31th January, 2003 Hi there everyone! I can't believe it is nearly Feb and I haven't had a chance to wish everyone out there in net land a Happy New Year and Christmas and all that jazziness. so....HAPPY NEW YEAR and XMAS!!!!!!! I hope you all had a super time over the holiday season. I spent Xmas with my family in Robinvale and totally relaxed for 5 days and I spent NYE at my good friend, Ted's house. What was even better than having an ace time with my good buddies was that I had both my sister AND brother around to party with me! Before I get too far into it, I want to say sorry to all those people who have been emailing me and have been getting bounced emails! Whoops!! There's nothing worse. No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet! It's just been like an age since I have sat down at a computer....a good thing or a bad thing??? I dunno!! Lately, I have been playing music live or rehearsing nearly every day with different projects, as well as working at the lovely hotdog cafe - not! Oh yeah, everything is in full swing! I'm quitting the hotdog business at last!!!! And it is official; I'm going back to UNI to become a music/art/drama teacher! It's kinda scary going back to UNI but it's gotta be better than being a rock'n'roller making hotdogs! Ok. So. LOS DOMINADOS news is quite exciting! After 2 years in the bedroom, we have finally made into the public domain! We have played twice now at the Town Hall Hotel in North Melbourne to a rapturous audience ...our friends, perhaps one or two strangers! Our final show is tomorrow night before the BIG ONE next Wednesday! This show is a 'showcase' at the Melbourne Casino as part of Australian Music Week. We entered in a competition to perform in front of the Music Industry Types- we are one of 22 finalists! As far as we know most of the other acts have been around the traps for awhile and are used to performing live! We, on the other hand, are still fumbling around! It's going to be sooooo nerve wracking! Well, the prize of this comp. is a trip to the SXSW in Austin, USA, this year..(which I have played at a couple of years ago with Moler) and also the chance to play at the Music and Blues Festival here in Melbourne which features none other than the magnificent Bob Dylan! Well, I don't know if we'll win but I do believe we have 'something' going for us! Who knows??? Fingers Crossed!! Speaking of the SXSW, my good compatriots, THE DRONES, are playing there this year and then they're off to the Netherlands! WooHooo!!! They are sooooo fantastic they're gonna set the world on fire. Well maybe not the mainstream charts but all of your hearts... best of luck guys and gal!!!! SEE THIS BAND!!! You can find out more about them on the Spooky Records website! I also have to mention that Gareth; the singer from the Drones did a very special solo show at Orange Cafe on Nov 20- his birthday and mine! Actually there were Scorpio birthdays all round that night...I ended up at Subverse Studios that night jamming with the LOS DOMINADOS boys...we recorded it...but I think we sounded better in our heads than on tape!!!! Newflash no.2! Spencer P Jones has had an almost complete line up change after a disastrous gig at the Espy Hotel one night. There was kind of a mutual, mutiny, spontaneous combustion.... Now Harry (who also drums with Los Dominados) and Matt (who also played with Moler and now plays with The Sailors- god this town is incestuous...have I mentioned this before?) have quit the band and now Spencer has Andy (from FORT MARY, DIGGER AND THE PUSSYCATS and maybe 4 other bands- he is a bigger band slut than me) and Phil (the guitarist from DYNAMO) are playing...me...I'm still there!!!! I must say though, we have been rehearsing lots and it is sounding like a new band! You can catch us.... I don't know if we are still called COW PENALTY or THE ESCAPE COMMITTEE yet... at the Tote this Fri 31st Jan with the fabulous DOUBLE AGENTS (also a competition finalist) and a band called STUTZ...never heard of them but I like the name! MOLER news.... We is one lazy ass band lately but hey, we rehearsed 3 times last week and played a show at the Espy under the name of CAT TEAM! Why, I don't know! It was fun except I had to race off stage afterwards to play another gig at the Empress with Spencer....ahhhh!!! Talk about cutting it fine. MOLER has another show as CAT TEAM at the Rob Roy on Feb 6th. Ok, did I tell you about the SASS!!! We did our first ever show at the Pony last December with BABY 8 and JAPE SQUAD. We had another show coming up but it got blown out cos of noise complaints at the Empress....could it have been that the Spencer show was too loud and went over time cos I was 15 mins late!! Hmmmm. We may never know! Ok that's it my band front... So what else is new? Well, I caught the last few songs of THE SURROGATE who were absolutely rockin' at the Duke! They are kind of rock/ska/80's new wave all rolled into one, retro but fresh at the same time. Very cool!!! I had the absolute pleasure of seeing BRIAN WILSON live in concert at the Melbourne Concert Hall last December. I have to say that this was the best musical experience I have ever had. When they launched into the second song Don't Worry Baby' I had tears in my eyes, it was so beautiful and sublime. Brian may have hit some clanger notes in the singing department but considering his age; it was a sensational show. I have had BEACH BOYS songs going around in my head for the last month. I've now got sheet music to some of his songs and am attempting to learn them on piano and guitar...even the easy songs are hard to learn! LOS DOMINDADOS even did a version of 'In My Room' last Tuesday. What a song! Speaking of old guys. I was lucky enough to score tickets to THE ROLLING STONES who will be here in Feb. I've never seen them before and I wonder if they will be as mind blowing as BRIAN!?! We'll see. Today THE BIG DAY OUT is on. The premier music event in Australia. Unfortunately I missed it again this year due to a lack of funds, oh well, can't see everything in this world. I am still kicking myself that I never seen THE PIXIES, NIRVANA and SONIC YOUTH!! One band I know I'll never see, maybe there's a slight hope for the other two. It's been absolutely scorching hot here in Melbourne and just as I feared, because of the drought, half of Victoria and New South Wales are on fire. Some mornings I wake up and the Melbourne sky is a grey, pinky, yellow and you can smell the forests burning. It's really scary. One suburb in the capital city of Canberra has totally burnt down. It's sad that people have lost their homes but it's the lives that are lost, the memorabilia and especially the loss of wild life that makes me really sad. I keep telling myself that it's part of Australia's natural cycle; forests will grow back, people will rebuild, animals will breed but what about the endangered species of animals? Is this evolution? Speaking of evolution, I am really worried about this impending war with Iraq. Lately we have had ads here telling us to, "be alert but not alarmed of terrorist attacks". WHAT?!?! Is this so that the government can say, "well we warned you?" after the lack of information concerning the 'Bali Bombings'! Is it because we can certainly expect something to happen now that we are about to be involved with the war on Iraq? Why is it that Iraq can't have weapons of mass destruction when North Korea, China, Australia, England, America, France, India, etc. can? I don't know what to believe in the media anymore. Is it propaganda or is it not? I just heard on the news that America is waging war with or without the support of the UN. Our foreign minister, Alexander -foot in mouth- Downer has said we would follow without the UN agreeing or not. I am not looking forward to February or March, even though I try to not worry and concentrate on my music. 