New I-94 Bar Podcast up

Here's the Xmas Podcast from the I-94 Bar. Go here to subscribe via any numbers of ways, or listen using this embedded player:

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Oh and here's the playlist:

Intro

Pump Action - The Butcher Shop (The Butcher Shop - Bang! Records)

Cool Ways - Kevin K and the Hollywood Brats (Cool Ways - Rankoutsider Records)

The Expert On Everything - The Mess Makers (Wipe Your Face - Off The Hip)

No Love Remains - Mink Jaguar (…Again - Stop Records)

Christmas Eve - Deniz Tek (Equinox - Citadel Records)

Stupid Planet - Klondike’s North 40 (The Straight Path - I-94 Bar Records)

Streets of Amsterdam - The Hydromatics (The Earth Is Shaking - Suburban Records)

Looking For The Body - Roy Loney and The Longshots (Shake It Or Leave It - Career Records)

Live Girls - Six Ft Hick (On The Rocks - Spooky Records)

15 Hours (demo) - The Hitmen (It Is What It Is deluxe re-issue - Savage Beat/Shock records)

I Want My Woman - The Busymen (Distort All Levels - Turkeyneck Records)

Journey By Sledge - The Visitors (Visitation - Citadel Records)

Outro - Kevin Bloody Wilson

Dead Moon rising

Word has it that Pierced Arrows - two-thirds of the legendary Dead Moon, surely the last word in DIY bands - are Australia-bound. Fred and Toody Cole broke up Dead Moon in 2006 after many moons (sorry) but reconstituted with a new drummer in Portland in May. Here's a taste of what they're up to in their new band, taken from a San Francisco show.

"I'm making $5000 baby - so screw you!"

That quote will be familiar to anyone with a copy of Metallic KO, half of which comes from the final Raw Powerr Stooges show. Here's proof that five-grand was indeed the Stooges' going rate.

ReV RuSSeLL (not his real name) of New York City started his music industry career working at the Michigan Palace in the early '70s and happened to souvenir this contract for a Stooges gig at that venue.

Now working as a guitar tech for a number of bands he'd rather weren't named, he saw the Stooges in all their decadent, burning-the-candle-at=both-ends, desperate glory an enviable 13 times in the Michigan area. The gig that the contract is for pre-dated his working at the Palace.

ReV RuSSeLL has been out to Australia as a touring band crew member and knew this piece of memorabilia would strike a chord.

Click on the document for a detailed look. Then drool at the thought of the shows he saw that you and I missed.

Halfway Round The World

Been a long time between posts but don't take it personally. The Barmaid and I have been holidaying overseas, paying a visit to London, France and Kruger Park in South Africa just to mix things up.

In London, I was lucky enough to hook up with an ex-flkatmate Captain Philpott, my Birdman-obsessed Pom mate Jelly and Carlton Sandercock of Easy Action Records. Pints of beer were consumed.

In Paris, we were scheduled to meet up with Eric and Vinz of Holy Curse only to spot them in the unfamiliar vicinity of the Picasso Musueum, running an errand for Radio Birdman, believe it or not. We went to a dinner party hosted by Vinz and his wife Sophie and populated by heaps of mutual friends, and I caught Vinz playing with Dimi Dero Inc the night after. Dimi Dero Inc supported The Drones on European and Australian tours in 2007 and will be back in Australia in March '08.

A side trip to expat Aussie Greg Bowen's Funhouse Pub in Morlaix, on the Brittany coast, was a diverting cultural experience (piss up.)

As for the African leg of the trip, visit the blog of noted Australian author and our hostsAfrica Man and his wife Africa Woman for details. Suffice for me to say that you've not lived until two lionesses have sprung up out of the grass 30m away from you while you're on foot and all wine, beer and spirits should always be a third of the price it is back home.

Closer to home, the Klondike's North 40 CD "The Straight Path" was launched via gigs in Sydney and Melbourne while I was overseas. Thanks to all concerned. The album is available in the I-94 Bar Shop and all good retail stores.

Further afield, lovers of Detroit music will doubtless be interested in The Metro Times' lkist of the Top 100 Detroit Songs here. These lists are always academic but this one does give a measure of the quality of the music that's come out of the Motor City down the years.

And in a similar vein, the next album from trans-Atlantic (that'd be Michigan-via-Sweden) soul big band The Solution is out on December 27. This is the band led by Hellacopters guitarist Nick Royale (behind the traps) with Scott Morgan on vocals. I've been lucky enough to hear an unmastered version and it smokes.

Death of a download site

If you can't get your music illegally (technically speaking), get angry. This guy has some valid things to say about the need for a new music industry model.

How do you spell Wanker?

My Basque Country mate Juan of Bang Records spotted this. One for the guitar wankery fans and I can't see them getting a start on Juan's label:

Do Some More Pop

More news from the Shock Records camp (the desk of Dave Laing, actually) and you know you're going to need this:

DO THE POP! REDUX CONFIRMED FOR DECEMBER!
Acclaimed collection of '70s/80s Australian Punk & Garage Rock to return in new 3-part series, while classic '81 & '82 albums from the great post-Radio Birdman/pre-Hoodoo Gurus band get the deluxe treatment.

2002's acclaimed collection 'Do The Pop! The Australian Garage Rock Sound 1976-67' returns in October on Savage Beat! Records though Shock under the name 'DO THE POP! REDUX'. Like the original collection - which received substantial acclaim internationally, including a full page feature review in 'Mojo' and a rave review from David Fricke in American Rolling Stone - the new set differentiates itself from other Australian punk and post-punk collections by following the unique high energy rock'n'roll sound that spewed forth here in the late '70s and '80s, following the lead of Radio Birdman and The Saints. The new project will be spread over 3 new double discs each released two/three months apart, and is set to feature over 150 tracks, none of which appeared on the original set in 2002 .

'DO THE POP! REDUX Part One' will kick off with the first ever CD release of a rare track from Deniz Tek's pre-Radio Birdman outfit TV JONES before showcasing THE SAINTS and BIRDMAN themselves (Birdman are profiled with the album's title track as well as a rare live track from one of their legendary Paddington Town Hall shows). Punk era acolytes including THE PSYCHO SURGEONS, THE SURVIVORS, THE VICTIMS, JOHNNY DOLE & THE SCABS and RAZAR follow, as do X, perhaps the only Australian band of the original punk era whose reputation rivals that of Birdman and the Saints in some quarters.

Part One then proceeds to revel in the rock'n'roll spirit that took hold in Australia at the turn of the decade, at the very time the rest of post-punk world was proclaiming rock dead. THE SCIENTISTS, THE FUN THINGS, THE SUNNYBOYS, THE LIPSTICK KILLERS are amongst the bands of this period, as are Birdman offshoots including THE HITMEN, THE VISITORS and NEW RACE. Rare tracks from Brisbane's THE 31st (fronted by Ron Peno) and Perth's ROCKETS will also be featured. Melbourne fans will be happy to note that their hometown, which wasn't represented on the original set because of its narrower focus, is represented by a number of punk era bands, including BABEEZ, THE CHOSEN FEW and even the legendary REALS, featuring Garry Gray, Chris Walsh and Ollie Olsen, recordings of whom have never previously seen the light of day.

Volumes 2 & 3 will follow, covering the multi-faceted garage rock scene of the 80s as it explodes out of Sydney and takes hold around the country, and ultimately around the world. Expect killer tracks from a range of bands big and small - from THE HOODOO GURUS, GAS BABIES and WET TAXIS to THE JOHNNYS, CELIBATE RIFLES and SPIKES -all of whom drew heavily on the influence of 60's and 70's garage and punk rock.

