_{Dave Saul photo.} 

Rock n Roll CPR v Nostalgia Neuralgia
TheDean’s 2019 - 10 things you should know

1) D is for Dickhead
Hey you! Yeah you sitting on your lounge watching TV. You sitting on your lounge, watching people sitting on their lounge, watching TV. If you’re a fan of that show no worries. I can live with that but if I have to listen to you talk to your mate Thommo about it the next day, way too loudly on the phone in a crowded carriage and your follow up sentence is “all music these days is shit” and that there hasn’t been a decent Aussie Rock Band since the Screaming Jets, you my friend; are a Dickhead.

2) A is for Australian
Dirty, Fast & Built to last. The Australian Kingswood Factory album Bloodshot and Shakin’. Get on it. Buy Australian & buy it now! Cow Punk, Punk-a-billy, punk, punk rock, rock punk or just plain old dirty rock n roll? Not sure how to pigeon hole these guys but I do know they are pretty much everything I ever liked in a band back in the day. If you don’t check ‘em out next chance you get, that’s just plain Unaustralian.

3) R is for a Rock n Roll Revival.
R is for Ready. Are You Ready? Battle Ready by Bastard Nörth; The Bastard Sons of Freddy Mercury and Lemmy Kilmeister. It’s the Angels with Thorns and a raised Supersucker middle finger to all those nostalgia bands. This is the here and now. Not many current bands out there with these tones and this much pure rock action. Guitar slinging juggernauts who should all be knighted for services to dirty rock n roll.

4) K is for Keith
Now you can keep ya Keith Urbans, your Keith Moons. You can keep ya Keith Richards for we got our very own Keith. You smart folk know what I’m talking about!

5) C is for Clunes
Two days in Clunes/Maryborough for the Mad Max 40th Anniversary earlier in the year was absolutely epic. Sales of our MM 40th CD single MFP/HEATHEN were not.

6) L is for loss
Loss of friends, love, partners, parents, body parts. Loss of hearing, of hair, flexible joints, of backbone. So much loss. Loss of income, venues, teeth, license, respect. Loss of doers, drummers, idols, poets, crooners, dreamers. Loss of leaders, magicians. Loss of vision. Loss of dignity, faith, trust, youth. So much loss this year but passion and weight…lose a shall not

7) O is for Open
Open the Sky – East Coast Low. If you can afford it and don’t own it, what are you doing here?

8) U is for Unfortunate. An Unfortunate Series of Events.
No, I’m not talking about the Metallica or Kiss tours. No, I’m not talking about the bingeable Netflix series contributing to the demise of the Australian Live music scene (Uber Eats & Netflix killed the Video Star). I’m not talking about the Masked Singer or the state of the Arts. I’m talking about the unfortunate series of events that has led you to not witnessing the Dark Clouds air their dirty laundry on stage this year. 2020 is the year of Rock n Roll CPR

9) D is for Deniz with a Z
I got to see and hear the Iceman do his thing a few more times in 2019. Never enough

10) S is for Stiff
The Stiff Richards! The most memorable band I’ve been lucky enough to see this year. Utter stage magic and craftsmanship. Mesmerising. I’ll go on record as saying “the best live act I’ve seen in a long long time”.

TheDean fronts Wollongong/Sydney band The Dark Clouds.