Downtime

In mourning for a little while, about a few things- but one thing in particular.

Back in a few days.

oh, while we are in Christmas mode

A big thanks to all you people from:
Sydney, New South Wales
Laverton, Victoria
Drummoyne, New South Wales
Melbourne, Victoria
New Orleans, Louisiana
Falkirk, United Kingdom
Burlingame, California
Trenton, New Jersey
Wilmington, Delaware
Medina, Washington
Unknown Country
Perth, Western Australia
Mountain View, California
Vastra Gotaland, Sweden
(wherever all those places are... though I've been to a few of 'em) who came and had a look at the blog recently, and so ended up in this random sample.
"unknown country"- hmm, sometimes I wish I could move there.
salut!

Christmas staff

With Christmas and all, these guys were the only ones available to keep an eye on things.

They came in just before closing, and quite frankly I didn't have the nerve to ask them to leave.

Salut!

Some more plugs

Some tough calls to be made over this festive weekend.
Friday night is a toss up between Penny Ikinger & the Evolution playing for free at the Pint on Punt in Windsor, or Tiger By The Tail over at some new place in Collingwood, called Exile On Smith Street.

Then on Saturday Kim Volkman is at the Greyhound
Like I say, tough calls, each of 'em. Maybe you should just stay home and wrap yourself in tinsel. Or not.

Podcasts

Seems like everyone's got a podcast (and a blog, and a myspace) going on these days.
One 'cast I try to keep up with is Dixiegrrl's Hangin' On For Mercy which is available over at Garage Punk.
And now the Barman has posted the first edition of his Drunk & Disorderly online at the I94-Bar.
Click through to listen, enjoy.

Christmas. Yawn.

Christmas shopping? Done in just over an hour. No messing around. Got hassled for change by some ice junkies when I was done, but thier teeth were so bad I could hardly understand what they were saying. Guess I was shopping in the wrong part of town.
And what do I want this year, you ask?
Well, Criterion are planning to release Border Radio, on DVD but not until January . And speaking as someone who's got everything in the Flesheaters/Divine Horsemen/Chris D discography (and more) it would be ideal, if only it was available...
So I'll opt for a copy of I Pass For Human instead- Chris' own full length directing debut.

Just leave it under the tree...

I-94 Bar Podcast

Bowing to the inevitable need to find some use for the thousands of sound files on his hard drive, the Barman joins the Podcast Revolution. The first episode is here. Be warned - podcasting with a shredded throat thanks to two weeks with bronchitis doesn't make for pretty listening.

One-Eyed Annie and Furious Francesca

This talk of Outre reminds me that Annie & Fran had volunteered to stand watch this weekend.

They (she?) are the work of the lovely Angelique Houtkamp and came home with me following the "Skulls, Wheels and Ink" exhibition earlier this year.

Outre Krampus party

I started the year having an adventure at Outre Gallery's Niagara exhibition, when I was kidnapped by Niagara & Colonel Galaxy, so it seemed somehow right to head back there last night for their Krampus-themed drinks evening.
And what a fine night it was too- cheers to Martin & all the crew.
If you've never been to either their Melbourne or Sydney stores- well what are you waiting for? You can never have too many Taschen books.

Where did all those comments go?

In the trash, I'm afraid. Gone.
Don't expect to see so much give and take here for a while- too much bullshit was being sent through. So I bounced most of them.
But now I have all the blog's tools and functions properly set up and will be able to track visitors and comments much better in the future, so any comments that I do let go up on the posts should be able to stay there, OK? So no sulking.

Hot & smoky

It was hot and smoky here all weekend, in more ways than one.
On Saturday afternoon I made the trip from the beach to the city, to see Louis Tillett play a solo show at the idGAFF Bar in Collingwood. It was worth the effort- more details to follow via the I94 Bar.
I also dropped by to the Old Bar in Fitzroy, for that Kim Volkman/Tijuana Souvenirs/Tiger By The Tail gig I mentioned last week, but didn't stay long.

Three bars in one post, that's a lot even for me. More soon...

I'll catch your fish for you

My old pal Quint has the helm this weekend.


Why not get drunk and show him your scars?

Suburban Mayhem soundtrack wins AFI award

A while back, I said the soundtrack for this movie was great.
Well, last night it won the 2006 Australian Film Institute award for best feature film soundtrack. The beautifully shot and edited official announcement is here
Congratulations to Mick Harvey, and to everyone who contributed.
And no, I still haven't seen the movie.

Some plugs...

Friday night in Sydney:

I wish I could go to this, I'm already regretting missing TSOOL when they were in town last week. And the New Christs are playing too...yeah I know it's not on my usual turf, but so what?

And on Saturday night in Melbourne, at the Old Bar in Fitzroy:


That's a great line up- think of it as an early Christmas present.

Greyhound to go gay- official.

They nicked my headline!

