Sensational San Diego trio The Schizophonics have announced two Australian dates in June.
They'll play Sydney's Marrickville Bowling Club on Thursday, June 6 (with Grinding Eyes) and Melbourne's The Tote on Friday, June 7 after a run of New Zealand dates. Tickets for both Austrralian shows are on sale here.
The wild, gyrating, and down-right gymnastic, guitarist Pat Beers is joined by his wife Lety on drums and bass player Blake Lindquist...and yes, Beers is their real name. By day Pat teaches music but at night, once strapping on that guitar, he becomes a man possessed .
The Schizophonics are, in one word, EXPLOSIVE. Their frenzied live performances tap into the same unstoppable combination of rock ‘n’ roll energy and showmanship that fueled the MC5 in the heyday of the Grande Ballroom.
When they hit the stage, they grab your attention and don’t let go. They’ve built up a formidable reputation in their home base of San Diego and a fervent following among locals.
“One of my favorite live bands ever!” proclaims Tim Mays, who has run the Casbah for over 25 years and seen literally thousands of live bands come through his doors in that time.
Sunnyboys + Rocket Science + The Prize Northcote Theatre, VIC Saturday 28 January 2023 Michelle Bilson photos
A work colleague of mine told me once she’d had her wedding reception at the Northcote Theatre, back when it was known as Fani’s Receptions in the late 1980s, 70-odd years after its original opening as a picture theatre. The marriage didn’t last too long – about six months, I think – but the venue was still hosting sumptuously catered family celebrations up until it was taken over and reinvigorated as a live music venue.
The benefit of personal geographical proximity aside, I’m not sold on Northcote Theatre just yet. The combination of a high ceiling and a lack of absorbent surfaces renders the acoustic profile imperfect. Like the property prices in the local area, the drink prices are on the high side; frustratingly, it’s a cash-free venue and the distance between the stage and bar makes for a challenging journey for all concern.
The Beasts The Johnnys The Gov, Adelaide March 17, 2019 Photos by Alison Lea
It's the last night of the Adelaide Festival and the city centre is abandoned to the tourists, and no doubt some "end of festival" official shindig, doubtless adding anodyne "vibrancy" (one of Adelaide City Council's favourite buzzwords) to the joint.
Meanwhile, Adelaide's finest and most intelligent people are voting with their wallets and pile into the Gov, many having come from miles around. One bloke is here with his wife from Kangaroo Island (more expensive than a trip to Melbourne or Sydney); another bloke flew 300 miles to arrive at 4pm, with a return flight at 8am. There are many happy drunks.
Tonight was the most beautiful gig I've seen in years, if not ever. I cannot remember a more wonderful, cathartic experience.
In 2018 Alejandro Escovedo released "The Crossing", an album based on the story of two boys, one Mexican and one Italian, travelling across the United States. “I’ve always lived along the border in California and Texas, so it’s been part of my story,” Escovedo says. But while immigration is fundamental to the evolution of modern America, in recent years it’s has become a hot political topic.
(To accentuate the point, a few hours before my interview with Escovedo, US President Donald Trump invoked emergency powers to secure the funds to continue the building of his border wall between Mexico and the United States.)
Escovedo didn’t set out to write a political album; it’s just that “whenever you talk about immigration at this time it tends to be political because of what’s going on in America”.
High-energy veterans Senor No from Basque Country (don't call it Spain) are embarking on their first Australian tour this month but their Anipoddean connection already runs deep.
Senor No was born in Donostia/San Sebastian, Basque Country in 1993, after the dissolution of the seminal Spanish group La Perrera. The band released their first LP with No Tomorrow Records in 1994 and toured Spain and surrounding areas relentlessly while recording five more albums and more than a dozen singles.
Senor No was the very first release for the seminal Spanish label Bang! Records which is a label responsible of releasing some of Australian best bands overseas.
Radio Birdman is embarking on a short, sharp Australian tour with Citadel label-mates The Stems in tow. The five-date run will include Spanish band Los Chicos as guests on three gigs.
Tickets are on sale via venue websites.
