Rip It Up Issue 520 by Rip It Up

FREE I S S U E . 372

SOC IAL S I NC E 77’

NOEL FIELDING MAY - ‘15 PHIL JUDD, FAITH NO MORE, HEAD LIKE A HOLE, PRINCESS CHELSEA, THE LATEST FALLOUT, DAVID WARD, SPANDAU BALLET

THE ROCK FM & SOLID ENTS PRESENTS

AD WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

EKKO PARK

FRIDAY JUNE 26 L L E B P M A C N A G LO CENTRE

All Ages and Fully Licensed

Z & REAL GROOVY O.N R.C TE AS ETM CK .TI W W W W ON SALE NO + BF 0 9.5 $6 TS KE TIC ICE PR IAL EC SP EARLYBIRD www.seether.com

OUT NOW

CREDITS Creators Murray Cammick Alistair Dougal Publisher Grant Hislop Editorial Manager Tyler Hislop - tyler@harkentertainment.com Head Writer Andrew Johnstone Designer Ashley Keen - ashley@harkentertainment.com Sub-Editor Louise Adams Sales Grant Hislop - grant@harkentertainment.com Distribution Jamie Hislop - jamie@harkentertainment.com Accounts Gail Hislop - accounts@harkentertainment.com

Contributors Andrew Johnstone, William Bolwell, Tim Gruar, Sarah Thomson, Nick Collings, Laura Weaser, Guy Innes, Jake Ebdale.

Rip It Up Magazine is published by Hark Entertainment Ltd Office 2a Waverly Street, Auckland CBD, New Zealand Postal PO Box 6032 Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141, New Zealand Website ripitup.co.nz Printers Webstar | Blue Star Group Limited | Shit Hot Printers Rip It Up is subject to copyright in its entirety. The contents may not be reproduced in any form, either in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved in material accepted for publication, unless initially specified otherwise. All letters and other material forwarded to the magazine will be assumed intended for publication unless clearly labeled â&#x20AC;&#x153;NOT FOR PUBLICATIONâ&#x20AC;?. Opinions express in the magazine are not necessarily those of Hark Entertainment Limited. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material. ISSN 0114-0876

CONTENTS

31..

29. 14.

23.

22.

08. 6. What Goes On/On The Rip It Up Stereo, 8. Phil Judd, 10. So Whatâ&#x20AC;Ś/Tweet Talk, 12. Noel Fielding, 14. Princess Chelsea, 15. Making Tracks/NZ Music Month Highlights, 16. This Month In Clubland, 18 Style Like a NZ Music Fan, 19. Style Like Best Coast, 20. Gadgets, 21. Gaming, 22. Faith No More, 23. Head Like A Hole, 24. Album Reviews, 26. Film Reviews, 28. Spandau Ballet, 29. The Latest Fallout, 30. #WINNING, 31. Semi-Permanent 2015/Artist Q&A: David Ward

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

WHAT GOES ON

F TIDAL’S NZ LAUNCH

MICK HARVEY Mick Harvey is set to play live at The Tuning Fork this Wednesday 20 May. A founding member of blood-soaked punk act The Birthday Party, a Bad Seed alongside Nick Cave for decades, and a long-time wingman for British goth-ette PJ Harvey, Mick Harvey’s CV is one of the most enviable in the business. Harvey brings to New Zealand his full band, The Intoxicated Men, for the first time. WED 20 MAY THE TUNING FORK,

Kanye West may have proclaimed it the “beginning of the new world”, but the celebrity-endorsed music streaming service Tidal has failed to attract users away from the likes of Spotify and Pandora. Having said that, the global music service TIDAL is now available in New Zealand. TIDAL offers 25 million songs and over 75,000 high quality videos, high fidelity sound quality and curated content and editorial. TIDAL gives its members access to exclusive music, videos, tickets and merchandise. TIDAL has two pricing tiers: either NZD 12.99 or NZD 25.99 a month.

LYING OUT STORE Following on from the successful Flying Out online store, established 18 months ago, Flying Out have announced the opening of a physical retail outlet at 80 Pitt St in Auckland. The new Flying Out HQ is a three level building, with a large stock room/event space basement, a shop on the ground level and the offices of Flying Nun Records, Arch Hill Recordings and Aeroplane Music Services upstairs. Plus, “pay what you want” coffee from the shop. Congratulations from the team at Rip It Up!

RYAN ADAMS Ryan Adams along with his band The Shining will treat Australia and New Zealand to headline shows this July. This will be Adams’ first tour of Australia and New Zealand since 2012’s acclaimed sold-out Ashes and Fire solo theatre tour and his first time playing here with a full band in six years. With a massive catalogue of songs under his belt, seeing Ryan Adams is not only a nod to the past but a chance to see an artist who improves on perfection with every release. Secure your tickets now!

AUCKLAND

SEE HIM LIVE: RYAN ADAMS

TICKETMASTER.CO.NZ

TUE 14 JUL TOWN HALL, AUCKLAND THU 16 JUL OPERA HOUSE, WELLINGTON

ON THE RIP IT UP STEREO

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

ANTHONIE TONNON – SUCCESSOR (2015)

MARLON WILLIAMS – ‘WHEN I WAS A YOUNG GIRL’ (2015)

KENDRICK LAMAR – ‘KING KUNTA’ (2015)

JAMES BAY – CHAOS AND THE CALM (2015)

SHIHAD – KILLJOY (1995)

PRINCESS CHELSEA – ‘CIGARETTE DUET’ (2011)

LAURA MARLING – SHORT MOVIE (2015)

SIA – ‘BIG GIRLS CRY’ (2015)

SJD – SAINT JOHN DIVINE (2015)

BEST COAST – ‘HEAVEN SENT’ (2015)

TUESDAY 14 JULY THURSDAY 16 JULY AUCKLAND WELLINGTON TOWN HALL OPERA HOUSE

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

PHIL JUDD fan. If I’d had the money I would have purchased the album there and then, but the scant 50c they were asking for the record was beyond my means. Another year went by before I finally got to hear the band. It was the start of a break period at school and I had caught the bus home. My dad collected me in central Hamilton and left me in the car with the radio playing while he went off to conduct some business. I WAS A wet-behind-the-ears 13-year-old when I arrived at Sacred Heart College in Auckland in 1976. From deep down country I knew little of anything and knew nothing about myself. The first thing I discovered was music. Music was a big deal at school and a decent music collection was a valuable social cache. Punk and new wave were just beginning to break and these sounds, combined with the Led Zeppelin and Bowie which otherwise proliferated, were real eye openers for a farm boy who had been weaned on the MOR Top 40 styles of Radio Waikato. While I was coming to grips with this cacophony of new music my eyes kept turning toward a poster that appeared sometime during the year down the older boys’ end of the dormitory. It featured a group of guys, dressed in strange clothes decked out with make-up and bizarre off-the-wall hairstyles. The words read: “Spilt Enz, Second Thoughts”. It was an odd and compelling image that today I would easily describe as vaudevillian, but back then; it was something outside of my visual experience. Every time I passed by, it invited me to stop and converse with it. It asked me questions like, who were Split Enz, what kind

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

of music did they make, why did they dress the way they did, what mysterious secret knowledge did they share? Largely comprised of a group of old boys that had preceded my arrival at the school by four years, the band was already shrouded in mythology and whispered about in reverential tones. Sadly, no one in my circle had any of their records and so any thoughts I had about the music behind that poster were scant imaginings. Sometime later in the year I found myself browsing through the “cheap-bin” at the local record store in Glen Innes when I came across their debut album, Mental Notes.

It was typical Radio Waikato stuff and I was only half listening when this “very particular” song came on. It was strange, oddball and totally at odds with the music it was being played against. Without hesitation, I knew I was finally hearing Split Enz. The track was ‘My Mistake’ from their third album, Dizrythmia, and it fulfilled all my expectations. As I sat there in the car, the chorus repeating itself over and over in my head, I wondered what part Phil Judd had played in its making. I didn’t know it yet, but Judd had already left the band and was back in Auckland working on the project that would catapult him to Australasian superstardom.

This was the closet I had yet been to the band. I ran my eyes over the liner notes eagerly absorbing the names and searching for some indication of what the music might be about. My eyes stopped abruptly when they hit the name “Phil Judd”. Not only was he a musician and songwriter, but also the artist responsible for the surreal cover art.

Only a handful of years earlier that the young Phil Judd, already a self-taught artist of some considerable skill, had left his hometown of Hastings to study art at Auckland University. It was here that he stumbled across a group of former Sacred Heart College boys who had formed a covers band that played mostly “Elton John and Leon Russell tunes.”

It was one of those rare moments of revelation when something indefinable became clear. I knew nothing about Phil Judd, but in that moment, without having heard a whit of his music, I was a

Comprised of a core that included Tim Finn, Mike Chunn and Rob Gillies, Judd found himself hanging out with them and trying his hand at various instruments. He eventually decided upon the

guitar and purchased up a cheap Yamaha acoustic. Within days he was wrestling sounds from it. The band had no aspirations to do originals but found themselves drawn to the tunes Judd was picking out. “Tim would ask me what I was playing and I would say I didn’t know. He started singing along, adding words and suggesting melodies and it just grew from there.” It all happened pretty quickly after that. The boys dropped out of uni and by 1975 they were living in Australia and signed to Michael Gudinski’s influential Mushroom label. Mental Notes was released and sold reasonably well, garnering positive critical attention and cementing the band’s reputation for unabashed originality. Otherwise they were holding down an intensive touring schedule that included support slots for artists like Lou Reed, Frank Zappa and notably, Roxy Music. Phil Manzanera from Roxy Music took a liking to the band and swept them off to Britain where, under his tutelage, they rerecorded Mental Notes. The resulting album, Second Thoughts, was something of a mixed blessing for Judd. While he enjoyed working in a big studio with top engineers, he felt like the band was retreading old ground. Cracks were also beginning to show within the band’s texture and Tim and Phil, once inseparable, were drifting apart, personally and creatively. It was during the band’s 1977 American tour that simmering tensions came to the boil. Judd’s wife and child were back in NZ, broke and surviving on porridge and baked beans. His wife had given him an ultimatum: “Come home and

look after us or it was over.” He was stressed, worried and at the end of his rope when he found himself in confrontation with Tim. A few punches were thrown in an incident that Judd has forever regretted and in the blink of an eye, he was out of the band and back in Auckland.

and deft punk-flavoured rock.

