That Striped Sunlight Sound

Kev Carmody - National Folk Festival 2005

2012-01-25T04:51:00.000-08:00

Well its that time of the year again when some here

in Australia celebrate the day the first boat people

landed at Sydney Cove back in 1788 as some kind

of national day. To others its a day of mourning,

the beginning of an invasion, which is the camp I

fall into.

But here also on the SSS its the time we celebrate the

birth of the SSS blog. Yes back on this day in 2008

I posted the first post of this wonderful journey.

So we embark on the 5th year!

This fine recording is a rare Kev boot,

Kevin is an amazing performer, I've seen him many

times over the years, in many diverse places and he's

always very good. So do yourself a favour download

this and play it loud, a small token to counteract the

unfortunate displays of nationalism that is meant to

be a national day.

Tracklist

Set 1: (Budawang Hall)

01. Intro - Dirty Dollar Intro

02. Dirty Dollar - Moonstruck Intro

03. Moonstruck

04. Just A Little Fingerpick (instrumental)

- Comin' Home Intro

05. Comin' Home - Midnight Special

06. "Bitchin' Song" - Didgeridoo Intro

07. Didgeridoo Solo (instrumental)

- Slide Guitar Intro

08. Slide Guitar Solo (instrumental)

- Images Of London Intro

09. Images Of London

- From Little Things Intro

10. From Little Things Big Things Grow

(with kids from the audience)

Set 2: (Trocadero Tent)

11. Intro to Thou Shalt Not Steal

12. Thou Shalt Not Steal

13. Droving Woman

Download Here

The Triffids and Friends - Alternate recording, 2011 11 24 Powerhouse, Brisbane

2012-01-15T23:49:00.000-08:00

We now have a SSS blog exclusive,

a second source recording of the Brisbane Powerhouse gig.

A big thanks to the mysterious Mr S for this recording which

according to him fell of the back of a truck.

A big thanks to Mr S who have been a long time contributor

and friend of the SSS blog.

A thanks to the local paper from whom I stole that nice photo.

Its an excellent recording by the way!

I won't say its better than Chucks just different!

Download Here

the Church - O.K.- I get it now!!

2012-01-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

I finally got to see the Church live on xmas eve...
O.K. I GET IT NOW!!...
yeah yeah.. I know.. "You've never seen the Church live b4 ????"
well... no I haven't...a fact I'm not proud of... It's just how things happen sometimes.
I'm a fan - don't get me wrong! I've grown up listening to em from the fantastic early paisley pop records to the darker mood pieces...I've just never pulled my finger out and bothered to see em b4....until that fateful day.. a day etched into chucks memory forever.. DECEMBER 24 2011.
I really wanted to see em last time they played Brisbane at the Jude...but couldnt get tickets.. apparently from all reports it was a fantastic gig..I saw em get the ARIA award and thought - "hell or high water I'm gunna see these ppl next time they tour here!"

ARIA hall of Fame package with intro from George (is brisbane) Negus.
Kilbey was on fire for the ARIA speech and I was hoping to get some of this "aloof no more" rapport with the audience.. but he informs us early into the first set he has been told to keep "his 'charisma' under control " for the evening.. dang!.. not to worry - the sounds were what this night was about.

Church speech @ ARIA holl of fame lifetime award.
The gig was at the Powerhouse and the room is a great size with a fantastic sound system.
I get there just as the band walk on stage and shuffle to my seat as they are playing the first number..The ticket says 7:30 and that's when they started..bang on.. It's xmas eve and they have 3 classic albums to perform as part of their "Future - Past - Perfect" tour..
They start with -
Untitled #23. (link soon)
A CD I'm still struggling with. It's fine music but not the Church stuff that jumps out and smacks you in the face. Seeing it live has brought me back to giving it more listens and I can appreciate it more now. I woke up one day last week hung over like a mutha fugger and totally spent and it made more sense than it has before.. or since..I will continue that journey and no doubt one day It will click.
They take a 15 min break and return with -

PRIEST=AURA FPP TOUR 24-12-2011..

Now this is a CD I've owned for a long time and live it gels well. If you don't have this grab it at all costs. It's not the total pop Church.. but it is "the Church".. great songs with soundscapes..The performance has stepped up a notch and a joy to watch them do their thang. It hits me- of all the hundreds of people I must have talked about this band to over the last 30 years..the ones that were totally dedicated to the 'cult' of the Church were regular gig goers and even tho you can enjoy the music by itself..to see the band is where the shits at..People tell me they are in fine form..well I've never seen em in bad form but I can testify that live...I'm sold..back again any and every chance I can get.
It's still not over..
they take another 15 minute break and return with -

STARFISH FPP TOUR 24-12-2011.

This is the money shot for most casual Church fans..It has the hit "Milky Way" and one of my all time favourites - Reptile.

small Reptile clip from powerhouse 24-12-2011
Koppes has a bit of something going on with his geetar or amp during the end of the first song and he and his tech spend a moment trying to chase it down as the song finishes...he then starts his guitar intro for Blood Money and after a few bars realises he has blown it..Kilbey just rolls his eyes but doesnt turn around.. MWP laffs a bit and Tim makes a comment that Peter has his cd on shuffle.. to break the tension..and it does..There is an air at the powerhouse of behaving yourself that sometimes stiffles the crowd for showing its enthusiasm.. This little fluff clears the room of that stiffness and the band breaks into Milky Way.
A few minutes later Koppes has trouble again.. the ebow for the first solo is fuked and the notes clunk out instead of wailing.. him and the tech do the concerned look thing again and solo over, a new ebow is produced for a sailing outro solo..Koppes quips for the Blood Money intro "deja vu anyone" and continues to rock the room for the rest of the night..
After just shy of 3 hours of magical musical moments its all over..
MWP tells everyone to go out and buy a geetar for xmas..with masters like these as teachers of style I'm tempted to buy another one!!

Hotel Womb clip from Powerhouse 24-12-2011

some reviews of the recent seagulls gig and this gig can be found here..with some nice video of the recent american FPP tour.
and ffs - join the Church facebook page as it has lots of links for videos and updates of new solo projects..Cant wait for the Opera House DVD!
For a walk down memory lane read this great piece by the master of rock critique- Ian Macfarlane.

The Church article from magazine- From the Vault. vol1 no.3 -1987

Triffids 1985 clipping + Blackeyed Susans clip

2011-12-31T04:16:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned that the recent 'Triffids and friends' gig was FREAKIN' AWESOME!!

This is a nice story from JUKE magazine feb 1985

One of the highlights for the recent gig was to finally see Rob Snarski stamp his cuban heels on stage...had to track down this old recovery clip from 1995..Blackeyed susans singing "smoking Johnny Cash"..really wtf does that mean?? codeword for summin?.. poor Johhny..r.i.p.

drummer looks familiar .. . .

Lighthouse Keepers poster + review

2011-12-31T03:46:00.000-08:00

The Lighthouse Keepers have a web page for those interested here -
http://www.cannanes.com/thelighthousekeepers.html
I found a poster the other week and thought it would make a nice post.

1985 gig poster for brisbane club - Sensoria - George st..long one...

and then found this old review today and thought i'd better pull my finger out and post it...

JUKE -16 feb 1985 p16

Go-Betweens JUKE article December 1984

2011-12-30T06:22:00.000-08:00

I knew all these old music papers would come in handy one day... Just didn't realise at the time I would be carting boxloads of em all over town for 30 years before they would find a nice home :/
Merry holiday / new year Stripey folks....
This one is a gem from 1984.

(aust.) JUKE magazine December 8 - 1984 page 10

I'm running out of articles on go-be stuff here..If anyone wants to contribute contact that guy over there ----->>> Bob.

How the Fun Things Got Their Name!

2011-12-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

Matt Mawson sent me this pdf of a wonderful article from

Time Off back in 1979.

Thanks Matt!

You will have to download the pdf to read it and discover

the answer to the Question!

Its not what I expected!

Happy New Year from the SSS blog as I sign off with a

massive 3 posts, Hope you all have a wonderful year ahead!

Thanks to our hard working team here as well

of Chuck and Donat

and I hear a rumour Chuck may have a Church

type post after their Christmas Eve Gig in the making!

Download the answer here!

The Seven Ballerinas

2011-12-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

L to R: Mario, Nigel, John, Billy, Michael

This lineup recorded the single ‘Sometimes I Feel’

written by Michael and ‘Circles’ written by John in Sydney in 81.

Thanks to Michael for putting together this history of what was

a very good band and one of my favorites, over to Michael!

Formed in late 1980 after the demise of local Gold Coast Bands
Ratpack and The Strand.
The lineup was Ex Ratpackers, John Smethurst (guitar and vocals),
Nigel Baker (keyboards) and Mario Spina (bass) and
Ex Strand guitarist Michael Palmer.
Billy Pommer completed the lineup on drums.
After a handful of gigs Nigel Baker left and Billy Pommer
was replaced on drums by John Hippocrates.
Billy later went to Sydney as drummer for The Johnnys.

L to R: Mario Spina, John Smethurst, Michael Palmer and Johnny Hippocrates

Sometimes I Feel became a minor hit on 4ZZZ and also made
high rotation on Sydney’s radio 2JJ as it was back then.
On the strength of that we toured Sydney regularly.
Playing The Manzil Room, Bondi Tram. Governors Pleasure,
Stranded, Carmens at Miranda, The Trade Union Club etc etc.
In Brisbane the venues were rather sparse. 279 Club,
The Aussie National, The New York Hotel, Souths Leagues Club,
Easts Leagues Club. On the Gold Coast we played regularly at
The Playroom and The Jet Club.
And at the Royal Mail at Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast.
The band was very well received in Sydney.

The song Sometimes I Feel was also submitted by the
Engineer who had worked on the recording to 4MMM
to be on their first “Homegrown” LP. A collection of local
Brisbane bands. It was selected.
Be it naive or just stupid ego we were quite embarrassed about it.
I remember sitting in an office at MMM and looking
thought a pile of 45s. Was everything we liked to listen to.
Turned out it was their reject pile for the week.

There was record company interest from Polygram in Sydney
and in mid 82 we went into the studio to record what was to be
our first single but was really the first of many midnight to dawn
recording sessions. In actual fact unbeknown to us the recording
was organised by an AR guy from Polygram who was wanting
to form his own label. We were to be his first release.
Gangajang eventually got the honours.
When we heard the final tracks we were rather disappointed.
The producer had chosen to not work with anything we had
done in the studio and the songs had become too reliant on
his own use of samples and keyboards. It was eventually
agreed by all to forget it. 2 of the tracks from those sessions
“Another Day” written by Michael Palmer and “Falling Tear”
written by John Smethurst are on Youtube.
Listening to them now though I really like them.
The only place the recorded version of Falling Tear was ever
played was when the band appeared on Studio One.
A Saturday morning music show on channel 7.
We were promoting a festival “Summer Jam” at the Surfers Paradise
Raceway in January 1983 and we needed something
new to use as a backing.

