The Licorice Lounge

On the phone to Lobby Loyde

2011-01-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

photo taken from his official site lobbyloyde.com

Calling your heroes on the phone is a tricky one. You think that you somehow know more than they do, and all you want is clarification of your facts - or even some sort of assurance. Now the reason I called was for a music paper, and they wanted me to catch up with Lobby Loyde and Mick Hadley for the Purple Hearts show which happened at the Troubadour in Brisbane. This was in 2006. My review for that show and so on http://www.mickhadley.com/purpleHearts.php

I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask him. Too many, probably. He spoke at a million miles an hour; setting stories straight and using up the time to make sure that he got his message across to his fans regarding his heightened enthusiasm for the band. And too right, as the Purple Hearts are my favourite Australian band of the early-to-mid 60s. Not that there's a terrible lot to choose from then, but still they're not only important to me, but to many other fans of Australian music of that pre-psych era. In other words, there's not a lot coming from my mouth.

This is part one of my interview with the great man. I hope that you get something out of it.

LL: Hello?
DT: Is this Lobby?
LL: It is.
DT: Would you have some time to do a quick interview?
LL: Yeah, yeah - sure.
DT: Thanks.
LL: Yeah.
DT: How did the Purple Hearts reunion come about?
LL: This particular one?
DT: Yeah.
LL: Well the original one was before I got cancer. I went up and played that festival in Brisbane and halfway through that we said, "wouldn't it be nice to play some gigs?" And in the meantime I got lung cancer, so I'm kind of sick. But I'm looking forward to it. I just had finished Oncology last week - this is my second lot of Oncology - and I'm hoping to go up there and play as normal as hell. I'm flying in Friday, playing the gig, then I'm flying out again.
DT: So there's not a lot of room for practicing in between?
LL: There might be a little bit of practice, yeah. I would've thought that we've been so spontaneous together through the years of our lives that it's like the bicycle for us. The Purple Hearts is my first true love band. I know I've been in a few bands before then, but they were just precursors in learning how to play the guitar. Joining the Purple Hearts and playing with Bob Dames, Freddie Pickard, and Mr Hadley and Tony Cahill - that was the eye-opener of my life. Playing with people that loved the music, had all this lovely English blues and r&b. I was raised by a father that played saxophone, trumpet, chromatic harmonica who lived for the blues and jazz and a mother who played classical piano who lived for Wagner and Beethoven. And me, I lived for Elvis - and r&b and Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. So we were a marriage made in heaven! I don't see how much brains there, brother!
DT: haha!
LL: All we need is a stage and an audience - and some amps. Feed us an audience and see how we go. I think we'll play spontaneously because we love it.
DT: So what you're saying is that you're more passionate about the Purple Hearts....
LL: Absolutely!
DT: Than the Wild Cherries or the Coloured Balls...
LL: The Wild Cherries were great, man - but that was something to do after the Purple Hearts broke up. Truly. My whole life is this: I joined the Purple Hearts; that was the love of my life the band broke up because Tony Cahill joined the Easybeats. So in a bit of pissed off, I joined the Wild Cherries. After the Wild Cherries I pissed off with that and so I joined the Aztecs. After that I got pissed off with that I formed the Coloured Balls. I played with the Coloured Balls but that seemed devious because everyone wanted to kill one another. Well fuck you guys, I'm going to England. And I pissed off to England for the 70s.
DT: Then you produced a lot of a whole bunch of albums...
LL: Yeah well when I came over from there, I thought "fuck this - I'm not gonna play any more." But when the Purple Hearts said, "hey let's go do a gig at Woodford" I went "yeah!" That's life.
DT: Haha!
LL: And the most exciting thing I've ever done - go to Woodford - what a festival. So much stuff to see - and the music! So many people. And rehearsal was shitty! We played like a bunch of maggots! And it was awful. And we went to the gig and someone said, "ladies and gentlemen - the Purple Hearts" and we played like mothers. So you've gotta say that's spontaneous. That's exciting.
DT: Yeah, absolutely.
LL: Yeah - that's the stuff you live for, man.
DT: That's right, and one I appreciate about Mick Hadley is that...
LL: He's fantastic...
DT: He's true to it. Even throughout the 80s...
LL: True to it? Holy shit man...
DT: And still doing it...
LL: True to it? He's been better than... true to it. In Brisbane, I mean really - Mick's has put his whole bloody life... single-heartedly and passionately into making this music always come to life and have vitality. I mean - Jesus Christ - every band he ever put together ...didn't they do something good? They were always interesting. I loved him. He's just a genius guy. And he's got that great personality. He just loves what he does - he's a good human being. I love the band, I think Bob James is a mighty bass player because he's right in the centre of the beat. Freddie was great when he pulls his finger out because Freddie always played those off-beat rhythms and he sort of kept it what it is, mate. He was the rhythm guitarist, I was the lead guitarist, Bob was the bass player, Mick was the singer and we had a drummer...
DT: and you all had your room...
LL: Yeah mate and we all had our little areas. And we did our job as well as we could from inside those rooms and because of that it was an exciting band. And I think we... You know, for our day we were recording in mono. Not stereo. We weren't in glorious stereo, mate. Every time we put a vocal or a solo or something we had to bounce it across on the run - because you know there was one track and we were bouncing from track to track. I thought we made pretty bloody good records for the days of chaotically bad shit. If we woulda had a TEAC four-track, we coulda made God's own records. But we never had anything that good. We had a bloody mono Ampex valve recorder. And I thought what we pulled was exciting because the music was played by people who loved it. It was passionate. And let's hope any audience that coming along will hear that passion because the passion's everything. And I always know Mick is going to be passionate about it, and I always know Bob's going to be passionate about it because I know these two guys live for this crap. I mean we had so many arguments! People don't have arguments like that - that get so intense; spitty and hissy like a bunch of girls if they don't really dig what they're doin'. If it's just a band, you go "oh well, who gives a fuck?" I've never heard one of those guys say, "who cares?" They went, "no, it's gonna be great!" And Mick's always been "it's gonna be great." And Bob's always been "it's gonna rock!" And Freddie was always there because he wants to be there. Tony Cahill was a king-hit drummer but unfortunately he's hurt himself. But you know Mick's got a great drummer sittin' in there anywhere and he plays great. And that's how it is...
DT: Do you regret that...
LL: ...Mick's always got people around him that can play r&b fantastically. [pause] Do I regret it?
DT: No, I mean do you regret the fact that the Purple Hearts never wrote their own songs?
LL: Oh no I just regret the fact that we didn't make the records we should've made! Because we weren't together long enough to do an album. We went down and made half the singles one weekend, then in Melbourne got another session and we made the rest of the singles that weekend and that was our recording career. And maybe we got into a studio just before the end to say goodbye. But I mean two sessions in just three years of being in a band... Pretty grim. Yet down in Melbourne... The Loved Ones, who were kind of similar... they were kinda influenced by the Purple Hearts... there was no Loved Ones prior to the Purple Hearts believe me. People in Australia don't record this part of history but this is actually the truth: they were in the Red Onions Jazz Band. Gerry Humphreys and the boys used to come along and see us. They loved us! And they loved the way Mick sang. That way he used to stair up to into those high notes. And so we were a big influence on those guys. But they immediately made the Magic Box album - and we were walking around with our same single, a year later. Do you know what I mean?
DT: Yeah.
LL: And we felt like the poor country cousins that went to yobbo school. Never got to go to the real studio. We gotta go down the back, record it in mono; these boys recorded a full-on album with overdubs, vocals, ten tracks and it's an album and it's a hit. Do you know what I mean?
DT: And they take all the credit for it.
LL: Well of course they're taking all the credit for it because they luckily got in first. They don't remember who's really first, they just remember who's first on the records. But the Purple Hearts, they were just such an exciting band. I believe that if we coulda got to make an album it would've been fantastic. And we woulda written songs - bloody oath! Because Mick can invent a blues song in three seconds onstage. You know, I mean he doesn't necessarily remember the lyrics to anything anyone else wrote, he just uses the name.

...to be continued

Halit Gashi - Bill Klintonit

2011-01-19T03:07:00.000-08:00

1. Bill Klintoni 8:13
2. Isa Gashi 10:10
3. Hasan Prishtina 4:40
4. Vujatjet e Shqiptarisë 3:34
5. Një Valle 3:12
6. Kënga e Gjermanit 5:19
7. Kënga e Hashanit 7:54
8. Kënga e Zogut 11:25
9. UQK-së 3:28

A set of patriotic songs utilising a sharki and violin duet from Kosovo.

At 320kps here

Rexhë Gashi & Ibish Broja - Bec Sinani

2011-01-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

A Cassette from the late 1990s or early 2000s of epic songs from Drenica's Rexhë Gashi, one of very prim players around in Kosovo's folk music scheme of things. A prim is a small stringed instrument tuned in GGEAD, more commonly played in Croatia and known there as the tamburica. In essence, it's a more primitive version of the Greek bouzouki.

1. Zenel Begu/Fetah Pasha/Valle Populore 28:40
2. Bec Sinani 28:49

Rexhë Gashi - prim
Ibish Mulaku - sharki
Hasan Ibica - sharki
Habib Shala - violinë

Download at 320kps here

Qamili i Vogël - Kënge Popullore Shqiptare EP 1968

2011-01-12T03:32:00.000-08:00

Among the many EPs of Albanian music released via Jugoton in the 1960s by Qamili i Vogël. This dates from 1968 and this pllakë is split between himself and Tahir Drenica singing both cuts on the B side. Though not credited on the front cover, he is pictured second from the left with Qamili to his right.

What I found interesting about this EP was More, e Kam Nji Jaran Si Bylbyl uses the melody of the song popularised by Salih and Feriz Krasniqi from the region of Malisheva who are regarded as perhaps the most revered exponents of Albanian folksongs from the 1940s to the 1980s.

The song in question is Lulzoj Fusha, Lulzoj Mali which vaguely translates as Flowers of the Field, Flowers of the Mountain. Sidetracking slightly here, the interviewer asks Salih Krasniqi about the sources of the songs and their repertoire.

They go on to say that they have played 500 different songs. Songs they've written. Songs they've learned. Songs they heard from their fathers. Songs of history. They'd travel far from village to village by horse and cart, finding songs from locals.

With the rapid westernisation of Kosovo post the 1998 war, such songs and insights will slowly fade away if not preserved properly. It's a great pity that with the advent of the internet in the past decade we have not seen a great deal of discussion or insight on Kosovo's rich Albanian musical heritage in English, let alone in its mother tongue. Hopefully with such postings, such musical treasures will spread past poorly annotated postings on Youtube and in a place where it's far more easily accessible by those who are interested in this peculiar type of Balkan music.

download this EP at 320kps.

