inpress issue 1263
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Melbourne is one of the few true rock’n’roll capitols of the world. And Inpress magazine is the voice of this great rock’n’roll city. For over 20 years, Inpress has been covering every inch of the entertainment scene, profiling international performers and events and, most importantly, fostering Australian art and artists. Published and read by over 120,000 people weekly, Inpress is distributed in carefully targeted pubs, clubs, cafes, council offices, universities and stores throughout greater Melbourne, Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula and all major victorian regional centres. With a primary focus on the 18-30 demographic, Inpress specialises in contemporary popular music - rock, punk, metal and roots. In depth features, profiles and reviews by some of the country’s leading journalists, specialist columns (including industry news by nationally syndicated columnist Danielle Odonohue), and an exhaustive gig guide make for essential weekly reading for Melbourne’s youth.TRANSCRIPT
www.themusic.com.au
BIRDS OF TOKYO COSMIC GATETIM ROGERS &THE BAMBOOS
ROSE BYRNE
au
DEER
HOOF
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S LI
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DEEP
PUR
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LUCE
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NOW AVAIL ABLE ON IPAD • WEDNESDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2013 • ISSUE 1263 • FREE
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MIND-BLOWING THE TELEGRAPH UK
VIVID LIVE 2013 FIRST ANNOUNCE
STRATEGICPARTNERS
VISIT SYDNEYOPERAHOUSE.COM/KRAFTWERK
S Y D N E Y E X C L U S I V E 2 4 - 2 7 M A Y24/5 19.00 /
21.30 FRI. 2519.00 21.30 SAT. 2619.00
21.30 SUN. 27 19.00 21.30 MON.
Through eight albums that changed the face of popular music forever, the electronic music pioneers present their
groundbreaking retrospective in 3D.
Demand is expected to be high for Kraftwerk’s exclusive series of concerts. An online application process is now open to enable fair distribution of tickets to fans across
time zones, states and countries.
ONLINE TICKET APPLICATIONS CLOSE MARCH 1
MEDIA PARTNERS PARTNER
6
7
THE SP RTING
CLUB
27 WESTON ST, BRUNSWICKTues - Fri 4pm till LateSat & Sun 12pm till Late
THURSDAY
Donnie DureauFree in the Front Bar 8pm
FRIDAY
Alexis Nicole & The Missing Pieces
Free in the Front Bar 6pm
SATURDAY
Tim GuyFree In The Front Bar 7pm
SUNDAY
Live Music & Sydney Rd Street Party!Dan Watkins
& Paddy MontgomeryFree in the Front Bar 6pm
Live Music [email protected]
www.wesleyanne.com.au
Open...MON - SAT...from 12pm ‘til lateKitchen til 10pm
SUN...from 12pm ‘til 11pmKitchen til 9pm
2 for 1 meals weekdays before 6pm$12 jugs of Boag’s and Cider
OPEN FOR LUNCH FROM MIDDAY bookings: 9482 1333
Summer SpecialNEW
SUMMERMENU
THURSDAYFREYA HANLY 6PM
MUSTERED COURAGE 8PM $10
FRIDAYLETTER B 6PM
DEBORAH CONWAY & WILLY ZYGLER 8PM $20
SATURDAYMUSIC FOR A COW 2PM $15
TRIO AGOGO 5PM
JMS HARRISON EP LAUNCH 8PM $7 OR $10 WITH EP
SUNDAYFREE LIVE MUSIC IN THE FRONT BAR 4PM
TUESDAYOPEN MIC NIGHT 7PM
8
CHUGGENTERTAINMENT.COM XIIITOURING.COM THEKOOKS.COM
JUNK OF THE HEART OUT NOW
Thursday 2 May The Zoo Brisbaneoztix.com.au • thezoo.com.au
Wednesday 8 May The Corner Hotel Melbournecornerhotel.com
Thursday 9 May Oxford Art Factory Sydneymoshtix.com.au • oxfordartfactory.com
CHUGGENTERTAINMENT.COM | XIIITOURING.COM | FRIGHTENEDRABBIT.COM
Wednesday 1 May • Oxford Art Factory, Sydney www.moshtix.com.au | www.oxfordartfactory.com
Friday 3 May • Northcote Social Club, Melbourne www.northcotesocialclub.com
Thursday 9 May • The Zoo, Brisbane www.oztix.com.au | www.thezoo.com.au
*Also appearing at GTM Festivals
www.chuggentertainment.com • www.xIIItouring.comLATEST RELEASE
‘Lightning’ OUT NOW
SOLD OUT!
TUESDAY APRIL 30 SYDNEY ENMORE THEATREWWW.TICKETEK.COM.AU
WEDNESDAY MAY 1, FRIDAY MAY 3 MELBOURNE PALAIS THEATREWWW.TICKETMASTER.COM.AU
TUESDAY MAY 7, WEDNESDAY MAY 8 BRISBANE TIVOLI THEATREWWW.TICKETEK.COM.AU
FRIDAY MAY 10 ADELAIDE THEBARTON THEATREWWW.VENUETIX.COM.AU
SUNDAY MAY 12 FREMANTLE ARTS CENTREWWW.OZTIX.COM.AU
SOLD OUT!
NEW SHOW!
NEW SHOW!
SOLD OUT!
9
GIVEAWAYS GALORE!We have ten in-season double passes to cricket movie Save Your Legs; plus, leading in to Comedy Festival season, we have copies of season seven of The Office, Michael McIntyre’s Showtime and Stephen Merchant’s debut stand up show, Hello Ladies Live, all on DVD.
ISSUE 1263W E D N E S D A Y 2 7 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3
INPRESS12 Foreword Line brings you all the latest tour announcements14 Moves and shakes with Industry News 16 Right time, right place for Killswitch Engage18 Tim Rogers chats about the endless tour party with The Bamboos18 Birds Of Tokyo level about their fourth album20 Germany’s Cosmic Gate will hit the stage at Future Music Festival 21 Dubstep duo Zeds Dead on occasional rapping 22 Rita Ora is touring Oz for the first time22 Soundwave act Kyuss Lives! chat about life23 Deerhoof are preparing to tour 24 Welsh nu-metal tragics The Blackout are on their way; as is Rock’n’Roll Gumbo Medicine Show with Krista Polvere; whilst The Transplants make the most of second chances and WOMADelaide’s Illapu level 25 Memphis rockers Lucero have no fear of the Soundwave tour; neither do Canadians Danko Jones; Deep Purple are about to drop their first album in eight years; and Arlo Guthrie shares about being a son of the US music industry 26 On The Record rates new releases from Pissed Jeans and Guards
FRONT ROW29 Check out This Week In Arts and Art Or Not?29 Rose Bryne gets our fever Byrnin’ and Matthew Whittet chats about Dance Massive show, Conversation Piece
30 This week we review The Imposter, White Night and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
30 We spend five minutes with Catherine Davies and have Watching GIRLS
31 Trailer Trash gets into TV and Cultural Cringe gets into White Night
31 MTC actor Sacha Horler chats about Other Desert Cities and Kate Denborough chats about KAGE’s new show Flesh & Bone
BACK TO INPRESS33 Gig Of The Week is Tomahawk at Billboard
34 Live Reviews goes SLAM Day nuts
36 Soundwave map and times
38 Heavy shit with Adamantium Wolf
38 The freshest in urban news in OG Flavas
38 Sarah Petchell will Wake The Dead with her punk and hardcore talk
38 Dan Condon blues and roots in Roots Down
39 Pop culture therapy with The Breakdown
39 Hip hop with Intelligible Flow
39 World music with Fragmented Frequencies
39 Dance Moves with Tim Finney
42 If you haven’t appeared in Fred Negro’s Pub, your mother probably still speaks to you
42 Jeff Jenkins gets down and local in Howzat!
44 Our Gig Guide fills your diary for the weekend
49 Find your new band and just about everything else in our classy Classifieds
50 Gear and tech talk in Muso
Until March 2 - LoopHole
Current Exhibiting Artists
Anastaszia Ward & Anna Feery
Wed 27. 6pm - The Melbourne Producers
Fri 1. 10pm - Play Native
Charlie, Reeceet & JackPosada play world
class tech house with a dash of tribal rhythms
Visuals by PixelAngel - ft. live percussion
Sat 2. 10pm - Cymatic Society : Dubbed Out
U – Wish, Tempa Ft. Apprentice, SK B2B
Titus12, Missile, Micology (Zuluflow, Darcy
Davis, U-Wish), Al Good, Rogue Trade,
K-Lenks - visuals by Alt Esc Del
Mon 4. 6pm - Process : Second Skin
presented by Vic Young Architects & Graduates
Tue 5. 7pm - TweetFilm : Point Break...
"You crossed the line. People trusted you and
they died. You gotta go down".
BRUNSWICK
THE UNION HOTEL BRUNSWICK 109 UNION ST, BRUNSWICK
9388 2235
SATURDAY 2 Marchthe little
sistersHARMONIES GALORE FROM
THESE COUNTRY FOLKSTERS.5PM
SUNDAY 3 Marchthe
prayerbabiesGOSPEL, BLUES AND
COUNTRY. THEY’RE VERY GOOD. ALSO PLAYING
MARCH 23.5PM
SATURDAY 2 Marchthe
sideshow brides
THE FIBBINS SISTERS ARE BACK LOVELY HARMONIES,
GEETARS AND TOPS DRUMMING.
9PM
CREDITSEDITORIAL
Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast Editor Bryget Chrisfield [email protected] Assistant Editor Samson McDougall Editorial Assistant Stephanie LiewArts Coordinator Cassandra [email protected] Staff Writer Michael Smith
[email protected] Sales & Marketing Director Leigh Treweek National Sales Manager – Print Nick LynaghAccount Manager Anna MoullAccount Manager Okan Husnu
DESIGN & [email protected] Direction Matt DavisLayout Matt Davis, Nicholas Hopkins, Eamon Stewart
ACCOUNTS & [email protected] Kathleen DrayAccounts Receivable Anita D’Angelo
CONTRIBUTORSSenior Contributors Jeff JenkinsOverseas Contributors Tom Hawking (US), James McGalliard (UK), Sasha Perera (UK).Writers Nick Argyriou, Aleksia Barron, Atticus Bastow, Steve Bell, Sarah Braybrooke, Luke Carter, Anthony Carew, Rebecca Cook, Adam Curley, Cyclone, Guy Davis, Liza Dezfouli, Dan Condon, Simon Eales, Guido Farnell, Sam Fell, Bob Baker Fish, Warwick Goodman, Cameron Grace, Chris Hayden, Andrew Hazel, Brendan Hitchens, Ching Pei Khoo, Kate Kingsmill, Baz McAlister, Tony
McMahon, Luke Monks, Fred Negro, Mark Neilsen, Danielle O’Donohue, Matt O’Neill, James Parker, Paul Ransom, Dylan Stewart, Izzy Tolhurst, Nic Toupee, Rob Townsend, Dominique Wall, Doug Wallen.
PHOTOGRAPHERSSenior Contributor Kane HibberdJesse Booher, Andrew Briscoe, Chrissie Francis, Jay Hynes, Lou Lou Nutt, Heidi Takla, Elaine Reyes.
INTERNSJan Wisniewski
EDITORIAL POLICYThe opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. No part may be reproduced without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting letters to us for publication, you agree that we may edit the letter for legal, space or other reasons. ©
DEADLINESEditorial Friday 5pm Advertising Bookings Friday 5pmAdvertising Artwork Monday 5pmGeneral Inquiries [email protected] (no attachments) Accounts/Administration [email protected] Guide [email protected] [email protected] Hours 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday
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DEERHOOF 23
10 • To check out the mags online go to themusic.com.au/mags
11
GET TIX A$APFollowing hot on the heels of sold out tours by Kendrick Lamar, Tyga, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and the announcement of the Nas co-curated Movement Festival, now comes the debut Australian tour of one of the hottest properties in rap right now, A$AP Rocky. Released in January this year, his top ten ARIA debut album, Long.Live.A$AP is a blurry mix of lyricism, slowed down rave synths and a star studded line-up of guests. See A$AP Rocky at the Palace on Friday 28 June.
TOOL SMASHES ITDue to overwhelming public demand for tickets to Tool’s upcoming concerts, a second and final show for Melbourne has been announced on Sunday 28 April at Rod Laver Arena, on top of the Saturday 27 date at the same venue. Both shows are all ages. Since the release of their debut EP Opiate more than 20 years ago, Tool have achieved remarkable critical acclaim and commercial success for both their studio releases and phenomenal live performances.
READY TO STORMThe sultans of stereophonics, StormChasers have a brand new single. Someone Else is a funk/soul/pop number, and the youthfully exuberant seven-piece from Brisbane and are getting ready to release it to the world Friday 21 March, right in the middle of their East Coast Australian tour. Check them out at Ruby’s Lounge on Friday 29 March and at a TBC venue on Sunday 31. Supporting on both dates will be Samuel Cole & The Mornings, with The Nevernudes also supporting on Friday and Echo Drama on Sunday.
COUGH IT OUTGalway-born torch singer Mary Coughlan has established herself as one of her native land’s most enduring and remarkable vocal talents, and now she is returning to tour Australia in March with her pianist Tom Rainey and bassist Brett Hirst. Coughlan delivers each song with a voice that effortlessly straddles jazz, blues, chanson and pop in equal, sublime measure. She performs on Wednesday 20 March at the Caravan Music Club and Thursday 21 at the Brunswick Music Festival.
NINE TIMES THE FUNNine Sons Of Dan have released their new single titled Fun (La Da Da Da Da) and are hitting the road to showcase it and more from their The New Kids EP on their national FUN tour. They’ve now announced local support acts: joining them at the under-18 show at Phoenix Youth Centre on Saturday 9 March will be A Sleepless Melody, Let’s Not Pretend and Have You Seen This Boy.
DUNE’S DEBUTMulti-instrumentalist Dune will be releasing her debut EP Oh Innocence on Thursday 14 March. This expansive EP boasts five self-produced tracks that traverse a futuristic vista created from textured synths and beats, resplendent with lashings of primal emotion and stark imagery. Before she heads off to The Great Escape festival in the UK later this year, Dune will be launching Oh Innocence with a tour that stops off on Saturday 23 March at Ding Dong Lounge.
UNDER CONTROLBritish India’s much anticipated fourth LP Controller is due for release on Friday 22 March. To celebrate the unveiling of the cover artwork and full tracklisting, the band have confirmed a national headline tour for April. Controller is loaded with potent drum beats and layered, exhilarating guitars, hip-shaking melodies and the sort of lyrical genius that is too often lacking in rock albums. Catch them blow shit up at the Corner on Friday 19 April.
POPTASTICSpunk Records are pleased to announce the signing of New Zealand’s Popstrangers, whose debut full-length Antipodes will be released on Friday 1 March. Recorded in the basement of a 1930s dancehall, Antipodes is anchored by contemporary garage rock – rich with vintage pop hooks and classically Kiwi vocals – languid and leisurely. Catch Popstrangers at the Gasometer on Sunday 10 March, supported by Melbourne bedroom wiz Bored Nothing.
FOREWORD LINE N E W S F R O M T H E F R O N T
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- $40 FOOD AND DRINK VOUCHER
FRI 8 MAR
GAY PARIS(SYD)KING OF THE NORTHSHERIFF
SAT 9 MAR
BROTHERS HAND MIRROR ROMYRODEO
FRI 15 MAR
KINGFISHA(BRIS)DUBMARINE (BRIS)VIBRAPHONIC ORKESTRA
SUN 10 MAR 2013 (LABOUR DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY EVE)
THE CAVALCADE(EP LAUNCH) THE SPIN SET
THU 14 MAR
AMALI WARD(SINGLE LAUNCH)CANDICE MONIQUEAROWE
WED 13 MAR
FARROW(SINGLE LAUNCH)OH PEP!LITTLE WISE
EVERY MONDAY!
LA NIGHTSMIKE KAY (25 FEB)$10 PINT & BURRITO BEFORE 8PM
SUN 24 MAR
PATRICK JAMES(SYD – EP LAUNCH)
WED 27 MAR
TOMAS STRODE & THE TOUR GUIDES(SINGLE LAUNCH)
THU 28 MAR (GOOD FRIDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY EVE) - THE RESIGNATORSFRI 29 MAR- LURCH & CHIEF (SINGLE LAUNCH)SAT 30 MAR - LIME CORDIALEWED 3 APR - SIMONE FELICE (USA – BOOGIE SIDESHOW)THU 4 APR - SLEEPY DREAMERS (EP LAUNCH)FRI 5 APR - ATOLLS (EP LAUNCH)FRI 12 APR - THE PEEP TEMPEL (SINGLE LAUNCH)SAT 13 APR - SONGS (SYD – ALBUM LAUNCH)WED 17 APR - DAN & AMY (SINGLE LAUNCH)THURS 18 APR - TINPAN ORANGE
SAT 16 MAR
SPLIT SECONDSRAINY DAY WOMEN (PER)THE RED LIGHTS
SUN 24 MAR (MATINÉE SHOW)
MANNY FOX(SINGLE LAUNCH)ROYAL JELLY DIXIELAND BANDHELLO SATELLITES
FRI 1 MAR
ELIZA HULL(SINGLE LAUNCH)TULLY ON TULLYHAARLO
20, 27 FEB, 6 MAR
KUJO KINGS(WEDNESDAY RESIDENCY)PURPLE TUSKS, PAN.CROMATIC (27 FEB)
THU 28 FEBTIMOTHY COGHILL PRESENTS‘CINEMATIC’ BEN ABRAHAM
SAT 2 MAR
THE DEMON PARADEFLYYING COLOURSNAKED BODIES
SUN 3 MAR
TULALAHHOWARDFINDING ISLA
SUN 10 MAR (MATINÉE SHOW)‘TIMBER & STEEL PRESENTS’SARAH HUMPHREYS(NSW) BRONI
THU 7 MAR
COLD HIKERTHE PRETTY LITTLESSTRINGFELLOW HAWKE
TUESDAYS IN MARCH RESIDENCY
WILLOW BEATSCOLOURWAVES (5 MAR)YOSEMITE (12 MAR)
SUN 17 MAR 2013 (MATINÉE SHOW)‘TIMBER & STEEL PRESENTS’KAURNA CRONIN(SINGLE LAUNCH)
WED 20 MAR
SUPER MAGIC HATS(EP LAUNCH)RACHEL HAIRCUTSOCCER LEGENDS
SUN 17 MAR
FLETCHER
THU 21 MAR
DEWOLFF(NETHERLANDS)CITY VS. COUNTRYTHE PRETTY LITTLES
SUN 3 MAR (MATINÉE SHOW)‘TIMBER & STEEL PRESENTS’JULIA & THE DEEP SEA SIRENS(ACT – ALBUM LAUNCH)
FRI 22 MAR
JORDAN MILLAR(SYD – ALBUM TOUR) JACK CARTY(SYD)
SAT 23 MAR
ROSS DE CHENE(7’’ LAUNCH)CHOOK RACEDRUNKEN POACHERS
WEDNESDAY 27 FEBRUARYRESIDENCYANIMAUXECHO DRAMAVELMA GROVEENTRY $8, 8.30PM
THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY
I AM DUCKEYECLAGGABREACTFIGHTING MONGOOSE ENTRY $12, 8PM $2.50 POTS, $5 VODKAS!
FRIDAY 1 MARCH
MANGELWURZELZONKVISION (AUDIOVISUAL SET)AMANITABOOTY BOUNCECUNTZROGUE WAVSDJ LOVELY CLEARWATERMATT KELLYGROOVY BAKERKALACOMAENTRY $4, 6PM
SATURDAY 2 MARCH
WAKEFIELDMURDENAENTRY $6, 8.30PM
SUNDAY 3 MARCHUS FUNDRAISERHIATUS KAIYOTESEX ON TOASTMFP (JPN)ENTRY $22, 1PM
FESTIVAL IN YOUR LOUNGEROOMDEAD IN A SECOND SINGLE LAUNCHDJ LES TOTHTHE ARSONISTTRICKING EMMACHRIS CARTYENTRY $18 DOOR, $12 THRU MOSTHXI, 7PM
MONDAY 4 MARCHRESIDENCY – OPENING NIGHTESCFLYYING COLOURSFUTURE FATHERSENTRY $2, 8.30PM
TUESDAY 5 MARCHRESIDENCY – OPENING NIGHTKOOYEHCLEVER AUSTINENTRY $2, 9.30PM
COMING UPTIX AVAILABLE THRU MOSHTIX:
ESC (MONDAYS IN MARCH)KOOYEH (TUESDAYS IN MARCH)ANIMAUX (WEDNESDAY IN MARCH)ELECTRIC HORSE – ALBUM LAUNCH (MAR 14)BROTHERS HAND MIRROR – ROOFTOP EP LAUNCH (MARCH 16)XENOGRAFT/KETTLESPIDER/BEAR THE MAMMOT – SPLIT EP LAUNCH (MAR 16)SOMETHING TO DO WITH AN IDIOT – ROOFTOP (MARCH 17)NEBRASKATAK – EP LAUNCH (MARCH 22)METAL OBESSION 5TH BDAY – AMENTA ALBUM LAUNCH (MARCH 23)DEMON HUNTER + I, A BREATHER – USA (MAR 30)PANDORUM – SINGLE LAUCH (APR 5)BUTTIFEST (APR 6)
LEAVE ME WITH A SKAAssembled from some of Australia’s preeminent names in ska and reggae and fronted by the inimitable Nicky Bomba (Bomba, Bustamento, John Butler Trio), the soaring popularity of the Melbourne Ska Orchestra is seeing them fast becoming a fixture of Australia’s musical landscape. After more than a decade of sold-out shows and electrifying festival appearances the MSO have come together to produce their self-titled debut album. They’re set to take it on tour, stopping off at the Forum on Saturday 4 May.
TAKING THE LONG WAYAustralian jazz superstar Albare is set to tour Australia in April and May, in support of his sixth album Long Way and following a successful multi-continent tour that saw the guitarist and composer receive international critical acclaim. Albare has dedicated his career to jazz in its contemporary variations and was known as a pioneer of Acid Jazz in Australia in the early ‘90s. See him perform at Geelong Performing Arts Centre on Saturday 13 April and Melbourne Recital Centre on Wednesday 24.
RUSHIN’ TO RUSSIAN DISCODJ Russian Disco joins the line-up for Karavan! International Gypsy Music Festival’s Thornbury Theatre show on Saturday 2 March. He’ll play alongside crack gypsy quintet The New York Gypsy All Stars, national partystarters Sydney’s The Margaret Street Project, Melbourne’s own illicit Russo-swing lords Vulgargrad, the debauched feast of horns, string and drums that are The Woo Hoo Revue and the hot swing of old-world Francophiles, La Mauvaise Reputation.
HUSKY AT DUSKYAfter winning triple j Unearthed, Husky continue to reach new heights with every sold-out show around the country. October 2012 saw the release of the band’s anticipated debut album Forever So; a lush collection of songs full of haunting lyrics, rolling rhythms and delicate layers of sound. Husky will take to the stage at the scenic Zoo Twilights on Friday 8 March, supported by Die Roten Punkte.
INPRESS PRESENTS
INPRESS PRESENTS
12 • For more news/announcements go to themusic.com.au/news
13
FOREWORD LINE N E W S F R O M T H E F R O N T
NICE ONE, SCOUTAfter a whirlwind 2012, this year sees Brisbane’s Cub Scouts with their sights set firmly overseas. January saw them peak at number 16 on US college radio bible CMJ’s charts with their breakout track Told You So, being selected to perform at seminal UK festival The Great Escape in May, and planning their UK/Europe/US Spring tour. See them at the Grace Darling on Saturday 16 March (under-18s matinee and 18+ evening acoustic show).
JOURNEY OF DISCOVERYChicago’s Born Of Osiris will finally bring their extremely technical and progressive sound to Australian audiences this May. Their 2011 album The Discovery showed a band pushing the boundaries of themselves. They perform at the Hi-Fi on Thursday 23 May and Phoenix Youth Centre (all ages) on Friday 24 with A Breach Of Silence and Feed Her To The Sharks.
MY ENDLESS BOOGIEThe hit of Golden Plains Sixxx, Endless Boogie are heading back to where so much of the music they love derives, bringing their meltdown of metallic psychedelia with a heavy dose of riffage, a kick-arse beat and super cryptic lyrics. They play at the Tote on Friday 29 March, the Northcote Social Club on Wednesday 3 April, Barwon Club (Geelong) on Thursday 4 and also at Boogie Festival in picturesque Tallarook on Friday 29 - Sunday 31 March.
BUNCH OF BIRDSThe Bird Fire Review’s Pink Dove III Tour sees Brisbane’s Bird Fire Artists family reveal all in a five-hour long epic of delicious musical incest. A mere 12 members combine in various incarnations to deliver a non-stop show featuring Bird Fire artists – Laneous & The Family Yah (with the return of the Bird Fire Choir!), Georgia Potter, MKO, Superfeather, The Well Alrights and The Melotonins. The show comes to the Evelyn on Saturday 13 April.
TO INFINITY AND BEYONDFlume is to embark on his first national headline tour, the national Infinity Prism Tour, this April/May. The Infinity Prism is a device that references the kaleidoscopic imagery of his album cover in a live context by way of a hexagonal infinity mirror embedded with LED lights that will feature in both the live show and also in a forthcoming trilogy of video clips. See Flume at Festival Hall on Thursday 2 May, joined by fellow collaborator/Laneway touring buddy Chet Faker.
SUPPORT DESTROYUS post-rock giants This Will Destroy You have announced the supports for their first ever Australian tour in March. Perth piano-driven progressive rock quartet Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving will support on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 March at the Northcote Social Club ahead of their first European tour in April, including Belgium’s Dunk Festival. Fourteen Nights At Sea will open proceedings on the Thursday and post-metal outfit Dumbsaint will open on the Friday.
FULL PASSENGERSPassenger’s first Melbourne date on Thursday 21 March at the wonderful Athenaeum has sold out and due to the popular demand a second Melbourne show at the same venue has been announced for Wednesday 20 March. Passenger are currently touring with Ed Sheeran on his National Australian Arena tour straight off the back of a 26-date sold out UK and European run, which is his largest to date.
ROCK FOR DOCThe Angels’ frontman Doc Neeson is the statesman of rock; he recently received an OAM (Order Of Australia Medal). James Morley and Bob Spencer (The Angels), along with good friends from The Choirboys, Boom Crash Opera and Dirty Deeds, have banded together with the Cherry Bar to Rock For Doc on Saturday 20 April. All proceeds will go towards funding Neeson’s treatment for brain cancer.
TENACIOUS TIXTenacious D fans have reaffirmed the band’s massive popularity down under, selling out their Sydney and Melbourne shows in just minutes of the tickets going on sale. New shows have been announced, with a second one the Palais on Saturday 18 May. Bringing it all back to the classic line-up that originally birthed their genius, Jack Black and Kyle Gass are touring as an acoustic duo on their first tour of Australia and New Zealand since their last run supporting Foo Fighters in December of 2011.
PASS THE SEAWEEDThis April, The Drones are heading out on the I See Seaweed Tour, playing some of the most iconic venues they’ve set foot in to date. Known for their brutally beautiful and uncompromising live shows, the I See Seaweed national tour will see The Drones back on the live touring circuit for the first time in two years. They perform at the Forum on Friday 26 April, with guests King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
SAM THE FOLK MANLondon-based, American-born-and-raised folk musician Sam Amidon returns to Australia in early March for a couple of intimate shows in anticipation of his upcoming album. Amidon plays guitar, banjo and fiddle, and has collaborated with the likes of Glen Hansard and Beth Orton. He is one of the most singularly acclaimed young artists currently working in folk – his love of free jazz, drone minimalism and early indie-rock sets him apart in the field. He plays at the Toff on Wednesday 6 March with support from Packwood.
HEY MAA strictly limited number of tickets to The xx show at Festival Hall on Thursday 4 April have been released, with the Friday 5 show all sold out. It has also been announced that Sydney duo Jagwar Ma will be joining The xx as support act in all cities, warming up audiences with a set featuring their singles Come Save Me and The Throw. Catch them with The xx, who will be bringing their incredibly atmospheric and captivating live show back down under this April.
DON’T MISS A THINGMay’s about to get a whole lot louder with the news that Aerosmith are returning to Australia for the first time in 24 years. Joining them are Australian rock band The Dead Daisies. Catch the show at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday 4 May. Tickets are on sale now.
TUFF GUYLo-fi garage pop royalty King Tuff, brainchild of garage-rocker Kyle Thomas, is bound for Australia. Known chiefly as King Tuff to the rock-nerd underworld, Thomas has moonlighted in a multitude of bands, such as psych-folk band Feathers, garage punk and Sub Pop-affiliated outfit Happy Birthday as well as J Mascis’ doom band Witch. Check him out at Bermuda Float on Thursday 25 April.
WOMEN IN THE SKYInternational Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) will celebrate International Women’s Day 2013 with a concert, Half The Sky, at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday 7 March. The line-up of artists will include Clare Bowditch, Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier, Mahalia Barnes Duo, The Rebelles and Em Rusciano. Indira Naidoo will MC the event. All proceeds from the night will benefit IWDA and their regional partner organisations.
STAYING ALIVETonight Alive are set to release their highly anticipated new single, Breakdown, featuring Benji Madden, on Friday 15 March. In 2012, they played to crowds on the US Vans Warped Tour and the Kerrang! Tour in the UK, and have already been confirmed for the 2013 Vans Warped Tour. They’re playing at Ding Dong on Saturday 18 May and Sunday 19 (under-18s).
SIXY GOOD TIMESSix60 are returning to Australia in April – the first time the band have played since their successful appearance at Homebake. Fresh from signing a European deal with Sony Music, this will be Six60’s last tour of Australia before they relocate to Europe for the rest of the year. The signing tops off a massive 12 months for Six60 – their self titled debut album is nearly quadruple platinum and has delivered five hit singles ranging from gold to triple platinum. They play at the Forum on Friday 3 May.
DRONEY, HUSKYThe buzz surrounding Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s Australian and New Zealand tour continues, as the line-up of supports for the concerts are revealed. Support for the Plenary show on Wednesday 13 March will be The Drones, with Husky supporting for the Rod Laver Arena show on Friday 15. Husky will also support at A Day On The Green at The Hill Winery on Saturday 16, with Shane Howard. All shows are all ages and tickets are selling fast.
SECRET SUPPORTA new show has also been added to the fast approaching Norma Jean/Vanna/Safe Hands Australian tour, to be held on Saturday 4 May at the Ferntree Gully Hotel. And joining the bill for the Corner show on Sunday 5 May, along with Belle Haven, will be A Secret Death, who are reforming after a two and a half year absence. Prior to pulling the pin in late 2010, the innovative heavy act had been winning over audiences and peers alike with their dynamic approach to all things metal.
KNOCK OUTTasmanian-raised, now Sydney-based pop and soul songstress Amali Ward has released her brand new single Knock You Out. Amali will hit the road this March to launch the single and preview her debut album Back In Time. Knock You Out won last year’s International John Lennon Song Writing Contest, an annual competition open to songwriters from around the world and presented by Yoko Ono herself. Ward performs at Workers Club on Thursday 14 March.
GETTING TALLERKristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth, is a 29-year-old songwriter from Dalarna, Sweden. He spent the winter months of late 2011 and early 2012 recording There’s No Leaving Now, his third full-length album. After enormous praise from fans and industry alike he then embarked on a worldwide tour starting with a headline a show at legendary New York venue Town Hall. As well as appearing at WOMADelaide and Golden Plains, he plays at the Melbourne Recital Hall this Thursday.
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14 • For more news/announcements go to themusic.com.au/news
SLAYER DISPUTE DRUMMER IN FEUDSlayer responded to claims by their drummer Dave Lombardo that he’s been forced out of the band over financial disagreements, as the band descended into a messy war of words on the eve of their Australian tour – which kicked off over the weekend. Founding member Lombardo posted a statement on Facebook to notify fans that he wouldn’t be travelling with the band to Australia for the Soundwave festivals and made allegations that he was not receiving band revenue he was entitled to. In a statement issued to American website Blabbermouth, Slayer confirmed that Jon Dette would be behind the kit for their Australia shows. They strongly disputed Lombardo’s allegations as well. “As regards Dave Lombardo’s Facebook post, Slayer does not agree with Mr. Lombardo’s substance or the timeline of the events, except to acknowledge that Mr. Lombardo came to the band less than a week before their scheduled departure for Australia to present an entirely new set of terms for his engagement that were contrary to those that had been previously agreed upon,” they wrote. “The band was unable to reach an agreement on these new demands in the short amount of time available prior to leaving for Australia. There is more to the account than what Mr. Lombardo has offered, but out of respect to him, Slayer will not be commenting further. Slayer is grateful to its Australian fans for their understanding of this unfortunate last-minute change and very much looks forward to seeing them at these shows.”
MELB GUITARIST RECOVERING AFTER NEAR-FATAL STABBING AT GIGJulien ‘Jules’ Rozenbergs, guitarist with Melbourne ska-punk outfit The Bennies, is recovering from a near-death experience after he was stabbed by a fan at a Byron Bay show earlier this month. Stepping in to restrain an allegedly intoxicated punter wielding a bottle of whisky, Rozenbergs had the bottle broken over his head and the bottle stabbed into his armpit. The bottle missed an artery by five millimetres and surgeons were astounded that the gash left both arteries and nerve exposed. If the bottle had cut the artery, doctors admitted he probably wouldn’t have survived the attack. After getting 70 stitches redressed in Melbourne. Rozenbergs told theMusic.com.au, “The main thing I’ll take away from this is I could be dead, dude. I’m not angry at the guy, I don’t hold onto that shit… I’m just bummed I can’t play the rest of the tour.” Touring with The Smith Street Band, the incident took place Wednesday 13 February at the Byron Bay venue during the headliner’s set. Rozenbergs said there was a punter with a bottle of whisky who “was knocking people over”, particularly younger teenagers given it was an all ages show. The punter became agitated when told to calm down by others, including The Smith Street Band frontman Wil Wagner and it became clear that he was, in Rozenbergs’ words, “becoming a bit of a liability”. After going outside, Rozenbergs says he attempted to calm the situation, given that there were younger people and bandmates in the vicinity, which then turned the disgruntled punter’s attention towards him. “He was trying to break the bottle on a bin and I thought, ‘If this bottle breaks, this is next level, it’s on,’” the guitarist said. After the man was restrained the guitarist’s first concern was for his head and it was only when examining himself in a mirror that the full extent of the stabbing wound was apparent. He said the 20cm by 10cm gash “looked like a roast beef roll that’s been opened up.” His head had been split by a two-inch gash. The full account is at theMusic.com.au.
Slayer Slayer (Dave Lombardo pictured left)(Dave Lombardo pictured left)
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GET YOUR KIT ONThe Kits will play an exclusive Australian show at the Old Bar this Thursday, to launch their new album Lead Us Into Temptation. Originally from Melbourne, The Kits relocated to London six years ago. Immediately signed by UK garage rock label Dirty Water Records, the band enjoyed critical acclaim with the release of debut album Primitive Tales. Support at the show will be Ultra Bullitt from France and The In The Out.
MY CUPPA TEAIn July 2012, The Tea Party made a triumphant return to Australia with a series of sold out shows after being apart for almost eight years. The band made a promise to the fans each night that they would return with new music and they are about to make good on this promise with some acoustic shows. See them at the Hi-Fi Bar on Monday 11 March.
MARK MY WORDSMark Lanegan is no stranger to our shores, having recently toured in support of his projects with Isobel Campbell, his 2010 solo dates, and his tour with the Mark Lanegan band in 2012. Now the enigmatic rocker is set to visit our parts again to support Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and he’s decided to drop in one more time to Ding Dong Lounge for an exclusive sideshow on Monday 4 March. .
GET BOOZY WITH BUZIDuring the summer, Baptism Of Uzi holed up in Irene’s Warehouse, a former lingerie factory, to craft their second EP slated for release in June. Before they reveal these sonic experiments the psychedelic troopers are launching a live EP, Alive In Buzi World. It will be available to the band’s friends and fans for free through their Facebook page. Catch them at Ding Dong on Saturday 9 March, with Hollow Everdaze, Flyying Colours and Atolls.
SOHO GOODViolent Soho formed in high school, and started by rehearsing and recording demos in their parents’ garages and playing shows wherever they could. Fast forward to 2013, and the band have signed to I Oh You, played major festivals around the world and toured with the likes of Dinosaur Jr, Built To Spill, The Bronx, The Black Keys and more. They play at Ding Dong on Sunday 10 March with Velocirapator and Udays Tiger.
QUICK KOOKSAn extra Melbourne show has been added to The Kooks’ national tour. The Friday 3 May show at the Palais sold out within ten minutes of going on sale, but a new show has been announced at the venue for Wednesday 1. Best be quick if you want a ticket. The Kooks are also appearing nationally as part of the Groovin’ The Moo festival.