2003, what will you bring? Let's hope that things get better. OK. cool ones this is the helcat signing off before I start waffling on about world peace, human rights, animal rights, plant rights !!!! hasta luego amigos love el helcata xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 30th October, 2002 Hi there all cool ones, How is it going? OK, it’s been a millennium, AGAIN!!!! I’ve just been at Atlantis Studios in Hawthorn, recording an album with Spencer P Jones and Cow Penalty. It came up all of a sudden. We practically learnt the songs the day before we went in and some actually in the studio, which is kinda good, the songs are fresh! The songs cover a few different styles, ala Cramps, ballads, a Latin/reggae type song, pop rock, gospel, country and blues. Already it’s sounding really good. The album will also include some tracks he recorded in New York with some of those famous types. Spencer fans, you are gonna lerve it! Cow Penalty have been pretty busy gigging- a couple of roadtrips to Adelaide and Sydney. The photos are from the last trip to Adelaide. Dan Kelly came along to play guitar with us because Matt Heydon (keyboards) couldn’t make it. He was playing in Melbourne with The Sailors who were launching their second album. Already!?!! It’s another damn fine effort too, with the addition of keys. Highlight songs are ‘Penis Colada’ and ‘The Paperless Office’…actually, the whole thing is a highlight…go buy it!!! So anyway back to the last Adelaide trip…the spooky tour. We played with the fabulous Drones, King Daddy and The Drowners. On the way up we were in the Tarago and Locki, who was driving goes, "Hey look, there’s an emu". We all look up just in time to see the emu and a big Kenworth Truck coming up behind it. The emu runs off the road but at last minute, it runs back in front of the truck- much to our horror. WHACK!!! This huge emu got sucked under, there was just blood and feathers spurting out everywhere. I just wished I wasn’t watching, …for the whole entire trip we couldn’t get the image out of our heads. The country is in drought at the moment and all the wildlife is coming into the towns looking for water and food. Hence roadkill everywhere. On the way back from Adelaide we were driving along and we spotted a pink, a yellow and a blue cow next to a herd of black and white ones… I managed to get a photo of them. A Cow Penalty moment, it looked as though they were outcast from the group. I think they were painted to represent the Adelaide Crows who were playing in the AFL football finals that weekend. The Drones and Cow Penalty then did a Spooky Tour of Sydney, this time Harry couldn’t come so we had Andy from Fort Mary on drums. He did a fine job too! Good one Andy. I went to the launch of Elizabeth Chong’s ‘Tiny Delights’ book and TV show the other night, which was fun. Got to drink lots of wine and champers and caught up with some of the crew. Got my photo snapped for the ‘social’ pages of the newspaper but when I looked at the paper today, obviously I was edited out..d’oh!!! But hey I got to meet the legendary TV personality Bert Newton. I shook his hand and told him I was a fan…the usual fan thing you do! I also won a signature Elizabeth Chong wok in a raffle to boot. WooHoo!!! Aint life grand! Went and saw The Vines at the Hi-Fi bar recently, to find out what all the hype was about. Who was this Aussie band that had so many reviews in the magazines and had been on Letterman? (I can’t believe people are still impressed with bands behaving badly on TV, like it’s never been done before) I hadn’t even heard a song of theirs or anything but thought I should check them out to see what all the fuss was about. I really wanted to like them, someone said they were a cross between The Kinks and The Beatles, how could I not like them? Alas I was disappointed. They seemed so average really. None of the songs really grabbed me. The amount of reverb they had on the singer’s voice was really annoying, like you couldn’t quite hear the voice or the music for all the reverb. Not that reverb is bad, it suits The Jesus and Marychain perfectly! The crowd was also very reserved, no moshing. When the band finished their set, the crowd clapped, then one of the stage guys comes out and says "if ya wanna hear more you better make more noise than that". No-one made more noise. The band came back out regardless and played another song. That was it. It was almost embarrassing. I guess the Melbourne audience was suspicious of this band coming out of nowhere and making it big before they had really played in front of their home audience! I dunno, maybe I’ll like the album. I thought the support bands were much better, Jet and The Pictures. Jet sounded really great, in fact the whole record industry is doing the ol’ bidding war over them at the moment. Their songs are kinda derivative of old stuff, but they can write great melodies and lyrics and sing and play well. Radio Friendly!! Go Jet boys, go forth and conquer! The world needs more Aussie bands! Moler played recently too, we hadn’t played for awhile actually so it was a little nerve wracking. Moler is now back to being a 3 piece, guitar, rock’n’roll! It was Night of the Longnecks at the Espy, (Football Grand Finals day). There were about 40 bands playing on various stages. I must say Moler played well and got a great reaction considering the audience was absolutely drunk by this time. I missed all the other bands cos I had to work but I think the day was enjoyed by all. Fort Mary played last. I must say they looked cute in their footy shorts! They put on a great set. You can get a copy of the Longneck sampler through the local radio station PBS, full of local independent acts; some you know, some you don’t. You can catch Moler again on Nov 10th at the Corner Hotel, with Remake-Remodel, The Mystaken and a few others I can’t quite remember at the moment. Oh yeah, newsflash! At long last, Los Dominados, one of my other bands, is ready to hit the stage and perform to the public! It’s a great line-up of bands too. We’re on first so you better be early! FRI DEC 13th, at The Duke of Windsor Hotel, Prahran; with Ref Random, Fort Mary and The Sailors. I can hardly wait! There’s been a billion bands I’ve seen lately, I’m spewing I missed Oasis though…rats… Spiritualized was really great! Jape Squad, Baby8 and Run on One at The Pony was a great night too. God I could go on forever. Tonight- The Datsuns are playing at the Tote. Hopefully I’ll make it to that one. I’ve got the album but haven’t heard it yet! It’s cold outside, it’s raining hmmm…should I? I think it’s beer o’clock. What is happening to the world, I can’t take another horror story, more lives lost. Why can’t we all just get along? Peace and love. (There’s gotta be another hippy movement soon!) A special hello to rock goddess, Karina, a new coolgrrrl from Argentina. Til next time, Keep it cool. Helcat xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sunday 16th June 2002 Hi there all coolest ones, It seems it has been forever since I submitted an update. In fact, I have missed the entire summer/autumn season of events due to being computerless, internetless and extremely busy! Sometimes it feels as if my life is on permanent fast forward and I wish that just for a few moments I could hit the pause button and relax (especially since I have been suffering from the flu for the last month. There’s an epidemic of sick Melbournites right now!) Ok, I shall attempt to scan the ol’ memory banks and recall some of the highlights of the past few months. Way, way, back I got to do the sound recording for a Chinese cooking show: ‘Elizabeth Chong’s Tiny Delights’. It took a couple of weeks of shooting in a TV studio kitchen. Elizabeth Chong is a celebrity chef, often appearing on daytime television and was one of the first chefs’ to bring Chinese cooking to the Australian culinary palette of meat and 3 veg. Elizabeth is an amazingly beautiful, talented