Name one decent band that's ever come out of Sydney, Australia

I'm sure there are heaps more but my head hurts. I think Melbourne produces better bands overall though.

Lee Perry is from Sydney!

AC/DC - if only... they came from a combo of Perth/Scotland (Bon Scott) and Sydney/Scotland (Young bros). They're a Scottish band really. Thanks Scotland! Also, could be wrong, but I think the Easybeats are were really expats from Holland, Scotland and maybe Adelaide? Not sure about the latter, that would be Stevie Wright.

Birmingham: doesn't Surgeon come from there? He's pure genius.

Quite a lot, yes (and kind of a "prog capital" which is great for me with my tastes), but then again, nothing when compared to the legacy of Liverpool and Manchester, both of which are smaller cities than Birmingham.

I've heard of Sadistik Exekution but none of their music.

it's not all Sydney stuff - there's a handful of Brisvegas bands on there (Apartments, Four Gods, Xero) and a couple of Melbourne bands too..

I see Gavin occasionally, Miriam frequently. She is SO going to hear about this thread.

I'm glad no-one mentioned INXS by the way. Oh, I just did. Sorry.

I can't believe I forgot about The Necks. How embarrassing.

Even As We Speak
prol-tung
Dappled Cities Fly
The Bird

*disappears into impenetrable subterranean labyrinth*

Radio Birdman, yes Poppy, good call.

I left because Gavin would'nt let me put his guitar through the board :)

and hey! Sydney posse in effect!

SUN,
Oren Ambarchi,

Oh yeah, and the Church were from Canberra.

Dirty Three, You Am I, The Vines (they suck, but oh well, they're from Sydney), Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, Lubricated Goat, Severed Heads, Hard Ons, Celibate Rifles, radio Birdman, Screaming Tribesmen

Plus a zillion commercial 80s bands (excluding INXS, who were from Melbourne)

AC/DC formed in Sydney
the Church, although most of them were originally from Canberra, formed in Sydney (i'd always thought it was Adelaide for some reason)
the Angels formed in Adelaide
INXS apparently spent much of their early years in Perth, although they effectively formed in Sydney
the Scientists formed in Perth and spent most of their initial period with James Baker there.
Hoodoo Gurus featured several Perth types but formed in Sydney.
Dirty Three are Melbourne through and through...

Dirty Three, Angels - I concede I fucked up on that one.

Although I would like to add Rose Tattoo to the sydney list

Did you know they re-released their 3 albums in a box set recently? Bargain if you don't already have their albums (as I didn't).

Yes are from Birmingham? How come? You forgot The Move/ The Idle Race/ ELO/ Wizzard/ Jeff Lynne/ Roy Wood and all that crowd

recently realized that for some reason I basically don't like any music from Australia...? This is not intentional or prejudicial it just occurred to me when discussing INXS last weekend (who I have no use for). But then when people started to list off other successful Australian exports - Midnight Oil, AC/DC, Men at Work, the Church, Hoodoo Gurus, uh 20 Odd Foot of Grunts - I realized I don't like any of it. I do love the Bee Gees and Nick Cave is alright (sometimes) but counting either as Australian seems a little ... off. Dirty Three are ok I guess. Maybe I'm overlooking something that is awesome and I just forgot about it or there's great stuff I don't know about yet...

No, you've definitely named every Australian band there.

ah good I was worried

SPK?

the moles is the answer to the op

which is why they've been mentioned 40 times already in this thread...

Who knew Nick Cave was Australian anyone

good music was banned there in 1983

yes references to Moles noted

Go-Betweens? Bee Gees aren't really Australian.

Nick Cave is though, obviously.

Add Royal Headache to the list

There's a new moles album out next month I think, though I guess it's really just an RD solo album. I'm still looking forward to it.

I thought the Go-Betweens were kiwis...? there's plenty of NZ stuff I like

I thought the Go-Betweens were kiwis...?

:-o

Lock thread. In fact, just blow it up, wipe it off the face of the Earth. Though they're not from Sydney.

http://images.publicradio.org/content/2014/01/17/20140117_the-saints-i-m-stranded-album-cover_91.jpg

The Necks are amazing and Australian

^^^^

^^^^

Ed Kuepper in all of his musical guises. The Go-Betweens. The Triffids. The Apartments. Not Drowning, Waving. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. All get much love here.

And do check Ed Kuepper's latest, Lost Cities. Somehow it's flown beneath the critical radar, which is tragic for such a wonderful record.

(Obv responding to Οὖτις's bump, not the OP.)

Personally I have wondered why so few major acts have come out of Birmingham. It is the second largest city of England, and yet, Liverpool and Manchester are both obviously a lot more important in English rock history.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, April 27, 2003 7:40 AM (13 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Acts from Birmingham that i can remember:
Black Sabbath
Dexys
Duran Duran
Judas Priest
Yes
The Streets
Fine Young Cannibals
Musical Youth
Moody Blues
― rexJr., Sunday, April 27, 2003 7:52 AM (13 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

classic moment

pedantry trumping pedantry... what this nation was built on

Has Perth produced any decent bands?

