LiQUiFY JUN/JUL 2016

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LiQUiFY SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND’S OWN JUNE/JULY 2016

JONNYGILLETT

MAIN BEACH GOLD COAST

E E S ’T N D I D U O Y THE PHOTOS

L L E W S R E P U S K A E R F

S E T A N O T E D

EAST COAST STORM HYPERBOMBS // MICROPLASTIC EVILS SHIHAD’S ELECTRIC TOUR // GOLD COAST MUSIC AWARDS CODE BLUE PHOTO SPECIAL // SURF, MUSIC, MAYHEM & MORE ...

MICROPLASTIC

CATACLYSM

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June July 2016

LiQUiFY M A G A Z I N E

006 - Editor’s Intro

008 - Gold Coast Music Awards 2016

016 - East Coast Swell Bomb 078 - Shihad / Tom Larkin Interview

094 - LiQUiFY New Music 096 - Visions Of Blue Photo Special

110 Microplastic Cataclysmic Catastrophe 124 - That’s Gonna Leave A Mark / Rock Quarry

Editor & Senior Photographer // Luke Sorensen Managing Editor // Rachel Syers Contributors // Barry Stalwart, Mark Wilba Wilson, Dr Olaf Meynecke, Dan Mahony, Ewan Rutledge, Shiori Hashimoto, Mickey Edwards, Dean James, Matt Tibbey, Adrian Bort, David Reilly, Shuttapunk, Simon Muirhead, James Pilbrim, Sara Barker, Bo Eide, Paula Sparkes Contributions, advertising and enquiries welcome editor@liquifymag.com LiQUiFY Magazine is published 6 times per year // © Copyright 2016 Coral Sea Media Pty Ltd // LiQUiFY is a registered trademark // Whilst all attempts are made to ensure accuracy and suitability; content, opinions and submissions from contributors and/or advertisers are not necessarily that of Coral Sea Media Pty Ltd or its staff, and as such are not endorsed or supported by Coral Sea Media Pty Ltd or its employees // All content in this magazine is copyright*, please respect and use the appropriate ‘share’ buttons to distribute content // No liability accepted for misuse, reprinting, distribution, sharing or publishing of content contained within // LiQUiFY reserves the right to alter or change content at any time without notification // www.liquifymag.com *Some content is reproduced under the Creative Commons licensing guidelines, and

Cover - Jonny Gillett at Main Beach // Photo by Luke Sorensen

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Editor’s Intro T

he emerald and turquoise mix of delicious colours that are so very winter Queensland - something that we all long for as ocean people. It’s a tragic fact that within our oceanic land and seascape humanity is still, in 2016, dumping tonne after tonne of garbage, effluent, waste and plastics into the seas, compounding and feeding a problem we’ve known about for decades.

It’s a massive problem that’s not going away. What was once out of sight is flooding back into our laps.

I recently sat and started to tally up the amount of plastic and shit that I consume and attain over the course of an average day, and it’s alarming. It’s forced upon us and we are shunned for speaking up sometimes. Perhaps the most common occurrence for me recently has been the strange look of confusion, indifference and almost subtle detest when I tell the girls at the local shops I don’t need my single item put in a plastic bag. I am asked the obligatory and robotic, “are you sure?” to which I have to hold my tongue and smile, simply nodding and asserting myself subtly that I am indeed sure.

From a fridge full of plastics, the litter blowing down my street all the way to the ciggy butts all over the beaches, we are not paying attention as a species - not here, certainly not in Asia or the US, not in Europe - in fact the problem knows no rich or poor, no race or religion, no geography or season, it simply exists and grows day by day, hour by hour.

I challenge you all to add up your plastic and your waste and your contribution to the problem. It’s going to be our legacy and I am still clinging to the faint hope that our grandchildren will look back and smile knowing we actually did something about it, not just shared a Facebook post, a thought and a prayer only to ignore the action part.

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T

he second annual GCMA kicked it in fine style at the Burleigh Brewery recently, with a smorgasbord of eclectic, eccentric and exceptional local music identities getting a little sloshy - all for the cause of celebrating the city’s sound artistry. LiQUiFY dropped by, dropped a few cold ales and stayed long enough to see soulful songstress Ella Fence steal the show taking two awards.

Ella Fence

Leopold’s Treat were worthy winners of this year’s Emerging Artist of the Year

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t was a strange mix of people as the back of Burleigh beer factory was turned into an awards venue for the second time in as many years. A lush red carpet walk into what amounts to be one of the most deluxe tin sheds in the country signified all that was great about the Gold Coast - drenched in style and formality where it counts yet stripped back and relaxed enough to remain grounded.

Being held in a brewery has its advantages, not the least being a healthy supply of perhaps the freshest beer in the world for all and sundry. The chatter fest was alive and thriving with the buzz of a music scene past and future. Famed underground media identities and secret music production masters, glorious musicians from all facets and a stack of industry figureheads scattered themselves across the venue. If any at all, perhaps the only problem is that this successful event may have already outgrown its boutique abode at the brewery and will need to talk expansion next year. In the famous words of Martin Brody, you’re gonna need a bigger boat.

When all was said and done a string of deserving music champions and proponents walked away with the spoils of their toil, trophies and acknowledgement the envy of their peers. We’re looking forward to the next one and we’re already calling it - if you’re in a local band, if you’re an emcee, producer, venue operator, if you sing love ballads to the moon on Tuesdays or have a dirty little punk band you play in on weekends - get involved and get on it next year. The party alone is worth it!