Hitmen re-issues out next week

November 2 is the street date. Shock have done a stunning job with re-issues of the first two albums ("The Hitmen" and "It Is What It Is") with more bonuses that a doomed Aussie telco with a dozen directors on the gravy train. Here's a little something to whet your appetitte.
Don't forget - the Hitmen are touring Australia in December and there'be be a preview live at the I-94 Bar as early as next week.

Can't say too much but...

The Don't Look Back offshoot of the All Tomorrows Parties festivals is landing in Australia. This is the series where a notable band reprises one of its best-loved albums from go to whoa. Local promoter Feel Presents has opened the Aussie franchise. Read more here and bookmark it as the announcements aren't far off.

Since 2005 Don't Look Back internaitonally has included The Stooges (Funhouse), Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation), Belle & Sebastian (If You're Feeling Sinister), John Martyn (Solid Air), Ennio Morricone (Classic soundtracks), Slint (Spiderland) and even Australia's own Dirty Three (Ocean Songs).

Can't say too much but let's say people will be pleasantly surprised by some of the acts treading stages again early in 2008.

The Eastern Dark live 1985

A missive juts lobbed from ex-The Eastern Dark bass-player Bill Gibson who put this up on YouTube, less than half an hour ago:

The only known live footage of The Eastern Dark, at the Caringbah Inn in Sydney on November 2nd, 1985, performing their single Julie Is A Junkie. Thanks to Gerard Saliba for the footage.

RIP James Darroch 1960-1986.

Enjoy it. I did - that night and again now.

Inner Head Flight Royale (it's a podcast)

Get a load of the Inner Flight Head Royale podcast for some righteous Rock Action goodness. They run the gamut of all sorts of cool '60s sounds and the current one focuses on the Motor City. Download or strema it here.

The Playlist (and there's plenty more when this came from):

THE STRANGE FATE - Hold Me Baby
QUESTION MARK & THE MYSTERIANS - Girl (You Captivate Me)
THE SOUTHBOUND FREEWAY - Psychedelic Used Car Lot Blues
THE THYME - Somehow
THE BLUES COMPANY - Experiment in Color
THE MISTY WIZARDS - It's Love
THE ORANGE WEDGE - From the Womb to the Tomb
THE SCARLET LETTER - Mary Maiden
RARE EARTH - Magic Key
THE BOB SEGER SYSTEM - Tales of Lucy Blue
SRC - Daystar
ORMANDY - Good Day
THE MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
THE UP - Come On
THE STOOGES - Not Right
MAGIC - Keep On Movin' On
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD - High On A Horse
POWER OF ZEUS - The Sorcerer of Isis

Nomads DVD on the way

Big news. Munster Records (in Spain) are releasing a DVD about The Nomads, a still sporadically-functioning band that was a reference point for anyone north of the equator who was playing so-caleld garage rock in the '80s.

So great was their influence that their records also made it down to Australia and everyone from the MC5's Wayne Kramer to Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra has paid tribute. Here's a preview and the sage words in brogue come from Lindsay Hutton, esteemed ex-editor the the Next Big Thing zine and keeper of the blog by the same name:

KN40 not far away

You can pre-order it here.

The legendary Monks make it to the movies

Apparently, a rarely-seen German documentary about original beat-punks The Monks is making it to theatrical release in Europe.

If you don't know The Monks, do yourself a favour and track them down. A bunch of G.I.s serving in Germany in the '60s, they learned to play while in the military, got de-mobbed and signed to a local record company. To stand out from the crowd, they wore habits and shaved their heads, Friar Tuck-style. And played bizarre, over-amped beat music - with banjo as a lead instrument.

Here's the German theatrical trailer. Here's hoping the doco gets wider release or makes it to DVD.

Paging David St Hubins

Indebted for publicist Lou Risdale for another gem, this one a very Spinal Tap 1974 interview with Uriah Heep. The only thing missing is an exploding drummer.

While you were sleeping

Things have been sort of slow on the blog lately, due to the hectic pace of things behind the scenes.

At the I-94 Bar, we're knocking into shape interviews with Dom Mariani of The Stems and Richard Lawson of the Lime Spiders, whose bands are busy on the live and album front. Also in the works, an interview with Ed Kuepper.

There's a bit of new stock in the shop (probably online in the next day or so) ahead of a re-build and a heap of giveaways on that front.

Then there's the forthcoming debut release for I-94 Bar Records, the Klondike's North 40 album "The Straight Path", featuring Chris "Klondike" Masuak of Radio Birdman, the Hitmen et al. It's away being mastered with the cover art not far away. Expect more news in three weeks or so.

Demogate Drive and The Eastern Dark

Been looking for an excuse to plug Melbourne guitarist Matt Daley's live/demo music blog Demogate Drive and here it is. Bill Gibson has given Matt's audience a compilation of live and outtake material that never made it to The Eastern Dark's posthumous "Girls On The Beach (With Cars)" album. Grab it here and have a trawl through Matt's blog for some other choice stuff.

One of my favourite things from the '80s

...were The Lyres, the Boston band that arose from the disintergration of DMZ. Featuring the singular talents of Monoman on vocals and organ, here they are doing "Don't Give It Up Now".

Buried Treasure from an ex-Vicious Kitten

One of the Gray brothers, Colin - late of Vicious Kitten zine and the 1990s Aussie record label of the same name - has entered the podcast arena with a live feed of great Australian rock sounds of the '80s and '90s. Buried Treasure is a (hopefully regular) feed of the likes of Hitmen DTK (with special guest Deniz Tek), Asteroid B612, the Screaming Tribesmen, all committed to tape in glorious mono in pubs in and around Sydney. Stream or download it here, drop Col a line.

Saintly thoughts on a war with the Church

SBSTV (translation if you're overseas: the state and partially-commercially-funded TV network where English may not be the first language spoken) in Australia recently broadcast a documentary on the recording of the first Saints album. It was a mixed bag, with no real linear focus that didn't say much new. It did, however, feature some spiffing interview footage with the boys that I hadn't stumbled across before.


Last weekend, Ed Kuepper used his myspace to let looose a few thoughts on the whole package. No Ed, others did notice the lack of authentic soundtrack underneath the live footage from Paddington Town Hall (billed as "Live at THE Town Hall" - wtf?) and I'm still wondering why Jeffrey Weggener was billed merely as "a friend" of the band when he was one of the original drumers. Anyway, here's Ed's thoughts if you're not myspace equipped:

Saturday, August 25, 2007

some reflections on the saints doco

Watched the tele doco on the saints the other week, which as you all know was part of the greatest music of all eternity series. I felt a funny mixture of pride and slight unease when it finished and it was touching to see so many artists speak so freely and enthusiastically about my old band, especially when you consider no one had to pay them.

Anyway, after a couple of cigarettes, a glass of single malt and a few moments of quite reflection, I put it back into the past, where it probably belongs, and promptly forgot about it.

Then some days later, out of the blue the missus happened to stumble upon steve kilbeys blog about said doco and called out to me '' 'ere luv! It's lookin' like some blokes puttin' shit on yew an' yer good old mates'. The 'vibes' I picked up from her comment were so terrible and unnerving gentle readers, it was as if a lightning bolt had exploded smack dab into the heart of my carefully tended garden of inner tranquility.

I have to confess, I was initially inspired to write something in reply to his observations, but decided in the end, that arguing the validity or otherwise, of my old high school band was not going to be the basis of my first ever blog.

Anyone's entitled to an opinion I guess.

