The Peppermint Patch

The Peppermint Patch are growers of quality peppermint from Yarrawalla (northern Victoria). Their certified organic peppermint is sought after for culinary and medicinal uses, and of course yummy tea!

They weed by hand, and harvest with care......and at the end of the day in the field, a swim in the dam is almost as refreshing as their tea!

Fuel Flowers

Local artist and publisher of Trouble magazine Steve Proposch cultivated his Fuel Flower crop at the Newstead Race Course, back in October 2006. These photos were from that crop.

Since then his crop has appeared elsewhere, and is currently visible on the property of the Welshmans Reef vineyard and winery.

Neil Young

On one of the hottest Melbourne days in history, Neil came and rocked the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. A great set, finishing on a Beatles cover, A Day In A Life... tearing all his string off his Old Black Gibson... Gold!

Deaf Wish

Deaf Wish have sprouted out of a whole bunch of ace rockin Melbourne outfits...
This is them at the Applecore backyard fest of 2009...


...and of course they always have time to rock out with the kids...

Welshmans Reef

Welshmans Reef is not only the name of the district I grew up in, but also a land inhabited by many more than it seems.... Where lynching trees from the goldfields heyday still remember their past, and the vineyards are tended to by those with extra time on their hands...


...however, be aware that even though the speed limit around those parts are set at 100 km/h, there is little evidence that they are ever enforced....


...and as the stars continue their way, dams dry up, and the locals think about moving on.

Bang! Bang! Aids!

So, before Rhys went to freakin CHINA!... and Marcus morphed Smokin Hot Bitch into East Brunswick All Girls Choir, they had a band together called Bang! Bang! Aids!

Being fellow Bendigo lads... they could have turned out so much worse.

These 2 photos were taken at the Super 8 Diaries fundraiser show

Six Ft Hick

Man-love enducing Six Ft Hick have a couple of brothers fronting the band... gettin shirtless and sweaty. These pics were taken on their home turf.. The Zoo in Brisbane.

The Brutals vs my new camera

So... I bought a Mamiya Twin Lens Reflex camera the other month... and it seems like it works!
Both these photos were taken with it.

The above photo is of The Brutals. They have a great pop record under the belt, waiting to be unleashed...

This photo below was taken at Welshmans Reef where I grew up. Note that as well as the star trails through the sky, you can see the trails of an airplane (seen faintly just above the windmill), and a shooting star (passing into the trees through the windmill).

Camp A Low Hum (nz) 2009 - part 2 - Neil Finn

Oh... and perhaps I forgot to mention in the previous post... as well as some kickarse sets from The Stabs and Mother and Father and Ouch My Face... There was a surprise performance by Neil Finn, backed by sons Liam and Elroy, with ex Tin Lid EJ Barnes.
They began with Neil blacking up on bass on Liam's songs, but then they swapped around a few times. It was pretty awesome seeing and hearing I See Red, History Never Repeats, 4 Seasons in One Day, and even a couple of covers. They even played I Got You, despite Nintendo KiWiibutchering the song the night before. I apologised to Neil for that... be he just said "You Aussies are always trying to apologise for something.." . He also took delight in bringing up the cricket as another source of aussie scoundrel behaviour... well Neil, don't forget about that photo I took of you in a compromising position.. ;)


This photo is of Neil just before he made his surprise appearance to an ecstatic mob. With him here is Camp festival organiser Blink, who did a glorious job of keeping this rabbit under his hat.

Camp A Low Hum (nz) 2009

Camp A Low Hum is a nice little festival that only allows for 800 or so people... and this year I went over with my band Baseball and a makeshift Oz-rock cover band called Nintendo KiWii.

Apart from being in an ideal picturesque location 40 mins from Wellington, there was a lot of fun to be had, with many ace bands and great dam/lagoon to swim in... as pictured above.

Acts at camp that really impressed me and are worth checking out include, Little Pictures (nz), Golden Axe (nz), Sharpie Crows (nz), and East Brunswick All Girls Choir (Melb), and Guy Blackman, and Nintendo KiWii of course.

And.. other kickarse sets were blasted out by the following:

My Disco


The DHDFDs (nz)

Justice YeldhamBonaparte
The Show Is The Rainbow (USA)

My Disco

My Disco are a band that continues to floor me. They sort of began as a hi-tech math-noise-rock band, seemingly spawned from the At The Drive In/Albini school of rock... but as time has passed, they have grown into a monstrously brutal band verging on the metronomic hardcore disco. At first I thought the word 'disco' in their name was supposed to be ironic... but now I reckon their brilliant new album Paradise is ripe for the picking to any beat-thieving hip-hop producer with an ear for edge.

Another factor that keeps me loving My Disco is their awesome and head-scratching band photography by Warwick Baker. His concepts are fresh and slightly disturbing.... which is always a good thing in art, in my opinion.