LANE’S WAYIt’s been a good start to the year for Davey Lane. He has just released a free downloadable track, You’re The Cops, I’m The Crime, off his upcoming album The Good Borne of Bad Tymes, and has just been announced to support Bob Mould (with his new band at the Corner on Sunday 13 March) and Bob Evans (solo) on his national tour. See Lane open for Bob Evans at Geelong’s Yarra Hotel on Thursday 16 May, the Corner Friday 17 and Meeniyan Town Hall Sunday 18.
IT’S RIGGEDWith the release of their forthcoming debut album Hex.Lover.Killer firmly in sight, The Delta Riggs have announced a national album release tour throughout April, with Stillwater Giants supporting. The tour announcement also coincides with a new video clip for the album’s leading single Rah Rah Radio. They play at the Northcote Social Club on Saturday 20 April.
HOWL FOR GROWLThe Growl have spent the first few months of 2013 opening shows for Tame Impala here and are currently accompanying them on their tour through the USA and Canada. In April they will return home, just in time for a national headline tour to mark the release of their debut LP What Would Christ Do??, out in April. The album follows multiple WAMI nominations and a triple j Unearthed slot at the 2012 Big Day Out. Not too shabby. See what they’re all about at the Workers Club on Wednesday 24 April.
HIP HOP AT HI-FIHip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse are getting ready to make their way to Australia. To create a more intimate setting, they’ve changed some venues. The Melbourne show on Friday 1 March has now been moved to the Hi-Fi. All current tickets are valid for the new venue. Support on the night will be Full Tote Odds.
SHOWING SOME FLESHScottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Sandi Thom, has announced her first Australian tour to launch her new album, Flesh And Blood. As well as appearing at the Apollo Bay Music Festival on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 April and the Koroit Irish Festival on Sunday 28, she plays at the Caravan Music Club with Chris Wilson & Band on Saturday 4 May, the Art Gallery of Ballarat on Sunday 5 and the Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday 9.
SIMONE ON HIS OWNIt’s been one hell of a ride for Catskill Mountains-bred singer-songwriter Simone Felice since he left the confines of his blood-tied outfit The Felice Brothers back in 2009 to follow his own muse. This Easter, Felice returns to our shores for the raucous Boogie Festival, and will tour with Jess Ribeiro. See them at the Meeniyan Town Hall on Saturday 30 March and the Workers Club on Wednesday 3 April.
OH JULY IN MARCHIndie-folk musician Amy Vee has announced an eight-date solo tour ahead of her debut solo album launch in April. Vee will preview her recently recorded album Fits And Starts, as well as a handful of songs from previous EP releases. See her at the Spotted Mallard on Thursday 4 April.
DUST, DIRT, SEEDSNew Zealand reggae-soul heavyweights The Black Seeds announce their return to Australia. Last year they released their fifth studio album Dust And Dirt, which marked something of a new phase of creative freedom for the eight-piece. Catch them at the Hi-Fi on Saturday 27 April.
HARLEM SHAKES OZNYC club-killer Baauer will be touring Australia for the first time in April and May. At just 23 he’s rapidly become the poster child of the contemporary US fusion of dance and rap music. Baauer appears at Rats, Brown Alley, on Saturday 4 May.
TIME OF YOUR LIFEFour legends, four decades of hits, one unforgettable experience. In a world first, the Apia Time Of My Life Tour will bring together Daryl Braithwaite, Joe Camilleri, James Reyne and Ross Wilson to perform together for a national Australian tour. The four will each take the stage to perform a selection of their most memorable singles, before joining forces for the finale. See the show at the Palais on Friday 26 April, Geelong Costa Hall on Saturday 27 and the Capital (Bendigo) on Sunday 28.
VYING FOR A SPOTVydamo, the solo project of Art vs Science’s Jim Finn, is pleased to announce his first ever tour dates this April. First single Gonna Make It has been all over the radio this summer and has all the features of a modern classic. Conceived while recuperating from an operation, Vydamo is equally influenced by the melodies, harmonies and upbeat vibes of the ‘60s and the rollicking piano-led party anthems of Fatboy Slim and Co. Vydamo performs as a five-piece at the Toff on Saturday 20 April.
THE LOCAL DIGSAs if the inclusion of international heavyweights Blue Oyster Cult, Flamin’ Groovies, Buzzcocks and Peter Case of The Nerves ain’t enough, the Hoodoo Gurus have gone and selected a whole swag of local acts for Dig It Up!. For the Melbourne show at Palace and surrounding areas on Thursday 25 April, the following acts have joined the line-up: The Moodists, Ron S Peno & The Superstitions, Super Wild Horses, The Straight Arrows, Bored Nothing and Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk.
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JOHN O’DONNELL NAMED NEW EMI BOSSThe now Universal-owned EMI has announced that veteran music executive John O’Donnell has been named the label’s Managing Director. O’Donnell will oversee the EMI, Capitol and Virgin imprints. He will be based in Sydney’s Universal office. A former music journalist and the founder of Murmur, O’Donnell left Sony to become EMI’s Australia and New Zealand CEO in 2002, a position he held until 2008. Since then he’s worked in his own consulting business and co-managed Cold Chisel with John Watson, guiding the band through their record-breaking recent tours. O’Donnell said that it “was impossible to resist the opportunity to return to EMI,” which he described as a “full-service music company with a vision for the future.” Universal’s Australian head George Ash added, “John’s legacy of success at EMI, of finding and helping to develop so many incredible artists, speaks for itself and for him to come back to the label he helped to build into one of Australia’s best is not only exciting but critical to our vision for EMI.” He said that Universal aimed to “refresh the entrepreneurial edge” for EMI. The appointment also has the blessing of the UMG’s global Chairman and CEO Max Hole, who noted, “Everyone who has ever worked with John knows that he is synonymous with great artists and great music. Developing and investing further in our Australian artists is a key international goal for us. I’m thrilled that John has agreed to return to EMI to play such a crucial role.”
There has been major upheaval at EMI since the takeover was put into effect, with an estimated 30 per cent of their local workforce made redundant. A lot of the PR work for upcoming releases from high priority artists such as Birds Of Tokyo and Gold Fields has been outsourced for the moment.
EX-ROLLING STONE CANCELS AUS TOUR Former Rolling Stones member Mick Taylor has cancelled his April Australian tour due to ill health. Originally intending to kick off Thursday 18 April in Adelaide and then work his way around the east coast, promoter Aldo Lennard of Lennard Promotions confirmed to theMusic.com.au. in a statement that “Lennard Promotions apologies for any inconvenience caused to fans and wishes Mick Taylor a speedy recovery. All patrons will receive a full refund for the tickets by contacting their place of purchase.” He added, “It is hoped that another tour with Mick Taylor can be arranged sometime in the future.” Taylor, who joined the Rolling Stones after the death of guitarist Brian Jones, has also postponed his Scottish dates.
PEZ SIGNS WITH HUB ARTIST SERVICESMelbourne-based rapper Pez has signed a management deal with Hub Artist Services, effective immediately. Pez will release his second album through EMI/Universal this year and has dropped the first track, The Game, signalling something of a comeback for the artist, who had been quiet since the cycle of his breakout single, Festival Song, finished in 2009. He said, “I had to do this on my own the first time around and so to finally have a team around me who I believe in, and who believe in me, makes me so excited for the year ahead.” Hub’s owner and Managing Director Troy Barrott added, “We have absolute respect for Pez and consider him to be one of the most pivotal artists responsible for the emergence of Australian hip hop over the past decade. But beyond that, especially having heard songs for the new album, we believe Pez will become one of the most important voices in Australian music – across all genres.” Last week Hub The Label and Inertia also signed Sydney four-piece Zeahorse. They will release their debut album, Pools, mid-year.
John O’DonnellJohn O’Donnell
MAINTAINING THE HEAVY QUOTAAside from manning the desk for the band’s own records, including Disarm The Descent, Dutkiewicz is a renowned producer of other acts. His résumé includes Shadows Fall, Underoath, As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red and countless others. By all reports the axeman is a hard taskmaster, but also a wacky personality who can instantly lighten the mood.
“He’s hilarious and a madman, but it’s great,” Leach laughs. “We’re definitely the odd couple in more ways than one. He has strengths where I have weaknesses. He has a perfect pitch ear, knows songwriting. I’m a creative type, but I’m not a technical person. If you were to say to me, ‘Sing in A or B’, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I can hear it in my head, but I may not know how to get it out.”
Another high-profile act the guitar-slinger has worked with is Australia’s own Parkway Drive. The guitarist produced their first two albums, (2005’s Killing With A Smile and follow-up, Horizons). However, in a Street Press Australia interview last year, Parkway Drive drummer Ben Gordon remarked of those records; “Adam D is really, really tight, like a drum machine. Everything is so perfect and, in a way, it makes it sound pretty lifeless.”
When the aforementioned comments are relayed to Dutkiewicz, he displays considerable diplomacy.
“A lot of people don’t like records that sound tight and sterile,” he admits. “I definitely get what they’re saying, because I was forcing them to play as tight as possible. ‘Cause at that point I was in that zone of trying to get records as tight as possible. But now I’ve actually changed a little, to stay in between. I like leaving things a little bit loose and believable. Because I think there’s so many records out there nowadays that sound like that, like a grid-edited, perfectly put together Pro Tools record. I switched perspective a little, to getting the vibe of getting the players to sound human here and there. That’s an important thing when making a record, because you want the songs to be able to translate live.”
They’ve become our biggest heavy export since though, so he must have done something right. “Well, it’s not me; it’s mostly to do with them. They had the songs, man. Those were some pretty heavy songs.”
WHO: Killswitch Engage
WHAT: Disarm The Descent (Roadrunner/Warner)
WHEN & WHERE: Friday 1 March, Soundwave, Flemington Racecourse
Right place at the right time perhaps, but in 2002 Massachusetts metalcore crew Killswitch Engage created a genuine game-changer. Ahead of their Soundwave appearance, returning vocalist Jesse Leach and guitarist/producer Adam Dutkiewicz tell Brendan Crabb his days are numbered. Cover and feature pics by Andrew Boyle.
crazy,” he laughs. “We definitely have moments on tour, where it’s, ‘This is insane, I can’t believe how lucky we are to be able to do this.’”
Leach attributes the record’s honesty and “coming from a totally different place than a lot of bands were” as primary reasons for its ongoing reverence. How much of that sentiment does Dutkiewicz feel is rooted in a case of right place, right time? “The music industry is such a tough gig,” the axeman agrees. “You really have to know the right people and write the correct song – a lot of things. We were just lucky enough to be there at that time and be able to do that. We’re definitely lucky dudes.”
Dutkiewicz first noticed a significant changing of the guard when Killswitch Engage performed on the Ozzfest juggernaut following the release of Alive… “There was a lot of positive attention at the second stage, where all the smaller bands like us were playing. You could feel the excitement about the more aggressive, technical bands over there, (rather than) the ‘I hate my mum, I hate my dad’ kind of one-string riff. It was a cool thing to see, real metal bands getting attention.”
However, the then-newly married Leach walked soon after Alive… hit stores, replaced by Blood Has Been Shed man-mountain Howard Jones. The band subsequently enjoyed gold records and Grammy nominations but was eventually sidelined by the vocalist’s own personal and health issues. Leach and Phil Labonte (All That Remains) filled in on tour, before Jones’ proper departure was announced last year. Several weeks later the worst-kept secret in metal was confirmed when Leach returned.
His passionate, earnest lyrics on Alive… stirred audiences and during the new record he proclaims, “I would rather die than live my life in fear”, a mantra fans will warmly embrace. It’s a line
either musically or message-wise. That said, devotees will also appreciate the record’s more aggressive edge, something which Dutkiewicz laments was missing on 2009’s self-titled album. “We’re less concerned about radio than most other metal bands,” he admits. “I listen to a lot of aggressive music, so maybe there were a lot of those influences as well. I like that Jesse is one of those singers, everything he writes is
that would sound ham-fisted if spewed by most vocalists, but from Leach it feels strikingly real.
“[Lyrical inspiration] comes from all over the place, experiences from my life and the band’s,” Leach explains. “When we got back together there was a lot of discussion about the past, a lot of discussion of what they had been through in the past nine years without me. I think that had something to do with it, and just my view on the world. I’m an observer, a writer. Everything comes into play. I try to write with a broad enough brush-stroke that people can draw their own conclusions. I try to write in such a way where people can gather
their own inspiration and definition of what the song is. Because I think that’s powerful in art.
“[Those lyrics], that’s me talking about life. Just being a working-class guy my whole life; I still have that mentality. People call me a rock star, and I completely deny that title. I’m a working musician. I’ve toured, but I’ve also done jobs most of my life. Being working-class and that state of mind of you’re just a gear in the machine, you’re insignificant. I feel like a capitalist society really beats down people, and makes them look towards the government or whoever to validate their existence. That’s my protest, that song’s just about that hardcore/punk ethos of, ‘You can make a difference, we can have our say.’
“I have changed a lot in the past ten years, various aspects of my life. The one thing I have kept intact was my hope for humanity, and also my disgust for humanity,” he laughs. “But I think those two things being juggled is constant motivation and inspiration. I think at the core of it is just wanting to let people know they don’t have to settle. There’s so much more to life than what meets the eye, on a spiritual level as well. That’s one thing that has always stayed in my blood. Hearing the instrumentals when they gave me this record, it struck me immediately; ‘This is going to be a powerful record for me.’”
A decade later it’s impractical to expect Disarm The Descent to leave the same mark as its predecessor,
“I didn’t even consider it; it wasn’t even a thought in my mind,” Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach responds when asked if he was
mindful of the considerable legacy of the band’s 2002 masterwork, Alive Or Just Breathing, when creating new disc, Disarm The Descent. “I was very much thinking in the now. I don’t think it’s healthy to look back and try to compare things. You can’t do it. I was a different vocalist, a different person and it was a totally different vibe in the band back then.”
It’s now easy to underestimate the influence the Massachusetts mob had on heavy music with Alive…, their second record. Fusing American hardcore and Swedish melodic death metal eventually became a saturated market, but at the time, the impact was monumental. One well-established publication even framed them as “the band to kill nu-metal” upon the album’s release.
“It was pretty incredible,” guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz ponders a decade after the fact. “We just did the (tenth) anniversary tour where we played the entire record. It was amazing to see every night, how energised, people singing lyrics to these songs we wrote so long ago. That people still care about it hits you once in a while; ‘Wow, that was a long time ago and a lot of people like it still.’ It’s pretty
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BRINGING
spirited and heartfelt. He means what he’s singing, and that’s such a vital thing when you’re a songwriter and a lyricist.”
Perhaps serving as an unintentional, albeit fortuitous stepping stone to the new material was the pair forming Times of Grace and releasing a full-length in 2011, which the vocalist describes as, “igniting the spark for me; I realised I could do this touring life”. “I think working in the studio and being able to go on the road with him and Joel (Stroetzel, guitars), to see how much fun touring could be with people that you’re really close to (helped). I
think most bands in their honesty would say there’s one or two people in a band, or there’s always a situation where you’re on the road where things aren’t that great. But touring with those guys, they’re like family. So when the opportunity arose for me to rejoin Killswitch, there were many questions that were answered in my mind.”
His bandmate says it wasn’t that simple though, as they received numerous applications from throughout the world. “We wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing and Jesse didn’t actually have the job
until he had an audition. We needed to hear what he sounded like when he did Howard’s songs. We wanted to make sure he could represent Howard’s songs well.”
Leach explains that it was difficult to watch the band’s relationship with Jones unravel. However, he’s audibly pleased with being back in the fold in a reunion fans clamoured for. “That record, they’d been waiting to do it for a year, but just problems with Howard and he didn’t have the motivation to write. We were definitely there for each other. I would reach out, would get a phone call from Adam here and there. It was definitely hard to watch, to know the details nobody else knows.
“As friends, I’m proud to say we just banded together and even before I joined the band I heard the new record, just supported them and said, ‘Hey, if you want to go do an Alive… reunion tour, just to make ends until you guys figure out what you’re going to do with your singer, I’m down with that.’ That was the first step that got me thinking, and probably got them thinking too. First and foremost, I wanted them to make the right decision as a friend, wanted them to be happy. Adam and I are very close; we have been for many years. I’m proud to say since rejoining my friendships have quickly increased to where I consider those guys my brothers, all of them.”
The guitarist is asked how so many years removed from the band altered the frontman. “To be honest, he’s always been that person. It’s just ten years ago he needed to find himself a bit more; I don’t think he was ready to be in a full-time touring band. He’ll admit that. He was having physical limitations with his throat and second thoughts about being away from his family. But now he realises if he takes care of himself, it’s doable for him. He’s doing his passion, what he loves.
“[The uncertainty surrounding a vocalist] was a bummer; you don’t make money when you don’t tour,” Dutkiewicz chuckles. “Everybody was like, ‘Crap, what are we gonna do for money, this sucks.’ I was working; I did a lot of records and kept busy. It just feels great to be back out there having a career again. We’re lucky to have one.”
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MEDICINAL COMPOUNDS
WHO: Tim Rogers & The Bamboos
WHEN & WHERE: Friday 1 March, Melbourne Zoo; Saturday 2, Leongatha Memorial Hall
Could touring with The Bamboos quell the seemingly endless party within Tim Rogers? It’s not likely but he’s willing to adopt a slightly different approach. After all, he and The Bamboos’ Lance Ferguson harbour much mutual respect. Izzy Tolhurst gets the lowdown.
Tim Rogers, known by most as the wild and charismatic front man of Australian rocker group You Am I, is about to embark on the Rock‘n’Soul
Medicine Show Tour with Lance Ferguson, fellow frontman and founder of soul band The Bamboos. Both staples of the Australian tapestry, Rogers is firstly thankful the term “the industry” wasn’t implemented, as he’s admitted being utterly in denial about his long-standing membership with the said institution, while Ferguson chimes in with reasons why The Bamboos are an integral part of the Australian sound. “I feel like with The Bamboos that’s just because the band has never broken up. I refuse to, and I think notoriety is more born out of persistence and reluctance to ever end the band. I’m going to keep making records forever, as long as I feel enthusiastic about it, which I can’t really see that I won’t,” he says proudly.
But, Ferguson continues, “It’s an interesting issue because the music we started out making was so derivative in some ways, or in every way really, of American music from the late ‘60s… Over time I just really wanted to improve my songwriting, and if you’re writing one-chord songs in the style of James Brown it’s very restrictive… Once I realised that The Bamboos was actually my band and my only real and visible outlet for people to hear my music, I wanted people to hear those other colours and chord progressions that I heard in my head. I hope my songwriting has got better because I’ve thrown out some of those limitations and we’re at a place now where, hopefully, it can just be a Bamboos album – not a soul-funk album, which is what I persistently try to fight against. It’s very hard with this kind of music to not be pigeonholed… I really aspire to have people say, ‘That sounds like a Bamboos album’.”
Rogers affirms this may have been the case for some time already, singing The Bamboos praises on behalf of his own rock outfit. “There was this period with You Am I in the late-’90s where we tried in vain to become a band that played similar music to what The Bamboos did, that has its roots in blues and soul but its own hooks so you’re not just doing R&B and soul 101… And we just didn’t do it. But we loved it so much.”
Strangely enough then, and despite an enormous amount of obvious mutual respect and admiration, it wasn’t until The Bamboos’ widely acclaimed seventh album, last year’s Medicine Man, and its high rotation single, I Got Burned, that Rogers and Ferguson finally joined forces. “When I sent him the I Got Burned track, I had written it really quickly; at that stage it was just a simple ditty, and he was free to change anything he wanted, melodically, lyrically or with the rhythm,” says Ferguson. “But when Tim came back and said, ‘No, this is cool… the lyrics are speaking to me right now, and everything’s cool,’ it was immensely validating to me, as someone who’s always trying to write better songs. And to come from one of Australia’s great songwriters, it was extremely validating.”
Rogers was aware of Ferguson for a long while. “When Lance was playing in Megan Washington’s band, I sat behind his amp every show,” he says. “He turned around one night and said would you be interested in doing something together – a recording – and I said absolutely. And after that it was half an hour recording, and about three hours drinking beer… I wish it could always be that way,” he laments.
Ferguson interjects, perhaps in his own way lamenting the absence of beer (as he’s undertaking FebFast), saying, “But it feels good that it did happen. It was probably bound to happen sooner or later, and I’m certainly glad it did.”
Continuing the beer talk, Rogers says he has reconsidered in-depth his party-boy approach to the collaborative tour, particularly, he says, because he is a guest in someone else’s band. “I’ve thought about it with these shows, and you can’t just walk around and think ‘hey I’m Tim Rogers, yeah, fuck you!’ You’ve got to find a way to make it work and I want to be myself… but it’s really interesting playing to someone else’s crowd.”
So what should be expected of the Rock‘n’Soul Medicine Show, which begins with the Perth Festival, makes six intervening stops then wraps up with WOMADelaide? “We’ve got some new songs, as well as some You Am I songs that we’re rearranging, and thankfully a stack of
old Bamboos songs, and when we talked about doing covers, Lance sent through about fifteen suggestions, and they happened to be fifteen of my favourite twenty songs ever… it was berserk. We didn’t even talk about it.” This treasured list includes the likes of Dr John, Delaney & Bonnie and Soft Cell, if prospective ticket buyers want a taste of what’s to come.
Over the years The Bamboos have developed a reputation for suave and immaculate attire and, as regular suit wearers, one reasonably wonders whether a dress code has been set for the tour? “The problem is, when you’ve got a bunch of musicians who own really terrible suits, and only wear them on your gig, they tend to go out and buy an $80 suit from High Point or something,” says Ferguson. “They’re the worst! So there have been some terrible, terrible suits worn by the members of the band.”
Alternately, self-proclaimed prima donna Rogers says it will be a case of stake-raising between he and singer Kylie Auldist. “I feel like I’ve got to prove my worth and
earn her respect; so if she comes with a flower in her hair, I’ve got to come with two flowers in my hair. By the end of the tour I’m going to look like Carmen Miranda!”
Beyond the tour, even though both musicians are individually profound multi-taskers, with Rogers involved in several cinematic projects and Ferguson pursuing an album release with his other band, The South Seas, and dishing out the occasional DJ set, a collaborative album may still happen. “We’re really planning on a record together, it’s been on the cards for a while really,” says Ferguson. “Since we recorded I Got Burned, I was thinking about it… You know, it sounded great. I don’t know how we’d spin it, or what it’ll be called, but I think either way the music will be cool.”
18 • For more interviews go to themusic.com.au/interviews
THE BIG QUESTIONS
WHO: Birds Of Tokyo
WHAT: March Fires (EMI)
WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 27 February, University Of Ballarat; Thursday 28, Pier Live, Frankston; Friday 1 March, Kay St, Traralgon; Saturday 2 and Sunday 3, Forum
For their fourth album, Birds Of Tokyo have taken a match to their past to create something new, as Ian Kenny and Adam Spark explain to Michael Smith.
Five years and three albums into a career, Birds Of Tokyo have established what you might describe as a blueprint for their sound. Going into
the studio to record album number four, March Fires, the band decided to scrap it, reinvent themselves and create an almost entirely new blueprint.
“I think it’s just the desire to keep growing as artists, you know,” guitarist Adam Spark suggests. “This is all we do, so if you’re gonna hang your hat on something when you die and, you want to define yourself by something in some small way, I guess you wanna at least know that you kept contributing to your little zeitgeisty moments and, I don’t know, it felt it would be relevant and you’re learning, I guess. A desire to learn, hey?”
“I think so,” singer Ian Kenny chips in. “We’re kind of sort of 30-something year old guys asking ourselves why are we writing music? Why are we at album number four? Sort of looking at ourselves in our worlds and our little societies. We understand we have an audience these days, so the fact that that’s getting to the place it is, we feel a bit more of a responsibility with that. So it just felt right to kind of have those conversations, those human-to-human conversations, that communal sense on this record of a call to arms sort of thing. It just made sense, it just felt right. As soon as we started writing in that direction, it was just speaking volumes to us.”
Of course, it’s all very well deciding to reinvent yourself, but which way to go? “What initially was informing us,” Spark takes up the question, “is we kept coming back to a certain group of songs, bits of music, melodies, and even before the final sort of lyrics were completed for it, there was always this element of, like, the 2013 version of some sort of secular gospel thing or like a field song or something very simple cadence-y musical sort of movement, literally like C, G, C, G, C, D on a
piano sort of thing and the melodies that Kenny was coming up with, they just all were feeling, yeah, just kind of spiritual in some way. And then we thought, well, the obvious thing to do is to go and make a folkie-sounding thing and that’s not us, so we thought, this is where it’s going – it was informing us as much as when we started informing the other bits of material that weren’t like that, and it kind of started feeling like a bit of a no-brainer when it came time to actually piecing together the ‘wire’ of each song. And if you’re gonna talk about anything relevant in your life, you may as well talk about things that you talk about amongst yourselves as friends every day, which is what we do.”
While ostensibly a three-piece comprising Kenny, Spark and drummer Adam Weston until they relocated from hometown Perth, where they formed in 2004, to various cities across the Eastern Seaboard, and officially became a five-piece, keyboards player Glenn Sarangapany has been with them for four years, and bass player Ian Berney took up the role from a departing Anthony Jackson in 2011.
“Glenn is a contributing writer now and was a lot on this record,” Sparks explains, “and Ian, we were very lucky there, very fortunate in the transition. He’s such a sort of clued-in guy, excited about music, so the band, prior to walking into this record was feeling the best it has in some time, it was just feeling right, and it wasn’t much of an effort, the five of us as we are, to actually work on the record together.”
The ‘teaser’ EP, This Fire, released last October, was the first indication of the sonic change Birds Of Tokyo had undergone during the three years between 2010’s self-titled album and March Fires.
“It was primarily [latest single] Lanterns and This Fire that… We always kind of made the joke,” Sparks chuckles, “it sounds grotesque to say it but we always made the joke, going, ‘It doesn’t matter about the rest of the record as long as we’ve got Lanterns and Fire!’ It was clearly a joke but it was more, I guess metaphorically speaking, that they were the sort of signposts for the record, emotionally or stylistically, that sort of said to the other ones,
‘Hey, if you’re gonna come up and hang out on the penthouse level with us as it were, you’ve gotta kind of speak our language’, kind of thing. The music and the identity were there earlier than a lot of the other pieces, but the narrative of the songs came later.”
“It’s not really a conceptual record,” Kenny expands, “but the kind of themes through the record are again about this sort of communal little landscape that we’ve set up on this record, and this sort of human-to-human connection and communication. I mean we’re here to sort of speak about how we see things on our day-to-day basis – even the smallest of action can affect the biggest sort of reaction. It’s not so much political – it’s not really about that – but again, it’s just small day-to-day statement stuff about us as people, just to try and explore that sense of community and communication – why do certain songs and why do certain words make you feel like you’re part of something? It doesn’t have to be huge but you still feel connected.
“It is a big canvas. Luckily we were able to play with that over sort of ten pieces of music, and that’s where we get to sort of spread that out and pick up parts of the general conversation happening there. But I guess it just harps back to us, where we’re at personally. The band’s
in a pretty good place actually, personally as a band, so it’s not so much about the micro stuff, it’s thinking about the macro and sort of zooming out and having a look at where we sit, and why do we sit in this space.”
“I think if it was overtly political,” Sparks adds, “or overtly dealing with ‘events’ per se, I guess, that’s when it would feel really grand. Our way, which we always kept trying to do with the record, was how do we allow this to feel as big and communicative as possible whilst kind of keeping our cool about it and not going too over the top with, I guess, content or whatever. If we were to turn around singing about ‘the one percent’ and all this sort of stuff, it’s very obvious – it’s completing what we call in our band the little obvious triangle,” and he makes a triangle with his hands. “We’re always trying to keep one of [the sides] not touching, and that’s a big thing for us.”
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19
MIND-WAKERS
“Absolutely,” Bossems agrees passionately. “There’s a lot of people that don’t really know how modern trance can sound. They have still the feeling of the 1999 kind of [makes pinging trance noise] sound. So we just wanted to show the people how modern trancy-ish sounds can be. Because I don’t think we produce the typical kind of trance, so this is one thing that we tried to say with Wake Your Mind; to be open-minded in general about music. To make your pick, make your choice from different kinds of genres, but just don’t be stuck in one genre and be like, ‘Oh, I’m just house, I’m just trance, I’m just techno’, or whatever. There’s a lot of beautiful music around so just be open and make your pick without pigeonholing.”
Ridiculously genial, this answer is the only one that you can hear the twinkle of some frustration in his tone. And you can understand why; trance is one of those genres lambasted by many EDM fans, the associated sub-cultural trends of gators, dummies, glowsticks and brightly coloured lycra making it an easy target for cerebral chin-strokers. Ironically though, trance has pervaded the very genres that are loved by these same trance haters. From more mainstream biz like Steve Aoki & Afrojack’ No Beef and Avicii’s Levels through to dubstep and even more underground house and tech artists, core arpeggio, synth and vocal elements of trance have busted into other genres over the last few years in a big way. As has the reverse, trance evolving to take in other genres. Of course some trance ‘1999’ purists aren’t happy with this cross-pollination, so how healthy does Bossi see this genre splicing future?
“Music has to change, music has to get new influences to make steps forward,” Bossems emphasises. “On a personal level, to do all the same productions, the same kind of melodies, the same kind of sounds, this would bore the hell out of us in the studio production. And if we’re bored then we couldn’t be creative and come up with something nice. And that’s why we actually think that things are really positive how they are. There’s a lot of crap on the market, but there was always a lot of crap on the market and people just need to make the right picks.”
It’s no doubt this obsession with moving forward that has been instrumental to their ongoing success. So much so they have a trick to keep up with demand. “We both have three passports,” laughs Bossems, “simply because of the fact that always one passport is actually somewhere at an embassy to get a visa or something, so you always need a spare one as sometimes there’s two at different embassies.” He’s not joking. To give you an idea of their schedule, right about now they’re in the middle of a five-week tour that will see them pass through five continents, and too many cities to keep up with where they are. With such a rigorous schedule and so many years in the game, how do they keep their fire still burning so strongly? “We love what we do. This is our hobby and it’s our profession, and if you love your job then it’s not a job but it’s something you do with pleasure. And even with jetlag and all the travelling and missing your friends and family, you still have the energy and the passion and you just go, and that’s the plan that we have is to go on for many more years… and we’re just glad that we don’t have to sit in an office wearing a suit and tie!”
Okay, okay, but what about the fact that all relationships have ups and downs, and that theirs has lasted longer than the average modern day marriage? Love at first sight, and forev’s? “Well, we are actually pretty different kind of characters,” Bossems laughs. “But yeah, we work good together as a team; we each have our jobs, and our strong and our weak sides, but it’s always about Cosmic Gate. It’s never about a single ego, and this is why we work so good; it’s always in the middle and we know that it’s never easy for one of us to do what two of us can do together.”
Speaking of unions, they’ll be bringing a not-so-secret weapon to FMF. While Bossi points out they’re “going to play a solid club set with the new trance out there,” they’re also incorporating into the live show Emma Hewitt, the voice behind Cosmic Gate hits like Calm Down and Be Your Sound. Once in Australian band Missing Hours, she’s now a much, much bigger deal in Europe. Cosmic Gate are largely to thank for this, so it must be nice to see her transform into a popular artist. “Absolutely,” agrees Bossems. “We were kind of the first to bring her out there, and of course we’re really happy to see her doing so well. And this of course is also going to make our tracks together stronger, being with an established artist.”
They’re also buzzed about their curatorial duties, rejecting having felt any pressures or restrictions. “No, this was like a pretty fast process,” explains Bossems of the responsibilities in shaping their Wake Your Mind party zone. “Future Music had some ideas and we had some ideas, and most of the artists were down right away to be part of this. And we’ve known most of the artists for years… so this was no pressure at all. This was fun and I think we have a really nice and credible line-up for the trance tent.”
Of course Bossi will be hoping non-trance heads flock to the arena to have their minds woken. “I’m sure that some of these people will be absolutely surprised. We hear a lot from people after the show that they’ll be like, ‘Oh, I never liked trance but I really loved your set.’ And we’ll be like, ‘But this is not typical trance…’ So yeah, just be open and you’ll be surprised [with] what you’ll hear.”
Programming their very own stage for Future Music Festival, Germany’s Cosmic Gate are planning to Wake Your Mind to the possibilities of trance. Aarom Wilson gets schooled.
WHO: Cosmic Gate
WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 10 March, Future Music Festival, Flemington Racecourse
20 • For more interviews go to themusic.com.au/interviews
A fixture in the DJ Magazine Top 100 for many years in a row now, Cosmic Gate has been raising people’s hands
in the air for just shy of 15 years. With four artist albums to their name, countless mixed comps, remixes of everyone from Tiësto to Ferry Corsten, singles that have not only topped charts but broken records, plus a constant touring schedule, it’s no wonder Stefan Bossems (aka DJ Bossi) and Claus Terhoeven (Nic Chagall) were given the curatorial honours for Future Music Festival’s 2013 trance arena. Just don’t expect to enter holding staunchly to your pre-conceived notions of what trance is. After all, they haven’t named it the Wake Your Mind tent just because it’s the name of their last album – instead they’re literally committed to broadening people’s minds.
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A TO ZED
Zeds Dead took their handle from a line Bruce Willis utters in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘90s cult film Pulp Fiction. By coincidence, Dylan “DC” Mamid, half
of the combo with Zack “Hooks” Rapp-Rovan, has just caught the so-called “director DJ’s” critically acclaimed (if controversial) western Django Unchained at the cinema. “I’m a huge Tarantino fan,” Mamid raves. “I loved it – it’s such a good movie.” Zeds Dead, who early in 2012 kicked off an 80-date North American tour subsuming Coachella, are taking off two months to buckle down in the studio. It has been, Mamid says, “nice” to be home in Toronto, “so we can do things like that – go see movies and whatnot.”
Zeds Dead initially hit Australia in January 2012, playing smaller venues. “It was good – it was really good,” Mamid recalls. “We had a really good time. It was very, very go, go, go, so we didn’t really get a chance to actually experience Australia too much outside of playing shows and being in hotels and stuff. But we had a day off in Sydney, we got to see Sydney, so that was cool.” The Canadians found they shared an affinity with their Commonwealth brethren. “I felt like everybody there was very friendly at least,” Mamid laughs, “and I definitely get that vibe in both Canada and Australia. We got on with everybody there really well.”
In March Zeds Dead will join Future Music Festival 2013 with “buddies” Kill The Noise (who’s produced Korn) and Borgore (the Israeli bass man working with wannabe punk Miley Cyrus). Mamid hopes to bump into some heroes. “It’d be really cool to even just share the same stage as The Prodigy, because we’ve been big fans of theirs for a long time and just got a chance to do a remix [of Breathe] for them. So it’d be cool maybe if we got a chance to meet them.”
Mamid and Rapp-Rovan started out in the early 2000s cutting hip hop as Mass Productions (they occasionally rapped). They’d issue an album, Fresh Beetz, independently in 2007. Two years later, they reinvented themselves as an EDM outfit. Zeds Dead hosted a weekly event, Bassmentality, with The Killabits, helping to popularise dubstep in Toronto. They also offered free downloads, one the track Journey Of A Lifetime. The Brit Kissy Sell Out picked up the first official Zeds Dead single, Rude Boy, for his San City High in 2010 (a vocal version with MC Omar LinX followed). Next, Diplo embraced them, putting out Rumble In The Jungle on Mad Decent – it topped Beatport’s Breakbeat Chart – while Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak released Ruckus The Jam.
Zeds Dead have disseminated countless remixes, many of them bootlegs (cue their strange reincarnation of Bon Iver’s Woods). But, as with a rendering of Dragonette’s Volcano, the Zeds Dead remix of The Prodigy’s Breathe is 100 percent legit, being for the recent 15th anniversary repackage of The Fat Of The Land. “The Prodigy one was the most challenging ‘cause we had a lot of pressure around it,” Mamid admits.
To date, Zeds Dead have, boots aside, privileged singles or EPs (including 2012’s Adrenaline). In fact, they’re airing a new EP, the instrumental Hot Sauce, on Mad Decent this week. Explains Mamid, “It’s like a whole bunch of different styles – I’d say it’s our most experimental EP we’ve done so far, it’s got a lot of different kind of tracks on there. I think people will be surprised by some of the stuff on there, but it should go over pretty well – at least I hope so!”
Zeds Dead have been recording continuously, reaching out to potential collaborators. “We got a lotta music in the works.” The duo are open to crafting an album. “I think the album format definitely still has relevance to us – and we’d definitely wanna do one. It’s just about timing, really, and making a big commitment.” The dilemma for Zeds Dead is that, because they enjoy going with the flow, their sound forever mutates – but, Mamid holds, an album would need to have “a cohesive sound”, albeit an eclectic one. “We feel like it’s gotta be really special and it’s gotta be sort of a statement and an all-encapsulating thing of all the different styles and genres that we do or sounds that we like... I think we will still do one, it’s just we’re not gonna rush it.”
