Inpress Issue #1130 by TheMusic.com.au

KYLIE MINOGUE

LIL’ KIM

ZEBRA

SALLY SELTMANN

THE SOFT PACK

CW STONEKING WOLF PARADE RICHARD IN YOUR MIND AMY MEREDITH

VICTORIA'S HIGHEST CIRCUL ATING STREET PRESS

MELBOURNE - MORNINGTON PENINSULA - BALLARAT / BENDIGO - GEELONG / SURF COAST

33,408

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Wednesday 7 July

MITCHEL PAXTON WARD + NATHAN BURLEY 8.30pm, $8 Entry (band room) Thursday 8 July

BOIS ET CHARBON 5.30pm, Free in the Front Bar FUTURE HAPPINESS + ROMAN HOLIDAY 8.30pm $5 Entry (band room) Friday 9 July

LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR 6pm Free in the Front Bar JAMES KENYON & THE LLOYD WEIR (ALBUM LAUNCH) 8.30pm $7 Entry (bandroom) Saturday 10 July

THE BOYS 5.30pm Free in the Front Bar DIRTBIRD + LADY GREY + TK BOLLINGER 8.30pm, $6 Entry (band room) Sunday 11 July

HEATHER STEWART & 4.30pm Free in the Front Bar DAN DINNEN TANE EMIA-MOORE + PRAIRIE 8.30pm, $5 Entry (band room) + FRANKIE Tuesday 12 July

APPLEJACK + SHIVERING TIMBERS + THE ADVENTURE SPIRIT 8.30pm, $10 Entry (band room)

Coming Up...

Open...MON - THU...from 4pm ‘til late FRI...from 2pm ‘til late SAT - SUN...from 12pm ‘til late

Live Music Bookings wesleyannebookings@gmail.com www.wesleyanne.com.au

16/07: I DREAM IN TRANSIT (US) + E-WAH LADY + SLOW HUMAN ESCAPE, 17/07: YELKA + KATIE BRIANNA + NICOLA WATSON, 18/07: JAMES BOWERS + HEILBRON/SCHACK-ARNOTT + MNDF QUARTET, 20/07: APPLEJACK + THE ADVENTURE SPIRIT + SHIVERING TIMBERS, 21/07: NICK BATTERHAM + MANY MORE

Winter Special Two for one meals on Mondays (excludes steak, fish and specials)

bookings: 9482 1333 twitter.com/inpressmag

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No.109

WEDNESDAY 7 JULY

BRUNSWICK

OPEN MIC NIGHT 8PM FREE

Thursday 8 july

THURSDAY 8 JULY

bakersfield glee club

SONGLINES NAIDOC ACOUSTIC SESSIONS, LEE MORGAN + GUESTS 9PM FREE

traditional 1920s country from bakersfield 7.30pm

Saturdays in July

FRIDAY 9 JULY

CHRIS WILSON

ILDIKO + JIM PATTERSON + GUESTS 10PM FREE

harmonica & blues legend chris wilson is back. playing five awesome saturday sessions 5pm

SATURDAY 10 JULY THREE MAN DUO + JACKSON FISH 10PM FREE

SUNDAY 11 JULY OPEN DECKS NIGHT 6PM FREE

Sun 11 july

SWAMPLAND old timey bluegrass trio 5pm

THE UNION HOTEL

BRUNSWICK 109 UNION ST, BRUNSWICK

635 HIGH ST THORNBURY VIC 3071 OPEN 5PM TILL LATE, CLOSED MONDAYS PH (03)9495-0341 WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEBENDERBAR

UHBBOOKINGS@YAHOO.COM.AU

9388 2235

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ISSUE 1130

WEDNESDAY 7 JULY 2010 CREDITS EDITORIAL

Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast Editor Shane O’Donohue music@inpress.com.au Front Row Editor Daniel Crichton-Rouse frontrow@inpress.com.au National Dance Editor Kris Swales zebra@inpress.com.au Contributing Editor Adam Curley Staff Writers Bryget Chrisfield, Michael Smith

ADVERTISING sales@inpress.com.au National Sales & Marketing Director Leigh Treweek Victorian Sales Manager Katie Owen Arts & local advertising Sarah Blaby Bands & local advertising Adrian Stoyles

DESIGN & LAYOUT artroom@inpress.com.au Group Art Director Stuart Teague Inpress Cover Design / Art Direction Matt Greenwood Layout Matt Davis, Matt Greenwood, Stuart Teague

ACCOUNTS & ADMINISTRATION accounts@streetpress.com.au Accounts Qing Shu

CONTRIBUTORS

RICHARD IN YOUR MIND INPRESS 14

18 20 21 22 22 24 25 25 26 26 27 27 27 27 28

Foreword Line – news, opinions, tours, Backlash and Frontlash, and Crow’s Peter Fenton discusses his band’s re-formation Dan Kelly ignored the people who told him to make his music simpler Kylie Minogue has a bit of meerkat in her Sally Seltmann can no longer be confused with a working-class town in Michigan The Soft Pack admit most people hate their name The Magic Numbers were excited to work with Edwyn Collins Richard In Your Mind are very happy that Cloud Control are so popular Boys Like Girls are changing the world through song Wolf Parade’s gimmick is that they have no gimmick Young pups Amy Meredith have already been through the music industry wringer CW Stoneking doesn’t care what you say about him Circle Pit think people are finally starting to embrace them Mikelangelo owns a lot of the same records as Quentin Tarantino Naked On The Vague had their fair share of bar fights in the US The Scare are no more, but singer Kiss Reid says he was right to call it quits On The Record reviews new releases by The Cat Empire, Ozzy Osbourne and Melvins

FRONT ROW 50

50 50 50 51

With Twilght: Eclipse in cinemas now, we chat to Kristen Stewart about vampires and that other film she’s in, The Runaways This Week In Arts briefs you on the best of the days ahead 7Up looks at the founding fathers of movie genres We review Topsy and A Kind Of Alaska Amadeo Marquez-Perez talks about the upcoming Bayside Film Festival

52 52 53 53

Choreographer Lucas Jervies discusses the new Jack production Human Abstract Film Carew looks at Creation, Leaving and The Horseman Trailer Trash ditches films for folios Cultural Cringe reports on the Dead Man’s Cell Phone opening night TV Set reviews the online viewing opinions in Australia

