September Issue | 2019
Brisbane | Free
BIGSOUND Tones & I leads 2019’s must-see acts
Talking to Fyre’s Andy King, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino and more BIGSOUND speakers
The agenda-setting panels of 2019
And — all the tips you need to get you through
DYLAN, MARLEY. THE NEXT GREAT BOB IS HERE.
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Airbourne • Alex Lahey • Amazons • Augie March • Bears Den • Best Coast • Bill Callahan Broken Social Scene • Bullet For My Valentine • Catfish and The Bottlemen • Clairo • Clowns Christine and The Queens • C.W. Stoneking • Dave • Death Grips • Denzel Curry • Django Django • DJDS Elizabeth • Fractures • Frenzal Rhomb • Gaz Coombes • Ghost • Glass Animals • Gnar • Harvey Sutherland Highasakite • Iann Dior • Iggy Pop • Injury Reserve • I Prevail • Holly Throsby • Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit JPEGMAFIA • Justice • Joanna Newsom • Kllo • Liza Anne • Lucianblomkamp • Lucy Rose • Mac DeMarco Manchester Orchestra • Marika Hackman • Marilyn Manson • Marlon Williams • Masego • Metronomy Movements • Nadia Reid • Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats • Nick Mulvey • Nine Inch Nails Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds • Opeth • Parcels • Peak Twins • Phantastic Ferniture • Phantogram Pierce The Veil • POND • Psychedelic Porn Crumpets • Purple Mountains • Real Friends • Rhye • RVG SG Lewis • Skegss • Slayer • Slotface • St. Vincent • $uicideBoy$ • Sylvan Esso • Tamino • The Big Moon The Cure • The Horrors • The Plot In You • Thurston Moore • Trippie Redd • Ty Segal Van Morrison • Wagons • Zeds Dead and plenty more….
CAROLINE AUSTRALIA Label - Artist and Label Services - Est. 2013
Pic by Ian Laidlaw, The Tote Collingwood Dec 2016 THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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SECRET SOUNDS PRESENTS
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SEPTEMBER
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THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
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SECRET SOUNDS
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Thursday 5th September 12pm - 4am The Fortitude Music Hall
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THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
QPAC present s
By David Mor ton, Nicholas Paine and Tim Sharp Based on t he original ar twork by Tim Sharp
Wit h music by
Sam Cromack (Ball Park Music)
2–5 OCTOBER 2019 PLAYHOUSE, QPAC
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THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
SEPTEMBER 20 + 21 BRISBANE SHOWGROUNDS
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SEPTEMBER
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The indie rock icons return with the third album of their welcome second tenure, a new cast of misfits, outcasts and weirdos to inhabit their thrillingly twisted multiverse.
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The powerhouse vocalist behind Alabama Shakes makes her first solo foray, a beautiful tribute to the sister who nourished her artistic impulses before passing away tragically in her teens.
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STURGILL SIMPSON
(Goner Records)
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Now For Example
Erstwhile Brisbane guitar-popsters have signed to Memphis garage behemoth Goner and unleashed an album of impeccably polished and perfectly off-kilter indie rock, straight to the pool room!
Sounds & Fury
Psychedelic country pioneer returns with an album where each track is paired with a segment from a Netflix anime film of the same name (penned by Simpson himself). Wonderfully weird.
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SEPTEMBER
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SEPTEMBER
SATURDAY HILL STAGE
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Launching his n ew single Asylum S ee
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The Zoo Wed 4 / 8.50pm
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Credits Publisher Handshake Media Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Senior Editor Sam Wall Editors Daniel Cribb, Neil Griffiths Assistant Editor/Social Media Co-Ordinator Jessica Dale Editorial Assistant Lauren Baxter
BIG work out
Arts Editor Hannah Story
I
Gig Guide Henry Gibson gigs@themusic.com.au Senior Contributors Steve Bell, Maxim Boon, Bryget Chrisfield, Cyclone, Jeff Jenkins Contributors Emily Blackburn, Melissa Borg, Joel Burrows, Anthony Carew, Roshan Clerke, Shaun Colnan, Brendan Crabb, Guy Davis, Joe Dolan, Joseph Earp, Chris Familton, Guido Farnell, Donald Finlayson, Liz Giuffre, Carley Hall, Tobias Handke, Mark Hebblewhite, Samuel Leighton Dore, Keira Leonard, Joel Lohman, Alannah Maher, Sean Maroney, Taylor Marshall, Anne Marie Peard, Michael Prebeg, Mick Radojkovic, Stephen A Russell, Michaela Vaughan, Rod Whitfield
September Issue | 2019
Brisbane | Free
Senior Photographers Cole Bennetts, Kane Hibberd Photographers Rohan Anderson, Andrew Briscoe, Stephen Booth, Pete Dovgan, Simone Fisher, Lucinda Goodwin, Josh Groom, Clare Hawley, Bianca Holderness, Jay Hynes, Dave Kan, Hayden Nixon, Angela Padovan, Markus Ravik, Bobby Rein, Barry Shipplock, Terry Soo Advertising Leigh Treweek, Antony Attridge, Brad Edwards, Jacob Bourke sales@themusic.com.au Art Dept Felicity Case-Mejia print@themusic.com.au
BIGSOUND Tones & I leads 2019’s must-see acts
Talking to Fyre’s Andy King, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino and more BIGSOUND speakers
The agenda-setting panels of 2019
And — all the tips you need to get you through
Tones & I cover photo by Giulia McGauran
Admin & Accounts accounts@themusic.com.au Distro distro@themusic.com.au Subscriptions store.themusic.com.au Contact Us Mailing address PO Box 87 Surry Hills NSW 2010 Melbourne Ph: 03 9081 9600 26 Napoleon Street Collingwood Vic 3066
t’s no secret that BIGSOUND is my favourite time of year. I cannot deny that a fair percentage of that excitement is due to the number of upcoming artists that can be witnessed across the event’s three nights. But, also, every year is bound to include keynotes and panels that are must-attends for folk involved in the music industry (because BIGSOUND pretty much sets the local industry conversation these days). There’s also the catching-up with fellow delegates. Oh, and for those of us from outside of Queensland, the weather just might play a tiny role in the fun factor. Looking back at my favourite albums of last year, two of my top three were by artists I first heard at BIGSOUND (that would Ryan Downey and Alice Ivy, who both showcased in 2016). And, many of my favourite tracks from last year were by acts I’d fallen for at last September’s conference (VOIID, Emerson Snowe, Candy). Hell, the best live show I saw last year was Nice Biscuit’s BIGSOUND showcase (I’m a sucker for costumes). Then there are those BIGSOUND moments when you bump into someone in the Valley, compare schedules, and they make a well-calculated recommendation of an act way off your radar. You trust their judgement, check out the act, and end up having a transformative experience. That’s what led me to a misty-eyed moment of pure joy at Fortune Shumba’s show last year (seriously, someone has to bring Shumba back for festival shows). Also in recent years, we have witnessed the conference side of BIGSOUND tackle the industry’s most pressing issues. As I wrote in this space last year, the conference has responded to recent cultural shifts and is pursuing a progressive agenda tackling issues of diversity, mental health and the economics of surviving as an artist. This year’s keynotes and panels once again confront a wide array of important topics, from looking at “music’s role in the revitalisation of indigenous languages” through to discussing the Australian media’s role in supporting local music. As usual, we have dedicated our September issue to all things BIGSOUND. We have our annual guides for the must-see artists and panels. We also feature interviews with keynote speakers and guest panellists (both local and international). Plus, we supply tips for conference survival, tips for making pitches, and locals’ tips for out-of-towners. We have also managed to wrangle an extract from the book Revenge Of The She-Punks, written by Brit-born/New York-residing industry hyphenate, and BIGSOUND keynote speaker, Vivien Goldman. You also need to keep an eye on theMusic.com.au (and our social platforms) for all news and gossip as it breaks during the conference as well as reports and reviews of panels and showcases as they happen. Happy BIGSOUND.
Sydney Ph: 02 9331 7077 Level 2, 230 Crown St Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Andrew Mast Managing Editor
Brisbane Ph: 07 3252 9666 info@themusic.com.au www.theMusic.com.au
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Our contributors
This month 36
Editor’s Letter
BIGSOUND BIGSOUND welcome from Executive Programmer Maggie Collins Guest editorial: QMusic BIGSOUND First Nations Producer Alethea Beetson
s
42 44
BIGSOUND parties
Electric Field
40
Must-see acts: Here are our top picks of this year’s festival
Plan to within an inch of your life with the official map and times
What’s new for BIGSOUND in 2019
64 66 68
What is music supervision and how can you land yourself a sync deal?
70
Top tips for the perfect pitch
72
A guide to healthy touring, as speakers give us their best advice
74
Dina Bassile, Ophir Admony
76 77
Paige X Cho Performers highlight the most pressing issues facing the industry at the moment
78
More BIGSOUND stats than you can throw a pie chart at Artists’ best BIGSOUND wisdom
Andy King: Learning from the disasters of Fyre Fest
This year’s BIGSOUND resident visual artists
88
Music trends and predictions from some of this year’s performers
90 94
Artists flag some lessons they’d like to learn at the conference We like to listen. The best of our Overheard At BIGSOUND series
96
Some musos make their case as to why you should see them at this year’s showcases
98
Vivien Goldman: An extract from the keynote speaker’s new book.
57 62
BIGSOUND panellists give us hints on how to get through the conference
86
46
Bethany Cosentino
Here are the panels we think you definitely need to check out
The Big Picture: Jaguar Jonze
Here’s a handy music business checklist to know what to do beyond creating music
collaborator and creative producer. Raelee is a Co-Director of the National Young Writers Festival (NYWF) and was awarded first place for the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers in 2018. Her work has featured in Cordite Poetry Review, The Saturday Paper, ArtsHub, Overland and more. Raised on Awabakal land, Raelee is a descendant of the Wiradjuri and Biripi peoples.
Cam Attree
102 104
Album reviews
106
I’m A Phoenix, Bitch
108
From Darkness, Brisbane Festival highlights
109
Animals
110
Dara O Briain
112 113 114
Angie McMahon
Raelee Lancaster is a Brisbane-based writer,
100
You gotta eat, right? Lucky we’ve planned an entire day’s worth of meals right here.
Boy & Bear
Raelee Lancaster
Cam Attree is a passionate, Brisbane-based photographer and videographer with nearly 30 years in the industry. He is a great supporter of local and interstate artists, using his skills to create portfolios, promotional images and showreels for burlesque performers, musicians, artists, actors and models.
Alethea Beetson Alethea is a Kabi Kabi and Wiradjuri artist and producer living on stolen land in Brisbane. She squirms in her seat when her professional bio is read out because despite the grandeur of it all, she mostly answers a lot of
James Morrison, Love Fame Tragedy
116
80
Seeker Lover Keeper
117
people who have gone before her. Although
82
Tool
118
dinners and foreign movies, in reality she is
84
Tora
119
This month’s local highlights
120
The End
122
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emails. Every job she now has, Alethea owes to the often-silenced work of the Indigenous her physical appearance might suggest she likes long walks on the beach, candle-lit all about decolonisation, cultural resurgence and ancestral connection.
THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
BIG
WE LCOM E
Welcome to BIGSOUND 2019! Here Executive Programmer Maggie Collins offers her regular introduction to the festival and conference.
W
elcome to another edition of music industry Christmas, aka BIGSOUND! There is so much to unpack this year that it might take
you a day just to get through researching the program itself. This year saw our programming department grow in the way of
adding conference specialist Tom Larkin and festival programmers Tim Shiel and Melody Forghani. It’s also the first BIGSOUND with QMusic’s new and remarkable CEO, Angela Samut. So there’s a lot of ‘new’ this year! And it hasn’t stopped with the team. After many years at the lovely Judith Wright Centre, BISGOUND has found a new home closer to the hub of the Valley in Cloudland. Its decadent, lush, green atmosphere and intricately detailed design is enough to inspire more than ever before. When doing walkthroughs, Tom and I had a moment. We realised just how significant this space will be for a new and refreshed conference experience. Which is just as well, considering the amount of juicy topics we’re filling its rooms with. One of the most important themes that has run through our programming decisions is the ‘Artist as CEO’. This concept pulls from the ever-increasing power that artists have to control their own careers. Learn how to wield this in our panel on high output creativity, our workshop on music career design, and keynotes from artists such as Bethany Cosentino, Mojo Juju and Vivien Goldman. There is going to be much to learn from Andy King, who is so much more than what he has become famous for. His years of experience in production, fundraising and events will open our eyes to what’s possible, through a charming and humble medium. 2019 also sees the return of our forums, this year covering First Nations governance models in the music industry, our longneeded wake-up call for punter and backstage health and safety, and a handful of other important topics. This year also sees the return of the ever-popular Hook-Ups — an opportunity to meet face-to-face with various speakers and other experts at BIGSOUND to talk, learn and share ideas for the future. When the sun sets it will be another case of being spoilt for choice, having access to 147 official showcasing artists playing in 18 venues across the Valley. Having Tim and Melody’s specialist ears on board to program these artists has been a delight for me and a treat for anyone looking for the hottest, best, weirdest or most remarkable music coming out right now. In fact the hip hop scene has shown itself to be a real leader in innovation and diversity this year, which you’ll get to witness with the likes of Kobie Dee, P-UniQue, 3K, Miiesha, Nerve and a handful of others. It’s such an honour to get to be a part of the BIGSOUND team in any respect, let alone as Executive Programmer and I want to say a huge thank you to my team and everyone else that makes the event such a special and unique experience. Learn something, hear something, stay hydrated, and have fun!
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We’re Australia’s largest independent ticketing company, proudly supporting live music in Australia for 16 years. We know ticketing. We know our customers. We don’t advertise to them, we invite them.
Simon, 45 Likes: Folk/Country Gigs: 3 per year Next gig: The Wolfe Brothers, Feb 2020
Jules, 23
Likes: Festivals Gigs: 6 per year Next gig: Grapevine Gathering, Nov 2019
Shea, 38
Amy, 31
Likes: Metal Gigs: 13 per year Next gig: Cradle of Filth, Sep 2019
Likes: Rock Gigs: 6 per year Next gig: Killing Heidi, Oct 2019
Bec, 18
Matt, 32
Likes: Punk Gigs: 12 per year Next gig: Amyl & The Sniffers, Sep 2019
Dave, 29
Likes: Aussie Rock Gigs: 16 per year Next gig: Scene & Heard Festival, Nov 2019
Likes: Pop Gigs: 8 per year Next gig: Montaigne, Nov 2019
Celebrating 10 years sponsoring BIGSOUND Festival. You’re all invited.
oztix.com.au THE MUSIC
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Ash, 22
Likes: Indie Gigs: 7 per year Next gig: Holy Holy, Sep 2019
WH E N
WILL
MUSIC STE P
T HE
IN DUSTRY
UP
T HE
AND
PAY
RE N T ?
In this guest editorial, BIGSOUND First Nations Producer and proud Kabi Kabi and Wiradjuri woman Alethea Beetson examines the blueprint of colonisation the music industry was built on and why it’s time for occupiers to stand up and pay the rent.
E
very festival in this country we currently refer to as ‘Aus-
for reform. First Nations musicians and industry professionals
tralia’, is technically ‘sponsored’ by Indigenous peoples.
continue to make clear that the system is still operating from
It is their land. So what is this industry really doing to
a point of exclusion.
pay the rent?
Reform requires the relinquishing of power, the hand-
Colonisation has been and continues to be brutal but,
ing over of leadership and significant investment. For the
despite this, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ con-
music industry, this means giving up some space, letting First
nection to music on these lands stands strong. First Nations
Nations peoples lead the way, and paying the rent. My com-
musicians are continuing to create the most exciting music
munity has been talking and writing about paying the rent
in this country. And they do this in spite of having to oper-
for a very long time. It does not take much research to find
ate in a system (the music industry) that was designed to
Indigenous-led models of how this could be done.
exclude them.
Occupiers working in the music industry can take action
‘Australia’ is a fabrication of a colonial myth which
to ensure this kind of reform happens. Instead of speaking for
claimed and then founded a nation based on ideologies that
people, they can step to the side and let communities speak
place Indigenous peoples and
for
all that we do in a place of infe-
(and the budgets that come with
riority. This ‘othering’ underpins
it) can be handed over to Aborig-
the framework that every other
inal and Torres Strait Islander
system operating in this country is adapted from. And is a similar system to other parts of the world due to the blueprint of colonisation. What the music industry really needs to remember is that the industry is working exactly as it was designed — to exclude certain groups of people over others. (Earlier on) in the protection and assimilation era, Indigenous peoples were not allowed to perform their songs. Singing in language was certainly not an option when you were punished for doing so. Although the shackles of this regime have been
“What the music industry really needs to remember is that the industry is working exactly as it was designed — to exclude certain groups of people over others.”
themselves.
Programming
peoples engaged in community processes. And the rent, it can be paid. But I can’t tell you how to do that. Only the Indigenous communities where you live and work can. Change is occurring nationwide throughout the arts sector, however, in comparison to the other art forms I work across, music is considerably behind. More needs to be done to put First Peoples first (and not add us in as an afterthought). We should be front and centre in the planning, programming and scheduling of all music events across the entire calendar year.
somewhat loosened, there are
Despite all of this, my com-
remnants of this system within
munity and the music they make
the current music industry. Certain types of criteria and labels
continue to provide us all with so much hope. The current art-
are placed upon Indigenous music that continue to create
ists are taking the next giant leaps after those who have gone
barriers and allow occupiers to be the gatekeepers.
before them and you can see the impact they are having
When you think about this, one can only marvel at the
across music events all around the country.
resilience of my community. The Elders, who paved the way
But the reality is, the music industry is built on stolen
for the Indigenous musicians selling out shows and for peo-
lands. Successful non-Indigenous musicians are profiting
ple like me to work in this space, have brought us to this next
off stolen lands. Festivals that celebrate music occur on sto-
cusp of change. It is their tireless and often silenced work that
len lands.
we must honour by continuing to call the music industry
The time has come.
into account.
Always was, always will be.
In July this year, hip hop artist Jimblah announced the launch of First Sounds: a collective of First Nations musicians. It’s a call for support from Indigenous artists who agree that
Alethea Beetson speaks at BIGSOUND on 5 Sep at Rainbow Room, Cloudland.
the music industry needs to change. Similar to this, there are other sovereign-led conversations across the country calling
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AT WE BUILD CAREERS
ADRIAN EAGLE WED 04 SEP
FAMOUS NIGHTCLUB 9:50 PM – 10:20PM
DULCIE WED 04 SEP
LEVI’S SHOWCASE, THE VALLEY DRIVE IN WED 04 SEP
FAMOUS NIGHTCLUB 10:40PM – 11:10PM THU 05 SEP
FAMILY
FLETCHER GULL WED 04 SEP
HEYA BAR
8:20PM – 8:50PM THU 05 SEP
HEYA BAR
TUE 03 SEP
OFFICIAL BIGSOUND WELCOME PARTY, THE VALLEY DRIVE IN TUE 03 SEP
THE ELEPHANT HOTEL 11:20PM – 11:50PM THU 05 SEP
9:40PM – 10:10PM
BLACK BEAR LODGE
HOPE D
imbi the girl
TUE 03 SEP
THE BRIGHTSIDE 11:30PM – 12:00AM
11:40PM – 12:10AM
TUE 03 SEP
RIC’S BIG BACKYARD 9:10PM – 9:40PM
WED 04 SEP
THE FOUNDRY
11:40PM – 12:10PM
10:40PM – 11:10PM
JAPANESE WALLPAPER
JOHNNY HUNTER
THU 05 SEP
WED 04 SEP
11:20PM – 11:50PM
10:30PM – 11:00PM
FAMILY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
FAMILY
THU 05 SEP
CROWBAR BRISBANE 9:50PM – 10:20PM
THE DEAD LOVE
LITTLE QUIRKS TUE 03 SEP
EMPIRE HOTEL
11:40PM – 12:10PM THU 05 SEP
THE BRIGHTSIDE 10:40PM – 11:10PM
TOWNS
WED 04 SEP
WED 04 SEP
CROWBAR BLACK
MADE IN ADELAIDE SHOWCASE, RIC’S BIG BACKYARD
9:30PM – 10:10PM
WED 04 SEP
THU 05 SEP
LEVI’S SHOWCASE, THE VALLEY DRIVE IN
THE OUTPOST
11:20PM – 11:50PM
WED 04 SEP
THE FOUNDRY
9:50PM – 10:20PM THU 05 SEP
CROWBAR BLACK 8:00PM – 8:30PM
E ST. 2005
WWW. S E L E C T M U S IC . CO M . AU THE MUSIC
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PART Y
S UPPLI ED
BIGSOUND is a chance to discover and connect, an opportunity to get the full scope of the industry and set yourself for the following year. Then again, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, which is why every year the event also includes a fat stack of bumping parties.
NETTWERK SHOWCASE Independent record label, publishing and artist management company Nettwerk is putting on a showcase with some topnotch indie artists on 5 Sep. Get down to The Outpost at 5pm
for sets from Jaguar Jonze, Riley Pearce, Hayden Calnin and
Riley Pearce. Pic: Charlie Hill
Harrison Storm.
MADE IN ADELAIDE Even if we weren’t suckers for a cheesy rhyme, and we are, Arts South Australia’s triple header would have us wandering down to Ric’s Big Backyard at 2.30pm for Made In Adelaide on 4 Sep.
Pinkish Blu
Join in for sets from Stellie, TOWNS and Pinkish Blue.
LEVI’S SHOWCASE As well as reaching into their well-stitched pockets each year for the Levi’s Music Prize, each BIGSOUND the they’re bringing Milan Ring, Stevan and Dulcie together Milan Ring
on 4 Sep at The Valley Drive In from 5pm.
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Pic: Markus Ravik
people at Levi’s put on a must-see showcase. This time
HOME: OFFICIAL BIGSOUND W E LC O M E PA RT Y Virgin Australia and QMusic will cut the BIGSOUND 2019 ribbon with a showcase of some of Australia’s most exciting Aboriginal Deline Briscoe
and Torres Strait Islander artists, includ-
ing Electric Fields, DRMNGNOW, Deline
Briscoe and Mambali. Make your way to The .gif
Valley Drive In at 12.30pm on 3 Sep.
HEAR65 @ BIGSOUND Last year’s Hear65 showcase had a killer line-up and the National Arts Council of Singapore hasn’t dropped the ball in 2019. Head to Ric’s Big Backyard on 4 Sep at 5pm to catch performances from dark electronic duo .gif, post-hard-
Jack Botts
Twin Flames
core outfit Caracal and indie-folk artist Lincoln Lim.
Ivey
UNIFIED SHOWCASE
INDIGENOUS NORTH @ BIGSOUND
Unified have searched far and wide to bring an exciting group of artists to Ric’s Big Back-
yard. Stellie, Jack Botts and The Music’s very
GOLD COAST SHOWCASE
Making its BIGSOUND debut, Manitoba Music is bringing
own cover artist, Tones & I, will all take the
three of western Canada’s most exciting artists together for a
showcase on 6 Sep. Catch Renee Lamoureux, Snotty Nose
stage at the venue on 5 Sep from 2.30pm.
Rez Kids and Twin Flames at X Cargo from 2.30pm.
The City of Gold Coast and Gold Coast Music Awards are showcasing the best the sunshine state has to offer on 5 Sep at X Cargo. This year they’ve got a stellar mix of indie,
electro-soul and surf-rock from Ivey, DVNA and Donny Love from 12.30pm.
OZ T I X B I G S O U N D PA RT Y As usual, Oztix has put together one of the biggest line-ups going for their BIGSOUND
party. Kyva, 100, Marco, The Moa, Sly Withers, MID CITY and Concrete Surfers are all performing at The Valley Drive In on 5 Sep
from 5pm. Put it in your diary.
Concrete Surfers. Pic: Harley Jones
BIGSOUND A F T E R PA RT Y The official BIGSOUND after party goes off, and we’re not just saying that because it’s got our name on it. The Music and Secret Sounds’ closing party on 5 Sep is moving to Brisbane’s newest venue, The Fortitude Music Hall, this year with a secret DJ.
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THE
H IT
L IST
Each year, The Music team puts together a list of BIGSOUND’s must-see acts. We don’t want to boast, but our strike rate is pretty high and we reckon this year could be another home run. These are the acts we think you just have to check out so you also have bragging rights for the next 12 months.
APPROACHABLE MEMBERS OF YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY If their name and charmingly dorky fashion sense don’t sell you, perhaps the industry buzz will, with the band inking an international record deal US label AntiFragile around the release of their latest single, On + On, in July.
BAKERS EDDY Bakers Eddy might be the next in a very long list of New Zealand acts Australia claims as our own. The now Melbourne-based group recently signed a deal with Ivy League Records and are coming in very, very hot to BIGSOUND 2019.
Pic: Jeff Anderson Jr
H O L I D AY PA R T Y Holidays and parties — two of our favourite things. Put them together and wham, bam, thank you ma’am, this is a jam. They’re one of the most unique acts out of Brisbane at the moment, and one thing’s for sure, we’re definitely not cool enough to be at the Holiday Party.
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DRMNGNOW DRMNGNOW’s resounding call to elevate Australia’s Indigenous peoples and decolonise is already being heard across the country. We suspect the independent MC, instrumentalist and poet’s BIGSOUND appearance is going to amplify it exponentially.