Këngë Popullore Shqiptare 1

2011-01-11T22:20:00.000-08:00

I remember buying this cassette at Belgrade international airport in 1987. It seemed like a curiosity at the time, considering where the kiosk was. And what it was and remains to be is a sampler of mostly rural Albanian music from Kosovo, recorded during the 1960s and the following decade. It features none other than Qamili i Vogël, the folklorist and ethnomusicologist who typifies the very beauty of Kosovar country-blues.

This cassette (like many at the time before they were made locally in Kosovo's capital Prishtina) was released on the Zagreb-based and state-owned Jugoton, who released many 45rpm EPs, LPs and cassettes of Kosovar-Albanian music. Naturally, this has been long out of print and has sadly yet to garner a CD reissue though the vast number of independent labels scattered throughout Kosovo.

With various world music compilations permeating record stores featuring Albanian music being relatively sub-par, Këngë Popullore Shqiptare (Albanian Folk Songs) represents true scope of Kosovo's traditional music as sung and performed by men and women from all the land's regions.

Ugly Ugly Ugly EP

2011-01-08T01:14:00.000-08:00

Released by Rim of Hell Records in 1988, this 4 track 7" EP contains Birthday Party/Laughing Clowns moments of poorly recorded (side a) and above average (side b) inspired(?) Australian post, post-punk.

1. Living in a Sponge
2. Bye

3. The Princess and the Bicycle Thief
4. Pride

Chris Spencer's oft-inaccurate, yet essential Who's Who of Australian Rock describes them as "New Wave pop, Cabaret, Jazz Funk" - and in that order. Ugly Ugly Ugly existed between 1986 and 1990.

Regardless of who they are or are not - because no-one seems to know anyway, this is essential listening and a nice curve-ball for your mixtape, portable playing device or similar.

C'mon Aussie C'mon: World Series Cricket Themes from 1978 and 1979

2011-01-07T23:37:00.000-08:00

These are songs from when cricket was played by men who wielded willows for the love of the game. Men who smoked, drank pints, grew moustaches, shagged birds and didn't cry. And look at that fucking team (see photo)! Lillee, Marsh, Walker and the Chappell brothers immortalised in 2:18 of virgin vinyl for all and sundry. This is by far the armchair pisshead's choice of song, and dare I say the definitive version.

The Mojo Singers - C'Mon Aussie C'Mon 1978 by Licorice Lounge

Trying to mooch from the success of the 1978 record, they try again with alternate lyrics and some call-and-response vibes from some fake Carribean accent. Not as arse-wiping as the Shannon Noll version from a few years ago, but close. At least there's a nice reference to Rodney Hogg.

The Mojo Singers - C'Mon Aussie C'Mon (The New Era) by Licorice Lounge

The Mojo Singers - World Series Cup by Licorice Lounge

Neil Stickler - The Sydney/Hobart Song aka Heading from the Heads

2011-01-07T23:16:00.000-08:00

A classic Waterways Records release from 1987 for the boys and girls at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (the C.Y.C.A.) This is yacht rock at its most serene - Tommy Moeller's songwriting is right on course, heading from the heads to the charts.
Neil Stickler - Heading From The Heads by Licorice Lounge

Mike Brady - You're Here to Win

2011-01-07T23:04:00.001-08:00

A slightly racially insensitive piece of Australian anthemic rock, complete with a mid 1970s imitation Phil Spector intro for the theme to the 1982 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane. They really don't make songs like these anymore.
Mike Brady - You're Here to Win by Licorice Lounge

"Good Evening Madam" Variations on a Theme by Smirnoff

2011-01-07T22:43:00.001-08:00

Two squeaky, high-voiced bogans trying to grapple with Russian vodka with a well-spoken cocktail waiter as a falsch mock of Lou Reed's Berlin plays in the background. Everybody's drinking pink, darling!

Good Evening Madam, Variations on a Theme by Smirnoff by Licorice Lounge

Bruce Woodley - The ANZ Bank Travelling Man

2011-01-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

Bruce Woodley goes baroque pop with his post Seekers promo 45, The ANZ Bank Travelling Man. This is believed to be from around 1971, and only given out to employees of the Australia New Zealand Bank. And weren't they lucky!

Bruce Woodley - The ANZ Bank Travelling Man by Licorice Lounge

Rusty - Sunshine Satire Volume One

2011-01-05T04:19:00.000-08:00

In the days when Chryslers ruled the roads and shows like Kingswood Country proudly represented Australian television in the 1980s, releases such as these seemed to popped up on cassette tapes for the Voxson deck.

If anything, Rusty's Sunshine Satire Volume One is a postcard of Australian larrikinism at its most pathetically primal.

Backed by the Ayers Rockettes which once featured Keith Urban who is in fact rumoured to be on this recording, Rusty belts out a half-dozen risqué tunes that follow a line of humour as noticably seen by the likes of Rodney Rude and Kevin Bloody Wilson.

Tracks...

1. Goodbye Joh
2. Ain't No Fun in Darwin
3. Whatever Happened To Malcolm?

4. Dingo's Got My Baby
5. On Strike ....Again
6. Dolly Parton's Tits

January Mix CDR

2011-01-03T04:21:00.000-08:00

1. ELMER BERNSTEIN - frankie machine
2. THE WILD CHERRIES - krome plated yabby
3. RICHARD HARRIS - a tramp shining
4. WIZZARD - ball park incident
5. BLACK SABBATH - never say die!
6. HAL BLAINE - topsy '65
7. PHIL MANZANERA - technicolour UFO
8. THE RED KRAYOLA - save the house
9. JOHN LEE HOOKER - big legs, tight skirt
10. THE ZEROS - wild weekend
11. BIG YOUTH - screaming target
12. PERE UBU - non-alignment pact
13. BEST COAST - sun was high (so was i)
14. PVC2 - put you in the picture
15. JACK PALANCE - the meanest guy that ever lived
16. THE QUICK - it won't be long
17. BLACK TAMBOURINE - throw aggi off the bridge
18. GUIDED BY VOICES - indian was an angel
19. BOBBY BEAUSOLEIL - lucifer rising part IV
20. BLUE ORCHIDS - bad education
21. THE FALL - stay away (old white train)
22. PETER JEFFERIES - world in a blanket
23. CULT FIGURES - zip nolan
24. THE KINKS - this time tomorrow
25. RONNIE SPECTOR - tandoori chicken

The scanner bulb gave up the ghost after many years of hearty service, so we're going to have to endure a format change for the time being.

There's a lot of weird and wonderful articles and mixes in my drafts folder that's been accumulating in the past few years, so hopefully 2011 is the year they'll all come out for all and sundry.

Meanwhile, I hope you find something new and interesting in this month's monthly.

Find it here!

December Mix CDR

2010-12-01T01:42:00.001-08:00

Get it here

November Mix CDR

2010-11-01T03:13:00.000-07:00

herein

October Mix CDR

2010-10-03T03:29:00.000-07:00

here

Fuck the White Race

2010-09-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

This compilation represents a certain time (1994) and place in Brisbane post-punk's collective cannon. If anything, it's an interesting curio of bands whose tracks don't wholly represent what their music is about. Nonetheless, it exists and that's what's important.

Adjusting things a little from the Brisbane music axis is Venom P Stinger, and even though this group's inclusion is a somewhat puzzling, their live track is a welcome addition. Likewise with fellow Melbournians Thou Gideon...

This (only) CD release from the MALIGNANT label offers some its stable acts - namely Noose, Strontium Dog, Mr Bastard, Grubbage, Slow Loris, Queer and Not From There.

Fuck the White Race also includes the rare mid-period Small World Experience, with an early version of Rounding the Bend featuring Gail Hargreaves on drums. Also representing the SPILL label is the Gatekeepers, with an alternate version of Silence - incorrectly tracked as Waterlogged.

Sadly, MALIGNANT's Monty Blomfield passed away not long after the release of this compilation and his family unjustly destroyed everything to do with the label's back catalogue - including this.

The Malignant Discography in brief...

v/a BURNING THE SUN cassette
THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE - An Unnatural Act cassette
STRONTIUM DOG - The Strontium Dog is Dead cassette
STRONTIUM DOG/NOOSE - Strawberry Rice Cake Man/Down 7"
QUEER - Queer vs Dead C 7" EP
STONTIUM DOG - Another Noise in a Different Kitchen cassette
NOT FROM THERE - Valid to 06/95 CD
SLOW LORIS - Strip Mining cassette
INVISIBLE EMPIRE - Jeezly Fishcakes cassette
MR BASTARD - Buggering with Bernard cassette
v/a FUCK THE WHITE RACE CD

September Mix CDR

2010-09-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

The Gatekeepers

2010-08-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Indoors
Ogre
Silence

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

Another one of Brisbane's phantoms, the Gatekeepers. This band began around 1983, containing various former members of the Pits, the Swirl and the Dum Dums. Around this time, they released an 11 track cassette, Cosmic Street - of which two of its tracks appeared in the 1984 cassette compilation Leaving Home for the Party on the Roof.

The early line-up featured Greg Gilbert (aka Des Johnson) on drums, and Margo Hoyt on keyboard in addition to Peter Jetnikoff and Greg Wadley.

Fast forward to Melbourne in 1988, and the Gatekeepers exist as solely as a recording venture, releasing Indoors/Ogre/Silence in that year and a single Saturday/In This House in 1990. 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 a track on 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.

In addition to the Gatekeepers, Peter Jetnikoff and Greg Wadley recorded many cassettes and CDs as the culture-jamming group, New Waver. Their lossy story can be found here.

Greg's brother Ian has played in a host of bands since the early 1980s, and his story can be seen over here.

Curiosity Shop

2010-08-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

Judge and Jury
Scene of the Shame

Pat Ridgewell - vocals, guitar, organ
Noel Mengel - bass, vocals
with
Greg Wadley - drums

In Brisbane during the early 1980s, there was this slew of bands bursting forth onto the scene; from the bands who played at the Queen's Hotel in 1978, to the bands of the Silver Dollar in 1980, the 279 Club of 1981 and the Atcherly of 1982 and so on. Just as venues opened as quickly as they had closed in this golden era of Brisbane music (1978-1982), bands exploded and imploded at a rapid rate. During this time, the Go-Betweens released two albums recorded outside of town, Xero did a 12" 6-track mini LP, while other bands got as far as a cassette or a couple of singles. Some never made it outside of the Ann St practice rooms.

By 1983, the Go-Betweens had well and truly skipped town. The Pits (after a serious amount of shows in 1982) imploded. As so did Xero. The Dum Dums moved to Sydney to only break up shortly after, and Antic Frantic bettered that by heading off to London. Punk in Brisbane moved away from the '77 English model, and leaned more towards American Hardcore influences.

On the other side of the coin, Indie Pop's flag was being waved by the likes of Tangled Shoelaces, This Five Minutes and the newly formed Pits expatriates, the Gatekeepers. Adding to this small list of like-minded bands were Curiosity Shop.

Unlike the aforementioned, Curiosity Shop hailed from Toowoomba...