I also have to confess i didn't like much of that tepid, neatly anal little eighth-note, mincey 'new wave/new romantic' stuff that came into fashion a few years after the saints split, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised if its keenest adherents and their advocates, aren't too enamoured of me and my slightly more rough and tumble musical approach... but enough of that and onto the documentary itself.

I thought it was fairly good as an overall account- sure it didn't deal with everything, but then it was only 50 minutes long, and even I'm not that much interested in all the sordid goings on after the band split anymore.

It was good seeing the live footage again after all these years, though at times i did feel like i was watching my son on stage, which made me wish I could have given my younger self some good advice about certain things/people and their devious ways etc etc, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't have listened or believed it at the time anyway.

It did also become apparent that the original saints must be one of the most undocumented bands in the history of rock'n'roll. Hardly any photos, recordings and no videos exist of the three years prior to 1976.

I know we were even uglier than The Who but still....anyway I guess the people that did care about the band in those days were either too broke to afford the gear, or just not together enough... anyway those were different times certainly [kudos here to both Joe Borkowski and Tony Forde for their foresight]

The producers however made good use of the limited footage they had access to. It was a shame they couldn't get clearance for actual audio of the live radio birdman video footage they used.
Still, they managed to cover it ok with the snippet of instrumental saints stuff that they added under it - but it did strike me as funny because back in the day i thought the two bands sounded completely different, still do really. Anyway it's a small point and it was just a few seconds- besides I'm probably the only pedantic bastard that noticed

As an aside, I didn't like much contemporary stuff in those days but I did think radio birdman were a great live band and our only serious competition at the time.

Two things about the doco though....

Firstly, i was a bit disappointed that there was no contemporary interview with Ivor Hay,

Maybe Ivor declined to be involved for reasons of his own– I don't know- he is doing a roaring trade in environmentally friendly coffins these days, anyway i do think he would have added a valuable perspective.

Ivor was in it from the very start and was crucial to holding the band together, having at various times played piano, bass and drums- whatever was required really. Whenever we had problem keeping a fourth member, which was a lot of the time, Ivor would fill the vacant position.
Anyway it's questionable whether we would have lasted long enough to record without him.

Secondly, and a minor point maybe but I'll make it anyway because I am so pedantic, was the description of Jeff Wegener as 'friend' in the subtitle under his brief interview spot. I wonder who came up with that.

Jeffrey, for those of you not aware of this, was one of the earliest drummers in the Saints at a time when Ivor was playing bass. I remember this quite clearly as in fact it was i who encouraged him to take up the instrument and taught him how to play before of course, turning around, and heartlessly kicking him out of said band after we had a philosophical discussion about whether drummers should, or should not bother to turn up to rehearsals .

This is the deal folks, I've been friends [as have the others in the band naturally] but I've also been enemies with Jeff over the years, and I thought he should have had a more informative credit than 'friend'.

It kind of made him sound like the mate that helps carry the gear, buys you smokes when you're broke or listens to your problems when you're down.

Don't get me wrong, I really like those kinds of friends, but let me assure you oh wide- eyed and bushy- tailed innocent readers… Jeff doesn't actually do any of those things.

He does however work with/for me again these days, did play with Rowland Howard in the Young Charlatans, was a founding member of Laughing Clowns [the worlds greatest jazz punkers who didn't play jazz or punk], did a stint with Nick Cave in the Birthday Party and even played briefly in a later version of the Saints.

Admittedly, he has had long periods of musical inactivity due to personal stuff, but is still recognized as one of the more innovative/unique drummers around the place by those folk who listen out for that type of thing, and don't have their own axe to grind of course.

For instance musicians as diverse as Jim White from Dirty Three and Lindy Morrison of Go-betweens fame acknowledge him as a major influence. From my own perspective he can be both musically astute and literate, and in full flight is one of the most err …'kick-ass' drummers I've seen. He can even be engaging company when he's not totally insane, or driving me so.

Anyway, that'll be fifty bucks ,thanks Jeff

Ed Kuepper 24/8/07

So, for the record here's Steve Kilbey's blog entry that caused the Kueppers some mild annoyance:

i dont know what you want
its not even 8 oclock in the morning here
sunday morning coming down fast above you
i need to write something though
and fast
all day n night my mind is bubbling over with ideas...
muse : just show us the good ones
i watch show on the saints
except for one good song..
what a bloody awful racket!
and how amazingly like lord byron bailey speaks
muse : have you actually ever heard lord byron?
no, but i bet he sounded like bailey
ed was lugubrious as usual
wry and lofty
what strange rockstars these 2 were...
damo lovelock waxes v. enthusiastic
even nicky cave wades in with his top drawer praise
to hear these guys talk
youd think the saints were like
guitar weilding tchaikovskys or somethin'
opening up some huge new possibility in life
bobby forster
a man of impeccable taste i guess
goes so over the top
with his descriptions
of the 1st time he heard im stranded
electric pulsations going up his feet and spine
leaving him prostrate breathless
at this stage i says to the wife
an' you thought i was over-enthusiastic last week......?!
bradley sheppard from the goo-roos
is mystified by its eternal punk enigma
look the list goes on...
but what im really thinking
cos the saints
i admit to not understanding
in the parlance of shallow hollywoodesque cant
i dont get it
i didnt then
i still dont
i dont hate em either
theyre just outside my sphere of reference
(i used to have prehistoric sounds and it was ok)
and it occurs to me
that richard n marty both played with bailey
at different stages
but one thing you gotta admit
is that the saints had that raw sound
before most others
in the middle of the very confused 1970s
they were no namby pamby glam turkey like moi
i guess i jumped straight over punk
from glam to psychedelic comeback
in one fell swoop
like a knight on the chessboard
arriving at different places unexpectedly
actually i watch saints show
to re evaluate whether i would like staff-ish on there
is it a classic australian album album?
do i want a load of lumineries saying how great it was?
muse: i'd say so....
do i want to be on there raving on about myself?
muse : i bet you do....
do i want a load of mega successful hipsters
saying how they nicked everything from starfish?
muse: you might want it...but it aint gonna happen...
and you have no control
there i'll be
in a shiny empty recording studio somewhere
oooh look doris...its steve fucking kilbey
oh boris...he looks like one of the nine mortal kings
i dont like that silly beard
hes got a good suntan though boris
oh look there he is when he was still glamourous(sigh)
i wish hed stop going on about himself.......
......and saying all those big words
....and comparing himself to his betters
.....and smirking....god thats annoying
...and touching the silly beard
.....and dropping in foreign phrases like zeitgeist n je ne sais quoi
.....and looking bemused and self satisfied
.....clearing his throat before weighty pronouncements
.....rubbing his hands together smugly
.....long rambling answers full of tedious details
.....putting on his english n australian accents, i mean, which is it?
....hey doris
what boris?
the shows over
damn!
i wanted to hear that one good song!
which ones that ?
you know la la la dah dah
oh yeah
the one they did in that tv show
thats right
i wanted to hear what he said about that....
why wouldya.?...itll just demystify it for ya, dear...
ah youre right doris
youre so right

Yes, I'm afraid the entire Kilbey blog is written like a haiku with loose bowels.

At least the double CD of Church singles I'm spinning today is more coherrent(although some of the early lyrics still smack of Verlaine worship.)

Drunk & Disorderly Episode 7: "All KIndsa Sounds"

And if you're bored, here's Episode 7. Stream it from down below, read the playlist here.

Drunk & Disorderly Episode 6

The latest is up. Go here where you can read the playlist or play it from the blog by clicking below.