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Hanlon Brothers took out the Emerging Artist award at last year’s event, and returned this year to put on a devastatingly good show that shook the house. These guys mean business and have the Midas touch when it comes to musicianship - blending soul, funk, hip hop and rock into a melting pot of incredible sound // Photo Luke Sorensen

Nominated for Video of the Year, Romy rocked her stunning style all over the red carpet

Guy Cooper took out the Music Champion of the Year award for his hard work backing the local music industry and artists

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2016 GOLD COAST MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS ARTIST OF THE YEAR // sponsored by Southport Sharks, Cabana Bar + Lounge Hussy Hicks

People’s Choice winner Jason McGregor

EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR // sponsored by Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Leopold’s Treat SONG OF THE YEAR // sponsored by NightQuarter Unknown Water by Ella Fence

MUSIC CHAMPION OF THE YEAR // sponsored by TAFE Gold Coast Guy Cooper EVENT OF THE YEAR // sponsored by Hard Rock Café Blues on Broadbeach VIDEO OF THE YEAR // sponsored by Gold Coast Film Festival Unknown Water by Ella Fence (nominee Double Deuce) VENUE OF THE YEAR // sponsored by Blank GC Nightquarter PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD Jason McGregor

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More info at www.gcmusicawards.com.au

This issue’s cover bloke, Jonny Gillett, giving an all-new meaning to the term ‘pulling into a screamer’ during a late afternoon Main Beach session that is now the stuff of folklore and pub tales // Photo Luke Sorensen

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t was a once-in-a-decade stack of high and low pressure systems that had formed, the catalyst for a run of waves that’s now as infamous as it is celebrated. On Sunday June 5th, surfers from Noosa to beyond the border rose to see a coastline battered and soaked. The storm had passed and in its wake was left a scene of unbelievable and at-times unrealistic perfection. The usual bigwave spots had to step aside as blistering offshore winds stood and pushed against the energy, turning almost every beach break from here to there into an alien seascape of thumping overhead barrels. It was truly an east coast swell that will go down in history as a thing of visceral allure and tempered peril. Get stuck in as we take a little photographic road trip down the coast chasing this behemoth swell as it turned it on and turned it up.

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As good as it gets? Well nobody was arguing with that statement. Surfers Paradise became its namesake just hours after the storm passed, coughing up some of the filthiest pits ever surfed on the north end of the Gold Coast.

Visions of howling offshore A-frame insanity were on tap, including this liquid canvas at Woodroffe Avenue, Main Beach // Photo Luke Sorensen

Turbid water and fierce westerlies saw mother nature put on a visual spectacular for everyone to see - the north end was simply cooking, but too solid for even the most committed paddlers. A few tried and failed, leaving the line up to accommodate those with powered assistance only // Mickey Edwards @mickeyedwards

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Jonny Gillett locking into another dark afternoon Mainy cavern whilst most people had already called it a day and were stuck in traffic // Photo Luke Sorensen

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Jonny Gillett on the back of the ski, giggling his head off after getting plucked from the soup. It would be hard not to get a little hysterical with your mate whipping you around for barrel after barrel in this empty line up // Photo Luke Sorensen

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onny told us he actually wagged work that day, skipping out on his own Currumbin coffee shop and having someone replace him for the arvo.

“I was pretty busy at the Salt Mill but when that swell came I organised someone to work for the day.

“I was out there surfing with Turtle (Ryan Grey) and a mate Tim who was mainly doing the driving.

“It was the biggest and most perfect beachie I’d ever surfed on the Gold Coast.

I’ve never surfed Puerto Escondido, but yeah that’s what it reminded me of.

“I couldn’t believe there was only two skis out there surfing it. It was amazing looking into each barrel - just huge empty peaks up and down the beach.”

- Jonny Gillett

“It was the biggest most perfect beachie I’d ever surfed on the Gold Coast” - Jonny Gillett

On the cover and under cover out the front of the Southport Surf Life Saving Club, Jonny Gillett poised and slotted on the day of days for the north end // Photo Luke Sorensen

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Ferocious and beautiful, Surfers Paradise was at a level of insane perfection and thrill rarely seen // Photos Mickey Edwards @mickeyedwards

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At times the waves during that first day at Main Beach were deceptively inviting, yet when you really looked into the throats of these beasts you saw an energy more akin to some foreign big-wave destination // Photo Luke Sorensen

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Point Arkwright on the Sunny Coast doing its best impression of some heavenly afterlife painting // Photo Stuart Scott

“Probably the best run of surf I’ve seen here in 20 years. I’ve seen bigger, but not that clean and long lasting” - Photographer Stuart Scott

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Outside Lovers rights getting all menacing // Photo Luke Sorensen

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he outer banks of Point Danger were putting out mutant bowls with two distinct peaks, being the usual outer Tweed Bar break and another huge right hand bowl in the middle - more towards Queensland waters. Every hour or so a new tow team would turn up, grab a few and retreat to the relative safety of the river. By mid morning it pulsed again, allowing one of the Hazza boys to get a couple of the biggest waves ever surfed and documented on the

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Dean Harrington drops into one of the biggest waves ever surfed off Point Danger, towed in by his brother Shaun.

We asked Dean about the wave, he simply let us know his brother has an “inverted dick� and laughed. Sunday the 5th of June 2016 // Photo Luke Sorensen

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Tweed River mouth looking seriously solid // Photo Luke Sorensen

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With over 200mm of rain in some parts followed by a swift wind change and sunshine, the Tweed Coast turned into some sort of pirate movie scene as a dank sea fog engulfed the coast early on // Photo Luke Sorensen

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Up and down the coast, it was as if something had lit the swell generators on fire and poured petrol on them. Waves like this lasted for days, as the swell’s energy centre slowly made its way southward // Photo Barry Stalwart

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No place for a swim - Lovers Rock // Photo Shiori Hashimoto

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he system was a typical intense winter low-pressure ball, but what made this one different was its combining with a powerful counter spinning Pacific high-pressure swirl, driving air and wind against and into the low as it crossed the coast. The rare combination of tightly stacked low and high pressure points sustained the low and pushed the powerful swell-generating elements of the systems down on the ocean just off the New South Wales and Queensland coastlines. The resulting mega-storm generated record-breaking waves measured at a massive 15 metres just off the Tweed Coast, an all-time top-ten wave recording off the Southport Spit and overnight waves that literally tore huge chunks of concrete right off the top of The Spit seaway walls and Snapper Rocks boardwalk.