BACK TO INPRESS 54 54 54

Off With Their Heads literally live on the road Fabulous Diamonds don’t care for record sales Behind Crimson Eyes admit they felt compromised on their last album 54 Suckers want to be loved by all 55 Our LIVE section has everything you need to know about the world of Melbourne live music! 55 Gig Of The Week parties with Eagle & The Worm 55 LIVE:Reviews develops a teen crush on Regurgitator 62 Stu Harvey gives you a ShortFastReport on the world of punk and hardcore 62 Andrew Haug takes us to the dark side in The Racket 62 Kendal Coombs leads the under-18s boardroom in the Department Of Youth 63 Adam Curley finally understands Fleetwood Mac in The Breakdown 63 Dan Condon blues and roots in Roots Down 65 Jeff Jenkins catches up with Lazy Susan in Howzat! 65 If you haven’t appeared in Fred Negro’s Pub, your mother probably still speaks to you 66 Our Gig Guide fills your diary for the weekend 72 Find your new band and just about anything else in our classy Classifieds 78 Finish Line hits hard with industry fact (and conjecture) 78 Fragmented Frequencies can’t take the quiet anymore

Senior Contributors Clem Bastow, Jeff Jenkins Overseas Contributors Tom Hawking (US), James McGalliard (UK), Sasha Perera (UK). Writers Nick Argyriou, The Boomeister, Paul Andrew, Atticus Bastow, Steve Bell, Tim Burke, Dan Condon, Anthony Carew, EJ Cartledge, Peter Chambers, Matthew Cheetham, Chris Chinchilla, Rebecca Cook, Kendal Coombs, Adam Curley, Cyclone, Michael Daniels, Wayne Davidson, Guy Davis, Carolyn Dempsey, Liza Dezfouli, John Eagle, Guido Farnell, Sam Fell, Bob Baker Fish, Johnny Gash, Cameron Grace, Stu Harvey, Andrew Haug, Andy Hazel, Anthony Horan, Rod Hunt, Layne Kim, Cookie Lee, Joey Lightbulb, Michael Magnusson, Baz McAlister, Keith McDougall, Sam McDougall, Tony McMahon, Adam D Mills, Count Monbulge, Luke Monks, Fred Negro, Mark Neilsen, Roger Nelson, Danielle O’Donohue, Matt O’Neill, Jordan Oliver, Adrian Potts, Paul Ransom, Symon JJ Rock, Adam Sharp, Nic Toupee, Rob Townsend, Dominique Wall, Doug Wallen, Rod Yates.

PHOTOGRAPHERS Chrissie Francis, Kate Griffin, Kane Hibberd, Lara Luz, Lou Lou Nutt, Gina Maher, James Morgan, Heidi Takla, Nathan Uren.

INTERNS Andrea Biagini, Dale Brett, Mitchell Brown, Julian Hocking, Stefanie Markidis.

EDITORIAL POLICY The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. No part may be reproduced without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting letters to us for publication, you agree that we may edit the letter for legal, space or other reasons. ©

DEADLINES Editorial Friday 5pm Advertising Bookings Friday 5pm Advertising Artwork Monday 5pm General Inquiries info@inpress.com.au (no attachments) Accounts/Administration accounts@streetpress.com.au Gig Guide gigguide@inpress.com.au Distribution distro@inpress.com.au Office Hours 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday

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PRINTED BY Rural Press Victoria

GIVEAWAYS Alberta Cross

Email giveaways@inpress.com.au from 5pm Wednesday With the release of their debut album Broken Side Of Time last year, Alberta Cross made some seriously positive waves among the music community. Now, fresh off their first headlining tour of the US, the New York-based, European-born outfit are bringing their Southern rock sound down under, a trip that takes them to the Splendour In The Grass festival and, presented by Inpress, to the Corner Hotel stage on Tuesday 27 July. We have five double passes to give away.

My Volcano, the latest from Sydney’s Richard In Your Mind, sees the band expanding their musical vision ever outwards, traversing through fields of lush psychedelia, Odelay-esque party jams, lo-fi anti-folk and tribal freak-outs. The band launch the album at the Northcote Social Club this Friday (9 July) supported by Rat Vs Possum and Magic Silver White, and we have two double passes to give away. The Ettes

Having already made a name for themselves on the strength of their first two albums, Nashville-based garage rock outfit The Ettes have outdone themselves with their latest release, Do You Want Power. The album manages to expand upon their garage rock sound without diluting it, incorporating a diverse range of new influences while still maintaining the raw edge of the previous albums. Since its release, the album has won rave reviews and been hailed as the group’s finest yet, and three lucky readers will this week snare themselves a copy.

WORD UP TO PRIZE WINNERS: Prizes must be collected from Inpress offices during business hours (9am-5.30pm, Mon-Fri). ID is required when collecting prizes. Prizes must be collected within four weeks of the giveaway being published. Please note, Inpress giveaway policy is that winners are permitted one prize per four-week period only.

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FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

FREE MUSIC DOWNLOAD

We were big fans of Delta Spirit’s 2008 debut album, Ode To Sunshine, so we’ve pulled a few strings to get you a free taste of their latest. Head to universalmusic.net.au/freedownloads/ streetpressaustralia to get your mitts on it.

T EN S E PR

Golden State DELTA SPIRIT

WEDNESDAY 7 JULY

RESIDENCY

RHYMADA

SHORTFALL SAY IT WITH ME ENTRY $10, 8PM

THURSDAY 8 JULY

THE LATONAS CLOUDMOUTH SEE SAW!

ENTRY $5, 8.30PM

FRIDAY 9 JULY

DOUBLE EP LAUNCH

CLOUD CITY COPSE SONS OF ABRAHAM FAEBLE

ENTRY $12, $10 PRESALE THRU MOSHTIX, 8.30PM

California’s Delta Spirit return with the follow-up to their critically lauded debut Ode To Sunshine. Recorded at Prairie Sun Studio C in Cotati, California – the same place Tom Waits has recorded almost exclusively since 1991 – History From Below is brimming with incredibly deep and moving songs that are alternately grand and explosive. It has a powerful energy that radiates musically, lyrically and vocally. Standout song Golden State is an indicator of the passion of which the band sing of tragedies and joy, with the refrain “Good friends remain/ even through the pain of the long road ahead.” From the moment you hit play, History From Below captures the uncontainable spirit the band exudes on stage.

THE GUNS SHOW

Iconic glam metal group LA Guns will be hitting Australian shores in September. Lead guitarist Tracii Guns famously walked out on Guns N’ Roses to open the door for Slash, but LA Guns have enjoyed great success of their own over the years, releasing 14 albums and producing monster hit The Ballad Of Jayne back in 1989. Melbourne fans can catch the group in action at the Hi-Fi on Saturday 4 September. Tickets are available frombigtix.com.au. Following a huge album launch tour (that album being their second, Lucille) in April and a crackin’ set supporting labelmates Gyroscope at the Forum a few weeks ago, The Vasco Era are hitting the highway once again to take their high-octane live show to some regional centres this weekend. They hit the Loft in Warnambool on Friday and the Barwon Heads Hotel on Saturday.