Whether or not this band is indicative of the Toowoomba Sound is anyone's guess. What's true is Curiosity Shop's lone 45rpm single from 1984 Judge and Jury/Scene of the Shame is a superb slice of indie pop, left abandoned by blogging music scholars until now.

Curiosity Shop were on the Cubbyhouse imprint. This label (created by archivist, film-maker, sound recordist and all-round DIY pop genius Peter Macpherson) also released numerous titles by the Pits, Tangled Shoelaces and This Five Minutes. And Cubbyhouse was also a fanzine running from 1982-84 - much like the life of the label.

The two notable members of this Toowoomba band are Pat Ridgewell and Noel Mengel. Ridgewell around this time played as an adjunct member of This Five Minutes, who by 1986 had mutated into Dog Fish Cat Bird. By the late 80s he played guitar in the Holy Ghosts, and from there he formed his own songwriting vehicle, Small World Experience - who still exist to this day, albeit hermetically. Noel Mengel on the other hand is now the senior music editor for the Courier Mail.

I found this single by chance in 1995, just after I had discovered Small World Experience. I have not seen it since.

XERO 4ZZZfm Live to Air at the Cement Box

2010-08-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

Love and Anarchy
Behind the Chagall
24D Pelaco
Every Kiddy Gets a Prize
Crazy Eddie
Photo Tattoo
Just a Night at Another Party
Blue Lagoon
3 Squared
The Girls

Irena Luckus - voice, keyboard, guitar
John Willsteed - voice, keyboard, guitar, bass
Steven Pritchard - drums

This CD-R was originally released on the Ten of Cups label in the late 1990s. Apparently I was the only person who ever put an order in for this.

This 4ZZZfm live to air from July 1982 at the University of Queensland's Cement Box theatre sees Xero in one of their many line-ups which Brisbane post-punk outfit had from 1978 to 1983.

John Willsteed and Steven Pritchard from the Cement Box show. Photo by Peter Macpherson

Hated by certain scenes, and adored by others, Xero were one of the few bands who survived and played on through the swift changes of trends which Brisbane endured during the post-punk years (1978-'83). Xero (initially spelled as Zero, then Xiro among many others!) has a long and winding history, involving at least a baker's dozen worth of line-up changes and half as many styles. [More on that in another post on early Zero]

This set sees Xero play through a selection of originals mostly written from 1981 onward, with the oldest song in this set being 3 Squared, performed during their 1979/80 line-up which featured guitarist/vocalist Michael O'Connell, formerly of the Apartments and future Go-Between Lindy Morrison. Blue Lagoon was a song which later appeared in Willsteed's post Xero/ZIP outfit, Machines That Walk.

This particular line-up of Luckus, Willsteed and Pritchard first played in August 1981 in support of the Cure at the request of Robert Smith. Steven Pritchard formerly played with the Swell Guys among many other bands.

The band left behind two cassette EPs, Half the Profits and Religious Wars, and a 6 track 12"mini-LP Lust in the Dust. They also appeared on Fast Forward issue 006. Unofficially, there was a cassette floating about in the early 80s called What Xero Don't Know Won't Hurt Them Tape! featuring sessions from the two cassette EPs, and a single track cassette with their cover of Supernaut's I Like it Both Ways - Xero's submission to 4zzz's Tribute to Australian Rock.

In terms of the digital age, two tracks from Lust in the Dust appear on the essential Chapter Music release Can't Stop It! and 4ZZZfm's 25th anniversary compilation, Behind the Banana Curtain. Both of which at the time of writing are out of print.

Upside Down House - I Once Was, I Once Knew

2010-08-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

Photo of Upside Down House in 1981, taken by Lisa Walker. From Clinton Walker's book Inner City Sound.

Australian Independent music journalist/champion Clinton Walker described Upside Down House in his book The Next Big Thing as,

"Of all the rightfully labeled 'Darlinghurst Bands', among them the Frontier Scouts, Upside Down House maintain the highest profile and deserve the most attention. The group was originally formed by bassist Ben Wallace-Crabbe after he left Laughing Clowns, and although that influence is residual, Upside Down House have evolved into something of a peculiar character. As shambolic as anything else, Upside Down House have a sort of medieval quality that's rich and enchanting."

Aside from this mention of the band by Walker in the book's postscript, precious little is known about this band; at least by me anyway. Here's what I do know...

Guitarist David Farrell originally played in the Brisbane punk band the Same 13 (ca. '78-'79), fronted by Ed Kuepper's younger brother Wolfgang. Farrell is of course the younger brother of Bob 'the Block' Farrell who was the original saxophonist of the Laughing Clowns; not to mention one of the Flat Top Four who sang backing vocals on the Saints rendition of Kissin' Cousins on side 2 of (I'm) Stranded.

Kathleen Stewart, David Farrell, Nick Burton, Fiona Macgregor
and Ben Wallace-Crabbe. Venue unknown. Photo by Bob King.

In 1978/'79, Ben Wallace-Crabbe played bass in a Melbourne band with drummer Jeffrey Wegener called the Love, alongside his cousin Dan Wallace-Crabbe. It was Wegener who suggested Dan join the Laughing Clowns he formed with Ed Kuepper, and thus appearing in the band's first line-up in 1979 - staying with the band until the early months of 1981. Ben plays on Laughing Clowns, Sometimes... the Fire Dance and Laughing Clowns 3.

Sadly, Ben committed suicide not long after Upside Down House recorded their vinyl debut.

Below - Ben with Bob Farrell from the first Laughing Clowns photoshoot in 1979, taken by Judith Dransfield-Kuepper.

Peter Shand - another former member of the Oxley Creek tearaways, the Same 13 had replaced Wallace-Crabbe by the time of recording their single, Salomé.

What else? Drummer Nick Burton and saxophonist Michael Braid were also originally from Brisbane. Vocalist Kathleen Stewart is a published novelist (see left ).

Discographically-speaking, Upside Down House only released only 2 titles in their short life; the EP Mauve Xylophone in 1982, and the 7" single Salomé two years after. Both came out on their own label, Mauve Xylophone (UDH01 and 02 respectively). A promotional video was made for Salomé, which I hope to post in the near future. Both of these titles are ridiculously hard to find copies of, and expensive when found.

Below - the EP Mauve Xylophone, emblazoned with a Polaroid image of Kathleen Stewart, taken by Joseph Borkowski.

MAUVE XYLOPHONE

Maintenant
The Wonderful Curse
The Massacre of Three Ballerinas
Quincy's Mauve Xylophone
Weird Dessert!

SALOMÉ / GIGANTOMACHIA

Maintenant and The Wonderful Curse also on the Ink Records compilation from 1984, Beyond the Southern Cross. This 2LP set is quite easy to come by from all good 2nd hand music retailers.

Fast Forward # 10 from March, 1982 features an early and almost English psych- folk rendition of The Wonderful Curse, titled on the compilation as What Poison!. The band were listed on the fabled cassette zine as With A Lie - a name they used for their first few shows; though the band played their maiden performance as Upside Down House.

Here

August Mix CDR

2010-08-16T04:05:00.001-07:00

The Perfect Lovers - TDK Noise Rock!

2010-08-06T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Perfect Lovers

Jamie - percussion
Rin - voice
Marek - guitar
Donat - kit drums
Adam - bass, tapes
Michael - synth

Playing in a carport in Warry St, Spring Hill with the Perfect Lovers in 2004. The honorable Graeme Cakebread would've recorded this set. I played a variety of instruments (mostly drums) with a variety of different line-ups from 1999 'til 2006. Everybody was skinny then. The band released numerous cassettes, CDs and a VHS video - few of which I actually have. I seem to take pride of other people's recorded output, but never my own.

Jamie did wonderful b&w collage posters and would undoubtedly have everything we recorded. This was his band and the rest of us were like Hitchcock's cattle.

We were the loudest band in Brisbane. Even louder (and uglier) than Misery. The Perfect Lovers more often than not had the plugged pulled for being too loud, if we didn't already blow up someone's PA. We smashed TV sets and equipment, some of us accidentally cut ourselves in the spirit of performance and performing.

We played at the IMA and the QCA. We played in an s&m dungeon in a Gay nightclub. And pink palaces; even a driveway too. Somewhere between 20 and 23 shows were performed; all locally - if you count Underwood. We had no songs and no idea of what we were going to play before our set started. We were a brave lot, but not as brave as our audience.

90s Brisbane outfit Tripod were certainly a heavy influence on the band, as were Throbbing Gristle, SPK and Belinda Carlisle.

Watch this space.

Listen

"I may not look like much by day, but at night I'm one hell of a Perfect Lover."

- Jamie Hume

The Same EP

2010-08-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

THE SAME - Why/This Week's World Outlook/Romance (With a Lightbulb)

Recorded at M Squared

Engineer - Scattered Order
Produced by Scattered Order and the Same

I really don't know a terrible lot about this Sydney quintet, though the M Squared site sheds a little more light than I'm able to provide. I first heard this at Ian Wadley's flat in 1996 or so, and subsequently found this record in Sydney not long after. I have not seen one since.

Like other inner-city Sydney bands around 1982/3 (Wildlife Documentaries, Upsidedown House, Kill the King, etc) the Same display a slight Laughing Clowns influence - trebly thin guitars, saxophone and swift melodic changes; especially on the instrumental This Week's World Outlook. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course....

Qamili i Vogël - the Nightingale of Albanian Song

2010-08-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

Mazllom Mejzini, Qamili i Vogël and Ismet Peja (sources unknown)

The story of Qamili i Vogël (Little Qamil) is obscured in depths of Yugoslavia's dark and repressive past - where the cultural and musical expression of minority groups made for a trying expressive experience.

Born in the southern urban centre of Gjakova in 1923, Qamil Muhaxhiri singlehandedly created a popular genre of ethnic music within the thin bounadaries of modern-day Kosovo and presented it to not only his people, but to the record buying public at large.

Qamili i Vogël composed, recorded a total of 80 original songs, many of which were initially released as EPs on the Jugoton label in the mid 1960s. His vinyl debut was the first for a Albanian artist to commit to tape for a state-owned recording company in Yugoslavia.

Second to his work as a singer and songwriter, Qamili i Vogël publish books of Albanian folk songs for the public to learn and perform; a concept which was previously unheard of at a time when Albanian was not recognized as a national language in Tito's Bratstvo i Jedinstvo - brotherhood and unity - of Yugoslavia.

Despite these historic firsts, his compositions today aren't copyrighted; his compositional credits are absent from interpreters of his work, and since his death in 1991, Qamili i Vogël's songwriting and compositional catalogue has not seen a serious reappraisal outside of poorly packaged and annotated bootleg cassettes and CDs drawing from his career-long association with the Zagreb-based label Jugoton.

Information on his discography is scattered and blurred, as is any biographical information. Though with the rising popularity of Youtube, many home-recorded videos from the 1970s, state television appearances and a snippet of a career biography have began to slowly appear on the video-sharing website in the past year.

