_{The Strike-Outs' Simon and Adam Vines will headine Saturday night's gig.}

Sydney’s favourite dive bar, The MoshPit, is marking its eighth birthday with two nights and a day of wall-to-wall rock and roll – and it’s free.

It kicks off on Friday, May 16 at 7:30pm with Newcastle’s Jacques Levy's Desire. The first band to play the venue, Blurter, is back at 8:20.

Young guns Pocketwatch plan to get the joint jumping at 9:10 and will show off tunes they recorded with multi-ARIA award winning producer Wayne Connolly, plus a few others. Veterans Jupiter 5 bring the Sabbath-meets-The Sonics riffarama-lama at 10pm. The indie sleaze of Aria Nova is on at 11pm and plays out until close.

Australia’s pioneering and hard partying cowpunks, The Johnnys, are re-emerging from a round of studio tinkerin’ and drinkin’ for a run of gigs in May, brandishing a live CD and a refreshed set.

“Live In Lyon” is the album, and it captures a rollicking 1990 French gig by the classic line-up of Hoody, Billy, Slim and Spencer P Jones on their only European tour. Restored from the original tape at Turtlerock Studios in Sydney by Rick O’Neill, it’s brimming with Saucisson, Vin Rouge and bawdy cowpunk rock and roll.

Tokyo funk-garage rockers ZOOBOMBS are back in Australia after more than a decade away. A May and June 2025 tour will bring them to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

The band will be releasing a new Australian edition of their classic 1999 album “Let It Bomb” via Cheersquad Records & Tapes and May 23.

ZOOBOMBS have captivated audiences worldwide and shared stages with the likes of The Black Keys and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. First turning heads Down Under on the Big Day Out festival tour in 2001, their high-octane performances leave a lasting imprint.

Regurgitator's Ben Ely is playing with ZOOBOMBS in Brisbane with his band Ben Ely and The Mango Fungo Band, and The Meanies and Rocket Science are each one one of their two Melbourne shows.

ZOOMBOMBS (JP)
Australian Tour
MAY
29 – The Crowbar, Brisbane
+ The Unknowns + Ben Ely and The Mango Fungo Band 
30 – The Crowbar, Sydney
+ The Unknowns + Liquid Zoo 
JUN
1– The Evelyn, Fitzroy
w/ The Meanies + The Vovos 
2 – Kindred Studio, Footscray
w/ Rocket Science 
Tickets

_{Photo by @thetinfoilbiter.jpg}

The Jesus Lizard are returning to Australia for the first time since 1994, playing three shows in October. The 2024 release of their seventh studio LP, “Rack” has marked a re-birth for band and the album has garnered great reviews.

Since their inception in Austin, Texas, in 1987, the Jesus Lizard has thrilled audiences all over the planet. The rocket-thrust rhythm section of bassist David Wm. Sims and drummer Mac McNeilly remains the perfect launchpad for guitarist Duane Denison’s jagged riffing and vocalist David Yow’s mercurial vocalisations.

The Jesus Lizard
Australian Tour
OCT
15 - The Croxton, Melbourne, VIC
+ The Nation Blue
Tickets
17 - Liberty Hall (ex Max Watts), Sydney, NSW
+ The Nation Blue
Tickets                        
19 -  Crow Bar, Brisbane, QLD
+ The Nation Blue
Tickets

The New Christs have confirmed a UK and Europe tour in August 2025 – their first gigs on the Continent in 11 years.  The 18-date tour kicks off in Manchester, UK, on August 19 and includes Glasgow and London before making its way to Italy, France and Spain.

Closer to home, tickets are on sale for their Sydney show with The On and Ons on June 6 here and they’ll play with Tumbleweed at the Hamilton Station Hotel in Newcastle on June 21. Tickets for that gig are here. 

Click MORE for overseas dates.

The term “legend” is readily applied in rock and roll it but it belonged to James Baker. Drummer, at various times, for the Hoodoo Gurus, Scientists, The Victims, Beasts of Bourbon, The Dubrovniks and The Beasts, James succumbed to cancer at home in Perth last night, aged 71.

Tributes have been flying around the Interwebs all day and two of the best come from Melbourne and Sydney. They bear repetition here.