TAME IMPALA

that's the only one i can think of

The Triffids

I liked a few MOR things by the Waifs, they were from Perth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_emz0o638PQ

oooh i forgot about this bro with the fingernails who everyone was obsessed with in college.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKOmdK9ButQ

dirty fingernails, I'd wager

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWmdSY306Ts

Perth's finest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg6Kwk7dPVE

ah I had forgotten Tame Impala were Australian! yeah I like those first two albums

I haven't listened to the Hoodoo Gurus in 15 years probably but I am happy every time I think of them.

In other news, this "Can't Stop It!" comp is indeed great. Let's be sophisticated!

nonstop girls just came on shuffle here at work. i had forgotten all about radio birdman! perhaps the best named band from Australia

If the decade-old discussion upthread is anything to go by, Sidney's produced (or at least helped produce) a slew of excellent rock bands. Recommended, if that sort of thing floats yr boat, Οὖτις:

Radio Birdman (and New Christs)
Rose Tattoo
Lime Spiders
Celibate Rifles
feedtime
Hard Ons
Mortal Sin
Lubricated Goat
Sadistik Exekution
Circle Pit

Then again, if you don't like AC/DC, I'm not sure we have any basis for mutual understanding...

xpost Birdman leader Deniz Tek was American, but needed Australians, yeah. So are we just calling roll from all over the continent now? Long ago saw a doc, Driving On The Wrong Side of the Road, feat. fast sorta punk-metal and reggae-rock combos, Us Mpb and No Fixed Address, respectively (I think; it really was a long time ago).
Still got an LP around here somewhere by another Aborigine band, Coloured Stone (kind of psych-blues guitars, with horns, sort of like that first Electric Flag album).
Heard a couple of tracks from singer-songwriter Archie Roach, would like to hear more.
Also like the Scientists, Go-Betweens, Courtney Barnett, who seems like a good student of theirs, more Melbourneans Dick Diver, who have their own thread, and one of 'em is a new group, Terry (him and two women), with a new album, which I haven't listened to yet.
Leanne Kingwell sent me her first album several years ago, and I wrote about it in the Voice:

Leanne Kingwell
Show Ya What
Krill

Leanne Kingwell demonstrates how a (barely) 30-year-old indie Australian can
slip into American hearts and charts: with bite-size phrasing of issues that
both actual teens and aspiring adolescents of all ages (especially students of
Garage Glam Boogie) can understand, or think they do. (She also sold "T. Rex,"
her faithful '79 Chrysler Regal, and invested in good promotion.) Even "You
Stink" rocks, despite being pro-hygiene; in fact, it's especially urgent,
because her mom's coming over to meet you! Nevertheless, her Aussie accent
resolutely sands and sauces the (frequently four-letter) truth, braving love's
battlefield with a vibrant "Hero" in her pocket. The rockers here are righteous, like
"Can't Get Enough," where she rams her mid-'60s Troggs-trot right into
early-'70s headbang. But the ballads are my fave raves: "More" and "Blind"...yadda yadda; much more recently, she sent me a very different, very atmostronic, introspective set.

She did make it onto some US club charts, that's what the end of the first sentence is referring to.
I recommended Cyndi Boste's albums to Kingwell, and she loved 'em, couldn't believe she hadn't heard of her "Some of the people on here are really famous in Australia." Boste made her living as a backup singer, which helped a lot with the networking. Wrote about her too
Cyndi Boste: Nowadays
Australian country-rock-folk-blues singer-songwriter, whose deep, rich voice has also become more tensile with age, as an Aussie tightness, nasality and theatrical vibrato now hold each other in check, damn near subliminally. It's notes-to-self-&-others (to whom it may concern), notches on the hills and valleys: initially going towards an unexpected, street corner maybe diagonal to “Slow Train Coming”, but she’s too restless and sociable to stick with that (though even there, she’s got the music to match Dylan’s, stern-standards-wise). Overall, it’s more like Wynonna and Petty’s Heartbreakers meet in Stones country, on the wry side of bruising. Might not be quite up to her previous albums, but they set the bar very high, and this one grew on me pretty quickly (11 songs, just over 43 minutes: she always knows how to say it and move on). Still got the appeal of her debut, which I wrote about long ago in the Voice (new one’s a bit better produced, via experience and crowdfunding).

And here's the debut, from a round-up of cosmic cowgirls ("Deep rich voice" recycled from here cos that's what it is)

Further West, Cyndi Boste has been called "the Lucinda Williams of
Australia." And both artists do bear down, on what could otherwise easily remain mere
backwatery blues-mindedness. But Car Wheels on a Gravel Road usually works best
when Lucinda looks up from her road maps, and lets the music unwind, even
snake around some. On Home Truths (Warrior), Cyndi keeps playing her cards (hungry
textures, tiny solos, rationed hooks) close to the vest, but her game's always
gaining momentum. Meanwhile, she's gathering scattered impressions, impulses,
hoarding insights and courage.

