LIVE Reviews
28 Days, Bodyjar, Through Being Cool, Hack the Mainframe. Entrance Leagues Club. 28 June, 2019.
Hack the main frame hail from Newy way and ain’t ashamed to draw blood.
A fiveway chunkachunk war on coriander...some obvious vox health probs, but they soldier on and nail it, regardless.
The perfect warmup to tonight’s retro lineup.
Through Being Cool ... more than a hint of One Dollar Short and maybe that’s because singer/guitarist Trent is from that very band.
Fkn on fire. Ferocity and fun, and to hell with every thing else .
Funny as all fuck and the fun is infectious. One Dollar Short’s Is This The Part seals the deal...fresh as yesterday and sweetly serrated to boot.
Forgotten just how good those guys were live. TBC are every bit as awesome.
Bodyjar... been 20 years since they played my Sandpit festival on the northern beaches... and that would have been my last live encounter.
No Payback is dripping. Energy plus!
“We’re gonna play some old shit and some new shit” exclaims Cam.
Amp switch... jokes about Toukley...and Not the Same is still as beautifully brutal as ever .. crowd singalong and all...so killer.
Hazy Shade of Winter...fuck the You Tune BS, theirs is a great scorching rendition on all counts.
Some things just get better with age.. Bodyjar are living proof!
Sweaty, scorching, shit hot. Too Drunk to Drive...kickarse ramrod rock as the solid mosh frenzy gets the security excited. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
Been almost as long since I’ve caught 28 Days live.
Say What drills straight into the mainstream...rock charged hip hoppery.
Guttural vox. Sweat sweat sweat.
“Fuck Bodyjar and their wanker banner” jokes Jay. .. pointing out their own hand drawn paper effort on the back wall.
Cool carnage that’s not afraid to be a little bit dangerous.
Hints of an Area 7/ 28 Days tour next year. And that would rock!
Punching with the gloves off is the 28 Days MO.
Odyssey of the Mind.
Jazz funk exploration ?? Nah.
Take Me Away... sweet popesque serration and kickarsery. It’s all as tight as... beautifully harnessed energy. ..plus.
Almost tempted to head to Newcastle tomorrow night and do it all again. Smiles on the dials all round.
Mark Fraser - redbackrock.com
bodyjar
Through Being Cool
DEF FX, Nunchukka Superfly. Bar on the Hill Newcastle. June 21, 2019
Bitchcraft open up with their gutter mouthed, angry, punkesque punch.
An all girl assault with no holds barred...the perfect warm up on this icey Newy night.
Nunchuka Superfly are one bloodied, blistering barrage from the very first.
Theirs is a noised journey of melodious mayhem. A three piece with the punch of six. Punkadelic to the core!
Menacing, driving...beyond the bottom-end bass... squelched scorched, bloodied guitar and an incessant snappy-as-fuck back beat.
I’m in total awe. Relentless. Mesmerising. Confronting. The buck stops here!!
Fkn wow! A fan for life!
And if it’s techno-charged, super-surf space pop you’re after, then Def FX are your potion.
I’ll be your magic...It feels good...Head fuck, Crystalised... the ever catchy Space Time Disco..
Kill the real girls...the killer Surfers of the Mind...all the hits rolling off as if it was 1995!
Sweaty sweet, drilling sounds driven by bass, guitar, loops and of course the powerhouse, enigmatic presence of Fiona Horne.
First leg of the DEF FX farewell tour well and truely sorted.
The frenzied encore of Psycho Active Summer wraps it up beautifully.
Great venue. Great lineup. Great night. Shame about the prick of a drive home..
Mark Fraser - redbackrock.com
Nunchuka Superfly
Bitchcraft
Little Quirks, Johnny Devil Seed & Old Man Rubes. Central Coast Comicon. Gosford. 11 May, 2019.
This being my very first experience of Comicon, it was a bit of an eye opener from the outset.
Awesome cosplay outfits, VR Gaming, vintage cars, AWF wrestling, manga drawing workshops, SFX demos, Warhammer tournaments, market stalls, merch and a feelgood atmosphere to boot.
The perfect family day out.
Today is also about raising awareness of Regional Youth Support Services (RYSS), a local service providing valuable support for kids, young people and families.
Old Man Rubes and Johnny Devil Seed open up the live musical side of proceedings after the anime dance crew mimed their way into jap-pop bliss-dom.
Devil Seed and Rubes are somewhere between Blues Brothers and hillbilly yocals. Guitar and harp ...gravelled vox and plenty of dad styled humour.
