|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
          |
bmusic Newsletter No.46 December 15th - December 21st 2002 Well, Christmas is getting serious now. We are run off our feet and our wholesalers are even more flat out with hundreds of stores around the country ringing asking for this and that yesterday. We at bmusic need to thank our wholesalers for their efforts, aside from thanking our loyal customers for their continued patronage of our store. We'll give a big bouquet to everyone next week in our last issue before Christmas but this one's dedicated to our suppliers. If it weren't for them the musical instrument industry in Australia would be far less vibrant and varied than it is. Can you imagine being the importer, thousands of kilometres from the epicentre of retail music, the U.S., faced with the decision of whether or not to import containers of relatively unknown products you know to be far superior than a big name brand? Or do you just play it safe and stick with what people know? Thankfully some of the wholesale instrument companies in Australia have the guts to bring in the lesser known brands so Australian consumers can make the decisions for themselves. Without these importers Australians wouldn't be spoiled for choice with the likes of Seagull, Godin, Italia, Dean, Warwick and Schecter guitars. Yorkville, Traynor, Tech 21, Johnson and Hughes & Kettner amps would also be off the menu. Alhambra, Apex, Apogee, Aquarian, dB, DR, Etek, Jose Ortega, Kustom, L.R. Baggs, Peak, Sabian, Sansamp, Schalloch, Rocktron, Wharfedale. If you've never heard of any of these brands ask us, you have a wide choice of top shelf products to choose from. Ibanez, Yamaha, Peavey, Marshall, Gibson and Fender are not the be all and end all of brands. This author should know, I have something made by 'em all! The point is, and in tribute to those wholesalers that give something a go, shop around, ask all you can (and not just to the shop that specialises in one or two major brands), you as consumers in Australia have the choice. Ask us, and if it's not readily available in Australia we'll tell you. But we also have alternatives, or we'll get exactly what you want. Geez, we even shipped $10,000 worth of pedal steel guitar from Canada just 'cos the guy wanted it so bad. There are so many factors that determine what you as consumers see in your local music store it would take a theses to tell them all. Stay tuned for this author's "Manifesto on the state of retail and wholesale musical instrument supply in Australia" to be published when I'm well out of harm's way. At the end of the day, if we tell you something will do the job you want from it, we truly believe it will. And you always have our 10-Day Money Back Guarantee if you disagree. No bull, if you don't think it's the right tool for the job, we will take it back. But we'll let out a little secret here. To this date no one has EVER felt the need to return ANYTHING we have sold, EVER. But I digress, onto this week's issue. The Hot ebay Sightings of the Week, Where Are They Now? (another Australian act), Featured Article, Featured Artist, and all the usual suspects are all inside this week. Links in the Table of contents below will launch your browser, so you'll need to be online to view the newsletter. If you are unable to receive html format e-mails then copy and paste the following link into your browser's address bar to view the newsletter: http://www.bmusic.com.au/links/whatsnew/newsletters/archives/newsno46.html Thanks to everyone for reading, we'll see you next week! TABLE OF CONTENTS (You will need to be on-line to use the Table of Contents to jump through sections) Events Births Deaths |
|
Ratcat originally formed in 1985 out of Simon Day and Victor Levi's garage band, Danger Mouse. Day played guitar
and took lead vocal duties, Levi was the bassist and the trio was completed by drummer Trevor Wintle. Ratcat quickly built a following
on the Sydney live scene, most particularly in their home base of Mosman. Many older Ratcat fans fondly remember the days of the
