Get Some - Mushroom Planet (self released)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

17 October 2017

Hits: 5562

This is rated seven bottles. These fuckers (a reformed Sydney band from the '80s) have no right being this good.

Blue Oyster Cult? Yeah!

MC5? Yeah!!

Iggy? OH SHIT YEAH!

Well, that’s my job done then. That’ll be $500 bucks in used tenners in a brown paper bag.

[silence]

[crickets chirping]

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Citadel to release special edition of Stems classic in time for Oz tour

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 October 2017

Hits: 6850

To coincide with The Stems’ 30th anniversary tour celebrating the release of their 1987 debut LP "At First Sight Violets are Blue", Citadel Records is re-issuing the long deleted album as a limited digipak edition CD on November 3.

The album has been digitally re-mastered and includes three bonus tracks. A vinyl reissue will see light of day early next year.

Originally released through Mushroom Records' off-shoot White Label, the album was first pressed in mid-1987. The title track and subsequent singles “For Always” and “Sad Girl” gained mainstream airplay – a big call for an underground band back then. The Stems influenced a host of new local bands playing '60s garage rock and roll.

• tour
• australian
• citadel records
• dom mariani
• the stems
• At First Sight Violets are Blue
• at first sight

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Lime Spiders return with one Sydney show before Spain

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 October 2017

Hits: 6640

The reconstituted Lime Spiders will play their one and only Australian show this year at Marrickville Bowling Club in Sydney on December 2.

Mick Blood is leading a fresh line-up of the band before playing the Purple Weekend Festival in Leon, Spain, which runs from December 6-9. Other bands on that bill include the Allniters, Frowning Clouds and Nikki Corvette. 

Sydney supports for the Spiders’ return (being billed as “Summer of Love Revisited”) are The On and Ons and The Amazing Woolloomoolosers. Tickets will be available through Oztix later this week. Mick Blood is being joined in the Lime Spiders by Dave Sparks (guitar),  Andrew Nunns (drums) and Phil Hall (bass).

• lime spiders
• marrickville bowling club
• mick blood
• purple weekend festival

A track-by-track of "Rough and Ready" with Scott Morgan

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 October 2017

Hits: 10746

After years of medical tribulations, Scott Morgan is taking the next step in his return to active musical duty. The former Rationals, Sonic's Rendezvous Band, Hydromatics, The Solution and solo band artist with a career spanning five decades releases his first new album in seven years this month, the stellar "Rough and Ready" (Rouge Records).

Backed by The Sights, his band of choice on recent live outings, Morgan emphatically returns to his blue-eyed soul roots, laying down 10 songs of righteous beauty and grandeur.

Co-written with Eddie Baranek of The Sights and recorded by Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders and Adam Cox at Hamtramck Studios, it's a refreshingly pure album and a reminder of why Morgan has long been regarded one of the best rock and soul voices in the business. We asked Scott to walk us track-by-track through "Rough and Ready". The photos are by Marian Krzyzowski.

• jim diamond
• scott morgan
• the sights
• rouge records
• rough and ready
• adam cox
• eddie baranek

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Tony Thewlis and stories of Weird Love, Blackadder and a re-possessed TV

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

05 October 2017

Hits: 10204

_{Tony Thewlis and Kim Salmon fronting the Scientists at Sydney's Southern Cross Hotel in 1982.}

The Scientists at their peak were unmatchable. A glorious collision of droning, caustic, fuzz guitars, minimalist bass, anguished lyrics about alienation and ominous, funereal rhythms, they created something unique after landing in Sydney in 1981. 

Originally ragged New York Dolls-inspired popsters back in Perth, the re-constituted Scientists stripped their music back to its darkest roots, concoting their own brand of psychedelia and incorporating influences like Suicide, the Stooges and Captain Beefheart.

Too big for their own Surry Hills backyard, the band moved to the UK in 1982 and, in typical expatriate Australian underground band fashion, starved before going on to influence countless other acts into the ‘90s and beyond.

• swamp
• sydney
• scientists
• kim salmon
• tour
• boris sudjovic
• james baker
• grunge
• australian
• tony thewlis
• brett rixon

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Last Of The Buffalo - The Heartache State (Golden State Records)

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By Geoff Cahir

Geoff Cahir

03 October 2017

Hits: 3440

The second release from Melbourne's The Heartache State - the band formed by Southpaw's Justin Garner and much-travelled Nick Barker - has been something to look forward to for a long time. The good news is that there’s no disappointment to be found on "Last Of The Buffalo". 

The first self-titled album was a couple of years back and a fine thing it was too, but this time The Heartache State has lifted it a few notches with 10 tracks of hard, swaggering Aussie pub rock.

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Grinding Eyes - Grinding Eyes (Off The Hip/Tym Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

03 October 2017

Hits: 9296

Drone and fuzz are the base ingredients in this psychedelic stew from Sydney four-piece Gridning Eyes. The sound is thunderous and heavy in the mid-range, with no compromise to melody. Delicate harmonies are in short supply. 

Grinding Eyes have been around for three years and have two singles on prodigious boutique Brisbane label Tym Records. This is their long player debut (on CD through Off The Hip) and it’s an exacting but rewarding trip

Recorded by Owen Pengilis (Straight Arrows), and mixed (in France) and mastered (in Detroit) by sonic wizard Jim Diamond, these are nine songs of dark, relentless assault. 

• drone
• jim diamond
• straight arrows
• grinding eyes
• owen pengilis
• tym records

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Libertatia - The Deadvikings (Savage Magic Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 October 2017

Hits: 6987

Like the financial affairs of a retired politician, it’s amazing what you find in rock and roll if you dig deep enough. Japan’s The Deadvikings are a prime example. 

These Far Eastern brothers-by-another-mother of the Hellacopters have been going for 10 years and have numerous releases behind them. They’ve done a split single with UK reprobates The Sick Livers and The Hip Priests (but don’t judge them by the company they keep.)

They’ve toured Europe and China. They’re hitting Australia in November, with their Sydney mates Bunt.

• tour
• japanese
• hellacopters
• australian
• deadvikings
• savage magic records
• libertatia

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Seizure Salad - Juliette Seizure & The Tremor Dolls (Off The Hip)

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By Ronald Brown

Ronald Brown

01 October 2017

Hits: 5529

The new Juliette Seizure & The Tremor Dolls album is dripping with bubble gum pop, big riffs and fabulous vocals.

It's a combination that has to make "Seizure Salad" a surefire winner on the live pub circuit. It's just made to be played to drunken punters on a Saturday night, and it's a perfect follow up to last year's "Chewing Out Your Rhythm On My Bubble Gum".

"Seizure Salad" finds the Tremor Dolls evolving their sound without losing any of their influences (the Ramones being the obvious one.) This six-piece Adelaide outfit has been refining its chops overseas, with a tour of Japan under the belt, in-between hitting as many Australian pubs as possible.

• bubblegum
• juliette seizure & the tremor-dolls
• seizure salad

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