He found work as a photographer’s assistant at the Auckland Art Gallery and in his spare time found himself back in front of the canvas. He was selling a few pieces and in his own words, “I could have just carried on working by day and painting by night and happily forget the guitar”, but despite his best intentions, he found himself drawn to the musical sidelines where he stood watching the first wave of local punk bands explode onto the Auckland scene.

The pace that Gudinski had set was frantic and the only time the band had to develop new material was during sound-checks. They had been jamming on a particular track for several days and Judd noticed that whenever they played this tune the sound guy would start bopping away behind the desk. He suspected he was onto something and Gudinski agreed.

He didn’t much like the music he was hearing and was more amused than anything by with these middle-class boys and their anti-establishment affectations but something of the raw energy of the sound seeped into his bones. Before he knew it, the guitar was back in his hands and he was on fire. In Buster Stiggs (Mark Hough), and Bones Hillman (Wayne Stevens), he found the driving rhythm he was hankering after. “They were rough around the edges but I saw the potential.” They joined forces and The Swingers were born. Their first single hit the stores in 1978. ‘One Good Reason’ found an immediate audience as well as critical kudos. In no short order, they were making enough money to quit work and be The Swingers full-time. Judd couldn’t quite believe his good fortune. In 1979 two of their songs appeared on the compilation AK79, a masterful snapshot of the Auckland punk scene as it was for a moment in time, which further cemented their growing reputation for originality, energy

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

Just as it had happened with Split Enz only a few years before, they found themselves in Australia and signed to Mushroom. History was repeating and Judd had been offered the brass ring for a second time.

‘Counting the Beat’ was recorded and released and to immediate success. Rocketing to the top of the charts on both sides of the Tasman, the song became a behemoth that swamped everything that was to follow including the album Practical Jokers. Judd recalls endless gigging with big expensive sound and light rigs that cost more than the band was earning. The Swingers’ guitar parts were complex and with the added frontman duties and financial stresses, Judd was slowly falling apart. On some days it took a bottle of brandy just to get him out of bed and up to the mic. By 1982 The Swingers had run their course but Gudinski offered the exhausted Judd another bite of the apple. The result was Private Lives, his debut solo album. Recorded in LA by sometime Bob Dylan producer Al Kooper, it was a commercial failure whose creation was so emotionally draining that Judd has not been able to listen to it since its release. Let go by Mushroom, he found work scoring music for films before finding his way back into a band. Schnell Fenster

comprised of Judd and former Split Enz stalwarts, Nigel Griggs and Noel Crombie. With a $250,000 advance from a major German Label they produced two albums, 1988’s The Sound Of Trees and 1990’s OK Alright A Huh Oh Yeah but it wasn’t working, neither for the public nor for Judd. The band broke up in 1992. For several years he scored for television, a lucrative occupation that allowed him to buy his current house and property and build his own studio. When the TV work petered out, fullyequipped with latest technology, Judd began making music for himself again. He has since recorded three solo albums, 2005’s Mr Phudd and his Novelty Act, 2008’s Love is a Moron and 2014’s Stranger Than Fiction. On Mr Phudd and his Novelty Act, Judd lets it all go with a searing and confronting concept album of the psyche. Mr Phudd is Judd’s elemental doppelganger. As chaos dressed in a clown suit he tears out Judd’s heart and with visceral delight, tramps all over it. By 2008’s Love is a Moron Mr Phudd had lost control. Riven with depression and soaked in alcohol, there was an incident with some neighbourhood girls, nothing sinister just a big misunderstanding that Judd handled badly. It got a little crazy and he wound up in jail. Things were eventually sorted but Judd walked away bruised, battered and socially alienated. Like Private Lives before it, Love is a Moron is a work that Judd looks back upon with a degree of fragile discomfort. He “sorted his shit out” and headed back to the studio in 2012 and emerged two years later with 2014’s triumphant Play It Strange. Quintessential Judd, it is an inventive and playful affair that is somewhat lighter

than his previous two works and demonstrates a man at the top of his musical game. In a class of his own, Judd, by his own account, “has always been ahead of his time.” Somewhat lost to new generations, he nevertheless stalks the musical landscape whenever ‘Counting the Beat’ is played. A perennial favourite for advertising campaigns it continues to provide Judd with a modest income. These days Phil, aged 62, is frail. He suffers two heart conditions, bares the effects of a minor stroke and struggles with his greatest ongoing demon, bipolar disorder, an affliction which both fuels his restless creativity and haunts him with dark chaotic storms of the psyche. Painting is beyond him now. He has neither the stamina nor eyesight for the large detailed works he likes to do. All he has left is his music, his son and his beloved dogs. The last word to musician Andrew McLennan who joined The Swingers as a vocalist toward their end in an attempt to relieve Judd of some of the pressure he was struggling with as a frontman and guitarist: “He is complex. Both aloof and genial, he isolates and suffers. He is intense and hilariously funny, sometimes dark and unfathomable – he can be a right prick as well as utterly charming. I know he has had his demons, perhaps its a price the gifted pay, I don’t know how, but he keeps on producing Juddesquely brilliant music. I remain a fan and I’m still in awe of his talent. He is unique.” This article can only ever be a sketch of a man who has lived a very full life. Fortunately you can hear the man speak about himself in detail on Rip It Up Radio, via the Rip It Up website. It’s a fascinating account and I will forever be grateful to him for his honesty of spirit.

SO WHAT... Chris Evans thinks Captain America is a virgin. The actor who stars in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, has revealed he doubts whether the Marvel superhero has ever found love with a woman. Looking forward to Captain America 3, Chris previewed: “I think we really scratched the surface on something great and I think there’s just so much to explore. Not just with the evolution of myself and [Anthony Mackie’s character, Falcon], but the reconnection with Bucky, and ultimately a relationship with a woman.” Kristen Wiig finds it frustrating that people don’t take her drama seriously. The actress is best known for satirical TV show Saturday Night Live and comedy Bridesmaids and she admits it is hard when people laugh at her “dramatic” scenes because they only expect her to be funny. “I’ve done a couple of things that have been dramatic and sometimes I get frustrated because...there was a scene I shot once where it was like, ‘Oh this woman is so sad that she’s doing this thing’ and when we screened it people laughed.”

The royal baby will be “grounded and practical” according to an astrology expert. Angie Banicki insists the second child of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, who is due any day now, will be “pragmatic” as he or she will be a Taurus. Angie explained: “We can expect a grounded, sensuous and practical Taurus. People that are Taurus are pragmatists; running home and business affairs is where they thrive. They are extremely easy going.

T WEET TALK “25 hour drive toward texas for a gilmore girls reunion panel or louisana for a taylor swift concert? I’m 25 years old, taurus, hi.” Chelsea Jade @watercolo_rs

“Home time! See you soon Aotearoa, land of the long pony tail.” Anika Moa @Anika_Moa

“i love everyone’s smile” Connan Mockasin @ConnanMockasin

“that might be it ! RT @ DanielMcSDW: @NeilFinn do you ever find that having music as a full-time pursuit actually stifles you creatively?” Neil Mullane Finn @NeilFinn

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

Meghan Trainor found it “terrifying” working with Harry Styles. The pop star wrote a track with the One Direction heartthrob last year, and while she found it exciting collaborating with the musician, she admitted it was a scary experience because he is so famous. Recalling the moment she sang a rough demo of the song for the star, she said: “Performing a love song in front of Harry is terrifying, and on top of that I was a little nervous because he was one of the first celebrities I met.”

BEST PRICE GUARANTEE

We will beat any available international airfare quote or you get $1500 towards your flight.^ Excludes Domestic Airfares. Conditions Apply*.

*Terms & conditions: Applies to genuine quotes from airlines and New Zealand registered businesses and websites for international travel that departs from New Zealand. Domestic airfares are excluded. Quote must be in writing, inclusive of all credit card fees, booking fees & taxes and must be presented to us prior to booking. Fare must be available and able to be booked by the general public when you bring it to us. Fares available due to membership of a group or corporate entity or subscription to a closed group are excluded. Quote must be for same dates, flight routing, flight class, flight number and for the same number of people. We will beat your quoted price by $1.00 and issue you with a $20 Student Flights voucher and if we fail to do this, we will give you a $1500 credit to use towards the flight which we did not price beat**. Student Flights standard booking terms & conditions apply. Refer to www.studentflights.co.nz/bookingterms for full details.â&#x20AC;?

facebook.com/studentflightsnz instagram.com/studentflights_nz

0800 31 44 42

studentflights.co.nz

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

NOEL FIELDING WIN

SEE HIM PERFORM: NOEL FIELDING SAT 09 MAY ASB THEATRE, AUCKLAND SUN 10 MAY BRUCE MASON CENTRE, AUCKLAND MON 11 MAY - TUE 12 MAY OPERA HOUSE, WELLINGTON THU 14 MAY ISAAC THEATRE ROYAL, CHRISTCHURCH

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

“comedians are usually serious until they go on stage. I am funny in real life and not funny at all on the stage.” an art student couldn’t believe my eyes. It was insane. Those early Jackson films were so raw and maverick.” I ask him if he has seen Meet The Feebles? “Yeah, yeah, I saw it on the middle of the night on telly a few years back. It was mad. I have never seen anything like it since. He’s a genius.” “Do you know Jimmy Carr?” I know now not to answer. “He said this about New Zealand, ‘Australia is a long way away but New Zealand is a long time ago’.” Fielding laughs and so do I even though I don’t quite get the joke (it sinks in a little later), but I can’t help myself. I feel like I am on a manic roller-coaster ride and there is no getting off. I ask him if he has ever seen the Monkees’ TV show, explaining that The Mighty Boosh and Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy remind me a great deal of that series.

