Nursery Crimes pop up to Sydney and Woy Woy and bring some mates

Thirty-five years after releasing their iconic album “Fun Hurts”, melodic Melbourne punk legends Nursery Crimes are back, storming the Marrickville Bowlo stage fin Sydney or a rare headline show and playing the album in full. 

Nursery Crimes will also blast out a host of favorites from their back catalogue and unveil a selection of brand-new tracks from their upcoming new release - their first new music since “Somethings Wrong with our Heroe”s in 1993.

Support at Marrickville will come from the mighty Geelong rockin’ stoner fuzz of GRYTT, featuring ex-members of Bored and Warped, new Sydney power trio Blame, comprising ex-Massappeal members, and the dirty, bluesy, pub punk rock of Dirt Road Wave, featuring members of Massappeal and Suiciety. Tickets are here.  

Nursery Crimes backs up the next day at Link and Pin in Woy Woy with some help from Dirt Road Wave from 2pm. Tickets for that one are here. 

• marrickville bowling club
• link and pin
• nursery crimes

The Breadmakers co-opt Tokyo's Angel Face for 37-year party

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Melbourne’s most excellent rocking throwbacks The Breadmakers are celebrating their 37th birthday with a gig titled "Half Baked" and have once again sent out a call to their favourite bands from around the world and across the country to join them. Top of the Breadmakers wish list were wild punks from Tokyo, Angel Face, whose stage show blew The Breadies away when they played with them in Japan two years ago.

Angel Face are the latest band for legendary ex-Teengenerate guitarist and iconic figure on the Japanese garage-punk scene. Fink. The band also features bass player Toyozo (The Fadeeaways), singer Hercules and wild woman skins basher Rayco.

The Breadmakers will take over The GEM in Collingwood, Melbourne, on November 21 for "Half Baked" and limited tickets are on sale here. Be warned: Last year's "Half Baked" sold out in three days.

Angel Face will be packing a new limited-edition Australia-only LP, “Home To Roost”. The bill includes Homemade Space Machine, DJs and a mystery act whose identity remains a closely guarded secret.

Free catering will be by Japanese restaurant Chotto Moto and every ticket holder takes home a free piece of vinyl (7” or LP) or CD of their choice from a selection of giveaways on hand.

• the breadmakers
• angel face
• half baked

Better Late Than Never: Discovering Dave Warner's From The Suburbs

Dave Warner's From The Suburbs | 50th Anniversary Tour
Tweed Heads Civic Centre
Sunday, 11 October 2026

Words: Angela Evol
Images: LisaG Photography

I'll admit it. Until fairly recently, Dave Warner wasn't really on my musical radar.

Being a fair bit younger than much of his established fanbase, I'd somehow managed to get this far without exploring the world of Dave Warner's From The Suburbs. I'd listened to a few recordings in preparation for Sunday's gig and thought they were alright, but nothing had particularly knocked my socks off.

As it turns out, I was missing the best bit. Dave Warner is one of those performers who really needs to be experienced live.

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• dave warner
• dave warner's from the suburbs
• the spivs
• mugs game
• tweed heads

Chris Masuak's Dog Soldier tour underway

The Chris Masuak's Dog Soldier Australian tour is on the road and hitting East Coast venues this week, presented by The I-94 Bar. The opener before an enthusiastic Thursday night crowd at La La La's in Wollongong was a cracker, if we do say so ourselves. The caravan hits Smiths Alterbative in Canberra tonight. 

The band of Chris Klondike Masuak, bassist Phil Hall and drummer Stuart Wilson is fresh from European dates and is cooking. They reeled out a succession of familiar classics from the Klondike back catalogue, covering Radio Birdman, the Hitmen and the Screaming Tribesmen, as well as recent band material. 

Ticket links and dates after the SEE MORE link.

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• hitmen
• radio birdman
• screaming tribesmen
• australian tour
• chris masuak's dog solider

Kennedy's Collaborations bear fruit

The Berlin Trilogy (And Other Collaborations) - John Kennedy: (I-94 Bar Records)

These days, when I hear the little box of CDs clunk into the mailbox, I react with a sense of awe. What, more people out there pouring their hearts and souls into a couple of handfuls of songs, putting them out in a physical format and launching them out into the world like coracles attempting an Atlantic Crossing?

How can this be? How can they be so determined, so optimistic?