You Tube Videos

FALLING TEAR

ANOTHER DAY

The band continued playing live and self funded recording. Some of these recordings are on Youtube.

THE FACE

STRANGERS

AUTUMN ROSE

There is also a clip of the band recorded live at the Playroom doing a version of Joy Divisions Transmission.

DRAGGED THROUGH DAYLIGHT, TRANSMISSION

The band called it a day late 84. Johnny and Mario went on to play in The Bossanova Kids and The Tellers.

In 1991 Michael Palmer and John Smethurst were joined by Chris Bailey (Gangajang and the Angels) on bass and JJ Harris (Divinyls) on drums and they recorded a version of Sometimes I Feel. Our live sound engineer Frank Kerestedjian at the controls in his studio in Sydney. A 10 year full circle.

SOMETIMES I FEEL 1991

L to R: Mario Spina, Johnny Hippocrates, John Smethurst

and Michael Palmer

Strand and Gold Coast Bands Press Clippings 1979

2011-12-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

A big thanks to Michaels Mum who held on to these all these years

and Michael for bringing them into the digital age!

Click on any photo for a larger view

The Strand - Live At The Miami Hotel 26-01-80

2011-12-26T17:26:00.001-08:00

Michael recently sent me this wonderful piece of Gold Coast/ Brisbane

music history. Some great tracks on this I especially like the track

Triple Z in my head as it goes through all the great shows that were

on the station back then.

Jeremy Oxley who went on to the Sunnyboys did his apprenticeship

here as a 17 year old and other went on to the excellent Gold Coast

band The Seven Ballerinas

But I shall put you over to Michael who can

tell you all about this band!

Thanks Michael!

The Strand was Tait Brady (vocals), Keith Mackay (bass), Mick Lake (drums),

Michael Palmer (guitar), Shane Williams (keyboards, vocals)

and Jeremy Oxley (guitar, vocals).

The Strand were formed late1978 on The Gold Coast. They embraced the

current trends in English New Wave and Pop playing covers of bands like

Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Ian Dury, Doctor Feelgood, Nick Lowe etc. etc.

The Strand managed to acquire a residency at the Miami Hotel on the

Gold Coast playing every Friday and Saturday night.

Playing to an empty room at first but as word grew so did the crowds.

Mid 1979 saw the arrival of a new guitarist.

A 17 year old Jeremy Oxley.

The bands list of originals songs grew once Jeremy joined.

‘I Can’t Talk To You’ appeared on the first Sunnyboys album.

The CD was recorded on the bands final night at a packed Miami Hotel in

January 1980. It contains 17 of the originals the band played.

After The Strand, Jeremy went to Sydney and formed The Sunnyboys.

Michael Palmer joined with John Smethurst, Mario Spina and

Nigel Baker from fellow Coast band Ratpack to form Seven Ballerinas.

YouTube videos for The Strand

They are Strand originals:

Stranded On The Gold Coast

Snapshot

I Cant talk to you

Triple Z in my head

On Youtube but not on the CD are 3 cover versions

Iggy Pop’s The Passenger sung by Jeremy

Roadrunner sung by Jeremy

Larry Wallis’s Police Car

Download Here

The Gatekeepers - Indoors/Ogre/Silence

2011-12-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

Indoors
Ogre
Silence

Peter Jetnikoff - vocals, guitar
Greg Wadley - bass
Ian Wadley - drums

The Gatekeepers began around later 1982, containing various former members of the Pits, Motherless, the Swirl and the Dum Dums. Shortly after, the group self-released an 11 track cassette, Cosmic Street of which two of its tracks appeared on the monumental 1984 c60 compilation, Leaving Home for the Party on the Roof - Susan Burn and Keeper of the Gate as well as the early 4ZZZfm compilation tape Queensland in Quarantine featuring the Unkindest Cut released in the same year.

Early line-ups featured drummers Elizabeth Connolly and Greg Gilbert (aka Des Johnson), Margo Hoyte on keyboard in addition to mainstays Peter Jetnikoff and Greg Wadley.

Fast forward to Melbourne in 1988, and the Gatekeepers exist primarily as a recording venture, releasing the 12" EP Indoors/Ogre/Silence in that year and the 7" single Saturday/In This House two years later.

In addition to the cassette album and vinyl releases, the Gatekeepers appear on various SPILL cassette and CD compilations (Happy Still from SPILL Compilation One is a must-hear) well into the mid part of the decade, as well as an acoustic version of Silence for the Brisbane-based Malignant label collection Fuck the White Race from 1994.

This single was released on HWS (somewhat of a precursor to SPILL, who also provided a catalogue number to the first self-titled EP by Small World Experience.

Save What You Can: The Day Of The Triffids

2011-12-13T02:16:00.000-08:00

David McComb in 1987. Photo by Bleddyn Butcher.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. Gift of the artist 2002

Perth in 1978 had the Victims and the Triffids. The punk (or post-punk) explosion had imploded rather quickly in Australia, even if the country came to creating their own American or English equivalent three months later through the pages of the NME or across the import shops. Both bands used the tricks of the punk trade to DIY and not to rub shoulders with A&R suits in the hopes of that big record deal to propel them to fame and stardom. The Triffids were never famous, at least not in Australia. And they’re not famous now. Key songs and albums have been since dredged up and are today regarded as 80s classics by Australian music writers and beyond.

Now there’s a book by Bleddyn Butcher, a 500-plus page account of the band’s beginnings and ending, primarily focusing on the band’s singer, songwriter and spirit - David McComb. Save What You Can. The kind of writing and immaculate accounting in this shape and form is usually reserved for the likes of Bob Dylan, or the Velvet Underground; two artists of the 1960s that McComb coincidentally fancied. There’s no back fence to climb over to get through the story of David McComb, nor the band he created to drive his songs from a foolscap page to a lit stage. And consequentially, Butcher takes the long, scenic way and approaches the 21 years of the band ‘til their demise in 1989 with a sense of detail and care. This is what creates a difference between an encyclopedia entry on the internet and a book on your hand. You want to pick up a music biography knowing when you’ve thumbed the last page, there are no more questions left to ask. That’s it. The story’s told.

Bleddyn Butcher is a name you see on the back of anyone’s record collection that’s decent. Usually on the back and credited for what’s in the front, courtesy of his knack in taking superb photos. The Moodists. The Go-Betweens. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The Birthday Party. Ed Kuepper. Laughing Clowns. The Apartments. Crime & the City Solution.The Triffids. All of these artists sort fame and fortune in Europe. Some slept in hotels, others on floors – some both, depending on the circumstances. Armed with a camera or a typewriter, he was somehow always there - documenting the path of Australian independent music; something he's managed to do terribly well in the last thirty-plus years.

It’s been years (and years) that this book has been in the making, and finally it's complete. The day of the Triffids is upon us.

Save What You Can: The Day Of The Triffids by Bleddyn Butcher is available through Treadwater Press or any respectable bookseller.

http://www.treadwaterpress.com.au/Treadwater_Press/Homepage.html

An Evening Visit From The Apartments

2011-12-10T23:58:00.000-08:00

As the sweeping melahancholia of Theme de Camille by Georges Delerue (from Jean-Luc Godard's Le Mépris) fades out of the stage speakers, it's here in cloudy Sydney where the Apartments reveal themselves once more in their home country. A Saturday night in Marrickville after a long, moody day of dark clouds and a reprise of suit weather brings forth a stage-shy band and a faithful seated audience for only their third show in this town in over twenty years.

A lot has happened in this time; some things remembered for eternity and others best forgotten. And so it seems the veil of silence has been lifted with the release of a new single, Black Ribbons and a show in Melbourne a month ago in November. Or was it October? When it comes to the Apartments, time brings all things to pass.

Left to right on the plainly-lit stage is guitarist Eliot Fish, and beside him is Amanda Brown on her violin and tambourine. Behind her on piano is George Bibikos. In front of him and beside Ms Brown is chanteuse Christine Jane in her second appearance with the thousandth Apartments line-up. And on the far right - on a matching stool - is Peter Milton Walsh with a voice and an acoustic guitar.

Eleven songs are played. The arrangements and instrumentation resemble that of their last album Fête Foraine - exercising the intimacy of song without its pop and stripping colourful arrangements down to small flakes and piecing it all together again - no horn, nor drum. And in this supper-club space without cutlery, every word and note behind it demand a sense of attention. With Walsh to the far right, he looks to his and conducts the band through his softly tinted glasses and tapping feet.

Before the songs are played, some stories are told. And some tales. A little insight that takes you further inside the tunes than a lyric sheet or a liner-note could attempt. There's talk evil men, seduced women, the son of a French banker with symbolism in his veins, a record company and a river city he left thirty years ago.

And so the Apartments reopened for another night, checking out to sign in again at an unknown time and place. In the last thirty years, there's been more silence than sound. Songs are played or recorded when they're ready. This isn't anything new, it's just how it is. And as the show ends with one last song, it leaves us with two questions; and the curtain falls.

Where are the parties that were never held? Where are the snows that never fell?

Setlist: Thank You For Making Me Beg/All You Wanted/Knowing You Were Loved/World Of Liars/Sunset Hotel/All His Stupid Friends/Mr. Somewhere/On Every Corner/Things You'll Keep/Black Ribbons/Twenty One

All images and words - Donat Tahiraj. Brisbane.

Only The Lonely - John Kennedy

2011-12-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

I just discovered this and have to tell you all,

the fabulous John Kennedy has a new 6 track ep,

Sons Of Sun, which includes this cover of the

Roy Orbison classic and reinterprets it as a reverb

drenched dreamy ghost track.

The video was shot in St Stephens Cemetery in Newtown,

Sydney on bright winters day in June 11 by Al Yung and

edited by him in Hong Kong

I'm off to Itunes now!

Triffids & friends - Mick harvey - Kelly's Blues

2011-11-30T05:48:00.001-08:00

I had a great time at the Powerhouse the other night - only managed to get one video as staff were ever vigilant.. .

.

the sound isnt perfect but you can catch some better quality sound of the night H E R E !

Costar / David McComb - Unreleased Tracks

2011-11-29T03:43:00.000-08:00

One of the songs of David McComb that was played on Thursday

night was the track 'The Good Life Never Ends'

Its a beautiful track that was recorded by David's last band

Costar. It was part of what was to be a single or Ep for the

band, it was never released.

Graham Lee talks here of those final years

"I spent a lot of time with Dave, not enough obviously

but can't worry about that now. He wanted to release

the costar stuff, but he really needed to get himself

back on an even keel physically and mentally before

anything great would happen musically,

although he was writing constantly and certainly

hadn't lost his strength in that area.

