Ginger Wildheart - Kiss Alive II

As usual Ginger has provided us with a nice little memento from his acoustic tour from earlier this year by releasing Kiss Alive II that documents the gigs.
There's mention of Birmingham, but I'm not sure if it's the full set from there, or instead that the songs have been recorded on different dates and then put together as if it's the one night.
It doesn't really matter though as it flows from start to finish.
It's exactly what I expect anyone who was at the shows would want, and it also provides those who didn't catch a gig on the tour with plenty of evidence that they missed out big time.
Jase Edwards (Wolfsbane) and Jon Poole are the perfect foils for Ginger on stage and the warmth of their performance can be felt in the recordings.
It has always been said about how difficult it is to capture a live performance and convey the feeling of it as if you were there, but in this case they've done it
Close your eyes and you're at the show.
When someone say that you really had to be there you can now say that you didn't because you bought the CD.
Apart from the songs that fans of Ginger and the Wildhearts know and love there's a great set of covers that include the Taxi theme, with a little segue into White Riot, to a cracking rendition of Surrender by Cheap Trick.
The Icicle Works song 'Understanding Jane' gets rolled out, but some could be forgiven for thinking that it's something to do with the Wildhearts as it appeared on Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before Vol 1.
Well they could be forgiven for thinking this if they didn't click onto that album being made up of covers, and yes I have met a couple of people who thought that.
As usual the banter between Ginger and the crowd is a highlight, as is the surreal segments when Jon Poole takes charge.
Anyway by the time that the closing track 'I wanna go where the people go' kicks in it's very clear that this is yet another album from Ginger that could be classed as a must have.
As we in Scotland would say 'It's a belter'.
The image is from the back of the CD and the title has been added)

Ginger and Friends - G2 (Glasgow) 8/12/11

Well my week of rock and roll debauchery is turning out to be a bit crap.
My intention was to do the Steve Conte gig, recover, Ginger Wildheart and Friends, recover and then finish the week off with the Urban Voodoo Machine just as my liver and eardrums were about to wave a white flag.
The reality has been that the Steve Conte gig was everything I thought it would be.
Ginger was a complete anticlimax and now due to changes in a work rota I'll be missing Urban Voodoo machine.
I'm not a happy bunny.
Back to Ginger though.
First the supports were nothing to write home about.
I'd listened to them prior to going to the gig and for the first time ever decided that I would try and arrive on time to miss them both.
It's not something I would normally do, and I've complained loudly enough about the sort of music fan who doesn't lend an ear to supports in the past, but in my defence after listening to them I really couldn't think of anything worse that cultivating back ache while standing watching bands that I have no affinity to.
Yet that's what ultimately happened.
There appeared to be some people into what both bands did, but not a great deal.
It seems to be a common problem with a Ginger Wildheart crowd.
They're there to see Ginger and that it.
It's not the sort of thing that allows the night to build in excitement.
Jackdaw 4 were virtually ignored on the last acoustic tour and if you give them a listen you would have to ask yourself why as there's not much wrong with Willie Dowlings band.
Anyway once they were finished Ginger and his friends arrived and by fuck was the sound shite down the front.
There's no point in talking about the set as one song bled into another with crunching guitars drowning out the vocals.
You could tell what they were playing and the crowd down the front were appreciative enough, but it seemed a bit dishonest to me.
Why should we give the impression that everything is fine and dandy when sound wise it's not?
We're not Pavlov's dogs.
Oh the band is on so now I must react as I am conditioned to regardless of the quality.
Between the songs Ginger spoke clearly enough, but once the music kicked in it was crap again.
It was maybe telling that there was some comments from Ginger about a curfew and the sound being asked to be lowered so I don't think that the man was too happy himself with how things had went, but who am I to say.
Pish. That's what it was. Complete and utter pish.
This may have been the last gig I attend in 2011 and if so then that's crap.
It really took the edge of a fantastic year and in all honesty a feel a bit cheated and depressed now.
A few friends have since commented that the sound up the back of the venue was crystal clear and they thought it was an excellent show.
Bastards.
Oh I suppose I should add that there was some real fuckin' cocks in the crowd.
There's nothing wrong with a bit of exuberant thrashing about, but if it's designed to force smaller women out of your way so that you can steal their prime spot against the barrier then you sir are simply a cunt of the highest order.
I guess it time now to post this and wait for the hate mail to come in from the Wildhearts fans who misconstrue what has been said as a dig at Ginger and his band.
Oh well. Who said life was fair anyway.
PS. Don't get me started on the Garage as a venue.
PPS. Jon Poole is the reason I hung about until the end. The man's a mentalist, an entertaining mentalist. 'mon The God Damn Whores.

