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The Hard-Ons at the Link and Pin Cafe, Woy Woy, Dec 10 2021. Pic by Mark Fraser.

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THE HARD-ONS
announce supports for
March/April
I’M SORRY SIR,
THAT RIFF’S BEEN TAKEN
Tour!

FIRST TOUR WITH NEW SINGER TIM ROGERS
FINALLY KICKS OFF IN JUST OVER A WEEK
AND FOLLOWS THE GROUP’S FIRST EVER TOP 5 ALBUM!

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Photo – Michelle Young Lantern Studio

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The Hard-Ons have announced the supports for their soon-to-start I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Take tour – their first tour with their new line-up which features new singer Tim Rogers. The tour comes on the back of the band’s first ever ARIA Top 5 album, and takes in all East Coast capitals and key regional hubs.

The list of supports includes strong locals as well as a couple of bands with a shared history on the Alternative Charts in the ’90s – Smudge in Sydney and The Meanies in Melbourne. Sydney’s C.O.F.F.I.N are main support for tour closer at the Corner in Melbourne.

The complete run of dates and supports is below.

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The Hard-Ons’ new album I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken
is out now via Cheersquad Records & Tapes. (Distributed by Magnetic South)

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The Hard-Ons’ upcoming tour follows the unprecedented chart success and fantastic response to their new I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken album –  their first with new singer Tim Rogers.  The tour is gonna be unmissable; the new album reveals the new line-up to be working a treat and a couple of surprise shows – including the line-up’s first, playing under the name Clandestine Sausage at the Link & Pin Cafe in Woy Woy back in December – have shown the band to be in magical form. The magic comes in part from the fact that Tim Rogers has proven himself the perfect new addition to the band, which in turn is partly due to the fact that he has long been one of the band’s biggest fans.  As he recently told Blunt: “I’m a fan first and foremost. [They were] the first band I loved that I could see, the first band I got my nose broken to, [and the first band] I lost my hearing to. There are so many firsts. And then to be in the rehearsal room… I looked over at Blackie’s amp and went, ‘Oh, that’s the amp.’ And I saw the SG, and I was like, ‘That’s the SG.’ I’ve been watching him play with those since 1986.”

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One of Australia’s most loved and influential bands from the mid- ‘80s through to now, the Hard-Ons came out of the multicultural South-West Sydney suburb Punchbowl and quickly won a large following nationally with their irreverent attitude and catchy, noisy high energy sound. Appearing on the Radio Birdman-influenced Sydney scene of the early ‘80s and preceding the punk-pop boom of the ‘90s, the Hard-Ons were a musical bridge and became a punk and alternative music sensation, blowing open doors by incorporating disparate elements – like a range of metal styles, from glam to thrash – which were previously unheard in Australian punk.  All the while they were forced to push through other barriers; barriers that appeared because of their mixed ethnicity and their wilfully transgressive and irreverent nature, which was typified by their name, and by Ray’s outrageous artwork.

In their early days, the Hard-Ons shared bills with the likes of the Ramones and Nirvana and appeared on numerous Big Days Out. They scored a never-bettered 17 consecutive number 1s on the Australian independent charts and in 1989 were the only Australian band still based in Australia to hit the top 5 in the NME charts (the only Australian artists to have achieved that – Nick Cave and the Go-Betweens – had both been UK-based).  Despite break-ups and the formation of other bands (Ray & Blackie’s other ongoing band Nunchukka Superfly) and, in Blackie’s case, a solo career, the Hard-Ons undertook their 19th European tour in 2018, when they played the massive metal festival Hellfest, alongside Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Joan Jett. Soon to celebrate 40 years together, their new album with new kid Tim Rogers  is their 13th.

Over the years, the Hard-Ons have won the vocal support of artists like Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins, and Jello Biafra. They’ve influenced subsequent generations of punk bands – from the Meanies to Frenzal Rhomb to Private Function – as well as a wide-ranging groundswell of Australian alternative artists – from You Am I to Spiderbait to Silverchair to Regurgitator to Magic Dirt to Powderfinger to the Dirty Three to the Chats – each of whom have been inspired by the Hard-Ons’ energy, free spirit and uncompromising dedication.

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THE HARD-ONS
I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken
Australian Tour 2022

MARCH

Thu 17 – Southport, Vinnie’s Dive – with guests BLUSHH – tickets here  
Fri 18 – Brisbane, The Zoo “Punkfest” – with guests FAT and BURNT TRASH – tickets here 
Sat 19 – Eltham, Eltham Hotel – with guests MASOCHIST – tickets SOLD OUT
Thu 24 – Sydney, Factory Theatre – with special guests SMUDGE and FLOWERS FOR JAYNE – tickets here
Fri 25 – Avalon, Avalon RSL – with guests RAISING RAVENS – tickets here
Sat 26 – Newcastle, The Cambridge Hotel – with guests BITCHCRAFT – tickets here
 Sun 27 – Wollongong, La La La’s – with guests LUCIFUNGUS and CHIMERS – tickets here
Thu 31 – Canberra, The Basement – with guests GLITORIS and CHARLOTTE & THE HARLOTS – tickets here

APRIL

Sat 2 – Adelaide, Enigma Bar – with guests CULL – tickets here
Thu 7 – Geelong, Barwon Club – with guests DEAD and EYEROLL – tickets here
Fri 8 – St Kilda, Gershwin Room @ The Espy – with very special guests THE MEANIES and RIVER OF SNAKES – tickets here
Sat 9 – Melbourne, Corner Hotel – with special guests C.O.F.F.I.N and CHEEKY GEEZERS –  tickets here

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AMNPLIFY – DB