Assetstripper....Back At The Magic Shop

  Here's yet another installment of unashamed digital self promotion. I'm posting this as I think it's quite a spirited set with some exciting under-rehearsed newbies. Over practising sometimes kills the initial spark so we hardly do that sort of thing, we hardly ever play as well. Keep it fresh!
  So there's heaps of "mistakes" of which I believe adds character......I'm not in it for the money so I can afford to shun professional musicianship. We did get sixty bucks from this show(thanks Michael Zulicki!) which helped us buy some chips....
  Every band I play in seems to have a venue or two as it's home base for showing off-Assetstripper's is Alyssa McBain's shed out in Whittlesea and local magician Dane Cerificate's small theatre in Coburg. Encounter Group's performance platform was a yuppie meat ranch in Fitzroy and the Satanic Rocker's hot night spot was IDGAFF(I Don't Give A Flying Fuck) which kinda summed up the lack of audience attendance.
  The audio file plays as one long track as I didn't want to edit out the audience enthusiasm, so I'll list of the tunes further down. Thanks to Tommy Gun for taking the photo of us near the venue and Carly for placing the Zoom H2N somewhere so the recording could be made....sorry for lack of writing in regards to the other bands but I was in my own fantastic rock and roll bubble and selfishly didn't check out the other performers properly in order to do them critical justice.....
  BACK AT THE MAGIC SHOP

Setlist........Rational Cannibal, Instrumental, Don't Forget To Chew, Walking Wounded, Constant Renovator, Drunk But Enthusiastic(glitter glam version)

in(COMPLETE)in

  Here's an old tape I would've forgotten about if I didn't have an archive....recorded on Boxing Day 2003 at Lisa Preston's practice space in Shadbolt House, Lyttelton. I believe they knocked it down after the Christchurch earthquakes a couple of years ago. I always liked this building and used to do a weekly experimental radio show on the fourth floor (I'll post about that soon...). Independent Fisheries owned it but now the main inhabitants were Radio Lytteltion, a small soap business, something else and a bunch of weed smoking weirdo jammers below the floors. Lisa named her practice space the Lunar Lounge.

Here's Shadbolt House pre-demolition.

                                                                 in(COMPLETE)in
  I was about to move up to Wellington so we had a party jam with most of my friends present. There'd been several jams here earlier but I think this was my last one here. The recording was made using a sony minidisc player and was also edited/looped using the same device (the minidisc was great for making seamless loops!). I supposedly made twelve of these a year or so later and the rest are who knows where...Because the night was well fuelled my recollections are a bit skewered so I'll just list the instruments and those persons who were generally hanging out near them...

  GUITAR: Kyle Denovan, Richard (Ricko) Neave, Lynton Denovan
  BASS: Kent Roper, Isolde Cumberbeach, Lynton
  VOCALS: David Kahn
  DRUMS: Rustle Covini, Joanne Billesdon, Lynton, Kyle
  KEYBOARDS: Lisa Preston, perhaps Lynton and anyone's guess!

  Of particular fun is the guest singing of David Kahn from local industrial band Leonard Nimoy. He did a great falsetto that night and his improv tune "Dumb White Trash" works a treat for me.                                              
              It's only ten minutes long so put it on random play and get a good half hour out of it...Get your pig on!

                                                               in(COMPLETE)in

P.S. Thanks Breeze for taking photos of the cover and tape for me...x

TONY VALENS and the GHETTO GHOSTS (live at the Wunderbar)

  This is a recording of a cold Saturday night down at Lyttelton's premiere underock venue the Wunderbar. Nick renamed us (the rhythm section) as the "Ghetto Ghosts" for this performance which he recorded in hard stereo on an overdriven old tapedeck. Unfortunately the tape runs out just before we finished our second set. It's a good representation of what this line-up sounded like if you bothered to come out on such a chilly night....
  I think I was a bit drunk before we even set up, we had two drumkits (no it wasn't double vision) so I set up the black superkit. At one point on the tape you can hear my 360 degree drum fill. Dan the bass player and I kept the bottom end for Nick to rip distorted shards from the guitar.
  We had a special guest play saxophone that night too-not sure where he came from but he kept going on about "kiwi's being too shy" and hitting on Dan's girlfriend while we were busy being loud. Although he was born here his American accent cut through everywhere-apparently he'd just come off touring with Blondie's band in the States and I thought he was coming off a cocaine habit or something thereabout's and flashy. I found it all amusing! Through the haze I remember him poking his brassy horn over the top of my superdrums and honking in my face like a horny big old duck! Anyhow we didn't give him a lot of room to move and if you're not worn out by hearing fatigue you might hear some sax popping through on this recording every now and then...
  Having a break between sets just allowed me to get more fuel into my system so these are my only memories except the last tune where our good friend David Kahn joined us on vocals for "Blue Moon". This old romantic ballad was a suitable end to the night....and off we went.