Hurricane Bawbag update

Bit windy today with gusts being measures at over 150mph.
So we in Scotland have decided to dub the extreme weather as Hurricane Bawbag rather than use the official name of Friedhelm that someone somewhere who probably has letters after his or her name called it.
Everyone is currently waiting with baited breath to see it described as bawbag on a televised news item, but no luck so far.
However the term bawbag is now trending on twitter so if anyone from further climes asks what a bawbag is then you can reliably inform them that it's the colloquial term for a gentleman's scrotum,
It's also the name we use to describe a bawbags bawbag and doesn't necessarily have to be attached to a gentleman.
Some people are claiming it isn't as bad as others are describing it, but I just seen Dorothy fly past my window hanging onto Toto's scrotum for dear life. Toto didn't look too bothered, but it's difficult to tell if a dog is smiling or grimacing.
It's like a scene for the Wizard of Bawz.
There's aerial photographs of the storm and if you squint at it then I'm sure you would agree that it looks a bit like David Cameron and that's uncanny as he's a bawbag to.
Latest news is that the River Clyde that runs through Glasgow could burst its banks.
If that happens the government have stated that they will instigate another bail out.
No one has had the heart to tell them it's a different sort of bank and the only bailing out that will be happening will be in the lounges of those who can afford riverside apartments.
The Met Office has now issued a red warning.
Celtic football club has called into question the warning and asked if they are fuckin' blind.
Meanwhile Rangers football club has now accused the Met office of eating all the pies.
Fans of both teams have backed their clubs and stated that they will now boycott any weather reports until an apology has been made.
In other news a political storm is brewing after Nicola Sturgeon was told by Alex Salmond that she should stay indoors as the weather had played havoc with her hair to which Nicola replied 'I've been inside all day ya cheeky bastard.'

Matt Scott - A lot like a tape

When Robert Allen Zimmerman shucks his mortal coil his alter ego will live on.
Not just in the music he has written, but in bars and clubs all over the world as those who were in awe of his poetic turn of phrase will try with varying degrees of success to emulate his prose with their own.
Most will miss the point and reach the giddy heights of nasal karaoke, but some like Matt Scott will be able to take something of the spirit of Dylan and mould it into his own material without Dylan's Guthrie fixation overshadowing the story he is conveying.
He will doff his cap, acknowledge the influence and move on.
This is what we can hear on Well Again.
It's got the whole sixties vibe going on and you added in some crackling you could maybe think that it's a forgotten track from another place and another time, but it's not, it's instead a reflection of the present and that it mirrors the dustbowl of the 50's and the protest movement of the 60's is just a sad comment on how we haven't really progressed much in a sense of equality that we probably should have.
The rich are still rich, the poor are still poor and people like Matt Scott are still chronicling the times as they see fit.
The second of the three tracks on the ep is Jenny We All Know. A live favourite and in the studio the quiet, but shabby, grandeur of the track has been captured and pinned by its butterfly wings to the velvet for us all to marvel at.
It's an evocative tale with a cinematic quality to it that really does paint a picture in words.
For me it's the highlight of the three songs that have been laid down, but that's not to say that the other songs are weak.
Far from it.
The closing track 'Exile II' follows Jenny in its wordy splendour and highlights the fact that currently the mainstream really isn't providing music lover with much to get their teeth into.
This ep is on a pay what you want deal from here.
https://www.facebook.com/mattjamesscott