I DREAD INTERVIEWING comedians. They tend to be serious and not terribly funny. I suggest this to Noel Fielding who replies, “comedians are usually serious until they go on stage. I am funny in real life and not funny at all on the stage.” He laughs uproariously then hastily adds, “I am joking, of course.” He had better be, as he’s on the end of the line from London promoting his upcoming New Zealand tour, somewhat unnecessarily it seems as the tickets are selling like hotcakes and they have already had to schedule a second Auckland show to meet the demand. Fielding is very keen to get to New Zealand, a place he has always wanted to visit, and he has some very interesting ideas about what he’s going to find here. “I imagine New Zealand is going to be like a David Hockney painting – a green, mystical and magical kind of place.” This brings him around to Flight of the Conchords. He’s a huge fan and he asks if Kiwis are like Murray and this sets him off on a riff about the episode where Murray is sharing a bag of chips with the boys. “Can I have a chup, Murray?” He laughs wildly then

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

says, “I imagine that New Zealand is one of those weird quirky places, very idiosyncratic. Your humour is very idiosyncratic, you have your own thing going on, kind of like Britain.” He mentions that he feels a special affinity with the Conchords before riffing some more on the “chup” theme, which brings him to the New Zealand accent. “It’s the perfect accent for comedy and it’s time you guys started cashing in on it.” Before I can squeeze my next question in he asks me if I know Taika Waititi. “I love Eagle vs Shark. That movie is so funny.” I ask him if he has seen Boy and he replies, “No, I haven’t heard of that one but wow, that’s something to look forward to. I haven’t seen What We Do In The Shadows either, but that’s on purpose. I am saving it for a day when I am sad so I have got something to cheer me up.” Fielding asks me what I think about the film and I explain that I think it is a perfect expression Kiwi-style humour. I don’t have an opportunity to expand on it as Fielding is already off on another tangent. “Have you seen Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “I saw Bad Taste when I was

“It was on all the time when I was a kid and I was obsessed with it.” Fielding takes a breath then expounds beautifully on the subject. “The Monkees drew their thing from the Beatles’ films which were highly influenced by The Goon Show and Spike Milligan so there is a direct line from The Mighty Boosh to The Goons via The Monkees and Beatles, so yes, they influenced me enormously.” Our time is almost up so I ask Fielding about the show he is bringing to New Zealand. “I will be doing some stand-up and some sketches. There is some interactive animation and some music with the guitarist from Kasabian and then there’s an animated scene where we get some audience members involved. It’s all a bit surreal and absurd.” It’s pretty clear by now that Fielding has some pretty strange ideas about New Zealand and I am starting to feel nervous about wondering how we can possibly live up to these expectations. Perhaps John Key’s ponytail escapades have come just at the right time, confirming everything Fielding suspects about our little South Pacific Island; that we are somewhat barking mad. LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW ON RIP IT UP RADIO: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/RIP-IT-UP-RADIO

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

PRINCESS CHELSEA WIN

“It’s getting more popular as time passes which is kind of weird as I thought that people would be bored with it by now.” This brings us around to her new album, The Great Cybernetic Depression. A concept album set 12 years into the future; it is a kind of metaphorical satire that makes light of 2014, a year that she describes as not one of her best. Feeling somewhat disillusioned and burnt out, she wanted to express these feelings “but not in a dour self-indulgent kind of way”. Recorded at home over in the studio rooms she calls A and B (B is a messy sort of room for demoing and A is for proper recordings), it was later fine-tuned and mastered at the Lab Studios in Auckland.

CHELSEA NIKKEL GETS around. The various projects she is involved in include indie pop band The Brunettes, soul band The Crosbys and the Paul McCartney and Wings covers band The Disciples of Macca, but her best and most well-known work is her own. Under the moniker Princess Chelsea she is about to release her second album, The Great Cybernetic Depression, which, like her first album, Lil’ Golden Book, is a concept album. Recent wisdom says that the album as a format is dead. A eulogy delivered too soon, it seems. While the digital music phenomenon has opened up a multitude of new ways for people to consume music, more traditional formats like the long playing record seem to be taking on a new lease of life, and the holistic album approach is what Princess Chelsea is all about. 2011’s Lil’ Golden Book is a collection of songs about being a teenager and growing up in NZ with each song feeding into the other. One track, ‘The Cigarette Duet’, a fable about a couple arguing over a smoking habit has gone on to to become something of a phenomenon. A stylistic paean to Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra, the video features Nikkel and her main collaborator Jonathan Bree sitting in a spa pool miming the words to the song. With a camera balanced on the edge of the pool, the video cost nothing to make and has currently garnered some 20 million views on YouTube,

or as Nikkel explains with some degree of bewilderment, 25,000 views per day. “It’s getting more popular as time passes which is kind of weird as I thought that people would be bored with it by now.” I ask if she makes much money from it and she laughs, explaining she gets .00 something cents from each view and that people mostly assume that she makes more money than she actually does. “It’s not enough to pay the rent, but along with Spotify it provides me with the kind of income you would get from having a part-time job.” Otherwise she earns enough money from commercial work, like composing for TV and from her European gigs – she has a small but dedicated audience – to keep her head above water. Nikkel describes herself as a nerd. She watches lots of documentaries, (space and music are her favourite themes), reads a lot and is into “sci-fi kind of stuff.” The 1960s show The Prisoner and Battlestar Galactica are particular favourites along with the British TV series Black Mirror. Her favourite movie is the original Planet of the Apes, which she describes as a “deep and really clever political satire”.

“I feel pretty good about it. I make music I want to hear and put it out hoping that other people will like it as well. It’s a sad album but it’s very fantastical sounding, like a fantasy movie with a childlike vibe, sort of like the first album, Lil’ Golden Book.” She is getting a little nervous, especially with all the all the details that have to be dealt with such as her impending world tour. She embarked on a five-date whirlwind tour of NZ before heading off to Turkey on 08 May where they are playing a festival in Istanbul and a headlining gig in the Turkish capital, Ankara. After that it’s off to Poland and the rest of Europe before hitting Britain and finally the USA. She is especially excited about Turkey because the wealth of vegan foods on offer. Chelsea became vegan three years ago after watching the documentary film Project Nim. A dedicated steak eater (she once ate little else), she realised how much she loved animals and began to wonder why she was eating them. She cried for three solid weeks before coming out of her slump, profoundly changed and no longer interested in meat. A former Jehovah’s Witness, Chelsea Nikkel is witty, thoughtful and a little bit profound. LISTEN IN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW ON RIP IT UP RADIO: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/RIP-IT-UP-RADIO PRINCESS CHELSEA NEW ALBUM: THE GREAT CYBERNETIC DEPRESSION OUT NOW

MAKING TRACKS

NZ MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS

ALBUM RELEASES HIGHLIGHTS

FUNDING DECISIONS FOR APRIL 2015 NZ On Air will fund 24 new music projects from its April Making Tracks funding round. Funding of up to $10,000 for each of the following Making Tracks projects in the April round, comprising up to $4,000 for recording a song and $6,000 for making a music video of that same song. Congratulations to the following artists. RECORDING & VIDEO ($10,000) AWA feat. Sir T – ‘Summer Vibe’ Benny Tipene – ‘Lighthouse’ Charity Children – ‘You Want Me’ Chris Hurn – ‘If I Were You’ French for Rabbits – ‘The Lights Go Out’ Husk – ‘Take Your Time’ I Am Giant – ‘Kiss From A Ghost’ Massad – ‘Devoted’ Scott Mannion – ‘Your Kinda Love’ The Phoenix Foundation – ‘Mountain’ Twin Cities – ‘Greatest Ever’ Unknown Mortal Orchestra – ‘Necessary Evil’ Villainy – ‘Safe Passage’

Eden Mulholland – Hunted Haunted (May) VIDEO ONLY ($6,000) Barry Conrad – ‘Anywhere We Go’ Ciaran McMeeken – ‘City’ J. Williams – ‘Piece of Me’ Feat. Brooke Duff Kong Fooey – ‘Right As Rain’ Feat. Topaz & David Haslett Nadia Reid – ‘Call The Days’ Rival State – ‘Keepsake’ Saving Grace – ‘The Anthem of The Underground’ Shapeshifter – ‘Solitaire’ Tom Lark – ‘Baby Give Up’ Toni Huata – ‘Hopukia Te Tao’ Troy Kingi – ‘Just A Phase’ The seven independent broadcasting and music professionals on the April Making Tracks Panel were: Dean Simmonds [CHART; Christchurch] Godfrey De Grut [The University of Auckland; Auckland] Hale Speedy [More FM; Auckland] Jeff Newton [NZ On Air Music; Auckland] Miles Buckingham [RadioActive; Wellington] Phoebe Spiers - [The Edge TV; Auckland] Ross Flahive [ZM; Auckland]

Gin Wigmore – Blood To Bone (Fri 26 Jun) Cairo Knife Fight – The Colossus (Fri 29 May) She’s So Rad – Tango (Fri 15 May) Avalanche City – We Are For The Wild Places (Fri 03 Jul) Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi-Love (Fri 22 May)

EDEN MULHOLLAND Wed 27 May – Fri 29 May Nationwide GIN WIGMORE Wed 01 Jul – Sat 04 Jul Nationwide JAMIE MCDELL Fri 08 May – Sat 16 May Nationwide MARLON WILLIAMS Thu 25 Jun – Sun 28 Jun Nationwide NADIA REID Wed 06 May - Sun 10 May Nationwide

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

SHE’S SO RAD Fri 15 May The Kings Arms, Auckland

ANIKA MOA Thu 28 May The Powerstation, Auckland

SHIHAD Fri 22 May The Powerstation, Auckland

CAIRO KNIFE FIGHT Fri 29 May – Sun 31 May Nationwide

SIX60 Sat 16 May – Sat 30 May Nationwide

DEMON ENERGY BATTLE OF THE BANDS 2015 Mon 04 May – Sat 01 Aug Nationwide

TRINITY ROOTS Thu 14 May – Sat 20 Jun Nationwide

DON MCGLASHAN Thu 11 Jun – Sat 04 Jul Nationwide

YUMI ZOUMA & DOPRAH Fri 08 May The Kings Arms, Auckland Sat 09 May Meow, Wellington

NICK COLLINGS

THIS MONTH IN CLUBL AND THE FUTURE OF NEW ZEALAND CLUBLAND 2015

SEAN MURRAY, SOULFOUNDATION, MR HOOKY, SUCH&SUCH Real name: Sean Murray Location: Mount Maunganui Year you started producing: 2007 Styles Produced: House, Disco and recently Hip Hop and Drum & Bass Labels signed to: HUHU Music, Cabbie Hat Recordings, Caliber Sounds, Respect Music, Bedroom Music. What drew you to start writing your own music? After DJing for around seven years it was the natural progression. Three Essential Sean Murray Tracks: Mr Hooky - ‘Girl’s A Freak’

J PLATES Real name: Jeremy Graham Location: Hamilton Year you started producing: 2007 Styles Produced: Electronic - Drum & Bass/Jungle (Main Genre), House/Techno, Ambient/ Downtempo. Labels signed to: Audio Theory

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

(HUHU Music) Sean Murray featuring Emily G ‘How I Feel’ (HUHU Music) Sean Murray - ‘Hood St’ (Da Sunlounge Remix) (HUHU Music) What are your short-term/ long-term goals with your music production? Short-term, to focus on quality instead of quantity, by no means is it financially-driven, it’s now more about being happy with what I create and being free from following trends. Long-term I want to keep creating music with different people and to continue to just enjoy music as a whole without genre restrictions and to learn more. For many years i was holding myself back by not listening to enough variety so I will explore a lot further.