“I got a girl from Woy Woy”... “Bad Case of Lovin You...” you get the picture.
The hilarious AWF wrestling demo fills the gap ahead of the sweet Saturday arvo sounds of Little Quirks.
Now a permanent four piece, there is so much extra thump in the mix.
Bro/cousin Alex brings a totally new dynamic to the band in both the vocal and bass department.
Where We Hide’s ratatat pop punch and those beautiful trademark harmonies.
I Told You So...pure infectious awe and the perfect example of that killer new level of dynamics I mentioned.
Dreams.. an infectious nod to Deloris. Run Away’s perfect harmonies.
Life Wouldn’t Be...beautiful popestry from the outset .
Beatles’ Seen a Face always kills it. Cover My Eyes from the forthcoming EP...haunting harmonies...bouncy as all hell. Love it.
Hold On’s more subdued sad beauty.
Devils Ivy’s clapalong cuteness.
The Cranberries’ Zombie gives another not to Deloris ahead of
Crumbled (1.4 mill Spotify downloads to date). Folk punched pop that has hit stamped all over it. Jump!
Last song is their killer cover of Mumford and Sons’ Hopeless Wanderer. Wicked dynamics and a fitting finish.
New EP out in August. Expect a few teaser singles in the interim.
Medieval jousting keeps the crowd entertained along with the constant parade of costumed super heroes, horror and gore fans, anime diehards and Star Wars tragics.
It’s all there. Entertainment plus,and all for a worthy cause. You can find out more about RYSS at RYSS.com.au
Mark Fraser- redbackrock.com
Hugh Cornwell. Manning Bar Sydney Uni. May 9, 2019
A vintage audience and a venue that looks nothing like I remember it some 40 years ago. Tonight it’s time for the missing piece of last year’s sans Cornwell Stranglers gig I caught at the Enmore.
That night rocked,so it is with mucho anticipation that I await HC”s appearance on stage.
A three piece with killer rumbaramba bass, the opening set is a cross section of songs from earlier solo efforts and latest album Monster.
Leave Me Alone’s trademark guitar
sound is kinda catchy. No Stranglers type anger here...sure there’s ‘tude in the lyrics but the songs are more MOR, more subdued than days of yore.
Three tracks in and a short chat about loving writing songs about people (Pure Evel)...followed by the title track from Monster...a song about Ray Hareldsen.
Tonight it’s water rather than booze and it’s all very friendly like.
The super cute catchiness of Stuck in Daily Mail Land...tales of smashing windows at a Bondi gig back in the day...more chat and a nod to the band.
The cruisy throes of The Prisons Going Down.
Black Hair, Black Eyes, Black Suit’s very cool,epic ramble. Now we’re talking.
Short intermission and it’s part two with all the Stranglers hits..
Always The Sun sounding the part beautifully.
My all time fave, Nice N Sleazy’s menacing bass...seething guitar...HC’s vox the perfect bind.
Sure, there’s none of that trademark Stranglers synth, but it mattered not. This ain’t the Stranglers after all....
And with a smorgasbord of Stranglers classics including Goodbye Toulouse, No More Heroes, Peaches,
Duchess and of course the Aussie aimed Nuclear Device, what’s not to love?
In all, a cool run through the hits a la Cornwell juke box. It’s a much milder delivery than the Stranglers days, but as a fan, it’s a cool encounter.
Mark Fraser- redbackrock.com
Rose Tattoo, Hard Ons, Coffin. Ettalong Diggers. 3 May 2019.
Local band Coffin kick off the night with their five piece nose bleed.
Three guitars,bass and drums all in a sweaty straight line.
Chaotic rocket-fuel injected guitarnage. Sonic psychosis plus. A great opener.
Hard Ons...what to say?
Had the privilege of releasing the Hard ons debut EP way back in 1985...and shared the stage with them around the same time.
And that was probably the last time I saw the guys play live.
Tonight they are fkn awesome from the outset. Still as volatile as all those years ago....one finely tuned unit.
Sweat. sweat. Shirts off...and now we’re serious.
Blackie’s apologies for mistakes that no one noticed. Raining is pure kickarse, pop punkarama. Crazy octane energy.
A blunt bat to the head never felt so good.
Individual trances that weave into each other so effortlessly. So much energy. So much punch. Beyond awesome.
Tatts launch in with One Of The Boys and we’re off. Angry in a pair of sleeveless overalls and a bottle of green ginger wine in hand ...rocking the fk out of it. “I love the way you rock and roll” sings Angers and yep we do too!