From the Emerald Hill Weekly, 6 December 2006:
Greyhound to go gay
The 300 capacity Greyhound Hotel band room will be converted into a gay venue by March next year following its sale to the owner of a chain of gay bathhouses.
The new owner of the Greyhound operates Wet On Wellington in Collingwood, Shed 16 in Seaford and Bay City Saunas in Caulfield and Seaford.

This was in a local St. Kilda/South Melbourne newspaper yesterday, and well, I hate to say I told you so. Chalk up a scoop for the Last Tram Home, I guess.
But I will say that I still think this is bad news, not because I’m anti-gay, but because I’m pro-sticky carpet local rock & roll venues.
Full article here, click on the (crappy) scan to enlarge.

An arty weekend

Had a very cultured weekend- oh, and before I get started, a big thanks to Vlad & Dmitri for holding the fort for a couple of days.

I spotted this in the paper on Saturday:
Felt Is The Past Tense Of Feel.

Artist Catherine Bell sucks the ink from 40 squid, then spits it onto her dead father's suit, in a torrid video work of violence, grief, and the purging of emotion.

Well, how could anyone resist that? And it was literally around the corner, at Linden. So on Sunday, after cleaning the frog tank we tore ourselves away from the Sci Fi Channel , and went to have a look, and it was as gross and fantastic as it sounds. On two separate screens this lady is in differing stages of the process- in the early part the suit is still white, then later it's black. As are her face, hands, arms, hair...the suit in question is hanging in the corner of the gallery space, and it absolutely reeks. She gets right into it on the video, ripping squid apart with her fingers, squeezing, sucking & spitting ink all over herself. The pile of dead squid she's sitting in gets bigger & bigger. But what does it signify? No idea, I'm afraid, but I'm glad I saw it.
Note: if this isn't enough, you can go to her website and see pictures of her swimming in a pool full of live eels while dressed in a plastic fetish suit, in a prior performance piece called Head Over Eels.

Then we went into the city to do some shopping and have a drink. There are a few Christmas decorations up in the streets, but what I liked was the view from up in Chloe's Bar- all the banner-sized pictures of Nick Cave (from the Howard Arkley exhibition at Fed Square), the posters of Astro Boy (from the Tezuka exhibition at the NGV) and the huge Sidney Nolan Ned Kellys on the facade of Flinders Street Station(from an exhibition at Heide )
An interesting choice of seasonal decorations, and a very spiritual trio- I'd pick Ned as the Father, Astroboy as the Son, and Nick as the Holy Ghost.

Hey comrade

It's weekendski here, OK? We're just a call centre. If it's urgent, talk to the Kremlin, if you can find someone there who gives a shit.
Da, da...dursty vagina!

Radio Birdman

Some of you are probably aware that I spent a fair bit of time earlier this year immersed in the return of Radio Birdman . I played "Zeno Beach" endlessly, reviewed a couple of their Melbourne shows, updated their Wikipedia page and lobbed a load of links and other bits and pieces into the I-94 Bar's Zeno Beach site. I did it because I wanted to, and enjoyed every minute of it.
So I was hugely surprised and pleased to get a parcel in the mail the other day, containing an enormous one sheet poster for the September 29th show at the Live Club, in Milan, and a beautiful limited edition print of this Stainboy work of art:
Not sure how it made the journey from San Francisco to my house, but it's gonna look mighty fine up on the wall.

You won't be seeing me on TV

A couple of months back I heard that the Lifestyle Channel were holding auditions to find hosts for a new program about barbecuing.
I wasn't going to bother (honest!) but on the day we happened to go past the area where they were set up, outside the Palais in St. Kilda. It looked kinda interesting, but still I balked at it.
Then an hour or two later a friend who did audition rang and explained the set up. You had to cook a sausage & an egg while talking to the cameras. That was all. AND you got a goodie bag...I was swayed by the thought of a new set of tongs, so went and signed up.
Steve Lucas from X, resplendent in a red tartan suit, and with a raging hangover from the Ian Rilen benefit show the night before, had decided to have a crack too. I'd love to see that tape.
I won't go into details, but will just say that when the producer guy said "We'll call you", I thought I was in.
Sadly, it was not to be. Jamie Oliver and Neil Perry can rest easy.
But the friend who sold me on the idea apparently got a look in. Her name is Janet A. McLeod and she is a very funny lady. If you have cable, and have nothing better to do than watch TV on a Saturday night, the program is called the Great BBQ Challenge, and is on at 7.30pm tomorrow, 2 December.
I'll sign off with a pic of some real BBQ. Here's one I made earlier, as they say. That's Underwater Jesus admiring some pork ribs.

A quiet weekend

My first dose of rock & roll came from a 7 year old kid doing a fantastic karaoke version of "It's A Long Way To The Top" at a primary school fete on Saturday afternoon.
I did catch a bit of Kim Volkman & the Whiskey Priests
at the Greyhound on Saturday night though. What I heard sounded fine, and Kim gave me a copy of his new CD, which is even better.
My life is a something of a train wreck at the moment, for reasons I won't go into, but if you think I'm being a bit lazy about posting here, well, check out the amount of new stuff that just gone up on the I-94 Bar. Those Box of Fish, Earaches, Chuck Norris Experiment & Hell Crab City CD reviews are all mine, with more to come this week.
And thanks to Wes, who emailed me to point out that Box of Fish were actually on the "Flowers In The Dustbin" compilation, not "Why March...?", and that both of these fine Aberrant releases were among those reissued on CD in 1996, on Small Axe Records. My stupid mistakes, as usual.