Steve and Danno win their New Race

Here's some YouTube action of Radio Birdman at the recent Hall of Fame thingo, cranking out Aloha and New Race. Thanks to Steve Anderson in Perth for the tip.

Sydney Gig Pigs Take Note

Will it be the last ever appearance by the Kelpies? Bored! doesn't get to Sydney much these days.

Fifty-One Reasons Why Punk Is Now Sadder Than Hippie

Melbourne's sharpest rock and roll publicist Lou Risdale spotted this gem at the always entertaining music and culture site Trakmarx. I won't steal their (Johnny) thunder(s) by cutting-and-pasting the whole list but here's a sample. Some obvious ones:

Punk is 30

Never trust anyone over thirty.

The Ramones mention is sadly inevitable:

Joey Ramone is dead.
Dee Dee Ramone is dead.
Johnny Ramone is dead.
Marky Ramone wears a wig.
Tommy Ramone plays bluegrass.

Love these two (you will too if you're an old fart):

Too many young punks dressing up in mall-purchased gear with logos by bands that died off half a decade before they were born meticulously painted on the backs of their meticulously studded leather jackets.

Too many young punks who consider the Offspring, Rancid and Green Day'their' Sex Pistols, Clash and Buzzcocks.

This reminds me that Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators is reportedly co-authoring a book of punk rock lists, which should make for an entertainly bombastic read.

You'll find the whole Trakmarx piece here.

Pig City (2): Swing For the Crime

The Saints doing "Swing For the Crime" at Brisbane's Pig City festival a few weeks ago:

As to the vexed question of whether this will be a one-off, no solid mail although it seems as if the Big Day Out conglomerate would be the only people able to stump up what's said to be substantial money required to make it happen again.

There was a flurry of excitement in the US, post-Pig City, when "The Saints" were billed to do a show at Spaceland in Los Angeles this month, but it turned out to be Chris Bailey's three-piece version and not the "original" band. That gig (and a handful of others) fell through because of visa paperwork. It has to be said that the latest "Saints" album "Imperial Delirium" doesn't sound too bad while it's immediate predecessor wasn't crap (with the Church's Marty Wilson-Piper on guitar) either.

R.I.P. William Hoyle

Tuesday, July 24 is the funeral for William Hoyle, 23-year-old son of Pip and Sally. You may know his Dad as the keyboardist for Radio Birdman. The short story is that William passed away with a brain tumour last Wednesday, just as Pip and bandmates were about to be inducted into the Australian Recording Artists Industry Association Hall of Fame.

As you may have read in a past Barman's Rant, Pip passed up the recent North American Birdman tour to be at home with William in Sydney. Pip tells my mate, Italian rock journalist Roberto Calabro, that William had the thrill in their recent time together of meeting a touring Alice Cooper when he played Sydney's Enmore Theatre. The moment's been recorded in Rob's blog but for those that can't read Italian, we've reproduced the photo here.
None of our words will, be adequate but feel free to leave some in the comments and they'll be passed on.

New Roy Loney not far away

Here's some news that's a big deal in a few places. Spain, patches of the USA and yes, even Australia, are waiting for the new album by Roy Loney and the Longshots. It's called "Shake It Or Leave It" and it's shaping as something special.

Roy's the original singer from the early Flamin' Groovies (some would say the best singer in the best line-up) and he's been rolling out a succession of good, and mostly great, albums since he moved on in the early '70s. "Shake It Or Leave It" has been a long time in the pipeline, with producer Ron Sanchez beavering away for months on end on sporadic sessions. More than a little of the work has involved guest guitarist Deniz Tek. That's Ron (top) pictured with Deniz and Roy in the photo above. The Iceman's contribution on guitar on "Don't Like Nothing" is said to be especially noteworthy.

Read about the sessions here and ready your ears for the release in September. It'll be be on Career Records and it'll have distro around the world. We'll let you know when it's out at the I-94 Bar when it's out.

Sympathy For Sale

The ad's genuine. Read on...

FOR SALE Preeminent Independent Record Label

Sympathy For The Record Industry

$625,000.00 or $700,000.00 if i don't like you

Known for a multitude of things including releasing early efforts by Hole, The White Stripes, Turbonegro, Rocket from the Crypt and The 5,6,7,8's as well as resurrecting the classic music of immortals such as Roky Erickson, New York Dolls, Suicide, The Gun Club, Spacemen 3, The Scientists and Wanda Jackson and lets not forget the serious concentration on a plethora (like that word??) of bands in hot beds such as Memphis, Detroit and Montreal and also being among the first to look towards the Far East to unleash the demented and curious off-kilter sounds of those crazed ornamentals (Asians to you of a p.c. mindset)...
So what?? 'Big deal' you say, well, Sympathy has also worked with underated and seemingly unsung heroes like Billy Childish, The Oblivians, Holly Golightly la la la etc and are hailed for recognizing and employing important visual artists to create wonderous covers by Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Yoshitoma Nara, Liz Mcgrath, Coop, The Pizz, Dan Clowes blah blah blah la la la etc ad infinitum...
Sympathy are also responsible for releasing records by untold bands of differing degrees of talent with really cool names like The Pleasure F*ckers, Banana Erectors, Anal Babes, Candypants, Teenage Larvae, Tri-State Kill Spree, Iowa Beef Experience, The Child Molesters, Penetration Moon, Smegma, Ethyl Meatplow, The Spaceshits and Destroy All Monsters...

Single-handedly responsible for lowering the standards of the entire record industry...

includes:
questionable/nebulous rights to nearly 750 releases by over 550 bands
current distribution deal with foremost U.S. independent distributor with strong international distribution as well
existing stock modestly estimated at a wholesale value of 1.8 millon dollars
all master tapes, acetates, stampers and mothers to continue production of titles
massive personal archive of sympathy rarities (lots of amazing surprises)
preliminary cover layouts/some original artwork/interesting and valuable artifacts galore
established web site and vastly lucrative mail order business

over 30 snappy sarcastic slogans featuring much-loved heavy-hitters:

"We almost really care'
"Is a force this powerful going to be overlooked by an industry that needs all the Sympathy it can get"
"You've tried the rest now go f*ck yourself"
"Sound and fury signifying nothing" (ok, we stole that one from Shakespere)
"West coast perpetrators of the finest in musical mayhem"
"The most favoritest populars, cost so little goody you like 'em"
'A name you can pronounce since 1988"
'18 years of performance anxiety, instability and poor judgement'
'We just don't know when to gve up'
"A tradition of obscurity and obsolescence"

incomprehensible bad reputation included at no additional cost

interested parties contact long gone john (anti-mogul/fat cat/accidental c.e.o.) at sympathy13 [at] aol [dot] com

Sympathy is a great label that's been home to lots of great bands. That Long John Gone is of the opinion it's going nowhere may be symptomatic of outstanding rock and roll music as we know it gradually going under - or he might just be shagged out.

Tyner tune "Taboo" live

What's the use of YouTube if you don't share? Cop this: Scott Morgan's Powertrane (with special guest Deniz Tek) rocking out on "Taboo", the song co-written by the MC5's Rob Tyner and Powertrane guitarist Robert Gillespie, at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor in June. Thanks to Dave Champion for the link.

And a reminder - that long-awaited Powertrane studio album, which has been held up by pressing problems, should be days away from a proper release. (Early copies lacked this very song.)

Prehistoric Times (i.e. When Peter Garrett Had Hair)

Andrew Connell from Queensland sent a link to this TouTube footage of an early Midnight Oil playing a stilted and sedate version of one of their first album songs, "Used And Abused". It's most notable for the fact that Peter Garrett (now an Australian Member of Parliament and Federal Shadow Minister for the Environment) still had hair, and guitarist Jim Moginie sported a beard.