This video offers an interesting biography on his life, detailing his work, starting as a singer for Albanian language radio shows in the fifties, and as a graphic artist for the Rilindja newspaper, amongst other insightful detail intertwined between dedicated music videos which would've been screened on Radio-Televizija Pristina in the 1980s.

And this is not to say that his musical legacy has been forgotten; many artists to this day do covers of his songs in both the recording and performing fields alike within Kosovo and the diaspora. His compositions have lent to a style of music named after his birthplace, Gjakovarë contempoarily spearheaded by the tenor, Xeni.

One particular purveyor of his songs is Ismet Peja, and like a Dardanian Sinatra, treats his arrangements and vocal inflections of what could be only described today as Kosovar standards with a great sense of respect for Qamili's melodies and deeply emotional phrasing.

Peja, along with Mazllom Mejzini (both pictured above) were frequent vocal collaborators who in turn held successful solo careers as vocalists. Qamili i Vogel also sang alongside Sofie Hyseni, Bajrush Doda, Hamide Sadiku and other revered Albanian folksingers of the sixties and seventies.

Qamili i Vogël's group, Hajdar Dushi in 1969
Back row: Sabah Bytyqi, Gongje Qaushi, Bardosh Rudi, Masar Peja
Front row: Mazllom Mejzini, Qamili i Vogël, Ismet Peja

This collection of 23 songs is one of those aforementioned CDs, which I purchased (after a great deal of fishing around various marketplaces) in his hometown in 2007. This set represents a balance of his early work; a minimalist orchestration of ethnic Albanian instruments with violin; and his later big-band orchestral work - adding clarinet, classical guitar, mandola, harmonium, piano accordion, and secondary male vocalists.

01. Hajro Plava dhe Hyseni Zajmi
02 Kënga e Rexhës
03 N'rimishë të Hollë
04 Lufta e Livoqit
05 Ku Po Knojnë Kto Dy Kumrija
06 Dil Njiherë Moj Vajzë e Bukur
07 Prej Shtëpisë Kur Jam Dalë
08 Sina Uba Kjo Punë e Verës
09 Jare Mos Më Shti Moj Me T'ba Be
10 Oh Fletët Tua Moj Drandofile
11 Pash Sytë e Mi Që I Kam në Ballë
12 Kënga e Ymer Rizes
13 Gonxhe Qeli Drandofili
14 Në Pranverë Lulja Në Behar
15 I Vujtun Jam Nëkët Jetë
16 Nagoi Drita Nbreg T'nji Prroni
17 Kënga e Vëlla e Motër Terbeshi
18 Për Herë T'pare Kur T'pash Moj Dije
19 Qofshë e Zezë Dile Proma
20 Kënga e Bajram Begut
21 Kënga e Tërmetit Të Dibres
22 Tridhjetë Ditë Ka Ramazani
23 Kënga e Trimave Gjkakovarë

Listen here

June Mix CD-R

2010-06-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Enjoy.

Vëllezrit Gashi - Lavdi Dëshmorëve të Kombit

2010-05-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

Vëllezrit Gashi - Lavdi Dëshmorëve të Kombit
Gashi Brothers - Glory to the Martyrs of the Nation

Vëllezrit Gashi are one of the few purveyors of Albanian Epic Poetry still being performed in the Drenica region of Kosova. This particular style of music is locally regarded as Këngë Burrash - men's songs.

The choice of musical instruments on this recording are a mixture of west and east - the piano accordion and violin, with the more typical Sharki (5 stringed lute), Qifteli (2 stringed lute) and Def (skinned tambourine). Line-ups of this sort are most common in the Drenica and Dukagjini regions, though many don't use the accordion as a melodic instrument for one reason or another.

The nature of Albanian epic poetry is a songster tradition that's brought down from generations through a telling of stories regarding the heroism against oppressive regimes from the Ottoman Empire though to the more recent Serbian antagonism in post-war Yugoslavia.

In previous posts, I have regarded this style of Kosovar music as Gangsta-Folk out of its sheer aggressive tone, and a subject matter which relates to war and survival in a threatening rural landscape. This 2007 CD is another example of Gangsta-Folk at its finest, though without the gunfire that's common in their live bootlegs of which are readily available in street markets throughout Kosova.

Listen

One Head's Guide to NZ Post-Punk Vol 1 CDR80

2010-05-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

25 songs in under 80mins. Was making an attempt to not go for the obvious acts, or of the AK79 variety etc. The sad omissions will appear on Volume 2. 95% of these acts are from Christchurch, Dunedin or both. Oldest track here is the Vacuum from 1979 and most recent is Minus 2 from 2009. If you're hoping to find further works from any of these artists, then prepare to look hard and carry a healthy wallet, as many of the songs found here are from out of print albums or singles.

Quick liner notes:

THE VACUUM - early Bill Direen with Peter Stapleton and Stephen Cogle who make up part of THE VICTOR DIMISICH BAND and THE TERMINALS. Peter also played in SCORCHED EARTH POLICY and THE PIN GROUP with ROY MONTGOMERY, who in turn played in THE SHALLOWS with Mick Elborado who played in THE TERMINALS , MINUS 2 and SCORCHED EARTH POLICY who feature Brian Crook of THE TERMINALS and THE MAX BLOCK, as well as Mary Heney played in THE SHALLOWS, 25 CENTS, THE TERMINALS and THE VICTOR DIMISICH BAND. THE CLEAN features Robert Scott who once played in THE MAGICK HEADS and David Kilgour who formed a band called THE GREAT UNWASHED in the mid 80s, and STEPHEN in the later part of the decade. THE DEAD C features Bruce Russell who formed A HANDFUL OF DUST with ALASTAIR GALBRAITH of THE RIP and PLAGAL GRIND respectively. Robbie Muir played in both bands and PETER JEFFERIES from THIS KIND OF PUNISHMENT played in PLAGAL GRIND. THE ALPACA BROTHERS features a guest appearance by PETER GUTTERIDGE from SNAPPER and the GREAT UNWASHED.

Listen

Prewar Blues Mixtape Vol 1

2010-05-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Although it does contain a Bascom Lamar Lunsford tune recorded for Smithsonian Folkways in 1953 (thus not making this prewar in the strictest of sense), here's 27 handpicked tracks dating all the way back to 1898 with Cousins & DeMoss doing a reading of Who Broke the Lock?

The bulk of these recordings are from the mid 1920s to the early 30s - the golden era of recorded American folk music. And there's not just blues on this mix of course. I'm just throwing up a blanket term, really.

Enjoy

Stars in the Sky

2010-04-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

A classic slice of mid-70s power pop, courtesy of Dan and David Kessel under the moniker of Stars in the Sky. The Kessel brothers are the musical sons of Barney Kessel, the tasteful postwar jazz guitarist (Pete Townshend is a giant fan) who was a fine band leader and an in-demand L.A. session musician who famously played on the classic Brian Wilson productions of the mid-60s and was a member of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew.

Rumour has it that Spector himself produced this record - but who's to say?

Notably, Dan and David played guitar on all of Phil Spector's sessions from John Lennon's 1974 Rock & Roll album onward excluding Spector's work with Starsailor.

As producers (using the names Dan Phillips and David Scott), they've worked with legendary artists with names like the Shangri-La's, the Ventures and American Spring to name a few. Sadly the bulk of these recordings have never surfaced, or are available on bootlegs.

A lot of the Kessels's work outside (and sometimes in) Spector's sphere involves the New York punk identity Blake Xolton (who in turn will get his name in lights in a future offering from this blog). It's been told that Xolton sings backing vocals on this 45.

Through the late 70s and early 80s they ran Martian Records, releasing 45s by Cheri Gage and the Wigs to name but two. In fact, Baby Hold On was released as the Martians on various Bomp! compilations, including Straight Out of Burbank.

The bottom line is the Kessels story is somewhat mysterious - hidden under veils of pseudonyms which are proving hard to get around. A Kesselography will follow once the paper trail's sorted.

What's most important is the music and their obvious respect and unfaltering admiration for Phil Spector's music, and you really can't argue with that.

Hear it.

Late April Mixtape

2010-04-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

find it here

Phantoms of Brisbane #1 - BIRDS OF TIN

2010-04-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

BIRDS OF TIN (1981-1982)

PETER LOVEDAY - VOCALS, GUITAR
MICHAEL ELLIOTT - BASS
KERYN HENRY - DRUMS
TONY HAYES - PERCUSSION

Brisbane's post punk musical landscape is dotted with forgotten artists. Some get mentioned in reference books or in historical overviews, and others get left behind for one reason or another. Like many cities across Australia and the world, the direct influence of the punk and new wave scene of New York and London resonated strongly within the inner-city Brisbane music scene up until late 1982.

In the case of Brisbane, the Cure's 1980 tour and the Talking Heads tour a year earlier resonated among Brisbane musicians in the same way the Saints influenced a tiny pocket of groups to pick up their instuments and get out of the garage in '76. Subsequently, single guitar bands began popping up around town, and Birds of Tin are one of those bands.

Much like the Go-Betweens of 1980-82 and the Four Gods, Birds Of Tin explored unusual, jerky rhythms housed within well-written three minute pop songs; existing long enough to create a cassette EP housed in a 7" record sleeve.

Peter Loveday (guitar, vocals) and Michael Elliott (bass) played in Mute 44, a short-lived pop band who performed at such venues as the Silver Dollar and Pinocchio's around 1980. Loveday had previously played with The Supports, an early pop band who famously traveled on a double-decker bus alongside an infant Go-Betweens and friends up through the North Queensland coast in late 1978.

The Supports made up the basis of Antic Frantic, Loveday's post Birds Of Tin group who played a small handful of shows around Brisbane before relocating to London as Tiny Town, releasing a full-length LP a mini LP and a bunch of 45s. More about these groups in a future posting.

Loveday and Elliott with the addition of Four Gods drummer Keryn Henry played around town in early-to-mid 1981 as the Sea Bees, and with the addition of percussionist Tony Hayes became Birds of Tin. Their only release is a four track cassette, recorded by Repairs neé FX guitarist Colin Bloxsom. Artwork by Peter Loveday.

Same Both Sides

1. Slothy Tank
2. Think of the Future
3. Rain
4. Day at the Beach

Shortly after the cassette release, sound recorder and photographer Gerry Teekman captured the band at the Valley Practice Room in February 1982 featuring multiple takes of the following songs: Shed the Skin, Blasting Radio*, Absurd Overcoat, High Road Low Road, Dust, Slothy Tank, Day At The Beach, Pleasure In Parcels, Raindrop.

* A cover by the DIY English punks the Desperate Bicycles, from the album Remorse Code (Refill Records RR-6; February 1980) featuring former Supports drummer Geoffrey Titley who later returned to Australia to join Antic Frantic.

