AlSymerz

It used to be said that the shit that happens in the government sector wouldn't happen in the private sector. The private sector demands more of it's people and people are more answerable in the private sector. But that's far from true these days, the grunts at the bottom still do all the work while the pricks at the top get richer by doing less.

Hobbs was an excellent band and Peter was a legend, I worked many times with the guy and there wasn't a more genuine person in Australian Metal. But I understand his music wasn't to everyone's liking, everyone has different taste, I dislike a lot of stuff most metal heads seem to love. We never needed a Big 4 here. If we'd had an official Aussie Big 4 so the rest of the world could see it we'd then have needed a state by state Big 4 because it would have turned into a competition. We also didn't have the media interest, both local and international in the 80's to generate enough interest in such terms. Our mainstream media ignored metal as much as they could, the local mags like Hot Metal (which strangely enough has turned into some pay walled/donor pays conspiracy website these days) cared more about overseas metal, and international media only did small stories on our bands. Every state had their own scene from about 83 onwards, how strong that scene was was dependant on the people in it and many survived quiet well into the 90's and beyond as they adapted.

TBH I'm not surprised King Parrot only had 40 people!! Although I'm not a fan so I would say something like that We did regional gigs with multiple bands on the bill for less than 100 people in the 80's, it cost me more to fill the truck with diesel than we made from ticket sales. It sucked but if bands wanted to get their music to the regional areas they had to do it. There was plenty of places in the country it just wasn't viable to tour, but there was bands who used the big cities, Melb, Syd, Bris, as their finance for regional tours. Bands could get about $1500-2000 for a solo show at a night club/pub/venue in regional Vic and NSW in the 80's, but with crews of maybe 6 or 8 people and bands of 4 people it was not about the money it was about the exposure. The guy isn't metal obviously but Slim Dusty was a prime example of how to be popular and make money touring Australia. Metal bands could never have hoped to have his success but more of them should have followed his lead and taken the show to the people rather than waiting for the people to come to the show.

garden

nail

For all the praise other countries offer Australia for it's free health system it really is a shambles in so many areas. So many different areas fall through cracks that should not be there but appear because of bureaucracy. While our politicians don't have to answer for their fuck ups and while they can continually pass the buck when it suits them they'll continue to take money from where it's needed then argue that it's not their fault 5-10 years down the track when it gets out of hand. But it's not just them, too often the people at the top of these organisations are gifted their jobs without having the experience to do them properly.

Decided to keep this out of the Mike Howe thread.... Aus Metal did suffer a bit in the early to mid 90's and it sucked even more in regional areas unless there was metal bands in the area. But if you think it collapsed then I suggest you watch Thrash Or Fuck Off the multipart YT doco about thrash metal in this country. Sure much of it was in the city but the scene was thriving in the 80's, and early 90's, then it did die off a bit but it certainly didn't collapse. Through out the 80's and 90's I worked with a heap of bands that did regional tours, mostly Vic and NSW but there was other states and there was other bands. I grew up in regional areas and started tech school well before 93 but I do remember the other "metal" fans I went to school with thinking metal started with Bon Jovi, ended with Motley Crue and had Poison somewhere in the middle. But that was school, outside of school there was metal bands playing gigs. None of them ever made it big but some of them kept the music going into the 90's. Some guys like Peter Hobbs, never gave up fighting for metal in the country.

Meanstreak - Roadkill

middle

ZZ Top - Eliminator

Cold Chisel - East

Damn I wish this wind would stop. I'm so glad I don't live somewhere tropical where cyclones and tornadoes are a regular thing. We are copping winds up to about 120ks at the moment, no rain yet but apparently it's coming. But it's been like it for 3 days now. Usually September is our windy month, it's the time where we tie all the cows to fence post and chain the tractor to the shed (to stop the shed flying away of course) but it's come early this year. And with all the rain we've had the ground in some parts is too soft to keep the trees standing.

I couldn't get into V, not sure what it was. I don't hate it but it just wasn't an album I could bring myself to buy because I figured it would be lucky if I ever played it a second time.

Death - Spiritual Healing

Metal Church - Hanging In The Balance

Love Independent Metal Church - Blessing In Disguise

I'm not much on Havok for some reason, not sure why but none of their albums have really hit the mark totally for me. Warbringer and Angelus Apatrida I can definitely get along with. In Malice's Wake's most recent album is pretty good but when it comes to new(ish) Aussie thrash I'm more headed towards the bands they often share the stage with Harlott, Desecrator, and Hidden Intent. I listen to the Overkill discography (including DD's Bronx's Casket Co) from start to finish at least once a year. I don't dislike any of their albums but I do play the earlier stuff and the later stuff more often. It's like Flotsam and Jetsam, I go through their catalogue once a year, (including AK Corral) but frequently play stuff from the start and end.

I just read that news. I'm not a recent MC fan but damn I always loved Mike's voice before Metal Church turned to crap.

I'm sure I'm old enough to be a grandfather to some but I still haven't abandoned the old school stuff. I still listen to new stuff and I listen to a wider range of music than I used to in the 80's and 90's but I still revert back to the older stuff regularly. Dropping a 5 favourite band list for me would be tiresome and annoying because it would nearly change with every fifth album. The last two albums Wings Of War and The Grinding Wheel are regular spinners for me.

Jesus Undressed Nanny Kay. LINK

For me (and I realise you didn't ask but I replied ) all his music from his days with Sam Gopal and Hawkwind to his stuff with Head Cat was just brilliant. He not only showed diversity in his music but he showed support for such a wide bunch of musicians. He gave bands everywhere all sorts of help and advice and so many musos have a "Lemmy moment". The guy also never gave up, those days where Motorhead were struggling to gain fans, keep fans and not loose record contracts must have been hard but the guy (and the rest of the band) just kept pushing on. For me one of the stand out things was that the band Airbourne from Australia was given the Bomber lighting rig to use for their previous tours. Money might have changed hands, kisses, cuddles, bottles of jack, anything could have happened behind the scenes but the end result was a relatively small band from Nowhere Australia got to use something iconic for their stage show.

Orange Goblin - Rough And Ready

colon

Possessed - Seven Churches

music