Raiding Party was conceived by Brien McVernon, on bass, and Mark Tinson, on guitar, when they both returned to Newcastle in 1988, after living and working in Sydney for five years.

They recruited vocalist Ian Sandercoe, keyboardist James Davis and drummer Gary Wilson and quickly became the most popular attraction in Newcastle.

The band was truly unique on the local scene, mixing its own original material with a selection of hip covers, and attracting a strong female following due to the three “insufferably handsome” young men – McVernon, Sandercoe and Davis-  fronting the band.

Raiding Party released its first single “Loveland” in 1989 and received massive local airplay, catapulting it into the top 10 in the first week of its release.

At the concert the band will release a CD including the original songs recorded during its brief career, with bonus tracks from the post-Raiding Party musical adventures of McVernon, Sandercoe, Tinson and Mac. 

The gig is on June 29. Tickets: lizottes.com.au

NEWCASTLE rockers dave have launched a new single Juice, with an accompanying video clip for the 90s indie-rock inspired track.

“I wrote Juice after watching the first episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson on Netflix with my girlfriend and thinking it was really shit,” vocalist Noah Church said.

“As I wrote the lyrics it took on a new meaning: not needing to stay up watching shows that we don’t even like when we have each other. It started out as a bit of a joke but ended up being a little sweet.”

Last year was a big year for Church and bandmates Gabe Argiris (drums) and Max Tuckerman (bass).

They released mini-album YOCH! Bangers Vol. 1; songs Take It All and Rock n Roll were regulars on triple j’s Unearthed Radio; and Eggiwegs came in at No.18 on FBi Radio’s top-played tracks of 2017.

The song was also voted third-best song of the year in Happy Mag’s top 100.

Stay tuned, dave will release a new EP Never Yoch Alone later this year.