Legendary Western Australian band The Stems turn 40 this year and are celebrating with the release of an official live album. Having forged a reputation for their electrifying and powerful live shows throughout Australia and Europe, The Stems live shows have long been a favourite among boot-leggers, with many unofficial live recordings surfacing over the years. To coincide with their 40th anniversary tour, The Stems’ ‘Official Live Recording’ is now being made available through local label Cheersquad Records & Tapes.

On November 11, 2017, during the 3rd of a highly successful 6 show national tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary since the release of their debut album, ‘At First Sight, Violets are Blue’, original members Dom Mariani, Julian Matthews and Dave Shaw, bolstered by Ashley Naylor (Even, Paul Kelly, The Church) and Davey Lane (You Am I) took to the stage at the legendary Gov Hotel in Adelaide for what was to be a scintillating live set, that unbeknown to the band was being recorded.

How it happened;

Enter Vic Conrad, leader of Adelaide band The Garden Path, one of the supports for the show. Vic’s connection to The Stems goes way back to the 1980s when the band slept on his floor one early tour! Vic had arranged for a multitrack recording of his own band that evening. With the tour done and dusted and a few months later, Vic contacted Dom, to tell him that he had a multi-track recording of The Stems’ performance from that concert also. Vic generously sent the recording to Dom, who then promptly forgot about it… until a recent conversation with Julian ignited the idea of a live album. Unsure of what it sounded like, they decided to check out Vic’s multi-tracks and were pleasantly surprised by what they heard.

Dom Mariani; “the band is in full flight and rocking. If we knew it was being recorded, we probably wouldn’t have been so uninhibited. We let it all hang out, warts and all.”

With the intention of releasing a vinyl album of the recording, 8 songs were selected from the set-list and were duly and expertly mixed by Julian at his Nut Sauce Studios.

Julian Matthews: “this recording is a joyous rendition of what we sound like live.”

“The Stems Official Recording’ released through Cheersquad Records & Tapes captures the band in a powerful performance proving they deserve their reputation as one of Australia’s best live bands.

Dom Mariani – guitar and lead vocals
Dave Shaw – drums
Julian Matthews – bass and vocals
Davey Lane – guitar, keyboards, vocals and harmonica
Ashley Naylor – guitar and vocals

Recorded at The Gov Adelaide on 11 November 2017.
Original recording provided by Vic Conrad.
Recorded by Mike Longmire
Live sound engineer Aidan D’Adhemar
Mixed by Julian Matthews
Mastered by Will Bowden ‘King Willy Sound’