REDHOOK Pop-punk can be hard to nail in Australia but RedHook have managed to carve their own unique path, injecting a somewhat tired sound with a heavy dose of alt-rock and gritty vocals — a decision that saw them take on Download Festival Sydney earlier this year after winning triple j Unearthed’s competition.
G R E TA S TA N L E Y With a fresh EP, Greta Stanley is proving she is here to stay. It’s music that makes us think of warm, sunny days and it’s no surprise Stanley is earning fans left, right and centre for that earnest, heart-onthe-sleeve storytelling.
S PAC E Y JA N E If you caught you Spacey Jane at Splendour In The Grass, you know their live show will likely be one of the most talked-about when BIGSOUND rolls around. They’re already selling out east coast headline dates, which means you might want to get to their showcases a little early.
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TEEN JESUS & THE JEAN TEASERS The name is a 10/10 and Canberra’s Teen Jesus & The Jean Teasers are an 11 — check out their set and just try to disagree. They’ve already featured on some major festival line-ups and we reckon they’ll be all over bills around the country come the festival season.
JOHNNY HUNTER Sydney’s Johnny Hunter are going into BIGSOUND with a heap of buzz about them. Last year they signed with Break Even Recordings (home to BIGSOUND 2018 faves Nice Biscuit) and we’re sure they’ll pick up a heap of fans in 2019.
JAGUAR JONZE We’re telling you now, don’t sleep on Jaguar Jonze. With only two singles to her name, Jonze has confidently and astutely thrown down the gauntlet. We’re slipping into some cowboy boots and pushing through those old saloon doors to join her.
TOWNS With powerhouse vocals and a live show that rivals that of seasoned professionals, Adelaide duo TOWNS offer up a wall of noise that few other two-piece acts could match. To put it simply, TOWNS might be one of the funnest bands at BIGSOUND 2019.
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CRY CLUB The Wollongong duo gained a stack of attention with their appearance at last year’s BIGSOUND and have not stopped since. Learn the words to DFTM before their set because everyone else
Pic: Giulia McGauran
there will know them.
SAINT LANE
ELECTRIC FIELDS
Saint Lane just wants you to compliment his shirt. And you
Look, all we’re saying is that once you see Electric Fields, you’ll be changed
know what? It is a nice shirt. What’s even nicer though are
forever. It’s a big call but we stand by it.
these excellent tunes. If we were ten years younger we might even call it a vibe.
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LOVE DELUXE The heat on Love Deluxe has been growing steadily since his debut single Cool Breeze Over The Mountains, which has cracked a million streams just on Spotify. His funky grooves are going to go down smoother than a cold Campari and coke.
HANNAH BLACKBURN Hannah Blackburn has a talent for succinct heartbreak that will leave you in pieces, which is why she’s been playing with the new wave of Australian lyricists lately, from Emerson Snow to Angie McMahon.
BEING JANE LANE It was a good thing Brody Dalle shipped off to the States because Brisbane’s own Being Jane Lane would give The Distillers a run for their money. We can’t wait to thrash about and spill beer all over ourselves when this punk outfit hit the stage.
THE BUOYS Buoy oh buoy, we are damn excited to sea this Sydney four-piece. In all seriousness though, they kill it and we’re here for anyone who calls their debut EP Soft Boy.
TA S M A N K E I T H You know who’s coming into BIGSOUND with a lot of hype? Tasman Keith, that’s who. Listen to his track Move Up and you’ll understand why.
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&
I
Yeah, it’s pretty different. Last year I busked at BIGSOUND, so this year will be fun and I’m excited to share my message
Be exactly who you are, because people see through fake
with BIGSOUND.
bullshit these days. If you’re different that’s not a bad thing,
W H AT ’ S T H E F E E L I N G L I K E H AV ING YOUR FIRST THREE SINGLES MAKE THE ARIA CHARTS?
It makes me feel proud – they were all written 100 percent by
support other artists, be happy.
W H AT ’ S N E X T F O R Y O U AFTER BIGSOUND?
After BIGSOUND I’m gonna go on my second Aussie tour
me which is also crazy in itself. Konstantin Kersting produced
supported by Adrian Eagle, who is also playing BIGSOUND.
them and I actually met Kon for the first time last year at BIG-
I’m so bloody stoked because he’s an amazing artist and last
SOUND and showed him Johnny [Run Away] for the first time,
year I saw him play for the first time (at BIGSOUND) and fell in
so this year is our one year friendiversary, haha.
love with his music, so this is also mine and Adrian’s one-
CONSIDERING YOU’VE ALREADY A C H I E V E D T H AT C H A R T S U C C E S S , W H AT A R E Y O U L O O K I N G TO GET OUT OF BIGSOUND?
year friendiversary.
Making music is fun and I am obsessed with writing lyrics. I have a lot on my mind and I really want to use the platform from BIGSOUND to spread a message and unite more people.
Pic: Giulia McGauran
TO NES
W H AT I S T H E B E S T B I T O F ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN TO P R E PA R E FO R YO U R T I M E AT B I G S O U N D ?
W H AT ’ S I T L I K E G O I N G F R O M BUSKING TO BEING OUR BIGSOUND COVER ARTIST?
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W O L FJ AY Remember that feeling of going back to school after the holidays and amid the squeals and fake “I missed you”s in the locker area, you locked eyes with your best mate and knew everything was going to be alright? Listening to Wolfjay feels like that.
J AC K DAV I E S & THE BUSH CHOOKS FLOSSY
It’s a rare storyteller that can make you nostalgic for 7-Eleven bread. He’s young, but Davies’ Australiana folk
After establishing themselves as one of Perth’s most promising acts, FLOSSY, fronted by sister duo Lauren and Sinead
poetry has already snagged him and
O’Hara, unveiled uplifting and charming new single Being
his Chooks three WAM Awards nomi-
Alone in August, marking an exciting change of pace just in
nations and Nannup Music Festival’s Emerging Artist Award.
time for BIGSOUND.
NANCIE SCHIPPER Warrnambool local Nancie Schipper might have just finished high school but she’s already picked up support slots for acts including Ball Park Music and Jack River. Whatever dreamy indie-folk Schipper is selling, we are buying and we think you will too.
Pic: jess Gleeson
K AT E D W A R D S Within a month of its release, Kat Edwards’ Good Girl had more than 100,000 hits on Spotify, which isn’t surprising given its hauntingly beautiful vocal melodies. The Hobart singer-songwriter’s BIGSOUND appearance follows on from a national support slot with Didirri, so no doubt her live show will be in fine form.
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PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS REGIONAL VENUE OF THE YEAR QUEENSLAND MUSIC AWARDS 2019
RISING SOON SUNSHINE COAST
NIGHTQUARTER.COM.AU THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
DREGG DREGG are like a Lars von Trier film — weird and heavy. Break out the face paint, nu-metal is back.
MAMBALI We were blown away by Mambali’s track Yuwani and are predicting their showcase, filled with their songs about country and culture, will be one of the
Pic: Duane Preston
most important to happen at this year’s event.
FREEDOM OF FEAR If you’re not across Freedom Of Fear and you’re headed to BIGSOUND — or worse, you’re already here — then you are making a very big mistake. Get your head in the game.
BUTTER The alt hip hop outfit’s jazzy, neo-soul vibe makes for straight-up sexy jams. There might be bands with more buzz, but we predict Butter’s horn section having more pull than the Pied Piper.
PINCH POINTS PINCH POINTS’ album Moving Parts stopped us in our tracks and we expect their BIGSOUND showcase will have a lot of people doing the same. They made it into Bandcamp Daily’s top 100 releases of 2018 for a very good eason.
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2 019 M E
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9:30PM
9:00PM
8:30PM
8:00PM
9:00PM
8:30PM
8:00PM
12:00AM
11:30PM
11:00PM
10:30PM
10:00PM
J U LY
8:50–9:20
ZĀN
Ryan Fennis
8:00–8:30
THE FLYING COCK
Wed
Mermaidens
11:20–11:50
10:30–11:00
Obscura Hail
Stellie
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Wolfjay
8:00–8:30
Harlequin Gold
THE FLYING COCK
Tue
DREGG
8:10–8:40
NETTI
CROWBAR BRISBANE
11:30–12:00
Lo!
10:40–11:10
The Gloom In The Corner
9:50–10:20
Reliqa
9:00–9:30
Freedom of Fear
8:10–8:40
Being Jane Lane
CROWBAR BRISBANE
8:50–9:20
Concrete Surfers
8:00–8:30
The Buoys
CROWBAR BLACK
Wither
11:20–11:50
Bakers Eddy
10:30–11:00
Flossy
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Private Function
SCABZ
8:00–8:30
CROWBAR BLACK
8:20–8:50
Fletcher Gull
HEYA BAR
11:40–12:10
Penelope Two-Five
10:50–11:20
Kobie Dee
10:00–10:30
Mariam Sawires
9:10–9:40
darvid thor
8:20–8:50
Dream Coast
HEYA BAR
Jeida
8:10–8:40
Dream Coast
ALEHOUSE STAGE, WOOLLY MAMMOTH
11:30–12:00
Approachable Members Of Your Local Community
10:40–11:10
Fan Girl
9:50–10:20
Chakra Efendi
9:00–9:30
micra
8:10–8:40
Butternut Sweetheart
ALEHOUSE STAGE, WOOLLY MAMMOTH
8:20–8:50
Aphir
MANE STAGE, WOOLLY MAMMOTH
NETTI
11:40–12:10
10:50–11:20
RedHook
10:00–10:30
Wreath
9:10–9:40
Black Rock Band
8:20–8:50
Concrete Surfers
MANE STAGE, WOOLLY MAMMOTH
PU L L
Lauren.
8:50–9:20
Saint Lane
8:00–8:30
THE WICKHAM
Tobacco Rat
11:20–11:50
Luboku
10:30–11:00
Reija Lee
9:40–10:10
LÂLKA
8:50–9:20
8:00–8:30
Aphir
THE WICKHAM
8:20–8:50
Serina Pech
EMPIRE HOTEL
Little Quirks
11:40–12:10
10:50–11:20
Serina Pech
10:00–10:30
Deline Briscoe
9:10–9:40
Twin Flames
8:20–8:50
Renée Lamoureux
EMPIRE HOTEL
O U T
8:50–9:20
Holiday Party
FRITZ
8:00–8:30
X CARGO
Ivey
11:20–11:50
10:30–11:00
The Money War
9:40–10:10
The Buoys
Seaside
8:50–9:20
Sycco
8:00–8:30
THE OUTPOST
8:20–8:50
Mariam Sawires
RIC’S BIG BACKYARD
Lil Spacely
11:40–12:10
10:50–11:20
RINI
10:00–10:30
Miiesha
9:10–9:40
imbi the girl
8:20–8:50
Stevan
RIC’S BIG BACKYARD
AN D
8:50–9:20
City Rose
8:00–8:30
Shady Nasty
FAMILY
Butter
11:20–11:50
Milan Ring
10:30–11:00
Love Deluxe
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Close Counters
Ryan Fennis
8:00–8:30
FAMILY
First Beige
8:10–8:40
Sycco
THE BRIGHTSIDE
11:30–12:00
Hope D
10:40–11:10
Spacey Jane
9:50–10:20
Royal And The Southern Echo
9:00–9:30
murmurmur
8:10–8:40
The Lazy Eyes
THE BRIGHTSIDE
8:20–8:50
DVNA
THE VALLEY DRIVE IN
11:40–12:10
Hooligan Hefs
DRMNGNOW 10:50–11:20
10:00–10:30
Kymie
9:10–9:40
3K
8:20–8:50
Raj Mahal
THE VALLEY DRIVE IN
KEEP
8:50–9:20
Butternut Sweetheart
8:00–8:30
micra
THE ELEPHANT HOTEL
11:20–11:50
Electric Fields
Saint Lane
10:30–11:00
P-UniQue
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Ozi Jarel
8:00–8:30
VOTIA
THE ELEPHANT HOTEL
8:20–8:50
Deline Briscoe
BLACK BEAR LODGE
11:40–12:10
Greta Stanley
10:50–11:20
Jon Bryant
10:00–10:30
Nancie Schipper
9:10–9:40
Jack Davies And The Bush Chooks
8:20–8:50
Hannah Blackburn
BLACK BEAR LODGE
ME
Kitschen
8:10–8:40
Future Haunts
THE FOUNDRY
11:30–12:00
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers
10:40–11:10
PINCH POINTS
9:50–10:20
Dianas
9:00–9:30
Kitschen Boy
8:10–8:40
100
THE FOUNDRY
8:50–9:20
Gordon Koang
8:00–8:30
VOTIA
THE ZOO
11:20–11:50
Bad// Dreems
10:30–11:00
Laura Imbruglia
LOSER
9:40–10:10
FRITZ
8:50–9:20
8:00–8:30
Jaguar Jonze
THE ZOO
Tones And I
Semantics
8:10–8:40
TRIPLE J UNEARTHED STAGE, FAMOUS NIGHTCLUB
Oh Boy
11:30–12:00
10:40–11:10
Aquila Young
9:50–10:20
GAUCI
9:00–9:30
yergurl
Hemm
8:10–8:40
FAMOUS NIGHTCLUB
9:00PM
•
J U LY
12:00AM
11:30PM
11:00PM
10:30PM
10:00PM
9:30PM
8:30PM
8:00PM
12:00AM
11:30PM
11:00PM
10:30PM
10:00PM
9:30PM
THE MUSIC
Fri
Tobacco Rat
11:20–11:50
10:30–11:00
upsidedownhead
Polythought
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Wolfjay
8:00–8:30
ZĀN
THE FLYING COCK
Thu
11:20–11:50
Mickey Kojak
RINI
10:30–11:00
9:40–10:10
Rebecca Hatch
11:30–12:00
Wreath
10:40–11:10
Black Rock Band
9:50–10:20
Johnny Hunter
9:00–9:30
Private Function
8:10–8:40
City Rose
CROWBAR BRISBANE
11:30–12:00
Being Jane Lane
10:40–11:10
SCABZ
9:50–10:20
Outright
9:00–9:30
11:40–12:10
Fletcher Gull
10:50–11:20
Future Haunts
10:00–10:30
EGOISM
9:10–9:40
Jeida Woods
Stellie
8:20–8:50
HEYA BAR
11:40–12:10
Aquila Young
10:50–11:20
Hemm
10:00–10:30
Marco
11:30–12:00
First Beige
10:40–11:10
POPPONGENE
9:50–10:20
murmurmur
9:00–9:30
Mermaidens
8:10–8:40
Chakra Efendi
ALEHOUSE STAGE, WOOLLY MAMMOTH
11:30–12:00
Ivey
10:40–11:10
darvid thor
9:50–10:20
GAUCI
9:00–9:30
Woods
11:40–12:10
SUPEREGO
10:50–11:20
Mickey Kojak
10:00–10:30
Reija Lee
9:10–9:40
Penelope Two-Five
DVNA
8:20–8:50
MANE STAGE, WOOLLY MAMMOTH
11:40–12:10
Huntly
10:50–11:20
Close Counters
10:00–10:30
upsidedownhead
9:10–9:40
LÂLKA
BIGSOUND Closing Party
RedHook
11:20–11:50
10:30–11:00
The Gloom In The Corner
DREGG
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Shady Nasty
8:00–8:30
TOWNS
CROWBAR BLACK
Bakers Eddy
11:20–11:50
100
10:30–11:00
9:40–10:10
THE DEAD LOVE
9:10–9:40
Polythought
11:40–12:10
Noah Dillon
10:50–11:20
Kat Edwards
10:00–10:30
Ruby Gilbert
9:10–9:40
Leonie Kingdom
8:20–8:50
Ainsley Farrell
EMPIRE HOTEL
11:40–12:10
POPPONGENE
10:50–11:20
Seaside
10:00–10:30
Hannah Blackburn
RIC’S BIG BACKYARD
11:20–11:50
Snotty Nose Rez Kids
P-UniQue
10:30–11:00
Lil Spacely
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Lauren.
8:00–8:30
Ozi Jarel
THE WICKHAM
Nerve
11:20–11:50
Kobie Dee
10:30–11:00
Raj Mahal
9:40–10:10
9:10–9:40
Leonie Kingdom
11:40–12:10
CHAII
DRMNGNOW 10:50–11:20
10:00–10:30
Tasman Keith
Kymie
9:10–9:40
8:20–8:50
Rebecca Hatch
RIC’S BIG BACKYARD
11:40–12:10
Milan Ring
10:50–11:20
Tasman Keith
10:00–10:30
CHAII
5:00–11:00
11:20–11:50
THE DEAD LOVE
Flossy
10:30–11:00
9:40–10:10
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers
8:50–9:20
Fan Girl
Dianas
8:00–8:30
THE OUTPOST
Louis Baker
11:20–11:50
10:30–11:00
Fergus James
MID CITY
9:40–10:10
9:10–9:40
Savage The Girl
11:30–12:00
Nancie Schipper
Little Quirks
10:40–11:10
Lucy Peach
9:50–10:20
9:00–9:30
Jack Davies And The Bush Chooks
8:10–8:40
Alana Jagt
THE BRIGHTSIDE
11:30–12:00
SUPEREGO
10:40–11:10
Snotty Nose Rez Kids
Butter
9:50–10:20
11:40–12:10
Nerve
10:50–11:20
Creed tha Kid
10:00–10:30
Marco
9:10–9:40
Oh Boy
8:20–8:50
yergurl
THE VALLEY DRIVE IN
11:40–12:10
Luboku
10:50–11:20
Creed tha Kid
10:00–10:30
Temgazi
9:10–9:40
Love Deluxe
Lo!
11:20–11:50
Outright
10:30–11:00
9:40–10:10
Wither
8:50–9:20
Reliqa
8:00–8:30
Freedom of Fear
THE ELEPHANT HOTEL
Boy Azooga
11:20–11:50
EGOISM
10:30–11:00
9:40–10:10
The Amazons
11:40–12:10
Electric Fields
10:50–11:20
Laura Imbruglia
10:00–10:30
Bobby Alu
9:10–9:40
PINCH POINTS
8:20–8:50
Sunbeam Sound Machine
DOUBLE J STAGE, BLACK BEAR LODGE
11:40–12:10
Alana Jagt
10:50–11:20
Kat Edwards
10:00–10:30
Noah Dillon
9:10–9:40
Ainsley Farrell
Details & Lineup To Be Announced
11:20–11:50
Japanese Wallpaper
10:30–11:00
Savage The Girl
Dulcie
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Jaguar Jonze
LOSER
8:00–8:30
FAMILY
11:20–11:50
These New South Whales
10:30–11:00
Johnny Hunter
Party Dozen
9:40–10:10
9:00–9:30
Boy
Mojo Juju
11:20–11:50
Louis Baker
10:30–11:00
Mambali
9:40–10:10
8:50–9:20
Temgazi
8:00–8:30
Gordon Koang
THE ZOO
Mambali
11:20–11:50
Bobby Alu
10:30–11:00
Lucy Peach
9:40–10:10
Cry Club
11:30–12:00
3K
10:40–11:10
9:50–10:20
Fergus James
Miiesha
9:00–9:30
Hallie
8:10–8:40
TRIPLE J UNEARTHED STAGE, FAMOUS NIGHTCLUB
Stevan
11:30–12:00
Dulcie
10:40–11:10
9:50–10:20
Adrian Eagle
9:00–9:30
Timetable is correct at the time of printing Visit bigsound.org.au to view all updates
11:30–12:00
The Money War
10:40–11:10
Approachable Members Of Your Local Community
MID CITY
9:50–10:20
9:00–9:30
Royal And The Southern Echo
8:10–8:40
The Lazy Eyes
THE FOUNDRY
11:30–12:00
Spacey Jane
10:40–11:10
Hope D
9:50–10:20
TOWNS
9:00–9:30
THE MUSIC
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F EELIN G
OK
of my comfort zone, just in terms of like, you
And I think that sobriety has opened this door
know, I’m not coming to play music. I’m just
for me, in which I have just become so com-
coming to speak as an artist and as a woman,
fortable in my own skin.”
and I think that’s really exciting.”
Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino will deliver a keynote at BIGSOUND this year. Here Lauren Baxter discovers how the singer-songwriter realised she “can still be creative and not be fucked up all the time”.
“I
am
a
creative,
strong,
outspoken
“You know, I think one of the things
woman, and my voice will not be
about myself that I really love, and that I’m
Not that she is preaching. Cosentino
As for what the talk might entail, Cosen-
stresses that “everybody has to experi-
tino jokes she has no idea, although she has
ence life the way in which was meant for
called herself on Instagram “a walking self-
them”, but she does profess she has never
help book”. “I’m really excited to just come
been happier.
and talk. I’ve never done anything like this
“It’s just something that I really, really,
before and I’m really honoured that anybody
really want to hold on to, because I look at my
like, appreciates, and values what I have to
life today and I look at my life a couple of years
say enough to send me to another continent
ago, and I’m just like, ‘Wow.’ If you had told me
to talk.
that I’d be feeling the way I feel now, I would
“I’ve gone through a lot of changes
have been like, ‘You’re fucking crazy. That’s
recently. Since the last time I put out a record,
not possible.’ I’m just so grateful that I figured
I’ve grown and changed a lot as a person. I’m
it out for myself.”
sure a lot of that will be reflected in what I have to say.”
silenced.” So wrote Best Coast’s Beth-
really proud of, is the fact that I’m not afraid to
Potentially the most transformative of
any Cosentino in an essay penned for Lenny
speak my mind and never have been,” Cosen-
these changes was Cosentino’s journey to
Letter back in 2016.
tino says.
sobriety, November marking two
It was a moment she discovered her
“Using my platform for good and to
years since she stopped drink-
voice had power. “I mean, I’ve always been
speak up for issues, I can, in the end, inspire
ing alcohol. She can’t point to
very straightforward and direct and I feel
people to do the same thing. So I’m very
a specific moment when she
like from a very young age, I was always just
grateful that I have a platform which I can use,
knew something had to change,
making my opinions very known to anybody
you know, to do good.”
instead saying the entirety of her
around me,” she laughs when The Music get
her
on
the
phone
one
sunny
Californian afternoon.
20s was “very dark”.
Fast forward three years and Cosentino received an email from her team to say BIG-
“I didn’t really ever have any
SOUND was interested in sending her to the
real coping skills and I was a very
But it was that essay about her experi-
conference as a keynote speaker. She was
anxious kid and my teen years
ence of sexism in the music industry, and
quick to say yes: “I love Australia so much so I
were very, like, I was dealing with
seeing the response it garnered — at a time
feel like anytime I have an opportunity to go,
a lot of mental health stuff and
before the #MeToo movement — that made
I’m always down.
just changes in life and I didn’t
the singer-songwriter realise, “Oh, I think peo-
“It’s always cool to to go do things that
know how to deal with it,” she
ple actually potentially care about what I have
pertain to music and pertain to what I do, but
begins. “So I think when the suc-
to say on these issues.”
also stuff that kind of takes me a little bit out
cess of Best Coast happened, it just, it happened so fast. Before I knew it, it was like, people knew
Being sober has also affected Best Coast’s songwriting process, a clear head making her realise she “can still be creative and not be fucked up all the time”.
“I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to wake up hungover anymore. I don’t want to cry because I’m too drunk, and I don’t want to yell at my friends.”
my name and knew my life and knew everything about me. And it was just so crazy that I just was like, ‘Oh, ok.’ Like, ‘I don’t know how to deal with this.’
Currently in the mixing process, she says there’s a sense of hope to Best Coast’s forth-
“When you’re touring, the majority of
coming LP, their first for adults since 2015’s
the time you play in bars, and there’s alcohol
California Nights (in 2018, they released an
at your disposal constantly. It’s not like any-
album for kids, Best Kids): “Without giving
body says, like, ‘Oh, sorry, we don’t give you
too much away so early on, it is just about the
your rider until right before you go on stage.’
journey of a person out of a dark place and
It’s like, you show up to a venue at 10am,
into a brighter place. I’m excited for people to
there’s alcohol already backstage, and if it’s
hear that things can get better, because I sure
not already there, they can make you a drink
as hell didn’t really think that they could, but
at the bar. ‘Pick whatever,’ you know. And so I
I’m living proof that they can.”
think it was just like, it just became habit. And it just became a part of my daily routine.”
A fierce rescue animal advocate, we can’t help but take the opportunity to gush about
“The life of a touring musician is not nor-
Snacks and Josie, Cosentino’s adorable furry
mal and sometimes it’s easier to just try to
pals, and introduce her to our own rescue pup,
numb it and get rid of it than it is to face it
Winston. “It’s such a beautiful thing to be able
head on,” she says. The thing about her sobri-
to go and rescue this pet that’s like scared in
ety that has been so “crazy” is facing demons
a cage,” she enthuses. “It’s like, ‘I don’t know
she didn’t even know existed.
what’s happening. Who’s my mum? Who’s my
“You know, something would happen, where I’d be like, ‘Oh, I really should stop
dad?’ and then you’re like, ‘I am! Let’s go and buy you a toy from the pet store.’”
doing this.’ And then I wouldn’t, and I just kind of hit a point where I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to wake up hungover anymore. I don’t want to cry because I’m too drunk, and I don’t want to yell at my friends.’ And I was just doing, like, dumb shit.
THE MUSIC
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BIGSOUND
Bethany Cosentino speaks at BIGSOUND on 4 Sep at Rainbow Room, Cloudland.