Steve Conte & The Crazy Truth - Soundhaus (Glasgow) 6/12/12

Prior to Steve Conte rolling into town with his Crazy Truth compadres there was a battle of the bands contest with the winner securing the opening slot of the gig.
I didn't attend, but Rank Berry were the band who impressed on that night and duly took the opportunity to grab a few new fans with their very credible take on some seventies rock with a modern twist.
In fact scratch the credible bit as they were better than just credible.
There's a great deal of Creedence and Faces influences being worn on their sleeves and the young front man has the voice and stage presence to carry it off.
I suppose the last time I seen this done so well was the first time that the Black Crowes hit these shores and supported the Dogs D'Amour in the Barrowlands.
So watch out for Rank Berry as they are one of the few young bands who can differentiate between rock and heavy metal and are capable of putting the groove back into something that has become increasingly stale in my opinion.
There is a downside though, and that's the bands image.
There's a couple of the guys in the band who need to look a bit more rock and roll, and yes, I've heard it all before about image not mattering, but that's bullshit.
Mick and Keef don't just sound cool.
They look it.
Same with Steve and Joe of Aerosmith, Rod and Ron etc etc.
A little rethink on how they look could be just the thing the band needs to push them forward as everything else is in place.
Next was Christie Connor-Vernal who plays the blues with a healthy punk attitude.
I've seen her kicking about at gigs and a few friends have spoken about her highly and all the praise they were dishing out is well deserved.
There's some rough edges that makes it all feel a bit more solid and authentic and I hope Christie avoids trying to polish these bits out as we have enough auto-tuned crap to contend with, and lets be honest here, we really need someone who actually knows who Big Mama Thornton and Johnny Thunders are to save us from it all.
The Mademoiselle who followed Christie completely bored the arse of me.
It's not that they're bad, just not my thing. If punk was the response to prog rock then we may need another wave of it to wash away the navel gazing indie rockers who would probably be more at home missing lectures and watching reruns of the wonders of the universe than creating what to my ears sounds like self indulgent twaddle.
The best bit about them was that they worked as an anticlimactic experience after Christie and set the stage for Homesick Aldo to bring it all back into the realms of rock and roll for us.
It's actually difficult to describe what Homesick Aldo does.
He doesn't have a set list and instead plays his harmonica from the gut.
In this way he is keeping a certain tradition alive and it would be fair to say that what this young man from Fife is doing is far closer to what his heroes did than so many of the modern day blues players do.
Take Eric Clapton for instance.
Please just take him.
His lifeless interpretation of the blues is so far removed from the real deal that he should be charged under some trade description act.
Aldo on the other hand breathes life into it, and similarly to Christie delivers it from a punk template and in doing so gives it the human touch.
It's not the sound of the studio that interests him, but the feeling of the juke joint, the New Orleans bar and the blood, sweat and tears that their floorboards have soaked up.
You really have to be there to get it so watch out for Homesick Aldo playing and prepare yourself to experience something that isn't packaged to death for the mainstream palette.
Steve was next and what can I say that I haven't said before?
I've ran out of superlative praise for him and while my tank of descriptive praise is virtually on empty he is still firing on all cylinders and delivering night after night.
It's not just Steve either. The Crazy Truth are exceptional to.
It's doesn't matter where he goes as they have his back.
Power it up and they are pushing it hard behind him, ease off on the pedal and they slide into a flawless groove to accompany him.
Tonight is a far meatier affair than the previous time that Steve and his Crazy Truth came to town.
It's a longer set for one thing with more of their debut album getting aired, and the covers are all hitting the spot.
There's some Velvet Underground with 'Waiting for the Man being squeezed in. The Ramones 'I don't wanna grow up, and from memory a bit of Fleetwood Macs Someone's going to get their head kicked in tonight, Cochran's Summertime Blues, some Little Richard, and more.
Oh and let's not forget Bo Diddley's/New York Dolls 'Pills' that seen Steve being joined by Christie and Aldo on backing vocals.
Throughout the show Steve shows himself to be far more than just a hired gun for other performers. Put his vocal performance and guitar work up next to anyone he has played with and he is on par with the best, and very often eclipses what they do with his own material.
It time people clicked onto this and started getting on board with the Crazy Truth album and then checked out what he has doe with his brother in The Contes and Crown Jewels.
Steve has provided me with some fantastic nights of entertainment and everyone who attends one of his shows leaves knowing that they have seen something special.
If you call yourself a music fan, and especially one who leans towards rock and roll played with fire and passion then do yourself a favour and don't miss the remaining dates on this tour and buy that fuckin' album.