The New Year's Eve that brought in 1999 was the last

time I stood on stage with him at The Standard Hotel

in Fitzroy, Melbourne. He was very ill and

it was almost too much to bear."

Track List

01 - I Kept My Eye On You

02 - Murder In The Dark

03 - Lucky For Some

04 - The Goodlife Never Ends

05 - Devil Please

06 - The Good Life Never Ends

07 - The Good Life Never Ends (minus intro)

Download Here

And here is Oh Mercys Alex Gow performs

The Good Life Never Ends.

Mark C Halstead - Before And After Love

2011-11-27T03:09:00.000-08:00

Mark Caulfield Halstead - more affectionately known quite simply as Marko - released this album through W Minc in 1994. No-one really payed too much attention to it at the time, and people still haven't really taken the time out to discover this (still in print) album.

Marko's career began in the mid to late 1970s Brisbane. And like many of his musical peers of that era, he found himself playing guitar in a host of punk bands centered around Roma Street's Curry Shop and away from pub venues. The unrecorded The Disposible Fits and the Fuji Angels are but two. An early artefact from his punk/new wave days comes from an unaired TV pilot centered around Brisbane music called Exposure. His band the Hostages were featured alongside JFK & the Cuban Crisis, The Repairs and Ninja Skil (featuring a very young Charlie Owen). This excerpt from the 1981 show is the only studio recording made by this band. The featured song is the Halstead composition Tremble; recorded at Basement Studios in Roma St by Colin Bloxsom.

By 1983, he joined Tex Deadly and the Dum Dums with fellow Fit Cyril Culley when the band moved to Sydney. Marko's tales of wagon wheels and other past curios are written in good detail in Clinton Walker's Stranded book. An example of his song-writing at the time is documented on the 1st Beasts of Bourbon album in the form of the closing track from The Axeman's Jazz, Ten Wheels for Jesus.

[Photo by David Macpherson of Tex Deadly and the Dum Dums l-r Tex Perkins, Greg Wadley, Des Johnson, Marko]

Marko also played in the Kingswoods and Kingswood Trio around this time who existed between 1983 and 1986 released a couple of singles, namely Purty Vacant, which appeared on a FABRICLIVE mix CD put together by DJ John Peel. The trio - Peter Kroll, John Downie and Halstead concurrently played in the Pineapples From The Dawn of Time.

By the early 1990s, Halstead moved to Melbourne where was an adjunct member of the McComb-led Blackeyed Susans and their trio offshoot on vocals and mandolin; and appeared on the bulk of their All Souls Alive album. He also played alongside Graham Lee in the Paradise Vendors, performed in the Disappointments, sang on Robert Forster's I Had a New York Girlfriend album, et cetera.

And of course, he's a part of the current Triffids touring troupe, offering what Rob Snarksi described at their recent Brisbane show as a 'man mountain' with his rendering of Bury Me Deep In Love.

I could go on forever with this biography, but I won't. The aim here was an attempt to bring this album to an audience who may not be aware of who he is, and why this album might actually be worth sinking your teeth into.

This album came out when alt-country was still wondering whether Townes or Earle was better than Guy Clark. Even his appearance on the Ernie & Denise show didn't seem to cement the fact that this man's baritone is a national treasure. And due to its lack of commercial esteem, Before And After Love remains as his only solo release after being a vital conduit for so many musicians and bands since Australian punk's first wave.

Try it out here, but I highly suggest buying this album seeing that's easily available.

Here's a video filmed at the Standard Hotel in Melbourne for Whiskers in the Sink; a song written about his old musical cohort, Cyril Culley.

The Triffids - Brisbane, Powerhouse 24/11/11

2011-11-26T19:13:00.000-08:00

Its been 23 years since I saw the Triffids play one magic night

and that long since they played in Brisbane.

A lot has happened since then, the band split up in 1989

and some 10 years after lead singer and song writing genius

David McComb died a few days before he was to turn 37.

For the last 5 years Evil Graham Lee (above) has been at the helm

of keeping Davids legacy alive, along with releases of the Triffids

recordings there has been the reformation of the band and many

gigs around the world. Starting out as a tribute concerts called

'A Secret in the Shape of a Song' and end up as this, The Triffids

and friends. This was a particularly important performance

as it was the first time ever, anywhere that the band had played

their seminal first album ' Born Sandy Devotional'

And what a night it was, I was up front with Carmen and Chuck,

some of the best musicians in the world, Like Martyn Casey (above)

originally the Triffids bass player, now days in the Bad Seeds,

or former Bad Seed himself Mick Harvey (below)

Young Melbourn band Oh Mercy did a fine job opening with a few

early Triffids songs. Lead singer Alex Gow returning throughout

the night to perform on a few other songs.

Then former manager 'Handsome' Steve Miller took the stage

as master of ceremonies.

The Blackeyed Susans took to the stage with the added treat

of Mark Dawson on percussion, it was one of my favourite

moments of the monumental 3 hour show.

Especially 'Ocean of You' which was incredible.

Rob Snarski who shared lead singing in the Susans with David

has an incredible voice and he retuned throughout the evening

also to sing different songs.

And of course Mick Harvey was brilliant,

you should heard Kelly's Blues.

Also Simon Breed English singer guitarist was brilliant

'Lonely Stretch' being a stand out.

And I was very excited when Jill Birt took up the mike to sing

her classic Triffids tunes like Goodbye Little Boy and Raining Pleasure.

And I must mention Graham Lees wonderful vocal work too

especially on one of my fav tracks Jerdacuttup Man .

Born Sandy was a joy to listen to, truly one of the greatest

Australian albums ever recorded.

The highlight of the night was Bury Me Deep In Love

sung by Mark Caulfield Halstead one time Brisbane boy

who was in the Kingswood Trio and The Pineapples from

the Dawn of Time. He has a solo album I

think I must get. He has the most incredible voice and

when Rob Snarski followed him he said, "Thanks Marko

you man mountain I'm gonna sound like a smurf after that!"

It was a concert that was one of those you walk out of bewildered

by how exceptional it was.

There's more dates to follow throughout Australia so if you have

even a passing interest in the songs of David McComb,

don't miss it!

The Apartments

2011-11-09T01:55:00.000-08:00

Readers of That Striped Sunlight Sound will hopefully not need an introduction to this band as I haven't prepared one. Nevertheless...

The Apartments return to Sydney for the launch of their new 45rpm single, Black Ribbons - a taste of what's to come from their forthcoming album - their first since 1998's Fête Foraine.

The sound and image below are from the Melbourne launch for this single:

The Apartments - All Your Stupid Friends @ Toff In Town, Melbourne (23rd Oct 2011) from Carbie Warbie on Vimeo.

The band's line-up for this show includes the electric guitar of Elliot Fish, the vocals of Christine Jane and the violin of Amanda Brown.

Below is a TV commercial for the show which you may have seen during prime time programming...

The Apartments with special guest Peter Fenton (Crow)

Friday, December 9th

The Factory Theatre
105 Victoria Road, Marrickville
Box Office: Phone (02) 9550 3666
Fax (02) 9550 2990
Email: boxoffice@centuryvenues.com.au

Triffids at the Powerhouse update

2011-11-07T00:46:00.000-08:00

Guests have been announced and look at the line up!

Rob Snarski

Alexander Gow

The Blackeyed Susans

Oh Mercy

Mick Harvey

Simon Breed (UK)

Also the night will feature the classic album Born Sandy

Devotional from go to woah and they're saying this performance

is the first time the whole album has been played live in its

entirety!

Its gonna be a great night indeed!

http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/view/the-triffids/

Dave Steel & The Welcome Wagon - Been On This Road Too Long (2004)

2011-11-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

When I think of Australian Blues Dave Steel is the first

to come to mind,he is the most spellbinding artist to see

live and he is a master in his field.

He's been around a while so I guess he has had the time to

hone his craft, Dave started out in the acclaimed Australian folk

rock band Weddings Parties Anything as their original guitarist.

Since he has forged a solo career and been a very much in

demand session/touring musician.

7 Solo albums which are impossible to find are on my list

of recording to find

The Welcome Wagon is a 3 piece comprising of Dave on Guitar,

Sandy Brady on both upright and electric basses and has

worked with an impressive array of artists,

notably Tiffany Eckhardt, Cyndi Boste, Michael Thomas

and the Sure Thing, Enda Kenny, and Broderick Smith

And J.P(John Parry) known as 'the Charlie Watts of the South Coast'

for his backbeat drumming style. He also has worked with many

artists including Jeff Lang, Bob Brozman,

Chubbie Ray and the Elevators, and The Mongolian Fishmongers.

Download Here

Rowland S. Howard

2011-11-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

I've been hearing good things about the recent movie - "Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard" bio pic.

Directed by Richard Lowenstein of "Dogs in space" and "Falefel" fame...
You can find more detail and lots links here - https://www.facebook.com/AUTOLUMINESCENT.RowlandSHoward

I've been listening alot lately to an old ABC tv show - Studio 22 - Rowland S. Howard from 1999 and thought it would make a timely audio only post here.

the band features Rowland S. howard
                          Mick Harvey
                          Brian Hooper
                          Edward Clayton Jones

songs include - She Cried
                       Dead Radio
                       Exit Everything
                       Shivers
and                  White Wedding

The Triffids - Brisbane Powerhouse

2011-10-24T01:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a gig I've been waiting a long time for.

I saw the Triffids back in the day,

it was a magical concert complete with a bubble machine.

Something I haven't seen since.

Truly one of the greatest bands to come out of this

country. I've heard a couple of recordings of the

Secret in the shape of a song performances

which celebrated the music and the memory of

David McComb and it appears this reformation

gig is in the same vein.

I have my tickets so be quick!

BRISBANE POWERHOUSE PRESENTS
THE TRIFFIDS
THU 24 NOV 2011
The songs of David McComb (17/02/62 - 02/02/99)

"The Triffids are one of Australia's best-loved bands, regularly making the top ten of both critics' and music fans' lists of the best Australian albums of all time. It is over thirty years since David McComb’s haunting music and lyrics inspired a generation of Australian songwriters.

The five remaining members of The Triffids with a select group of friends celebrate the music and the memory of David McComb In a very rare stage performance at The Powerhouse on Thursday 24th November. This two and a half hour performance will showcase the extraordinary songwriting genius of David McComb, from early gems such as ‘Stand Up’, recognised classics like ‘Wide Open Road’ and ‘Bury Me Deep In Love’, through to exclusive renditions of unreleased works from McComb’s later years. The Triffids and friends will sing these songs and many more in a performance devoted to the memory of a quintessentially Australian life in art and music that continues to be played out on the international stage. It's the least they could do for their friend and brother and his many fans around the world.

