the drones

Radiothon Last Week Went Rather Well… Wanna Listen?

3:21PM Jess McGuire | Woo! Clem and yours truly are now both resting up after a rather full on last week in which we – and all the other volunteers on Melbourne community radio station RRR – attempted to inspire listeners to subscribe to the station for another year in a festival of begging known as Radiothon. Everything went rather well, and I thought I might pop some mp3s for your listening pleasure (or pain, depending on perspective) over the next week. You know, if you’re into it. My show I’d Rather Jack’s Radiothon Spacktacular ended up turning into a massive party. Joined on the night by Clemmy, as well as a host of musicians including The Ukeladies, The Brutals, Lilith Lane, Abby Dobson & Matt Gurry, Damian FitzGerald aka Underwaterman, Talei Wolfgramm, and the handsome Dan Kelly – and a bunch of boozing buddies who came in to watch the action live on air – I could not be happier with how the evening turned out. Thanks to everyone who subscribed, and remember – it’s not too late to go to rrr.org.au and put your money where your mouth is! It’s NEVER too late! Alright, on to the mp3s. Soon I’ll pop up some magic from Talei & Damian, Dan Kelly, Dave McCormack re-doing OutKast, and the freakiest cover of Haddaway you’ll ever hear as provided by The Drones, but for now, I thought I’d bang up me and The Bastow’s contributions to the evening. JUMP! FOR OUR AUDIO-LOVE! More »

I’d Rather Jack Radiothon Spacktacular On RRR!

1:56PM Jess McGuire | Hello good readers, As you may or may not be aware, I present a “cult” (that means “not too many listeners because it’s on very late, although the masturbating truck driver massive are a loyal audience”) radio show on Melbourne’s RRR 102.7FM called I’d Rather Jack. On this show, I get to play whatever the damn hell I like (so playlists tend to include Stiff Little Fingers followed by Kylie followed by Otis Redding followed by Girls Aloud followed by The Drones followed by Angie Hart followed by Billy Ocean followed by YOU GET MY POINT) which is sort of great – especially the Billy Ocean part. I have RRR to thank for this rare wireless-molesting freedom. More »

Last Night’s RRR Radiothon!

12:11PM Jess McGuire | What an amazing evening of music, and we say that with some degree of objectivity. No, really! We had a stack of pre-recorded genius from wonderful artists who generously donated their time to lay down “tracks” of cover songs – and they were fucking awesome! The atrociously handsome Dan Kelly not only did the world’s best John Butler impression for a station id (we’re trying to get the audio up here as we speak, stay tuned…) but he also performed a stunning and utterly unexpected rendition of Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May”! Patrick J Bourke* of Dallas Crane fame offered up a version of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”, iconic Australian music figure Stephen Cummings gave us Jason Donovan’s “Too Many Broken Hearts”, Lisa Mitchell from last year’s Australian Idol performed a lovely cover of “What I Like About You”, and SPOD worked some magic on Beyonce’s “Check On It”. Dave Graney and Clare Moore got their smooth on in the name of community radio with “Hard Times”, Melbourne’s own The Basics gave us an exclusive live recording of “Ebony and Ivory”, and Little Red moved us all with their a cappella interpretation of “Heal The World”. But that wasn’t where it ended! We also had a host of surprise LIVE performers! The Good Intentions belted out Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumpin”, Ground Components – WITH A PIANO ACCORDION, FOR FUCKS!! – played Dallas Groundies’ grandpa’s song “Louis the Rat” and inspired a massive singalong, the ridiculously talented Sime Nugent crooned “The Greatest Love Of All”, and a supergroup consisting of members from Good Intentions, Eurobeat 3, The Drones, Ground Components – as well as Sime Nugent and Angie Hart – all contributed to a gorgeous take on Dire Straits’ “Walk Of Life”. AND JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOUR HEAD WAS GOING TO EXPLODE? Angie Hart and Dan Luscombe from The Drones did a last minute duet of “Islands In The Stream”. All in all, a marvellous show. Thank you to all who subscribed to RRR during I’d Rather Jack, and if you didn’t? Do it now! On what motherfucking station will you see a line up like that delivering the goods with nothing to gain except perhaps access to a free slab of beer? rrr.org.au is the station, but if you’re not Melbourne based, then we heartily recommend you support your own local community radio station any time of the year… It’s where the magic happens, people. *Also a fellow member (along with Defamer Australia) of hip hop duo The Septics. More »

MySpace Versus FaceBook

11:20AM Jess McGuire | Surprisingly not all that long after they heartily embraced the wonder of MySpazz, the mainstream media are in the middle of a love affair with FaceBook. As is the rest of the nation. The social networking site seems to have exploded over the past two months in Australia, and we can personally attest to the large number of people who have abandoned MySpazz for CrackBook/FaceFuck/StalkBook. But there is one man who refuses to be sucked into the FaceBook hype. He is our favourite new blogger, the very wonderful Dan Luscombe from The Drones. He recently penned an amazing rant against FaceBook that nearly resulted in Defamer Australia deleting its own profile, so passionately and articulately did Dan argue for the pro-MySpazz cause. He wrote it as a two part “note” on his own FaceBook profile, and has given Defamer Australia full permission to republish it as it is, quite frankly, fucking funny and deserves a wider readership. VALE MYSPACE? 3:05am Sunday, Jul 15 What is it??? What is the attraction to this convoluted website? Where exactly does the appeal lie in this eyesore of an interface? This overly-intrusive, money-grabbing venture. Yeah. Money grabbing. At least Myspace never asked me for my credit card details at any point. They want me to pay a fucking dollar to sent somebody a pathetic 3×3 cm GIF of a fucking “sock monkey”. Why don’t they just let me send it for free? Is it so the act of “sock monkey” giving doesn’t get abused and run rampant throughout everybody’s profiles? Well, I simply don’t wish to give everybody a “sock monkey” y’know. I can discipline myself in this practice, without the hurdle of a credit card payment. More »

The Drones Begin A Rock And Roll Tour Diary.

12:22PM Jess McGuire | Literary noise rockers* and first ever winners of the Australian Music Prize, brilliant Melbourne band The Drones, are currently touring Europe. It’s been an interesting trip to say the least, with amps blowing up, trouble with the tour bus (dubbed ‘Van Morrison’), crazy tour managers and other such things. Gaz and Dan from The Drones looking pleased to be alive. Oh Calamity: A Drones Tour Diary is being penned by handsome guitarist-turned-scribbler and new addition to the group Dan Luscombe, and it’s a highly entertaining read. After a dinner of crisps and water at the venue, stuck there while our tour manager drove all over England trying to find a hotel for the night, The Drones played what Gareth so succinctly described as “our worst show ever”. This show was cursed. Cursed people! Perhaps it all began with our support band for the evening, “The Talentless Twats with the Way Too Big Drum Kit”, and their unconvincing set of Sex Pistol covers and wretched “originals”. Or perhaps when the guitar amp finally did die on stage. As I put my ear up to the speakers, I swore I could hear my amp whisper “Get off the tour. It is cursed” in a Spanish accent. Then it’s little red light went out. Mike and Gareth had to finish the set off with “Sixteen Straws”, a big favourite in York. Go check it out. We know for a fact that the next installment should be an ace read. *We don’t know what this means, either. We just wanted to sound more pretentious than ever. But they’re very good, trust us. More »