THE GOLDEN OLDIES TOURS

Who doesn't love when bands from the past bring us sweet sweet endorphins in the form of nostalgia? Well, get a load of these three upcoming tours from blasts from our musical past.

Hanson
As I am all too painfully aware, thanks to a few of my friends, Hanson went on and on and on past MMMBop. In fact they never stopped, becoming a nice little indie 3 piece. I wish I was kidding. I was going to link a video. But no.

September 20, HiFi
September 21, Coolangatta Hotel

The Darkness
The lead singer was once the fastest man on Top Gear and although they believed in a thing called love, they also believed in 80s glam rock with a hefty dash of Queen influence. They broke up, they're back and they'll be playing Eatons Hill Hotel on May 4.

INXS
I've always been head over heels in love with Inxs. They are by far the best Australian band ever. EVER. Fight me if you disagree.

The whole Michael Hutchence thing was just a crying shame and the misfortunes of the replacement lead singer has detracted from a discography of amazing music. I'm not sure who the singer is now that JD Fortune has been kicked out again, but they're coming back for a massive Australian tour. MASSIVE.

In our area alone we get:

June 24, Harrigan's @ Drift Inn, Jacobs Well

June 26, Empire Theatre, Toowoomba

June 28, Twin Towns, Tweed Heads

June 30, Eatons Hill Hotel

Aqua

If you're anywhere close to my age, you'll probably know all of the words to this song:

So why am I posting about a two-hit pop-music wonder from the 90s? Well, they're touring Australia. Not only that, they've already sold out two shows (one in Melbourne and one in Sydney). Amazing huh? Based off this news, I imagine there aren't many more tickets left for the Brisbane show a the HiFi on March 8, or at the Coolangatta Hotel on March 9. Both are 18+, because no one under the age of 18 will know who they are.

Massive update

It's been such a long time since I've done this, but because I've fallen behind, I think it's time I updated my blog in one huge hit. So here's all the tours and news I've been saving over the last 2 weeks to blog about.

Coal Chamber are playing Soundwave 2012
Yes, one of those first nu-metal bands that got me into heavy music are reforming and coming out our way for Soundwave next year! I'm actually quite excited to see them...

Other bands confirmed for Soundwave next year include: Trivium, CKY, Shadows Fall, Devin Townsend, Gojira, The Used, Hellyeah, Dillinger Escape Plan, Dashboard Confessional, Hole, Machine Head, Hatebreed, Kvelertak, Mastodon, Zebrahead and Saves the Day (including a second set of them playing Weezer songs). Wow. Already looking to be a big festival.

Foxy Shazam 
One of my favourite bands from Soundwave this year have pulled out of the Harvest Festival to focus on the UK.

Vasco Era
Noisy indie rockers the Vasco Era are heading out for an Australian tour, playing the Coolangatta Hotel on October 29 and the Zoo October 30.

Vanilla Ice
He's too legit to quit and as such he will be playing Jupiter's Casino, on the Gold Coast. November 13.

Opeth
The Swedish progressive-death-metal-rock band will be playing the Tivoli on December 15. Expect lots of long hair, black shirts, and extended solos to fast drumming.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
These indie-rockers are coming out for the Harvest festival, but have also decided to play an intimate sideshow at the Zoo on November 20.

Free Triple J concert
Triple J, to celebrate the launch of their new digital radio station playing "unearthed" Australian music, are having free shows Australia wide on October 5. Ours will be at the Arena, featuring Bleeding Knees Club, Emma Louise and The Medics. Doors are at 7pm, it's free, but it's first in best dressed.

Valley Fiesta
Free music will be invading the streets of Fortitude Valley on October 7 and 8 with two stages playing great music. For FREE! You can catch Hungry Kids of Hungary, Kidney Thieves, Laneous and the Family Yah and much more. Head here to find out.

The Grates

1) I'm in love with Patience of the Grates.
2) I love this song so much:
(removed the video because it auto played. Click here instead)

3) Did I mention I'm in love with Patience from the Grates?

She's one of the best performers I've ever seen. She dresses up, dances around to every beat of every song and just looks like she's always having the best time of her life.

Oh she's very cute too.

And writes some great music.

She, and the band she is part of, the Grates, will be playing a bunch of shows in our area to celebrate their new album.

October 27, Spotted Cow, Toowoomba
October 28, the Tivoli
November 17, Coolangatta Hotel
November 18, Kings Beach Tavern

EDIT: Someone should hook me up with a photo pass to this. I'd love to photograph her dance moves. It would be a fun challenge.

Regurgitator

Oh hey, it must be that time of year again. Regurgitator's going on tour.