? E N O D GIG
D E B O T N GET I WITH US To help make the business of touring easier and reduce the impact of travel, artists and managers can now access exclusive benefits at ibis Hotels, all designed to meet the changing requirements of artists touring around Australia.
FIND OUT MORE AT
accorhotels.com/ibisplaynstay THE MUSIC
•
SEPTEMBER
Fat Louie’s. Pic: Felicity Case-Mejia
BIG
NE WS
With so much going on at BIGSOUND every year, Lauren Baxter has pulled together a list of all the shiny, new things you can expect from the 2019 event. Remember, change is good.
A L O C A L’ S G U I D E We’ve asked a few of the local acts on the line-up for their guide to what’s hot in town.
R O YA L & T H E SOUTHERN ECHO M U ’ O O Z R E S TA U R A N T
NEW OFFICIAL VENUE
NEW ARTIST VILLAGE
BIGSOUND has put the call out on Facebook (“Anyone have
A lush Artist Village has been introduced thanks to a new
a ute?”), packed up the truck, and is moving its central hub
partnership with YouTube Music to provide “a sanctuary and
down the road from Judith Wright Centre to Cloudland, the
meeting place” so the showcasing artists can relax, network
home of Brisbane’s “number one salsa night”. Muy caliente.
and just get down with their bad selves.
NEW BIGSOUND BUS
NEW TECH SHOWCASE
Fortitude Valley isn’t that big, alright. That’s why it’s the perfect
BIGTECH gets its official launch in 2019 as nine emerging
Hop on the 199 and head over to West End
place for a conference like BIGSOUND. But hey, we’re lazy, so
companies showcase their game-changing inventions. The
and you’ll find one of my favourite restau-
news of a BIGSOUND-branded double-decker bus that will do
tech showcases will now be exclusive to BIGSOUND and will
rants, Mu’ooz. It’s always a friendly and fun
loops of the venues is A-ok by us. Especially when that ninth
welcome a stack of new mentors and judges into the mix. It’s
vibe and the food is incredible. The menu
margarita is looking pretty damn good.
all about tech, baby.
NEW LIVE VENUE
N E W M A N A G E R S R E T R E AT
Brisbane, you lucky so-and-so. New venues pop up every
Life as a manager is tough, no doubt. So this year the BIG-
time we blink. And now The Fortitude Music Hall has officially
SOUND Managers Sanctuary, thanks to the Australian Asso-
opened its doors, a 300-cap venue within the space has also
ciation Of Artist Managers, will provide a space exclusively for
risen from the construction site and will welcome BIGSOUND
managers to rest, recharge and just hug it out with likemind-
showcases for the first time. Inter-staters, meet The Outpost.
ed souls.
NEW WTF SERIES
N E W S P O T I F Y I N T E G R AT I O N
Yeah, there’s a lot of things in the music biz that make us go
Impress all your industry pals before you make the pilgrim-
“WTF?!” too. Well, BIGSOUND, as always, has our back and are
age north with a fire-emoji playlist thanks to BIGSOUND’s
introducing a bunch of small, focussed mini panels on every-
brand new Spotify integration feature. Basically, it will create
thing from social media ads and Tik Tok, to blockchain and
a unique playlist of BIGSOUND acts based on your Spotify his-
neighbouring rights. They’ve dubbed it the WTF Series.
tory to help with your search for Australia’s next big thing.
N E W H OT E L PA RT N E R
NEW FREE ARTIST ACCOM
As the wise and noble Pitbull once said, we at the hotel, motel,
No need to stress about having to busk for roof this year art-
holiday inn. And this year, it’ll be official with designer hotel
ists! BIGSOUND has got you covered with a percentage of
Ovolo The Valley coming on board as the festival’s official
those on the line-up getting free accommodation hook-ups.
hotel partner. Fancy, right? They’re even offering an exclusive
Nice one.
covers north-east African food and essentially everything is served with this incredible injera bread — which I can’t even describe how good it is. My pick is the bierai (or duba for vegetarians) — but let’s face it, you should just get a platter and try a bit of everything. You’ll have a great time and you’ll feel good knowing you’re helping this not-for-profit organisation give support and employment to African refugee women.
BLACK BEAR LODGE
I think maybe every musician from Brisbane has worked here at some point in time and it shows. Black Bear has always put music first and they take pride in great bookings and having the most knowledgeable DJs in town. It can go from a nice quiet oasis in the Valley to a full-on Motown party at night. The cocktails are absolutely amazing and if you ask the crew to surprise you they always come out with something great. It’s a great way to fight off the hangover blues if you pop in for an early afternoon recharge.
FAT L O U I E ’ S
Like dive bars? Like playing pool or doing karaoke? Then this is the place for you. It could maybe win the award for diviest bar in Brisbane. Always a great time with ‘00s R&B blasting constantly, it’s the place to shoot some pool, shoot the shit and relax. I wouldn’t hold your breath for a cocktail, but hey, there’s heaps of kebab places next door, so get yourself a vodka cruiser and just go with the flow.
delegate rate and a whole bunch of special inclusions for BIGSOUND guests at both their Valley and Spring Hill digs.
THE MUSIC
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BIGSOUND
PRESENTED BY BRISBANE FESTIVAL, BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL AND TOURISM AND EVENTS QUEENSLAND
A USTRA LI A N E XC L U SIV E
W I T H T& HA S EH A JJE FEF EZR IAE S B E L S , ODETTE
S A T 2 8 S E P T | R I V E R S TA G E
THE MUSIC
•
SEPTEMBER
TALK T H E
20 QUESTIONS
TA LK
What better way to wrap up the week than with BIGSOUND classic, 20 Questions. Hosted by The Music’s own Leigh Treweek, experts like Inertia’s Meg Williams, The Feldman Agency’s Adam Kreeft, pictured, Sub Pop Records’ Bekah Zietz Flynn and more will look back at the week that was and chat about everything they loved and loathed.
With so many great options at this year’s BIGSOUND, it can be a little overwhelming choosing which panels to attend. We’ve done the hard work for you and reckon these are the ones you need to check out.
6 Sep, Rainbow Room, Cloudland, 3.45pm.
THE MECHANISMS OF A MANAGEMENT BUSINESS (FOR ARTISTS & MANAGERS) There’s a whole lot that goes into being an artist manager and some of the country’s finest — including Catherine Haridy, Bill Cullen and Ash Hills — will share exactly what artists need to know about it in The Mechanisms Of A Management Business (For Artists & Managers), moderated by Damien Luscombe, pictured.
4 Sep, Heritage Room, Cloudland, 3.45pm.
HER STORY: 30 YEARS ON There’s no denying the impact of Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore, pictured, and Michelle Grace Hunder’s documentary Her Sound, Her Story, which explores the experiences of women in the Australian music industry. The Go-Betweens’ Lindy Morrison examined similar topics in her workbook and accompanying film, Australian Women In Rock And Pop Music, almost 30 years ago. They’ll sit down with Helen Marcou AM to talk about their work and how the future is looking.
4 Sep, Heritage Room, Cloudland, 11.30am.
I N D U ST RY I N S I D E R
WHY SHOULD MEDIA GIVE A FUCK ABOUT AUSTRALIAN MUSIC? Frankly, my dear, we do give a damn, and so does this panel — ABC’s Janet Gaeta and Chris Scaddan, Pedestrian Group’s Courtney Fry, News Corp Australia’s Kathy McCabe, Southern
ZIG ANNOR
Cross Austereo’s Jack Ball, pictured, and facilitator Stephen
D I R E C T O R AT A R T MANAGEMENT GROUP
Green from SGC — who will be looking at how, and if, Australian media and music need each other.
4 Sep, Alice Room, Cloudland, 1.45pm.
T H E A S S E T T H AT I S
WHICH ACTS ARE ON YOUR M U S T S E E L I S T AT B I G SOUND AND WHY? Creed Tha Kid, Rebecca Hatch and Hooligan Hefs.
MULTICULTURAL, DIVERSE MUSIC With the likes of P-UniQue, pictured, Ozi Jarel, Gordon Koang, Joe Alexander and moderator Kween Kibone on the panel, The Asset That Is Multicultural, Diverse Music will examine the “positive outcomes that eventuate when refugees, migrants and other diverse people contribute to enrich our countries’ healthy music scenes”.
4 Sep, Moon Room, Cloudland, 4.30pm.
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S O U ND
A DVICE
First time heading to BIGSOUND? As much as making mistakes is a part of life, there’s a good chance you have a few things riding on this trip that you would rather not botch. No stress, though. To help you avoid the usual pratfalls, we’ve compiled ten top tips from people who’ve been there, done that, so you can put your best foot forward.
FRANCESCA D E VA L E N C E
CHRISTOPHER KEVIN AU MANAGER OF TRIPLE ONE
F O U N D E R / C E O AT I H E A R T SONGWRITING CLUB
Have a schedule and stick to it. And don’t burn yourself out on the first night.
Make connections for a career, not a year. And follow up, follow up, follow up!
E M I LY K E L LY
ALICIA SBRUGNERA
CO-OWNER/DIRECTOR, P U B L I C I T Y A N D C R E AT I V E AT D E AT H P R O O F
H E A D O F M U S I C C U LT U R E A N D E D I T O R I A L AT S P O T I F Y Get some rest beforehand. Organise your essential
Your neat and organised schedule is about to be shot to
meetings, ASAP – the conference can get overwhelm-
shit. Try and roll with the punches.
ing. See as much music as you can but beware of first night fever.
STEPHEN WADE
JACKSON WALKDEN-BROWN
CEO/SENIOR BOOKING AGENT AT S E L E C T M U S I C
F O U N D E R / O W N E R AT A R T I S T S O N LY
Just understand that most people at BIGSOUND are rushing around trying to get to meetings, see panels
Brace yourself. And don’t get smashed on the first
and acts. Don’t take it personally if anyone seems rude.
night. BIGSOUND hangover days suck.
Drop them an email.
MICHELLE ROSE
MICHELLE GRACE HUNDER
C O M M E R C I A L S T R AT E G Y M A N AG E R , P R O D U C T A N D E XP E R I E N C E S AT L I V E N AT I O N
P R O D U C E R AT H E R S O U N D , HER STORY
Get to as many keynote sessions, panels, shows and
It’s so overwhelming and it’s hard to see everything you
networking events as you can – it’s worth the lack
want to, so don’t try to rush around too much. Have a
of sleep.
few must-sees and a few dark horses – you might be really surprised!
MIKE SNIPER
CHRIS GILL
Take advantage of all the connections. Make an effort
Find the funk.
F O U N D E R / C E O AT CAPTURED TRACKS
OWNER OF NORTHSIDE RECORDS
to talk to artists, not just managers. Listen to all the artists who are playing, make a schedule to see the ones you want.
THE MUSIC
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BIGSOUND
4 - 7 October 2019 Friday
JET • CONRAD SEWELL • DRAPHT
JAMES REYNE • SAMPA THE GREAT • SEEKER LOVER KEEPER • TUKA
ADRiAN EAGLE • ANNA & JORDAN • BAND OF FREQUENCiES • BOHEMiAN ROGUE • BULLHORN FiGHT iBiS • FORREST RUN • GREGORY PORTER TRiBUTE • HAYLEY GRACE & THE BAY COLLECTiVE JASON DANiELS • KARLOU • KAYSO GRANDE • MUFASSA & THE PRiDE • MAJUN BU • NATHAN CAVALERi NYSSA RAY • STOMPiNG iVORiES • THE BARLEYSHAKES • THE BARREN SPiNSTERS
Saturday
MiSSY HiGGiNS • THE VERONiCAS
MOTOR ACE • GANGGAJANG • HARTS PLAYS HENDRiX
ANNA & JORDAN • BEARFOOT • BURGER JOiNT • CiGANY WEAVER • COOKiN’ ON 3 BURNERS • DAN HORNE FiEU • GiRL FRiDAY • HOT POTATO BAND • iSABEL WOOD • KARLOU • KAYSO GRANDE • MAJUN BU NATHAN CAVALERi • PORT ROYAL • STOMPiNG iVORiES • THE BARLEYSHAKES • THE BARREN SPiNSTERS THE DREGGS • THE KiTTY KATS
Sunday
THE CAT EMPiRE • BABY ANiMALS REGURGiTATOR • THE SUPERJESUS
ALiSHA TODD • BURGER JOiNT • DAN HORNE • GREGORY PORTER TRiBUTE • HOT POTATO BAND JASMiNE CASTON • JASON DANiELS • NATALiE GiLLESPiE • NYSSA RAY • RESiN DOGS STOMPiNG iVORiES • THE BAD DAD ORCHESTRA • THE BARREN SPiNSTERS • THE DREGGS THUNDER FOX • TiM GAZE & THE OUTRO • TOXiC FOX • VOLCANiC LOVERS
Monday
KATE MiLLER-HEiDKE • BEN LEE
DiESEL • WENDY MATTHEWS & GRACE KNiGHT
ALiSHA TODD • BOB ABBOT & THE FABULOUS GREEN MACHiNE • BURGER JOiNT • DAVE ORR BAND GYPSY RUMBLE • HAT FiTZ & CARA • JASMiNE CASTON • KARLOU • KHAN HARRiSON • MUFASSA & THE PRiDE NATALiE GiLLESPiE • POCKETLOVE • SAHARA BECK • STOMPiNG iVORiES • THE BAD DAD ORCHESTRA
International Guests
THE NEW POWER GENERATiON
JON CLEARY & THE ABSOLUTE MONSTER GENTLEMEN JOAN AS POLiCE WOMAN • TURKUAZ CHECK PROGRAM GUIDE FOR PERFORMANCES CHILD | YOUTH | ADULT | PENSION | KINGS CLUB TICKETS • SINGLE DAY | WEEKEND | SEASON TICKETS
82852C 05/19.
caloundramusicfestival.com
THE MUSIC
•
SEPTEMBER
T H AT
SY NCING
FE E LI NG
Is aligning your music with brands still considered ‘selling out’? Bryget Chrisfield checks in with two music supervisors, Koo Abuali and Kurt Steinke, plus artist manager Ben Dennis — all BIGSOUND 2019 conference speakers — to discuss how landing a sync deal can contribute to an artist’s success.
D
iscussing her latest single, Sampa The Great stat-
expertise of music supervisors to explain exactly how sync
Abuali spent 15 years working in the US as a music
ed, “Freedom is about one of the most important
licensing deals work while referencing examples from their
supervisor and also does consulting work. Having already
talks you will ever have as an artist in this industry:
comprehensive experience working in this particular field.
worked on hundreds of film, advertising and TV projects,
producer/
she singles out the Julia Roberts-produced feature film
supervisor at Townhouse in New York, is returning to his
Jesus Henry Christ, starring Toni Collette, as one of her
“There are lots of working artists out there that can’t
old stomping ground for BIGSOUND conference speaker
career highlights to date. Jesus Henry Christ uses Home by
afford to eat,” BIGSOUND conference speaker Koo Abuali, a
duties and also acknowledges that “it’s pretty hard to be a
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros in the closing credits
successful professional artist who founded FireWire Music
full-time musician”. “For a lot of bands one sync placement
and Abuali reveals, “We got that song for relatively cheap
Company in 2015, sympathises. “Times have changed and
could cover the costs for their whole next album or keep
because of the fact that it wasn’t well known at the time
the way that music is created obviously has changed, but
them going for six, 12 months, essentially,” he says. “I think
and I happened to know the manager.”
the way that music is marketed and consumed has also
people are looking at it more as a sort of means to sustain
Even though publicists, labels and third party sync rep-
changed. There are a lot more avenues for artists to make
their career and help them achieve longevity in what they
resentatives email tracks directly to Townhouse, Stein dis-
money, but they need to be aware of them and they need
wanna do creatively.
closes, “It’s not a requirement to have a team around you
the balance of earning a living and expressing your artistry, and what you’re willing to compromise through it all.”
Brisbane-raised
Kurt
Steinke,
a
music
to land a sync placement; I’ve done deals where I’ve just
to be able to understand what they’re doing... If you wanna
“Obviously she’s very well known in Australia, but I did
make money from your music there are lots of ways to do
a sync for Sampa The Great. I synced one of her tracks for
it that are not glamorous — even if you make $50 a license
a Walgreens commercial, which is like a very mainstream
So what can artists do to get the attention of music
for a tiny little one-minute video that’s gonna be shown in
pharmacy; they did a spot about women battling cancer.
supervisors? “If you’re just making waves in what you’re doing
Bulgaria at a conference.”
I used her track Female and that was an example of the
musically, you’ll probably get onto a good music supervisor’s
reached out to artists directly.”
Three BIGSOUND 2019 events — the What Is Music
brand feeling really excited about an artist that they had
radar,” Steinke, who admits he still listens to triple j’s Home
Supervision? and Supervisionary Supervision panels and
never heard of, and it was so strong and it’s speaking for
And Hosed, opines. “I’d focus on the more immediate things
the Publishing And Sync hook-up, which gives attendees
itself. And I think being on a commercial like Walgreens
rather than trying to kick the goal of landing an ad right off
the opportunity to chat directly with speakers — enlist the
— it’s not, like, launching Sampa’s career, ‘cause she’s
the bat... Start with the things that are more immediately
already doing great, but it’s exposing her to maybe a dif-
attainable goals, get a bit more buzz around that and then
ferent demographic that would’ve never heard her music.
the story when you reach out to a supervisor is like, ‘Hey! I’m
It’s opening other people’s ears to music they may not
so-and-so artist, check me out. I just got posted on this blog.
have heard.”
Here’s my new single, take a listen!’ — I feel having something
I N D U ST RY I N S I D E R VA N E S S A PICKEN
DIRECTOR/ HEAD OF D I G I TA L AT C O M E S WITH FRIES
WHICH ACTS ARE ON Y O U R M U S T S E E L I S T AT BIGSOUND AND WHY? The Nettwerk Showcase with Harrison Storm, Hayden Calnin, Riley Pearce and Jaguar Jonze is
Australian electronic duo Peking Duk have successfully
like that rather than just emailing someone blind is probably
secured multiple sync placements and their manager Ben
a better way to go; it shows that you’re getting a buzz in your
Dennis, Myriad Management’s Owner/Director, is sched-
own right and often people are looking to sort of tap into
uled to speak on BIGSOUND’s Rethinking The Relationship
someone who’s already buzzing... I’m still really passionate
Between Band And Brand panel. Dennis says the “vast
about finding new music — that’s what excites me the most.
majority” of Peking Duk’s syncs were “procured by [their]
So if you’re pushing your music out there, I think, whether or
teams at BMG and Sony Music”. “Some syncs will come to
not you realise it, there are people listening and opportuni-
fruition from other opportunities and relationships such as
ties can pop up from strange places.”
brand partnerships or event partnerships,” he adds. “One
“Honestly, pretend like we don’t even exist... A good
of these examples was when Peking Duk performed at the
music supervisor will find you,” is Abuali’s advice for artists
Australian Open. We were fortunate enough for the Austra-
hoping to be on her radar. “Definitely go to conferences like
lian Open to sign a deal to use the band’s song Feels Like
BIGSOUND and things like that, and then just introduce
as the TVC [television commercial] for the 2017 Australian
yourself to the music supervisors, but don’t say you wanna
Open, an advertisement that ran for four months on a vari-
send them music.
ety of platforms including free-to-air, pay TV, social media
“I know that that’s a really active way of doing it, but, I’m telling you, it’s really unlikely that I will be able to listen
and radio.” Dennis confirms Peking Duk noticed “new fan engage-
to all the music that’s sent to me. Whereas if they develop
ment from overseas territories” after another of their songs
a personal relationship with me in some way or they know
was synced for a video game trailer: “There was a spike in
something about me, like they say, ‘Hey I really love the way
streams off the back of a sync with winter sports video
you put that Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros song at
game Steep. Say My Name was the key track for the trailer
the end of the movie,’ then I’ll be like, ‘Oh, yeah, this person
for the game and a part of the soundtrack.”
knows what they’re talking about.’ And then I will ask them,
When asked to describe the job of music supervisor in layman’s terms, Abuali offers, “It’s about doing the work that’s needed to make sure the music and the music land-
not to be missed! The buzz around Tones & I will be exciting to see.
•
70
I’ll tell them to send it to me and I’ll pay attention to them.” Having also experienced “some really great sync successes” with another act on his boutique management com-
scape is right for the project.”
THE MUSIC
‘Hey, what do you do? What’s your music about?’ And then
•
BIGSOUND
Kurt Steinke
pany’s roster, Hands Like Houses (“WWE approached us to use their track Monster as the theme for the WWE’s showdown at the MCG in Melbourne”), Dennis points out, “Getting a sync deal, no matter the size, is always a huge milestone. The ancillary income from a good sync, for an up-and-coming artist, can be the difference between working part-time and focusing on their songwriting full-time. Sync deals we have found go beyond just the fee attached, they are superimportant for exposure in worldwide markets and newer demographics that may not have discovered the artists yet.”
”I’m not sure if there is any justifiable point in saying that a well-curated brand partnership is selling out.”
When asked whether the fear of ‘selling out’ still prevents some artists from aligning with brands, Steinke con-
Koo Abuali
— Ben Dennis
siders, “There’s still some artists that I’ve interacted with, and deals we’ve tried to do through my agency, where artists have moral reasons why they might not be fond of working with particular brands sometimes and that completely makes sense. But the point of view of it being seen as selling out, for the most part, doesn’t really exist so much any more; I think it’s seen as a pretty fair and reasonable thing to do.” “Considering we live in a society where the vast majority of musicians live below the poverty line, or close to it, I’m not sure if there is any justifiable point in saying that a wellcurated brand partnership is selling out,” Dennis seconds. “As long as both sides of the partnership respect the integrity, then a partnership can be a great move from not just a monetary perspective but an exposure perspective also.”
Ben Dennis
Koo Abuali, Kurt Steinke and Ben Dennis all speak at BIGSOUND on 4 & 5 Sep at Cloudland.
THE MUSIC
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BIGSOUND
THE
ART
OF
ELE VATOR
T HE
P ITC H
BIGTECH will be reinvigorated in 2019 as we see nine emerging companies battle it out and showcase their products. Selling yourself, however, is a skill not specific to start-up culture. We asked BIGTECH mentor and CEO of Rivercity Labs Peta Ellis for her top tips for pitching, translated for musos, to help you nail that elevator pitch while you’re in town.
1 .
6 .
Identify the gap you are filling. Clearly dem-
Traction trumps opinion - show your uptake,
onstrate where it is and how you fill it.
audience; who is engaging already.
2 .
7.
Be honest. State where you are at, what you
Investors invest in artists/people not ideas;
need help with and from who. Be authentic.
show yourself and explain why you are backable.
3 .
8.
Know your numbers, if you show numbers,
Understand a no is a ‘not now’. Keep rela-
expect to be asked about them. Don’t proj-
tionships relevant and know feedback is
ect too far into the future.
good. Utilise it in your next opportunity. Be prepared to pitch again.
4.
9.
Explain your competitive advantage
Know your competition, highlight who is
(what experience do you have to bring the
doing what globally. Show why you
best value).
are different.
5 .
1 0.
Who are you pitching to? Do your research
Sell the vision, don’t focus on too many details
and tailor accordingly.
and take your audience where you want this to go. Sell the story, the why and the WOW.
BIGTECH Pitch happens 4 Sep at Alice Room, Cloudland.
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THURSDAY 14TH - SUNDAY 17TH NOVEMBER 2019
NANO STERN (CHILE). MOJO JUJU. WAGONS
SIBUSILE XABA (STH AFR). ALYSHA BRILLA (CAN). EMMA DONOVAN & THE PUTBACKS HARRY JAMES ANGUS. DEREB THE AMBASSADOR (ETH/AU). QUIVERS THANDO. JOE PUG (US). Z-STAR TRINITY (UK). STEVE GUNN (US) ALLENSWORTH (US). RUBY BOOTS. HUSSY HICKS. KAUMAAKONGA (SOL IS) THE WILSON PICKERS. D U S T Y E S K Y. RACHEL BAIMAN (US) SMALL HALLS FEAT: BLAIR DUNLOP (UK) & HAT FITZ & CARA H U S KY PRESENTS: FIRST KISS GOODNIGHT. TEK TEK ENSEMBLE
JACK CARTY. CLAIRE ANNE TAYLOR. HUSKY GAWENDA (SOLO). LUCIE THORNE SUNNYSIDE. ALISHA TODD & THE VOLCANIC LOVERS. CIGANY WEAVER. LOREN KATE HELLO TUT TUT. KENT BURNSIDE (US). ALWAN. GREG SHEEHAN. ALANA WILKINSON THE NEW SAVAGES. KARL S WILLIAMS. BREKKY BOY. ANDIE. MONIQUE CLARE TITAN SKY. GRAHAM MOES. ALFALFA. INVISIBLE FRIEND. GABRIEL OTU. MR RHODES MANDY HAWKES. PALM WINE AMBASSADORS. LOOSE CONTENT. SOPHIE OZARD GIDEON PREISS’S PIANO BAR. TIN CAN STRING BAND. OUT OF ORDER. ANGUS FIELD ARAKWAL DANCERS. THE CASSETTES. BOLLYWOOD SISTERS. ROUNDABOUT THEATRE THE AMAZING DRUMMING MONKEYS. SIGN OF THE TIMES. INGENUITY SCULPTURE WALK SPAGHETTI CIRCUS. STREET PARADE. THE MAGIC BUS AND MUCH MORE!
WWW.MULLUMUSICFESTIVAL.COM THE MUSIC
•
SEPTEMBER
T H ROW ING
SHAPE S
In the lead-up to BIGSOUND’s Shape Up And Ship Out panel, a guide to healthy touring, we asked the speakers to give us their best advice.
