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You Am I @ The Gaelic Club-23/5/09

June 22nd 2009 10:59
Janet Jackson had song in the nineties that went “the best things, in life are free” and in these hard economic times, The wonderful people at the JDset decided to throw open the Gaelic’s doors for a free gig.

First on were Adelaide’s The Shiny Brights. These guys rocked the growing crowd with a no nonsense rawk show. The band ripped through their 40 minute set, barely pausing between songs. The singer thrashed his body around the small stage area (obviously no one could use You am I’s gear so the stage was cluttered with instruments and fuck all room for the bands), the drummer was simply brilliant. Agreed by a friend of mine, the drummer really kicked the songs along. The rest of the rhythm section should look to the drummer as inspiration because they were...lacklustre. The bass player, who looked like a private school rugby union player just stood there until the last song which he did some back up vocals for and the the other guitarist looked like he wanted to be at the bar instead of on stage. Otherwise, a great set



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It’s a very damp and wet Friday night in Newtown. The new venue Notes is in it’s 2nd week and tonight they have Sydneysiders Dead Letter Chorus and Melbourne indie folk group Skipping Girl Vinegar to entertain the dinner crowd.

The place felt like The Vanguard but modern, The Basement but classier. The tiny stage was being set up with an array of cardboard cut outs of animals stuck to the mic stands. A coffee table with some old books and an awesome old school red telephone. Knowing full well that the company I was with (Brommers and Noddy from Homebrew radio show) were massive fans of Skipping Girl Vinegar, there was an element of expectation. The guys played me the album but was only taking parts of it in so I couldn’t get an indication of the bands sound



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None More Black-this is satire

June 12th 2009 10:11
I first heard this band through a bonus disc of Fat Wreck Chords compilation on the NOFX “Wolves In Wolves Clothing” album. I never really listened to it but stuck on my iPod. One day while shuffling through songs I heard the track “You Suck But You’re Peanut Butter Is Okay” and was hooked by the title and music. So after having the song stuck in my head I searched for the record.

The thing about None More Black is the dirtiness to the sound. Not in a perverted, sexual way. But in the music and especially the vocals. Harsh and scratchy singing over melodic hooks and chord progressions. There’s nothing fancy here, there’s no amazing new sound to revolutionize the scene. There’s just four guys who have written 13 solid songs for this record. From the blues inspired “10 Ton Jiggawatts”, the slow meander late night drunk rock number in “I See London”, the catchy “Under My Feet” to the albums soulful closer “Majestic”. The band’s lyrics are a lot more personal than it appears on the casual listen. Reflection on mistakes made and depression underline some of tracks. Then there’s songs like “You Suck But You’re Peanut Butter Is Okay” and “Opinions And Assholes” which attack pretentiousness in the punk movement


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Bob Evans @ The Metro 15/5/09

June 11th 2009 06:53
Jebediah front man Kevin Mitchell has been working of late under he’s alter ego Bob Evans. While many have quipped at the blandness of a stage name in Bob Evans, I think the name is a compliment to the music. Simple and honest. Tonight, Bob Evans took to the stage trailing the rest of his touring band with aplomb. Evan’s guitar outlined with colored lights shone out through the darkness.

The set kicked off with the title track of the new album “Goodnight Bull Creek”. The thing that grabbed my attention was the guitarist. A skinny man in tight black jeans and jacket, hawking himself over his guitar. He looked like he should’ve been in Placebo and not in Bob Evans’ band. The bass player looked like he was trying to hard to not fuck up his part to get any enjoyment out of playing live. As Bob went through his set list comprising mostly of the new record to begin with, it felt like I was at a party and someone had put on the cd as background music. In fact, you could’ve put Bob Evans’ albums onto iTunes and let genius make a playlist and get the same vibe as seeing him perform live. It all felt a little flat


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Against Me’s Tom Gabel and ex Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan teaming up to do a run of solo shows was sure to bring a decent crowd. Tonight, The Annandale was sold out. I missed a chance to talk to Tom Gabel before the show, and I am sure I’ll regret that. The opening slot went to A girl who sounded alot like Missy Higgins. I’m terrible sorry that I don’t remember your name or what band you were in, but your songs were nice and your girlfriend had some cool tattoos.