Recordings (Greece), Sonata Recordings (UK), Offworld Recordings (UK), Deafmuted Records (Czech Republic), Liquid Brilliants Recordings (Russia). What drew you to start writing your own music? My passion for music started as a young child. This developed further

into my teenage years where I became interested in electronic music after learning various instruments and playing in a few bands. I then pursued a degree in music production, and ultimately began my career as a music producer, DJ, and sound engineer. What are your short-term/ long-term goals with your music production? Keep being inspired to write, create and play music. Continue to release more of my productions (including ones from other genres). Tour on a global scale. Learn new skills.

JAY KNIGHT / JKDR Real name: Jay Rangi Location: Wellington and Christchurch Year you started producing: 2010 Style Produced: Instrumentals that have feeling. The New Wave. Labels signed to: Unsigned What drew you to start writing your own music? I’ve been interested in creative avenues more than the academic side of things from a young age. I left high school pretty early on to pursue graphic design. I was doing pretty well at it financially and thought hey, why not, I got nothing to lose, school isn’t for me. After that i ended up listening to music all day every day. There was never a restriction on genre … I just wanted to learn.

Enjoy the whole process. Stay true to myself and to the craft. Three Essential J Plates tracks: J Plates - ‘A Cut Above’ (Sonata Recordings) J Plates - ‘Look Within’ (feat. Karen Saunders) (Liquid Brilliants Recordings) J Plates - ‘Defeat The Purpose’ (Audio Theory Recordings) SOUNDCLOUD: j-plates FACEBOOK: jplatesnz Photo credit: Amanda Ratcliffe (@shootsbands)

Three Essential Jay Knight tracks: Jay Knight - ‘Proud’ (Feat. Bailey Wiley & Piatao The Supervillain) Jay Knight - ‘Ocean Views’ (Feat. Raiza Biza) @Peace - ‘Cats Like Fish’ (Produced. by Jay Knight) What are your short-term/ long-term goals with your music production? I’m heading away from the hip-hop scene and more into actually making songs with singers and people who don’t just rap hot bars. I also have been doing a lot of DJ sets. Opening for Schoolboy Q, @ Peace tour and R&V 2013 are a few things I’ve partaken in. SOUNDCLOUD: jay_knight FACEBOOK: Jay Knight

began to learn as much as I could in analogue and digital sound. Three Essential KODA SOUND Tracks: KODA SOUND - ‘They Call Me’ KODA SOUND - ‘Upperclass’ Swing Swag – ‘Yolanda Stone’ (produced by KODA SOUND) What are your short-term/ long-term goals with your

ERIKA AMOORE Real name: Erika Amoore Location: Auckland Year you started producing: 2014 Styles Produced: House and Tech House. Labels signed to: Jungle Funk Recordings, InStereo, Re:Vibe Music, Recovery House. What drew you to start writing your own music? I’ve wanted to make my own music in one form or another for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a very musical family; my father is a concert pianist and can play every instrument imaginable. I played the piano for 10 years and violin for three. When I found DJing I used to listen to tracks (and still do) and think “wouldn’t it be cool if it did this, or sounded like this, rather than that” when I was out playing, so producing my own tracks was a natural progression.

What are your short-term/ long-term goals with your music production? Short-term: I’m currently working on a two track EP which I hope will be finished in the next couple of months. Long-term: I would love to be in a position to make music my full-time career (although in the age of digital there are very few of us that are able to make this a reality!) Three Essential Erika Amoore tracks: Erika Amoore - ‘Sometimes’ (Jungle Funk Recordings) The Bronx Cheer & DJ Roland Clark - ‘Space Disco’ (Erika Amoore Remix) (InStereo Recordings) AFTC - ‘Bad Habit’ (Erika Amoore 2015 Rewire) (CDR) SOUNDCLOUD: erikaamoore FACEBOOK: djerikaamoore

TERACE

KODA SOUND Real name: Danny Fitter Location: Auckland Year you started producing: 2011 Styles Produced: Electronic Dance Music (Dubstep, Trap, House, Glitch Hop, Electro Swing) and Hip Hop.

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

music production? I currently have completed my first shortterm goal which was to work in a music studio (Creative House studios), so next is to get the artists I currently produce as well as myself internationally recognised as well as to finish and release my up-and-coming EP by July this year. My longterm goal would be to run a successful studio so that I may

Label signed to: Soniqarium Musika What drew you to start writing your own music: I became fascinated within my first year at Music and Audio Institute in Auckland with synth-building and electronica structure. I

Real names: Daniel Farley and Tim Corin Location: Sydney and Auckland Year you started producing: 2013. We were producing under other names individually a few years before that. Styles Produced: House and Electronica. We don’t like to pin ourselves into sub-genres too much really … Label signed to: Sweat It Out Recordings (Australia) What drew you to start writing your own music? Just the longtime fascination and infatuation with electronic music. It seemed like a logical step.

What are your short-term and long-term goals with your music production? Short term: Managing to blag Grey Goose onto our rider. Long term: Make a single our parents can approve of. Three Essential Terace Tracks: Terace - ‘Let Me Know’ (Sweat It Out) What So Not - ‘Gemini’ (Terace Rehash) (Sweat It Out) Terace - ‘Next One’ (Sweat It Out) SOUNDCLOUD: terrace FACEBOOK: teracemusic

ST YLE LIKE BEST COAST

Best Coast ‘California Nights’ Album: New Release: Out Now | Sophia Hattingh Eyewear: 100% human hair cast in resin: sophiahattingh.com Nymphets Clothing –– nymphets.co.nz | Karen Walker ‘A B C’ Frangrances 150ml: karenwalker.com $175

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

GADGETS

What | ‘Hairy Thing’ by Thing Industries Why You Need This | Wrap your world in a 360° sound-space, whenever, wherever. Boom. The party starts now. Where To Get It | douglasandbec.com $165

What | Spaced360 Why You Need This | Wrap your world in a 360° sound-space, whenever, wherever. Boom. The party starts now. Where To Get It | orbitsound.co.nz/spaced360 $499

What | Keyboard Key Light Why You Need This | You just do Where To Get It | fancy.com $26 USD

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

New shit OUT NOW

THE NEW RELEASES YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO

OUT NOW

TRINITY ROOTS

ALABAMA SHAKES

‘EL KAPTAIN’

‘SOUND AND COLOUR’

MUSIC VIDEO

OUT NOW

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

RUDIMENTAL

MY MORNING JACKET

‘SHIP TO THE WRECK’

‘NEVER LET YOU GO’

‘SPRING (AMONG THE LIVING)’

MUSIC VIDEO

SONG

WED 20 MAY

OUT NOW

THU 21 MAY

THU 28 MAY

BIRDMAN

TOMORROWLAND

DAVIF BOWIE IS

DVD RELEASE

CINEMA RELEASE

FILM

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

GAMING

DIE TRYING: PERSISTENCE AND PROFITABILITY IN GAMING There is a common misconception that excessive gaming causes people to develop short attention spans. I would argue that, in most cases, excessive gamers spend a bulk of their gaming time attempting to complete single tasks of a particularly high difficulty, and are entirely focused during this time. There are exceptions to this of course, but for the most part, the challenges that game developers set their players are ones that require practice, determination and, in the case of multi-player games, good teamwork and communication. To those of you reading who are not experienced gamers, it may seem absurd to consider the people who put hours of time into single, seemingly trivial, and yet excessively difficult tasks. But for those playing, there is a definite sense of elation and achievement when their

WINGS OF VI: SIDE-SCROLLING PLATFORMER GRYNSOFT

I’ve come to realise, through years upon years of gaming, that if a game presents itself as

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

efforts eventually come to fruition; a feeling that, for many, is worth all of the time invested. While many of us dedicate ourselves to our work, our sports teams, or our latest artistic project, there is a specific subculture of people who devote themselves to the completion of challenges set for them by game designers, solely for the sake of the challenge. These tasks can require strategic planning, practiced displays of dexterity, disciplined communication, or combinations of the three; but most importantly, they require persistence. This is not to say that gamers put more dedication or skill into what they do than anyone else who passionately engages with an activity, but it is important to acknowledge that, while it falls into the category of “entertainment”, gaming can prove to be a lot more than a casual hobby. In South Korea, a country wherein the cultural phenomenon of video gaming has become

having angelic themes, it’s probably downright evil. Wings Of Vi is no exception. At face value, it’s a cutesy platformer, with an adorable angel for a protagonist, but at its heart it is cruel, relentless, and unforgiving. To those who were

akin to that of international sports, there is a television channel dedicated to StarCraft. StarCraft is a real-time strategy game, in which two to eight players face off, harvesting resources to fund armies, which they then use to destroy their enemies’ bases. South Korea’s best StarCraft players have been known to earn in excess of $100,000 US per year, and perform more than 300 actions per minute whilst playing. That’s five button presses a second, every second, for an average of 10-15 minutes per game, all while formulating a strategy to overthrow the opponent. Many have made a career from the game, and will train for hours upon hours a day, much of that time spent under the guidance of a coach. In a similar vein, the website twitch.tv, which was launched in 2012, allows gamers to stream their video gaming to an online audience. Many popular streamers make money this way, taking a cut of the advertising revenue that twitch.tv makes from their popularity, as well as surprisingly regular donations from the audience themselves. With gaming rapidly becoming a profitable endeavor, more and more people are attempting to achieve greatness in the field, and the activity is becoming far less trivial in the eyes of those who engage in it. With enough time and practice, it’s conceivable that some especially talented gamers may eventually achieve wages on par with those of international sports stars. So next time you feel like telling your son or daughter that they spend too much time playing video games, and not enough time doing something constructive, pause to consider the fact that they may already be doing just that. WILLIAM BOLWELL

masochistic enough to endure the trials and tribulations of Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, or I Wanna Be The Guy, allow me to introduce you to your new oppressor. If you are a fan of the platformer genre, then I would consider it unjustifiable to exclude Wings Of Vi from your collection. Grynsoft’s level design is meticulous, their puzzles and encounters are truly original, and the game’s incredible retro soundtrack is enough to get your blood pumping without even touching the controller. And whilst the art design leaves a little to be desired in my eyes, it’s a luxury that this game can very easily live without. Wings of Vi has a free demo on Steam, and a very reasonable price tag. So if you’re looking for a game that will make you work to complete it, and that you can develop a passionate lovehate relationship with, then you needn’t look any further. WILLIAM BOLWELL

