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Frank Schwichtenberg Creative Commons work
Dictators and Manowar co-founder Ross “The Boss” Freidman has been diagnosed with the debilitating condition, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), aka Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Ross revealed the diagnosis in a statement on February 9 and after several months of weakness in his hands and legs ,which medical advice originally put down to a series of minor strokes.
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TV Smith. Artist supplied photo.
TV Smith, founding member, singer and songwriter for punk torchbearers The Adverts, is heading to Australia for dates with his band, TV Smith’s Adverts, over and after the Easter break in April.
The Adverts, of course, formed in the UK in late 1976 and were one of the leading bands in the first wave of British punk rock. The Adverts performed regularly at the newly-opened Roxy Club in London in 1977, and gained cult success with the Stiff Records single "One Chord Wonders."
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Photo credit: Lyres Facebook page
Boston music legend Jeff “Mono Mann” Connolly (DMZ, Lyres) is struggling with medical debt amid treatment for cancer. A GoFundMe is active and Conolly recently updated fans on his progress.
“My monthly prescribed chemotherapy and pre-surgery medixations were 'affordable' last month at $245.99 – yesterday…my Insurance-'covered' prescriptions jumped In price by 20 percent,” wrote Conolly, now living in Lynn, Massachusetts.
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After insane Australian tours in 2023 and early 2025, Tokyo's Guitar Wolf returns to Australia in March along with a new album, “MOREJET!”
Starting in erstern Australia, the run takes in the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, Sydney and Wollongong, and Bendigo, Castlemaine, Melbourne, and Balnarring. Supports include Alien Nosejob, Split System and Itchy & the Nits with more to be announced,
“MORE JET!” is Guitar Wolf's first new album in seven years and will be released locally on Sorcerer Records . It's preceded by the first single "9pm Pornomag Planet", which is available now from the band's Bandcamp page.
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It’s called Surreal Science and is described “an off-the-rails salvage job, fashioned into a beautiful cinematic work of abstract sound and vision”. It features members and music of The Scientists and Kim Salmon and The Surrealists with three drummers, three guitarists, two bass players and two vocalists, drawing on a repertoire of 160 songs.
Kim Salmon is leading the ensemble and it tours Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in April, featuring two-hour-long sets with an intermission.
Guitarist Tony Thewlis; bassists Boris Sujdovic and Stu Thomas; drummers Clare Moore, Greg Bainbridge and Phil Collings; along with production engineer Hepburn and vocalist/guitarist Kim Salmon.
They'll appear in tandem with a visual presentation of the passed, present and future of both of The Surrealists and The Scientists
As Kim himself says: “Not a tribute but a recognition of their part in this ever-evolving story”.
The Scientists belligerently eschewed standard melody for minimalism, brutality and abstraction but remained staunchly Rock and Roll.
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Japanese post-punk indie rockers DYGL (pronounced “Day-glo”), kick off their first Australian tour this week and their new album “Who's In The House?” is being locally released by Cheersquad Records & Tapes. It's on vinyl and in digital format and can be procured here.
Hailing from Tokyo, DYGL are one of Japan’s most internationally acclaimed indie rock bands. Formed in 2012, the four-piece has built a global following with their raw energy, heartfelt lyrics, and a sound that fuses indie rock and 2000s garage revival with a uniquely Japanese sensitivity.
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Now for some good news from former Died Pretty drummer Chris Welsh who is recovering at the Melbourne home of longtime friends Tony Robertson (Hitmen, The 31st) and and Tony’s wife Samantha after surgery to remove a cranial tumour.
“My headache is still pretty bad but gradually improving. The surgery took longer than originally expected. Five and a half hours instead of three,” Chris posted online yesterday.
“I got the results from the pathology biopsy yesterday. Fortunately the tumour was benign. Back for a couple of blood tests, CT scan and oncology appointment next week and back to the neurosurgeon in six weeks. Apart from that I just have to take it easy and rest up.”
Chris has been in a long fight against lung cancer that’s forced him to leave his family in Thailand. A GoFundMe has been raising money to support him since 2023 and you can help here:
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It’s been a massive year for both his bands, the Hard-Ons and Nunchukka Superfly, and before Hard-Ons kick off and their national co-headline tour with Redd Kross, Peter "Blackie" Black, guitarist and songwriter extraordinaire, has just released the new single and video .
A single, "Congo Line to the Rest Room", pre-empts the release of Blackie’s two new solo albums on February 6 and he'll play a run of solo shows up and down the Australian East Coast in February and March.
The new albums, “The Boss is Gone Gone Gone” and “A Bowl of Spiders”, were made simultaneously over a nine-month period at Pet Food Factory in Sydney’s Marrickville with Jason Whalley and Jemima Perry-Ewing engineering. They were mixed at Parliament Studios by Lachlan Mitchell and mastered by John Ruberto.
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The only Sydney show by Swiss garage kings The Jackets has been moved from Marrickville Bowlo to MixTape Bar & Brewing (als0 in Marrickville). Supports are The Strike-Outs and pocketwatch and tickets are on sale here.
