Punching above its weight and it's a knock-out

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

10 August 2025

Hits: 2987

LightHeavyWeight 3 - Jack Howard (self released)

If you don't know who Jack Howard is, I can only assume you are a newcomer to Australian music, and probably a newcomer to this website. For the benefit of the uninitiated, he played trumpet with Hunters & Collectors, toured the world with Midnight Oil as their multi-instrumentalist and has played with the likes of Rodriguez, The Violent Femmes, The Living End, You Am I, Tex Perkins and Kate Ceberano. 

So let's move straight away to the nitty-gritty. It's the music, it's the beat, it's the soul. Those are the only things that matter.

• jack howard
• hunters and collectors
• midnight oil
• lightheavyweight 3

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One Short story you won't be able to put down

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

08 August 2025

Hits: 2317

Night Comes Down
By Bob Short
(Earth Island Books)

Who could trust time when reason was lost?

I got pretty lucky. I did all the dumb things and I'm still here.

First, it's such a delight to read that I've snorked coffee over it several times in my usual cafe, as well as other unpleasant substances on the bus. So, if it's a horror story, it's one where you spray coffee over it, your table, pants and some lady's nice white frock. 

Perhaps you could instead think of “Night Comes Down” as an amusing memoir with layers of horror? No, that won't work, there's just too much real horror. 

Even the unreal can still feel like it is real. That hunk of meat in our heads is a totally unreliable narrator. We make excuses for things and pretend things never happened and yet weirdness is always nipping at our heels. Is anything true?

Perhaps you'll read it and think it's all made up. Strangely enough, Bob Short is (as usual) one step ahead of us.

• bob short
• radio birdman
• blood and roses
• filth
• night comes down
• earth island books

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Never Mind The Lyrics, Here's the Alice Cooper Band

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By Bob Short

Bob Short

08 August 2025

Hits: 2594

The Revenge of Alice Cooper - Alice Cooper (earMUSIC)

Goddamn. It's been over 50 years. I loved the original Alice Cooper Band. That live album they recently did of old songs was fucking cool. Surely this will be great. My anticipation, like pride, comes before a fall.

The Revenge of Alice Cooper? That might be too strongly stated. It's not even really the return of Alice Cooper. Maybe it's the retirement plan of Alice Cooper. Christ. The boys in the original band definitely deserve something. They were royally shafted.

We've had a few of these reunion albums over recent years. The Stooges did "The Weirdness" which was pretty much loathed but I rather liked. "Ready to Die" followed to a better reaction. I loved it but others weren't so keen.

• alice cooper
• earMUSIC
• the revenge of alice cooper

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Flood warning: Kuepper and White deliver a masterwork

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By Ed Garland

Ed Garland

06 August 2025

Hits: 3024

After The Flood -   Ed Kuepper and Jim White (Remote Control)

“We took what Jim and I had been doing live and brought it into the studio. It was important that we capture the immediacy of what we had been doing and everything was not laboured. Everything was laid down.”

Ed Kuepper spells it all out in his media release announcing this album.  Anyone who has witnessed the powerful, atmospheric and unforgettable performances of Ed Kuepper and Jim White live will testify that they’re something not to be missed.

• saints
• ed kuepper
• laughing clowns
• dirty three
• jim white
• after the flood
• remote control
• cat power

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Bringing back that Soft 'n' Sexy Sound

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

04 August 2025

Hits: 2357

_{The 2025 Coral Snakes.  Meredith O'Shea photo.}

If you were alive to Australian music and culture in the mid-1990s, you couldn't avoid Dave Graney. It wasn't so much that his band dominated the charts - but 'The Soft 'n' Sexy Sound” was unavoidable.

Having been nominated in the Best Male Artist at the 1996 ARIA Music Awards, he wore a hot pink crushed velvet suit (beneath a toe-curling wig) to the award. To the evident astonishment of presenter Chrissy Amphlett, Graney had beaten John Farnham, Paul Kelly, and Tex Perkins to the top spot. Dave began his unrehearsed acceptance speech by declaring himself, with deep irony, to be “King of Pop'” 

Such TV moments are pivotal, iconic, magnificent (and easily locatable on YouTube). Right up there, in my view, with Iggy Pop bouncing up and down on a chair in the “Countdown” studio calling Molly Meldrum “dogface”, and innumerable Norman Gunston interviews. The difference is that Graney possesses an immutable grace, style and a vein of rich, droll humour.

