Early performances gained the band a reputation for legendary live shows and many still regard those first-run Jane’s concerts as almost religious experiences. In the seventeen years since the original line-up’s last performance, there has been an ebb and flow of band formations and side projects until… In April 2008, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins and Eric Avery reformed to play again.

On the back of their performances at Soundwave 2010 Jane’s Addiction will be performing 2 club shows in Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

TICKETS ON SALE THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER, 9AM

TUESDAY 23rd FEBRUARY
SYDNEY – ENMORE THEATRE – Licensed All Ages
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849, Enmore Theatre Box Office 02 9550 3666 & Utopia

WEDNESDAY 24th FEBRUARY
MELBOURNE – THE PALACE – 18+
www.ticketek.com.au 132 849

Jane’s Addiction and Rolo Tomassi are also appearing at Soundwave Festival 2010.

As hip-hop culture (DJing, MCing, b-boying, graffiti art and beatboxing) evolved in the late 1970s and early 1980s, two things were hallmarks of the movement: DJing and lyrical excellence. In the last several years, few rap group’s have done more to champion those elements than Dilated Peoples. The Los Angeles based trio of Rakaa, Evidence and DJ Babu inject their music with humour, insight and social commentary, and DJ Babu’s cuts add an additional layer of excitement and complexity to the group’s material.

Check out Dilated Peoples as they take Australia by storm in 2010:

Thursday 31st December
Origin Festival, Steel Blue Oval, Perth
Info / Tix: www.theorigin.com.au

Friday 1st January
Groove In The Park Festival, Rymill Park, Adelaide
Info / Tix: www.grooveisinthepark.com.au

Friday 8th January
The Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda, Melbourne
Tix: www.theespy.oztix.com.au

Sunday 10th January
Days Like This Festival, Fox Studios, Sydney
Info / Tix: www.dayslikethis.com.au

It all started when Mosshart filled in for an unwell White at the end of a Kills/Raconteurs tour. So noticeable was the chemistry that they realised there was potential to take things further. An impromptu jam session ensued and fifteen days later, Horehound was finished and The Dead Weather was formed.

Horehound, the band’s debut LP, was released earlier this year by White’s vinyl label Third Man Records (and out now through Sony Australia). It features a hybrid of styles with each member’s distinct contributions creating a sound like no other.

On the live front The Dead Weather have been taking the US and UK by storm. Their onstage presence reflects the raw energy sparking from their collaborative talent and is a performance certainly not to be missed!

So be sure to secure your tickets quickly for their upcoming March 2010 shows in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth. Tickets go on-sale to the general public at 9am Tuesday 24th November through Ticketek.

Pre-sale tickets available via frontiertouring.com from Thursday 19th November.

THE DEAD WEATHER
Australia & New Zealand March 2010

Wednesday 17th March
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland – All Ages
Ticketek 0800 842 538 or www.ticketek.co.nz

Friday 19th March
Forum Theatre, Melbourne – 18+
Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

Tuesday 23rd March
The Tivoli, Brisbane – 18+
Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

Friday 26th March
Enmore Theatre, Sydney – All Ages
Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

Monday 29th March
Metro City, Perth – 18+
Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

With a new album in the works, Daniel Clarke caught up with founding member Dave Faulkner recently to find out more about how the band has changed and grown over the years, their ongoing struggles in the studio, and just how a five year hiatus has brought the Gurus even closer as a band.

Music Feeds: So, what’s been happening in Hoodoo Gurus world lately?

Dave Faulkner: Well basically, we’ve been pretty focused on recording this new album, which we’ve virtually finished now. We did a little bit of overdubbing recently. We had to redo a couple of the guitar ideas that we had, get a better sound and, you know, throw in a couple of different little ideas and parts as well that were different. The mix process started yesterday so yeah, it’s all basically done.

MF: So has it gotten easier in the studio over time? You guys have been going in and out of studios, for what, nearly thirty years now?