ALEX THE ASTRONAUT
V I V FA N T I N
ARTIST
H E A D C O A C H AT N E X T A C T C O A C H I N G
Try to protect yourself from the big emotions
Plan for your return back to reality before you leave
Bring something comforting & find something exciting to do
Take care of what’s going on internally. Where’s your head
Before you set off, make sure your house is in order, literally.
When I’m away I’ve started taking a weighted blanket which
at? Identify any known stressors ahead of time so you have
Pay your rent and bills, have a clean room and food to come
is a pretty inconvenient thing to travel with, haha, but it helps
awareness and tools in place to manage before you hit the
home to. Do some prep work to ensure a stress-free return.
me go off to sleep easier. I also pick out a few things, even if
road. Enlist a supportive tour buddy to help keep each other
it’s one funny dog cafe or something, to do in the places that I
in check and focus only on the things you can control.
tour to keep me excited about travelling.
Shape Up And Ship Out: Your Guide To Healthy Touring is on at BIGSOUND on 5 Sep at Heritage Room, Cloudland.
Self-care
Stay connected
You’ll be at your best on the road if take care of your health.
Keep connections to loved ones back home. The touring
Exercise, rest when you can and eat healthy food. Crappy
world is a bubble — maintaining some external connections
food and lack of sleep will make everything worse. Embrace
will keep you grounded and provide an anchor and much-
the off days. Also drink more water. Chances are you think
needed reality check.
you’re drinking more than you really are.
I N D U ST RY I N S I D E R JADE HARPER
BRENT HEDLEY
H E A D O F M E N T A L H E A LT H A N D W E L L B E I N G AT A F L P L AY E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N
OSCAR SERRALACH
D O C T O R A T T H E H E A LT H L O D G E
INDIGENOUS MUSIC EXPORT P R O G R A M C O O R D I N AT O R AT MANITOBA MUSIC
WHICH ACTS ARE ON YOUR MUST SEE LIST AT B I G S O U N D AND WHY? Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Renée Lamoureux, Twin Flames, Black Rock Band, Deline
Build a support network
Remember to relax
My tip for healthy touring would be broadening your social
You are never too busy to relax!! Relaxing starts with the
networks and range of relationships with others in the wider
awareness of the breath, and the awareness of now.
community — these relationships provide a sense of familiarity, connectedness, perspective, self-worth and position in a community and can be an invaluable resource.
THE MUSIC
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BIGSOUND
Briscoe and DRMNGNOW.
Tour budgets made easy
For artists and managers who like to be organised
“TourTracks is a game-changer .” Matty Woo, Dune Rats “It simplifies my life massively” Greg Carey, The Rubens “It’s so easy to use and get the hang of quickly ” Daniel Radburn, Hockey Dad
tourtracks.co Designed by Australia’s premier musicS business experts THE MUSIC • EPTEMBER
THE
didn’t really enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I was sort of lost as to where to go. I was speaking to one of my lecturers and she said to me that there are plenty of managers out there, and [plenty of] booking agents out there, but, if you wanna push yourself in the industry and be successful too, you need to find your niche. It was kinda just like a light-
SECRET SPICE
bulb moment for me at that point, because I am in a wheelchair myself and I go to festivals a lot and I experience firsthand the struggles with accessibility within the music industry.” Bassile introduced Tibi in early 2018. She relocated to Melbourne in january this year. She has welcomed the response to Tibi from an industry committed to greater inclusion. “My services include obviously access consulting for venues and music festivals and events of all types, and then I also run workshops, which has just been launched this year,” she explains. “Those workshops are aimed towards industry professionals as well as artists. I just cover what can be done in all aspects of the industry, as well as theatre, to become more accessible and what can be
Secretly’s Ophir Admony has worked with her fair share of Australian provocateurs. Here she tells Anthony Carew she’s keen to get her hands on a lamington when in town for BIGSOUND.
done by festivals and venues — because I find that it’s not that people don’t want to make themselves accessible, it’s a lack of education and not really knowing what to do. I also do some disability inclusion and awareness training in those workshops. That’s part of my business and what my business offers.” Bassile has had positive feedback from members of the disabled community. “Everyone’s been really supportive and really excited by having something like Tibi, because it’s disability-led and disability-run by myself.” Bassile is keen to challenge any misconceptions that ensuring festivals are accessible is difficult or expensive. “I think people who
AC CESS A L L
run festivals aren’t aware that there are little things, and cost-effective things, that can be done,” she stresses. “Simply by having information online, as to whether Auslan inter-
A REAS
preters are available at the event or if there are disabled toilets at a venue really helps someone with a disability know whether they can attend or not. And then having an access
Disability advocate Dina Bassile speaks to Cyclone about her work consulting the music and arts industries to make entertainment spaces more accessible to differently abled people.
liaison to contact is really helpful too.” Though many festivals do employ access liaison personnel, these tend to be occupational therapists who consider logistics, not experiential inclusivity. “A viewing platform will be positioned at the back of a venue, or at the side of a venue, just to say that they have one. It’s not necessarily a really great spot of viewing and it’s not inclusive.” Bassile can herself test venues for mobility.
W
hen Ophir Admony was 18, she spent a year split between Tel Aviv and Perth. Having grown up in
the San Fernando Valley, a child of Los Angeles sprawl, she’d gone to Israel to study (postmodern philosophy and English literature,
D
Ironically, Bassile has been too busy to
no less). But, when she met an Australian
attend gigs over winter. (Even following BIG-
boyfriend, she spent a year going back and
ina Bassile is a big music fan who
SOUND, she’s hosting a Brisbane workshop.)
forth, from Israel to Australia. “I got to meet
loves hitting festivals and live gigs.
“The last gig I went to? It’s been a while! I
a lot of amazing people I still know,” Admony
But, as a person with disability, she
went to the Teskey Brothers at Northcote
recounts. “Some of the Methyl Ethel crew
has often found entertainment spaces inac-
Social Club — that was probably three or four
and Pond people are some folks that I’ve just
cessible for wheelchair users. Today Bassile
months ago. That was a really great event
known since I was 18.”
presides over an innovative Australian com-
there. The staff are more than accommodat-
In the decade since, Admony hasn’t
pany, Tibi Access, offering event access con-
ing. The venue itself is really nice and easy
returned to Australia, but she’s longed to.
sultancy to the music and arts industries. In
to get in and out of. I think Northcote Social
Living in LA — where, starting this year, she
fact, she is working as an access consultant
Club itself is really forward-thinking and
works as A&R for the Secretly Group, home
for BIGSOUND. Bassile will also join a panel,
wanting to make their venue as accessible as
to the labels Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar,
Everyone Deserves Music, alongside (among
possible. I had someone representing North-
and Dead Oceans — she’s been surrounded
others) Zack Alcott, who co-founded Mel-
cote Social Club at one of my workshops as
by so many expats she feels like she’s living in
bourne’s “all-inclusive” Ability Fest with his
well, so they’re taking that initiative to be
“mini-Australia”. And through her work with
Paralympian brother Dylan, and Susan Emer-
more accessible too, which is really great.”
Secretly and, previously, Terrible Records, she’s worked with numerous Australian art-
son, from Auslan Stage Left. She had the idea to start Tibi (meaning
ists. Coming to speak at BIGSOUND in Bris-
“for you” in Latin) while undertaking a BA in
bane, at the Labels And DSPs hook-up, she
Entertainment Business Management at JMC Academy. “I did that course wanting to be an artist manager,” Bassile says. “But I
Dina Bassile speaks at BIGSOUND on 5 Sep at Moon Room, Cloudland.
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BIGSOUND
has one clear goal, beyond all the imminent rock’n’roll: “I’m looking forward to having a lamington.”
DON ’T
AD
ME
Paige X Cho — Senior Music Strategist at digital and creative agency Bolster — knows that digital marketing can seem inscrutable, if not outright nefarious. She gives Joe Dolan a sneak peek at her BIGSOUND talk about the industry’s inner workings, and how ethical advertising should be “tailored for the optimum user experience”. Admony first found her way into the music industry when studying in Tel Aviv, helping out local management and artists, her being bilingual (Admony also speaks Hebrew) an instant ‘in’ for Israeli acts hoping to connect with an international audience. Upon returning to LA, her big ‘break’ was a classic foot-in-the-door moment. “I just showed up at Terrible
A
s the Senior Music Strategist for digital agency Bolster,
power back into the user’s hands. Now, any
Paige X Cho is well aware of the dystopic level with
Facebook user can log in and see exactly
which we are being targeted by advertisers online.
what businesses have uploaded an email list
“It’s less of an argument with what I’m talking about at
to the platform to advertise directly to that
BIGSOUND, and more of just explaining it,” Cho says of her
user. If you go into your settings, you can do
upcoming panel, I’m Being Targeted With Ads!. “When I
things like remove data that the platforms
Working in LA, she’s seen both sides of the coin up close.
explain to people that I work in marketing strategy, specifi-
may already have on you. If you sign into an
“LA is a funny place, there’s so much major-label shit, and
cally digital, some people will say things like, ‘Oh! I feel like my
app through Facebook, previously it would’ve
there’s so many indie labels,” Admony offers. “It feels like a
phone is listening to me,’ or, ‘I just googled this thing and now
just stayed connected forever, but now if
all these ads have come up.’
you don’t use the app for three months they
Records one day, was there for like a month, and they offered me a job,” she recalls. “I worked at Terrible alongside a couple of my really good friends, and then I just jumped to Secretly. I always knew I wanted to be at an indie label, I think it’s the healthiest environment in the music industry.”
place where they meet. At Terrible we had a deal with Interscope, so that
“There are definitely cases where advertisers aren’t doing
meant that, at times, we were working
it correctly and are just hammering their ads to people, and
While Cho implores users to do their
sort of in between the two [realms].”
that in and of itself isn’t effective as an advertising strategy. A
research she also believes that modern adver-
revoke the access that was given.”
One of those ‘between the two’
very short-sighted advertiser will just see the notion of ‘effec-
tising is not necessarily a thing to fear. “I know
albums was Miya Folick’s debut, 2018’s
tive’ as a conversion of sales. For instance, if you were advertis-
a lot of people really hate the idea that plat-
Premonitions. “Miya was so creatively
ing a music festival, you’d be very short-sighted to go, ‘The only
forms are serving them bespoke targeted
fun to work with, and her music says
thing I care about is selling a ticket.’ There are so many other
ads, as opposed to the more random thing
something so important. I felt like my
things that need to be factored in, even if ticket sales are that
of, like, seeing a poster on the side of a bus. It
heart was just fully there. She’s the
North Star metric... There’s brand awareness, increasing aware-
seems more invasive and creepy, and I think
most lovely person, and it was a beauti-
ness, reaching audiences, brand sentiment, a huge number of
a lot of people feel like that is the case for all
ful record.”
things beyond just trying to sell a ticket.”
advertising across all digital platforms. The
Beyond working with Folick, when
Cho states that the issues are rooted in two very specific
thing to remember is that there’s a reason
asked to nominate other favourite
locations. “The first is with the ad platforms, and making sure
these places give us targeted ads. It’s not just
experiences, Admony alights on a cou-
the Facebooks and Instagrams of the world aren’t doing things
for them to make money, but they’re trying
ple of local provocateurs: Kirin J Cal-
that are unethical in an attempt to make more money,” she
to give users a better experience. The ads, as
linan (“challenging and fun and weird;
says. “I think new government policies rolling in and new inqui-
well as the content you see organically, [are]
that’s definitely my preference, doing
ries are really helping with that. The other side of it is with the
tailored for the optimum user experience.”
shit that’s confronting and interesting”)
advertiser, and recognising what the advertiser should and
and Alex Cameron (“being able to work
shouldn’t do. Targeting vulnerable people to exploit them,
on his project at Secretly feels kind of
lying and using data outside of its intended use, stuff like that
like a gift”).
is what we need to be on the lookout for.
Working
on
Bleached’s
new
“Say, for example, a music festival gets data from its
album, Don’t You Think You’ve Had
patrons and passes that info on to
Enough?, was also a joy; especially
another festival to target them with ads
given that band’s Clavin sisters, like Admony, grew up in the
and mailing lists and stuff like that, that
Valley. “When we met it was pretty exciting: just these Valley
would be really unethical. Another thing
Girls getting to work on a project together. We discovered we
is pretending to be a different business.
had a bunch of mutual friends, so it all felt light and easy. And
A really good example of this is Viagogo,
they just wrote a fucking banging record. That’s all the work.”
who frequently pretend to be official tick-
Secretly’s vast roster of artists — which includes Jens Lek-
eting companies for festivals and trick
man, Bon Iver, Julianna Barwick, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van
consumers into either purchasing com-
Etten, Mitski and Stella Donnelly — makes Admony feel like a
pletely fake tickets, or exorbitantly priced
fan, even when at work. “That I get to do this every day is just a
second-hand tickets, often against event
dream. I feel like I’m in a good place,” she says.
terms and conditions. So, in terms of
The group just held its own music conference, Secretly
advertisers trying to remain ethical, these
Summit, at their HQ in Bloomington, Indiana, where all three
are the types of things they should avoid.”
labels and the dozens more they distribute came together.
The strategist also believes that
That got Admony in the mood for BIGSOUND, which she’s
online advertising technology can be
looking forward to, not simply for the lamingtons, but the
used in a positive and ethical way, but
social experience. “Every time I’ve gone to a conference or a
there’s serious hesitation from the gen-
showcase festival,” she offers, “I always meet people who I feel
eral public. “There’s definitely a sort of PR
like I’m going to stay in touch with for the rest of my life.”
issue there. I think the whole thing with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook was a nightmare because that really reduced trust in the system. “I think, generally, people aren’t across what the technology is doing, and I think the platforms have really done a lot in regards to this,” Cho continues. “After
Ophir Admony speaks at BIGSOUND on 4 Sep at Crystal Palais, Cloudland.
the Cambridge Analytica saga last year, [Facebook] started rolling out a lot more options and features to start putting the
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Paige X Cho speaks at BIGSOUND on 4 Sep at Cellar, Cloudland.
H U N T LY,
H U N T LY M U N T LY The abuse of power.
MIIESHA I still think opportunities for remote communities to share
W H AT
D O
I D EN TIFY T H E
their talent and stories with the world are really important.
YOU AS
MOST
P RES SIN G I MPACTING
ISS UE T H E
R O YA L & T H E SOUTHERN ECHO
AU STRA L IAN M U S IC AT
I think mental health is something that touches literally every person in the industry. From managers to touring crew and artists, publicists – you name it. A lot of the time you’re
INDUST RY
doing things down to the wire, and you’re never really sure they’re going to pay off.
P R E S E N T ?
APHIR I would like to see more women and non-binary people being upheld and treated well in a range of industry roles. I would love for the Australian music scene to be a place where a more diverse range of artists can feel safe and confident sharing their stories.
SEASIDE,
CHRIS MELLROSS The clampdown on festivals and venues in this country feels pretty rough! I
can
almost
guarantee
everyone
involved in shutting down live music probably goes home and listens to their fave artists anyway. Seems a bit hypocritical.
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Above The Bit•Alana Wilkinson•Allensworth•Alysha Brilla•Amaru Tribe Ash Bell&Sara Tindley•Ash Grunwald•The Barren Spinsters•Brekky Boy The Cat Empire•Charlie Collins•Claire Anne Taylor•Clare Bowditch Cooper Lower•The Delta Riggs•Devorah•Doc Halibut•Dubarray Ethan Farmer Band•Fenn Wilson•Fools•GraceJean•Hiatus Kaiyote•Ian Noe Immy Owusu•Isabella Khalife•The Jellyman’s Daughter•Joe Pug Justine Clarke•Karen Lee Andrews•Kent Burnside•The Long Johns•The Mamas Merpire•The Mik Maks•Missy Higgins•Mojo Juju•Momoko Rose•Nano Stern Nathan Seeckts•The New Savages•Newton Faulkner•Paul McDermotT&Gatesy Remi•Ross Wilson•Sarah Carroll& Shannon Bourne•Sky Eater•Steve Poltz Stevie Jean•The Strides•The Swamp Stompers•Sweethearts•Tanya George Tides of Welcome•Tim Finn•Tiptoe Giants•Tom Richardson•Troy Cassar-Daley The Vegetable Plot•Vince Peach•The WaifS•The Weeping Willows•Yoga Loves Music
THE MUSIC
•
SEPTEMBER
BIGSTAT Arc Dining. Pic: Felicity Case-Mejia
It turns out there’s a lot of big numbers involved in BIGSOUND — we’ve crunched a few to collate these spicy stats.
A L O C A L’ S G U I D E
192
160
100,000+
the largest number of
the amount of hangovers
speakers at BIGSOUND in
acts at BIGSOUND in one
Brisbane’s Fortitude
have appeared at
one year (2018)
year (2016)
Valley has seen from
BIGSOUND since 2006*
the largest number of
1314
13,561
135
135
have showcased at
last year’s festival
quoted in our Overheard
regret saying things when
At BIGSOUND stories
The Music team are around
the number of artists that
how many people attended
BIGSOUND since 2006*
L O C AT I O N B R E A K D O W N FOR THIS YEAR’S ACTS
TA S
a nice refreshing Hydralyte and get yourself
INT
ready for tonight’s revelry.
WA KING ARTHUR
King Arthur does one of the best breakfasts in Brisbane and it’s an absolute delight. You
NS W
SA
also get to look at The Calile Hotel around the corner, the most beautifully brutalist building in Brisbane (if you’re into that sort of thing). Order what I like to call “The Mel” — poached eggs on toast, loop greens, sausage
the amount of people that
WA
YOUI THAI MASSAGE
changing 30-minute massage for $58, drink
the amount of people
since 2013
H O L I D AY PA R T Y ANSWERED BY: MEL TICKLE
didn’t stretch again. You idiot. Go get a life-
the number of speakers that
BIGSOUND-goers
We’ve asked a few of the local acts on the line-up for their guide to what’s hot in town.
You overdid it with your onstage antics and
1572
QLD
and relish, plus a strong flat white, then a filter to go. Food and caffeine heaven.
VI C
New South Wales
Tasmania
31 %
1%
Victoria
Western Australia
27 %
7%
NT
ACT
2%
1%
Queensland
International
18%
8%
South Australia
HAPPY BOY AND THEN ARC DINING
4%
Sometimes you’re ready to have a shower, put on a nice outfit and have a wine at lunch and be the ~fancy girl~ you were born to be. Happy Boy has incredible Chinese food (try the spicy fish in broth and duck fried rice)
NT
2019 ACTS VS SPEAKERS
and wine (Honeymoon rose is a delight), while Arc Dining has a fabulous wine list (lots of great rieslings), delightful charcuterie and
147 ar tis t s
overlooks the brown snake (Brisbane River) and Story Bridge.
16 4 sp e aker s *pre-2006 figures were unavailable at the time of publishing
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SINCE 1986
AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST STREET POSTER NETWORK
1300MYPOSTER
www.rockposters.com.au
MELBOURNE 226 NORMANBY AVE, THORNBURY VIC 3071 03 9416 9966
SYDNEY 13-15 BUCKLEY STREET, MARRICKVILLE NSW 2204 02 9519 2002
THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
BOBBY ALU Sleep as much as you can before, there are too many good times to be had. Be kind to strangers always, and not just at BIGSOUND where a stranger could very well be your next meal ticket. And then, just go with the flow.
HALLIE I’ve only just found out! From what I learnt last year, water is
W H AT
IS
T HE
B E ST
B IT
OF
A DV IC E B E EN
year I’m going to print off photos of all the people I want to meet so I don’t miss them. Creepy, but necessary.
YOU’ VE
G IVE N
P REPA RE YO UR
very necessary, and keep a schedule on hand at all times. This
TO
FOR
TIM E
AT
YERGURL Mum keeps reminding me to “just have fun” and it’s super helpful for me because I’m super type-A, anxious and perfec-
B I GSOU N D?
tionist and sometimes I just have to remember why I’m doing music and sharing it with everyone — because I love it and enjoy it!
DVNA To have fun! Get creative. It’s about connection, experience and your energy. It’s not necessarily about playing perfectly but putting on a damn good show.
CITY ROSE,
P AT M C C A R T H Y “As long as I give it my all it doesn’t matter who’s watching” — Myself
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A V A I L A B L E
N O W
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FIND A DEALER
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THE MUSIC
•
SEPTEMBER
yamahamusicau
BAPTISM
OF
F YRE
A 30-year career turned into a meme overnight. It’s the incredible story of Andy King, American events producer, known for his involvement in the disastrous Fyre Festival. Ahead of his appearance at BIGSOUND, here he talks Lauren Baxter through “that damn documentary and that stupid effing cheese sandwich”.
aware that the gay community really hasn’t been given the credit that it should have,” he continues. “Women are stepping forward, but most gay men are too embarrassed to step forward for some reason to say all the compromising situations that they’ve encountered, but I hope that I’m empowering them to go, ‘Well, you know what, it’s ok.’ “That’s one of my biggest things that people took away,” King says. “There’s this guy. He’s the only guy with grey hair. He’s in his 50s; he’s not 20. He was asked to do this incredible thing. And he just said, ‘You know what, ok, this is what I need to do. Let’s get this done, finished. I’m going to go on to my next project, and I won’t talk about it.’ And I’m not insinuating that I think the gay community or any community resort to sexual favours to get things done but my message to kids today is if your heart is filled, and you’re passionate about a job, a career, a product or something, and you might have to do something you’ve never dreamed of doing? Ten all-nighters? Borrow money from your friends or your parents? I don’t know what it is. I think my blowjob, failed blowjob, inspires them to say, ‘You know what if I need to go the extra mile, I should do it.’” King is now turning his attention to throwing his own festivals, using his lear from Fyre Festival to change an industry he calls “totally broken”. “My focus now is trying to inspire young kids to do the right thing today,” he says. “And my music festival, all of them are going to be as close to zero waste as possible focusing on social-environmental impact. But as you know from drug use to waste and garbage, I mean, the music festival world is broken. So it’s time to try to look at it and say, ‘How do we still make it totally cool? How do we make it so kids still want to go? Make it sexy? But inspire kids when they get there. How do you do that?’ Well, we’re going to feature local farmers. We’re going to feature local chefs, local music. We’ll feature bigname music as well. We’ll feature composting and recycling, we’ll do activations on how do you eliminate plastic from the oceans? We’ll do a lot of amazing things like that.”
“I
literally drove home, took a shower, I drank some
blessed to have gone through all that. And I’m blessed now
mouthwash. And I got to his office, fully prepared to
to have this platform to share positivity, and I’m hoping I can
suck his dick.”
really make a positive change with social media today.”
It was the scene that launched a thousand memes. Andy
Since the release of the documentary, King has spoken
King, the celebrated event producer who has hosted events
at conferences across the world, passionate about inspiring
for the likes of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and the
others to learn from their failures. It’s something he plans to
America’s Cup, was potentially the only person to come out of
do during his keynote at BIGSOUND — an appearance he con-
the Fyre Festival failure a hero — outside of beloved restaurant
firms he will donate his earnings from to “get everybody paid
owner MaryAnn Rolle. His loyalty and unbridled enthusiasm
back in the Bahamas as quickly as possible”.
endeared him to the 20 million households that streamed
“I get up on stage whether I’m in Moscow, or Berlin, or
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened on Netflix in
Australia, and I say, ‘I’m the biggest visible failure in pop cul-
its first month.
ture.’ That damn documentary and that stupid effing cheese
King remembers being at the premiere in New York City, sinking into his chair thinking, “Oh shit, here we go,” when in fact the scene was met with cheers and a standing ovation.
“I get up there and say, ‘Listen, there’s no hiding.’ Everybody knows who I am — on every street corner, in the grocery store, in restaurants and bars — because of the reach of Netf-
was going to change overnight,” he shares. However, losing
lix. I just say, ‘I’m the biggest failure in pop culture today.’ But
anonymity wasn’t something he was prepared for. King tells
guess what, you learn more from your failures than you do
us he felt “naked” but is thankful that “being one of the most
from your successes. And I just say, ‘You know what, kids, don’t
popular memes in culture today you get that exposure” and
take the job with a big company, sitting in a cubicle with a job
now wants to use it for good.
you hate. Take a risk and follow your heart and be passionate about it.’”
tive criticism and mine is not, thank god. You know, Ellen
While the failed blowjob story is now synonymous in
loves my meme,” he laughs. “’How do you want to pay for it?
meme culture with a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality, many
American Express, Visa, MasterCard or Andy King?’ Could be
saw Fyre founder and now felon Billy McFarland’s request
worse right?”
as homophobic workplace sexual harassment. King says he
While there’s still the one percent who drive by him in LA
went into Netflix and “voluntarily shot several commercials”:
and yell, “’Oh my God, Andy King. Will you suck my dick?’”, King
“Hi, this is Andy King. If this happens to you at your workplace,
says for the most part everyone from the TSA at airports to
it’s not ok.”
wait staff are kind and respectful.
I N D U ST RY I N S I D E R
sandwich,” he jokes.
“It wasn’t until that moment that I realised that my life
“I’m really lucky because most memes are kind of nega-
Andy King speaks at BIGSOUND on 4 Sep at Rainbow Room, Cloudland.