and energetic woman who defies her age by at least 20 years! She’s down to earth and has many fascinating tales to tell. The best thing about working on the show was not only getting to know Elizabeth and her the tricks of the trade but being able to taste test the results. mmmmm I mean the food was outstanding…(a far cry from working with hot dogs, burgers and fries). Although I don’t eat chicken or beef, I certainly hoed into the seafood, vegetable and sweet delights; calamari, salmon, oysters, lobster, giant prawns, exotic mushrooms, vegetables and some delicious desserts. For lunch, the assistant chefs would cook up a storm for the crew, I mean these were the finest Chinese chefs in Melbourne, hand picked by Elizabeth! How lucky. The show is due to hit TV screens late 2002 along with a fabulous companion cookbook. Mouth watering stuff! Watch out for it! Elizabeth you rock! Many thanks to the producers, Ron and Ruth Brown, for offering me such a fantastic experience. Can’t wait to see it on TV! Moler has been gigging regularly. Just recently we played at Revolver with excellent bands; Willow, Fort Mary and The Pictures. It was to launch a 7 inch vinyl compilation featuring a track from each band. Our track, ‘Mysterious Ways’, recorded in all its glory, in Matt Heydon’s lounge room on crusty cassette, is a WALTZ! It certainly has a sea shanty charm about it. There’s only a limited amount of vinyl available so if you want a copy for your collection email Julien: greasypolecat@hotmail.com. Many thanks to the brilliant Matt Sigley, who played keyboards with us that night since Matt Heydon had to travel interstate with Cow Penalty (Cow Penalty had to use a fill in bass player as well- clashing gigs…ouch). Matt S, had a run through of the set just before the show and played some wicked stuff. Matt Sigley has just returned from the UK and has his own band called ‘Daytime Frequency’. I’ve heard one song that they’ve recorded and it sounds excellent. Definitely go check them out! Moler won’t be playing again until late August because Julien will be traveling to the US and Canada to promote the Sixpack record label and some great independent, Aussie bands on a sampler CD. Watch out all you people over there for a guy with a whole swag of CD’s, he’ll be looking for a comfy couch to sleep on! As soon as Julien returns we’ll be playing around and recording our next album with producer, Simon Knight. It’s gonna be great! 25th of April, ANZAC day, there was an excellent mini fest over 4 days, called Rock Wars, featuring 24 brilliant Aussie bands at the Duke of Windsor Hotel. Holed up in the lovely surrounds of the beer storeroom, it was my mission to record every act, live to CD! Indeed a challenge! But what magnificent results! Soon you will be able to purchase your very own live ROCK WARS CD, recorded in krustorama by the Helcat! The bands that played were: >Prelude >Slow Hand >Sean Kelly >Day 1 >The Twits- Fred Negro’s pub rock legends >The Specimens-loud ‘n proud breakneck rock’n’roll >The Gammarays- surf, soundtrack instrumentals >Speed Demons- like Rose Tattoo on rocket fuel >The Sailors- sexually explicit rockin’ sailor tunes >The Onyas- punk rock supremos >Day 2 >KTV- power pop grrrl with a voice to die for >The Spazzies- twin sisters, chick ramones style fun fun fun >Porcelain- sassy all grrrl power pop >Moler – that’s us, you know the story >Mach Pelican- Japan’s finest ramones style boys >Day 3 >Jet- beautiful songs, kinda oasis meets T-rex meets the Stones >Fort Mary- exciting boogie rock, S.T.Y.L.E!!! >Fez Perez- high energy rockabilly meets metal >The Casanova’s – kiss cock rock muthafuckas >Day 4 >P-Tex- Country AND Western >Butterfly- beautiful, sparse, lilting, country, folk, featuring Shane and Vivian’s spine tingling vocals >Dank Alley- one talented man, his band included, folk meets sonic youth and Paul Simon??? >Large No. 12’s- great harmonies and songs, including some great covers, you will often catch them at the Duke. >Cashcow- an eva changing line up means no two gigs are the same! Cowboy sci-fi! >The Double Agents- will have you movin’ to their infectious sounds >Legends of Motor Sport- wicked, grooves, with the greatest vintage keyboard sounds. >The Drones- country gone psycho…they played so well that they got a bit carried away and smashed the hired backline!!! Oooops, bad Drones…ahhhh but sooo good! >All these bands were so fantastic, just goes to show what a healthy and world class music scene we have here in Melbourne. (and these are just the ROCK bands) Not to mention all the other bands of all sorts of genres that are playing around…they’re everywhere, old and new! If I had to choose my favourites of the ROCK WARS fest, oh what a hard choice! I loved every one of them but The Drones, Dan Kelly, Legends of Motorsport, Fort Mary, The Sailors, Butterfly were exceptionally attuned to my taste buds. Speaking of mini-fest’s, there was a benefit called ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ at the Espy a few days later. A bunch of local bands donated their talents to raise money to send a container load of musical instruments for the people of East Timor. Bands who generously donated their talents were: >Holesome, Dan Kelly, In Vivo, Moler, The Sailors, The Gammarays, The Red Hot Poker Dots, The Dice Age, Roland S Howard, Charlie Owen’s Disco, Alex Burns and Co., The Tree Tops, Mustang, Luxedo, Jess MacEvoy and Odilla. Spencer P Jones’s Cow Penalty has been gigging locally and interstate. Highlight shows were at ‘Vic on the Park’, in Sydney and last weekend at the Espy front Bar. I even got to catch up with my old friend, Mick Blood, singer of the Lime Spiders. Spencer’s off again now touring in the UK with Paul Kelly and then will be touring Australia…so there won’t be any more shows til he finishes that! That leaves me free of playing live for a little while but no rest in the songwriting department. Sad news too, alas, Antibody is no longer a band! Due to business disagreements, we had to call it a day. After 3 years of rehearsing, recording and writing and just starting to make an impression in the live scene, it was quite a disappointment. The good news is that I am still jamming with Dave and Steve. We’re working on a few more songs before we hit the live circuit again and of course we have to come up with a new band name! That’s the hard part! Coming events: >Fri 28th June: Cow Penalty at Bar 107 - Adelaide >Sat 29th June: Cow Penalty at The Tote – Melbourne >Fri 5th July: Cow Penalty at The Bridge Mall Inn – Ballarat >Sat 6th July: Cow Penalty at The Esplanade Hotel >Fri 12th July: Norma Bates at The Duke of Windsor. >Fri Aug 16th: Fort Mary CD Launch at Revolver >Aug: The Specimen’s CD launch at The Tote Well, I think that will about do this update. Of course there’s so many other bands I’ve seen and many stories to tell but I gotta end this somewhere! Have a rockinest time where eva you are and be cool! Your eva lovin’ feline Helcat xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Wednesday 23rd January 2002 Hello there all coolest ones, Wow, I have been so busy and having soooo much fun that I’ve hardly had a minute to sit down and write about all the adventures I’ve had and great music I have witnessed...and played!! So in no particular order of dates, let me mention some of the more memorable nights! Firstly, my band Antibody has now got 4 gigs under the belt. We even had to cancel one gig- apologies to the other bands; Breakfast of Champions, Fort Mary and Mustang. Most of the gigs we have played 1st on at The Tote, The 9th Ward and The Punters Club but we headlined a show at the Esplanade Hotel. Woohoo! The gigs have been well received except I think the hardest gig was at the 9th Ward, supporting the Gamma Rays’ for their ‘Girl on a Motorcycle’ CD launch, cos our guitar amps AND the bass amp all blew up before the show and we had to borrow