Zeds Dead are identified with dubstep, but their music has splodges of hip hop, electro and rock. Mamid struggles to summarise ‘their’ genre in 2013. “It’s hard to say – because it’s changing so often. I mean, it’s kind of funny – like, we obviously got big off dubstep originally, and that was what a lot of people pinned us as, but it was just one stop on the whole musical journey... I guess right now we’re not doing as much of the same dubstep sound. We still have done a bit. We just released a pretty dubsteppy tune – a remix that we did of Marina And The Diamonds [Lies, a Diplo co-production]. But this next EP [Hot Sauce] is really, like I said, kinda all over the place. A lot of the stuff I don’t even know how I would classify it.” And Mamid is discovering old influences of his own. “I’ve actually been getting back into hip hop a lot more and making some hip hop beats that are like what I used to make in hip hop, but with the skills we’ve gathered as electronic producers – so kind of future hip hop stuff.” Curiously, Zeds Dead move in the same circles as Drake, who counts among his crew the local illwave producers Noah “40” Shebib and T-Minus – producers Mamid admires. “I’ve been realising that there’s some similarities in some of the sounds coming out of Toronto. Maybe it’s part of that unknowing universal collective thing where everybody comes to the same point at the same time.”
Cyclone has a chat with both halves of Canadian dubstep duo Zeds Dead about bootlegs, genres, and occasional rapping.
WHO: Zeds Dead
WHEN & WHERE: Friday 8 March, Good Life Festival, Flemington Racecourse; Sunday 10, Future Music Festival, Flemington Racecourse
For more interviews go to themusic.com.au/interviews • 21
Zeds Dead will be “rocking it” at FMF with their live/DJ composite show. (“It’s really mostly just like a DJ set with extra stuff added on top,” Mamid says bashfully.) Zeds Dead are competitive. If Mamid hears an epic track by someone else, he’s bursting to enter the studio. Zeds Dead aim to up the ante as DJs, too. “I feel [that industry competition] sometimes, but it’s a good type of competition, it’s a healthy type – and it’s only with a few people, to be honest,” Mamid laughs. “It always inspires me to be better.”
JUST THE BEGINNING
WHO: Rita Ora
WHAT: Ora (Sony)
WHEN & WHERE: Friday 8 March, Good Life Festival, Flemington Racecourse; Sunday 10, Future Music Festival, Flemington Racecourse
With more UK number one singles last year than any other artist,Rita Ora was one of 2012’s true breakthroughs. Ahead of her debut Australian performances proper, she speaks to Matt O’Neill about 2013.
In an era where precocious youth is an increasing constant within the charts, Rita Ora’s age still comes as a shock. In 2012, she managed to reach the top
of the UK charts on three separate occasions – more than any other artist that year. Even prior to the release of her breakthrough debut album, Ora, she’d already earned the respect of personalities like Jay-Z (who signed her to his label Roc Nation). She’s only 22.
“It’s pretty interesting,” she says of the world she’s found herself in over the past 12 months. “I mean, meeting someone like Jay-Z for the first time... It’s hard not to feel a little starstruck. Except, he’s nothing like Jay-Z, you know? He’s just Jay. He’s very sweet and humble and lovely. He’s very down to earth and not at all like what you would expect him to be like. The whole experience has been very interesting.
“To be honest, I never think about the celebrity stuff much. You know, I just go with the flow. I mean, my success has totally changed my life, it’s true. I can’t exactly just go to McDonald’s whenever I feel like it anymore. I just try to go with the flow of it all, though. I don’t really think of myself as a celebrity. I think of myself as a musician who writes popular music.”
She doesn’t sound 22. There’s a practised bluster and wit to her speech. Her words and character alike arrive lightly glossed. Initially, one’s tempted to ascribe such detachment to a superficial disposition. Except to do so would be to misconstrue caution as identity. Ora isn’t a flakey starlet. She’s simply a post-adolescent who largely grew up (and is growing up) in the glasshouse that is the UK media environment.
While mainstream recognition proper eluded her until last year, Ora’s no stranger to public exposure. Age 15, she appeared on Craig David’s Awkward in 2007 (and repeated the trick a year later with David’s 2008 single, Where’s Your Love). In 2009, she made cameo appearances in videos for Jay-Z (Young Forever) and Drake (Over). One can understand why she would be a little guarded.
“You know, it’s always that thing when you talk about a pop star of glitzy lights and being on stage; of being all shiny and plastic, smiling all the time and looking
like you’re a Colgate advert. And it’s not at all like that. There’s so much stuff that the public – not saying that they should know, but – don’t know about the journey someone has to take to get to that point.
“It doesn’t irritate me. I just feel that people should give people more time. You know, it’s hard not to judge when we’re in your face all the time – but it’s equally hard to judge when you don’t know who that person is yet. I love being a pop star. I just don’t particularly like the stereotype of what many people think it means to be a pop star. In my head, I see myself as a musician, first and foremost.”
There’s a feeling that Ora has never quite been allowed to act her age. Within the world that she’s entered into, there isn’t really much room for a 22-year-old singer-songwriter. Female pop stars are viewed by commentators as either brainless starlets shaped by svengalis or ruthless, calculating businesswomen plotting their careers from the outset. An easy-going girl in her early-20s doesn’t really fit with the mythology.
“In all honesty... I’m not going to lie to you, I know this will probably sound cheesy as shit, but I never for a second thought of doing anything but music with my life,” Ora admits – seemingly on the cusp of maintaining the ‘calculating businesswoman‘ archetype. “You know, I always thought I’d figure it out. The idea of settling and doing something else for a living just never even occurred to me.”
Except, that’s largely where Ora seems make the most sense. There are fragments of her backstory that seem to play into the standard archetypes but her career only really comes together when you think of it as the path of young musician taking advantage of opportunity. She’s not trying to be, as many have suggested, Britain’s Rihanna. Really, she’s not trying to be anything in particular. Just experimenting.
“When I first started out, I was just writing songs. I was just experimenting with myself, you know. A whole bunch of different genres; just experimenting with music. I didn’t really know where it would take me. I just wanted to make songs. Whatever I felt like that day, I would do that. I still try not to think that far ahead. I just don’t ever want to stop releasing music.
“Like, I don’t focus on stuff like, ‘Oh, I have to break America‘ or ‘I have to tour Australia’. I don’t pay attention to that sort of thing. I just try and make my music and let it take me where it will take me. Again, it’s a go with the flow sort of thing. I mean, it’s obviously great when that sort of stuff comes through, but I’m not going to let it define my life, you know?”
Nowhere is this more evident than in the pop star’s immediate response to her own success. Ora does a remarkable job of projecting a cool, professional demeanour in conversation. She almost always maintains a realistic and reasoned outlook on her career. However, ask her about the experience of discovering her chart successes last year – and you get a glimpse of a very different Ora. The actual Rita Ora, one feels.
“Oh my God. It’s the best feeling in the world. When my first single with DJ Fresh, Hot Right Now, went
to number one, I was just like... ‘No. No.‘ When I heard my second single, How We Do, went to number one, I was like ‘No... No!’” she laughs. “And, when my third single, RIP, went to number one, I was just like ‘No! NO!‘ It was like the coolest feeling ever. Honestly, I just don’t know what to say.
“I’m really just happy people connected with me at all. You know, actually wanted to jump on this crazy party bus with Rita,” she smiles. “It’s humbling.”
22 • For more interviews go to themusic.com.au/interviews
LIVE AFTER DEATH
WHO: Kyuss Lives!
Tuesday 26 February, The Palace;Friday 1 March, Soundwave,Flemington Racecourse
With their days of running through stoner rock’s most important backcatalogue under the Kyuss Lives! moniker almost up, drummer Brant Bjork talks Kris Swales through the Kyuss alumni’s recent legal squabbles and the current incarnation’s imminent rebirth as Vista Chino. What to expect? “A really groovy, heavy rock record, man.”
It’s a mid-December afternoon and Brant Bjork is holed up at a friend’s studio in Palm Springs, California, not far from the deserts where four friends once
lugged their music gear for ‘generator parties’ that helped a precociously talented band become legends. That band, of course, were Kyuss, who between 1989 and 1995 – across four albums, some equally ripping B-sides and several line-up changes – fused “the grassroots philosophy of The Grateful Dead and Black Flag” (according to Bjork) with the heaviness of Black Sabbath to create the blueprint for stoner rock.
Bjork left Kyuss in acrimonious circumstances in 1993 – “there were those elements directly and indirectly related to the band that was betting on us to be the next Metallica, and I just wasn’t really interested,” he says of that decision – and now calls nearby Joshua Tree (and occasionally Los Angeles) home. But his pleasure at being back on familiar ground today is obvious, particularly as he’s running over the recordings that will see his seminal band’s second coming as Kyuss Lives! transform into an entirely new beast called Vista Chino.
With the basic tracks laid down by Bjork, returning bassist Nick Oliveri (Bjork says of his recent leave of absence that “sometimes he’s gotta leave home, but if he wants to come back and get his old room back then he’s welcome”), and newcomer guitarist Bruno Fevery, only the husky tonsils of frontman John Garcia are required to complete the band’s rebirth.
“We knuckled down about three months ago,” Bjork continues, “and after talking to an assortment of producers and labels and stuff, we ended up just recording the record at my studio up in Joshua Tree and I’m actually producing it. Nick’s back in the band again, and really it’s been Bruno and myself doing the majority of the writing.
“It sounds amazing – it’s all analogue recording, so it sounds really warm and just fat. It’s a really groovy, heavy rock record, man.”
Making groovy, heavy rock has been the Kyuss modus operandi since their formative days, and that recipe was no less potent when Fevery stepped into the sizeable shoes of founding guitarist Josh Homme for the first Kyuss Lives! Australian tour in May 2011. Fans left those shows in no doubt that Fevery had serious chops (“I think he did so with a lot of respect and a lot of taste,” offers Bjork), with the drummer believing “he’s really liberated himself” on an album slated for an April 2013 release.
“He’s an amazing guitar player, he’s an amazing person, and he really, really does shine on this record,” Bjork enthuses. “I think a lot of people are going to have a whole new understanding of what sort of musician he is. I’m really excited to see him step up and really become the guitar player of this band. It’s fantastic.”
For those late to the Kyuss party, a quick summary. Bjork, alongside singer Garcia, Oliveri and Homme, was part of the line-up that recorded 1992’s breakthrough, Blues For The Red Sun – by the time instant classic, Sky Valley, (1994) was recorded, Oliveri was gone and Scott Reeder was on the four strings. Bjork left before that album saw the light of day, replaced by Alfredo Hernandez on the skins for …And The Circus Leaves Town, the group’s 1995 album swansong.
Homme, Hernandez and Oliveri formed the first album line-up of Queens Of The Stone Age; Garcia moved through Kyuss-esque acts like Slo Burn, Unida and Hermano; and Reeder all but disappeared, though he was briefly sighted auditioning for Metallica’s bass player role during their 2004 documentary, Some Kind Of Monster.
Bjork, meanwhile, moved onto the drummer’s stool of fellow California rockers Fu Manchu, where he shared creative control with band leader Scott Hill – but not before wallowing in the mire following his Kyuss departure.
“Oh yeah, that was a real bummer, you know,” Bjork recalls. “That took me a good year-and-a-half to get over. I was very broken-hearted and frustrated and very, very
depressed, but sometimes you’ve got to go through these things and you learn from it. So I’m actually grateful for the experience - but it was a painful one.”
Bjork called time on his other musical endeavours in late 2010 (he’s been full-time since 1999, both with Fu Manchu, as a solo artist, and with his sidemen in The Bros) when the news Kyuss fans never expected broke – the band were getting back together, albeit without Homme, to dust off the classics as Kyuss Lives! The subsequent tours were met with almost universal applause, though former members Homme and Reeder (who briefly replaced Oliveri in Kyuss Lives! when the bassist went AWOL) eventually took umbrage and filed a lawsuit for breach of trademark infringement and consumer fraud.
A warts-and-all May 2012 interview with US Rolling Stone saw Bjork and Garcia let slip with more details about the band’s demise, including Homme’s battle for complete creative control, than most fans ever wished to hear. For Bjork, though, they were words that needed to be said.
“It is a bit of a bummer, but sometime I have to separate myself and my experience with the band from the fans and what they need and want. Kyuss is my life, a very big part of my life, and I’ve had my own individual experience with it. It’s a bit of a mystery for a lot of people – most people – I’ve never felt the need to come out and speak of the unfortunate underlying history, reality of the band.
“But I was the first to be aware of the magic and the beauty of this band, and was the first to be really upset when it wasn’t going to move forward as a harmonious unit. For better, for worse, this last year was just a time when I made the conscious decision to openly give facts on why certain things are happening and why certain things happened.”
With the lawsuit now settled – and the Kyuss Lives! name about to be retired after a trek around Australia for Soundwave – Bjork is unsure whether the bridges with Homme and Reeder can ever be rebuilt.
“It’s hard to say man,” he sighs. “Anything and everything’s possible – people change their minds. Today we’re just not on the same page – maybe we can get on the same page somewhere down the road. I don’t think it’s going to be tomorrow or next week.
“But, you know, I can’t worry about them worrying,” he laughs. “I’m very happy with my life, I’m very content with my work, I’m very proud of what we’re doing and what we aim to do. And you’re just not always going to be able to always stoke everybody out, you know?”
THE BREAKDOWN ON BREAKUP
Though he may be in town promoting his band’s latest album, Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier can’t actually listen to it. “When you listen to nothing else for three
months straight, trying to make sure that the snare is the right volume every time it’s hit and having scrutinised it to such an absurd degree, it’s hard to know what it sounds like,” he laughs in a typically verbose and chuckle-laden outburst. “You have to wait for the dust to settle and get away from the chaos of making something and obsessing over it completely.”
Saunier and his bandmates have created what is possibly the most danceable album of Deerhoof’s lengthy career. With highlights that include the critically lauded LP, Friend Opportunity, Sufjan Steven’s favourite album of all time, The Runners Four, and their previous, tropicalia-influenced release, Deerhoof Vs Evil, Deerhoof have made a trademark of gleeful unpredictability. “Obviously, the danger of repeating yourself happens all the time with bands,” he says carefully, “but it doesn’t happen with us. A band that has a big hit gets stuck in a trap; the fans want to hear the song and when it comes time for another record to get made, there is a machine that pushes them to make a record like that last one. If you do that you know you’re screwing yourself, you’re shooting the respect of your fans in the foot by becoming more conservative with your musical choices. In our case, there is no hit, no sound or melody or style so we’ve never been under any pressure to repeat ourselves. Our only pressure is to do new surprising things, unexpected things, something people wouldn’t expect you to do, something we wouldn’t expect ourselves to do,” he chuckles. “We have four songwriters in the band and, if anything, we’ve got more daring over the years. When we started the band we were more… grunge,” he says laughing loudly. “We were a heavy, noisy, rock band and we’d never have the nerve to say ‘I’ve got this orchestral ballad,’ or ‘I’ve got this reggae song,’ whereas now it feels like there’s almost a dare between the band and the audience to see what we can pull off.”
This freedom is something possible to embrace by every band starting out, but few other bands twelve albums, ten EPs and 19 years into their career can boast of it. “We rarely think of adopting another musical genre, only in the vaguest terms. Breakup Song is more danceable, and dance music is the most vague genre you can think of. Yes we do have ideas of what we might want to do next, but when you’re first brainstorming and dreaming of these things you’re rarely thinking which section of the record store you want to colonise next. It’s more about a way you want to feel when you’re making a song or a way you’d like to feel with an audience when you’re on stage playing. With Breakup Song, we’re more concerned with, ‘Does it feel fun, does it feel energetic, is it flirty, does it feel sassy or sociable?’”
Deerhoof have done everything. They’ve ‘become’ The Rolling Stones in an updated version of Sympathy For The Devil, have been invited by David Bowie to play at his Highline Festival, toured with Radiohead, composed a soundtrack for Justin Theroux’s film, Dedication, and become part of The Plastic Ono Band. Despite these brushes with fame, they are, essentially, four people painstakingly constructing meticulously written and tightly played songs over laptops, something Saunier feels is reflected on the cover of Breakup Song, a picture of a garbage truck.
“The cover photo was something [singer] Satomi [Matsuzaki] took on her telephone really late coming home from a mixing session. It was 3am and there was a garbage truck in front of her house. At the time we were trying to finish the record – all four of us were working nonstop – somebody was at the computer trying to come up with a mix, improve a melody or add some overdub to something. We had been talking a lot about an idea we had called a ‘jingletron’, which is a music party machine that has lights and makes a lot of noise – if you set it up it would make an instant party,” he guffaws loudly. “In her delirium she thought this was a jingletron; under the truck a bunch of people were having a huge dance party and this truck managed to bring that and it would secretly move around town and cause these instant parties to erupt wherever it went,” Saunier says, finally rendering himself speechless with laughter. Along with an example of a jingletron, the band’s website features a half-hour video made to accompany Breakup Song in which Matsuzaki and Saunier are seen chasing garbage trucks around Brooklyn. “Garbage trucks aren’t the most notable things in life,” he admits, “but after we put it on the cover and made the video now every time I see one it’s exciting. I’m like, ‘Check the lights on that one! It’s a bit red but orange too, it’s twinkling!’ It’s like some magic character has been brought to life or something.”
Live, this manic energy and constant inventiveness fuels the Deerhoof show and, naturally, not every audience can keep up; something that doesn’t bother Saunier. ”The audience might have wildly different reactions at the same time, not just: ‘I liked it’ and ‘I didn’t like it’. We have devoted fans who come to every show they can, and we have some extreme haters. Often amongst those fans, people like it for totally different reasons. Some people like to dance or shout and sing along, other times people are getting very quiet and listening intently to every
On the eve of a promotional tour for their 12th album, Breakup Song, Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier defines a ‘jingletron’ and explains his joy at never having had a hit. Andy Hazel listens in.
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detail like we’re classical music. Some people like the noise and the intensity of it and other people think it’s cute and they like how melodic it is – they find it very sweet. Other people find it violent. I find the people who detest it the most come to love us later. I’ve had that reaction to music many times myself. It’s the process of figuring out why to like it or how to like, and this makes you like it more; you have to fight for it and I like this process a lot.”
WHO: Deerhoof
WHAT: Breakup Song (Lost And Lonesome)
WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 3 March, Schoolhouse Studios
WHO: The Blackout
WHAT: Start The Party (Cooking Vinyl/Shock)
WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday 26 February, Billboard; Friday 1 March, Soundwave, Flemington Racecourse
TURN OFF THE LIGHTSGet ready, Australia. Welsh nu-metal tragics and all-round party-starters The Blackout are on their way. Brendan Crabb downs shots with vocalist Sean Smith.
Sean Smith, co-vocalist of Welsh rockers The Blackout, doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him. Case in point: his willingness to admit
what countless rock fans now try to deny; he still adores nu-metal. “It’s what got us into music,” he explains. “Our first ever gig, we did three covers and two of our own – they were Limp Bizkit’s Counterfeit, Faith No More’s Digging The Grave and Lostprophets’ The Fake Sound Of Progress – so it’s played a big part. Anyone who makes a band now in the last ten years and says it’s got nothing to do with their band is a liar,” he says, spitting the last word in his thick accent. “At some point, everybody liked a nu-metal song; otherwise nu-metal wouldn’t have been so big. So many cool punk kids are like, ‘I never liked Limp Bizkit’. Yeah, you fucking did, you liar.”
What does he make of the recent resurgence of bands like Fred Durst’s Bizkit? Nostalgia value? “I love it,” he says. “We went on tour with them in 2010, it was a dream come true. The 16-year-old me was going mental every night. I wrote a letter asking them, could we see them do Counterfeit in sound-check? I got sent down to the stage and Fred (Durst) was like, ‘If we’re gonna do it, you’ve gotta sing it’. I was like, ‘I was born to do this; bring it on, Fred’. We did it in sound-check and after he said, ‘Don’t get so drunk after you play tonight, ‘cause we’re gonna do it live’. There’s a video on YouTube of us playing the first song we ever played live, with the people who wrote the song. It’s come full-circle; it’s a world gone mad.”
If it isn’t yet apparent, instantly likeable Smith doesn’t take himself or the interview process too seriously. We willingly indulge him in a hilarious conversation spanning which pro-wrestlers his bandmates resemble, the singer jokingly planning to put a hit out on Soundwave boss AJ Maddah for not booking them the same year as Limp Bizkit and Australian hip hop (“I’m kinda like the Welsh 360”).
This feel-good, up-for-a-laugh spirit translates to their music. For instance, new record and fourth overall being titled Start The Party, or affinity for covering the likes of Limp Bizkit, Andrew WK and Katy Perry. “That’s one of the things we’ve always liked about nu-metal bands, is it’s fun, it doesn’t have to be serious or sad all the time. You can have a laugh; you don’t have to be miserable, don’t have to be a goth. It’s more rock with a hint of pop, which will probably get us slated.
“I can’t wait for people to hear [the new album] and be a millionaire this time next year. I’ll probably own Australia by this time next year. I think we’ve found a concrete sound on this album. I want to say party rock, but that sounds like LMFAO. The way to describe it would be Beastie Boys meets Andrew WK meets us. It’s boisterous, fun and if you don’t like it you must be a dickhead.”
The sextet plan to bring the party to Soundwave, too. They’re no strangers to festivals, having played Download, Reading and T In The Park. “If you like fun, are not deaf and like good music, come see us,” Smith explains. “[We’re] self-proclaimed, one of the best live bands of all time. Print that – ‘self-proclaimed best live band of all time’. I think if anyone was to beat us it’d be Queen, but apparently their singer’s busy or something. And Michael Jackson; those two would probably have been the two better entertainers than us, but apparently he’s on hiatus. They both split their bands up. I’m not sure why? Personal reasons, I guess.”
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WHAT: Rock’n’Roll Gumbo Medicine Show
WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 3 March, Corner Hotel (matinee show)
MUSIC FOR MEDICINEAhead of her appearance at the Rock’n’Roll Gumbo Medicine Show, Krista Polvere chats with Dylan Stewart about what to expect, how New York changed her and what it was like working with Ryan Adams.
“I absolutely love summer, but it’s been getting a little too hot of late,” Krista Polvere begins, as she makes her way through Melbourne on
a Friday evening, in search of a beer and a steak. It seems the chanteuse feels the heat just like a normal person, but unlike the rest of us, Polvere will be fanning the flames on stage at the Corner Hotel this weekend as part of the Rock’n’Roll Gumbo Medicine Show.
“I’m stoked to be playing that show,” she continues. “It’s a really good benefit to be a part of. It’s for [Polvere’s publicist] Karen Conrad, in aid of her son who’s got cystic fibrosis. She really wants to get him over for treatment in America, as he can’t get it here in Australia. So she’s rallied together some amazing local musicians to support her cause and play at the benefit; I’m sure it’s going to be a great gig.”
The bill features talent such as Charles Jenkins, The Darling Downs and Dan Brodie, who, along with Polvere, are all hoping to help Conrad raise some funds for her 25-year old son Grant to travel to Missouri later in the year and see a cystic fibrosis specialist.
Although she’s toured with Steve Earle, recorded with Ryan Adams and played gigs all over Australia and North America, when Polvere talks of sharing the stage with these local artists, her already-high enthusiasm levels are raised once more.
“I’ve seen a few of them play live before, but I’ve never ever played with any of them before,” she says eagerly. “It’s going to be great because they’re iconic artists, and I’m very excited about meeting some of them personally as well.”
The matinee show is scheduled to kick off at 1pm on Sunday, but the entertainment is not going to be confined to the stage. Billed as a type of flea circus, talk of voodoo cures, wicked temptresses and mystery elixirs have been circulating, although it seems the extra-curricular entertainment is being
kept a closely guarded secret. “I don’t even know about all the other random stuff,” Polvere admits, “I just know what’s going on with the music!”
Which is probably just the way it should be. Born and raised in Adelaide, Polvere has moved around a lot, including spending some serious time in New York City in 2008-09. “My time in New York changed a lot of things for me, musically. It opened a lot of doors, and gave me a lot of opportunities, so in hindsight it was a really good decision to make – even though at the time I thought I was insane.”
Since moving to Melbourne, Polvere released her debut in 2009, Here Be Dragons, toured with Earle and Ron Sexsmith among others, and is on the cusp of releasing her second album in late April. The first single from her second record is the rollicking Looking For Love, featuring Adams on backing vocals and guitar.
It was many moons ago that Adams had been passed along some of Polvere’s music, but it didn’t take long for the two to hit it off. “Ryan was just so curious; he’s such an avid music lover that he wanted to know what else I had written. Soon that curiosity developed into a friendship, as well as somewhat of a mentoring relationship as well. All these years later, he’s been supportive and I often speak to or email him. He’s been there for me on lots of different levels.”
The past year has seen Polvere touring with her four-piece backing band, but she’s stripping back to basics for the Gumbo Rock’n’Roll Medicine Show. “My set on the day is going to be acoustic. I’m not sure yet if I’ll play my rock’n’roll tunes stripped back, or if I’ll be playing my slower, melancholy songs. I’ll definitely be playing some songs off the new album, though!”
WHO: The Transplants
WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 3 March, Piazza Italia
HEART KEEPS BEATINGOrgan donations provided The Transplants with a new lease on life, and as Paul Stewart stresses to Tony McMahon, the band members are making the most of their second chances. Pic by Richard Turton.
When it comes to guilt-free good times, Melbourne positively abounds with events where fantastic causes are represented by
talented artists giving freely of their time and skills. But the conscientious punter, aware of where her or his money and/or attention is going, could hardly do much better than seeing Painter and Docker Paul Stewart and his band, The Transplants, at DonateLife Week’s free annual extravaganza. As their name suggests, The Transplants are a band made up of organ transplant recipients who have been cutting a swathe through the Melbourne music scene for a while now. At last year’s event, they even teamed up with – wait for it – Derryn Hinch, the human headline himself. Obviously, this is where Inpress is interested in beginning our conversation with Stewart, ahead of a more general discussion of the DonateLife Week event overall.
“Organ donation is a cause that affects everybody from all walks of life,” says Stewart. “So, yeah, last year we had Derryn Hinch. A lot of people said to me, you know, ‘Paulie, can he sing?’ I just said to them, ‘Who gives a fuck?’ He gave it his best. I’ve been trying to sing for thirty years, so I’m never going to hold it against someone. Look, he was really good for the cause. I was familiar with his public persona and I thought he’d be a bit of an arrogant arsehole, but he just rocked up and said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I told him that as well as the songs he wanted to sing, he had to sing You’re Going Home In The Back Of A Divvy Van because he’s been arrested and been to jail and been in home detention and all of that. He did it without any bullshit or ego. I’ve got a really high opinion of Derryn.”
As well as Indigenous rapper Little G, Elvis impersonator Paul Greene, Dave Arden, African Rappers The Flybz and actress Dianna Glenn, this year’s DonateLife Week event features the star power of Judith Durham from The Seekers, who will read a poem she wrote for Yothu Yindi’s Mandawuy Yunupingu, who urgently needs a kidney transplant.
“Yeah, look, it was great having Derryn rock up last year, but this year we wanted to do something a little bit different so we’ve got Judith on board. If you’d told me this time last year I’d be doing a show with Judith Durham I would have said you were crazy. I used to sit at home watching her on the tele with my family. She’s huge, you know. But she’s been really great. She’s also just saying, you know, ‘What do you want me to do?’ It’s great to work with people who realise the cause is more important than their ego.”
As mentioned above, the Melbourne music scene is replete with causes and ‘cause’ bands. Having said this, few can boast the unadulterated joie de vivre possessed by The Transplants. In closing, Stewart talks a little about the band’s formation, but also about the driving force behind their music, and it would be only the hardest headed music fan who isn’t moved to go and see them.
“Most of The Transplants met out at The Austin Hospital at the liver clinic out there. We were all so grateful to be alive; seriously, that we just thought, ‘Let’s get a band together to promote organ donation.’ We all feel so grateful to have been given another chance with this band. For example, Rowland Howard was in there and he didn’t get one, you know. It’s not everyone that gets one. This is like a dream time for me. I mean, we get up and rock out and have a bit of a laugh, but someone, somewhere in Australia said ‘I’m going to become an organ donor’ and that’s why I’m here, you know. Fuck. I’m going to be forever grateful for that.”
WHO: Illapu
WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 2 March, Dallas Brooks Centre; Friday 8 and Monday 11, WOMADelaide
RISING ABOVEIn chatting with Chilean group Illapu’s Alejandro Vargas, Tony McMahon discovers the enormous gravity of the music they create.
First formed in 1971, world-renowned Chilean outfit Illapu are about to embark on their sixth Australian tour. There’s the little matter of
headlining WOMADelaide, arguably the greatest world music event on the planet, but then Melbourne and the rest of the east coast will be privileged to hear the band, whose sound has been described as like hearing the whisper of wind from the Andes. Manager and sometime member Alejandro Vargas is an extraordinarily passionate man, and once he discovers this writer knows something of his native country’s troubled past, it’s difficult to steer him away from the subject. This is probably for the best, however, as Illapu’s music is so tied up in the history of Chile, to discuss one without the other would be disingenuous at best.
In brief, the democratically elected socialist government of President Salvador Allende was overthrown on 11 September, 1973 by a CIA-orchestrated coup d’état and tens of thousands of ‘leftists’ were subsequently detained, tortured and murdered. Tens of thousands more were exiled, including Illapu themselves, and, as Vargas explains, this continues to be reflected in their music even to this day. “Imagine what it was like,” he says. “Imagine what it was like to create music back in those days of Allende’s government and go and play music for free in the shanty towns and then have it all just suddenly end like that and be kicked out of your own country? One day you were playing music to people who had never had a band play to them before, and then the next day musicians were being decapitated because of their songs. It was horrible, it was just horrible, and obviously that has had a huge effect on the music the band makes.”
All of which sounds, naturally enough, reasonably gloomy. But click on any of the many Illapu songs on YouTube, or listen to one of their records, and the overwhelming sensation is one of joyousness and hope. “With all the members of Illapu, it’s a great passion,” says Vargas. “It’s not just music, it’s life. We sing and we play about our loves and our lives and it’s done with great joy and emotion. An Illapu live show
is full of all these things: it’s fun, it’s passionate, it’s life. It’s not about, ‘I love you, you love me, let’s walk together’. They play songs about schools, they play songs about AIDS. It’s about, ‘I love life, let’s live it together’. It’s about, ‘You’re my friend, my brother, my sister, we’re in this together, I will never leave you’.”
All of which should make for an amazing WOMADelaide debut for the band. Interestingly, this is Illapu’s first time at the festival, but they have been given an honour few bands receive. To say Vargas is excited might be a bit of an understatement. “It’s amazing for the band to be headlining one of the biggest world music festivals,” he says. “It’s taken us 40 years to get here, but it will have been worth the wait. We’re actually doing both opening and closing nights there. We’re one of the very few bands who’s ever done that. In between we’ll be running some workshops and doing some cooking classes, so it’s just going to be an amazing four days.”
As will any time spent giving this band your attention. See, for example, Vargas’ further explanation, should any be needed attesting to their credibility, of another factor that motivates Illapu. “It’s never about making money. The last festival the band played, they hired another PA system at their own expense and set up outside so that more people could hear the music for free. It’s never about the money. It’s always about getting the music to the people. And tickets are always around the $35-$40 mark, there’s never any thought of $200 tickets or anything like that. The band are icons, but they’re icons who don’t care about that kind of thing.”
WHO: Lucero
WHERE & WHEN: Wednesday 27 February, The Palace; Friday 1 March, Soundwave, Flemington Racecourse
HOMETOWN HOMAGELucero bassist John C Stubblefield explains to Steve Bell just why the Memphis rockers have no fear whatsoever of taking their place amongst the black-clad legions on the Soundwave line-up.
Memphis rockers Lucero seemed to take an eternity to finally make the long trip down to Australia, but now that they’re heading
our way again courtesy of the Soundwave behemoth the affable Southern gents couldn’t be happier.
“I’m stoked,” enthuses bassist John C Stubblefield. “We were there for the first time as a band in early-2011 with Dropkick Murphys, and all the shows were great and the people were just so lovely, it was really refreshing. Touring’s our way anyway – we’d rather be playing music than not, and we’re more comfortable onstage than anywhere else. We tour hard and our live show is our bread and butter so to speak, but it’s also what we love – just connecting with the crowd is really the only way to spread the word.”
Since that last visit Lucero dropped their excellent eighth studio album, Women & Work, which continues their recent experimentation with the Memphis soul sound that’s so synonymous with their home city.
“On our last album 1372 Overton Park (2009) we added the horn section in there, but that happened mainly in the studio, but then they went out on the road with us for a couple of years and became part of the band,” Stubblefield recalls of the band’s transformation from their alt-country roots. “They were actually part of the writing process this time, so that made us explore even more the regional influences of where we’re from such as the Stax Records catalogue and the Hi Records catalogue. It’s a homage to our hometown for sure.
“We’re definitely informed by the regional location of Memphis, and I think the older we get the more we appreciate it. When you start out as kids it’s part of the human condition to a certain degree – no matter where you’re from – to grow up and rebel against your folks and rebel against where you’re from and wish that you were from anywhere but there, but then at a certain point your parents become your friends and you start appreciating your surroundings.”
Lucero even recently released a seven-inch recorded at Memphis’ Sun Studios, the place which figures so prominently in the early careers of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash (amongst countless others).
“It was a series of tunes for PBS, for TV, and we took a couple of songs from that and released a seven-inch for Record Store Day,” Stubblefield tells. “I’ve done several different sessions in Sun Studios over the years, and it’s definitely a magic room, you can definitely feel it. You can’t quite put your finger on what it is, but there’s definitely something electric about the air there. All of Memphis really, it’s a pretty magical place.”
And while Lucero aren’t a band you would necessarily expect on a Soundwave line-up, their versatile history attests to them feeling at home in these heavy surrounds.
“That’s kind of why we started and it’s been a bit of a running joke, ‘Hey, let’s start a country band to piss off the punk rockers!’,” Stubblefield laughs, “but then they all ended up loving it, and we wound up playing all sorts of crazy hardcore shows just doing what we do. Last time we were [in Australia] we opened for Dropkicks, and Mike Ness from Social Distortion loves us and takes us out on the road, and we went on a whirlwind three month tour with Against Me! back in the day – it’s always wild finding out which other bands are into Lucero. Even the guys from Metallica invited us to play their festival last summer – it turned out that they were big fans, that was pretty random. It goes to show that it takes all kinds!”
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WHO: Danko Jones
WHAT: Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue (Riot!)
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 28 February, Espy; Friday 1 March, Soundwave, Flemington Racecourse
JONESING FOR ROCKIt’s only rock‘n’roll, but Danko Jones most certainly likes it. The Canadian vocalist/guitarist just doesn’t want to have to think too much while creating it, Brendan Crabb learns.
Throughout a career exceeding 15 years and half-a-dozen studio albums, “deep and meaningful” has never been high on the agenda for Canadian hard
rock trio Danko Jones. Not that there isn’t value in such ideals; the larger-than-life frontman just realises it isn’t his particular role within the wider scheme of things.
“Bands who talk about how deep the music or how much meaning there is, who go on and on about what it’s supposed to be about are just blowing hot air in my ears,” the charismatic, engaging main man explains. “I find them to be pretentious dimwits. And they are, usually. I’d say 90 per cent of the time when we meet them off-stage or behind the curtain, they’re just egomaniacal dimwits. I mean the kind of people who just take themselves way too seriously. If there’s so much of a message in your song, I would say write it down; write a book, write an article.
“I don’t think it’s my place in rock‘n’roll. I listen to bands who have socio-political bents and I’m a fan of the music. But the music comes first, always has. Because you can rant and rave, but if your music is shit no one’s going to listen to it. It has its place. It adds to the anger of the music, gives it its edge; its purpose, drive and energy. It’s just not for me and it’s not for the type of music we play. But I don’t rule it out.”
It’s suggested that such content wouldn’t sit comfortably alongside an elemental, albeit instantly memorable song like Legs from latest record Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue anyway. “Well, that’s just it. When people ask me, why aren’t your lyrics more serious, I just ask them, point blank, what lyrics would sound good with those three chords we have fashioned for this riff? Do you really think it would be fixing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? I just don’t feel that, don’t hear it. What I hear is a good time riff and the lyrics follow suit. Sometimes the lyrics are angry, but it doesn’t get angry any deeper than, ‘This guy pissed me off’ or ‘This girl dumped me’,” he laughs. “[The new album title has]
got a double meaning or even a triple meaning. Or no meaning; fuck, it’s just rock‘n’roll, how deep can it get?
“I’ve gotta sing them every night, so they’ve gotta have some truth to them, some meaning. For example, Legs. I love legs – that’s just it,” he says, bursting into laughter. “I’m not a breast man per se. I’m not gonna write a song called Breasts. I enjoy them, they’re great, but my favourite is legs. Legs trump breasts for me,” he laughs again. “I really love legs; I’ve said that in other songs.”
