sunnyboys

Five years into their reformation and you could be forgiven for thinking the Sunnyboys revival was on the wane. Wrong. 

With two Sydney shows selling out in just four days, setting a sales record at Sunshine Coast venue The Shed by selling a third of capacity in the first eight hours and eclipsing their previous best first-week sales in Melbourne, Sunnyboys are the hottest alternative ticket of the Australian summer. 

Due to overwhelming demand Sunnyboys are pleased to announce three new shows.

It came out with bugger-all fanfare five months ago, to coincide with the band’s one-off Sydney reformation on a Sunnyboys undercard, so it’s high time this one was passed around the I-94 Bar for a critique. 

You might know the back story but too bad: Shy Impostors were fronted by uber talented vocalist Penny Ward and contained future Sunnyboys Peter Oxley and Richard Burgman, plus Michael Charles, who would go on to the Lipstick Killers and Screaming Tribesmen. Not much shyness about that lot and no impostors among them.

A slew of previously unheard tracks from short-burning but bright Sydney band Shy Impostors is about to be released on Citadel Records, to coincide with the band playing a one-off reunion in support of the Sunnyboys’ Sydney show on February 4.You can pre-order your copy here.

Shy Impostors were active in 1979-80 and their ranks included future Sunnyboys Richard Burgman and Peter Oxley. Fronted by singer-songwriter Penny Ward and also featuring drummer Michael Charles (Lipstick Killers, Screaming Tribesmen, Mick Medew & The Mesmerisers), they played infectious, raucous and melodic pop music.

In February of 1980 the band recorded seven songs at Palm Studios, Sydney. Two of these tracks, “At The Barrier” b/w “Seein' Double”, were posthumously released late in 1980 on Sydney's Phantom label. The other five languished in the vaults.

During 2016 all seven tracks were restored from original master tapes and mixed by producer Jason Blackwell. The resulting self-titled CD is a long overdue retrospective giving yet another intriguing insight into the formative years of Sydney's post Radio Birdman indie music explosion.

Tracklisting:

Captain Fast (P Ward) (3:08 m:s)
At The Barrier (P Ward) (2:57 m:s)
When Night Comes In (P Ward) (3:22 m:s)
Sweet Defender (P Ward) (1:55 m:s)
My Sin Is My Pride (The Astronauts) (2:32 m:s)
She Can't Win (P Ward) (2:31 m:s)
Seein' Double (P Ward/M Charles) (3:32 m:s)

It is literally the hottest ticket in town - Sunnyboys at Sydney's Factory Theatre - and nearly as desirable everywhere else. After selling out their two shows at the inner-west venue in just four days, Sunnyboys are pleased to announce a third and final Sydney show.

The new date is Sunday, February 11 at The Factory Theatre in Marrickville with support (again) from the Celibate Rifles. The gig runs over the schoolnight-friendly times of 6-9.30pm.
 
The sold-out shows are the fastest-selling Sydney Sunnyboys shows since the band’s reunion in 2012. Elsewhere, the iconic band - born in the ‘80s but with all-time appeal - set a first-day sales record at Sunshine Coast venue The Shed @ Aussie World, selling a third of all tickets.

It's the band’s first performance on the Coast since their reformation and just their third appearance in the region ever, their last visit being in 1983 at the Noosa Hop,  an all day festival featuring Skyhooks, Midnight Oil, The Church and others.

Tickets for The Factory are on sale now via www.factorytheatre.com.au You'll find the rest of the gig dates and ticketing informaiton here.

Comeback kings the Sunnyboys have announced a full-blown Aussie summer tour, along with deluxe releases of their second and third studio albums.

The 2015 tour will include shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide plus a slot at the Perth International Arts Festival, just the second Sunnyboys appearance in the W.A. capital since 1984.

Brisbane and Sydney will be treated to appearances by their former sparring partners, the Riptides. Other guests on the February tour include The New Christs (Melbourne and Sydney) young punks Bad // Dreems (Adelaide) and Dom Mariani's post-Stems vehicle DM3, in Perth.