• dave graney
• clare moore
• coral snakes
• australian tour
• 2025
• soft 'n' sexy soound

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Klondike's Spanish band Los Revelators unleash "Trigger Warning"

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By The Barman

The Barman

04 August 2025

Hits: 1859

• chris masuak
• los revelators
• trigger warning

Asteroid B612 announce Australian shows

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 August 2025

Hits: 1820

For the first time in 25 years, seminal Sydney underground rock´n´roll band Asteroid B612 will light up Australian skies with a select run of shows in November. The gigs will the band’s first chance to present their new album “Roads, Stars”, out now on vinyl LP and CD and via all streaming platforms.

Asteroid B612 came hurtling out of Sydney´s Northern Beaches in the early 90´s and was a guitar-powered force of nature, recording five albums and playing endless tours throughout Australia and once across the USA.

The core of the band - schoolyard buddies Johnny Spittles aka Johnny Casino, singer Grant McIver and drummer Benny Fox - were brought up on a musical diet of heartfelt, soulful, blazing rock´n´roll.

Dissembling in 2002, they reunited for eight concerts in 10 days through Johnny Casino's adopted home of Spain with an Australo-Spanish lineup. This is where the idea of recording new music was hatched.

It’s a slightly re-tooled version of the band with the 2022 passing of bassist Scotty Nash. Tickets go on sale from venue outlets at 0900 (AEST) today.

Asteroid B612
Australian Tour
NOV
6 – La La La´s – Wollongong NSW
7 – Marrickville Bowling Club – Sydney NSW
8 – Avalon Beach RSL Club – Northern Beaches NSW
14 - The John Curtin Hotel – Carlton Melbourne VIC

• johnny casino
• asteroid b612
• australian tour
• 2025

"Better Now" is the first taste of Van Ruin's album

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By The Barman

The Barman

31 July 2025

Hits: 1828

Following on from last year’s debut EP, “Jails, Death & Institutions” (Crankinhaus Records), Van Ruin has rapidly upped the ante with their first album, ‘Trauma Magnet” ahead of their first European tour in September 2025. “Trauma Magnet” unveils a cast of characters whose fallible traits play out against a backdrop of high-energy rock and roll and hook-laden songs.

The members of Van Ruin's history in Australian rock is pretty vast - they've been a part of crucial acts like the New Christs, Lime Spiders, Deniz Tek Group, The Visitors, ME262, Decline of the Reptiles and Chris Massuak’s Dog Soldier, as well as East Coast Low, Hell Crab City, Chickenstones, Loose Pills, The Panadolls and Aberration. 

Van Ruin are Phil Van Rooyen - Vocals/Guitar, Alan Creed - Guitar/Vocals/Keyboards, Andy Newman - Bass/Keyboards and Stuart Wilson - Drums/Vocals

“Trauma Magnet” is being released on vinyl, CD and streaming and you can pre-order on Bandcamp or the label site, or pre-save.

• new christs
• lime spiders
• the visitors
• filmclip
• van ruin
• better now
• trauma magnet
• deniz tek group
• chris masuak's dog soldier

Don't snooze: One-off Oz show for Yoshiko of 5.6.7.8's on sale

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 July 2025

Hits: 1506

Yoshiko, lead singer of Japan's 5.6.7.8's, is coming to Sydney to perform a solo performance for the first time at the intimate MoshPit Bar in St Peters on Sunday, September 14.

The gig went on sale today and is already cruising towards a sell-out so expect no tickets on the door. Grab a pre-sale one here or miss out. Doors open at 3.30pm.

With a sell-out tour of Australia in March with the 5.6.7.8's under her belt, Yoshiko is going to be belting out a completely different set of Japanese floor shakers and rockin' garage tunes.

She’ll be previewing a record she’s recording with her Sydney backing band, Cheetah Beat, purveyors of “sleazy surf and sinful serenades”. Cheetah Beat are coming in hot after their recent sell-out show at The MoshPit in July.

They’ll be joined by Jupiter 5, stalwarts of ‘60s and ‘70's rock'n'roll with brute force and grooviness. Dirtbag will open the shindig fresh from his appearance at the renown Wild Weekend festival in Spain with his primal one-man band racket.

• cheetah beat
• moshpit
• jupiter 5
• dirtbag
• 5.6.7.8's
• yoshiko