Current Tours

Space Travel, rock ‘n roll

… can only mean one thing; the Return of SWERVEDRIVER. This time playing their classic debut RAISE in its entirety, plus an extended set of SWERVEDRIVER classics.

Sydney power-duo Chimers guest on all east coast shows, psych-rock trio Brown Spirits also join the action in Sydney and Melbourne and Lake Mammoth open in Fremantle.

Born in 1989 out of Oxford UK, the band formerly known as Shake Appeal settled on their new moniker in time enough for Creation Records impresario Alan McGee – on the recommendation of Ride guitarist Mark Gardener – to sign them on the strength of their demo. Those initial tracks would form much of the debut ep Son of Mustang Ford featuring the classic of the same name quickly followed by two further eps Rave Down and Sandblasted before, in 1991 landing on their debut full length LP Raise.

The album quickly became quickly a defining sound of early 90s underground alternative rock. Energised and inspired by the guitar heavy sounds of My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du and the like, Swervedriver perfected their own shimmering, guitar-clashing juggernaut with a uniquely British flavour firmly intact, with Melody Maker calling ‘Raise’ one of the “truly great albums of the year.”

“As an opening statement, Swervedriver couldn’t have been more sonically eloquent than Raise. This record was a blinding assault of guitars and their afterburn. In 1991, few records before it had both the power and dynamic reach.” – Trouser Press

“A perfect amalgam of shoegaze texture, power pop anthem and grunge heaviness” – Signal/Noise

‘Radiohead weren’t the first great band to come out of Oxford’ – Pop Matters

“The thing about ‘Raise’ is it has a really good flow,” explained singer and guitarist Adam Franklin, reflecting on how the band will be playing it in full later this year. “The way the tracks are sequenced, it works perfectly as a live set. “It comes in strong with ‘Sci-Flyer’, then you’ve got ‘Son Of Mustang Ford’ and ‘Deep Seat’ in there early on and it’s all over in 40 minutes! There’s even a little area before ‘Sandblasted’ that has a great jam that we extend. “Then the final song, ‘Lead Me Where You Dare’, we never played that live back in the day, until we decided to do the album in its entirety, and then we had to learn how to play it. It’s definitely a fun album to play from start to finish”- NME

With sold out shows already announced for their October UK tour you can expect a similar response in Australia when Swervedriver debut Raise at 35 this September.

Following a hugely successful English tour in 2025, The Saints ’73-78 will return to the UK this November – December as special guests to The Damned on their Final Damnationtour. The tour takes in 8 dates including new London venue the 3800 capacity British Airways ARC as well as a series of 2500 capacity regional dates.

As the first Australian and UK bands respectively to release a ‘punk’ record (I’m Stranded, August ‘76 / New Rose, October ’76) The Saints ’73-’78 and The Damned are literally the last men standing from the year zero. Their longevity can simply be put down to the quality of the material they produced; The Saints via their three classics (I’m) Stranded, Eternally Yours and Prehistoric Sounds and The Damned via their debut Damned, Damned, Damned, Machine Gun Ettiquette, The Black Album and more.

“The Saints ’73–’78 offered not nostalgia, but vindication — a reminder of why their early catalogue remains so potent, so influential, and so emotionally resonant nearly five decades on. This wasn’t a museum piece. It was a living, roaring testament to a band who helped reshape the language of punk, and who, in 2025, remain devastatingly powerful.” – Rock Shot Magazine (London 2025 review)

And although the two bands have never played together, their careers remain intermingled, most famously with The Saints second bass player Algy Ward (Eternally Yours / Prehistoric Sounds) joining The Damned once The Saints disbanded mid-’78. 50 years on and these pioneers continue to find firsts.

And although the two bands have never played together, their careers remain intermingled, most famously with The Saints’ second bass player Algy Ward (Eternally Yours / Prehistoric Sounds) joining The Damned once The Saints disbanded mid-’78. 50 years on and these pioneers continue to find firsts.

“Crikey that seemed quick.. 50 yrs ago almost to the day, I posted my first ever bundle of press releases. They were all individually hand-written notes on airmail paper and included one 45, along with an 8×10 b&w photo. The gist of each note was to tell people how extraordinary my band were and that the record that I’d included, was without a doubt the best record ever made…. those notes were engaging, energetic and often included actual dodgy grammar / spelling…” – Ed Kuepper

Tickets for The Saints ’73-’78 with The Damned are on-sale 10.00am Friday May 1^stBT.