Taylor Buntain - Cancer Support gig - Jollys - 2/12/11

Ayrshire was spoilt for choices tonight.
Up in Glasgow Brown Bear and the Bandit were doing their utmost to blow the roof off King Tuts and by all early reports coming in it looks like they did just that.
Meanwhile here in Kilmarnock I went straight from a 12 hour shift at the coal face to Taylor Buntains charity night in Jollys where some acts were playing to raise funds for cancer support.
This night wasn't without its stresses for Taylor as some acts had dropped out at short notice and there was limited options of finding replacements, but as they say 'the show must go on' and it most certainly did.
When I arrived Taylor himself was easing into the closing stretches of his set with a newly written blues number that featured some nice idiosyncratic twists that sounded spot on.
I've criticized Taylors performances in the past and since then we have become quite friendly, but I never let a personal relationship with anyone skew my view - or take the edge off of airing an opinion - so when I say that this is exactly what I was waiting on seeing from him then it's an honest appraisal.
All the hints of promise were delivered on.
If I was to simply claim that his vocal delivery had improved it would be a gross understatement.
There's a full transformation in how he is promoting his music to an audience, and full credit has to go to him as an artists who has to an extent dismantled what he has previously done and rebuilt it all from the bottom up.
That takes a great deal of honest self appraisal and a desire to improve that few could claim to have.
If I was wearing a hat I'd have to take it off to him.
I didn't previously consider that he had the ability to be a front man and thought that the musicianship he displayed vastly overshadowed his singing. So in short a great band member yes, but a front man no, yet here he was proving me wrong, very wrong, and I'm happy to admit it.
He closed his set with a cover of Britney Spears that I've previously seen him do.
The last time it left me cold as I didn't think it worked, but this time it's a different take on it and just by upping the quality of the vocals and concentrating on the delivery he nailed it.
I guess it's that balance thing again.
It's a joke doing it as a cover, but it's also a familiar song that people can judge the quality on so it has to be of a certain standard with an obvious tongue in cheek element so that people actually get the joke, and this time it was all of that and more.
I could write about how fantastic Matt Scott was as the nights closing act, but I've mentioned often enough that he is a real star and I would just be repeating myself and in doing so detract from the praise that I'm offering Taylor.
So I'm not going to do that.
Everyone in Kilmarnock knows that matt is the dogs bollocks and I don't need to keep belabouring the point.
So go'an yersel Taylor, as we are apt to say up here. Belter of a set ma man.
Oh and Ross Crawford who I missed was getting plenty of praise for what appears to have been a sublime set.
I guess I better get up to speed with him.

Jinx Lennon/The Girobabies/Roscoe Vacant & The Gantin Schreichs - JOllys Sports Bar - 11/11/11 (Kilmarnock)