DF: No, it doesn’t get easier. You’re still just as concentrated as ever, you really have to worry the hell out of yourself and everyone around you to try and get exactly what your ideas are, out, performance wise. Also, technologically you have to make sure everything matches everything else and it contrasts enough. I mean, you spend hours getting guitar tracks down, like three of four hours for one little part, you know. It’s just a really long process. It’s like paint drying. Hopefully, at the end of it you have got the fifteen tracks.

MF: Do you feel like you guys have got to keep proving yourselves when you go back to making new records?

DF: Of course, every record has got to be the best one we’ve made. That’s the only reason you wanna make one anyway. We don’t wanna just make up the numbers recording wise, or any other wise. We wanna go out there and do the best thing you’ve ever heard.

MF: As I mentioned earlier, it’s nearly thirty years since the Hoodoo Gurus first started. Now, did you think way back then you’d still be in the band now? Did you ever think “this is what I want to do with the rest of my life”?

DF: Of course not. In fact, one of the things that caused me to break the band up in ’98 was the idea that well, we had to end some time and it was better to do it when we were in full command of our powers, you know, when we say. We thought we might as well quit while we were ahead, but fate had other things to say about that. The band was actually still, the heart was still beating strong, it was just put into a sort of deep sleep therapy <laughs>.

MF: Yeah, hibernation.

DF: Waiting for the body to be re-animated. You know, we played that Homebake show about three, nearly four years after we broke up, and it was obvious the band was still every bit as vital and real as it ever felt in the previous part of our careers. It took me a couple of years to adjust to the idea that the only reason we weren’t playing was because I said so rather than any other real deeper reason, not like we weren’t good enough or didn’t matter anymore. So since then, 2004, we’ve been back in full swing, we had one album then and we finally got around to doing another one now.

MF: So obviously, the music scene has changed a lot over the years, with the advent of the Internet and all this digital technology and stuff. Have you seen a real difference in the way you approach recording an album or distributing a record?

DF: Absolutely. Well first, distribution is obvious: there is a direct delivery system in place now, which is so much easier for people. As far as recording goes, it’s incredible how that’s changed. This one will be our first real digital record. We did actually go through analogue tape to get the sound warmer. In some ways a lot of people don’t appreciate that, a lot of people are just happier to go straight to digital but there’s a bunch of us that really think there’s a lot of merit to be had in getting that analogue element to it. Basically, after that it was all in the digital realm and that’s been a really incredible tool to use. With the technology comes so much flexibility, so many choices that sometimes there’s too many options. I think we have to keep it real and not allow ourselves to be temped down the path of pop plasticity.

MF: Autotuner and all that?

DF: Yeah, sounds that are so perfect it doesn’t have any feelings. We’re a rock ‘n’ roll band and a part of what we have to be is real and authentic

MF: So do you still get a buzz out of still playing the old songs live, like What’s My Scene and stuff like that?

DF: Oh yeah. I say to people when they ask me whether I get bored with some of these songs, the truth is, they’re still exciting songs, that’s what made them popular in the first place. And for me, I’m always so busy on stage anyway, I’m trying to play guitar, I’m trying to sing and also thinking about what I’m gonna say in between songs, if anything, and if we wanna put a different song on the set list. It’s two different levels at once, I’m so busy I don’t have the time to sit back and just watch things, you know. I don’t get bored, ever, I’m way too busy for that. Afterwards, I kinda sit back and digest what just happened. Luckily for us, we don’t tend to have many bad gigs; that’s very rare. We’re usually pretty damn good, and sometimes we’re really great so, for me, that’s the real thing, trying to push it to the full one hundred percent, trying to get it to a really great level, not just what would be an average show for some people, just trying to reach whatever we can get, make it real for us as a band.

MF: So what’s the secret to staying together as a band for so long? Do you all just get along really well?

DF: We don’t get along any better or worse that most people would in our situation. I think we’re like brothers, really, we’re family, we’re familiar. We still annoy each other to death but we also really respect the hell out of each other as well. We have a shared bond that can’t be broken by anyone. It’s not just historical, it’s also between us all the time, you know, we have this thing in common, that is our shared history and that’s who we are and what we stand for. So I guess it is a bit like being in some kind of tight knit military unit or something. You don’t necessarily always wanna be with someone in the off time but they’ll still be a great working partner.

