DIG IT UP! HOODOO GURUS INVITATIONAL – APR ’13

Held in honour of the thirty-one year recording career of Australian garage legends the Hoodoo Gurus, Dig It Up! highlights the iconic bands finely honed musical taste and inspiration by way of multi-band / multi-stage appearances in both Sydney and Melbourne and single stage events in other capital cities.

For the 2012 Dig It Up! Hoodoo Gurus performed Stoneage Romeos their much loved debut album in its entirety. For the 2013 edition of Dig it Up! Hoodoo Gurus will again perform a full work, their equally as impressive second album Mars Needs Guitars (a feature listing in 2010 book: 100 Best Australian albums) and home to singles Like Wow, Wipeout! Death Defying and the classic Bittersweet. It’s another first in a series of firsts for Dig It Up! 2013 where once again the Hoodoo Gurus have put together an ultimate (live) mix-tape for fans of real rock ‘n’ roll. Lets get the party started…

Between 1972 and 1978, San Francisco’s Flamin’ Groovies – featuring core members Cyril Jordan (guitar/vocals), Chris Wilson (vocals/guitar) and George Alexander (bass/vocals) – produced some of the decade’s most vital recordings, including the 1976 classic Shake Some Action. Dig It Up! will be the first time since 1981 that the Jordan/Wilson/Alexander line-up of the Flamin’ Groovies have appeared anywhere in the world.

Blue Oyster Cult may be the ultimate ‘cult’ band. Revered by punks, metal heads, sci-fi geeks and horror movie fans alike, B.O.C. have carved out a 40-year career via a string of complex hard rock albums and killer live shows. Their best known track Don’t Fear The Reaper, was a U.S. top twenty hit in 1976 while the overall catalogue sales are in excess of 24 million. This will be the first-ever Australian tour for Blue Oyster Cult and it’s all thanks to Hoodoo Gurus.

UK punk pioneers Buzzcocks are no strangers to Australian shores and it’s not hard to see why. Their trademark mix of hi-energy guitars and pop smarts resulted in some of the greatest songs of the punk-era: Ever Fallen in Love, What Do I Get, Love You More et al. Original ‘Cocks Shelley & Diggle will lead their band of merry pranksters through Dig it Up! Sydney and Melbourne and for headline appearances in most capital cities.

Peter Case made a name for himself in the late seventies via power-pop pioneers The Nerves and the original version of the Blondie hit, Hanging On the Telephone. Case then moved onto eighties combo The Plimsouls and provided us with the all-time garage-pop classic A Million Miles Away. Fast-forward to the nineties and Peter Case has been nominated at the Grammys for his solo work. Move into the noughties and it’s another Grammy nomination, this time for best traditional folk album. For Dig it Up! though, Peter Case has assembled a crack-band to perform those Nerves and Plimsouls classics as well as solo material. It’s another first not just for Dig It Up! but for the world.

Had it not been for all of the above The Stems may not have happened. Heir apparent to the Hoodoo Gurus in the early eighties, The Stems produced a stunning run of garage inspired pop-singles and EP’s and one great album (At First Sight, Violets Are Blue) before leaving us in 1987 to ponder what could have been. Reforming due to demand in the noughties The Stems toured Europe and Australia before again disbanding in 2009. However, in 2013, the call went out, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Stems. Dig it Up!

But wait, there’s more! In addition to the above nominated acts Hoodoo Gurus will select an all-star all quality support cast to assist in bringing the streets and venues of Sydney and Melbourne alive with the Dig It Up! sound. Stay tuned for those choice cuts.

For up to the minute information concerning Dig it Up! – Line-up, times, additions – sign-up to facebook/DigitUpAustralia. Dig It Up! Another Feel Presents initiative.