"Strange but right": Hugo Race on "100 Years"

_{Sara Alice Ceccarelli photo.}

He's as well known in Australia for fronting '80s Melbourne blues rockers The Wreckery as he is in Eruope for his work with The True Spirit, Fatalists and Dirtmusic, and onetime Bad Seeds guitarist Hugo Race is a man who never stands still. His latest album is a moody collaboration with Michaelangelo Russo called "100 Years" that's as sweeping in its musical vision as it is deeply rooted in the blues. 

After immersing himself in "100 Years, Robert Brokenmouth was prompted to seek an audience with Hugo and ask him some probing questions. Their wide-ranging chat is here.

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• hugo race
• the wreckery
• michaelangelo russo
• 100 years

The Crisps pad up for three shows and a quick single

Their membership is spread over the globe but that's not stopping portable party The Crisps returning for a quick surprise run of New South Wales shows later this month.

The Crisps reformed in 2023 for an Australian east Coast tour after a 20-something year lay-off and released a self-titled killer EP on Vi-Nil Records. Guitarist Dave Thomas' return from his adopted home of Germany has made a quick second reformation possible.

The Crisps are bassist Graham Hood (The Johnnys), vocalist-drummer Stuart Wilson (New Christs, Lime Spiders, Chris Masuak's Dog Soldier), Dave Thomas (Doomfoxx) and guitarist Chris Nacard (Orange County).

The Crisps play Sydney shows at Manly Boat Shed (January 24) with DISGRACELand and The MoshPit Bar (January 25 from 2-6pm) with The Research and Sugar Beats before heading north to Woy Woy's Link and Pin Cafe with The Dunhill Blues and The FNCs on January 26 from 11am-5pm. A digital single "Hey Jack" is due to be released next week.

• moshpit
• link and pin
• the crisps
• 2025

Dom and James team as The James Baker Beat for superb 45

Perth music luminaries, James Baker (Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, Scientists, Victims, Dubrovniks) and Dom Mariani (The Stems, DM3, Datura4) have come together to release single under the moniker The James Baker Beat.

"Friday Night Friend" and "She Said (Bad Weekend)", out now and both penned by James and Dom are classic garage punk and pop fare which recall the rock and roll sounds and tradition of both the early Scientists and Stems.

The release of the single coincides with the second of two benefit shows  at Lyrics Undergrouind in Perth tonight to assist James in his fight with liver cancer.

From one of the most influential punk anthems (The Victims – "Television Addict") ; to the pre-swamp pop n’roll leanings (The Scientists – "Frantic Romantic"/"Last Night") ; to the tall-tale future of the term Australian Super Group (The Beasts of Bourbon – "The Axemans Jazz") to the Hoodoo Gurus and The Dubrovniks, James Baker has no peers when it comes to a rock n roll curriculum vitae.

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• james baker
• hoodoo gurus
• dom mariani
• the stems
• the victims
• james baker beat
• friday night friend
• she said (bad weekend)

Kim Salmon and band go on the road to plug one smoking new album

Kim Salmon's new outfit Smoked Salmon have announced a national tour to promote the forthcoming self-titled debut album, which is out February 28 on Cheersquad Records and Tapes.

The tour in March and April will take in Perth, Fremantle, Margaret River, Castlemaine, Canberra, Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle, Geelong, Brisbane, Gold coast, Bangalow and Adelaide before finishing back in Melbourne.

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• kim salmon
• australian tour
• 2025
• smoked salmon

Two more shows loom for The Beasts

Homegrown supergroup The Beasts will play two special performances next month to celebrate their latest full-length studio release, “Ultimo” - with the prospect of more to come if drummer James Baker’s health holds up.

Melbourne (The Corner Hotel, February 21) and Sydney (Manning Bar, February 22) are the lucky cities and both gigs are expected to sell out. If you caught The Beasts last year on their national sold-out “Alive" tour you’ll know why.

The Beasts are surviving Beasts of Bourbon members James Baker, Tex Perkins, Kim Salmon, Boris Sujdovic and Charlie Owen.