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

FAITH NO MORE I have played a lot of music with different people of the last 18 years but it’s never been the same experience as I have had playing in Faith No More. I turn the conversation around to drumming and ask Mike how he came to take up the instrument. “When I was 13 I was sitting Cliff Burton’s [founding member of Metallica] bedroom listening to records. Then in a totally random way Cliff said ‘I am going to play the bass’ and I replied ‘in that case I am going to play drums’ and I had no idea why. He was my first rhythm section partner and I couldn’t ask for a better start than that.”

ON FRIDAY 19 May, alt-rock legends Faith No More will release their first new album in 18 years. I spoke with the band’s drummer Mike Bordin the afternoon before their appearance at WestFest 2015 and began our interview by stating that the new album, Sol Invictus, is full of aggression and energy, a powerful rock and roll tour de force. Mike brightens immediately and explains that is gratifying to get positive feedback, especially when you have put so much effort into a project, more so when the band is releasing the album themselves without the support of a major label. A risky step, but one that should pay off – the album is as good as anything the band has ever done. Sol Invictus is an album that flows from end to end, a very traditional kind of listening experience reminiscent of the LPs of the 1970s and ‘80s. On my first run through I found myself swept up in the grandeur of it all and transported onto some kind of widescreen cinematic landscape. “The songs do fit together. Beautiful, aggressive or moody, they all dovetail seamlessly into one. A good-sounding album is the result of well-written, well-executed performances, effort, thought and hard work. We sequenced it to be an album with a side one and a side two. The results are not accidental.

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

“I love the new album and I am proud of it but I am done listening to it. I am ready to let it go and hand it over to the audience. That’s one of the wonderful things about making music; people take ownership of it and make it their own.” I ask Mike how it feels to be back in Faith No More after all these years. “It’s a gift to see the band back together. After the last run of Ozzie gigs [Mike has been Ozzy Osbourne’s drummer for around 18 years and has played over a thousand gigs with him], it was suggested we get back together and I thought there’s no way, but somehow it actually happened. I am proud of the way we opened up the doors and stepped over the accumulated piles of crap, stuff we didn’t deal with when we were younger, crap that obscured the good. “I have played a lot of music with different people of the last 18 years but it’s never been the same experience as I have had playing in Faith No More. As a band, we speak the same musical language, it’s a visual language and when we play it’s a very visceral experience. Being in this band is very special for me and I am so grateful to be able to experience it all over again.”

“Cliff and I were into all kinds of music. My sister took us to see the last ever Sex Pistols gig at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in 1978. It’s been said that the band was tired by this stage and the gig was a washout. It wasn’t, they were a revelation. I walked out of the gig thinking I’m not Billy Cobham but I can do this.” (Billy Cobham is considered to be one the greatest living drummers). “I love playing the drums. I get nothing like the feeling, physically or emotionally, from anything else. I play my ass off every single night. I like to finish a show with nothing left, if I didn’t I would feel like I cheated. I am always exhausted and drained after gigs, usually in tears and sitting in a puddle of urine.” I finish the interview by asking who his favourite drummers are. “The drummers I love are Tony Williams and Art Blakey, the great John Bonham, Matt Cameron, Brad Wilk and Keith Moon. He was totally thrilling and exciting, like some kind of genius idiot savant. I saw him play live once and he was amazing. I love Bill Ward from Sabbath, Paul Thompson from Roxy Music and Jet Black from The Stranglers.” LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW IS UP ON RIP IT UP RADIO: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/RIP-IT-UP-RADIO

FAITH NO MORE NEW ALBUM: SOL INVICTUS OUT FRI 15 MAY

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

HEAD LIKE A HOLE But the saga didn’t end that easily. Beazley had contracted hepatitis C from needle-sharing. He didn’t want to risk passing it on to his children so he went on a course of interferon, hoping it would knock the virus from his system.

WIN

Beazley had been on the treatment for two months when a routine physical revealed that he had developed chronic heart disease. With blocked arteries and an enlarged heart, he was told in no uncertain terms that he was close to death. There was one bit of good news, however – the medication had done its work and he was free of the hepatitis. Since then Beazley has made some radical life changes. Now dependent on heart medication, he has lost weight and trains everyday. Despite everything, these days he is fit and feeling good.

HEAD LIKE A Hole (HLAH) have been striding the New Zealand landscape now for some 23 years and while the former bad boys of New Zealand rock have calmed down somewhat in recent times, it hasn’t stopped them from making great rock and roll. The new record Narcocorrido is number 11 and is a tour de force that debuted at number three on the NZ album charts upon release. All sonic intensity, it loudly proclaims that middle age is no barrier to passionate hard out rocking. I spoke to vocalist Booga Beazley about the album, the band, drug addiction and being a stay-at-home dad from his home in Otaki down on the Kapiti Coast. It was a revealing conversation and a cautionary tale about the dangers of hard living. It was early on in HLAH story and Beazley was sharing a house with the band’s late manager Gerald Dwyer. A gym aficionado, he would often arrive home to find the kitchen out of bounds. The story was that Dwyer and his associates were baking. Beazley found this odd, but by his own admission, was naive enough to accept the story at face value. It turns out there was some heavy drug use going on and eventually they let him in on their activities and offered him membership into the club. He kept turning them down but one night succumbed simply to see what all the fuss was about.

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

Before he knew it he was hooked and by his own admission, set on the thankless course of trying to get back to that initial high. He tried cleaning up many times. He describes withdrawal as a feeling akin to “someone was drawing a long line of sewing cotton through my veins.” It was intolerable and he found himself seeking out another hit to ease the pain. Trying to quit came with another price – sleeplessness. Beazley remembers trying to knock himself out by smashing his head against the wall, either that or heavy doses of sleeping pills. It was a nightmare, both the addiction and the endless search for a score. “Because it was so mental I tried methadone but it just turned out to be avenue to get free drugs. I was on the methadone programme for 13 years and getting nowhere. I put on heaps of weight and it was wearing me out.” By this time he had become a father and he had to make some serious decisions about the direction of his life. Finally in 2013, he kicked the habit for good. “I had my time of debauchery but I had to let it go for the sake of my mental and physical health and for the welfare of my family.”

Now 43 years old, he is active, enthusiastic and preparing to take to the road for the HLAH’s upcoming tour. Narcocorrido, the title of the new album, refers to a style of Mexican drug ballad that dealers sing as tribute their drug lords. It involves a kind of rap and shooting live rounds of ammunition into the air. It’s the band’s third album without a label and a labour of love that they have paid for both from their own pockets and from money raised via Kickstarter. Beazley is very happy with the result, describing it as a “fat-sounding record with a bit of gloss and enough bottom end to kick you in the nuts and leave you feeling it for a few days after.” I finish the interview by asking Beazley about his role as a stay-at-home dad but rather than offering me a sentimental “happily ever after story” he tells me that the twins, now nine years old, were born on the sixth of the sixth, 2006, and as he arrived at the hospital to see them, Iron Maiden’s ‘Number Of The Beast’ started playing on of the car radio. LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW ON RIP IT UP RADIO: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/RIP-IT-UP-RADIO

HEAD LIKE A HOLE NEW ALBUM: NARCOCORRIDO OUT NOW

ALBUM REVIEWS ***** LAURA MARLING SHORT MOVIE (VIRGIN)

One imagines Laura Marling has a seat kept warm for her at very particular kind of British NuFolk table. A Marie Antoinette, Hameau de la Reine type affair where Marcus Mumford wears bespoke hessian slacks. On Short Movie, however, Marling swiftly ditches the fey allusions of the cake eating crowd in favour of a greater, braver exploration of the force that has often driven her work: itchy feet. Post 2013’s Mercury nominated Once I Was an Eagle, Marling abandoned music for a lengthy ‘spiritual’

***** ANIKA MOA QUEEN AT THE TABLE

***** BLUR THE MAGIC WHIP

MILLENCOLLIN TRUE BREW

(THE LABEL)

(PARLOPHONE)

(EPITAPH)

Moa returns to the world of the grown-ups after laying down a few grooves for her kids. She made Queen… at Auckland’s The Lab studio with producer Jol Mulholland (The Mots, Mullholland) who lends a synthy-electro vibe. Oddly, for one who’s so happy many of these numbers have a dark undercurrent of relationship destruction. ‘Running’ is melodic, catchy and surprisingly upbeat for a breakup song. Mulholland’s sense of drama comes through on ‘These Lonely Tears’, which feels like upbeat Portishead. Enhanced by sweet vocalisations ‘Fever’ and ‘Closer’ take blip-bop to new heights with a faint ghost of Strawpeople on the latter. With every new album Moa pushes herself just little further. Queen… is miles from Thinking Room but still retains the perfectly beautiful song writing. It maybe bold to go “electro” but clearly it’s paid off in spades.