This tour marks The Jackets’ first full run across Australia, hitting intimate rooms and iconic underground venues across Victoria and New South Wales. Expect loud amps, sweat-soaked stages and zero compromise rock’n’roll — pure garage chaos, delivered at close range.
- The Gnomes announce VIC and NSW gigs
- Mach Pelican to release first new song in 20 years
- Swiss garage-punk royalty The Jackets announce Aussie shows
- Genre-defying all-girl band TsuShiMaMiRe are heading to Oz
- Sacred Cowboys announce new album "In The Manifesto"
- A Sydney slamdown for the ages to mark the Festive Season's start
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The Living Eye
I-94 Bar presents
The Johnnys
(Billy Pommer Jr's Birthday)
+ White Knuckle Fever
Smiths Alternative, Canberra
- Feb 20
Tickets
+ Penny Ikinger's Marbles
+ Trauma Boys
St Kilda Sports Club, VIC
- Feb 21
Tickets
Peter Black solo
FEB
13 - The Cave Inn, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets
14 - Vinnies Dive Bar, Gold Coast, QLD (Matinee Show)
Tickets
19 - Medusa Bar, Geelong, VIC
Tickets
20 - Town Hall Hotel, Melbourne (two sets)
Details
21 - Shedshaker Brewing Company, Castlemaine, VIC
Details
27 - Hopsters Brewery - Sydney
Details
28 - Flow Bar - Old Bar, NSW
Details
MAR
1 - Hiss and Crackle Records, Newcastle, NSW
Details
Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes
Service Station Chcken Tour
FEB
27 – The Main Bar, Ballarat, VIC
28 – Union Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
MAR
1 – Bendigo Hotel, Brunswick, VIC
The Gnomes
Dive! Dive! Dive!
Rock ‘n’ Roll Dive Bar Tour
FEB
14 - Shotkickers, Thornbury (8pm)
+ Public House + Special Guests
20 - The Tote Front Bar, Collingwood (6pm)
+ Champ Ruby
21 - Kindred Bandroom, Footscray (8pm)
+ Stimpies + special guests
The Sugar Beats
+ Plastic Section
Golden Barley, Enmore
- Feb 20
TsuShiMaMiRe (JP)
Australian Tour
FEB
19 - Shotkickers, Melbourne, VIC
20 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC
22– Young St Tavern, Frankston, VIC
27 - Shadows, Canberra, ACT
28 – Moshpit, Sydney, NSW
The Jackets (CH)
Australian Tour
FEB
25 – Shotkickers, Thornbury, VIC
+ Plastic Section + Burning Effigy + Special Secret Guest
26 - Vineyard, St Kilda, VIC
(Door sales only)
27 – Mixtape Bar & Brewing, Marrickville,
Sydney, NSW
(moved from Marrickville Bowlo)
+ The Strike-Outs + pocketwatch
28 - The Bendi, Collingwood, VIC
MAR
1 -– Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC (arvo show)
+ Grinding Eyes, + The Damos
2 – The Last Chance, Melbourne, VIC
Tickets
Cosmic Psychos
"I Really Like Beer Tour"
FEB
12 — Royal Oak, Launceston, TAS
13 — Forth Pub, Devonport, TAS
14 — Altar, Hobart, TAS
Bleak Squad
8 - East Perth Power Station, WA
12 - .Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, VIC
13 - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, VIC
14 – Riverboats Festival, Echuca, VIC
19 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane, QLD
20 – Imperial Hotel, Eumundi, QLD
21 - The Regent Cinema, Murwillumbah, NSW
MAR
4 - Canberra Theatre Playhouse, ACT
5 - The Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSW
8 - Golden Plains Festival, Meredith, VIC
Tickets
On The Loose Presents
Guitar Wolf Australian Tour
MAR
14 - Perth, Seasonal Brewing Co.
15 - Fremantle, The Buffalo Club
all WA shows with Aborted Tortoise
18 - Gold Coast, Vinnie's Dive Bar
w/ supports TBC
19 - Nambour, The Ramp
w/ supports TBC
20 - Brisbane, Season Three
w/ Future Shocks & Evil Dick Industries
21 - Sydney, Factory Fusebox
w/ supports TBC
22 - Wollongong, La La La's
w/ Itchy & the Nits
25 - Bendigo, Trash Cult
w/ supports TBC
26 - Castlemaine, Bridge Hotel
w/ The Freedom Wave
27 - Melbourne, The Tote
w/ Alien Nosejob & Cujo
28 - Frankston, Singing Bird
w/ Split System & DJ Centipede & The Worms
29 - Balnarring, Social Club
w/ Cry Cyclops
Tickets
“Surreal Science”
Music of the Scientists &
Kim Salmon
and The Surrealists
APR
10 – The Corner, Melbourne
Tickets
11 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Tickets
18 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WA
Tickets
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15 February 2026
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07 February 2026
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Sacred Cowboys ride high on a new Manifesto
30 January 2026
-
One Monstar of a return
27 January 2026
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Humble Jim and his Family Dog deliver a classic
07 January 2026