Yeah, well. This time, I'm looking at the new release by a legendary Sydney “urban cowboy”, an architect/musician who just won't be forced off of the stage. Apparently, apart from a brief stint in Berlin (hence the title), he's putting his socks over the hearth in Spain these days.

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• i-94 bar records
• john kennedy
• The Berlin Trilogy (And Other Collaborations)

Spring's in the air as The Nature Strip deliver bright and breezy pop

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The Nature Strip
+ The Smoking Ruins
Mixtape Brewery, Marrickville
Friday, 18 September 2026
Words and Pictures: JOHN VENTOURA

It was a beautiful spring night when Marrickville’s Mix Tape Brewery played host to a very capable double bill in local legends The Nature Strip expertly supported by The Smoking Ruins.

Joined by a long-time muso friend for his initiation to the venue, I was keen to get an insider's take on the evening. For the uninitiated, Mixtape is a relatively new Inner West space building a fierce reputation for free live music.

It’s a vast, clean room offering good value craft beers, spirits, wines (even chilled reds), and quality snack food—a safe haven for like-minded company, all for zero dollars entry. Acoustically, the room is beautifully dialled in with wall dampeners and high-positioned speakers providing a rich, full sound anywhere in the room. Kudos to Jeff, whose tablet-controlled mix was of a pleasingly high standard all night.

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• marrickville
• the smoking ruins
• the nature strip
• mix tape

Sacred Cowboys return from Europe and announce three shows

Revered Melbourne band Sacred Cowboys are back from a successful European tour with a handful of Victorian shows in November on the back of their “In The Manifesto” album..  
 
Sacred Cowboys delivered a powerhouse performance at the Binic Folks Blues Festival  in Binic-Étables-sur-Mer, France, in July, commanding the Plage de la Banche stage with raw intensity. Festival organizers and attendees hailed the Australian band's set as a magnificent, high-energy "claque d'amour" (translation: a loving slap to the senses).

Sacred Cowboys shot to national notoriety in 1982 as a fun and nihilistic jolt to the senses on national pop show Countdown. 

The band was formed by lead singer-songwriter Garry Gray and bass-player Mark Ferrie who drew on their experiences in the OG punk and post-punk scene—Gray with proto-punk outfit Negatives and Ferrie with early line-ups of The Models. 

 Gray and Ferrie recruited Tim Deane, Anthony Paine and Damien FitzGerald last year and created “In the Manifesto”, released on Beast Records in France and Torn & Frayed in Australia in early 2026.  

Sacred Cowboys
NOV
20 – Church, Geelong, VIC
22 – Northcote Social Club (afternoon), VIC
27 – Young Street Tavern, Frankston, VIC

• beast records
• sacred cowboys
• in the manifesto

Easy Action delivers another Stooges hit job

Head On 1974 - Iggy & The Stooges (Easy Action) 

Yes. It's the Stooges. Live, rude, raw and crackly, murky and full of the crowd. Of course it's an essential purchase - and this one is special for a host of reasons.

So, full disclosure, I am a Stooges fan so I'm probably not able to be impartial here. (ED: What’s up with that?) However, if you're not sure who or what I'm talking about, google "Iggy and the Stooges", have a listen. Read a bit on Wikipedia. And come back before you read on.

Let's assume you've either investigated or don't need to. Easy Action have form. Big Stooges form. They've tidied and released a lot of original, primary-sourced Stooges material, from unreleased studio recordings to live material, much of which was not thought to exist. What's more, they righteously pay royalties.  Quite a few of their limited run items sold out long ago, including the famous six-disc "Heavy Liquid" box set. That one included three-and-a-half discs of studio and rehearsal material.

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• iggy and the stooges
• metallic ko
• head on
• michael bengal
• bimbo's
• Victory Burlesque

The prank's on Mark E. Smith (but he's having the last posthumous laugh)

Post Script - The Fall (Cog Sinister)

If you knew nothing about The Fall and you put the "Post Script" album on your turntable, it's like your first listen to Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures". You'll just keep getting up and turning it over and over and over, for most of the day. 

It really is very difficult for humans to take a step back. Especially if we have expectations. While various hideous and disgraceful wars have been hammering on, for the best part of the last four months, Fall fandom has been a-gurgle and a-splutter onlibne over "Post Script", the band's 32nd record. 

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• the fall
• ed blaney
• post script
• simon "ding" archer
• cog sinister