Now and Zen: Garry Gray and the Sacred Cowboys Manifesto

WORDS: ROBERT BROKENMOUTH
PICTURES: THE BARMAN

Some myths should be forgotten. As an AFL-denier, Melbourne's St Kilda/Collingwood rivalry has always smacked of juvenile footy gibberish. Besides, Sacred Cowboys were no strangers to Collingwood back in the day, and what was then remains then (and that's Zen) and what was then is certainly is not now (and that might be Zen, too). 

Then and now, from my own window Sacred Cowboys still embody so many of the varied aspects of Melbourne culture - their performance of “Nothing Grows In Texas” on an industry-led TV show I loathed (yet watched religiously), “Countdown”, showed them successfully crossing Melbourne's apparent “dividing rift” - as did The Models.

Some myths should be rediscovered, dusted off, celebrated and redressed, and we should dance with them around a maypole. 

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• beast records
• sacred cowboys
• garry gray
• tim deane
• mark ferrie
• in the manifesto
• damian fizgerald
• torn and frayed

Datura4 preview Album Number Six with video single

Four years after “Neanderthal Jam”, Australia's kings of retro boogie-psych,  Datura4, are returning with their sixth album, “High on the Low Brow”, on US label Alive Naturalsound.

Recorded in their hometown of Fremantle, Western Australia, Datura 4 are led by Aussie legend Dom Mariani (The Stems) and “High On The Low Brow” delivers a trademark blend of blues-rock, boogie, and psychedelia. It's due out on June 19. 

Datura4’s records have built a devoted following, celebrated for their authentic throwback to a time when Australian rock was loud and loose.

They're all anchored by Mariani’s unmistakable guitar work and his knack for crafting tunes that really stick.  

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• alive naturalsound
• datura4
• dom mariani
• the stems
• high on the low brow
• getting through

Old Man muses the word Punk over a record player

(Pondering the passing of time, punk, and the “new” Young Charlatans record, “'1978”, released on Eminent Vinyl, and featuring a short interview with Harry Howard.)

UK writer Kris Needs expresses it best, I think. In his introduction to his 2010 “Dirty Water 2. More Birth of Punk Attitude” CD compilation, Needs denies trying to nail down "any kind of definitive punk thesis", and instead tries "to show how the age-old attitude which shaped it could not be confined to any one time, place or big bang”.

He goes on to describe punk as "an eternal spirit", explaining that the "desire to achieve or express personal freedom is one major uniting theme, whether an attitude born out of everyday struggle or desire to upend existing musical forms, which could spark in anyone from guitar-toting wild men and electronic alchemists to street corner finger-poppers or expressionistic black music movements such as bebop and free jazz."

Feel free to disagree, of course.

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• choice
• punk rock
• the birthday party
• harry howard
• the saints
• rowland s. howard
• young charlatans
• eminent vinyl
• kris needs

Grown Up Right! A Power Pop Interview with Dave "Dog Meat" Laing

You may know Melbourne's Dave Laing from many places. He’s been a record label head for decades, with his own Grown Up Wrong and Dog Meat labels, home to such influential bands as Powder Monkeys, Bored! and Hoss, and more recently Lipstick Killers, Screaming Tribesmen and Flamin’ Groovies. 

He’s also worked with the likes of  The Pretty Things, The Imperial Dogs, Dead Moon, The Cheater Slicks, Billy Childish & Thee Headcoats, The Devil Dogs, Teengenerate, The Real Kids, the Screamin’ Mee-Mees, The Barracudas, the Jeff Dahl Group, The New Bomb Turks and Chris D.

What you may not know is that he's a power pop freak - one who doesn't merely trudge through the record crates, either. These days he's a music publicist and (again) runs the two labels that he started way back in the 1980s. He's also an occasional music writer for Ugly Things and elsewhere.

Last year UK label Cherry Red released one of those astonishing box sets that they excel at. “'I Wanna Be A Teen Again! - American Power Pop, 1980-1989”. It was curated by the very same Dave Laing, who also wrote the liner notes and publicised it.

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• lipstick killers
• cherry red
• dave laing
• grown up wrong
• dog meat
• beathoven
• the breakers
• I Wanna Be A Teen Again! - American Power Pop, 1980-1989

The image is still Rotten

They’re back and they’re not the S*x P*stols.

Public Image Ltd (did you know they are led by John Lydon?) have announced a series of Australian and New Zealand shows as part of their global “This Is Not… The Final PiL Tour.”

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• public image limited
• australian tour
• new zealand tour
• 2026

Surviving Masters Apprentices announce four shows

Here’s something special: Three founding members of The Masters Apprentices, Rick Morrison, Mick Bower and Brian Vaughton, catching up in Glenelg, South Australia, last week, as uploaded to their Facebook page. .

The Masters Apprentices are still playing live. Obviously without late singer, Jim Keays. As the band explained while announcing three shows: “More than 60 years on from where it all began, the bond is still there. And the music certainly is too.

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• masters apprentices

Chris Masuak's Spanish band makes a Specactular announcement

The debut album from Los Revelators, the Spanishg band for ex-Radio Birdman, Hitmen, Screaming Tribesmen and New Christs guitarist Chris Klondike Masuak, is out on vinyl on May 15 and its title is “Spectacular”.

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• chris masuak
• los revelators
• spectacular

Setback for Died Pretty's Chris Welsh as friends renew fundraising appeal

Former Died Pretty drummer Chris Welsh has suffered a setback in his battle against cancer. Tests have revealed the scourge has returned and he’ll consider his treatment later options this week.  

“Fucking cancer. Just when you think you're getting on top of it, it bites you on the arse once again,” Chris posted online on April 21.

“Yes folks, the cancer has returned in the middle of my left lung and there is a new small nodule which has grown on the right lower lobe of the lung. And to top it off, there is a new lymph node growing near my liver.

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• died pretty
• gofundme
• chris welsh

The Ons and Ons release video single ahead of album launch

“Constance” is the second digital single from Sydney, power pop kings The On and Ons from their new Jem Records album “Luminary”. The accompanying video was made by Libby Blainey with additional live footage from Vic Zubenko.

“Luminary” is The On and Ons’ second album for Jem Records after last year’s compilation “Come On In”. It’s available from all the usual outlets or directly from the band here.

• the on and ons
• luminary
• the exile co
• mixtape