.....woops. I said I wasnt going to write opinions here. crap!

This photo of Ben was taken at the old 101 club in Collingwood, when the band was being filmed for the Sticky Carpet Documentary.

This photo of Rohan was taken at The Espy. A photo of Liam in action will be found in the Camp A Low Hum entry.

Lionel Rose

Lionel Rose is best known for beating Japan's Fighting Harada for the world's bantamweight title on 26 February 1968, in Tokyo. In 1968 he was the first Aboriginal to be awarded Australian Of The Year.

Rose also had a little pop career, releasing I Thank You and Please Remember Me in 1970.

This photo was taken at a hotel room porch at 2am in Richmond, surrounded by his family, mates and folk who recently made and released a doco about his life called Lionel.

Bird Blobs

The Bird Blobs were formed after Tim's previous band Sea Scouts ended. Personally I liked the Sea Scouts much more, but the Blobs definitely had their thing goin on.

This photo was taken at the Corner Hotel.

The UV Race

The UV Race are another great fun times garage rock and roll band from Melbourne.

This photo I took of them in the packed front bar at
The Tote

Spider Vomit

Spider Vomit are a bit of a drunken fun party band. I like this shot I got of them at the Toff.
Below is a pic I took at their first gig, upstairs in a joint on Russell St. I cant remember it's name... sorry.

The Dacios

The Dacios were a two piece with siblings Linda and Bean who were both previously in one of Hobart's finest rock acts, Little Ugly Girls. LUGs criminally never put out a proper release, however The Dacios are very soon to release their first album, featuring their other brother Pops (shown here on drums).

I would have to rate Linda's voice as one of the greatest going round. Track down the song RX-7 off the Legends Of Motorsport's Beef With Cheese EP, where Linda does lead vocals to hear her gut wrenching power. It has sent chills up my spine on multiple occasions.

True Radical Miracle

True Radical Miracle are awesome. Not only 'cos Scotty is my favorite Adelaide rocker, and not only 'cos I'm in a band with Evelyn (this city's most interesting drummer)... but 'cos they mix tight chops with noise, doom with punk, and look great on film.

The top photo I took at the Pink Palace during it's closing down shows. And the photo below I took at the No Culture Festival in Brisbane

Kes

Karl Scullin has a band called Kes. This photo is of them in Brisbane as a 3 piece, which I reckon is a great way to see them. They've been known to play as a 5 piece, including Laura Jean on a variety of instruments.... but not in this pic...

The Bronx

Like Iggy Pop... they also arnt Australian.... but here's a photo I took of them,
It's here 'cos I reckon it's an awesome photo.

remember.. click on the pic to get the whole image... cos often this stupid blog machine cuts the photos off short

Hi God People

Hi God People are like a bunch of hippies in their comune, and somehow you are their watching them.... you spend a while time trying to work out what it is they and their sect believes in, and then you go home secretly wanting to start your own chaper...

this photo was taken at the What Is Music 'Onathon' at the Forum Theatre... Sadly the What Is Music festival hasnt been around since.

Kim Salmon - The Scientists

Possibly the creators of grunge, The Scientists stormed out of Perth raw and rawkus back in the 70s. They did a few reformation shows recently. I took this top one at their 'Dont Look Back' gig with Sonic Youth in Melbourne.



Kim Salmon is still a very active muso....



This shot below was taken at a show a few months earlier at the Espy with The Stabs and Witch Hats. That was truely an awesome show.

Ninetynine

Ninetynine have been around for ages. 12 years or so! There's been a couple of line-up changes in that time, but they're still as amazing as ever. This photo was of them at the Espy, not long after their tour of Europe and Russia.

The Stabs

The Stabs... well what can I say about The Stabs? Hmmm.. well they used to be called Jodi Moore, until she told them they couldnt use her name any more...



I took that photo (above) at their 7" launch at the Nth Melbourne Town Hall Hotel. This bloke's name is Strika. It was his first day out of the lock-up, and while the band was sorta trashing their shit, Strika thought he'd help out. He'd already done a bunch of one armed push-ups while the band was playing and he was in the mood!



In the end he didnt trash anything and baught a stabs t-shirt.



Here's a more recent pic of them playing at ATP at Mt Buller, Jan 2009

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Eddy Current Suppression Ring are doin pretty alright these days for a Melbourne garage band.
I took this top photo at Pony at a 2am gig.


Below is them at the Super 8 Diaries fundraiser show... the woman singing there is Marnie from Zond. Another awesome Malbourne band

Iggy Pop and The Stooges

Yeah.. I took this photo at the Big Day Out one time....

...the only time I had a photo pass for the Big Day Out ever... and I don't imagine I'll ever get one again.

I was the only person shooting on film that day.

This photo below is where Iggy astral traveled across the stage a few metres to do a little duet with himself. Of course I used magical technologies to make this image.