Congratulations are due

...to Dave and Leisa Thomas, on the birth of their boy Charlie Asheton Thomas, on Sunday.
Here's a couple of lullabies for him, played at a recent show, as only Dave can play them:

Farewell Tigers

One farewell show wasn't enough for Tiger By The Tail- they are doing another one this Saturday at the Tote.

LAST EVER SHOW-Tote front bar,Saturday September 1st 5pm-7pm
Playing two sets!!! Hi one and all. Yes its true Tiger by the Tail have called it a day and hung up our collective instruments. We will be taking a break and maybe getting back together at the end of this year to record. In the meantime James and Michael are playing and touring Europe with Johnny Casino and the Secrets, Daniel is reforming the original Sailors and playing with others and solo stuff. Dave has another band (Us vs Them) in the wings featuring Cris and Ben from Warped. Who knows when they will get it together to play. Cheers for your friendship, have a good one! the Tiges!

I'll miss them.

Distractions and other shit

I hate to whine here but really, this is getting ridiculous. I still don't have anywhere to live. My latest batch of beer (a highly hopped pale ale, brewed early for good summer drinking) stalled in the fermenter due to this cold weather. And my new project is eating time, patience and bandwidth in roughly equal proportions, and it's barely started yet. Here's a sneak preview, for those with eyes to see it:

And I missed both Penny Ikinger's gig at the Greyhound and the screening of the Rachel Lucas documentary, too.
Oh well. There have been some positives, though.

Last Saturday's show at the Tote was excellent. A lot of old friends there, some good news (hi, Anna & Alexander) and some excellent music. Them Wrong Turns are well worth keeping an eye on. A guitar and drums duo who manage to sound different to any other guitar and drum duo you may have heard, they draw more on straight rock than anything else, and have a huge, full sound courtesy of some quick pedal work. Dynamo did their Dynamo thing as well as ever, though for some reason I couldn't get into it. Sadly Tiger By The Tail were playing their last show, and due to illness they played it as a three piece, too. Nothing precious here- the set list was a copy of each CD, turned face down on the stage, and they were happy enough to take requests for anything anyone wanted to yell from the floor. (Watch this space for details of Dave Thomas' new project, by the way.) HOSS were in fine form, and the Onyas were a great way to close.

All this and a Wu-B-Q as well.

this weekend- Beasts, Tigers, & Darlings

I've been listening to "Little Animals" by the Beasts of Bourbon all week, and would love to go and see them at the Prince of Wales on Friday. Unfortunately, I have to go and look for somewhere to live on Saturday, and I can't see that an after-Beasts gig hangover will impress any real estate agents.

On Saturday there is a big line up at the Tote- a benefit for Heather Macdonald:

The Melbourne music scene has suffered a setback with the theft of Heather MacDonald's camera gear. These camera's have been used to capture some of the most memorable concerts of the last decade. Her images have graced the covers of many local releases, such as The Powder Monkeys, Hoss, Digger & The Pussycats, The Sailors, Mach Pelican and The Mystaken as well as a Dead Moon LP and the walls of the Tote Hotel's front bar. To get her over this hurdle a bunch of Heather's buddies are getting together do a bit of what they do best. So help pick up her spirits and kick up your heels.

Playing: The Onyas, Hoss, Dynamo, Tiger By The Tail, The Kickyourheadins, Wrong Turn, Chuck Jenkins. Starts at 7.oopm, for only $10.00
Sadly, this looks like it may well be the last Tiger By The Tail gig ever. Get there early.
I mentioned recently that the Saints reformation made me want to go to Brisbane- well, the idea of seeing the Darling Downs and the Painkillers sharing a bill makes me want to go to Perth:


James Baker, Ron Peno & Kim Salmon, all on one bill, all doing new material. A rare opportunity, I hope it packs out for them.

Tiger By The Tail - "Heavy Metal Days"

I didn't even notice I was being filmed for this, at the New Christs & Pink Fits gig at the Espy, back in early January. Enjoy.
More of their videos are up on YouTube, but I can't figure out how to link to them. Yet.

Phew.

Well. What a weekend- three days worth, too.
On Friday I caught GUT, Kim Volkman & the Whiskey Priests, Intoxica & Sixfthick at the Greyhound. All good- and the place was nicely full too.


Saturday I went by the Corner Hotel early to say hello to Vinz and the others from Demi Dero Inc. then over to Exile On Smith Street, where I was too early for Tiger By The Tail. Went down to the idGAFF to see if the rumour of Sixfthick doing a last minute show as part of the GAFFStock weekend was true- it was, and they did.
Recovery session at the St. Kilda Bowling Club on Sunday went on a little too long, though. I had a very quiet day on Monday, I can tell you.
Except that it wasn't really that quiet- the tinnitus that has been bugging me off and on for the past few years is in full flight right now. The loud constant feedback-like whine in my left ear, and sometimes in my right, is making it hard to concentrate, hard to hear, and hard to sleep. It looks like I may have to give the music- especially live music- a break until I can get this fixed.


