in the red

Negativity - The Scientists (In the Red)

Holy crap. First Scientists long-player since 1987.

You know, I'm old enough to remember when I first heard powerpop. And I also remember the first time I heard the Scientists' first single, which I thought was rather bloody wonderful. I was lucky enough to always hear Scientists' records before purchase and every record they put out, no exceptions, had to be in my collection.

We were often startled, because you never quite knew what the hell was going on in this band. It was like they had these... bees in their bonnets, and took delight in shoving them into people's faces, much to their alarm. Once they'd got used to the bees, of course, the band found (or invented) wasps.

This double A-sided single of new recordings from the reconstituted Scientists, released in time for their recent US tour, is all kinds of wonderful. You could spend hours ruminating about what lineup of the band was/is definitive but you’ll be hard to please if the current configuration of Salmon-Thewlis-Sujdovic-Cowie (nee Chock) doesn’t please. 

“Braindead” is an old song re-done and although it dates from a later period, it recalls the sound of the earlier “Blood Red River” with a steak of sustained feedback and fuzzy guitar counterpoint. Kim Salmon and Tony Thewlis sound like they’re having five kinds of fun and the relentless engine room lays down a simple but effective feel. Handclaps add a touch of groove that past productions sometimes sacrificed in pursuit of volume.

“SurvivalSkills” lands the band squarely back into the swamp as Salmon intones grimly over a cauldron of barely muted guitar. It’s more abstract and reminiscent of the 1980s band’s later explorations while in Europe, sans drum machine. “There’s always a cost,” Kim reminds us. In this instance, it’s well worth you putting down your heard-earned and making a beeline for the In The Red website. There's a 12" single with another 7" in the wings, both on the same label. 

Kim will be launching that one, a new split solo/Scientists single and his biography, "Nine Parts Water One Part Sand. Kim Salmon And The Formula For Grunge", at Memo Music Hall in St Kilda, Melbourne, on November 9.

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Legendary drummer and scene-maker James Baker (Scientists, Victims, Hood Gurus, Beats of Bourbon) has a solo record out this month via US label In The Red, and Melbourne’s Strange World Records will be its exclusive Australian retailer.

“Born To Rock” is a six-song vinyl EP from James Baker and the Groundbreakers and it’s available from Strange World for pre-order hereand from In The Red here. 

The EP marks James’ 70^th year on the planet and he and a hand-picked line-up will celebrate at The Duke of George Hotel in Perth on Sunday, March 17. 

The bill is Big Boss Man, Abbe May, Datura4, Luke Dux and Joe Bludge and the show will raise money to assist James in fight against cancer. 

And because he's on doctor's orders, James will be part of the April Australian tour by The Beasts and tickets for that run are available here.

_{The Victims are now Ray Ahn, Dave Faulkner and James Baker.} 

Given the current restrictions on social gatherings, there is a certain irony in the story of The Victims’ first gig in Perth in early 1977. Perth, by some calculations, the most isolated capital city in the world, didn’t have a big punk rock scene. After all, this was the era of bland commercial radio, flaccid cover bands and conservative social attitudes.

When drummer James Baker, guitarist Dave Faulkner and bass player Dave Cardwell set up at the sharehouse in one of Perth’s light industrial inner suburbs to play in front of 50 enthusiastic garage and punk rock fans, they’d pretty well captured the entire Perth punk market. But get that many people in a house right now, even to listen to a Ramones record, and you’d be breaking the law. Back then, all the audience cared about was that there were other people who felt the same way about music.

“Music for us was rebellion against the conformity of the city, being so isolated. Because everything we loved was so far away,” Faulkner says.

Onetime frontman for high-energy New Zealanders The D4 and now a New York-based noise-rocker, Dion Lunadon, has a new album out, and a European tour underway with his band, TCB. The tour will be capped by an album launch at TV Eye in Queens, NYC, on December 7. 

The "Systems Edge" LP was released via In The Red Records on November 14. It’s available physically and digitally here.“Nikki” is the latest video single.

Dion says about the video, “The video is a cut and paste homage of snippets from artists involved in what some call the Cinema Of Transgression movement in NYC. The grime and grit of that time/genre perfectly embodying what I would consider the setting of the song."