Nick Harte-guitar

Lynton Denovan-drums

Dan Brady-bass

David Ironside-saxophone

LOUD AND PROUD!

P.S. The title photo was taken by myself some years later after the earthquakes of 2011 had decimated the inner city of Christchurch. The concert was recorded sometime during 2001(probably winter) and the tracks are only separated as "set 1" and "set 2". Refer to the tape cover for song titles and play loud with a speaker in each ear!

ASSETSTRIPPER live at Paddockbash 2015(full set)

  Here is the full set that we did at Alyssa's recent Paddockbash. It's a bit of an annual event with no holds barred. Free liquor behind the stage, lush sound and lighting rig(thanks Zen and Tareq) and an illegal bonfire! Firemen visited with a pissy little hose and some paperwork the following morning...out of control fires have been a real danger up here in the past.
  Bands came from up north, west and right here to get drunk and party out on the farm at Whittlesea, Victoria. No sleep until the next day or so......you get the idea. I have to thank Alyssa for repeatedly hosting this amazing event on her property and bringing together some amazing acts. She's a repeat offender of awesomeness!!
 This recording may be a bit blown out in places(but not so much as the last concert I posted). My suggestion is to have a couple of your favourite beers on hand and turn the stereo up.
  Live and whinging in the tent....
  (I have forgotten who took this picture of us so if you know fill me in and I'll put your credits up)

ASSETSTRIPPER "Alive and Complaining"

 Here's three tracks recorded live at Dane Certificate's Magic Shop on the 10th July 2015 when we supported excellent Tasmanian band the Howling Gruel.  I decided to put only these three tracks up as the rest of the set was a bit lame......also expect a lot of distortion as my sound mixing skills are very elementary, although  I reckon all the oscillating bass frequencies add to the rhythm.
 Assetstripper is my current brand of band and features Peter James on drums, Breeze Powell on bass and myself(Lynton) on vocals/guitar and samples. It's really just a vehicle for one great sonic whinge!
 The pics were taken by Stuart Page(top) and Matt Kennedy(bottom) at our friend Alyssa McBain's horse shed out in Whittlesea,Victoria.
 Recorded on Zoom H2N and fucked up further with Protools.

Click And Drag

Into The Void live at the Wunderbar,Lyttelton, Christchurch 14/06/14

 The first time I saw Into The Void was back in 1993 when I was eighteen and had just embarked upon my flunked out studies at Canterbury University. I used to get drunk on three pints of DB Draught and would feel like I was committing a crime every(and it wasn't many) time I went to the bar to spend my measly student allowance.....anyhow I learnt a few things there and quite a few things since....
 I gotta say that the Void are one of the only bands I still like from way back then and it's a bit of a religious pilgrimage for me to see them-they have lasted the distance thus far. When they're not damaging their cochlea's these gents kill time by selling records, loaning books, etching, nursing and making modern art.
 This is not the whole concert; just my favourites including a few from their first album put out by Frying Nun Records and some very new numbers that I enjoyed on the night....
 Have a listen!

ENCOUNTER GROUP (under this bridge) Live Brisbane 14/09/14

A couple of weeks ago Bearded Iris and Encounter Group flew up to the sunny city of Brisbane to play a couple of shows, the final show was powered by a two-stroke generator under a bridge near Goma art gallery in South Bank. Thanks Gerald of Gerald Keaney and the Gerald Keaneys who also performed and provided the generator.
Apparently cops are a problem in this part of the country and fortunately none paid us a visit, we did get some curious park goers and three wasted mates from the homeless shelter check out the happening. They seemed to have the best time!