Hosted by David's good friend and longtime tour manager Handsome Steve Miller, accompanied by some of the original slideshows employed by the band, interspersed with readings from McComb’s prose, poetry and wickedly funny letters and postcards, played and sung by his bandmates and a select cast of friends and admirers, McComb’s legacy will touch hearts again as profoundly as ever.

This will be a long, long night of song that no-one wants to end............

Duration 2 1/2hrs, no interval

http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/view/the-triffids/

Frank Yamma - She Cried

2011-10-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

As a follow on from the Brisbane multicultural festival

posts last week, here's a great video of Frank Yamma

doing his fantasic song "She Cried"

and a 2nd video I took at his performance

at the Brisbane multicultural festival doing

the same song with David Bridie and Helen

Mountford.

The Mouldy Lovers' Fresh Flesh Cabaret

2011-10-22T02:43:00.000-07:00

Brisbane has a diverse and talented scene and this night out

in wonderful West End proved that one more time.

The Fresh Flesh Cabaret was a very entertaining night,

described as one insane night of cabaret, circus, acrobatics and

gypsy madness!

And that was it! Some great music, with fantastic circus acts

that were very good.

And all with a very underground feel to it,

very cool!

Bands were Bullhorn, These Dirty Bones, The Mouldy Lovers
and A French Butler Called Smith.
Held in the old Ice Cream Factory in West End which is
an interesting venue I tell you and of course West End
is a great place for a night out!

Frank Yamma, David Bridie and Helen Mountfort, Brisbane's Multicultural Festival 2011

2011-10-16T05:15:00.001-07:00

Ive been wanting to see Frank Yamma for a while now,
I missed his show recently a couple of nights after Ed
played and I was well excited to see him today.

But the icing on the cake was David and Helen of
My friend the Chocolate cake fame playing
with him!

What a wonderful gig it was, a beautiful Brisbane spring day,
A bit of a breeze, plenty of sun and the most wonderful music.

Frank is a fantastic talent, truly original, incredible voice.
He is a Pitjantjatjara man who speaks 5 languages and sings in
both Pitjantjatjara and English.

Day gigs are fantastic for getting great photos and
after some encouragement from Chuck I even took
a little video which is at the end of the post.

So this is part 2 of my multicultural festival post, the 1st part
is below this one.
If you get a chance do get and see Frank play!
He is wonderful!

Frank Yamma with David Bridie and Helen Mountfort

16 oct 2011, Roma Street Parklands, Brisbane.

Brisbane's Multicultural Festival 2011

2011-10-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

Brisbane's annual multicultural festival is always worth the trip,

it was at this festival one year I saw the Go-betweens.

It was one of their last shows! This year was great, six stages

across five precincts, including a fantastic children's area,

all within the beautiful Roma Street parklands.

There was heaps of food, over a 100 stalls, something like

70 different cultures represented and most of the talent local.

Popular with an estimated 50, 000 people attending and

often with a surprising addition to the program which

is all free!

I love just wandering into a venue and seeing something I

wouldn't normally, such as these guys.

The Russian Folkloric Ensemble were fantastic,

performing their traditional Russian, Cossack

Gypsy and Ukrainian music.

These guys called Laique are described as a vibrant mix of banjo,
ukulele, guitar, violin, double bass and drums.

Original songs influenced by the music of France and Spain.

A little bit of Zen to calm the troops, that's my 3 boys,

who are getting restless by this stage.

Carl Rathus and Takako Nishibori doing their traditional

Japanese music on the Koto and the Shakuhaci.

I love this stuff!

But the main event is still to come!

That will be the next post.

Melbourne Single Launch by the Apartments!

2011-10-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well this is well worth a plug,

I hope some of our Melbourne readers can get along!

Maybe we will get a show in Brisbane soon!

Its well worth seeing this legendary band,

They have done a handful of shows since 2007

and the 3 I saw were fantastic!

You can listen to the new song Here

MELBOURNE SINGLE LAUNCH FOR THE APARTMENTS!

On Sunday October 23 at the Toff In Town, revered pop romantics

the Apartments play their first Melbourne show since 2007,

launching their first release since 1998,

new vinyl single Black Ribbons, .

THE APARTMENTS

Sunday October 23, 7.30pm

Toff In Town

with support from Guy Blackman

tickets via Moshtix / 1300 438 849

Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses - 7-10-11,Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane

2011-10-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

It was one of those gigs last night that you walk out of
on a high, people around saying things like
"That was even better than I expected"
and feeling that you just saw something well worth seeing.
According to Tex we were in for a good night because
the soundcheck was bad and by musician folklore
Bad soundcheck - good gig, good soundcheck bad gig!

Well it was an exceptional gig, Tex was in fine form and the band
were incredible. Playing many, many songs from the Dark Horses
back catalog they played with no support for 1 and half hours,
doing 3 encores. Beautiful dark country done in only the way
Tex can.

Charlie Owen was a joy to watch, boy can the man play guitar!
Other band members for the 2011 tour were, Joel Silbersher
and two new members, bassist Steve Hadley and drummer
Gus Agars. Sorry no video Chuck I got busted taking shots
as it was. The Judith Wright Centre is still a fantastic venue!

Ups & Downs and The Huxton Creepers reformation gigs

2011-10-05T23:24:00.000-07:00

Talking of Ups and Downs, this legendary Brisbane band is reforming

along with Melbourne 80's band The Huxton Creepers for some shows

to promote the release of their retrospective CD Out Of The Darkness

and The Huxton Creepers are touring to support the re-issue on CD

for the very first time of their classic debut 12 Days To Paris.

Support is Mick Medew (former frontman of the Screaming

Tribesmen) and his band the Rumours,

For a list of gigs around the country look Here

The show is is Brisbane on the 11th of Nov at the Hi Fi.

Check it out Here

42nd Street - The Demos

2011-09-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

1980 - 42nd Street, Phil M, Neil C, Greg A, Darren A

Phil Melifont who played in 42nd Street has sent

me these demos from the band that Greg and

Darren Atkinson learnt their trade before going

onto the wonderful Ups and Downs.

I'll let Phil give us the history of this important

Brisbane band
Thanks Phil

1979 Greg A, Phil M, Darren A, 42nd Street

42nd Street was a Brisbane based power-pop band

1979 – 1981 The band derived the name from a track

on Piper’s (Billy Squier) 1976 album

The original lineup was Greg Atkinson (Bass/Voc),

Darren Atkinson (Drums/Voc), Ken Allen (guitar),

Phil Mellifont (guitar) with some occasional vocals

by Steve Black. Ken Allen left the band in October

1979 just prior to the recording of the

single ‘Work it Out’ / ‘Afraid of the Dark’,

released December 1979 For several months the

band played as a three piece and February 1980

the demo’s ‘No Money’ & ‘She’s Not Real’

were recorded.

Neil Coombe (guitar) joined the band around April

1980 and soon after ‘Mistaken Identity’ was

recorded to be included on Radio 4iP’s

‘That’s Queensland’ album.

In August 1980, 42nd Street gained third place in the

Queensland final of the ‘Hoadley’s Battle of the Bands’,

and at that time a number of demo’s were recorded

including ‘The Boys are After Me’, ‘Too Late’ and

a cover of The Records song ‘Starry Eyes’

The band moved to Sydney in April 1981 and like

many others broke up a few months later- shortly

after recording the demo ‘Tomorrow’

Work it Out

Music/Lyrics by Atkinson/Atkinson

Recorded November 1979

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Phil Mellifont

No Money

Music/Lyrics by Atkinson/Atkinson

Recorded February 1980

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Phil Mellifont

She’s Not Real

Music/Lyrics by Atkinson/Atkinson

Recorded February 1980

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Phil Mellifont

Starry Eyes (cover - The Records)

Recorded August 1980

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Neil Coombe

Guitar – Phil Mellifont

Tomorrow

Music/Lyrics by Atkinson/Atkinson

Recorded June 1981

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Neil Coombe

Guitar – Phil Mellifont

Afraid of the Dark

Music/Lyrics by Atkinson/Atkinson

Recorded November 1979

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Phil Mellifont

The Boys are After Me

Music/Lyrics by Atkinson/Atkinson

Recorded August 1980

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Neil Coombe

Guitar – Phil Mellifont

Too Late

Music/Lyrics by Atkinson/Atkinson

Recorded August 1980

Bass/Voc – Greg Atkinson

Drums/Voc- Darren Atkinson

Guitar – Neil Coombe
Guitar – Phil Mellifont

1980 - Greg Atkinson, Neil Coombe, Phil Mellifont

Download Here

Ed Kuepper and Mark Dawson - Live at the Spiegeltent Brisbane Festival 2011

2011-09-21T03:06:00.000-07:00

Well its been a long time since I last saw these two play,
something like 20 years. An I saw at least 3 gigs including
the wonderful Spring Livid where they played in Albert park
as the sun went down!
Tonight in an equally impressive venue the amazing
Spiegeltent they play to a sell out crowd that they had eating
out of their hand.

This gigs brief was a re-imagining of Ed's debut solo album
Electrical Storm and his 1990 Ed and Mark classic
Today Wonder.
And re-imagined it was, especially the Electrical Storm,
tracks that originally had a very different treatment.
Also gone was the 12 string that Ed always played
during that period with Mark.
Still acoustic but more complex, with just the 6 strings.
Stand out tunes were, the title track Electrical Storm,
a blinding Palace Of Sin and Master of two Servants.

Today Wonder was even better, those songs are still as
magical as they were 20 years ago.
The highlights of course were the song Ed tells us
was the reason the Berlin Wall fell,
Everything I've got belongs to you, which became
a wonderful singalong.
Horse under water, which he no longer plays by
striking the strings with a pen and the song
first made famous by the Laughing Clowns
and re-recorded for Today Wonder, Eternally Yours.
This morphed into the Tim Hardin's track
If I Were a Carpenter .
By the end the audience gave them a standing ovation.
Ed tells us Mark was recently voted the words 9th
best drummer and Ed is of course the worlds greatest
Guitarist so how could you go wrong!

You can find a video of electrical storm and a recording from

the night Here at Turn it up

Gathering fest. was cool...

2011-09-18T00:59:00.000-07:00

It's a nice venue full of great sounds.. got there late and missed some stuff I would have loved to have caught up with - escpecially Jim Rockfords and Bertie Page Clinic. Arrived just as William Barton was setting up. This guy is amazing - he has an almost Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn thing going on when he is singing in language.. A simple setup of bass n didge with a bit of apple magic.. I would see him again in a flash .

Another band I would seek out are Glockenspiel http://www.myspace.com/glockenspielmusic
never heard of em b4 but really impressive stage show -110% energy .. not bad for a couple of diks..