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
NOV
16th - Ravenna IT, Bronson
17th - Rome IT, Init
18 - Firenze IT, Ex Fila
19 - Marseille FR, L’Intermediaire
20 - Barcelona ES, Razzmatazz 3
21- Madrid ES, Funhouse
22 - Bilbao ES, Rocket
23 - Bordeaux FR, La Maison d'Allez Les Filles
24 -  Perigeaux FR, Le Moulin Du Rousseau
25 -  Nantes FR, Little Atlantique
28 - Hanover DE, Lux
29 - Copenhagen DK, Beta
30 -  Berlin DE, Urban Spree
DEC
1 - Saarbrucken DE, Horst
2 - Winterthur CH, Gaswerk
3 - Bern CH, Hush Hush

Much-loved Sydney blues-punks feedtime are releasing their first new album in 20 years on March 24. "Gas" will be on In The Red and "Any Good Thing" is the preview track. Pre-orders are happening here.

Against the backdrop of the burgeoning inner city music scene, feedtime was formed in 1979. Taking notes from the incendiary live shows of X and Rose Tattoo, feedtime set about creating their own interpretation of the events unfolding before them, a blues-noise that was equal parts abstract minimalism and working class roots-rock. Post-punk, yet right in the thick of it; miles ahead of the pack and not many seemed to notice.

feedtime have come together to release their first album since 1996’s "Billy". A lot has happened in the last 21 years, so what can we expect from the original lineup of Rick, Al and Tom who have been playing sporadically since reforming in 2011?

It starts off well. “Any good thing” opens with a fantastic, sliding bass line before kicking off with pounding drums and a frenetically distorted guitar. My first thought when hearing Rick’s vocals was that of GG Allin’s voice towards the end of his life. The gravel has turned into a metallic growl.

And the pace continues well into “Thought”, before slowing down into "Box n Burn". Both strong tracks with a powerful sound. However, the issues start to arise with "Skilled Enuf". While the musicianship on the track is strong, the writing is quite simple and unengaging, “Skilled enough, to play one chord. Skilled enough to play one note” might be a true description of the band’s minimalist arrangements, but it is unengaging.

The Scientists’powerful brand of deranged swamp-rock returns with a vengeance on June 11th, when Los Angeles’In the Red Recordsunleashes “Negativity”, an all-new magnum opus and the first full-length album by the Australian band’s penultimate line-up in 35 years.  “Outside”' is the single first release from the album, out to the world today.

The bruising 11-track collection features aScientistsconfiguration much beloved by connoisseurs of the band’s work: singer-guitaristKim Salmon, lead guitaristTony Thewlis, and bassistBoris Sujdovic, all veterans of the group’s defining 1981-85 outfit, and drummerLeanne Cowie, who replaced drummer Brett Rixon on the storming 1986 release "Weird Love".

Iconic bands recording new music years after their prime-time is fraught with peril. Recapturing old magic is nigh impossible when every member has inevitably moved on, musically speaking. Only a few succeed.

The Scientists - as in the Salmon-Thewlis-Cowie (Chock)-Sudjovic line-up - have been an off-and-on, reformed concern for years, coming together for occasional festivals or the odd juicy support tour as, and when, members are available. They put together this five-song 12" vinyl EP between Australian shows and released it to promote their first US tour in 2019.

These days, their laboratory is spread over two continents with guitarist Tony Thewlis living in the UK and the rest of the band in Australia, so parts of the recording have been worked up inisolation and stitched together. Knowing how the sausage was made, in this case, doesn't detract from the taste. The EP, and the single (an updated oldie) that goes with it, rocks in its own uniquely primeval way. Completists should note that it was was proceeded by a digital-only single in 2017.

“Horror Smash EP” - The Victims (In The Red)

“Horror Smash” is four old songs re-recorded in two sessions over 2017 and ’18 by a tweaked version of The Victims. They were Perth’s (almost) first punk band and a launching pad, of sorts, for Dave Faulkner (nee Flick) of the Hoodoo Gurus and James Baker of the Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon et al. Hard-Ons bassist Ray Ahn is the new third wheel and this single - on blood-spattered clear vinyl - has come out on revered US label In The Red.

The first thing to say is that it sounds like The Victims. No airs and graces. No frills. Downstrokes and rawness. No solos. No backing vocals. Black humour lyrics. Strap yourself in and hope you make it to the end. At which point you’ll get up and flip the thing over.