ANDREW KHEDOORI
MANAGER, AUSTRALIAN M U S I C R A D I O A I R P L AY P R O J E C T ( A M R A P ) AT C B A A
WHICH ACTS ARE ON YOUR MUST SEE L I S T AT BIGSOUND AND WHY? DRMNGNOW has a vision
While calling himself “a proud gay man”, King is quick to
for Australia that isn’t
“I think I had a little PTSD for a while, it was pretty diffi-
assert he is “not a flag-waver”: “I don’t mean to make light of
heard often enough these
cult, what we all went through,” he reveals. “I had to get smug-
anything but I say, ‘Listen, Billy asked me to go suck one dick,
days: tough and uncompromising without that just
gled off that island and I would probably still be there today
he didn’t ask me to go sleep with nine vaginas.’ I mean, I’m a
being a front. We need it. Also fascinated by the
if I hadn’t been pulled off by private jet after dark with palm
gay man. Actually, this wasn’t the biggest punishment.
sounds of Gordon Koang and Aphir.
fronds over me in the back of a truck. But I do feel like I’m
“With the #MeToo world and everything else, I’m well
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udio
Mastering st
F F O % 20
e ix studio hirde. M r o n io s s R co ly via this Q astering se
M
d on
ited time, an
ble for a lim
Deal is availa
Mix studio THE MUSIC
•
SEPTEMBER
JAGUA R J O N Z E A look behind the scenes with the BIGSOUND buzz act following the release of her new single and visually astounding video, Beijing Baby.
GIVE US A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF YOUR MUSIC: Jaguar Jonze crafts songs of melancholic beauty woven with gun-slinging guitar lines and a strikingly rich yet intimate voice. Born in Japan to Taiwanese/Australian parents, Jaguar Jonze is as eclectic as her cultural upbringing. W H I C H A C T S A R E O N Y O U R M U S T- S E E L I S T AT B I G S O U N D ? Japanese Wallpaper, Milan Ring, First Beige, Electric Fields. WHY SHOULD PEOPLE COME AND SEE YOU A M O N G T H E M A N Y A M A Z I N G B A N D S AT B I G SOUND? Come watch an oriental cowgirl howl at the rising sun, and seriously cut loose into a cinematic, dark soundscape alongside a full band sound. W H AT M U S I C T R E N D S D O Y O U T H I N K A R E D O M I N AT I N G R I G H T N O W, A N D D O Y O U H AV E ANY PREDICTIONS FOR THE COMING YEAR? I think elements of guitar and rock are starting to come back and will kind of meet in this middle ground of electronic and indie-rock. I N Y O U R C A R E E R T O D AT E , W H AT H AV E B E E N T H E K E Y W AT E R S H E D M O M E N T S ? Touring with Ocean Alley on their headline shows has got to be a huge highlight. Playing festival shows in Indonesia and Singapore last year is close to my heart too. I’ve never sang to a whole crowd who screamed, moshed and crowdsurfed along to the lyrics. W H AT I N D U S T R Y L E S S O N S W O U L D Y O U L I K E T O TA K E A W AY F R O M T H E B I G S O U N D C O N FERENCE? Connecting and exporting overseas to other territories, breaking into the festival circuit in Australia and building a passionate team around the project. W H AT D O Y O U I D E N T I F Y A S T H E M O S T P R E S S I N G I S S U E I M PAC T I N G T H E AU ST R AL I A N M U S I C I N D U S T R Y AT P R E S E N T ? I’m a huge mental health advocate, so I’m going to go with what I am super passionate about. I think we need to be talking about mental health more, breaking the stigma built around it and accepting the fact that we all have mental health. W H AT I S T H E B E S T B I T O F A D V I C E Y O U ’ V E B E E N G I V E N T O P R E P A R E F O R Y O U R T I M E AT BIGSOUND? Get your own sound person so that all those quick, stressful
WHEN AND WHERE IS YOUR BIGSOUND SHOWCASE? 3 Sep, The Zoo, 8pm; 5 Sep, Nettwerk Showcase, The Outpost, 5pm; 5 Sep, Family, 8.50pm.
Pic: Cam Attree
transitions are as smooth as they can be!
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T H IS
A RT
HELENA PA PAG EO RG I O U
ATTAC K
Animator, art director, motion designer and project artist Helena Papageorgiou
There are five resident artists showing this year at BIGSOUND – a respite for your ringing ears. Go check ‘em out on walls, in laneways, shopfronts and venues all across Fortitude Valley.
has made music videos for acts like Montero and Mope City and live visuals for events such as Splendour In The Grass, Groovin The Moo and BIGSOUND. She’ll be creating VR installations this year, as well as light installations for the walls around the Valley.
SAM MCKENZIE
KIRSTEN BAADE
Local artist Sam McKenzie has created gig posters for bands like Gooch Palms, Velociraptor, Palms, DZ Deathrays, Spirit Bunny and more, and worked with
Kirsten Baade incorporates
fashion label Phoebe Paradise and Blurst Of Times Festival. He’ll be using his
skills from her degree in
focus on traditional drawing – papers, pencils, pens – to make paste-ups for
robotics engineering into
the BIGSOUND festival.
her artistic practice, creating electronic, kinetic and illuminated artworks and public murals for festivals and galleries like BIGSOUND, Vivid Sydney, Brisbane Canvas, Urban Smart Projects and SWELL Sculpture Festival. Keep an eye out for the reappearance of her blinking, neon lights.
NIQUI TOLDI Niqui Toldi has worked as a designer for BIGSOUND, Splendour In The Grass, Brisbane Writers Festival, 4ZZZ and Complex Mag. Her work as an artist combines traditional and digital art-making to focus on “femme forms and general badassery”. She’ll be creating paste-ups for BIGSOUND, working on VR installations, and reviving her tentacle installation of last year.
MAN & WAH The Brisbane-based Cheung brothers make large-scale installations around the theme of nature, examining issues around biodiversity and sustainability. They’ve previously produced work at local and international residencies and in collaboration with botanical gardens, QUT and BIGSOUND, with their giant orange blow-up face returning this year.
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Music Victoria & VMDO invite you to
Music Industry Mixer
BIGSOUND Party Join us for a spritz, snack and schmooze with music industry delegates 5 – 6.30pm The Causeway (Laneway Bar) 295 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley
THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
LÂLKA Boss women will dominate.
ST E VA N Hip hop is starting to take over, especially Australian grime. Outside of Australia, rap is still a huge thing at the moment, however music is shifting again. I feel like people want to see
W HAT
MUSIC
TR ENDS YO U
themselves in the artist they listen to. I think a lot of different styles are gonna get a chance.
D O
T HI NK
ARE
DOM I NAT I N G DO
NOW,
HAVE
ANY
P R ED I C T I O NS
FOR
THE
YOU
AND
C OM I N G
SYCCO There are a lot of acts with one-word names in the world right now – so super stoked to be a part of that movement, ha. I think there is also going to be a whole lot more music with the 2/4 rumba drum beat in the coming year.
Y E A R ?
B A D // D R E E M S , BEN MARWE
It’s hard to tell. I’m always a bit late to new trends, but there does seem to be a resurgence of melodic guitar bands/artists, and straight-up punk-rock. Love that. My prediction is Brisbane will win the AFL Grand Final and Lachie Neale will win the Brownlow.
SCABZ,
SIOBHAN POYNTON It’s mad that weekly live music parties/ club nights are starting to pop up again. I think with current restrictions and problems with licensing in NSW in particular, a better relationship between promoter and artist is gonna be a good way to sell tickets again.
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Pic: James Adams
R I G HT
Y C EVERYDA LIVE MUSI
ANE RY • BRISB • FREE ENT
CBD
SEPTEMBER 2019
6TH F R ID A Y T H E D O LL S TH E M| OROJO N E H T FU NK S | CK ER V A PO P CO LT SE RO CK AB ILLY HE 7TH S AT U R D AY T E JS B CH T H E NPOTH A B N TE RO CK | FU NK | N P U A R M IC H ELACLEOU ST IC VIB ES 13TH F R ID A Y T H E EN Z IE B A N D H E N TH E CLMASCK T RO CK LA EL SIC Z Z JA AND CH R IS A H FUGNKEE| HI P- HO P | RN B HE 14TH S AT U R D AY T NDS ES SA ’S| ROD CKIA|MFUONK IM N E H T IS W PA RT Y D A N IEOUL STJIC LE VIB ES AC 20TH F R ID A Y T H E JO D O LL S T H E N TH E POMP O| RO CK | FU NK S ER V A SE LT CO RO CK AB ILLY HE 21ST S AT U R D AY T M BAND IL LE N NCKIU M E TH N NK E FU | H T HKE PO P SO UL | RO R H EA N N A LE SC ES AC OU ST IC VIB
CB D • B R IS B A N E EA G LE LA N E
PR
OUD
LY S U P P O R T E D
BY
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•
SEPTEMBER
A N Y
WAY
YO U S L IC E IT In this time of technological flux, artists depend on their managers more than ever. Ahead of the BIGSOUND panel Splitting The Pie: How To Make Sure Everyone Is Paid Fairly, Steve Bell talks to Catherine Haridy and Amit Nerurkar, as well as performer Darvid Thor, about getting their slice. Illustration by Felicity Case-Mejia.
A
nyone who’s paid even scant attention to the music
“It’s changed drastically in terms of what’s required
market — but that being said you can actually now spread
industry over the last couple of years will be aware
from a music manager in 2019 compared to what was
your revenue and get money from Australia, Europe, the
that it has been enduring a tumultuous period,
required from a music manager when I started, which was
UK, South America and even Asia.
scrambling to adapt and keep up with the constant struc-
a very different landscape externally in terms of the ways
tural changes brought around by the unrelenting advance
that people consume music.
“Asia in a way is untapped — even Spotify just went in there — and China might seem to be a difficult market to
“Accordingly over time we, as music managers, have
crack right now, but things are changing quickly and now
The way that music is both disseminated and con-
had to step up and take on a different role with our art-
there’s a lot more access: I could break an artist in Bei-
sumed is evolving constantly, and while at the end of the
ists and become much more crucial in the relationship
jing, or break them in Thailand, and that’s another source
day the core role of the artist remains largely unchanged
between the artist and the fan, and getting that actual
of revenue.
— producing music and giving performances that win the
music to the fans.”
of technology.
“What it’s done is given us access and it’s given us more become
possibilities, so I think it can be easier to make money.
the poor managers and artist representatives behind the
more demanding with all of these additional roles
Although, having said that, there’s now so much music that
glitz of the showbiz curtain who are left to bear the brunt
and responsibilities.
comes out and so many musicians, which makes it harder
hearts and minds of a (hopefully burgeoning) fanbase — it’s
of these seismic shifts.
Clearly
the
role
of
the
manager
has
“The demands on music management now are a hun-
to cut through the noise so you need to be able to navigate that space and make the most of it.”
One of the many illuminating panels at this year’s BIG-
dred times more pressured than they were ten or 15 years
SOUND conference is sure to be Splitting The Pie: How To
ago,” Haridy continues. “The expectation to be able to man-
Melbourne BIGSOUND showcasing artist Darvid Thor
Make Sure Everyone Is Paid Fairly. It will look at how quick-
age all facets of an artist’s career and the delivery of that
has seen the conundrum from numerous angles — being a
ly the manager’s role is changing and how the established
music is crucial, so the touch points for a music manager
label manager at Hopestreet Recordings and also handling
models that have been traditionally used to oversee band
are varied and extensive and the knowledge that a music
management duties for his own band The Cactus Channel
economics will need to evolve to better suit the contempo-
manager has to amass is absolutely monumental and
— and concurs that distributing music online can actually
rary climate.
takes both a lot of professional development and a lot of
be a double-edged sword.
“I think it’s going to be a very lively discussion with a bit
“The internet means everyone can do it, but obvious-
‘on-job training’ and a lot of time.”
of crystal ball gazing — or future gazing — about what we
American independent hip hop entrepreneur Amit
ly it means that it’s really saturated as well,” he reflects. “I
see the potential model could be for artists and managers
Nerurkar — who’s jetting into Brisbane from NYC, where he
guess figuring out where people listen to music now, or
into the future,” explains Catherine Haridy who, as well as
currently runs artist and album campaign management
where they properly engage with music instead of passive-
overseeing an artist roster including Eskimo Joe, Jebediah
firm face-less — believes that it’s not more difficult to make
ly listening, which is a new thing, is important. I don’t know
and Bob Evans, recently became Executive Director of the
money in the current environment, it’s just a matter of
if people are as actively involved with the streaming world
Association Of Artist Managers. “We’ll delve into the man-
broadening one’s horizons.
as they were: it’s probably a lot more passive listening now.” As a self-managed artist Thor is all too aware of how
ager-to-manager aspect as well, how managers can poten-
“I think in a weird way it’s not harder, because we’re
tially foster their own management model and really grow
looking now at a formal, global marketplace because of
that in the future based on all the challenges and limita-
the internet,” he offers. “Most people in the US still focus on
“Yeah, it’s pretty weird, especially because I also work
tions facing us now.
the US as their primary market — and it still is the biggest
at the label we’re signed to so I wear that hat as well,” he
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stressful working behind the scenes can be.
I N D U ST RY I N S I D E R TA R A MEDINA
D I R E C T O R AT STRAWBERRY FIELDS
WHICH ACTS ARE ON YOUR M U S T S E E L I S T AT B I G SOUND AND WHY? Gordon Koang – we’re so lucky to have transplants from all around the world in Australia and hear their stories and sounds.
“It’s not that things were any better in the past than they are now, it’s just different.” — Catherine Haridy
says. “It’s a weird mix and to be honest I don’t really like it,
artist-friendly in terms of people getting ripped off in this
“What we’re grappling with is what does make sense
it seems to put a strain on the creative side as well as the
day and age, but on the flipside I’ve seen some great deals
now? What works for an artist and what works for a man-
internal relationships within the band. I think in an ideal
and I’ve seen some terrible deals — that balance is always
ager, and how can we get to a place where we develop a
world I wouldn’t have those dual responsibilities, but I learn
there — and I’ve heard some real horror stories, so having a
new way forward? What is that way?
lots of things from it and I do also enjoy the gig as well.
good representative behind the scenes remains essential.”
“There’s a lot of questions here and I’m not guarantee-
“I think it’s important for an artist to build that sup-
For Haridy it has become increasingly obvious that the
ing any answers but I think it’s about a brains trust and put-
port system around them — whether it be a manager or a
traditional model where the manager takes a 20 percent
ting it out there to our music community and looking for
label or whatever — but you’re never going to get that from
cut of the artist’s income is redundant in this new musical
ways that we can make this equitable for both parties in a
the get-go so you need to know how to really do it your-
world, it’s just a matter of finding an equitable way forward.
really meaningful way, because the relationship between
“It’s entirely about adapting,” she offers. “It’s not that
an artist and a manager is absolutely crucial to an artist’s
Nerurkar agrees that strong management is impera-
things were any better in the past than they are now, it’s
success, and within that an artist must feel remunerated
tive, especially for an artist trying to maximise profits while
just different, and with the change and that movement in
and valued.”
minimising risk.
every other aspect of that music model, we must consider
self as well.”
“There are sharks everywhere, and it’s not just a ques-
the model that exists between an artist and their manager.
tion of protecting your artist, it’s about protecting yourself
“I think that at the heart of all this is the fact that
as well to a large extent,” he reflects. “In terms of getting
with this change in responsibility and demand as a music
a good deal, an artist doesn’t know any better a lot of the
manager, the old school model that exists between an
time, so of course a manager can help, and if you don’t
artist and a manager of that 15 to 20 percent — depend-
have a good lawyer as well you can get in a lot of trouble.
ing on how the deal was structured — doesn’t really make
“You’d think that things would have become a bit more
sense anymore.
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Catherine Haridy and Amit Nerurkar speak at BIGSOUND on 5 Sep at Alice Room, Cloudland. Darvid thor plays BIGSOUND on 3 Sep at Heya Bar & 4 Sep at Ivory Tusk.
OBSCURA HAIL, SEAN CONRAN
This is corporate espionage. We want to assimilate all knowledge, industry secrets and everyone’s phone numbers for prank calling. You don’t know if you can work with something until you’ve prank called them. The aim is world domination through mischief.
LAURA IMBRUGLIA I’d like to learn how to hustle effectively and be less socially awkward at networking events - have I come to the right place? Where are the beta blockers at?
W H AT
INDUST RY
LES SON S YO U TAK E T H E
LIK E
WOULD TO
AWAY
FROM FRITZ
B IG SOUND
I read that Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast will be doing a talk and I’m soooooo excited for that, I love Best Coast so much. I’ll be really keen to hear what she shares about her
CO NF ERE N C E ?
experience with the music industry and all of her wisdom.
SEMANTICS,
CALLUM ROBINSON All four of us want to learn more about the business side of our craft. We’re doing well on our own, but we want to learn what the labels, managers, and agents have to say about our industry – how to plan a tour, a new release, all of it.
IMBI THE GIRL I’m not sure this is a lesson but I’d like to find community in the music Pic: Seamus PLatt
industry. I’ve struggled to connect with artists/industry folk, so I’d like to get better at that. Also I’d love to learn how to better my grant applications and how to do music taxes, haha.
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THE MUSIC
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D O
YOU
HEA R I
There are few universal truths when it comes to BIGSOUND. Firstly, the liquor will be flowing. Secondly (and consequently), lips will be loose and ships will be sunk. And thirdly, your pals at The Music will be there to capture it all in our infamous Overheard At BIGSOUND series. In anticipation of the 2019 edition, we thought we’d recap some of our favourites from over the years. You’ve been warned.
W HAT
H EA R?
“I am drunk. Gonna go home, get changed, undrunk myself and then come back out.”
“Nah, fuck BIGSOUND. We’re not here for that.”
There’s so much on. I need to split my body Horcrux style and send them off different ways.”
“The Valley is pumping for a Thursday”
2018 – This first time BIGSOUNDer is learning
2018 – A disgruntled Brisbanite.
2018 – Look out for Basilisk fangs, friend.
2018 — Another Brisbanite who doesn’t know
some valuable lessons.
what a BIGSOUND is.
“I drove up from Sydney in 10 hours. Can you get multiple speeding tickets in one trip?”
“Everyone always tries to be humble but screw that. We wanna play the best set in the world.”
“It is too early in the night for this, and it is too late into BIGSOUND for this.”
2018 — Ummm, we hate to break it to you,
2018 — We like your honesty, Psychedelic
2017 — Worried delegate, on seeing dancers
2017 – Perhaps it really is possible to experi-
but yes.Yes you can.
Porn Crumpets!
in skull facepaint grooving at the Brunswick
ence too much of a good thing. Give it a day,
St mall pop-up bar.
though. You’ll be right.
“Don’t start the festival with two beers in your hands.”
“Gotta keep moving or I’ll die.”
2017 – Good advice, Mr mysterious ticketing
2017 – We feel this on a spiritual level.
Panellist: “Melbourne is the live music capital” Audience member: ”*cough* Bullshit *cough*.”
company director.
“You thought I’d be drinking beer on stage but I lashed out because it’s BIGSOUND. It’s a tax write-off for all of us.”
“Will spicy sauce melt a cup?”
2016 — Alan Smithy during his set as he
2015 — Cheers for giving us something else
raised a glass of what looks like vodka and
to worry about.
“Do you want to see another band?” “Probably never again.”
“I’ve scheduled sleep on the app for between 4.30 and 8.30pm.”
2016 – From the Australia. The World.
2016 – Promoter and passionate
The Future. panel.
Richmond supporter.
“Are you going to GOY?” “What’s a GOY?”
“I’m gonna go to every music conference in the world ‘cos all you do is drink free piss.”
2015 – Oh how times change.
2015 – Feelin’ fine.
“How awesome is BIGSOUND! It’s great to play to people really into it. Coming from Melbourne we’re not used to that.”
“What time is my checkout tomorrow? I don’t care.”
2013 – Yeah, we’re looking at those of you in
2013 – You might care about that missed
the back row with your arms crossed.
flight though…
cranberry to his lips.
“I got a hole in my jeans, walked across the road, got a new pair, back at the pub. How good’s BIGSOUND?”
“These are the best types of meetings – meetings with food.”
2014 – We too like going shopping
2014 – This delegate has their priorities right.
when drunk.
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I have so much fun performing live, it’s what I’m most experienced at and I’m lucky to have some amazing musicians in my band too. All of these things are reflected in the performance and make for a good time! I’ve had a special outfit made too, so there’s that.
Pic: Naomi Lee Beveridge
ALANA JAGT
POPPONGENE I’ve noticed when we have a big enough crowd I’m really
W H Y
S HOULD
P EOP LE A N D
good at telling funny jokes. Come for the jokes, stay for the
M A NY BAND S
detailing the process and aftermath of a break-up and the rediscovery of self. It’ll be great fun, promise!
COM E
S EE
A M O NG
sometimes lyrically stinging, drive-y, fem dream-pop classics
YOU
THE
A MAZIN G AT
MURMURMUR,
WILL FLETCHER
B I G S O U N D ?
Our live show is a different experience entirely. Intense and colourful.
FA N G I R L ,
VINCENT MCINTYRE Mainly because we are nice boys, but also maybe because our live show is always entertaining. Guitars have been thrown, tears have been shed, and Noah perpetually needs to use the bathroom. An emotional rollercoaster that you can dance to.
THE GLOOM IN THE CORNER, MIKEY ARTHUR
Over the past couple of months, we to bring the audience something special, finding new ways to immerse them into our story and sound, and we can’t wait to bring the experience to the patrons of BIGSOUND.
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Pic: Ian Laidlaw
have fine-tuned our live performance
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E XCERPT: R EV E N G E
The honking saxophone riff of X-Ray Spex
virtually no female people had positions as
was unusual for punk, and the rhythm is an
tastemaking gatekeepers or producers who
adrenaline shot. But it was the Klaxon voice
might go to battle for unconventional girls.
of Styrene, in tune but ready to jump off, that
Essentially the story has remained the
OF
grabbed and shook you. With her rampant
same, though new technologies have helped
curls, braces, and (genius) goofy style, Styrene
girls as one decade’s folk singer-songwriter
would previously have been an unlikely can-
with a guitar, hoping for a deal, became
didate for pop stardom; but now she situated
another’s bedroom hit-maker, like Little Boots
herself as a leader, sonically and conceptu-
and Dua Lipa from the United Kingdom or
ally. Visionary in articulating the quest for
Princess Nokia from the United States; they
identity so specifically, she was voicing the
were in a position to float their digital music
angst of her generation and those to come,
into the universe and find their fan-base via
as she was born at a pivotal time for societal
MySpace, Facebook, Bandcamp, or Sound-
change. Where to fit in? And how to stand
Cloud without having to be approved by the
out, express the difference you feel inside,
guys in the band or the label. Any advantage
the inner nub of knowing that unfurls like a
must be seized; a 2016 list of the world’s one
lotus with each experience? Sifting through
hundred top DJs in DJ magazine was almost
over four decades of punk made by women,
all white and featured just one woman. The
one thing is clear. Unmoored from what had
following year, a University of Southern Cali-
been, from the 1970s to the early twenty-first
fornia’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative head-
century, a remark- able number of them were
ed by professor Stacy L. Smith surveyed race
drawn to address the same primal, existen-
and gender in the recording industry. Among
tial question:
the six hundred most popular songs released
T H E
S HE- P U N K S In the lead-up to her keynote appearance at BIGSOUND, The Music has been given permission to run an excerpt from Vivien Goldman’s book Revenge Of The She-Punks: A Feminist Music History From Poly Styrene To Pussy Riot. The below is from the chapter titled Girly Identity.
since 2012, it revealed, women had com-
O
Who am I?
posed a mere 12.3 percent and performed fewer than 25 percent; the ratio of male to
ur individual issues are the fulcrum
is delicate, as knowing the rhythms of gen-
We knew it at the time too. In 1976, Slits gui-
female producers was forty-nine to one. “The
of a tug of war among ideologies,
erations of battles helps to prepare one for
tarist Viviane Albertine told me, “All the guys
voices of women are missing from popular
values, and beliefs, and all these art-
the next round. But when Poly Styrene sang
around me were forming bands, and they
music,” concluded Professor Smith.
ists had to thrash out new ways of living, in
these words, the whole idea of addressing
had heroes to look up to. But I didn’t have
For an original thinker like Styrene, the
a break from their foremothers’. Our previ-
identity was still novel, let alone in pop:
anyone. I didn’t want to look like or be Joni
official industry path proved tortuous. But
Mitchell. I didn’t even want to be Fanny. Often
her effervescent creativity persisted, always
diffused by technology in the rich world,
Identity
it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have
thought-forward, wittily tackling issues like
even as it has made possible new ways of
Is the crisis
to have a hero; I could pick up a guitar and
automation and ecology before they became
being a family. Over the coming decades,
Can’t you see
just play. It’s not so much why I started play-
mass debates. Styrene, wittily prophetic to
identity studies would experience kudzu-like
When you look in the mirror
ing, as why I didn’t play before.” No such self-
the end, in her last LP—Generation Indigo,
growth, sometimes threatening to obliter-
Do you see yourself
searching or urge for definition beset the
produced by Martin “Youth” Glover of Killing
ate the imperative to understand oneself as
On the TV screen
boys, it seems. Pondering the Raincoats in
Joke and released shortly before her death in
an individual, independent of one’s history in
1979, I noted, “When I interview Stevie Nicks,
2011—sang of digital romance prior to it being
the tabula rasa spirit of punk,
Gladys Knight, or the Raincoats, about 50
the default mode.
rather than let history wholly
percent of the conversation revolves around
She was born to be ahead of her time.
define you. The balance
feelings, emotions. That’s roughly 50 percent
Only a quarter century had passed since
more than when I’m interviewing men. The
America had lifted the ban on marriage
reason probably is that while men are trained
between couples of different melanin pig-
and socialized to cultivate their aggression,
mentation. Happily, Britain was less sick in
force, and ambition, women are socialized
that regard, at least; despite its major role in
to have easy access to their emotions and
the slave trade, no such apartheid law ever
encouraged to express them more freely.”
existed there. fte Daily Mail announced in
Four-plus decades on, those differences may
mid-2014 that one in ten British couples was
be blurry, but their essence still stands. Any
ethnically mixed and that racism was dimin-
changes reflect how the role and status of the
ishing because of it. But in the mid-1970s,
sexes have shifted since early feminism, and
when Styrene was hitting notes never pre-
also how, because of its comparative sim-
viously recorded, she was another sort of
plicity, punk became a launchpad for (often
forerunner, too, literally a pioneer of a future
unlearned) female self- expression, a pow-
breed representing a bone-deep fusion of
erful vehicle for thoughts uncut by an old-
Britain and its old colonies that would later
school, patriarchal industry like the music
be seen as ordinary. Styrene helped pave
and entertainment business then as now.
the way.
ously unique right to childbearing has been
As power relations are so skewed and the predators so confident, it clearly makes sense for the unconventional female artist to be prepared to go it alone, create her own community, go the indie route, and take the side road to her destination. Although women in the mainstream have always held powerful positions in areas like marketing and public relations, as punk first yowled, and thus prior to the rise of white pop independent labels,
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Revenge Of The She-Punks: A Feminist Music History From Poly Styrene To Pussy Riot (University Of Texas Press) is out now. Vivien Goldman speaks at BIGSOUND on 5 Sep at Rainbow Room, Cloudland.