EP LAUNCH

SMALL TOWN FIASCO ARROWS TALL BUILDINGS GHOSTS IN CARS

ENTRY $10 OR $15 W/ CD, 8.30PM

SUNDAY 11 JULY

3PM

EVENING SHOW

LUCA DELLA NIGHT OWLS SLEEP DECADE PORTAL WINDOW ENTRY $5, 8PM

MONDAY 12 JULY

RESIDENCY

EL MOTH & THE TURBO RADS

SPECIAL GUESTS A DJ CALLED MATT

ENTRY BY DONATION, 9PM

FREE ENTRY FOR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT HOLDERS TUESDAY 13 JULY

RESIDENCY

THE BEAT BROTHERS

HEAVY SOUL With a career spanning almost two decades, legendary British soul funk band The Brand New Heavies are finally bound for Australia. Their August tour will feature the band’s four original members – including singer N’Dea Davenport –who have been touring almost continuously since the 2006 release of their critically acclaimed album Get Used To It. The band regrouped in 2005 after spending almost a decade apart and in 2009 released their first live album, Live In London. The band will perform their one and only Melbourne show at the Trak on Friday 20 August. Tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster.

LEND THEM YOUR ERA

SATURDAY 10 JULY

NINTENDO 64 GOLDENEYE CHAMPIONSHIPS HEAT 2

SELF BELIEF

EAGLES EYE OFF FOURTH SHOW

Megan Washington will release her debut album, I Believe You, Liar, on Friday 30 July. It’s been a huge 18 months for the Port Moresby-born, Brisbane-raised, Melbourne-based singer/songwriter. After being unearthed by Triple J late in 2008, her band Washington played their first gig at the Big Day Out and released their How To Tame Lions EP, while Washington took out the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition late last year with the EP’s title track. Washington’s live shows have a growing reputation as all-singing, all-dancing affairs, with costumes, cupcakes and more – you can join the party when the band take their new album on the road in September. Catch them with Winter People and Scott Spark at the Karova Lounge on Thursday 16, the Corner Hotel (with extra support, Dan Kelly in solo mode) on Friday 17 and Geelong’s National Hotel on Saturday 18 September. Tickets are on sale now, and for a limited time various premium ticket packages are available from washingtonmusic.com.au. Ticket packages available include copies of the new album, a collector’s edition two-CD set with a personally autographed Polaroid, limited edition box-set and vinyl.

After selling out tickets across the country in a matter of hours, the Eagles have confirmed the addition of a fourth and final concert to the Melbourne leg of their 2010 world tour. The extra Melbourne performance will be held at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday 22 December. Tickets are on sale now from Ticketek.

LEE’S WAY

ANSWERING THE CALL After spending the past year playing bridesmaid to such iconic local rockers as AC/DC, Cog, The Butterfly Effect and Grinspoon, Melbourne threepiece Calling All Cars are preparing to head out on their first national headline tour to officially launch their debut album, Hold, Hold, Fire. Currently on the road with The Butterfly Effect, Calling All Cars – with support from Brisbane high-energy rockers Numbers Radio and Perth upstarts Young Revelry – hit the Loft in Warnambool on Wednesday 15 September, Kay Street in Traralgon on Thursday 16, Bluestone in Ballarat on Friday 17 and the Corner Hotel on Saturday 18.

WE’RE LICHEN IT

With her debut solo album out now, former Love Outside Andromeda singer Sianna Lee starts a July residency at the Empress tonight (Wednesday 7 July). Support tonight comes from Jesse Lee and Lara Soulio, on Wednesday 14 July it’s The Royal Jelly Dixie Land Band and Howl At The Moon, on Wednesday 21 hear Here For The Sun and Thomas Vecera, and Lee wraps things up on Wednesday 28 with Amaya Laucirica and Open Fire.

In Australia on tour in support of San Franciscan psych lords Om, Lichens is the solo experimental sound art/folk project of Rob Lowe, formally of 90 Day Men and now current touring member of Om. Releasing records since 2005, Lichens’ live show is a transfixing experience, looping wordless vocals into curtains of drone. Lowe adds acoustic and electric guitars, percussion and other effects to create alternately thick and delicate works. While out here with Om, Lichens will play two Melbourne headline shows – catch him at the Toff In Town on Wednesday 14 July with support from Holy Sons (members of Om), Hotel Wrecking City Traders vs Bonnie Mercer and Dave Brown and Kim Salmon; and, just announced, at the Tote on Friday 23 July with Pikelet and Cocks Arquette.

NEW FESTIVAL LAUNCHES

The first Anglesea Music Festival will run from Friday 8 until Sunday 10 October. The festival is a not-for-profit event, aimed at promoting grassroots music, and will feature performances from a host of established and up-and-coming Australian performers, including Chris Wilson, Tiffany Eckhardt, Dave Steel, Mojo Corner, Chubby Rae & The Elevators and The Band Who Knew Too Much. For the full line-up and to buy tickets, visit angleseamusicfest.com.

$2 CARLTON POTS EVERY MONDAY SUN, 25 JULY - THE JOY FORMIDIBLE (UK) + TEMPER TRAP DJS FRI, 30 JULY - THE BOAT PEOPLE ALBUM LAUNCH SAT, 31 JULY - GOODNIGHT OWL + SLEEP DECADE – DOUBLE VIDEO LAUNCH

LOST BURROS COAL THE DARTS ENTRY $7, 8PM

COMING UP:

SPIT SYNDICATE (ALBUM LAUNCH) (16 JULY) STRIKE ANYWHERE (17 JULY) ANIMATORS (EP LAUNCH) (22 JULY) JUNGAL (ALBUM LAUNCH) (23 JULY) AUTUMN GRAY (24 JULY) ALPINE (29 JULY) MATT SONIC & THE HIGH TIMES (30 JULY) MERCURY RISING (31 JULY)