It's becoming an annual event, kind of like that two weeks of freezing cold mornings we get in Queensland when our cars actually ice over. Well it's not that bad, as I actually like Regurgitator. And this Brisbane band is still putting out music, occassionally, and still rocking out.

Sure it's been a while since their heady days of the Unit album, when they'd play Recovery seemingly every few weeks with a new hit single (gosh, I miss that show). Trust my though, I go out and see them every year and they still put on a good show.

There's quite a few shows in our area for this tour:
18th August - Hotel Great Northern, Byron Bay
19th August - Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast
20th August - The HiFi, Brisbane
21st August - King's Beach Tavern, Caloundra

No Use for a Name

This picture is a blurry one of me, Scott and Nick with Tony Sly. Aka the lead singer/creative genius of legendary punk band No Use For a Name.

He came out last year to regale us with acoustic versions of his songs. As good as it was, it had nothing on what I imagine seeing the full classic punk band would be like.

Luckily, I don't have to wait long, as Tony's bringing the new version of the band out, which now includes guys from the Mad Caddies and Lagwagon.

July 23, the Zoo
July 24, the Cooly

For more ass-kicking punk, check the youtube playlist.

Helmet

Helmet. One of the greatest hardcore bands to come out of the late 80's/early 90s scene. They're rather unknown still, which is sad, but it doesn't stop them being awesome. Evergreen Terrace even tip their hat to them on the track Chaney Can't Quite Riff Like Helmet's Page Hamilton.

(Googling for Helmet + music = Daft Punk pictures. So here's the music video I first saw as a 12 year old late one night on Rage before buying an electric guitar and learning it)



They'll be bringing their hardcore down under, and we get two south east Queensland shows!
June 22nd, Coolangatta Hotel
June 23rd, HiFi

Both 18+. But that's to be expected, most of their fans are in the mid to late 20's by now. Catch some more of their tunes here.

I'm back, here's the news

After a great week spent rocking out in freezing cold Melbourne, I'm back with a musical todo list the size of Peter North's tackle. I went to shows, I drank a bit, ate some good food, met some friends, did some shopping and took pictures. I'll try and blog/share some of the shows information later on, but for now, here's the news that I missed:

Rise Against/Sick of it All/Break Even tour
Rise Against used to be one of my favourite punk-bands. Then they released the album Appeal to Reason. Sick of it All are one of the best NY hardcore bands ever. EVER. Yet they only ever come to Australia as opening bands for other internationals. And Break Even are swell dudes from Gero. Put them together, we have a great tour. I hope.

July 18, Entertainment Centre

I have a few problems with this tour. First, the price? $70. Second, the Entertainment Centre is a crap venue, especially for hardcore/punk. Third, I'd really only be going for Sick of it All, unless Rise Against's new album is a return to form.

Frank Turner
He was one quarter of number 5 in my 2010 best of gigs list, but now the hardcore-turned-acoustic Frank Turner is coming out for a solo tour. He'll be playing Thriller at Rosies on April 16. 18+ of course, and it may be worthwhile buying tickets in advance.

Frenzal Rhomb
They must be broke again, because it's been about a year since their last tour. May 6 at Coolangatta Hotel, May 7 at the HiFi. Both shows 18+ and will be full of drunken revelry and swear words.

Swans cancel
It was one of the highlights of my post-holiday 3-gig week, wrapping it all up in a noisy swath of post-punk bliss. But now it's been cancelled. The Swans gig for Friday at the HiFi is canned. It's the only show in Australia not happening and they've given no reason why. I guess I will never get to see them then.

The Wombats get another go
The Wombats are in the country for Groovin' the Moo, and they've already got one night slated for a Brisbane show. Apparently it's a popular thing, as they've announced a second, all-ages show on May 5 at the Tivoli.

Propagandhi

When it comes to my activist punk, I find it hard to go past Canada's finest, Propaghandi.

They take their strong beliefs (and disbelief at others) and mash it with skate-punk and metal influences. Making just some absolutely kick-ass music.

I missed their last tour due to work commitments/being stuck at a shitty mine in the Andes in Peru, where I was subjected to Scott picture messaging me the awesomeness of it. And I, for one, am still pissed off at it. Luckily, I now have the chance to make up for it, twice over.

May 28, Coolangatta Hotel
May 29, HiFi

You can grab a few of their MP3s for free here.

Underoath/A Day To Remember tour

Two albums I surprisingly loved last year was Underoath's and A Day To Remember's.

A Day To Remember put together post-hardcore and pop-punk for a fun little mix. They came through in December for the very wet No Sleep Til festival. I didn't go see them, as I was dry and I didn't want to go in the sea of scene kids, but by all reviews they were fun as all hell. It seems a bit weird that they'll be back within half a year of their last tour, but their fans will love it.