The recording is drum and vocal heavy with the bass and guitar being murked out via the resonant echo that dominated the space. It gives this document a kinda rap style vibe with beats and singing to the fore (alongside profuse use of the "f" word!)...The last track called "Rock Keep Rolling" features special guest Matt Earle from xNOBBQx on extra guitar. Clocking in at over twelve minutes I manage to squeeze the lyrics out right at the end.
Marek took the photo of us (thanks!), also thanks to Mark Spinks and Sleepy for helping transport the borrowed equipment.
All in all a nice day in the sun spent defiantly molesting a bottle of stone's ginger wine. I may post some of the other performances after getting permission in the near future....
UNDER THIS BRIDGE

Ragtime Frank Plays Melbourne, Slopes Gallery(19/07/14), Public Bar(20/07/14)

 I'd been hankering to see this guy play since I purchased his "Live At St Georges" LP put out by Negative Guest List last year. I don't normally gravitate towards contempory guys playing old timey "blues holler" but this guy does it with a certain abandoned conviction that has me sold.    He has a new album out on Little Big Chief Records which you can read about here...
 Ragtime Frank played two shows in Melbourne last weekend of which I recorded both; the first one was at Slopes Gallery in the trendy slumming neighbourhood of Fitzroy. The show was some kind of art school thing of which I normally don't frequent as they usually seem populated by mediocre yet fragile young socialites trying to converse their way up the (f)art ladder...One of the "performances" involved a staggered group dance of constantly collapsing props with movements which made me laugh at how bad it was! The very cheap three dollar Hollander beers helped immensely and I'm sure there's a mountainous screed of shite that backs up this stuff with wordy hieroglyphs....Here is the short ten minute set that Frank did with only a harmonica, foot, and voice. A funny event, perhaps I'm too close-minded but I prefer to watch good old fashioned rock "n" roll and think about the clever stuff later!

 The second show was the following day at a giant fisherman's basket known as the Public Bar. Quite a restrained or tired audience(myself included) so on the recording I added some swanky delay effects to the audience applause to jazz things up a bit.....Frank played his electric guitar and did a staggering version of bad man "Stagger Lee" which jumped above the stage somewhere! Both shows had the feeling of transcendance with Frank going off into some kinda blues catharthis.....Here's the show.
 I didn't edit either show into separate tracks as I felt they both work best as extended pieces. I do hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Encounter Group (@ Grace Darling 13/07/14)

I felt good about this show, we were supporting Dusty's band Dag; Boiled Dwarf, Mad Nanna also played. They were all good by me. No monkey bullshit!
 Last time I played at this venue I felt somewhat ajar but this time the door was open....
 Despite a little bit of a cold and tuning problems I think we put on a spirited show, this download has two tunes missing which I reckon sounded like total shit and I only want to put my best foot forwards.....I decided a while back that we'd do the Sacred Product LP set thus making room to move on to the future. I'm much more interested in the future these days.
 This is a good record of our sound so I hope you enjoy it, I did!
 Weirdo with a dictaphone was there on the night so no doubt he will impecably document the entire night for keen ears in the not too distant future...
P.S. Thanks Eira for taking the band photo!

HAMMERING THE CRAMPS (@ Dane Certificate's Magic Shop,Melbourne 28/06/14)

 Hammering the Cramps consists of Karl Von Bamberger(keyboards), Reggie Norris(guitar), Simon Krause(vocals/guitar) and Jesse Clark(drums). I'm told that they only had one rehearsal before this concert and hadn't played for seven years. This was their first show in Melbourne too....

 Musical parallels could be made with N.Z. bands such as the Terminals, Pin Group, Dadamah or any number of Xpressway independent minded sound summoners. At times the music sounded quite fragile and disparate, almost collapsing but would suddenly hit harmonic booms which made me see a big field of cathartic blue. I don't have much to say as I was very blown away by the power of this group and felt I'd seen something quite special, maybe it was the drugs. I can still hear some of these moments...

 Anyway, I fucked up big time with my zoom H2n's batteries dying mid set thus I missed a couple of songs. So I only have four tunes which may give you an idea of this group's beauty, one of these tracks is missing the beginning but I put it on anyhow as it sounded good. 

 A definite reminder of why I like music! Check out the Tasmanian label Wormwood Grasshopper's catalogue for other gems...