Below is a complete list of their known live performances:

05/06/81* AHEPA HALL El Salvador Benefit [with the Go-Betweens, Xero and Four Gods]
25/07/81 279 CLUB [with the Four Gods and the Hostages]
07/11/81 279 CLUB [with Systematics and Scattered Order]
04/12/81 AHEPA HALL El Salvador Benefit [with Xero and Party Ice]
19/12/81 HOTEL BRISBANE
10/01/82 NEW YORK HOTEL [with The Birthday Party and Xero]
05/02/82 CPA ROOMS Pregnancy Control Benefit [with Bix Pieces]

* as the Sea Bees

"The short-lived Birds of Tin created some excitement for a while. Rumoured to be "just like the Go-Betweens, only better," they did lend to credence to that band's theory that there is a "Brisbane sound" and that they (the Go-Betweens) are it. Unlike the Go-Betweens, however, Birds of Tin did not have any driving ambition or talent for self-promotion. Their talent lay simply in their musicianship and the quality of their writing, although faced with the problem of having to come up with a set of material quickly, they did sound a bit repetitive at times."

X-Change: A Fanzine about modern music, Brisband people and other nonsense, Issue 4.

Peter Loveday has since relocated to Spain, making wonderful solo albums. His music can be found here: http://peterloveday.com/

The Verlaines - A review of Self-review and review of review

2010-04-01T23:57:00.000-07:00

I can clearly see the issue at hand here. Critics pulling bands apart, and then band pulling apart the critic's review of a live show out of their anger over the reviewer's lack of understanding or scope. The Stranglers were a band who certainly loved to take their pound of flesh out on rock scribes, so it's good to see the Verlaines having a go at it as well.

Graeme's writing in print or in lyrical form has always fascinated me, and it's always great to see musicians go over someone else's body of work... but it's even more interesting when a review gets a rebuttal from the band themselves. I like it for scope; you read both sides of the story and go, "ahh fuck yes!" And for whatever reason, too.

In a previous post, I did have issues with the Verlaines more recent output. Nothing too huge, just a little delusion on my part. See, the thing is I like the Verlaines ca. '82-'89 more so than say '89 to now. That's not to say I don't enjoy their recent output. At the end of the day, I'm fucking grateful that they still exist - even if it's not a dream line-up or what-have-you. Gotta keep the fantasy and reality at different poles. I copped a beating from Darren Stedman about this, but I now consider myself redeemed. It all makes clear sense to me.

Hindsight's shown that the Verlaines are an evolving creature, and not a Flying Nun era jukebox. Are there that many people out there who've seen a recent show and thought to themselves on their way home, "shit, they didn't play Icarus Missed"? Probably not. Graeme's written a lot of rockers, ballads and chamber pop pieces - surely there's going to be a 100 odd songs that aren't going to make any given setlist.

Corporate Moronic has been out for over six months, and where's the harm in playing most of the album? I for one would like to hear how different a live version of Paratai Drive would be to that of the studio arrangement.

One of the odd moments of the rock critic's analysis of the show was how Graeme Downes was working the door at the venue. Why not? An audience member would be eyes glued to the band, so why not have Graeme eyeball and stamp every patron who comes in to see him?

Something tells me that the reviewer from Real Groove owned a copy of their "Greatest Hits" album (err... You're Just Too Obscure For Me FNCD476)and perhaps a promo copy of Corporate Moronic and set out to cover the events of a near 30 year old band. I guess it doesn't really work that way. Knowing who you're going to review helps. You don't need to know that Jane Dodd's played nothing but a Gibson Ripper bass, or who did the cover art for the Over the Moon record, but perhaps the understandings of a working band would help.

What I would really like to know is: what was the setlist?

The review in Real Groove
The review of the review in the Verlaines blog page

Jandek in Brisbane

2010-03-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

I don't think in my wildest of rock 'n' roll dreams that I would ever see Jandek play - let alone in Brisbane. And I don't even remember how I found out about Jandek's music in the pre-internet daze, but I do recall buying his albums at Red Eye in the mid-90s. The record covers were striking; and the music itself reminded me of how I used to make cassette albums as an early teen with my guitar and whatever else I could find in my bedroom.

As I walked into the darkened cinema to see a selection of Other Film (including an amazing short by Tony and Beverly Conrad), the artist himself was standing there - wearing all-black, with a black cowboy-like hat to match. His face looked nervous and frozen.

With a Mosrite guitar flung over his shoulder, and an accompanyment by his Scottish rhythm section, Jandek gently strummed it with his fingers in a Pip Proud way. With a thick journal on his music stand which he took out of his neat leather bag, he sang his way - page by page. At times it sounded like he was talking to himself - thinking about the past, the future and everything in between. And at other times, it was as if he's standing right next to you, and talking about what's on his mind.

Jandek flipped pages for an hour and a half, while the sliding bass and Sunny Murray-like drumming followed the Texan's stream. No hello, and no goodbye to the 25 brave Brisbanites who came along to see him.

Grant McLennan's last stand

2009-12-09T01:21:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have once attended the Licorice Lounge which was held every second weekend at Ric's Bar here in the city. I named it such out of a tribute to the Liquorice Lounge, a short-lived club which was held at the Treasury Hotel (and other venues) around '89-'90. The Liquorice Lounge of then played host to the Holy Ghosts, Small World Experience, Wondrous Fair, the He Dark Age and many other links to the Brisbane post-punk music scene of the late 70s and early 80s; a time and space which I've researched for more years than I can remember.

I bumped into Grant McLennan one night and told him about this night I have, and whether or not he'd be interested in playing some tunes. He was quite amazed at my play-lists and the French and German New Wave films I would show on the big screen upstairs at Ric's. "Do you really play Orange Juice and Dusty back to back?"

He wanted to be billed as MC Lennan, and so it was done. Little did anyone know that it would be his last public appearance. I recently recalled a CD I had put together of some of the songs he and I played that night, so here it is.

The Velvet Underground - Who Loves the Sun
Bob Dylan - Queen Jane Approximately
Tim Hardin - Hey Joe
The Concretes - Can't Hurry Love
The Byrds - So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
Orange Juice - Falling & Laughing
Bob Dylan - Country Pie
The Rubettes - Sugar Baby Love
Dusty Springfield - 24 Hours from Tulsa
Television - Venus
The Ronettes - Baby I Love You
Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe
Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin - Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus)
David Bowie - Starman

Venom P. Stinger - What's Yours Is Mine

2009-11-15T00:46:00.000-08:00

Personnel:

MICK TURNER - guitar
ALAN SECHER-JENSEN - bass
JIM WHITE - drums
DUGALD MACKENZIE - vocals

SIDE ONE

1. THOSE SNAKES
2. BEFORE YOU OPEN MY EYES
3. HELL STREET
4. MY HOLE
5. THE QUIET ONE
6. IMPRESSIONS
7. HOME SWEET HOME

SIDE TWO

8. LETHARGY
9. DEAR GOD
10. UNUSED
11. DAY WILL COME
12. GREYSTONES
13. WHAT'S YOURS IS MINE
14. PRESSURE INSIDE

ABERRANT RECORDS 1990.
ABE 911
PRESSED AND RELEASED BY NORMAL, GERMANY.

224KPS vinyl rip
here

Delivering a curious blend of early 80s US Hardcore and the blurred jazz post-punk stylings of Laughing Clowns, Melbourne's Venom P. Stinger have yet to receive their CD reissue dues.

Following up on their 1986 debut, Meet My Friend Venom, and 7" single released a year later - Walking About/26 Milligrams, What's Yours Is Mine was the last release to feature the vocals of the maniacal Scotsman, Dugald MacKenzie. Replaced by Nick Palmer, the band went on to tour the USA, releasing various titles on American indies which are noticeably in print today.

The Godlike Genius of Danny Kirwan, or a review of Hello There Big Boy!

2009-10-05T04:58:00.000-07:00

Just about every band worth their weight in antipasto has at least one insane or eccentric member in their line-up at one point or another. Easy example - Keith Moon of the Who. Fleetwood Mac were lucky to boast three of them: Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan. All of them played guitar. They sang songs. Loved Elmore James. They played in the band well before Buckingham-Nicks found their way out in front of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie and created an AOR monster.

Peter Green left Fleetwood Mac for many reasons. One of them was because the rest of the band didn't feel they should be donating their profits to the struggles in Biafra. Peter Green was wearing white robes around this time. As fitting as it looked for someone who's known as the Green God among guitar aficionado circles, Greeny drifted away from music for almost ten years before coming back into music in the 1980s to only drift away for a few more years to be found wearing silly hats.

Jeremy Spencer went for a stroll through downtown Los Angeles during one of Fleetwood Mac's American tours in the early 70s and was deemed a missing person for five days before the police found him safe and sound within the Children of God cult of which he's still a member of today. In a way, it puts you off from listening to too much Elmore James, really. If you end up seeking God after listening to his amazing slide guitar work, then it's not really worth donating 10% of your weekly income to. Spencer released some interesting records in the 70s and in more recent times, but that's another footnote for some other time.

When it comes to rock 'n' roll's acid casualties, we're often made note of Syd Barrett and to a lesser and just as significant extent, the great work of Roky Erickson. People like Danny Kirwan get swept under the carpet, even though his amazing guitar work on Fleetwood Mac's Kiln House still holds ground today.

Monterrey was a great event, as Eric Burdon and the new Animals attested to. Joni Mitchell via CSN&Y's Woodstock spoke of similarly exciting events. And then there's another little festival which could've been.

The Bavarian Woodstock which Rainer Langhans planned never did quite happen. This was in March 1970. The HighFish / Hai-Fisch / Stoned-Shark commune had made a rendezvous with Green and Kirwan at Munich airport in a (strange) attempt to get Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones to play a festival with sauerkraut instead of mud. What became an innocent request to ask members of the penguin-loving Mac to request the services of these two artists to play at his little festival had turned and tuned into a giant LSD binge of which neither guitar-playing gents have managed to recover from.

Not too long after this event (okay, two years and a few months to be a little more exact), Kirwan threw his guitar against a wall in the dressing room and decided to stand in the audience and watch Fleetwood Mac attempt to play a set without him. Mick Fleetwood decided that it might be a good idea to fire him, and off he went.

Kirwan released Second Chapter in 1975 and followed it up a year later with Midnight in San Juan.

It's Kirwan's last album, 1979's Hello Big Boy! which is the focus of attention here. Peter Green at this point had just released his second album, In The Skies and Jeremy Spencer released Flee with fellow members of the Children of God cult. Of course, Fleetwood Mac released the sprawling double LP, Tusk - the commerical flop that had only sold a million-odd copies.

All three guitarists had seen 1979 as the year of AOR, and Kirwan's work is no exception to the fact. Kirwan's guitar work was rumoured to be faded out of the mix almost entirely, and the work of 70-odd musicians turned a mentally-fragile Kirwan recording session into something interesting - kind of like what Phil Spector did to the Beatles last album, one could say.

Today, Kirwan's rumoured to be living in a men's shelter in London, drinking away his Fleetwood Mac royalty cheques and refusing any interviews about his music career.

When you think about it, there's precious few bands from the 60s whose original members are still alive today. There's a few Bluesbreakers line-ups, Cream, the Kinks and Fleetwood Mac - the band who will go down in history for having more nutters on the six-string than any other.