MF: So what about the stuff you guys did when the Gurus were on hiatus, like the Persian Rugs and Antenna? Do you guys ever play any Persian Rug songs in you sets?

DF: The only Persian Rugs song, there’s one or two that would have been appropriate for the Hoodoo Gurus to play. They are quite different stylistically to what the Gurus do. One would be a song called Be a Woman. We do play that one occasionally, once in a blue moon. Antenna songs, they’re a bit kooky compared to the Gurus, that’s a different thing again.

MF: So was that time a chance for you to get out of your head a bit and go completely off the track and do something different to the Gurus?

DF: Well firstly, I got a chance to bloody sit back and live a normal life and not be on tour <laughs>. I did the Antenna album to kinda soften the blow of staring down the abyss of ‘what now?’ I had that one planned before the band broke up, so I did that one over the period of a year and it was quite a different experience. That actually taught me a lot about the Gurus, because Antenna, eventually it established this kind of group identity, which until you see it happening, you don’t recognise it as being significant. So that was kind of a wake up call as to what I lost when the band broke up, The Hoodoo Gurus. I hadn’t realised that had been there all along. Seeing these four guys that were disparate coming together in the Antenna project, unifying and coming to this sort of overarching personality in the band itself, it was a bit of a shock to me. When we played Homebake a few years later, with the Gurus, and feeling that same energy that I got from Antenna, you know, the band thing, that was a real wake up call. That was probably the main reason why the band suddenly became something I though about doing again because it was obvious the band was still together, it’s just that we weren’t playing.

MF: That’s really interesting that you had to find success with another band before you realised how important the Gurus were to you.

DF: It wasn’t success, it was actually the working process that had made that change; it was very obvious. When earlier on you’re trying ideas and everyone is putting in ideas and its all good and then at one point there was this thing where you’d try an idea and you wouldn’t need anyone to tell you, I don’t like it or I do like it, it would just sound right or it wouldn’t. That was where the band itself was defined, rather than people, this way or that.

MF: It’s that intangible pop aesthetic huh. You know when you hear a good riff or something, intangibly you know that it’s a good riff and you don’t particularly know why.

DF: Well, that’s a bit different, ‘cause as a writer that’s what I do by myself. When I take it to the rehearsal room I don’t know which ones are going to stand or fall when the band plays them. I might think ‘this is the best song ever written’, which has happened various times over our career, where I’d bring something and think it’s gonna be out next hit single, or whatever, and the band would play it and it just sounds like nothing… there’s nothing to it, it’s stillborn. Other things have come out, that I thought were quite trivial things, that suddenly take a real leap on their own. That’s the magic of the band. In particular, with this latest album, we had probably the most exciting rehearsal period that we ever did as a band. We were just so creative, we picked a number of songs in a very, very, short space of time, and one day in particular that I remember, we actually rehearsed about eight songs that were all keepers, and this never, ever, happened before. You could tell, we weren’t talking about it; we felt the energy or whatever of what was going on between us. We didn’t want the day to end, we were working hard and by the end of it, we were enjoying ourselves so much and doing such great work we just kept going. We finally got one last song, that was kind of like, it was great, and it worked, so we sort of knew, you know what, we shouldn’t push it any further, we’ve taken like the last of our energy reserves out of us creatively, let’s get out of here before we start to regret it. So that’s really one thing I’ll never really forget in my life; that experience, that particular day.

MF: That’s incredible. It’s good to hear you guys have such chemistry together after so long.

DF: Yeah, indeed. It’s remarkable, but I guess it’s what being a Hoodoo Guru is – the band gives out this incredible gift.

MF: Indeed. We have to wrap up, so I’ll have to ask quickly, do you know when the album is going to be coming out?

DF: February or March. It’s being mixed now, everything is kinda ready to go. We’ve just got to give it a mix, round up, and then book some bloody tours and have a go and try to spread the word.

MF: So will you be playing any of the new songs live before the album drops? I know you’re playing A Day in the Park soon.