Initial work was done in Hong Kong around mid-2013 but nought happened until a year later when guitarist Graham Coxon and producer Stephen Street finally completed it. It’s a bleak mix of sharp political and social commentary peppered with doses of cultural skepticism. That’s especially clear on ‘There Are Too Many Of Us’ about the 2014 Sydney hostage situation, though ‘Ice Cream Man’ and “Thought I Was A Spaceman’ are also as moody as teenagers on downers. And it continues with simmering, quirky electronic programming puncturing the tensions, especially with ‘Pyongyang’s’ flying-saucer keyboards and film-noir guitar licks. There is a hint of the old Blur. First track ‘Lonesome Street” sounds and swaggers just like ‘Country House’. This could easily be called an Albarn or Coxon solo project but you can feel there’s still chemistry.

Tis the season for dormant Swedish punk bands to make another album, apparently. 20-odd year veterans Millencolin have just let loose their first outing in seven years, beating Refused to the punch. So what has the itchy fermentation in their cargo pants wrought? For better or worse, it’s a pop-punk record and it ticks those boxes with intent. Familiar hooks, sing-along choruses and clinically produced. Catchy in the moment but will suffer the fate of forget ability. Most of the thematic choices read as functions of Nikola Sarcevic being a grownass man. Shedding the concerns of post-adolescent drift for an affirmation of his established identity. With ambitious bands like Tenement elbowing for similar shelf space, the pop-punk renaissance might be a tough slog for old hands aiming at old targets.

TIM GRUAR

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

SARAH THOMSON

** **

US sojourn. Jodorowsky-goggled Joshua Tree heat and Silver Lake sun therefore permeate many of Short Movie’s subsequently recorded tracks. The result is not necessarily warmth (although the album is her ‘Newport Moment’, ie: folk-gone-electric. Sorry.), but an uncloaking, often to the point of dark, weary honesty (‘Warrior’, ‘Strange’). Beautifully indignant. Proudly confused. SARAH THOMSON

DEATH CAB FOR***** CUTIE KINTSUGI (ATLANTIC)

‘Kintsugi’ is the Japanese art of appreciating the cracks, respecting the flaws instead of covering up. A perfect metaphor for music made by real people and in the ‘Cutie’s case a fitting acknowledgement for the retirement of guitarist and former band produced Chris Walla. The metaphors for a break up litter nearly all 11 tracks including the monochromatic “No Room In The Frame” where vocalist Ben Gibberd is resigned to the inevitable departure of another striking out on their own. ‘Black Sun’ is an instant appealer, crawling gently under the skin with infectious, ominous hooks. ‘You’ve Haunted Me All Your Life’ is a perfect Twilight soundtrack, albeit set in the Wild West. But the absolute stunner is ‘Little Wander’ about distance and travel “We say our goodbyes over Messenger as the network overloads.” TIM GRUAR

ALBUM REVIEWS ***** DON MCGLASHAN LUCKY STARS (SELF-RELEASED)

The best track on McGlashan’s new album is ‘Kingsford Smith’, a simple song about idling at the airport. He scans the horizon noting the planes vanishing into the clouds like apparitions and thinking of our early pioneering aviator. It’s one of many small moments on this record where McGlashan is observing the obvious. As he’s matured McGlashan become a consumer of the everyday. Gone are the anxieties of youthful exuberance. Who cares if there’s a depression in New Zealand.

*****

That standpoint’s a million miles away these days. Parental guidance appears on ‘Girl Make Your Own Mind Up’, sage advice to avoid fake-religious trickery and politico spin-doctoring. And there’s a humble epiphany moment in ‘Lucky Stars’ when McGlashan queues behind a homeless man at the Service Station. Only the out of character ‘When The Trumpets Sound’ has any misplaced delusions of grandeur, with tacky references to Biblical overtures. TIM GRUAR

SJD SAINT JOHN DIVINE

SEASICK STEVE SONIC SOUL SURFER

YUMI ZOUMA EP I + II

(ASTHMATIC KITTY)

(ROUND TRIP MARS)

(CAROLINE)

(CASCINE)

Stevens played the adolescent mystic on is his last, The Age of Adz (2010). By contrast Carrie & Lowell (after his parents) is soft, melancholic, deeply personal. Morbid anxieties of mortality, death, an age of innocence and spiritual confusion consume every song. “We’re all going to die” comes the confessional coda of ‘Fourth of July’, a song of fragmented historical snapshots. Mostly his songs are inextricably linked to his mother’s recent death and there’s more than just a hint of a childhood memory poking through. Stevens grew up in a family of religious turbulence and that seeps in at times. There’s even betrayal when faith does not truly comfort at a time of loss (‘No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross’). It’s an intense listen but not cathartic in the usual sense – no violence, no smashing TV’s. A sweeter, more civilised approach to the inevitable.

Hanging with Neil and Shazza Finn must’ve paid off. I’m clearly hearing some strong song writing, devoid the usual smoke and mirrors electron-trickery on opener ‘I Saw The Future’. And there’s a spot of Brit-pop on ‘Little Pieces’, sewn together by Neil’s cleaver keyboards and Julia Dean’s honey-tonsils. This is his seventh, following up on his entirely self-recorded, selfplayed Taite Prize winner Elastic Wasteland. This time a live band dominates. The Roundhead floorboards resonate long-time collaborator James Duncan frets’n’strums and drummer Chris O’Connor’s symbolic crashes on swelling numbers like ‘Unplugged’ and the 60’s detective-drama ‘The Invisible Man’. But my favourite has to be ‘I Wanna Be Foolish’, with its grungy swagger and instant appeal. But truth be told, every track has appeal this time.

Despite the emetic eponym, Seasick Steve doesn’t muck about. The reliable twelve bar form, looping riffs played into the ground on homemade guitars as likely to give you tetanus as they are a tone and more dramatic turn-arounds than a boxset of Buffy. Sonic Soul Surfer is the product of a well-travelled outsider turned insider, moving sideways in his chosen form. It pays off because it’s forceful and direct. There’s nowhere to hide. Blues rock’n’roll that’s half-hearted or pretentious sticks out like a dog’s velveteen marble pouch. Lyrically, the songs borne of male bravado are iffy, some are as questionable as the worst of ZZ Top. Other tracks, namely ‘Right on Time’, have a simple syrup sweetness that’s more in tune with contemporary attitudes, if only there were more like it.

TIM GRUAR

There’s a wispy kind of polished dreampop that reached its zenith in mid ‘00s Gothenberg, Sweden. Cooing over slick airy synths, bubbling basslines, tracks pieced together in bedrooms and a pervading sense of the weirdness and fleeting nature of youth. As reductive the comparison may be to Yumi Zouma, their two numerically named EPs would fit right on in to the peak-hour roster of Gothenberg’s Sincerely Yours label (Air France, ceo, The Tough Alliance, jj). Originally a Christchurch three-piece, now often scattered to the intercontinental winds post-2011 earthquake, Yumi Zouma’s sound has a definite rigidity of style. This can mean their offerings only manage the small walk from the ‘80s misty, manicured suburban park to the John Hughes, red-cup teen party across the road. But then you hear that bubbling bassline again – and what an excellent walk that becomes.

SAM WIECK

SARAH THOMSON

*** *

SUFJAN STEVENS CARRIE & LOWELL

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

FILM REVIEWS

WIN

DIRECTED BY BRETT MORGEN

COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK Director Brett Morgen has created something special. Cobain: Montage of Heck serves Kurt Cobain’s legacy with a deservingly gritty, inyour-face portrait which is very hard to deny. You walk in knowing Cobain was screwed up. His waywardness as a kid came from

****

hyperactivity and indifference to his parents. He’d been kicked out of many homes multiple times, something that would cause him to fear isolation and rejection. The underground would eventually find him, as would sex, heroin and punk rock. There are interviews with core figures – his parents, bandmate Krist Novoselic

and wife Courtney Love. Morgen’s use of animation based on Cobain’s diary scribbles are jarring and claustrophobic, sometimes disgusting, providing an unsettling but ultimately entertaining arc. The soundtrack is a mix of beautiful renditions of Nirvana songs and unreleased acoustic sketches. The audio recordings and home footage of Cobain provide the emotional core. You hear him talking of suicide at an early age. You see him as a cute blonde toddler; a gangly teenager; an exhausted rock star holding his daughter Frances, nodding out, complaining, “I’m just so tired.” And in between, there’s the story of his band, one that would sell millions and rule the early ‘90s: Nirvana. We know how Cobain’s story ends. You can’t help but think of him today as a forty-something guy still writing great songs, raising a family. It all leaves you a bit empty. You walk out wishing you could have helped him. Montage of Heck helps us understand why ultimately, no one could. JAKE EBDALE

DIRECTED BY JAMES WAN STARRING PAUL WALKER, VIN DIESEL, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ

FURIOUS 7 Look, it’s not the best film in the Fast and Furious franchise but this is a must-see for any longtime fan of the series – as a final farewell to the late Paul Walker. So, instead of pumping millions of dollars into a quality script, the filmmakers have decided to send him off with one last hurrah that includes driving luxury supercars between skyscrapers, cliff-hanging climaxes and a lot of fisticuffs between two bald dudes. Following on from the sixth/third films, Owen Shaw is in a coma and his older sibling Deckard (Statham), who is even more of a bruiser than his brother, is out to exact revenge on the people that put him there. Toretto trying to protect his family, ends up part of a convoluted government plan

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

*** *

to stop military hackers from destroying the world in exchange from bringing down Deckard. What happened to the days when we used to just race for pink slips? With bigger budgets comes more extreme stunts and ridiculous storylines, losing a bit of the original fun that came with just racing for money. Sure, there’s the usual gratuitous butt shots and plenty of explosions to keep you happy, though the over-the-top plot stops the flow of a good oldfashion street race. As the final scene plans and the Wiz Khalifa song comes on, you’ll forget about the last two hours of mayhem and get caught up in the emotion. Good luck holding back those tears. LAURA WEASER

DIRECTED BY STEPHEN BRADLEY STARRING DEIRDRE O’KANE, BRENDAN COYLE, LIAM CUNNINGHAM

*****

NOBLE After an anguished upbringing in 1940s working class Dublin, Christina Noble’s sheer will eventually led her to Ho Chi Min city where she would become a renowned children’s rights campaigner and founder of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. This biopic from Irish writer/director Stephen Bradley traverses, with wavering aptitude, the differing stages of Noble’s life; the loss of her mother and subsequent family breakdown, her compassionless treatment at the hands of the sisters at a Catholic boarding house and the eventual

realisation of her dream to protect the children of Vietnam. There are some decent performances here from Deirdre O’Kane and Sarah Greene but the script is clunky and melodramatic, not helped by editing which feels sporadic and one-dimensional. At times, because we are given so much room for assumption, seemingly important events occur in a matter of shots; Noble’s marriage and children coming and going in the blink of an eye, for example, belying the quality of the cast. GUY INNES