True rock n roll outlaw... king-hit rock..a la extended version extraordinaire.
Timeless rock gods? I think so!
Angers looks a bit weathered but that does little to affect those trademark bellowing razored vox.
So much pain in the delivery. So much rock in the message.
Bad Boy For Love...fuck me if this isn’t pure unadulterated oz rock .. and bugger me if there isn’t a Spirit in the Sky riff in there somewhere... or maybe it’s the beers?
Ageless awe!
Good time rock n roll...and then some.
The slower, infectious seductive drug that is Stuck On You (like a rose tattoo)...yep!
Still fkn loud and they still fkn rock hard.
“This ones for Australia “screams Angry, before the anthemic overdrive of We Can’t Be Beaten cranks across that long dark room. And a great open room it is too.
Nice Boys don’t play rock n roll. Ain’t that the truth!
And what a great way to end tonight’s aural assault.
Deaf as all hell and loving every ringing minute of it. Kick me to the midnight kerb and drag me home.
Mark Fraser - redbackrock.com
Rose Tattoo
Hard Ons
Archie Roach, Sally Dastey. Rhythm Hut Gosford. April 26, 2019
First time at the Rhythm Hut, and what a cool, laid back little alternative venue it is.
A little touch of Byron in down town Gosford.Food cart out front. Ice cold beers at reasonable prices.
Plastic seats on the floor and comfy lounges up the back.
Tonight it’s a diverse crowd...mainly older.Kids welcome.
The welcome to country sees some cool didge, before ex Tiddas member Sally Dastey launches in with her acoustic guitar and an old Tiddas song...Inside my Kitchen... a gorgeous warble and so much strength in her voice...beautiful stories...so spiritual...an early Archie cover...
Travel tales. Family tales. Brings out the uke.
Tonight is more an intimate campfire story telling scenario than a venue gig. Spesh.
Winding it up with a crowd singalong in Pearly Shells, it’s only a short break before Sally returns to the stage with her guitar and Keyboardist extraordinaire Bruce Haymes and the man himself...
Archie Roach.
Fresh from Bluesfest, and it must be 20 or more years since I last saw him play live.
And when it comes to pure raw story -telling emotion, no-one comes close.
Some obligatory thank yous and a plug for the new live triple CD and we’re away.
Tonight didn’t disappoint as Archie tells the tale of the fight for the birth trees in Victoria, where a new highway looks to put an end to the 800 year old spiritual trees... and leads into
A Child Was Born Here...those haunting
husky vox, beautiful harmonies and searing keys.
“We’re all works in progress... and getting better every day..”
Get Back to the Land is beautifully moving....as he speaks about growing up on the land as a kid.. heading bush and recharging.
He sings the scars so eloquently..
The Old Mission Road...so sad. Growing up in foster care as part of the stolen generation, Archie
never knew his parents, but has since returned to where they once lived.
A story teller extraordinaire, the
mix of spoken word and moving songs are from the soul.
Always Be Here..dripping, sad, beautiful.
A tale of fairweather friends and sticking by those that matter.
My Grandmother...
a classic tribute from the Looking For Butter Boy album.
His loss of wife Ruby is still raw as he speaks of her memories.
Winding up the set with We Wont Cry ...a song about not letting life drag you down... rising above... it’s an emotional and inspirational encounter with a man who epitomises everything great about this country. And it is hard not to be in awe of Archie Roach.
Encore,
Wash My Soul’s gospel bluesy throes and clap along crowd cleansing wraps it all up...
A night as special as this doesn’t come along too often.
Mark Fraser- redbackrock.com
Archie Roach
Archie Roach
LIVE REVIEW
The Johnnys, Chad Morgan, Fibro. Hardy’s Bay Club. April 5, 2019
The cruisy country etched local sounds of Fibro open tonight’s proceedings with an
easy, affable infection.
Lazy sundays...hints of Westerberg in the vox...Pickup trucks and hay bales.
Gentle guitars... a nice mix of acoustic and electric... some killer lead fills.
Smooth as...no sharp edges.. and sometimes, that ain’t necessarily a bad thing.
Chad Morgan hobbles on...takes a seat and begins to address the sound guy.
“More noise please I’ve. Got a soft voice ...
That’s it, that’s the sound check for the night.”...and on comes the hat...and the howling...true Ozzie eccentricity ...the Sheik of Scrubby Creek is back.