Sydney is shaking

Thanksgiving

In an attempt to make this blog more welcoming to any American visitors, I'm rolling out a new product line.



Get 'em while you can, limit one per customer, sale ends Thursday.
Oh, and you may need one of these to go with it.
Enjoy, pilgrims!

UPDATE, 1/12/06:

from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Decatur man accused of trying to stuff his estranged wife into a heated oven on Thanksgiving Day was in jail Thursday in Rockdale County.
Martin Luther Jackson, 31, was charged Nov. 23 with aggravated assault, aggravated battery, cruelty to children and possession of marijuana, Rockdale police said. The incident at the woman's Rockdale home allegedly occurred within view of five children. Jackson's 29-year-old estranged wife escaped and complained to Rockdale police, said Jodi Shupe, a spokeswoman for the Rockdale Sheriff's Office.

If only he'd come to me first...full story here.

Wintergarden Room

Had a good night on Saturday, at the re-opened Wintergarden Room. It's pretty flash compared to how I remembered it- a big renovated space upstairs. Dolores & Chane are great hosts, and if there was a riot going on up in Collins St., I didn't notice it.
Ran into several old friends including Paul Elliot, from PolyEster , who was telling me the vice squad have returned most of the DVDs they seized in the raid, and are only going to charge him in relation to six of them. I can't recall the titles, but they all sounded filthy. Why not sign the online petition here to show him some support ahead of the trial?

new Off The Hip store opening, Friday 17/11/06

Just thought I'd post a short note about this.



Shake on down to the brand new Off The Hip store on Flinders Lane this Friday afternoon and help us open our brand new store! The party starts at 5pm, with the SHIMMYS playing live in store playing tracks from their EP out now through Off The Hip.

Off The Hip
381 Flinders Lane (between Queen St & Market St)
Melbourne CBD

TSOOL at the Bar

Just in case you came here from somewhere other than the I-94 Bar, we're carrying an interview with Ebbot Lundberg from The Soundtrack Of Our Lives here.

Members wanted

Spotted this in the classified section of this week's Beat magazine:

Members wanted to form new exciting original unique high-energy rock 'n' roll band. Looking for talented, experienced and open-minded people to collaborate with and develop set for gigs and recording. I play guitar/bass, played with GOD, Patterson's Curse & Sauce. For more info visit www.mattyw.com/wantad

It would be good to see Matty out from behind the shop counter and back in the live game, hope this pans out for him.

Suburban Mayhem

There's a new movie out, called Suburban Mayhem.

Directed by Paul Goldman, it's a story of lust and money and murder and all that good stuff. It's had fairly average reviews so far, and I haven't seen it yet, BUT for the first time ever I may have to go and see a movie because of the soundtrack. Check out the listing:

Adalita – Double Dare
The Buff Medways – Troubled Mind
Spazzys – Paco Doesn’t Love Me
Your Wedding Night – White Hott
Bird Blobs – Inbred Disco
Adalita – Sex Beat
Magic Dirt – Daddy
Theredsunband – Devil Song
Little Birdy – This Is A Love Song
Suzi Quatro – 48 Crash
Spazzys – The Sunshine Drive
Magic Dirt – Sucker Love

And that's only part of it- there is also some actual soundtrack type music by Mick Harvey as well.

No, I don't quite understand how the Buff Medways & Suzi Quatro fit in there either. But the Adalita stuff, which features Mr. Spencer P. Jones on guitar, is great, especially "Sex Beat".
There are samples available here , and if you like what you hear you can buy tracks or the whole thing as a download here.
Hmmm, $15.00 to see the movie and be entertained for an hour and a half, $22.50 for a CD that will last forever...decisions, decisions.

Isn't it great to be a footnote in history?

16-Jan-82 AU Melbourne, Royal Oak Hotel,Tiger Lounge [with Sunburnt Pharaohs and Precious Little]

setlist: New Age/ Downtown Swinging Town/ I Don't Care, Yeah/ Dead Joe/ Ring Of Fire.

Note: A private Missing Link Records party. The Birthday Party (without Phill Calvert) with members of The Go-Betweens and others. They perform as The Cavemen.

Taken from here.

Some of Precious Little's studio stuff is now available on a limited edition (1 copy only) CD, by the way.

Greyhound to go gay?