Toothfaeries rocked the shed with even more energy...I only caught a few songs and wandered around to the main hall for the highlight of the night.
Screaming Tribesmen are indeed back..A big show with no disappointments.. If you live in Sydney or Melbourne don't miss out on this one..

Just a short clip - good news is they had cameras set up so hopefully a dvd package coming soon!
And one more short clip :)
There was this skull watching EVERYONE!! - kinda fereaked me out...

no audio from me on the day.. machine packed it in - awaiting neighbour to get home so i can borrow his shottie and finish that machine once n forall... future youtube clip in it methinks...

Other highlight of the day - meeting this guy -

Greg -drummer for Razar and the Leftovers

I hope you dont mind me sticking this pic up on the web, Greg... He originally posed for this shot so I could give it to Steve Kunde for bootlegging Razar t-shirts and not giving him a cut - LOL

4ZzZ did an outside broadcast on the day and featured many interviews of the days entertainers. You can catch those interviews on the ZzZ podcast web page found here - http://www.4zzzfm.org.au/podcasts/music
your looking for uploads with the 18 Oct dates as interviews not labeled Gathering Fest- just labeled by artist names... happy hunting!

Sir Ed Kuepper plays again!

2011-09-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

Brisbane's very own original punk roker the right 'onerable Sir Ed plays a couple of gigs in the next few days with ol' mate Mark Dawson..

Found this nice clip the other day on the ol tube thingy

Ed on "blah blah blah"

..also found this old clipping in the "pile"...

Rave magazine 5june2007 page 10

I still cant for the life of me explain why i didnt go to the pig City concert arrgghhhhh but luckily a cd is available - Saints -live at pig city 2007..
review of the Pig City Saints gig by Robert Forster here - http://www.themonthly.com.au/music-robert-forster-tales-pig-city-saints-616

Lil' Fi and the Delta Rhythm Kings -Yip-Yah!

2011-09-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Lil' Fi plays the Gathering festival on saturday at 4:40pm so ffs dont be late!
Gathering fest. timetable here - http://www.thegatheringfestival.com.au/timetable/

Bundy grrrl Lil' Fi hooked up with the remnants of the Howling Moondoggies in the early 90's and this great blues combo rocked brisvegas for years at venues like the Orient and the Bombshelter at the Story Bridge hotel.. great times and great sounds..
download here
Lil' Fi
Blind Dog Donnie - http://www.myspace.com/dirtyblinddog
Trevor Casey
Trevor Gollagher
other members over the years include Coogie Timms and Felicia Sowinski

more recent Lil' Fi info can be found here - http://www.lilfi.com/

best Lil' Fi story - Colonel Windsor tells me they supported B.B. King once and B.B. wanted to wisk Fi away to the States for blues entertaining training.....
best Lil' Fi aural - Fi getting up and belting out some mighty fine blues with the Bondi Cigars at the Orient way back when calendars started with a 1...

John Malcolm @ the Gathering fest.

2011-09-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

Guitar magician John Malcolm is playing the Gathering festival at 4pm so get yer skates on and get there early!!

John Malcolm doing his rendition of "Razors Edge"

more John Malcom can be found here - http://www.johnmalcolm.com.au/

Custard are back!

2011-09-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Lots of live music goodies coming up in the next few days...

Custard live on "Recovery" back in the day...

Custard are doing a few reformation shows with the brisbane show happening at the powerhouse on saturday- info here - http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/view/custard/
some great reads can be found - http://www.musiciscrap.com/davemccormack/press/Custard_TimeOff_Aug2011.pdf
and here - http://www.scenemagazine.com.au/index.php/section-table/58-cover-stories/1535-custard
and if you look over at brendans blog you can find some custard live from the Hi Fi flood benefit and a meredith fest here - http://turnitupto10.blogspot.com/2011/03/flood-benefit-at-hi-fi.html

and lots of stuff here - http://www.musiciscrap.com/index.html

It's a shame that the two Medews are playing the same nite... already booked in for the Screaming Tribesman myself....

update
thanx for the sounds - http://turnitupto10.blogspot.com/2011/09/ummmm-custard.html

Grant Mclennan - JJJ Tribute 13.05.2006

2011-09-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Roert has sent a link in the the SSS blog for a wonderful

Tribute done by radio station JJJ, many thanks Robert!

You can find the J files post, a 3 hour Gobs post

Here

Now over to Robert.

Hi, Robert from Melbourne again. This following is a link

to another go-between's related JJJ show.

This is the hour-long tribute the station put together

about a week after Grant passed away,

broadcast 13.05.2006.

Various musicians and Brisbane identities talking

about Grant and his impact.

Download Here

Tyrone's Ukulele Heart

2011-09-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

Pic by Grant Heaton

David who has contributed on this blog before with

his fabulous bands Friends of the Iguana and the Goodbye Notes,

is spreading the word about a new (well, kind of new!) musical

project. He is seeking to fund a recording to be called

Ukulele Heart which will be a collection of original ukulele songs

by Tyrone, David's alter ego.

In many ways similar to the Kransky Sisters who I covered in the last

post, Tyrone's act is funny, very musical and very entertaining.

Theres some great clips up at Tyrone's Youtube channel Here.

So check some more of the diverse wonderful music of Brisbane.

Now over to David!

Tyrone has quite a history, and may be strangely

familiar to Brisbane music lovers.

He played the first Livid Festival in 1988, with comedy

group Skins on the Wall, and appeared at several later

Livids, including one memorable set between

Screamfeeder and psychobilly outfit Fireballs.

(He was the guy with the iguana)

He has played at the Zoo many times,

the Cairns and Melbourne Ukulele Festivals

and took his show Ukulele Mekulele to the Sydney

Opera House.

He’s aiming to record his first album, and you can find out more

about the project here at Pozible.com

The Kransky Sisters - Three Bags Full

2011-08-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know of Queensland's own musical comedy trio

The Kransky Sisters let me try to explain.

Written and performed by Annie Lee (Mourne) and

Christine Johnston (Eve) in collaboration with

Carolyn Johns (Dawn), the Knansky's are 3 sisters who come

from Esk a small rural town not 45 mins from Brisbane.

They tell hilariously disturbing tails from their lives in

Esk and in this show "Three bags full" all the way to Europe.

Along the way they weave in songs that they learnt from the

radio, its a incredibly diverse collection of covers that

get the Kransky treatment and a song is never the same

after that!

There was Devo's Whip It, ACDC's Dirty Deeds done dirt cheap,

The Bee Gees Stayin Alive, Steve Millers Stuck in the middle

and so much more.

They even picked an unfortunate fellow from the audience to

become Greg an honorary Kransky.

At the end of their wonderful performance they walked out

through the audience to the sounds of one of their earlier

signature tunes Single Bed

I last saw these guys maybe 15 years ago at Woodford Folk

Festival and as brilliant as they were back then they have

only improved with age.

The show is at the Powerhouse until tomorrow night!

The Lighthouse Keepers – Ode to Nothing

2011-08-18T05:19:00.000-07:00

Ode to Nothing replaces the 2 disc anthology of Phantom’s long-gone Lipsnipegroin by offering a compact overview of Sydney pop group the Lighthouse Keepers' three or so years in a ‘best of’ (or in a more perfect world, a Greatest Hits!) fashion. And so Feel Presents have created a neat little g’day to those who’ve gotten down on hands and knees sifting through crates of records in the hopes that they might get a chance to hear more than a stray compilation track by the Lighthouse Keepers and a debriefing for those who were around to see them explode and implode.

The Lighthouse Keepers were the folk-pop infused wedge between the Particles and the Cannanes; with all three sharing the multi-instrumentalist Stephen O’Neil, whose Canberra beginnings in Guthegga Pipeline spawned another future Cannane member in Gavin Butler and principal songwriter, Greg Appel. But I’m going too far backward, so moving forward five year to a space between 1983 and 1986; the Lighthouse Keepers toured the country and abroad on the back of records released by Hot and their own independent label Guthegga Pipeline Records.

Hot kindly repressed their Gargoyle single, and subsequently released Ocean Liner, their double-A side Ode to Nothing/Seven Years and sole LP, Tales of the Unexpected. And in between there was the mini-LP The Exploding Lighthouse Keepers. What Ode to Nothing does is scoop the cream from these releases and turns it into a 15 track entrée.

Hot of course had other Sydney-based groups along the lines of the cousins referred to earlier; the Celibate Rifles, Laughing Clowns, the Triffids and not to mention the Warumpi Band from the red center. The first three of these groups have basked in the sunlight of warm press after their break-ups or sabbaticals when people uncover what Australian independent music has to offer, though the Lighthouse Keepers have strangely avoided similar praise by local and international press. Too twee to be indie? Too folk to be post-punk? Flannelette shirts 15yrs too late or 5yrs too early? Whichever theory you might want to go for (or maybe none of these at all) - this release will hopefully cement their place as one of Australia's wondrous groups of the 1980s and rightfully place primary songwriter Greg Appel in the calibre of vehicle leaders David McComb, Ed Kuepper and Peter Milton Walsh.

A4 flyer from a selection of Sydney shows in 1984. (Donat Tahiraj Archive)

When Clinton Walker’s punk and post-punk bible from 1982 Inner City Sound was reprinted in 2005, Walker extended the original 1981 ending to 1985, much to the disappointment of some puritans out there. And what the extension did was to smartly include groups like the Lighthouse Keepers. The caption beside the very same photo that is the basis of the Ode to Nothing CD cover and back sleeve shot of their LP describes them succinctly, “after the Go-Betweens and the Triffids had legitimized acoustic guitars in a post-punk context, the Lighthouse Keepers picked up as if where the Particles left off. Arriving with a splash in Sydney from Canberra in 1983, the Keepers boasted the unmistakable voice of Juliet Ward and the positively strange but great songwriter in Greg Appel.”

My English teacher once asked his puzzled grade 12 class, “what makes for a great poem?” And as we struggled to find the right answer, he whispered – “its timelessness.” This is what makes the Lighthouse Keepers great, its timelessness – and even though this compilation is long overdue, it nonetheless exists in a way that’s tasteful through a thoughtfully selected group of songs that captures the beauty of the Lighthouse Keepers.

Ode to Nothing is available in Australia by Feel Presents and distributed through Fuse.

The Lighthouse Keepers are performing two sets at the Sandringham Hotel in Sydney on September 9th. Tickets available through Moshtix.

Would the last person to leave please turn-out the lighthouse?

Cybernana - Riot Day

2011-08-15T00:23:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time of year again to let the moths see some light and throw some money at the Zed machine so they can gasp some air for another year...
click here to donate - www.4zzzfm.org.au
If you subscribe today yer still in with a chance to win $70k worth of prizes!!

