Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Friday Music: The Wizards of Oz Rock

Soon Lee

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 07:05:44 +1300

Last one.
Higher-res versions here

Soon Lee

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 07:04:56 +1300

Even more.

Soon Lee

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 07:03:48 +1300

More.

Soon Lee

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 07:01:18 +1300

How a day can change: the Chills were terrific and I got to say hello to Russell in person for the first time, then I saw the news about Bowie...

Mike O'Connell

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 21:35:00 +1300

Indeed... David Bowie dead at 69

nzlemming

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:21:05 +1300

Bowie

Fuck cancer.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:27:24 +1300

karma chameleon...
I would just like to say that I am about a quarter of the way through Mr Simon Grigg's 'How Bizarre' and it is riveting stuff... Excellent reportage from the front lines.
Also nice to see that thus far Mr Stent gets all the credit he deserves -…

Alan Perrott

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 14:39:55 +1300

INXS seemed to have been quite a fixture among the fringe scene. back when I was playing (badly) we tripped over to Sydney to play with Deadly Hume (feat early doors H&C's percussionist Greg Perano) and they were pretty hardened rock and rollers but remained good mates with the INXS fullas.…

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 07:06:35 +1300

Sorry Imran520 I'm NOT following that link – I think you are spam!

George Darroch

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 20:45:20 +1300

“I don’t drink milk. And I never will. You arseholes.”

An out-take from a Finnish milk commercial shot a month or so ago.

https://youtu.be/PfgycAOT0KI

Bevan

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 20:38:19 +1300

I am possibly the sole proponent of a theory that Cold Chisel were the equivalent of the Smiths – by chronicling the teenage experience of growing up in Australia.
Don Walker is certainly an under-rated songwriter.
They sounded better with Ian Moss' soulful voice: The Party's Over or…

Russell Brown

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:54:39 +1300

Don’t just sit there
gaffer something!

Ah yes. Back when gaffer tape was a precious traceable commodity – as well as a universal panacea.

Russell Brown

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:52:23 +1300

I wouldn’t go so far as saying there was a ‘friendship’ between INXS and Toy Love

You may be right (as usual). I just seem to recall something about Chris and Michael Hutchence getting on well.

Russell Brown

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:50:57 +1300

This is interesting. Nielsen has released figures on 2015 US consumer spending on music – and 52% of it was on live music events.

And that's not even accounting for merchandise et al.

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 11:58:40 +1300

Dungafferin Estates...
...the received truth from Chris that the whole thing was pretty evil.
I was going to mention INXS as another band that didn’t fit the pub mould. The early friendship between them and Toy Love...
Oh, it was 'pretty evil' all right, old school and neanderthal... mostly a…

Russell Brown

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 09:17:00 +1300

I don’t think that’s quite true.
Toy Love left Australia (well Sydney) to tour NZ with every intention of going back and building on the following that had been steadily built up. They did every gig asked of them unflinchingly. Played the silly games when necessary, the tiny pubs, the…

Russell Brown

Sat, 09 Jan 2016 09:13:22 +1300

There’s more on the tour in this which I came across on Rest Assured – includes a lengthy analysis by Jello himself on the then Oz music scene. Worth a look.

It's also covered well in last year's Stranded documentary, which loses its way somewhat when it gets on to…

Rich Lock

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 23:57:46 +1300

And you can help the petition for one of the new elements to be named Lemmium

Since the element in question is a heavy metal, and Lemmy consistently insisted that he just played rock 'n' roll, I'm refusing to sign on principle....

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 22:33:56 +1300

Grate expectorations...
It was an environment that chewed up and spat out Toy Love...
I don't think that's quite true.
Toy Love left Australia (well Sydney) to tour NZ with every intention of going back and building on the following that had been steadily built up. They did every gig…

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 21:00:45 +1300

Not sure, they may have done. The Dead Kennedys who visited Australia in 1983 certainly did. Drummer DH Peligro was arrested after their Brisbane gig for 'public drinking', his can of beer reportedly unopened. East Bay Ray tried to intervene and was hustled away too. In the Sydney Morning Herald,…

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 20:18:12 +1300

I wish him (John Wright) well but the road could be a tough one, as suggested in this Guardian article:
New elements can be named after a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, a property or a scientist
Quite what category Lemmy would fit in (!!)...anyhow…

Kumara Republic

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 19:43:01 +1300

And funnily enough, NZ was the only place where Jo Jo Zep's version of "Walk On By" hit the Top 10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMeLIuZ7pq4

Kumara Republic

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 19:30:33 +1300

It seems appropriate to remind you of what was happening in fringe Brisbane at the same time. If AC/DC set a hard rock template that a million bands took up, in 1976, a bunch of snotty kids helped invent punk rock with this timeless debut single:

Did The Saints risk…

Pete McDowell

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 15:31:37 +1300

I don't think anyone was making a lot of money out of Australian pub rock except Gudinski, Chugg, Stivala, in the agencies.
There are other studios like AAV and Richmond Recorders with big stories to tell.
https://youtu.be/ldeVXxDT1W0

Russell Brown

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 15:28:32 +1300

Very much appreciated the K Rd Metro article Russell.
First time I’ve bought the magazine in donkey yonks.

Cheers Tim. Everyone seems to like it except Paul Reid.

Rich of Observationz

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 15:20:16 +1300

Surely Lëmmiüm with the metal umlauts, which also correspond dot-for-dot with the 5 outer shell electrons of element 115.

Russell Brown

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 14:03:22 +1300

Cheese on Toast has the details for watching Lemmy’s funeral service from 11am on Sunday morning.

And you can help the petition for one of the new elements to be named Lemmium get to 150,000 names. It's well on the way.

Tim Michie

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:49:33 +1300

Ah, memories…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEao3dzI1RY
A The Church short ‘The Quest’ with a wandering knight 2 or 3 of their songs played before it if memory serves.

Very much appreciated the K Rd Metro article Russell.
First time I’ve bought the magazine in donkey yonks.

Rich of Observationz

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:20:59 +1300

Also, the size of the market in Australia was such that a commercial rawk band would make enough money to guarantee its members a rock and roll lifestyle (even if, for some, it degenerated after 30 years into snorting crack with low budget hookers in Tauranga).

Which meant that if…

Russell Brown

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:10:52 +1300

You could compare the Go Betweens and The Triffids, Paul Kelly etc to the Flying Nun bands to be fair, rather than the bogan legends.

Oh, for sure. The Church and others too.

Pete McDowell

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:06:35 +1300

You could compare the Go Betweens and The Triffids, Paul Kelly etc to the Flying Nun bands to be fair, rather than the bogan legends. There was so much going on courtesy of a booming local 45s market and some really aggressive booking agencies.

Russell Brown

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:04:27 +1300

The sale in the old Real Groovy store is nuts. Some of the $2 singles (much dross, a few gems) and a rare NZ compilation I got for $3.

LIISA

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 11:30:16 +1300

This is day-appropriate, and appears to be an actual live performance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJLoYd8xak

Thanks for the shout out for Aotearoa Futurism, it is a goodie.

Public Address

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 11:30:16 +1300

Discussion from blog post.