Tick Tick Boom! Swedish royalty puts the rock back into midweek Sydney

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By The Barman

The Barman

24 July 2025

Hits: 731

The Hives
+ Clamm
Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Wednesday, 23 July 2025

In these austere times, a full Enmore Theatre midweek sounds as unlikely as an affordable round of drinks in a Justin Hemmes-owned pub, but there you go: If the joint is full to the gills by 8pm on a Wednesday, it must be a Hives show.

Dunno about you but I’ve been following The Hives since they formed in Sweden in that eruption of Scandi Rock at the start of the ‘90s. The six albums are all top-shelf fun but the live experience had somehow evaded me. So, it’s off to the Enmore on a school night that I must go.

The urgings from people like The Celebrity Roadie not to miss this were still echoing in my tinnitus-scarred ears as I sipped my first beer. The Barmaid had even feigned interest by asking if the band would sing in English (not that she was going) but, really? It’s a self-evident truth that The Hives speak fluent Rock and Roll. Their dialect is universal.

• enmore theatre
• australian tour
• clamm
• 2025
• the hives

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A night with a legend and an emergent star

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By Ed Garland

Ed Garland

20 July 2025

Hits: 1819

John Cale
Xani
The Recital Hall, Sydney
July 10 2025

Do you remember that annoying kid in Year Nine at school? The one who used to badger you with his arrogance and who raved about obscure songs and artists to prove he was superior? He would rattle off their names like a machine gun, firing off the titles of B sides of obnoxious Rush singles and dropping the name of some obscure European prog band that had elves on the cover of their debut album. 

You, on the other hand, had discovered “Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal” by Lou Reed and had proudly made the connection that it had Dick Wagner on guitar who was now playing with Alice Cooper. And the ever-annoying wanker classmate would declare that the Reed record that I had just bought at Ashwood's was "shit" because it was “commercial” before name-dropping someone called John Cale.

• sydney
• john cale
• xani
• the recital hall

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Girl Monstar are back with a new album

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 July 2025

Hits: 980

Trailblazing Melbourne garage-pop/hard rock band Girl Monstar are back with their first new music since 1992. 

The first all-female band to gain a national profile in Australia in the late '80s and early ‘90s. Girl Monstar played more than 200 shows and shared stages with Iggy Pop, the Ramones, Sonic Youth, the Hard-ons, GOD, the Hoodoo Gurus, The Divinyls, Poison and Skid Row.

You can hear and buy the new single “Blue Cat With Green Eyes" on Bandcamp and it will be followed by a new album, on Vicious Kitten Records, in October.

“Blue Cat With Green Eyes” is the impetus for the reunion and was written by singer-guitarist Sherry Rich as part of a Philosophy Unit while studying a Creative Arts Industries degree in 2017.

• vicious kitten
• Blue Cat With Green Eyes
• girl monstar

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Thirty years later, the sound is still Soft 'n' Sexy

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 July 2025

Hits: 837

Flashback to 1995: Dave Graney was crowned ARIA Best Male Artist and ”The Soft ‘n’ Sexy Sound” was certified gold (when it meant something) in the Australian charts.  As someone once said: “Those were different times”.

Flash forward to 2025 and Dave Graney and The Coral Snakes are undertaking an Australian tour in October and November, playing “The Soft ‘n’ Sexy Sound” from go to whoa.

In the words of Mr Graney: “Looking forward to getting back into this Shelby GT500 of an album for a celebratory tour.

• dave graney
• australian tour
• the coral snakes
• the soft 'n' sexy sound

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She's apples: Pop is at the core of Dom Mariani's new single

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 July 2025

Hits: 661

Australian pop and garage maestro Dom Mariani (The Stems DM3, Datura4, The Someloves) is previewing his new solo album with a killer single.

Picking up where the sun-drenched strumming of the acclaimed first single "Jangleland" left off, “Apple of Life” highlights Mariani’s knack for melody and the power-pop sensibilities that have defined his previous work.