I've heard some rumours recently that the Greyhound Hotel , arguably St. Kilda's last surviving real rock venue, is to be transformed into a full time gay bay in the next couple of months.
This annoys and saddens me on a couple of levels. Historically, St. Kilda was always something of a gay hub- who remembers those drag queen photos that used to line the staircase at the Prince Of Wales?- and still hosts the Gay Pride march each year. However, the centre of gay culture in Melbourne seems to have cemented itself fairly firmly a couple of kilometers away, in Prahran. Up there, The Market Hotel, where I once saw bands like Little Murders, International Exiles & the Nicest People , has been a gay bar for years now.
The drag show in the back room of the Greyhound has peacefully co-existed with the rock & roll in the front bar for years. I just can't see how the place will survive as a full time gay venue though- those long term customers who prop up the bar each day will go elsewhere, for a start, and the location is, as I say, outside the gay district. Where will the bands be able to play now?
And why do we need segregated bars these days anyway?
It seems to be a bad decision on a few different levels, and I hope the rumours turn out to be false. The 24 hour kebab shop/garage across the road is being demolished soon (where will the Carlisle St. working girls get their 3.00am dim sims & cans of Coke?) and if the gay thing doesn't fly, I can see the 'Hound being converted into apartments in the next year or two.

Return of Teengenerate

From the desk of Toshi Maeda, drummer for Mach Pelican and all-round nice guy:

TEENGENERATE were a Tokyo quartet who were at the spearhead of the mid 90s Japanese Garage Rock Craze along with the 5678s, Guitar Wolf and Supersnazz. They only existed for three years between 1993 and 1995, but their impact on rock 'n' roll was enormous: garage rock would not be what it is now without them.

TEENGENERATE -- made up of FINK (vocals/guitar), his brother FIFI (guitar/vocal), SAMMY (bass) and SHOE (drums) -- are reforming exclusively for two shows only to pay their respects to the Australian music they love, and which shaped them as a band. Their records have included covers of Radio Birdman's "Burn My Eye", The Eastern Dark's "Johnny and Dee Dee", "Savage" by The Fun Things and "All I Want" by the Dirty Lovers. Ask their guitarist FIFI and there is nothing better than the Australian rock of the '80s.

TEENGENERATE are playing two reunion shows at The Tote in Collingwood on Thursday 28th December and Friday 29th December. They have only played three shows since they disbanded in 1995, and these will be their only Australian shows ever. To celebrate their visit to Australia, Bop Records are releasing the "Live At The Shelter" album in December. Show tickets will be available at The Tote, Missing Link, Polyester and the Corner Box Office from Friday 17th November.

TEENGENERATE were a Tokyo quartet who were at the spearhead of the mid 90s Japanese Garage Rock Craze along with the 5678s, Guitar Wolf and Supersnazz. They only existed for three years between 1993 and 1995, but their impact on rock 'n' roll was enormous: garage rock would not be what it is now without them.

TEENGENERATE -- made up of FINK (vocals/guitar), his brother FIFI (guitar/vocal), SAMMY (bass) and SHOE (drums) -- are reforming exclusively for two shows only to pay their respects to the Australian music they love, and which shaped them as a band. Their records have included covers of Radio Birdman's "Burn My Eye", The Eastern Dark's "Johnny and Dee Dee", "Savage" by The Fun Things and "All I Want" by the Dirty Lovers. Ask their guitarist FIFI and there is nothing better than the Australian rock of the '80s.

TEENGENERATE are playing two reunion shows at The Tote in Collingwood on Thursday 28th December and Friday 29th December. They have only played three shows since they disbanded in 1995, and these will be their only Australian shows ever. To celebrate their visit to Australia, Bop Records are releasing the "Live At The Shelter" album in December. Show tickets will be available at The Tote, Missing Link, Polyester and the Corner Box Office from Friday 17th November.

More info:
www.boprecords.net
myspace.com/teengenerateaustralia

Wintergarden Room at the Exford Hotel to reopen

Just a brief note to let you all know that the Wintergarden Room will reopen on 18th November, under the guiding hand of the legendary
Dolores San Miguel

See you there...

I was on a mission on Friday night

I was on a mission on Friday night.
I had to get over to a place called the idGAFF (yeah, I don't know what it means either) Bar in Collingwood for a drink with Spencer Jones, Graham Hood & Billy Pommer- 3/4 of the Johnnys- then down to St Kilda Bowling Club for Killer Birds & HOSS.

Was nice to have a quiet chat with Spencer. There was an interesting discussion about the fact that Hoody's daughter & Billy's son have BOTH set up myspace accounts for the Johnnys ( Highlights Of A Dangerous Life and Dead Men From Boot Hill if you are interested)
But I had to bail earlier than I would have liked, and ride that 246 bus all the way down to St. Kilda Junction.

Despite my best efforts, I was late, and so only caught the last song by Killer Birds. They are three girls from Bendigo, they rock out to a fair degree, and the drummer's mother is an old friend. I saw part of a set at the Greyhound a few weeks back, and really wanted to catch this. Ah well, next time.

Joel broke a couple of fingers doing his laundry the other week (yeah, I know, don't ask me, even he can't figure it out) so was off guitar duties tonight. The sound was still thunderous, though, and he moves/acts very different with the mike in his hand, rather than being tied to the stand.