And as much as Peter Green stands head and shoulders above Kirwan and Spencer in terms of adulation and respect, Danny Kirwan's light shines brightly for creating the best lost album of the late 1970s.

Hello There Big Boy! has the Jimmy Buffett sea-breeze, the Steely Dan tightness, the Paley Brothers harmonies, the sensiblity of Gerry Rafferty, and the catchy choruses of Christopher Cross. Naturally, Kirwan didn't like the idea of touring to promote this album - and in fact, the album was almost shelved due to the erratic behaviourisms of Danny's, so the album sank without a trace.

Have a listen, and tell me what you think.

http://rapidshare.com/files/150879120/Hello_There_Big_Boy.rar

The Verlaines Corporate Moronic

2009-10-05T03:51:00.000-07:00

The small town of Dunedin plays host to a myriad of wonderful groups since the late 1970s, and the Clean seems to sit right at the top of that ladder. In fact, they've released a new record this year, and the Bats have done similarly. Strangely, too - the Verlaines have released a new album via a new independent label, Dunedin Music.

Once upon a time, the Verlaines released an album called Over the Moon through New Zealand's Sony branch. And at last count, about five people own this 1998 CD, and I know one of them. It was quite an interesting record - it kind of crossed the delicateness of 1991's Ready to Fly and the overcooked guitars of Way Out Where. You could feel the glue of tobacco paper seep into the microphone from Graeme Downes's lips during Writing On The Wall when he says, "don't say it's over."

Then the giant wait for Potboiler, released on the Flying Nun label nine years later. I have only played it once. Not feeling terribly game to play it again, it kind of left me stone cold. The ghastly cover doesn't help matters - but then again, Way Out Where has a rather shocking cover as well. Bob Dylan's 1981 LP Shot Of Love looks like Roy Lichtenstein's vomit but it's one cracker of a record. Judge, cover, et cetera.

On a recent trip to Christchurch, I walked into an independent record store to find the just released Verlaines album, Corporate Moronic. This worked out pretty famously as I had not planned to take any music along with me to listen to in the rent-a-car for the return trip to Dunedin. I played this album almost non-stop between both cities, pausing for small periods to listen to some classic AM rock on an FM station.

Every rock band I've grown up with in school have disappointed me in one way or another. Sonic Youth really lost the plot after Experimental, Jet-Set, Trash and No Star. Dinosaur Jr really into the ether after Where You Been? There's countless more examples to lay out, and the Verlaines sadly fall under this disappointment umbrella. I hope for each new Verlaines album to sound better than Bird Dog, and they never do. In hindsight, I guess it's that good after all.

After the departure of Robbie Yeats in 1989/90, and Jane Dodd in 1988, the Verlaines have lost a terrible amount of their poetry and zeal for complex arrangements. Some might just put it down to progress. The Velvets got more and more conventional as the years rolled on, so I guess this isn't anything too scandalous.

But in the case of the Verlaines, and Graeme Downes in particular - the band's leader, musical director, composer, lyricist, vocalist and occasional oboe player, it is as if the band of 2009 have forgotten what made them so beautiful - those countless references to cigarette smoking and pub-drinking is one major loss. And I don't think it's a good loss, either. Downes still finds room for doomed love songs, so not all is removed from the lyrical topics of yore.

Corporate Moronic completely removes itself from the Flying Nun era of 1982-1990, and all that's left is Graeme's voice. Thankfully, it's still in good form. So in today's terms it's Verlaines by name and not by nature.

Perhaps Graeme's moved on, and I haven't? He's already written Slow Sad Love Song, Just Mum, and Baud to Tears once - so why am I wanting another song along these similar lines? Selfishness more than likely.

In modern rock terms, I'd much rather listen to this album than the latest Kings Of Leon offering - so as much as this all seems like a giant whine, I should be grateful that the Verlaines exist at all.

Tony Bennett - The Beat Of My Heart

2009-02-07T23:30:00.000-08:00

This 1957 record by Tony Bennett is an unlikely record to have inspired the Laughing Clowns and their quest for brilliance, but with its array of drummers - Art Blakey, 'Philly' Joe Jones, Chico Hamilton and Billy Exiner; it's little wonder that after a close listen, you begin to hear the influences. For my crooner dollar, it's hard to beat Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours, though this baby comes pretty close.

This title was released on CD in 1997 as a part of Columbia's Best Value series and Bennett's own Master Series alike. Naturally, it's out of print on the convenient format.

Side one

"Let's Begin" (Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern) - 2:00
"Lullaby of Broadway" (Al Dubin, Harry Warren) - 2:24
"Let There Be Love" (Ian Grant, Lionel Rand) - 2:03
"Love for Sale" (Cole Porter) - 3:08
"Crazy Rhythm" (Irving Caesar, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Joseph Meyer) - 2:07
"The Beat of My Heart" (Johnny Burke, Harold Spina) - 2:24

Side two

"So Beats My Heart for You" (Pat Ballard, Charles Henderson, Tom Waring) - 2:49
"Blues in the Night" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) - 2:50
"Lazy Afternoon" (John Latouche, Jerome Moross) - 2:21
"Let's Face the Music and Dance" (Irving Berlin) - 2:47
"Just One of Those Things" (Porter) - 2:03

I have chosen not to include the bonus tracks, as they wouldn't have been able to fit here

Was Everett true? Laughing Clowns 25 years later (...and greater)

2009-02-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

To put things into perspective, this band formed in 1979 with former members of the Saints, a school chum with a horn and two cousins from Melbourne. Many line-up changes, record labels and a string of flawless records before the band imploded with little fanfare in December 1984.

Precious few books reference the band, while rock journalists ranging from Clinton Walker, Ian Macfarlane and Everett True (more on him later) have often elevated this band to Godlike status.

The ABC documentary on Australian rock 'n' roll Long Way To The Top acted like this band never existed. It was as if Ed Kuepper did nothing when the Saints split and decided to open a bookshop for six years and suddenly appeared out of the ether to release a dozen plus records under his own name?

Some people called this music jazz, others called it punk; while many called the Laughing Clowns jazz-punk. The Go-Betweens tried to copy their style on their first record. The Birthday Party took similar cues. The band wore suit jackets well before Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds applied them as their uniform of choice.

Having been lucky to see Louise Elliott play an epic fifteen minute blast of 'Eternally Yours' with Ed Kuepper and Jeffrey Wegener at Dingwalls in Camden two years back, I figured that a Clowns reunion wouldn't be too far off. After all, it was the friction between the two men that saw the band disintergrate (amongst other conspiracy theories).

Nick Cave curated this year's All Tomorrow's Parties for its Australian festival debut. It's well known that Cave is indeed a fan of the Saints, often stating that 'This Perfect Day' is one of his all-time favourite 45's. Yes, the original Saints did indeed appear at ATP and recieved mixed reviews, mainly from Chris Bailey's refusal to take things seriously. And that's another story entirely, and one not worth worrying about here.

It was little surpise that the Clowns were asked to play at ATP, given the fashion tips and overall musical and lyrical influence that appears in Cave's music since the late 70s.

With Louise Elliott living in London, Les 'Bif' Millar happily teaching the art of bass in Adelaide and Jeffrey Wegener residing in Sydney, a reunion of at least the 2nd line-up of the band wasn't going to be easy. With Peter Doyle awol, the line-up that appeared on the Everything That Flies 12" seemed like the line-up Kuepper was going to put together at Cave's invitation.

When a band's had so many line-up and sonic shifts in such a small period of time (five years, if anyone's counting), the thought of the band playing a carbon copy of a particular vintage seemed stupid. Thankfully, this never took place.

Having been a fan since the early 90s and having been a little too young to have experienced the band in their prime, I was expecting a great deal from whom I regard as my favourite Australian band.

Everything was there on stage: Kuepper's flattened fifths, Wegener's 16th note rolls, Elliott's borderline overblowing of the tenor, Millar's enthusiastic fretless runs, and so on. Sydney keyboardist Alistair Spence filled the empty spaces with his washes of synth and piano.

The bottom line is: the Clowns didn't make me feel embarassed for loving them in the same way the Velvet Underground did for me in 1993.

To this day, I still can't fathom how the Clowns would have been received in 1979 around the Sydney venues when they walked out from their season-long rehearsals and to the stage. But in 2009, there were more people at ATP witnessing the Clowns than the fashion-savvy Spiritualized, but who's really complaining here?

Their show at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art held a week after their ATP shows in Sydney drew a crowd of close to 800 people, with one known walk-out from Everett True - an English writer well known among rock music readers who recently published a rather interesting review of the said show for the Guardian.

True Tales: Why I walked out of a Laughing Clowns Gig

The salt 'n' pepper beards were there in the audience, true. The band are no longer a secret held by a precious few record collectors and rock writers, true too. The sound was fine from the middle of the room, coming out of the PA and the band alike.

He's right about the fact that they are "the greatest live rock'n'roll band in the world ever, full stop." Yet, he's wrong about everything else.

I'm glad I could witness this moment, and I look forward to the three shows that've been penciled in for the winters. The days will be dragging along until then.

Would the Real Johnny Greenwood Please Stand Up?

2008-12-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

There is almost nothing on the internet about Johnny Greenwood, the Australian country artist. The man has a delicate, frail voice - almost in a Pip Proud sort of way. The only records I have managed to find thus far are The Singing Transport Man (RCA 1976) and Big Rigs & Truckstops (Colonial). Both records feature a great deal of his own compositions, many of which have appeared on various Slim Dusty Truckin' albums. Each time I go and play his music on last.fm it assumes I am listening to some guy from Radiohead, which to me is quite an insulting insinuation if I've ever seen one. I believe he used to host a Country Music program on Logan's 101FM once upon a time. These two albums are well worth looking out for if you're a fan of Trucking Country records.

What I did find was this little blurb on a site called Queensland Country Style, which had this to say about the great man.

Johnny was born in Brisbane 1939. He started singing and playing in 1955 and was one of the first country artists to appear on television. His first record was "Loving Arms" on W & G label - more records followed and encouraged by their popularity spent many months performing overseas in Great Britain, Europe, North Africa and New Zealand.

Johnny’s biggest recording success came signing to RCA records that included "The Goondiwindi Grey", "Tibrogargan" and "The Singing Transport Man" - he also recorded for "Astor & Colonial" labels having sold well over 100,000 records to date. At one point made the top 20 Parade, outselling Elvis Presley, David Bowie and The Sweet.

One of the highlights of his career was being the support act for the Marty Robbins Tour in 1967.
Other highlights has been appearing on TV Shows with the likes of Country Homestead, Conway Country, The Late Show, John Crook Show, Country Roads, That’s Australia and Must Be Country.

Inducted into the "Hands of Fame" in 1980 and is still performing today - all this mainly as part time performer.