Underoath on the other hand, has been a band I've always had a little bit of a crush on. From my friend's Christian-music loving ways in high school, I fell in love with this song:

Then in 2006 they put out what is still one of my top 30 albums, Define the Great Line. It was just a beautifully put together screamo album (if there's such a thing). Although they lost their singer/drummer to the pop-punk band the Almost (who are almost good.. haha) they still stayed together and put out an album last year, Disambiguation. And it was grand. They dropped most of the singing vocals and just made a great heavy album.

I've seen them a few times now and their live show is amazing. If you look past the occasionaly god related speeches that pepper the show, it's still amazing. And I have a man-crush on their guitar-tech as he always checks the guitars to the song There is No Dana by Twothirtyeight.

Put these two bands together and you're bound to have a loud, yet fun, musical night. Well actually, two nights in South East Queensland!

May 15 - The Tivoli, AA
May 17 - Coolangatta Hotel, 18+

Pack it up, pack it in. Let me begin.

This is Everlast:

Soulful. Slightly depressing. Introspective. Laid back.

This was Everlast a long time ago:

Yes, he was an "Irish-American Rapper." And he had a massive one-hit wonder that most of us know when we're in the Mustang bar listening to 80s/90s music and still managing to remember all the words despite the quantity of cheap rum and vodka we've imbibed and the decades between last hearing the song.

House of Pain split up in 1996 which left Everlast writing some great folk-American-rock. But to celebrate a 20 year anniversary of being white rappers, House of Pain are coming out on a reunion tour. They'll be coming along as the Grooving the Moo festival, but we get to see them do a headline show in Brisbane.

May 2, HiFi
May 5, Coolangatta Hotel

I think I've just found an excellent reason to wear my 1991/92 replica Chicago Bulls Scottie Pippen jersey. And maybe a backwards cap. But not fitted. I'm pretty sure they didn't exist then.

Donavon Frankenreiter

Sure, he's not as good as the original Donovan (and his name is spelt differently), but he's got that same laid back folk rock with a dash of beach and surfing thrown in.

The beach part is no surprise, he did start his life as a professional surfer that just happened to hang around Jack Johnson. And his sound is a lot like Jack's at time. He's taking a very extended tour of Australia over most of March, probably so he can do a bit surfing while it's still cold in America.

As such, you can catch his mellow sounds on the following shows:
March 14, the Zoo
March 15, the Coolangatta Hotel
March 16, Beach Hotel in Byron

Unwritten Law

So last night saw a bunch of drunken idiots gather in Rosies to sing along to covers of classic 90s punk songs. From my very patchy memory, they played Unwritten Law's Teenage Suicide as one of the last few songs (with the dude from Headaches singing... I think). Excellent timing, because there's talk of an Unwritten law tour!

These Californian punkers love Australia and we love them. They always get a big crowd with some excellent singalongs. And for us in the South East Queensland area, if it doesn't flood away, we'll get two days of Unwritten Law.

March 19, HiFi
March 20, Coolangatta Hotel

Tickets will be around the $60 mark

MySpace

Suicidal Tendencies

There were many things Tony Hawk Pro Skating (the video game) brought to popular culture, one of which was skate punk. And one of the greatest songs on the soundtrack (after Primus) was this:

Oh joy. Because of this we went on to form a very short lived band named Suicidal Garden Gnomes (I think we were a band for 4 hours until we gave up). Of course, it was really only the one Suicidal Tendencies album that was skate punk. But it got me into them.

Their main sound is crossover hardcore/thrash/funk metal. Which ticks a lot of boxes for me. A few of the members live in Queensland now, so it wasn't a surprise last year when we got shows on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts. But now we're getting a full fledged Australian tour.

May 12, Coolangatta Hotel
May 13, HiFi

I saw Suicidal play the original Soundwave. Although the lead singer was a bit preachy about Jesus at times, I can tell you they've still got it after 30 odd years of punk life.

MySpace

News news news!

I'm watching the cricket and have been meaning to blog about few things, so here's that entry where I squeeze everything into one, much like a ladette squeezing into a tank top a size too small to dress sexy for a night out at the Vic.

And yes. I went there.

The Chariot
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the Chariot were announced to play for Easterfest in Toowoomba. I had it from a fairly reliable source that there were going to be a few other Queensland tour dates on the back of the festival appearance, but it appears no longer happening. We'll get them playing Easterfest on April 22 and then they're buggering off to NSW the next day. Sad. Although looking at the tour dates, it's going to be a very tiring tour for them, crossing the country back and forth in what seems to be a baffling order.