And in honour of what's occuring in Brisbane tomorrow night

If you haven't heard, the (sort of) original Saints are reforming at the Pig City festival. Here's what those of us unable to make it are missing:


I say "original" because the version that started in Ed Kuepper's garage had drummer Ivor Haye on bass. But let's not be pedantic. The line-up will be sans bassist Kym Bradshaw who apparently is not on talking terms. But there will be a brass section and I bet they do "Know Your Product":

Rock and Roll Is An Old Person's Game

If proof was ever needed:

Richie to chance his Arm of Rock elsewhere

Big news if you're a band or a live music punter in Melbourne arrived via email this afternoon. Richie Ramone, co-owner and manager of The Tote Hotel - the live music hub of Australia's live music Mecca, Melbourne - has bailed out. Here its is, as it arrived:

The old cricketer retires his innings.

With a pleasurable sense of fulfillment achieved, it is time for this Ramone to pack up his drum kit and find a new home in which to set it up in.

It was mid-December, having just seen Swedish psych rock act The Soundtrack of Our Lives play their second show at the Tote – a mind-altering 3½ hour long extravaganza and the single greatest show I have seen this decade - when I realised I had achieved everything I wanted to at the Tote in my six years as co-owner and manager of the much-loved Melbourne institution. Had you asked me back in July 2001 “if you could have any one band in the world play at the Tote, who would you choose?” I would’ve replied “The Soundtrack of Our Lives” without hesitation.

Over the past six years I have been fond of stating “there’s not too many blokes that get to own their favourite pub” and so it is with a hint of sadness that I move on, but I am confident the Tote will only continue to grow in stature amongst the music-loving and noise-making population of Melbourne. Us music lovers can only hope the councils and residents that seem determined to turn Melbourne’s flourishing live music scene into a sedate, obedient, lack-lustre minnow, will eventually pull their heads in and allow musicians and fans to continue to enjoy themselves in the manner they love. It is only with continued support of our live music scene that together we can hold back the rising tide of gentrification.

It has truly been an honour to be custodian of such an iconic part of Melbourne culture as the Tote. I have been incredibly fortunate to make many new friends and see countless amazing performances, and I look forward to continuing my long-standing love affair with the Tote, but as the punter I started off as 23 years ago. The stories that have been retold - of best friends meeting at the Tote, chance meetings resulting in marriage (myself included!), wedding receptions held in the band room and countless birthday gatherings - have given me immense joy at the passion in their delivery.

I eagerly await the “story” that is currently unfolding as Natalie Van Den Dungen nears completion of the Tote documentary she began working on a few years ago. Having seen snippets of the film recently, I am very excited to report that this film will be an incredible documentation of such a vital part of Melbourne music history. Also look out for the interviews with prominent musicians in Craig Kamber’s film on the Melbourne punk/rock scene 1976-1982, the majority of which were conducted within the Tote.

The Brothers Milne will now take over the running of the Tote and as we remain old friends I wish them all the very best and as already suggested, I hope the punters continue to strongly support live music, for without their support we will only be left with pokie joints and new apartments. The Booking Office remains the same, as do the bar managers and staff.

What am I going to do? I can’t quite decide between Forensic Investigation and becoming a Poodle Groomer, but in the meantime I will continue to bamboozle bogans everywhere I can with an eclectic mix of tunes under the guise of DJ Snaps Truly – “kicking goals for rock’n’roll” – and can be contacted via DJsnapstruly@gmail.com in regards to this line of work. I will also continue to use this Dodo address. Another long term passion, spanning 23 seasons, will see me focus on my cricket club the Abbotsford Anglers, as I strive for that elusive maiden century.

All Tote enquiries and business should now be directed towards Bruce Milne on bruce@thetotehotel.com

Viva La Tote!

Richie Ramone

Richie's "Arm of Rock" is a well-inked limb with tatts of his top bands thereon, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives being especially prominent. Sad news but I'll bet Richie won't be absent from the Melbourne music scene. The pub's in good hands with the Milne brothers (Bruce being the Godfather of Underground Music, down south.)

Gig of the Week: Sydney

It has to be the eclectic and fine rockin' Vindicator Smooth at the Excelsior, Surry Hills this Friday. Here's a vid shot by Vanilla Smoothie at their recent support to Radio Birdman at Annandale with them rolling through Love's "My Flash On You":

That's Mark Sisto on vocals, Andy Newman (Me-262, Decline of the Reptiles)on bass, Ged Corben (you might know him from the Lime Spiders) on guitar at right, Jon Schofield (Paul Kelly, Hell to Pay et al) on guitar at left and Jeffrey Wegener (Laughing Clowns, Ed Kuepper, the Saints) on drums. Supports will be Astrid Munday (up from Melbourne) and Madeleine Chase. I just gotta find a way of getting there after the daughter's school concert gig.

Historic Stooges photos published for the first time

Here's a piece of history for Stooges fans. We're publishing - for the first time anywhere - three sets of photos of the "Funhouse" and pre-"Raw Power" Stooges, from the six shows they played in the St Louis area in 1970 and '71.

CRAIG PETTY was lucky enough to be at all those shows, several of them with camera in hand. His photos were destined for publication in a Stooges book which, alas, appears to have stalled. So we're presenting them for the first time, in copy-protected form. (You may be able to reproduce these photos if you have a worthy project in mind - but please make sure you seek permission here first. OK?)

Craig takes up the story...

"The color photos of Iggy with longer hair, no dog collar and unripped jeans were from Kiel Stadium, St Louis, Missouri on March 7th, 1970.

"The next set of color shots with Iggy in ripped jeans , dog collar and shorter hair come from The Rainy Daze Club St.Louis MO in about July 1970 - a week or so before the famous Cincinnati Festival with the 'walking on the hands' film."

Close observers will note that Iggy is almost identically dressed in that TV footage:


"The black-and-white shots are from May 27th 1971 at the Factory, in St.Charles (a suburb of St Louis.) This show is the one that many bootlegs are from, and many of those are mistakenly labeled Kiel Stadium 1970,"
Craig says.

(There's a bootleg on the mysterious Starfighter label which purports to be this show - a better quality copy of that tape is circulating through traders.)

"The Factory show had Ron AND James Williamson on dual lead guitars for a very rare and short lived period. This was a makeup show for one canceled the night before at The Music Palace when the band's equipment truck didn't show.

"About 35 minutes into the show, Ig whacks Ron in the head with his mic by accident and the gig stops. They come back and try one more but it goes down. The show is over.

"People are pissed. Iggy comes out into the crowd afterward and hangs out and talks to everybody and is very apologetic. This is very cool.

"The promoter stiffs them. That's very uncool.

"A couple of weeks later they're dropped by Elektra and the band goes dormant.

"They came back to St Louis in '73 for two shows at the American Theatre."

Dates Craig recalls the dates the band played in St Louis over 1970-73 were:

3/7/70 Kiel Stadium
3/25/70 Rainy Daze
?/7/70 Rainy Daze
5/27/71 The Factory
8/18/73 American Theatre (two shows)

You can access the photos here. Wouldn't hurt to tell Craig how you feel (to quote Ig) by leaving a comment.

Frustrated drummers, mixers apply here

A little distraction to get you sacked at work. Turn the volume down if you want to stay in employment. I'm not sure what Buckle.com is all about but the rest of it smells of fashion shows and American Idol.

Visual, not aural

Not a rock and roll post but a nice photoblog. Click on the link and scroll down for a nice piece of Shockwave coupled with timelapse photography. The full photoblog "A Daily Dose of Imnagery" appears here.