The band is undertaking their first Australian trek since 2004 at Soundwave, and Jones is audibly enthused about bringing their sweat-dripping, high-energy fare to the festival. However, he’s slightly concerned about the current rock landscape. “I was talking about this with someone the other day and despite rock‘n’roll being an older type of music it doesn’t have a scene anymore,” he ponders. “There’s an indie rock scene, a noise scene, black metal scene, a death metal scene broken up into different areas. But when it comes to contemporary hard rock, there really isn’t a scene. It’s spread all over the map. There really isn’t one or two, or five or ten defining bands. It’s frustrating; that’s the one thing I really criticise about the new vanguard of rock‘n’roll bands. There’s no thread between all of us. I don’t see a tightly-knit community like in other scenes with other bands.”
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WHO: Deep Purple
WHEN & WHERE: Friday 1 March, Rod Laver Arena
PERFECT STRANGERSDeep Purple, some of the fathers of heavy metal, are about to release their first studio album in eight years. Mark Hebblewhite sits down with frontman Ian Gillan to find out what’s in store.
“Look, this is going to sound a bit strange considering I helped the write the thing, but there’s not a lot I can tell you at
the moment,” laughs Gillan, when asked to spill the beans on Deep Purple’s new album.
“I didn’t even take a monitor mix out of the studio with me because it’s all a bit dangerous in this day and age – you could find rough mixes floating out across the world. Also, I should tell you guys that we won’t be performing any of the new material until the album’s been released in April. Back in the day we used to play new songs almost as soon as they were written but again, things have changed and we’ve had to adapt to circumstances. That’s the downside of the digital age I’m afraid.”
Despite being somewhat coy Gillan does admit that the album boasts Purple’s penchant for diverse sounds, and that he’s happy with the constant progression. “I don’t think you can compare this album with any of our older ones because no two Purple albums sound alike,” he says. “Look at In Rock [1970] and Fireball [1971], we did those albums back to back and they don’t sound anything alike. This happens because we never come into the studio with a single song written – all the songs come out of jam sessions. So what you get on each album is a snapshot of what the band is like at that particular time. And of course that changes over time.”
Just as Deep Purple like to jam in the studio, they also enjoy letting it all hang out live on stage. According to Gillan it’s this habit that makes the band’s shows so unique. “I always tell people not to worry about the setlists for a Purple show – it’s the performance that counts. We can play the exact same setlist three nights in a row and deliver three radically different performances. We don’t just run through songs in the same manner every night; we improvise, mix things up and feed off the energy [in the room].”
Although 2013 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Deep Purple it’s also one tinged with sadness following the death of founding member, and
keyboardist, Jon Lord. Gillan has nothing but fond memories for his revered former bandmate.
“Well, obviously there are plenty of stories I could tell but just can’t,” laughs Gillan. “What I can say is that Jon was such delightful company, he was just a wonderful man. One of my most treasured moments was when we were travelling on a tour bus from Monte Carlo down to Barcelona and we were on the coast road just about to go into Spain. I remember that the sun was just about to come up and we had this hugely difficult decision to make about whether to open another bottle of red wine. Jon decided that we probably should because the conversation was so interesting – and we carried on drinking and talking until we fell asleep.
“Jon would also put himself out to help you,” continues Gillan. “I just did a project with Tony Iommi called Who Cares – it was a benefit thing – and Jon flew from Germany to help us out in the studio. That’s just the kind of guy he was.”
Speaking of Iommi, Gillan was asked how he felt about the recent remastered release of the controversial Black Sabbath album Born Again, on which he handled vocals way back in 1983. “I honestly had no idea that album had been re-released – I’m going to go and find it as soon as I get off the phone,” laughs Gillan. “That was definitely a great album but I was so disappointed with how muggy it ended up sounding – the original monitor mixes I have at home sounded fantastic. So I’m glad they’ve re-released the album, especially if they’ve improved the sound.” WHO: Arlo Guthrie
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 7 March, National Theatre; Friday 8 to Sunday 10, Port Fairy Folk Festival
THE SON ALSO SINGSSon of an American musical institution, Arlo Guthrie learned early on that there are other ways to be a folk singer, as he admits to Michael Smith.
Twenty-twelve was a big year for Arlo Guthrie. Not only would it have been the 100th birthday of his father, Woody, which came with all
the attendant celebrations, in a few of which he participated, but it was the 45th anniversary of the release of the song for which he is best known, Alice’s Restaurant, a glorious ramble of a tune chiming in at 18-plus minutes based on the protagonist’s attempts to avoid being called up to fight in Vietnam, which became the basis of a very popular movie.
Delivered with all the understated charm of the man himself, there’s a lot more to Guthrie the younger, as his back catalogue of nearly 30 studio and live albums and collaborations testifies. But it was that gently subversive humour that stood Guthrie apart from the more earnest singer-songwriters of the day.
“Well, I always thought of my shows as more than just singing a group of songs,” Guthrie explains, on the line from his home in Washington, Massachusetts. “When I was very young I would go to hear singers who never said a word – they just sang one song, picked up another instrument and sang another song, and just kept going like that – and that’s what people expected, and I thought, ‘Well, why aren’t these people doing, like, theatre, where you’re engaged, and the whole time you’re on stage tells a story?’ It’s not just individual stories, but they relate to each other in some way, and they do anyway, from a practical point of view, and so why not do it consciously? So I began to sort of weave together not just the stories but the songs as well, and maybe some instrumentals, so that the whole evening would tell a story.
“I really started talking on stage when I ran out of songs I knew. When I started I was very young – I only knew a handful of songs – and I’d get up there and, you know, try to waste some time by telling tales, and pretty soon people would yell out, ‘Shut up and sing!’ And of course, not very long after that, while doing songs like Alice’s Restaurant, they
would yell when I was singing, ‘Shut up and talk!’” he chuckles. “I realised at some point that you can’t please everybody, so to hell with them, do what makes you happy, and I’ve been doing that ever since.”
While the flow of new material has slowed a little, primarily because Guthrie still tours relentlessly, there’s no shortage of live recordings currently being sorted by his son, keyboards player and engineer Abe Guthrie, for release this year, among them some hundred shows that featured three generations of Guthries touring as Guthrie Family Rides Again. On this Australian tour, Guthrie will perform solo and with daughter Sarah Lee and her husband Johnny Irion.
Woody Guthrie succumbed to the degenerative Huntington’s disease in 1967 aged just 55, his widow, Marjorie founding the Huntington’s Disease Society of America the following year. In 1990, Arlo Guthrie set up the Guthrie Centre to support for families living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. Various Woody centennial events through last year not only celebrated the musical legacy but raised funds and awareness for both charities.
“My sister Nora, who is the one in charge of my father’s estate, put together a number of very large shows,” Guthrie explains. “Some I was able to attend; most of them I was not. So I’ve continued to do my own little centennial celebration as a solo artist, which is how my dad worked anyway, a lot of the time. I think his songs are particularly poignant when done that way.”
ON THE RECORDSINGLED OUTWITH STEPHANIE LIEW
THE TONGUE DrumsElefant Traks
Damn, son. Never knew Aussie hip hop to sound quite like this; an urban, slick vibe and a sharp, charismatic lyrical flow that is unique from The Tongue’s peers, and an attention to detail in the foundation music and beat (at times sparse, other times layered and intersecting, never flashy but consistently gripping) – which often seems like an afterthought in this genre, with no real variation. The chopped-up outro is perfect. The Tongue knows what he’s doing.
SUPER WILD HORSESAlligatorDot Dash/Remote Control
It doesn’t get much better than ladies rocking out, especially if they’re putting someone in their place at the same time: “And I say, go home/I don’t know you”. Amy Franz and Hayley McKee’s bratty dual harmonies ring out over the garage-surf guitar riff and fuzzy, couldn’t-give-a-shit strumming with little low-end and spacious, lo-fi sound quality in a satisfying two-and-a-half-minute package (although you have to press repeat at least three more times, but that’s okay). Comparable to the lovechild of Best Coast and Warpaint. Top Melbourne women. There needs to be more of this!
NANTESAvidDeadhand Music/MGM
The charm present on Nantes’ debut EP and its first single Fly is nowhere to be heard on Avid. The aggressive dance drum-beat is cold and abrasive against the warmer, gliding synths – almost beating at them, squashing them – and the robotic, arpeggiated keys towards the end are noticeably out of place, adding to the disarray. Though the song starts off decently and the vocalist is in fine form, ultimately Avid is like a mild headache that doesn’t do that much damage but is still a bit uncomfortable and you’d prefer it to stop.
THE SNOWDROPPERSMoving Out Of EdenFour|Four
A bluesy-rock tale told with a suspenseful air. Unfortunately, it sounds like an amalgamation of a bunch of other not-bad songs you’ve heard before; the riffs, structure, solo and melody all sound familiar, even upon first listen. If The Snowdroppers were going for a song that’s enjoyable yet doesn’t stand out as special in any way and feels slightly calculated, then they nailed it.
STICKY FINGERSAustralia StreetIndependent/MGM
A piano intro leading into an indie reggae-rock verse, which becomes a contrasting soft rock pre-chorus (including a fingerpicked guitar riff AND strokes of wah-effect) and transitions into an almost ballad-like chorus, lofty with harmonies sweeping underneath? It shouldn’t work this well but it totally does. Delightfully confusing. Perhaps one of the most sonically-interesting and evocative songs about being a young Australian growing up, hanging out and partying with your mates you’ve heard in a while.
LUCY DURACKTwo FeetUniversal
It’s very easy to hear Durack’s theatre background (she plays Elle in Legally Blonde: The Musical and was Glinda the Good Witch in the Australian cast of Wicked) coming through; excellent diction, vocal flourishes, presence and pizzazz. The song itself, filled with tasteful brass, organ and guitar twangs, has ‘parts’ much like a showtune; the bridge in particular stands out as a ‘chorus part’ with its hand-claps and hushed backing “whoa-whoa-whoa-oh’s” as a base to Durack’s lead vocals. There’s plenty of room for her to grow into her own style and sound as a recording artist, but Two Feet is a solid piece of adult contemporary soul pop.
DVD DVD
LIVE
JOE GIDEON & THE SHARKFreakish Freeform Patterns/Fuse
Three years after the release of debut album Harum Scarum, siblings Joe Gideon & The Shark (aka Viva Gideon, an ex-Olympic ribbon gymnast) burst forth with Freakish, which fittingly heightens the weird and in the process creates a far superior record.
It certainly isn’t a straightforward listen – renowned for their visual flair and interaction, the duo often struggle to find that common middle ground in the recording studio. Thus a silly comedic blues rock song like Snake Candy struggles to maintain interest for its three-minute running time, or Joe’s insistence to do spoken word. That said, when they get it right, it’s mesmerising. The magnetic opener I’m Ruined swings from monotone (strangely reminiscent of Simon Pegg) to primal yelps, all over a macabre funereal dirge. Poor Born stands as Viva’s first vocal lead, and its vocoder-heavy eclecticism combined with her frenetic drumming, distorted guitar wails and a Goldfrapp-worthy playful synth line is a strong song, if sticking out here like a sore thumb. The warped swagger of The Insignificant Bullet (based on the shooting of Werner Herzog) is hypnotic, while Nine Bells Of Hell is six minutes of slowly building guitar arpeggios and rollick drums, an organ whipping up a gospel fervour as Joe tries to find a cure (“I thought I’d let off some steam by playing ping-pong/But the only thing off the boil was my form/I lost 21-10 to my brother-in-law”). The title track rivals this for comedic atmosphere, with a psych detour in the final third.
Freakish suffers from some unevenness, yet that barely detracts from what is a fun, inventive listen, and in Joe Gideon we have a truly idiosyncratic wordsmith.
Brendan Telford
GUARDSIn Guards We Trust Pod/Inertia
It is hard to assess In Guards We Trust, the debut record by Richie Follin’s solo project turned band, Guards. As sibling to Madeline Follin (of Cults fame), it can be assumed that his music will be filled with the same insistent, hook-overloaded indie pop gems. And it is. Yet there’s one thing missing that ultimately leaves the album flat – a lack of true personality.
Things start promisingly with Nightmare, a song that revels in its darker moments and fervour. After this though, it’s hard to differentiate from many of the tracks on offer. The modus operandi is firmly set in stone – exploitative hooks, stadium level guitar wash, echoed backing vocals, vague verses that lead into OTT choruses, whistling here and there… There’s nary an original thought to be found. These tunes are ready-made for the pretty young things that beg for a sunny afternoon so as to jump around in a park, hair flailing, beads jangling, cider spilling over plastic cups, Instagram at the ready.
By the time I Know It’s You arrives with its new wave posturing, buzzsaw guitar and forlorn vibe, it feels like the second half of the album might break the trend – but then that chorus with its bells and chiming vocal gaiety kicks in again. And again. And again…
In Guards We Trust is manipulative indie pap that’s manufactured for the slaves to fashion, advertising and summer festivals. Combined with the incessant promotional spiel, it’s almost dystopian in its relentless take on opium for the masses. And while Richie and Madeline Follin are two peas in a pod, at least Cults came up with Come Outside. Do not trust these Guards.
Brendan Telford
FIDLARFIDLARWarner
A supposedly edgy acronym for ‘Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk’, FIDLAR would certainly put some potential listeners off giving the band a decent chance. But, for those who can get past that, FIDLAR the album is pretty mother-flipping great. The record is full of drug- and booze-fuelled party lyrics like “10 o’clock stuck in traffic/Takin’ bong rips in the back seat” (5 to 9) and “Get pissed and bombing hills/Cocaine and shitty pills” (Stoked And Broke), that will be sure to have even liberal types contemplating Helen Lovejoy-esque, “won’t somebody think of the children” moments.
For what it is though, FIDLAR is a lot of fun and will surely appeal to teenagers and teenagers-at-heart. Evoking the Ramones and Andrew WK, with a heady dose of west coast surf culture, the 14 tracks that make up the album fly by in under 40 minutes. It’s easy to believe that the four members are young 20-somethings that have been throwing themselves around the US since only 2009.
For a debut record, though, FIDLAR is delivered with a bit more professionalism than the band would probably have listeners believe. Mixed by Rob Schnapf (Powderfinger, Dr Dog), there’s an underlying sense of control beneath the anarchy. It’s as though, at some stage in the past year or two, FIDLAR realised that if they want to play music for a living – and really, who wouldn’t – then they need to take it seriously.
Sure, the members all clearly love to get fucked up, but they have toed a line straight enough to get signed to a major label and give themselves a shot at the big time. Just ignore the name.
Dylan Stewart
PISSED JEANSHoneysSub Pop/Inertia
Pissed Jeans have changed a lot since their 2005 debut Shallow, but the sonic shift between 2009’s King Of Jeans and Honeys is relatively slight, particularly given the long gap between them. Bathroom Laughter is a vicious beginning, rumbling bass gives way to the almighty, guttural expounding of vocalist Matt Korvette who screams “You’re in the kitchen crying, You’re in the kitchen crying, I saw you in the kitchen crying”. It’s a perfect reminder of how brilliantly he makes the banality of life connect and a brilliant song. Chain Worker pulls the floor from underneath you; the tempo drops to nought as Korvette screams over a fuzz bass and shrieks of guitar noise. It’s fine, but not as powerful as the band at full tilt.
Cafeteria Food sees Korvette in perhaps his best form lyrically; My Family stickers, fantasy football and microwave cookery references all delivered in a dreary, deadpan manner give this sense of the everyday, middle-class lifestyle as kind of foul feeling. Something About Mrs Johnson is a minute-and-a-half of guitar noise and a coughing fit – at first seeming a waste of space before it kicks into Male Gaze and you realise that its inclusion has purpose; the latter song then proceeding to drag your brain through a hypnotic four-minute punishing. Cat House and Health Plan are thrashy gems tucked away in the back end, while the big riffs of Teenage Adult have Pissed Jeans sounding more epic than ever before.
The high points of Honeys aren’t as frequent as King Of Jeans, but they’re better. Best listened to while sweaty, stinking and despondent.
Dan Condon
ICEAGEYou’re Nothing Matador/Remote Control
Danish teenage punks Iceage got chins wagging with their 2011 debut New Brigade. It was an album of unmistakable promise – 25 minutes of virulent punk rock with absolutely no breathing room and plenty of attitude – but it still left something to be desired. The album’s intangible, missing piece was reflected in the conversation about the album, where everyone talked about how young Iceage were and what promise the album showed. Fast forward a couple of years – years heavy with touring on the back of New Brigade, getting signed to indie bigwig Matador and presumably, maturing – and Iceage’s return in the form of You’re Nothing captures the young band making good on the promise heard on their first LP.
Putting their best foot forward with album opener and stand-out track Ecstasy – a dense, frustrated, goth-y disco number – Iceage spend the rest of You’re Nothing careening through a litany of post-punk and post-punk adjacent styles with the right mix of aplomb and unchecked wildness.
For New Brigade’s rather strict atonality, You’re Nothing has the band utilising a much more dynamic range of sounds. Without forsaking album number one’s abrasiveness, You’re Nothing ventures from the skronk of AmRep-esque noise rock guitars on Burning Hand to no wave-y coolness on tracks like Everything Drifts to fire-breathing hardcore on It Might Hit First. And listening as the band lithely slip in and out of these styles is a delight.
You’re Nothing is the sound of a one-time hype band making good on their indubitable promise. And at a time when Pitchfork-approved bands are whipping the blogosphere into a furore as quickly as they’re then being forgotten, Iceage’s You’re Nothing is definitely something.
Tom Hersey
FRIGHTENED RABBITPedestrian VerseAtlantic/WarnerGreat records are meant to be made in Los Angeles, in Nashville, in London. They’re meant to be made by egomaniacs, arrogant snobs or prodigies. They’re not meant to be cobbled together somewhere in Wales by a bunch of unassuming, hairy Scotsmen. But Frightened Rabbit have done just that. Shacking up with producer Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, David Byrne), the five-piece from Selkirk, Scotland offer their fourth album, Pedestrian Verse – and it’s an absolute belter.
Frightened Rabbit have been around for ten years now, and although their popularity has reached sizeable proportions in the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent in the US, in Australia they’re somewhat of an unknown entity. Coming to town in May, however, their fans are sure to warmly embrace the band.
Yes, the sound is a bit commercial (hell, they’re released through Warner), but that shouldn’t detract from the group’s ambition. Anyone who saw Snow Patrol or Coldplay last year would attest that even the most commercial-friendly band can still impress over and over again.
Lyrically, songwriter Scott Hutchison leaves both those bands for dead. With lines like “In so-called living rooms/Scottish pastimes come to roost/Love’s labours stain a linen sheet” (December’s Tradition), he wears his heart on his sleeve. The band had been playing these songs a lot on tour before recording the record, and the warm and worn feeling that Abrahams draws from the quintet feels like another instrument altogether.
It’s only February, but there are going to have to be a lot of amazing albums released between here and December to deny Pedestrian Verse its place as one of 2013’s great albums.
Dylan Stewart
26 • For more reviews go to themusic.com.au/reviews
SPIT SYNDICATESunday GentlemenObese
Sunday Gentlemen is a solid effort packed with great production (largely courtesy of Horrorshow’s Adit) and some catchy rhymes, but it doesn’t quite elevate MCs Nick Lupi and Jimmy Nice to that top tier of hip hop prowess that they seek (and, three albums in, should probably have attained).
The disappointing thing about Sunday Gentlemen is how little we learn about Spit Syndicate from listening to it. The album has been purportedly crafted in the vein of Irving Wallace’s personal writing – a creative endeavour crafted on days off, fitted in around the demands of work, showcasing a unique point of view. However, Sunday Gentlemen is riddled with sweeping generalisations and contradictions – on Kill That Noise, Nick Lupi takes a pro-feminist stance and demands an end to slut-shaming, yet unblinkingly refers to women as “pussy”, a dehumanised collective, on opener Amazing. There are lyrics about how busy and demanding the recent years have been for them – music, touring, studying and, of course, juggling all that pussy – but then they’ll claim that they’d never say they’d been struggling (despite the previous four bars of rhymes).
Lupi and Nice are certainly talented. They may not have the most impeccable flow in the game, but they pack a lot of determination and plenty of guts, and they certainly have an ear for listener-friendly beats and great hooks. However, it’s still unclear exactly where Spit Syndicate’s passions lie. They seem caught between an indie sensibility and old-school hip hop posturing, and as a result, Sunday Gentlemen is only the sum of its parts – it doesn’t quite manage to be something more.
Aleksia Barron
THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWNWe The CommonRibbon Music/EMIOn opener We The Common (For Valerie Bolden), when the chorus kicks in, you can’t help but do a little mid-step click of the heels. It’s cute, fun and catchy as buggery. That’s what you get when you combine banjo, whistling and some serious ooh-oohs, and it shouldn’t be dismissed.
The rest of We The Common, the fifth album from San Francisco-via-Virginia’s Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, is a mixed bag. From the shout out loud refrain of City to the Fiona Apple-inspired We Don’t Call and the balladry of Clouds For Brains, the 12 songs cover a lot of ground. Despite the obvious participation of plenty of musicians across the record, the band only consists of two core members, the diminutive Thao Nguyen out front and Adam Thompson, who takes charge of most of the instrumentation. It’s an interesting sound that Thao & TGDSD bring to the album. Fans of the Aussie TV show Offspring would be familiar with Thao, who supplied the theme music to the show in 2009, but despite the band’s significant back catalogue (that stretches back to 2003), Thao & TGDSD haven’t had a huge impact locally.
Whether or not We The Common will change that remains to be seen. There are some alien elements here, sure, but there are some great pop moments like closers Human Heart and Age Of Ice that will have listeners recalling Rilo Kiley and The New Pornographers.
For established fans, We The Common will surely be, pardon the pun, music to their ears. After a four-year hiatus, Thao & TGDSD are back, and they’re here to have some fun.
Dylan Stewart
CORAL LEE & THE SILVER SCREAMRocky Road To IoTedesco/Bundoora
Sex sells, and it’s an avenue that Coral Lee & The Silver Scream have chosen to go down, at least as far as the album cover is concerned. There is, however, more to Coral Lee Farrow and her band than just a seductive cover photo, something which is evident as soon as you press play on Rocky Road To Io.
Dancin’ The Night Away is an excellent choice of opening track and gets the album off to a great, upbeat start, setting the mood and tempo perfectly. Farrow’s deliciously smooth vocals are the perfect companion to her band’s equally silky musicianship. There is a strong sense of cohesion throughout the 13 songs (11 of which were penned by Farrow), yet it manages to maintain the listener’s interest to the last note. This is due not only to strong songwriting, but also to the solid performances from all involved. There is not one moment where the delivery of the songs, which were recorded live in the studio, sound in any way forced. Rocky Road To Io is simply an excellent mix of roots, blues, jazz and swing.
Farrow has surrounded herself with equally talented musicians, with The Silver Scream comprising Ben Franz (The Waifs) on lap steel, Elise Winterflood (Jelly Tub Rollers) on double bass, and Ben Hendry (Flap!) on drums. The album was recorded and mixed by Paulie Bignell (The Detonators), who also provided the guitar solo in Honky Tonk Parade.
Rocky Road To Io is a dynamic and very impressive album, and highlights Farrow as an excellent Australian exponent of roots music.
Dominique Wall
GORAN BREGOVIĆChampagne For GypsiesCartell Music/Mercury
Goran Bregović returns this month with yet another exhilarating album of the most joyous life affirming music imaginable. Supported by his Weddings & Funerals Orchestra, Bregović is here to celebrate the good times and the sad, and let them all slip into ribald drunken reverie with gallons of champagne. As much as this album is not in a language many of us would understand, Bregović points us in the right direction in his liner notes which shine a light on the problems Gypsies have recently been facing in Europe. Apparently it’s not an endless big fat wedding over there.
Presidente – featuring the illustrious Gipsy Kings – starts with a police siren, which fades as the beats kick in. It leaves listeners with the feeling that we are running away from authority and seeking freedom in the arms of a riotously law breaking party. Similarly, On A Leash featuring Ireland’s Selina O’Leary, is a claustrophobic love song that comes with metaphorical intent. Despite these weighty concerns Bregović’s approach is vibrant and exhilarating. Lashings of slightly out of tune brass, intricate rhythms and banging Balkan beats played at breakneck speeds prove to be irresistible as they add up to be as intoxicating as the champagne Bregović’s drinking. To the uninitiated it may sound like the wildest circus music you’ve never heard. Ciao Bello, the old Italian partisan song that originated in the Second World War, unleashes complete and utter pandemonium, making the humble polka a thing of wonder in Bregović’s hands.
Irreverent and out of control, Bregović aims to get us dancing, laughing and simply enjoying life.
Guido Farnell
For more reviews go to themusic.com.au/reviews • 27
12 – 16 March
12 – 16 March
12 – 16 March 20 – 24 March
20 – 24 March 22 – 23 March 12 – 16 March
Natalie Abbott
Physical Fractals
Book Tickets Now artshouse.com.au � dancemassive.com.au
DANCE MASSIVE AT
Arts House is a City of Melbourne contemporary arts initiative
Tim Darbyshire
More or Less Concrete
Antony Hamilton Projects
Black Project 1 & 2
Jo Lloyd
FUTURE PERFECT
Hannah Mathews and artists
Action/Response
Marrugeku
Gudirr Gudirr
Lee Serle
P.O.V.
Recommended for 16 years and over
Created by The Border Project
Book today www.zoo.org.au/ianimal
or phone 1300 966 784
Explore Melbourne Zoo after dark in a world-fi rst interactive experience.
Selected evenings at 6.30pm. See website for dates.
ART PROCESSORS
28
To check out the mags online go to themusic.com.au/mags • 29
THIS WEEK INARTS
As he prepares for a conversation on stage at Dance Massive, Matthew Whittet talks to Dave Drayton about learning to listen and dance envy.
Established in 2002, choreographer and director Lucy Guerin’s eponymous company strives to create new, original, contemporary dance and performance works. Her current production, Conversation Piece, sees a cast of three actors and three dancers take to the stage each night and engage in an eight-minute conversation. What happens from there, as these two forms of performance encounter and engage one another, well, it’s anyone’s guess.
The conversation, the springboard for the rest of the show, is unscripted. “When you have to talk for eight minutes to the same people every day, it’s amazing how many skills you realise you
have in just having a normal conversation and how good you get at just talking, at babbling on,” says Matthew Whittet, one of three actors in the show and, to his credit, a rather charming conversationalist. By his own admission his dance skills, however, still need a little work. “I did a development with Chunky Move eight or nine years ago on a show,” says Whittet, alluding to a previous work he did under Guerin’s direction, Tense Dave, for the company then under Gideon Obarzanek’s direction.
“So I’ve spent a month or so rehearsing with dancers before but it’s amazing, it’s a completely different way of working to what
you normally do as actors. They have classes,” he says in awe, and repeats himself with even more admiration, “they have classes! These guys with Lucy Guerin, they have three dance classes a week, so someone comes and teaches something that has nothing to do with the show, so they’re constantly training, while you’re rehearsing, which is quite amazing. These guys respond so immediately from their body that you have total dance envy. I reckon heaps of actors do as well, heaps of actors go, ‘Aw, I wish I could dance!’
“It’s a different world, the dance world, they spend an hour every morning learning some form of dance or exercise, as opposed to us actors who just turn up!” Whittet laughingly concedes. “We try to do the classes, we’re not usually successful at doing them,
but we try! It’s fantastic because it is such a cross-fertilisation, we’re getting in there and moving as well. It’s a really interesting piece in the way it blurs the lines between and examines the differences between acting – and what the voice is – and what dance and movement is.”
The cast have been running the performance in full every day of rehearsal and while the conversations inspiring each run may be simple – “You could have an incredibly funny show one night and you could have an incredibly serious show the next, all depending on how the dancers are feeling and whether they decide to talk about what they’ve eaten, or very large philosophical matters, or just whatever takes their fancy, really,” says Whittet – the focus on the subtext, what bubbles beneath the surface of these interactions, is teaching Whittet to listen in a brand new way.
“It’s a great thing, we just have to learn to listen and just be really sharp with our listening, which is such a great exercise for an actor to have to do. With a text you know what it is, you practice it; the danger is you actually stop listening to everyone else, you just kind of say words. The way in which you communicate with everyone then kind of becomes the work.”
WHAT: Conversation Piece
WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday 19 to Sunday 24 March, Dance Massive, Arts House: Meat Market
As he prepares for a conversation on stage at Dance Massive, Matthew Whittet talks to Dave
you normally do as actors. They have classes,” he says in awe,
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TALKING PIECE
F R O N T R O W@ I N P R E S S . C O M . A U
UnSex MeUnSex Me Pic by Sarah Walker Pic by Sarah Walker
WEDNESDAY 27Three MKA Shows – before theatre company MKA head to the Adelaide Fringe with three shows, they’re having Melbourne previews of UnSex Me by Mark Wilson, 22 Short Plays by David Finnegan and Soma by Tobias Manderson Galvin. MKA just received 11 Green Room nominations for their work last year. Higher Ground, 6.30pm; to Thursday 28 February.
Hate – a play written by Stephen Sewell and directed by Marion Potts this is a portrait of a monstrous patriarch who is set to become the country’s king. Malthouse Theatre, 7.30pm, to Friday 8 March.
Ganesh Vs The Third Reich – the award-winning play from Back To Back Theatre are in the midst of a world theatre tour, they are home for four shows only. This piece directed by Bruce Gladwin tells the story of elephant-headed god Ganesh travelling through Nazi Germany to reclaim the Swastika, an ancient Hindu symbol. Geelong Performing Arts Centre, 8pm, to Sunday 3 March.
THURSDAY 28The Famous Opera Supper Club Featuring Antionette Halloran – a performance by well-loved opera singer and regular guest of Spicks And Specks, Antionette Halloran. This show is a night of romance, elegance and sophistication as Halloran sings sensual arias of lust and longing. Arts Centre, The Famous Spiegeltent, 11pm.
FRIDAY 1Oscar Key Sung – live music from the Oscar half of locals Oscar + Martin, later followed by Two Bright Lakes DJs to kick off the first night of live music art ACCA’s Art Bar. Key Sung will be bringing soulful melodies over tapes and loops. ACCA Art Bar, 6pm.
SATURDAY 2Rude Shoes – a collection of illustrations by artist Liza Dezfouli, Rude Shoes is her debut solo art show. Inspired by Andy Warhol, this collection shows x-rated illustrations of shoes. Opening, Dirty Little Gallery, exhibiting to Thursday 28 March.
UPCOMING IN ARTSLittle Orphan TrAshley – Trevor Ashley who brought us Fat Swan last year is heading back to Melbourne this July with new show Little Oprhan TrAshley. This adult only panto also stars Rhonda Bruchmoe as Miss Trannigan, Gary Sweet as Daddy Warhorse and Rhys Bobrdige as Bullshit Annie’s ex-sniffer dog. Think Annie on crack! On at The Comedy Theatre Thursday 4 July to Sunday 14 July.
MSO – coming up at MSO is some seriously exciting stuff, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in July where you watch the movie and hear the music live. As well as The Metropolis New Music Festival and The Stravinsky Festival, also experience Disney’s groundbreaking film, Fantasia live which blends symphonic music and surreal animation (Fantasia gets better as we get older) in October. For more info head to mso.com.au
CASTING CALLGasworks Circus Showdown – registration is now open for this live circus and physical theatre performance contest. If you’re an individual performer or a part of a group, send in a 10-15 minute performance piece and fill in the registration form on Gasworks website to be in the running to win giant prizes. Performances will be marked on technique, storytelling, theatrics and audience participation. All short-listed applicants will be invited to perform at Gasworks. Registration closes on March 18.
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SPOTTED: Gertrude Street. To continue the discussion head to @frontrowSPA and tweet us
“It’s strange when people think of me, now, for comedy, because relatively speaking I’ve done way more drama. Saving the world! The end of the world! Zombies! Glenn Close!” laughs Rose Byrne. The Sydney-born actress is back in Australia, blowing through the country on a promotional tour, talking up I Give It A Year. A Working Title rom-com from Sacha Baron Cohen collaborator Dan Mazer, the flick turns the template upside-down: beginning with the wedding, and ending with divorce.
SISTER DOING IT FOR HERSELF
She was once known for anything but laughs, but slowly Rose Byrne’s emerged as one of the most bankable comedy starlets on the screen, writes Anthony Carew.
“It’s a very clear, concise subversion of the genre; you’re rooting for the main couple to break up, rather than stay together,” Byrne says. “My character is one of those people who are living their life to a schedule. And for her, the wedding is the defining event of that; it’s this thing she’s dreamt about her whole life, to the point where it almost feels more important to her than the marriage itself.” Though best known for five seasons of the legal series Damages – where she starred opposite Close, and was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe – Byrne has recently been making a name
for herself as a comedienne, which is something she doesn’t take for granted. “Comedy is harder,” Byrne says. “It’s still dramatic, but then you’ve gotta get a laugh on top of it.”
I Give It A Year stands in stark contrast to her next film, The Place Beyond The Pines, an “epic” Bradley Cooper/Ryan Gosling-starring saga that marks Derek Cianfrance’s follow-up to Blue Valentine (“a slightly different film about a marriage falling apart,” Byrne laughs). “Derek Cianfrance has a really great way of working; the sets are very free, there’s no marks, you can roam around freely,” Byrne offers. Though it’s a dark drama, Byrne sees the freedom of working on The Place Beyond The Pines as comparable to 2010’s Get Him To The
Greek, which marked her breakout comic performance. “It was really fun and really liberating,” she recalls, of a role as a chav-ish British pop star. “[My character] was really wild, and self-absorbed, and had no filter; I was basically being asked to be the female version of Russell Brand.”
It marked Byrne’s indoctrination into the film ‘family’ of Hollywood comedy mogul Judd Apatow, and led to her being cast in the instantly-iconic 2011 comedy Bridesmaids. “I love the fact that Bridesmaids examined a woman in her late-30s who was at a crossroads in her life. Like: financially unstable, living with her mother, had bad experiences with guys, hadn’t got her shit together,” Bryne says. “That’s really rare in a Hollywood film to see that; there’s this implied message that it’s okay to be like that in your late-20s, but never in your late-30s. Similarly, female friendship is a theme we certainly don’t see enough of, in film or in TV.” Though long aware of Hollywood’s gender imbalance, Byrne was, still, somehow “totally unprepared” for how much Bridesmaids was going to table that discussion. “The line is always that it’s a business, that we have to sell tickets to males aged between 15 and 30,” Bryne, now well practiced, surmises. “But then there’ll be something that comes along – like Bridesmaids, or like Girls – that becomes a huge success, and it’s this reminder of the fact that, hey, women are consumers too. But, for whatever reason, unfortunately, they’re the consumers that just aren’t as catered to.”
WHAT: I Give It A Year
In cinemas Thursday 28 February
Ganesh Versus The Third ReichGanesh Versus The Third Reich Pic by Jeff BusbyPic by Jeff Busby
WATCHING GIRLS
30 • For more reviews go to themusic.com.au/reviews
REVIEWSTHE IMPOSTERFILMJust when you think The Imposter has reached a new level of implausibility, this blackly intriguing documentary springs another surprise on you, asking you to suspend your disbelief one more time or to question the motives of everyone – and I mean everyone – playing a part in this stranger-than-fiction true story, one that’s reminiscent at times of the great Errol Morris’ best docos. Director Bart Layton has a fascinating tale here: three years after 13-year-old Texan tearaway Nicholas Barclay disappeared, his family got a call from Spain, where a young man claiming to be Nicholas had turned himself in to authorities, claiming he’d escaped from a ring of kidnappers who’d altered
WHITE NIGHTEVENTMelbourne walks onto the international stage once more with White Night, and the night was an obvious success. The perfect introduction to the evening were the Flinders Street Station and Flinders Street building projections, aptly named Wonderland. Ever changing and unpredictable, it coloured the city and set the perfect tone to embrace the unexpected.
The events themselves and the way you took the evening was what made the night an adventure. Taking to the night with mystery and excitement led people to discover the Loading Bay cinema between Federation Square and the Yarra, or capture the bizarre Red
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANGMUSICAL A magical and ridiculous flight of fancy supported by strong ensemble performances and striking technical design, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a vibrant classic. The story of two children, their crackpot inventor father, a sweet manufacturing heiress and their car is just as barmy and brilliant as it was in the 1968 film adaptation by Ken Hughes and Roald Dahl. However, there was an opportunity in re-adapting the story to shed some of the clunky dialogue and archaic representations of gender and culture, which this show didn’t quite manage. Although this stage adaptation didn’t live up to Dahl’s, it still captured the spirit of Ian Fleming’s novel.