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THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
The Davies park market. Pic: Felicity Case-Mejia
BUSY
E ARNIN ’
It’s a sad truth that being in a band sometimes involves more than just writing amazing songs and playing sweet gigs. There’s a fair bit on the business side of things that needs taking care of. Ahead of the Understanding The Business Of Music workshop at BIGSOUND, the team at White Sky have put together a music business checklist so you can make sure every ‘i’ is dotted and ‘t’ is crossed.
A L O C A L’ S G U I D E We’ve asked a few of the local acts on the line-up for their guide to what’s hot in town.
TA L K S P L I T S The first thing you’ll probably do as a band is write songs. Even though it might be a drag to start talking business this early, it’s important that everyone agrees on songwriting splits upfront for each song. And if you’re a solo artist collaborating with others, master rights ownership may also have to be discussed. Don’t let your first hit become your first argument because someone’s not getting what they think they should.
R E G I S T R AT I O N S
Whether it’s as individuals or as a group, make sure you’re registered with the appropriate copyright societies. Each member should register with APRA and AMCOS individually as songwriters. The group can register as the master rights owner with PPCA, and can also register members individually as performers. Get in touch with APRA and PPCA to find out more details.
CHAKRA EFENDI T H E DAV I E S PA R K M A R K E T
STRUCTURE
Sole trader, partnership, company, trust… What even are you? Good question. If you want to get paid for gigs
Every Saturday I go to this West End farmers’
you’ll need an ABN. If you don’t personally want to bear the tax burden, then the artist entity will need an ABN
market, there’s a wide range of amazing
of their own. If you’re a band the easiest structure to set up to begin with is a partnership. This will allow you
foods and drinks to choose from, fresh pro-
to get an ABN for the group. A business name is not always necessary at this stage but may assist in a kind of
duce, books, vinyl, and live music. The whole
“brand protection” way.
thing usually wraps up around 1pm, so it’s the perfect brunch spot. If you’re looking to wind down from the week’s antics then I highly recommend coming here to bask in the sun and lovely community.
T O U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
If you’re looking to hit the road you should be working on a budget as you’re booking the shows, as well as planning your cash flow for the touring period. You may not be getting paid till after the tour so accommoda-
L A N G R I TA N G P A BUDDHIST CENTRE
tions will need to be made. Having a detailed budget can also guide some of your decision making. While on tour you should appoint someone to be in charge of the tour float and to be tracking expenditure, keeping receipts, etc.
A beautifully quaint Buddhist temple that offers donation-based classes on yoga and meditation all throughout the week. The perfect place to clear your head from all the BIGSOUND stress. My favourite class
D AY-T O - D AY A C C O U N T S
You may want to set up a business bank account, separating personal and business transactions. If you’re
to attend is the Sunday morning guided
getting really excited about things (remember, being a musician and an accountant aren’t mutually exclusive
meditation, followed by chai tea afterwards.
activities, don’t be afraid if you enjoy a bit of number crunching on the side) there are a number of free online
If interested then check out the website for
accounting tools to help keep your own books in order.
class schedules. You don’t have to be a practising Buddhist to participate nor have any experience in yoga or meditation, just willing to have an open mind and heart.
THE TEAM AROUND YOU
As time goes on, consider the great team that can help you reach greater heights, including a manager, PR rep,
B O TA N I C A R E A L F O O D
This eatery is a goddamn Brisbane gem in
lawyer, agent, tour manager, etc. There are people out there who are really good at their jobs. Use them to do that so you can do what you do. Keep in mind though that at this stage you’ll be paying a lot of these people so your share of the pie is getting smaller.
my opinion with delicious salads, friendly staff, and tasty treats. The portion sizes are unbelievable, it’s around $12 for a small salad but the small can last you a whole two meals. They accommodate for many dietary
S P E C I A L I S T A C C O U N TA N T
Look, I’m sure your mum’s cousin is a fine accountant, but do they know anything about the music industry?
requirements, whether you’re vegetarian,
Although a band is a small business, not all small businesses are like a band. A good music accountant will go a
vegan, or gluten intolerant, and it’s all made
long way to help guide certain decisions that will need to be made along your journey. They’ll have the specialist
fresh using real ingredients so what you’re
expertise to help set up a sustainable and fulfilling career.
fuelling your body with has been graced by nothing but pure love energy and sun rays. If you’re in need of urgent nourishment this BIGSOUND, I highly recommend popping down to their Newstead shop for a good grazing.
White Sky speak on 5 Sep at Cellar, Cloudland.
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THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
FOOD
FOR
T H OU GHT
Even at BIGSOUND, people gotta eat. All that free booze will have you flat on your face in a Valley gutter if you don’t take the time to line your stomach appropriately. Decision making is hard though, we get it. We’ve planned a food diary so the only choice you have to make is wine, beer or spirits. Illustrations by Felicity Case-Mejia.
B R E A K T H E FA S T
LADIES WHO LUNCH
Coffee and cigarettes, it’s the breakfast of champions, right? You’ll want to start your day with
Who has time for a lunch break?! Between the conferences and endless meetings sometimes
bean juice from Reverends Fine Coffee. The coffee is excellent, it’s smack bang in the heart of the action and there’s enough exposed brick to make you feel like you’re back in Melbourne.
On that note, don’t even start with your obnoxious coffee snobbery Victorians. No one wants to
you just want to eat something quick and healthy. Just because you’re at BIGSOUND doesn’t mean your body isn’t a temple. Hello Mister Frankie ups the grab-and-go ethos with tasty poke and puffles. If you’re not down with food trends, they’re real things we promise.
hear it. Went too hard on the first night and you’ve only just stumbled out of bed haven’t you? Don’t Looking for something a little more substantial? Why not grab a Lime scooter and zoom down to Little Loco in New Farm for a lazy brunch and frolic in the park. Make the most of the Bris-
bane sunshine and use your morning to press the reset button before the craziness resumes.
worry, we’re not judgemental folk here. Lucky Egg’s insane chicken burger will not only cure
your hangover but pay off your HECS debt, straighten your posture, find you a significant other and sign you a record deal. Results not guaranteed.
The mushrooms on rye is our hot pick. Don’t say we’ve never done anything for you.
D I N N E R D AT E
SING FOR YOUR SUPPER
Downing a cheap bottle of wine in Chinatown before a night out is a beloved Brisbane pastime
Maybe you skipped dinner, maybe you just need some ballast to steady you in the early hours,
even need to put it on the company card. Hot tip, pretend it’s someone’s birthday and watch
1am and serves up cheeseburger spring rolls so good you’ll see stars. Order a plate and save
and Super Bowl is an excellent, no-frills choice. Serving up delicious meals cheap, you won’t
but it’s gone past midnight and a kebab ain’t gonna cut it. Heya Bar’s kitchen stays open till
the hilarity unfold.
one for us.
Have a client you need to impress? James Street is teeming with options and Hellenika at
When it comes to late-night food, we’re all about the yiros, baby, and Go Greek Kafe in
just named Queensland’s Restaurant Of The Year in the Courier-Mail Food Awards so why not
epiphany there were chips inside was an instant game changer. It’s in a location primed for
treat yourself.
people watching - the Valley is wild - just don’t get on the wrong side of the owner who patrols
the swanky Calile Hotel will have you dreaming of Santorini. Who else needs a holiday? It was
Brunswick Street Mall have got you sorted. The first time we ate one and had the drunken
the entrance.
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SATURDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER
PRIVATE FUNCTION, BOING BOING, DICKLORD FRIDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER
FRI 6 SEPT
SAT 2 NOV
RNB FRIDAYS
SCENE & HEARD
SAT 7 SEPT VEDO
FRI 20 SEPT ULTIMATE 80’S FLURO PARTY
MELBOURNE CUP
SAT 16 NOV FRI 22 NOV
ONEFOUR
80’S MANIA
FRI 27 SEPT
SAT 14 DEC
LLOYD BANKS
SO FRESHTIVAL 2000S PARTY
THE DOBRE BROTHERS
WED 1 JAN
SAT 19 OCT BRING THAT BEAT BACK
NEW YEAR’S DAY FOAM PARTY
SAT 26 OCT
THUR 13 FEB
MORGAN EVANS
HYBRID THEORY
SOLD OUT
SATURDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER
BJORN AGAIN
SAT 21 SEPT
SAT 28 SEPT
LAZY GHOST, SQUIDLICKERS, BONNIE DOONS
TUE 5 NOV
TOTTY, PANDAMIC, BEDCLUB FRIDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER
VANDERAA, DUSTY BOOTS, ADAM HARPAZ SATURDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER
BEDDY RAYS, WALKEN, PERVE ENDINGS, THE STRIPPERS FRIDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER (07)
3325 6777 TORA
TICKETS & INFO GO TO: EATONSHILLHOTEL.COM.AU EATONSHILLHOTELPAGE 646 SOUTHPINE RD EATONS HILL
SATURDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER
TOXIC FOX, BABY, DOSED JONSON STREET BYRON BAY
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SEPTEMBER
TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE WWW.THENORTHERN.COM.AU
Album Reviews
When Sampa Tembo chose her moniker, ‘Sampa The Great’ it seemed aspirational; she was seeking to become the greatest version of herself. With her debut album, The Return, she’s already living up to the name. In the four years since the release of her breakout mixtape, Tembo has won the Australian Music Prize, collaborated with the likes of Estelle, supported some huge names in hip hop including Ms Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar, and played one of the world’s biggest festivals in Glastonbury. Tembo established herself as a force with The Great Mixtape and Birds And The BEE9, but with The Return she takes infectious hooks and solid delivery to another level. Setting the tone of the album, opener Mwana sees the Zambian-born, Botswana-raised artist, joined by Sunburnt Soul Choir, Mwanje Tembo and Theresa Mutale Tembo, return to her roots. On Freedom, which follows, the poet explores the difficult task of navigating the music industry and having to sacrifice autonomy over her image and artistry. Supported by a fervent choir and questioning her willingness to compromise her art, she makes a statement with an impassioned fierceness. A melting pot of musical influences, the album boasts some great production. Classic hip hop instrumentals — horn samples, intricate beats — paired with Tembo’s hardhitting verses break up soulful tunes where her vocals shine
Sampa The Great The Return Ninja Tune / Inertia
HHHH½
and dance over glistening keys and captivating melodic bass lines (Summer, Leading Us Home). On the Silentjay produced lead single Final Form, which samples The Sylvers’ 1973 funk track Stay Away From Me, Tembo proclaims, “Great state I’m in/In all states I’m in/I might final form/In my melanin.” True to form it’s confident, empowering and intrinsically connected to Tembo’s heritage. A collaborative effort, Ecca Vandal, Krown, Steam Down, Blue Lab Beats and Boadi are just some of the acts credited on the record. Over nine minutes long, the album’s title track, featuring Jace XL, Alien, Whosane and the insanely talented vocalist Thando, is all about returning — to one’s self, home, motherland, mind. The huge 19-track record is closed out by Made Us Better, a poetic, uplifting tune with a nostalgic sound. Drawing influence from hip hop, jazz, soul, R&B and southern African sounds, Sampa The Great has created something original, somewhat spiritual, and entirely authentic. She has remained at the forefront of the Australian hip hop scene for numerous years now, but with The Return, is destined for global acclaim. Madelyn Tait
Bat For Lashes
blink-182
Bugs
Iggy Pop
AWAL
Columbia / Sony
Independent
Caroline
Lost Girls
NINE
HHHH
HH½
Natasha Khan’s fifth Bat For Lashes album comes after her move from the UK to LA. Lost Girls finds Khan taking a late-night drive in a convertible through the plot of an ‘80s coming-of-age flick with supernatural twists. The album follows the adventures of Nikki Pink and her gang of vampire girls through a neon-lit, night-time adventure land of swaying palm trees, cool sea breezes and cocktails with strangers in all-night bars. More playful in tone than the dark melancholy of her last album The Bride, Khan’s gothic imagination provides the dark undercurrents that steer this album. Guido Farnell
Self Help
Free
HHHH
HHH½
Blink-182 without Tom DeLonge just isn’t cutting it. Nine is a +44 album — you know, that Barker and Hoppus band that released When Your Heart Stops Beating in 2006? Nine sounds as if it should be +44’s comeback, but instead it’s a blink-182 record. We want to find the good in this record, but it’s tough — we heard all these songs 15 years ago on a Simple Plan record. Track nine would have absolutely banged as our MSN bio, ‘I rEalLy WIsH I HateD yOu </3’. We wish we could go back to that time too, but we can’t, and it’s time to move on with our lives.
Bugs’ Self Help is best classified as emo-pop because it will have you bopping down the street while maybe having a bit of a tear-up too. It’s full of upbeat tunes, with a sprinkle of vulnerability and anxiety, perfected with the help of frontman Connor Brooker’s larrikin voice — it’s hard not to fall in love with his vocals as early as track one, Personal Saviour. You can hear the Brisbane three-piece’s chemistry in the fast-paced cohesion of the record, the songs yearning for live singalongs on tracks like Reviews and Yew Crew. Self Help is genuine, heartfelt, raw and oh so catchy.
Keira Leonard
Keira Leonard
Not many artists are inspired by exhaustion, but Iggy Pop always was a wildcard. After the grind of touring Post Pop Depression, he’s exercising his desire for freedom by trying something entirely new. Free relies heavily on contributions from experimental guitarist Noveller and trumpeter Leron Thomas, to such an extent that Pop has described Free as an album where others speak for him but he lends his voice. This is about as far away from Pop’s seminal rock output as can be imagined. An escapist record that’s not among Pop’s most exhilarating, Free still makes for a good wind-down chapter in an extraordinary life story.
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Christopher H James
For more album reviews, go to www.theMusic.com.au
Pixies
The Delta Riggs
Void Of Vision
Lower Dens
Infectious / BMG
Inertia
UNFD
HHH
HHHH½
Ribbon
HHHH Pixies are back with their seventh studio album Beneath The Eyrie, a release that offers enough spookiness and folklore to suggest the reflection of real-life scenarios won’t work, but actually they exist in blissful harmony. It’s a marriage of ominous vocals, haunting guitars, sometimes unsettling textures and a mish-mash of harmonic language. Accentuated by some riveting production efforts and vocalist Black Francis’ gruff and occasionally melancholic tone, it all makes for an oddly relatable narrative. Beneath The Eyrie is a fun little listen, one that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Melbourne’s Delta Riggs’ latest album Modern Pressure throws in some darker tones and subject matter amid the usual brash vocals and colourful, rollicking rock. Single Fake That, Don’t You Frown and Settle Down pad out the 12 tracks with what we love hearing from the Riggs — jangly riffs, sunny outlooks and Hammond’s Mick Jagger-esque, ranting vocal. In between these and some surprising sombre ballads (Modern Pressure, Push And Pull, Tom’s Song), some of the tracks have a tendency to come and go without offering anything rousing, but, on the whole, it’s a fun, interesting listen.
There is something incredibly sensual about what Void Of Vision have done with their second album Hyderdaze. Compared with the first, the Melbourne metalcore outfit are upping their game in a big way. They’re bringing a kind of seductiveness to their sound as opposed to the usual raucous rage you might expect from this genre. Painting a picture, elaborating on shared experiences, Void Of Vision are making nihilism look good. Void Of Vision have cultivated a sonic experience that is relatable, thrilling and satisfying.
Anna Rose
Carley Hall
Bag Raiders
Kyle Lionhart
Boy & Bear
Sui Zhen
Island / Universal
Ivy League
Island / Universal
Dot Dash / Remote Control
Beneath The Eyrie
Horizons
Modern Pressure
Hyperdaze
Too Young
HHHH
HH½
“Rising with the morning sun/Waking up to greet the day,” kicks off this record. This optimism from album opener Faraway leaves little room for cynicism. Each track sings with the fresh-but-fading memories of a glorious summer holiday. Wild At Heart serves as a rhythmic pivot, bopping along with a halftime dropout and return. Back To Myself is a more fully realised groove. I’ll Be Loving You embraces the retrospective. Medicine is the highlight. It has a throbbing heart with occasional moments of elation; the sort of jam that might accompany life’s more intimate occasions. Lazy stands alongside it for similar reasons. James d’Apice
Anna Rose
Suck On Light
The Competition
HHHH It took four albums, but Baltimore’s mercurial Lower Dens have achieved their final form. The Competition is a sly, sophisticated avant-pop record for the late-night set that finally feels like a fully formed expression from the group. It’s a protest album that keeps things personal, and while there’s some blunt force being applied, such as in Empire Sundown (“Look them in the eyes when they push you/Off the raft and make them watch you drown”), they take care not to position the record as a rough cry for class war. It’s a pop record, so it’s about elevation and, more importantly, accessibility. Matt MacMaster
Losing, Linda
HHHH
HHH½
Too Young sounds like an album from someone who hasn’t made the transition from streetside busking to full-band arrangement, too many tracks taking the same, predictable, happy and sunny pop-folk route. There are moments of interest though, with opener So Close bridging the gap between synthy pop and acoustic nicely, while album closer Too Young has some beautiful tones and vocals that build in a way that’s genuinely exciting. There isn’t a lot to remember from Too Young. Granted, Lionhart has an angelic voice and no doubt a knack for writing, but this is background listening at best.
Struggle, self-deprivation, and a light at the end of a gloomy tunnel — Suck On Light, the fourth studio album from Sydney grooverock quintet Boy & Bear has it all. Classic ‘70s-style rock, the warm embrace of golden harmonies, and unabashed, unafraid lyricism that addresses the more dire sides of life, all come together in a package that is both relatable and blissfully entertaining. Call it therapy, call it a be-good-to-yourself treat, Boy & Bear have tackled some very intense, very familiar negatives and turned them on their head to make a bright and hopeful album that will serve everyone well in years to come, no matter your mood.
After secretly introducing us to Susan on her last album, Sui Zhen has crafted an album about losing her latest heroine, Linda. Recorded after her mother’s cancer diagnosis, this album finds Zhen in an understandably more melancholic mood, reflecting on memory and philosophically examining the impermanence of existence. Reflecting and refracting her lyrics and myriad influences through her slick electronic pop aesthetic, Sui Zhen continues to create a strange new sound that is uniquely her own.
Alasdair Belling
Anna Rose
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Guido Farnell
I’m a bitch, I’m a mother Performance artist Bryony Kimmings talks to Hannah Story about ripping her heart open on stage night after night with her new show I’m A Phoenix, Bitch.
B
ryony Kimmings describes her new show, I’m A Phoenix, Bitch, coming to Melbourne Fringe and Brisbane Festival this month, as “a kind of emotional rollercoaster of a one-woman show that you both laugh and cry at, and is kind of epic in the way in which it tells a female story”. Kimmings is known for her provocative and ultrapersonal theatre shows: “A lot of my life has been like, ‘How do I turn this into a show?’”, she quips. In 2016, she collaborated on a musical with Brian Lobel, The Pacifist’s Guide To The War On Cancer. With former partner Tim Grayburn in 2015, she created Fake It ‘Til You Make It, a show about Grayburn’s struggle with depression, while in 2010 she traced the origin of an STI in her one-woman show, Sex Idiot — each of which toured to MICF. I’m A Phoenix, Bitch, which last month won the inaugural Popcorn Group Writing Award at Edinburgh Fringe, explores Kimmings’ experience of post-natal depression, the breakdown of her relationship with Grayburn, and their son’s diagnosis with infant epilepsy. It could end up being quite a dense and distressing piece of theatre — except that Kimmings makes a point of balancing heaviness with humour. “I try my best to push the laugh as far into that story as humanly possible,” Kimmings says. Then, even when the work reaches its darkest point, she’ll undercut the moment with one-liner jokes. “By doing that, you kind of allow the audience to take a breath and kind of say, ‘She’s ok, we’re talking about the past.’ I try my best to make everything funny, until it’s not possible to laugh at it anymore. “[The audience] have to fall in love with me, they have to trust me, and they have to like me, but also they have to feel like it’s ok to laugh about things in this space.” When her son, Frank, was very sick, someone on Twitter joked that “soon enough, you’ll make this into a show”. Kimmings was at first disturbed by the suggestion that she could reap some kind of financial benefit from her son’s illness. “When I was kind of over [my depression] and was living life again without living in a constant state of trauma, I realised that a lot of my female friends had had post-natal psychosis, post-natal anxiety; a lot of my friends have got disabled children and I was like, ‘We do not talk about this.’ “If I make shows about my own life and this is the life experience I’m finding really frustratingly stigmatised and taboo, then there’s no way that I couldn’t write the show about it. I would’ve been a fake if I didn’t allow myself to go, ‘Ok, how do you dramatise this? How do you make something good from this?’
“And, ‘How do you warn other people that these things happen without ruining the procreating gene in everyone?’” Kimmings laughs. To get to the point where she was ready to make I’m A Phoenix, Bitch, Kimmings says she first found the tools — with help from her therapist — to start admitting that she was in a “post-traumatic stress cycle”. A long research and development process involved “just crying and processing a lot”, and getting permission to write the story from Grayburn, but helped her to make the show in a way that was “safe for everyone”. “I wouldn’t have done it if I’d have kept crying and not stopped, but there was a point where I was like, ‘Ok, I’m ready,’ that I just felt naturally.” The story, while seemingly niche, of a “neurologically unwell child and a mother who loses her fuckin’ mind”, is at its core about being a parent, and about being a child — a universal experience. It’s also about being reborn. Kimmings worried that the idea of her as a phoenix, rising from the ashes a different person, was too cheesy, added the provocation ‘bitch’ to the title to “take the edge off the worthiness”. “[A kind of rebirth is] happening to all of us all the time — why should anyone care any more about my phoenix moment than anyone else’s? I kind of felt like I had to send it up, and also to make people listen, you know?” I’m A Phoenix, Bitch first opened in London late last year. Playing back-to-back shows where she “fucking rip[s] open [her] heart and show[s] it to people” admittedly took its toll on Kimmings. While performing in Brighton for the Fringe in May, she didn’t enact the kind of self-care she needed to cope with constantly reopening that “wound”. “I felt really anxious and sad,” Kimmings says. “I’m a tough old boot anyway, and I’m working class and we don’t mess about. But I hadn’t put the stupid, weird self-care things in that I still find really cheesy and annoying that I do every day.” Returning to Brighton for a repeat season, she worked with her therapist to “put some hippy dippy things in place to make sure [she was] ok”. That involved reminding herself that she wants to do this every day: “I find it helpful for my mental health. I find it curative for other people’s mental health. This is my job and I love it. “I do quite a lot of visualisations, I do lots of deep breathing, I allow myself to say, ‘This is gonna be hard, but it’s over [soon], and you’re doing it for a reason, and you want to be here.’ And then at the end of the show, I also have a little ceremony for myself, which sounds really
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cheesy, but actually it’s really helped to put it in its box.” People who connect with I’m A Phoenix, Bitch have reached out to Kimmings after seeing the show, just like they did following Fake It ‘Til You Make It. But the artist doesn’t see responding to their emails or tweets as burden. “I’ll take the time to say, ‘Ok, tell me your story. What happened? How are you? Are you getting all the help you need?’ “I feel like you see a lot of work where people rip open a wound, they fucking bleed on the stage, and then they don’t even think about the fact that someone in the audience might be triggered or need to talk about that thing. And there’s no aftercare, and that bothers me. It’s really rude to not make that a two-way thing.” She hopes people who have had similar experiences to her own come away from I’m A Phoenix, Bitch feeling like “they’ve had a cathartic experience”, while people who may not have firsthand experience of her subject matter leave “understand[ing] people and humanity a bit better”. Overall though, Kimmings says the aim is for people to “laugh and to cry and be together”. “I hope people feel entertained and moved. Because, you know, what is art if it’s not something to make you feel emotionally kind of stimulated and entertained?” Kimmings’ next project is the Paul Feig-directed Last Christmas, which she co-wrote with Emma Thompson. When The Music speaks to Kimmings, the first trailer had dropped mere hours before, and the writer is brimming with excitement. Still, she insists she’s not allowed to tell us anything about the flick dropping in November this year. “It’s such a beautiful film that I’m not ruining it for anyone,” Kimmings says. Kimmings jokes that her own mother didn’t quite believe her when she said she was co-writing the screenplay with Thompson. She gushes that she loves Christmas and about how excited she is to have been able to write a “dysfunctional” woman, played by Emilia Clarke, into the Christmas movie canon. “She’s got mascara all under her eyes, she’s a total idiot, she doesn’t hold any punches when it comes to what she says to people — I just think this is brilliant. She’s a real bloody woman. And she’s just gonna be fucking great. You’re gonna love it.”