86 and still going strong ...”if I could just go back and know what I know now”...tales of what love coulda been.
The fatal wedding... the bride she dies at the altar... hahaha
Crowd loving it. Very cool. Funny anecdotes
Padded cells...nuthouses...
One of the Mob...double decker blowflies...
Chad truely is a piece of living Oz musical and comedic history.
Yodels, tales, crowd singalongs and some pretty alright strumming to boot.
Yeah he’s a dirty old bugger but hey he’s from yesteryear and still going strong, so he can get away with a lot more than your average today joe.
There’s life in the old dog yet!
The Johnnys sans Spence are tonight’s headliners and it’s been a long time twixt drinks.
Three way haystacked cow-punked jumping jacks be they.
The Way of the West...Injun Joe’s squelched trails...Sometimes frenzied, at other times, a ten gallon propellered pop rocket.
There’s Gonna Be a Showdown’s plum crazy hoe down.
The twangalong tribute that is Elvisly Yours.
A broken string and it’s a change of guitar for Slim....and it’s more squelched, Stetson driven, fuzzed, dirty rhythms that scream cow punk all night long. Beautiful irreverence at its dusty best.
Out comes Chad to help with their very first single I Think You’re Cute. (Still have the 7 inch). Awesome,harmless popervescence. Stupidly infectious and an all time Johnnys classic.
“Here’s another little song I wrote about drinking”, proclaims Hoody...and the tail end of the set keeps on giving.
The Johnnys have always been about fun and tonight is all about having a good time both on stage and off. One big sweaty noise fest that takes you right back to 1982.
Obligatory T-shirt and it’s back home to the ranch. Graham, Billy, Slim...thank you! Keep on keeping on...
Mark Fraser-redbackrock.com
Chad Morgan
Fibro.
The Red Hot Summer Tour. Mt. Penang, Kariong. March 8, 2019
Must say, I’ve never been to a gig where you bring your own chair. More of a Carols in the Domain type of scenario, but today it was the flavour of the day. And I must say it’s nice not being the oldest punter in the house.
Arrived midway through Moving Pictures ho hum MOR kinda thing. Not my cuppa but they seemed to arouse the early crew.
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Sydney Opera House. March 7, 2019
It must have been around 1995 when I last saw The Jesus & Mary Chain. Beers were cheaper, the venue was trashier. And the mood was a little bleaker. Tonight, it’s the lavish throes of the Sydney Opera House, beers are ten bucks a can and there’s no support act.
UB40. Gosford Entertainment Grounds. Feb. 9, 2019
Reggae is the flavour of tonight and a thousand odd Maori UB40 tragics peppering the crowd, can’t be wrong.
It’s a great outdoor stage setup...with bar queues from here to Rotorua at times…but the AC and the front-on stands are a very civilised means for enjoying a gig....
Bouddi Boogaloo @ Hardy’s Bay Club 19/01/19
Set over three stages within the sleepy hidden, bush-draped venue that is Hardy’s Bay Club, today’s festival is a showcase for young local artists.
Harry Klijn kicks off with a raggedy rendition of Land Down Under...Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know hits home with its slow lazy amble…and I kinda like that strained vox thing and the simple guitar... Miniq are two girls (Bell & Dom) and a guitar...
Machinations & GANGgajang. Narrabeen RSL January 18, 2019
Opening with a showing of the retro surf flick Mad Wax, the GANGgajang surf hype has pulled a fair crowd to the old Narra RSL tonight.
And amidst the neighbours trying to shut the place down over noise restrictions, it’s a pretty good sign of the support for local live music.
With a touch of Beatles theatrics...Cal and his crew launch straight into their current single Surfing Round the World…
Wreckless Eric . Hardys Bay Club. November 17, 2018.
In what’s been a year of retro English artist gigs, Wreckless Eric fits the mould perfectly.
As a big fan from the late 70s early 80s, it was a no brainer when it was announced he was playing the Coast. I even gave up a night in the city with Irish pop-punksters Ash, deciding to keep it local on this occasion...
Dead Kennedys, Minds R Controlled, Rust. Metro Theatre Sydney November 2, 2018
Narrabeen’s Rust aint no Sunday Morning, they’re more like your 11 pm Friday night. ..drunk, disorderly and dishing it out at a rate of gnarly knots, as they open tonight’s gig to a pretty much packed house..
Melodic mayhem is their foray from the very outset and if its honest Aussie punk rock you’re looking for, then you’ve come to the right place...
TOURING
