Better late than never, Melbourne’s the Casanovas will get back to doing what they do best – rock ’n’’rolling under lights, on a stage, in front of an audience – when they launch their much-acclaimed fourth album “Reptillian Overlord” at Richmond’s Corner Hotel on March 6.
Released back in August 2020, Reptilian Overlord was the Casanovas’ first album in five years and arguably the best-reviewed album of their 20 year career.
Produced by iconic Oz Rock engineer/producer Mark Optiz (AC/DC, Angels, Chisel, Divinyls), and featuring singles “Hollywood Riot” (which was appropriately picked up by legendary LA DJ Rodney Bingenheimer) and “Lost and Lonely Dreams”, it attracted plenty of attention and thoroughly deserved a live launch. Our Man in Dimboola Ron Brown's review is here.
The Casanovas formed in 1999 and got caught up in the early 21st-century rock mania, sharing a bill with a barely-known White Stripes early on before touring Europe with the Datsuns. Then came SXSW, Triple J rotation, The Big Day Out, and shows/tours with Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, The Darkness, The Living End, The Black Crowes, Redd Kross and Airbourne among others.
They always had deeper roots though; they were as much the Powder Monkeys as AC/DC, and very much a merging of two great local traditions – hard rocking punk and larrikin Oz rock – which meant they naturally stuck to their guns even once the dream faded.
These days it’s like the early days at the Tote all over, and with new drummer Brett Wolfenden on board (Wolfie is a longtime sideman of You Am I’s Davey Lane in The Pictures, Thee Marshmallow Overcoat and with Jim Keays and Todd Rundgren), joining frontman/guitarist Tommy Boyce and longtime bass player Damo Campbell.