I’m A Phoenix, Bitch plays from 18 Sep at Playhouse, QPAC.
A universal thing Writer and actor Steven Oliver speaks to Raelee Lancaster about using ideas around family and humour to connect with audiences.
CONTENT WARNING: This article contains discussion of
suicide. If you are suffering from any of the issues that have been discussed or need assistance, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
W
hether it’s on stage or on the small screen, Cloncurry-born writer and actor Steven Oliver, a descendant of the Kuku-Yalanji, Waanyi, Gangalidda, Woppaburra, Bundjalung and Biripi peoples, finds humour in the everyday. His new play From Darkness combines tragedy and comedy in a darkly funny concoction that seeks to connect people. Playing as part of Brisbane Festival, From Darkness introduces Brisbane to Oliver’s interesting and deeply philosophical perspective on the world. Described as “Family Matters meets Redfern Now meets The Exorcist”, From Darkness combines contemporary family life with ongoing notions of Aboriginal spirituality. The audience meets the characters of the play — a fractured family unit dealing with their individual demons — after the death of a son and brother. Oliver says that the presence of spirits in the play was not optional: “Spirits have always been there [for Aboriginal people]. It’s a part of who we are, a part of our make-up.” Oliver believes that non-Aboriginal people could learn from Aboriginal values on connection — not only connection to culture but also the interconnection of land, body and spirit. Oliver says that Aboriginal people “understand where we belong, we understand our connectedness”. It’s this sense of connection that Oliver wishes to share through From Darkness by moving away from “what Aboriginal people think” to focus more on “how” Aboriginal people think. In From Darkness, Oliver uses ideas around family and humour as a means of connection. “Family is another thing that connects us. It’s a universal thing,” Oliver says. The idea for From Darkness came from a conversation with his family. “We were talking about spir-
its and time travel and going back to change the time when Cook arrived,” Oliver says. “At the end of the day, all you can do is write what you know.” The script evolved from that original seed of an idea. Oliver, who admits that his writing is “not formulaic”, says it is largely created from conversations that he hears. However, instead of a play about changing the history of colonial invasion, Oliver went on to create what he called “the most philosophical piece [he’s] ever written”. To bring From Darkness to the stage, Oliver had to hand his script over to his creative team, who could interpret his words in different ways. “I’m not precious, as long as the message of what I want to say is always there,” Oliver says. “When you wanna create [a project], other people help you create it. The directors, the actors — we create it together. You need to be surrounded by people who share your values. I love interpretation.” The value of human connection to Oliver is made plain as he shares his philosophies about what it means to be human and how important it is to connect with other people, particularly those of different backgrounds to yourself. In a world where Aboriginal men are twice as likely to die by suicide than non-Aboriginal men and Aboriginal people are being imprisoned and dying in police custody at disproportionate rates, From Darkness deals with death, grief and suicide in a way that is relevant, hard-hitting and personal. The idea of one person being seen as inferior in the eyes of another person based on colour or creed disturbs Oliver, who says, “To dehumanise others is to dehumanise ourselves because by dehumanising others we make a monster of ourselves.” This sentiment echoes throughout our conversation with Oliver. “We live in cities of millions and people have never felt more lonely,” Oliver muses. “We allow suffering because we see war on the news and, because it’s not happening to us, we disconnect ourselves from it.” Still, with all this grief and disconnect in the world, Oliver finds time to have a laugh. Comedy is often used as a “coping mechanism” in Aboriginal communities. Oliver says that talking to mob, “One minute they’ll be talking about something heavy and then they’ll crack a joke mid-sentence. “As Aboriginal people, we deal with tragedy a lot. We’ve had to use comedy to cope. It’s about giving ourselves permission to laugh. Sometimes it’s all we can do.”
Best of the rest... With so much to see at Brisbane Festival, here’s some hot tips on what not to miss.
Bitch On Heat “Psycho-siren” Leah Shelton’s Bitch On Heat pulls together absurdist lip-syncing with high-camp performance art in order to unpack modern sexual politics, looking at the way vintage sexism still defines us, whether through porn, pop culture or revenge movie heroines. Pic by FenLan Chuang.
From 17 Sep at The Loft, Theatre Republic
Communal Table This world premiere from North Queensland arts
From Darkness runs from 7 Sep at Roundhouse Theatre.
company Dancenorth, produced in collaboration with The School Of Life’s John Armstrong, invites 88 guests to share a three-course meal and provocative conversation with strangers – and accomplished dancers.
From 18 Sep at The Joinery
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
Anne Edmonds:
What’s Wrong With You? Anne Edmonds – who you may recognise as Helen Bidou on Get Krack!n – brings her latest stand-up hour to Brisbane Festival. She’s one of the boldest comics in Australia today, always surprising her audiences with her off-kilter yet empathetic characters.
From 18 Sep at Cremorne Theatre, QPAC
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As important as romance Animals director Sophie Hyde tells Hannah Story about adapting a novel with female friendship at its centre that actually “feels like what you experience”.
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olliday Grainger (The Borgias) and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development, Search Party) star in Animals — screening at Sydney Film Festival in June, and Melbourne International Film Festival in August — as Laura and Tyler. They’ve been friends for ten years but their relationship shifts as they enter their early 30s. Laura feels that she ought to be further along in terms of both her career and her romantic life, diving headfirst into a courtship with classical musician, Jim (Fra Fee), while Tyler is determined to reject those same paradigms, encouraging Laura not to settle, and to keep pursuing new, often drug-addled experiences. It’s effectively a coming-of-age story — if you believe that coming of age isn’t about puberty or becoming an adult and leaving home or going to university, but is instead a gradual, ongoing process. “My belief is that we don’t come of age once,” director Sophie Hyde says. “We don’t just come of age and then we’re adults — I think that coming of age is like a perpetual thing, we’re constantly going through changes in our life, new seasons of our life, where we come into a new age, I suppose, of what we are.” What drew Hyde to the film was Emma Jane Unsworth’s 2014 book. She describes the world of the novel as “very visceral and real and connected [and] that I thought was really familiar”, bringing to life a relationship that isn’t often the sole subject in popular culture: female friendship. “[I was drawn to] the idea of friendship being a really important thing, maybe something that is equally as important as romance, but not necessarily because it lasts forever, but because it’s just another important relationship.” Hyde says the relationship between Laura and Tyler described in the novel “feels like what you experience” — rather than falling into the categories of female friendship that have been deemed worthy of screen time, like flicks about girls behaving badly (Bridesmaids, Bachelorette) or very earnest friendship movies (Now And Then). “It was always really important to us that the friendship was a celebration, but that wasn’t to say that the friendship was perfect — it’s like we’re telling the story of someone who needs to get out of a friendship and end it to be able to do the things they want to do in their life.” Animals deliberately subverts the expectations of its set-up, concluding in an almost meditative place; it doesn’t have a rom-com ending, that loved-up happily ever after — not even between the two friends. “We kind of set up in the story that it felt like a rom-com, like a decision between two lives or two people, but it doesn’t end like that,” Hyde agrees. It doesn’t even end with Laura deciding to drastically change the course of her life, completely letting go of her hard-partying past. “We were really clear that we didn’t want to have it like, ‘And now she’s tipped all her alcohol down the toilet!’ That it didn’t feel like we wanted to tell women that to grow up you have to let go of everything about yourself, but maybe you just have to find something new.”
With Animals, Sophie Hyde directs Australia’s first official feature film co-production with the Republic Of Ireland. While the novel is set in the northern English city of Manchester — Unsworth, who also served as the film’s screenwriter, is a Mancunian — the film takes place in Dublin. Hyde says she was asked to consider shooting in Dublin as if it were Manchester, but upon visiting the city with her partner Brian Mason, the film’s director of photography and editor, she made the decision to transplant the action to the Irish capital city. “We learnt that actually we were gonna get rid of a whole lot of the beauty of what you can create by shooting in a city where it’s set. It’s really important in a story like this that the character of the city is part of it, so you don’t want to turn it into a generic city. “And then you find yourself in Dublin where it’s this very strong literary background, there’s literally poets’ words on the walls everywhere you walk around, and everyone’s drinking a lot, and suddenly you’re like, ‘We’ve found a very happy place for our characters.’” Her and Mason were “both outsiders” in Dublin: “We had to land in a city and get to know it really fast. “You come in as an outsider and it’s really exciting to learn and fall in love with a place and to put that on screen and to find all the bits that you adore and your eyes are really open to that. I think it’s really crucial in these kind of films that are telling stories to people all over the world that they need a specificity of character and a specificity of place to really make us feel like we understand them as an audience.” While the filmmaking team had a fairly even split between men and women, Hyde acknowledges that it is “driven by women at its centre”: “It’s a film about women sort of uncovering something about their place in the world, and certainly we were women from all over the world together telling that story and challenging each other and questioning each other and supporting each other. It did feel amazing. When you lead with people who’ve been raised as female, we tend to do things just slightly differently I think. There’s a different feeling on set, and there’s a different feeling between you all. I loved it, everything about it feels great.”
“Break someone’s heart, do your bit for art.”
Animals screens from 12 Sep.
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Is Coming To BIGSOUND! Check out our special BIGSOUND 2019 series direct from Brisbane, featuring a bunch of this year’s artists and speakers, on the Handshake Media network.
List en on
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A proper show Dara Ó Briain talks to Joe Dolan about trying to scale back his touring schedule but not being able to turn down international offers.
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nyone lucky enough to catch stand-up superstar Dara Ó Briain on his last Australian tour in 2017 will know that the Irish comic treated audiences to a powerhouse ‘best of’ performance. This time round, however, he’s back to the grind. “It was really fun to do that special edition last time, especially in terms of bringing stuff back,” he says of his 2017 tour. “I think I did all my Australian animal bits from over the years, because I just had to bring them home, you know? ‘Here’s my koala routine! Here’s my bit about Kangaroo Island!’ Literally just doing them because I was back in Australia. “But this new show is built in a way of a proper show. In a way where stuff happens and you might not get what I’m going on about for a bit but then it pays off in a really satisfying way an hour later.” The show in question is Voice Of Reason, which Ó Briain first started performing in early 2018. “The intention was to scale it back,” he laughs of what has now become his longest tour. “Normally we do around 150 on a tour, and it’s awesome but then family and all that, you know, I can’t just be dragging myself around the world all the time. I thought, ‘I can’t do this lifestyle this much, why don’t we just do 120?’ But the shows that are booked in now, this’ll bring us up to 180.
“Look, the thing I’m going to tell you is fucking great. It’s really good, and you’re really going to enjoy it. I can’t actually fuck it up by telling you how good it’s going to be, it’s that good.”
“The international part of it has just grown and grown and grown, and now I’m doing Scandinavia, New Zealand, America — I’m doing Brisbane for the first time in 18 years. It’s become this whole thing, and I can’t turn them down! I go, ‘Oh God, this is a lot. Brisbane? I’d love to do Brisbane! Let’s add Brisbane!’ There’s all the spots I have to do, but then people keep dangling these places like, ‘Let’s go to Estonia! Have you played Helsinki yet?’ and I just get too excited about it.” The Mock The Week presenter also says that making his set work around the world is not nearly as hard as you may think. “Bizarrely, it’s hardest going from Ireland to the UK and back to Ireland with it. The first 120 or 130 shows were just in the UK and Ireland, and that going between the two countries was so sufficiently different, that the show has become very general as a result.
“I always start in Ireland, and it’s always very Irish when I begin. You know, talking about Irish things and Irish politics and stuff, but the minute I go to Britain all that stuff has to get dumped. “Oddly, that’s the filter that sweeps out all the local stuff,” Ó Briain continues. “By the time you’re gigging around Europe you’ve narrowed it down to the universal stuff. Probably, that’s what it should have been in the first place anyway. So, by the time it comes to Australia, if it’s worked in Tromso in northern Norway and it’s worked in Cologne in western Germany, it’s going to be grand.” Ó Briain says that the opportunity to bring brand new material abroad is always an exciting one — especially to Australia. “Last time I was there it was more kind of, ‘I haven’t been here for 16 years, here’s everything!’ I think in Melbourne I did about two-and-a-half hours just going, ‘Oh and this and this and this!’ And all the reviews were really lovely, but one critic very astutely pointed out that it ‘wasn’t a proper show’, and I thought, ‘Maybe you have a point.’ “So, this show has all that fucking around in the first half where I talk with the audience and all that, but then you’ll feel the accelerator press down and everything builds up and up and up.” In fact, a moment in Perth from the last tour has made its way into infamy via Voice Of Reason, and Ó Briain can barely contain himself about it. “There’s a real joyous moment when you get excited about something you know is going to work,” Ó Briain says. “And you are so confident in the bit or the story — and you really shouldn’t do this — but you say, ‘Look, the thing I’m going to tell you is fucking great. It’s really good, and you’re really going to enjoy it. I can’t actually fuck it up by telling you how good it’s going to be, it’s that good.’ “Normally you have to be so aware of the energy and the tension and trying not to break it. It can be so finicky and delicate, but you get so excited and go, ‘Fuck it! I’m gonna tell you this now, because it is balls-out great.’ So yeah, I’m already looking forward to telling you what happened in Perth.”
Dara Ó Briain tours from 11 Sep.
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Light at the end of the tunnel David Hosking of Boy & Bear talks to Anna Rose about the blood, sweat and shit that went into the making of their fourth album, Suck On Light.
Pic: Daniel Boud
“We’re now on the other side of the curve where I’m actually improving, and that’s kind of buoying me.”
“Y
ou hopefully make better decisions along the way, in terms of every record you make,” says vocalist David Hosking, reflecting on the ten years of Boy & Bear that went into making their fourth studio album, Suck On Light. “We understand more than ever what’s required and obviously, this time we had some significant challenges along the way.” Significant challenges might be an understatement. Hosking’s experiences with a debilitating illness, later diagnosed as a gut bacterial issue, stretch back to their first album, 2011’s Moonfire. His fatigue was sometimes so severe that he was unable to stand. Even now, warm and friendly though he is, Hosking tires and muddles easily; he’s still, by his own admission, not entirely well yet. “It did feel, like, persistent,” Hosking says. “As a collective, the way we were working together, we were onto something really good, and managing to get the best out of each other. “We all feel, dare I say it, but touch wood, this is a strong piece of work.” It’s tricky, though, Hosking says, to look from the inside out on one’s craft. Still, he is ultimately proud of the work he and his band did to make this record.
“I think, personally, [being happy with the album] was going to be a tricky hurdle to jump. On the last record I was hoping I would have gotten better but by the time we did the third record, I was in a pretty bad way and sort of checked out — I feel like I could have added value to that process but I was gun-shy, I didn’t want to make a lukewarm record. “I started to improve and there was a moment of committing to it, where there was enough confidence to go, ‘No, we can do this. I’m going to have it in me to push these songs further [and] get all the lyrics right.’ “I definitely look back and feel proud of [this] result. I didn’t want to rock up and record anything, we wanted to make something we’re really proud of and I can definitely say that we are.” Where did Hosking find the special reserve of energy that would help him to write Suck On Light? Hosking replies with a heavy sigh: “What’s really interesting, this whole process started to affect my brain literally at the end of second record — I remember having a lot of problems and trying to write, and that being very distracting.
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“Hitting my head against a brick wall because every process I’d known wasn’t working, something wasn’t right — the funny thing is by the time we got to this record, because I was aware, because I understood it, there wasn’t a part of my brain in doubt.” Hosking now understands a new level of work and motivation. “We’re now on the other side of the curve where I’m actually improving, and that’s kind of buoying me. I just now, work within the parameters, even on days you’re really struggling, just rock up and push things. Just keep rocking up.” A sense of security and confidence in his own abilities has started to feed into his everyday life. “[It’s about] having enough confidence there to work with and not denying [the challenges]. [They] have to be part of the process. You can’t just block them out and pretend they’re not there. “It’s like, ‘Ok, how do we use it? How do we invite it into the room and actually create something that’s going to be effective?’” Suck On Light was an opportunity for Boy & Bear to try something totally different. “A big part of the heavy lifting was done in the [last] 18 months,” Hosking
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explains. “We have 50-something demos — some were ridiculous and clearly never salvageable — that was the biggest body of work we’d had going into a record. “With that, you’re clocking up all these hours as a collective, you’re moving into a space to just be creative. We had songs early on that sounded good, but at the end of the day, they didn’t have the same legs and longevity the others did. “Certain demos that stuck out a year ago were still surviving — give or take one or two songs there was an unanimous agreement on the ten that were feeling really good. That’s generally a good sign! “Ultimately the biggest part of it is what kind of language can you create that starts to be your own? And hopefully [you’re] applying everything you know about good songwriting and pushing as far as you can.”
Suck On Light (Island/Universal) is out this month
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n 2013, a “different” Angie McMahon won a competition to open for Bon Jovi on the Australian leg of their Because We Can tour. “It was a different me — more makeup on my face,” McMahon chuckles. “I was less sure of myself, definitely, but, yeah! I was just 19.” At the time, Bon Jovi advised McMahon to make good use of this opportunity, but she chose to press pause on her music career after the run of dates, instead completing her arts degree at Melbourne University. “You can feel like you get one shot to put yourself in the public eye and have an audience, but it’s not really worth it if you don’t know what you wanna say, I guess,” she reflects. “Had I started touring at 19, I mean, I don’t think it would have gone very well if I had tried to follow that momentum. I was grateful that I was just a bit older and I was feeling a bit more grounded, but I really feel for people who are young and maybe aren’t ready, because [touring] does things to your mind and your body.” In mid-May, McMahon posted a lyric video for her song Missing Me on Facebook together with the following confession: “When I was younger, I wanted to sing loud and see how high my voice would go, and when we would visit the family farm near
pondering, “Maybe I’ll take up that tactic.” On If You Call, the closing track of McMahon’s first full-length Salt — which debuted at #5 on the ARIA Albums Chart and topped the AIR Albums Chart (Independent Labels) — she admits, “Where I whistle, I wanted it to be a harmonica, initially, but I can’t play it and I didn’t have time to learn.” The lyrical phrase that concludes If You Call (and Salt itself), “All the loving that we’ve earned is gonna keep us breathing,” is reassuringly optimistic. McMahon ruminates, “I haven’t written that many songs in that realm, because so often I’m writing a song trying to process a difficult thing.” After admitting her internal voice is routinely harsh, McMahon confesses, “I’ve only recently become aware of how strong that voice can be inside of me, and how damaging it can be, and it’s interesting to observe and to try and work through... The journey of self-care and self-growth can sound really cheesy to talk about, and I think some people don’t want to engage with the language, but actually, to me, it’s the most massive thing, because it’s how you find happiness and, particularly if you have mental health issues, it’s how you work through those mental health issues.
single] Slow Mover — and he’s a really lovely mentor to me and also a friend of Charlotte’s — and so he introduced us and then we started working together a couple of months later. “I hit her up to have lunch and just wanted to ask her advice on a couple of things, and she was telling me about her exhaustion in the job. We got into this conversation basically about mental health and physical health and burnout, and the basis of our friendship and relationship was discussing those things and it’s been such a wonderful thread that we’ve had through our working relationship, because we’ve always put that humanness first and it’s made the things that could be really difficult in the job so much easier for me and hopefully, likewise, for her. I think we just give each other the support that is the voice you sometimes need to hear where it’s like, ‘You need to take a break,’ or, ‘You’re doing ok,’ or, ‘It’s ok to not work,’ or whatever it is; you know, we put so much pressure on ourselves. But she has been so wonderful... I’m really grateful to her. “I am so glad that that’s been my experience, ‘cause I think there can be some really opposite types of experiences, but basically we both followed our instincts through-
“Basic self-care is much more important than looking or feeling cool.”
After pressing pause on her music career, Angie McMahon tells Bryget Chrisfield that trusting her instincts, “basic self-care” and working exclusively with “kind faces” all serve her well now that she’s ready to roll. Cover and feature pic by Kane Hibberd.
the Murray River, I took the motorbike out into the fields with my iPod and tested the limits of my range... This year my brother told me he could hear me doing that, so anyway, bit embarrassing...” We just have to know how this conversation unfolded. “It somehow came up at family dinner conversation and both my brothers were like, ‘Yeah, nah, we could hear you doing it’,” she laughs. “I mean, they’ve always been really nice, actually, about me singing, like, even in the house, probably not at such an extreme volume, but I would sing quite loudly and badly sometimes at the piano — there’s only a door between me and the rest of them — and they never really got angry at me for being a noisemaker, which is nice, because I felt like I had the space to do all the work. “My little brother started learning the harmonica at one point, he started teaching himself and he would do it on the toilet,” McMahon recounts. “He’d be, like, sitting on the toilet and you would just hear the harmonica coming from the bathroom.” We’re tipping toilets are typically good acoustic environments, kind of like singing in the shower. “Yeah, really nice reverb,” McMahon — whose “next mission” is to master harmonica (“I wanna take it up to the next level”) — acknowledges, before
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“It’s such a [continuing] journey just to care for myself, particularly with touring and a really drastic change with my lifestyle over the last couple of years. It’s, like, I’ve had these experiences with myself that I never really thought I would be open to, for example, sitting in front of the mirror and just looking at myself and talking to myself in the mirror and just saying, you know, ‘You’re doing ok,’ or whatever it is that, in the past, I would’ve been like, ‘Oh, that’s maybe a bit crazy.’ But now having, I dunno, gone through intense things in my work and in my life and in my mind, and also having a psychologist and having a more open dialogue about mental health, those sort of things, to me, are so important now and just, like, basic self-care is much more important than looking or feeling cool,” she laughs. Fans of McMahon have probably clocked photos of her manager Charlotte Abroms, beaming proudly, in social media posts/tour diaries that document this burgeoning artist’s career-defining moments (such as picking up the Grulke Prize for Developing Non-US Act at SXSW earlier this year). When asked how the pair came into each other’s lives, McMahon enlightens, “We met at a bar where I was working, through a friend, John Castle, who actually recorded [McMahon’s Gold-certified debut
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out the whole thing and, you know, if anyone was asking for advice, the thing that I would say is: if you feel like you’re being treated in a way that you don’t wanna be treated... your gut instinct about people is so important. And Charlotte has this with all of her clients: when we first start working with people, and people are joining our team, we just work with kind faces and it’s, like, not necessarily the face,” she laughs, “but the feeling that you get from people you’re gonna be working with. ‘Cause, like, even though there are plenty of people in the industry who can open doors for you or help get shit done, if they’re not gonna make you feel good — and they’re just not gonna understand and they don’t have that kind feeling — then we don’t work with them. “It’s that same thing that we were talking about before: knowing that you can not follow the momentum if it doesn’t feel right, I mean, I think it’s really, really important.”
Angie McMahon tours from 2 Oct. Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
I write songs not tragedies The Wombats’ frontman, Matthew “Murph” Murphy, may have a new solo project, Love Fame Tragedy, but, as he tells Anthony Carew, it’s just “business as usual”.
“I
Pic: Shervin Lainez
don’t like it when people in bands go and do solo albums, they’re usually kinda crap,” laughs Matthew “Murph” Murphy, the 35-year-old frontman of long-running English indie-rock outfit, The Wombats. It’s an amusing declaration, given Murphy has just minted his own new project, Love Fame Tragedy. “I didn’t want to frame it as ‘Matthew Murphy’, or call it anything like that. I wanted it to be far more interesting and exciting.” Love Fame Tragedy is, Murphy offers, “a bit of an experiment”, a project where the parameters have been totally removed, and “the only thing on deck is: ‘hey, let’s record a song’”. While he exhorts that Love Fame Tragedy is “not quite so ‘middle-class rock’ as things I’ve made before”, he’s not willing to go much further. “I know it’s not called The Wombats, it’s called Love Fame Tragedy, but it doesn’t feel completely different
to me,” he says. Murphy has, in interviews, grown more candid over time (“constantly saying that everything’s amazing quickly grows fucking boring”), and honesty, in this situation, means admitting that his new project isn’t that far from his usual one. “For the basis of this interview I should really be saying it was this really fresh, brand new thing, but it really wasn’t,” Murphy admits. “It was kind of business as usual. I’ve been the principal songwriter for The Wombats, now I’m the principal songwriter for this. I’m still a human being, comprised mainly of water, singing about my feelings. That never changes. [The difference] is in the studio, [in] the more collaborative aspects.” The debut Love Fame Tragedy EP, I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It, finds contributions from Maddi Jean Waterhouse, Gus Unger-Hamilton of alt-J, and Joey Santiago, guitarist of indierock legends Pixies. But, they’re definitely all just guests. “Sometimes it comes off, in blurbs in the press, as if Joey is in the band, or Gus from alt-J is in the band,” Murphy says. “But they’re not, really. They just came by the studio for a few hours.” Santiago’s appearance is notable, given the Pixies arrived in Murphy’s life at a formative time. As a kid, he’d largely listened to happy hardcore, but when he heard Radiohead’s Creep playing at a 1994 New Year’s Eve party, things started to change. As a teenager, he’d haunt indie dance clubs, often strutting his stuff to, say, Debaser. In 2018,
‘You saved my life’ Ahead of his Australian tour, Anna Rose chats with UK singer-songwriter James Morrison about using music as therapy.