"Apple of Life" is also the title of the album, due soon on US label Alive Naturalsound. Do we dare say the apple never falls far from the tree? Both singles are out now on digital and streaming platforms. 

• dm3
• dom mariani
• the stems
• jangleland
• apple of life

It's a Tour de Force: Lipstick KIllers 1979 show re-released on vinyl

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 July 2025

Hits: 1611

The first vinyl LP release of a wild 1979 show by Aussie icons Lipstick Killers is almost here - but it won’t last long.

“Tour De Force”, which was recorded for Adelaide radio station 5UV, captures the band as they were still emerging from the cocoon that was the Psycho Surgeons. The “Nuggets” influences are there, but its the Stooges hangover that dominates proceedings.

Definitive readings of both sides of the Psycho Surgeons' classic 45 "Wild Weekend" b/w "Horizontal Action" are included, alongside early Killers killers like "Teen Police" and "Sockman" and later faves like "Hindu Gods of Love', "Shakedown USA" and "Dying Boy's Crawl".

• lipstick killers
• grown up wrong
• 1979
• tour de force

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Prepare for turbulence: East Coast Low's "Badlanding" is on the way

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 July 2025

Hits: 1369

“Badlanding”, the Rob Younger-produced album for seriously powerful Newcastle band East Coast Low, is poised to touch down on August 4.

It’s the third long-player for the band and was recorded with the assistance of a rolled gold brass section, comprising Rudi Thomson on sax (Xray Spex, The Members, Lords of the New Church, The Jam), Rob Parkes (Mucho Sonar) on trombone and Peter Kelly (New Christs, Vanilla Chainsaws) on trumpet.

The 10-track LP was recorded at Rock the Nation Studios in Newcastle by guitarist Geoff Mullard and mastered by Rick O'Neill at Turtlerock Mastering. It will be available on vinyl, as a download or via streaming services.

Launch shows are listed below. Pre-orders are open here.

East Coast Low
Badlanding Launches
AUG
17 – Royal Oak, Tighes Hill, NSW
23 – In-store @ Hiss and Crackle, Wallsend, NSW
(2pm, free)
23 - Link & Pin, Woy Woy, NSW
+ The Strike-Outs + The Dark Clouds
24 – MoshPit, St Peters, NSW
+ The Dark Clouds + The Strike-Outs

• rob younger
• crankinhaus records
• east coast low
• badlanding

Van Ruin is taking "Trauma Magnet" to France

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 July 2025

Hits: 2462

_{Van Ruin: Andy Newman, Big Al Creed, Stui Wilson and Phil Van Rooyen.}

Van Ruin -  the high-energy Sydney outfit whose pedigree includes past and current membership of the New Christs, Lime Spiders, The Visitors, East Coast Low, Panadolls, Aberration, Chickenstones, Chris Masual’s Dog Soldier and Deniz Tek Group - are embarking on a French tour in September.

What’s more, it will be on the back of a debut full-length album, “Trauma Magnet”, on Aussie label Crankinhaus Records.

• new christs
• lime spiders
• chris masuak's dog solider
• van ruin

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John Cale remains very much in the present

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By Bob Short

Bob Short

13 July 2025

Hits: 1738

John Cale
City Recital Hall, Sydney
Thursday 10 July 2025

John Cale is 83 with a career as wide as it is long. Obscure nooks and crannies abound. You don't know what you're likely to get when you put your money down. If you have favourite songs, they're not guaranteed. Look, if "Waiting for my Man" ain't in the set, it will probably be the encore but that's the exception that proves the rule.

However, in a world of product, such uncertain content is rare and welcomed. Advertising for the show has certainly pointed to a career spanning retrospective performance and it kind of delivers but mostly doesn't. Cale's priority  here is to promote his latest album, "Poptical Illusion". Given his age, it might very well be his last. (Though evidence suggests he's determined to keep busy.)

• sydney
• velvet underground
• john cale
• nico
• poptical illusions
• city recital hall

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