DAAS

Not really a band, and not really a pub, but these guys were amazing. Bloody talented writers, singers, performers, musos, satirists. Paul MacDermott's still got it, just watch Good News Week or the Side Show.

The Church

One of my all time fave Aussie bands. Lyrical, melodic, rich. The Blurred Crusade is a great album, and I probably really enjoyed this concert. I would have, for sure. Damn, I wish I could remember all this stuff...

Powerjam '83!

I remember this one. I remember climbing over the fence with a bottle of scotch. I think we actually tried to buy tickets, but they wouldn't let us in with the scotch, so we went round the side and climbed the fence.

$1? Pretty reasonable, I think.

The Killjoys

Love the Killjoys. Never loved the Kardomah that much. love the Annandale still.

The Fall

Maxy's Roller Rink

OK. Maxy's. I remember it as Maxy's Roller Disco. Just up the road from the Tivoli and the Roma Theatre. There used to be places to go in George Street...

Narara 1983

Scientists & Celibate Rifles

Dropbears

Hoodoo Gurus

This must be an old one.

The Mosman Hotel was one of the classic old North Shore pubs. They seemed to have a lot of punk bands play there at the time. I can't remember when they pulled that one down...

I also can't remember when they dropped the "le" off Le Hoodoo Gurus.

Paul Kelly's Coloured Girls

Paul Kelly in his heyday. Well, as far as I'm concerned.

Painters and Dockers. "We're all going to Nude School..."

Thieves!

A benefit concert for gear stolen from the Introverts. Maybe I was there, maybe not. Pretty cool lineup though.

Stranded

Stranded was a venue downstairs from the Strand Arcade in Pitt St, Sydney. The more alternative and unusual bands played there. I only went there a couple of times, I wasn't alternative or unusual enough to make it a regular thing. You had to have really cool hair and shoes to really fit in. Beers were expensive too.

This would be the original Models, with Sean Kelly on vocals. Pre "Barbados"... More "Local and or General". This one may be upside down, not sure.

Hunters & Collectors

I always loved Hunter & Collectors gigs. Another unique style of music for the period. Primal, rhythmic, sweaty, dark. Swampy. Brassy. "Talking to a Stranger" was a brand new sound for Aussie pubs and their recordings captured the live feel well.

Laughing Clowns

Don't have much to say about the laughing Clowns except that they were a brilliant, experimental, emotional band , and I love them still. Ed Kuepper from the Saints branched out and did something completely different. Deep and moody, going against the hard pub rock grain of the time.

I saw the Stranded gig. Slightly ironic, given that "I'm Stranded" was the Saints first single and album. Ha! I just thought of that. Stranded was a clubby kind of place downstairs from the Strand Arcade in Pitt St. Like Unruly Children were very odd. Hitting saucepans with sticks and strange wailing vocals. Hard to take...

The Allniters

The Allniters. They're Allriters! A fun night out was to be had at any Allniters gig. We'd find our way to wherever they were playing, and somehow get home again in varying states of consciousness. I still don't know how we did it with pretty much no money and in the early days, no car. I guess things were cheaper and with a group of us we could pool our resources. The trouble with Allniters gigs often was that you'd end up with huge bruises on your shins the next morning, from dancing up the front with the skinheads in their bloody Doc Martins. Because of course, we had to be right at the front, centre of the stage. And so did they.

I think I can actually remember this one. The Manly Vale Hotel was a fantastic venue. A larger room with a higher stage than most pubs. It could put on overseas acts as well like UB40, Iggy Pop and others which will no doubt feature later. They pulled this great North Shore venue down at some point, probably because of noise complaints by neighbours - the usual excuse. I remember emerging from that place on countless occasions, drenched in sweat with a longneck of cider or something in my hand, watching the fights going on in the carpark from the top of the stairs - usually between the bouncers and some unlucky punter.

Sydney Trade Union Club

Here's a mixed bunch at the Trade Union Club. This must have been 1981 - 82. I must have been at at least one of these nights. Plenty of great live acts here.

I think I saw the Allniters 21 weeks in a row at one point. They were such fun, happy, upbeat gigs. We followed them all around Sydney. Often they got memberas of the crowd up on stage to dance around for the last couple of songs.

Flaming hands were another one we saw a lot. "Le" Hoodoo Gurus were still pretty alternative and unknown. I used to see them for free at the Southern Cross Hotel in Surry Hills. Now the Strawberry Hill. Their gigs in the coming years were some of the best live pub gigs I ever saw. Divinyls rocked as well. A great band, but you spent most of the time looking at Chrissy Amphlett's lips, and wondering if her ripped school dress was going to come completely off. Well, I did anyway.

The Triffids at the San Miguel

The Triffids are another all time fave of mine. Ultra sensitive and lyrical, but with an edge that could explode aggressively at any moment. Great albums. I saw them in Perth, too, where they were from originally. David McComb passed away in 1999, no doubt leaving many beautiful songs unwritten.

The San Miguel in Cammeray was another North Shore venue to disappear. Closed down probably as property prices in the area rose, and the new residents didn't appreciate the riff raff associated with live bands. Other venues closed because they couldn't afford to comply with new fire exit regulations that came in at some point in the 80's. Now it's a hardware store. I saw many a good gig there. No, not at the hardware store...

Don't recall JFK and the Cuban Crisis... I know they played around a hell of a lot.

The Hotel Manly

The Hotel Manly was a local for me for years. They had bands on six days a week, and got all the big local names. Ugly, dingy place, but an integral part of the Sydney circuit. They pulled it down in 1989, and left a pile of rubble there for a couple of years. At one point the council decided to charge us to park on this vacant, depressing site. Now there's a really good wood fired pizza place there and a Moorish restaurant, among other things. RIP, the Hoey Moey.

Died Pretty are one of my all time favourite bands. I was at this gig, and most probably many of the others on these bills. Joe Camilleri is still around, my band supported the Black Sorrows in Perth in about 1992 I think. Chasin the Train were a great rhythm and blues band. I mean actual rhythm and blues. We used to watch them a lot at the Cat & Fiddle in Balmain, too. Jump Back Jack were a great funk band featuring Jackie Orszaczky on bass and vocals. (I bet that IS how you spell it). He's still about, too.



Vegimite Reggae were a Sunday arvo fixture at the Manly for a long time.

You can see the concept bands starting to creep in in a big way. Hey 19, Gold Zeppelin, Beatnix, Wild Heart, Blues Bros Revival...

Bayview Tavern

The Bayview tavern at Gladesville was always a part of the Sydney band circuit. I played there myself once, years later than this poster.
Paul Kelly recorded live for 2JJ. Citizen Band seemed to be playing everywhere, all the time.