Had a chat with John Nolan afterwards, he is getting very frustrated at not playing these days. With Tim Hemensley gone, the Powder Monkeys will never reform, but he seemed quite wistful as he fingered chords and strummed riffs up and down his walking stick.

I didn't catch the last tram home, I walked.

Beating the bootleggers

Coming down the pipeline - six discs of live and mostly prime Iggness in a box set. Put a little cash away now 'cos this is due out after Xmas. Some of the material's been out there before in bootleg form, but there's lots that hasn't.

The Soundtrack Of Your Aussie December

The following is from Richie Ramone, longtime Melbourne rock and roll ingrate who's living the dream (although probably working his arse off) by owning and operating that city's numero uno music hotel, the wonderful Tote in Collingwood. It's of most interest to Australian punters, although it's an illustration to the rest for the world of how some of the greatest music can sometimes struggle to gain traction:

Please forgive the group email, I don’t do it very often and it’s with good reason I do so now.

For at least 11 years I have been introducing friends and complete strangers to the wonders of a band with an unusual, some would say pretentious, name – The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

I rate The Soundtrack of Our Lives so highly in fact that the cover image of their first album, “Welcome To The Infant Freebase”, is tattooed on my “Arm of Rock” – alongside such other great acts as Iggy & the Stooges, The Ramones, Radio Birdman, The Clash and Rose Tattoo. High praise indeed, for a band from the far off land of Gothenburg, Sweden, to be placed alongside such Immortals of Rock.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives will visit Australia for the first time this coming December. I have been fortunate enough to see this band on 3 separate overseas trips, including last year when they supported Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) in New York and then floored me with their own, 2 hour set at The Knitting Factory. I am extremely excited by the prospect of my fellow Australians finally having their own opportunity to see this band perform.

"The music of The Soundtrack of Our Lives shows a deep assimilation of past highs - early Rolling Stones, Love, Syd's Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who, The Stooges, The Pretty Things - at the same time expressing a very personal vision rooted firmly in the NOW." - Mike Stax, Ugly Things

“Soundtrack are a Godsend” – Mojo

I could go on and on about the praise they have received from their peers worldwide, but I think with a short listen you will understand why this band should not be ignored. There is a very good chance you will be familiar with the MP3 link to ‘Sister Surround’ included here (in compressed form), as it has been used on the magnificent TV show “Six Feet Under”, played live on Letterman, as well as rotation on JJJ, RRR and PBS.

Alternatively, you could visit their Mediabox in http://tsool.net/index/index.htm for the full experience and I would encourage you to also have a look and listen to ‘Instant Repeater 99’, ‘Believe I’ve Found’, ‘Mantra Slider’ or any of the other clips and audio found in this section. Click on the "Media" box found up top, then Video / Promos.

So come and join me (not like in some weird cult kinda way, although lead singer Ebbot does wear a kaftan!) at any of the following shows:

Saturday 2nd December – CORNER HOTEL, Swan St, Richmond
with Spencer P. Jones & the Escape Committee, Shooting At Unarmed Men (ex-Mclusky and bloody incredible!) and the psychedelic sounds of The Great Apes.
Tix $32 + b/f at www.cornerhotel.com or 9427 9198

Friday 8th December – ANNANDALE HOTEL, Parramatta Rd, Annandale
with The New Christs, Johnny Casino and the Secrets, and the Dolly Rocker Movement . Tix $28 + b/f at www.annandalehotel.com

Tuesday 12th December – THE TOTE, Johnston St, Collingwood
ONLY acoustic performance (actually electric, just kinda stripped-back)
with Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, with more to be announced, plus a FREE BBQ !! . Tix $32 + b/f at The Tote front bar, Polyester (Brunswick st. Fitzroy), Missing Link (Bourke st. City)

Although TSOOL are a big deal in Europe and were Grammy nominees in the USA, the Aussie sojourn is very much a DIY effort with the band and/or Richie booking most things themselves. A local record company only came to the fore yesterday with boutique label/distributor Reverberation announcing they're rush-releasing the retrospective double CD set "A Present From the Past", a collection of B sides, hard-to-find EP tracks and 13 (count 'em) songs that are unreleased or in alternative form.

Treat this as a heads-up. I can't see tix lasting long.

Another Ian Rilen tribute

Ian's funeral was held on Saturday and by all accounts was a fitting and emotional affair. The wake drained every drop of alcohol available over the bar at West St Kilda RSL.

Melbourne I-94 Bar writer TJ Honeysuckle has posted a moving tribute that you'll want to read. (Most I-94 Bar columns are shifting to Blogspot, by the way, to make them more interactive and relevant.)

Box set worth the money

If you've been to the I-94 Bar, a glowing recommendation for the Easy Action label's six-CD "Sonic's Rendezvous Band" box set won't come as any surprise. It's reviewed here.