HORSE MANIA @Tape Projects, ALbert's Fest Sunday 8th June 2014

Albert's Fest post number two; Horse Mania.
 'Twas the end of the night, time for a cup of hot milo and a bedtime story. This band of kindly mothering lads consists of Tasmanians Simon Hanselmann and Karl von Bamberger, this may be their first Uncle Melby show and maybe it will be their only Uncle Melby show. Who knows-I certainly don't but I'll be asking questions later.
 Unfortunately I missed the first five or so minutes of this performance so the recording is only one hour and thirteen minutes long. It doesn't matter!
 Center stage sitting at a table with lamp the duo rustled casiotone keyboards, bits of paper, microphones, perhaps a dictaphone and audience suggestions(or occasional insults). I had a great time and had a few things to say of which I have no recollection of as I was a bit "sleepy". No worries, these Tasmanians come from a rich heritage of not giving a fuck and allowing the audience to be fully ackwnowledged within their performance. I like their vibe!
 Horse Mania's conversationalist approach reminded me of many a night spent drinking wine and smoking rosemary laced rollies in Karl's almost windowless den of a flat in Northcote. He had a nickname for his house of which I am not sure if many people will find funny(his "r__pe den") and I thought it smelled of some deathly drug overdose and who knows what the bottle of olive oil was doing in his bedroom.
  Musically I don't remember much but banter with seemingly spontaneous casiotone driven downsided pop. I may be totally off course with this memory but I do positively remember seeing Karl take a photo or two. When I listen back to this recording I suppose it'll all come flooding back and I'll probabably regret what I thought at the time were witty heckles....
 Give a root and give it a toot!

AESTHETICS:@ Northcote Social Club,Melby, 9th June 2014

If this was in New Zealand you could possibly call it "Sickness Benefit Wave". The wave isn't very big 'cos there's not much money in it because that asset stripper forex genie arsehole John Key is going about dismantling as much social welfare as he can stick his eagle beaked nose into.....anyhow I'm just some baldy man intellectual with a penchant for rock and a venue to vent...BLAH,blat,blomb....it's probably best not to be a dick and try to categorise this music then I 'spose; 'twas just trying to be witty!
  I missed most of the other bands unfortunately and also on purpose-I really can't stand post-hardcore art jam music(what's the point in screaming and playing high energy punk beats when the message doesn't cut through-seemed like Dick Angst Rock to me). The Dinosaur Jr sounding group sounded ok though but it's way too backwards looking for an old fuck...
 Well, the Aesthetics have had a few line-ups over the years and have an underground following throughout the Land of the Long White (c)Loud. I even filled in for a while on drums here in friendly uncle Melby Town, I helped pay the rent on a Brunswick talent quest rehearsal space for a few months and it was generally a tense kind of fun. Rock has gotta keep rolling and I was rolled out!
Anyhow these ex-sheepfuckers provide what Uncle Melby needs-something to get fucked-up on and spill wine on the carpet to. Edie plays a solid bass groove and supports Matt on his sonic outings via her feedback drone potent and new member Jeremy's drums keep consistent throughout.
I must say I wasn't blown away by most of this set as I have heard it many times before and am not surprised by these old rock moves but the last track entitled "Better Dead Than Red" blew my fist into the air a couple of times and moved me from sarcastic bird flipping into spine-tingling swilling euphoria!
I didn't separate the tracks so it is ONE LONG EXPERIENCE!

Crude (Live @ Albert's Fest 8th June 2014 @ Tape Projects, Melby)

Albert's Fest on a Sundy, not a normal Sundy mind you but one preceeding Queen Elizabeth's birthday. Not the Lord's day of rest-we'll leave the resting for the rest of the week and pay the price later.....
So there was a whole lot of other stuff happening( of which I shall post later provided I am given the kind permission of  Tasmanian ex-pats Horse Mania....). I am not going to give any sort of run down on the night except that I bought a very nice Mad Nanna tee shirt for only ten bucks and that Michael's distro(Albert's Basement) is worth checking out. I am quite excited about some of the recently issued old N.Z. underock that he is peddling which mega-Label Siltbreeze have put out this year-namely the Spies and Shoes This High.....get them!!-it's easy to preview this stuff before you buy elsewhere on the net so do the finger work if you dare...).
Well, Matt Middleton is an ex-sheepfucker world famous in Dunedin who has a unique sound signature which sits in  it's own world resilient to the de-knobbing effects of New Zealand's overindulgence in "Flying Nun" pride. He has an angular conversation style and might get back to you later on a question raised a long time ago-he's a data processor caged in flesh. His sound is like this and I never quite know what to expect which is why I like it....I remember one gig he did months after the "99 Percent Occupation" on Swanston Street where he ranted down the microphone about not going to the protest and buying Levis jeans instead. I couldn't make the protest either as I had to go to work at a glorified taco stand in order to pay the rent. This was just one moment of the performance and if you caught what he was on about you got the goods....
 This show tonight didn't seem as angularly sci-fi as usual but started off slowly with vocal loops and had his trademark sax against the world honky burpin'....I was a bit blurry at the time and haven't even listened to the recording yet but I do remember towards the end spinning my zoom recorder around to create some sort of stereo effect. Sometimes good things take time to enjoy or understand, it's here so why not give it a toot!

