We kept you hanging in suspense, wanting to know which our final ten tips for 2010 were. Yes, these are the anointed, who we pick as being the groups that might end up with an ARIA award in the future, a mansion in Toorak or prove to be so dysfunctional no record company will touch them with a barge pole and they’ll end up imploding. So without further ado – here goes:
SHAMAN SON
Blasting out of Melbourne with a pair of fuzz pedals they’re not afraid to use, this skinny bunch of flannel wearers were barely born when Kurt Cobain popped his clogs. Summoning the oily guitars of Jane’s Addiction and Soundgarden, with a dash of the heavy fuzz of Smashing Pumpkins, these kids have one foot above a distortion pedal that many industry pundits are expecting to blow up 2010.
THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS
Gonzo surf punk recalling Dick Dale, The Cramps and Link Wray; this Melbourne crew of crazed Melbourne Blues Kids have been popping up on quite a few people’s radar in the last few months and are predictably about the ride the crest of the ol’ hype wave.
REDCOATS
Truly holding out a divining rod to the heavens in a bid to capture some of the epic rock n’ roll Valhalla of Led Zeppelin, this Melbourne band also does a pretty good line in replicating the sturm und drang of Tony Iommi’s guitar work on record. With a live show that’s starting to really live up to the promise of the recorded stuff, these blokes might just be able to wear Wolfmother’s headband.
THE LAURELS
Fuzz pedals? Check. Reverb on vocals that seem to float in to the recording studio as if from another room? Check. Suddenly getting some really top supports and being in demand on the touring circuit? Check. Why yes indeed – it must be The Laurels. Looking like their album will finally come out in 2010 it’s all starting to happen for this demented devil’s spawn of Ride and The Catherine Wheel.
WILL STOKER & THE EMBERS
As tends to happen with bands, the water in Perth often throws up something special with the music the place inspires and produces. It’d be lazy to compare them to Perth bands here but it seems appropriate – The desert madness of The Triffids in Lonely Stretch, of the Crazy Horse guitar wail of The Drones: coupled with some serious songwriting chops that remind us of Neil Young, this is a freaky, scary concoction to soundtrack every backpacker death in an Ozploitation horror movie for the next few years.
DZ
Hauling arse straight out of Brisbane, DZ are two kids shouting along to fuzzed out noise and seem very keen to follow the space mapped by Crystal Castles and Jay Reatard – if they were a bunch of degenerate juvenile delinquents bashing away at a kit and playing an amp that the Jesus & Mary Chain would have discarded for being too distorted.
ZEAHORSE
There’s been quite a neo-psychedelic shoegaze scene building, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne over the last year or two, and if aforementioned bands were the scene’s Stone Roses or Brian Jonestown Massacre or Ride, then Zeahorse are perhaps the My Bloody Valentine of a generation. Playing at frequencies that may well inspire your ears to bleed, there’s also enough blissful noise to wash over you like a strung out junkie taking that sweet hit on dole day.
VILLAINS OF WILHELM
More rockabilly surf thrash, this time out of Brisbane, Danny Wilhelm and his villains are fans of brevity, with songs barely stretching to three minutes. Like the Stray Cats on huge doses of mephedrone driven by the beat of Meg White’s drum, a live set by this lot is like watching the Muppets Band go thrash.
THE MORNING NIGHT
Lush ballads out of Perth, they have the big sound of the Nullarbor down pat – the pedal steel and piano evoking The Triffids (it must be a WA law that every band from Perth has to be influenced by them), The Stems and The Panics, plus the classic pop chops of The Beatles and Teenage Fanclub. The band have a single coming out in May and the new songs on their Myspaz are showing a band making frighteningly good progress. They are only a hit away from being stolen over the East of the continent or even out of Australia.
GRAVEYARD TRAIN
They call it Horror Country – think Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers in Frankn’furter’s suspenders, Dolly Parton going the LA vampire punk of Wall of Voodoo. They play ghost stories on a banjo. You don’t wanna miss this Melbourne band’s upcoming February Sunday residency at the Old Bar in Fitzroy – these will have them hanging from the rafters as they did all through last year’s legendary Sunday stand.