MySpace

Motorhead/Black Label Society
Heavy metal legends Motorhead are teaming up with guitarist extraordinairre Zach Wyld (and his Black Label Society) to shred our ears off next year. They've announced the tour dates, but no venues have been mentioned yet. Which is really odd. But we will get them here April 3rd.

Motorhead
Black Label Society

Philadelphia Grand Jury regional tour
Following a successful return to Australian shores last month, Philadelphia Grand Jury have decided to take their show on the road to regional Australia, dancing the nights away with fellow rockers Bluejuice. The gigs in our area are:

Tuesday 4 January – Ballina RSL, Ballina
Wednesday 5th January – Kings Beach Tavern, Caloundra
Thursday 6th January – Coolongatta Hotel, Gold Coast
Friday 7th January – Great Northern Hotel, Byron Bay

Philadelphia Grand Jury
Bluejuice

Wolf Parade
Apparently are on a very extended break now. Rather sudden, especially since they've been saying they'll tour here since October. I only just listened to their new album this week, and it's pretty damn good.

MySpace

Kyuss Lives!

Queens of the Stone Age used to have this amazing interactive graphic on their website back in the day. It was their family tree and showed how many amazing bands they were all part of. There were hundreds. But at the very top of it was this one little band named Kyuss.

They were the catalyst for it all. Featuring most of the member of QOTSA, they even released an EP entitled Queens of the Stone Age. If you scrutinize the above video, you can easily make out Josh Homme, but it's harder with Nick Oliveri, as he has a lot of hair unlike his more modern bald look. And he's wearing clothes for once.

The sound that Kyuss makes can best be described as stoner rock. And I love it. It reminds me of a mix of Monster Magnet and Ministry, with their sludgy and fast guitars and cleaner vocals.

Kyuss Lives! is the reformation of the band with almost all of the originals, except for one glaring omission, Josh Homme on guitar. But without him, it's still three-quarters of Kyuss playing Kyuss songs, I doubt much will change.

Get your old inner stoner rocker out on:
May 4, the Coolie
May 6, the Tivoli

Both shows 18+.

If you want to listen to their music, your best bet may actually be searching for them on You Tube. Which I've done for you.

John Steel Singers and the Australian music bonanza

Let's step back into my time machine right now. Wind the numbers back to 2008. Chuck had just returned from his first international work trip, 2 weeks spent at 5000 metres above sea level in Peru, struggling to work in the oxygen deprived environment where there was neither phone nor internet (but surprisingly a large number of heavily armed police officers). He had only been back for a few hours, struggling to adjust to being able to breathe and speak English again. When he got a text message from his girlfriend at the time breaking up with him.

Devastating.
Childish.

And for that reason alone, I've been avoiding the shit out of the John Steel Singers for the last few years. Given how the Brisbane live music scene works, with all the same bands playing with each other, it's been a hard slog.


What's that? You don't see the connection? Hmm, yeah, I should probably explain that. The girl is good friends with this band. Petty? Yes. Childish? Yes. But so is getting dumped via text message. But time heals all wounds and I actually have seen the Steelers (that's the name I've just decided to give them, let's hope it sticks) a few times, I have a few of their songs, and you know what, I like them. A lot. As discussed a lot recently, their guitar heavy (and jangly style) guitar indie is really tickling my musical bone this month.

Apparently I'm not the only one jumping on the band wagon. As Triple J has selected them to headline the Australian Music Month show at the HiFi! Good for them. They'll be sharing the stage with other Brisbanites such as Hungry Kids of Hungary and Ballpark Music.

Not only that, they're off around the country to launch their new album Tangalooma, named after the resort of dolphins just off the coast here.

Wed 17 Nov: THE HI-FI, BRISBANE
Triple J Australian Music Month show also starring
Hungry Kids From Hungary + Ball Park Music + special guests

Thu 18 Nov: COOLONGATTA HOTEL, GOLD COAST
Fri 19 Nov: GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL, BYRON BAY
Sat 20 Nov: SPOTTED COW, TOOWOOMBA

Here's their Unearthed page. Can anyone say free mp3s?

Shihad

Another band I saw on this day last year (at the Sounds of Spring, see last post) were the Kiwi greats Shihad. They've been around for over 22 years now and put out one of the great Australasian rock albums ever made in the General Electric in 1999.


If we ignore the few years they changed names to Pacifier to avoid confusion with the post 9-11 jihads, they've probably been one of the most consistent rock acts to come from our Pacific region.

Shihad will be releasing a new album soon and as such will be leaving New Zealand to tour it around Australia, their country of greatest success.

November 12, the Zoo.
November 13, the Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast.

Joining them will be Melbourne's Trial Kennedy, an alternative/emo band, that sounds a lot like Gyroscope.

Shihad
Trial Kennedy