Melbourne bill to say Happy Birthday to Link Wray

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 April 2025

Hits: 718

Missing Link, Australia’s only tribute to Link Wray, is back for its fifth year and will fall on what would have been the occasion of the guitar great’s 96^th birthday, May 3.  The venue is Shotkickers, in the hip Melbourne neighborhood of Thornbury, and it’s a high volume multi-band line-up.

Heading proceedings are The Bluebottles, laying claim to being Australia's #1 instrumental surf group. All female Link Wray devotees The Wraylettes are on the bill and will be launching a new seven-inch.

Honk are bringing the rhythm 'n' roots with a set blending country music with a side serve of Spaghetti Western drinking songs.  

Completing the bill is the country’s longest-running Link Wray combo, Sydney’s The Missing Link Band, headed by ex-Deadly Hume guitar high priest Stephen Bones Martin.

The evening starts at 8.15pm and it’s $20 at the door.

• the wraylettes
• shotkickers
• the bluebottles
• honk
• missing link

Killer collection does justice to the Motor City's heyday

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 April 2025

Hits: 758

Motor City Is Burning: A Michigan Anthology 1965-1975 – Various Artists (Grapefruit Records)

Proof positive, if it was actually needed, that a Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll existed in one of the 50 states of the USA other than Califonria and that it encompassed much more than just the Stooges and the MC5.

In Australia, of course, we have a skewed view of the so-called “Detroit Scene” (a name that almost no Americans of my acquaintance use, by the way.) We learned from the teachings of Radio Birdman leader and expat Michiganite Deniz Tek who landed here to study medicine in 1974, spreading the word about those bands in evangelistic fashion.

Of course Birdman were always much more than those two trace elements - they were just the ones on the high-energy scale that caught the imagination of most. If you’ve ever engaged the Kona Coffee Farmer in conversation for more than five minutes you’ll know his passion for the Stones and his knowledge of local acts like the SRC and the first band he saw live, Ann Arbor heroes The Rationals.  

• stooges
• mc5
• mitch ryder
• alice cooper
• cherry red
• bob seger
• Motor City Is Burning: A Michigan Anthology 1965-1975
• grapefruit records
• frigid pink

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It will be post-election Mayhem at Marrickville

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 April 2025

Hits: 1261

It’s a recipe for Mayhem in Marrickville in Sydney on May 3: The night of the Australian Federal Election. Four rocking bands. Cheap drinks. Cheaper entertainment. Playing order to be decided by a draw on the night. All in a politician-free zone. 

"Mayhem in May" is presented by The I-94 Bar and features (in alphabetical order) The Jane Does, Jupiter 5, Moot and The Strike-Outs. Early-bird tickets are selling here. So here’s the rundown:

The Jane Does are two girls, two guys and a whole bunch of fun. Equal parts melodic pop and garage rock, they’ve been building a big base of fans in and around Sydney for a couple of years now and are threatening to release their first recordings. Jane Doe is a generic term for anonymity but their music is not.

• marrickville bowling club
• jupiter 5
• moot
• the strike-outs
• mayhem in may

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Buckle up and enjoy the ride with Broham

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 April 2025

Hits: 939

Buckle Rash – Broham (Bad Apple/Dark Roasted)     

Country Music doesn’t rate much space around these parts but scratch the surface hard enough with a wooden nickel and you’ll find it, lurking like a grinning red-headed uncle in rock and roll’s family tree. The births of the modern versions of the blues and country appear on American timelines that run through the Appalachian backwoods and the mid-western dustbowls of the 1920s.

The Australian strain of Country Music, on the other hand, is much more bastardised. It rose to prominence in the post-World War II years. In the ‘70s, media maven John Laws hitched his wagon to it, telling a generation: “You’ve never been trucked like this before”.

• simon chainsaw
• broham
• vanilla chainsaws
• buckle rash
• krysler broham

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Best of the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs' cover version opus is headed to vinyl

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 April 2025

Hits: 1261

In 2022, Los Angeles label Rum Bar Records released "All The Covers ( And More)", a sprawling, star-studded, two-CD compilation of every cover recorded by The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs over the course of their 25+ year career.

Three of Europe's best rock ‘n’ roll labels Heavy Medication, Ghost Highway and Take The City, are combining to give the collection the vinyl treatment.

This single disc, limited edition picks 17 tracks and packages them under the title "Best of All the Covers (and More)", featuring guest appearances by Sylvain Sylvain, Wayne Kramer, Cherie Currie, Jeff Dahl, Jimmy Zero, Bryan Small of The Hangmen, and others.  Starpower!

It also adds a previously unreleased cover of a GG Allin song, "Occupation", which was recorded after the original CD release.