THURS 8 JULY

DANCING HEALS

W/ SKYBOMBERS + RED BERRY PLUM SAT 10 JULY

WED 14 JULY GERTRUDE ST PROJECTION FESTIVAL

SENSORY OVERLOAD

DARREN SYLVESTER

OPENING PARTY

THE BLUSH FOUNDATION (SYD) ALBUM LAUNCH + VIDEO VIDEO + VALENTIINE

SUN 11 JULY

W/ SCOTT & CHARLENE’S WEDDING + FAIR MAIDEN (SA) + FULL UGLY

PURPLE SPIT (SYD) + NASAL ON THE BRAIN (SYD) + SNAWKLOR + INTERZONE

THURS 15 JULY

FRI 16 JULY

WHITE WOODS ALBUM LAUNCH W/ THE OCEAN PARTY + LOON LAKE + BEACHES + ANGEL EYES WINTER STREET

SHOWS@GETNOTORIOUS.COM

FRI 9 JULY

FRI 9 JULY GERTRUDE ST PROJECTION FEST

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CATE@GETNOTORIOUS.COM

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

WELL RED

Pulling the pin after 25 years together, Simply Red will bring their Farewell tour to Australia in October. They will play the Plenary at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre on Wednesday 6 October and A Day On The Green at Rochford Wines in the Yarra Valley on Saturday 9. Support on the tour will come from Marcia Hines, with Joe Camilleri’s Black Sorrows also playing the Day On The Green show. On their last Australian tour, Simply Red were set to play at Rochford Wines but the show was cancelled due to the Black Saturday bushfires. Tickets for the Day On The Green date go on sale Monday from rochfordwines.com and Ticketmaster and the same day for the Plenary show from Ticketek.

T EN S E PR

EVEN MORE METALLICA

Melbourne’s Metallica fans can breathe a sigh of relief with the announcement of a fifth and final show added to the band’s sell-out World Magnetic Tour at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday 16 September. In their first Australian tour since 2004, the two-hour performance will feature tracks from throughout the band’s extensive career. The tour begins in Melbourne on Wednesday 15 September, after which they will continue to Japan and New Zealand before returning to perform the 15 remaining arena shows across Australia which concludes in Melbourne on Sunday 21 November. Tickets for the new show are on sale now from Ticketek.

CHILD’S PLAY After eight years, Arizona’s blistering post-hardcore sextet Scary Kids Scaring Kids have decided to call it a day, but they will be going out with a bang by launching an all-out auditory assault in the form of the Final Nightmare tour. The band are renowned for their reckless and incendiary live shows, and with The Mission In Motion, Stealing O’Neal, We Are The Emergency and Capulet all on board for the journey down under, the Final Nightmare is shaping up as their most memorable series of performances yet. The tour caters for young and old alike, with under-18s and over-18 shows both scheduled for Friday 20 August at the Hi-Fi. Tickets on sale tomorrow (Thursday) from Moshtix.

MONKEY BUSINESS

IN HARM’S WAY Groundbreaking English hardcore punks GBH will tour Australia in October on the back of their eleventh studio album, Perfume And Piss, recently released through Hellcat Records. The band play the Hi-Fi on Friday 15 October.

EYES SPY SECOND LAUNCH

The Red Eyes launched their second album with a huge show at the Corner recently – highlights included a fourpiece horn section and an amazing duet between the Eyes’ singer El Witeri and the Bamboos’ Kylie Auldist. The show was such a hit the band have organised an encore album launch – they play the Northcote Social Club on Saturday 31 July. They also head to the Loft in Warrnambool on Friday 30 July, Sandbelt in Moorabbin on Friday 6 August and the Village Green Hotel in Glen Waverley on Saturday 7.

MAGIC HAPPENS

PVT, formerly Pivot, are gearing up for the release of their new album, Church With No Magic, available on Friday 16 July, and are headlining their very own national tour to celebrate the occasion. The trio are renowned for their visceral and powerful live performances, and their latest effort lends itself particularly well to such a setting, showcasing the group’s trademark anthemic, synth-driven instrumentals. The Melbourne leg of the tour sees PVT joining forces with fellow Sydneysiders Seekae, as well as local psychedelic electro-fuzz pop outfit Tantrums, and will take place at the Corner Hotel on Thursday 12 August.

A group of socially conscious Australian performers are rallying together and lending their talents to help the plight of the humble orangutan. Currently orangutans are in deep crisis, with extinction in the wild predicted around 2015 as a result of rainforest destruction and illegal hunting. Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses, Wendy Matthews, Lucy Fisher and Leena play the Espy Gershwin Room on Thursday 15 July in support of the cause, with all proceeds going directly to the Australian Orangutan Project ISA, a non-profit organisation staffed by volunteers to raise funds and collect donations for orangutan conservation and habitat protection. Tickets are $30+BF, and available now throughespy.com.au and all Oztix outlets. Doors open at 7pm.

BUZZ BUILDS ON MEAD

Quintessential musical journeyman Jez Mead has returned with Beard Of Bees, an album of ingenious purity and startling beauty. Demonstrating the blues folk fusion with an acute pop sensibility for which he has become renowned, the album has generated a great deal of positive attention already, and may well be shaping as the catalyst to propel Mead beyond his status as an underground icon. Mead plays the Elwood Lounge on Friday 13 August, the Morning Star Hotel on Friday 20 August and Friday 3 September, and the Drunken Poet on Sunday 29 August.

WIN SPLENDOUR TICKETS

Still haven’t gotten your Splendour sideshow tickets? There’s no better time to buy, because right now Secret Sounds are giving you the chance to win a double pass to the sold-out Splendour In The Grass festival, with camping. To go in the draw, all you need to do is buy a ticket to any Secret Sounds Splendour Sideshow between now and Sunday, then head to secret-sounds. com.au/sitg-competition.html to submit your details. Snapping up tickets to the following gigs will get you entry to the competition: Alberta Cross at the Corner Hotel on Tuesday 27 July, Laura Marling at the Hi-Fi on Thursday 5 August and Surfer Blood at the Corner on Friday 30 July. Get buying. In other Splendour news, Sally Seltmann and Art Vs Science will replace The Ting Tings and The Middle East, both who have been forced to pull out of the festival.

FROM LITTLE THINGS Melbourne band Little Red have just dropped Rock It, the first single from their highly anticipated second album, with the song already getting plenty of spins on Triple J. The album (due out this September), has been produced by Scott Horscroft (The Temper Trap, The Presets, Silverchair). The band launch the single in the Prince Bandroom on Thursday 15 July.

MODIFIED MIST

Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist are currently preparing to drop Supermodified, a compilation album featuring remixes from their first two releases, 2008’s We Wuz Curious and last year’s Knock Yourself Out. Before this all goes down, though, the group will be playing three shows at the Grace Darling Hotel this Thursday, as well as Thursday 15 and Thursday 22 July, with support from Jane Dust & The Giant Hoopoes, The Stu Thomas Paradox and Go Go Sapien respectively. For more information visit thedavegraneyshow.com.