Just in from the Radio Birdman camp

A bit of news which explains Pip Hoyle's absence from the U.S. tour just kicking off - read it here. Best wishes go out to the Sharpest Dressed Man in Rock and Roll and his family.

Punk's not dead, just festering around the edges

Here's a media release that lobbed into the I-94 Bar inbox this week. It seems unlikely that I'll ever find out what Guff sounds like so I'll resist further comment (but feel free to make one, if you feel so disposed):

Rock Legend Steve Perry works with Punk Band!!

So what could Steve Perry, the legendary lead singer of Journey possibly have to do with a punk band? Well, here it goes: While Guff was in the studio working on their upcoming new album, Steve walked in to visit a friend. He was so impressed with Guff that he showed up unannounced two days later and asked Guff to cover an unreleased Journey song. In the end, Steve not only produced the song “I Can See It In Your Eyes” but also sang on it! The song is featured on Guff’s brand new full-length “Symphony of Voices” which will be released on June 26th on Go-Kart Records.

Check out some of the songs of “Symphony of Voices” in our beautiful online stream at www.GokartRecords.com

Show your knowledge of shit music

Turning our attention to bad music, here's a website that's chockful of it. Think of ilike.com as an online version of Name That Tune for the truly gormless. WARNING: Britney Spears Zone.

Sad note on TBTT

That late and now great Dave Thomas-led Melbourne band Tiger By The Tail recently mentioned around these parts has called it a day. There's talk of a final, final gig (one of the guys was unavailable for the recent show due to illness.) We'll keep you posted.

Tone poem?

Are you tone deaf or do you have bad taste in music? US medical student Jake Mandell has developed an online test to determine if it's the former. He takes up the story:

"While working at the music and neuroimaging lab at Beth Israel/Harvard Medical School in Boston, I developed a quick online way to screen for the tonedeafness. It actually turned out to be a pretty good test to check for overall pitch perception ability. The test is purposefully made very hard, so excellent musicians rarely score above 80% correct." Try it here.

(Postscript: I scored 78% but since I struggle to tune a guitar I'm not reading much into that.)

This post could attract legal action (or at least a mild rebuke)

Why is there an unflattering cartoon of Radio Birdman's Rob Younger in this blog? In case you missed the item at the I-94 Bar, ex-Radio Birdman/Hitmen/Raouls member and noted graphic artist Warwick Gilbert's latest art exhibition goes live at Gallery37 in Coffs Harbour (on the New South Wales North Coast) on Friday and will continue until July 11. That is, if y'all don't buy all the works online.

"Myth, Memory & Idolatry" includes original works on canvas (a few of which you might have seen a year or two at the R$adio Birdman Exhibition in Sydney), but also features a handful of drumheads from The Warlord's Radio Birdman and Hitmen days.

Thanks to Gallery37's industrious Program Manager, Rachael Slattery, you can view some of the works - and buy fixed price originals - here. If you want to buy direct, drop the Gallery a line after you have a look.

Way back, when haircuts were expensive

At the risk of being told we're living in the past here's a potentially great and growing resource called Not So Ugly Things that's worth checking out regularly. Based on the contents of a suitcase of old Australian rock and roll publicity photos retrieved form a rubbish pile a decade ago, it's a pictorial blog of Oz music originators in candid and posed form. Let the blogmaster know what you think, OK?

Undoubtedly there are going to be many more photos of bands like the Masters Apprentices (above) with haircuts they'd rather forget...

Anarchy in Graceland

Yes, I know, there's been minimal ranting lately - for reasons I won't bore you with - so here's a quick line to indicate there are still signs of life. I stumbled over a myspace thingie for a San Francisco band called the Sex Presleys recently and if The King's tunes sung to the music of Rotten et al is your bag, you'll probably enjoy 'em. Gimicky, I know, but everybody's got to have their schtick.

Some Other Shit I've Been Liking:

"Old Shoes New Clothes" - the sweeping new album by Johnny Casino & The Secrets.

Demos by The Passengers - yes, an album is pending down the track.

"The Floating Life" - esoteric and moody debut record by Stewart "Leadfinger" Cunningham's new-ish band, on Spanish label Bang! Records.

"Stranded in the Nineties" - Brother Brick's posthumous double CD compilaiton on Off The Hip.

"Rejectionville" - Posthumous compile of tracks by the Kryptonics. One classic and a string of shouldabeen hits. On Memorandum.

X at the Ex - and some timely Tiger By The Tail refle-X-ions

X doing "Going Down" at the Excelsior last Saturday night. Video by Carol (aka Cazzam)- and there's lot's more where this coems from if you use the preceding link.

I have no doubt that X (the Australian one) is one of the best (whatever that means) bands in the country right now. Lean, no bullshit and focused in a way that old hands only can be. So why did no-one under 40 front to their recent Sydney shows? You could pose a similar question right across the expanse of Live Rock and Roll Land. Kids just don’t get it – or don’t want to.

It’s a still-shrinking base when so-called music enthusiasts would rather download an emaciated version (read: MP3) of the Real Auditory Thing than go see it. Turning music into a commodity by reducing to easily transferred bytes of data is putting the concept of experiencing it in the live setting squarely on its head. The Internet gives musicians inconceivable reach compared to 10 years ago, and gives them un-thought of control over their own output, but who the fuck can find a way through the maze of the Net? It’s Clutter with a capital K and you really need to know where to go for your fix of whatever you need. The Big Boys still own parts of the farm - and the difference these days is that they haven’t yet worked out a way to realistically fence it.

Anyway, enough of this post-modern communications theory bullshit. What I’m saying is you don’t have to stay at home downloading MP3s all day. It’s OK to like live music too. The live scene is feeling the pinch – globally – at both ends of the spectrum. Kids won’t get out, us old folks are more selective in how we spend our hard-earned, post-mortgage payments. Things are tough all over for the enthusiast in a band who virtually pays to play his or her songs anyway.

X mixed it up a little in Sydney on Saturday night with the odd “new” old song, to launch their re-issue of “At Home With You” (Aztec Music). I, for one, hope their plans to tour the USA and lay down a “new” album (of old but previously unrecorded songs) come to fruition. I didn’t catch their Thursday gig, which a reliable source said was moderately crowded if not as intense as their two-night stand at the Sando a few months ago, but Saturday was as good as anything I’ve seen live this year. Good crowd in, too.

The bill was made more marvellous with the presence on the undercard of Tiger By The Tail (TBTT), the wonderful exercise in guitar ebbs and flows fronted by Bored! mainman Dave Thomas. Tiger ByThe Tail has a similar ethos to Dinosaur Jr in that they rely a lot on guitar textures, high volume, strong dynamics and slacker vocals to carry the day. TBTT don’t force their music down the throat all the time; they’re smarter than that. They’ll be cajoling you with harmonics one minute - before turning on a two-cent coin and spearing the sound right back in your face.

They don’t move around a lot or add one ounce of theatrics to their live act and, as good as their two hard-to-find albums are (I’ve playing the shit out of “Unitshifter” since Dave gave me a copy on Saturday night), you still need to see this band (and others like them) to fully appreciate their worth.

As a footnote, there are line-up changes afoot in TBTT so watch this space.

Paradoxicially, I still haven’t seen their Melbourne counterparts Eddy Current Supression Ring live, but I can’t help thinking that TBTT probably out-score them on the songs front, and might just be the “better” band...whatever that means.