The Saints (I’m) Stranded box set, last copies of The Saints ’73-’78 Live Nights in Venice… Vol. 1 12″ EP and other related goodies are available from https://artistfirst.com.au/collections/the-saints-73-78

The Saints ’73-‘78 tour continues on from the recently announced Exploding Universe of Ed Kuepper Australian tour celebrating 50 years of Kuepper as a recording artist. The 5-piece Exploding Universe will cover material from right across Ed’s storied career; solo, The Aints! Laughing Clowns and The Saints as we rightly acknowledge the extraordinary career of one of Australia’s most important ever songwriters. All shows on-sale now.

Bleak Squad is the most well-known Melbourne band no one’s heard of.

Bleak Squad are a new Melbourne four-piece comprised of Australian art-rock royalty – co-authors of some of the most critically-acclaimed antipodean music of the last 40 years. Featuring Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Mess Esque) Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, The Birthday Party), Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Marty Brown (Art of Fighting), “supergroup” is an embarrassing word. “Supernatural” might be more apt.

“I think the name Bleak Squad speaks to both this loose collection of misfits,” says Adalita of the concoction. “And the noirish mood of our music.” 

Bleak Squad’s debut LP Strange Love is the moving sum of these parts, one that sees all four members juggle multiple instruments, songwriting, their own idiosyncrasies and – in the case of Adalita and Harvey – lead vocal duties. The nine songs percolate on brooding guitars, slippery basslines, organ drones, Brown’s lyrical drumming, and the unmistakable, illogical fizz of Turner’s guitar squawks. Over it, Adalita and Harvey swap and share tales of love dampened, hope on hold and threaded tendrils of acceptance.

As with all great works, Bleak Squad’s story starts by the pool.

“I was sitting around Fitzroy pool one summer bemoaning I wasn’t playing drums enough,” says Marty Brown. “So I thought I might start a new project and just called everyone then and there. I can’t remember why I thought it would work. Maybe I recognised we all had a similar way of making music – uncomplicated and instantaneous.”

Brown’s intuition is sharp. The drummer in melancholy mainstays Art of Fighting, as well as his partner Claire Bowditch’s band, Brown runs Standalone Studios, where he’s engineered and produced records with both those acts, as well as Sodastream, Darren Middleton and many more.

“I knew everyone had a completely unique musical personality,” says Brown of his contacts list. “But I wasn’t expecting how well those personalities would complement each other.” 

Activated by Brown’s phone call, the four members brought in song ideas to a jam session at Melbourne’s Head Gap studios. With engineer Rohan Sforcina on the record button, the band – effectively – simply began.

“The first day was effortless,” says Brown. “We played the songs one time to teach others the bits, then we’d record the second take. A lot of Strange Love is that second take. Even though most of the tracks were jams, it sounds like we were reacting and playing to ‘the song’.”

Harvey agrees. “Marty concocted something good. He guessed at a good chemistry. But everyone put in lots of ideas and committed to the project. Playing music with other people is an exciting thing when it clicks.”

The nine songs on Strange Love reflect this alchemy – a regal compilation of bruised tunes that swoon and sizzle, while betraying the historic confidence of its members. Opener ‘Lost My Head’, the loping title track and ‘Everything Must Change’ build from sparse rock chugs to a swampy swagger, while the gorgeous ‘World Go to Hell’ and lonesome ‘Blue Signs’ skirt celestial depression. By the time closer ‘Melanie’ collapses in squalls of distortion, something is excised. It’s less a statement from veteran players, than a conjuring of something kinetic and conversational.

“Everything seemed to flow really easily, with everyone just getting a vibe and stepping in or out with the feel,” says Adalita. “We all add our own strengths to everything. And we take turns in the spotlight.”

What happens next? Live shows. And pinching themselves.

“I just really love the album we’ve made,” says Adalita. “This is the first time I’ve been in a band outside of Magic Dirt and my solo thing. So playing with different musicians I’ve always looked up to and being so inspired by being in an actual new band, is really exciting. They’re just fucking amazing. I really am pinching myself. It’s unreal. I really can’t wait to play live.”

Brown agrees. “I can’t wait to get the band on stage. The album has such an energy from feeling our way through the songs, I think it’ll make for a great show.”

“I’d have to say I feel the same way,” says Harvey.

And what does Turner make of all this?

!!!

LP/CD/Digital preorders available now via Poison City www.poisoncityestore.com and Bandcamp www.bleaksquad.bandcamp.com