Victor Stranges returns to the songs that shaped him with Get Stiffed - a rare, one-night-only dive into the catalogue of Stiff Little Fingers, the Irish punk band whose songs defined a generation. As a teenage drummer in Melbourne’s underground ’80s band Drunk ’n’ Disorderly, Stranges cut his teeth on this material across the pub circuit. Now, 37 years on, he brings them back reinterpreted solo, with weight and perspective. Expect material from the band’s early run through their first split in 1983, spanning Inflammable Material (1979), Nobody’s Heroes (1980), Go For It (1981) and Now Then… (1982). Tuesday 28 July, 8:00pm at The Drunken Poet - 65 Peel Street, West Melbourne - FREE ENTRY

Atomic: The Songs Of Blondie arrives at Thornbury Bowls Club on Saturday 1 August for a special extended performance celebrating the music, influence and enduring legacy of Blondie. Performing two full sets across the evening, Atomic revisits the band’s remarkable catalogue - from the raw energy of New York’s downtown club scene to the era-defining records that transformed Blondie into one of the most adventurous and influential groups of the late twentieth century.

Emerging from the CBGB circuit alongside artists such as Talking Heads and Television, Blondie fused punk urgency with pop instinct, art-school aesthetics, disco rhythms and new wave experimentation. Songs such as Heart Of Glass, Dreaming, Atomic, Call Me, One Way Or Another and Rapture remain woven into popular culture, while deeper album tracks reveal the breadth, sophistication and invention that set the band apart from their contemporaries.

Rather than presenting a straightforward greatest-hits tribute, Atomic approaches Blondie’s music with a focus on musicianship, detail and historical context, balancing the iconic singles with lesser-known material drawn from across the band’s catalogue. The result is a performance that captures both the immediacy of Blondie’s classic recordings and the restless spirit that drove them beyond the conventions of punk and pop.

Atomic is led by Anthea Palmer alongside Stu Thomas (Dave Graney & The MistLY, Kim Salmon & The Surrealists), Mike Dupp (The Methinks, The Futurists), Victor Stranges (The Methinks, The Futurists) and Garry Allen (Crossbones Boogie, Kahuna Daddies) - musicians with decades of live and recording experience, united by a deep respect for the material and the era that produced it.

Limited collector ticket bundles are available, including exclusive 180g vinyl editions of Blondie classics "Parallel Lines" and "Eat to the Beat", collected on the night of the performance.

A night for longtime devotees, record collectors, New York romantics and anyone still drawn to the collision of punk attitude, pop intelligence and rock ’n’ roll electricity that made Blondie endure.

There are songwriters whose work captures a particular moment in time, and there are those whose songs seem to exist outside it. Tom Waits and Elvis Costello belong firmly in the latter category. Emerging from very different musical traditions, each developed a singular artistic voice - one drawn to the overlooked corners of American life, the other to the restless possibilities of post-war British popular music. Both have spent decades resisting convention, following their curiosity wherever it led, and in doing so created two of the most distinctive catalogues in contemporary songwriting.

This special edition of The Songwriter Series brings together two complete live productions - Blue Valentines: The Tom Waits Songbook and Everyday I Write The Hook: The Songs of Elvis Costello - in a single evening devoted to their work.

The first half explores the rich, strange and cinematic world of Tom Waits through a carefully curated selection of songs drawn from across his remarkable catalogue, including Blue Valentines, Invitation To The Blues, Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis, Jockey Full Of Bourbon, Downtown Train and Take It With Me. The songs are inhabited by dreamers, late-night wanderers, small-town romantics, bartenders, boxers and broken-hearted philosophers; stories where tenderness sits comfortably beside absurdity, and humour often arrives in the company of regret. Rather than attempting to recreate Waits' unmistakable voice or stage persona, Blue Valentines approaches the material through the songwriting itself, allowing the emotional weight, wit and humanity of the compositions to come into focus.

The second half turns to Elvis Costello, whose songs have long occupied a unique place in popular music. Marrying sophisticated harmony with lyrical precision, Costello's writing has embraced punk, soul, country, chamber pop, jazz and rhythm and blues without ever losing its unmistakable identity. Everyday I Write The Hook spans the first two decades of his recording career, combining enduring favourites including Alison, Watching The Detectives, Pump It Up, Oliver's Army, Everyday I Write The Book and Veronica with carefully chosen album tracks that reveal the breadth and ambition of his writing.

Neither production is built on impersonation or nostalgia. Instead, both seek to honour the original recordings through careful musicianship and thoughtful interpretation, placing the emphasis where it has always belonged: on the songs themselves.

Presented by Melbourne musician Victor Stranges, The Songwriter Series continues an ongoing exploration of the writers who have shaped popular music - not simply through commercial success, but through the enduring quality of their work and its influence on generations of artists that followed.

Featuring:

Victor Stranges – vocals & guitar (The Methinks, Black Market Clash, Atomic) Mike Dupp – keyboards (The Methinks, Black Market Clash, Atomic, Adele Show) Garry Allen – guitar (Black Market Clash, Atomic, Crossbones Boogie, Kahuna Daddies) Nick Lowes – bass (Loonee Tunes, More Specials, Dave Graney & Clare Moore, Talk That Walk) Annette Yates – double bass (Morgana, Joe Ruberto Quartet, The Garland Minelli Effect) Frank Scalzo – drums & vocals (The Methinks, The Secret Agents)

Kindred Bandroom is wheelchair accessible