Seaway wall at The Spit and the large concrete pieces, thrown about like timber // Photo Mark Penrose

t r o p h t u o S

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Tweed Coast The Snapper Rocks concrete boardwalk was torn to shreds // Photo Kurt Nischel

Waves of 15 metres broke the record at the Tweed Coast Wave Monitoring Buoy, tearing apart the Snapper Rocks boardwalk concrete that has been in place for years. Not only did the boardwalk get destroyed, but the beach showers were picked up and removed from their foundations as the swell pushed up over the beach and rocks.

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The Snapper Rocks beach showers were smashed free from their foundations and driven towards the car park by the enormous record-breaking swell // Photo Kurt Nischel

Thousands flocked to the shores of the Gold Coast to witness the raw power of the Pacific Ocean unload on the beaches - Currumbin // Photo Ewan Rutledge

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Timmy sucks up the calm before the storm on a glistening northern NSW beachie // Photo Dean James @layerofsalt

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The Tweed Coast sprang to life over a few days, easily handling the power of this abnormally powerful swell event Hastings back beach // Photo Adrian Bort @adrenalineshots

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The northern NSW back beaches went into overdrive for a couple of days, dropping bomb set after bomb set of clean and hollow waves.

Session after session, the place turned it on for surfer and spectator alike // Photo Adrian Bort @adrenalineshots

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Robbie Johnson slices a casual backhand hook across a Hastings back beach gem // Photo Dean James @layerofsalt

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Burleigh’s James Woods comfortably slotted inside a Hastings back beach cavern // Photo Adrian Bort @adrenalineshots

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Dave Rastovich on an unconventional tear across a grinding keg somewhere around the Lennox area // Photo Matt Tibbey @matt_tibbey

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Pottsville on the pump // Photo David Reilly @widelandimages

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Byron Bay had its fair share, with the usual dreamy right hand point breaks reversing to deliver back beach lefts of a world standard // Photo Dan Mahony @danmahonyphotography

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Angourie looking more like some Sumatran point break, with the exception of a few steamers being worn. Cal Little with a lip that’s a long way above his head // Photo @shuttapunk

Gold Coast beachie // Photo Luke Sorensen

Wade Goodall getting piped at Spooky Point // Photo @shuttapunk

The Mad Hueys hit Straddie late afternoon // Photo Simon Muirhead @simsurf

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y Wednesday the swell had begun to subside, but the strong flow of westerly winds continued to groom the remaining sets in a superbly organised fashion, ensuring breaks up and down the coast all had a chance to turn it on for all and sundry. The other side, Burleigh, Mermaid, south to Fingal and down the coast, the run of waves was simply one of the best in living memory.

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Burleigh Point was handing the winds better than its southern sisters like Kirra or Rainbow, and was putting on a surprisingly uncrowded golden hour each afternoon later into the week // Photo Luke Sorensen

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Burleigh Heads was beautiful no matter how you looked at it with the open beach there putting on a tutorial of wave creation // Photos Shiori Hashimoto and A.J. O’Rourke

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y the Friday it was all she wrote; end of the line and time was up. If you missed it you MISSED IT! Words, photos, a few fragmented videos and a pool of vivid emotions are all that’s left of this stellar swell event.

Without doubt it will become a historical marker of sorts, a story told for a generation and beyond - because historically that’s how long there is between drinks for weather bombs like this //

The fading swell gave something for everyone and left the town buzzing for days - Burleigh // Photo Luke Sorensen

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MAIN PIC: Shihad’s frontman Jon Toogood launches from the speaker stack at the Coolangatta Hotel back in 2006 // Photo Luke Sorensen INSET: Drummer Tom Larkin // Photo Kane Hibberd

Shihad (L-R) Karl Kippenberger, Jon Toogood, Tom Larkin and Phil Knight

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ave you turned on your radio lately? Have you flicked through the auto-tuner in your car, trawling stations in the desperate hope that something might just land in your lap to fill that empty void? If you’re anything like us, the odds that the pure satisfaction from outstanding music is just going to magically arrive in your FM tuner are slimming like a gym junkie at a lettuce farm. It’s all no power, no flow, no guts and in many cases, no heart.

The missing piece, the key or even the cog in the wheel of audible inspiration has often been right under your nose the whole time, close to home and ready to blow your mind over and over again - enter one of New Zealand’s very finest exports, the mighty boys from Shihad.

Over the years their shows have been legendary, especially on the Gold Coast where the New Zealand people are a staple sub genre of life and culture here.

From massive festival performances at the Big Day Out to destroying half the pubs in South East Queensland, their reputation for live shows and simply as a killer band is everything it’s said to be.

It’s blazing, it’s melodic and it will grind on the gears of your soul with a sense of real purpose and heart - it’s got more genuine constitution and framework that two dozen pop singers on a shitty reality TV show, and for Shihad and their music, it’s as fired up and switched on as it ever has been.

On the eve of their national tour of Australia, we got a quick call from their drummer and production master Tom Larkin who shared his take on not just Shihad, but the state of the modern digital music environment.

