A garage band starting out in the garage needs some content. The Replacements were famous for their give up and play covers shows. Jimi Hendrix took a Dylan lyric and a few chords and took a song to another planet. Leonard Cohen said about Jeff Buckley, it’s his song now…

The Replacements (affectionately known as ‘the Mats’ hereafter) are a band with followers like no other. On one of the Facebook pages, followers actively report on hearing a Mats song randomly on the radio, or during a Netflix show, and immediately make a post of the moment. Like a butterfly…

Straitjacket Fits: A Life in Three Gigs One New Zealand band could burn up a stage like no other — ‘Straitjacket Fits’. Starting in 1986, the time of their early pomp, and into their 1990’s heyday; then the reunion tours of 2005 and 2018, it has been a blast. Here…

An Appointment With The Waterboys and Mr Yeats The stars aligned, there may have been a crescent moon that night. The Waterboys were in town for the first time in Aotearoa New Zealand. …

I Think I Heard My Name — Down here in the South Pacific, you sometimes wait years, decades even, to see a favourite artist. So, when they turn up, it is great to bag that ticket and re-listen to those album tracks in readiness for the night. So, it was in 2012 when John Cooper Clarke (JCC)…

It was the late 70s, early 80s when I got the music bug big time and graduated from LP’s and Singles on the stereo to live gigs. Since then I have never looked back. There is something visceral about a live performance. It is hot sweaty and communal. For the…

The Clash — and Joe Strummer, in particular — seem to be the most name-checked names in rock music. They have left a fine field of disciples behind, adding lustre to their legacy. This name-checking other musicians in songs really came to me when reading the Kenny Jones fine rock…

An examination of the lyrics of Lloyd Cole and his fondness for drinking references 1984 to 2013 — Rattlesnakes was an absolute classic right out of the box. That was Lloyd Cole and Commotions, later as Lloyd Cole solo his song writing just got better. I have been listening to Cole for a long time and right throughout I have always been intrigued by some of his lyrical…

A simple guide to the Stranglers' albums and songs over their 1977–2022 Career — The Stranglers are one of those bands that have a mythology and history all of their own. Typified by an independent path, a strong and devoted supporter base, and only a little mainstream success. I have been listening to them (on and off) since discovering those early albums at a…