When you book acts like Roscoe Vacant and the Gantin Screichs, The Girobabies and Jinx Lennon for a gig then the only thing that you can expect is the unexpected.
So it was no surprise that this is what we got.
By the time that Roscoe Vacant led his band into their set the Girobabies hadn't arrived due to missing a train from the city to Satan's skid mark, or Kilmarnock as we like to call it.
It was okay though as the contingency plan of getting Ross Gilchrist of the Gantin Screichs to do a solo set was dealt with minutes before he took to the stage with Roscoe.
Everything started off well, and then soon descended into chaos as Roscoe deviated from playing songs from their debut and his solo material and started into doing a few covers including a burst of Johnny Thunders and a blast of the Ramones.
This was fine with the audience, but Roscoe himself was very disappointed with his performance.
This is live music though and if people wanted to hear a straight run through of the album they could have stayed at home and played the CD.
I didn't personally feel let down and no one else told me that they were either.
So I'd just chalk this up as 'one of those gigs'.
Every band has them and it's not about how the trains wheels come of the tracks, but how you make sure it reaches the station, and taken like that then this was as far removed from the horrible debacle that he thought it was.
As they finished the Girobabies arrived, borrowed some instruments and fired into an acoustic set with fearless, and much drunken abandon.
Similar to the Gantin Screichs set there is no way that anyo0ne could say that this ran smoothly, but the Girobabies aren't about running things smoothly.
There's something of the disaster looming about them.
Every note and utterance could be the one that precedes everything falling apart, but so far I've never seen that actually happen.
Midway through their set Mark gets into a war of words with a heckler in the audience.
It gets heated and they rap comments back and forth with the tension escalating until it looks as if blows will be struck, but that's not what the night is about and just as I think that I might have to intervene it stops and the band fire straight into the next song.
I've spoken to Mark before and said that they are one of the few bands that are playing what I consider real punk music and he disagreed, but my take on punk is that it's all about freedom of expression without boundaries and in that sense I'm right and he's wrong.
He's just to come around to my way of thinking.
Next is the legend that's Jinx Lennon.
Similarly to the Girobabies I would describe him as a punk artists as that is the only singular word that can encapsulate the breadth of what he does.
Poetry, hip hop, ambient noise, acoustic guitar, looping noise and while none of it should make sense there's a primal understanding of it all.
Jinx wants to gouge a reaction from an audience. He wants to use words to dig in deep and pull hard at you. Push you to having to think and make the connections yourself.
It's not easy watching him and he polarizes audiences, sometimes winning over someone before losing them and winning them back all in the space of the one performance.
At one point he is standing there with dark glasses on sharpening a knife and staring straight ahead into a bemused and confused crowd.
Performance art. I mean what the fuck. This is my local seems to be the reaction.
Probably the best way to describe Jinx is in repeating some soundbites from those who had been there.
Scott Lyle - That is the strangest gig that has ever taken place in Jollys.
Mark Hickey - I went home and made myself a cup of tea............I don't drink tea.
Dave Box Miller - I bought two CDs, but I'm scared to listen to them.
Chris Mooney – That fried my brain

Jon Windle - Jollys Sports Bar - 25/11/11 (Kilmarnock)

Fashion trends are pretty crap aren't they?
Especially the trends in music.
Every few months bands are thrown into the public eye and garner some short lived plaudits before slipping back into obscurity to allow space for the next big thing to squeeze in for their fifteen minutes of fame.
None of it has much to do with talent really.
It's just more consumerist bollocks.
Create and sell, create and sell.
What's the difference between the next i-phone being foisted on the public and the next band?
No. That's not the intro to a joke. It's a rhetorical question.
The answer is nothing, but the real downside of this disposable aspect is that individuals with real talent get partially tossed aside.
They languish in the shadows that the spotlight doesn't reach regardless of their talents.
Jon Windle is a good example of that happening.
He had his moment in the sun with Little Man Tate and then after a couple of great albums that was that.
He didn't lose his touch, his voice or his sense of humour.
It was just that their moment was past and the NME and the like moved on.
It's at this point that bands could be forgiven for simply throwing in the towel as disillusionment took its toll.
Or in Jon's case you can take some time out and then come back with an album that is just as strong, if not stronger, than you have previously done and start from scratch.
It takes some balls to do that, and Jon isn't shy in displaying his as here he was in my local pub playing to those loyal fans who hadn't forgotten him, and what would be converts after the last note had rung out.
Along with Emily Ireland he runs through his blasts from the not too distant past bolstered by material from 'Step Out The Man' and even though this is an acoustic set everything rattles along at a fair clip.
The songs sound solid enough even without a full band backing him and the accompanying vocals from Emily work wonders in the small room.
It's all pretty magical and there's a great deal of love and respect emanating from the small, but loyal, group of fans who have turned up to see him play.
I personally never seen Little Man Tate when they first came around, but from watching Jon I've decided I was a bit of a mug to pass up on the chance.
He's still in fine voice and every inch the performer.
This is not a man from yesteryear on a downward slide, but instead a hungry artist rising from the ashes to take a very credible second bite at an ongoing career in music.
If this is the signs of new foundations being laid then the future is looking bright.
As the gig progresses the fans at the front keep passing Jon and Emily drinks and the lubrication loosens things up to the point that the proceedings become less a gig and more of a party amongst friends.
It's very obvious that the stage of easy familiarity has been reached when he hits some technical issues with his guitar losing sound completely only to find that the crowd are more than happy to carry the gig on with a rousing sing along that would have to be lodged away as one of those 'you had to be there' moments.
Once a borrowed guitar is found it's all systems go and for a few minutes I went and touted his new album about to some success.
You can tell when an artist has connected with a crowd when you don't have to twist their arm to put their hands in their pockets.
Once he finishes everyone wants to chat and get some stuff signed and Jon was more than happy to do that.
I got the impression that he had enjoyed himself just as much as we had, and that was confirmed when as he passed David Hanvey (the promoter) he immediately asked if he would have him back.
Of course we would, but I have a sneaky feeling that in a years time Jon wont be playing venues the size of Jollys any more, but maybe he would for old times sake as he seem to be that sort of guy.
Definitely one of the highlights of my year, and there has been some stiff competition.