GIRLS TALK

A new Gun Street Girls album is set for release later this year, but fans wanting to get a taste of what is to come will have the chance to get in early when the band play the Grace Darling on Saturday night. They will be performing every track from the upcoming release, and will be supported by Dirty York and The Bonniwells. Entry is $12.

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FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

SOMETHING MORE FROM KATE

Kate Nash fans need not fear that her Melbourne show on Wednesday 4 August has sold out, as a second gig on Tuesday 3 August at the East Brunswick Club has now been added. Tickets are now from the venue.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

Having re-formed with a new line-up, Lee Memorial have returned with the release of new twin singles, Tip Toe and We Let Our Women Down. Pieced together from sessions recorded in living rooms, workshops and warehouses all around the country, the new tracks feature the silky touch of American producer Kramer, renowned for his work with Galaxie 500, Low and Will Oldham. The singles will both receive their official launch on Saturday at Yah Yah’s, with live performances from the band, Transcription Of Organ Music and Machine Translations. Doors open at 9pm.

TING TINGS CANCEL

Due to the rescheduling of the next Tings Tings album to later in 2010, the band sadly have decided to delay their Australian tour. This of course means they will not be able to play Splendour In The Grass or their Melbourne sideshow. All tickets purchased for the Melbourne concert using a credit card will be automatically refunded, while any patrons that bought tickets with cash will need to return to the point of purchase with photo ID to obtain a cash refund.

DRUM’S NOT DEAD

Drumscene magazine is about to kick off its 2010 tour, featuring performances from Michael Barker (Split Enz, ex-John Butler Trio), Steve Smith (Vital Information, Jazz Legacy) and Derek Roddy (Serpents Rise, Traumedy). The tour reaches Melbourne as part of Australia’s Ultimate Drummer’s Weekend & Drum Expo, and will take place on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 July at the Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre. Doors open at 9am; for more information visit drumtek.com.au

COLOUR US IMPRESSED You Me At Six won the hearts of pop punk fans worldwide with their debut album, Take Off Your Colours. Following its release they picked up nominations for two Kerrang! awards – Best British Newcomer and Best British Band. Their latest album, Hold Me Down, complete with the band’s trademark ferocious vocals and chantable one-liners, peaked at number five on the UK charts. With Chicago’s The Audition in tow, You Me At Six play Billboard on Saturday 25 September. Tickets go on sale 9am Friday from billboardthevenue.com.au and Ticketek.

DINGOES FIND PAY DAY AGAIN

After being inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 2009, legendary band The Dingoes bring their distinctive brand of country rock to the Corner Hotel on Friday 6 August, with support from Mick Thomas. Tickets are $35+BF from the Corner box office. Doors open at 8.30pm.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

COLLISION COURSE Children Collide have announced a national headline tour in support of their new album, Theory Of Everything, out Friday 27 August. The highly anticipated follow-up to their 2008 debut The Long Now, Theory Of Everything has quickly dismissed any fears of a sophomore slump, crackling with energy and smarts, and forging an unlikely union between the themes of theoretical physics and the divine powers of tarot. Lead single Jellylegs is already off to a flying start, winning rave reviews and public enthusiasm alike. Children Collide play the Pelly Bar in Frankston on Wednesday 1 September, and the Corner Hotel on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 September, with support from Ballarat’s favourite bratty sons Howl. Tickets go on sale Thursday 15 July from oztix.com.au.

Escape To Oz is a collection of metal, hardcore and rock artists involved in the 2010 FReeZA Central Mentoring Program. The compilation will feature young emerging mentee acts Ayera, The Deep End, Legacy and Exo Majesty, alongside mentor bands Carpathian, Jonesez, Pete Sounds and Walk The Earth. Escape To Oz will be exclusively available on the cover of Blunt magazine’s August issue, on sale 4 August. Escape To Oz will be launched at three all-ages dates with Ayera, The Deep End and Legacy alongside guests House Vs Hurricane, Confession and Heroes for Hire – see them on Friday 27 August at EV’s Croydon, Saturday 28 at the West Geelong Town Hall and Sunday 29 at the Wodonga Civic Centre. Tickets are on sale now via oztix.com.au. Three young local bands will also have the opportunity to join the tour. The Push and FReeZA Central are looking for a local band from each area to play the opening support spot. Keen bands should mail a bio (including hometown and links to where music can be listened to online) via freezacentral@thepush.com.au by Friday 23 July. Winners will be announced on 30 July. For more info, call The Push on 9380 1277.

LINE OF SIGHT

Seattle-based artist Rafael Anton Irisarri (AKA The Sight Below) has been exploring textural electronics for almost half a decade. His recorded output captures an essential vision of floating tones, deep pulsing bass and textured Gaussian curves. Irisarri is travelling to Australia for the first time to celebrate the release of his latest solo LP, The North Bend, an album that tips its hat to the rugged terrain of the American Pacific Northwest. See him at Stutter at Horse Bazaar on Wednesday 18 August.

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LLOYD ALMIGHTY

With eight albums, a swag of accolades to his name and 20 years of performing, writing and recording under his belt, Lloyd Spiegel has squeezed more into a 30-year career than many do in a lifetime. It’s that experience and presence well beyond his years that has seen him become one of this country’s leading blues artists and most respected guitarists. Now, with the talents of percussionist Arunachala as well as past and present members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne audiences once again have the chance to experience Spiegel’s stunning live set, when he plays the East Brunswick Club on Friday 30 July. Tickets are $13 on the door.

ON THE BOIL With their dual vocalists, improvised guitar playing and an extremely tight and complex rhythm section, Hot Water Music have revolutionised punk music over their decade-and-a-half existence. Whisperings of a possible reunion began earlier this year and now it seems they have proven to be true, with the band announcing they will be touring Australia in December, alongside legendary New Jersey punkers The Bouncing Souls. The bands play the Corner Hotel on Saturday 4 December. Tickets go on sale Friday from the Corner box office.

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

COME AGAIN?

As his band prepares for a reunion album launch, CROW founder and actor PETER FENTON lets rip on the business of resurrections, rumours and rediscovering the rage.

his CROW re-formation is by no means a flag-waving victory lap with TV ads, towering billboards and backslapping current affairs puff pieces. Far from it. This is no non-secular second coming. No Atheists Easter where they died, rose again and moved the rock. Well, perhaps there are comparisons, but no.

drum kit of his dreams. Once purchased, they say he spent years some years dragging the thing along to a bootcamp in Sydney’s inner-west, and simply setting it up and packing it down while those around him engaged in more orthodox forms of exercise.” Laughable really. Who writes this stuff? Get a life I say. The big thing was, for us, that were forged together like rock climbers on the future escarpment, to regroup and move ahead.