Thanks to Belinda for the shots of Sixfthicks Ben & Geoff Corbett at the Greyhound

Koala By The Tail

Greetings one and all!
Tiger by the Tail are playing their last show for some time, (basically we ain't got nothing else booked), tomorrow night Saturday at Cherry Bar, AC/DC Lane, Melbourne. We are supporting Paper Planes at their CD launch. We are on early at 9.30pm.
Come along and have a beer.
Oh, and Sunday morning at 8am on South Melbourne/Middle Park beach we will be filming a video clip for the song 'Summertime at the Beach". We will be playing beach volley ball dressed as a koala and kangaroo playing against an ape, tiger, arab and a lebanese youth umpired by two coppers! So if you're out power walking or just coming home from Pony come along, bring the kids or whoever you've gone home with! Should be a laugh!

Worth going just to see these extraordinary athletes in action...

Music for January (part II)

What a great way to open my account for the year- Tiger by The Tail & Kim Volkman at the St. Kilda Bowling Club, last Friday night.
It was hot, it was crowded, it was great. I may have had several beers- I vaguely recall harrassing Richard Sharman to take my picture for a change.
Anyway- on to this weekend.
Almost exactly 20 years since Rob Younger & Jim Dickson pulled the New Christs back together, (March 1987 according to this:) the current line up line up hits town for a couple of shows- Thursday 11th at the Tote and Saturday 13th at the Espy- which is free, so you have no excuse to miss it. I may have to stand down the back, for some reason my ears have been ringing constantly for the last month or so.
February is already shaping up well, with SixFtHick playing Melbourne on the 16th, 17th & 18th. And yesterday I got a heads-up that X-rated US funk/soulster BlowFly is coming out for a national tour with Dr. El Suavo. I believe they are still looking for "exotic dancers" for some dates, feel free to drop the Doc a line if you're interested.

click that New Christs pic to enlarge & read

2006 Top Ten list. At last.

I sent this in to the I-94 Bar a little bit late, so it's not going up there until the Barman gets back from holiday/out of detox.
Regardless, this is the shit-hot illustrated interactive version. It took me HOURS to do, so I would appreciate it if you could at least read the goddamn thing, OK?
In rough chronological order, then, here's a list of things that made an impression on me last year:

1- Getting kidnapped from the Niagara exhibition opening night at Outre Gallery, by Niagara & Colonel Galaxy. Two of the most charming and witty people you could ever hope to meet- Tracey and I spent an excellent hour or so drinking and chatting with them in the deserted beer garden of the Town Hall Hotel in North Melbourne.
We picked up a copy of the "Hot Box" 5 CD set, as well as a print:

2- Having my nose broken by an old friend in a stupid fight. I fixed it myself, at the bar of the Greyhound Hotel, with a handful of ice cubes in a napkin. Looked straight enough at the time.
So yeah, I finally ended up in Fred Negro's "Pub" comic strip- the hard way:

3- The second Tiger By The Tail LP. If it lacked the same impact as the first, that’s only because I had a better idea of what to expect. I’m looking forward to more from them in 2007.

4- Brewing- among other things, I brewed three batches of all-grain beer this year- malt, water, hops & yeast. From mash to mouth in a month. All tasted pretty damn fine to me, too. Then Little Creatures Brewery released their Bright Ale, which kind of removed the need to make it myself.
But our labels are better than theirs

5-
Pet frogs- if you want a really Zen pet, get a tree frog. They just sit there and look at you in a very calming way. Don’t get a yabbie, it will end in tears.
Note: they do get an absolutely murderous look in their eyes at feeding time, though. And they make a noise like a chainsaw, click here and scroll down to "calls" to listen. Then imagine hearing that at 6.00am in the morning, and repeated at random throught the day.

6- I can’t believe I only saw the Drones once in a whole year. Shit.

7- Radio Birdman- both “Zeno Beach” and the live shows. Standing inside the crush barriers at their final Melbourne show for the last few songs gave me as intense a barrage of music as I’ve ever seen and felt in my life. And of course them Bellrays, too. What did Lisa Kekaula whisper in my ear that night? I’ll never tell…
And I still can't get over this poster, which arrived in the mail, unsolicited and unexpected:

8- The net- all that myspace, podcast, message board and blogging stuff. I found old friends-hi, Hank! hi, Lindsay!- made new ones- hi, Grrtch!- heard some great new music, and tried to spread the word. Hope you found it entertaining.

9- Ian Rilen. Enough said.

10- Now I’m not really a list guy, so I’m gonna cheat by sticking a load of things in one item. I didn’t like the way the epicentre of live music in Melbourne got dragged even further north of the city this year. I did like the way so many people got it together and released their own CDs. Looking forward to – new Beasts of Bourbon, Penny Ikinger, Killer Birds & Double Agents CDs, the Lethal Weapons reissue, more RRR, more Kim Volkman, less broken noses…
I've heard the new Beasts album, and it's great. The Killer Birds are being produced by Ross Knight of the Cosmic Psychos- can't wait to hear it.

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.

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.