This double cd was released to celebrate the infamous 1996 4zZz market day in which the army of australia invited itself to join in with the queensland police for a good ol' fashion hippy (punk) bashing... they called it a riot - as we all know when kids are playing in the mud after a storm they should be sent home to have a warm bath and those that dont will be punished to the full extent of the law....
Funny how lately good ol mother England has been in a national debate for days following destructive dangerous mob activity as to whether local plod needs any army assistance... but back last century in Queensland the Army was ready and willing to assist moments after a few kids started playing in the mud... some say the army even practiced assistance the day before.....

Disc one is live from the Stages:
1. Blitz Babiez - Domesticated
2. Dogmachine - Disorder
3. Turtlebox - Sport
4. Feedtime- You
5. Drop - A letter to the prime minister
6. Porno Flick Bitches - Fuck shit up
7. Dregs of Humanity - Loss
8. Disrupt Youth - $49
9. Blowhard - Ben's one
10. The Wishing Chair - The real thing
11. Velour - Drop
part one dload here

12. The Subterraneans - Messiah
13. Screamfeeder - Bruises
14. Webster - Magic 2 Minutes
15. St. Jude - Knee
16. Pollen - Twitch
17. The Invinsible Empire - Last go round
18. Misery - Inverted Prophet
19. John Lee Spider - Johnny Smith
20. Weave - Games
21. Taxi - Country
part two dload here.

Disc two is electronica from the Doof tent with a hidden track from the press concert after the market day riot
1. Organarchy - Vocoder Message
2. Jandy Rainbow & Ande - Union
3. Adrenalentil - Large family Units
4. Flowmadik - PeopleWithin the Underground
5. Grumblemorph - Bass Level 160bpm
6. Earthmetal - Homo Mojo Rising
7. Grumblemorph - All That Scratching (acid scratch mix)
8. Grumblemorph - Dubbed
9. Jandy Rainbow - Lovechild
10. Pygmy Limbo Dancers - Rumble in the Park
11. press conference aftermath (uncredited on cd)
dload here

The bonus uncredited track - "press conference" can be downloaded seperately in case u dont want the entire disc 2 - download here
an interesting article from the courious snail can be found here - http://web.archive.org/web/20060911085010/http://users.tpg.com.au/adslflfl/1996/zzz1.htm

The folowing year was at Albert Park and called Zed Bubble - Market Day.

A lot of the early part of the day was broadcast on zed and relayed to several other states on alternative radio stations.. I managed to tape about an hour of this broadcast in the afternoon to catch old mates "lee harvey.."
you can dload here
bands caught live are Dream poppies , godnose and Lee Harvey and the Oswalds with some interesting voxpop and interviews with custard... enjoy!

Big Bongin' Baby - 2 Weeks of Decadence

2011-08-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

Big Bongin' Baby appeared around Brisbane around the tail-end of the 1980s and had frittered out by the early 1990s; appearing sporadically ever since. Notorious for not turning up to shows booked for them, while leaving a trail of cricket-inspired montage poster art for their shows.

The Bongers assumed the Pits philosophy of the early 80s by playing a brand of Brisbane suburban punk that takes away the pomp and seriousness that this city can sometimes create in its music. It's under-produced, under-rehearsed and under-valued - in other words, Toilet Rock.

2 Weeks of Decadence was their debut release from 1992, and by the sound of things it was recorded with a lot of compression at Vibrafeel studios in downtown Inala. Perhaps it's its relative obscurity that keeps it from being held as one of the most essential Brisbane 45s of its time, but nevertheless until someone out there puts together a compilation CD of their shambolic commitments to tape, then this is sadly it.

Big Bongin' Baby at the Treasury Hotel, 1992. Photo stolen from JJ Speedball.

Guitarist/vocalist Gutterball Pete and his brother Awesome Andy on bass, and a succession of drummers with names like Roger Adultery, Charlie Gay Pride and Barnaby Cones went on to release a split single with the Onyas, the 6 track EP Under Attack from the Squares - both released in 1994, and an LP in 1999 - Appetite for a Whopper.

Gutterball Pete went on to form the Cool Millions in the late 90s and the Golden Orbs and in the early 00s, as well as a guitarist for Strutter. He currently plays in the Royal Family. Awesome Andy has played with the likes of the Dangermen and the Wretched Villians among others.

The Cutters - Self Titled 4 Track Cassette

2011-08-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Another wonderful gem from Paislie's music collection,

a 4 track self titled cassette from 1980's Brisbane band

The Cutters. Their 1st single has been posted here

previously, Here.

So I think we are only missing their 2nd single.

For those who don't know Andrew Barlett who

went on to great things outside of music was in

this band who to my ears remind me of one of

his favourite Brisbane bands, Ups and Downs.

Thanks Paisley!

Track List

01 - The Fortunes of our Lives

02 - Television Mercy

03 - More Than Fire

04 - Time

Download Here

Popsicle - Various Artists

2011-08-05T16:08:00.001-07:00

A rip of a nice little Melbourne centric cassette,

Thanks Paislie

This is a demo cassette I got in Melbourne,

I can't remember anything about when or

where or how or why,

but it's an interesting mix of bands.

I've copied in the photocopied cover that came with it.

enjoy, Paislie.

Download Here

The Poles - Over and Beyond and Through

2011-08-02T04:59:00.000-07:00

THE POLES - Over and Beyond and Through (Tate/Bolland)/ Ha! Ha! Ha! (Tate/Bolland/The Poles)

Recorded at Basilisk Studios
Engineer - Martin Bishop
Produced by the Poles

Scott Bolland - Vocals
Joseph Borkowski - Bass
Andrew MacLennan - Drums
Scott Stone - Guitar & Backing Vocals
Michael Tate - Guitar

This single, one of the 500 individually screen-printed 45s is the band's sole release from April, 1981. The Poles (much like the Patients) are frequently recalled by fellow musicians of the post-Saints Brisbane musical landscape as having been an exceptional, if not influential live band.

The year is 1978. Kenmore. Clinton Walker's having a party at his family home. Mick Tate, Janine Hall and Scott Bolland decide to form a band. By the time conversation turned into playing, Janine meets up with Rowland Howard and Ollie Olsen who are up from Melbourne for a weekend in Sydney and with Jeffrey Wegener they form the Young Charlatans.

The band moved to Sydney in November 1979, and played alongside the Laughing Clowns on numerous occasions at the Metropole; and shared bills with the likes of the Sunnyboys.

Dave Tyrer was an early guitarist in the band was replaced by Scott Stone. Tyrer later played in the Go-Betweens for one show in July 1980 armed with a Roland guitar-synth, along with former Toesuckers drummer Clare McKenna (who later went on to play with Xero and the Holy Ghosts). This was the only time both of them played in the Go-Betweens. After this brief moment in time, Tyrer joined the post-punk Bex Crystals.

Dave Tyrer playing in the Go-Betweens at the Sincerity Ball held at Baroona Hall, 4th July 1980 and behind him a backdrop designed by Gary Warner. Zero, FX, and Kroll & the Bluebirds also played that night. Photo by Paul O'Brien.

Guitarist and primary songwriter Mick Tate is now a freelance cartoonist working in Sydney.

Another member of note was bassist Joe Borkowski, who was an early chronicler of the Saints with his 35mm camera. It would be safe to say that all of the band's photos prior to their signing with EMI were taken by him.

This cassette is from a recording session done on a Portastudio by Ed Kuepper and Bruce 'Cab' Calloway in 1981.

After the swift demise of the Poles, Borkowski joined the Sydney incaration of Peter Milton Walsh's Out of Nowhere, playing on their single Remember Remember/No Resistance released by Prince Melon in 1982. Borkowski later emerged as a live member of the Apartments during 1984, and played cello on a Died Pretty track around that time whose name currently escapes me. He's also referenced in the Go-Betweens song Darlinghurst Nights.

The image above appeared in Clinton Walker's 1981 book, Inner City Sound and a caption which read:

"The Poles were inspired to take up music by the Saints, and took it from there themselves, to become another slant on the Brisbane Sound. They were probably best described as "a wonderful slice of modern pop halfway between the Shadows and the Saints.""

Over and Beyond and Through appears on the Inner City Sound CD - the must-have companion to the VCP reprint of Walker's iconic book - released through Laughing Outlaw.

Furious Turtles - Endangered Species ep

2011-08-02T04:29:00.000-07:00

These guys were everywhere in Brisbane in the mid-eighties.. Totally Ska-licious!!

Ray Moynihan the guitarist was a 4 ZzZ announcer/ news Journo and in several other bands including 'I Am Vertical' with Geoff Woods and Andrew Bartlett. He is now a medical journalist of some note. I will try and dig up a great interview with 612abc Steve Austin last year regarding his new book.
Bruce Forbes - sax , keys
Tim Littler - guitar

Mick Hoelscher - drums , percusion
Chris Coulter - bass , trombone , keys , vocals
Martin Thompson - guitar , vocals

Time Off - 25 september 1987 p14

Download here.

Robert Forster / Wonderous Fair- spill Live reviews Rave Mag 1994

2011-08-02T04:04:00.000-07:00

Live Review section of Rave mag 30 march 1994 p26

A double up of reviews from street press Rave magazine from march 1994. Dunno where the Forster pic comes from - Roxy is an indoor venue... looks a bit hippy with that long hair :)

Batswing Saloon - Time Off article 1989

2011-08-02T03:58:00.000-07:00

Time Off 02 feb 1989 page3

A nice article regarding Batswing Saloon from about the time of "Harold and Maude" release.

Batswing Saloon - Harold and Maude

2011-07-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

Brisbane in the late 80s in a musical sense didn't have a terrible lot going for it. Clusters of bands featuring musicians from the early 80s and before soldiered on, or left defeated by the mid part of the decade. Those who stuck around made some brilliant cassettes and fewer made (cassette) albums. And then there's vinyl.

You have to remember that in the post-punk landscape of Brisbane that aside from Xero, no one put out a 12" record; Go-Betweens and Saints not included in this argument. Likewise with the Riptides. I'm speaking about the ones who stayed here, stuck it out (as in the fact they didn't move to Sydney) and did the odd tour of the southern capitals. And who did it independently. Lust in the Dust came out in 1982. The iconic 4zzz compilation LP State of Emergence appeared four years later and the He Dark Age album, The Dog's Breakfast was four years after that! What you have in the middle of that are cassette albums. Small runs for an audience and one for 4ZZZ's music library.

Talk about torrid times.

And so a awful lot of boring bands dominated Brisbane music during the mid to late 1980s and many of them released 45s to remind us of how dire it all was. Some dove in and did 12" EPs (Ironing Music spring to mind) but when you look at a discography of Brisbane independent music from 1978 to 1990, there wasn't a lot of vinyl commitment going on and reasonably-priced CD pressing was still a way's away. There were more than two, but less than three dozen or so independently-released 45s between 1978 and 1982 and then the momentum suddenly went pffft!!!