Exuberant and intelligent, Tom wants you to know that there’s never been a better time to be an up and coming musician than right here and now in the digital millennium ...

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LiQUiFY MAG - Hi mate, we just had a quick look at what you’ve been up to ... very busy!

We saw Shihad just did a crazy 3-show oneday tour from one end of New Zealand to the other - that would have been an immense task?

TOM LARKIN - Well yes and no. It was put to us as an idea and collectively we looked at each other you know, and after 28 years you’re constantly looking to raise the bar and raise the threshold on how you can entertain and challenge yourselves so we all kind of went well, we’ve never done that before, may as well do that, right? We have to defer to the fact we had a really strong team that allowed us to execute that really efficiently, having said that though, yeah it was hard. The hardest show in fact was the first one because it was so early for us - it was 12 in the day - and we were kind of exhausted through the set up as it was. So that felt the most difficult, with the sunlight streaming in, and what you’d think would be the hardest -the last show - was in fact probably the best, and we all just fucking died on a sofa after that point haha.

Shihad crowd getting rowdy at the Coolangatta Hotel a couple of years back // Photo Luke Sorensen

LM - No doubt. Speaking of longevity, a lot of people still wouldn’t realise that you guys truly are a long-haul success story, that you’re pretty much an 80s band that’s still growing from strength to strength which is rare these days.

TL - Well originally yes, I mean the first year this band existed was 1988, we were a high school band, we actually started in 1987 but didn’t play a show until 1988 and that’s how long we’ve been at it.

LM - That’s a really difficult thing to achieve these days. Not many bands can really succeed in sticking around as a unit for more than a decade. Is there any kind of key method that binds you guys together and allows that to happen for Shihad?

TL - Look, at the end of the day, there’s a certain amount of chemistry - I think that the most important thing for a band to operate properly is if the finish line looks the same for everyone.

You’re going to have problems if people’s sort

Tom and Jon, Big Day Out 2007 at Gold Coast Parklands // Photo Luke Sorensen

of long-term aims start to become so divergent as to not be possible. You have a chemistry and you have to respect your chemistry, and ways to respect your chemistry are things like sharing, splitting the money right down the middle. A lot

“I think that the most important thing for a band to operate properly is if the finish line looks the same for everyone” of bands get caught up in songwriting royalty disputes where one person takes the lion’s share and all that kind of stuff, and I can guarantee that that kind of internal disparity over resources can negatively impact the longevity of the act.

A lot of acts that have achieved longevity - that have had that kind of success - have usually had business practices that recognised the chemistry,

and the split between the band members has usually been an even thing. The other thing is that commitment to the work and that commitment to the goals - like I said, the finish line has to look the same to everyone. You know, we are a family, we operate like brothers. We may not see each other for say 3 or 4 months, but when we see each other we can be, you know, pretty honest with each other and also pretty harsh on each other, but we’re also kind of friends. We can have arguments and know that it’s never a final thing, we can have an argument and over the next few days we’ll know how to get on with each other and it won’t linger. There’s a sense that we’re bound together, and we respect that.

LM - And does that bond translate obviously onto the stage and into the music that you guys make together? If there’s some tension behind the scenes sometimes you can see, or rather hear it when a band hits the stage - it shows - but with Shihad, every time we’ve been 83

At home at the Horncastle Arena recently - is there any better place to see a Shihad show? // Photo James Pilbrim

to a show it’s almost as if it was the first show ever and you guys look like you are always having so much fun performing.

TL - Well I think one of the things there is that tension and conflict actually drives, it’s an energy thing that actually drives creative process and actually having some tension and disagreement can sometimes help things develop and ideas move forward. Having the idea that there shouldn’t be any tension is bold. I suppose the point being is what we are at least good at is handling the fact that there’s always going to be tension and accepting the fact that it’s not a personal thing or that it should be eradicated - it’s more to do with the fact; well how do we cope with that tension - how do we capitalise and utilise that tension to our advantage. So that’s really where that comes from and that, as we say, all have the finish line looking the same so when we get on stage, well, we want to get off on that experience, we want the audience to receive the kind of passion we have for it.

LM - And is this something you had instilled early or has it been a growing process over the years?

TL - It’s that whole thing and we learnt it very early on when we were doing European touring and we weren’t necessarily playing in front of a whole lot of people and the shows weren’t perhaps the capacities we were used to in our home territories, and then we suddenly realised that we were spending 23 hours of the day for one hour on stage - so every minute of this day, goes towards that hour and if we don’t make that hour the best we can, we’ve wasted the entire fucking day - we’ve wasted the reason we are here. So we ensure, we pay ourselves by giving it everything, that’s what the whole day is for.

Tom performing at Grey Lynn Park, Auckland earlier this year // Photo Sara Barker

“every minute of this day goes towards that hour and if we don’t make that hour the best we can, we’ve wasted the entire fucking day - we’ve wasted the reason we are here” Why would you want to half-arse something that you’re spending that much time doing?

LM - And it appears that work ethic has translated into your records with the last one FVEY hitting a few number one spots and demonstrating the sustained relevance of Shihad so many years on. Obviously you get a huge crowd to every show in New Zealand, and Australia is like a second home, but how do places like the Gold Coast and Queensland in general compare for live shows, given the

air and beer up here is usually hotter than most places?

TL - You know it was very easy to see when you were doing something like a Big Day Out tour where you’d be doing quick shows in each territory or town, and Queensland would have the most physical movement (in the crowd), and like Sydney would have 50 percent of the movement of Queensland, and in Melbourne it would be kind of the least moving crowd, but also like the deepest listeners. So as you moved north you would see a more physical appreciation of what 85

Raw emotive power as Shihad blows the roof off the Big Day Out at Parklands on the Gold Coast nearly a decade ago // Photo Luke Sorensen

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you did, so it’s exponentially more intense the further north you went.