VIDEO GAMESE7, S2This Week On Girls? You know when you meet someone’s parents and all of a sudden it all makes sense? That is what tonight’s ep is like as we meet Jessa’s dad Salvatore (our own Ben Mendelsohn) and his new-age-y girlfriend Petula (Rosanna Arquette). Hannah accompanies Jessa upstate and Petula is thrilled as she will be ‘cushion’ for the weekend. Sal refuses to cancel his night plans and so Jessa, Hannah, Frank (Petula’s son) and his babin’ jock friend Tyler drive around in a convertible doing Whip-Its [nangs]. This leads to Hannah and Frank having eight seconds of ‘thigh sex‘ in a cemetery. Jessa confronts Sal about their damaged relationship and her need to be the child for once. The girls go and shop for bangers and mash but Sal never picks them
his appearance and forced him to speak in a foreign accent. Of course, this was not Nicholas – and the film gives 23-year-old French con man Frederic Bourdin ample opportunity to explain why he posed as this missing boy – but the Barclays bought the story and welcomed him with open arms. Maybe they wanted desperately to believe Nicholas was still alive. But, as The Imposter hints, maybe they had something to hide as well. It’s compelling stuff, given added texture by the deceiver at the centre of the story offering his account of events, and Layton gives it the morbid appeal of the best true-crime yarns.
Guy Davis
Screening from Thursday 28 February
Exclusive to Cinema Nova
Shoes exhibition off Flinders Lane. For some, it worked as a music festival with big acts like The Cat Empire, World’s End Press and Eagle & The Worm bringing people to the amazing Flinders Street Station-turned-rock stage, or the smaller stage on Degraves Street, featuring jazz sessions with Bob Sedergreen’s Trio, Nina Ferro and others. Some took advantage of NGV with Jeff Wall and consumed some more traditional art while others tried to figure out what the hell was happening in the Hi-Fi Bar.
Something of a problem were crowds, which for festival organisers is fantastic, but for the amount of content on show, the minimal space created some bad pedestrian traffic and much frustration. Popular events like Particle Picnic – a somewhat
Alan Brough and Jennifer Vuletic were brilliantly villainous and childish as the Baron and Baroness of Vulgaria, and Tyler Coppin was a terrifying pantomime child catcher. The ensemble performances made this fantastical world believable – particular standouts were the hectic and colourful sweet factory scene and Me Ol’ Bamboo, in which the men perform a manic morris dance with bamboo canes. Stunning design complement energetic performances, transporting the audience to a slightly surreal version of 1910, and the gorgeous period-tailoring, moving set pieces and a flying car garnered a gasp from the audience more than once. A hyperactive show; saccharine sweet with a touch of the bizarre.
Izzy Roberts Orr
His Majesty’s Theatre to Sunday 7 April
up. Jessa then mimics her father and leaves Hannah upstate with a note: “See you around my love x.”Girl Talk Of The Week? Hannah: “I really like the way you fold down your turtleneck.“ Frank: “Really?” [Leave scene.] [Comes back.] “It was a total accident that happened.”Shirtless Adam Watch: It’s obvious that Shirtless Adam scenes have been replaced by crying scenes this season. Jessa got an ugly cry in on the swing set with her dad. Girl On Top? Jessa, because we get an explanation as to why she is like a hurricane in her nature and can’t help but run (like her father), leaving the damage behind. What We Learnt: That Hannah is prone to UTIs. Cassandra FumiScreening every Monday night, 8.30pm, Showcase
F R O N T R O W@ I N P R E S S . C O M . A U
calming 3D experience in the Forum Theatre – or the 101 Zombie Kills (Cent une Tueries de Zombies) that needs no further explanation, had up to a one-hour wait, which for some left exploration of the festival to be unfulfilled. For the first year of a festival this was to be expected, and for the years to come it is a hope that the festival grows in size and content to cope with the large numbers that were at first expected to be 100,000 yet turned out to be triple that.
The success and future of White Night is evident by the scribes of Facebook and the Instagram chronicles read on Sunday morning. Like European festivals, White Night is best enjoyed with your closest friends and like-minded thinkers.
Matthew Ziccone
WITH REBECCA COOK Well it was more than All Right Night; White Night has been hailed a grand Light and Sight Night with more than 300,000 Melburnians turning out to christen the city’s first ever all-night festival. In fact, I’m sure an economist in Canberra sat in his pajamas and noted a dip in productivity across Melbourne on Sunday (and a modest upswing in the share price for Instagram). Everyone Cringe spoke to was blown away by the experience but completely couldn’t-get-off-the-couch knackered the next day. One person who was most deserving of some couch time was artist Sayraphim Lothian, who had both a visual art work in the fest (Collins St Regulars), as well as being a member of Pop Up Playground (together with Robert Reid, Ben McKenzie and Jaye Cook) who created The Whispering Society, an interactive narrative game that ran the full 12 hours of the event across multiple locations. With the mobile network jammed, the Pop Up Playground team had to resort to good old-fashioned hand-delivered messages. “I really wish I had logged in to an exercise app for the night. It’s about 1.3kms between Fed Square and the (State) Library and I lost count of the times I made that mad dash over the 12 hours!” Lothian said. She and her collaborators expected a crowd of around 200 people, but were overwhelmed by nearly 1000 players/punters on the night. “Our game agents, the people who were actually running the game and interacting with the crowd, were totally amazing.
We’d prepped them for two or three people at a time, but some of them were holding court for upwards of 70 to 100 people at a time.” And that crowd varied from kids as young as seven to some sprightly octogenarians. At stages the queue for The Whispering Society stretched down several blocks. A highlight for Lothian was watching the general public, who may not normally be interested in art, interact with her sculpture piece. “Apart from the almost constant photographing of them, the other thing most people were doing was going up and touching them, examining them closely from all sides. It’s interesting the different mentality that surrounds the placement of work. If you stuck this in a gallery, no one would even think about touching it; art in a gallery possesses an almost sacred quality.” The popularity of the event was a problem in its own way with folks struggling to navigate the surging crowds; one friend coined the phrase ‘Not Quite Night’ as she kept missing events but after she saw the Exaudi Youth Choir at 4am in the State Library all was forgiven. “It was seriously like angels coming down and flying around, it was fricking beautiful,” she said. Speaking of otherworldly experiences, it might have been exhaustion, but John Safran’s 6am sermon to a packed bar as the sun came up at Madame Brussels was described as a “near religious experience”, and for those who made it all the way through a fitting end to a crazy night of bingeing on arts and culture. Here’s to the next one.
CULTURAL CRINGE
Playwright goes to Hollywood. Playwright creates hit TV show. Playwright gets ousted from said show, goes public with his hatred of LA and all it stands for. Playwright returns to writing for the stage, with spectacular success. That’s more or less the story of Jon Robin Baitz, erstwhile creator of hit TV show Brothers & Sisters and more recently the author of Other Desert Cities, a Pulitzer-nominated Broadway play.
Sacha Horler plays Brooke Wyeth, a character whose story echoes Baitz’s in many ways. Horler points out the parallels. “[Baitz] lives in Sag Harbor, my character lives in Sag Harbour. My character had a full break down. He publicly said that
WRESTLING WITH TRUTH
In Other Desert Cities, Sacha Horler’s character upsets a few family members. Sarah Braybrooke gets the actor’s thoughts on how it could happen to anyone.
after being ‘moved on’ from Brothers & Sisters... he had some kind of breakdown, as a rejection of LA, and all its absurdity and vanity and revoltingness. He went back to his real love, which is writing real people the real way, so to speak. Which is what my character does too.”
That’s where the similarities end though. Where Baitz returned to writing theatre, his creation Brooke pens a devastating family memoir. The daughter of two arch-conservative parents – a Republican former senator and his Hollywood screenwriter wife – Brooke is a writer who needs to resurrect her career. She tackles her family history, including the death of her
F R O N T R O W@ I N P R E S S . C O M . A U
brother. As the family gathers in the desert town of Palm Springs for Christmas, the clash between Brooke’s version of the story and that of her parents comes to the surface.
Horler likens Brooke’s story to that of Patti Davis, Ronald Reagan’s ‘black sheep’ daughter whose tell-all memoirs brought embarrassment to her family. The scrutiny that politicians’ personal lives come under is significant, but as Horler points out, they aren’t the only ones to fear seeing their lives on the page. “I think that it has always been a contentious area to write about people who are living... as soon as you write books that include your ex-lovers or ex-husbands, your children or boyfriends, there are always going to be people who say ‘that’s not how I saw it... It never happened like that’. The play is really dealing with divergent truth.
“I think if I thought I’d written a really rip-roaring history of [my family], that I would probably be as blind as Brooke is in some regards to the impact of it. You [would] think ‘look what I’ve written! It’s fairly brilliant! Shouldn’t people be reading this?’” She laughs. “And then you’d find out it was offensive to people, or inflammatory, or not how they saw it.”
Horler, whose parents Ken and Lilian Horler co-founded The Nimrod Theatre (now the Griffin Theatre) in Sydney, might appear to hail from a very different world to Brooke’s stuffy upbringing. But she can relate to her story nonetheless. “What I do identify with fairly clearly is the relationship one has with one’s parents about who owns the truth of [the past]... I remember the absolute certainty you have of some major event in your life, and it’s outrageous to you that someone could have forgotten a moment or read it in a different way. I think that is something that we can all identify with.”
WHAT: Other Desert Cities
WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 2 March to Wednesday 17 April, MTC Sumner Theatre
Sacha HorlerSacha Horler
TRAILER TRASHWITH GUY DAVIS I spend a great deal of my life apologising: for things I’ve done, things I’ve said, things I’ve left on people’s doorsteps in the dead of night. So it’s fitting I kick off this Trailer Trash with a two-pronged apology: one goes out to Andrew Mast, who usually (and excellently) writes about television for this fine publication – sorry, but I’m gonna be treading on your turf for the next few hundred words. And the other goes to, well, all of you who feel strongly about downloading TV shows from the internet. I do have some standards when it comes to what I will and won’t obtain by dodgy means, but I will confess to checking out the odd new episode of a show in which I’m either interested or hopelessly addicted. Ah, but contrary to what those anti-drug commercials or your AA sponsor (call me, Barry!) may have told you, an addiction can simply go away by itself. Case in point: the once much-loved, now kinda-tolerated US sitcom Community. Look, I realise it’s early in the show’s fourth season to be throwing it under the bus and sauntering off in search of a new diversion (helloooo, New Girl), but the fact is clear to anyone willing to tune in – Community is a simulacrum of what it once was. It’s not terrible by any means, going by the few new episodes that have aired recently, but there’s something missing, something hard to identify or define, and it’s been replaced by something that’s working oh-so-hard to convince the viewers that things are the same as they ever were. But they ain’t. If you’re a regular reader of Trailer Trash, you might want to
consider your life choices. You’ll also probably have seen at least one version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. I recommend you check out Don Siegel’s 1956 original, a bona fide paranoid classic, if only for a scene that illustrates exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to Community. A woman explains (in a pretty calm and rational manner, given the circumstances) that her beloved Uncle Ira has been replaced by a duplicate that looks, sounds and behaves exactly like the original. But she can tell. She just knows this Ira is not the one she’s known and loved all her life. The “special look” in his eye is missing. And, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, that’s how I feel about Community now.Yeah, that does sound melodramatic, actually. I mean, it’s not the end of the world that a sitcom I enjoyed for three years – and which, to my mind, ended well after three years (seriously, the last few episodes of Community’s third season work an absolute treat in terms of resolution and conclusion) – now seems to be running out the clock, maybe in a bid to accumulate enough episodes to get syndicated and rake in some fat cash. (I know that sounds cynical but can you think of any other reason why a network would keep bankrolling a fanboy favourite with only so-so ratings?)Anyway, I’d like to point you in the direction of the internet, if I may. There’s a terrific, incisive article about Community creator Dan Harmon’s post-show life on the Grantland site (you’ve got Google, use it!) that gives a fair indication of what he brought to the table... As well as why he may have been asked to leave said table. Give it a read, why don’t you.
To check out the mags online go to themusic.com.au/mags • 31
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TOMAHAWKTONIGHT, BILLBOARD
Let’s face it, there are a fucking million gigs of the week this week due to the arrival of dozens of Soundwave bands and the return of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Last week it was an all-local love-in with gazillions of SLAM Day shows; this week the international heavy hitters have well and truly arrived so it’s hard to know where to point y’all. There are many constants in rock’n’roll, Mike Patton is not one of these in terms of output, but he is most definitely in terms of showmanship. This is why Tomahawk may just well be the silent assassin of the Soundwave sideshows – plus they’ve got killer pics.
GIG OF THE WEEK
FRONTLASHTO THE COREApplecore Festival lives and breathes the ethos of the SLAM movement: backyard DIY good vibes, super tunes and still one of the best places to get sun-fucked in February.
WAM BAM, THANK YOU SLAMAs more live venues close around the nation, it was great to see Melbourne gig-goers rally together and support so many SLAM gigs on Saturday night. Now, just pretend it’s SLAM every weekend.
WHITE NIGHTWhile the inaugural night of arty things was a little disorganised and hard to get around, a lot of folk enjoyed the trip. We believe some people spent 12 hours alone staring at the funkified Forum.
BACKLASHSETH HEADThe Oscars were dull, dull, dull. And what happened to Seth MacFarlane? Smug and unfunny. They shoulda let Peter Griffin host.
NEW DAWNScariest thing about the Celebrity Apprentice ad that kept showing up during the Oscars? Dawn Fraser can sing better than Brian Mannix.
LOST DIRECTIONReally? One Direction have mashed-up a cover of Undertones’ Teenage Kicks and Blondie’s One Way Or Another? We understand it’s for charity and all… but, really?
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr BandRingo Starr & His All-Starr BandPics by Andrew BriscoePics by Andrew Briscoe
RINGO STARR & HIS ALL-STARR BAND FESTIVAL HALL: 17/02/13There is a real air of being a part of something special tonight as young hipsters mingle with fans who could well be in their 70s or older. Though Ringo is definitely the star(r) of the show he’s more than happy to take a back seat and let his All-Star Band take the limelight. With guitarist Steve Lukather providing scintillating solos and the charisma of Todd Rundgren, dressed in some of the
tightest jeans ever seen on a human, there is no shortage of star power on stage. It feels more like a jam session between old friends than a concert.
The evening starts with Starr’s early solo hit, It Don’t Come Easy, complete with an exceptionally long-winded sax solo and some theatrics from Ringo as he gallivants around the stage, directing peace symbols at all corners of the sweaty festival hall crowd. The heat soon becomes too much for him and he discards his signature leather jacket. The gig branches off for a while as a lot of the other members in his ragtag band play songs from their careers until Ringo takes centre stage again with the first song he ever wrote, The Beatles’ Don’t Pass Me By. Yellow Submarine elicits a wild response from the crowd, who throw off the shackles of the heat and burst into a resounding singalong.
The diverse set continues to amaze with some of Toto’s most recognisable hits, Hold The Line and Africa, getting a go as well. Then just as the night begins to lull, Ringo jumps to attention and his 1973 hit Photograph gets the crowd worked up again before offering a spectacular rendition of With A Little Help From My Friends. There’s not a person in the room who isn’t on their feet and wearing a huge smile as a rather exuberant Ringo finishes the song with a series of star (Starr) jumps and then exits quietly while His All-Starr Band finish with Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance.
Cambell Klose
MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE MORNING AFTER GIRLSPALACE: 21/02/13Melbourne’s The Morning After Girls set the scene for My Bloody Valentine (MBV) with their hazy shoegaze guitars, playing to the crowd with a rather nonchalant aloofness.
It’s astonishing that a band like My Bloody Valentine can disappear for 20 years and make such an effortless comeback, which not only reclaims all their old fans but also attracts many younger listeners. There is no apparent generation gap as we jostle to secure the best possible spot for tonight’s much anticipated sold-out show. MBV kick tonight’s show off with I Only Said and When You Sleep. Both tunes are perhaps the band’s most accessible pop moments buried under heavy drones of hazy guitars. Almost everyone in the house is smiling and eyes glaze over as the music gets euphoric. New You is the only song from their new album to be featured tonight. Marking no specific point of departure for MBV it blends into the mix with older tunes seamlessly. While
For more reviews go to themusic.com.au/reviews • 33
the guitars are loud, the microphones are irritatingly low, to the extent that Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher’s vocals are barely audible. As they delve into tunes from Isn’t Anything and their multitude of EPs, MBV start to adopt a more brutal and punishing stance. Come In Alone and Only Shallow false start with Shields scrambling for technical help. MBV find their groove with Thorn, producing a thick dense fog of noise that hangs heavy in the air, at once referencing everything from ‘60s psychedelic pop to nastier metallic impulses. The simple repetitive riffs have the hypnotic and almost abstract quality of old-school techno, but it all rides much rougher. Butcher and Shield’s guitars bounce off each other on the rather manic Feed Me With Your Kiss before the earth shattering You Made Me Realise violently blows up in our faces with a wall of noise that hangs off a single chord. It’s such a painfully loud finale that many cover their ears or retreat to the back. After all these years it’s great to see MBV back in such spectacularly fine form.
Guido Farnell
Joseph PaulJoseph PaulPic by Holly EngelhardtPic by Holly Engelhardt
New York’s Bomb The Music Industry! are up next. It’s the final tour for the band and this weekend’s Melbourne shows are their last before heading home. Despite this, the mood is jovial and the set is full of the crazy antics they’re known for. Members swap instruments, a fan gets given a guitar, someone gets hit with a bass and everyone has an absolute ball the entire time.
The Smith Street Band waste no time laying into a mix of songs from both their albums. The crowd shouts along to every word and people are crowdsurfing almost immediately; things only settle down briefly when they play a brand new song. We’re all sweltering in the packed bandroom, so it’s a bit of a relief that the set is fairly short. But with a show this fun and bands this passionate, no one leaves disappointed.
Josh Ramselaar
THE FAMOUS SPIEGELTENTIt’s hard to describe a musician without also alluding to the ways in which they are ‘like’ someone else, or ‘are influenced by’ some other musical genius. But in the case of Ross McLennan, this musician stands on his own splendid pedestal. As he appears on the Spiegeltent stage, the audience is unaware that he’s arrived until he intones wryly, “Most inauspicious entrance to the Spiegeltent ever.”
As the applause starts after the first song, McLennan poses, rockstar-style: arms in the air, his fingers forming two ‘V’ shapes in the air. He’s got the true essence of indie pop running through his veins, and this SLAM gig lets loose his unique discordant melodies. It’s raw and brash, but underneath an unpolished lushness shines, producing a slightly unhinged brilliance.
The full ensemble of strings, woodwind and powerhouse rhythm section is creative and surprising at every turn. The lyrics are as important and inspired as the music, its registers roaming from rocking highs to soft mellow lows to a gorgeous melding of emotion and melody and pure feeling. It’s great to see such a full turn out for a 5pm show, and as smiling audience members file out, McLennan can be seen packing up guitar leads and lugging amps off the stage – the unceremonious duty of this one-of-a-kind musician.
Jaye Weatherburn
GASOMETERThe sound of distorted guitar drifts onto Smith Street from the second floor of the Gasometer, signaling the start of an extensive SLAM Day line-up offered by the venue. It’s always a pleasure visiting the upstairs bandroom at the Gaso, and despite the limited facilities and the matinee timeslot, Fortress Of Narzod make it their own. The three-piece shower the punters with thunderous noise, filled with rolling toms and stoner riffs. Jim Lewis kills it on bass and vocals – taking up a power-stance for much of the set and throwing his head back during Andrew Pickering’s climatic guitar solos.
Having formed nearly 30 years ago, the members of Seminal Rats look their age. But appearance was never really a big thing for the Rats, and the boys prove that cool doesn’t fade. Vocalist Michael Harley dryly announces each song before the band launch into super tight renditions of the standout tracks of their catalogue. Though now playing as a four-piece after the sad loss of original lead guitarist Michael Weber, Ruebin Pinkster and Dave Balsamo maintain the integrity of their recorded output with some excellent guitar and bass work, while Todd McNeair knocks out effortless fills with a constant sneer. It’s a celebratory occasion with a room full of friends and long-time admirers. It’s a great feeling to know that a band that first entered the Melbourne scene in the ‘80s can still play an absolutely killer show at one of the city’s best venues.
Jan Wisniewski
WRANGLER STUDIOSI’ve never gotten off the train at Tottenham Station. But here I am, walking the streets of wild, wild West Footscray, past junkyard dogs and seas of shipping containers. It’s SLAM Day, and a warehouse studio in an industrial area is the perfect space for local band The Steins, whose rock’n’roll surely wins a few fans over tonight. Sydney three-piece Bonez takes to the stage next, and they continue to wake up more than a few punters without compromising their set, full of variety. Bonez are at their best when playing hard as opposed to playing ballads, but once Cotangent take to the stage, it’s all about the rock and/or roll. Throwing down a mean set, they blast the ears of all in Wrangler Studios, as well as the dozens littering the street outside.
From midnight, Sheriff rip the pants off the stage, their tight-as-fuck tunes inspiring all kinds of crowd participation. They continue their upward spiral, and as the taxis roll up outside (a lot faster than one would expect in this factory-riddled part of town), this night in the wild, wild west has finished on a high.
Dylan Stewart
CURTIN BANDROOMAway from the saturated streets of Melbourne’s White Night, there is another important event, The Glorious’ album launch at the John Curtin Hotel. In comparison to the insane swarms swirling outside, this is an intimate affair. By the time support acts, Paul Ruske, followed by Goodbye Motel, finish their own sets the bandroom of the John Curtin Hotel is warmed up in more ways than one. The Glorious waste no time and welcome their audience with These Blazin Nights, the opening track off their new album, Sweetwater. It seems that the day’s heat has managed to stick around for the album launch, but this does not discourage the crowd, many of whom are singing, swaying and saluting along to songs old and new.
Their songs, filled with inspiring lyrics coupled with guitar riffs that would turn the head of Chris Isaak himself, are mixed in with some fairly awkward and short interactions from lead, David Mather. Stage banter aside, their talent as musicians is very difficult to argue against, though some of the vocals are partially lost in a poor sound mix. It’s perhaps their only downfall, however, with a crowd that could have, and should have, been much larger.
Tom Collins
CHERRY BARThis year, SLAM events in Melbourne celebrate the third anniversary of Australia’s largest cultural protest. The same week also recognises the 33rd year since AC/DC frontman Bon Scott passed away. If any band is to symbolise the importance of celebrating and endorsing live Australian music in local venues, and the triumph of Australian music more generally, then it has to be AC/DC. Fittingly, a tribute concert is held down AC/DC lane, on one of Melbourne’s favoured sticky floors and live music institutions: Cherry.
Coinciding with Melbourne’s inaugural White Night, while a brightly lit Melbourne plays host to tens of thousands of ramblers, the dimly-lit Cherry bar hosts High Voltage with guests Electric (The Cult cover band) and all-round rock cover band The Jaded Cats.
Commencing with a vision of Peter Scott Morrison, the man on “lead wolf howling vocals”, from Electric affixing his wig in the ladies toilets prior to his on stage appearance, feels like a particularly unique and personal touch to the night of celebration. It is certainly a fly on the wall moment. The night proves to be both very rock and tremendously Melbourne and with AC/DC staples covered earnestly by The Jaded Cats, enthusiasm from punters increases steadily. Needless to say the Cherry Bar floor will be a little gluier as a result, no doubt an apt marker of this significant event.
Izzy Tolhurst
WHITE NIGHT MELBOURNE “Cat Empire’s on next – they’re supposed to be good!” a man says to his mates gathered on the overcrowded steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, observing the massive human gridlock at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets. It’s just past 1am on a humid morning. The church’s doors are flung open and disembodied choral hymns fill the interior, accompanying projections on the stained glass windows. Masses dance rapturously on the streets to Felix Riebl and his band as they perform on a floodlit stage under the clocks of the train station.
The near-full moon is past its nadir. Beneath it, the streetscape of Flinders Street is awash in large scale projections of poems, budding tree branches, and harlequins. The Forum is manic with patrons in 3D glasses dancing in front of a screen of flying geometrics. At ACMI, thirsty undead killers pack every session of 101 Zombie Kills and hundreds more learn to salsa and shake to West African beats under mirror balls at Fed Square.
A heart thump-thumping beat calls from the banks below: six huge satellite dishes on Birrarung Marr flicker with minute details of nature to an ominous soundtrack of chirping insects, rotating aircraft blades and elements of the soundtrack from The Thing. Flap! keep punters grooving at the intimate Jazz Stage on narrow Degraves Street, while Kerelan Touch Music in Campbell Arcade below invites people to run their fingers over found objects suspended on string to create low-ringing harmonies.
The Ghost Tour at the Arts Centre is ‘totally booked out’ to 3am but Low Headroom is still enticing crowds of up to 40 to descend five levels down to a narrow, short service corridor no higher than a residential bathroom where Sabbatical, an experimental/fringe collection of musicians, perform meditative sets. Outside, The Famous Spiegeltent pumps funk and soul at. Next door in NGV’s Great Hall, the cascading foam installation of Michel Blazy’s Bouquet Final 2 tempts visitors blow at it, gleefully dislodging flights of shampoo-scented, sticky bubbles.
A silvery dawn arrives and there’s still time to view Jeff Wall’s photographs at Ian Potter Gallery. A tiny skeleton marionette handled by Smallpox Theatre croons morosely to a dozen tired people seated on the curb of Flinders Street. The grass lawns of St Paul’s are littered with entwined couples dreaming of the next all-night party.
Ching Pei Khoo
34 • For more reviews go to themusic.com.au/reviews
WORKERS CLUB (SLAM EVE)It’s the night before SLAM Day, and, well, it’s no wonder that we need a national event to remind people to support their local live music venues. The Aphilliates are rocking a set to a small but engaged gaggle of punters, followed by Fluent Form stepping up to the mic. “I’ve never played to such a big crowd before,” he deadpans. The audience may be small, but they still wholeheartedly appreciate the local MC’s sharp, furious flow – his Flu 32 bars are a particular highlight. It’s a tight, dedicated set under less than ideal conditions.
Having braved the storms of NSW (and the consequently delayed planes) to get to Melbourne, Dialectrix turns up at the nick of time. He wastes no time, jumping on stage to get things started with The Facilitator, DJ Sizzle behind him doing a fine job carving up the decks. The set is a balance of strong new material from Dialectrix’s new Satellite EP (the title track is a particular highlight) and beloved older material, including Pieces Of The Puzzle and the ever-brilliant Priceless. Dialectrix is, as usual, on top of his game (even after a tough day) – he delivers rapid-fire rhymes with alarming precision. Few can match this impeccable MC.
It’s the final song of the night, however, that reminds you that the biggest, flashiest gigs aren’t always the ones you’ll love the best. Fluent Form and DJ Discourse jump back on stage for Comin’ To Getcha, the brilliant Dialectrix/Crate Cartel collaboration. It’s four minutes of spectacular rhymes and hilarious banter between artists who are clearly enjoying themselves. The night finishes on a high note as the clock ticks past midnight. It’s officially SLAM Day, and we’ve already been reminded why live music is so great.
Aleksia Barron
TOFF IN TOWNIn 2009, Ground Components and Little Red toured nationally. In the years following there have been shambolic separations, splintered side projects and now, convincingly, something substantial created from the ashes.
Spearheaded by Quang Dinh, former Little Red bassist, Naked Bodies have drawn early comparisons to Nick Cave. While warranted, it’s perhaps Cave’s bandmate Warren Ellis and his Dirty Three that suits best. With a raw sound commanded by a violin and an urgent vocal delivery, it’s the antithesis of Dinh’s previous band and all the better for it.
The closing track on Ground Components’ only album – An Eye For A Brow, A Tooth For A Pick (2006) – saw Joseph McGuigan take on the role of a rambling Bob Dylan. The beat poetry remains in his new role as Joseph Paul, as his manic interpretation of world music lifts from Jamaican reggae, US hip hop and British punk, with one
foot firmly planted in commercial dance music. Still in an early incarnation it’s fleeting, but it’s the live energy that compels, as unrestricted by an instrument; McGuigan charges about the stage as if he were a boxer defending his title. Perhaps the greatest way of supporting live Australian music lies in the art of producing it. For that, both front men are seasoned and passionate campaigners.
Brendan Hitchens
OLD BARA sweltering Fitzroy evening sees several hundred rapt punters pack out one of Johnston Street’s finest establishments; the floor so thickly sticky it’s physically hard to leave. Gold Tango drag us willingly to 1981 with a bristling take on post-punk. The band’s controlled fury is channeled into bursts of atmospheric organ-driven rock and it’s exciting stuff, demanding a bigger audience and less heat-stricken crowd.
Hunting Pictures, boasting members of Scul Hazzards and Deaf Wish, are a blast of furious guitar-driven, occasionally melodic, noise rock, and impress greatly. The audience response generates a pall of sweat that hangs over the crowd and suddenly 1994 at the Punters Club seems viscerally real. It’s not that dissimilar to the incendiary ruckus pushed by the ensuing White Walls. Thrashing at minor chords with far more success than the blades of the ineffectual ceiling fans above, the trio’s lingering, melodic vocals and manic drums add up to an eminently mosh-able whole.
A ‘full house’ sign goes up just before Degreaser begin, while security manages a steadily growing crowd on the street. With singer/guitarist Tim Evans based in Brooklyn, the band can claim a ‘(US)’ suffix, but only their sound is American. Degreaser are an exercise in dark, scuzzy valve-driven blues riffing, with piercing guttural vocals, and huge basslines that often drown out Evans’ frantic guitar grabbing. Songs blend together, united by stomping rhythms of varying speed, and as powerful as it sounds, it seems a hollow, empty clamour. Still, drinks flow, the crowd crowds and the punters love it.
Andy Hazel
REVERENCE HOTELBoth the Reverence and The Smith Street Band have been moving from strength to strength over the last year, so it’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate SLAM Day than tonight’s sold-out show.
Locals Kissing Booth and The Bennies kick off proceedings tonight, The Bennies with Smith Street Band’s Lee Hartney filling in for their injured guitarist. Members of Smith Street Band, Bomb The Music Industry! and the Gun Runners join The Bennies for various songs throughout the set, showing off the awesome sense of community in the punk scene.
SLAM DAY SPECIAL
Carole KingCarole KingPic by Matt O’ConnorPic by Matt O’Connor
CAROLE KINGPLENARY: 18/02/13Watching once legendary performers emerge from a hiatus and return to the stage is like taking a good, hard look at our own reflections in the mirror: the anticipation may not always match the reality. There is no denying that Carole King fits the ‘legend’ bill – her famous ballads Will You Love Me Tomorrow, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, and It’s Too Late at least in part define the early-’70s. The innocence, pure exhilaration and sobering heartbreak of love instantly pull tender heartstrings in many a baby boomer’s bosom to reawaken daydreams of yesteryear.
She emerges warmly – a sweeter doppelganger of Glenn Close – and seats herself at the glossy black grand piano at centre stage. Spotlights are trained exclusively on her whilst her band and two female back-up singers remain largely in the dark background. The round, oblique lilt is replaced by gravelly, husky vocals, and all at once the image of youth revisited starts to slip away. Her voice always had a slight steely quality in the past, but time has pronounced it to the point of mild harshness. Despite this, she manages to hold some demanding tunes admirably, like when she is channelling her inner Freddie Scott baritones for Hey Girl, a song she co-wrote with her former husband Gerry Goffin that Scott made famous. She misses notes on several occasions but, recognising her limits, she strategically employs the voluptuous vocals of her back-up singers to extend or rein in the notes she can no longer reach. I Feel The Earth Move and A Natural Woman are sustained purely by their efforts. She fares better with the slower, smooth songs like So Far Away and City Streets. Photos of her younger self are plastered on the screen behind throughout the evening as a nod to history, but teamed with the immediate steeliness of her voice now, it is also somewhat disconcerting.
Ching Pei Khoo
CHARLES JENKINS DRUNKEN POET: 17/02/13On a hot day, Melburnians will look far and wide to find some respite from the heat. Cinemas, shopping centres, even their cars seem appealing when faced with the other option of sweating it out on the couch at home. So in the heat of the day on a (very) lazy Sunday afternoon, the prospect of an ice cold beverage and one of Australia’s most talented singer-songwriters looks pretty dang good.
Leaving the heat, the trams and the Queen Vic Market outside, stepping onto the worn wooden boards of the Drunken Poet is like escaping to another world. The air conditioning takes the edge off, a pint of Guinness (dare I say, one of the best in Melbourne) soothes the soul, and it’s easy to see how the ex-pats and whiskey lovers can spend hours sitting in this traditional-style Irish pub every week.
At 4pm, Charles Jenkins finishes tuning his guitar and launches into a couple of hours of homespun folk tales. Casual banter with audience members and the odd self-deprecating joke gives Jenkins a licence to do almost anything he wants. Thankfully, he chooses to sing songs of family and friendships, and with his acoustic guitar proving all the accompaniment that he needs (aside from some early feedback), it’s a gorgeous way to spend the afternoon.
Tipping his hat to towns from Brisbane to Mildura, Jenkins woos the small but appreciative crowd, who have paid nothing to sit by the bar and listen to his songs. Offering tunes from his most recent album Love Your Crooked Neighbour With Your Crooked Heart and delving into his equally-impressive back catalogue, a couple of hours spent with Charles Jenkins at the Drunken Poet is as good a way as any to escape the heat on a Sunday afternoon.
Dylan Stewart
OWL EYES, STONEFIELDMELBOURNE ZOO: 22/02/13A perfect summer evening in Melbourne, the perfect setting for a show in the Zoo’s twilight gardens; everything about this show, even down to the choice beer selection, is idyllic. Stonefield kick us off bang on 7pm with a very new, very male drummer, who allows previous skinswoman Amy Findlay to showcase her epic set of pipes. Seriously, the girl can wail, and set free from the vagaries of a drum kit she makes an impressive frontwoman. Her sisters prove more than able foils and as they rip through Bad Reality, Yes Master and the obligatory Magic Carpet Ride cover (with Findlay back on drums) the mostly picnic-loving crowd manage to leave the Mersey Valley alone for a second and clap along.
After a brief interval, during which a wandering family of ducks delightfully try to eat our reasonably priced chips, Brooke Addamo, aka Owl Eyes, hits the stage. Launching straight into a new cut taken from her forthcoming album, Nightswim, Addamo is favouring a distinctly more electronic element as she moves into the most crucial stage of her career so far. Previously a contender for Melbourne’s manic pixie dream girl mantle, there’s a newfound bite inherent in this newer material, pushing Addamo closer to the likes of Jessie Ware than Lisa Mitchell. It suits her well, especially on the album’s title track and an almost dubstep-flavoured Breaking. Tzatziki dip goes flying everywhere as Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks gets a run and by the time she closes up with Raiders, Addamo has upheld her bourgeoning reputation as one of the city’s brightest new talents.
Chris Hayden
EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN PALACE: 19/01/13Tonight there’s clearly a dress code: black on black, with a preference for an exposed Einsturzende Neubauten tattoo on an appendage if possible. The Palace is near capacity and the stage looks like the best junk shop ever with all kinds of strange industrial paraphernalia crammed among conventional instrumentation. It’s a young child’s toy box writ large, and it can’t help but build expectations.
They take to the stage with a curiously underwhelming kind of industrial pop cabaret that consists of leader Blixa Bargeld crooning over light percussive sounds with the occasional experimental gesture. All the amazing unknown industrial instruments are used with such restraint, all in service of the song, or more precisely Bargeld’s lyrics. Bass player Alexander Hacke in a grubby singlet though is quite remarkable, pulling these incredible rock moves; it’s like he’s hearing and playing along to music from another band. Eventually it does get noisy, but even then the band are lacking punch. Even songs like Die Interimsliebenden off the great Tabula Rasa album, Silence Is Sexy and Dead Friends (Around The Corner) are reassuring yet don’t get the pulse racing.
Percussionist NU Unruh seems to get to have most of the fun, getting to play most of the non conventional percussive instruments, whether it’s extra long PVC pipes, strange springs, or even upending a box of metal rods at one point. These are the best moments, yet they feel restrained, more like a scientist using just the right dosage of a chemical compound to produce a predetermined reaction. It feels like calculated shocking. These moments need to be allowed to develop over time, and create uncertainty or uncomfortableness. But there’s no danger here, no risk, not even really much of a vibe, as the instruments don’t even really play off each other. It’s ironic that a band of young German punks determined to destroy the establishment have themselves lost their energy, lost their edge and become a watered down parody of their former selves.
Bob Baker Fish
For more reviews go to themusic.com.au/reviews • 35
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38 • For more opinion go to themusic.com.au/blog
Los StraightjacketsLos Straightjackets
BLUES ‘N’ ROOTS WITH DAN [email protected]
ROOTS DOWN
One forthcoming Australian tour I have somehow neglected to mention in the past few weeks is that of Los Straitjackets, who are making their way to Australia for what I believe is the first time. The Nashville instrumental surf rock maestros announced about six weeks ago that they will be in Australia for a series of shows across the country this March, taking in dates in a number of capital cities. The band initially formed in 1988 but split rather quickly, only to re-form in the mid-1990s. Featuring some of America’s truly great rockabilly artists, the band are musically stunning, though there is no danger of them taking themselves too seriously; the masked members often covering songs that one wouldn’t usually expect. With 13 studio albums to their name, the band have plenty of material to work with on these shows, and given the fact the band have mentioned their touring will be limited from here on in, the chance to see them in our country is a very exciting one. The current line-up of Danny Amis, Eddie Angel, Pete Curry, Chris Sprague and Greg Townson will perform Thursday 14 March at the LuWow while in this part of the country.