So when you look at singles released between 1983 and 1988 and speaking of bands outside of the punk-stroke-hardcore realm, there's only a handful of truly listenable titles that came out locally.

Yes, there was Bent Records who released bands like the Lemon Fabs on wax but I'm speaking of quality independent music here. Note how I didn't include any 4IP or FM 104 compilation LPs a paragraph or so back.

So among the piles of terrible releases (and let's face it folks, there were a lot of them!), here's a good one, and Batswing Saloon's sole release Harold and Maude/Split Level World displays the treble-laden Brisbane of the 1980s at its primitive best.

Sydney might've had Matrimony, but Brisbane had Batswing Saloon. A little less post-punk, but making up for it with a lot more twee.

Batswing Saloon were probably (okay, certainly) the first all-girl Brisbane band to put out a single, though Zero undoubtedly hold the mantle of being the first all-girl post-punk band at some early point. This came out sometime in early 1989 or maybe even late 1988, almost three years after they formed. It was produced by Ian Wadley who was at that time playing in the Holy Ghosts and Small World Experience; and who by this time was already a veteran in Brisbane indie music terms.

Drummer Sue Holman also played in Cut, a band featuring guitarist Eugene Carchesio of the Holy Ghosts and Steven Grainger of Closest Thing (a trio with Eugene). No one went on to do anything else, except Michelle Bowden who played in another all-girl band in the early 90s - Gravelrash. The band's original singer Anne Dellar was in Die Neuen.

Harold and Maude is the opening track from disc 2 of 4ZZZ's 25th anniversary CD, Behind the Banana Curtain.

Wondrous Fair - Wondrous Fair

2011-07-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

Brisbane’s Wondrous Fair began around 1986 and had lasted up until 1995. In nine or so years they chalked up the following releases: the cassettes ‘Wondrous Fair’ (C60), ‘Tidy Town’ (C90) and ‘Live All Over the Shop’ (C60). They also self-released a CD in 1994 called ‘Cosmological Clock’.

They appeared on all three SPILL label compilations (1 on cassette, and 2 and 3 on CD) as well as the 1986 4ZZZ compilation LP ‘State of Emergence’.

They wore outlandish costumes.

Members of the band were formerly of Tangled Shoelaces, Gobble Gobble and Clag to name three. The story of Tangled Shoelaces and the rest of what I call the Class of 1982 is to be continued for the readers of SSS.

They made a selection of videos. Most of them are on YouTube. Some of their songs were played by Dragster after the band and beforehand by Tangled Shoelaces.

This cassette came out in 1987. As the notes in the 7” sleeve suggest, they were recorded live. The now surnamed line-up from their debut album is:

Deborah Cavallaro – marimba, keyboards.

Rodney McAllister – drums, guitar.

Martin Mackerras – bass, clarinet.

Richard Hagen – keyboards.

Jeanette Gilfedder – viola, keyboards.

Michael Bouwman – saxophone.

Stephen Mackerras – guitar

Deborah played in the Sump, the Fair Muses and Dragster (to quickly name three) – she’s currently in the Golden Circles. Rodney was the drummer in the Sump when Jeffrey Wegener or a drum machine wasn’t or weren't keeping a beat. Richard had a tapeloop-heavy project called Wank Engine and did a curious radio show on 4zzz in the 90s called Winky Wanky Woo. Jeanette’s in Italy now, and I think Stephen’s in Japan. Michael plays in Not Pictured. And I’m not sure what Martin’s doing at the moment but he played in Puppenspiel in the early 1990s.

Enjoy it here

- Donat

This Five Minutes - Swing Between The Flags

2011-07-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

This Five Minutes were one of the greta Brisbane bands

from the first half of the 80's. They played around all the

major venues, made it onto some Classic Brisbane

compilation albums from the era. Their single How? B/W

Reaction Time made it to 81 on the ZzZ hot hundred

in 83. This is a 6 track Cassette that the wonderful

Paislie has digitalized and shared with us.

Thanks Palisie!

Track List

01 - Sometimes (The Night Time)

02 - Complications

03 - No-one Deserves To

04 - Changes

05 - Wonderworld Arcade

06 - Lou in Green

Members

Tony Moore: vocals, guitar

Tom McKeon: vocals, bass, vocoder/synth

Greg Gilbert (aka "Des Johnson"): drums

Other members included:

Guy Petersen: guitar, vocals

Greg Wadley: bass

Ian Wadley: trumpet

Pat Ridgewell: organ

Martin Mackerras: sax

Download Here

Matt Williamson - Little Songs Two

2011-07-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

Matt has sent us another beautiful album of his wonderful folk songs,

Check out this for some truly fantastic music,

His stories of Australia, the music that evokes the landscape.

I do hope you'll make it up to Brisbane one day to play,

I'm thinking Woodford!

My wife loves your music to, she told me tell tell you

Thanks Matt

Now over to Matt

G'day bob.this is a recent compilation of little songs including

some instrumentals we have been doing. We did a couple of

shows with Kerrianne Cox. Try and catch one of her shows

if you can, music with a story and a class act.

Best regards matt and shaking hands.

ps. keep up the great work and love of good music and meaning.

Track List

01. Spiritual

02. Sooner Or Later

03. Old Black Man

04. Reprise

06. The Sprinter

07. Bad Cousin To Your Own Brother

08. Cup Of Tea

09. Jimmies Theme

10. Radio Heaven

11. All Over The Moon

14. Loaded Man With A Gun

15. Same Town

16. Captured

17. Get Outta Here!!

19. Shackled

20. Anthem

22. Told You So

www.mediafire.com/?x2jtsav8al7iaj9

Some Subsonic Barflies History

2011-07-24T01:40:00.000-07:00

“No frills” from the now defunct Brisbane Telegraph

Music supplement in the Courier Mail.

An article from Juke in August 87

the press release from the band to promote the single

a letter from 3PBS in Melbourne to the band asking when would we

tour Melbourne which we never did. The furtherest destination from

Brisbane that we played at was Toowoomba and Coolum

Mark has sent me some more fascinating Brisbane music history,

this time concerning the band Subsonic Barflies.

Their single was covered here earlier and its great to be able

to find more first hand recollections on the net.

Thanks Mark!

You had a review on the Subsonic Barflies single

“Questions” a couple of months ago.

Here are some press clippings, letters from radio

stations etc. on the band as further info for your

readers.

Before I do that just a bit of background on the band:

Myself (guitar) and Peter Greene (drums) played in

an early to mid-80s hardcorish punk band called

Death of a Nun.

(Which recorded some demos that I will get to

you some time soon, but that is another story.)

At the time I was working for Telecom and met

Tim Carseldine (also worked for Telecom),

guitarist with Prince of Weasels, along with Col

who played bass.

(Prince of Weasels had a couple of tracks on the

excellent “At his Fuhrer’s request” LP compilation.)

Tim and I both loved the twin guitars of the Dolls,

Heartbreakers, Flaming Groovies etc.

rather than the American hard core direction that

Death of a Nun was going.

So we split both our bands to form the Subsonic

Barflies and brought in Dave Chamberlain who

previously played drums in the Vampire Lovers

and recorded the drums on their most famous

single Buzzsaw Popstar.

Soon we were getting lots of gigs as local headline

or supporting some great OZ acts like X and

Celibate Rifles and fantastic international acts like

Johnny Thunders and Flaming Groovies

(whom we all idolised).

Any way to cut a long story short the band broke up

over the usual suspects:

sex drugs and rock and roll.

So here are some obscure archives from when people

played rock and roll for fun, before it became

corporatized and commoditised and people saw it just

as a career move.

The first article “No frills” is from the now defunct

Brisbane Telegraph and came out only after a month or

2 of playing.

The 2nd was from the music supplement in the Courier Mail.

More clips to follow.

Cheers

mark

An ad from what is I presume is Time off for a gig at the Crystal club

Another from the Ipswich Advertiser, 16 June 1987

An article from one of the University papers

Presidents 11 and Lovs e blur

2011-07-21T01:46:00.000-07:00

A couple of articles that Mark Birsky did for Brisbane Time off.

Readers of the SSS blog will no doubt heard of these two Brissy

legends, Presidents 11 and Lovs e blur.

Fantastic stuff thanks Mark!

Fad, a Brisbane Fanzine

2011-07-04T02:05:00.000-07:00

Mark has sent me a Brisbane fanzine from 1978 to

share, a true bit of Brisbane music history.

In the true spirit of do it yourself punk style

this is a cut and paste, photocopy fanzine.

It was a popular way of supporting the music

scene in many places, I have seen a few examples

from the English punk scene over the years.

Some great stuff in this fanzine!

Click on any pic to enlarge.

Over to Mark,

Thanks heaps Mark

Here is a Brisbane fanzine called Fad.

I would say that it was early to mid-78 as it states

that the Numbers and Go Betweens are soon to release

their singles.

You can see from page 2 that it was produced by Mark Overett,

who I presume is now owner of New Holland Pictures .

Mark

Vale Rocking Horse. .. .

2011-06-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

Ad from Ratsack fanzine : vol2-crastak .page 24 circa '82

Sad news that Rocking Horse records may be closing down soon. :(
http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/iconic-record-shop-rocking-horse-put-out-to-pasture/story-e6freq7f-1226083470847
I think that there are a couple of key ingredients every city needs to maintain a healthy live music industry. People who want to (and can) play music. Places to play the music, and places to explore music. Sadly all those indy record shops that I grew up with have disappeared and no doubt the city is worse off because of it. The market has certainly changed over the last few decades and the specialty shops have struggled to survive. Even up to the 90's it was hard work finding past releases or overseas and local indy music. When cds became evryday the major labels really jumped on the reissue market but b4 then it was a struggle to get old LPs of your fav artists. It was secondhand (often at inflated collectors prices) or imported from more adventerous label manufactures. No ebay/ amazon/ myspace. just the indy shop guys who slaved over industry mags all day to stock the finest goods any punter could wish for. My first Rocking Horse experience was scoring a couple of Joy Division boots.. brilliant covers - shittty as audio live quality but i was stoked!
Many years have I flicked records and cds at places like Kent records (Bruce Anthon yer a freakin genius), Skinnys (various owners and staff) and Rocking Horse. Where are all those unemployable musos going to get work now??? sad days indeed.
The old girl is in palliative care for a few weeks so drop in and give your respects and she may even offer up a bargain or 2 to remember her by. Maybe if enuff ppl spread the love she will spark back to life! Good luck in the future Warick and thanks for the effort these past decades.