Radio Birdman + The Stems OCT 25 – Factory Theatre, Sydney + The LangLangs 26 – The Gov, Adelaide + Sunday Reeds NOV 1 – The Triffid, Brisbane + Los Chicos 2 – Coolangatta Hotel + Los Chicos 4 – Croxton Ballroom, Melbourne + Los Chicos
Beloved alt-rockers The Lemonheads are returning to Australia this December.
Since they were formed by Evan Dando in Boston, Mass, in 1986, the family tree of The Lemonheads has many twisted tentacles and tangential branches, and a host of one-liners etched into its bark. Anyone could be a Lemonhead but for how long who knows? Leastways they’ll be shoulder-to-shoulder with Evan throwing discordant chords against alt-country-tinged melodies, playing that light and dark card. Through their ranks have passed Descendents, Blokes Babies, Dinosaur Jr - and even a member of Australia's The Eastern Dark.
The Hard-Ons kicked off their “I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff's Been Taken Tour” - their first tour with new singer Tim Rogers- with three sold out shows on the weekend, only to hit a hurdle yesterday.
The group issued a statement this morning:"
We regret to advise that the band has unfortunately been struck with Covid, with one of us testing positive earlier today, so under current Public Health Orders they're required to self-isolate. As a result, we’ve had to reschedule this week’s shows. These performances will however proceed on the following dates. Existing ticket holders do not need to do anything as tickets will automatically apply for the new date.
The re-scheduled New South Wales dates are:
Wed June 1 - Wollongong, La La La's - tickets here Thu June 2 - Sydney, Factory Theatre (for Great Southern Nights) (with guests Flowers For Jayne) - tickets here Fri June 3 - Newcastle, Cambridge Hotel - tickets here Sat June 4 - Avalon, Avalon RSL (with guests Raising Ravens) - tickets here
Shows in Canberra, Adelaide, Geelong and Melbourne will proceed as scheduled.
When drawn to writing about Tactics, their new album and their forthcoming Australian tour, I had a youthful flashback to being a 17-year-old and moving down to Sydney from the bush. Armed with smudgy-ink copies of RAM magazine, I was aware of so many bands that I knew mostly in name only: Midnight Oil, Hitmen, The Saints…and some weird shit (at least in my mind) like The Tactics, Thought Criminals and Dead Travel Fast. I was like a sponge and I wanted to see every one of them.
I had a hunger for a tapestry of sounds and new, sharp sonic edges - stuff that was so far from the bland radio fodder like Cold Chisel and Dragon. I left a live music scene centred on a dilapidated pub by a river that often flooded…a place with peeling paint and populated by old tradies with battered faces, professional alcoholics and underage kids. We watched the odd cover band and the place was home to weekend rock-stars playing poorly -delivered Chuck Berry riffs. The alternative was the local blue light disco that usually ended in a bloodbath by the end of the night.
Jello-less since 2001, the Dead Kennedys are bringing their brand of seminal punk back to Australian audiences, 25 years since they first hit our shores and th first time since 2014.
The band - these days that's East Bay Ray, D.H. Peligro, Klaus Flouride and singer Skip McSkipster - is doing a quick hit-and-run of four shows in a week.
The Dead Kennedys had a huge impact in Australia in the 1980s. Their albums - “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”, “In God We Trust, Inc”, “Plastic Surgery Disasters”, “Frankenchrist” and “Bedtime for Democracy” – sold by the thousand at a time when punk had yet to break into the mainstream, and kept selling big numbers for decades.
Gang of Four God God Dammit Dammit Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide November 5, 2019
Gang of Four are touring Australia and New Zealand and played Adelaide earlier this week. They were fucking brilliant. Exciting. Brutal. Gigantic. Fun, too. But... pointed and magnificent.
It's a no-brainer. Go see them while you can.
Right, well. A little context. When I was asking a few friends if they were going, one said, 'they sound like every other band'... well, no they don't. See, the thing is, over the last 40 years a lot of other bands have picked up on their style, which is now familiar.
The long-awaited “The Church of Simultaneous Existence” album from Ed Kuepper and his Aints! Is almost upon us, with a September 21 release date announced for CD, LP and digital formats. The album will be accompanied by an Australian tour taking in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and WA over October-November, culminating in a show at the Meredith Music Festival on December 7.
This version of the Aints! differs from previous ones in its focus on not only revisiting the material of the original Saints but mining a well of woodshedded songs intended for what would have been that band’s fourth LP.
