A gun named Tommy

G’day Rolls,

You could be forgiven for thinking it’s all fuzz pedals and amps stacks in the world of SC. Truth is, the ol’ tune collection is as random as a hobo playing hopscotch in a pair of clogs.

One fuzz-free dude (in the musical sense) I’ve been digging for quite some time is Tommy Guerrero. I first knew old mate as a skateboarder. He’d pop up in the skate vids that formed the backdrop of my teen years. So, it was not surprising really that it was in a skate shop in Shibuya, Tokyo, where I first came across his music. The album was ‘From the Soil to the Soul’ and featured some really cool artwork by Barry McGee. It only took about 30 seconds of skipping through the tracks in-store before I was handing over my hard-earned for it. I’ve since managed to get my greasy mitts on a few more albums of his, and they’re all equally as grouse.

So, punch a hole in a watermelon, stick in a straw and let Tommy’s sounds carry you away to somewhere nice. Like Towradgi.

Hey Hey It's The Best Frickin' Saturday Ever

G’day Rolls,

Cruising the old Netscape Navigator is like panning for gold. In your scouting about you come across plenty of mud, but occasionally, just occasionally, you stumble upon a nugget of gold that leaves a little trickle running down your inner thigh. Well, old son, it’s safe to say that I was squelching in my boots when I found this little rip-snorter. It’s the grouseness for so many reasons – a pre-teen Saturday night institution, Darrel ‘The Head’ Sommers in his prime and Wollongong’s finest export (after you and I, of course) fuzzing it up like it was 1996.

Prepare for a musical boner.

Brisbane's only got one Ball

G’day Rolls,

Thought it high time I get some solid Aussie goodness up on the blog, and it don’t come much denser than Rollerball. Thankfully, the fine chaps have compiled this little gem of a clip, which is grouse, because getting any kind of finger to keyboard action is frickin’ tough going at the minute.

Let there be Ball:

Back in black. And hot pink, with white trim

G'day Rolls,

It has been a while, old son. Too long, in fact. And there’s only one way to bounce back from such a hiatus, and that’s with some serious riffage. So, strap into that four wheeler behind your desk and lube up your eardrums. Here comes a double dose of the good stuff…

Get down to the countdown

G’day Rolls,

What was that? ‘Long live the list!’ Hells yeah! And what better way to keep the list alive than by bunging up the week’s top 5 tunes. I’ll be honest, there’s every chance they won’t be the freshest sounds doing the rounds, just grouseness that gets my foot kicking the shagpile.

The plan is to refresh the list every week, that way, you’re guaranteed a countdown at least once every seven days. Shimmy!

5. Natural’s Not In It – Gang of Four
   (A Brief History of the 20th Century)

4. The Under Dog – Tommy Guerrero
   (From the Soil to the Soul)

3. Going Steady – Death From Above 1979
   (You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine)

2. Rock-N-Rol’e – Brant Bjork
   (Keep Your Cool)

1. Mongoose – Fu Manchu
   (California Crossing)

You’ll feel this one, Rolls, old son.

No regular John

G'day Rolls,

You can't possibly have a credible blog about loose tunes without paying tribute to the voice of desert rock, John Garcia. I fondly recall a childhood spent rolling around on my skateboard, sippin' Slurpees and smashing bootlegged Kyuss cassettes on the ol' walkman.  Thems certainly were the days.

So, in the spirit of long necks and sticky index fingers, I thought I'd list my ten favourite Johnny G moments, spanning a few of the deadly rad bands he's lent his chops to. Here goes:

10. Our Desert Home - Hermano

9.  Fatso Forgotso - Kyuss 

8.  Un Sandpiper - Kyuss

7.  The Prizefighter - Slo Burn

6.  Exam Room - Hermano

5.  If Only Two - Unida

4.  Conan Troutman - Kyuss

3.  Cain - Unida

2.  Freedom Run - Kyuss

And number one:

Billy on the boil

G'day Rolls,

You and me are similar in many ways. We love tunes. We love chicks. We love chicks who play tunes. We love chicks who play tunes raw.

Well, Bill Withers isn't a chick, but he does dig 'em. He also likes his tunes raw, as you'll witness in this performance of 'Use Me'. It's got heart. It's got soul. It's got a dude playing drums in his pyjamas. That's raw.

The other thing that makes this a ripper of a performance is Billy's orange skivvy. You see, any normal dude clad in the same get-up would have keeled over from heat stroke half way through a song like this. But not Billy. His bionic self-cooling system lets him belt out soul-drenched classics, while shedding only a few beads of sweat. Smooth as.