Black Shadow Photography

What do you get when you lock Tex Perkins with a band consisting of James Cruickshank (The Cruel Sea), Charlie Owen (The Divinyls, Beasts of Bourbon, Tex, Don and Charlie etc), Joel Silbersher (Hoss, God), Pat Bourke (Dallas Crane), Gus Agars (The Vandas) add to the mix Jimmy Barnes, Nic Cester (Jet), Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Suze Demarchi (Baby Animals); dose them up on some psychedelic substances and have them lay down tracks by Toto, Dr Hook, Eric Carmen, Hall and Oates, The Commodores, Jon English and Alice Cooper? You have Tex Perkins & His Ladyboyz.

They have a forthcoming album that is destined to be the party album of the summer. It comes out in October and to support the launch Tex Perkins & His Ladyboyz will be playing some select shows around the country.

The tour dates are:

Fri 17 Oct 2008 @ Wrestpoint Showroom, Hobart, Australia

Tickets via phone 1300 795 257

Sat 18 Oct 2008 @ Country Club Showroom, Launceston, Australia

Tickets via phone 1300 795 257

Wed 22 Oct 2008 @ Ruby Room, Burswood Entertainment Complex, Perth, Australia

Tickets via Ticketek 13 28 49 / ticketek.com.au

Sat 25 Oct 2008 @ Grand Harbour Ballroom, Star City Casino, Sydney, Australia

Tickets via Ticketmaster 136 100 / ticketmaster.com.au

Sun 26 Oct 2008 @ The Palms at Crown, Melbourne, Australia

Tickets via Ticketek 13 28 49 / ticketek.com.au

Fri 31 Oct 2008 @ Discovery Nightclub, Darwin, Australia

Tickets via phone 8942 3300

Sat 01 Nov 2008 @ Twin Towns, Tweed Heads, Australia

Tickets via phone 1800 014 014 / www.twintowns.com.au

The Frontier Touring Company are delighted to confirm that Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & The True Loves have announced a Melbourne side-show at the Prince Of Wales on Thursday January 1^st, 2009.

Put on Roll With You, the latest album from Boston-based soul band Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & The True Loves, and chances are you’ll immediately feel the urge to either dance or cry. “That first response to a record is the most important,” says frontman Eli Reed. “If a record comes on and makes you want to dance right away, then you’re doing a good job. If a record comes on and makes you want to cry right away, you’re also doing a good job. I think this album does both.”

Indeed Roll With You is a vital, gospel-tinged mix of sweaty, up-tempo numbers and aching, lovelorn ballads — all originals — that connect instantly thanks to the passion of this young performer and his equally young band. The True Loves may employ classic soul stylings — such as anguished vocals and a raucous horn section — but they make the music their own by performing it with the youthful abandon that only a group of seven talented guys in their twenties can muster.

For Reed, a 24-year-old native of Brookline, MA, playing soul music is simply a matter of having good taste. A walking encyclopedia of the genre’s history, Reed grew up listening to his music critic father’s collection of gospel, blues, country, soul, and R&B records and eventually taught himself to play guitar, piano, and harmonica. Then, at age 18, he got a first-hand education when he moved to Clarksdale, MS, one of the birthplaces of the blues, in the North Mississippi Delta, where he sang and played guitar with various soul, R&B, and blues bands at local clubs, and received informal lessons in performing from legendary blues drummer Sam Carr.

Reed is an electrifying showman who puts his heart into every song with a depth of feeling that would do his musical forefathers proud. “I just want to make people feel something,” he says. “You’ve got to get the audience emotionally involved and make people feel what you’re feeling. That’s the whole point of soul music. You have to make them feel like they got their money’s worth.”    Consider it done.

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed and The True Loves featuring Eli Reed on vocals and guitar, Mike Montgomery (bass), Ryan Spraker (guitar), Paul Jones (tenor sax), Ben Jaffe (tenor sax), Patriq Moody (trumpet), and Andy Bauer (drums) will be found blowing audiences away at the following events.