LM - Oh for sure, we hear from mates in Melbourne about gigs and they start breaking down instruments, who played what type of pedal and the intricate details of the performance whilst we’re up here after a show discussing who got punched in the face, how the singer jumped off the speaker stack and how the band’s double encore incited a brutal mosh pit.

TL - That’s right you know, that’s exactly it, but funnily enough they’re both deep appreciations of a different type. Sometimes people look at Melbourne ad go ‘oh look, everyone’s got their arms crossed and they’re not even moving’ but the reason is because they’re listening so fucking intensely.

LM - You’re based in Melbourne at the moment right, doing some producing and managing with some newer bands? In this sort of new music business landscape, being all digital and such a fluid environment, how difficult is it for new or emerging bands to really break down the wall and get up and out there? We know of some pretty amazing musicians and bands here locally who still seem to struggle to keep their music dream going and growing.

TL - Okay, that’s the second time I’ve been asked this today and it’s a good question, so I hope you’ve got some time here, so ... I believe that the current digital era, for the most part and with some glaring exceptions, if you are an independent musician and you have a strong work ethic, and you accept the fact that you’re trying to build a business around what you do artistically - that this era, is fucking Christmas! It is fucking party

Drawing a massive crowd // Source: Shihad Facebook

time, and the point is that there has been such a fundamental shift of how this works and I tend to find that people above the age of 25 really struggle with how shit is now. A simple fact is that the world has changed and you’ve got to change with it, okay, it has changed completely and it’s not going back. A lot of the conversations I’ve had with people, either they’ve been in the music industry a long time or they tend to be above the age of 25, they tend to bemoan the way things are now and wish it was like it was. The problem is that it’s just wasted energy, wasted breath and it is not worth the time of day discussing. At the same time, while that stuff is being talked about, every single artist has within their hands more promotional power, more impact and more access - in their phone! - than the average welloiled indie record label did in the 1990s. And what potentially you can do with your phone or laptop, if you bring great material to the table, or material that’s effective, far exceeds what cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to do 20 years ago. With that being in the equation, why does anybody cry? I think the answer is that there are two things. Number one is that, whilst that’s the case there are certain kinds of musicians or people who have previously engaged in music and found an ability to participate but whose ability to participate has now been eradicated.

That particular kind of musician would really

be centred around the kind of musician who wants to just write songs and create music and put it out there and have people love it, whilst not participating live, whilst not engaging with their audience, whilst not working hard and creating a continuum of music output. If you’re not interested in doing those things, there’s no place for you any more. There may be exceptions, but that kind of music is done and dusted.

Secondly, the other thing that’s important to realise is there’s a new era of musicianship coming in where both technology and learning acceleration are converging on the idea of a singular musician now becoming a multi-platform musician, more easily than ever before. The idea that someone who can play drums and sing, play keyboards and loop stuff and do it all themselves, that’s becoming the new standard of musicianship.

This is something that’s a trickle but will turn into a tidal wave. The idea that you can be just the guitarist or just the drummer or just the bass player - that era is in its twilight right now.

LM - Do you think the quality of music will suffer or flourish under this new era?

TL - We’re talking about a generational shift in how music works. It comes down to the fact that if you understand where it’s going to, it’s a fucking party. If you fight against or don’t understand where it’s going to or don’t know how to capitalise on the advantages you have right now, then yes, it will feel like a disaster of course, and you will be left on the side of the highway due to evolution.

LM - Yes but it’s not that simple though is it?

Competition on new mediums is fierce and we are saturated with new music more than ever, yet the disconnect for some is actually growing. Are there any drawbacks to this new stage in the evolution of the music industry?

TL - Of course another thing to say is that whilst digital technology has given us all these 89

opportunities, what has been left out and what people used to have was a strong access to support and nurturing and mentorship and coaching and advice that the music community used to have in place because of things like artist development - that’s actually where the gap is, that’s where the problem is. It’s not the fact that we can’t sell a CD any more because everything is being downloaded (illegally), the problem is in the development of artists.

LM - Another plus from all of this is that we’re seeing that artists have to get off their arses and get back out on the road, back to touring and playing live shows which is really advantageous to live music fans.

TL - And why is that an issue?

LM - It’s not an issue so much as we think it’s fucking awesome.

TL - That’s right! And why is that an issue? What?

Someone thinks they have the right to sit at home and spit music out and never go to fucking work?

Well fuck you (laughs).

LM - And there you go, testament to why Shihad is going as strong as ever - you guys get out there on the road, don’t quit and keep pumping out such amazing, professional shows full of raw energy and raw talent.

TL - There you go. All my favourite bands are good live bands.

LM - And obviously you’re a massive fan of AC/DC and you got to play a few times with them on some big stages ... how was that?