I can confirm I do have the authority to tell you straight, right from the horses arse, there were no multimillionbuck offers, endorsement deals, etc; this is no fake Farnham farewell with crocodile tears being shed from dollar-sign eyes! Oh no. It came from a good place. A real place. Born from dialogue between distant men that knew each other very well. Too well in fact. See, I should explain, after many shows, tours, you get to see your compatriots, and they see you, whether you both like it or not, at your most brilliant AND your most stupid. So, occasionally, you need a little break from one another. Other times, a more substantial period of time is required. People might be surprised that a band can return after a ten-year hiatus? A decade of self imposed hibernation? “Just plain weird,” they say with a screwed up face and quickly chugging on a pot of Coopers Pale. The sort of stuff Jerry Springer would spring on you. Like getting married again after you had divorced after you had been married to different band members… like ABBA , Fleetwood Mac and Culture Club , all rolled into one. Well, we can and we have because there are no rules. Just simple things like the desire to rage against the Playstation once more, to once again feel the ‘sturm und drang’, the bang and the crash and still be collectively willing to stand too close to the anvil of rock to produce the sparks required for it to truly fly. What was interesting observing from the sidelines was the

BACKLASH

chatter. As part of my research for this piece I found this gem in the wilds of the internet, posted by an anonymous source: “The Australian and overseas rock rumour mills ran overtime, over the years, with sightings and musings as to what the members of CROW were up to. Some said that bass player Jim Woff had been involved in some splinter group of the P.L.O, dramatically forging a bridge between the affected parties in the occupied territories and that the reason he was able to have such a powerful effect on these tender negotiations was that he used analogies observed by himself in the pornographic films of the 1970’s to heal and to guide. Some would suggest that guitarist Peter Archer wandered through forests armed with a tin of spray-paint, just shaking it in time with the rustling leaves. Most observed with some amusement Peter Fenton’s transition to the visual medium of film and television and most are still trying to excise from their psyche’s some of those horrifying images. John Fenton, they would say, worked and lived in hermit like conditions until he had enough money to buy the majestic Ludwig In other predictions: Beta videos to make a comeback…

When we were mixing the record with that humble giant of the Oz rock family, maestro Jim Moginie, he mixed the songs in such a way that we had to ‘commit’ to the mix. We literally were pressing the record as we went. It made for a liberating yet hard and fast approach. We in turn were committed to the trip that lay ahead. Come what may. Whether it was an exercise in public humiliation or to be welcomed back amongst peer and public. I suppose that remains to be seen where it falls but I can tell you that IT was there in the first awkward lashes at our beloved Troy Horse Studios in late 2008 where we had first got together all those years ago. We had arrived and returned all at once. Troy Horse be a larger and different location from where I write now, where we forged all our songs to make those records that now form part of our history but we did uncover again, the same energies and idiosyncrasies that made the band what it was in the first place. Okay, I better get back in there and get these ragged songs into shape. See you at the Tote on the 9th of July.

7 TH JULY 8ISH

LITTLE JOHNʼS BLUEGRASS SESSIONS 9 JULY 8.30 TIL CLOSE FRIDAY DJ FANTA PANTS TH

SATURDAY BIN MAN

10 TH JULY 8.30 TIL CLOSE

SUNDAY SAN GRAS

11 TH JULY 5 TIL 7

PLAYS RECORDS

12 JULY MONDAY 9 TIL 11 ADAM & FERGUS ST

WHO: Crow WHAT: Arcane (Nonzero/Shock) WHEN & WHERE: Friday, the Tote

FRONTLASH

TONY ABBOTT

BOBBY FISCHER

He says any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia without travel documents would be turned away under a Liberal government. Because grabbing your papers as you’re fleeing genocide is your first priority…

The body of the chess champ is being exhumed to establish a paternity claim. It is always better to check, mate.

THE SOCCEROOS

WEDNESDAY

THE ROOTS

Their early exit has forced the Herald Sun to come up with novel ways of filling its World Cup website, which this week included a photo gallery of nubile female fans snapped in the crowd. Cue plenty of ‘like to score her’ captions.

Are these guys the busiest group working today? The house band on Jimmy Fallon’s tonight show have just released their ninth studio album, have another record out in September (covering ‘60s protest songs with John Legend), while ?uestlove is the latest to try to get Amy Winehouse back into a recording studio.

KATY PERRY TOPLESS SHOOT

THE INTERNET IS DEAD

Yuck.

So declared Prince in an interview this week, as his new album is given away free with a British tabloid. CDs and daily newspapers – now there are two media forms with healthy futures…

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ROLLER ONE

OPEN FIRE DINNER 7 NIGHTS LUNCH: SAT 12PM/SUN 1PM BOOKINGS ESSETIAL

9415 9904 MON - FRI 3PM TIL L ATE S AT MIDDAY TIL 1AM SUN 1 TIL 11

THE MARQUIS OF LORNE HO TEL CNR GEORGE + KERR S TREET S FITZROY

DREAM INTERPRETATION DAN KELLY’s latest record started out as an eco-terrorist musical and ended with the singer’s usual stress to get things finished on time. Ahead of the album’s release Kelly discusses “blowing shit up”, Dewey Cox and contentious chicken samples with SHANE O’DONOHUE.

hree years ago, Dan Kelly was dealing with some major life changes. His band the Alpha Males, with whom he’d recorded his first two albums, had disbanded; he’d broken up with his girlfriend; and the sprawling Richmond share house he’d been living in had been pegged for demolition. He landed in Northcote, living by himself, where he was plagued by “hideous” apocalyptic dreams.

Drop the chickens? “Yeah, drop the chickens. The chickens were actually a bit of a sore point. But we went with the chickens. I’ve even got them in the live show now because we’re using the sampler for sound effects. It’s great. The chickens and the cheering children really vibed me up on the whole record.”

Kelly, who says he’s “always a bit guilted out” that he chose a life in rock’n’roll rather than make use of his environmental science degree, decided he would pen an eco-terrorist musical.

While Kelly describes his freak-out as “hideous” and says he only started relaxing halfway into his five-week London stay, he can see the value in the experience.

“There was one point where I just really did feel like going and blowing shit up,” he says. “The last record I tried to write a musical, too – I think it’s a way of kick-starting me into doing shit. But I don’t like musicals. I fuckin’ hate ‘em.”

“Even though this sounds trite and it’s a bit retrospective, it is good to go out and kind of live. ‘Cause I’m not like this born songwriter who just has to pump out the songs. If I’m writing these kind of songs in a way how I’m working out my life then it does actually make sense for me to spend three and a half years travelling, trying stuff, fucking it up. It felt a bit more sincere to me, but it was kind of horrible. I’d rather just bust ‘em out every six months and be a genius.

