Testeagles, 3 dorky dudes from South Adelaide who totally kicked ■■■■, they actually had a top 10 album but got dropped from their label almost immediately after.
Had the pleasure of touring with these guys a couple of times in the early 00's and they were cracking dudes as well who got horribly ■■■■■■ over.
Cog, Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, and so on will all site these guys as the one of the founders of alt, prog, metal scene in Australia along with the Mark of Cain.
Being underrated and playing in Oz jazz bands seem to go hand in hand but I'll stick to 3.
The Mark Simmonds Freeboppers are one of the truly great Aussie bands but the lineup changed a lot and this vid doesn't really capture their intensity. Get their "FIre!" CD and play it loud - it's regularly rated as the greatest Oz jazz cd of all time. Mark has gone to ground and doesn't play anymore. Jazz Up Late on Classic FM featured one of their rare recorded gigs last week.
Taking it down a notch or 2, Paper Hat trio only existed for short time but produced this great CD that you can listen to on Colin Hopkins' site- scroll down and click the tracks on the bottom right. Hopkins would hate to read this but he is the closest thing we have to the great Keith Jarrett, a truly inspired and lyrical improviser. Unfortunately he's an artist and architect as well and his appearances on stage are all too rare.
The Mark Isaacs Resurgence Band is a truly stellar line up as you can hear when they take their solos in this extended version of "Tell it like it is". They play Isaacs' compositions but they each make their own mark. They're still around and great live.
One killer album , Tai Leao, in about 1994, and a Faith No More tour support , then brokeup.
Band reformed recently as 'Floating Me' along with members of Karnivool and Cog who all acknowledged how much Scarymother influenced and inspired their bands.
Fraterity. l put in a vote for Bon Scott's second band, in between the teeny bopper pleasing Valentine's with Vince Ludgrove and his gig with AC/DC in the early 1970's. They were a real roots rock outfit from somewhere in the Adelaide hills. A 6 (or sometimes 8 piece band) they used to tour around in one of those old Ansett Pioneer Clipper buses, the sort with the round rear end and no back window. The highlight of their set was a 20+ minute version of The Band's Chest Fever complete with a 5 min Hammond organ intro, lovely stuff. They made an album on Sweet Peach, l would love to hear it again.
Toads. mid 1980's. Twin guitar based band from Melbourne featuring Jane Clifton on vocals and Martin Armiger (spelling) who went on to work on a few soundtracks such as Frankie's House an Ozzie film about the Vietnam War, which l have never seen. l did buy the soundtrack though in Bangkok as it also features a personal favorite Jeff Beck, extensively.
HM, you must be very old to know Sidewinder. Dave Castles was lead singer, and a mate, who worked at Uni Melb, and we used to follow them around the pubs across Melbourne. They often played on the same stage as Dragon. Great rock band with Richard Lee, an eccentric dude playing electric violin; good original songs written by Lee and Ash Buckle. Got a copy of the EP done after Lee did the dirty on them and stole the Sidewinder name and started another group. Still have some of their songs on my iPhone !! Could tell you lots of stories about Lee and his Wife who was as eccentric as him; Lee was a great musician though.
In the 1970's had a mate who moved to Adelaide, and everytime we went there, found a new band to rave about. Most of the band seemed to start doing covers but soon evolved into unique acts. Some just disappeared, but others lingered.
I loved the U-Bombs, they had a punk style with dashes of Sex Pistols and Clash, but were different with a gutsy saxophone. And they played their own versions of Monkees songs, they had us all rocking.
Rode the wave created by Powderfinger for a while, but never quite got what they deserved. Saw them support Powderfinger at The Palace in St Kilda and they comprehensively blew them off the stage! They were also excellent supporting Radiohead at Festival Hall.
Greg Atkinson (previously of the Ups & Downs - a great 80's Oz band) has one of the most expressive voices in music. "Maximum Sincere" is one of the rawest alt. rock albums you'll hear.
Essential songs: Birthday, White Flag, Covered In Bruises, May, Bigmouth, Maximum Sincere, The Train Stops Here, Devil's Tongue, Priest is Pig, Laughing Boy
HM, you must be very old to know Sidewinder. Dave Castles was lead singer, and a mate, who worked at Uni Melb, and we used to follow them around the pubs across Melbourne. They often played on the same stage as Dragon. Great rock band with Richard Lee, an eccentric dude playing electric violin; good original songs written by Lee and Ash Buckle. Got a copy of the EP done after Lee did the dirty on them and stole the Sidewinder name and started another group. Still have some of their songs on my iPhone !! Could tell you lots of stories about Lee and his Wife who was as eccentric as him; Lee was a great musician though.
We might be talking about different Sidewinders I think!
The mob I was referring to did their best work in the mid 90s, on the Tangerine album - tracks like Titanic Days, God, etc. I think they even might have supported U2 once, but they disappeared off the radar pretty quick after that. I think one of the band is in Something for Kate these days.
Rode the wave created by Powderfinger for a while, but never quite got what they deserved. Saw them support Powderfinger at The Palace in St Kilda and they comprehensively blew them off the stage! They were also excellent supporting Radiohead at Festival Hall.
Greg Atkinson (previously of the Ups & Downs - a great 80's Oz band) has one of the most expressive voices in music. "Maximum Sincere" is one of the rawest alt. rock albums you'll hear.
Essential songs: Birthday, White Flag, Covered In Bruises, May, Bigmouth, Maximum Sincere, The Train Stops Here, Devil's Tongue, Priest is uPig, Laughing Boy
Concur on Ups and Downs, very good little band. l have an album of there's somewhere.
HM, you must be very old to know Sidewinder. Dave Castles was lead singer, and a mate, who worked at Uni Melb, and we used to follow them around the pubs across Melbourne. They often played on the same stage as Dragon. Great rock band with Richard Lee, an eccentric dude playing electric violin; good original songs written by Lee and Ash Buckle. Got a copy of the EP done after Lee did the dirty on them and stole the Sidewinder name and started another group. Still have some of their songs on my iPhone !! Could tell you lots of stories about Lee and his Wife who was as eccentric as him; Lee was a great musician though.
We might be talking about different Sidewinders I think!
The mob I was referring to did their best work in the mid 90s, on the Tangerine album - tracks like Titanic Days, God, etc. I think they even might have supported U2 once, but they disappeared off the radar pretty quick after that. I think one of the band is in Something for Kate these days.
Well there you go, I just watched and listened to your Sidewinder play Titanic Days from 1998.
Bit soft for me, reckon Richard Lee from my Sidewinder, would be standing at the side telling them that they need a bit of electric violin and more bass.