The great thing about "SRB" is that, given the luxury of half-a-dozen discs, it's not just presenting a narrow of this reverred band at any singular stage of its development. Sound quality is a bit howyergoing in parts, but that's not going to faze the fans (and it's waaaaaay better than the bootlegs you'll find). There's a little cross-over with the previously available Mack Aborn CDs, but not a lot. They're well out-of-print anyway, so including "Sweet Nothing" as in the box is a response to fan demand.

There's been some controversy around "SRB" as to what constitutes a band-endorsed project. It's mostly come from someone who used to be a go-fer for the band, back in the day, and feels like he shouldn't have been by-passed. If you'd like a copy, go here, log-on to Amazon or hit up your local music merchant (a switched-on one like Mojo in Sydney).

Also on our playlist and further to our tribute to Ian Rilen, I'm here to tell you to make sure you grab a copy of the yet-to-be-released studio album by the Love Addicts. You can hear a rough mix of the centrepiece tune, "Family From Cuba", here and look forward to the whole recording being out on Phantom in the near future.

Ian and band were planning to do some more recording this month, until his health rapidly declined, but the album that's in the can will do more than hold up fine - it'll stun many who haven't looked past the man's X past. The song selection re-visits his "Love is Murder" and "Passion, Boots and Bruises" solo albums but these re-recordings are definitive versions. Look out for it.

Farewell to Ian Rilen

Richard Sharman photo

My older brother was 16 in 1976, and an early fan of punk rock. He would go visit his new friends and bring home cassettes of local alternative radio station 3RRR- their signal wasn't strong enough to pick up out where we lived- and I'd sneak into his room and borrow them. On one tape, sandwiched between the Boys Next Door doing “A Catholic Skin” and the Little Murders’ “Things Will Be Different” was X doing “Delinquent Cars”. That clanging guitar, the bouncing bass line, the strange lyrics in that deadpan voice…I was intrigued and got hold of more, a whole album’s worth in fact, including “Present”, “Suck Suck”, and the anthemic “ I Don’t Wanna Go Out”.

So they were on my radar for a while before Ian & Steve re-formed the band with Cathy and moved down to Melbourne. It was a flush time for rock n roll, with clubs and gigs aplenty. But there were a bunch of us that chose to be at every X show, following them backwards and forwards across town, from the Prince of Wales to the User’s Club via Melbourne Uni and the Tote. They were just superb live, and had presence to burn, unlike so many other bands around at the time, who just had attitude. Ian and Steve were yin and yang to look at onstage- Steve the lanky dapper longhair and Ian the nuggetty crew-cut one in that white singlet. And of course most of the boys fancied Cathy Green like mad. “TV Glue” was always the high point of the set for me. Am I dreaming when I remember seeing this played with a horn section at least once?

I was writing back then, and after I did a live review for B Side, mutual friend Helen Meyers offered me the use of a spare studio at 3PBS to do an interview with the band. Perhaps unwisely, I took a couple of six packs of beer & a few bottles of red wine along to lubricate the process…but the result was an entertaining read at least.

Fast forward to February 1990- I was living in Surry Hills, Sydney, with Spencer P Jones. One warm Saturday morning, a huge crimson car nosed down our narrow little street and squeezed into a parking spot outside the house. Ian emerged, road case in one hand, amp head in the other and came in, talking a mile a minute. He’d just driven up from Melbourne overnight, and had decided to stop off for a drink. He kicked his boots off, quickly changed his jeans, locked the car and then we were off. I bailed out after an hour or two, (11.00am drinking isn’t my strong suit) and didn’t see Spencer or Ian for the rest of the weekend.

Not long after that I went and lived overseas til 2001. A couple of months after I came back, I went to the Espy to see the final show by Spencer P Jones & the Last Gasp, the magnificent 14 piece outfit he’d put together but had grown tired of shepherding. And while I was standing at the bar in the dim light of the Gershwin Room, an elderly looking gent in a shabby-chic suit & pork pie hat came over and said "Hello mate"...not only had Ian had spotted and recognised me after 10 years, he came over for a chat and a beer.

Over the past few year or so I must’ve seen him play with the Love Addicts eight or nine times. The swaggering, roaring set they unleashed on the big stage of the Palace as part of the benefit for his old mate Pete Wells. Those cramped and sweaty shows eye-to-eye and toe-to-toe with the crowd down on the sticky carpet of the Greyhound Hotel. There was always plenty of give and take

I also ran into him out & about occasionally, often pushing a baby stroller down the footpath. He was proud of all of his children, but there seemed to be something special about the way he looked at Romeo. I’d usually make some dumb crack about how odd it was to see him holding pram handles instead of an instrument. Looking back now, maybe he was holding onto those handles as support for himself just as much for the security of his son.

At the recent benefit show held at the Prince of Wales, I was talking to Janine Hall, the former Saints bass player who’d been a housemate of Ian’s in the past. Janine was close to tears as she told me how worried she was by the news he was too ill to come along himself. The show itself was great, but there was definitely something lacking without his presence. I went to see him on play on October 13th- and he couldn’t make the show. Kim & the Whisky Priests filled in well that night but within the next few days there were rumours swirling round and it was pretty clear things had taken a bad turn.