Then she cuts out, through the day's apparently endless scrutiny of
things-as-they-are, into the desert night, where "new" things start to move around
differently—she wanted it, she's got it. No time left, even after "Daddy Comes
Home," for the world to end, or begin. The deep rich voice intensifies its
clipped delivery of key phrases. These click on by, like slide shows, empty
chambers, telephone poles. Hello Operator, she's making a lonnnggg distance call.

also hell yes to mention of feedtime!

He's not a band, but I believe that this rather talented guy came from Sydney:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e5NlaM8bgI

i'm confused which of these bands are from sydney and which are from perth. (the two i posted were from perth).

can a mod color code these?

not until you learn to actually post the names of the bands you're listing

The Scientists are playing London tonight I think.
Their original line up was from Perth, the Punk/Power-pop band that put out the pink lp.
I know they were Sidney based around Blood Red River but not sure where new members came from. Do remember that Tony Thewlis is from Yorkshire or something Brit originally but don't know where his family moved to. Not sure about Brett Rixon & I think Sujdovic was in original band.

Have heard that their was a mid 80s Sidney scene that indulged in Stooges worship so were heavy rock/punk. Could be the Birdman legacy.

Apparently Sujdovic had moved to Sidney and phoned Salmon to say that if they put a band together they'd do well.
So Salmon drove over from Perth with the 2 guys he was later in the Surrealists with.
He asked James Baker if he wanted to come back in on drums which he'd played in the Perth versions of the band but he was busy with Hoodoo Gurus. So he brought in Brett Rixon who he'd played with in Louie Louie. He also brought in Thewlis who'd been a fan of the original band.
So the swamp rock Scientists formed in Sidney from 4 transplants from Perth.

I'm seeing the Scientists tonight assuming the trains are running.

I know they were Sidney based around Blood Red River

Have heard that their was a mid 80s Sidney scene that indulged in Stooges worship

Apparently Sujdovic had moved to Sidney and phoned Salmon

So the swamp rock Scientists formed in Sidney from 4 transplants from Perth.

where's Sidney

reading up on the scientists, yeah, it looks like they recorded the bulk of their most celebrated material during the two years they spent in sydney: blood red river and much (perhaps all?) of this heart doesn't run on blood..., along with the "swampland", "we had love" and "when worlds collide" singles. they did great work in london over the next couple years, but nothing to eclipse what came before.

To answer the OP, for once and for all - The Wiggles.

Any good Sydney bands with female vocalists?

Divinyls?

I think Kim Salmon has been drinking from the fountain of youth

Any good Sydney bands with female vocalists?

BLOODLOSS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbVLxk5na6U

the Bad Bitch Choir obv

This track is now pretty famous, but it was an obscure deep cut for a decade or two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzVW_vJzPhg

If people write words in their posts, it makes the thread readable for people on zing or using flashblock

Yeah srsly, tho for me it's bc YouTube links don't work off my phone.

Any good Sydney bands with female vocalists?

toys went berserk!

Sorry zingsters, I posted The Sherbs "We Ride Tonight" a few posts up^^^

^ speaking of, two things:

1) drove past a boguish pub that still occasionally has live music last week, with Daryl Braithwaite upcoming on the chalkboard outside. The other imminently scheduled headliners: Shannon Noll and Dom & Roland.

2) had an anagram clue at music trivia the next day: Threw My Dirty Labia.

My eyes are tired and search isn't helpful with this, but it looks like no one has mentioned X?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyz5wjszT8M

I've never seen Dogs in Space, is it any good? That's Melbourne, right? Didn't realize the scene there was a Scene, writ-large: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_band_scene

For whatever it's worth, Dogs In Space has been one of my top 10 movies since it came out, and I still enjoy rewatching it. They put out a nice deluxe DVD version at one point (I think I had to order it from Australia) with bonus stuff that was worth having. The original DVD version wasn't so hot. The soundtrack is great, etc.

What was bonus on it?
I saw it when it was released in London. I think you could get free tickets through Time Out or City Limits.

There's a bunch: it's a 2 disc set. Movie was restored w/new widescreen transfer. 3 audio commentaries (Ollie Olson is on one of them, along with the Loenstein, and there's some interesting info in them). Original trailer, making of feature, screen tests, behind the scenes footage, interview w/the original Sam, short films by Lowenstein, etc. It was one of the rare cases where I'm happy I paid for the extra stuff. I think it's the best release the film is likely to ever get.

There were a couple of interesting books on the Melbourne scene by Clinton Walker. Stranded and one I've got but can't remember title of.
I had a couple of bands I got really into from there in the early 80s. Birthday Party especially but Moodists were great as was the Howard Brothers version of Crime & the City Solution which morphed into These Immortal Souls.

Inner City Sound was the one i couldn't remember name of.

dang, totally forgot about X!

Blackfeather were from Sydney. The Aztec cd of their At The Mountains of Madness lp sounds great

Any good Sydney bands with female vocalists?

The Clouds!

Anyone feeling Beef Jerk?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68-KMnwoGzQ