We’ve actually done it four times since 1991 now, and it’s been interesting to see them in a few different eras. I miss Malcolm, a huge amount, he’s my favourite musician ever, so I missed Malcolm’s contribution last time around but it is such an honour to play with that band, and every time I do I catch myself - it’s like a fucking dream come true to stand on that stage. I view that as being like a Catholic allowed into the Pope’s chambers, so it’s fucking great //

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“someone thinks they have the right to sit at home and spit music out and never go to fucking work? Well fuck you”

Shihad, led by the charismatic Jon Toogood, dropping by at the Surfers Paradise Beer Garden to whip the crowd into a frenzy a couple of years back // Photo Luke Sorensen

SHIHAD // TOURING EAST COAST AUSTRALIA IN JULY Triffid // Brisbane QLD - July 1st Pigsty // Hunter Valley NSW - July 2 The Factory // Marickville NSW - July 15 The Croxton // Thornburry VIC - July 16 TICKETS AT www.shihad.oztix.com.au

Shihad at home and blasting it at every single show they play. They recently did three shows in one day, from the south to the north in New Zealand - no easy task // Photos Sara Barker

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LiQUIFY NEW MUSIC The Amity Affliction // This Could Be Heartbreak August 12th, Roadrunner Records We’ve belted the shit out of an early copy of this record in the office already and it’s at the top end of the scale for brutal passionate sound. Start at the end and listen to the last track first, trust us. Aside from the usual outstanding Amity sounds there’s a few surprises, especially tracks 7 & 11, titled Fight My Regret and Wishbone. Amity fans will lose their shit, but if you haven’t already gotten messy in the backyard and blasted this band at full volume we highly recommend you add it to your bucket list.

Bernard Fanning // Civil Dusk August 5th, Dew Process / UMA Fanning’s new music is a time warp overload of classic style, warm retrospectives and feel-good vibes, with a hint of modern flare dusted on top.

The new single Wasting Time is a rich and upbeat guitar ballad that delves into relationships and reflective sentiments, with a very strong Australian story-telling undertow. Measured yet strong songwriting from one of the best. Can’t wait for the full album release! Civil Dusk is part one of a series of two albums. The second instalment, Brutal Dawn, will follow in early 2017.

Switchfoot // Where The Light Shines Through July 8th, Vanguard Records / Caroline Australia Get up, fire up and get ready to bounce your way through some of the catchiest all day tunes you can get right now. The San Diego coastal-culture legends are back with fresh content to shine light and sunshine into whatever you are doing. Stringy guitars blended with dynamic melodies, and a slight surf band groove underpinning some of their sounds. Sunset over the ocean is right here in your head with Switchfoot at the helm.

Neil Young + Promise of the Real // Earth Out now, Warner Music Group “Earth doesn’t fit on iTunes and I don’t care. In fact, I’m pleased, because that means it doesn’t follow with what some computer company has decided musicians can and can’t do. I don’t need that. I’m doing what I do. And what I do doesn’t fit with them, and thank God,” says Neil Young of his latest release, which is pretty much a 100-minute protest/awareness song that pours on a deep and emotive soundscape to challenge our way of thinking and humanity’s rampant environmental stupidity. It is rocking though, and well worth every penny you can muster to get it into your collection.

LiQUIFY NEW MUSIC Steve Vai // Modern Primitive + Passion & Warfare 25th Anniversary Edition July 23rd, Sony Music Australia Classic Steve Vai in all its facets with this double dose of the eccentric guitar master. Modern Primitive is a wild ride of sound and strange emotions which strays to the fringe at times, but never for long. Add in a remastered release of Vai’s legendary album Passion And Warfare, plus a few new bonus tracks and a demo recording from the Passion era and you’ve got a massive outlet for your inner guitar nerd and daydreamer. Vai fans, this is a must!

Red Hot Chili Peppers // The Getaway Out now, Warner Bros Records California funk and rock giants the Chili Peppers have done it again with a new album that is cloaked in pure California style, matched with a good sampling of rebellion and angst. The six-time Grammy winners haven’t had an album for 5 years but don’t be fooled into thinking that they’re slowing down, they’re turning up! Classic Peppers sounds with a few new tangents, a worthy addition to your collection if ever there was.

The Temper Trap // Thick As Thieves Out now, Liberation Music Debuting at number one on the ARIA charts, this long-awaited record from Australian juggernauts The Temper Trap has stirred up a frenzy. It’s all the things that they do, done well and done better this time around. Uplifting, powerful yet dreamy and well structured, the new album is a thing of wonder and will no doubt be played on repeat in a great many players and systems across the nation.

Peter Garrett // A Version Of Now Out now, Sony Music Australia Stepping out of the suit and back behind his microphone for the first time in a very long time, one of Australia’s most prolific activist songwriter pioneers is back, and it appears his feet still fit the shoes perfectly. We’ve checked a few songs out and they’re as refreshing as they are instantly at home in our ears. His familiar voice and warm storytelling is sharp, poignant and evocative. It’s like a missing side album from your Oils collection that was somehow there all along.

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Photo Special

VISIONS OF

BLUE

Nothing but blue above, blue inside and blue below.

Photography by Luke Sorensen

Deep dipped and dragging into the barrel - Jacob Garland stalls into an island keg

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Drop, wrap & focus - Kelly Slater lights the fuse on the next section way up the beach on South Stradbroke

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Full throttle down the line in the funnel - the Kirra race track in full form

Pristine chandeliers split the state border

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The newly crowned World Surf Reserve’s jewel and centre piece doing her thing

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Brent Dorrington getting casual in a Big Groyne cave of electric blue hue

A CATACLYSMIC MICROPLASTIC CRISIS

T

he ocean, the sea and the big blue body of water - it wraps and holds our planet in its embrace. It’s the giver and taker of life, the true lungs and beating pulse of our fragile world.

For us, our marine treasure is a place we associate with the purest of natural things, free from the human impost that burdens our life on the land.

At times as we ride on top of her rolling crests, dive under her viscous surface or fill our cup with her bounty, perhaps indifferent to the notion that she truly is the mother of our earth and all the wonder that surrounds us each day. Despite her perpetual grace and generosity, a storm is brewing within our oceans, and it’s quietly growing stronger.

The rapid expansion and leaping evolution of humanity and our technological mastery has delivered us a future world, taking us ahead at an expeditious pace, but at a grave cost. Fossil fuels, carbon gasses, climate change and seas rising dominate the headlines yet there’s another threat lurking just below the surface – that of plastics.