I went to the Greyhound a few nights ago. It was pretty full for a Monday, though it was happy hour from 5 .30 til 7 .30, and beers are only $2.00. There were a few familiar faces in there, and someone had written “Vale, Ian Rilen” on the blackboard.
I got a drink, put a few of his tunes on the juke box and sat in a chair in the same spot Ian stood and played the last time I saw him here. When the opening bars of "Booze To Blame" started playing, the whole place went quiet for a minute, then Rob (the landlord) went behind the bar to turn up the volume...and suddenly it seemed like everyone wanted to talk about him, to share a memory or a raise a glass. The jukebox got fed again and again, and I think every song of his that they had got an airing. Hearing them – “Halfway Round The World” especially- released a lot of the tension I’d been feeling all day. Well, that and the beers. I said a silent farewell to his shade and didn’t stay too long.

So rest in peace Ian- countless gigs, seven bands, four children, one life.

Vale Ian Rilen (1947-2006)

I knew Ian Rilen as well as most but not as well as some. In common with everyone that came into the Rilen orbit, however, I have a few stories. Many are about his penchant for living at or near that rock and roll place called the edge. Others that you won’t hear so often are about a loving father to four people, a husband to others and a friend to many, many more.  
 
Ian passed away at home at Shoreham on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsular on October 30, aged 59. He’d been battling cancer since early 2006.

Ian had a reputation for partying harder, longer and more determinedly than just about anyone else in Australia rock and roll. That was the public persona, and it’s one that he both rejoiced in, and struggled with.
 
You should already know the bare bones of his band history: Bass-player for ‘70s prog-blues band Band of Light. The writer of Rose Tattoo’s first and most enduring hit, “Bad Boy For Love”, who left the Tatts to pursue his own (arguably harder and more dangerous) muse. The diminutive ball of energy pumping out thunderous, rib-crunching bass-lines for Australia’s ultimate beyond-the-law rock soap opera, X. Debonair leader of Sardine v whose “Stuck On You” became a hit for Hunters & Collectors. Bare-knuckled rabble-rouser in Hell to Pay, the portable party with guitars. Iggy Pop-like frontman for inner-Sydney legends Skindiver. Frontman/guitarist for Australia’s ultimate gutter-blues rockers, the Love Addicts.
 
Ian was a renowned partier on any number of fronts, with as many alcoholic and chemical dance partners as you could imagine. I don’t know that Ian as much bought into that side of the rock and roll lifestyle as got swept along with it. You could take it or leave it.

One-on-one, he was the mirror image of his on-stage persona; quietly-spoken and a shy until he got a handle on you. It must have taken some effort to morph into the cocky, swaggering, guitarist, bouncing around a stage and mugging like it was his exclusive turf. There was a stunning presence about Ian Rilen with a bass or six-string guitar in hand. He was seemingly indestructible.

Of course, no-one is and there was a time when the odds were pretty short on something other then The Big C claiming him. His abuses were no secret, many of them carried out in public. Ian said he couldn’t give a shit. He once told me that, on the score of reputation, people (and most pointedly, “the industry”) could take it or leave it. He was what he was and if you didn’t like it, well you know the rest of the story. Deep down, however, Ian was always about the music and it was hard not to get the feeling that he thought his detractors focussed on the man when they should have been listening closer to the music.
 
Ian existed outside the so-called industry for most of his musical career. He’d had a brief taste of what was on the other side of the wall, working as a hired bass hand for ex-Cold Chisel guitarist Ian Moss. He was quietly shuffled off the payroll after notoriously getting so shit-faced with the owner of the pub they were playing at that he couldn’t stand up.

He was invited to the Jack Awards earlier this year, to play in an all-star tribute band for his departed Tatts mate Pete Wells (another claimed by cancer). I asked him how it was and Ian replied: “OK…but those young blokes were fucking kidding with their road stories…bunch of pussies…” At that stage, Ian was well in the disease’s grip and was moderating his drinking. A few red wines and a smoke was as far as he went. A few months later he actually left hospital to be at Rose Tattoo’s ARIA Hall of Fame induction - and found himself heading back there by ambulance at 5am after over-doing things at a post-awards party.
 
Rose Tattoo royalties may have bought Ian a Buick (and more about that later) but he was just as happy to consign the Tatts and his other bands to the past to concentrate on the present (and future). The Love Addicts were his band of the moment, and there was every sign that they did have a future before cancer crept up and tapped their leader on the shoulder.
 
Ian loved to play live. He desperately wanted to take this band overseas, after prospective 1990s tours for X to Japan and the USA fell over. But he wanted to do it in his own right, not as the infamous white singlet guy from X or Rose Tattoo’s Bad Boy For Love. Love Addicts manager Greg Sawers (more a close friend to Ian than anything) and industry veteran Sebastian Chase were solid believers in the man and the band, and had ambitious plans that would finally send the Love Addicts to Europe, on the back of an as-yet unreleased album.
 