The great Apartments of Sydney

2008-10-17T03:37:00.000-07:00

I wrote this on my old Myspace blog earlier this year. Seeing I don't really want to bother with the past, I thought that I might place this piece here...

I've always found Sydney to be an unusual place. A place with the terrace houses, long lost musical scenes and quite simply, it's size can be a little daunting.

Nevertheless, I took the rare chance to venture down just the other day. I was there for a few hours in September, driving my newly acquired DS21 up from Melbourne and stopping slap/bang in the middle of Chinatown. A little lunch and for a quick dash around the shops on Pitt St was the extent of the last visit.

Looking up at the subject title and trying to get back to the point, I realised why I am writing this. I went down to see the Apartments - a band who have recently decided to start playing again.

A lot of people find their way into the world of the Apartments via The Go-Betweens and that's understandable. A casual Go-betweens fan may realise that the band's singer and songwriter, Peter Milton Walsh was in the band for all of five minutes in late 1978. Someone who's a little more than casual may know that both Forster and McLennan wrote songs about him, namely 'Don't Let Him Come Back and 'That Way'.

I've always been the type of person who studies record sleeves. It's a great pity that I can't get an honorary doctorate in record sleeves, but maybe I just haven't looked into it enough.

When I bought my first Laughing Clowns record, it was at a time in Brisbane where you just could not buy anything by them second hand, and the CDs weren't readily available. This was the early 90s. The first Clowns record I managed to procure was the 12" for Eternally Yours. How I got into the Clowns is another story altogether, so I'll cut that bit out and get to where I am meant to be heading here.

So there it was - the record. The Judi Dransfield artwork. The credits. Now I looked at the musicians who played on this 12" and saw Jeffrey Wegener (who I knew was working part-time at this hideous record store in Adelaide St), Louise Elliott, Chris Abrahams and Peter Walsh. Now it got me thinking: is this the producer Peter Walsh - the chap who produced that Church record I have? It couldn't be - it turned out it wasn't. It was Peter Milton Walsh. So I worked out he had this band called the Apartments. I remember flicking through some 7" singles in the same shop I bought this Clowns record from and seeing a title by this band called The Apartments.

The next day, I rushed back into the store and bought it. I played it. I played it again. And again. And again. It was really quirky pop music. The vocal was so strange, so detached from any other singer I had heard to that point. The piano on the record is so basic, yet it makes the b-side seem like it should be the a.

Quite simply, it blew me away - I'd never heard something like this before. The lyrics made you feel like if you hadn't been like the character in the songs before, then you will be at some point in your life. Maybe you hadn't even lived.

The single was All You Wanted, released by Hot in late 1984 - not long after Walsh had completed his 12 months in Laughing Clowns. A 12 months which saw the release of one record (Law of Nature) and two tours of both Europe and Australia. Law Of Nature was the first true lyrical record which Kuepper wrote on his own, and it's a record I play more than any other of the 40-odd records he's responsible for. I'm sidetracking again.

That one pivotal moment of my youth where I heard the Apartments for the first time led me along this path of wanting to see them perform. In time, I had managed to learn a little more about them and all I could find was a series of dead-ends that took me many years to work out. It continues to be an adventure, I guess. There's still a lot of unanswered questions and I don't really mind. I'm not into the gossip aspect of musician, but I do like to know how someone gets to where they are - just in case I may want to take that trip myself. I hope that made sense - it's hard for me to articulate what I am trying to say.

Peter Milton Walsh did play a show in Brisbane at one of the spring Livid festivals with Amanda Brown, but by the time I knew about it... well, it was a little too late.

Years roll by and I read an article about The Apartments and Walsh mentions a possible tour of Australia that will coincide with the local release of their 1995 record, A Life Full of Farewells. This tour never takes place. They did play a series of shows in France around that time and deservedly so - they're the only country whose music fans seem to understand. It makes that cliche of the French being romanticists seem more validated and less of a cliche.

So they play a show in Sydney - their first since forever and I am absolutely there.

I saw their soundcheck at Brisbane's Troubadour in June - from the moment all the levels were right, I was just blown away. I felt this great rush of adrenalin go through my body and when this happens, it's a yardstick to measure just how good a show I'm seeing is. This narcotic feeling rarely happens. When Ed Kuepper played 'Too Many Clues' at the Judith Wright a few weeks ago, it happened. And when Walsh started the opening chords to 'The Goodbye Train' on Thursday night it happened again.

Sitting on the mezzanine floor with my uncomfy chair and the speakers sitting just about level with me, it all sounded perfect. I love a good live mix and I am rarely treated to one, but such is showbiz.

I am not sure what makes their shows so amazing. I have seen them as many times as the band have performed publicly - be it in Brisbane or Melbourne and now Sydney. Admittedly, the set has featured the same songs and quite frankly, I couldn't give a fuck about it. The new arrangements to the bulk of the songs (particularly 'Thank You for Making Me Beg') provide a freshness. All the songs blend in - even if they were written in 1983 or 1993 - it's like the clocks never stopped.

I guess I am making up for lost time. When you know that there could be a time when one of your musical heroes could turn the taps on again, it's exciting. I don't mind waiting yet another ten years for a Scott Walker record to come out, because I know it'll be the record he wants to make and that it'll just make bands like Radiohead seem more and more idiotic and pointless.

I waited the best part of fifteen years to see the Apartments, so I am making the most of the situation and that's Walsh's brave decision to pick up the Telecaster and to play his songs again. I never thought it would happen. The more I would write letters to Peter, the more he would underline the fact that it was a vanished world.

And after seeing the various audiences who've presented themselves to the shows, there's one thing that's clear - I'm not the only person who enjoys the songs. It's some of my heroes, some of my friends and some of my enemies too.

But as for Sydney - it was a wonderful night - just being in the audience amongst the names I have seen all over the record sleeves I have in my collection was a little overwhelming. A drummer here, a producer over there, a photographer by the stairs, a guitarist keeping the bar from falling down, an artist cracking jokes outside the venue, a bassist that looked like a chicken, but who soared like an eagle.

A wonderful, unforgettable atmosphere which I was glad to occupy for one summer night in Sydney.

The music of Drenica, or an uncritical aesthetic study on the hill-country folk music vernacular of Western Kosovo part two: Turbo-Folk v Gangsta Folk

2008-10-05T02:53:00.000-07:00

With the advent of Turbo-Folk music filtering through the Balkans in recent decades, true folk music of Drenica becomes more scarce as the years roll on. In case you're wondering, Turbo-Folk is when you put a dance beat over some traditional instruments to give it a more modern sheen. That's the most short-hand explanation of it, anyway.

If you've heard the original Borat theme from when it was on the Ali G show, then you'll know what I'm talking about. And yes, that's a Drenica-born and bred artist performing the theme song - not a Kazak.

I'm straying away from what I wanted to showcase, and that's what I call Gangsta-Folk. No eighties Mercedes Benzes with German plates doing drive-bys along rocky mountain ways, but plenty of gold teeth and gun-waving.

This video is from Vllezerit Qetaj (the Qetaj Brothers), who formed in the early sixties and are familiar faces on DVD and video collections of Kosovar folk groups. The best environment to hear Albanian music is much like this Youtube clip I happened to find. The title of the song is loosely-translated as Stop Serbia For I See Smoke says it all, and as will the guy you see at 1:29 letting a few bullets go out the window during the performance.

The players sit in a circle in the middle of a usually rectangular men's room. As you can see in the clip, there's a bit of goulash and caustic Russian tea doing the rounds so therefore I'd be safe in saying this was someone's wedding or a young boy's circumcision party.

The instrumentation is typical of a musical group of this area, with Cifelti (a two-stringed lute instrument tuned B-E), Sharki (its larger five stringed cousin), piano accordion and a def, a skinned tambourine.

This is the music of Drenica at its wildest and most unhinged.

The return of the Prince

2008-09-23T02:24:00.000-07:00

In recent months, the vintage Sydney music label Prince Melon has been revitalized by its founder Ed Kuepper. The label started in late 1980 with the release of the Laughing Clowns single, Sometimes The Fire Dance. The label released a further few singles by the Laughing Clowns in Australia, while Rough Trade Deutschland and Red Flame handled the European market.

The label also released singles by Peter Milton Walsh's post Apartments group, Out Of Nowhere and Ollie Olsen's post Whirlywirld project, Hugo Klang. The label dissolved around the time of the Laughing Clowns split in late 1982 and when the band reconvened in early 1983, they joined the ranks of Sydney's Hot Records where further records by the Clowns were released, as well as Ed Kuepper's vast solo catalogue and that of the Aints. In Autumn of this year, Ed Kuepper has rekindled the label he started after his disenchantment with Missing Link, the label which saw the release of the self-titled debut of the Laughing Clowns.

Three Bootleg Series releases of have so far been issued this year, with limited CD pressings of 500 each. They're all available via Prince Melon's myspace page. Prince Melon looks to release a a final title this year, a recording by the Ascension Academy, a group which played a one-off show in March this year for the Institute of Modern Art's Brisbane Sound exhibition. 2009 will see a Prince Melon release of a new studio project by the man himself.

Ed Kuepper and the Brisbane Sound

2008-09-23T01:17:00.001-07:00

This piece is an excerpt from an as yet unpublished interview which is due to appear in the forthcoming Brisbane Sound catalog by the Institute of Modern Art.

Ed Kuepper’s ties to the Brisbane Sound dates back to when he formed his first band, Kid Galahad and The Eternals towards his final years of high school in 1972. Shortly after, this band became The Saints – who are widely credited as one of the first punk bands of the 1970s, and the first to independently release a single.

The band’s sound was against the grain of what was going on in Brisbane’s musical wasteland at the time, which was primarily a cavalcade of cabaret-styled bands with one-word names, who couldn’t break away from emulating the million-selling heavy rock bands who filled the large halls and tennis centres of Brisbane in the early Seventies.

This strong-willed do-it-yourself aesthetic that gave made the band its own booking agent and record label encouraged many other Brisbane bands playing original music to do the same. While Brisbane was coming to terms with The Saints, they’d broken up due to creative differences by the time their third album, Prehistoric Sounds, was released in October 1978.

Upon Ed Kuepper’s return to Brisbane shortly after, he assembled the Laughing Clowns with fellow school mates Jeffrey Wegener and Bob Farrell and relocated to Sydney. After six months of rehearsal, the band with the addition of Ben Wallace-Crabbe and shortly after his cousin Dan, Laughing Clowns were ready to make their debut in mid-1979. The band’s sound connected Kuepper’s future vision of The Saints, and an ever-growing interest in the more avant garde style of jazz music; known as either Free-Jazz or the New Music.

The influence of Laughing Clowns on the Brisbane Sound can be heard in the rhythmic guitar playing of Robert Forster, to Out Of Nowhere’s epic and complex song-structures, and the likes of Lindy Morrison — whose drumming style in both Zero and the Go-Betweens became a huge influence upon Clare McKenna and Keryn Henry’s common disregard for the simple 4/4, ‘meat and potatoes’ approach in time-keeping.