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 + PocketwatchTickets 21 - Link and Pin, Woy Woy + The Silver Dragons (1.30pm)Tickets 26 - Northcote Social Club + River of Snakes + Electric PurrsTickets 27 - Barwon Club Hotel, Geelong + Baby 8 + Sacramento SweatersTickets 28 - Smiths Alternative, Canberra + Il Bruto (7pm)Tickets JUN 2 -Stag and Hunter, Newcastle + Joeys Coop + East Coast LowTickets 3 - Federal Hotel, Bellingen + Nikki Websters 4 - Vinnies, Gold Coast + The Square Tugs + Mick Medew & UrsulaTickets
The great Alejandro Escovedo (The Nuns, solo) is coming to Australia and New Zealsnd in March and two more Aussie shows have been announced. He’s doing extra gigs at Brisbane’s Junk Bar (early and late shows) and the Camelot Lounge in Sydney. What’s more, he’ll be accompanied on guitar by Tim Rogers of You Am I.
Escovedo's new album "The Crossing" features goes spots by James Williamson (Iggy and the Stooges) and Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys.) His Australasian tour is stripped-down but the clip below gives you an idea of the power of the man's music. Full dates and ticketing information in the Read More link.
They call themselves “Australia’s foremost proponents of Post Adult Complaint Rock” and they’re touring their new album with an extensive run of national dates.
Sydney’s Front End Loader have been a constant on the Australian music scene since 1991 and “Neutral Evil” is their seventh album. It’s described by by the band as “terrible music by terrible people about terrible things” and if it’s half as entertaining as the blurb promoting their tour, it’ll be a winner:
As Covid lockdowns continue to wreak more havoc than Wally Meanie at a wine tasting, The Meanies have to rejig a whole bunch more dates of their “Better Late Than Never Desperate Measures Tour”. which was meant to start last month! The run now kicks off in regional Victoria in a couple of weeks, and then breaks until October, when it picks up in Adelaide, and continues through November. What hasn't changed is that DickLord is the main support on all shows, bar Geelong.
The Meanies "Better Late Than Never Desperate Measures Tour" All shows with Dicklord except * JULY 16 - Barwon Club, Geelong* + Poppin Mommas + Eyeroll 23 - The Eastern, Ballarat + The Dawdlers 24 - Railway Hotel Macedon + Persecution Blues OCT 16 - Jive, Adelaide + Cull The Band 22 - The Tote, Melb + Persecution Blues + Cheeky Geezers 23 - The Tote, Melb + Super American Eagle + Sidesplitter NOV 12 - The Zoo, Brisbane 17 - The Basement, Canberra + Charlotte & the Harlots 18 - Lansdowne, Sydney + Blitz Babiez - 19 - Narrabeen RSL + Tshitaki 20 - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle + I Hate People 21 - La La La's, Wollongong + Ape Rib
Hoodoo Gurus are poised to release their long-awaited new studio album, “Chariot of the Gods” on February 11. “Chariot of the Gods” is the band’s first album in more than a decade (the longest interval between Hoodoo Gurus’ albums in their history) and is available to pre-order today here.
“The last twelve months have been frustrating and nerve-racking for everyone but, for the Hoodoo Gurus, this dark cloud has had a silver lining,” says frontman Dave Faulkner. “Forced to rely on ourselves instead of the outside world for validation, there has been a creative rebirth within the band that has resulted in a string of singles and a new album.
“Most important of all, the musical bonds between the four of us have never been stronger. When the discussions are all about which songs we're sad about having to leave off the record, that's a damn good sign. I'm tellin' ya, folks, we've got a real spring in our step right now”.
“Chariot of the Gods” is 14 tracks (17 on the deluxe double-vinyl edition) and the first full-length recording with relative new recruit to the Hoodoo Gurus’ line-up, on drums, Nik Reith. The tracklists for CD/digital and vinyl versions are below.
Fans across the globe can hear “Chariot of the Gods” played in its entirety for the very first time when eMusic Live streams a special event recorded at Damien Gerard Studios on the NSW Central Coast.
Rose Tattoo’s "Never Too Loud", released in 1997 through Repertoire Records in Germany, was a compilation spanning the band's career at the time. Now, 22 years on, the Hard-Ons join Rose Tattoo on their "Still Never Too Loud" tour heading out across Australia in March, April and May.
