of Australian club shows in May.
Torchbearers for the Riot Grrl movement of the ‘90s, L7 were a massive influence worldwide and reformed in 2014 to rave reviews.
Billboard magazine describes their live show as "one of the hardest, rawest rock bands seen on stage in years”.
Find out for yourself when L7 plays five Aussie club dates.
L7 Australian Tour MAY 13 – PERTH, Metropolis Fremantle 14 – ADELAIDE, The Gov 17 – MELBOURNE, 170 Russell 20 - May BRISBANE Eatons Hill 21- SYDNEY, Metro Theatre Tickets on sale via: http://www.metropolistouring.com/L7 Presale: Wed 2nd March 9am - Thurs 3rd 5pm GA: Friday 4th March on Sale 9am
They really are unstoppable and they shouldn’t be. Not at this stage of the game. Their goals might be modest - to have a good time reprising their own past, in the hope that you will too - but that doesn’t underplay how good the reincarnated Sunnyboys are on “Best Seat In The House”.
It’s officially their second live album but really their third (1993’s rough and ready “Shakin’” on Phantom seems to have been disowned) and it perfectly captures the band in all their pop-rock glory, playing the final gig on a mostly sold-out Australian run in March 2015.
Brisbane’s leading luthier and musical equipment emporium, Tym Guitars, is getting behind fund-raising for the ailing Spencer P. Jones by launching a limited edition fuzz pedal.
A whopping $200 of the $250 price for The Axeman’s Fuzz pedals will go to Spence, who is battling a chronic health condition and is unable to work.
Living legend Spencer P Jones is seriously ill and in need of your support.
The storied veteran of bands like the Beasts of Bourbon, The Johnnys and many of his own outfits is under medical care and currently unable to work.
Mates James Baker and Tex Perkins have arranged benefit shows in Fremantle (March 20) and Melbourne (April 15) respectively. UPDATE: A GoFundMe account has been opened here for anyone unable to make the gigs.
Dave Faulkner (Hoodoo Gurus), KISStake, The Painkillers, Beautiful Losers, Midfield Legends (featuring members of the Bad Seeds and The Triffids, Soulfisters, Maurice Flavels Intensive Care and more will play the Fremantle show at Mojo’s.
The Drones, Paul Kelly, Tex Perkins and Charlie Owen, Adalita, Renee Geyer, Two Am I, The Pink Tiles and mystery guests head the Melbourne line-up at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St Kilda.
A silent auction will operate in conjunction with the WA gig
You have to hand it to the guys at Melbourne label Buttercup Records - they do vinyl re-issues right. Their latest effort, paying homage to seminal Melbourne 1977 punks Babeez, might be their most audacious yet.
An LP that encompasses all the band’s known studio recordings is one thing - producing it in limited editions with tailored covers is another.
The first time I saw Melbourne guitarist Michael Plater I confess I didn’t get it. He was working on a style, which involves building up a mixture of tone and counter-tones, emotion in the strings lending timbre to the vocal.
I only saw a couple of songs, however; since then I’ve seen him on his last two trips to Adelaide, and can tell you that first, on his own he is a very different kettle of vermin, and second, with folk like Dean Richards or Cabin Inn, the stage is not a safe place.
Hunky Punks have been playing the traps around Adelaide over the last year or so, gaining an enthusiastic following, and look like heading interstate. Telling you now: see them. The sheer breadth of improvement over such a short space of time is somewhat gobsmacking. Get "Fly High".
Unlike those bands who practice twice before their next gig, the Hunkies are well-tight, snappy, light, powerful, strong and basically "Fly High" is going to get well and truly into your head. I love the way each song veers away from the last; there’s so much rich variety here, so much gritty eloquence you’re dancing way before you know it. Matt Hills’ production is damn fine, and if the world were a bit fairer, the majors should be crawling up the arses of Messrs Simpson, Omsby, Becker and Grasel.
In a parallel historical universe the vast southern continent now known as Australia might have been conquered by France.
While France was still a functioning monarchy at the time Captain James Cook invoked the now discredited legal fiction of Terra Nullius to claim the territory on behalf of the English throne; by the time Arthur Phillip lobbed into Botany Bay in 1788, France was starting to buckle in the face of rising bourgeois unrest, and had bigger internal fish to fry (or heads to lop, as the case may be).
Imperial State Electric being the current band (or more like a collective with rotating membership) for Helicopters main-man Nicke Andersson. That alone should tell you what to expect.
Imperial State Electric had passed me by before this but if the single is anything to go by, the sound and spirit of the ‘Copters is alive and kicking.
This single is the same song done twice ("City Slang" style) and it comes from the 2013 album, “Reptile Brain Music”. Neither side lets anyone down: It’s bristling with guitar riff Rock Action and an uncompromising drive in the bottom end. One of the people responsible for all that engine room power, Bassist Dolf de Borst (The Datsuns), does the honours on vocal. The flip is a dirtier version of the song with Nicke behind the microphone.
This is a second pressing which tells ironed-on Helicopters fans (and even casual ones like me) that it’s not too late to make sure they don’t miss out.
One of the most anticipated acts announced for the Soundwave 2016 festival series was L7. Soundwave collapsed but L7 has been confirmed for a run of Australian club shows in May.
They really are unstoppable and they shouldn’t be. Not at this stage of the game. Their goals might be modest - to have a good time reprising their own past, in the hope that you will too - but that doesn’t underplay how good the reincarnated Sunnyboys are on “Best Seat In The House”.
Brisbane’s leading luthier and musical equipment emporium, Tym Guitars, is getting behind fund-raising for the ailing Spencer P. Jones by launching a limited edition fuzz pedal.
Living legend Spencer P Jones is seriously ill and in need of your support. 
The first time I saw Melbourne guitarist Michael Plater I confess I didn’t get it. He was working on a style, which involves building up a mixture of tone and counter-tones, emotion in the strings lending timbre to the vocal.
Hunky Punks have been playing the traps around Adelaide over the last year or so, gaining an enthusiastic following, and look like heading interstate. Telling you now: see them. The sheer breadth of improvement over such a short space of time is somewhat gobsmacking. Get "Fly High".
Imperial State Electric being the current band (or more like a collective with rotating membership) for Helicopters main-man Nicke Andersson. That alone should tell you what to expect.