Since the split of the Laughing Clowns in December 1984, Ed Kuepper has gone on to a successful solo career which has spawned countless albums and in more recent years, a reunion with fellow Clowns founder, Jeffrey Wegener.

This interview was conducted at Kuepper’s Brisbane home by Donat Tahiraj in November 2007.

DT: After being on the major label EMI during The Saints and then going from that to an independent like Missing Link for the Laughing Clowns self-titled EP, what was the impetus behind starting the Prince Melon label?

EK: It was most likely because our relationship with Missing Link wasn’t all that brilliant. I just wasn’t particularly happy with what that relationship was, and I thought it was highly unlikely that any major label would touch the Clowns with a bargepole. And seeing that I’d released a record myself before with the Fatal record of The Saints, I thought I’d try that again.

DT: Was it a conscious decision to use an illustration by Melbourne artist Robin Wallace-Crabbe on the cover of the self-titled Laughing Clowns record?

EK: It was definitely something band-motivated. He was the father of our piano player Dan Wallace-Crabbe. The illustration and the text type was then presented to Missing Link and it was changed without consultation. We didn’t see the finished cover until it came out. It had been ‘modernised’ by Philip Brophy. The original artwork didn’t have all those lines. I thought it was an attempt to make the band seem slightly more contemporary, fix us in a certain point in time. Whereas I always thought the Clowns were outside that whole thing. We certainly had no ties to that electronic, avant garde-ish pop sound at that time.

DT: So did you feel that the Clowns didn’t fit into any musical scene that existed among the eastern capital cities in the late 70s and early 80s?

EK: Not directly in a musical way, no. We were obviously friendly with a couple of bands like the Birthday Party and The Go-Betweens ... and to some extent Scattered Order. But musically I thought everything was fairly different at that time.

DT: Did you see Peter Milton Walsh’s group, Out of Nowhere, as being allies to the Clowns, seeing that aside from Laughing Clowns and Hugo Klang, they too were a part of the Prince Melon label?

EK: Allies might be too strong a word. I liked them, I thought they were doing something musically that I didn’t have a problem with on the Prince Melon label. It wasn’t a master plan to have a have a hit record or anything like that. Prince Melon was set up and really operated as a non-profit label for the clowns . Both bands approached me ,not vice versa.

DT: What type of role did the Prince Melon label play for Out of Nowhere ?

EK: By that stage i was essentially the label, so i booked the session which i also attended in some kind of executive producer capacity. I did think both of the songs were too long to fit on a 7 inch single so I suggested they should distill them down to their melodic essence. They decided not to do this however. Overall i remember the session being a bit strained,with a lot of tension between Milt and the studio engineer. Afterwards I had the records manufactured and gave copies to some media people that i thought would be interested, and sold as many as possible to independent stores. I also got them some support spots for the Clowns in Sydney.

DT: What was your impression of the Brisbane music scene of the early Eighties when the Clowns first played in Brisbane?

EK: I didn’t have much of an impression because I wasn’t up here all that much. It kind of seemed very small and very underground.

DT: Did you notice a shift from when the Saints left Brisbane in early 1977 to when you returned after the break-up of the Saints in 1978?

EK: The main thing that had changed was there did seem to be a scene, albeit fairly small. There wasn’t a scene when the Saints left. But there was a small scene based around The Go-Betweens and Zero. I don’t have a profound knowledge of how much of an impact that scene made on the culture of the town at the time. I got the impression that everyone still basically had to leave to achieve anything, and if you didn’t, you’d get ground down eventually.

DT: With the release of the Laughing Clowns self-titled mini-album in early 1980, the band did a seldom-seen video for the opening track, Holy Joe. What sparked your interest in making a video for this song?

EK: Ken West organised most of the putting together of that film. There were a few people involved who’d had ties with the film school in Sydney. As for the set, Ken may have painted that, but I’m not entirely sure. George Craglietto and Jeff Perrin – who were sort of involved with doing lights for the Clowns — also had a strong involvement. German expressionistic films of the early 20th century were kind of an influence on the way we were presenting the band at the time. As far as the costumes go, the band wore what they felt like wearing.

DT: Did you as a songwriter make any conscious decision to write hit singles during the Clowns days?

EK: I don't know about hit singles ,but the type of song that was released on 45 was definately shorter. I think anything we released as a single wasn’t designed to be totally obscure. There was some attempt made at having a pop structure in a melody or lyric.

DT: Obviously from the very start of the Clowns conception, there was a conscious decision as to what the band wore, like the suit and tie, and how they placed themselves on stage was noticeably different to anything else going on in the Australian music scene at the time. Placing the band in a straight line is but one example seen in one of Graham Aisthorpe’s photos of one of the group’s early shows in Sydney.

EK: It was very much contrived in the sense that it was well thought-out. There was always this intent to move into a darker theatrical presentation than a flashy, rock presentation. I think Ken and George’s lights, . were an important part of the way the band was presented. The way things were set up on stage – putting the drums up front, or as you said – putting the band in a straight line with everything else. That was all experimenting with things. We were constantly playing around with how things could be presented in a physical sense.

DT: A lot of Laughing Clowns listeners are either more interested in the Mr Uddich-Schmuddich Goes To Town era of the band where the sound owed a lot to the more to free-jazz or the more song-based material that was introduced with Law Of Nature. What are your impressions of the various line-ups and sounds which the band had during its five year existence?

EK: Every time there was a major shift in the line-ups – I guess there were three different forms which had line-up shifts. I’d say the first line-up which included the band going from a four-piece to a six-piece and back to a three piece at one stage. Then the five piece, which did the Mr Uddich-Schmuddich and Everything That Flies sort of stuff. And then the four-piece with the Law Of Nature sort of stuff, with either Peter Walsh as a bass player or with Paul Smith who replaced Peter after he left. Each of those three line-ups had their own sort of audience and not all of them made the transition. As to which one was more successful? That depends how you interpret these things. The second line-up was the most overt in terms of expressing a jazz influence, which I tried to stop. Where I thought the band was most successful was in terms of the band’s performance with songs like ‘Everything That Flies’ – that was powerful. It was the most successful realization of what I was after. Live, sometimes the more sort of exploratory stuff would work, other times it became too much of a formula in itself. I guess after that, I wanted to move back to a more structured form of performance, hence the Law Of Nature and Ghosts Of An Ideal Wife period. Law Of Nature was almost something in some ways that wouldn’t have been out of place if it came out directly after Prehistoric Sounds. I think there’s quite a close sonic link between those records.

DT: Given the fact that the majority of the artwork in way of posters and album sleeves are designed by your wife Judi Dransfield-Kuepper or yourself personally, just how significant is having a strong visual aspect tie in with what you’ve done musically since the Clowns started?

EK: It’s not something that I go into great pains to extrapolate upon, but there’s always been a connection. I’ve always had an interest in melding sound and images outside of the standard promo clip. The unfortunate thing is that I have done little of it. On the other hand too, having made that claim, I’ve never had that great a need to do that a lot live. In the Nineties and through the Nineties, the promotional clip sort of became almost more important than the song. And to some extent that had a strange effect on me. It made me move away from it entirely. That sort of pushed me away from developing that side of what I really like to be doing. If the video clip hadn’t of become such a prime way in which music was presented, then quite possibly I would’ve made a greater effort to make that connection.

DT: In recent years, you’ve started to think away from promotional clips and playing live to large-scale video projections, such as with the MFLL shows. Has this shift away from promotional video clip making allowed you to freely use more imagery in both live performance or otherwise?

EK: Because of the notion of the promotional clip has gone now – it doesn’t seem to mean anything and it all seems quite liberating. It’s opened that area again. All of the technologies that have made people more accessible to things has made drawing attention to people a lot harder. When the Saints did their first single independently, at the time it was a talking point, but now when everyone’s doing home recording, it’s like who isn’t? But I’m very pleased with these technological advancements, I think it’s great.

The music of Drenica, or an uncritical aesthetic study on the hill-country folk music vernacular of Western Kosovo part one

2008-09-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

The Albanian music which has been fed through to the west via a small and steady circulation of 'world music' compact discs and records over the years have often misrepresented the cannon of this particular brand of eastern European music.

As far as music from the Albanian music of Kosovo is concerned, little information en Anglais can be found on the music of Drenica, a small rural area of in the center-west of Europe's newest nation. Worse still, the information available from Albanian language sites offers precious little information.

Drenica is a place where most (if not all) conflicts between Albanians and Serbians tend to come from. It's hilly, harsh and its music is a reflection of countless years of Serbian oppression through story-telling. It's almost exclusively male-orientated amongst its players and listeners alike and a style that's exclusive to this region in terms of song-structure and instrumentation.

For many years leading up of Yugoslavia's disintergration in the early 1990s, the state-run RTP - Radio Television Prishtina issued cassettes of Kosovo-Albanian music (the most popular format amongst Albanians for as long as I can remember), as did the Jugoton label - both during the time Kosovo was a province within the former Yugoslavia. The music released on these labels didn't profile Drenicak music for the most part.

The music that was released on RTP and Jugoton tended to have a commerical and near-pop slant, creating very little opportunity for veteran folk artist Rizah Bllaca (see photo) to put down a 33 minute rendering of Bajram Begu e Hasan Prishtina.

With the dissolve of Serbian control over Kosovo, independent labels have since released a healthy amount of CDs and DVDs of Albanian music not heard outside of flea market bootlegs. One must understand first and foremost that this style of folk music coming out of Drenica was banned by the Yugoslav authorities at the time due to its strongly anti-authoritarian sentiment in its songs. Performances were limited to impromptu shows in people's houses and thus predating the post-punk craze by a few good years.

The focus in the lyrics are more often than not a oral account of Kosovo's history which pays homage to its freedom fighters from the post-Ottoman years to former US president Bill Clinton.

A featured clip here is a home recording of Rizah Bllaca performing Vajtimi e Avdies (Mourning of Avdi) with a Sharki, a five string instrument which is rarely performed as a solo instrument.

First starts for the lost arts.

2008-09-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

What becomes immediately known these days is this overwhelming abundance of bands, music and such. Two questions spring to mind: where did they all come from, and has it always been this way? The internet has certainly allowed the hopelessly obscure to circulate among the famous and the infamous. I'm only starting to wonder why Mark E. Smith's "too many bands, too many musicians" quote sounds stronger than ever. Maybe I'm just too old (and old fashioned?) to venture out into this so-called amazing array of new bands.

My solution is in trying to avoid these new trends and new sensations - focusing more on yesterday's wine than today's whine. Working in a record shop doesn't help this at all, but nevertheless I'll trudge on and create a focus (in this blog) on some of the more overlooked talents. There will most likely be a strong emphasis on Australian and New Zealand post punk and I'll do my best not to overlap with other blogs I've seen in my travels. It might not be such a simple task, but what the hey.

This of course will spin out of control and veer away from any previous plots, so I'm just going to write about things that interest me, as that's what blogs are generally about.