Without resorting to hyperbole, the definitive version of the debut album for Sydney’s esteemed Sunnyboys sounds fresher than the day it came out. The original 12 songs are coupled with seven early B-sides and live cuts but the revelation is in the bonus disc of 17 sparkling demo tracks, many of them previously unissued.

When the Sunnyboys and Ups and Downs were announced to play Brisbane together back in October 2021, locals couldn’t believe that they’d see the cream of Aussie guitar pop playing a pair of back-to-back gigs at a newly refurbished Princess Theatre.

COVID had other ideas and those shows, and rescheduled dates in March 2022, never came to fruition.

Boutique label Soundpressing has released a split Sunnyboys/Ups and Downs seven-inch single to mark the gigs that never were, just in time for the farewell Sunnyboys tour.

It’s a limited edition of 300 copies in three different coloured variants.

And it’s two modern-era songs – “Can’t You Stop” by the Sunnyboys and a new mix of Ups and Downs' “Gideon” - that clearly show the bands have not lost their love of driving guitars and soaring melodies.

Get yours here before they run out...just like Sunnyboys live shows.

[widgetkit id=5]

March 29, 2014

Songbird Photography

_{Murray Bennett photo}

I set out this afternoon towards the Enmore Theatre with every intention of taking some notes, keeping a rundown of the songs, and trying to come up with the sort of review that some people actually get paid to write.

Unfortunately, this grand plan fell apart by the time I’d been at the Warren View Hotel for an hour and met 26 (yes, I counted them) people I knew and ended up in more shouts than it was feasible to manage. Coopers Red is a great beer but a lousy friend when you’re trying to make a plan come together.

By the time I got to Phoenix (or at least the Enmore) it was 7.15pm, the Shy Impostors had just come on stage, and I was carrying enough Red on board to ensure that an in-depth profound analysis of the gig was as unlikely as AC/DC inviting Dave Evans back into the fold. So you’ll have to put up with this instead.

Four years into their re-birth, Australian pop-rock champions the Sunnyboys are unleashing a live album on CD. “Best Seat In The House” was recorded at Enmore Theatre in March 2015 and will be released on February 27 through Feel Presents and Inertia.

You can read our live review here but rest assured that the band was in blistering form, playing with as much energy and vitality as they did in their first life more than 30 years ago.

Tracks include live favourites “Tunnel Of Love”, “I’m Shakin’” and “The Seeker” plus the hits “Happy Man”, “Show Me Some Discipline”, “You Need A Friend” and “Alone With You”.

The first of a series of what will hopefully be a series of archival editions hits the streets in March with the re-release of the Sunnyboys’ 1981 debut album in dramatically expanded form.

Thirty-five years ago, Sydney's Sunnyboys released their eponymous debut LP. Containing the hit singles “Happy Man” and “Alone With You”, the album enraptured teenagers of the time (and generations to come) with an astute blend of hi-energy, pop hooks and brooding, longing wordplay.

In celebration of the album milestone and the premiere period from when it sprang, Sunnyboys will take to the stage in February 2017 for a handful of shows playing a set entirely derived from 1981; a set that will also include Sunnyboys, the album, performed in its entirety.

For Sydney fans there will be the added bonus of seeing Sunnyboys 1981 gigging partners Flaming Hands – featuring singer Julie Mostyn and songwriter Jeff Sullivan – performing their stripped back blend of ’60s style soul, R&B and psychedelia for first show since 1985!

Joining them on this momentous Sydney line-up will be legendary Sydney act Shy Impostors. Fronted by singer/songwriter Penny Ward and featuring the pre-Sunnyboys Peter Oxley and Richard Burgman alongside drummer Michael Charles, Shy Impostors existed for just nine months during 1979-80 and releasing one (great) record only; the posthumous “At The Barrier” single in 1981.

The Sunnyboys and Riptides show at Brisbane's Tivoli has completely sold-out. Due to this clearly overwhelming demand, both bands have agreed to a second Brisbane show, this time at the city's latest hot-spot, the all-new The Triffid, in Newstead on Thursday 12th March.

Tickets for this inspired pairing go on-sale on Friday from www.thetriffid.com.au or www.feelpresents.com and all OzTix outlets.