I’d never heard any of Chuck’s solo stuff. I saw a clip on you tube before the show and thought I could expect maybe a little City and Colour thing. I was wrong. I was blown away by the strength of his voice and the passion he played with. He absolutely thrashed away at that acoustic guitar. My initial description of his sound is a broad mix of Joe Cocker, old Neil Diamond and Social Distortion. The crowd loved it when he performed a couple of Hot Water Music songs and dedicated ‘Geraldine’ to all the mothers’ for mother’s day


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NOFX-i heard they suck live

May 23rd 2009 01:26
A NOFX live show is just more than a punk rock show. It’s not just 4 guys up on stage banging out 3 minute songs in 75 minutes and leaving. You also get the NOFX comedy routine.

For this album, they come out and spend the first few minutes talking to the crowd. A staple in their live show. There’s talk of drug use. There’s the obligatory toilet humour. There’s taunting the crowd, there’s swearing and there’s also 17 of best NOFX songs to date played with precision and accuracy. Even when they do mess up, you can’t tell. The songs are great. Melvin and El Hefe’s guitar work are a feature of this band. Favorites such as ‘Soul Doubt’, ‘Linoleum’, ‘Bob and ‘Beer Bong’ are played in between the on stage banter, at times almost feeling like an aside to their shtick


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NOFX-punk in drublic

May 19th 2009 12:23
Every good band will have that one album that defines them. That one album that will win them alot of fans. The album that will receive critic acclaim and success. For some it will come in their first record, for others it can take a few albums. NOFX fall in the latter. Five albums down, ten years and a slow build up of fans and support have resulted in this album-Punk In Drublic

Again, they play on words for the title. Humour and puns and playing on words is a trademark for NOFX. They are just a fun band to listen to and, if you get the chance, a fun band live. Short, sharp, punk rock music that broadens the base of four chords and adds some fine guitar riffs that could sit on a rock/metal album and double kick drums that breaks the mould of punk drumming


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NOFX-heavy petting zoo

May 16th 2009 09:58
This is the first NOFX album I ever purchased. I was never a huge fan of them before hand. I was more into metal and didn’t give punk much look in and certainly didn’t give NOFX much credit. But as I started to get into punk rock around the time it exploded in 1994, I found an appreciation for this band and when they brought out this album, i gave it a shot.

I remember sticking the disc in my CD player. The intro started after a few seconds. A simple bass riff followed by a short 45 second burst of a track. It went straight into the next track with it’s distorted ska riff and felt my head bobbing along as I read the lyrics in the sleeve. 38 minutes later it was over. And I wanted more. Maybe it was because I was used to 70 minute Iron Maiden and Metallica records but I wanted more great songs. So I hit play and listened to the record again and fell in love with NOFX


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NOFX-wolves in wolves clothing

May 9th 2009 02:39
NOFX have transformed. Once they were the backbone of melodic punk rock. Their songs were silly tales about lesbians, drinking, weird people they meet and everyday situations. There was nothing to serious about their lyrics. Melvin and El Hefe would playing the fast crunching riffs, Smelly pioneered the double kick drum beat and Fat Mike's nasal vocal was enough to keep the fans happy.

Then George W Bush came into power, pissed the band off and got all political on War on Errorism. And from that, they’ve found a new voice. A voice of dissent. A voice to challenge the status quo. Gone are songs about lesbians and now the theme is religion


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NOFX- Coaster

May 6th 2009 12:01
26 years is along time to be doing a job. No matter how much fun you have doing it. And with those years mounting there can be a tendency to take it easy. Phone it in as it may. The same fire that burned in the belly all those years ago can become smoldering ambers after more than a quarter of a century.

Thankful NOFX show no signs of letting that fire burn out. Yeah, they are now 40 and have families but it doesn’t mean they’ve slowed down the partying. Fat MIke still drinks and does drugs like he did 20 years ago. (Anyone who saw there TV series Backstage Passport will remember the “Green Dragon


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