DF: Yeah, we played at the Apple store the other night, and I think we have put one of those new songs onto the actual iTunes EP, the live EP, but of the ones we’ve played live already, I’m sure we’ll do a few more before the end of the year. We know the fact is, we also have a whole back catalogue that is so much a part of what the Gurus are, so we’ll still be doing a lot of those songs for people. It would be quite right to think that the Gurus will play a lot of those songs, because they’re very much a part of our journey.

The Hoodoo Gurus play A Day At The Park this weekend. Their new album will be released soon. Stay tuned to Music Feeds for more info.

Hailing from the Peel region of WA, these ambitious young upstarts have already made quite a name for themselves, receiving the WAMI award for “Best Funk Act” in 2009, and establishing a strong reputation for solid live performances. The Weasels have played over three hundred live shows, including several independent tours and festival billings including West and East Coast Blues and Roots, Rollercoaster, Island Vibes and Wave Rock Weekender, among many others.

Daniel Clarke caught up with the refreshingly honest and humble Dan Carroll, guitarist and singer for SWG recently to talk all things Weasel related.

Music Feeds: So let’s start off with an easy one. How did you guys get together? I read that the band was formed shortly after high school… Did you all go to school together? If not, when did you know that the Sneaky Weasel line up was solid?

Dan Carroll: Jason and Bryn went to school together for a year or so. I knew Bryn from the band that he played in locally. The band really only came together when Jay rang me from a pay phone one day after he had heard of me from a mutual friend. We were originally just going to have a play together, but on the day we were due to hook up, he asked me to pick up Bryn. We really gelled on those first few jams I guess and the rest is history.

MF: Now, you’ve said that the sound of the SWG is inspired in part by instrumental groups like Booker T and the MGs. How did you guys get introduced to classic bands like that? I’d imagine not too many people at high school were rockin’ out to Booker T or The Meters… Did the family record collection have anything to do with that?

DC: My parents’ record collection was definitely the source of 90% of the music I grew up listening to and imitating. Old guitar mags that belonged to my dad also got me into lots of groups. Booker T and The Meters came very late into my musical horizon though, and both groups were tip offs from other musos.

MF: If you were trying to convince someone that the SWG rocked, without playing them any of your music, how would you describe your sound?

DC: It’s an exciting live sound, it’s quite interactive between the members in the band and it’s heavily rooted in groove. Sonically it mashes up a lot of genres. At the end of the day it’s fun music.

MF: And is that sound something that’s been changing over time? There’s an allusion in your bio to a bit of a change of style. Do you think you’re still looking for the SWG sound?

DC: The sound has radically developed on the road over the last few years and is definitely continuing to develop all the time. It’s probably fair to say we are still searching for our own true voice, but I think you can’t rush that kind of development. It comes with maturity as writers and musos and that’s an ongoing journey for us at the moment. I think its really important for a band’s sound to tell something about where they are from and it would be great to nurture an Australian element to our sound, which I think has been missing in a lot of local bands for a long time.

MF: You guys have an impressive track record, performance wise, for a relatively young band. What’s been the most memorable touring experience so far? Are festivals or concerts more fun to play?

DC: The first huge tour we did when we were nineteen was probably the biggest turning point for us as a band. It was our first experience really playing night after night, living on the road for a couple of months, doing our own sound, travelling interstate etc. There’s something about the first time you do those things that kind of increases their magnitude. How fun any one particular show is always comes down to the kind of people in the crowd on the given night and the overall atmosphere etc. Any gig can be a ripper, you never really know in our experience.

MF: Does the touring ever get too much? I’ve been reading your Myspace blogs, and it seems a lot of the tours are organised by the good graces of friends who are willing to put you up for the night, stuff like that. Has that helped with the amount of touring you’ve been able to do?

DC: That definitely helps immensely. We certainly go through periods on the road where morale might not be the highest, but I think we’re really lucky as a group that everyone is relatively driven and excited by the fact that we have an opportunity to make a living out of something we love so much. That overall passion is kind of what causes us to rise above the nitty gritty of being on the road so much I guess. We always get humbled by the hospitality people show us when we’re on the road.