band playing the, now demolished, Mosman Hotel. The band's "speed-ball fuzz-pop" attracted them attention from the Waterfront label and in December, 1997 the label released Ratcat's self-titled debut mini-LP. The release featured four originals plus a cover of the Shondell's 1960's hit, "I think We're Alone Now". Critical acclaim followed the release with weighty comparisons being made between the group and The Buzzcocks and Jesus and Mary Chain, among others. By this stage original drummer Trevor Wintle had left the group and he was replaced by skin pounder Andrew Polin. Levi also left soon after and a short succession of bassists followed. By the time Ratcat's debut full length release came out the line-up had settled with bassist Amr Zaid. This Nightmare was released in June, 1989. The strength of that album secured the band a lucrative new record deal with the rooArt (Polygram) label. A number of highly successful EP's were released while the band worked its way towards their next long player. The 12" EP Tingles with the single That Ain't Bad was released in November, 1990 and shot to Number One on the national charts. Then the Nick Mainsbridge produced Blind Love album followed in July of 1991 and also shot to Number One. Ratcat were now about the hottest thing on the Australian music scene. The band opened for INXS on their huge X tour and headlined their own Invasion of the Dinosaur Killers tour of June, 1991 played to packed houses across the country. The band brought along emerging indie acts such as The Falling Joys and The Clouds for the tour. |
|
By the end of 1991 the Tingles EP had been the second biggest single in Australia of that year and the album Blind Love
had not only been certified gold on pre-release orders alone, but it ended the year as the 35th highest selling album for the year on
the Australian charts. In September, Ratcat headed overseas for a world tour which took in dates across the UK, Europe and the USA. The band supported the likes of Ride, Iggy Pop, Dinosaur Jr, Teenage Fanclub, Violent Femmes and The Wonder Stuff. In mid-1992, Marc Scully (ex-Love Rodeo, Deadly Hume, Nick Barker and the Reptiles) replaced Zaid on bass. The CD singles Candyman (May 1992), Holiday (October 1992) and The World (in a Wrapper) (May 1993), plus the album Insideout (November 1992), were unable to repeat the spectacular success of their predecessors but kept Ratcat in the public eye. Falling Joys' Suzie Higgie sang a duet with Day on The World (in a Wrapper), while The Buzzcocks' bass player, Steve Garney, made a guest appearance on Holiday and the album track Sick of Being Down. In 1993, Ratcat put out two more CD EPs, Rain and The Smiler. The latter contained the radio-friendly guitar pop epic May You Ever. The band also recorded a new album, Easy Rider, which finally appeared in October 1997 before slipping from view. While Ratcat's place on the Australian charts was superseded by more incendiary guitar bands like You Am I, Spiderbait, Tumbleweed and Regurgitator, there was no denying the band's pioneering efforts to elevate alternative guitar pop beyond its origins and into the mainstream charts. So Ratcat disbanded after the Easy Rider sessions and went onto a multitude of other projects before reforming for a series of reunion shows in 1998. Simon Day and drummer Andrew Polin were joined by ex-Lemonheads bassist Nic Dalton. The band played to appreciative long-term fans throughout Sydney, peaking with a performance at the Sydney Big Day Out in 2002. In 1998 the band also collaborated with John Paul Young on a rendition of I Hate the Music, for inclusion on the original soundtrack of the Australian feature film, Occasional Course Language. |
|
|
Nowadays Ratcat are still a going concern for all intents and purposes. However, the individual members have plenty of other
things going on to keep them occupied. Many of the former members of Ratcat were so short term that we have only studied
the current movements of a few of the key members and not the whole lot of them. Simon Day is a full-time graphic artist and the last we heard he was working in that capacity for pay TV provider Foxtel. He continues to write and perform with friends and guests in many modes throughout Sydney. Amr Zaid has written for and/or produced a number of Australian acts. His last reasonable hit came from a piece he wrote for Aussie band Dropcity. He was also a member of Sydney band Ampersand but that act appears to have now folded. Nic Dalton, current bassist for Ratcat, is an extremely busy individual. Nic owns and operates Half A Cow Records and performs or contributes in some way for just about every act the label has released. Half A Cow started as a bookstore and label but the bookstore was closed a few years ago so Nic could run devote more time to the label, which he operates from his home in Cowra, New South Wales. One-time bassist Marc Scully plays in several acts around Sydney, one of note being a "latin/lounge/funk" trio. He also runs a production company known as Gift Productions. He, along with his Gift Productions partner Tony Wall, have worked for Dalton's Half A Cow label in re-mixing and so on. Obviously there are no hard feelings there with the old bassist and new. |