The tour dates for the Endless Boogie shows have been announced, with the New York based boogie, blues-rock, psych, jam band hitting Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong and Hobart while they are out here. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, their Long Island LP (which has just come out through No Quarter/Inertia) is brilliant and a must-hear for any rock’n’roll fan who’s not scared of a long song and a, perhaps slightly indulgent, guitar solo. There are shades of Lobby Loyde, Billy Thorpe and Masters Apprentices in there as well as punk rock touches inherited from the likes of The Saints and God. They’re a great live band and if plenty of people get out and see them on this second tour then hopefully they’ll come back! Catch them at the Tote on Friday 29 March, Northcote Social Club on Wednesday 3 April and Barwon Club (Geelong) on Thursday 4.
The very exciting news about the seventh stage at Bluesfest this year has been announced, with the Lotus Palace making its first grand appearance at the Easter event. It’s going to feature Q&As, meet and greets and special intimate performances from some seriously cool acts. One would imagine it’ll be another big drawcard for a festival that’s already packed with them!
I hope you took the opportunity to catch Justin Townes Earle while he was in the country last week and the week before. I was lucky enough to take in two of his shows, and while he offered very little that we hadn’t seen before he remains one of the best solo performers on the planet, and I mean that. If you missed him again I’m sure you’ll get your chance to catch him soon enough, but don’t keep making what I assure you is a grave mistake. I was also quite taken by Robert Ellis who performed at one of the two performances I took in; this guy has a voice crazily reminiscent of a young Willie Nelson and the back-end of his recently release Photographs LP shows it off so well. He admitted at the show that the second half of the album was something of a tribute to his country heroes and you can really tell. Grab Photographs and hope that he returns to Australia real soon.
Just a quick reminder that the great Michael Kiwanuka is also doing some of those Heavenly Sounds shows while he’s in Australia next month, which will see him playing in churches all along the east coast. I think the chance to see such a supreme talent play in a venue as ornate, acoustically inviting and just plain gorgeous as St Michael’s Church (on the corner of Collins & Russell) is pretty exciting; he’ll be there on Tuesday 26 March. There are still tickets about, I believe.
HARDCORE AND PUNK WITH SARAH PETCHELL
WAKE THE DEAD
So the whole Soundwave carnival hits town this week, and it has sold out, unfortunately. That said, if you’re fortunate enough to hold a ticket, here are my picks of who you need to catch on the line-up. The Chariot are a must for any fan of a frenetic and mental live show. I saw them at the Gaelic Club in Sydney a few years ago and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. They should be playing songs from across their whole discography, but tracks from their newly re-released record, One Wing, should make up the bulk of the set. Cerebral Ballzy are another band that I’m excited to see. They have never been to Australia before, but their irreverent thrash punk style should make for an interesting set. I mean, they have songs such as Insufficient Fare, about jumping train turnstiles, and Sk8 All Day, which is pretty self-explanatory. This is a band I’ve been excited about for a while; their self-titled album is great. Shai Hulud are set to release their fifth album, Reach Beyond The Sun, and it’s as good as anything else in their discography. Gallows will also be interesting to see live with the new line-up. Their third album got a lot of mixed reviews, but I think it’s a lot better than a lot of other reviewers have made it out to be. I still miss Frank at the front, but music-wise, this is classic Gallows. Then there are the classics: Fucked Up, Madball and Sick Of It All. Madball and Sick Of It All are necessary viewing for any hardcore fan. They’re the bands that have influenced generations of bands and never fail to entertain. On the other hand, Fucked Up is one of my favourite bands both on record and in a live setting.
For nearly two decades, BoySetsFire have been one of those quintessential and influential post-hardcore bands. They’ve lived through the terror of rap-rock, the tyranny of nu-metal, and pop-punk. They were popular before the internet. With a resume of hundreds of shows (from basements to festivals) and releasing albums of pretty much every format, prolific is also a good way to describe these guys. Now, BSF are getting ready to release their first studio album in almost seven years, their first partnership with Bridge 9 Records. Said guitarist Joshua Latshaw of the as-yet-untitled new record, “Our new record is maybe more punk, maybe faster than our other records but it’s still a BoySetsFire record. It’s emotional post-hardcore with elements of metal, punk and melody. We can’t wait for you to hear it.” The band are currently in a studio in Delaware adding the final touches, but stay tuned for more details.
If you’re heading to Break The Ice in April, the second announcement adds five more bands to the bill. Joining Bane, Cold World, Rotting Out, Hopeless, Iron Mind, Phantoms (hey, it’s their comeback show), Outright, Endless Heights and more are Australian hardcore stalwarts Miles Away and 50 Lions, who will be joined by The Others, Vigilante and Melbourne Krishna and NYHC worshippers Reincarnation. With final tickets on sale, the breakup of the days is as follows: on Saturday 27 April it’s Cold World, Miles Away, 50 Lions, Iron Mind, Phantoms, Survival, Endless Heights, Vigilante and Reincarnation; and Sunday 28 April it’s Bane, Rotting Out, Relentless, The Weight, The Others, Outright, Thorns and Civil War.
One of the coolest new projects I’ve heard about is Hesitation Wounds, featuring Jeremy Bolm (Touche Amore), Neeraj Kane (The Hope Conspiracy, Suicide File), Jay Weinberg (ex-Against Me!) and Stephen ‘Scuba’ LaCour (ex-Trap Them, True Cross), who wrote together for five hours and released a 7” of the result. Bolm has said of the music: “Lyrically, the songs are about witnessing the murder of a friend, the life and death of the inspirational underdog folk singer Phil Ochs, and the overall reality of life. Sonically, it’s an abrasive, no strings attached outpouring of fast and heavy hardcore not far off from the bands we’re already responsible for.” Pre-order are available soon through the Deathwish Inc store in both vinyl and digital format.
BoySetsFireBoySetsFire
Goran BregovicGoran Bregovic
WITH BOB BAKER FISH
Well it’s that time of year again, when some of the most remarkable sounds in the world converge upon South Australia for probably the best-run music festival in Australia: WOMADelaide. The beauty is that with eight stages, workshops, hell even cooking classes from some of the bands, you can basically program your own festival, and as such it’s a different experience for everyone who attends. Set within the gorgeous surrounds of Adelaide’s Botanical Gardens, if you can find a better location to experience music then I’m all ears. If, perchance, you can’t make it over to Adelaide, many of the artists also use the opportunity to drop by Melbourne while they’re in the neighbourhood. Like New York’s own 11-piece Afrobeat orchestra Antibalas, who have not only been pumping out blistering slabs of Afrobeat for years, but were the house band for the recent acclaimed Fela! on Broadway. Last year’s self-titled album is a typically upbeat blast of Afro funk, heavy on extended instrumental grooves. Their shows are reportedly wild. You can find out at the Prince on Tuesday 5 March.
Goran Bregovic is Balkan music royalty, casting himself as a debonair, washed-out composer perennially at the end of the night. His music is gypsy brass and breakneck tango, though he also brings pop and jazzy influences into his at times mournful yet life-affirming music. He appears to have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, appearing on the cover of his previous two albums holding wine glasses, and most recently he’s almost passed out on a chair holding two empty glasses on 2012’s Champagne For Gypsies. He’s bringing out his 19-piece Weddings & Funeral Band and to see such a large gypsy ensemble in the flesh
is a rare gift. He’s playing the Arts Centre on Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 March. Vieux Farka Toure is the son of ‘Delta’ bluesman Ali Farka Toure. This ‘Delta’ is of course the Niger Delta, and his acoustic blues drew interesting parallels with his American cousins. His son, however, has elected to plug in, exhibiting near virtuosic electric guitar playing, influenced by the likes of Hendrix and Zeppelin, yet also drawing on Malian traditions. He played a show at the Thornbury Theatre a few years back and it was mind-blowing, and the next week he was playing to 20,000 people at the opening to the Olympics in South Africa. This is one show you should not miss. On Monday 11 March you need to be at the Corner. Minds will be blown.
Cretan lyra player Psarantonis is a renowned improviser who plays what he feels. He’s performing alongside his son and Dirty Three percussionist Jim White, a man who knows a thing or two about improvisation. With his indie cred down it’s no surprise that he’s also playing Golden Plains, though watch out for a show at the Forum on Friday 22 March.
Some artists who thus far have no Melbourne dates is the remarkable Malians Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba. Bassekou is a master of the West African stringed instrument called the ngoni and his band are based around this instrument. They’ve released two albums, their most recent, I Speak Fula, was released on Next Ambience, a sub label of Sub Pop, and featured Vieux Farka Toure on a couple of tracks as well as kora legend Toumani Diabate. The texture of the strings of the ngoni is truly one of the most captivating sounds ever put to tape, and they create beguiling textural webs of sound on the album. They’re actually about to drop their third album, which was apparently recorded during the recent Malian uprising, and from the tracks this writer has heard, it’s a much more urgent recording, louder with an increase in tempo – the band battled rolling blackouts and the instability in the country found a voice in the music. They’re the reason that this writer will be heading west on Friday 8 March, and you should too. The opportunity to experience music like this live is nothing short of a gift.
FRAGMENTED FREQUENCIES
Born Of OsirisBorn Of Osiris
THE HEAVY SHIT WITH LOCHLAN WATT
Happy Soundwave week! Congratulations to local thrash metal group Party Vibez, who were confirmed as the local openers. If you didn’t get tickets, Tomahawk will play Billboard tonight; Anthrax, Fozzy and This Is Hell will play the Hi-Fi on Thursday 28 February; there’s still tickets to the all ages Bring Me The Horizon and The Chariot at Billboard that same day; and Cancer Bats, Kingdom Of Sorrow and This Is Hell (somehow swinging double duty that night) will hit up the Reverence Hotel on the same evening.
If Soundwave just wasn’t brutal enough to entice you in, on Friday evening local grind lords on The Kill will play one of their first shows back since the 2012 release of their Make ‘Em Suffer album. Catch them at the Bendigo Hotel with Internal Rot, Xenos, Sewercide and Pregnancy (formerly known as Meth Mouth – heavy names on both counts).
A Secret Death are back in the game. The legendary Gold Coast (but now mostly Melbourne-based) band have just announced that they will be playing three shows in May with Norma Jean, Vanna and Safe Hands – with the group appearing at the Corner Hotel on Sunday 5 May also with Belle Haven. Formed in 2002, the post-metal/hardcore group released Fear Is The Driving Force through the late Building
Records in 2005, with their self-titled and ridiculously powerful full-length finally arriving through Skull & Bones Records in 2008. Over the years the band supported such acts as Dillinger Escape Plan, Cult Of Luna, Darkest Hour, Envy, Sick Of It All and countless others.
Dying Fetus will bring their absolutely crushing brand of death metal to Australia once more in April, plus the one-piece brutal gore-themed band Putrid Pile will be there too. Dying Fetus released their seventh album, Reign Supreme, through Relapse Records last year. Dubbed the Supreme Slaughterhouse Tour, you can catch the American brutality at the Evelyn Hotel on Saturday 20 April. Tickets are on sale now through all the usual outlets as well as soundworkstouring.com.
American progressive deathcore group Born Of Osiris will make their debut voyage to Australia in May thanks to the newly-established Vanguard Touring. With their most recent release being 2011’s The Discovery album, the band have recently been in the studio working on the follow-up. Support on all shows will come from Brisbane’s A Breach Of Silence and Melbourne’s Feed Her To The Sharks. The bands will perform at the Hi-Fi on Thursday 23 May, and hit up an all ages at the Phoenix Youth Centre on Friday 24. Tickets are now available from both Moshtix and Oztix.
Sydney’s Northlane have unveiled the song and accompanying video for Quantum Flux over at the much-hyped singularity2013.com. Pre-orders for the metalcore/djent band’s second album, Singularity, are now available through weareunified.com, with various deluxe packages on offer. The record drops on Friday 22 March, with the band scheduled for many festival appearances in Australia and a New Zealand tour before they head to Canada in May. No word yet on an Australian launch tour, but we all know it’s coming.
ADAMANTIUM WOLF
For more opinion go to themusic.com.au/blog • 39
DJ Nino BrownDJ Nino Brown
URBAN AND R&B NEWS BY CYCLONE
Hip hop culture was once defined by beefs, arising from its battle tradition. Beefs doubled up as strategic marketing, generating hype. Remember when 50 Cent took on Kanye West in the charts, his Curtis versus Graduation? That’s entertainment! But with urban music subsumed into the cautious pop world, beefs are out of favour – even in the era of the Internet troll. Still, there are always exceptions. Harlem rapper Azealia Banks, hitting Future Music Festival this week, is beefing with Angel Haze. The conflict started on, yes, Twitter. Banks apparently had a shot at Angel for her hit, New York, which features the line “I run New York”: “Seriously, if you were not born and raised in NY.... DON’T CLAIM NY. YOU ARE NOT A NEW YORKER.” Angel, who is actually from Detroit but resides in NY, then pulled out the diss On The Edge. However, Canadian hip hop producer Lunice Fermin Pierre II, who’s worked with both femcees, wishes they’d quit it. “Why are these female rappers fighting each other?” Pierre asks OG. “There’s no point. I like female rappers who work together and move on... Whenever there’s a female rapper, the media plays them into catfighting with another girl rapper – for no real reason.” What about Lil’ Kim, though? She justifiably believes that Nicki Minaj has not only bitten her steez, but also humiliated her on Roman’s Revenge.
Sydney DJ Nino Brown reckons the “most significant” beef in recent years was that between G-Unit’s 50 Cent, a beef addict, and The Inc’s Ja Rule. “50 in essence ruined Ja Rule’s entire world in every possible way,” Brown tells OG. Ja never did bounce back from his 2003 Fiddy diss album, Blood In My Eye. Brown was enthralled, too, by the sparring Jay-Z and Nas. “They’re obviously two of the best MCs alive. It was a serious battle – it stayed on wax but felt like it may go further a few times. But
they did their thing.” Jay-Z, ostensibly The Notorious BIG’s heir apparent, battled Nas for the title ‘King Of New York’. Hova first baited his contemporary with 1998’s Glenn Frey-sampling The City Is Mine. The two raised the stakes in the 2000s, Jay-Z again provocateur. He attacked Nas with Takeover on his classic, The Blueprint. Nas counterattacked with Ether. The heads ruled it a draw. As for rap’s most absurd beef? “The silliest beef was between [producers] Timbaland and Scott Storch – that was ridiculous,” Brown says. “No one even cared, and a lot of people didn’t even know, but Timbaland dissing Storch on Nelly Furtado records was just garbage!”
‘Beef’ became ‘feud’ in the mid-’90s with hip hop’s shocking bi-coastal war, centred on California’s Death Row Records, with Suge Knight at the helm, and Diddy’s Bad Boy in NY. The West Coast had successfully challenged the East’s hip hop hegemony, but there were tensions. A disaffected NY rapper, Tupac Shakur signed to Death Row. Shakur, shot multiple times in 1994 at a NY studio, blamed his Bad Boy frenemy The Notorious BIG. Unwisely, BIG released the inflammatory Who Shot Ya?. Shakur responded with Hit ‘Em Up, in which he claimed to have slept with his foe’s missus Faith Evans. Both MCs were slain in drive-bys within a year of each other. No one has ever been charged. Conspiracies abound. Even early beefs were preoccupied with territory – and origins. Queensbridge’s Juice Crew, among its members DJs Marley Marl and Mr Magic plus MC Shan, irked KRS-One’s Boogie Down Productions from The Bronx in the ‘80s with The Bridge. BDP answered with South Bronx. The so-called Bridge Wars made a star out of KRS-One. Shan faded. Later, Eminem fought off Benzino – who’d become an object of ridicule. The co-owner of The Source, Benzino not unreasonably expressed concern that Shady’s success might signal the co-option of hip hop by white artists. Yet he lost the moral high ground when The Source gave The Marshall Mathers LP a two mic review and his own woeful Made Men 4.5 mics. Ironically, Eminem typically goes for soft targets, like rumoured ex-fling Mariah Carey. Yet the diva got him back good and proper with Obsessed.
OG FLAVAS
POP CULTURE THERAPY WITH ADAM CURLEY
In 2011, James Blake was a distraction from the electronic bombast and distorted cool happening in the States. Sure, there was talk of grime being a vital soundtrack to the London riots, but grime had moved along at its own pace for years – it was nothing new. Adele was above geographical borders; The xx hadn’t so much created a moment as seeped into our conscious. We were on Brooklyn garage punk, on easy LA guitar pop and tropical beats, mouths agape at Skrillex. British dubstep, and Blake’s version or use of it, was an island encounter, the island floating off along with talk – loud as it was – of Blake’s debut album. Dubstep was soon drawn into the costumed American chart pop we were paying to see, into Britney and Gaga, and the States once again had our attention.
Now Blake is back with Retrograde, the first single from his forthcoming Overgrown album, and our attention appears to be more firmly fixed on his part of the world. Call it exhaustion, a natural cycle, or perhaps a need for what the Brits – and these days Scandinavians – serve up so well; the introspective: those ominous guitar and synth tones that precede us being fully aware of the dire straits we’re in. Ditch the palm-tree prints; it’s time to get serious.
Blake’s Retrograde is a blossoming of his brand of paranoia, seeing him place his physical self, his voice, to the front of his production. It’s more an ‘artist step’ than a representation of a building disharmony, though there’s a hint of that too in the song’s repeated refrain, “We’re alone now”. Blake makes the connection between the personal and the collective that LA duo Inc. couldn’t do. Elsewhere, Modular are looking to Europe for the first time in many moons to rep their brand of shadowy dance pop:
Norway’s Young Dreams have Animal Collective to thank for their layered productions but their take – on their album Between Places (out Friday) – is colder, never revelatory. My Bloody Valentine and Johnny Marr might have the clout to get blogs talking of limp-limbed (re)shuffling, but Denmark’s Iceage are causing even more of a stir with their second album, You’re Nothing (Modular/Remote Control).
Though the publicity build for You’re Nothing has also been considerable, beginning some months back, the four-piece have made a record that captures much of the spontaneity of young rage – or, to dress it without the suit and tie, it’s the European ‘fuck you’ we haven’t heard from a money-backed band since Gallows’ debut. Palma Violets, Rough Trade’s latest hope, should be sent to the corner to think about what they’ve not done.
Iceage’s first album, New Brigade, proved them capable of containing a racket, making a melody with mistreated instruments and knowing when to let it all fall apart. But for all the talk of them furthering the vision of Warsaw (which is surely what Joy Division was about) the album was poorly focused, reaching for too many ideas and sentiments, brief as it was. You’re Nothing aims at conservative thinking and maintains its anger, grabbing slogans and beating on them – “It all comes down to shame” on Wounded Hearts, or “Where’s your morals?“ on Morals, which adds piano but never manages to be anything less than seething. The band are still loathe to linger – only three songs of twelve pass the three-minute mark – and are still interested in ideas, not just noise, but they’re looking here for different ways to express confusion and outrage, loosely blundering through Burning Hand and sharpening everything for the fiercely pointed title track. As a ‘performance record’ it’s expertly produced by the band itself.
On the album’s single, Coalition, which breaks to an Interlude of military drums on the record, vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt latches onto perhaps the most essential word of the album. “Excess”, he screams, again and again. The next question then arises: what were we thinking with all those Californian palm trees?
THE BREAKDOWN
IceageIceage
HIP HOP NEWS & COMMENTARY WITH ALEKSIA BARRON
INTELLIGIBLE FLOW
It first cracked a mention in these pages a few months back, but now it’s finally upon us: this Friday 1 March, the Catch Wreck gig will be happening at the Prince Bandroom in St Kilda. This is basically the most solid line-up Melbourne has seen since the Robert Hunter Cup tore the Corner a new one – not least because the excellent Lazy Grey will be rocking a set with Jake Biz and DJ DCE. Also on the bill? Take a deep breath before trying to read the whole list: Brad Strut, Simplex, Maundz, Fluent Form, K21, Raven & Myk Reid, Mata & Must, Smiley, Backyard Funk, Def Man Walking and recent additions Tornts, Billy Bunks and Bigfoot. Phew. Plus Heata and Discourse will be DJing, and Slap 618 is playing host for the evening.
Just in case there’s any tiny part of you debating whether this gig is going to be worth it (and if there is, what on earth is the matter with you?), I asked three of the artists on the bill to name their favourite performer from the line-up…
Fluent Form: “My favourite artist performing at Catch Wreck would have to be the one and only Lazy Grey. When I first heard his album Banned In Queensland I lost my shit. I still spin the album regularly. His delivery and character is unmatchable in my books. And people are in for a crazy treat seeing him perform live.”
Maundz: “Lazy Grey is a king in this scene. A true vet. I’ve been listening to that dude rhyme since I was in high school; he was definitely a big influence in my formative years. There’re plenty of dope MCs in this country, but only one Lazy Grey, style and charisma for days!”
Smiley: “Lazy Grey would have to be a stand out on the line-up for me. His no-bullshit, laidback flow has proven to be a timeless winner in my stereo over the years.”
So there you have it: you’d better get your arse down to Catch Wreck just to catch Lazy Grey, if nothing else – apparently he’s the reason half the bill are doing the gig in the first place! This gig is going to be massive, so it’s probably a good idea to secure your tickets early. You can grab them via Moshtix.
There’s another great gig happening this Saturday 2 March: Urthboy is swinging down our way for the Melbourne leg of the Smokey’s Haunt tour. His usual touring buddy El Gusto has been relieved of duty – for this show, Urthy will be backed by the brilliant Jane Tyrrell and a live band. Smokey’s Haunt, released in 2012, is another quality solo release from the Herd vocalist – it garnered a swag of rave reviews, was recently shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize and, even more importantly, was named as the number one album of 2012 by none other than myself in my 2012 Street Press Australia Writers’ Poll (truly the greatest achievement of them all). Ah, but seriously, Urthboy carved up the stage when he was last in town and it’ll be great to see him sink his teeth into the Smokey’s Haunt material this time around. He’s playing the Corner this Saturday, supported by Elefant Traks’s newest signing Jimblah and local legend One-Sixth. Tickets are on sale from cornerhotel.com.
Also, something you should be hearing if you haven’t already: Drapht’s new track Salute, featuring none other than Suffa of the Hilltop Hoods. It’s a huge boomer of a track, designed to test your speakers to their limits. (Lesson learned: the sound system in a Hyundai Accent ain’t much chop.) Drapht is in Victoria this week for his Uni-Verse Tour, playing a bunch of uni and regional venues. He’s playing La Trobe in Bundoora today (Wednesday 27 February), the Wool Exchange in Geelong on Thursday 28 February and the Saloon in Traralgon on Saturday 2 March. If you’re in the hood, get among it – tickets from drapht.oztix.com.au.
UrthboyUrthboy
NEW CURRENTS WITH TIM FINNEY
DANCE MOVES
Irish producer Mano Le Tough (real name Niall Mannion) has spent the past two years or so consolidating a reputation for unusually pretty, typically melancholy melodic tech-house, his tunes distinguished by their sparkling, shimmering chime sounds and delicate, nervous rhythms. Most of all though, Mannion’s tunes are masterpieces of layering, different motifs waxing and waning in prominence to give the tracks a sense of narrative development distinct from the builds in the groove tracks.
On his debut album Changing Days he simply pushes this quality further, as well as emphasising the moody soulfulness and use of his own plaintive vocals that started to come to the fore on prior EPs Stories and Mountains. Changing Days lacks some of the consolidated punch of those releases, mainly because it feels looser, taking its time to build to the emotional pinnacles that define Mannion’s work. Most remarkably, the album takes Mannion’s compulsive layering to new extremes, with as many as seven or eight melodies skating across one another to chart a disarmingly precise course through the album’s polite, downbeat house grooves, each shifting in and out of focus like a field of flowers captured by the listener’s lens.
Mannion’s unrelenting talent for putting everything in its right place can work against him; Changing Days goes down so smoothly that you have to concentrate pretty hard to register the labyrinthine intricacy of his arrangements, the marvellously subtle gradations in focus and perspective blending into so much prettiness coursing past you with pleasant inconsequentiality. The album’s charms do not demand intense focus yet nonetheless require it. Some moments are simply too powerful to wait for me to come to them: Cannibalize’s shuddering syncopated dirge, the top-heavy swirl of Everything You’ve Done Before; the towering existential gloom of Primitive People. But these are only ‘highlights’ in the limited sense of reminding the listener to pay more attention to the rewards that fill this album in abundance.
Amydala, the third album from German producer DJ Koze (Stefan Kozalla), and first since 2005, suffers from almost the opposite problem – less going down too easily than simply refusing to go down at all. This has long been a hallmark of Kozalla’s queasy, perverse production style. Squiggly mutant synth riffs deliquesce into eruptions of horns, half-familiar vocal samples waft across one another then crumple up and drift away, rhythms stop and start in distracted lassitude, melancholy ambient chords arrive only to vanish again in a flutter of whimsical twinkles.
It sounds both alien and organic, intimate and impersonal; perhaps the music of internal organs talking, the gaseous belches of convoluted biological processes. But for an album that is undeniably indulgent, Amygdala somehow never sounds self-indulgent, perhaps because it’s difficult to articulate a self to whom that epithet could refer. If anything, Kozalla comes on like an artisan crafting made-to-order soundscapes for aliens with inscrutable needs. Nonetheless it’s the more serious, familiar cuts that stand out here: the eyelash scrape closeness of Royal Asscher Cut’s deep house or the driving stutter-funk of Marilyn Whirlwhind.
If Amygdala can feel like a lesser version of Reinterpretations, Kozalla’s 2009 compilation of remixes, it’s perhaps because remix work is so suited to his corrosive production style – mainly, in that it gives his slippery sonics and wonky arrangements something to work on, coherent structures that he can soften and bend out of shape like so many Dali clocks. Across an album of his own tracks, Kozalla can seem unmoored. Of course, this unmooring has its own rewards, and as much as Amygdala can seem like a difficult album to remember (let alone digest), its sense of constant surprise, as if the music itself doesn’t know what it’s going to do from one second to the next, can be as transfixing as it is distancing.
Mano Le ToughMano Le Tough
FAKE FURAnimaux can’t get enough of the Evelyn, so it’s no surprise that they’re putting on another of their infamous residencies there this February. Tonight they are joined by Echo Drama and Velma Grove.
A LOTTA LAUGHSThe Harlots are playing every Thursday night in February at the Spotted Mallard. This week they’re joined by La Bastard. Dust off your dancing coats and punch in your theatre hats and make a memory.
GOOD KITThe Kits will play an exclusive Australian show at the Old Bar this Thursday. The show acts as a launch for their new album Lead Us Into Temptation. Support will be Ultra Bullitt from France.
DEATH OF A DARLINGKill Ya Darlins return to Bar Open with their fusion of sequined-glam, riff-laden blues rock every Wednesday night in February. With support from Jack Jack Jack this is sure to be a mid-week meltdown.
WALKING BLUESThis Thursday, Matt Walker will play two sets at the Post Office Hotel as part of his February residency. A full band will accompany Walker as he plays through his brand of swamp-soul and country blues.
SUBURBAN CARNIVALGraveyard Train, Ross Wilson & The RWQ, Tony Joe White and many other musical and comedy acts will play as part of Carnival Of Suburbia/Oakleigh Music Festival from Wednesday 6-Saturday 16 March at the Caravan Music Club.
FOAM PARTYThe Ocean Party are back in Melbourne and playing the final show of their February residency at the Tote. Tonight they are joined by Grand Prismatic, The Clits and Great Outdoors.
OUT OF THE WOODSAfter an extended break for the band overseas, Into The Woods are bringing their new album Goldentone to your ears in all its retro-pop glory. They are joined by The Darjeelings and Whitaker this Friday at the Northcote Social Club.
SUGAR WATER Six years after their last performance, Sodastream come together for a special weekend at the Northcote Social Club this Saturday and Sunday. Olivia Mann supports on Saturday and Anthony Atkinson & The Running Mates on Sunday.
MORELAND EXTRAVAGANZANothing compares to the atmosphere and good vibe of the Sydney Road Street Party. This Sunday see The Elliotts, The Toot Toot Toots, Mighty Duke & The Lords, Francolin, The Harpoons, Mandy Connell Trio, Phoenix Brass, Sounds Of Polynesia, Monique Brumby, Heather Stewart Band, Bohemian Nights, Abbie Cardwell & The Chicano Rockers, The Afrobiotics and many more perform from 12pm to 7pm across various venues.
CHERRY RIPE Having just completed their second national tour, Saskwatch have announced that they will be returning to their beloved Cherry Bar for a one off residency every Thursday in March.
IDLE MORNINGS Four years after their much-loved album debut, Little Victories, The Idle Hoes are back with the follow-up release, Tomorrow Morning. Dan Waters will be supporting for the matinee launch at the Northcote Social Club this Sunday.
ALL STAR KARAVAN The Karavan International Gypsy Festival is setting up a Village at the Caravan Music Club for the final leg of the tour this Sunday. Don’t miss this all ages event featuring New York Gypsy All Stars, Vulgargrad, La Mauvaise Reputation and The Margaret St Project.
RETREAT FROM THE ROAD The Sydney Road Festival comes to the Retreat Hotel this Sunday, featuring acts such as Tracy McNeil Band, The Livingstone Daisies, a special poetry reading by Ian Bland, Suzannah Espie, Dan Warner, The Stetson Family, Shackleton, Tiger And Me, Pony Face, The Go Set and The Harlots.
TIRED YEARS Melbourne/Geelong based band Sleep Decade blend dream pop, folk and shoegaze in delicately executed, deeply atmospheric songs. See them this Thursday with The Primary, ESC, Contrast and Howard DJs at the Grace Darling Hotel.
FUNDRAISER FOR HIATUSSince forming in 2011, Hiatus Kaiyote have earned the respect of their idols. The next step for the band is to perform at South By Southwest. Help them achieve their USA Tour by attending their fundraiser at the Evelyn this Sunday, with Sex On Toast and MFP.
POSITIVELY BUZZINGPugsley Buzzard has dazzled and delighted audiences far and wide with his unique blend of dark hoodoo blues, good time rollicking boogie and blazing stride style piano. He is joined this Thursday at the Retreat Hotel by Sugarcane Collins.
WINDY BEATSElectronic duo Willow Beats will be setting off on their national Alchemy tour this March along with playing a residency at the Workers Club every Tuesday. This week they are supported by Colourwaves.
TRAPPED IN THE KINGDOMNo Escape For The King will be releasing their debut album 13 Fjords at the Grace Darling this Saturday supported by pop-punk trio Slacquer and instrumentalists The Television Sky.
HEAVY HEAD Ten Gallon Head is the vehicle for tunes by country, post-punk-influenced singer/guitarist, Ben Mellonie. Ten Gallon Head play at the Victoria Hotel (Brunswick) this Friday. They are supported by Cold Irons Bound.
WESTERN FRONTAfter 15 years in Harris Reserve, the Seddon Festival now takes the big step into Charles Street, Seddon this Saturday. Two stages are offered for the first time, featuring locals such as Ross (‘Daddy Cool’) Hannaford & The Critters, Mark Ferrie (Models/RocKwiz) with his trio The Mercurials, The Sweets, Speed Orange and Adam Waldron Trio.
RUSSIAN ROCKVulgarGrad are a foot stomping, power punching music experience not to be missed. Elements of gypsy, perestroika punk, rhumba, jazz and pop: they’ve got it all. VulgarGrad play every Wednesday in February at the Spotted Mallard. This week support comes from Mikelangelo.
40 • For more news/announcements go to themusic.com.au/news
DOWNPATHard EvidenceRawthenticWith a penchant for stringing long lines of rhymes together, Downpat’s words and delivery are dripping with menace, but his targets are well placed and grounded in the everyday life. The title track is a standout; describing his motivation for his music over the most minimal production of the album, Downpat reels the listener into his love of hip hop. The triple attack of Three Wise Men has P-Link and J-Mac dropping some tight verses alongside Downpat, with some cheeky Beastie Boy samples hitting the mark. The work of DJ Rellik on all these tracks keep things from lapsing into the standard form of Aussie hip hop, aiding Downpat in producing an excellent introduction to his music.
NEW SAXONSNew SaxonsIndependentIs It True kicks-off New Saxon’s new EP. As a lead single oper Is It True it is slightly underwhelming, the clumsily catchy chorus drummed in a little too hard. However, the remaining three tracks of accessible guitar-pop are an enjoyable listen. Tim Green has a knack for inserting idiosyncratic earworm hooks into his writing and Crocodile Tears is the sort of song you know will be in your head for days after the first listen. Their guitar-led sound is filled out by a confident rhythm section and is easy to warm to. The infectiously catchy Teenagers has already brought them national attention and this EP should only add to their momentum.
DEAD-EYED SUBURBANITESDead-Eyed SuburbanitesIndependentEmbracing its imperfections, the debut release from Dead-Eyed Suburbanites is an intricate affair, which belies the status of this independent duo. They aren’t afraid to reach for melodrama and though it leads to some missteps it also makes for some great moments. The strange funk bridge on Coming Up Scars Without Atlantis somehow works leading into the simply effective melody of the chorus. To Weather The Storm is the closest they come to Finn Brother territory, their vocals weaving around atop a complementary piano arrangement. It is Making The Most Of A Day that stands out though – the raw delivery proving their worth as songwriters.
J COLEYours TrulyRoc Nation/SonyThe first artist to sign to Jay Z’s Roc Nation label in 2009, Cole delivered on the hype with his debut album a couple of years later. He has dropped this five track EP to whet the appetite of fans as they wait for his delayed second album. These songs benefit from no frills production, and well-chosen samples and straight beats accompany Cole’s often-accusatory rhymes. Despite being a collection of off-cuts, the tracks on Yours Truly run together smoothly with a stripped-back soul feel, his narratives switching between current peeves and past tribulations with his honest observations refreshingly free of bravado. If Cole can maintain the integrity of this release on the upcoming Born Sinner then his fans are sure to be pleased.
SLEEPY TEAThe Place Where We LayIndependentThe already familiar Make Believe opens Sleepy Tea’s debut EP, The Place Where We Lay. The track is immediately engaging, Tom Wearne’s voice swelling over a dreamy folk base. With such a strong track leading this release, there was potential for the newer material to be overshadowed. However, the production work of Mark Myers ensures the sound quality on the EP makes every track very listenable. Many of the songs share a similar feel, but the final two vary slightly with rewarding results. Safer sees Wearne unleash some pent-up aggression in its final minute, while Ghosts is stripped of the pervading electronic atmospherics, allowing some fragility to creep through.
SORTED FOR EPSWITH JAN WISNIEWSKI
GAME PLAYLegendary underground institution, Checkerboard (formerly Checkerboard Lounge), deliver a soulful well of emotion in collective improvisation over classic blues and soul. They perform at the Bridge Hotel this Friday.
PERSONAL FELINEThe Tiger & Me’s new single Made It To The Harbour sits clearly in the pop folk foot-tappin’ category. They launch the single with a string of dates, starting this Friday with Riverside Live at Southbank.
BUSY SHELLEYShelley Segal will launch her albums An Atheist Album and Little March tonight (Wednesday) at the Toff. She is joined by Lauren Glezer and Anna Smyrk & The Appetites.
TURN ON THE VERNONSHaving spported big names like Wolfmother and The Rubens, The Vernons are arguably one of Queensland’s most exciting young blues-rock outfits. They play this Thursday at Revolver Upstairs with The Bon Scotts, The Give and Readable Graffiti.
GRIMEY WALLS Dirty York launch their new album Feed The Fiction at the Spotted Mallard in Brunswick this Saturday. Special guests on the night are Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk. Entry is $15 with doors from 8.30pm.
PLANT OR ANIMAL After taking a well-deserved break to regroup and record, Zoophyte is ready to rock with a revamped line-up. They have forged an enviable reputation as a blistering live act and will play this Saturday night at the Retreat Hotel with support from Killing Liars.
HAVE YOU HEARD
How did you get together?Nick Keeling (banjo/lead vocals): Well Julian (Abrahams, vocals/guitar) and I met at uni doing jazz, then formed a hip-hop band, Paddy (Montgomery, mandolin/vocals) plays Greek music, and Josh (Bridges, vocals/bass) plays Brazilian music so it was an obvious choice for us to combine and start a bluegrass band.
Have you recorded anything or do you prefer to tool around in your bedroom?We just finished our second album that we will be releasing soon.
Can you sum up your band’s sound in four words?Fast picking, harmony singing.
If you could support any band in the world, who would it be and why?Spinal Tap, because they have taught many a muso how to laugh at situations in their music career that would otherwise have seemed pretty pathetic.
If a higher power smites your house and you can only save one record from the fire, what would it be?
Right now it would be the master disc for our new album.
Do you have a lucky item of clothing you wear for gigs and what is it?I wear an extremely heavy necklace called a banjo and it doubles as a babe magnet.