The problematic oversupply of plastic that confronts us each day at the supermarket or shopping centre is posing a significant threat to the survival of the planet, but a far greater threat is in the plastics we don’t see - the frayed pieces of tiny polymer that have infiltrated every corner of the earth. They drift on the wind and tides much like a seashell shatters only to become a handful of sand on some distant beach, its parts bound to time and tide for a lifetime.

As we march forward into the 21st Century, pressure to reduce, remove and remedy the plastics in our seas is becoming a confronting issue that’s truly starting to make waves on the land as well.

LiQUiFY Magazine special contributor, Griffith Centre for Coastal Management marine scientist Dr Olaf Meynecke, has had his microscope pointed squarely at this critical problem for some time and is taking up the fight to expose the depth of the issue and drive positive change.

Olaf reports as follows …

They are near-indestructible and attached to everything we consume, on everything we fish with or use in the sea – plastic is offered at will and not nearly accounted for.

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Krill are a type of zooplankton that form a large part of many whales’ diets despite their miniscule size // Photo Dr Uwe Kils

Zooplankton, such as this copepod, are at the bottom of the food chain, however thay are fast becoming the first point of contact between plastic and the fabric of life itself on this planet. Algae will often attach itself to ocean-bound microplastics, which are then in turn ingested by zooplankton, beginning a long climb up the food chain by the indigestible plastic particles // Photo Dr Uwe Kils

A ghost net made of nylon and plastic drifts on the ocean, ensnaring and killing any unfortunate creatures unlucky enough to become tangled // Photo Martin Stelfox

PLANKTONIC PLASTIC – A REAL THREAT TO MARINE LIFE by Dr Olaf Meynecke Life as we know it on planet earth – all of it – began in the ocean. It started with the smallest particles, so tiny and precious. This very birthplace of our living planet is now at risk.

Tiny particles of man-made waste that are smaller than a single millimetre are floating through the ocean and competing with plankton, the source of all life on earth – those particles are microplastics.

The word plastic comes from the Greek verb plassein, which means ‘to mould or shape’. Plastics have that capacity to be shaped into just about anything thanks to their structure. Long and flexing chains of atoms or small molecules bonded in a repeating pattern into one gigantic molecule.

Marine plastics // Photo Bo Eide

A sperm whale lays dead on a UK beach, found there in February this year. As many as 30 whales have been found washed ashore from the North Sea during 2015 and 2016. Necropsies have shown many of the whales had ingested marine waste including large volumes of plastics // Photo Paula Sparkes

Despite the marvellous design, these characteristics are exactly the problem.

Many chains are hard to break so, as we know, it takes a very long time to break down, or rather biodegrade. We are looking at 500 years or more for some plastic to fully degrade in the oceans, but humanity and our oceans do not have this time.

It’s not just microplastics but all plastics, big and small, that are becoming a serious problem. Fish are now consuming significant amounts of plastic and whales have now begun to die from ingesting plastic. More than 30 sperm whales came ashore and perished off the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Germany in 2015 and 2016. The widely reported series of fatal strandings have now been attributed as being likely caused by the animals becoming sick after ingesting large quantities of foreign waste and plastics - but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Robert Habeck (L), The Environment Minister of yhe German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, and marinemammal specialist Ursula Siebert, inspecting a dead sperm whale on the mudflats near the Kaiser-Wilhelm polder in Germany, February 2016. A spate of sperm whale strandings and deaths in the region has been attributed to starvation, with the likely cause being starvation due to gastrointestinal obstruction caused by ingesting items such as fishing nets, plastics and even car parts // Photo Christian Charisius, EPA

A recent study presented by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, along with the World Economic Forum, estimated the weight of plastic in the world’s ocean to outweigh all fish by the year 2050. The alarming results of the in-depth study reveal that, ‘plastic production has surged over the past 50 years, from 15 million tonnes in 1964 to 311 million tonnes in 2014, and it is expected to double again over the next 20 years’.

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During a three-week sailing expedition along the Great Barrier Reef last year my team and I took multiple samples along the 2000km journey, all the way along the coast of Queensland. We were shocked when we found plastic pieces in almost every plankton sample we collected.

Using the volume of water that I sampled with each tow matched against the plastic content in each sample, I have estimated that at least 300 million pieces[1] of microplastic are to be found, just on the surface within a one metre depth along the Queensland coastline. It also emerged that there was a clear trend that samples closer to shore had more plastic than those further out to sea.

In contrast to common beliefs, microplastics are usually fibres from nylon line fragments and not pieces broken off from plastics such as drink bottles.

Unfortunately, these nylon line fragments are even worse. They are either the result of items such as fishing equipment or so-called degradable plastics that break down under sunlight into tiny fragments.

Algae is growing along these fine nylon and plastic lines, making it even more attractive for zooplankton to eat. Once the zooplankton consumes the plastic it is either stored short term in their digestion system or it can even find its way into the tissue.

We know that through the food chain itself the microplastic is literally kept alive, and the process of degradation of the plastic is slowed down even further. Once the plastic is in the zooplankton it goes up the food chain and eventually ends up in fish which either starve themselves, or end up on our own dinner plates.

Every time we see plastic on the beach or ocean, or a tangled up bit of fishing gear by our riverbank or canal, we should really be asking ourselves if we are willing to eat this one day. Even a small piece of plastic on the beach will almost certainly end up in the sea.