|
Andrew Polin has been involved with Ratcat almost from the beginning and he was still there during the recent reunion
shows. Aside from his involvement with Ratcat we have no idea what Andrew has been up to so if you know please drop us a line
and fill us in. Same story with founding bassist Victor Levi so let us know if you can help with his movements. So that's the story of Ratcat, an underground band who, for a brief period, hit the big time. Old school Ratcat fans have resoundingly embraced the band's return to the live scene. However, these fans weren't so enamoured with the group when the big time of the Blind Love period struck. It was widely felt by the band's loyal fan base from their early years that the band had "sold out" in a big way with the Tingles and Blind Love releases. Simon Day makes the following comments about the fans at their feelings about the band during the peak of their popularity: "We originally had audiences that were kind of like the rebels from high school and art students and university students, all sorts into independent underground music. We played since 1986/87, which was about five years before we made it ‘big in 91’. We were underground and when it went mainstream a lot of the underground people were turned off because that’s what they were rebelling against, which was what we were kind of rebelling against when we first started. And it’s a strange concept that all of a sudden you are the person that you hated in the first place… not that you hated it, but that you were trying to rebel against it". |
|
| NO. | TITLE | ARTIST |
| 1 | LOSE YOURSELF | Eminem |
| 2 | BORN TO TRY | Delta Goodrem |
| 3 | THE KETCHUP SONG (ASEREJE) | Las Ketchup |
| 4 | DIRRTY | Christine Aguilera |
| 5 | DILEMNA | Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland |
| 6 | SK8TER BOI | Avril Lavigne |
| 7 | TIDE IS HIGH (GET THE FEELING) | Atomic Kitten |
| 8 | DO IT WITH MADONNA | The Androids |
| 9 | JENNY FROM THE BLOCK | Jennifer Lopez |
| 10 | LIFE GOES ON | LeeAnn Rimes |
| 11 | WHATS YOUR FLAVA | Craig David |
| 12 | LIKE I LOVE YOU | Justin Timberlake |
| 13 | FEEL | Robbie Williams |
| 14 | MY NECK, MY BACK (LICK IT) | Khia |
| 15 | BOYS OF SUMMER | DJ Sammy |
| 16 | PUT THE NEEDLE ON IT | Dannii Minogue |
| 17 | STOLE | Kelly Rowland |
| 18 | HEY SEXY LADY | Shaggy |
| 19 | CLEANIN' OUT MY CLOSET | Eminem |
| 20 | ROUND ROUND | Sugababes |
| NO. | TITLE | ARTIST |
| 1 | LET GO | Avril Lavigne |
| 2 | THE LAST TIME | John Farnham |
| 3 | BEST OF 1990-2000 | U2 |
| 4 | 8 MILE | Soundtrack |
| 5 | ESCAPOLOGY | Robbie Williams |
| 6 | BY THE WAY | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| 7 | UP | Shania Twain |
| 8 | THE EMINEM SHOW | Eninem |
| 9 | 30 #1 HITS | Elvis Presley |
| 10 | BARRICADES & BRICKWALLS | Kasey Chambers |
| 11 | DIORAMA | Silverchair |
| 12 | STEAL THIS ALBUM | System Of A Down |
| 13 | THE PANEL VOL.3 - LATEST COLLECTION | Various |
| 14 | FEVER | Kylie Minogue |
| 15 | LAUNDRY SERVICE | Shakira |
| 16 | MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE | Matchbox 20 |
| 17 | THIS IS ME...THEN | Jennifer Lopez |
| 18 | RIOT ACT | Pearl Jam |
| 19 | OLIVIA | Olivia Newton-John |
| 20 | AUDIOSLAVE | Audioslave |
HOT ebay SIGHTINGS OF THE WEEK
|
As you would have read last week, we spent yonks on our great Featured Product page at bmusic.com.au. We've put together a bunch
of Christmas gift suggestions for any budget and built our Featured Product page around them. There are 40 gift ideas from
$10-$100 and another 50 gift ideas drawn directly from our current MDA Christmas Catalogue. For those of you who've had a big
weekend, that adds up to 90 products, all on one page! Click HERE to have a look at what we've put together. The Featured Product page will remain the same until Christmas so not only do people get a good chance to take a look before the big day, but we also get a rest from doing our Weekly Product Reviews for the Featured Product page. It's a WIN, WIN for everybody! However, with Christmas drawing ever nearer, you need to get your orders in quick smart to avoid delivery disappointment. |
VINTAGE AND ITEMS OF INTEREST AVAILABLE AT bmusic
THE WEEK AHEAD IN MUSIC
DON’T
WANT THE bmusic NEWSLETTER?
Copyright © 2002
