She's back

Detroit art punk rock queen Niagara will team with iconic rock and roll soldiers the Hitmen for a seven-date Australia tour in April.

Niagara made a name as the femme fatale of Detroit bands Destroy All Monsters, whose ranks included late Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton. Destroy All Monsters released a string of singles and toured the US and England extensively in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, keeping alive the legacy of the Stooges.

Her next band was Dark Carnival, a travelling carnival of high-energy underground artists. Membership included Niagara and Ron Asheton, as well as Stooges drummer Scott Asheton and Dead Boys guitarist Cheetah Chrome as well as a string of Detroit musical luminaries. The band issued albums on French and Australian labels Revenge and Zeus, as well as US imprint Sympathy For the Record Industry

Since the ‘90s, Niagara has concentrated on her exploding career as a pop art painter and has dipped back into music only rarely. Niagara exhibits to vast acclaim around the world and her artworks command huge prices. She was recently commissioned to provide a design for a own line of Vans shoes. The tour will coincide with exhibitions at the Outre galleries in Melbourne and Sydney.

The St Valentine's Day Massacre Tour will promote the CD of the same name, released locally on Savage Beat/Shock. The album captures the one-off February 2008 show at The Crest Hotel at Sylvania in Sydney when Niagara was lured out of retirement, with the Hitmen as her backing band.

The show as a spectacular success, drawing a full house of rabid fans, some of whom travelled from overseas to be there.

Fans can expect more of the same with a two-hour show comprising a Hitmen set followed by a high-energy bracket from Niagara, reprising songs from Destroy All Monsters, Dark Carnival and the Stooges.

Niagara and the Hitmen proved to be a scorching combination last time out. Anything could happen – and will.

The Hitmen are one of the Australian rock scene’s most enduring acts, a Radio Birdman outgrowth who took underground music to the suburbs and towns.

They were re-animated by principal members Johnny Kannis and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chris Klondike Masuak in 2007, and have rallied old and new fans since with their back catalogue re-issued in deluxe packaging by Savage Beat/Shock.

Dark Carnival made it to Australia in 1991 for a 43-date tour with the Hitmen. Niagara’s 2010 gigs with the Hitmen shows brings that connection full circle.

Tickets for the “St Valentine’s Day Massacre Tour” are on sale from February 18 through venues, www.moshtix.com.au or 1300 GET TIX

Niagara opens exhibitions at the Outre Gallery in Melbourne (April 1) and Sydney (April 8).

Special guest for the tour will be Gold Coast artist Hazel Eyes The Devil.

The “St Valentine’s Day Massacre” live album by Niagara & The Hitmen is out now on Savage Beat/Shock.

Niagara & The Hitmen
St Valentine's Massacre Australian Tour
with special guest Hazel Eyes The Devil
+ supports tba
APRIL
2 - National Hotel, Geelong
3 - Ding Dong, Melbourne
4 - East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
9 - Step Inn, Brisbane
10 - Hard Rock, Gold Coast
16 - Crest, Sylvania, NSW
17 - Gaelic Club, Sydney