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hen we get singer-songwriter James Morrison on the phone, he’s soaking up as much English sun as he can before he heads to Australia on tour in September. “I’m hoping I won’t be so pasty white!” he jokes. His excitement is carried by a strong cockney accent, a voice more confident now than it has been in recent years. A self-imposed hiatus was the result of being in a pretty dark place, something he has channelled into his recent release You’re Stronger Than You Know. He’s since toured the record around the UK and Europe. “People are singing along to the words and that’s a good feeling — that they’re learning the songs,” he shares. “The gigs have been some of the best I’ve ever done! “Going on how I feel about it in the moment, yeah, it’s definitely the most enjoyable album I’ve recorded and played live, because I’ve got more choice. The shows are darker and lighter, the high points are more sort of euphoric, and I suppose I fucked about too long in production and pop music that I forgot why I was doing this in the first place — to make tunes that make you feel something. Soulful, well-sung tunes played live that are just good.” What really drives Morrison is audience connection. “When I meet people, sometimes they cry,” Morrison begins shyly.
“A girl said to me yesterday, ‘You saved my life,’ about three times. She wasn’t even joking. I have moments where I feel like people listen to it, and feel it, and are with me in the songs, yeah. That’s the whole point, that’s what I want. I suppose as the singer, you’re the voice for the people who can’t speak or don’t know how to articulate. I’m just trying to push myself to go further, deeper, and be more honest every time I write a new song.” Rather than a burden, sharing the weight of emotions through music is something Morrison sees as a duty. “I love it,” he says. “I just feel like it’s a duty to help, really, in a subconscious way — that’s what music did for me growing up. I’d listen to a tune and it would take me away from whatever I was in, and singing along and being in the music always helped me deal with stuff — it still does. It’s like therapy, innit?” The singer giggles self-consciously when asked about the feeling of returning to specific moments of his life when performing certain songs. “I suppose the thing I notice more than anything is the weakness in my songwriting,” he says. “There’s only a few songs really that get me emotionally, that get me back in the same place; Too Late For Lullabies is one, In My Dreams is another. More the old ones are happy memories of playing gigs, of me starting out.
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“I still feel really good about playing the old songs and the naivety in the writing is good in that way, but some are not as good as they could be. I feel like I notice what I haven’t done yet and what I need to do. I’m more focused on that rather than feeling like I’m burdened with the emotion that stuck in a song that I have to play again.”
James Morrison tours from 17 Oct.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
Pixies, The Wombats, and Weezer went on a North American tour together, and Murphy and Santiago met. “We just kind of bonded one day,” Murphy recounts. “I think it was in Oklahoma, or Ohio or-oh fuck, I can’t remember where it was to be honest. And we stayed friends. Then, I took him out to play golf, and then he swung by the studio to play guitar on three or four tracks. It took a few hours. We kept the best bits and deleted the worst.” While it may sound strange to associate indie-rockers with golf, Murphy started playing when he was 13, and hits off a three handicap. “I wanted to be a pro golfer more than a professional musician,” he recounts, of his adolescent obsession. “You just hit one good shot, and it just consumes your whole life. It’s a meditative sport. I probably play 70 percent by myself. I think it’s very important for my wellbeing, at this point.” But, Murphy laments, having just had his first child, he has little time for golf, and his game has “gone to shit”. With the arrival of a baby and the birth of a new project, things are changing in Murphy’s life. Looming in the future is the great unknown of Love Fame Tragedy on stage; as of this interview, he’s yet to play a show, and an imminent Australian tour will be among the project’s first-ever gigs. “It’ll be nice to be down [in Australia] with a new project,” Murphy says. “Because, Wombats, honestly we’ve just hammered it down there. I can’t say to people what to expect, because I don’t know what to expect myself. I’m intrigued to see how it’s going to turn out, because honestly I have no idea.”
I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It (Good Soldier/AWAL) is out this month. Love Fame Tragedy tours from 6 Oct.
Those who seek Sally Seltmann, one-third of Sydney supergroup Seeker Lover Keeper, speaks to Anthony Carew about slipping easily back into the rhythm of the band eight years on from their first record. fter Seeker Lover Keeper — the trio of
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She’s just been treading the boards with Seeker Lover
Sydney songwriters Sarah Blasko, Sally
Keeper, playing a series of ‘comeback’ shows in advance of
Seltmann, and Holly Throsby — made
their second album, Wild Seeds. The return of the trio initially
their self-titled 2011 debut, they weren’t sure if
came up as a purely logistical concern -they realised that their
they’d ever make another record. “We all half
schedules had aligned to the point where they could make
thought we’d do another album, half didn’t
another record- before quickly blossoming in a flurry of brain-
know,” Seltmann offers. The trio remained
storming, initially playing out in an unending email thread.
busy with all manner of their own projects:
Where, on their first album, they’d brought finished songs
albums, scores, novels, children. “That’s the
to the group that they’d written by themselves, the goal this
thing with three of us: we all really need to do
time was to collaborate on and co-write every song. This made
our own things,” Seltmann says.
sense given the trio no longer had to tackle the more elemen-
For the 43-year-old, that meant her lat-
tal and existential questions they did the first time around.
est solo album, 2013’s Hey Daydreamer, and
“When we did the first Seeker Lover Keeper album, I was a
then Lovesome, her first ever novel, which was
bit: ‘Who are we? What are we doing?’ When we first got up on
published in 2018. The inspiration for writing a
stage, I remember us feeling like we didn’t know how to talk, or
novel came, initially, to Seltmann in song. “All
what to say, on stage, because we didn’t really know who we
the bad venues I played in [inspired] me to
were, as a band,” Seltmann says.
write a song called Book Song. That’s where I
This time around, they knew their identity and what peo-
talk about where I want to write a book, rather
ple liked about them. And, even though eight years is a long
than going and playing stinky rock’n’roll ven-
time between drinks, they knew each other. “It felt different
ues,” Seltmann offers. “So, I wrote a book.”
in that we were all, like, eight years older. And we all looked
While the solitary, lonely pursuit of writ-
different,” Seltmann laughs. “But, ultimately, it felt the same. I
ing a novel may seem distinctly different
don’t know if you believe this, but I feel like we’re all, as humans,
to music-making, Seltmann compares the
just bigger versions of who you were when you were a child.
experience with how she made her first two
You can go and do lots of different things, but the core of you
albums, under the name New Buffalo (2004’s
[remains] who you are.”
The Last Beautiful Day, 2007’s Somewhere,
The resulting record is “quite uplifting”, Seltmann thinks,
Anywhere). “I like being alone. I like working
the band addressing “friendship, supporting each other, being
on a creative project by myself. That’s how I
yourself, not hiding from who you really are” over bigger, brass-
made my first two New Buffalo albums: I was
ier, more boisterous arrangements, influenced by ‘60s girl
in the studio by myself the whole entire time.
groups. Wild Seeds takes its title, and its title track, from an
That’s what writing a novel felt like: that exact
exploration of the wildness of youth.
same feeling,” Seltmann offers.
“It’s [a song] where you’re looking back on your youth,
The most liberating thing, she continues,
when you were growing up, and how it was wild, but that that
was “just be able to write, and not care if it
was not a bad thing,” Seltmann says. “[But, it’s] not nostalgia
rhymes, or if it’s five pages instead of two lines”.
from whinging people who are getting older. We’re all people
In contrast to enjoying the solitude of an
who are doing what we want, embracing life, still really going
individual creative project, Seltmann admits
for it.”
that she also loves being on stage — especially in Seeker Lover Keeper, where she gets to share the spotlight with two other people. “You can get up on stage without any of the fears or anxiety that comes with doing it by yourself,” Seltmann says.
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Wild Seeds (Liberation) is out now. Seeker Lover Keeper tour from 5 Sep.
Old wine, new bottles Tool have released their first album in 13 years. Maynard James Keenan, Danny Carey, Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor tell Rod Yates they’re growing old gracefully. Feature photo by Travis Shinn.
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aynard James Keenan was dealing with an emergency at one of his Arizona vineyards when Tool’s first new single in 13 years, Fear Inoculum, was released. As the clock ticked down to the unveiling of one of the most anticipated pieces of music in recent history, the singer claims not to have been feeling anxious or excited, but another emotion altogether. “Despair,” he offers, deadpan, before a slight chuckle. “We’re right in the middle of harvest. This is a 15-hectare site and it got inundated with hail that pretty much annihilated 50 percent of the fruit, so we’ve been scrambling for the last three-and-a-half days trying to get all the fruit off the vine. The silver lining is finishing a record and having a song come out in the middle of that. You go back and forth [between] sheer panic and sheer joy.” A well-documented wine fanatic, Keenan owns vineyards in Arizona, and at one stage uses a wine metaphor to illustrate whether his extracurricular activities outside of Tool — such as winemaking, or fronting acts such as A Perfect Circle and Puscifer — may have influenced his work on the band’s long-awaited new album, also called Fear Inoculum. “I would imagine they would have to,” he says. “Someone with a very good palate is going to be able to tell the difference between a Barossa Valley wine and an Adelaide Hills wine. They should speak of a place. So I would imagine that everything’s gone into — and sorry to get all wine geeky — my personal terroir. It would have to come through. Especially if I’m trying to get out of the way to let it come through.” According to drummer Danny Carey, Keenan is the most adept member of Tool at “getting out of the way” to let inspiration come through and committing to his initial impulse. The rest of the band not so much. He points to the song 7empest — the album’s stunning near-16-minute finale, which features a riff in the time signature of 21 — as an example of the group’s elongated writing process. “Justin [Chancellor, bass] came up with that riff. The phrase [lasts for] 21 beats, however you want to sub-divide it. Adam [Jones, guitar] would pick three fives and a six to get the total to 21, or seven threes. I can drop into three or just play straight sevens; as long as it meets up every 21 it leads to interesting polyrhythms. We spend a lot of time jamming, throwing lots of those possibilities around until we find the one [that works],” he laughs. “It’s time-consuming.”
Aside from the convoluted songwriting process, the reasons for the 13-year gap between Fear Inoculum and its predecessor, 2006’s 10,000 Days, are many and varied. For starters, the band toured regularly; a lengthy and complicated lawsuit between the group and their former insurance company was an unwelcome distraction; and various members had families. As the years passed, the demands from fans for a new album grew louder and louder. “Most of the fans were very vocal,” says Jones from his house in Los Angeles. “A small percent-
“You either conquer those fears or you get so old you just don’t give a shit anymore.”
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age of them were very rude and demanding, and it gets under your skin a little. But you have to ignore that and stay true to what you do and rely on the fans who are being respectful. “Tool’s always been like that,” he adds. “It’s always been our rules. We’ll do something when we’re ready. And yes, there’s a commodity aspect — you have responsibilities, you have timing, you have budgets, you have contracts, blah blah blah. But that’s just not how this band has ever worked. Contractually we were supposed to deliver a record a long time ago,
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but it has to be the right conditions so we can do something good and not just crank something out and move on to the next thing.” Produced by Joe Barresi, with whom the band worked on 10,000 Days, the resulting album is a near-85-minute epic in which no song clocks in under the tenminute mark. The digital version features interludes interspersed throughout, which Carey regards as “palette cleansers” (only one of them, Carey’s Chocolate Trip Chip, will be on the physical CD due to the practicalities of how much music can fit on that format). Interestingly for a band as secretive as Tool, they started playing two songs from Fear Inoculum, Descending and Invincible, while on tour in the US in May and throughout their recent European festival run. In an age of YouTube and camera phones with shoddy audio capabilities, allowing people to hear new music in that setting seems to play against type for a band so concerned with quality and perfection. “We wrestled with whether that was a good idea or not,” says Chancellor, speaking from his property on the outskirts of Los Angeles. “We all felt different ways. In my mind [the festivals] were putting us in the headline slot because we were supposed to have a new album out, but it wasn’t out. Danny and I were great advocates of this: we just need to bite the bullet and be brave and play at least a couple of new songs.” Ask Keenan about the themes behind the album and he’s typically elusive. Carey, however, is a little more forthcoming when quizzed about the album’s title. “There are always fears you’re trying to conquer. that hold you back from doing things,” he offers. “I think we’ve all learned a lot and just gotten older, and you either conquer those fears or you get so old you just don’t give a shit anymore. A lot of the thematic stuff on the album. is about reaching this point where you have the courage to conquer your fears and do whatever you want to do, and be creative and not care what other people think. We’re not the types who are going to get plastic surgery to try and look like we’re younger. I think we can grow old gracefully and be happy with ourselves. And that’s the gist of the record, I believe.”
Fear Inoculum (Sony) is out now.
That’s a mood Tora frontman Joe Loewenthal chats to Cyclone about gaining the attention of Resident Evil star Milla Jovovich, and having to hustle to survive in the music industry.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
B
yron Bay electronic groovesters Tora have made an album out of globetrotting. Can’t Buy The Mood has songs calling for empathy and civility in the digital age, an age of international volatility and political discord. Tora — frontman Jo Loewenthal, guitarist Jai Piccone, bassist Shaun Johnston and drummer Thorne Davis — are following 2017’s acclaimed debut, Take A Rest. But, as they prepare to tour behind Can’t Buy The Mood, a relaxed Loewenthal is, ironically, laying down roots in Europe. “Basically, we’ve had a promo trip the last couple of months. Then, at the end of that, we decided to take a quick break before we go back to Australia for the album tour. So, right now, I’m just in Amsterdam myself, in my new home here, actually. I’ve been painting all week. Jai is in Italy, Shaun is in Switzerland, and Thorne is in Bali, so we’re all spread around for a week or two and then we’ll meet back in Australia next week.” For Loewenthal, the pull to the Netherlands isn’t random — his girlfriend is Dutch. “I’ve been back and forth for the last three years, but now we’ve got a proper base. So I think next year I’ll be moving here a bit more permanently, or at least basing myself out of here.” He enjoys strolling around his continental surrounds. “In Amsterdam there’s just so many beautiful canals and streets and parks — it’s almost like a theme park or something.” In fact, Loewenthal was born in London but settled in Byron Bay with his family as a child. Attending an alternative education Steiner school, he started the indie-rock outfit Alice Blu with mates. Later, during a brief stint in Melbourne, the multi-instrumentalist embraced electronica. Back in Byron, Alice Blu morphed into Tora in 2013. The group benefited from the exposure of streaming platforms, gigging globally, and performing at Glastonbury as early as 2015. Between commitments, Loewenthal has dabbled with solo projects (the latest, as JPL) and produced GRAACE. Tora’s maturity as a band is apparent on Can’t Buy The Mood. The quartet do wear their influences on their sleeves, with Mother Forgot and the title track echoing a hymnic James Blake. But, compared to Take A Rest, Can’t Buy The Mood is less chillwavey than gorgeous, textural electro-jazz.
It broaches math-rock, but without the pretentiousness. “We probably focused a bit more on the songwriting for this one but, from a production point of view, we did things quite similarly,” Loewenthal reflects. “What we learnt from the first album was that the songs that had the strongest message and the strongest hooks, without any production, were the ones that seemed to stand the test of time.” Tora initially developed material together, vibing in “a nice lounge room” in Byron. However, Loewenthal also embarked on “writing trips” to Europe and the US. The cred British producer Roy Kerr — in demand since his work on London Grammar’s breakthrough If You Wait — is credited on Deviate, the album’s soulfully mellow lead single (and opener) about the vulnerabilities of social media. Curiously, only Loewenthal and Piccone were present for the session
“If it doesn’t go right, you’re not gonna get that [money] back.” with the “humble” Kerr at London’s RAK Studios (Piccone, who models as a side hustle, was booked for London Fashion Week). “What I found really fascinating about Roy was a lot of the genius is in his ability to hear what is powerful and what sounds like something people will resonate with. So a lot of it was just Jai and I playing things and then Roy kind of saying, ‘No, no, no, keep going; keep trying stuff.’ That was a really interesting experience to have: somebody giving you this feedback that you can trust.” Loewenthal is personally attached to the acoustic ballad Similar. “It touches on the long-distance relationship that I’ve had over the last three years. The overwhelming message in the end is that, when you have a connection with somebody, distance shouldn’t be a boundary or a barrier, because it’s worth it when you find something special. It’s really worth sticking it out.”
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He composed the cut while lonely. “I was sitting there one night in Australia — I think it was about midnight, in the middle of August. It was a cold night. I was missing my girlfriend and the song literally just came out in the course of five hours. By the time I went to bed — I remember looking at the clock, as I turned the computer off — it was 5am and the song was written.” Being independent, Tora have assumed most of the “tasks” that a label traditionally facilitates, including mixing, mastering, art direction, branding and digital marketing. Loewenthal values the industry knowledge he acquired at music college. Still, funding Tora has been challenging. “We have had to raise money. Sometimes we’ve had to get loans from the bank, like we use [a] credit card. Or sometimes one of us will come across some money from a different outlet, like another career path or whatever. But we’ve invested a lot of our own money into the band.” That, he admits, has amounted to “hundreds of thousands of dollars”. “If it doesn’t go right, you’re not gonna get that [money] back. But that is just the nature of the beast. I think that keeps us with enough skin in the game to really give our energy to the project, and that’s what drives us to do everything to the highest standard possible that, I guess, our talents extend to.” Fortunately, Tora is now financially “self-perpetuating”. Tora were rapt last year when the Hollywood star Milla Jovovich, herself a musician, praised them online — a PR fantasy. “There was just a couple of times where she was commenting on our Instagram and [there was] a bit of back-andforth banter, which was interesting. Then a couple of months later she did the video clip with [fellow Byron band] Parcels [Withorwithout]. I think maybe she has some sort of attraction to Byron Bay because she seems to be aware of the music that’s coming out of there.”
Tora tour from 12 Sep.
This month’s highlights Thirty, flirty & thriving Desert wind
The Riverstage is celebrating its 30th birthday this month and you’re invited! We’re talking a ripper line-up of acts including Hot Dub Time Machine, Cub Sport, Confidence Man, Last Dinosaurs and Clea, and it’s all going down on 7 Sep at the, you guessed it, Riverstage. Get ready to party like it’s 1989.
Sahara Beck
Park yourself at South Bank’s Rainforest Green for an afternoon of free live music this 7 Sep. The Sound Society has put together a stellar lineup for September with sets from Sahara Beck, Machine Age and Peppermint Ollie.
Beer inside me
Confidence Man
Ruby Fields
Beer and live music will always be a winning combination and the fine folk at Beer InCider have got you covered with an epic line-up of brews and tunes this month. Head down to the Brisbane Showgrounds on 20-21 Sep for sets from Thundamentals, Hockey Dad, Ruby Fields, Bris182 and beer. Mmm beer.
Hot TOTTY In the jungle
Following a stint warming up the Skeggs tour, this three-piece shed-rock outfit from Wollongong are hitting the road for their own headline tour including a stint at The Northern. Get your body to TOTTY this 14 Sep to find out what all the noise is about.
The Jungle Giants are taking recent single Heavy Hearted, their first new music since smash 2017 album Quiet Ferocity, around the country for their biggest tour to date. Don’t miss the indie-pop stalwarts at Fortitude Music Hall this 4 & 5 Oct.
Away for a hot minute, Northeast Party House are finally back with new music and are taking it to the masses for the first time in two years. Get around the action at The Triffid this 13 Sep and party on, dudes.
The Jungle Giants
TOTTY
What comes before part B?
Northeast Party House
US hip hop legends Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo of G-Unit fame are returning Down Under this month for a run of headline shows. Don’t miss the pair storm the Eatons Hill Hotel this 27 Sep.
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YOUR TOWN
Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo
Making bank
MORE THAN AUSTRALIA’S MOST ICONIC RECORDING STUDIOS EVENTS – RECORDING – MIXING – MASTERING – 301 ACADEMY find out more at studios301.com THE GOODS – LET’S ROLL VIDEO SHOOT Photo Credit: MERCHANT THE MUSIC
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SEPTEMBER
the best and the worst of the month’s zeitgeist
The lashes Front
Back
Pell it how it is
Hog wild
Lover we have to love
Flock jock
Things we lost in the fire
The last song
“By majority (2 to 1), the
Word’s out, the reason rural
Taylor Swift’s Lover is a
After his latest violent,
People have been saying
A year after tying the knot
Court Of Appeal has dis-
Americans need assault
return to the sound of 1989,
misogynistic outburst,
the world is burning for
and ten years since they first
missed Cardinal George
rifles is to stop the “30-50
mixed with her early country
this time against NZ PM
a while, but it is a literal
started on-off dating, Liam
Pell’s appeal against his con-
feral hogs” that tend to
love songs, spurred on by
Jacinda Ardern, Alan Jones
statement – the Amazon is
Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus
viction for the commission
arrive within “3-5 minutes”
her great Love Story with
and his station 2GB have
on fire. The South Ameri-
have filed for divorce. The
of sexual offences. He will
whenever small children
British actor Joe Alwyn.
been deserted by adver-
can rainforest reportedly
split has already fostered
continue to serve his sen-
are at play. This potent
With St Vincent copping a
tisers – from Koala mat-
produces 20 percent of the
new track, Slide Away, and
tence of six years’ imprison-
addition to the vehement
co-write credit, and a Dixie
tresses to Anytime Fitness
oxygen in the atmosphere
plenty of mindless gossip.
ment”. Pell’s already decided
US gun debate predictably
Chicks collab, there’s some
to Total Tools. Speaking of
and it’s just… on fire.
One comfort in all this is
to take it to the High Court,
launched some of the wild-
surprises to be uncov-
total tools…
of course, but cop that.
est memes of the year.
ered here.
The final thought
Hemsworth brother.
Is Making A Murderer making murderers, or is The Keepers in fact keeping us safe?
T Words by Maxim Boon
he true crime genre is hardly new; London’s penny dreadfuls, which so graphically chronicled the grisly crimes of London in the 19th century, banked on the same morbid fascination that continues to popularise similar story-
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that there’s finally one single
•
telling today. But long as true crime’s reign may have been, it’s certainly the case that in the last few years it has evolved from a relatively fringe subculture into a mainstream juggernaut, largely thanks to global megahits like the Serial podcast and Netflix’s watershed docu-series Making A Murderer. The barnstorming success of those and similar shows have since sparked a veritable gold rush, with documentaries and dramas based on various criminal activities produced now in huge numbers. And seemingly, supply still cannot keep up with demand, as millions of proud true crime devotees devour any and all additions to the ever-increasing canon. I count myself among those hungry superfans. Be it documentaries like The Staircase, The Confession Tapes, The Keepers or I Am A Killer, or dramatisations like the American Crime Story franchise, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, or as I recently cannonballed in a single sitting, the second season of Mindhunter, I have watched countless hours of programming about some of the most horrifying acts any human has ever enacted. The sheer accessibility of true crime content – there are also tens of thousands of vids to be found on YouTube – has enticed watchers who probably never knew they were inclined to dig the shenanigans
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of serial killers. I can personally attest to being an unexpected convert such as this. But as much as I love true crime shows, I have found myself occasionally questioning the ethics of them. Yes, they are fascinating, but crucially, they are engineered to entertain, which essentially means that real brutality and suffering are being commodified for public enjoyment, and on an industrial scale. On the flip side of that equation, a question lingers about what influence true crime content may have on its viewers. Could all this morbid TV be incubating the next Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy? The damaging effects of gaming and fictional violence has often been cited in the wake of certain atrocities, most frequently connected to America’s epidemic of mass shootings. But some mental health professionals have contradicted that domino effect. Some have even suggested that watching true crime content may in fact make us safer, honing our instincts for dangerous scenarios, raising our suspicions and teaching us the best ways to assess and react to threatening situations. So, given that I’m unlikely to be kicking my true crime habit any time soon, I’m going to hold on to that convenient explanation the next time I find myself reaching for the popcorn and a good ol’ murder doco.
Out September 13th 2019 “America’s greatest living songwriter” FADER
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EXCLUSIVE BOOKING AGENTS (ASIA PACIFIC)
W W W. N E W W O R L D A R T I S T S . N E T
ALLDAY ARNO FARAJI BRITISH INDIA THE BRAVE BUGS BUTTERFINGERS CERES CLEA CONCRETE SURFERS DANIEL JOHNS DEAD LETTER CIRCUS DEMON DAYS ELIZABETH ENDLESS HEIGHTS FEKI FIRST BEIGE GOLDEN VESSEL GOOD BOY GRINSPOON GYROSCOPE HANDS LIKE HOUSES THE HARD ACHES
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REDHOOK RINI RO RUBY GILL SARAH MCLEOD SILVERCHAIR SLUMBERJACK SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM SPIDERBAIT SPIT SYNDICATE STELLIE SUNSCREEN SUPER CRUEL THE SUPERJESUS SWEATER CURSE THESE NEW SOUTH WHALES TINA ARENA THY ART IS MURDER TYNE JAMES ORGAN VOID OF VISION WINDWAKER YOUNG MONKS