amps that were not quite the sounds we were used to.. oh well! I must say that they Gamma Rays were fantastic and I had a great time on the dance floor! It’s just great that we have finally unleashed our music upon the world after rehearsing for soooo long. Our next gig is...Thurs 24th at The Tote, with Baby8 and The Spazzies, should be a great night of chick rock, followed by 13th Feb at the Evelyn Hotel...we are on first so you better be there early! I must thank the grrrls from Porcelain who have given Antibody and Moler gigs recently! Thanks grrrls, you ROCK! Speaking of Porcelain, this grrrl group just keeps getting better and better! One of Moler’s highlight gigs was with them late November at the North Melbourne Town Hall Hotel. Lots of people crammed in and great vibe, you just can’t help but rock out. Other best Moler gigs were in the Gershwin Room/Espy with a great band, ‘James Dean is Dead’. Moler also visited Adelaide and Sydney just before Xmas to do a couple of shows. You can catch Moler’s next gig at The Empress Hotel on the 26th of January with supports, Nation Blue and The Great Guns. Ron Rude and the Resurrection played upstairs at Revolver in December. A highly anticipated gig to launch the punk rock compilation CD, ‘Can’t Stop It’, featuring the underground music scene of the 80’s. RR and R were the headline act, I didn’t quite know what to expect but, Ron and band were brilliant, covering a wide range of musical styles; kinda punk, gothic, rock meets cabaret! I loved Ron’s outfit, an all white suit covered with glitter. He even did a bit of a costume change into some monkish type robe, then stripped off to bare chest! You could tell he was having a great time and it was infectious. Watch out next time they play. Life without Buildings, Scotland. Never heard of them before but went and saw them play at the Punter’s Club purely on recommendation from a friend. I wasn’t disappointed, although it was one of those nights when it was too hot and crowded so I hung down the back. The singer never stood still for a second, bouncing up and down all through the set. A bundle or words and energy. Clean guitar sounds. Groovy stuff but my sox were already blown off! A major highlight, the Spencer P Jones featuring Cow Penalty CD launch for ‘The Lost Anxiety Tapes’ CD album at the Punters Club. Dan Kelly and The Drones supported. My god these two bands have got to be my favourite bands of the year. Mind boggling! Absolute STARS in their infancy! Dan Kelly or Dank Alley as he sometimes calls himself, plays beautiful moody, sparse and tense music and reminds me a little of his famous uncle Paul Kelly, with the lyrics, kinda folk story telling. His voice is way cool. I still have one of his songs reverberating around in my head, it is that catchy, it only takes one listen...’at the Hall, the Lutheran Hall, everybody’s waiting for the axe to fall’. The other highlight song is ‘Nasty Streak’, "you got a nasty streak, and it’s 12 miles wide". Brilliant, world class music!! If Dan doesn’t become the biggest star, if he doesn’t make it big overseas, I don’t know what will! That goes for The Drones as well. I can’t remember the lyrics from The Drones all that well but that’s because this band is loud and dangerous. They remind me of Sonic Youth crossed with Nick Cave. I hadn’t heard such passion in noise guitar...the two guitarists work so good together and the bassist, Fiona (who is drop dead gorgeous) plays a mean bass guitar. The drummer does a great job as well, never overplaying or trying to outdo the guitars....amazing! Believe the hype...SEE these two bands....they’re gonna be huge!! Anyway, back to Cow Penalty, we rocked as well! Spencer had everyone who played on his record there...not all at once but for the tracks they played on the album. 3 drummers- Des Hefner, Steve Boyle and Harold Fischer. 1 sax player- Steve 1 keyboard player- Matt Heydon 3 bass players- Steve Hadley, Dan Kelly, me. 3 guitarists, Steve Boyle, Locky and Gareth from the Drones got up for the encore. Highlight songs for me were; ‘The Spy Who Drugged Me’, ‘I need a Hand to Hold when I go to Hell’, ‘This song aint about the Colour of you Hair’, ‘If you think You’re Life is Fucked Up, Look at Mine’ and a crackin’ cover of ‘Crackwhore Blues’. Overall, an intense and inspiring night of music. Cow Penalty also has just supported the Models, a band that was big in the 80’s who have reformed to do a handful of shows. I heard their hits when I was younger but never got to see them cos I was still a young whippersnapper in the country. So I finally got to see them and I was impressed! Sean Kelly, the singer/guitarist, was awesome. He’s still got that star quality. I was surprised at how scar influenced they were and kinda 80’s new wave with Ash Wednesdays’ synth keyboards but with a dash of a punk/pop. They played songs mainly from their first album, most of which I had never heard really, all their big hits were a little later on in their career! They pulled a huge crowd to the Gershwin room. Great to see Graham Scott playing drums who played as steady as a rock..great kick drum patterns...Top night. New Years eve Cow Penalty played at the Esplanade Hotel, front bar, along with heaps of other bands...too many to even remember (it was NYE after all); Dallas Crane, Six Foot Hick, Matt Walker and The Twits were but a few. I just got back from a tour with Cow Penalty to Adelaide and Ballarat which was fun. Thanks to Nazz as well who put us up for the night in Adelaide and cooked us a mean breakfast!! Ballarat went off! Can you believe that there was an 84 year old man, complete with hat and snow white beard, dancing with all the young lads right up the front! We also nearly had to resuscitate someone outside the venue, who hit their head on a parking meter and was knocked out cold..... luckily he was alright. Good to see The Dead Salesmen playing as a duo- Justin and Justin. They have been playing at the ’Bridge mall Inn’ as long as I can remember and are still as good as eva. You can catch the next Cow Penalty gigs in Sydney and Brisbane next month. Supporting The Scientists at the Annandale in Sydney will be a great gig to see...The Scientists are yet another band from the 80’s to reform...but what a great band they were!! Kim Salmon - oz music legend! Ok. I know it’s almost February already but here’s my little wrap up for 2001- like they do in all the magazines!! Special mentions to all cool aussie bands, not mentioned above, that I liked seeing last year- thanks for a great 2001! Earth To Nigel, Jape Squad, Baby 8, Moondriven, Mighty Boy, Working Class Ringo’s, Cashcow, The Cheap Shots, Devil Dolls, Shutdown 66, The BreadMakers, Terapin, The Drowners, King Daddy, The Exotics, The Sailors, Myagi, The Homewreckers, Double Agents, Magic Dirt, Tendrils, Penny Ikenger, Team Satan, Orange County, Gaslight Radio, The Impossibles, The Blue Stripes, Danmatsuma, Webster, Radio Dolls, Tri-State Lovers, Underground Lovers, Mach Pelican, Headcase .....I’m sure there’s more that I‘ve forgotten to mention! Live Venue Guide of Helcat’s choice, Melbourne 2001-2! Punters Club- closing down after 10 or so years...in Feb! Kinda down market cool...hasn’t changed much for years but have seen hundreds of great gigs there. Nrth Melb Town Hall Hotel- small, groovy record covers on the walls, kiddie bedroom night light collection, cool beer garden. 