by Carbie Warbie Powder Monkeys To Reform At The Tote

We at The Dwarf can't hold back on this exciting news! Legendary, well loved and respected Melbourne rock band, The Powder Monkeys will be reforming for a one off gig at the iconic Tote Hotel in Collingwood. The occasion for the reformation, is that it will be the 10th anniversary of bassist Tim Hemensley's tragic death.

Lead guitarist, John Nolan made the following statement via The Powder Monkeys Facebook page:

"People will say, "How can you reform this band now Tim is no longer with us?" I agree BUT as it is Tim's 10th anniversary, Kris and Retta have given us their blessing. We are not reforming the band (that's just crazy talk). All we can do is choose our bass player very well, play these killer old Powder Monkeys songs as hard as we can and the rest is now up to the guest vocalists to really pull it off. Me, I'm gonna have a ball playing Tim's old songs and also playing with T.J again. Killer line-up of bands that played with us and bands that are influenced by us. I really want to see the Tote packed out. It's a celebration of Tim Hemensley's great music!!!! Enuff said!!!"

Where else but The Tote? The ashes of GOD band member Sean Greenaway and Tim's former GOD bandmate, were scattered on the floor of the Tote and a lyric from The Powder Monkeys song, 'Persecution Blues' were hastily painted on the front of the building by Ally Spazzy (of The Spazzys) at the memorable Last Drinks At The Tote concert back in January 2010.

Powder Monkeys - Persecution Blues (Live 1994)

The whole day's event will be a part of the first ever City Of Yarra Live Music Festival, which is named the Leaps and Bounds Music Festival, in ode to the beloved Paul Kelly song. The date will be the 10th anniversary of Tim Hemensley's death. At The Tote Hotel in Collingwood, over two stages with a free BBQ on Sunday the 21st of July 2013 from 2PM. Other bands on the bill include a who's who of Melbourne music. They include Hoss, The Seminal Rats, Bored!, The Casanovas, The Spazzys, The Onyas, Hits, Power Line Sneakers (John Nolan's new band), Digger & The Pussycats, Bitter Sweet Kicks, Leadfinger, Swedish Magazines, Wrong Turn, Fortress Of Narzod, The Undecided and more to still be announced.

Bitter Sweet Kicks with John Nolan performing a Powder Monkeys cover of 'I Thank You'.

The day will officially start not on the stage at The Tote but on a football field. Tim has been honoured annually with the Tim Hemensley Cup. The Grand Final football match of the Renegade Pub Football League, with teams from The Tote, Labour in Vain, Old Bar, Cherry Bar and other pubs around Melbourne. The annual Tim Hemensley Cup footy match will kick off the day’s celebrations at Victoria Park in Abbotsford from 11am with two short matches including a ladies’ game. Tim Hemensley hated AFL but loved the spirit and the camaraderie of The Community Cup.

Here is video link to Rebecca Barnard and Fiona Lee Maynard performing the alternative National Anthem at The Tim Hemensley Cup, a couple of years ago.

At last year's Tim Hemensley Cup, Liam 'Banjo' O'Shannessy (who also plays with Buried Horses), accepted the winning cup for The Tote Football Team with Tim Hemensley's mother Retta.

The lineup of the band will comprise of the two remaining members of the Powder Monkeys. Local guitar god, John Nolan on lead guitar and Timmy Jack Ray on drums. John Nolan also played with Tim, in his previous band, Bored! Filling in on bass duties will be Mike Findlay, the enigmatic and charismatic front man from Geetroit rock band, The Dukes Of Deliciousness.

There will be a revolving array of guest singers from other 90's bands. We can only speculate at at this stage but we would expect to see Joel Silbersher being one of them. Joel did share a stage with Tim when they were just teenagers with the band, GOD, who is best remembered for their classic song, 'My Pal'. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Violent Soho have covered the song in recent times and The Drones with Joel singing, performed it together at climax of The Last Drinks At The Tote concert.

GOD - My Pal

It has since been announced that other guests to appear with The Powder Monkeys will include Spencer P Jones, Adalita, Matty Whittle of GOD, Dave Hogan, Roman Tucker of Rocket Science, Sly Splatterhead from The Splatterheads, Evil Dick of The Hits and more.

John Nolan also announced earlier this year that the first Powder Monkeys album, "Smashed On A Knee" is currently being remastered only on vinyl with some bonus cuts or maybe even some rare live video coming as a bonus USB Stick. It has been a long time coming because the Powder Monkeys' back catalogue has been impossible to purchase for many years. In this digital age, the only recording you can get from iTunes or listen with Spotify is the 1999 EP release, 'Talk Softly And Carry A Big Shtick'. We have our fingers crossed that the first of many new remastered pieces of vinyl will be available at the forthcoming Tote concert.

Stay tuned for more news about the Powder Monkeys reformation concert and celebrations at The Tote.

We can't wait!

Powder Monkeys - Turn To Hate (Live At Meredith 1994)

FIRST UPDATE! Remastered 'Smashed On A Knee' release.

We have had a chat with Dave Lang who is releasing the remastered 'Smashed On A Knee' release. It will be on Dave's Freeform Patterns record label, distributed through Fuse Music on CD and Vinyl. We are happy to inform everybody that there will be a CD available at The Tote concert in July but the vinyl version will be available later on in the year. The remastering has been done by the respected producer, Mikey Young of Eddy Current Suppression Ring fame and who currently plays with The Ooga Boogas and Total Control. Mikey is also the main man at Aarght! Records, which has released recording from The UV Race, Super Wild Horses and many more.

It will come lovingly packaged with an extensive 16 page booklet with rare photographs of the band and memorabilia. The booklet will also include liner notes from Deniz Tek of Radio Birdman fame, David Laing of Dog Meat Records, who released the original album twenty years ago in 1993, Mike Mariconda, who has produced the original album, as well as countless garage rock bands, Joel Silbersher from GOD and Hoss and Dave Lang. According to Lang, the new recording "sounds punchy now". There will be three bonus songs with this new remastered recording and the CD will come with a download card.

SECOND UPDATE!

I THANK YOU: The Powder Monkeys / Tim Hemensley 10th Anniversary Gig:

Sunday 21st July 2013

The Tote, 71 Johnston St, Collingwood.

Doors 2pm, 2 stages, free BBQ

The Powder Monkeys

Hoss

Seminal Rats

Bored!

The Casanovas

The Spazzys

The Onyas

Hits

Power Line Sneakers

Digger & The Pussycats

Bitter Sweet Kicks

Swedish Magazines

Wrong Turn

Fortress Of Narzod

Leadfinger

The Undecided

plus more to be announced

Tickets $35 +BF from OZTIX and they will on sale Wednesday the 22nd of May 2013.

THIRD UPDATE!

The Speed Demons have been added to the lineup. Due to unprecedented demand, all tickets were completely sold out on the first day of sale via Oztix. There won't be an upgrade to a bigger venue or another date, since this is essentially a celebration for Tim's family and friends.