A Hit of Nostalgia

Flashback to simpler times. Big hair, panel vans and pub crawls. Social media was unheard of. Music was the ultimate escape.

Posters of favourite bands wallpapered the rooms of teenage girls everywhere, well-stocked shelves heaved with the latest music magazines. Wooden school desks etched with a compass heralded the names of adored popstars. Video clips were big budget mini-movie bonanzas. Cassettes were taped over and over again filled with top 40 hits from the radio, songs memorised with mis-heard lyrics.

Music stores were the place to go – 78s, Dadas, Mills, Sound One, The Purple Ear - for a single of the next charting hit, a 12inch remix, band t-shirts or badges, an obscure new album recommended by the store attendant or more band posters.

In Perth, the live music scene was big – and it was the golden age of cover bands playing top 40 faves or alternative tunes of the day: The Jets, Frames, Flash Harry, The Flying Fonzarellis, Perfect Strangers, Motors/Formula One, Slim Jim and the Fatts, Ice Tiger, Tora Tora and V-Capri. Originals bands fared well too: The Boys, The Stems, The Scientists, The Triffids, The Dugites, Dave Warner along with famous exports including Hoodoo Guru’s Dave Faulkner, Johnny Diesel, The Farriss brothers, The Eurogliders and Baby Animals.

Followers and fans flocked to smoke-filled music venues in the ‘burbs’ – The Generator, The Shents, The Nookenburrah, The Raffles, The Floreat, The Herdies, Steve’s, The Charles, The Leederville, The Rosemount, The Stoned Crow. Sticky floors and cheap beer reigned supreme. Underagers tried their luck with fake IDs and a flutter of mascara-ed lashes. Punters lingered late on Friday and Saturday nights or took in a Sunday sesh, staggering into work the next day with a hangover, regaling stories of shenanigans the night before.

Most of those venues are long gone, but with a single chord or lyric from a familiar tune - like a drug for a hit of nostalgia - memories of those heady days of mis-spent youth and good times come flooding back. Now cover bands are returning and their popularity is growing. Generations X and Y are heading back to live music hot spots and some are taking their Gen Z kids with them – raised on 80s and 90s tunes that now feature on Tik Tok or sampled in current top 40 hits – everything old is fashionable again and they know all the lyrics too, from Guitar Hero!

Perth bars, pubs and clubs such as Badlands, The Sewing Room, The Rosemount, The Milk Bar and The Charles are featuring local acts that are attracting the punters once more with sell-out crowds, including Tod Johnston & PeaceLove, Daren Reid & the Soul City Groove, Oats Supply, Proud Mary, 80s Inc, The Drycleaners Band, Velvet Shock and more - their followers just itching for another hit.

Perth favourites, The Drycleaners Band and Velvet Shock, are joining forces for a Double Bender at Badlands Bar on Saturday 7 May 2022. 

Get your tickets at Double Bender feat. Velvet Shock & The Drycleaners Band Tickets at Badlands Bar (PERTH, WA) on Saturday, 7 May 2022 (oztix.com.au)

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Media Enquiries contact:
Velvet Shock Band Manager - Chris Galvin 0413 620 794
The Drycleaners Band Manager – Paul Ferrante 0417 932 497