Blokes You Can Trust

Stevie Wright - Evie Part 1 (Let Your Hair Hang Down)
Rose Tattoo - Bad Boy For Love
Hoodoo Gurus - Like Wow Wipeout
GOD - My Pal
You Am I - Berlin Chair
Cosmic Psychos - Thank Your Mother For the Rabbits
Beasts of Bourbon - Saturated

This coming Friday Janurary 26th is Australia Day, sometimes known as Invasion Day. It marks the anniversary of the First Fleet sailing into Sydney Cove and the occasion is commonly cause for sharing a few cold stubbies and a barbecue in the summer sun. As a naturalized Australian, the day itself means little to me, but living in London I'm now an ex-pat with ex-pat friends and so it has become slightly more revered. I'm going to use this date to celebrate some Aussie pub rock classics which should appeal to more than just the 2% of Diddy Wah frequenters logging on from down under (hi Mum and Dad).

I've written about Stevie Wright once before. He's perhaps best know as the singer of the popular sixties Australian group, The Easybeats. Written by former Easybeats turned record producers, Harry Vanda and George Young, the 1974 release, 'Evie' was Wright's biggest solo recording. It comes in three parts and tells the story of lust, love and loss. 'Evie Part 1 (Let Your Hair Hang Down)' is the most rocking of the trilogy and sees our protagonist, a young man, wooing seventeen year old Evie to come and have a good time with him.

From their 1978 self-titled debut album comes Rose Tattoo's 'Bad Boy For Love'. Co-written by bassist Ian Rilen, it was the band's biggest early hit. 'Rose Tattoo' the album was produced by Vanda and Young, who also produced early albums by The Angels and AC/DC, all bands crucial to the development of Australia's pub rock sound.

The Hoodoo Gurus formed in Sydney in 1981 out of Perth punk rock band 'The Victims'. With a few line up changes and spilts under their belt they are still performing to this day. 'Like Wow - Wipeout' comes from 1985's 'Mars Needs Guitars' and is super-fun surf pop-rock.

GOD's members were all only 16 or 17 when in 1987 they released their debut 7" 'My Pal' on the Au Go Go label but they all already had considerable band experience. 'My Pal' is a phenomenal tune, electric with teenage energy. Joel Silbersher's gruff angst riddled "you're my only friend/you don't even like me" is backed by a relentlessly driving chord progression. It sold in the thousands, doing OK on the Australian alternative charts but, twenty years on, the impact of GOD's 'My Pal' on local Melbourne rock is still felt. One of the best Australian singles ever released.

You Am I are one of Australia's favourite bands. Through impressive live performances, constant touring and consistently good recordings, rock'n'roll troubadour Tim Rogers and his band has developed a devoted following. 'Berlin Chair' is taken from their first album 'Sound as Ever' produced by Sonic Youth's Lee Ronaldo and released in 1993. Superb power-pop, this song is also famous for lending half it's title to create the band name 'Silverchair'.

Occasionally known as forefathers of grunge because of their apparent influence on certain Seattle bands, the Cosmic Psychos (pictured) personify the pub rock, hard drinking, hard rocking ethos. Forming in 1985, their second album 'Go The Hack' was released on Sub-Pop in 1989 and their third 'Blokes You Can Trust' was produced by Butch Vig just after he'd finished working with Nirvana on 'Nevermind'. Today's tune 'Thank Your Mother for the Rabbits' comes from 1995's 'Self Totalled' and in typical Psychos style is fuzzed up and unapologetically raw.

An Australian supergroup, The Beasts of Bourbon's founding members include Tex Perkins (The Cruel Sea), Kim Salmon (The Scientists) and Spencer P. Jones (The Johnnys). Supergroups by nature are volatile and since forming in 1983 the Beasts have had their share of hiatuses and reformations. 'Saturated' was originally released as a single in 1997 and featured on the 'Gone' album. The version I've posted is from a live album 'Low Life' recorded over two nights in 2003 at Melbourne's The Tote Hotel and if you listen very closely at the end, you can hear me whistle.

Stevie Wright - Last.fm
Rose Tattoo - Wikipedia
Hoodoo Gurus - eBay
God - YouTube
You Am I - Myspace
Cosmic Psychos - Technorati
Beasts of Bourbon - Flickr