FILM REVIEWS

DIRECTED BY JOSS WHEDON STARRING SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ROBERT DOWNEY JR, CHRIS HEMSWORTH

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Hotly anticipated, the sequel doesn’t disappoint, checking all the boxes. CGI explosions? Check. In-house banter between the team? Check. Inhouse fighting between the team? Also check. And, at times, it does feel like Joss Whedon is going through the motions to give us what we want, but there’s also an eerie side to this sequel that show how things truly have changed

*****

since New York (part one). Once again in possession of the sceptre, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) tries to use its power to kick-start a peacekeeping program, a shield around the world. But he should know better than to think you can control alien technology! Sure enough, things go awry and it is up to the Avengers to stop Ultron from enacting his plans It starts off strong; James Spader’s Ultron a

mix of his usual calm-cruel in juxtaposition to the Avenger’s do-gooder ways. With that sinking sense of despair creeping in, there is genuine fear for the future of the Marvel team. Then it gets a little too wordy, trying to sum up complex theories in a matter of minutes to get to the next fight scene, before we’re delving into Hawkeye and Black Widow’s past, then adding in a romantic subplot with… the Hulk?? It was too much, too distracting from what started as a much dark, more intriguing idea than just a smash and grab blockbuster. There were definitely stand-out moments that make up for the lack cohesion or explanation – a celebratory Avengers party sees the fun-loving sides of their personalities come out, and the addition of Russian twins Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) is not wasted with plenty of screentime to shine. Hope you’re keeping up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because with new characters on-board, millions of solo and Avengers sequels to come, it’s going to be a long ride – so you might as well sit back and enjoy it. LAURA WEASER

DIRECTED BY GEORGE TILLMAN JR. STARRING SCOTT EASTWOOD, BRITT ROBERTSON, OONA CHAPLIN

THE LONGEST RIDE Speaking of long rides, Nicholas Sparks’ latest addition to the vomit-inducing repertoire of rom-coms introduces us to Clint Eastwood’s smoking hot son (Scott), providing ladies with plenty of eye candy to distract from the “love conquers all” BS. Sophia (Britt Robertson) is a good girl, Luke (Eastwood) is a farm boy, whose life ambition is to be a champion bull rider. An unexpected car crash brings their two worlds together and intertwines it with an elderly gentleman, who reflects on a love story of his own. Much like my last excursion to a NSpark’s lovefest, the quality of this film was benefitted by a few drinks

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

*****

beforehand. The dialogue is cringe-worthy at best, but surprisingly the “old time” love story, as retold through letters by the elderly gentleman (MASH’s Alan Alda), has a lot of heart and is far more credible than the modern romance between two very incompatible but very attractive twenty-somethings. Having to overcome struggles greater than “I don’t like you riding bulls” is what true love is about. Nothing compares to The Notebook – and our leads, albeit pretty, don’t have the same charisma as that wonderful couple to make any cheesy sentiment seem plausible without an audience chuckle. LAURA WEASER

DIRECTED BY ?MEGAN GRIFFITHS STARRING TONI COLLETTE, THOMAS HADEN CHURCH, RYAN EGGOLD

LUCKY THEM A music writer sets out on a road trip searching for a lover from her past, a legendary musician who supposedly committed suicide at the height of his fame. Information has come her way that Matthew Smith might be alive and her editor needs a big story. She is reluctant, to say the least, but a series of circumstances force her to confront her past, her present and future. Toni Collette and Thomas Hayden Church lead in this delightful romantic comedy that is not a million miles in tone from Hayden

*****

Church’s big hit, 2004’s Sideways, a film about two buddies on a road trip except that Lucky Them is set in the gloomy twilight world of the wintry pacific northwest and not the sun-drenched winegrowing region of Northern California. Intelligent, funny and filled with self-reflective pathos, Lucky Them is a near faultless film and a triumphant debut for director Megan Griffiths. Collette is her usual outstanding self and Hayden Church delivers his lines with typical droll alacrity. Highly recommended. ANDREW JOHNSTONE

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

SPANDAU BALLET WIN

OH MY GOD, an interview with Spandau Ballet, you have got to be joking! I had shallowly dismissed this band decades ago as a bunch of lightweight pretty boys but the documentary Soul Boys of the Western World, which I watched prior to my interview with the bands guitarist and saxophonist Steve Norman, completely changed my attitude. Some critics have described the doco as a little self-serving but I found it to be a compelling examination of a time that is now fast fading into memory. Thatcher’s Britain was not a pretty place but the music scene was explosive. Music was fracturing into multiple new genres in the early 1980s and included the new wave of synth-driven pop music of which Spandau Ballet were major players. If the documentary does one thing, it challenges the long help perception that the band were little more than clotheshorses. Their obsession with fashion and grooming saw them easily dismissed by some quarters of the music press, but as the documentary so eloquently demonstrates, these guys were serious about their skills. “We were unfairly judged

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

because of our looks but we were working class kids who wanted to make something of ourselves and we were expressing something of our ambition through our clothes. We were labelled as posers but we were misjudged and that’s the good thing about being older and being able to do it all again – we can address that misconception and show people what good musicians we really were and are.” On their way to the top, they tried various genres under different guises until they discovered the formula they were looking for. The results saw them conquer the British, European, Australasian and finally the American Charts, the holy grail of musical success. Unfortunately the success that they worked so hard to achieve was also their undoing. Young and wealthy they did not have the maturity to deal with it all and the band imploded. Egos had gotten out of control and after nine years, album sales of around of 25 million units and 23 international hit singles, it was all over. The years passed- tensions subsided, wounds healed and by 2009 the band was ready to give it another go and these days, as

Norman explains, “We are at peace with each other. There are no egos anymore. We are closer now and more supportive of each other than we have been and we are literally floating on air.” “It’s so great to have been offered another bite of the cherry. We have had a chance to put things right and we have. I have been making music all my life but being in Spandau Ballet is by far the most enjoyable experience I have ever had as musician.” This shows in the band’s recent live videos. Their collective joy is palpable, the performances energetic, enthusiastic and their song craft better than it has ever been. The new songs are narratives of mature men who have faced the ups and downs of life and have emerged better for the experience. They are bold, melodic, anthemic and worthy successors to tracks like ‘Gold’ and ‘True’. “Those songs have taken on a life of their own. ‘Gold’ is about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. In the UK it’s become a sporting anthem, a lads song. ‘True’ is a girl’s song, an anthem for love and romance. These songs are ever-evolving in the public psyche and don’t belong to us any more.”

“We had no idea that ‘True’ would become the song it did, not even Gary who wrote it. For God’s sake, we stuck it on the end of that album. It should have been the first song! It’s based on ‘Sha La La’, the Al Green track, and it’s been sampled dozens of times by urban soul artists in America. It is American soul music that has come to Britain and gone back again in a slightly different form to influence a whole new generation of American artists. Music is a language that people pass around. That’s what makes the music experience so beautiful.” It is time to wrap the interview up and I close by asking Steve what their audience can expect at their upcoming New Zealand show. “The hits, of course, with some early music electronic stuff back from when we were more of a dance club band. There will be lots of visuals but mostly it will be a celebration of all things Spandau. It’s definitely the most exciting show we have ever done. LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW ON RIP IT UP RADIO: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/RIP-IT-UP-RADIO SPANDAU BALLET SEE THEM LIVE: SPANDAU BALLET SUN 10 MAY VECTOR ARENA, AUCKLAND

ANDREW JOHNSTONE

THE L ATEST FALLOUT Jeremy Badger, drums: I have been playing drums since the age of 11, drumming in various musicals, jazz bands, rock bands, and concert bands. I work as an instrument tutor at various schools throughout Hamilton as well as playing in a covers band most weekends. When I’m not playing or teaching music you’ll usually find me behind a gaming console as I seek to protect the world from mass destruction.

OUR MARCH MUSIC Discovery feature uncovered a host of acts including The Latest Fallout. The response to their music was overwhelming so we decided to check them out. Who are The Latest Fallout? We are an alternative punk-pop band from Hamilton. Formed in 2012, the band is comprised of Brendan Pyper, Jared Stevenson, Dan Gordon and Jeremy Badger. We have released a six-track EP, August Sky, and a self-titled album that debuted at number 9 on the NZ Top Album chart on iTunes and at number 13 on the Official NZ Top 20 Albums charts. How did you come up with it and what does it mean? Brendan: It’s a name explaining a big breakup, a falling out with someone you were in a relationship with. Where did you record your album? Brendan: We recorded our album with our friend and producer Sam Askew who lives in New Plymouth. We recorded it in a bedroom in his house. Your creative process: who writes the songs and how are they arranged? Brendan: Either Jared or myself will come up with a musical idea and then we will structure it with an acoustic guitar and then go to the band to write the rest.

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

Your videos are classy productions. How do you finance them and who comes up with the ideas? Dan: We finance everything ourselves, and we are extremely poor because of it. Brendan: I come up with the ideas. I know what I want to see when I am writing a song and it’s very important to me to know that the visuals are true to the meaning of the song. Are you signed to a label? Jared: We do everything ourselves but if there are any record labels interested, do let us know. Please tell us a little about yourselves – your tastes, likes and dislikes. Jared Stevenson, lead guitar: I am a music teacher in Kaitaia. I studied music for three years and did a post-graduate diploma in teaching. I have a very diverse range of music tastes, from orchestral to hardcore. My favourite NZ artist at the moment is Broods. Bands like Dream Theater and Dirty Loops inspire me to keep being the best artist I can be. Dan Gordon, bass: I’ve been playing music since I was about eight or nine, and playing in bands since I was about 14. I’m currently studying digital media technology at Waikato University. Some of the bands I’ve been getting into lately include Modern Baseball, Beartooth, Issues, The Amity Affliction and Northlane My favourite New Zealand band is currently a hardcore band called Antagonist AD.