There was a lot to love about Ian and a lot of love about him. He was, in the broadest sense of the term, a hopeless romantic, a sharply dressed knockabout with an effortless charm and a long line of wives, ex-wives, other peoples’ wives, girlfriends and other people’s girlfriends around him. Little wonder he and Brigitte named their brand new son Romeo. Ian told me being a father again so late in life was one of the most magic things to happen to him. On his own admission, he hadn’t been the best husband down the years, but increasingly he was a devoted father. Although all members were Melbourne-based, the latest Love Addicts album was recorded in Sydney with the band surrounded by partners and kids. A family affair.
 
X might have been the most dysfunctional band in rock and roll at times, but it also ran on love. That band's longest-serving drummer and Cathy might have split with Ian and threw him out more times than either can recall, but they never really parted. Steve Lucas was sometimes barely speaking to either of them but there was an unspoken bond between him and Ian in particular that undeniably ran deep, despite the pair going through some extreme times.    
 
Ian also loved cars. Two years ago, while staying at a live-in conference in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, I dropped into the nearest pub to have a quick late afternoon drink before heading to an official dinner. I spotted a Buick in a No Standing zone outside the Darlo Bar and had an inkling who’d be in the pub. Ian and close mate Mick Cocks (of the Tatts and now glam-rockers Doomfox) were holding court with a crew of colourful characters. They’d been there a couple of hours as Ian had inexplicably locked his keys in his new car’s boot and everyone was debating the best way to retrieve them. No, you couldn’t get the backseat out, and although there was any number of people in the house who would probably know their way into a Commodore or Falcon, the boot of a Buick was a whole other kettle of fish. Ian was going to catch a taxi to his Bondi flat and break-in to grab a spare key, but only after we’d had a beer…or two…while we watched for parking cops.
 
Ian’s love affair with cars had a chequered history. That same Buick had been bought in Brisbane and driven halfway down the NSW coast before its transmission fell out, to languish in a country mechanic’s shop until the money could be raised to repair it. More recently, a similar mission to buy another Yank gas-guzzler with easier access for a baby seat resulted in a blown radiator when Ian ignored a temperature gauge. Someone who knew him better than me said it was typical Ian: Strike a problem and press on. Just as he was determined to lean on non-traditional medicine when chemotherapy failed and keep playing through his illness.
 
The T-shirt from a two-night benefit concert at The Prince in St Kilda told the same story, with the star billing on the back (Rose Tattoo, Hoodoo Gurus, Don Walker, Beasts of Bourbon and Tim Rogers, among others) competing with a simple phrase on the front: “Rock Till You Drop”. Ian never planned to perform – playing at your own tribute was just too silly – but wasn’t well enough to attend.   
 
I saw what was to be his second-last performance in Sydney, upstairs at Newtown’s Sandringham Hotel. It was the first of a two-night stand and Ian’s medical condition had been made public via a story in the Sydney Sunday press a week or two earlier. I was told the Saturday show was the one to see, in which case it must have been a helluva gig because Friday was terrific. All recorded, too. You could feel the love in the room for Ian, even without seeing the odd teary-eyed fan (most but not all of them women). There was a sense that this might be one of the last times we’d see Ian grace a Sydney stage. Sadly, it was, and planned return gigs at the same venue were quietly blown out a month ago.
 
Back home in Melbourne, the Love Addicts played a few more gigs, mostly at The Greyhound Hotel where I’m told a similar mood pervaded. The band’s performances at those shows, by all accounts, were remarkable. They were simply in another place and a gig at a country football club inspired one of the organisers of the Meredith Festival to rush the Love Addicts onto the bill. With Ian’s health in decline, that had to be blown out. Fittingly, however, the replacement was Spencer P. Jones, a Hell To Pay band-mate and dear friend.
 
Perhaps the most telling moment in Ian’s battle came about a month ago when the band assembled to rehearse. Ian had taken a lease on a house on the Mornington Peninsular where he intended to gather his strength between shows and rest. Friends couldn’t but notice the physical wasting in him as the cancer attacked from the inside. On a trip into Melbourne to rehearse with the Love Addicts, a drawn Ian walked into a practice room, plugged in his guitar, strummed two chords and said: “That’s it. I can’t do this.”
 
That’s no way to remember Ian, so let’s not. Let’s remember a musician who was so full of life there was no time to consider the alternative. Mr Rock and Roll. Cathy, Dave and Kim have lost more than a band mate – they’ve lost an inspirational friend. Same goes for his manager Greg. Ian was brave - maybe more than any of us will know. But most of all, let’s remember Ian as a father to Tallulah, Gentilla, Jay Jay and Romeo, de facto to Brigitte and ex-husband to Stephanie and Sofia. There’s a spot on his myspace site where you can leave tributes, or simply do so here if you want them made public. Once you've done that, have a drink for Ian. It's what he would have wanted.