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rust

  •  RUST garry campbellGarry Campbell in full flight. 

    WORDS: Ed Garland
    PHOTOS: Jules

    I am the first to admit I got it wrong about Sydney band RUST.  

    You these hear stupid comments around the scene (by those who claim to be “in the know“) that RUST is a right-wing Oi band.  As time’s gone on, the penny has slowly dropped.

    First,  I watched the band put in a blistering set at The Metro in Sydney support of Stiff Little Fingers and they impressed me .

    A couple of years later, pre-Covid, I caught them at Time and Tide in Dee Why in one wild punk night. They struck me as a solid Oi cross-over punk band, but maybe but not my thing.  

  • edwin 2024Every year The Barman makes the call-out for the Top Ten. Every year I can’t reduce mine to only ten.  Near impossible. I have cheated and there way too many highlights. For me personally, it was good to step out and do an acoustic gig for the opening might of Bryan Cooke’s musical photography exhibition in Sydney.  I used to play these shows at The Excelsior, Hopetoun and Manly Fishos and aim to do more this year.


    Live Gigs


    1. Grace Cummings in several places
    It has  been a long time I have seen one artist or band four times in a year. I was envious of other people as Grace’s local performances, up until recently, have very rare. In fact, it’s been almost 18 months between Sydney shows. Notably, one was a warm-up prior to a gruelling American and European tour that included a live performance on the Steven Colbert late show.  

    Four months later came an actual album launch for “Romana” at Sydney’s Metro Social in August. Then I won a lottery for a spot at the Phoenix Theatre, and finally caught a packed Crowbar show in early December.