Mad Sin in Oz

Psychobilly is, a relatively small and fragmented part of Australian Rock N' Roll culture (That's Culture with a C you Klown) There are pockets of fans in this Country that remember before the internet when it was mail orders and tapes from mates and not much else, playing them over and over til' the rubbers wear out, stoked if you got some vinyl somehow.

On the contrary, on any given weekend you can go and check out any number of Roots, Blues and Punk, Rockabilly gigs in this fair land and yes, be impressed, show off your new Shepler shirt and $400 levis, and.........hear the same formulaic and often, but not always, tired sound, just so you can say you went to a gig, and supported your 'scene' I'm not putting the music down, however but there's a difference between being a fan of a genre of music that moves your souls and courses through your veins and being a glam wanker and then looking down on Psychobilly as "fake" and "worthless" in no need of promotion and support (But we'll get back to that in a little while)

For 20+ fuckin' years, almost single handedly,in this country, Fireballs have carried the torch of insanity promoting REAL Psychotic music for REAL Psychotic people, driven by an unholy love for again, what is so lacking in this country PSYCHOBILLY!

I have always been in awe (And sometimes depressed by not being able to go check out a show, once a month, or even 3 times a year would be nice) of not just the music that has come from Europe, but also the calibre of the bands playing it. The fact we never get to see any of these acts has been at times, literally painful.

When Mad Sin were supposed to come a couple of years ago, I was in disbelief and when that fell through, shattered to the bone. So when we knew they were actually going to make it this time, it caused a mix of feelings of more disbelief and a mixture of anxiety and wonder, brought about by the knowledge that they would be largely unknown in this country, which in turn caused anger and frustration but fuck it, I'D BE SEEING THE SIN!

From all reports of the shows leading up to Sunday, they were small but Mad Sin rocked the fucking house and from a mate Shane's personal view of the Sydney show, "Blew the fucking tiles off the roof!!"

I briefly caught Matt at Sunday's show for about 2 minutes and introduced myself and asked about his experience of previous shows.
he told me that Brisbane was dead, the Gold Coast had few people but those there lost it and had a great fucking time and Sydney was cool. I do know this show was pretty packed at the Annandale. Sydney people know how to have a good time which is why I like to go catch bands there whenever I can...On ya ya bastards. Rock on and see ya next week! Nice to talk if only briefly, Matt!

Doing a show on a Sunday night in a town this size is bound to be smaller factoring in people at home, having spent the cash on Friday and Saturday nights, coupled with the lack of knowledge around Psychobilly in general, which following on from earlier, pisses me off. When there is such a big Rock and Roll/Rockabilly scene, how one could not come and support one of the most "rocked the fuck out" European Psychobilly bands of all time. (Fuck you too, Fenech!!!!!)