Each label is offering a different color variant of outer sleeve artwork (pink, green or blue), with Heavy Med's edition a pink cover and pink vinyl. Street date is May 9. More info and a preview is here.

• wayne kramer
• cherie currie
• jeff dahl
• best of
• streetwalkin' cheetahs
• heavy medication records
• sylvain sylvain
• "All The Covers ( And More)"
• rum bar records

Sly Faulkner and Chinese Burns Unit put on a Brave Face for a scorching seven-inch

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By The Barman

The Barman

20 April 2025

Hits: 1604

Brave Face – Chinese Burns Unit with Sly Faulkner (Buttercup Records)

With a band history going back a decade-and-a-half, you’d assume Sydney punks Chinese Burns Unit have done it all. Nuh-huh. Not until they’d recorded with Sly Faulkner, ex of The Splatterheads, Red Planet Rockets and Powerline Sneakers. The idea dates back to pre-COVID so it’s taken a while to come to fruition. How goes the adage? Good things come to those who wait.

To the A side and “Brave Face” flows like fine goon wine. Engine room members Jay Whalley and John Irish lock in for the ride of their lives. Faulkner’s impassioned vocal and some melodic back-ups contrast with potent lyrics about betrayal. Duelling guitars from Glenno and Jenny T are the jam on top of the cream bun.

• buttercup records
• powerline sneakers
• sly faulkner
• splatterheads
• chinese burns unit
• brave face

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Holiday In Australasia: Oz and NZ dates for Dead Kennedys

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 April 2025

Hits: 733

Here’s a test for the theory that old school underground bands can be re-tooled with new singers and still work: Dead Kennedys are returning to Australia and New Zealand this September for their first tour in seven years.

After a false start where the DKs were part of that clusterfuck Pandemonium fiasco only to be bumped off a pared-down bill, they are undertaking two shows in New Zealand and five in Australia.

The band is original members East Bay Ray (guitar) and Klaus Flouride (bass), alongside vocalist Ron “Skip” Greer, who has fronted the band since 2008, and drummer Steve Wilson, who joined following the passing of  D.H. Peligro in 2022.

Almost needless to say they won’t be bringing Jello (but we’ll make the point for all the dummies anyway). There’s also no new album in tow – just a set full of classic punk songs like “Holiday in Cambodia”, “California Über Alles” and “Kill the Poor”.

Dates and ticket links after the MORE button.  Let the arguments a la Sex Pistols and The Saints commence...

• tour
• australian
• new zealand
• dead kennedys
• 2025

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The Handsomest Man in Rock and Roll returns

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By The Barman

The Barman

19 April 2025

Hits: 1020

Two of the best underground record labels around, Poland’s Heavy Medication and Spanish imprint Ghost Highway Recordings, are bringing Handsome Dick Manitoba back to the vinyl racks next month.

“Back To Broadway” is an EP by the former singer of the Dictators on Heavy Medication and Ghost Highway. It has a May 9 street date and features four tunes on a seven-inch platter.

Originals “Back on Broadway" and "DeLuise Nation” are matched with a brace of recent HDM solo band live recordings: The Dictators' "Savage Beat" and "The Party Starts Now!", a classic from the great ‘Tators spin-off, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom.

You can hear the title track and pre-order the EP here and, yes, there is more than a passing resemblance to Dictators circa the “DFFD” album (which will be a relief if you heard The Handsome One's 2019 solo record, "Born In The Bronx"  which was well intentioned but missed the mark.) 

Manitoba and band - which includes Streetwalkin’ Cheetah Frank Meyer on guitar - has wrapped up a run of US Midwest dates and is heading to Scandinavia for more shows.

• handsome dick manitoba
• heavy medication records
• ghost highway recordings
• the dictators
• manitoba's wild kindgom
• back on broadway

Mazinga brings a dose of cosmic cool with their comeback record

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 April 2025

Hits: 1255

Chinese Democracy Manifest: Greatest Hits Vol 2 – Mazinga (self released)

Born in the 1990s Basement Scene of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and honed in countless dive bars across the wide expanses of The Great Lakes State, cosmic punks Mazinga have re-emerged after a decade break with their second long-player. The title, “Chinese Democracy Manifest: Greatest Hits Vol 2”, is a mouthful but the record packs a big enough punch to make your teeth rattle.     

The band calls it "Maximum Cosmic Punk". Coffee farmer Deniz Tek labels it “tight as hell with great rhythm playing behind killer solos” and drums that remind him of the late Scott Asheton.

• stooges
• asheton
• ann arbor
• deniz tek
• ron asheton
• chris box taylor
• mazinga
• Chinese Democracy Manifest: Greatest Hits Vol 2
• kathy asheton
• von bondies
• scott morgan's powertrane

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