An X-cellent night in Sydney

More on X at the Ex in Sydney last weekend in a little while, as well as Saturday night's support Tiger By The Tail. Meanwhile, here's some food for thought if you're in Melbourne. Not often you see a bill this good and it's Six Ft Hick's last show before Europe:

"C-c-c-c-c-c-c-ity Slang"

Apologies if you've seen this elsewhere (it's moving right around the Web) but stiff shit if you have. The bottom line is that you can never get enough Sonic's Rendezvous Band. Here they are doing "City Slang", circa 1978.

At Home With You

The re-issue of X’s “At Home With You” is out and I’m here to tell you that it’s essential listening, whether you already own it on vinyl or CD (guilty on both counts. Here’s where X “grew up” – in the broadest sense of the phrase. They broadened their sound by including a horn section, a ballad and upped the production values, without diluting their power.

The great thing about the Aztec re-issue is that it’s a double CD package, comprising as it does the original album, the flexidisc single (“El Salvador” live) and a rough and ready PBS live-to-air from St Kilda’s Prince of Wales Hotel in March 1985. It’s a scarcely adorned desktape – a bit of EQ’ing and that’s the extent of the pre-mastering production – and it rocks like hell. A true representation of what the band was like after its move to Melbourne (and all too infrequent tours further afield.)

I know punk purists (whatever they are) prefer “X-Aspirations” over “At Home With You” for its raw and visceral edge, but there’s no reason you can’t lap up both. “At Home With You” took five days to record (as opposed to the debut’s five hours) and has a markedly different feel with Steve Cafiero’s in-the-pocket muscle replaced by Cathy Green’s wickedly swinging backbeat, but they’re both superb in their own way.

Stay tuned for news about the rest of the back catalogue and prospective tours to the USA and Japan.

With all this X-love around the place, it’s a tragedy that Ian Rilen isn’t around to shrug it off. Take some advice and catch the current version (Steve Lucas, Cathy Green and Kim Volkman) when you can. They still do the band's name justice.

Richard turns the TV off

On the face of it, seminal New York band Television looks to have broken up. That’s the only conclusion I can draw from guitarist Richard Lloyd’s announcement that he’s severing all ties. In short, Lloyd'd bringing out a new record and, to quote him, it "directly competes with Marquee Moon, Axis: Bold as Love, The Doors, Patti Smith's Horses, Bob Marley's Natty Dread, Neil Young's Harvest, or any other record you can name, as one of the greatest records ever made in the history of rock 'n roll. That being so, Richard needs to concentrate all of his energies to support it and its subsidiary philosophies".

Which of course looked like a pisstake on first reading but a personal message to the Marquee Moon mailing list made it clear that the Master of the Telecaster is deadly serious (if not in the least bit self deprecating.)

TV’s been a going (live) concern for the last decade or so, and given Lloyd’s prominent role (i.e. taking most of the solos) it’s clear that if Tom Verlaine and Co soldier on, it’s going to be a wildly different band. It reads as if Lloyd has tired (after 34 years already!) of playing second fiddle to Tom. There goes that difficult fourth studio album and any hope of seeing them in Australia. My one and only attempt to catch them at an All Tomorrow’s Parties festival date at UCLA a few years ago came to grief.

Great and esoteric guitarist that he is, Verlaine really needs someone to play yin to his yang and Lloyd's explosive soloing did just that. Jimmy Rip has filled this role in Verlaine's solo bands. Take that element away from Television and you're left with...noodling.

In tandem with Ken Shimamoto, I once tried to e-interview Lloyd for the I-94 Bar and the guy proved difficult, to say the least. Every reference to TV seemed to elicit a “I knew I’d be asked about that band” response, and since neither Ken or I had heard his then new solo album, “The Cover Doesn’t Matter”, it was hard to take a different tack. Lloyd also seemed to read double entendres into every other broad question (Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain’s “Please Kill Me” fuck-drug-and-tell-all expose had just come out) and we consigned the half-completed chat to the electronic trash. Pity, because Lloyd seemed (and seems) an interesting character.

Once you're done with drinking...

...with the guy in the previous post, you can try this quick test to see how far gone you are. Any resemblance between the link and an the suggestion that you can test sobriety online is purely a drunken load of bullshit, OK?

Sit down, have a drink

Been battling the 'flu in a big way lately, hence the lack of posts. Thus, what follows is purely medicinal.

I had to do away with the embedded shockwave file because it played an annoying piece of cocktail music in ther background, but click to test your skills at bartending. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Vale Lobby (2)

The official word:

"A public service to celebrate the life and career of Lobby Loyde will be held at Lauriston Girls School, 38 Huntingtower Road, Armadale (Melbourne) on Sat (28 April, 2007) commencing at 1pm. A private cremation will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations to Support Act would be appreciated."

Vale Lobby Loyde

The passing of Lobby Loyde should not pass without mention.

For those not aware (and the media mentions have been low-key by comparison to some of his contemporaries), Australian guitar innovator Lobby Loyde died on Saturday night, aged 65. He had been fighting lung cancer.

Lobby was the quintessential outlaw who made his mark as leader of the (ultimately infamous) Coloured Balls, a searing and often innovative guitar band that influenced a long string of bands following in their wake. The obvious (Rose Tattoo, Billy Thorpe) and less so (Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain) owe Lobby a debt. Julian Cope and Steven Malkmus (Pavement) are among Lobby’s fans. The guy also went on to manage and/or produce acts like the Sunnyboys, X, Painters & Dockers and Sardine v.

The last few years have been something of a Lobby revival, with almost all of his prodigious output re-issued in generously re-mastered form by Aztec Music. It runs the whole gamut - from searing boogie-rock to blues excursions and trippy, psychedelic prog. “Ball Power” remains an Australian hard rock landmark. Half a Cow also compiled the entire recorded output of his earliest band, the Purple Hearts, and this week issued a collection chronicling his boundary-pushing rock-jazz outfit, the Wild Cherries.

I was lucky enough to interview Lobby for the I-94 Bar in 2006 in the midst of Aztec’s re-issues program. He was medicated (I later found out) to block out the pain and struggling for breath, but his raw enthusiasm for music cut through. Fuck, we’ve lost some good ones lately.

You thought your job was bad

I've heard of herding cats but tossing off elephants is something entirely different. Still, the bloke appears to enjoy his work.

Now that's a drink

I'm indebted to Dutch maniac Tony Slug of the Niwtiz et al for this insprired find on YouTube. It's a Russian bloke showing how to drink a bottle of vodka in 20 seconds. Don't try this at home:

I've bean thinking

Back in the Land of the Salaried and after a few days I realise the thing I did miss during an extended break from work was freshly-brewed coffee.

Of course these things have a flipside and the annoying thing about coffee shop takeaways is that when you order a long black espresso, they never fill it to the top. If I wanted to leave room to dilute this stuff with milk (and thus lower its potency) I’d have asked.

Podcast Number Five...

...is live here. Leave a comment so I know you care. Ignore the stat counter too. The host seemes to be only counting the times the thing is streamed from their site to your desktop (you can also subscribe via various podcatchers, or download the MP3 to your desktop for your listening pleasure.)

This episode's Special Features: A Stooge of an intro and a special station I.D. from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Plus, you get an exclusive listen to the forthcoming Turbonegro single.

You don't have to be insane but it helps

Going back to wage slavedom tomorrow after an extended break. For some reason, it brought this to mind:

Drunk & Disorderly Episode 4: Liquor & Drugs

There's another one of these podcast thingies live right now. Grab it here and you can stream it from your desktop if you don't have one of those podcatcher things. If you listen to it, feel free to leave a comment. We don't bite (usually.)

