+1 Bierties. What a great gig, so good theose guys are still kicking it in the same way. You're right, Australian bands have a hard-earned reputation for putting on a great show. The times I've toured Europe with an Oz indie band people come out expecting to be blown away, because that's what they usually get from Australian bands. And it's still true that there are a lot more gigs here than in most European countries, and most career players here have played an enormous amount of live shows, so they get heaps more experience. AC/DC themselves came up the same way, I've met so many Australians who saw AC/DC play in the 70s at their school or local pub, those guys worked very very hard.

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"...Compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees, I am an Apeman."

Have no clue what band they are.

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riley

The Saints... heh. It's been a long time since they were playing together. Riley, I guess you catch a bit of Rage every now and again - whenever there's a guest programmer from the harder end of the spectrum they will choose to play (I'm) Stranded... the song that launched a thousand garage bands (quite a few of them big names since then) back in '77. Ed Kuepper (original guitarist) is still active as a solo and ensemble performer, as are the other band members... Kuepper's the only one I've seen live, though... 15 years ago, now...

Thanks, chaps (or "chasp" as Allan Holdsworth would say; me too after a few), I only just noticed that.

I know that these forums encompass the world beyond Fender products, but there are times when I feel that my contribution to a "themed" discussion is rather limited. Not because there are things that I feel I can't say -- far from it -- but because I only have so much Fender-specific knowledge to pass on and it's probably not appropriate for me to clutter up the board with musings concerning gear from other manufacturers.

Rest assured that I am always about in one way or another and will hold forth about ultras and CS relics if required... and whatever new guitars may come my way (unlikely as it seems at present), as they will no doubt be Fenders...

I haven't heard anything about them for ages. There's some stuff on Wikipedia that makes it sound like some of them are out and about still:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saints_%28band%29

By the way, I'm a long way north of Melbourne - Brisbane here...

The Saints actually reformed last year, at the request of Nick Cave, to play the 'All Tomorrow's Parties' festival around Australia. Check it out here...
http://www.atpfestival.com/events/atpmt ... saints.php

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"...Compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees, I am an Apeman."

hey riley. iv been to benella. my grandma used to live there and we used to go there every easter. also my aunti uncle and cousin live there. my cousin looks about your age from your photo. you might know him, he play the drums, Jack Blackwell. if you know him mention my name: josef richardson and say hi.

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mad

Jack blackwell..Yer I know him, hes in year 11, he goes to my school. Hes a awesome as drummer, next time I see him I'll say hi and mention your name.....Woah I didn't expect that. He used to help us in te year 7 concert band.

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riley

hehe cool...

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mad

How weird is that? But I dont see him that much in my campus anymore....Hes a bloody awesome drummer.

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riley

Here's a band that nearly left us for the Australian shores...

From the energy- you can tell what im talking about when we have to really work at live shows to get a name. Im sure you have heard of Shihad. interesting that he is playing a Maton- he usually plays a vintage 70's Tele Custom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwb2XI-kMxg

I think they would have to be one of the coolest bands to come out of NZ next to The Datsuns

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Yeah Shihad have made some great music, tho I gotta say their temporary name change after 911 was a super lame thing to do, and made them seem like good little corporate employees whose rock attitude may have just been posturing after all. That lost them a lot of respect over here and seemed to signal a decline in popularity.

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"...Compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees, I am an Apeman."

Yeah the name sounded very much like "Jihad" so they had to change or else be sent back to NZ as it was very anti-american sounding. They didnt see failure as an option so they went along with Pacifier after 4 days of deliberation. The "Corporates" and Shihad didnt get along so they came back and wrote the album with the preying mantis on the cover, changed the name back to Shihad and havent looked back.

It's funny, I was at a concert where they played and under the name of Pacifier, the crowd were chanting "Shihad!!!"

They opened for AC/DC last week and they kicked ar$e. Jon is a big Acca fan and he stopped mid-set and said that it was such an honour playing at this gig, and would've been the best moment in his life, opening for his heroes and playing in front of a 60,000 crowd. At that point, I felt my throat drop and my eyes grew glassy- watching someone go through an epiphany in front of a large crowd was something special to see.

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