9th Ward Can sound great, nice red velvet curtains and lighting display, it’s in the city! Open late with DJ’s The Esplanade Hotel- front bar, gershwin room, bottom bar! The owners and staff changed, looks the same, one of the last classic venues not to have disappeared from St.Kilda. The Tote- great beer garden, cool bands, never changes. The Duke of Windsor Hotel- starting to have good bands...decor- pretty average..sporty...Mahammad Ali signed robe! Open Late! Open early! Revolver- (friendly nickname revolting) coolest decor around plus lotsa DJ’s and Arty stuff...mean rear projections over live bands..asian food, open....mostly 24 hours! The Continental- Sounded fantastic, a little snotty, cool international acts but now closed. aawwwhh Prince of Wales- (if you can afford it these days) Used to be my favourite but is a little too classy now except the public bar. The Pony- small but cosy, open real late, in the city. Cherry Bar- not a band venue very often but does have cool music DJ’s..no doof! The Aqua Room- it’s mostly aqua The Evelyn- Good PA but decor sux The Empress- Small but gets a good crowd, good food The Laundry- nice couches Fav albums (not necessarily released this year but played on my stereo this year chart) 1. The Sailors Violent Masturbation Blues 2. The Strokes Is this it 3. Dandy Warhols Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia 4. Johnny Thunders Everything he’s eva done esp. the solo one, ‘So Alone’ My Best New discoveries The Swans, LeTigre, The Hives, The Drones, The Strokes, Dan Kelly, International Airspace, David Bowie-the PYE years, Dr Dre & Eminem, The Sex Pistols’ demo recordings, Gorillaz, Missy Elliot, playing ukulele. Worst Bands or i don’t eva wanna see them eva chart (the harsh chart) Area 7, Hi Five, Nikki Webster, The Little River Band (reformation), Jimmi Barnes, Silverchair (over it), Scandal’us, Bardot, Slipknot, Bob the Builder, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, and there’s plenty more that shall remain nameless!! So there you have it...I have been having a supa fine time, in between selling hot dogs at the cinema! "Is that to have here or take away? Any extras, cheese, bacon or onion? Would you like any fries or drinks with that?" I know my lines well! I hope you all have an excellent New Year 2002! Stay cool I am sooo not gonna have a bad year it’s all good, too easy. luv your work, helcat xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 5th Oct, 2001 Hi again, Spring is here and I have just had my first head cold in 2 years. I’m still sniffling and coughing but I think I’m over the worst of it. You know it really cramps your lifestyle! Still, there’s so much to tell, I can tell it’s going be a great summer. Firstly, my condolences to the people who have lost loved ones in America due to the terrorist attacks. I was watching it all happen, ‘live’ on TV, in horror and disbelief. I cannot even begin to understand that such hatred can exist. Love and Peace to the World. Saw a great gig at The Pony; The Devil Dolls, Shutdown 66 and The Breadmakers. Moler’s new drummer, Geoff, was playing in every band and what a great job he did! Shutdown 66 and The Breadmakers play 60’s garage rock which was good but I especially enjoyed the Devil Dolls. It was their debut gig. They played some great original punk rock tunes and some covers, one of which was ‘Stay’ by The Dictators (I think). The American band, the Devil Dogs also do a cover of this song. In fact, the Devil Dolls remind me a lot of the Devil Dogs but with two female singers instead of one male. The two grrrls on double lead vocals, shimmied around in leather jackets, hair pieces, hot pants and boots! They are playing again at the 9th Ward for a new 60’s and 70’ night called ‘Diabolik’ on the 5th of October. If you like your garage, punk rock, do not miss this show. There’s going to be go-go grrrls in cages (how about go-go boys???), a fabbo 60’s light show, also playing is Mach Pelican (The Ramones meets Tokyo) and Tri-State Lovers followed by 2 DJ’s spinning soul, R&B and punk. See you there! Moler played a couple of gigs recently. YEAH AT LAST!! The first one was at the 9th Ward, gotta love this venue. I was really nervous about it because we had lots of new songs and we hadn’t played live in ages. Unfortunately, the night was double booked with bands, 6 bands in all, so Moler was pushed back to 2.00am (apologies to Moler punters who came early). One band sounded like they should’ve been booked at a wedding or something, how they got a gig in the prime time of one of Melbourne's top venues, I just don’t know! The audience from where I was standing were screaming "You Suck, Get Off". Another band that played totally ripped off the songs of The Beatles, Oasis and T-Rex, sounded like they just changed the lyrics a bit. By the time we got to play my nerves were ragged and I was probably a little too drunk, totally over it. My bass was slightly out of tune (no, I mean the rest of the band was out of tune) and the bass amp I borrowed sounded tragic....so it wasn’t the greatest ‘sounding’ set, we were pretty disappointed, we sounded so much better at rehearsal, oh well. The next week, The Moles hit the Hume highway and played a gig in Sydney at Bleach/Club 77. The opening act was, I love this band name, Team Satan, who had the most amazing drum kit and bass amp I’ve ever seen in such a small, dingy venue. Get this, the bassist had a beautiful old ampeg with not 1 but 2 fridge speaker cabinets and the drummer had the biggest cymbols around, I swear, plus some kind of automatic high hi-hat playing device! They were soooo loud. I don’t know how the singer could hear herself with the volume of her band but she did a fine job indeed. I have to say thanks a million to ‘Sway’ from Team Satan for lending me his awesome bass amp too. As you can imagine Team Satan were pretty hardcore. The singer announces, "D’ya wanna hear a slow song?...well we don’t know any". I was quaking in my boots...Moler’s new set is very different to our ol’ punk rock songs, with a few experimental slowies and even ‘A WALTZ’. AAAHHHH!!! We thought the crowd would hate us. During the set, I was having mental blanks, we had just driven to Sydney that day and I think my head was still vibrating. After we played, we were a bit worried about going back out into the audience but when we did, some people came up to us and said they liked it! Phew! That made us feel a whole lot better. If people like it now, wait til we get a few more shows under our belts and really play tight! Orange County headlined the show. The bass player, Hoody, used to play in The Johnnys with Spencer P Jones. Funny thing is that he actually looks a lot like Spencer. Spooky! They played a rockin’ set including a cover of the classic ‘Chinese Rocks’. Hey Moler’s new single is supposed to be out this week! As far as I know the CD’s have been pressed and should be in the shops very soon, there’s only 1000 copies so you better order up now! Next on the agenda is a new Moler album. Antibody has FINALLY done it too, you know my other band I’ve been talking about for ages. We played our debut gig at The Tote in Collingwood with The Homewreckers, Myagi and Porcelain. I have to thank Porcelain for organizing the show and to all our buddies for coming down so early to see us. Sorry to those I had to cut off the door list. I felt pretty calm about the show cos we’ve rehearsed for sooo long but when it came to play, I’m looking at the guitar and my hands were shaking...how would I hold them steady enough to pluck those tiny little strings!! Once I got going though, it was fine. I think it went pretty well considering...except I didn’t get to make my debut on the drums, ran out of time for that song... next time. The only thing that went wrong was that Celeste’s guitar amp was mysteriously a lot quieter during the set than it was at soundcheck and was only rectified for the last song of the set. Doh!! Now we can’t wait for the next gig. The night was pretty much a night of young women in rock, except our band had two guys, StevieT and DaveP and I felt a bit like a veteran woman of rock! It was The Homewreckers first gig as well. They were like 70’s british punk, lots of fast beats and "oi, oi, oi’s" (as in Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi). They had all the right punk fashion accessories to boot, lots of tartan, pins and