Kelly’s musical morphed into Dan Kelly’s Dream, the songwriter’s first solo album and, aside from The SUV Song, a download-only single he recorded with The Ukeladies in 2008, his first new music in four years. Opening with The Decommisioner, a song that follows the adventures of an indie band who blow up power stations between gigs, Dan Kelly’s Dream is closer to 2006’s dense Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth than his 2004 debut, Sing The Tabloid Blues. A sharp riposte to those who’d prefer Kelly to make his tunes more easily digestible (“Some guys at the record company were really pushing for me to go simple, Pete Murraystyle – that was actual correspondence,” he says), Dan Kelly’s Dream is wordy, funny and overflowing with ideas (and cheering kids and chicken samples).

“It’s pretty pretentious calling my record Dan Kelly’s Dream, but there’s so many dudes wandering around Melbourne with the big Bob Dylan ‘66 look at the moment I was like, ‘I’ll just throw it out there’. I think I’m being less pretentious by being more pretentious. “I also wanted the record to be a bit more go to whoa. Both the last two got quite tropical towards the end. Which is good, but you could see that as

“I had to pull the plug,” Kelly says. “That was the hardest thing, pulling the plug. I’d been saving up my frequent flyers for years for a round-the-world trip, y’know, if it all turned bad. I called Aaron and I just said, ‘Help. Help me. I’ll pay you later in the year’. And he was like, ‘All right’. “We just kinda get each other. It’s still an adventure for us to figure out how to mix a thing. Some mixers see my stuff as like… ‘Fuck’. You know, every little scene changes. It’s not the most complicated but there’s a lot going on. But he sees it as a challenge, ‘cause he’s a logical dude. So he’s happy to sit there for hours and notch away until he can find how to get the cheering children or the chickens into a section. Whereas other dudes are like…”

“I’d be floating above the earth. It’d be incredibly quiet and all I could see was this massive black estuary with garbage and brown muck flowing into the ocean,” he says. “I just felt totally alone, like this dream feeling of aloneness. I was just hanging in space and there’s this dead fuckin’ planet. So it was like I was compelled to write about it.”

“I wanted to write like [Bob Dylan’s] Bringing It All Back Home or Highway 61 [Revisited] in a more modern… not that I think I’m Dylan, but people wanted me to go simpler after the last record and I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’m just going to go word explosion’,” he says. “That mid-period Dylan, some of it’s dated, some of it sounds a bit over the top now – you remember in Walk Hard, Dewey Cox does that amazing ‘rimjob fairies’ Dylan parody, like a really stupid version of Chimes Of Freedom – but when [Dylan] nails it it’s incredible. You can tell it’s just coming out of him, he’s just on a typewriter a million miles a hour. I wanted to do something that had heaps of that flow.

the record with former Alpha Male Aaron Cupples in London, where the latter has a small studio.

“On the downside it was meant to be an eco record. We started [recording] on solar [power] and the solar thing broke down and we had to go to generator and the next thing I’m on a fuckin’ jumbo.” Kelly says he sees Dan Kelly’s Dream as the final record in a trilogy that started with Sing The Tabloid Blues in 2004. “I listened to it the other day and I thought, ‘Fuck, this is actually pretty good’,” he says when quizzed on his thoughts of his debut. “You have to get away from it but I think the playing has heaps of spirit, ‘cause it’s essentially a demo that me and [producer] Magoo made sound bigger.” And the Alpha Males’ second record? like, fuck, I’d run out of songs,” he laughs. “‘Give me the coconuts’, you know what I mean?” Along with Dylan, Kelly credits Leonard Cohen’s Australian tour (Kelly plays in his uncle Paul’s band, who supported Cohen), and works by late Irish author Brendan Behan and sci-fi scribe Iain M Banks as influences on his writing. Kelly polished off a book by the latter while rained in on tour in New South Wales. “I felt like a teenager,” he says, “but it’s actually quite grown-up science fiction. He deals with the big issues of god and whether he exists and all that sort of stuff. It’s kind of sexy but really nerdy, really tooled-up with lots of sci-fi armament. I got into the whole thing that you could be on this other planet and it’s not polluted, everyone’s loaded on drugs… He writes about really great planets, you know. That did creep a bit into my writing.”

Kelly, a slow writer, went into the recording of Dan Kelly’s Dream better prepared than ever before. He had more songs to choose from than when he’d made his first two albums and had demoed those songs extensively. “I still did the same thing I’d done on the other two records, which is went in with a group of songs, then freaked out, rewrote, re-edited, wrote some more, redid another session, did a bit with some other dude,” Kelly says. “Every [album] has had the same mind-bending, over-attention to getting it finished.” Dan Kelly’s Dream was recorded “commando” at a guest house in Yandoit, just out of Daylesford, with Gerling’s Burke Reid producing and the bulk of the music played by Augie March’s Dave Williams and Ground Components’ Indra Adams and Dale Packard. After running out of time and money, Kelly finished mixing

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“I reckon if I’d left out a couple of songs in the middle – it just went on a bit – I think it would have been really good, too. I think it built up all this momentum and then it got a bit wacky in the middle. Back On The Booze, I was trying to do Guided By Voices meets Midnight Oil… and I’m not sure why now. Both those bands are great but maybe they shouldn’t be combined. I just think those big, long, stretchy [songs] like Mail Order Bride and Back On The Booze in the middle just went ‘off message’ for a bit.” WHO: Dan Kelly WHAT: Dan Kelly’s Dream (out Friday 16 July through Shock) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 13 August, Corner Hotel

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LOVE GAMES SASHA PERERA sits down with KYLIE MINOGUE to get the dirt on how Jake Shears, her new love and the “Dolly Parton litmus test” led to her new album.

“O

f course there’s a connection between Aphrodite and Confessions On A Dancefloor,” Kylie Minogue openly admits when talking about the comparison between her new album and Madonna’s 2005 disco-fuelled album, both produced in the glare of the mirrorball by studio wiz Stuart Price. “The Stuart Price wand is recognisable in all the artists that he’s written and produced for, but I would say that it’s more akin to one of the best tracks of all time, Human by The Killers, which Stuart produced. That song was a really important point of reference for us for the album, so bringing Stuart in was all the more harmonious and made all the more sense,” clarifies Kylie in regards to her influence for her 11th studio album. The resulting Aphrodite album, which follows on from the slightly less-than-consistent X, certainly regains joyful-momentum for Kylie, and reinforces her reign as the very possible princess.

