Iconic punks The Damned are returning to Australia and New Zealand for a series of highly anticipated shows in June.
Forged in the hot fire of first wave, The Damned are the greatest surviving British punk band, still firing on all cylinders. They are often regarded alongside The Clash and Sex Pistols as a seminal force in driving the genre’s popularity.
Following the release last month of the new EP "Periodical Fits" by his band LEECHES!, Rhinearts and ex-Screwtop Detonators member, Perth punk and powerpop everywhereman, Benny J Ward, has released his first solo single "Tell Me Tell Me" on Cheersquad Records
With a career that spans 20 years, half a dozen bands, a dozen albums, EPs, and singles; it would be safe to assume that Benny J Ward has scratched all his musical itches. No. Taking a sojourn into solo territory, Benny J hunkered down in the studio he built with his bare hands, and produced the first single ever released under his own name – the psychedelic garage pop belter "Tell Me Tell Me".
This is not the first time Benny J has gone solo. Back in the early 2000s he caught the attention of Triple J with his ginger pride-themed country-music alter-ego The Lone Ranga (subject matter that would later resurface in five-piece alternative outfit The Red Panthers).
"Tell Me Tell Me", however, is the first time Benny J has played every instrument on a track – from his native guitar to the bass and drums – as well as recording and mixing the tune himself.
You can buy it here.
The adorable icing on the cake; Benny J enlisted his 10-year-old son, Sonny J Ward to create the animation for the video clip to "Tell Me Tell Me" – following an inspired 2am New Year's Day kitchen brainstorming session.
San Diego's dynamite Schizophonics are throwing a special farewell to Oz show in Melbourne on Labour Day, Monday. 13 March . Venue is the John Curtin Hotel in Carlton.
Cementing themselves as "one of the best bands to see live, ever!" with their performance at Tentpole Festival, this will be your last chance to catch them before they head home.
Local garage-punk faves Blowers are special guests, tix are just $20 + bf and you can get them here.
Six years after his last visit to Australia, former Radio Birdman guitarist Chris “Klondike” Masuak is returning with his hand-picked local band, Dog Soldier, for a select run of East Coast shows.
Masuak and Dog Soldier will play a three week tour with shows in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.
Masuak’s musical history reads like a muscle car ride through the mean streets of Australia’s rock and roll underground.
The Canadian-born prodigy achieved notoriety as teenage guitarist for Australia’s legendary Radio Birdman, and then waged a War Against The Jive with the country’s hardest working rock and roll band, The Hitmen.
Next came a stint with the original live version of the New Christs, followed by international prominence with the chart-busting Screaming Tribesmen.
A member of the ARIA Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Masuak has an impressive back catalogue of rock, pop and blues releases under his own name and fronting the Viveiro Wave Riders. He is now based in Galicia in northern Spain.
Dog Soldier comprises bassist Tony Bambach (Aberration, Green Spiders, ex-Lime Spiders) and drummer Stu Wilson (Aberration, Leadfinger, ex-The Rivers, ex-New Christs, ex-Lime Spiders).
Their tour will re-trace Klondike’s storied career, drawing on material from his key bands - with a few surprises thrown in.
I-94 Bar Records & Promotions presents
Chris Masuak & Dog Soldier 2023 Australian Tour
MAY
19 - House of Music & Booze, St Peters, NSW + Starcrazy + The Dark Clouds + Pocketwatch Tickets
21 - Link and Pin, Woy Woy + The Silver Dragons (1.30pm) Tickets
26 - Northcote Social Club + River of Snakes + Electric Purrs Tickets
27 - Barwon Club Hotel, Geelong + Baby 8 + Sacramento Sweaters Tickets
28 - Smiths Alternative, Canberra + Il Bruto (7pm) Tickets
JUN
2 -Stag and Hunter, Newcastle + Joeys Coop + East Coast Low Tickets
3 - Federal Hotel, Bellingen + Nikki Websters
4 - Vinnies, Gold Coast + The Square Tugs + Mick Medew & Ursula Tickets
Sydney's garage trash favourites The Dunhill Blues have got plans. They involve a new vinyl EP and what's shaping as a "no sleep till we're sober" French and Spanish tour.
The band heads off next week and their new EP "I Got Plans" is available for pre-order here through local labels Outta Space and Evil Tone.
"It's a fairly wild recording; it should have been an album but we lost our nerve. Mkey Young pulled it together in the mastering," says The Dunnies' Adam Brozowski.
"We are really happy with it and we're gonna re-record the other 20 or so songs when we get back."
The band is picking up the EPs while in Europe so if you want to hear it now, you'll have to stream it.
For tour dates and the film clip, click MORE.
Internationally acclaimed West Australian boogie masters Datura4 are set to tour the east coast of Australia for the first time in six years on the success of their fifth album, “Neanderthal Jam”.
Datura4 is fronted by Dom Mariani of legendary Oz garage rockers The Stems, With plans to tour Europe in the latter part of 2023, the April tour will be their first time back since 2017.
The band will play four shows across New South Wales and Victoria, including an appearance at the prestigious Gum Ball Festival in the Hunter Valley and a Sydney show with returning platinum-selling Canadian act The Sheepdogs.
Datura4 finds Dom Mariani rediscovering the heavy and progressive blues sounds he loved as a teenager - bands like Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After andt he Groundhogs, Aus bands like Carson, Masters Apprentices, Chain, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and Perth locals Bakery.
Dom has even added an authentic ‘70s blues-rocker to his band – keyboard player Bob Patient is a one-time member of heavy prog rockers Fatty Lumpkin, a later day member of Matt Taylor's Chain and more recently a sideman of Perth’s internationally revered slide guitarist Dave Hole.
APRIL
Friday 21- Great Club Sydney (w/ The Sheepdogs) - Tix
Saturday 22 -, Gumball Festival - Tix
Sunday 23- Barwon Club Geelong - Tix
Monday 24- Cherry Melbourne (special guests - The Gas Babies) - Tix
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.
The Chordites head a night of brisbane powerpop.
Hey Brisbane! The Chordites, Generation Jones and Gift Horse: Three of the local scene’s finest exponents of Powerpop together for a night of hooky, guitar-driven rock n roll - how can you not love that formula?
They’re coming together from 6pm on Saturday, March 4 at the Cave Inn in Woolloongabba for a night of short songs, catchy melodies, power chords and Rickenbackers.