If you invited someone awesome ‘round for dinner what would you cook?Texas BBQ brisket, smoked sausage and ribs.
What’s your favourite place to drink in Melbourne?Any place that serves moonshine, gives the band free drinks, where it’s a perfect 23 degrees at all times.
MUSTERED COURAGE CONCLUDE THEIR WEEKLY RESIDENCY ON THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY AT THE WESLEY ANNE.
MONDAYS ON A FRIDAYMistress Mondays return to Revolver Upstairs for their first show of the year this Friday. They are joined on the night by Kashmere Club and Salad Days.
ONE FOR THE PUNXAfter obliterating the Tote in January, it’s time for round two of the annual Up The Punx Festival, held at Revolver this Saturday. Among the all-star line-up are Topnovil, Chickenstones, Fatty Esther, The Ramshackle Army, Strawberry Fist Cake, Hopes Abandoned, Aitches, K-Mart Warriors, The Savages and Amphetish.
FRENCH Australia’s vivacious French language chanteuse duo Baby Et Lulu will be performing songs at the Flying Saucer Club this Friday, joined by an all-star band of Sydney’s finest musicians.
LEON UP IN LIGHTSLeon Thomas’ influences span Dylan, Hemingway and Hendrix. His band plays an ass-shaking, high-energy show served pretence free. See them at Bar Open this Thursday with Aye Candy and Oskar Herbig.
LOCAL LADIESSK Simeon launches his new single Melbourne Girls at Bar Open this Saturday. Dub hip-hop group New Dub City will be supporting. Opening the night is Pressure Drop’s Sista Itations.
THE FIRST OUTTAKEFuturist dub pop duo Standish/Carlyon release Nono/Yoyo, the first single from their forthcoming debut album Deleted Scenes. They play this Friday at the Gasometer with Roland Tings, Perfume Production and DJ Biscuit.
NEVER BREAK THE CHAIN The originators of Oz Blues, Chain, celebrate 44 years since first forming in 1968. With four decades of albums and performances under their belt, they perform at the Caravan Music Club this Friday.
SPIRITED TALESDeborah Conway and Willy Zygier come to the Caravan Music Club this Saturday to launch their new album Stories Of Ghosts. The songs explore the breadth of sound that can be extracted from acoustic instruments and vocal.
DUCKEYE DICKSIn the same week Punching Dicks from I Am Duckeye was voted Rage’s Indie Clip Of The Week and then banned by Triple J Unearthed. I Am Duckeye return to the beloved Evelyn Hotel this Thursday with Fighting Mongoose, Abreact and Clagg.
GRIM MURDERSAfter their raucous show at the end of last year, Brothers Grim & The Blue Murders are back in the Espy Front Bar this Saturday, with support from The Hellhounds.
BARLEY BASS Returning with the second installment of Dayfests this Saturday, the Barleycorn Hotel brings you all of your favourite electronic bass sounds. Bodzhar, Datura, Freeform B2B Kymaera, JChau, NUK, Philosoraptor, Rick Dirk, Sailax, Sprinkles B2B JMC, Strobe and Undefined will all be spinning.
TOP BIRDTopnovil and Chickenstones play at the Barleycorn Hotel this Friday with support from Dogsday, Muscle Mary, Cyclone Diablo and Little Jen Jen & The Party Pies.
LOCAL NOISESound From Earth play evocative organic folk rock with an undercurrent of punk, romance and ‘70s electronica. See them perform at the Spotted Mallard with Ben Agbraham and Josh Flanagan this Friday.
GOOD MEDICINEThe Rock And Roll Gumbo Medicine show at the Corner this Sunday features entertainment and remedies. The Darling Downs, Charles Jenkins, Kerri Simpson, Kim Volkman, Suzannah Espie, Dan Brodie, Sherry Rich, Krista Polvere, Quincy McLean, Mikelangelo and Blind Kiwi & His Cigar Box Guitar all appear. The show is a benefit for Karen Conrad and her family.
FLOAT ON The Drifters have been mixing styles and originals for 27 years. Putting together vocal passion, chops, and swingin’ tunes, The Drifters play the Victoria Hotel this Saturday.
For more news/announcements go to themusic.com.au/news • 41
HAVE YOU HEARD
How did you get together? Bonnie Smith (vocalist/composer/rhythm guitar): We first got together in Montreal, Canada with Luis the percussionist. We started out as a trio and collaborated with musicians in Montreal. Then we toured Central and South America. After that, we came to Melbourne town and now the band is an eight-piece!
Have you recorded anything or do you prefer to tool around in your bedroom? We recorded our first album Del Mismo Color about three years ago. This was our first recording project as the Melbourne “Reflejos”. Now we are about to launch the second album Solo Sueños.
Can you sum up your band’s sound in four words? Evocative, magical, Latin, danceable.
If you could support any band in the world, who would it be and why?Lhasa De Sela. She inspired me to no end. Her depth, intensity and poetry always touched my soul. Her presence on stage was quiet, strong and sincere. Her voice was honest and melancholic and would cut through my heart every time.
If a higher power smites your house and you can only save one record from the fire, what would it be?Lhasa De Sela – La llorona.
Do you have a lucky item of clothing you wear for gigs and what is it?A pheasant’s feather from Indiana. It was a gift from a soul sister, I believe it gives me good mojo.
If you invited someone awesome round for dinner what would you cook? Seviche (Peruvian cuisine).
What’s your favourite place to drink in Melbourne? Open Studio.
REFLEJOS LAUNCH THEIR SOLO SUEÑOS CD ON THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY AT NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB.
LAURA RETURNSLaura Imbruglia will perform with a full band at the John Curtin Hotel this Thursday, showcasing new material for her forthcoming album. She will be supported by the legendary Mid State Orange and Slow Galo (a new project for Felicity from Houlette).
DANGERS OF ARSONSydney’s Dead In A Second will team up with Karnivool member Steve Judd’s new band The Arsonist to launch Dead In A Second’s new single. Joining them this Sunday at the Evelyn are Tricking Emma, Christ Carty and DJ Les Toth.
NOT AT ALL IN VAINThe Labour In Vain has a big line-up planned for the week. This Thursday, Skyscraper Stan plays an acoustic set. Original Snakeskins play this Saturday. Jemma & Her Wise Young Ambitious Men play with Sean McMahonn’s Western Union on Sunday. Charles Jenkins begins an acoustic residency this Monday.
INEVITABLE AWESOMEThis Thursday at the Gasometer, The Aesthetics will produce sonic metal shards, The Yuko Kono Band play spidery, pastoral psych-folk and Inevitable Orbit perform electronic mash pop.
GRAND OLD TIMEGrand Wazoo is a legendary 13-piece band that provides one of the most authentic and entertaining soul music experiences in Australia. They play three sets this Sunday at the Thornbury Theatre. The doors open at 6.30pm. Entry is $15 or $12 concession.
TWIN GIGSBenny & The Clones trek from Queensland to play some shows at the Retreat Hotel tonight with The Hired Guns. They will also be playing the Empress this Sunday with guests Sean Simmons’ Exploding Wheel.
FOUR ON FRIDAYHeadlining at Yah Yah’s this Friday night are everybody’s favourite hip-swingin’ melody-makin’ heroes Towers, joined by mates Honey Badgers, bluegrass-punks Buck Creek and Bloodie Charlie.
HOEDOWN ON SYDNEY ROADSplit over two stages, Cherrywood, The Drunken Poachers, Rattlin’ Bones Blackwood, Swamplands, Lake Palmer and The Prairie Kings are all playing this Sunday free from 2pm at the Victoria Hotel as part of the Sydney Road Festival.
No Escape For The KingNo Escape For The King
LOCAL MUSIC NEWS BY JEFF JENKINS
FULL FJORDSThere’s nothing quite like the first time. A great debut album is fresh, exciting, dynamic and perhaps a little naïve. No Escape For The King’s 13 Fjords is a great debut album. It’s also an international-sounding record, which is not surprising because No Escape For The King are very much an international band. Singer Matt D Cheetham hails from Manchester, guitarist David Robson went to school with Powderfinger’s Ian Haug and had a band with Regurgitator’s Quan in Brisbane, drummer Pablo Mulhall is from Ireland, guitarist Tim Poyser comes to Melbourne via the UK, Germany and France, while bass player Zadia St Germaine landed via London, Canada and Scotland. Phew!
The No Escape For The King story officially started at ‘Rock’n’Bowl’ at the Thornbury Bowls Club on 6 February, 2011. “It was a great way
SHEEZER’S GOODCovering Weezer’s debut album is a tough gig – especially when we saw the real thing a month ago. But Fiona Lee Maynard covered the classic with class, charisma and a wonderful sense of humour. “My name is Lomas”, she declared in the opening track, as a nod to her hubby and guitarist, James Lomas. The gig, part of Pure Pop’s Summer Of Classic Albums, was a particular treat for owner Dave Stevens, who is such a Weezer fan he saw them at Geelong’s Lyric Theatre in 1996. Saturday’s show was so successful, Fiona joked about forming a Weezer tribute act. In the tradition of AC/DShe, it would be called Sheezer.
JACKARACHJack Howard is taking his Pure Pop show to the Flying Saucer Club on Saturday. ‘The Look Of Love’ sees Jack and his stellar band perform the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, including the 1967 album Reach Out from start to finish. Jack, who could be the hardest-working man in Melbourne showbiz, is also getting set to hit the road with The Break, who are touring with Rodriguez. The Break’s second album, Space Farm, is out Friday 15 March. Meanwhile, Jack’s old Hunters & Collectors buddy Mark Seymour releases his new covers album on Friday. Seventh Heaven Club (on Liberation) is a collection of love songs, and it’s a cracker.
HIP HIPHappy birthday to Peter Andre, who’s 40 today (Wednesday).
CHART WATCHWhere have all the homegrown hits gone? There are just two Aussie singles in the national top 40.
to say hello to the world as a band,” David says of that first gig. “Considering we were a four-piece and had just enough songs for a set, it was pretty good.” What’s the story behind the name? “We were really struggling for names so we just bit the bullet and went to the Union Club Hotel in Fitzroy with some friends and had a lock-in, vowing not to leave till the band had a name. After many hours and beers, we noticed someone had scrawled ‘no escape from the kingdom of fear’ in the men’s toilets. I presume it’s still there somewhere. We thought it sounded just a little metal, so it got shortened to No Escape For The King and we went home after that.”
Asked to put the making of 13 Fjords into a few words, David replies: “Long. Not without some hurdles. Took about 18 months and the turnover of four band members from the very beginning to the launch. All good now, though.” Indeed, the album is making waves overseas, hitting number one on Lasell College Radio in Massachusetts (with the chart also featuring The Beards). “We are big in Massachusetts!” David smiles. “I have always wanted to say that we were big in Iceland, but I’m happy with Massachusetts.”
The album had Howzat! experiencing some glorious ’90s flashbacks. The latest single is British Angel Of Icebergs, which comes with a video featuring go-go dancers from Anna’s Go-Go Academy. “I’m here to save your blackened soul”, Matt sings. Those seeking salvation can venture to the Grace Darling on Saturday, when No Escape For The King launch 13 Fjords, with assistance from Slacquer and The Television Sky.
HOWZAT!Lanterns BIRDS OF TOKYO (#10)
Holdin On FLUME (18)
Thirty-four years after his first album, Nick Cave scores his first number one. The Bad Seeds’ fifteenth studio album goes one spot higher than their 2008 album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Push The Sky Away is the band’s ninth top 10 album. By Howzat!’s count, Nick, at 55 years and five months, is the second oldest Australian to have a chart-topping album. Malcolm Young was 55 years and ten months when AC/DC’s Black Ice topped the charts in 2008.
Push The Sky Away NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS (#1, debut)
Flume FLUME (7)
I Awake SARAH BLASKO (15)
Armageddon GUY SEBASTIAN (21)
Lonerism TAME IMPALA (29)
The Sapphires SOUNDTRACK (32)
Making Mirrors GOTYE (37)
The Story So Far KEITH URBAN (40)
HOWZAT! PLAYLISTBritish Angel Of Icebergs NO ESCAPE FOR THE KING
Space Farm THE BREAK
Leave It To Me BENNY WALKER
Beside You MARK SEYMOUR
Ooh La La VENUS FIRE
42 • For more opinion go to themusic.com.au/blog
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Panorama Do Brasil & The Choro All Stars: 303, NorthcoteBirds Of Tokyo, Regular John, Them Swoops: Ballarat Uni, BallaratKill Ya Darlins, Jack Jack Jack: Bar Open, FitzroyChris Smither, Daniel Champagne: Caravan Music Club, OakleighMy Dynamite, The Spin: Cherry Bar, MelbourneSylosis, Six Feet Under: Corner Hotel, RichmondDizzy’s Big Band, Peter Hearne: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, RichmondAnimaux, Echo Drama, Velma Groove: Evelyn Hotel, FitzroyGrinspoon, Kingswood, The Emperors: Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree GullyGarbage, Private Life: Forum Theatre, MelbourneMonte Cassino, Gerard Rush: Gertrudes Brown Couch, FitzroyThe Wedding Present Play ‘The Hit Parade’+The Wedding Present, The Stevens: Northcote Social Club, NorthcoteThe Laughing Leaves, Lands, Sugar Ghouls: Old Bar, FitzroyFlogging Molly, The Lawrence Arms, Lucero: Palace Theatre, MelbourneThe Hired Guns, Benny & The Clones: Retreat Hotel, BrunswickLinkin Park, Stone Sour: Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneBlink-182, The Vandals, Sharks: Sidney Myer Music Bowl, MelbourneVulgargrad, Mikelangelo: Spotted Mallard, BrunswickExordium Mors, Belligerant Intent, Scars Of Sodom, Twisted Fate: The Bendigo, CollingwoodMark Steiner & His Problems: The Bridge Hotel, CastlemaineWine, Whiskey, Women+Skipjack, Zeon: The Drunken Poet, Melbourne
Sick Of It All, Madball, Vision Of Disorder: The Espy (Gershwin Room), St KildaSleeping With Sirens, Woe Is Me, Memphis May Fire: The Hi-Fi MelbourneWhipped Cream Chargers, Meth Leopard, Chief Richards: The Public Bar, MelbourneJohn Flanagan Duo: The Standard Hotel, FitzroyShelley Segal, Lauren Glezer, Anna Smyrk And The Appetites: The Toff In Town, MelbourneChris Jericho & Scott Ian: The Toff In Town, MelbourneThe Kujo Kings, Pan, Chromatics, Purple Tusks: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
THUTHU28 FEBRUARY28 FEBRUARY
20132013Tim Neal Trio: 303, NorthcoteSuper Fat Fruit, 2 Quirks: Bar Open, FitzroyOpen Mic: Barleycorn Hotel, CollingwoodBring Me The Horizon, Pierce The Veil, The Chariot: Billboard The Venue, MelbourneReverend Funk & THe Horns Of Salvation, DJ Vince Peach, Pierre Baroni: Cherry Bar, MelbourneNext+Ikarii, Our Best Laid Plans, Jona Weinhofen (DJ Set): Colonial Hotel, MelbourneThe Wonder Years, Such Gold, Living With Lions, Versus The World: Corner Hotel, RichmondStephanie Monk: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, RichmondJensen Electric: Elwood Lounge, ElwoodSquid Ink + Guests: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy NorthI Am Duckeye, Clagg, Abreact, Fighting Mongoose: Evelyn Hotel, FitzroyOur Latin Love Feat Del Barrio: First Floor, FitzroyCypress Hill : Forum Theatre, MelbourneKinch Kinski, Common Knot: Gertrudes Brown Couch, Fitzroy
(6pm) Pimp My Uke Feat Klub Muf: 303, NorthcoteAgency Dub Collective: Baha Tacos, Rye7 Ups, Friends: Bar Open, FitzroyChickenstones, Dogsday, Muscle Mary, Cyclone Diablo, Topnovil, Little Jen, The Party Pies: Barleycorn Hotel, CollingwoodThe 4 Peace Band: Beaumaris RSL, BeaumarisW&W: Billboard The Venue, MelbourneChain: Caravan Music Club, OakleighSpencer P Jones: Cherry Bar (Afternoon), MelbourneThe Grand Rapids, The Quivers, Fire Behaving As Air: Cherry Bar, MelbourneLoon Lake, Eagle & The Worm , Split Seconds: Corner Hotel, RichmondAcid Western, Young Mavericks, Red Leader: Ding Dong Lounge, MelbourneMax Savage & The False Idols: Elsternwick Hotel, ElsternwickBrooke Taylor: Elwood Lounge, ElwoodMechanical Pterodactyl, The Ellis Collective, Munro Melano: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy NorthCloset Party + Various Artists: First Floor, FitzroyBaby Et Lulu: Flying Saucer Club, ElsternwickSleng Teng + Basmati Kassar, Zare Demus + More: Horse Bazaar, Melbourne Birds Of Tokyo, Regular John: Kay St, TraralgonDoc Halibut: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick EastReeceet, Jackposada + More: Loop, MelbourneTim Rogers & The Bamboos, Electric Empire: Melbourne Zoo, Parkville
La Danse Macabre+Brunswick Massive: Rainbow Hotel, FitzroyThe Rosencrants, The Vernons: Retreat Hotel, BrunswickMano Le Tough, Mike Callander + More: Revolver Upstairs, PrahranMistress Mondays, Kashmere Club, Salad Days: Revolver Upstairs, PrahranDeep Purple, Journey: Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneSound From Earth, Ben Abraham, John Flanagan: Spotted Mallard, BrunswickThe Kill, Internal, Xenos, Sewercide, Pregnancy: The Bendigo, CollingwoodCheckerboard, Exit Crowd: The Bridge Hotel, CastlemaineCity Sound, Gunslingers, Lucid Planet, Lamb Boulevard And The Umbrella, The High Drifters: The Brunswick Hotel, BrunswickBits Of Shit: The Curtin, CarltonTraditional Irish Music Sessions+Dan Bourke & Friends: The Drunken Poet, MelbourneLive@Subs, Feed Ya Munkie, Ben Kelly & Band, Will & The Indian: The Espy (Lounge Bar), St KildaMurder Rats, Seedy Jezus, The Antoinettes, Noir: The Espy (Basement), St KildaStandish/Carlyon, Roland Tings, Perfume Production, DJ Biscuit: The Gasometer Hotel, CollingwoodSchool Of Radiant Living, Housewives, Cocks Arquette, Gentlemen: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), Collingwood
LOON LAKE: March 1 Corner Hotel
Into The Woods, The Darjeelings, Whitaker: Northcote Social Club, NorthcoteRiver Of Snakes, Spidergoat Canyon, Bonnie Mercer & Ben Wrecker, Silence Dead Silence, DJ Kezbot: Old Bar, FitzroyThe Lovebirds Duo + Special Guests: Onesixone, Prahran Slaughterhouse, Full Tote Odds: Palace Theatre, MelbourneRonan Keating, Brian Mcfadden: Palais Theatre, St KildaLazy Grey, Brad Strut, Maundz, Simplex + More: Prince Bandroom, St Kilda
Slaughterhouse, Full Tote Odds: The Hi-Fi, MelbourneZebra Katz, Le1f, Mike Q: The Liberty Social, MelbourneCherrywood, Mustered Courage, The Gogo Goddesses: The LuWow, FitzroyThe Alan Ladds: The Post Office Hotel, CoburgTwo Doors Down: The Thornbury Local, ThornburyPoprocks At The Toff +Dr Phil Smith: The Toff In Town, MelbourneChrome Dome, Rule Of Thirds, Skyneedle, Nun, Flat Fix: The Tote, Melbourne
44 • To check out the mags online go to themusic.com.au/mags
WEDWED27 FEBRUARY27 FEBRUARY
20132013
THIS WEEKINTERNATIONALTHE WEDDING PRESENT: February 27 Northcote Social ClubLINKIN PARK: February 27 Rod Laver ArenaSIX FEET UNDER: February 27 Corner HotelSICK OF IT ALL, MADBALL: February 27 EspyGARBAGE: February 27 Forum TheatreTOMAHAWK: February 27 BillboardSLEEPING WITH SIRENS: February 27 Hi-FiFLOGGING MOLLY, THE LAWRENCE ARMS, LUCERO: February 27 PalaceCANCER BATS: February 28 ReverenceSUM 41: February 28 PalaceSOUL II SOUL: February 28 Trak LoungeBRING ME THE HORIZON: February 28 BillboardDUFF MCKAGAN’S LOADED, DANKO JONES: February 28 EspyCYPRESS HILL: February 28 Forum TheatrePUSCIFER: February 28 PalaisTHE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH: February 28 Recital CentreBLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR: February 28 Arrow On SwanstonANTHRAX: February 28 Hi-FiDEEP PURPLE, JOURNEY: March 1 Rod Laver ArenaPHRONESIS: March 1 Melbourne Recital CentreMANO LE TOUGH: March 1 RevolverSLAUGHTERHOUSE: March 1 Hi-FiZEBRA KATZ, LE1F, MIKE Q: March 1 Liberty SocialJAMES HILL: March 1 Regal BallroomTEX NAPALM, DIMI NERO: March 1 Prince; 2 Public Bar; 3 Cherry BarILLAPU: March 2 Dallas Brooks HallAGORIA: March 2 Brown AlleyDEERHOOF: March 3 Schoolhouse StudiosMARK LANEGAN: March 4 Ding DongED SHEERAN: March 4, 5 Festival HallKISS, MÖTLEY CRÜE: March 5 Etihad StadiumFUN: March 5 Palace
NATIONALAT LAST – THE ETTA JAMES STORY: February 27 – March 3 Athenaeum TheatreTEX PERKINS & THE DARK HORSES: February 27 SpiegeltentDRAPHT: February 27 La Trobe Uni (Bundoora); 28 Wool Exchange (Geelong); March 2 Saloon (Traralgon)BIRDS OF TOKYO: February 27 University Of Ballarat; 28 Pier Live (Frankston); March 1 Kay St (Traralgon); 2 Forum TheatreMERLYN QUAIFE: February 27 SpiegeltentTHE KITS: February 28 Old BarTHE SMITH STREET BAND: February 28 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); March 2 the Loft (Warrnambool); 3 Barwon Club (Geelong)TIM ROGERS, THE BAMBOOS: March 1 Melbourne ZooLOON LAKE: March 1 Corner HotelNINA FERRO: March 1 Prince Maximilian HotelTHE BAMBOOS, TIM ROGERS, ELECTRIC EMPIRE: March 1 Melbourne ZooLIOR, GIAN SLATER & INVENIO: March 1 SpiegeltentDEBORAH CONWAY, WILLY ZYGIER: March 1 Wesley Anne; 2 Caravan Club; 3 Potato Shed (Geelong)THE TIGER & ME: March 1 Riverside Live (Southbank)URTHBOY: March 2 Corner HotelTHE DEMON PARADE: March 2 Workers ClubRENÉE GEYER: March 2 SpiegeltentNICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: March 2 Sidney Myer Music BowlSODASTREAM: March 2, 3 Northcote Social ClubMARK SEYMOUR & THE UNDERTOW: March 2 All Saints Estate RutherglenTHE DEMON PARADE: March 2 Workers ClubJULIA & THE DEEP SEA SIRENS: March 3 Workers ClubNEIL FINN & PAUL KELLY: March 4, 5 Palais Theatre; 2 All Saints Winery
FESTIVALSSOUNDWAVE: March 1 Flemington RacecourseKARAVAN! INTERNATIONAL GYPSY MUSIC FESTIVAL: March 2 Thornbury Theatre; 3 Caravan Music Club
UPCOMINGINTERNATIONALED SHEERAN: March 6 Festival HallKISS, MÖTLEY CRÜE: March 6 Etihad StadiumTHE OFFSPRING: March 6 PalaceSAM AMIDON: March 6 ToffANTIBALAS: March 6 Corner HotelZOË KEATING: March 6 SpiegeltentCAT POWER: March 7 Forum TheatreAZEALIA BANKS: March 7 Palace TheatreTHE STONE ROSES: March 7 Festival HallARLO GUTHRIE: March 7 National TheatreTONY JOE WHITE: March 7 Caravan Music Club (Oakleigh); 8 Thornbury Theatre; 9 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 10 Substation (Newport)DINOSAUR JR: March 7 Corner Hotel; 8 EspyLONDON KLEZMER QUARTET: March 7 Melbourne Recital Centre; 24 Spiegeltent; 25 Melba HallROSS MCHENRY FUTURE ENSEMBLE: March 7 ToffRICKIE LEE JONES: March 7 Athenaeum TheatrePURITY RING: March 8 Corner HotelMAT MCHUGH: March 8 Torquay Hotel; 10 Spirit Bar and Lounge (Traralgon)GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: March 9 BillboardMXPX: March 9 Forest Edge Festival (Neerim East); 10 Corner Hotel
TOUR GUIDENINA FERRO: March 1 Prince Maximilian Hotel
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH: February 28 Recital CentreCAT POWER: March 7 ForumDINOSAUR JR: March 7 Corner HotelTHE STONE ROSES: March 7 Festival HallPORT FAIRY FOLK FESTIVAL (featuring Arlo Guthrie, Gurrumul, Glen Hansard): March 8-11 Port FairyTORO Y MOI: March 9 Corner HotelFUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL: (featuring The Stone Roses, The Prodigy, Steve Aoki): March 10 Flemington Racecourse THE MARK OF CAIN: March 15 Hi-FiJON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: March 15 Espy; 16 Corner HotelTHIS WILL DESTROY YOU: March 21, 22 Northcote Social ClubTHE RESIGNATORS: March 22 the Loft (Warrnambool); 23 Bridge Hotel (Castlemaine); 28 Workers Club; 29 Pow (Werribee)GRINSPOON: March 22 Hi-Fi; April 24 Bended Elbow (Geelong); 25 Pier Live (Frankston); 26 Inferno (Traralgon); 27 Ferntree Gully Hotel
PRESENTS
DUNE: March 23 Ding DongROBERT CRAY, TAJ MAHAL, SHUGGIE OTIS: March 24 Hamer HallBONNIE RAITT, MAVIS STAPLES: March 27 State TheatreIGGY & THE STOOGES, BEASTS OF BOURBON: March 27 Festival HallBLUESFEST: (featuring Ben Harper, Iggy & The Stooges, Wilco): March 28-April 1 Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm (Byron Bay)ROGER HODGSON: March 28 PalaisBLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA: April 3 Hamer HallSOJA: April 6 Prince BandroomBEN HOWARD: April 6, 7 Corner HotelTEGAN & SARA: May 2 PalaisTHE KOOKS: May 3 PalaisMATT & KIM: May 3 Northcote Social ClubGROOVIN’ THE MOO: May 4 Prince Of Wales Showgrounds (Bendigo)MELBOURNE SKA ORCHESTRA: May 4 ForumTHE HAPPY MONDAYS: May 5 PalaceFRIGHTENED RABBIT: May 8 CornerSOMETHING FOR KATE: May 10 Ferntree Gully Hotel; 11 Pier Live (Frankston); 24 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); June 14 ForumBOB EVANS: May 16 Yarra Hotel (Geelong); 17 Corner; 18 Meeniyan Town Hall
Sleep Decade, The Primary, Contrast, Howard DJs: Grace Darling Hotel, CollingwoodEvil Twin, Aimee Volkovsky: Great Britain Hotel, RichmondThe Smith Street Band, Bomb The Music Industry, The Bennies, Japan For: Karova Lounge, BallaratSkyscraper Stan: Labour In Vain, FitzroyCrooks & Queens + Guests: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick EastThe Tallest Man On Earth, Kristian Matsson + Special Guests: Melbourne Recital Centre, SouthbankRefLejos, Carolina Cordeiro, Kunataki: Northcote Social Club, NorthcoteThe Kits, Ultra Bullitt (Fra), The In The Out: Old Bar, FitzroyBilly Talent, Sum 41: Palace Theatre, MelbourneMiike Snow: Palais Theatre, St KildaBirds Of Tokyo, Regular John, Them Swoops: Pier Live, FrankstonSugarcane Collins, Pugsley Buzzard: Retreat Hotel, BrunswickIdle Hands, Term Four, Valjean, Hug Therapist: Reverence Hotel (Front Bar), FootscrayCancer Bats, Kingdom Of Sorrow, This Is Hell: Reverence Hotel, FootscrayThe Vernons, The Bon Scotts, The Give, Readable Graffi ti: Revolver Upstairs, PrahranThe Harlots, La Bastard: Spotted Mallard, BrunswickRowland S Howard Tribute + Tex Napalm & Dimi Dero: St Kilda Memo, St KildaEnglish Dog, Glen & The Peanut Butter Men, Dixon Cider, Join The Amish: The Bendigo, CollingwoodThe Insurgents, Special Guests: The Bridge Hotel, CastlemaineCrotch It, Travis Addison, Isiym, The Land Of Dreams: The Brunswick Hotel, BrunswickLaura Imbruglia, Mid State Orange, Slow Galo: The Curtin, CarltonMatt Chapman: The Drunken Poet, Melbourne
Duff Mckagan’s Loaded, Danko Jones: The Espy (Gershwin Room), St KildaMoroccan Kings, King Of The North, The Nerve: The Espy (Lounge Bar), St KildaHotel Wrecking City Traders, Lakes Of Russia, Warmth Crashes In, Aktion Unit: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), CollingwoodInevitable Orbit, Yuko Kuno Band, Matt Middleton: The Gasometer Hotel, CollingwoodAnthrax, Fozzy, This Is Hell: The Hi-Fi, MelbourneMulatu Astatke With Black Jesus Experience + More: The Order Of Melbourne, MelbourneMatt Walker: The Post Office Hotel, CoburgThe Midnight Scavengers, The Pope’s Assassins, Will Hindmarsh: The Public Bar, MelbourneResurrection+Ghost Towns Of The Midwest, Howl & Crow: The Resurrection Hotel, MelbourneLow Key Mid Week Beats : The Thornbury Local, ThornburyAndrea Marr Band, Major Tom & The Atoms: The Toff In Town, MelbourneDJ Prequel & Ed Fisher, Principal Blackman: The Toff In Town (Carriage Room), MelbourneSmile, Dd Dumbo, Andre, Pencil: The Tote, MelbourneTimothy Coghill, Ben Abraham: The Workers Club, FitzroySoul II Soul: Trak Lounge Bar, ToorakFreya Handley: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), NorthcoteMustered Courage, The Davidson Brothers: Wesley Anne (Band Room), NorthcoteKill Shot, The Refunds, Camp Revolution, Awesome Wells: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
FRIFRI1 MARCH1 MARCH
20132013
Funk Buddies, Horns Of Leroy: 303, Northcote
Lauren Elizabeth: The Vineyard, St KildaEliza Hull, Tully On Tully, Haarlo: The Workers Club, FitzroyCollider: Uptown Jazz Cafe, FitzroyTen Gallon Head, Cold Iron’s Bound: Victoria Hotel, Brunswick Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier: Wesley Anne, NorthcoteThe Detonators: Wheelers Hill Hotel, Wheelers HillTowers, Honey Badgers, Buck Creek, Bloody Charlie: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
SATSAT2 MARCH2 MARCH
20132013
Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Glitch, Breaks +Various Artists : , James Southwell Band: 303, NorthcoteKlub Muf: 303, NorthcoteSk Simeon, New Dub City, Sista Itations: Bar Open, FitzroyDayfest 2: Barleycorn Hotel, CollingwoodThe Ellis Collective, The Secret Lunch: Bella UnIon, Carlton SouthDeborah Conway, Willy Zygier: Caravan Music Club, OakleighMaddison Wilson, John Lillis, Kiara Rodrigues: Chandelier Room, MoorabbinBella Jabara & The Mellows, DJ Mermaid, Thando & Band: Cherry Bar, MelbourneUrthboy, Jimblah, One Sixth: Corner Hotel, RichmondLotek: Cornish Arms Hotel, BrunswickHowlin’ Steam Train: Ding Dong Lounge, MelbourneThe Hornets: Elsternwick Hotel, ElsternwickRenae Brennan: Elwood Lounge, ElwoodPotato Island: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North (arvo)
Willow + Guests: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North (evening)Festival In Your Loungeroom+DJ Les Toth, Dead In A Second, The Arsonist: Ferntree Gully Hotel, Ferntree GullyAimee Francis, Steph Hill & The Missing Fundamental, The Narrow Road, The Black Alleys, D N A: First Floor, FitzroyThe Look Of Love - Songs Of Burt Bacharach & Hal David+Jack Howard: Flying Saucer Club, ElsternwickBirds Of Tokyo, Regular John, Them Swoops: Forum Theatre, MelbourneNo Escape For The King, Slacquer, The Television Sky: Grace Darling Hotel, CollingwoodHousewives, Dead Boomers, Sky Needle, Encounter Group: Grace Darling Hotel (Basement), CollingwoodMelbourne Mixtape Exchange+The Naysayers, Young Mavericks: Great Britain Hotel, RichmondThe Original Snakeskins: Labour In Vain, Fitzroy (arvo)Dylan Joel + Special Guests: Laundry Bar, FitzroyTim Rogers & The Bamboos: Leongatha Memorial Hall, LeongathaWaz E James: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick EastCymatic Society+Various Artists: Loop, MelbourneSodastream, Oliver Mann: Northcote Social Club, NorthcoteAlancampbell, The LoVeless, Divide & Dissolve, Drifter, DJ Cisco Rose: Old Bar, FitzroyChris Wilson: Rainbow Hotel, FitzroyPheasant Pluckers: Retreat Hotel (Afternoon), BrunswickZoophyte, Killing Liars, The F100s: Retreat Hotel, Brunswick
Rain Factory, Stellarcaster, Only Aliens: Reverence Hotel, MelbourneKaravan! International Gypsy Music Festival: New York Gypsy All Stars, Vardos + More: Revolt, MelbourneUp The Punx Festival 2013 Feat: Topnovil, Chickenstones, Fatty Esther, The Ramshackle Army, Strawberry Fist Cake, K-Mart Warriors, Hopes Abandoned, AmphetIsh, Aitches, The Savages: Revolver Upstairs, Prahran‘90s Cover Night+No Excuses: Ruby’s Lounge, Belgrave
The Matty Green Band: The Drunken Poet, MelbourneBrothers Grim &Amp; The Blue Murders, The Hellhounds, Rattlin’ Bones Blackwood: The Espy (Lounge Bar), St KildaMiss Ink Australia 2013 - Victoria Final Feat Massive, The Deep End: The Espy (Gershwin Room), St KildaAdnan & The Whale, Sinking Tins, Scattered Disk Objects, DJ Oscar O’brien: The Gasometer Hotel, Collingwood
TOUR GUIDE
ED SHEERAN: March 4, 5 Festival Hall
TORO Y MOI: March 9 Corner HotelTHE HERBALISER DJS: March 9 EspyPRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: March 10 Palace GREG WILSON: March 10 New GuernicaWILD NOTHING: March 11 ToteTHE TEA PARTY: March 11 Hi-FiVIEUX FARKA TOURE: March 11 Corner HotelREDD KROSS: March 12 EspySMASH MOUTH: March 13 Hi-FiSEAN TAYLOR: March 13 Northcote Social ClubBOB MOULD: March 13, 14 Corner HotelNEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE: March 13 Plenary; 15 Rod Laver Arena; 16 Hill WineryBLOC PARTY: March 14 Festival HallOPETH: March 14 PalaceJULIO BASHMORE: March 15 Brown AlleyODDISEE: March 15 RevolverDENIZ TEK, LEADFINGER: March 15 Tote; 16 Bridge Hotel (Castlemaine)THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: March 15 Espy; 16 Corner HotelCAROLINE NIN: March 15 SpiegeltentPAUL BRADY: March 15 Celtic ClubTITLE FIGHT: March 16 Reverence Hotel; 17 Phoenix Youth CentreENSIFERUM: March 16 EspyGUNS N’ ROSES: March 17 Sidney Myer Music BowlTHE JACKSONS: March 19 Melbourne Exhibition & Convention CentreGORAN BREGOVIC: March 19, 20 Arts CentreGLEN HANSARD: March 20, 21, 23 Recital CentreWANDA JACKSON: March 20 Corner HotelLUKE THOMPSON: March 20 Grace DarlingMARY COUGHLAN: March 20 Caravan Music ClubPSARANDONIS: March 21 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 22 ForumSANTANA, STEVE MILLER BAND: March 21 Rod Laver ArenaJANE BADLER: March 21 SpiegeltentDEWOLFF: March 21 Workers ClubTHIS WILL DESTROY YOU: March 21, 22 Northcote Social ClubRODRIGUEZ: March 22 Hamer Hall
NATIONALJOSEPH TAWADROS: March 6 SpiegeltentTIMMY TRUMPET: March 6 Barking Dog (Geelong), Monash Uni Gippsland; 10 Dluxx Bar; 28 Blitz Nightclub (Berwick), Daveys Hotel (Frankston); 30, April 27 Billboard; 24 Mynt Lounge (Werribee), Eureka Hotel (Geelong)CHRISTA HUGHES: March 7 SpiegeltentHALF THE SKY (IWDA) FT CLARE BOWDITCH & MORE: March 7 Melbourne Recital CentreLAST DINOSAURS: March 7 Monash Uni ClaytonPETE MURRAY: March 7 Commercial Hotel (South Morang); 8 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 9 Ferntree Gully Hotel; 10 Pier Hotel (Frankston); 14 Regent Multiplex (Ballarat); 15 Corner HotelHUSKY, DIE ROTEN PUNKTE: March 8 Melbourne ZooHIGH TENSION: March 8 Old BarJORDIE LANE: March 8 Harvester Moon (Bellarine); 9 Baby Black Cafe (Bacchus Marsh); April 14 Burke & Wills WineryTIMOMATIC, BONNIE ANDERSON: March 9 Melbourne ZooTHE PIGS: March 9 SpiegeltentTHE ANGELS 100%: March 9 PalmsNINE SONS OF DAN: March 9 Phoenix Youth Centre NGAIIRE: March 9 Bridge Hotel (Casltemaine); 10 Northcote Social ClubBENNY WALKER: March 9 Moomba Festival; 16 Mordialloc By The BaySARAH HUMPRHEYS: March 9 Purepop Records; 10 Workers ClubBAPTISM OF UZI: March 9 Ding DongTHE SYNCOPATORS: March 10 SpiegeltentD AT SEA: March 10 PlasticVIOLENT SOHO: March 10 Ding DongPOPSTRANGERS, BORED NOTHING: March 10 GasometerTHE CORRESPONDENTS: March 13 SpiegeltentJOE CHINDAMO & ZOE BLACK: March 13 SpiegeltentTHE SUNNY COWGIRLS: March 13 Hallam Hotel; 14 Commercial Hotel (South Morang); 15 Gateway Hotel (Corio); 21 Italian-Australian Club (Morwell)MORIARTY: March 14 SpiegeltentTHE MCMENAMINS: March 14 Toff
ZEBRA KATZ, LE1F, MIKE Q: March 1 Liberty Social
AMALI WARD: March 14 Workers ClubTHE MARK OF CAIN: March 15 Hi-FiTUBA SKINNY: March 15 SpiegeltentTHE ANGELS (FT DAVE GLEESON): March 15 PrinceRUTHIE FOSTER: March 15 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 16 Meeniyan Town Hall; 17 Corner HotelTHE TIGER & ME: March 15 Elsternwick Hotel; April 12, 13 Workers ClubDAVID BRIDIE: March 16 SpiegeltentTHE WOOHOO REVUE: March 16 SpiegeltentTHE ARACHNIDS: March 16 RetreatRAINY DAY WOMEN: March 16 Workers ClubCUB SCOUTS: March 16 Grace DarlingSTEP-PANTHER, WAX WITCHES: March 16 GasometerFLETCHER: March 17 Workers ClubKATIE NOONAN: March 19 SpiegeltentSALLY SELTMANN: March 20 SpiegeltentSUPER MAGIC HATS: March 20 Workers ClubTHE CAT EMPIRE: March 20, 21 PrincePASSENGER: March 20, 21 Athenaeum JORDAN MILLER, JACK CARTY: March 22 Workers Club; 23 Loft (Warrnambool)THE RESIGNATORS: March 22 Loft (Warrnambool); 23 Bridge Hotel (Castlemaine); 28 Workers Club on Thursday 28; 29 Pow (Werribee); 31 Dooley’s (Daylesford)LOWRIDER: March 22 Corner Hotel; 23 Pier Live (Frankston) ; 24 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine)GRINSPOON: March 22 Hi-Fi Bar; April 24 Bended Elbow (Geelong); 25 Pier Live (Frankston); 26 Inferno (Traralgon); 27 Ferntree Gully HotelMARK SEYMOUR & THE UNDERTOW: March 22 Yarraville Club; 23 Thornbury Theatre; 24 Flying Saucer Club (Elsternwick); 26 Caravan Club; May 18 Sphinx Hotel (Geelong)LEE KERNAGHAN: March 22, 23 Palms at Crown; May 23 Ballarat Regional Multiplex; 24 Warrnambool Lighthouse Theatre; 25 Geelong’s Costa Hall; 29 Bendigo’s Capital; 30 Swan Hill Town Hall; June 2 Shepparton Eastbank CentrePVT: March 23 Corner HotelGREENTHIEF: March 23 EspyTHE MERCURY BEAT: March 23 RetreatDUNE: March 23 Ding DongSTRANGE TALK: March 28 Corner HotelSONICANIMATION: March 28 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 29 Yarra Hotel (Geelong); 30 ToffDEBORAH CONWAY, WILLY ZYGIER: March 28 Lighthouse Theatre (Warrnambool); 30 Bridge Hotel (Castlemaine); 31 Flying Saucer ClubHARTS: March 29 EspySTORMCHASERS: March 29 Ruby’s Lounge YACHT CLUB DJS: March 30 Ding Dong; April 6 Karova Lounge (Ballarat)AMY VEE: April 4 Spotted MallardGUY SEBASTIAN: April 5-7 Palais; May 4 Nowingi Place (Mildura); 8 Lighthouse Theatre (Warrnambool); 10 GPAC Costa Hall; 11 Eastbank Centre (Shepparton); 12, 13 Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre; 21, 22 Capital Theatre (Bendigo) FRENCHAM SMITH: April 11 Pizza and Wine Club (Kyneton)MAMA KIN: April 11 Northcote Social Club; 12 Loft (Warrnambool)ELI WOLFE: April 11 Wesley Anne; 12 Harvester Moon (Bellarine); 13 Carolyn Theatre (Cororooke)SPIT SYNDICATE: April 11 Bar 3909 (Lakes Entrance); 12 Northcote Social Club; 26 Karova Lounge (Ballarat) DEAD LETTER CIRCUS: April 12 Corner HotelTHE MCCLYMONTS: April 12 Matthew Flinders Hotel (Chadstone); 13 York On Lilydale (Mount Evelyn); 18 Hallam Hotel; 19 Shoppingtown Hotel (Doncaster); 20 Gateway Hotel (Corio)SONGS: April 13 Workers ClubLANEOUS & THE FAMILY YAH: April 13 Evelyn Hotel
Drapht: Saloon Bar, TraralgonNick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mark Lanegan: Sidney Myer Music Bowl, MelbourneDirty York, Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk: Spotted Mallard, BrunswickWhorthodoxy, Adamus Exul, Tamerlan, Sanguinary Misanthropia, Mardraum: The Bendigo, CollingwoodFourteen Nights At Sea, Coves: The Bridge Hotel, CastlemaineMonkey’s Pirate, Phantom Hitmen, Schweinhund: The Brunswick Hotel, BrunswickSarah Stone, Tash Sultana, Kerryn Fields, Chloe Turner: The Brunswick Hotel (Early Show), BrunswickCaptain Moonlight Party: The Curtin, Carlton
Hunting Pictures, Deep Heat, Spite House, Sarah Mary Chadwick: The Gasometer Hotel (Upstairs), CollingwoodKisstroyer, High Voltage (AC/DC Show), Dressed To Chill: The Hi-Fi MelbourneJaspora, The Gogo Goddesses: The LuWow, FitzroyBeware! Black Holes: The Post Office Hotel, CoburgTex Napalm & Dimi Dero, Harry Howard & The Nde, Euphoriacs: The Public Bar, MelbourneKristin Virag: The Thornbury Local, ThornburyBuke & Gase + Special Guests: The Toff In Town, MelbourneAndee Frost: The Toff In Town (late), Melbourne
To check out the mags online go to themusic.com.au/mags • 45
Exhaustion, Beaches, Buck/Baxter, Eastlink: The Tote, Melbourne
Demon Parade: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Sol Nation: Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
Karavan! International Gypsy Music Festival: New York Gypsy All Stars, The Woohoo Revue, Vulgargrad + More: Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury
The Skampz: Tudor Inn, Cheltenham
The Moonee Valley Drifters: Victoria Hotel, Brunswick
Music For A Cow (Afternoon)+Zeffa, Benny Moon, Emma Bryce + More: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
Trio Agogo: Wesley Anne (Front Bar), Northcote
J M S Harrison, Band Souls On Board, D.A. Calf, Acoustic Foxx: Wesley Anne (Band Room), Northcote
The Gallant Trees, The Remotes, Benny & The Clones: Yah Yah’s, Fitzroy
SUNSUN3 MARCH3 MARCH
20132013
Nicola Hayes & Helene Brunet, Johnny Can’t Dance: 303, NorthcoteKlub Muf: 303 (arvo), NorthcoteBeige Rainbow, Guests: Bar Open, FitzroyKaravan! International Gypsy Music Festival: New York Gypsy All Stars, Vulgargrad, La Mauvaise Reputation, The Margaret St Project: Caravan Music Club, OakleighThe Three Kings, DJ Max Crawdaddy: Cherry Bar, MelbourneTex Napalm & Dimi Dero, Brian Henry Hooper, Burn In Hell, 27 Winters: Cherry Bar, MelbourneThe Rock & Roll Gumbo Medicine Show Feat: The Darling Downs, Charles Jenkins, Kerri Simpson, Kim Volkmann, Suzannah Espie, Dan Brodie, Sherry Rich, Blind Kiwi & His Cigar Box Guitar: Corner Hotel, Richmond
Sydney Road Street Party: Bayou, Manny Fox, White Summer, The Twoks, Drunk Mums, The Pretty Littles, Brother James, Going Swimming, Messed Up, Luke Legs & The Midnight Specials: Cornish Arms Hotel, BrunswickThe Detonators: Daveys Hotel, FrankstonMichael Spiby: Elsternwick Hotel, ElsternwickAnna Smyrk: Elwood Lounge, ElwoodBenny & The Clones, Sean Simmons’ Exploding Wheel: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy NorthDan Krochmal, Emma Broady: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy NorthFestival In Your Loungeroom: Dead In A Second, The Arsonist, Tricking Emma, Chris Carty, DJ Les Toth: Evelyn Hotel, FitzroyBirds Of Tokyo, Regular John, Them Swoops: Forum Theatre, MelbourneJemma & The Wise Young Ambitious Men, Sean Mcmahon: Labour In Vain (arvo), Fitzroy
Ultrafox, Marty Kelly, Aubury Maher: Lomond Hotel, Brunswick EastThe Idle Hoes, Dan Waters Band: Northcote Social Club (matinee), NorthcoteSodastream, Anthony Atkinson & The Running Mates: Northcote Social Club, NorthcoteCoral Lee & The Silver Scream, Little Wing, Green’s Dairy Angel Ensemble: Old Bar, FitzroyJules Boult & The Redeemers: Rainbow Hotel, FitzroySydney Road Street Party: The Harlots, The Go Set, Pony Face, The Tiger & Me, ShaCkleton, The Stetson Family, Dan Warner, Suzannah Espie, Livingstone Daisies, Tracy Mcneil Band: Retreat Hotel, BrunswickBrett Franke, Trappist Afterland, Anatman: Reverence Hotel, MelbourneFruit Jar, Bearded Gypsy Band, Jack On Fire, Short Order Scheffs: Spotted Mallard, Brunswick
Husk, Heisenberg, Cat Or Pillar, Beloved Elk, Tim Lock: The Bendigo (arvo), CollingwoodBroderick Smith, Guests: The Bridge Hotel, CastlemaineSydney Road Street Party: Sheriff, Deadly Are The Naked, Black And Blue, 180 Proof, The Art Of Later, Dogsday, The Cosmic Skydome, Sforzando, Three Quarter Beast, Riff Fist, The Rosencrants, Trash Fairys, Dirty Harriet & The Hangmen, Wolfpack, Chickenstones, Dead Albatross, Cinema 6, Strawberry Fist Cake, Fatty Esther: The Brunswick Hotel, BrunswickEaten By Dogs, Gallie & Shane Fitzsimons: The Drunken Poet, MelbourneNudist Funk Orchestra, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada : The Espy (Front Bar), St KildaMustered Courage: The Post Office Hotel, CoburgChinese Handcuffs, Lopaka, Format Wars: THe Public Bar, Melbourne
Moosejaw Rifl e Club: The Standard Hotel, Fitzroy
Di Casey, Open Decks: The Thornbury Local (arvo), Thornbury
The Sunday Set (Afternoon)+DJ Andyblack, Haggis: The Toff In Town, Melbourne
Gunslingers, Kaleidescope, Apache Medicine Man, The Feel Goods, Dalton Gangs Last Raid: The Tote, Melbourne
Nigel Wearne, Julia & The Deep Sea Sirens, James Kenyon: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Grand Wazoo: Thornbury Theatre, Thornbury
Sydney Road Street Party: Cherrywood, Rattlin’ Bones Blackwood, The DrunkEn Poachers, Swamplands, The Prairie Kings, Lake Palmer: Victoria Hotel, Brunswick
Moments Notice: Wesley Anne (Front Bar, arvo), Northcote
140 Sydney Rd 9387 6637 NO COVER CHARGEBRUNSWICKHOTEL.NETWEDNESDAY THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY - 8PM
THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL’SOPEN MICWITH YOUR HOST BRODIEGET IN AND REGISTER FROM 7PM ONWARDS$10 JUGS OF BRUNSWICK BITTER
THURSDAY THE 28TH OF FEBRUARY - 8PM TILL 1AM$3 SCHOONERS OF CARLTON DRAUGHT - $5 BASIC SPIRITS
8PM
CROTCHITWITH GUESTS TRAVIS ADDISON, ISIYM, THE LAND OF DREAMS
FRIDAY THE 1ST OF MARCH - 8PM
CITY SOUNDWITH GUESTS GUNSLINGERS, LUCID PLANET, LAMB BOULEVARD AND THE UMBRELLA, THE HIGH DRIFTERS
SATURDAY THE 2ND OF MARCH - 9PM
MONKEY’S PIRATEWITH GUESTS PHANTOM HITMEN, SCHWEINHUND
5PM
SARAH STONEWITH GUESTS TASH SULTANA, KERRYN FIELDS, CHLOE TURNER (BLOOM)
SUNDAY THE 3RD OF MARCH - OPEN 11AM!
SYDNEY RD STREET PARTY!BRUNSWICK HOTEL STYLE - BBQ! FREE ENTRYFEATURING: SHERIFF - SFORZANDO - THE COSMIC SKYDOME - THREE QUARTER BEAST - RIFF FIST - DEADLY ARE THE NAKED - ROSENCRANTS - THE ART OF LATER - 180 PROOF - TRASH FAIRIES - WOLFPACK - STRAWBERRY FISTCAKE - 180 PROOF - CHICKENSTONES (SYD) - CINEMA 6 - DIRTY HARRIET AND THE HANGMEN - DOGSDAYBLACK AND BLUE - DEAD ALBATROSS
MONDAY THE 4TH OF MARCH - 8PM
“LET’S GET FUNNY AT THE BRUNNY”WITH COMEDIC PERFORMANCES BYASHLEY FILS-AIME AND FRIENDS$10 JUGS OF CARLTON DRAUGHT
TUESDAY THE 5TH OF MARCH - 8PM
THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL DISCOVERY NIGHTGIVING CHANCES TO UP AND COMING LOCAL TALENT!THIS WEEK: ...AND WE ARE THE ENEMY, JOSH SEYMOUR, SOMEBODY ELSES WEDDING BAND
~ EXCELLENT RESTAURANT AND BAR MEALS
“Live At The Lomond”
CROOKS & QUEENS
+ Guest (Kinda funky)
DOC HALIBUT (Contemporary
urban roots)
WAZ E. JAMES BAND
(Alt-country cruisin’)
ULTRAFOX (Gypsy swing thing)
MARTY KELLY & AUBURY
MAHER (Acoustic roots)
IRISH SESSION (Acoustic diddley-diddley)
D
THU 28TH
8.30PM
FRI 1ST
9:30PM
SAT 2ND
9:30PM
SUN 3RD 5:30PM
SUN 3RD 9:00PM
TUES 26TH 8:00PM
ALL GIGS FREE
MONMON4 MARCH4 MARCH
20132013
Al Brown Curates: 303, NorthcoteThin Lizzy: Billboard The Venue, MelbourneCherry Jam: Cherry Bar, MelbourneMark Lanegan + Special Guests: Ding Dong Lounge, MelbourneEd Sheeran, Passenger, Gabrielle Aplin: Festival Hall, West MelbourneMonday Night Mass Feat: Cornell Wilcek, Simon J Karis, Huntsman (My Disco): Northcote Social Club, NorthcoteNeil Finn & Paul Kelly, Lisa Mitchell: Palais Theatre, St Kilda
TUETUE5 MARCH5 MARCH
20132013Dr Feelgood & Dr Love, DJ Paul Milne (NY): Cherry Bar, Melbourne
The Patron Saints: Cherry Bar, MelbourneKiss, Motley Crue, Thin Lizzy, Diva Demolition: Etihad Stadium (Intimate Arena Mode), Ed Sheeran, Passenger, Gabrielle Aplin: Festival Hall, West MelbourneCharles Jenkins: Labour In Vain, FitzroyAlicia Adkins, Alex Hamilton, Oliver’s Army: Old Bar, FitzroyFun: Palace Theatre, MelbourneNeil Finn & Paul Kelly, Lisa Mitchell: Palais Theatre, St KildaFront Bar+Bo Jenkins: Retreat Hotel, BrunswickMelbourne Fresh Industry Showcase: Various Artists : Revolver Upstairs, PrahranCollage: Various Artists : The Espy (Lounge Bar), St KildaMallee Songs: The Public Bar, MelbourneWillow Beats, Colour Waves: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
46 • To check out the mags online go to themusic.com.au/mags
FRI 05 APR HI FI, SYDNEY 18+SAT 06 APR MONA VALE HOTEL, MONA VALE 18+
THU 11 APR NEWPORT, FREMANTLE 18+FRI 12 APR CAPITOL, PERTH 18+
THU 18 APR KINGS BEACH TAVERN, CALOUNDRA 18+
FRI 19 APR HI FI, BRISBANE 18+SAT 20 APR GREAT NORTHERN, BYRON BAY 18+SUN 21 APR ALHAMBRA LOUNGE, BRISBANE U18WED 24 APR THE WARATAH HOTEL, HOBART 18+
FRI 26 APR CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE 18+
NEW ALBUM
OUT NOWFEATURING SINGLES
SHARP SHOOTER AND TWIN CITIESTOURING NATIONALLY IN APRIL SUPPORTED BY THE PREATURES
ALSO APPEARING AT GROOVIN THE MOO
hungrykidsofhungary.com | facebook.com/hungrykidsofhungary | twitter.com/HungryKids | youtube.com/user/hungrykids
THE FACTSInpress
Inpress
EDITORIAL
BIG,BOLD,GLOSSY& ONIPAD
DEADLINES March 13
March 27
CONTACTS
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL GUIDE 2013
47
48
EMPLOYMENT ADMINISTRATION
Experienced Manager required for established Brisbane based artist. Must have industry con-tacts, previous and current experience and be ruthless.Contact [email protected]
iFlogID: 19087
Experienced original rock band looking to play with other established gigging bands. Will return favour with dates in Sydney venues such as The Wall, Valve Bar, Town & Country. [email protected]
iFlogID: 20664
Get your Band/ Business online with affordable website design.From $299 Services include Seo, Social network marketingIncludes free 1000 Facebook likes, 22k twitter followers.Contact
[email protected] iFlogID: 19089
Seo Marketing ~ Facebook likes, YouTube, Twit-ter viewsPromote your business online with Seo servicesFacebook likes 1k - 10kYoutube views 1k - 100kTwitter followers 1k - 100kPrices start from $20
iFlogID: 19091
FILM & STAGE CAMERA
Capture any speaking event (lecture, Q+A, Seminar) on HD video. Quality picture and clear audible sound regardless of location. Call Aaron 0451 208 675. http://cardboardemporium.net
iFlogID: 20885
OTHER Backyard Cinema Hire. Enjoy your favourite fi lms with friends or family on the big screen, in your own backyard. Melbourne based. Call Aaron 0451 208 675 http://cardboardemporium.net
iFlogID: 20887
PRODUCTION Film Director/Editor. Clients include 360, King Canons, Cosmic Psychos, Yung Warriors,The Drones, Melbourne City Council, EMI, Mushroom. Clairy Browne, Ricke-Lee. Contact Agostino Sol-dati to produce your music [email protected]
www.vimeo.com/agosoldati iFlogID: 17706
Quality showreels compiled and produced for actors at affordable rates by Melbourne based production company. Call Aaron 0451 208 675 http://cardboardemporium.net
iFlogID: 20889
FOR SALE DRUMS
High Defi nition YouTube video demonstrations of cymbals. ZILDJIAN, SABIAN, PAISTE, UFIP, MEINL, WUHAN, STAGG, PEARL...www.youtube.com/user/sydneypollak
iFlogID: 19832
GUITARS CHARVEL CUSTOM U.S.A Brand New Black Strat shape with Seymour Duncan Humbucker pick ups, original fl oyd rose trem, Ebony fretboard, Fast Maple neck, Shaller tunning keys, Hard case-$2635 contact 0415285004.
iFlogID: 21238
Matts Vintage Guitars - Fender Gibson Martin Rickenbacker Guild Gretsch Vintage and USA Buy-Sell-Trade Ph.0413-139-108 www.matts-vintageguitars.com
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OTHER Charlie Sheen movie posters for sale.
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MUSIC SERVICES HIRE SERVICES
P.A - SOUND SYSTEM FOR HIRE2000W FRONT OF HOUSE,650W FOLD BACK, $350 WITH ENGINEER SET UP & DELIVERED,PARTIES/DJ’S/SMALL BANDS CALL STEVE 0400606650 [email protected]
iFlogID: 20861
OTHER Award-winning Experienced, Qualifi ed Music Producer: 1.Doing Instrumental version of any song for $402. Mix your multi-tracks for $50 and produce per-sonalized original instrumentals for $50.3. Check lovenabstudio on soundclick.com
email: [email protected] iFlogID: 18269
Get your Band or Business Online Cost effec-tively and PROFESSIONALLY - from $299 includ-ing Hosting and email addresses!Contact [email protected] or see
www.bizwebsites.com.au iFlogID: 15452
High Defi nition YouTube video demonstrations of cymbals. ZILDJIAN, SABIAN, PAISTE, UFIP, MEINL, WUHAN, STAGG, PEARL...www.youtube.com/user/sydneypollak
iFlogID: 19834
Music publicity. Do you want to get noticed? Affordable exposure for your band by someone that actually cares! www.perfectlywrite.com.au Drop me a line!
iFlogID: 15737
PA / AUDIO / ENGINEERING
P.A - SOUND SYSTEM FOR HIRE2000W FRONT OF HOUSE,650W FOLD BACK, $350 WITH ENGINEER SET UP & DELIVERED,PARTIES/DJ’S/SMALL BANDS CALL STEVE 0400606650 [email protected]
iFlogID: 20855
Transfer your old master AUDIO DAT or MINI DV tapes to media fi les. Full quality, no compression. Call Aaron 0451 208 675 http://cardboardem-porium.net
iFlogID: 20891
PHOTOGRAPHY Image is everything! If you have a band want-ing to get ahead let me capture the next gig. High quality pictures say everything.http://roybarnesphotography.com/0414 243 811
iFlogID: 18648
POSTERS GOLD COAST BYRON BAY NORTHERN NSW Poster distribution for touring artists & bands. Fast, effi cient & reliable service at a competi-tive price www.thatposterguy.com.au
iFlogID: 17120
PRINTING Premium CD packaging & CD replication, Aus-tralia wide. 70% recycled card at no extra cost.
iFlogID: 20499
RECORDING STUDIOS Incubator Recording and Mastering. “Where the grooves are hatched”. Record your next demo or release in a relaxed creative enviroment with experienced engineer. Affordable check it out online at www.incubatorstudio.com.au
iFlogID: 19532
Music-Production/Mixing/Mastering package only $150 per track. 5 Tracks for $550 (1-month period). 10 Tracks for $1000( 2.-months period). Check link and listen: http://www.youtube.com/user/Studio9Mru/videos?view=0&fl ow=grid
iFlogID: 20825
Professional mix engineer. $150 for your fi rst mix and package deals for EPs and albums. Discounted mastering also available through professional mastering studio Brisbane. Visit www.omegachildproductions.com for details and testimonials.
iFlogID: 21270
RECORDING STUDIO $30ph iFlogID: 17084
STUDIO HIRE Gold Coast ParallelHarmonyStudioRobina. 30 square metre live room, large vocal booth. Hand-some range of range of topoftheline Neumann, Rode and Shure microphones. Call 0755808883 for details. www.parallelharmony.com.au
iFlogID: 18640
TUITION DRUMMER AND DRUM LESSONSDrum Lessons avaliable in Gladesville Teach all Levels, ages .17 years experience. I studied at The Billy Hydes Drumcraft Academy and Obtained a Diploma in Drumming.Mob:0402663469Michael
iFlogID: 20676
Eastern Suburbs guitar/ukulele/bass/slide les-sons with APRA award winning composer. Highly experienced, great references, unique individually designed lessons from Vaucluse studio. Learn to play exactly what YOU want to play! www.matt-toms.com
iFlogID: 16690
LEARN GUITAR $99 Special Promo 5 week course Beginners Welcome Children & Adults *Friendly mentoring approach *Great Results Guaranteed Enquire Now PaddingtonPh: 0416960673E: [email protected]
iFlogID: 19765
VocalHub - Sing like no one is listening! Singing lessons for vocal technique and care, audition tips and repertoire in a encouraging and supportive environment. Visit: http://www.vocalhub.com.au
iFlogID: 17102
VIDEO / PRODUCTION Independent Melbourne based director/pro-ducer can create innovative music videos on very modest budgets. Previous broadcast credits. Call Aaron 0451 208 675. http://cardboardem-porium.net
iFlogID: 20881
QUALITY MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTIONImmersion Imagery strives to offer quality & crea-tive music videos to suit your style & budget. Port-folio of over 30 artists. www.immersionimagery.com [email protected]/immersion.imagery
iFlogID: 18477
You want music video produced? Visit fi nncut’s channel on youtubeContact Mattifi [email protected]
iFlogID: 20211
MUSICIANS AVAILABLE BASS PLAYER
Electric & upright bass. Good gear. Comfortable in most styles. Experience performing live and in the studio. Check out my website if you wanna hear more. http://www.wix.com/steelechabau/steelechabau
iFlogID: 16159
DJ Dj available Dubstep to Drum&basswilling & able to adapt to your event.Low hourly rates.Everything negotiable.Easygoing, fl exible entertainment.Call for a quote today.KN!VZ Entertainment GroupPh:0415680575
iFlogID: 16661
DRUMMER A1 TOP PRO DRUMMER AVAILABLE FOR SES-SION FREELANCE WORK, TOURS ETC. EXTEN-SIVE EXPERIENCE, TOP GEAR, GREAT GROOVE AND TIME.SYDNEY BASED, WILL TRAVEL. PH 0419760940. WEBSITE www.mikehague.com
iFlogID: 18334
PROFESSIONAL DRUMMER AVAILABLE! Sydney based, ready for session work, touring etc. - lots of experience at 24 years of age, will [email protected]
iFlogID: 20865
SINGER SINGER SEEKING A GRADE BAND THAT HAS THEIR S**T TOGETHER.PRETTY OPEN IN REGARDS TO GENRE BUT PREF-ERABLEY ROCK.FOR VOCAL REFERENCE VISIT www.facebook.com/delsantomusicBASED IN SYDPlease contact: [email protected]
iFlogID: 20863
SINGER SEEKING A GRADE BAND THAT HAS THEIR S**T TOGETHER.PRETTY OPEN IN REGARDS TO GENRE BUT PREF-ERABLY ROCK.FOR VOCAL REFERENCE VISIT www.facebook.com/delsantomusicBased in Sydney.Please contact: [email protected]
iFlogID: 20857
MUSICIANS WANTED BANDS
INDIE BANDS Indie Artists Get Your Own Feature Channel Just For Your Band Here! http://www.radiosydney.com.au/computer/page37.html
iFlogID: 21172
MUSICIANS DESIRED Guitarist/Playwright seeks, Bass, Keyboards and Vocals, to collaborate on a rock comedy musical. If you love Tenacious D, Spinal Tap, The Stones, call Steven on 0431241745.
iFlogID: 21092
Seeking experienced lead & backing sing-ers, bass, keyboard, sax & trumpet players for REGGAE band in Northern Beaches. Call Michael 0402 549 423 or email [email protected]
iFlogID: 18612
BASS PLAYER BASS PLAYER REQUIREDFor Elvis band and variety of songs including originals. Must be able to come to rehearsals once a week, rehearsals between Campbelltown and Blacktown.Ph: 0425 246 253 Alex
iFlogID: 21133
Existing songlist. Rehearsed and close to gig-ging. Mainly covers with some originals. Artists include Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam, Kravitz, Foo Fighters... Bass player: experienced, mature, own profes-sional gear and transport.
iFlogID: 21257
GUITARIST GUITARIST FOR SYDNEY
PROG BAND No Home for Heroes - Sydney prog rock/metal band looking for guitarist. Infl uences: Pink Floyd, Crippled Black Phoenix, Steven Wilson, Van Der Graaf Generator.Vocals a bonus. Currently writing for double concept album.Call Nath on 0406 039 217. Or visit www.nohomeforheroes.com
iFlogID: 21266
GUITARIST REQUIRED, For Elvis cover band plus variety of songs includ-ing originals. Rehearsal once a week between Campbelltown and Blacktown. Must be able to come to rehearsals.Ph:0425 246 253 Alex.
iFlogID: 21135
Guitarist/Singer wanted for established ‘all live’ covers duo from January. Confi rmed regular gigs already booked. Style of duo is relaxed but also upbeat. Professionals only need apply. 0402 980 602
iFlogID: 20407
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KEYBOARD KEYBOARDIST REQUIRED,for Elvis covers plus variety of songs including originals. Rehearsals Campbelltown to Black-town. Must be able to rehearse once a week. Ph: 0425 246 253 Alex
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SYNTH/KEYS FOR PROG BAND No Home for Heroes - Sydney prog rock/metal band looking for synth/keys. Infl uences: Pink Floyd, Crippled Black Phoenix, Steven Wilson, Van Der Graaf Generator.Vocals a bonus. Currently writing for double concept album.Call Nath on 0406 039 217. Or visit www.nohomeforheroes.com
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LUKE’S TRANSITION
Transition is out now. www.stevelukather.net
Guitar legend Steve Lukather was in town as part of Ringo Starr’s Allstar Band. Muso’s Greg Phillips paid Luke a visit to chat about his new solo album, Transition.
Some interviews just start off bizarrely. I’m in American guitar legend Steve Lukather’s Melbourne hotel room. He’s playing the guitar
intro to Ringo Starr’s It Don’t Come Easy to me. He’s doing so because I told him I was disappointed that the night before, during the Ringo’s All Starr Band gig, they’d started the song with saxophone. “No, bullshit I played it,” he firmly states as he plays the riff. “I’m gunna bust the sound guy’s ass tonight.”
Steve Lukather has been a professional guitar player for four decades, knows good sound and expects every gig to be perfect for the audience. His fervency on the matter this morning may have come about due to a sonic disaster at a Toto gig just a few weeks earlier at Disneyland which was streamed live around the world. “That was brutal man,” he recalls. “We had a hundred-channel changeover and the board zeroed out, monitors and front-of-house. Everything just went.”
The reason for today’s interview, however, was not to discuss front-of-house sound disasters, but to chat about Luke’s new solo album, Transition, which was released in late January. Transition is Lukather’s seventh solo record and he’s proudly passionate about it. For a player of his calibre though, it would be easy to assume that it would be a showcase for his guitar skills. In reality it’s a revealing, quality singer-songwriter album. “I have done the Larry Carlton record, which we won a Grammy for. That is jam band kind of stuff,” he explains. “So I can scratch that itch but at the same time there are guys who do it so much better. You’ve got Jeff Beck, Satch, Vai, Guthrie Govan ... ridiculously insane musicians. My strength is that I sing and I write too.”
Although Luke was in a playful mood this morning and laughed off the sonic disasters we spoke of earlier, the tone turned a little more serious when discussing the inner demons that formed the basis of Transition’s subject matter. “You write about what you know... your life and the people that affect you. That’s what songwriters do. Ironically some of the saddest things in life connect with the most amount of people.”
Despite the joys and perks of belonging to an international hit band as Luke does in Toto, his personal life featured much sadness. “I was drinking all the time because the hangovers were so bad. Thirty-six years of Saturday night, every night will get to you.”
One day Luke decided enough was enough. It took a dreadfully sad experience to knock some sense into him but he’s been clean for four years now. “My mother was an alcoholic,” he explains. “Me and my eldest son found her on Father’s Day, dead on the couch with the most horrific, scared, terrified, look... frozen, orange from jaundice with a vodka and a cigarette at noon. It fucked me up. I thought, I don’t want my kids to ever find me like that. I love you mum (looks to the sky), all is forgiven. It maybe saved everybody’s life. It was the point where I went, that’s it... stubbed out the cigarette, put the beer away and never went back.”
Luke has culled much from his life. It’s a philosophy that even applies to his use of music gear, especially in the recording of Transition. “It’s pretty clean these days. I used the new [signature] Luke III guitar from MusicMan with the DiMarzio pickups. It’s a beautiful guitar in blue. I’m lovin’ that. Dudley Gimpel [at MusicMan] has been making guitars for me going back to the Valley Arts days in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. He knows what I like. He took my favourite guitar from that era and put the neck on a computerised thing and they got that right. We changed the look and the body is one third bigger. On Transition, I plugged into a Bogner Ecstasy and that was all I used. I used the plug-ins for any ‘verbs, delays or any weird effecty thing or I would double a part. I dialled back the gain a little bit. I am not trying to keep up with the ridiculous abilities of the youngsters today. I’m about trying to play interesting phrases and notes. I just plugged the cable into the amp with a volume pedal. I have always been a volume pedal guy. I got that from the Larry Carlton old studio guys.I just use two Bogner’s Exctasys in stereo and I got stomp boxes on the floor, which I change all the time. I was a slave to all that other shit for so long. It broke one time too many. I ended up on G3 last year with nothin’ but a Boss delay and a Tube Screamer and that was it. I swore off all that stuff almost like the booze.
While billed as a solo album, Lukather is keen to give credit to his co-writing partner and co-producer of the album, CJ Vanston. “He worked really hard on this album. We’d sit down and within an hour or so we would have the structure of a song, the riff and the form or melody or maybe a song title. I’ll go OK, that’s enough, I’m going home to think about some of these words. He’ll go, you do that and I’ll mess around here while you are gone. He’ll put a rough little drum part down or bass or something. I’ll come back the next day and it’s like a half produced record. Everybody compresses the shit out of records and quadruple track power chords on every fucking song. Every record begins to sound the same. So we created this atmosphere shit and I thought, this is cool. It’s not like we’re trying to write a hit to follow what Beyonce’s doing or something.”
STEVE MORSE CLINICSIn conjunction with Ernie Ball Music Man and Australian Music Man dealers, Deep Purple guitarist and Music Man signature endorsee Steve Morse will be conducting Masterclass clinics during the band’s current Australian tour. For more information, ph 02 9905 2511 or email [email protected].
www.cmcmusic.com.au
MELBOURNE MUSIC EASTGATE MUSICMelbourne music store Eastgate Music has relocated to new premises at 1131 Burke Rd, Kew. Of course, the website (http://eastgatemusic.com.au/), knowledgeable staff, great stock and service remains the same... well, better actually! The store is twice as big as the old Eastgate music store and features two sound roof studios in which you can crank amps, guitars and pedals up to give the gear a real test. A grand opening is planned for next month once everything is in place but for now, everyone is welcome to drop down and check out the new store and the ample stock.
www.eastgatemusic.com.au
STORE NEWS EASTGATE MUSIC Melbourne music store Eastgate Music has relocated to new premises at 1131 Burke Rd, Kew. Of course, the website (http://eastgatemusic.com.au/), knowledgeable staff, great stock and service remains the same... well, better actually! The store is twice as big as the old Eastgate music store and features two sound roof studios in which you can crank amps, guitars and pedals up to give the gear a real test. Co-owner Peter Shillito says Eastgate is still committed to servicing the pro and semi pro market as well as the local schools. A grand opening is planned for next month once everything is in place but for now, everyone is welcome to drop down and check out the new store and the ample stock.
www.eastgatemusic.com.au
STEVE STEVENS CLINICS SELLING FASTThose wishing to see guitar hero Steve Stevens need to snap up their tickets soon. Stevens can be seen up close and personal for Roland in clinic and conversation Thursday 21 March in Brisbane, Friday 22 in Canberra, Saturday 23 in Melbourne in and Monday 25 in Sydney.
www.rolandcorp.com.au
Call 1300 304 614 (landline only)
or 03 9614 3441
Application forms available at Police Stations
www.keypass.com.au
Need ID?Get a Keypass
50 • To check out the mags online go to themusic.com.au/mags
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