Theft Most Foul in the Murder City

Word from the other side of the world is that the Powertrane support to the Stooges in the Motor City went down a storm. One disappointing note, however, when PT's special guest, Deniz Tek, parted ways with a near new Rickenbacker somewhere between Montana and Detroit Metro Airport. Deniz isn't holding his breath, suspecting foul luggage handler play. Thankfully, it's wasn't the Epi Crestwood.

When too much Stooges isn't nearly enough

So I'm sitting here in sunny Sydney, cooling my heels, when I shoulda jumped a plane to the Motor City to see the Stooges, supported by Powertrane Featuring Scott Morgan with special guest Deniz Tek. Then this fine little promo movie pops into my mailbox. What's a poor boy to do but put it here on a blog for public consumption?

Drunk & Disorderly Episode 3: New I-94 Bar Podcast

It's righteous, it's free and what's more it's here.

This is the set list:

Motherfucking Motherfucker - Brian Henry Hooper (Lemon, Lime & Bitter - Bang! Records)
Suck Suck - X (X-Aspirations - MDS)
The Rock 'n' Soul Fever - Dollhouse (The Royal Rendezvous - Off the Hip)
I Love Fish But Fish Hate Me - Electric Eel Shock (Beat Me, Spooky Records)
Burn Out Timeline - The Me-Thinks (Make Mine a Double EP, Indian Casino)
This Time I Know - Sewergrooves (Rock 'n' Roll Receiver, Wild Kingdom Records)
Death Trip USA - Spencer P Jones & The Escape Committee (Fugitive Songs, Spooky Records)
Be My Caveman - The Boobytraps (The Boobytraps, Off the Hip)
I Met You There - Kitty & The Kowalskis (Chinese Democracy, Amp Records)
Gimme an Answer - The Star Spangles (Dirtybomb, Tic Records)
Bacon Martini - The Whiskey Daredevils (The Essential Whiskey Daredevils, Knockout Records)
Hail - The Vegas Kings (Dead Money, Merenoise Records)

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment. Drop us a line if you're looking to buy any of the albums and we'll give you a steer.

X still marks the spot (2)

By the time you read this, those X tix for the Sydney gigs (scroll down) should be available over the bar at the Exceslior Hotel in Surry Hills. Run, don't walk. X-cellent.

And speaking of the Hydromatics...

...here are a few more details about the new album, with Celibate Rifle Kent Steedman on board. It's out in August on European label Suburban and they'll tour the Continent in September. Tracks likely to make the cut:

Streets of Amsterdam
Dinosaurs
Baby Jane
All Down The Line
Power and Glory
Mystically Yours (unrecorded Sonic's Rendezvous Band song)
Kinked Up
Funball
The Most
Detroit Leanin'
Standin' at the Juke

There's a rough mono mix of "Standin' at the Juke" here.

Open Up & Bleed (2)

Further to that earlier blog item about Paul Trynka's new Ig-bio, the review at the I-94 Bar is here. (Run your mouse over the Australian cover image and you'll see the US artwork.) "Best-in-class" is the wrap. Y'all be sure and tell us if we're wrong, ya hear?

X (still) marks the spot

Whatever misgivings you might still have about a Rilen-less X treading the boards, consider putting them aside and having a gander at the re-formed band when they strut their stuff in Melbourne and Sydney. The occasion will be the re-launch of "At Home With You", shortly to be re-packaged (with bonus live disc) by Aztec Music.

May 3 at Ding Dong (Melbourne) and May 17 and 19 (the Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills, Sydney) are the dates. Most of what you need to know is on the poster above (click on i t to read it), except for the fact that Sydney punters can buy their tix from the Excelsior this week (probably from Wednesday.) Do not wait. The two nights will sell out fast.

The other thing you need to know if there's a distinct possibility that this line-up (Steve Lucas-Cathy Green-Kim Volkman) will be in a studio soon, recording a host of old previously unrecorded X gems.

Kim Salmon on the Science of Being a Beast

There's a great retrospective interview with Kim Salmon by the I-94 Bar's Patrick Emery at the online version of Mess and Noise magazine.

We passed on this one as I was already speaking to Kim regarding the Scientists shows and live album - and the tape clagged out so some of the best stuff went unreported. More's the pity we didn't just run Patrick's as it's one of the most complete career pieces Mr Salmon's done. He doesn't quite wade back into the void that is the relationship between him and his old band the Beasts of Bourbon, but you can read a lot into his comments. Catch it here.

A True Testimonial (MC5 movie) update

Is the world's best rockumentary any closer to release? I'm talking "A True Testimonial", the labour of love by two Chicago filmmakers to document the rise and fall of the MC5. Legal action by Wayne Kramer over an alleged soundtrack role pole-axed the movie on the eve of its official release but bootleg copies have been doing the rounds in ever-increasing numbers. Will we ever see it out legitimately? Your guess is as good as mine, and probably there's a degree of heavy spin in one interpretation doing the rounds, but here's some media coverage of the latest court action.

More Satan's music, for your Easter listening pleasure

Here's a seasonal music post: You can understand the backward masking nut jobs going for deviants like the New York Dolls as prime examples of moral corruption, whether their records are played forwards or in reverse. I stumbled across this site Fundamental Baptist Links which has a stack of songs from the Dolls but also Styx (!), The Cars and Blue Oyster Cult, all seemingly unlikely soldiers for Satan. Anyway, you can download samples of "Jetboy" and songs by Roy Orbison and Billy Idol, all helpfully played backwards and crunched to MP3 to find hidden messages. Most of them are about selling, being wanted by or getting off on Satan. (Personally if I was going to sell him, I'd go for the convenience of eBay.) God knows what they'd think of GG Allin. Knock yourself out here.

Iceman joins Powertrane for Stooges homecoming

Powertrane Featuring Scott Morgan will support the Stooges at their Detroit homecoming at Fox Theater on April 13. Also aboard for the ride, as Powertrane's special guest, will be Radio Birdman's Deniz Tek, currently doctoring in Montana. Word is that Powertrane's new studio album should finally see the light of day in time for the show.

If you didn't know, pictured above are Ron Asheton (Stooges), Powertrane's superbly talented lead guitarist Robert Gillespie, Dr Tek and Scott Morgan, just before the show at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor a few years ago that was released as "Ann Arbor Revival Meeting". Props to K. Shimamoto for the visual.

This is a gig for which I seriously considered flying to the US seeing I had a bit of time on my hands, but it clashed with a commitment for The Barmaid. Pity, 'cos it will be some show.

Things Go Better With Bert

Thanks are due to Graham in the UK for noricing this yarn, now doing the rounds of the international newswires:

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has admiited to snorting his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards said. "He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared. It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

However, Richards cautioned younger musicians trying to emulate his hard-living habits.

"I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he said. "I've no pretensions about immortality. I'm the same as everyone, just kind of lucky.

No word whether it was before or after Keef fell out of a coconut tree and knocked himself senseless, but it sure shits all over Mrs Vicious spilling her son all over an airport terminal.

Teenage Head in San Fran

The Hoodoo Gurus are joined for the last date of their US tour on "Teenage Head" in San Francisco on July 31 by none other than ex-Flamin' Groovies member Cyril Jordan. No sign of Roy Loney but this is enjoyable all the same.

Pathway to Financial Oblivion (2)

Slight return: I-94 Bar Records WON'T be putting out the newie from Sonny Vincent. Due to some changed circumstances beyond our control, we've pulled out. That doesn't mean the label's stillborn. There are a few ideas in the air and stay tuned when they come off.

Elvis always was an over-achiever