Tuesday December 30^th Falls Festival – Tasmania

Wednesday December 31^st Falls Festival – Lorne, Victoria **********SOLD OUT*****************************

Thursday January 1^st Prince Of Wales – St Kilda, Victoria

Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au;

Prince Bandroom 03 9536 1168 or www.princebandroom.com.au

On sale Wednesday September 24^th, 2008

Saturday January 3^rd Southbound Festival – Perth, West Australia

Sunday January 4^th Days Like This Festival – Sydney

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & The True Loves ‘Roll With You’ is out now through Q Division Records distributed by Shock Australia.

The original line-up of British heavy metal pioneers Judas Priest made their first trip to Australia as part of their Nostradamus world tour.

The HiSense (formerly Vodafone) Arena echoed to the chant “Priest! Priest” as the crowd grew restless awaiting the arrival of the leather clad chaps from England.

The strains of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs faded from the sound system as the lights dimmed and a blast of high energy metal guitar was unleashed. Up on a platform to the left rear of stage was Rob Halford, Priest’s singer, resplendidly cowled in a glittering monk’s robe and clutching a stylised trident of sorts as the band launched into the title track of their latest album.

The lights were great and the band were in top form delivering an almighty blast of old school metal.

Priest were a band I had been aware of but not a band that I was overly familiar with or fond of yet I was quite impressed by their stage show, musician ship and Halford’s vocals – the man still has a voice, something many of his peers have lost over time.

It was a little bit Spinal Tap with the outfits, the devil’s horn salutes and the whole metal cliche, but all good fun and as one of the pioneers of British metal Judas Priest were able to deliver with aplomb.

Camera equipment used for these photos was a Canon 1D Mark III + 70-200mm f2.8L lens and a Canon 20D + 16-35mm f2.8L II lens.

More photos of the show can be seen here.

Last Friday night saw The Visitors, Legends of Motorsport and The Dacios deliver a healthy blast of rock at The Espy front bar.

It was the first time I had seen The Dacios and I was certainly impressed by their hard riffing and the great vocal work of their female lead singer. It’s been a while since I have uncovered a band that has impressed so much on the first occasion I have seen them. The Dacios are a three piece featuring a twin guitar attack (no bass) with a dynamic female singer/guitarist leading from the front. Definitely a band to keep an eye out for.

Legends of Motorsport then followed with their wigged out brand of mayhem. Loud and fun!

Then it was time for The Visitors, a project Deniz Tek and Mark Sisto formed following the initial demise of Radio Birdman in the late 70s/early 80s. Joined by Pip Hoyle on keyboards, Nik Reith on bass, Andy Newman on drums and an unknown fella on saxophone The Visitors delivered some finely crafted, no nonsense rock and roll.

A great night!

Photos from the night can be viewed at:

The Visitors

The Dacios

The brilliant All Tomorrow’s Parties crowd is bringing their festival to Australian shores in January.

All Tomorrow’s Parties origins began in the UK in the late 1990s and has since crossed the Atlantic to the US. What makes ATP different is that the festivals are sponsorship free and that an artist is asked to curate the festival – they pick the acts they want to play. This has lead to some sensational acts featuring on the various bills. Another point of difference is that the artists generally stay at the festival site along with the fans.

The venue for the ATP festival to be held January 9-11at Mt Buller in the Victorian Alps.

It looks like Nick Cave is curating and performing at the festival; the date should fall close to the release of the second Grinderman album.

Australian acts that have played at overseas ATP events include The Drones, The Scientists and Dirty Three.

There will be more news when it comes to hand.

The overseas festivals have a sensational reputation, I hope that this becomes a regular fixture on the Australian music calendar.

Kanye West has been arrested over a clash with a paparazzi photographer at Los Angeles airport.

West has been charged with felony vandalism over the incident in which the photographer’s camera was smashed.

Video footage of the incident courtesy of TMZ.com

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4r75ERMR4c]

That camera hitting the ground made me wince!