It’s not all bad news though. There are some changes happening within the shopping megaliths of Coles and Woolworths, with both pledging to remove products with plastic microbeads - announced at the start of this year. Community organisations such as the Gold Coast-based Boomerang Bags 116

The objects found to be obstructing the stomachs of the sperm whales in Germany were as disgusting as it was alarming, with Robert Habeck, Environment Minister of the German federal state of SchleswigHolstein, showing the items and stating, “In the stomach of sperm whales were a 13m fishing net, an engine cover off a Ford, plastic buckets and various other garbage.” // Photo via Instagram

“We were taking random plankton samples using a standard tow method. When I analysed the samples for plankton composition under the microscope I was quite surprised to have found bits and pieces of plastic in almost every sample. I first could not believe it and asked a colleague to verify the images.”

- Dr Olaf Meynecke

Fragmented microplastics are found in every ocean and sea on earth, and they are growing in their numbers // Photo Wolfram Burner

Flotsam used to mostly be timbers and wood - now it’s becoming an all-conquering mountain of plastic upon almost every coastline on the planet // Photo Bo Eide

“Every time we see plastic on the beach or ocean, or a tangled up bit of fishing gear by our riverbank or canal, we should really be asking ourselves if we are willing to eat this one day.�

- Dr Olaf Meynecke

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Dr Olaf Meynecke uses a fine filter bag to trawl for plankton and microplastics along the surface of our coastal waters // Photo hhr.org.au

[1] Based on the following estimation - using 2000km of coastline within the range of 30km from the shore and to a maximum depth of 1m, which was the average depth of the plankton sampling. This gives: 60156255775 m3 of water volume and this equals 300781278 pieces of plastic, so over 300 million pieces of plastic just in the first 1m of water along the coast of Queensland!

are also working locally to reduce plastic bags in the community by making recycled bags and pushing for awareness.

On Clean Up Australia Day in March this year, our team from Humpbacks and Highrises collected over 18kg of mostly plastic from just a 1km stretch of beach in Broadbeach, showing that even a beach that appears free of plastic really isn’t.

A plastic enthusiast once said, “plastics freed us from the confines of the natural world, from the material constraints and limited supplies that had long bounded human activity.”

Ironically, it now acts as a reminder that we are certainly confined and bound to our natural world - that we should do our best to live in concert with our environment.

Plastic that might seem so convenient in the first place is now turning into one of the globe’s most prolific yet significantly inconvenient truths // ABOVE: Humbacks & Highrises volunteers collected 18kg of mostly plastic waste from a 1 kilometre stretch of beach at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, showing that even clean beaches are at the mercy of plastic pollution BELOW: The impacts of plastic in our ocean isn’t always hidden at a micro level, sometimes it takes the form of a confronting image like this - an albatross dead from a gut full of plastic it mistook for food // Photo Chris Jordan

A specialised plankton net is towed by Dr Meynecke and his team to sample water near the surface and analyse it for microplastics along the Queensland coastline // Photo hhr.org.au

Common sources of ocean microplastic polLution SYNTHETIC FILAMENT ROPE AND TWINE

Often used in commercial fishing netting, on boats and in other marine applications - the strands can fray and break apart easily into microscopic plastic fibres which can often be consumed by micro organisms, making their way up the food chain and ultimately back into our own food

POLYESTER AND SYNTHETIC FABRIC AND CLOTHING

This silent and unseen threat is a major contributor to ocean microplastic pollution. With every wash, breakaway fibres from our polyester clothing enters our water systems, ultimately making its way very quickly into the ocean where it does not biodegrade

MICROBEADS

Used in many products, from toothpaste to cleansers, facial products and more. Often made of polyethylene but can be made of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. The USA is proposing to phase out microbeads in rinse-off cosmetics by the middle of 2017

What you can do locally -

Aside from making a conscious decision to use less plastics, and more importantly be more responsible for knowing where your plastics are going to end up, there’s a bunch of marine conservation groups locally you can get lots of useful information from and get involved with.

Check out these organisations and support their work to protect our waterways and oceans!

Humpbacks & Highrises - www.hhr.org.au Boomerang Bags - www.boomerangbags.org Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council - www.gecko.org.au Healthy Waterways - www.healthywaterways.org Surfrider Foundation Gold Coast - www.surfridergct.org

MONOFILAMENT AND NYLON FISHING PRODUCTS

Fishing lines are a commonly seen form of marine pollution, with tonnes of it tangled just below the surface on the edge of our waterways and even along our beaches. This material is incredibly robust and strong, which is great for pulling in fish but also makes for an eternal problem as it fills our waterways and seas

SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS

While most plastic bag waste currently ends up in landfill, a significant proportion still enters our open environment every day. Many marine species opt to consume the bags, unaware of the catastrophic consequences. Bags that do remain in the sea break apart into smaller and smaller pieces

GENERAL PLASTIC WASTE

Somewhat less of a contributor to the microplastic problem than synthetic fibre materials, but nonetheless a scourge on our oceans and waterways. Includes a myriad of products and types of near-indestructible plastics from bottle caps to industrial plastics, butane lighters, pens, straws, clothes pegs, car parts and more 121

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Is this the inevitable future for our seascapes? The oceans of our world are very fragile and finite yet we are fast filling them with immovable and destructive plastic debris - large and small // Photo Jennyvids

That’s gonna leave a mark I

t might have been the swell of the decade but there’s nothing swell about riding one all the way into the end of Lovers Rock and getting pinned on Point Danger. He lived, but can’t say the same for the board // Photos Luke Sorensen

hink this is t u o y t a h W uarry? q k c o r a t r o some s

From one kind of froth into a whole different kind of broth.

The back of the point is no place for a man’s flesh when it’s double overhead outside

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That’s gonna leave a mark

Leaping from one barnacle encrusted volcanic knob to another is not yet an Olympic sport, but it didn’t stop old mate from getting some early practice in. The exit lacked grace but nonetheless was effective and spared further pinballing and cheese grating.