mohawk do’s. Then there was Myagi, I only saw a couple of songs but they sounded fantastic. Their guitarist is a HOT player. Then Porcelain hit the stage, not to be confused with the Tasmanian Porcelain, who have fantastic pop songs. They did covers of ‘Bored’ Iggy Pop and ‘When You were Mine’ by Cyndi Lauper. What a blast from the past that was, as I was looking around the audience wondering if they were old enough to even remember Cyndi! I like Porcelain’s version much better. I think Porcelain have a great future ahead of them. Record companies, pay attention!! So many talented grrrls in one night!! Go grrrls Go!! The guys from Cow Penalty are back in Australia with many an exciting story to tell. Mind you, I like who got to fill the rhythm sections shoes in New York- Violent Femmes bassist and the original drummer from Television!!!! They even recorded some songs while they were over there, very spontaneously written but sounds awesome. Cow Penalty did a return gig at the Empress Hotel on Saturday night. Drover Jones supported, it was their CD launch but I only heard them from the band room, that is the footpath outside the pub! Lots of people, hot and sweaty, just the way I like it. It was a fairly chaotic sounding gig really. My ears are still ringing. My bass sound was almost non-existent cos of a DI (direct input box) that didn’t work and an amp that wasn’t powerful enough to cope. It kind of sounded like a dying blowfly. That’s it, I have got to get a new bass amp, preferably like the one from Team Satan!!! There won’t be any other Cow Penalty gigs for a while because Spencer is currently on tour, playing guitar for the legendary, Paul Kelly. Hey, I was invited to see a play. Yes, a theatrical production, upstairs at The Duke of Windsor Hotel. ‘3XY or I Die’. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a play was...hmmmmm The play was "an oral portrait of cabaret punk-artist, Ron Rude (1979-81)" written by Kiernan Carroll and performed by Mark E Lawrence. It was pretty much a one man play, although there was a backing band dressed in half gothic, half punk gear that would break out into song every so often. Ron Rude is a musician who first came on the scene in the mid 70’s. They call him Melbourne’s first punk stuntman! I’ve actually met him a few times, it was at his house in Belgrave where I first read the Satanic Bible! I guess he was famous for his publicity stunts which got him onto prime time TV and ‘air play’ on 3XY- a very conservative radio station. He was one of the first people in Australia to record his and other bands music on his 4-track at home and finance releases on Bankcard ie. borrowed money. Previously, this was unheard of, only bands from record companies got to record and release their music. Ron actually helped kick start the movement of DIY music releases in Melbourne. He was also famous for his ‘hunger strike’ in the Missing Link Record store, refusing to eat until 3XY played one of his songs. They played exerts. He also threatened to drown himself in a bucket of water outside 3XY, they played exerts. He chained himself to the fence outside of, music guru, Molly Meldrum’s house cos he wanted to go on CountDown, Australia’s Top of The Pops. Ron was a man that demanded that his voice be heard and heard it was. He didn’t sell a lot of records but there were plenty of amusing stories to be written into a play! I was very impressed with the actor’s version of Ron, spot on with the accent. It was in the play that I first got to hear Ron’s infamous songs. The lyrics are a little weird but I really enjoyed the songs. "It will be The Best Orgasm you Can! Have On A Saturday Night", "Piano, piano" and "I love you, (you, you)" were my favourites. I think the songs could do better now than they did back then! Unfortunately, the play has finished now but there is a documentary in production at the moment by music producer, Lindsay Gravina. You can check out the artistry of Ron Rude at ronrude.tripod.com/pages/the_play.htm, well worth a visit. Watch out for Ron’s new music project, Ron Rude and The Ressurection. Well that’s about it for now. Keep Rockin’ and be cool. helcat xxxxx 17/08/01 Yo cool ones, wassup? My what an eventful month! Pleased BE WARNED this update of ‘Rock and The City’ (I feel a bit like Carrie Bradshaw at the moment, except this is music and not all sex) Contains...OFFENSIVE MATERIAL!!!! Now that I have your attention... You know how excited I was to be going to see The Strokes play at the Palace...well, unfortunately I had to miss them. (Antibody’s Dave and Steve went and said they were fantastic, they got to hang with them backstage...rats...) Spencer rang and informed me that Cow Penalty were to support The Sailors for their album launch at the Tote that night. Not such a bad thing after all since I got to play and was once again very impressed by The Sailors. AWESOME! There was a decent crowd there too which made it all the more fun. This time The Sailors played as a three piece...2 guitars — Vernon, Victor and Dempster on drums (the smallest stripped back sparkly drum kit I have ever seen). At first I thought they were more interesting as a 2 piece but some songs sounded better with the three of them. Especially since they all sing and there was more bass on one of the guitars. I had so much fun I bought their album, Violent Masturbation Blues, out now on Dropkick Records, and got them to sign it (vinyl of course). The album reminds me a bit of The Blues Explosion but much more sloppy and naughty. You know their lyrics are so...crass but funny...I was wonderin’ if the joke would wear off after a few listens but...it hasn’t yet.. My favourite song lyrics are: Jahoobies and Catanga’s...shhh take off your bra I punch you with the fist of my cock I punch your ass with the fist of my cock Sea Shanty DJ Vernon, he’ll leave your ass burnin’ and if you’re not gay, you’ll soon be turnin’ got a cock up his ass got a cock in his gob that muthafucka is a human shishkabob! My Baby’s Got a Fine Vagine Fingers up my ass in the tuck shop cue I got the teenage homosexual blues How naughty those boys are!!! Next band outing - The Impossibles, featuring my friend James (Dan Matsuma/Nursery Crimes) on noise guitar, Adalita on guitar, Raoul on sampler (Magic Dirt) and their house mate Ben on guitar as well. Their set was mostly improvised, atmospheric, noise stuff. The only two spoken words were by Adalita, "I’ll have a pizza ...with olives". It had moments of glory, moments of chaos. James nearly ripped my ears off with his guitar noise! Ouch! It’s better not to stand in the direction of his speaker box! Speaking of Magic Dirt, I saw their Supagloo video on ‘Rage’ the other night, it’s sooo cute and boy do I look like a nasty piece of work!! Check it out at: Magic Dirt.net/news. Next to take the stage were The Blue Stripes. They reminded me of a band I liked a few years ago called Mouth. Very angst, screaming vocals, Sonic Youth type guitar and bass. The drummer, Renato, who once starred in a Moler video, was exciting to watch with his drum kit falling apart around him. Top stuff guys. Went to see Melbourne’s darlings, The Underground Lovers, however I missed watching them ‘cos I ended up in the public bar chatting to friends and I only heard them as background music in between conversations. It seemed that a big fist fight outside the venue was the highlight of the night as everyone piled to the windows to watch the action! What I did hear sounded dreamy and pleasant. One of these days I’ll have to actually watch them! Speaking of offensive and "controversial" lyrics, I actually went to my first big stadium gig in ages: Eminem. Now, I am not a huge fan of rap (love the Beastie Boys) but I really wanted to go see the biggest rap concert that Australia has eva seen. I had heard Eminem on the radio a few times, had a little chuckle listening to his ‘oh so politically incorrect’ lyrics... I think he’s quite funny, he’s kinda like Elvis back in the 50’s where the majority of white parents thought he was singing "the devil’s music" (‘black’ music) and would corrupt the kids with those gyrating hips. Eminem is the same thing but more extreme, he’s got the looks but he also has a gun and a chainsaw! Our own Prime Minister wasn’t keen on letting Eminem enter the country, so the tour was later dubbed, "Eminem - The Visa Approved Tour". Boy, you just can’t get better publicity for free. The opening of his show was kinda like Blair Witch crossed with Halloween with footage of a couple of fans tracking down Eminem to a scary Amityville horror/psycho house...