So to Newcastle's "Rockers" GO FUCK YOURSELF AND THANKS FOR NOTHING!!!!!!

Supports on the night were Rumjacks (Check them out. Flat out Rockin' irish punks who know how to play from the heart! Another great gig fellas, cheers!)
And Casino Rumblers, from my town....the less I say about these blokes the better. Just my opinion, same as just because you have an Upright, it doesn't make you Billy fuck all! They always seemed disconnected from the crowd to me in some way I can't explain. More Ska infused Billy ain't my cup of tea,
Having said that, at least they support the scene and Newcastle Rock N' Roll and give people an alternative, potentially opening them up to new bands and music...crowd dug them.
Cheers fellas!

As I walked in I saw Valle standing there watching The Rumjacks and chatting, hmmmmm, not a lot of people here, thinking pleeeeeease pick up, you don't know what you'll be missing, though, music like mostly everything, is subjective and so the lost didn't get to taste the delights of what Mad Sin actually bring to the table. The Fruits of fucking insanity!!!!

I grabbed a couple of beers, met friends and settled back as the Sin' came on stage.
Then it hit me! MAD SIN!!!! ON STAGE!!!!! Everything felt surreal. I couldn't believe they were in front of me with a crowd of no more than 35 people tops, in a two hundred plus venue! I stood just staring, drinking in everything I heard and the playing of the band...
The 4 of us who came together, took turns at looking after thousands of buxxx worth of camera equipment and tag-teamed going down to watch the band in from of stage.
When you talk Frontmen, Koefte is one insane hombre and he commanded the crowd expertly...I was gobsmacked at the relentless energy he exuded, tripping on how tight and energetic they all were and how much better than any fucking vinyl(Fuck CDs), they sounded.

At one stage Koefte said that he bet no one knew their first album, which got a big grinning FUCK YOU!! from where I was at that stage, minding the equipment. I was hoping to hear more stuff off the new album Burn And Rise, but was stoked at the well-rounded mix of stuff they did from their catalogue. Awesome to hear Speak No Evil and Communication Breakdown live among everything fucking else they did, sounded brutal.
Blood pressure rising...
After a brief break, they came back and did a few song encore and asked if anyone wanted to hear anything in particular. Standing there with a mate Scott, I was yelling Meat Train At Midnight and he was screaming Brand New Cadillac..Koefte dug this and so BNC it was, but not to my chagrin. What a fucking version!!! Next thing ya know, Valle's in the crowd totally mobbed slapping the fuck out of his bull fiddle,
Stein in the background casually rocking out on his gat and Matt on the other side, killing it!

Seemed to me like they wanted to keep playing yet, the venue guys were hurrying them up to get off stage (Thanks for that fuckers) the bouncer's started telling everyone to move to the front of the pub and then we were shut out, wondering where everyone was going to party, knowing, thanks to Sickboy Shane, we had a hotel overlooking the whole city, half a block away that would've accommodated that very well...Fuck it!!

Koefte, you're one of a kind mate, fucking powerhouse from hell on stage,
only regret is not being able to have a chat which goes for all of you!
Thanks so much for coming guys and I know, once you hit Melbourne with the Fireballs, you'll be doing bigger gigs and tearing people new headspaces!!!!!!! If you guys ever come back, I'm sure it will be a different story as far as attendance goes!!! I'll tirelessly poster the whole Cuntry for ya!!! Thanks so fuckin' much to Craig and Ruff N' Ready Records...ROCK!

A Psychotic Night!!!!!!!!

(Review by Alabama Man aka Hammerheart aka Big Al the gayest hairdresser in Oz)
(Live photo by Belinda Davey - Rights reserved)

Strike! While the iron is hot.

