A Jungian and a tofu thief walk into a bar...

Blistersticks - Harry Howard and David McClymont (self released)

It’s an odd thing, creativity. You might recognise David McClymont’s name as the bass guitarist in Orange Juice, who had several bright, accessible pop hits in the late 1970s, initially with the Scottish label Postcard. Orange Juice played frequently with friends like Josef K and The Go-Betweens. The Scottish expats found common ground with the then-plentiful Australian ex-pats such as The Moodists and The Birthday Party. 

Orange Juice weren’t an easy fit with the skinheads of the day; theyd walk onstage to cries of “poofs” from the skins. Their retort? “Hare Krishna!”

Coming within a whisker of serious UK pop stardom (including two appearances on “Top of The Pops”,  David left in late 1983, and the recordings for his own outfit, the brilliantly-named Ape the Scientific, which recorded for Polydor. 

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• harry howard
• david mcclymont
• blistersticks

Jeepers! Those Huxton Creepers are going on tour

_{Huxton Creepers 2026. Photo supplied}

We mentioned that Huxton Creepers are re-issuing their classic debut album “12 Days to Paris” 40 years after the fact on vinyl on Cheersquad on June 5 with pre-orders open now. And we said they'd support it live, in what will be their first full tour since 2011.

The dates are confirmed They'll be joined by old mates Icecream Hands in Melbourne and The Johnnys in NSW and QLD, with former Screaming Tribesmen frontman Mick Medew and his wife, Ursula, also joining the party in Brisbane.

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• the johnnys
• australian tour
• huxton creepers
• mick medew and ursula
• 12 days to paris
• icecream hands

Now and Zen: Garry Gray and the Sacred Cowboys Manifesto

WORDS: ROBERT BROKENMOUTH
PICTURES: THE BARMAN

Some myths should be forgotten. As an AFL-denier, Melbourne's St Kilda/Collingwood rivalry has always smacked of juvenile footy gibberish. Besides, Sacred Cowboys were no strangers to Collingwood back in the day, and what was then remains then (and that's Zen) and what was then is certainly is not now (and that might be Zen, too). 

Then and now, from my own window Sacred Cowboys still embody so many of the varied aspects of Melbourne culture - their performance of “Nothing Grows In Texas” on an industry-led TV show I loathed (yet watched religiously), “Countdown”, showed them successfully crossing Melbourne's apparent “dividing rift” - as did The Models.

Some myths should be rediscovered, dusted off, celebrated and redressed, and we should dance with them around a maypole. 

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• beast records
• sacred cowboys
• garry gray
• tim deane
• mark ferrie
• in the manifesto
• damian fizgerald
• torn and frayed

Datura4 preview Album Number Six with video single

Four years after “Neanderthal Jam”, Australia's kings of retro boogie-psych,  Datura4, are returning with their sixth album, “High on the Low Brow”, on US label Alive Naturalsound.

Recorded in their hometown of Fremantle, Western Australia, Datura 4 are led by Aussie legend Dom Mariani (The Stems) and “High On The Low Brow” delivers a trademark blend of blues-rock, boogie, and psychedelia. It's due out on June 19. 

Datura4’s records have built a devoted following, celebrated for their authentic throwback to a time when Australian rock was loud and loose.

They're all anchored by Mariani’s unmistakable guitar work and his knack for crafting tunes that really stick.  

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• alive naturalsound
• datura4
• dom mariani
• the stems
• high on the low brow
• getting through

Old Man muses the word Punk over a record player

(Pondering the passing of time, punk, and the “new” Young Charlatans record, “'1978”, released on Eminent Vinyl, and featuring a short interview with Harry Howard.)

UK writer Kris Needs expresses it best, I think. In his introduction to his 2010 “Dirty Water 2. More Birth of Punk Attitude” CD compilation, Needs denies trying to nail down "any kind of definitive punk thesis", and instead tries "to show how the age-old attitude which shaped it could not be confined to any one time, place or big bang”.

He goes on to describe punk as "an eternal spirit", explaining that the "desire to achieve or express personal freedom is one major uniting theme, whether an attitude born out of everyday struggle or desire to upend existing musical forms, which could spark in anyone from guitar-toting wild men and electronic alchemists to street corner finger-poppers or expressionistic black music movements such as bebop and free jazz."

Feel free to disagree, of course.

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• choice
• punk rock
• the birthday party
• harry howard
• the saints
• rowland s. howard
• young charlatans
• eminent vinyl
• kris needs

Grown Up Right! A Power Pop Interview with Dave "Dog Meat" Laing

You may know Melbourne's Dave Laing from many places. He’s been a record label head for decades, with his own Grown Up Wrong and Dog Meat labels, home to such influential bands as Powder Monkeys, Bored! and Hoss, and more recently Lipstick Killers, Screaming Tribesmen and Flamin’ Groovies. 

He’s also worked with the likes of  The Pretty Things, The Imperial Dogs, Dead Moon, The Cheater Slicks, Billy Childish & Thee Headcoats, The Devil Dogs, Teengenerate, The Real Kids, the Screamin’ Mee-Mees, The Barracudas, the Jeff Dahl Group, The New Bomb Turks and Chris D.

What you may not know is that he's a power pop freak - one who doesn't merely trudge through the record crates, either. These days he's a music publicist and (again) runs the two labels that he started way back in the 1980s. He's also an occasional music writer for Ugly Things and elsewhere.

Last year UK label Cherry Red released one of those astonishing box sets that they excel at. “'I Wanna Be A Teen Again! - American Power Pop, 1980-1989”. It was curated by the very same Dave Laing, who also wrote the liner notes and publicised it.

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• lipstick killers
• cherry red
• dave laing
• grown up wrong
• dog meat
• beathoven
• the breakers
• I Wanna Be A Teen Again! - American Power Pop, 1980-1989

The image is still Rotten

They’re back and they’re not the S*x P*stols.

Public Image Ltd (did you know they are led by John Lydon?) have announced a series of Australian and New Zealand shows as part of their global “This Is Not… The Final PiL Tour.”

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• public image limited
• australian tour
• new zealand tour
• 2026

Surviving Masters Apprentices announce four shows

Here’s something special: Three founding members of The Masters Apprentices, Rick Morrison, Mick Bower and Brian Vaughton, catching up in Glenelg, South Australia, last week, as uploaded to their Facebook page. .

The Masters Apprentices are still playing live. Obviously without late singer, Jim Keays. As the band explained while announcing three shows: “More than 60 years on from where it all began, the bond is still there. And the music certainly is too.

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• masters apprentices

Chris Masuak's Spanish band makes a Specactular announcement

The debut album from Los Revelators, the Spanishg band for ex-Radio Birdman, Hitmen, Screaming Tribesmen and New Christs guitarist Chris Klondike Masuak, is out on vinyl on May 15 and its title is “Spectacular”.

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• chris masuak
• los revelators
• spectacular