(I love horror ...but I’ve actually seen friend’s houses that look much more scary in real life). WOW. When the songs started, the bass just about blew me to the back of the stadium, thank god there was no guitar, I’m sure my ears would have bled. I was pretty much in the mosh pit, not too crowded, perfect view, the stage looked a bit like an amateur theatre production set of ‘the ghetto’. Between songs they would do these very theatrical skits about drinking and taking drugs. Eminem would pretend to skull Malibu stolen from ‘mum’s alcohol cabinet’, he’d pretend (or did he?) to take Ecstasy, the crowd screaming back, "pop the pills, pop the pills", he’d reply, "You people in Melbourne are nothing but a bunch of drug addicts"...massive screams of approval...the big screen flashed ‘subversive’ messages...smoke more weed... It was a funny experience. When a song started, the whole crowd would be amped and instead of slam dancing like you would see at a punk/rock concert, they would started groove dancing and doing hand signals in the air, so very non-violent, so very young suburban...I think I only saw one crowd surfer. Eminem even starts up his own hand signal, "put your pistol fingaz in the air" after telling us a little story about his court cases with his wife and mother. They had a giant blow up penis they threw into the crowd, a giant blow up bandaged woman with syringes sticking out of her, giant blow up hands giving ‘the finger’. Most of all I loved the little intermission cartoon movie of Eminem sending himself up...hilarious...I wish I had a copy of it to show all my friends...very funny stuff. I totally enjoyed the show even though some songs got a little boring sometimes. What amazes me is all the press this guy gets...it’s very interesting reading - just look at how I’m ravin’ on.... he gets people talking that’s for sure...this white boy supported by Dr Dre and D12. I mean, even Elton John likes him! In articles I’ve read, they say his first album was about peace and love and he sold jack shit compared to the millions he’s selling now. Doesn’t that say something more about us, the mass audience? I mean it’s no more offensive to me than hearing Nick Cave sing a beautiful love song about him killing the woman he loves and dumping her in the river: "Where the wild roses grow". I enjoyed the show but maybe I wouldn’t recommend it for young children. "if you don’t like my shit, you can suck my dick". I hope there is a female version of Eminem real soon: If you don’t like my shit, you can suck my clit. C’mon grrrls, do we have to be pretty and nice all the time? I think there is some hardcore female rappers out there somewhere, maybe it’s ‘lil Kim’ but why haven’t I heard her stuff yet? Why isn’t she on top of the charts? HuH? Last night, I played with Cow Penalty (again), with The Sailors and The Drones supporting at the Punters club. I missed the Drones cos I had to go get some food but I heard they were really good and they must be ‘cos I met their female bassist, Fiona, and she’s tops! Go grrrl go! Once again a great crowd turnout for a Thursday night and the Sailors and Cow Penalty played real good...except my bass guitar strap fell off a couple of times...embarrassing.... We got a few dancers going up the front, including some bikie looking dudes...who I met later and were very nice!! Oh, I just got to hear an album by LeTigre. I was IMPRESSED!!! All you music chicks, if you haven’t already, you MUST have this album in your collection! You will LOVE it! Ok, up coming gigs... Moler at The 9th Ward Sept 9th (Espy show cancelled, doh!) Check out our new single 'Red & White Stripes' Mp3 on our Coolgrrrls Feature Mp3 page. Cosmic Psycho’s at The Corner Hotel, this Friday night. You can see ‘Cow Penalty’ at The Mercury Lounge, New York sometime in the next week, unfortunately I won’t be playing but if you are interested and live in the Big Apple, check out Spencer P Jones’ other New York ‘Cow Penalty’. That’s enough babbling for now, till next time. stay cool da miss cat from hell xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx PS. Remember: "you are a unique individual, just like everyone else" — a quote from an internet forward! 14th July, 2001 Hi there all cool ones, I am so excited! Firstly, JJJ has played Moler’s new single already. It’s not even in the shops yet, you'll have to wait just a little longer. It should be out in August sometime, I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile Moler is busy getting more new tunes together for some shows at the Espy and the 9th Ward in August. Saw Andy Somers play a jazz set at the Prince of Wales a couple of weeks ago. The Prince seems to have taken over where the Continental left off, you know, a sit down dinner followed by some civilised musical entertainment. It’s the first time I’ve been to a jazz gig for ages. Now I know why. Not that it was bad, I think it’s great to expand your musical horizons but I guess I’m a pop rock punk grrrl, I couldn’t get over the fact that there was not one song I could even hum or remember after the show, just diddlee didlies. The drummer was awesome, bass great, guitar great but...I dunno...I kept on having the urge to yell out "Roxanne" but that would have been RUDE!! Mind you, the gig wasn’t all that well attended either. I felt a bit bad for Andy cos he mentioned the last time he was in Australia he was playing with the Police in some huge arena and when I got home I saw an ad for Ally McBeal featuring special guest ‘Sting’. oh well, I’m glad I went and I hope Andy had a nice visit. Last weekend I did a ‘Cow Penalty’ gig at the Governer Hindmarsh in Adelaide. What a whirlwind visit that was. 8 hour drive there, eat, play gig, 8 hour drive back! Didn’t even get to see the main drag! Oh well, next time. The locals told us about how t they are having problems with people complaining about noise coming from live music venues. It seems that it only takes one person to complain and then the venue has to stop their live music! What a drag! Why can’t venues sound proof their rooms? Why do people move next to live venues and expect them to change? How’s a muso meant to make a buck? How will live music survive? Anyway, King Daddy who supported really rocked, top people to boot and yet another fine example of a rockin’ female bassplayer. She told me all about the problems women face in Adelaide.... the lack of men - really! She says, "there’s like 5 women to every man" so guys, if you are lonely, Adelaide, I highly recommend! I also have to say a special "hello" to Brant and Greg, nice to meet you guys and thanks for the CD of your band ‘Ripe’. After arriving back in Melbourne bleary eyed, I had a quick afternoon nap and it was off to see Moondriven play at the Espy who were quite awesome as always. Somehow I ended up doing ‘lights’ which was fun. Then it was off to play another gig with Cow Penalty at the North Melbourne Town Hall Hotel. It was the first time I’d been there. I had heard so much about the place and it really did exceed my expectations.. it was small...yes.. it was small... but groovy and intimate as well. It was great to see people havin’ a boogie. Boy was I tired when I got home... Have I mentioned my hair lately? You know the important stuff! Well, there’s not been much to report on that except it’s ‘natural’ mouse and in that in between short and long stage...it’s just not punk rock at all! What to do? What to do? Perhaps I should go ‘conservative’, Maggie Thatcher style, kinda like the hairstyle I had as the evil scientist in the Magic Dirt video. Friday night I’m going to see New York band, The Strokes, at the Palace. I love the Palace it’s BIG; it’s loud, Moler once supported Ash there, I saw the Sex Pistols there (the reunion tour), Jeff Buckley, The Jim Rose Circus, threw up in the car park before Dinosaur Jnr.... I’ve just got a copy of The Strokes album and I lerve it. Can’t wait to see them. So till my next installment stay cool helcat xxxxxxxxxxxx Oh and P.S. Sadly I’ve become a ‘Big Brother’ addict. I never thought I would watch a ‘reality’ TV show but it’s sucked me in! I reckon Sarah Marie is gonna win the cash on Monday night! 