Yesterday was the day of a national strike as public sector workers walked out in protest at the governments plans to cut their pensions.
2 million people failed to turn up at their workplace and 18,342 schools, which is 67.5% of them, were closed while others ran with the help of community volunteers, hospital procedures were impacted upon and our border controls were weakened (although the government said they weren't) and more.
Yet David Cameron called the protest a damp squib.
I'm struggling with his definition.
Consider the 2 million on strike and then add on all those workers who support the strike, but felt unable to join their colleagues due to personal issues of poor finances, job security and such, then on top of that add on all the people who supported the strike but who are not public sector workers.
Depending on sources public support ranges from 35% to 65%.
That sounds quite a sizeable amount to me.
The arrogance of Cameron is nothing new, but c'mon when are people going to wake up.
There's little that he says that is rooted in fact.
Week after week he, and his coalition government – the one no one voted in – are shown up to be bare faced liars, supporters of the powerful, and master manipulators of the media.
Forget all the divisive spin and just for a second ask yourself why we allegedly can't afford to honour the pension agreements that were made.
Is it because the system in place has for many years been watching Rome burn as the ones at the top fiddled their taxes? Is it because the financial institutes of the world decided that trading on things we might have in the future rather than what we have in the present was a good idea? Is it maybe because the mortgage lenders in collusion with governments sold mortgages to those who were least able to afford them? Is it because multinational corporations pay less tax per annum than you or I?
Regardless of the multitude of reasons, and there is a multitude, it has nothing to do with the public sector workers who are expected to carry the financial can.
So why are people falling for the government line.
Two weeks ago nurses were self sacrificing angels who toil for the greater good and now they are enemies of the state.
How did that happen?
Fuck that bollocks.
In fact when Cameron and his parcel of rouges say we are all in this together what they mean is that it's you and me, the public and private sector workers, the unemployed and the disabled that are in this together, and not necessarily them.
Yet on social networking sites I keep seeing people pointing the fingers at the employed, the public sector workers, immigrants and if truth be told simply anyone who pisses them off rather than them having to sit and think about who the real enemy of the people are.
Inside my head I'm screaming for fucks sake wake up.
All the crap that is being pumped out is just a distraction.
The bigger picture is that they are wanting to create a system that a minority can benefit from.
They want a smaller workforce to work harder for less, and they want to create a ready pool of the hungry and desperate to pick from. If you're employed and grumble aloud then you know where the door will be. By kick starting this desperate cycle they will maximize their profits.
Take one of the things they keep saying.
There's no money.
It's a mantra.
There's no money, there no money, there's no money.
Say it often enough and people believe it, but George Osborne is on an eleven grand holiday just now. How did he manage that as there's no money?
Anyway there is money.
I didn't see any reports of mass shredding campaigns or bankers running into fields and burning pallets of cash.
Did you?
So the money must be somewhere and that somewhere is in the hands of that 1% and they aren't for letting any dribble back into our pockets.
That's where the money really is.
It really is a case of them and us.
So why do ordinary people continue to defend the status quo and decry their brothers and sisters who rail against those in power who are frankly ass raping us all?
Well it's ignorance isn't it.
Real ignorance.
The head in the sand sort.
Ignorance is a word that when used is considered to be an offensive slur on another persons intelligence.
It's not though.
I'm ignorant as to how to perform brain surgery.
I'm equally ignorant about how to fix the motherboard of my computer.
Being ignorant doesn't mean I'm stupid though, just that in certain areas I have no knowledge of the subject at hand.
Similarly people are ignorant of what is going on in the world. Not stupid, just ignorants as they either have nothing to base their opinions on, or they base them on media reports that are geared towards offering one side of a story.
So instead of continuing down that path that's leading us to fuck knows where can you do me a favour and make yourself a cup of tea and have a google and research the subject, or open a book and read about it.
Then after that maybe you could reconsider the comments that you may have made and with your new found knowledge consider that you might have been acting like a dickish tool of the state.
I'll not do the 'told you so dance'. Instead I'll welcome your awakening and hope that in some way you will spread a clearer word to others and in this way maybe we really can all be in this together and salvage something for future generations.
Meanwhile listen to this. Don't just tap your feet to it, but listen to the words.