A heads-up that the Sunnyboys' February 2018 Australian tour is selling like wildfire with one Sydney gig (February 10) at Marrickville's Factory Theatre sold out in 36 hours, and tickets for a just-added extra date (February 9) now 85 percent gone.

Is it a surprise? No.

The fact is that the second all-oringal member incarnation of the Sunnyboys has now lasted longer than the band did in its first life. 

The time around, without the pressure of recording schedules and the demand for chart hits and with a mutual love and respect for the music they made, Sunnyboys can just do what they do best; play live. 

Joining the fun will be Sydney surf-punks The Celibate Rifles, who have carved out their own indelible history in the Australian music scene over a 35+ year period. The Rifles will join Sunnyboys for their first show on the Sunshine Coast since 1982; the Sunnyboys' first Brisbane performance since 2015, and most other dates.

Melbourne fun-punks Painters & Dockers, will join the rejuvenated Sunnyboys for a massive Melbourne Zoo performance.

Australia's iconic Sunnyboys love a party and they're inviting their fans to one on October 8 with a one-off gig in hometown Sydney.

Wednesday, October 8 at The Factory Theatre is where you'll need to be. It is a limited capacity event and tickets will sell fast.

To ensure your best chance to secure a ticket all you need do is sign up to the mailing list for promoters Feel Presents. The link is here. You'll receive an email on Friday, August 15 with the final ticketing details.

And so the return, and rise, of the Sunnyboys continues. If you said they could top this one, you’d need to back it up.

They billed themselves as Kids in Dust when they stepped back onto a stage for the first time in 21 years at the Dig It Up festival in Sydney on April 24, 2012. The nom de plume was supposedly to avoid performance anxiety or to ramp down expectations, maybe both. It didn’t matter; any tentativeness was swamped by a roomful of love.

Nor were there any misgivings in evidence at the same packed venue, the Enmore Theatre, last Saturday night. Just an irresistible king-tide of energy and good spirit.

They really are unstoppable and they shouldn’t be. Not at this stage of the game. Their goals might be modest - to have a good time reprising their own past, in the hope that you will too - but that doesn’t underplay how good the reincarnated Sunnyboys are on “Best Seat In The House”.

It’s officially their second live album but really their third (1993’s rough and ready “Shakin’” on Phantom seems to have been disowned) and it perfectly captures the band in all their pop-rock glory, playing the final gig on a mostly sold-out Australian run in March 2015.

Photos by Emmy Etie

Enmore Theatre - March 29, 2014

Richard Burgman was adamant when he bounced up to the microphone before a note was played and declared that the Sydney show would be the Sunnyboys' last. Who could blame him if he meant their final gig ever rather than the end of the tour. Informed sources say it's not the case and that the Sunnyboys will live on.

1) I may be slightly biased but we've had some cracking gigs at the MoshPit this year, so rather than doing a 1 through 10 for MoshPit I'm combining them all here. 

Huge thanks to all the bands that have appeared on the MoshPit stage this year, too many to list all of them, but it'd be remiss of me not to mention our repeat bands who've continued to support us. Sorry if I do miss anyone:

1. Do The Pop! Festival, October 2022 - Port Campbell, VIC.
One of the best rock n roll experiences I’ve had since the glory days of the Big Day Out in early-to-mid-1990s. A good sized, easy going crowd, all (mostly) attending for two good reasons: beer and rock 'n' roll. An exceptional line-up featuring a range of established and up-and-coming bands. Big thanks to Mick Simpson of Grindhouse and friends for organising what will go down as one the great inaugural festival events. No question this is my Number One pick for 2022. 

2. Howlin’ Threads EP "Of The Sea"(Meinshaft Records)
It was great to self-release this 4 x track EP featuring contributions from a wicked array of Australian rock n roll legends, including Penny Ikinger (Wet Taxis) on vocals, Deniz Tek (Radio Birdman) and Kent Steedman (Celibate Rifles) on lead guitar, James McCann (Harpoon) on slide and harmonica, and Brent Williams (New Christs) on keys. I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity to work with all these amazing people. For those keen to own one, a few Deniz Tek autographed copies are available here.