The Beasts
Corner Hotel, VIC
- Feb 21
Tickets
Manning Bar, NSW
- Feb 22
Tickets

• manning bar
• the beasts
• ultimo
• corner hotel

Little Murders deliver a powerpop masterwork

Under Northern Lights – Little Murders (Off the Hip)

Nine studio albums in and Little Murders might have this rock-pop caper nailed. Again.

“Under Northern Lights” showcases what songwriter, band leader and sole constant member Rob Griffiths and his current, and most enduring, line-up do so well.  So that’s a wrap for this review. 

No, you don’t get off that easy. At least not until you’ve been thoroughly sold the virtues of “Under Northern Lights”. It should be an easy task if you set the tracks running in the background on Bandcamp. Let’s get stuck in. 

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• little murders
• rob griffiths
• under northern lights

Filmmaker Jason Axel Summers and the Stuart Gray documentary "I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago"

 _{Filmmaker Jason Axel Summers (right) with Stuart Gray. in Jason’s apartment. This “Stutue” was commissioned by Jason and depicts him with his Super 8 camera and light meter in either hand.  The white of the lens and the sensor on the meter are made of glow in the dark epoxy.  Stuart used his own hair as the hair on the Stutue}

US filmmaker Jason Axel Summers' documentary about Australian-born musical anarchist and visual artist, Stuart Gray, “I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”, is a prime example of what fantastic music there is out there to discover, and an excellent example of 'if you had expectations about this man, leave 'em at the door”.

Many I-94 Barflies will know of Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm), but not so much his music. If there's any justice, as a result of this documentary, Stuart will become a TV star and take his latest band, the New York City-based Art Gray Noizz Quartet, on an international stadium tour, complete with middle-aged ladies heaving their undies at him, while his oddly-insightful sculptures will sell for hundreds of thousands.

But hey, we live in a real world of struggle, pain, indifference, beauty, sin and downright foolishness, don't we.

So let's have a little yak with Jason Axel Summers, the somewhat determined man behind “I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”.

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• black eye records
• lubricated goat
• art gray noizz quintet
• stuart gray
• jason axel summers
• I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago
• redeye records
• in the raw

One Jones worth acquiring

Keepin’ Up With The Jones – The Ballbusters (Vicious Kitten)

You might question the validity of this four-song EP from the Worcester, Massachusetts, band that used to be Rick Blaze and The Ballbusters until their frontman’s demise in 2011 following protracted health issues. After all, it’s been 23 years since their second album and first for Vicious Kitten (the “Manhattan Babylon” CD) and one of the guitarists, Dave Cuneo, has also since shuffled off this mortal coil.

It was easy back then to write off Rick Blaze and The Ballbusters as yet another Thunders-besotted outfit from the backblocks whose fascination for JT's dubious lifestyle choices got in the way of them making it out of their own backyard. The cover art for this EP is all a bit too obvious but its arrival prompted re-visits of “Manhattan Babylon” and its 2001 follow-up “People’s Republic of Rock and Roll”, and they retrospectively hold up as righteous slices of swagger that owe as much to Mick and Keef as  J. Genzales.  

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• rolling stones
• johnny thunders
• vicious kitten
• the ballbusters
• rick blaze
• dave cuneo
• jimmy buscarino
• keepin' up with the jones

Third album finds Full Moon Flower Band in full bloom

Megaflower - Full Flower Moon Band  (Silver Arrow)

Full Flower Moon band as a concept has been ongoing for almost a decade. It was a project created by songwriter, filmmaker and musician  Kate Dillion. Early gigs in Brisbane were more of an experimental affair, playing at fringe music venues around Brisbane as a duo but sometimes supplemented by other musicians.

Dillion’s masterwork of a few years ago was her ambitious sci-fi  film, “Chinatown”. She wrote the script, played the lead and wrote the soundtrack that became her debut album.  A critically-acclaimed, intellectually-layered short film, it was an incredible achievement.

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• babyshakes
• full moon flower band
• megaflower
• silver arrow
• kate dillon