Scrabbled(Live at Northcote Social Club 20/04/14)

Scrabbled are a Brisbane band consisting of Bek Moore(vocals), Mark Spinks(bass), Dusty Anastassiou(guitar/backing vocals), Emily Wade(drums) and guest for the afternoon Dan Lewis(on   shimmery vibe guitar). I really liked this band and I thought they sounded pretty good through Northcote Social Club's warm p.a. This recording was done on my new zoom portable digital recorder from the back of the room. I don't know who took this photo of them which I downloaded from fakebook(fill me in if you want...) and I'll let the music describe itself....

Floating in a Cloud... .... ....

Well, well, well, I have uploaded some tracks to Soundcloud. They consist of instrumental tracks that perhaps one day will be wed to some complimentary words. Or maybe not...In the future I will put up a sampler track so you can have a listen before you download a whole album; a little tantaliser.

Here is the link to the Cloud :

Don't turn your back on the ocean.

Sample of Satanic Rockers Rough Mixes for the upcoming LP.. ..

Well I want to show a couple of interested parties my rough mixes for the upcoming Satanic Rockers Lp. I need feedback!! So let me know what you think, whether you find it tiring on the ears or if it's too noisey etc....I want this to sound good on the disc!

Dayraiders :(

Here are four instrumental tunes that go by the working title "Dayraiders". I'm not sure why I decided to tag this collection with that name but I think the Batmanesque German bombers on the cover convey a certain gloomy vibe that these tracks have.

The first track is called "Now" and was from the Heavy Fighter sessions. With a simple distorted riff via pignose amp and slightly enthusiastic drums it complemented my LSD one afternoon in Kensington during late 2010.

Tune number two entitled "He 177" makes me think of diehard commitment to lost causes i.e. the Luftwaffe's He 177 dive-bomber programme. The lead break at the end sounds like an engine on fire...I'll let your imagination run wild, perhaps screaming pilots and out of control aircraft is a good starter! (Also from the Heavy Fighter sessions...)

"She's No Friend" is a little casiotone distorto skronk that I was going to use as a sample at a Heavy Turkey concert but we stopped playing before I had a chance to use it. The title is a mantra for me in my efforts to disengage myself from another failed relationship-crashing planes etc etc.. .

"The Thirsty River" was recorded around 2002 when I lived in a warehouse on the corner of Madras and Tuam Streets in Christchurch. Kent Roper plays bass, Rustle Covini plays drums and I strum the Hondo H-77. Recorded on a tape deck.

I play all the instruments except on the last track .... .

THE THIRSTY RIVER

Feed the River

The thirsty river

The rain brings it to the top

Where the banks meet the path

It was clear a long time ago...

Drains and waste have made it brown and grey

But a couple of fish still live there

And the ducks continue to breed

Tourists with bread crumbs feed them.

One night I rode into the river

Drunk and stupid weaving up and down the banks

I swallowed a mouthfull and felt sick

Wet clothes, feeling sorry for myself again

Until next time...

Satanic Rockers on Frackbook

He is a link for our fakeook age if you wuld likto hat with us.Some post interesting videos or talk about things.sHAMeLSs sELF prOMotiON.................. I CAN GET THE jolly LINK TOwork WORK.....................................................................................

SATANIC ROCKERS "Xmas Fart Cracker" album 2011.

We went away for a holiday up to Sydney,Bateman's Bay and Canberra just before Christmas.This is our gift for rock starved ears and represents the fruits of our rehearsal sessions from the last few months.Tim and I did the engineering and mixing.It is quite low-fi but I think these "rough and ready" demos have a rather spirited feel to them.

The limited edition tour album artwork was drawn whilst on the road and displays the high-mindedness of four healthy men in a rock and roll band who "kept their packets"(most of the covers are included in the zip file).We had a mass giveaway of these cd's in magical Wandella after a show in which Josh threw the discs at an angry gaggle of young blokes who wanted his blood.Maybe they will throw it on the soundsystem?

Seasons Greetings!

Let off an Xmas Fart Cracker Now!

Here's a little clip of our recent concert at Edinburgh Gardens where an enthused homeowner decided to finally pop over and meet us.. ..

Do it yourself-permit not included

This is a sign of things to come-batteries,amps,songs and public spaces.Piotr kindly filmed this.The Satanic Rockers will be hosting a summer series of park gigs during January and February 2012.I will let you's know more details when it comes to hand . . .battery powered occupations happening soon!