A couple of pages worth of ads for old brisbane record shops from Time Off street press 25 september 1987.

update: Well it seems lots of love was spread and the shop trades on... hopefully the customers keep frequenting the shop and this near death experience wasn't in vain... I'm suprised at how many ppl saw this blog post as a death sentence as opposed to a wake up call. Yes the shop very well could have closed but ppl needed to be motivated to show their respect for an iconic institution (not just some faceless retailer)..Stay motivated ppl!.. use it or lose it!.. keep up the good work RRR!
http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/rocking-horse-records-saved-from-closure-at-11th-hour-by-mysterious-benefactor/story-e6freqmx-1226100872924

Go Betweens - Oceans Apart article Rave mag 2005

2011-06-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

Another street press article this time from Rave magazine 2 august 2005 page 10. It features Grant talking about the Oceans Apart cd. Also sneaked in the photo from the cover and a side box mentioning dvd recording at the tiv.

Laughing Clowns article 1985

2011-06-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

This article comes from an encyclopedia of sorts published about 1985 from Rolling Stone. Worth tracking down if you can find one second hand. The article was written by Ed St. John and pic by Laura Lee.

Ed is still very hands on with his own promotion, record company business prefering to stay outside the majors clutches. Reminds me alot of the Zappa approach in Barking Pumpkins label after he got rogered by a major label. Lately Ed has almost gone a 'radiohead new media' approach to keeping in with the fans. Well worth tracking down on facebook and his very own utube channel.

Go Betweens - Bright Yellow, Bright Orange article Rave 2003

2011-06-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

This article is from the Brisbane street press called Rave Magazine from 24th June 2003- page 13.
It features an interview with Robert Forrster regarding the Bright Yellow, Bright Orange cd.

Rotten Records

2011-06-14T00:50:00.000-07:00

Mark has sent me a little piece of Brisbane music history,

I heard about this shop but I didn't start trekking into

the city to by import records until it had closed and

the legendary Rocking Horse Records had opened its

doors in Adelaide st.

Rocking Horse is still going strong some 30 something

years later and is as important to the local music scene

here as 4ZzZ.

I have many fond memories of discovery and the like

with record shops like these that have almost gone the

way of the dinosaur. My favourite would be going into

rocking horse to hopefully get an import copy of Broken

English in between vice squad raids and being successful!

Thanks Mark

Here is something you may want to include in your blog,

a plastic record sleeve from Rotten records.

This shop operated for short while in the late 70s at

145 elizabeth st in the city.

It was run by Steve kunde who you see these days

running vintage stalls at places like Greaze fest.

I remember going there after school and it had all the

latest punk singles from UK,US etc.

It was very cutting edge at the time

for sleepy old Brisbane.

Regards,

mark

the SCREAMING TRIBESMEN ARE BACK !!!!!!!

2011-06-13T03:25:00.000-07:00

Time Off - 1st July 1988 page6

It's been pointed out to me these last few days that I am exhibiting a certain 'skip in my step', and a permanent " ridiculous grin". PPl are asking if I'm on the gear or summin- "NO!" I reply- I'm just REALLY FUGGIN HAPPY THAT THE TRIBESMEN ARE BACK !!!!!
I've dug up a few old press clippings I'm hoping someone of note will right click/save and pass over to the new official tribesmen web site - link here

Time Off - 4th december 1987 page7

This is the first time since 1987 that this line up has played together and if you miss it we've no idea when it will be seen again, if at all... It's guitars, it's garage, it's punk, it's pop, it's hip, it's real. It is The Screaming Tribesmen. info from -http://www.thegatheringfestival.com.au/

Saturday 17th September 2011

18 Bands... 3 Stages... 2 Bars... Good times!

Old Museum, Brisbane, QLD

The gathering festival looks like a winner to me. The manifsto page of its creator Jason Castle found here, rings a lot of bells in a kindered spirit kinda way. Reminds me a lot of the early livids that became much more than another big day out extravaganza in that it was a chance for ppl to gravatate from all over oz to meet up over a day of hand picked indy acts.... sadly later to become a mid year big day out... nothing against BDO, but 2 of the same at the cost of the other was always a bit sad to me.
All these years later the gathering looks like it could develop into something the original livids held unique.. Good luck gathererers!!! (penciled in as the chuck2011- 100% fucking awesome award)

On the Street - wed 24th September 1986 page9

Time Off 25th September 1987 page4

Time Off 18 December 1987 page10

Time Off 26 january 1989 page8

Time Off - 26 January 1989 page7

Time Off - 29 September 1989

update:
not the most favourable review - prolly not for the official site, but interesting in that Tex doesnt like the detriot sound much.

from page 6 crastak- vol2 of the amazing ratsack fanzine
originally posted here back in Dec 2009

'On the Street' 3rd May 1989 page3

the 279 club- Exchange Hotel circa 1981

2011-06-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

The Exchange Hotel is a different animal now lol..

I'm guessing these posters are from 1981 by the dates.
It's really hard to find any tangible evidence that brisbane band the '31st' ever existed- no recordings were ever pressed. Gary Williams talks about hearing a demo/ practice tape during the wonderful brisbane music 4zzz event 'eternally ours' :that was luckily taped and much later posted here on sss - link, but to date no release or leaked tape of 31st sounds has surfaced. Lots of stories exist about the 31st as it had some magical key elements and most notabily its members Ron Peno(link to new song) and Mick Medew penned the classic anthem -igloo, later resurfacing as a screaming tribesmen song....
anyhoo.. I'm mentioning it here cos some of these posters mentions live dates that the 31st performs with contemporaries the End, J.f.K. and cuban crisis and Out of Nowhere etc...
also worthy of noting is the go-betweens supporting xero!

Livid festival review 1989

2011-06-13T02:32:00.000-07:00

Those early Livid festivals where the finest :)

http://www.livid.com.au/posters.asp has some nice posters for some of the best ones.

The Humans - Teen Idol

2011-06-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know much about these peeps circa 1979.. I think that Tim Collett the guitarist and vocalist went onto the band 'the Convertibles' that played around town for years and released a 12" in 1989 { cant find my copy:(}.
I was under the impression the Humans had a harder punk sound b4 I located this single at a Vinnies a few decades ago. I remember getting this home and putting it on the turntable and thinking "fuk-done my fiddy cents on this one .." I've actually come around to thinking it's a couple of classy pop songs these days..
A year or two after this release Graeme Hutchinson would join on drums and later move to the 'Riptides'.
http://www.ganggajang.com/calpages/rptds_hs.htm mentions this in it's history page.

ad 'time off' 27may 1988

Download here.

the Go-betweens - Rachel Worth article -'scene' september 2000

2011-06-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

This is part 1 of 2 articles discussing the 'Rachel worth' release in 2000 from a brisbane street press called 'Scene'... as yet I can't locate part2 of the article but I'll keep searching the dungeon just in case... an interesting insight to this cd.

the Girlies -update

2011-06-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

Girlies ad Time Off october 1987

this is an update to the post - http://stripedsunlight.blogspot.com/2010/10/girlies.html that didnt include any music files.. well if yer like me and hadn't checked the comments section lately you may have missed that the http://www.myspace.com/thegirliesonline page now has a link for all the Girlies recorded history. click that sheeet NOW!

The Hardons - Brisbane 1979

2011-05-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

Mark takes us way back to Brisbane 1979 and

a band I hadn't even heard of from that remarkable

time, The Hardons. Now Mark will explain all this

below so I shall not try, He has sent me links to a

couple of video clips and a heap of pics, articles

and flyer's etc from the day.

Thanks Mark for sharing!

The song “ Carcrash” was recorded in early 1979

at Griffith University.

The photos were taken from a gig at the “Curry Shop”

where the band was playing with Razar.

The altercation that is captured in the photos is

with some hard-core Marxist Leninist feminists who

took offense at the name of the band and wanted us

to change it for politically correct reasons.

Of course we didn’t want to bow to any authority

even if it was from the hard left.

It was all very theatrical and no one was hurt.

The band played with the usual Brisbane punk acts

from that era like Razor and the Leftovers at local

halls and Uni dances.

The band played a mixture of covers

e.g. Wire, Slaughter and the Dogs, and originals

e.g. Carcrash, OD, Playing War-games.

The member were Fred- vocals, Tim - drums,

Iggy- bass and Mark – guitar ( that’s me.)

Mark

Some photos of the band playing at the curry shop
( for the razor support as per the poster) in 79

Poster from a dance at Redbank

The header ( with photo of the Hardons )
from the article on police brutality on anti poofter bashing
dance from 6-19 April 19 79 Time off .

A section from Juke magazine dated 5/5 79
talking about the In Limbo club and Hardons

A poster for a gig called night of the lesser suave

Martha's Vineyard - 5 track cassette

2011-05-26T01:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a great post I got from Steve in Melbourne a couple
of weeks ago when it was rather cold.

Hey Bob

Miserable day in Melbourne, why not send something to SSS??
Here is digital copy of first cassette from Martha's Vineyard

from 1986.

5 tracks plus scan of cover

Don't know if you know of them

but should be right up your folky alley

Steve

Martha's Vineyard were an Australian rock band,
formed in Perth in 1986 by lead singer Peggy Van Zalm.
They shared a similar sound and outlook
to that of fellow Perth bands like The Triffids,
The Honeys and Chad's Tree. Van Zalm's strong
vocals drew comparison with the likes of Patti Smith,
Chrissie Hynde and Joni Mitchell.

Well with a rap like that who can resist?

Thanks Steve

Download Here

ToothFaeries - I Believe

2011-05-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

These guys used to pack out the big tent at woodford folk festival for years... I heard they reformed recently for a flood benefit gig at the Joynt hotel in South brisbane... here's hoping they get back together for a tour..

TURN IT UP LOUD AND JUMP UP N DOWN WITH A BIG FREAKIN GRIN ON YER FACE!

excellent stuff!!!

http://www.myspace.com/toothfaeries

Download here.

Lee Harvey and the Oswalds - Feed your Head

2011-05-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Great name for a band!

Ex 4zzz announcers Greg Fryer and Shane (?) escaped Brisvegas to Adelaide in the mid nineties to study music and would return for the 4ZzZ 1997 market day with this band.

I managed to get a recording from the market day broadcast to supply a couple of bonus tracks to this recording - namely a live version of Floyds 'Interstella Overdrive' and an old Act song - 'Psyhco'....
The cd also contains another Act song 'Black n Blue'.
'Aussie Song' got into the Hot 100 from memory but cant find a copy of the list to share as yet.

Last time I saw a pic of Greg he was in a glass box in Federation Square as a life exhibit.
Found a podcast once where he just rants n raves about stuff for an hour... nothing ever changes !!!!
He often vows never to return to brisvegas for more than 10 minutes.... ..

Download here.