10th June 2001 Hi there, all coolest ones, You know how I was whining about how boring I was in my last update…oh so long ago, well, thankfully my life has taken a sudden change for the better! So much to see and do! I think I’ve come out of musical retirement!! It all started about a month ago when my band ‘Antibody’ finally got into Birdland Studios and recorded 9 songs in a day. As you can imagine, some of them are a little rough but a few turned out really well. Now we are finishing of a couple of them with vocals and mixing them down in the next week or so. Then it’s time to GET A GIG babeee!!! Speaking of gigs, I must mention the ‘Moondriven’ CD launch at the 9th Ward, which was a very special night indeed. The ‘Mooners’, as I call them, have worked so hard for so long to put out their self-titled 6-track e.p. and it really is FANTASTIC! Star songs- "Adopted" & "Ghost". They say their music is like a cross between Sonic Youth and Burt Bacharach but I reckon it’s more like The Beatles crossed with Bacharach. They write with lots of melody, weird chords and interesting song structures. It was also great to see ‘Webster’ playing the support slot, totally different to ‘Moondriven’, they are sooo cock rock - in a good, toe tappin’ way. They even did a cover of Abba’s ‘Mamma Mia’. You know Abbamania has emerged again! The Abba tour movie in Australia was just screened on TV and there’s some dodgy musical going round theatres. Hey, I just by accident joined another band, ‘Cow Penalty’, fronted by none other than one of my all time music heroes, Spencer P Jones. He’s been around for awhile, playing in bands like, ‘The Johnnies’, ‘Beasts of Bourbon’, ‘The Last Gasp’, ‘Gun Club’, ‘Andre Williams’, ummmm the list probably goes on and on! Anyhow I’ve done about 5 shows with him at ‘The Espy’ and ‘The Punters Club’. Harry, the drummer from Moondriven has been on the drums, Matt from Moler and countless other local bands, on keyboards, me on bass and Spencer singing and making some wild guitar noise! Harry and I are the new kids in the band, flying by the seat of our pants cos we really haven’t had a proper rehearsal. We just wing it. Oh, the highlight gig was at the ‘Continental’. As you Melbournites may be aware, this fantastic music venue and restaurant in Greville St., Prahran, closed its doors. Heaps of bands played there on the last night, including ‘Cow Penalty’. The joint was packed out! Lots of aussie famous types there…Renee Geyer, Joe Camaliri, Deborah Conway, Paul Kelly, etc. but you know most of the acts were, well, ‘adult contemporary’. I felt like a young kid back stage! Anyway, the one song we played absolutely rocked! I’ve seen some great bands lately that have supported Cow Penalty. The Sailors- 2 piece, drums and guitar…possibly the best band I’ve seen for ages…they dress as sailors and sing songs about being gay (of course) but they are sooo rude but funny and it’s like they can hardly play or sing but it sounds so cool. I reckon they’re gonna be huge! Star song- "The Teenage Homosexual Blues" A MUST SEE!!! The Cheap Shots- a cool 60’s garage band. They sound authentic, nothing new, the riffs sound like a million other 60’s songs but that’s ok. Jay the singer has just arrived in Melbourne from San Diego and he has an amazing voice, perfect for the music they are doing, worth seeing. Star song- "Like A Heart Attack" The Devil Dolls, haven’t seen them, but got to hear a bit of their latest recording, which isn’t out yet. They are really cool, similar to The Cheap Shots, (some of the members are from The Cheap Shots) but I think I like them a little better cos they sound a bit more new and I love how the two female singers sing together, the same melody, one in tune, one slightly out! Can’t wait to see them (I don’t think they’ve started playing live yet) watch out for them. Star song - ‘We Are The Devil Dolls’. Saw Julien’s band ‘Cashcow’ at the Greyhound too, it was a little sad cos Tolly the bassist was leaving the next day for Hong Kong. We will all miss you Tolly! Especially the bass players of Melbourne who will no longer get to borrow that Sinner bass rig of yours. Best of luck, Tolster! I also have to mention ‘The Spazzies’- grrrl type Ramones band. Haven’t checked them out yet but I’ve heard they are really special. Hey, on the Moler front, yes there is a front!!! We recorded a new single with Lindsay Gravina at Birdland Studios last week. It’s a funny song. Basically it’s a tribute to Joey Ramone. It’s got lot’s of Ramone’s licks, a few "Gabba Gabba Hey’s", but it also has a bit of a ‘Who’ intro, a bit of ‘Kiss’ guitar influence and a chorus that you can sing New Order’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ to!!! It’s called ‘Red & White Stripes’, named after those T-shirts you wear under your punk leather jacket. B-sides are ‘Sex Sells’ recorded with ‘The Pound System’ (Moler meets ‘techno’), ‘Bella Vista’ recorded with Tony Cohen and a cover of Blondie’s ‘Rip Her to Shreds’ recorded by Kevin Kerr, featuring Spencer P Jones on guitar and backing vocals. I must say I really like it and can’t wait to get it out in the next month. I guess that means that we’re gonna be gigging around soon. My apologies to anyone who went to ‘The Pony’ last week to see Moler, we had to blow it out cos the drummer we had lined up pulled out at the last minute! I hate that! So yeah, in case you are wondering if Moler had a new singer- no- it was ‘Cashcow’ who took to the stage instead. Congratulations Tim Bell, love your photos of plastic animals hanging up at ‘Revolver’. Ok, Ok, last but not least, next week I’m playing the part of an evil scientist in a Magic Dirt video so that’s gonna be fun and games! Geoff, from Brisbane band ‘6ft Hick’, is also playing an evil scientist, I think he’s done acting before, he’s hilarious to watch as he and goddess, Adalita, are in mortal combat to save the animals…..can’t give away the whole story, you’ll just have to wait and see. Well that’ about it for now I reckon…. Oh…. last night!! Last night I was in Robinvale for a High School reunion!! (yes I must be getting old!!) Saw people I haven’t seen in years. After the formal dinner, it was just like old times; drinking beer around the most massive bonfire I have ever seen on the edge of the Murray River. The lads let off huge ‘illegal’ firecrackers that echoed for miles. Stayed on a houseboat for the night but hardly got any sleep. Had a bit of a BBQ today but not many people showed up for that…everyone must have been real hung over…. and boy am I hung over!! I tried to take photos but none really turned out that well here’s some any way. It was really great catching up with old pals, you know none of them have really changed, they’re just married, got kids or are divorced, a bit fatter or skinnier but yeah…strange night indeed! Now that is about it for now… Be cool…. Loving you all ..Helcat xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx