24 APRIL 2012 #032

TALKIN’ JACK WHITE BLUES –NEW ZEALAND EXCLUSIVECOUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON –KILLING JOKE’S MMXII

TALKING HEADS – PARALLEL DANCEENSEMBLE VS GAVIN HURLEY

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VOLUME’S AUSTIN TEXAS audience with Jack White began with an unlikely inquiry about Hugh’s bandleader debut when his New Zealanders set about putting Huntly on the map. A Torbay native, Hugh gleaned some facts from the Waikato District Council and wove them into the mid-’90s bFM smash, ‘What’s Wrong with Huntly?’, a song that evidently impacted from North Shore, Auckland all the way to Detroit, Michigan.

No less surreal than Jack White asking Hugh about Huntly was where I first heard the tune, sitting on a bus hugging the contours of Israel’s border with Lebanon, listening to a cassette tape my sister Maggie dubbed me from the bFM airwaves. With an electrified barbed wire backdrop, ‘What’s Wrong with Huntly?’ seared itself on my memory under circumstances worlds removed from that Main Trunk line jewel of the Waikato. I never did get that cassette copy though.

He might not own a turntable to play VOLUME’s Lawrence Arabia seven-inch on, but Hugh is an artefact man – this cassette tape is his only copy, and the only one I’ve seen. With this issue put to bed, we’re working on a Third Man Records reissue so the A-side can take its rightful place in the Alexander Turnbull Library. Possibly even the Library of Congress.

The cameras weren’t rolling when Huntly got a mention, but read on to hear about Jack White going solo and check out nzherald.co.nz to see our audience with the man himself.

Are you Hugh? I was told to ask you about Huntly…

Facebook.com/volumemag @__volume__

EDITOR: Sam Wickssam.wicks@volumemagazine.co.nzWEB EDITOR: Hugh Sundaehugh.sundae@nzherald.co.nzDEPARTMENT OF VOLUME SALES: Brad Morganbrad.morgan@apn.co.nzDESIGN: Xanthe WilliamsWRITERS: Gavin Bertram, Marty Duda, Duncan Greive, Jessica Hansell, Henrietta Harris, Joe Nunweek, Barry Saunders, Hugh Sundae, Aaron YapILLUSTRATION: Lopeti Tu’itahiPHOTOGRAPHERS: Dallas Pickering, Milana Radojcic, Georgia Schofield, Hugh SundaeAN APN PUBLICATION

’S AUSTIN TEXAS audience with Jack White began with an unlikely inquiry about Hugh’s bandleader debut when his New Zealanders set about putting Huntly on the map. A Torbay native, Hugh gleaned some facts from the Waikato District Council and wove them into the

Are you Hugh? I was told

you about Huntly…

HOME BREW’S LUI SILKHome Brew’s double-album is out 4 May, followed hard on the heels by your own record. How does it feel to be the most prolific member of the crew?First of all I’d like give a nod to my underlings, Tom Scotch, Haz Beats and that. I’ve been carrying them for a while now – good to see them come up. But nah yeah, awesome.

What exactly was the cost you paid to be the hypeman?I ran a lot of errands in my early days. Laundry, coffee, dragon-slaying etc. But it was all worth it to be the greatest hypeman of all time (shout-out to Flava Flav).

Why is your wardrobe filled with silk over linen?Ask yourself why you wear so much polyester, bitch.

Besides Percy Miller (make ‘em say Uhh!), who’s your favourite member of No Limit Records?Big Bear, if only for the fact that he had grizzly bears in Cartier sunglasses smoking Cubans on his album cover. Close runner-up Mercedes for her debut album Rear End.

We heard you’ve got a garage sale coming up. What can bargain hunters expect?All of the finest accessories and manchester my girlfriend left at our flat.

Lui Silk’s debut album is out soon-as – details in next week’s VOLUME.

In this week’s issue we meet up with Jack White III in Austin Texas to talk about his debut solo outing Blunderbuss, and we’ve got five copies to give away courtesy of Sony Music. For a chance to win, email loot@volumemagazine.co.nz and tell us why ‘Ray-Bans’, White’s missing-in-action collaboration with Jay-Z, has yet to see the light of day.

SCRATCH 22 – THRE3STYLE VETERAN Thre3Style is a DJ competition which is representative of what’s involved with being an actual working DJ. You get a 15-minute set and you have to play at least three different styles of music. You’ve got to play a lot of songs quickly and do it in an entertaining way so you get the crowd on your side, and originality,

technically and creativity is all part of that. When I competed in 2010, my set was all improv – I played stuff like Buddy Holly and The Prodigy and then into dancehall. I went up against Alphabethead in the finals, and I took it – I thought he had a won because they called his came first. That qualified me to compete in the finals in Paris at the Élysée Montmartre, and that was crazy. I got up there with the same intention of doing an improv set like I did in Auckland, which on the world stage I wouldn’t recommend – you tend to get a bit of nerves when you’re representing your country, but it was a really cool experience.

The Red Bull Thre3Style 2012 National Champs with special guests Star Slinger and DJ Spell takes place at Macs Brew Bar in Wellington on Saturday 28 April – tickets available from 1-night.co.nz, Cosmic Corner and Rough Peel Music.

SEND ME A POSTCARDBarry Saunders and The Warratahs celebrate 25 years together with a newly remastered 19-track best of plus a five-track EP of new songs, The Warratahs 25 Year Collection. The band plays six dates in May – show details at warratahs.co.nz.

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Musical theatre is a funny old lark. It’s the Brussels sprout of nights out. If you weren’t brought up on similar vegetables you may not have the stomach for it. There may be a rich treasure trove of delight to be found for those who give it a try but for many the subject matter can be a put-off. You want me to watch three hours of singing cats? Green Day? The French Revolution?

ACTUALLY I DO quite like Les Misérables. Seen it three times. The most recent time was as a surprise from my wife when we lived in London. Five years later we’re expecting our second child. That’s not important for the story – I just like saying it.

Unfortunately someone else’s child, best guess six-ish, was sitting behind us and wouldn’t shut up the entire way through. That’s despite us sitting there, saying nothing and hoping that by slightly turning our heads back from time to time we’d demonstrate the growing anger we felt rising up inside us, while avoiding confrontation. We blamed the parents. Just not out loud.

I was reminded of an old bFM promo where two diners find a turd in their soup. When the waiter asks how their meal is, they reply, “Fine thanks.”

Where does this fear of confrontation come from? Just last night I was returning to one of those

cool burger joints to get a replacement burger and found myself getting nervous. Why? It’s not my fault they don’t list all the fucking ingredients on the menu is it?

You can probably trace it back to size. Chances are if you have a go at someone you’ll bump into them at a party the next weekend. Or remember you actually already met them at a party the previous weekend.

With that previous episode in mind, my wife and I joked about unwelcome interruptions as we looked for our seats at the Jersey Boys opening the other week. Guess what happened next, etc.

It’s hard to know what was more annoying, the singing, talking or just

the general pre-empting of plot points and song titles. Either way, it was the Holy Trinity of shut the fuck up. If only I could have brought myself to say it.

In the end I stopped watching the show – which was actually quite entertaining (“easy to follow” was how Dean Lonergan described it on Radio Live) – and devoted my time to thinking up an appropriate response. “Do you mind?”, “If I wanted to hear you I’d watch TV2 on Tuesdays at 8:30pm,” etc.

But I knew what the response would be: “You probably didn’t even buy your tickets,” or similar. Then there would be the under-the-breath mutterings and that feeling of eyes-as-daggers on the back of my head. What’s the point in making a fuss? Much better just to say nothing and bitch later. That way I can avoid the possibility that they’d take it really well and apologise. What would I have to write about then?

“‘If I wanted to hear you I’d watch TV2 on Tuesdays at 8:30pm,’ etc.”

presents

GAVIN HURLEY GAVIN HURLEY GAVIN HURLEY GAVIN HURLEY Beck’s has worked with local artists and up-and-coming designers to create special labels inspired by musicians, and the limited-edition bottles available in bars and specially marked packs are the result of this project. For Talking Heads, Beck’s collaborators Gavin Hurley and Parallel Dance Ensemble’s Robin Hannibal talked about PDE’s ‘Juices’, the song that frames their collaboration.Photography Milana Radojcic

ROBIN HANNIBAL:

The track started one

evening in Copenhagen. I was

listening to a lot of Michael Jackson

at that point, and one of the songwriters on Michael Jackson’s records was this white guy called Rod Temperton – this British dude – and you would never think that he would write some of these songs, but he

wrote ‘Thriller’, ‘Rock with You’, ‘Off the Wall’, ‘Lady in My

Life’, and he has this signature sound for his basslines which

is like a synthisiser bass and he has this arpeggio way of playing the bassline where you’re actually playing the chords, and that’s what really inspired me for [‘Juices’]. Then I started playing drums on it and that’s when it really came together. Then what I normally do is I start demoing vocals even though I might not be the one singing on it, just to see if it works. And I don’t know what hit me but I heard something echoing like with the delay, and that’s where I came up with the [makes seagull noise] thing. I even rapped on it, like the flow that Jessica [Coco Solid] would later rap, and of course I had the hook as well. It was pretty close to a full idea when I presented it to Jessica and obviously she put her spin on it and made the verses hers, but to begin with – I hope she’s not

going to hate me – she was very against singing on it ’cause she doesn’t really like to sing. But I really like her voice ’cause it’s very naive and some of the best singers are the ones that aren’t trained. She really didn’t like it and then later on she started really liking it! So that’s the story of the song.

GAVIN HURLEY: We were given the song to listen to in regards to making an image for the label. I hadn’t seen the video but I instantly thought [the sample was] ‘seagulls’, so then I jumped on YouTube and it made total sense [that seagulls appear in the video]. I was wondering – the process of making a video, was that spoken about?

It was, and we had used the same director for several videos and we were really pleased with her work and she seemed to get it – she seemed to understand the feel and the concept for the songs. It felt very ‘in place’ for her to do it. And obviously ‘Juices’ – it makes sense that there is some kind of fruits or vegetables being made, but I don’t think we had a conversation with her about the seagulls and the overall storyline of the video – she came up with that. Her name is Lisa Dunn.

Yeah, I’ve started to look at a couple of the other videos that she’s done and I think they’re really great.

She’s really cool. I think she won an award in New Zealand as well for best video for the ‘Weight Watchers’ video.

ROBIN HANNIBALROBIN HANNIBALROBIN HANNIBALROBIN HANNIBALROBIN HANNIBALROBIN HANNIBALpresents

Is that the video with all the lips and the mouths?

Yeah, exactly.

I was making one of the Beck’s labels with that in mind too, but we were focusing on ‘Juices’.

How come you liked that song?

I instantly liked it – I knew from the beginning it would be about the seagull and colour and abstract shapes. A lot of the images didn’t work and we were considering making something that was going on a beer label as well.

Yeah, how was that, figuring out how to…

I was just worried what you guys would think. I can sit there and cut paper, which is how they’re made, and decide what I think’s good, but it has to represent you as well as me. I think that was more nerve-wracking.

Well, the result is great – I’m just sad I won’t be able to drink any of them because I’m on the other side of the planet and they don’t have them here!

Well, the one for you comes out in April. They could send you some posters – the posters are good.

Cool, yeah, I’d love to.

And I’m hoping that people understand there’s music involved – when you buy certain packs it gives you the free

downloads, and a lot of people are giving us good feedback. Have you ever written music inspired by a picture?

Yeah, I’m very into movies, so I think that’s a part of the process where I start imagining what kind of movie this song could be in or what kind of scenario it would fit in, and then I think very often that scenarios that you create in your head are ones that you’ve seen before visually and you draw that from pictures that you’ve either been a part of or that you’ve seen. To me, a lot of times they definitely come from movies or TV series or a museum or something really hard and powerful. So yeah, definitely. With Parallel Dance Ensemble, I think there’s an element of humour to it as well, and I always imagine Manhattan in the ’80s – that’s always the picture I have in my head. That scene is portrayed in a lot of movies and that whole kind of artwork – Keith Haring and Warhol and that whole No Wave scene, early graffiti. All those things, all those kinds of mixtures – African American culture mixed with white rock and punk and all those American stylings. That’s been something that’s been very visual to me for this whole project and for ‘Juices’ as well.

“I knew from the beginning it would be about the seagull and colour and abstract shapes.”– GAVIN HURLEY

To listen to the audio of Gavin Hurley and Robin

Hannibal in conversation, head to nzherald.co.nz/

volume – live from 2pm Tuesday.

Parallel Dance Ensemble is online at facebook.com/paralleldanceensemble.

JAZ COLEMAN IS a world-class ranter, but in the best possible way.

The intense Killing Joke vocalist’s lengthy expositions on any manner of topics are always cogent, convincing, and most importantly, entertaining.

He’s been decompressing at his rustic home on Great Barrier Island in the wake of another hard British tour, in support of the release of the 15th Killing Joke album, MMXII.

“It’s been hard on the body at my ripe old age, touring really hard,” the 52-year-old admits. “But I love it, it’s addictive. It’s not for people who aren’t team players. After 33 years, not only do I play in the same band with these guys, they really are my best friends.”

The band formed in the squatter community around West London’s Notting Hill during the fertile post-punk period of 1979. Their harsh, repetitive music forecast modern industrial rock, while their bleak vision was equally prophetic.

MMXII sees Killing Joke preaching the same nihilistic vision they have for over 30 years. As frontman Jaz Coleman says, the rest of the world is only now catching up. Text Gavin Bertram

While the subsequent three decades have seen stylistic changes and numerous lineups, the original Killing Joke of Coleman, guitarist Geordie Walker, bassist Youth and drummer Paul Ferguson was reunited for the 2010 album Absolute Dissent.

But Coleman says the band’s renaissance has really been underway for the last decade.

“Most bands’ first three albums would be their most significant works,” he suggests. “Our first three were very important albums, but from 2003 onwards, the music is becoming so much more significant. We haven’t really changed anything, it’s just the world is catching up with us and the things we’ve been saying for so many years.”

That’s coincided with lifestyle changes for Coleman, who also pursues a successful career in classical music when Killing Joke is dormant.

He hasn’t drunk alcohol in over six years, has given up smoking tobacco and marijuana and has renounced the material world. He owns nothing but a few clothes, his shed on Great Barrier has no hot water and one gas ring, and he largely shuns modern technology including computers and mobile phones.

Coleman says Mahatma Gandhi is his guide, and his efforts have a

lot to do with empathising with the increasing percentage of the world’s population who live in poverty.

“You get a false perception in New Zealand,” he says. “People are so in debt and can barely afford to feed themselves. It just breaks my heart. I don’t want to be another guy in a band, another rock star, so I’ve renounced all material things. I don’t need it. All I need is to put fuel into my stomach and to drink water or lashings of tea.”

Although he’s more than aware of New Zealand’s problems, Coleman is most proud of his citizenship of this country. He does think we need to be more engaged with political issues though; having witnessed what public apathy has wrought in the United Kingdom, he despairs for his homeland.

He laments the loss of the “sense of fraternity” that was evident in the music community when Killing Joke started,

and believes the lack of choice available then was in some ways beneficial.

“When you look at the young bands coming up now, they’re so eclectic,” he considers. “Everybody’s got data overload because of this damn technology. You had less choice in the late ’70s. I don’t know whether technology has given us a better life. What is it doing to our society? Everything is so fragmented.”

Despite his observations of the modern world, Coleman is relatively happy in a strangely paradoxical manner that is both beatific and world-weary.

He’s particularly joyous about the position Killing Joke holds in many people’s hearts.

“All my hopes and dreams of what a band should be, this band personifies,” Coleman reflects. “I’ve been moved by how many people just love our band. I’ve always seen the band as not the big supermarket but the tiny little corner shop that’s well loved by the people around you.”

Killing Joke’s album MMXII is out now through Universal Music. The documentary film The Death and Resurrection Show, which Coleman describes as “all the worst things I’ve ever done condensed into one movie”, is due for release later this year.

“I don’t want to be another guy in a band, another rock star, so I’ve renounced all material things.”– JAZ COLEMAN

Kimbra

RIANZ TOP 10 NEW ZEALAND SINGLES CHART1 Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Call Me Maybe’

2 Fun. ft. Janelle Monae – ‘We Are Young’

3 Nicki Minaj – ‘Starships’

4 Chris Rene – ‘Young Homie’

5 Justin Bieber – ‘Boyfriend’

6 Havana Brown – ‘We Run the Night’

7 Katy Perry – ‘Part of Me’

8 Taylor Swift – ‘Eyes Open’

9 Train – ‘Drive By’

10 Cher Lloyd – ‘Want U Back’

Each week Duncan Greive performs some low grade analysis on the week’s New Zealand Singles Chart and reviews a few new release pop singles. To submit or suggest a track for review tweet @duncangreive or email sam.wicks@volumemagazine.co.nz.

R. KELLY – ‘Share My Love’The most amazing musician of our time returns with another seduction anthem. ‘Share My Love’ is pure late-’70s smooth disco, basically Barry White 2.0, which feels like a good mark for Kells at this stage in his career. The whole thing is nuts,

but in a very agreeable, unobtrusive style, but it’s the lyrics, as ever, which show what a wonderful madman we have singing to us. “Populate/ Let’s get together/ Populate/ Make the world better”, he intones, and it’s clear that he doesn’t just want to fuck his conquest, but impregnate them too. Wow. The clip is typically outrageous, with women in lingerie serenaded while fixing their hair and nails, before this ridiculous ejaculation of a party. It’s totally out of sync with contemporary r’n’b trends, but executed at an incredibly high level – it’s R. Kelly, doing what he does, and we should all be grateful any time that happens.

NELLY FURTADO – ‘Big Hoops (The Bigger the Better)’The return of Nelly Furtado is an event. Strange to say that, given that her fi rst album was pretty insubstantial, the second tanked and the fourth was a Spanish language-only curio. But

in the middle was Loose, released during 2006, the peak of the last great pop music era. And, crucially, this comeback appears to be aimed at her re-taking that ground. Evidence? Aside from her already having had a number one single this year, on the hook to K’Naan’s ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’, check the production credits of ‘Big Hoops’. Rodney Jerkins is the man on the boards. He doesn’t work all that often, but when he does it can get very big. D-Child’s ‘Say My Name’? Rodney. Gaga’s ‘Telephone’? Rodney too. Whitney’s ‘It’s Not Right’? That’s Rodney. And ‘You Rock My World’, by, uh, Michael Jackson? Rodney again.

He does amazing work here, ghostly bass-heavy synths with a spare, rattling beat – it’s rare for a guy to retain a modern feel over the 15 year span he’s been making hits, and the pop-drum’n’bass/screwed’n’chopped coda works great in a throwback style. Nelly is fine too – maybe a little too informed by Rihanna’s elongated vowels, but there are many worse people to ape, and the frivolous tone is exactly what we need to back up fellow-Canadienne Carly Rae Jepsen in what is shaping up as a great resurgent US summer for pop.

JANINE AND THE MIXTAPE – ‘Bullets’The debut single from a local pop/r’n’b singer who is doing her work via Tumblr and YouTube, rather than courting radio programmers and execs, might end up with a big shiny hit on

her hands anyway. Because this doesn’t sound DIY or shirk scale in any way – it’s got a monster production, and her voice is even bigger. I guess the reference point would be Jessie J, in that she’s got this huge voice over a commercial production, but most of Jessie J’s singles are excruciating, whereas this is pretty great. The beat is really impressive, slow and relentless, and while the vocals aren’t strictly to my taste, retaining the same portentous heft throughout, they do share a lot with some of the biggest singles and singers of the past couple of years. Which is to say that this one could chart high right now, and still be only the start.

FIVE MILE TOWN – ‘Saturated’Not sure what’s going on here – maybe I’ve lost my shit completely, but this is another song from Auckland that sounds like a hit. If it were up to me I would never listen to

it again, because ‘Saturated’ is really against everything I stand for – not just “real” instruments, but fucking banjo and double bass and stuff, and a singer who sounds like he’s in tears throughout. But this basically comes at the Adele audience from the opposite end of the spectrum as Janine above, and if they can put together a whole record of this they’ll likely sell shitloads to that crowd. Because the song works, for all its rectitude, and the guys are like 18 years old and all tousled-hair handsome – there’s not a thing about this project which will prevent it getting massive. So all they need to do now is get lucky.

CALL ME? DEFINITELY Four weeks in a row at the top for ‘Call Me Maybe’, so a song I thought was a fun, frivolous throwaway has turned into a fun, frivolous keeper, and the second biggest hit

of the year. And given that there still seem to be people discovering its thin, pouting charms I don’t think a much longer stay is out of the question. As of writing Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ has just returned to number one on the New Zealand iTunes charts, off the back of publicity about its US number one, but Carly Rae Jepsen is in the pocket at number two – I think its’ continuing number one status next week is all but assured.

‘Somebody...’ hitting the top in the US is great, because it’s a fantastic single, but I don’t think we should get excited about Kimbra’s contribution to its success any more than Australian’s should about Sia’s to ‘Wild Ones’ – she’s a featured guest vocalist, in a relatively minor role, and it portends nothing as far as her future successes go. Obviously it can’t hurt, but the mountain remains a mountain, and we shouldn’t anticipate Vows rolling through America any time soon.

Elsewhere the chart is very stable, that gang of songs which arrived a month or so ago is still there, and still largely great, so this is some stasis you can believe in.

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

HENRIETTA HARRIS’ TOP FIVE INSOMNIA SONGSMMXII

(Universal Music) 1: Scott Walker – ‘The Amorous Humphrey Plugg’ – I always get out of bed and sit leaning against the same bit of wall and listen to this two or three times in a row, when the chorus hits it’s just so beautiful and atmospheric. Then I slip away on the newly waxed flooooooooooooooooooor.

2: The Horrors – ‘You Said’ – Sounds kind of stream of consciousness after the bridge. Doesn’t make me fall asleep though.

3: John’s Children – ‘Smashed Blocked’ – This is my favourite song. Doesn’t make me fall asleep though.

4: The Cryin’ Shames – ‘Please Stay’– I always daydream (nightdream?) about singing this at karaoke and everyone starts crying but also cheering and I get a medal.

5: How To Dress Well – ‘Transmissions from a Wistful Place’ – This is a mixtape he made for Domino Radio and every single track is incredible. All distorted and dreamy. As well as at 3am, it’s also good to listen to walking home in the evening.

THE EVERSONSSummer Feeling(Lil Chief)Hope this doesn’t get too

overshadowed by the (very good) Tono album also out this month. Like that release, this is a riotously funny, goofy and sweet New Zealand guitar-pop album that wears its accents, influences and twenty-something existential angst-as-farce on its sleeve. The call-and-response on ‘Creepy’ is a textbook example in how to do this in an all-guy band; ‘Going Back to Work’ is a pitch-perfect ‘9 to 5’ for those of us with stultifying jobs. Essential.

BLACK DICEMr. Impossible(Ribbon Music)Another really good Black Dice album, natch. This

follows the lead of their last couple of albums – ie, take a bracing junkyard’s worth of gnarled loops and turn it into sweltering, almost-dance music. This outing adds a layer of asphalt guitar funk to the mix (‘The Jacker’) and manages to revive chillwave’s tropical excess as something hiccupy, magnificent and recognisable (‘Spy Vs Spy’, ‘Brunswick Sludge’).

SPIRITUAL-IZEDSweet Heart, Sweet Light(Fat Possum)Like every

Spiritualized release since Ladies

and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, this is Jason Pierce’s quote-best-album-since-Ladies-and-Gentlemen-We-Are-Floating-in-Space-unquote. I’m not totally on board with the effusive praise – this basically merges the more cinematic chamber-pop pretensions of Songs in A&E to some songs that are more solid, but only occasionally transcendent (see: ‘I Am What I Am, ‘So Long You Pretty Thing’).

FAULTSInvention(Arch Hill)Former members of The Subliminals and Meterman join

forces on an EP that makes no pretence about trying to capture the vibe of that punishing brand of early 2000s Auckland-rock – ominous bass drones, tricky rhythms, lurching discordance and little chromatic bursts of melody. When the latter emerges, as on ‘Golden Promise’ and ‘Vending Machine’, it balances and justifies the lockstep tension of the rest of the set.

VERY TALL STORIESOpen Eyes(Lojac)I think the abstract and woozy soul

of the likes of Gonjasufi might be burbling through into our local produce – this debut by ex-Hot Grits and Kolab members works best on ‘Hours in the Day’ when it sort of glides by in a hush, punctuated by a trilling synth line and sparse

cowbell. Too often though, it’s a good bit less mysterious and a lot less interesting.

DJANGO DJANGODjango Django(Because Music)Scottish band is definitely sweating

the Beta Band hard (the drummer is even related to one of them), but it’s been a decade and it’s not too unwelcome a revival to experience in 2012. ‘Hail Bop’ is a clever approximation to Nuggets psych-pop with a whole bunch of ’80s synth tropes and pedal steel (!!!), ‘Waveforms’ is a pretty great single that takes their main influence and turns it into a choral Beach Boys dance jam.

TOMMY ILLNew Hat and a Haircut(EMI)Kind of disappointed by this

one, to be honest. Tommy Ill has a smooth delivery and his knack for self-deprecation while staying tight is still an appealing characteristic (on ‘Cask Full of Hope’ – “Be boastful bro, write boastful raps/ Um, I’m good at knots, and I’m nice with cats”). But there’s a self-sufficient complacency to the whole thing, not helped by a few pretty rote beats.

DICTAPHONE BLUESBeneath the Crystal Palace(Banished From the Universe)

The latest from Edward Castelow’s trio is a roundly enjoyable set that splits the balance between classicist Auckland guitar chops (‘Cliché’ and ‘Spicy Fruit Loaf’ recall Shaft’s yowlier moments) and some impressively rangy and out-there tunes if you follow them to Side Two. I dig the grandstanding coda of “What You Wanted You Got…” and the glam sci-fi Bowieisms of ‘Burning Ball in Outer Space’.

MODULEModule Presents Imagineering(Escape Artists Recordings)Wellington-based

producer Jeremiah Ross has spent the past six years somewhere between Lyall Bay and Newtown crafting this low-key set of ambient treats. ‘High Way’ incorporates the dramatic flutter of Italo disco, while ‘Tears for Asimo’ displays the same playful interest in its variety of vintage sounds as early YMO. Quietly ambitious.

LIGHTSHIPSElectric Cables(Domino)Gerard Love is one of three singer-songwriters from

Teenage Fanclub, though given the pleasantly samey AOR drift across their last couple of albums, you’d be hard-pressed recalling which. This is remorselessly unsurprising music, but also reasonably palatable. Modest highlights: ‘Muddy Rivers’, ‘Stretching Out’.

Reviews Joe Nunweek

KILLING JOKE MOUTHPIECE Jaz Coleman is right in his belief that the veteran London band has become more vital

of late. While their uncompromising, bludgeoning early 1980s’ albums laid the way for a legion of industrial and metal pretenders, some of the offerings over the following decades lost the thread. Particularly since the reunion of the original Killing Joke lineup for 2010’s Absolute Dissent outing, they’ve reclaimed the throne. And the new MMXII could well be the best work from the band since those earliest efforts.

Unlike many acts that have been around for aeons, Killing Joke can still harness a frightening amount of intensity. It’s something they do at will on MMXII, which is as caustic and jaundiced an opus as anyone

operating in the realm of extreme music is capable of in 2012. Coleman’s vocal delivery still sounds like a public service announcement from the last days of human existence, a cry of pure rage in the face of certain doom. Geordie’s symphony of guitars remains one of the more impressive feats in rock, while Youth and Paul Ferguson provide a tough but fl exible rhythmic spine.

If 2012 begets the apocalypse, at least we have a suitable soundtrack.

Review Gavin Bertram

SAM WICKS: In the past, have you assigned genders to your songs – you’ve thought, ‘This is a little more feminine, this is a little more masculine’?

JACK WHITE: Yeah, when I was younger and took Spanish class in high school and they started to tell you every object has a male or female pronoun in front of it, like ‘el’ or ‘la’ – ‘la casa’ or whatever it is – that you give masculine and feminine identities to everything, and that’s a really interesting tack. I couldn’t believe it at the time – it almost seems ridiculous or sexist – that’s a language and that’s talking about inanimate objects. This chair is either feminine or

masculine, or this factory is feminine or masculine, or this car. So I think that just shows you that, as humans, it doesn’t matter what goes on socially or politically between the genders – as long as we’re a species, we have preconceptions about the opposite sex all the time, and if I brought on stage six 80-year-old women instead of six 20-year-old men, there would be a total difference, or six 80-year-old men instead of six 20-year-old men. So what I want to do is have a preconception immediately given to you when you are watching from the audience, and I hope that you’ll forget it by the third song – that’s when you know you’re getting somewhere. I forget that they’re all men up there or they’re all

women up there, and I think it goes a long way of what’s possible.

How did you go about making that split yourself? When you look at a whole back catalogue that you have to now assign to two different bands, what defi nes that split?

Well, both bands learn all of the songs. This took weeks of rehearsal, man – this is not easy and it’s not easy to do live either. I would travel and rehearse for a couple of hours with the boys, and then I would travel across town and rehearse a couple of hours with the girls, and I was just driving back and forth between two bands. And we would do the songs two different ways

At the Third Man Records SXSW showcase in Austin Texas last month, Jack White headlined the lineup, debuting material from his new solo album Blunderbuss and retooling songs from The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather with the muscle of two new bands – one all-female and one all-male. The day after the showcase, VOLUME had an audience with the newly solo renaissance man.Photography Hugh Sundae

– and I have to remember all this stuff, man. And, on top of it, when we go out on stage – the morning of the show I say, ‘It’s going to be the girls tonight’ or ‘It’s going to be the guys tonight’ and the other band has the day off, and that way I didn’t know, the band didn’t know, the press didn’t know, the fans didn’t know. That’s one way for me to really shake it up and challenge myself. ’Cause the easiest thing to do is – big deal – fi nd fi ve guys who can play the songs like they are on the album, go out on stage and play it like it is on the record – ‘goodnight, Cleveland’ or whatever. That’s no challenge to me – that’s just taking the easy way out – and I really want to shake things up for myself. I want to provoke myself and provoke the audience – and not in a shocking way, in a way we can get somewhere new. We’re also not using any setlists either, which is just like how I played in The White Stripes, and that’s a very challenging thing to walk out on stage with six people and nobody knows what we’re going to play. There are no safety nets at all in this, man.

Not only do those bands have to get their heads around the Blunderbuss material, but they’re got three bands’ worth of material they also have to get their heads around. Some of those songs, are you able to add more flesh to their bones because you have bigger bands to pull it off with?

Yeah, and that’s one of the benefits of it – I can really change these songs in a big dynamic way. You know, if you took a White Stripes song, sometimes certain songs Meg and I could only get them louder or quieter – there wasn’t much else we could really do with them with only a guitar or a piano between me and Meg. In a band like this, if you have a fiddle, steel guitar, synthesiser, whatever – we can do a lot of things we could never do before with some of these songs. And that’s great because the last thing I want to do is go up onstage and try to perform, you know, ‘Hardest Button to Button’ or ‘Steady As She Goes’ exactly like those other bands did. It would be stupid to do that, so I really want to go out and give them a whole new life.

You’ve said that three bands are enough – if you can’t say it with three bands, then it’s solo for now. What can you say as a solo artist that you couldn’t say with a band, and what can you do with a band that’s maybe not achievable now going out under your own name?

Yeah, that was a question I had for myself – it’s really a compelling question. I had to look at each one of the things that I had done and why I did them. You know, in Dead Weather I was the drummer but the four of us wrote songs together. In Raconteurs me and Brendon wrote the songs and the four of us performed them. In The White Stripes I wrote all the songs and me and Meg made them electric and made them into White Stripes songs as sort of cover songs of these Jack songs I’d written by myself acoustically. So now, after the production styles I’d used on these Third Man records over the past couple of years, it led me to record this album and these songs that I could really orchestrate a large band – eight, nine musicians in a room playing together live. I could figure out how I want this clarinet and this piano to harmonise on this note, the backing vocals don’t come into the bridge, and I was becoming an orchestrator in a larger way that I hadn’t done before on any of the productions that I’d done. Wanda

Jackson’s album, producing that really led me to this style ’cause I had so many people in the room together. This is a whole new challenge for me – I’m not just someone like, ‘Hey, get my manager to fi nd me a producer, get the musicians in – I’m going to go in and they’re going to play my songs, and then I’m going to go on vacation next week’. Every single component of recording this song I’m directly involved with. And when we take it out on stage on tour, now I’ve got to really give it a brand new life. It’s not time to take it easy and coast on these songs – ‘I mixed it, this song’s great, people like it, now just play it like it is on the record’. It’s time for me to go out and expand on that song even more and give it a new life and have it be as energetic and powerful as possible on stage. That’s not easy stuff to do, but those are all the challenges that I want from myself and I want to give myself.

To watch VOLUME’s exclusive interview with Jack White, head to nzherald.co.nz/volume.

Jack White’s album Blunderbuss is out now through Third Man Records/Sony Music.

“THERE ARE NO SAFETY NETS AT ALL IN THIS, MAN.”

THE AVENGERSStarring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth,

Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson

Director Joss Whedon

CARNAGEStarring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet,

Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly

Director Roman Polanski

CAN WE DECLARE a moratorium on decimating downtown Manhattan for a minute? The toppling skyscrapers and yellow cabs

flippin’ over no longer blow my mind. That said, Joss Whedon’s Marvel superhero tag-team extravaganza The Avengers does it pretty darn well. The film acknowledges, and follows through with the geeky rush of having all these characters – Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, et al – in the same frame together, probably achieving a state of comic book nirvana for fans who’ve been waiting so long for it to happen.

Whedon lacks a bold, signature visual style, and there’s some clumsy exposition to get through, but he delivers

where it matters most, giving each of the ensemble their time to shine, and fi nding the right blend of wise-cracking humour and whiz-bang spectacle to bolster the somewhat basic narrative.

Roman Polanski’s best films – Repulsion, The Tenant, Rosemary’s Baby – have always made masterful, imaginative use of claustrophobic apartment settings. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Carnage, his tepid, frustratingly stagey adaptation of Yasmine Reza’s play about two Brooklyn couples trying to reconcile their sons’ fight in a park. Eighty minutes of verbal sparring follow, with a few witty barbs, but it’s mostly dull chatter delivered by generally good actors who can’t seem to relax and shake off the mannered theatricality of the scenario. Jodie Foster is at her histrionic worst, Christoph Waltz’s accent wavers uncontrollably. Carnage is like watching a Bunuel gag slowly flatlining: adults can be children too and...?

Review Aaron Yap

With Gary Ross stepping down from directing Catching Fire, the Hunger Games sequel, Lionsgate has made a replacement wishlist that includes David Cronenberg (A Dangerous Method), Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Biutiful).

Dreamworks is in the process of buying the movie rights to the Electronic Arts video game Need for Speed. Real Steel screenwriter John Gatins is attached to produce.

Emily Blunt has joined the cast of Doug Liman’s Tom Cruise-starring sci-fi thriller All You Need is Kill.

Actor-director Tim Roth heads the Un Certain Regard jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which will run 16-27 May.

Have to say, all these comic book flicks are starting to look interchangeable. How about changing it up a little, guys? My challenge to film-makers out there: adapt the works of Fletcher Hanks, the mysterious Golden Age-period artist who pumped out a bunch of deranged, primitive, just plain weird strips for a few years then disappeared. A selection of his works have been beautifully collected in I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! and its sequel, You Shall Die Your Own Evil Creation! (Fantagraphics) by artist Paul Karasik. Lurid outsider crudeness of the most sublime kind.

BFI’s killer two-disc package of Ken Russell’s 1971 masterpiece The Devils is an early contender for best DVD of the year. Long overdue, this release presents the longest available cut of the film, which remains such an incendiary experience that the studio that made it (Warner) still hates that the fact it exists. A shocking tale of religious fanaticism run amok in 17th century France, it’s a truly unforgettable film, with Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave giving career-best performances. Key extra on the disc is Hell on Earth, a terrific doco looking at the film’s controversial history.

Adventure TimeA Review by Harlequin Jones

Adventure time is possibly the cutest bestmost awesome show I’ve seen in sucha long time. Jake, the dog and Finn, thehuman live in a magical place filled withstrange little characters. Like Lady Raini-corn, the Korean speaking rainbow unicornand Princess Bubblegum, the ruler of thecandy land place. This is the kind of shit Icould watch for ever. Coolest animation/ style of drawing is awesome, fluid andcolourful. Finn and Jake are the best offriends and they go on cool adventures //monster battles every day! Jake the dog canmorph into all sorts of shapes and stretchlike a ladder so that’s pretty helpful! Thisone time, a vampire girl kicks them out oftheir house and then they have to go find anew house but then when they get to thenew house she has taken that one too!!How annoying!! Do they fight her??? Wellyou have to wait and see what happensbecause I don’t wanna ruin it huh!!

If you want Adventure Time on DVD sendme your fav picnic spot + your name andaddress to iwantadvdumduh@gmail.com

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The White Stripes play the Wellington Town Hall

IN 2003 I was at art school and I was designing some gig posters for John Baker and helping him with Velvet Tiger shows he was putting on. Whirlwind Heat was playing a sideshow at Kings

Arms with Mint Chicks a couple of days before their supporting slots for The White Stripes, and I did the poster for that one – my first ever gig poster.

The day of The White Stripes show,

John called me to see if I had a video camera. He didn’t really explain what for, but I went to my Grandad’s and got one from him. John said to meet at The White Stripes’ hotel at a certain

Henrietta Harris filmed The White Stripes playing Freemans Bay Primary School in October 2003 on a camera she borrowed from her Grandad.Photography Henrietta Harris

time and then it turned out they were playing that day at Freemans Bay Primary. I filmed it and probably did a really crappy job – I didn’t know what I was doing. I remember Brad Holland,

the drummer from Whirlwind Heat, saw the camera and he was like, ‘Whoa – analogue!’ I didn’t really know the difference between digital and film then.

I was a huge fan of The White Stripes and the show was really fun. It was a bit more special because I was

helping out. Lots of the kids didn’t really know what was happening – they were almost indifferent. Some of them were dancing along, but lots of the children seemed to just be sitting there. The teachers were really excited, I remember that, getting things signed and the like.

After I fi lmed the show I was walking back to art school and I heard a beep and it was the band driving to soundcheck, and they asked me, ‘Do you want a lift?’ So I watched the soundcheck and got a free fi lled roll from the backstage catering. Jack was really friendly and he chatted and joked the whole time, but Meg didn’t say anything.

The show that night was great, but I remember the Wellington Town Hall one a bit better because I went to flew to Wellington with everyone and my friend Aimee Egdell’s band The Rainy Days opened for The White Stripes. It

was cool seeing her play drums in such a huge venue, my Mum and brother came too and loved it. I took a couple of photos from the side of the stage, but the best one is in such a safe place. I can’t for the life of me find it anywhere.

It was definitely a pleasure being part of such a great event with such charming people.

The White Stripes new live DVD Under New Zealand Lights which features Henrietta Harris’ recordings of their Freemans

Bay Primary School performance is available from Third Man Records as part of the 12th instalment of the Vault subscription series – orders close on Monday 30 April.

“Jack was really friendly and he chatted and joked the whole time, but Meg didn’t say anything”. – HENRIETTA HARRIS

KRS-One

RIGHT UP UNTIL the moment KRS-One took the stage I was sceptical it was even going to transpire. The gig that local hip hop heads had crossed their fingers for since Criminal

Minded dropped in 1987 was actually. fucking. happening. The “Teacha” had literally made it to our shores, after causing a wave of disappointment when he cruised by earlier in the year en route to a series of performances in Australia. So it was a happy day when KRS-One released a promo video saying he would indeed be re-boarding ship to perform two shows in New Zealand.

However, it wasn’t all to be smooth sailing, and last-minute venue changes blamed on licensing issues saw this highly-anticipated show moved from the Cloud, to the Studio on K Road, and suddenly hit full capacity. A shrewd move considering the promoter had announced footage shot at the two shows would be used for an upcoming music video.

Included in a stream of warm-up acts for the show was Hed Lok, a trio comprised of New Zealand’s most recognised hip hop artists, Che Fu,

STUDIO, AUCKLANDSATURDAY 21 APRILReview Danielle StreetPhotography Milana Radojcic

Hype the Native

Hed Lok’s Che Fu and King Kapisi

King Kapisi and Teremoana Rapley. During their tightly choreographed set the three perform tracks from each of their albums to a youthful and receptive crowd. Also invited to join the trio were old school comrades Manuel Bundy, DLT and Slave, but the real surprise and definite highlight had to be Hype the Native from Dam Native joining the stage to perform ’97 classic ‘The Horified One’ with Rapley.

Not long after Hed Lok’s departure, three members of Ngati Whatua dressed in traditional feathered cloaks appear on stage wielding a conch. The shell is blown and the group welcome KRS-One with a karakia. KRS comes bouncing on stage dressed in black and wearing a red ulafala necklace, a fitting adornment for someone with such huge mana. Without hesitation the Teacha gets straight to business and insists the volume be wound all the way up. He then proceeds to test the audience with a medley of iconic

tracks spanning across his epic career.What unfolds over the next 90

minutes can only be described as a lesson from the rap pioneer. KRS-One, backed only by a DJ, owns the stage with his colossal presence and takes the enthusiastic audience on a journey through sound and time, always punctuated by his place in the history of hip hop. With such a wealth of material behind him he blasts through favourites including, of course, the Blondie-sampled ‘Step into a World’, where he urges b-boys and girls to step onto the stage to breakdance for the duration of the track.

His set is entertaining, diverse

and interspersed with freestyle flows and tricks up his sleeve. He raps over classical music, performs spoken word and confirms, yes, he will be holding a free seminar at the museum the next day. One thing he never does is show signs of fading while administering his dope MC skills. When he finally does disappear from sight and it seems he is done for the night, a deluge of pushing from the crowd indicates KRS-One is indeed stomping around on the floor, while performing Buckshot collaboration ‘Robot’ solo. At that point it is virtually impossible not to get caught up in the storm of consciousness KRS brings.

“KRS comes bouncing on stage dressed in black and wearing a red ulafala necklace, a fi tting adornment for someone with such huge mana.”

NORTHLANDFRIDAY 27Urban Country – Aratapu Tavern, Dargaville, 7:30pm, Free

SATURDAY 28Tempist Fugit – Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai, 9pm, $5Tempist Fujit Live! – Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai, 9pm, $5

AUCKLANDTUESDAY 24Oak & Gorsky – Kings Arms, Newton, 7:15pm, $15-$20Ak Jazz & Blues Club – Allana Goldsmith Quartet – Pt Chevalier RSA, Pt Chevalier, 7:30pm, $5Ben Fernandez – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, Free

WEDNESDAY 25Dropdead Redhead, Goodbye Light, New Natives and Frend – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $5Tom Rodwell & Storehouse – Wine Cellar, Newton, 9pmRetro Vibe on ANZAC Day – Glen Eden RSA, Glen Eden, 5pm, FreeKiwi Express – Grey Lynn Returned Services Club, Grey Lynn, 4pm, FreeMike Jones Acoustic Sessions – My Bar, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, FreeOld Fashioned Wednesdays – Barrio, Ponsonby, 7:30pm, FreeWednesdays at Flight lounge – Flight Lounge, Auckland CBD, 10pm, FreeBen Fernandez & Maria O’Flaherty – C.A.C. Bar & Restaurant, Mt Eden, 6:30pmChicane Duo – Bill Fish Cafe, St Marys Bay, 1pmJoel Vinsen – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, FreeLive Latin and Brazilian Music – The Mexican Cafe, Auckland CBD, 8:30pm, FreePetra Rijnbeek & Paul Voight – Sugar Bar, Newmarket, 7pm, FreeSwiss – All Ages Show – Woody’s Bar, Manurewa, 1pm, $10The Kavalliers – A Rocking Great Band – Birkenhead RSA, Birkenhead, 4pm, FreeFrank E Evans Band – Grey Lynn Returned Services Club, Grey Lynn, 11am, Free

THURSDAY 26Beck’s Music Shout Live – Tyler St Garage, Auckland CBD, 9pm, $10Black Cobra (USA) w/ Guests – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $25-$30Gerry Rooderkerk Alive & Acoustic – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 10pm, FreeKiwi Singer/Songwriter Showcase – Shadows Bar, Auckland CBD, 7pm, FreeMuscle Punk Blues – Wine Cellar, Newton, 9pm, FreeThursday Night Live – Villains Of The Peace & Pikachunes – 1885 Britomart, Auckland CBD, 9pm, FreeBack to Class – The Pony Club, Auckland CBD, 10pm, FreeJazz and Soul Live Trio – Sugar Bar, Newmarket, 7pm, FreeMaria O’Flaherty & Ben Fernandez – The Wine Box, Albany, 7pmSandy Lynch – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, FreeAcoustic Covers Competition – Shadows Bar, Auckland CBD, 7pm, FreeChance – Cosh Bar, Ponsonby, 8pm, FreePetra Rijnbeek & Paul Voight – The Lumsden, Newmarket, 6:30pm, Free

FRIDAY 27Identity Slip, The Glory Sea, Beach Pigs and Silverbird – Masonic Tavern, Devonport, 8pm, $10Invasion – Masonic Tavern, Devonport, 8pmLiam Bowen, Sean O’Reilly, Saucertronix (Alan Holt) – Audio Foundation, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, $5The Comedowns – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 11pm, Free[shift] w/ Geoff Ong & Special Guests – Juice Bar at The Windsor Castle, Parnell, 9pm, $10Anthony Stretch – Moretons Bar and Restaurant, St Heliers, 8pm, FreeBrett Polley – De Post, Mt Eden, 8:30pm, FreeDean Te Paa – GBS Bar & Restaurant @ The Prospect, Howick, 8:30pm, FreeMal MacCallum – Glen Eden RSA, Glen Eden, 8pm, FreeSuper System – U2 and Green Day Tribute Show – The Salty Dog Inn, Snells Beach, 8:30pm, FreeTraction Duo – The Dominion Bar, Mt Eden, 9pm, FreeJamesRAy’s Texas Rock Roundup w/ Geronimo – Howick RSA, Howick, 7pmKylie Austin and Trevor V. Stevens – Country Duo – Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club, Manurewa, 8pm, FreeStetson Club: North Harbour Rockers Band – Dairy Flat Community Hall, Dairy Flat, 8pm, $5-$10Karn Hall w/ Support from Curtis Fox & Dane Charlton – Hush Lounge Bar, Rosedale, 10pm, FreeFridays at Trench Bar – Trench Bar, Auckland CBD, 10pm, FreeJohn McGough – Trumpeter/DJ – Birkenhead RSA, Birkenhead, 7pm, FreeChico con Tumbao – Besos Latinos Restaurant, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, FreeWicked Fest 2012 – Zeal, Henderson, 6:30pm, $10-$18Contagious – Cock & Bull, Newmarket, 9:30pm, FreeLive Bands are Back – Slipp Inn Pub, Birkenhead, 9pm, FreeFrench Resonance – Auckland Fish Market, Auckland CBD, 5pm, FreeSwiss – Papatoetoe Clubrooms, Papatoetoe, 9pm, $20Tenement Yard – Grey Lynn Returned Services Club, Grey Lynn, 8pm, FreeMojo – The Clare Inn, Mt Eden, 9pm, FreeThe 5.6.7.8’s – Kings Arms, Newton, 7pmChillele – Artworks Community Theatre, Waiheke Island, 5pm, $15-$20Weekenders Launch Party – Rising Sun, Auckland CBD, 9pm, $10

SATURDAY 28Dictaphone Blues / Tono and the Finance Co. Album Release – Kings Arms, Newton, 8:30pm, $12The Checks – The Nathan Club, Auckland CBD, 9pm, $25Cotton Club Big Band Dance – Pt Chevalier RSA, Pt Chevalier, 7pm, $15Bridey – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 11pm, FreeSick Disco presents Animals – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 10pm, $10Dave Clark Revival – Pakuranga Community Hall, Pakuranga, 7:30pm, $12Franko & James – The Merchant Bar & Kitchen, Albany, 9pm, FreeKate Wood Duo – Blacksalt Bar & Eatery, New Lynn, 8pm, Free

Mask of Demetrius – Snake Cult gig, w/ Photonic & King King – Whammy Bar, Newton, 10pm, FreeMitch French – De Post, Mt Eden, 8:30pm, FreeRock a Billy & The Rebels – Rock n Roll Dance – Henderson RSA, Henderson, 7:30pm, FreeIva Lamkum w/ support from Julien Dyne & TDK – Ponsonby Social Club, Ponsonby, 9pmThe Reputations – Sawmill Cafe, Leigh, 9:30pmChicago Disco w DJs Philippa, Frank Booker, Leon D + More – InkCoherent, Newton, 11pm, $10Pure Trench Bar Presents The Stafford Brothers (Aus) – Trench Bar, Auckland CBD, 11pm, FreeNeville Chamberlain – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, FreeBlacklight Confi guration, Feral Breed & Dreams of the Dead – Dogs Bollix, Newton, 8pmWicked Fest 2012 – Zeal, Henderson, 6:30pm, $10-$18Contagious – Cock & Bull, Newmarket, 9:30pm, FreeMarconi Receiver + New Hang Ups – Wine Cellar, Newton, 9pmTiTch Marvel and The Paparazzi Dolls – Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club, Manurewa, 8pm, FreeSwiss – Woody’s Bar, Manurewa, 9pm, $20Ghost Wave, The Mad Crept, The Situations, Cool Cult – The Thirsty Dog, Newton, 9pm, $10Neon Presents The Rotti, Filth Dog and Thirty Years Late – Shadows Bar, Auckland CBD, 8pm, $5The Kavalliers – A Rocking Great Band – Birkenhead RSA, Birkenhead, 7pm, Free

SUNDAY 29City And Colour – Auckland Town Hall, THE EDGE, Auckland CBD, 6:30pm, $68.90Herbs Unplugged + Mark Williams – Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana, 3:30pm, $29-$42Shae Snell – The Fiddler Irish Bar, Auckland CBD, 6pm, FreeThe Exploited (UK) w/ Guests – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $60Blues in The Boat House – The Lazy Boy’s – The Riverhead, Riverhead, 2pm, FreeSteve Tulloch Band – Kaukapakapa Hotel, Kaukapakapa, 2pm, Free2’s A Crowd – Goode Brothers, Botany Downs, 3pm, FreePat 4 President – The Merchant Bar & Kitchen, Albany, 3pm, FreeRiqi Harawera – Rickshaw Eddy’s, Mission Bay, 9pm, FreeJamesRAy’s Acoustic Country Sunday – Bar Africa, North Harbour, 12pm, FreeJamesRAy’s Encore Acoustic Country Sunday – Bar Africa, Highland Park, 5:30pm, FreeSandpaper Tango – Corelli’s Cafe, Devonport, 6pm, FreeChicane Duo – Bill Fish Cafe, St Marys Bay, 2pmSmash Hits 70’s:The Hits of the New Seekers and Paper Lace – Aotea Centre, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, $65-$75Sunday Sessions – Slipp Inn Pub, Birkenhead, 3:30pm, FreeShelter Acoustic Sunday Sessions – The Windsor Castle, Parnell, 5pm, FreeThe Lazyboyz – Huapai Tavern, Huapai, 2:30pm, Free

MONDAY 30KA Music Quiz – Kings Arms, Newton, 7pm, FreeTraditional Irish Music Session – The Clare Inn, Mt Eden, 7pm, Free

Ben Fernandez – Spencer on Byron Hotel, Takapuna, 6:30pm, FreeViva Jazz Quartet – The Windsor Castle, Parnell, 6pm, Free

THE COROMANDELSUNDAY 29Jo Little – Till the Blue Skies Come Tour w/ Jared Smith – Hot Waves Cafe, Hot Water Beach, 1pm, Free

HAWKE’S BAY / GISBORNESATURDAY 28Ninja Monkey w/ Special Guests – The Cabana, Napier, 8pm, $10

WAIKATOFRIDAY 27Dictaphone Blues – Beneath The Crystal Palace Album Tour – Static Bar, Hamilton, 8pm

SATURDAY 28Knights of the Dub Table & Tui Soundystem – YOT Club, Raglan, 9pm, $10Optimus Gryme – FLOW, Hamilton, 9pm, $15Smash Hits 70’s:The Hits of the New Seekers and Paper Lace – Founders Theatre, Hamilton, 7:30pm, $65-$75

SUNDAY 29Kylie Austin and Trevor V. Stevens – Country Duo – SKYCITY Hamilton, Hamilton, 1pm, FreeRockin’ the Elvis in the Tron – Te Kowhai Hall, Ngaruawahia, 2pm, $10True Legends – The Plaza, Putaruru, 7pm, $49.95Jazz on a Sunday Evening – Music for Everyone – Te Rapa Racecourse, Hamilton, 5pm, $8-$15

BAY OF PLENTYTHURSDAY 26Dave Boy Ferry – Rotorua Arts Village RAVE, Rotorua, 7:30pm, $25

SATURDAY 28Tom Rodwell & Storehouse – The Belgian Bar, Rotorua, 8pm

TARANAKIFRIDAY 27Rival State ft. Fire At Will And Cynical Ploy – The Basement, New Plymouth, 8pm, $15

SUNDAY 29Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo – Butlers Reef Hotel, New Plymouth, 4pm, $25

MANAWATU / WHANGANUITHURSDAY 26The Hypnotics – Denbigh Hotel, Feilding, 7:30pm, $10-$15

FRIDAY 27The Slave Collective Presents Palmy Heavy Metal – The Royal, Palmerston North, 9pm, $10

SATURDAY 28The All Seeing Hand New Zealand Tour 2012 – The Badcave, Palmerston North, 9pmAndrew White & Gillian Boucher – The Bent Horseshoe Cafe, Tokomaru, 8pm

SUNDAY 29Feilding Country Music Club – Senior Centre, Feilding, 1pm, $3

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WELLINGTON REGIONTUESDAY 24Beck’s Music Shout Live – San Francisco Bath House, 9pm, $10Jazz @ The Grand w/ the Wellington Jazz Orchestra – The Grand, 8pm, FreeLive Music – The Library, 5pm, Free

WEDNESDAY 25Fabulous/Arabia – San Francisco Bath House, 8pm, $5-$10ANZAC Not Quite Dawn Parade – Bodega, 9pm

THURSDAY 26Chris Bryant – El Horno, 9:30pm, Free

FRIDAY 27Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo – Meow, 8pm, $20Uncle Monkey – Dockside Restaurant & Bar, 8pm, FreeBig Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo – Cook Strait Ferry Kaitaki, 1pm, FreeMtown – The Empire, Lower Hutt, 9pm, FreeThe Hypnotics – The Ledge, Porirua – Mana, 7:30pm, $10-$15Fu Manchu w/ Black Cobra + Beastwars – San Francisco Bath House, 8pm, $45

SATURDAY 28Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo – St Peters Hall, Paekakariki, 8pm, $22dDub Send it on Back Tour – Bodega, 9pm, $20Darren Watson & The Real Deal Blues Band – The Lido Cafe, 8:30pm, FreeAll Ages Rave – Tania M, Nishy P, Tenpin, G Major, Voodoo – Secret Level, Lower Hutt, 7pm, $5Soanso (UK) – Bettys Function House & Bar, 11pm, FreeArgentine Tango and Salsa Ball – St James Theatre, 5pm, $25-$35The Hypnotics – Fitzroy Tavern, Lower Hutt, 7:30pm, $10-$15NGS Fundraiser – San Francisco Bath House, 9pm, $5

SUNDAY 29The Boptet – The Lido Cafe, 7pm, FreeThe Sunday Jazz Club – Public Bar & Eatery, 7:30pm, Free

NELSON / TASMANSATURDAY 28Tiki Tour Aotearoa – Liquid NZ Bar, Nelson, 9pm, Free

MARLBOROUGHTUESDAY 24Jo Little – Till the Blue Skies Come Tour w/ Jared Smith – Lochmara Lodge Wildlife Recovery & Arts, Marlborough Sounds, 12:30pm, Free

WEDNESDAY 25Jo Little – Till the Blue Skies Come Tour w/ Jared Smith – Lochmara Lodge Wildlife Recovery & Arts, Marlborough Sounds, 12:30pm, Free

THURSDAY 26Jo Little – Till the Blue Skies Come Tour w/ Jared Smith – Le Cafe, Marlborough Sounds, 8pm, Free

WEST COASTTUESDAY 24Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo – Frank’s, Greymouth, 8pm, $20

SATURDAY 28Fleur Jack & Katie Thompson – Cooks Saddle Cafe, Fox Glacier Township, 8pm, Free

SUNDAY 29Fleur Jack & Katie Thompson – Runanga Workingmen’s Club, Greymouth, 8pm, Free

CANTERBURYWEDNESDAY 25Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo – Dux Live, 8pm, $15Fleur Jack & Katie Thompson – darkroom, 8pm, Free

THURSDAY 26Annah Mac – CPSA Big Yellow Building, 7:30pm, $26-$30Big Daddy Wilson Acoustic Duo – Nor’Wester Cafe, Amberley, 8pm, $25The Black Velvet Band – Becks Southern Alehouse, 8pm, FreeSalsa On Thursdays – Salsa Latina Dance Studio, 8:45pm, Free

FRIDAY 27Sanchez, Switch and Nacoa – Live @ Beach Breaks – Pierside Cafe and Bar, 8:30pm, FreeMidge McCleary – Cashel Mall Center Stage, 12:15pm, Free

SATURDAY 28Thomas Coffey and the Grinders – Pierside Cafe and Bar, 8:30pm, FreeBassfreaks Local DnB Mashup ft. Menace – Winnie Bagoes, 10pm, $10Governor General – darkroom, 9pm, FreeJoy – Villa Maria College, 7:30pm, $15-$20The Middlemen – Becks Southern Alehouse, 9pm, FreeThese Four Walls, House of Mountain and Suede Arcade – Dux Live, 8:30pm, $15

SUNDAY 29The Tiny Lies & Happiness Stan – Dux Live, 5pm, Free

OTAGOTHURSDAY 26Upper Hutt Posse – Declaration Of Resistance Album Tour 2012 – Dux de Lux, Queenstown, 10:30pm, FreeFleur Jack & Katie Thompson w/ Julian Temple – The National, Dunedin, 8pmTLA w/ Black Sky Hustler & Ded Sparrows – ReFuel Bar, Dunedin, 9pm, $5-$10

FRIDAY 27Circle Jerk 2012 – Sammy’s, Dunedin, 9pm, $5-$10

SATURDAY 28Upper Hutt Posse – Declaration Of Resistance Album Tour 2012 – Chicks Hotel, Dunedin, 9pm, $10Annah Mac – Sammy’s, Dunedin, 7:30pm, $26-$30Opposite Sex, Death by Silo and Dark Matter – Dunedin Musician’s Club, Dunedin, 8pm

SOUTHLANDTHURSDAY 26Delgirl – Southland Festival of the Arts – SIT Centrestage, Invercargill, 8pm, $15-$25

FRIDAY 27Upper Hutt Posse – Declaration Of Resistance Album Tour 2012 – Appleby Tavern, Invercargill, 9pm, $10Fleur Jack & Katie Thompson – Redcliff Cafe, Te Anau, 8pm, FreeAnnah Mac – Civic Theatre, Invercargill, 7:30pm, $26

has teamed with Eventfi nder for gig listings. To get your gig considered, go to eventfi nder.co.nz and submit your show for publication. Due to space constraints, we can’t guarantee that every show will be listed.

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WAVVESThursday 3 May – Kings Arms, Auckland

LADY GAGAThursday 7/Friday 8/Sunday 10 June – Vector Arena, Auckland

KAISER CHIEFSThursday 10 May – The Powerstation, Auckland

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS Wednesday 13 June – Hawke’s Bay Opera House, Hastings Thursday 14 June – Founders Theatre, Hamilton Saturday 16 June – Town Hall, Auckland Sunday 17 June – TSB Showplace, New Plymouth Tuesday 19/Wednesday 20 June – Michael Fowler Centre, WellingtonSaturday 23 June – Regent Theatre, Dunedin Sunday 24 June – Events Centre, Queenstown Tuesday 26 June – CBS Canterbury Arena, ChristchurchWednesday 27 June – Trafalgar Centre, NelsonFriday 29 June/Sunday 1 July – Vector Arena, Auckland

ATMOSPHEREWednesday 2 May – San Francisco Bath House, WellingtonThursday 3 May – The Studio, Auckland

CITY AND COLOURSunday 29 April – Town Hall, Auckland

LADYHAWKEFriday 13 July – San Francisco Bath House, WellingtonSaturday 14 July – The Studio, Auckland

BECK’S MUSIC SHOUT LIVETuesday 24 April w/ Parallel Dance Ensemble, Knock-Knock, Nat Walker, B-Lo – San Francisco Bath House, WellingtonThursday 26 April w/ Ghostwave, Cut Off Your Hands, DJ Hudge, DJ Andrew Tidball – Tyler Street Garage, Auckland

PRINCEFriday 11/Saturday 12 May – Allphones Arena, SydneyMonday 14/Tuesday 15 May – Rod Laver Arena, MelbourneFriday 18 May – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Wednesday 30 May – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

DIMMER – THE FAREWELL SHOWS Thursday 24 May w/ Beastwars – Kings Arms, AucklandSaturday 26 May w/ Beastwars – Bodega, Wellington

TOMMY ILL NEW HAT AND A HAIRCUT ALBUM AND A HAIRCUT ALBUM AND A HAIRCUTRELEASE PARTIESSaturday 5 May w/ Bang Bang Eche, Golden Axe and DJ Marek – Bodega, Wellington Friday 11 May w/ Bang Bang Eche and Spring Break – Dux Live, ChristchurchSaturday 12 May w/ Bang Bang Eche, Spring Break, Wilberforces and DJ Andrew Tidball – Kings Arms, Auckland

URBANTRAMPER INTERNET FREEDOM IS LOVE ALBUM LOVE ALBUM LOVERELEASE TOURThursday 10 May – DuxLive, ChristchurchFriday 11 May – The National, DunedinSaturday 12 May – Dux de Lux, QueenstownFriday 18 May – Sawmill Café, LeighSaturday 19 May w/ Glass Owls – Tabac, Auckland Friday 25 May – Space Monster, WhanganuiSaturday 26 May – Garret St, Wellington

LAWRENCE ARABIA PRESENTS: THE SPARROWFriday 13 July – St Michaels and All Angels, Christchurch Saturday 14 July – Sammy’s, DunedinFriday 20 July – Town Hall, Auckland Saturday 21 July – The Opera House, Wellington

TONO AND THE FINANCE COMPANYSaturday 28 April w/ Dictaphone Blues, Pikachunes and Watercolours – Kings Arms, AucklandFriday 4 May w/ T54, Miniatures and Brown – Christchurch venue TBCSaturday 5 May w/ T54, Brown and Baby Brother – Dunedin venue TBC

AS MUCH AS I wanted to see Mark Lanegan’s show at The Powerstation (his new album is excellent), I couldn’t resist the pull of the classic garage band from Tacoma, Washington, The Sonics. Chances are I would have the opportunity to see Lanegan again, but, considering their age, I am certain that this would be the only chance to catch The Sonics.

I admit that, even though The Sonics made some of the fiercest rock’n’roll to come out of the Pacific Northwest, I had low expectations for their live show. After all, this is 2012 and The Sonics is a band that formed in 1960 and initially split up in 1968. That’s a long time ago, and the chances of them recreating the excitement of those classic recordings were slim. But you know what? They did it.

The atmosphere was perfect at the Kings Arms, just the right size crowd and plenty of enthusiasm. The Sonics came on with a roar, playing ‘He’s Waitin’’ from their second album, 1966’s Boom. These days the band consists of original members Gerry Roslie (vocals and keyboards), Larry Parypa (guitar) and Rob Lind (sax, vocals, harmonica)

with drummer Ricky Lynn Johnson and Freddie Dennis on bass and vocals.

Even during their heyday, the band’s sets consisted of a mix of original tunes and an assortment of bar band standards. Nothing has changed. The band covered the old Motown hit ‘Money’ along with ‘Have Love Will Travel’, ‘I Don’t Need No Doctor’ and three Little Richard tunes (‘Keep A Knockin’’, ‘Lucille’ and ‘Jenny, Jenny’) all sung by Dennis.

Roslie was in good voice as well, but the real highlight was Parypa’s playing.

His sound is still raw and piercing and he played some excellent solos, particularly during ‘Shot Down’.

Although most of the songs dated from the 1960s, they did play a few tunes from their newest release, last year’s Sonics 8. Fortunately songs like ‘Vampire Kiss’ and ‘Cheap Shades’ fit right in.

But it was the classics that the crowd came to hear and The Sonics delivered. I

don’t think I’ve ever heard a better one-two punch at the Kings Arms than ‘Strychnine’ followed by ‘Psycho’. Awesome!

The only way to follow those two was with the great Northwest rock standard ‘Louie, Louie’. They fi nished the regular set with ‘The Witch’, which was stunning.

The encore was something of a let-down – a stripped down version of ‘Don’t You Just Know It’ and the third Little Richard tune, ‘Jenny, Jenny’.

But hey, I got to see The Sonics. And they were loud, raw and rockin’.

“Chances of them recreating the excitement of those classic recordings were slim. But you know what? They did it.”

KINGS ARMS, AUCKLANDWednesday 18 April Review Marty DudaPhotography Georgia Schofi eld

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