After a 13-month absence from
the glare & tear of the spotlight, the last REAL MEN of Aussie Rock'n'Roll-
The Powder Monkeys- make their long awaited & hotly anticipated return
to the live arena when they take the stage on Sunday, August the 18th at
Melbournes home of staunch, true-blue eletric grit-The Tote {of course-where
else??}- as special guests of their American compatriots & massively revered
icons of the underground scene , New York Citys legendary seminal Punk's,
The Mighty DICTATORS- A band that stand bloodied yet unbowed with the same
life & death conviction & die-hard commitment to REAL Rock'n'Roll
as our boys the Powder Monkeys themselves.
This jaw-dropping AWESOME occassion
marks the first live show for Australias's favorite sons of snot ,guts &
high-decibel shock therapy since lead guitarist JOHN NOLAN's near fatal
heart attack of July last year {2001}- An appallingly close scrape with
the clutches of old father Death's ever-ready claws that has served as a
chilling reminder of their own mortality whilst simultaneously re-igniting
a fire of apocalyptic proprtions within the grizzled Punk Rock soul's of
these hardest of hard-nosed local Rock-scene veterans; Where once the Monkeys
effortlessly exuded the kinda doomsday-approximating intensity most other
bands could but dream of acheiving, the sharp shock of John's & the
band's recent brush with the flames of tragedy & dark , dim destiny
brings into clear relief the astounding spectacle that defines the Powder
Monkeys at the present juncture in time: Turning disaster on it's head,
the band's newly gained bitter wisdom has resulted in a triumph of
adversity-defying intestinal fortitude & un-erring determination- The
Powder Monkeys are well & truely BACK with a vengeance: HARDER ,LOUDER,
DIRTIER & TOUGHER than ever before, & like a modern-day urban phoenix,
from the ashes shall they rise to reclaim their rightfull crown as unbeaten
Rockin' marauders, gleefully laying waste to all those would-be contenders,
pretenders & rear-enders fool-hardy enough to stand in their path...
Despite a personal request from
Dr Deniz Tek himself for the band to take part in the Melbourne leg of Radio
Birdman's recent tour, our boys had plans of their own for the unveiling
of the new, improved Powder Monkeys- A comeback gig of an even GREATER magnitude
than playing alongside the inarguably magnificent Birdman...For as fitting
& immortal a pairing of this country's two greatest Rockin-raunch-Killin'
exports would have undoubtebly been, the cataclysmic return to the war-path
planned over the last year {& then some} by the Monkeys required something
TRULY unique & never-to-be-repeated to light the fuse that'd set the
coming explosion in irrevocable motion...Thus, when news reached these shores
of the one'n'only DICTATORS setting sail across the seas to launch their debut
assault on the land of Vic Bitter, Vegemite & cultural-inferiority complexes,a
unananimous agreement was reached amongst the R'n'R fanatics of this fair
town: As any & all true Punks know only TOO well, if ever there was a
gig tailor-made for the Monkeys appearence,THIS WAS GODDAMN-WELL THE ONE!!!
And so-as history shall go to
prove,on the evening of Sunday, August the 18th, 2002, the POWDER MONKEYS
shall save Rock'n'Roll in the company of the CASANOVAS, Japan's FACE-FULL
& the band who kick started the whole Punk Rock- shebang in the 1st place,THE
DICTATORS,at that homeground of high-energy fun,the TOTE HOTEL, Collingwood-&
only the biggest fool would dare miss out!!!
MEAT YELSNEMEH
tributes to Tim Hemensley
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