Brendan Pyper, vocals: I have been singing professionally for six years and I am currently in my last year of studying for my Bachelor of Music at Wintec and work part time on my dad’s farm. I love American Dad and Family Guy. I listen to Chris Brown, Issues, The 1975, Sia, Paramore, 30 Seconds to Mars and Panic at the Disco. My favourite NZ music is easily SIX60, Stan Walker and Ginny Blackmore. Random fact, I sing all the time! Love to sing and play guitar and love going to the gym. I am very interested in space and love animals. What is life like in Hamilton? Brendan: Hamilton is and always will be home to me. I really like it; it’s like everything you need in one place like Auckland but without all the people and congestion. So Hamilton to me is everything Auckland has but done right. What does the next year have in store for the band? Brendan: We have all grown and changed since our last album and are currently redefining our sound and image. I really hope we can chart a song and get mainstream radio play this year. Dan: We’re currently writing our second album and pushing ourselves to become the best band we can possibly be. Who is more attractive to the girls, the bass player or the drummer? Jeremy: Jeremy’s beauty is only surpassed by his charming personality that makes him the favourite … okay I admit it, I wrote that while the boys weren’t looking. Is there anything else you want to say? Brendan: We just want to give a massive shout out to our fans who are so fiercely loyal and mean the world to us. THE LATEST FALLOUT FACEBOOK.COM/THELATEST FALLOUT

#WINNING VISIT RIPITUP.CO.NZ FOR MORE INFO AND TO ENTER THE DRAW TO WIN PRIZES

WIN SPANDAU BALLET SUN 10 MAY VECTOR ARENA, AUCKLAND 1 X DOUBLE PASS

KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK 4 X IN SEASON DOUBLE PASSES

ANIKA MOA 2 X COPIES OF QUEEN AT THE TABLE

NOEL FIELDING 1 X DOUBLE PASS SAT 09 MAY ASB THEATRE, AUCKLAND

PRINCESS CHELSEA 1 X COPY OF THE GREAT CYBERNETIC DEPRESSION

HEAD LIKE A HOLE 1 X COPY OF NARCOCORRIDO

SUN 10 MAY BRUCE MASON CENTRE, AUCKLAND MON 11 MAY OPERA HOUSE, WELLINGTON TUE 12 MAY OPERA HOUSE, WELLINGTON THU 14 MAY ISAAC THEATRE ROYAL, CHRISTCHURCH

ON THE RECORD

SEMI PERMANENT

SEMI-PERMANENT AUCKLAND is back for 2015 with lectures and workshops from the sharpest minds and skills in international design, digital, advertising, graphics, typography and more. After the successful #SPAK10, the tenth anniversary at the Edge last May, Semi-Permanent returns on Friday 03 July and Saturday 04 July. This time at Victory Convention Centre, the line-up is packed with some of the brightest talent in the creative universe.

THE LINE-UP: Michael Bierut Partner at New York design firm Pentagram and senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art. His clients have included The New York Times, Saks Fifth Avenue and HarleyDavidson, he has won hundreds of design awards, and his work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

James Brown MASH studio and ‘micronation’ leader. A renowned art director for hospitality, wine, food and interior design (AKA ARTchitecture™). He’ll serve up a very interesting talk for foodies and art department types alike. Tomás Libertiny The founder of experimental design and architecture Studio Libertiny. Most well-known for his artworks involving honeybees, his list of projects and exhibits is a who’s-who of fashion, art and design: Louis Vuitton, FENDI, Christofle, Design Miami/Basel, MoMa, Venice Biennale, Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Paris Metro, V&A Museum in London. Yuri Suzuki A sound artist, designer and electronic musician exploring the realms of sound and its relationship with people, through exquisitely designed art pieces and installations shown internationally.

Andrew Gordon Directing Animator at Pixar. He has worked on eight of the studio’s 13 blockbuster hits including Academy Award® nominated feature Monsters, Inc., where he was the lead animator on the character Mike Wazowski.

Kathryn Wilson A New Zealand’s premier footwear designer. Her fan base reaches as far and high as Beyoncé, and it’s no surprise - after a decade in creating fashion-forward shoe designs straddling practicality and luxury with an avant-garde edge.

Jessica Walsh Designer and art director. She works as a partner at New York-based firm Sagmeister & Walsh and lectures about design at creative conferences and universities internationally.

Watch this space for further announcements.

DAVID WARD COMPOSER/MUSICIAN Your house is on fire, what do save? My 18-month-old son Eli, Binford Telecaster and 1970’s Ibanez Banjo. Probably in that order. Probably. Favourite ‘90s TV show? seaQuest DSV. Dream job as a kid? A rich aristocrat. I remember thinking that it would be great to stay in bed all day (with a custom-made conveyor belt to bring in food and take out waste etc.) First album? My first CD was Tone Loc’s Loc’ed After Dark when I was about ten. Cheeba Cheeba. If you weren’t a musician, what would you be? Financially solvent. Ultimate festival line-up? Reverend Gary Davis, Sonny Rollins, Dock Boggs, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Ornette Coleman, Howlin’ Wolf, Duke Ellington.

SEMI-PERMANENT AUCKLAND 2015 FRI 03 JUL – SAT 04 JUL VICTORY CONVENTION CENTRE, AUCKLAND

Worst job you’ve had? Eagle Boys. That uniform. Still traumatised by the colour pink. Which song do you wish you wrote? ‘This Must Be The Place’ by Talking Heads. Biggest fear? Death. Not sooo keen on oblivion. First gig in attendance? Violent Femmes at Wellington Town Hall. Any vices? Since becoming a father I need a brutally strong coffee before I can function in the morning. Oh, and about eleven I have a teensie weensie bit of crack. Favourite lyric? Tone Loc: “So, I threw him out, I don’t fool around with no Oscar Meyer wiener. You must be sure that the girl is pure for the Funky Cold Medina ON THE RECORD SEE HIM PERFORM: DAVE WARD KISS THE FISH

Who would play you in a film? James McAvoy.

SEMIPERMANENT.COM/ AUCKLAND-2014

music? Eli has put me onto some good stuff recently. His favourite at the moment is ‘Mahna Mahna’ from The Muppets.

TUE 09 JUN – SAT 13 JUN Q THEATRE, AUCKLAND WED 22 JUL – SUN 26 JUL HANNAH

How do you discover new

PLAYHOUSE, WELLINGTON

UPCOMING TOURS & EVENTS 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER (AU) Thu 18 Jun Vector Arena, Auckland A$AP FERG (US) Wed 06 May James Cabaret, Wellington Thu 07 May The Studio, Auckland

Gallery, Tauranga Thu 18 Jun MTG Century Theatre, Napier Fri 19 Jun Paramount Theatre, Wellington Sat 20 Jun The Mayfair, New Plymouth Thu 25 Jun Theatre Royal, Nelson Fri 26 Jun The Grange Theatre, Christchurch Sat 27 Jun NBS Theatre, Westport Thu 02 Jul Sherwood, Queenstown Fri 03 Jul Opera House, Oamaru Sat 04 Jul Dunedin, The Fullwood Room

A STRANGE DAY’S NEW NIGHT Wed 03 Jun - Thu 04 Jun Town Hall, Auckland

BACKSTREET BOYS (US) Tue 12 May Vector Arena, Auckland THE BEATLE BOYS (AU) Fri 05 Jun Town Hall, Auckland Sat 06 Jun St James Theatre, Wellington BONEY M Fri 30 Oct ASB Theatre, Auckland DEMON ENERGY BATTLE OF THE BANDS 2015 Mon 04 May - Sat 01 Aug Multiple Venues, Nationwide battleofthebands.co.nz DON MCGLASHAN Thu 11 Jun Hopetoun Alpha, Auckland Fri 12 Jun Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Hamilton Sat 13 Jun Tauranga Art

JAMIE MCDELL NEW Fri 08 May The Meteor, Hamilton Sat 09 May Dome Cinema, Gisborne Sun 10 May Walton Street, Te Awamutu Sat 16 May The Crystal Palace Theatre, Auckland JOHNNY MARR (UK) Thu 16 July The Powerstation, Auckland KING OF POP – THE NEW LEGEND CONTINUES Fri 08 May Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland Sat 09 May Opera House, Wellington

ANIKA MOA NEW Thu 28 May The Powerstation, Auckland

AUCKLAND WRITERS FESTIVAL 2015 Wed 13 May - Sun 17 May Multiple Venues, Auckland

IMAGINE DRAGONS (US) Tue 08 Sep Vector Arena, Auckland Thu 10 Sep Horncastle Arena, Christchurch

KISS (US) Fri 16 Oct Vector

Arena, Auckland KITTY, DAISY & LEWIS (UK) Thu 30 Jul The Powerstation, Auckland

MACHINE HEAD (US) Thu 18 Jun Churchills, Christchurch Sat 20 Jun Studio, Auckland MARLON WILLIAMS NEW Thu 25 Jun Bodega, Wellington Fri 26 Jun Crystal Palace, Auckland Sat 27 Jun Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch Sun 28 Jun Chicks Hotel, Dunedin MAROON 5 (US) Thu 01 Oct Horncastle Arena, Christchurch Sat 03 Oct Vector Arena, Auckland Sun 04 Oct Vector Arena, Auckland

EDEN MULHOLLAND Wed 27 May Dux Live, Christchurch Thu 28 May Lucha Lounge, Auckland FRI 29 May Meow, Wellington *ED SHEERAN (UK) Sat 12 Dec Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland EVERCLEAR (US) Tue 05 May Allen Street Rock Club, Christchurch FLEETWOOD MAC NEW (UK/US) Wed 18 Nov Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin Sat 21 Nov Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland Sun 22 Nov Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland GIN WIGMORE NEW Wed 01 Jul The Kings Arms, Auckland Fri 03 Jul Bodega, Wellington Sat 04 Jul CPSA, Christchurch

Tuesday Night Double Feature

Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ plus Pink Floyd ‘Wish You Were Here’ 8PM / 12 MAY / 19 MAY / 26 MAY

$35 R18 Includes two glasses of wine and a snack.

BOOK NOW AT STARDOME.ORG.NZ / 09 624 1246 32

RIPITUP.CO.NZ

NEW