MF: As a Sydney-sider, I’m always interested in the music scene in other parts of Australia. Was it hard to get a start back home in WA (especially given that you weren’t in a major city)? What’s it like over that way for live music? Are there a lot of venues, punters?

DC: I think WA has a fantastic scene. Although there aren’t tons of venues or punters, there are definitely some great places to play. We were lucky as a young band that we had a manager who was willing and capable of booking us lots of regional shows. As a general rule I think the economy in WA at the moment allows a lot of venues to pay better money than on the East coast also.

MF: What can punters expect at the upcoming Sneaky Weasel Gang shows? Any zany on-stage antics we should be looking out for? Fancy dress maybe?

DC: Haha. Well, you never know I guess. We’re always looking for ways to improve the show, but I don’t think there will be much in the way of gimmicks for the foreseeable future. We have a pretty old-school approach and will definitely be focusing on better songs and interplay within the band as far as things you can expect for certain. All people can really expect at the moment is to see a young band who are really getting into the music they play and performing with as much emotion and energy as possible.

For the east coast leg of their Bodyslide Blues tour, SWG will be joined onstage by a mysterious keyboard player and frequent collaborator known only as ‘Bones’.

MF: Is Bones going to become an official member of the band? How did you go about working keys into your songs? Did he just show up and start jamming over the top?

DC: It’s hard to pen where we’ll be in the future with regards to our permanent line up, but at this stage were really enjoying having Bones be apart of our on stage musical concoction. I guess only time will tell with future developments. We’ll just have to see how the whole thing unfolds. As far as integrating the keys in, it hasn’t been difficult at all really with this first batch of songs. I had a really clear idea of what would compliment most of the songs, and Bones has had a great ear for the music so far. It’s been a pleasure having him on the road too.

MF: So if he does become an official fourth member, are there any rites of passage or hazing rituals he’ll have to undertake? Crossing the Desert or The Unblinking Eye maybe?

DC: Hahaha. Well, we haven’t really considered that yet. I guess if he can survive a month on the road with us he’ll probably have passed most of the necessary tests to gain Weaselhood, but you never know… We might have to keep you posted on that front!

MF: What’s next? Touring over summer? Are you guys still writing new material as you tour, or do you write in your downtime?

DC: Writing is definitely a downtime thing, but that will be the focus over the next four or five months. Writing and recording. We’ve just gotten some studio gear together so we’ll be exploring producing our own songs for the upcoming release. Our current EP Bodyslide Blues will be out very shortly and you can check out our Myspace for details.

The Sneaky Weasel Gang are currently touring the east coast in support of their new EP, Bodyslide Blues, before returning to WA for their last shows of the year. Click here for full details.

Now then, without further ado, let’s get into some new music!

Signed Band Of The Week
Slayer – World Painted Blood

Slayer are too big and too infamous to simply be a “band”. They’re an institution. A religion, for some. Since 1983 they have provided the angry with thrashy goodness that has helped lay the foundation for many of the metal bands we see playing today. Regardless of whether you like Slayer or not, if you listen to recent metal you owe some form of gratitude to them.

However, like all veterans of their trade (except Brett Favre, it seems), as time goes on they slowly seem to diminish in quality and become irrelevant. This theory was only affirmed by the release of Diabolus in Musica in 1998 – an album which threatened to spell the end of one of the great names in metal. Annoyingly, while the releases of God Hates Us All and Christ Illusion seemed to signal a return to form for the boys from California, it was almost as if Slayer were taunting us with a product that, while good, could not be talked about in the same sentence as some of their early releases.

Resultingly, World Painted Blood is an album that has the potential to bring the band full circle and back onto the forefront of the metal scene because of a recent release, rather than because of a 1980s-1990s back catalogue.

