‘90s ahoy! New Chocolate Starfish record, The Mavis’s back on the road

Two ‘90s bands are making their presence felt.

Chocolate Starfish – who had two Top 10 albums and six Top 50 singles – have released their first full-length album in twenty years

Its title Spider is a dedication in memory of Zoran ‘Spider’ Romic, who passed away in 2012.

Romic was the band’s guitarist and songwriting partner with front man Adam Thompson.

The pair co-wrote ‘Heavyweight’, the third track on Spider several years ago, and its presence in the album’s line-up is significant.

“It probably sounds a little metaphysical, but there are times even now when I’m writing by myself or with someone else and I can often hear him telling me, ‘don’t do that, try this’, Thompson reflected in a recent interview.

“There are many times when I get that metaphysical knock on the shoulder saying ‘just try something different here’.”

Following the 2018 Red Hot Summer Tour, Starfish do a run of headlining shows on their own:

Friday, March 16: The Bridge Hotel Sydney

Saturday, March 17: Cambridge Hotel Newcastle

Saturday, March 31: Mulwala Ski Club NSW

Saturday, April 7: Memo Music Hall Melbourne

Friday, April 13: The Gov Adelaide

Tuesday, April 24: The Grand Mornington Vic

The Mavis’s, also from Melbourne although they formed in regional Ballarat, are on the road to mark the 20th anniversary of their platinum selling ARIA-nominated album Pink Pills.

The album reflected their mix of orchestral pop, space age dub and electro, and hard edged guitar driven rock.

It allowed them to straddle the worlds of triple j and Rage, and Hey Hey It’s Saturday, and saw them invited to open on a Kylie Minogue tour.

The dates are:

May 4: Grand Live, Mornington

May 5: Villa Noosa, Noosa (+ Screamfeeder)

May 8: Stone Corner Festival, Brisbane (plus Custard, Screamfeeder. Diana Anaid and more, free entry)

May 9: The Gov, Adelaide

May 10: The Lair, Sydney

May 11: The Prince, Melbourne

May 12: Karova Lounge, Ballarat