Thirty-five years since their formation, the Hard-Ons have amassed an unprecedented and never-to-be-paralleled 17 consecutive number-one releases on the Australian alternative charts, making them one of Australia’s most commercially successful independent bands. Their cult following extends into Europe and the UK, and as of 2019, their brand of unapologetic punk rock has never sounded better.
The band are fresh out of the studio having just finished recording their 12th studio album due to be released later this year.
Angry Anderson’s Rose Tattoo recruits, considered some of the best in the business, comprise legendary bass player extraordinaire Mark Evans of AC/DC fame, iconic guitarist Bob Spencer of The Angels & Skyhooks, as well as unbelievably talented maestro of rock mayhem, Dai Pritchard.
Rose Tattoo hit the high seas on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise out of Miami in late February and headed straight into the recording studios in March.
STILL NEVER TOO LOUD Friday 29th March 2019 - Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW Saturday 30th March 2019 - Waves, Wollongong NSW Friday 5th April 2019 - Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster VIC Saturday 6th April 2019 - Chelsea Heights Hotel, Chelsea Heights VIC Friday 12th April 2019 - The Gov, Adelaide SA Saturday 13th April 2019 - Capitol, Perth WA Friday 26th April 2019 - The Triffid, Brisbane QLD Saturday 27th April 2019 - Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta QLD Friday 3rd May 2019 - Diggers, Ettalong NSW Saturday 4th May 2019 - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW Tickets from rosetattoo.com.au
It’s been a long time between shows but Sunnyboys are re-emerging for a three-state Australian winter tour.
When they last toured in 2020 Sunnyboys chose the salubrious surrounds of Taronga Zoo, Melbourne’s Forum and the like; this time though, the band will get down and sweaty playing intimate venues more akin to their breakout year of 1981.
Melbourne pop-rockers Even will join the fun in Sydney and Melbourne while former Screaming TribesmanMick Medew will bring his band The Mesmerisers to Brisbane and Byron Bay. All shows are on-sale tomorrow May 6 at feelpresents.com
Sunnyboys JULY 1 – Factory Theatre Sydney + Even 9 – The Corner, Melbourne + Even + Little Murders 15 – Great Northern, Byron Bay + Mick Medew & The Mesmerisers| 16 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane, + Mick Medew & The Mesmerisers Tix here
Japan’s The Deadvikings return to claim their stake and expand their domination over Sydney this week with their ultimate heavy protopunk.
Their four-day Japanese invasion - their second in a year - starts at The Old Manly Boatshed on September 27 with locals Tshatki and 4 Barrel Hemi. Entry is free.
Day 2 (September 28) sees a foray in to new territory via Paddington's Captain Cook Hotel sharing the helm with goth rockers RK Ally, Black Knuckles and Black Heart Breakers. Entry is $10 at th door.
The third gig is a return to iconic inner west venue The Townie at Newtown on September 29, with Eightball Junkies and BUNT.Free entry.
Day 4 peaks at the empyrean of Sunday venues, Frankie's Pizza, in the CBD on September 30 with Stu G's Cloak & Dagger kicking off followed by cosmic sludge monarchs Lord Dodongo and US trio BOYTOY, making their Aussie debut. No cover charge.
Sensational San Diego trio The Schizophonics have announced two Australian dates in June.
Nancy Rankin-Escovedo photo.
Radio Birdman is embarking on a short, sharp Australian tour with Citadel label-mates The Stems in tow. The five-date run will include Spanish band Los Chicos as guests on three gigs.
Evan is in the backseat of his Cadillac. 
Dave Studdert.
John 'Gaoler' Sterry. Rick de Pizzol photo.
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.
Those Meanies boys.
Those Dicklord girls.
Christopher Ferguson photo
Rose Tattoo’s "Never Too Loud", released in 1997 through Repertoire Records in Germany, was a compilation spanning the band's career at the time. Now, 22 years on, the Hard-Ons join Rose Tattoo on their "Still Never Too Loud" tour heading out across Australia in March, April and May.
It’s been a long time between shows but Sunnyboys are re-emerging for a three-state Australian winter tour. 
Japan’s 