The album starts strongly enough, with the self-titled opening track building its way into trademark riffing coupled with the usual lyrical themes one can expect from a Slayer song; “Disease spreading death/Entire population dies/Dead before you’re born/Massive suicide.” While the whiney guitars in the chorus and the slow breakdown have all the makings for a great thrash song, it all sounds a bit Lamb Of God-ish – not an insult by any means, but it just isn’t the trademark insanity provided by Slayer in their heyday.

This trend of ‘almost, but not quite’ continues with songs like Beauty Through Order, which undoubtedly rocks, but with the exception of the blistering solo sounds more like an uninspired Metallica song. Moreover, Americon should have never seen the light of day, as the anti-American lyrics and boring riffs serve to act as a major blemish on the Slayer name.

Fortunately, World Painted Blood is home to some absolutely brilliant moments. The trio of Unit 731, Snuff and Hate Worldwide are all fine examples of thrash at its best and will no doubt result in the mindless injuries of hundreds of future Slayer concert-goers, with the latters’ lyrics possessing the power to burn down a church on a rainy day; “I’m a Godless heretic/Not a God fearing lunatic/That’s why it’s become my obsession/To treat God like an infection.” Moreover, Public Display of Dismemberment is one of the finest Slayer songs in recent memory – a simply awesome example of thrash metal and a triumph for the band.

Human Strain and Playing With Dolls show Slayer are still unafraid of experimenting, with the former having a breakdown which wouldn’t sound out of place on an Opeth album, and the latter being a brilliantly evil track that sounds like it was written by a bi-polar serial killer; “Your body’s not of Christ/It’s my altar… Enveloped in my sin/Faceless canvas/Tearing at your flesh/Bathed in blood…Brutal is your pain/Anguish is the game/Broken and afraid/God can’t help you now/You wish you were in hell.”

One particularly vexing aspect of the album, however, is the severe lack of production on the songs. Executive Producer Rick Rubin is well-known for leaving his records with a raw and bare sound, but some of the songs sound down-right unfinished, with Public Display Of Dismemberment and Psychopathy Red being the only two which stand out for having a ‘full’ sound.

Regardless, World Painted Blood is an enjoyable album. Slayer have managed to put together ten songs which combine old-school thrash with new-school musical ideas (I’m disregarding Americon, that song just sucks) and create a great new album. Can it be mentioned in the same sentence as their finest work from the 80s and 90s? You decide, but if it’s a no then I doubt anything ever will be.

Rock on KFK!

The Other Signed Band Of The Week
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young

The Strokes are great, but let’s face it, oh so repetitive. Their debut release Is This It was largely hailed as one of the greatest albums of this generation. Their second album Room On Fire was just as good, albeit a little similar. However, their third album, while experimental and progressive, was simply not as good as the first two. Not exactly where the next ‘biggest thing’ was meant to be heading.

Therefore, at the risk of becoming stale and predictably mediocre they need to make some changes. They need to keep their core sound, the element of their music that makes any listener go “oh, that’s The Strokes” – that would be Fabrizio Moretti’s metronomic pulse, Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr.’s shiny guitar wail, and Julian Casablancas’ trodden down vocals – but musically modernise through the addition of new elements.

Now don’t fret; I know The Strokes are where and who they are today because they captured that great garage rock sound from the 70s and brought it into our current musical landscape of over-produced garbage. I know that. But that revival has passed; there are countless numbers of bands the world over doing what The Strokes are doing, and let’s face it, no matter how much a garage rock band develops within the strict guidelines of that genre, there is only so much they can do until everything just starts sounding the same.

So, what they have to do is take their core sound and add elements of what is now incredibly popular. They need to add synths. They need to add pianos. They need to adapt!

Calling me an idiot now, are you? It worked for Muse. Coming off the back of the unspeakably excellent Absolution, Muse took a dramatic leap forward with Black Holes & Revelations. They modernized their sound through the addition of new sonic elements and were thrust into the role of one of the world’s biggest new bands.

The Strokes need to do that.

The Strokes need to release a song like Out of the Blue, a shimmering song where Casablanca’s chorus vocals shine like stars amongst the the intergalactic shimmering of the synth ostinatos and the trebly guitars. Or like Left & Right in the Dark, a nostalgic observation of a childhood, where once again synths, guitars, drums and bass form a perfect backdrop for Casablanca to wail, “How long must she wait/How long must you stay/Oh wake up!”, or the synth-pop 11th Dimension, which is sure to ignite the airwaves of worldwide radio very soon.

Moreover, should the blusey duo of 4 Chords of the Apocalypse and Ludlow St. appear on a Strokes album, they would push the band into unchartered territory, benefiting them immensely. The former is a country western tune which explodes in the shouted chorus and shines in the doubled guitar solo, while the latter is an alternative look at the bleakness of our surroundings; “Everything seems to go wrong when I stop drinking/Everything seemed to go my way last night/Everything seems so wrong to me this morning.”

Furthermore, the up-tempo dance track River of Brake Lights which breaks down into a gritty acid trip-like final act, the soaring Glass (seriously, it SOARS, it’s sick), and the shifty Tourist would all revolutionise The Strokes’ sound for the better, should they appear on their new album.

I guess what I’m trying to say is pretty simple.

The Strokes need to release an album like Phrazes For The Young, because fuck it’s good.

I believe in you, Julian!

Coinciding with the release of the band’s debut 15 track album – Delinquents With Hot Rods – through Reign Records, Mick King Jr. will join original members Murray Shepard, Ben Nightingale, and Matty Stokes.

The Ride Ons already showcase an extraordinary level of musical talent due, no doubt, to the exceptional performance history of the individuals involved. Collectively members have performed in The Clouds, Plutonium Biscuits, The Sleepy Jackson, The Screaming Tribesmen, The Monarchs, The Hitmen and Radio Birdman.

With over 20 years of experience within the music industry, including playing in the bands Strange Brew, Next Stop Earth, Newcastle cult hard rock band Vaseline Machine Gun, later to become Hound, and rock and blues outfit The Blues Bombers, Mick King Jr. will add another dimension to the indomitable Ride Ons style.

Delinquents With Hot Rods is now available, as The Ride Ons hit the road for a string of live shows, including:

21 November 2009 Beach Party 2009, Newcastle University
28 November 2009 The Cambridge Hotel
17 December 2009 supporting The Pictures at The Cambridge Hotel
18 December 2009 supporting The Pictures at Club 77, Sydney
8 January 2010 Oxford Tavern, Wollongong

Now it’s our turn.

To celebrate this momentous occasion in their career, The Basics will be launching Keep Your Friends Close at The Metro in Sydney on Friday 20 November followed by a launch at The Trackside Festival in Canberra on Saturday 21 November.

To help with the celebrations, The Basics will be enlisting extra musicians to deliver the best moments from Keep Your Friends Close live in all it’s glory. Expect more guitar, more keys, more horns, more vocals, more everything! These launches are not to be missed!

Written in the heart of the Australian outback, recorded in the band’s Northcote studio and mixed at Abbey Road studios in London by Peter Cobbin, Keep Your Friends Close encapsulates The Basics’ musical evolution and demonstrates the diverse origins of it’s conception and execution.

To celebrate this momentous occasion in their career, The Basics will be doing what they do best and hitting the road on a national Keep You Friends Close tour in November. Don’t miss The Basics performing the finest moments from Keep Your Friends Close live!

See The Basics launching Keep Your Friends Close in Sydney
and Canberra at…

SYDNEY

Friday 20 November
The Factory Theatre

Tickets available through: http://www.factorytheatre.com.au

CANBERRA

Saturday 21 November
Trackside Festival

UPDATE: A new Brian Jonestown Massacre album will be released on January 1st, 2010 (01.01.10… geddit?). The current working title is Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?

In August we were told by a little birdy (it might have been Anton himself, we’re still not sure), that Brian Jonestown would return to Australia in the summer of 2010. Along with a promise of a new Album.

Brian Jonestown Massacre will play The Playground Weekender Festival, taking place between the 18th and 21st of February. No sideshows have been announced yet, but we’re positive that sideshows will be likely.

Stay tuned for more info soon(ish).

(Illustration by Benjamin Johnson)