Those curious about Minogue’s country style may have to wait a little while longer before they hear what that actually sounds like – although, I was lucky enough to be given an off-the-cuff rendition of the Dolly-version of All The Lovers, as we both tried to keep a straight face. Nevertheless, the thought of Kylie departing the pop/dance genre will surely cause her hardcore fans to break out in shrieks and cold sweats. I put it to Minogue that Dance Kylie seems to be the only Kylie her hardcore fans want and ask her whether, as a result, she feels boxed in by that. “I think that if I didn’t have the outlets that I do have on tour to perform what I like, I probably would feel trapped by Dance Kylie. I guess as another kind of antidote to that I have these other anti-shows that I would like to do. I started recording Blossom Dearie jazz songs years ago now – they were also in the White Diamond documentary – and I’d love to do all sorts of things like that; a small jazz night doing standards or jazz interpretations of my songs. I’d love to do a big-band night, or a fully-orchestrated night, or a show that would have what all the super, über crazy fans want and think they’re never, ever, ever, ever gonna hear, like – off the top of my head – Love You To Tears, Flower and some random tracks from the PWL [Pete Waterman Entertainment Ltd] days; songs that would never have a place in a concert, unless the concert was five hours long! Those ideas really excite me, but it’s just finding the time to execute them.”

Leading the charge for the new album is first single All The Lovers, a dreamy love-embrace that simultaneously sets the tone of the album and confirms that Dance Kylie is here for the duration of the party. “I love that the opening phrase of the first single, which is the first song on the album, is, ‘Dance, is all I wanna do, so won’t you dance’, because it’s like an invitation to start the party,” she beams, with a huge smile that reinforces a re-energised and refocused Minogue – both professionally and personally these days. In fact, Minogue’s new music and new love came together in the making of Aphrodite, as she tested the strength of the songs by dancing around the house to them with boyfriend Andres Velencoso. “Home discos are possibly the best discos. It’s very Patsy and Eddy in Ab Fab; there’s a classic scene – cast your minds back – where it’s a close-up shot of them and they’re like in a middle of a rave going off, and then the camera pulls back and it’s actually just the two of them dancing like in their house. Sometimes those are the best parties, though, ya know,” she giggles. “My clubbing years were fantastic, but we have to leave those behind, sadly. I still go out. I went out a few weeks ago in fact. If I do go out, though, I go hard or I go home. Also I’ve just realised that I’m like a meerkat because, when I’ve totally lost my senses and I’m dancing, I naturally gravitate towards

she says, mulling it over. “Although, he can’t fully claim the Dolly Parton part of that quote because Stuart and I did the Dolly Parton litmus test on All The Lovers and some of the other songs. It was a case of him getting on the acoustic guitar and I just performed the song in Dolly style. We thought, if you could perform the song as a country song, it gets two thumbs up.”

the highest point in a room – I’m up on the bench, then up on a table… It’s the meerkat in me. It’s like, ‘Where’s the closet thing that’s like a stage?’.” And so whilst dancing around the living room, would Velencoso actually tell the self-proclaimed ‘impossible princess’ if he didn’t think the music was actually any good? “Oh yes, Andres would tell me,” she nods firmly. “He actually has a really good ear, and his memory for melodies is crazy, so he picked up on all the good elements of the album.” Minogue certainly credits the good elements on the new album to the helpful hands of producer Price, who helped

pull together a cohesive collection of songs on the record. Despite it being a natural fit, Minogue’s introduction to Price actually came via lead singer for Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears, who was also working with the producer on the band’s new Night Work album. As a result, Minogue credits her close friend Shears as the fairy godmother of Aphrodite, a role that Shears has taken on in good faith, spreading the word about Kylie’s new work and describing her new single as “a Dolly Parton tear-jerker set to an electro beat” when I caught up with him recently. “Jake has a way with words and his knowledge of music is so extensive. I really love that. ‘A Dolly Parton tear-jerker set to an electro beat’… that’s so good,”

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Whilst Aphrodite is the album her fans will soundtrack 2010 to thanks to the inclusion of dancefloor fillers like Get Outta My Way and Put Your Hands Up, there is one awful – and dramatic – effect this new album will unavoidably result in. I put it to Kylie that she has to be held solely accountable for the increase in Aphroditethemed drag queens to emerge worldwide in 2010. Quite unsurprisingly she squeals with delight. “I hadn’t even thought of that! Aphrodite drag queens… hell, let your imagination go wild! Mardi Gras time, I can just see it. It’s gonna be Venus in a clam shell! Excellent.” WHO: Kylie WHAT: Aphrodite (Warner)

A MIGHTY HEART The artist formerly known as New Buffalo and now known as SALLY SELTMANN tells TOM HAWKING about stepping into her own shoes with her latest album, Heart That’s Pounding.

me there’s still… not really a negative kind of darkness, but still, I would hope that it’s not dumb happy, more…” A considered happy? “Exactly.”

and then listen to the new record. Comparing and contrasting makes it clear just how much Seltmann’s work has changed over the last few years. Gone are the busy production and tech-heavy arrangements that defined those records – there are no electronic beats, no synths, no samples. François Tetaz’s production is lush and multilayered, but the music feels somehow more forthright, far more unadorned than it has done in the past. Similarly, the songs are more coherent and complete; where in the past New Buffalo’s songs often felt like fragments of ideas set to fragmented music, Heart That’s Pounding contains 12 carefully crafted pop songs. “I’ve definitely become more confident with singing and songwriting,” Seltmann says, “and just doing this [music] in general. For me it’s really noticeable on this album that it’s much more punchy, in that I’m not afraid to sing about whatever I think.”

ally Seltmann settles carefully on a stool in the garden outside the Union Hall, the well-appointed Brooklyn venue where she’s playing tonight, and takes a sip of white wine. She’s in the USA to promote her new album, Heart That’s Pounding, which has just got a release through Arts & Crafts (the Broken Social Scene-helmed Canadian label that’s released all her work in North America). “I’ve just had a two-hour interview with the LA Weekly,” she reveals, looking a little alarmed. “This isn’t going to take that long, is it?” As no one has failed to notice, Heart That’s Pounding is the first album that Seltmann has released under her own name – her previous releases have come under the pseudonym New Buffalo. So, the obvious question first: why is this a Sally Seltmann record and not a New Buffalo record? “I was just toward the end of finishing

The one constant is Seltmann’s voice, which is pushed further to the front than ever on the new album, instead of being obscured by washes of sound and static. “I worked really hard with the vocals on this album. Part of that was Franc really pushing me to give each song what he thought it deserved in terms of the vocals. He definitely helped to maintain a very joyous, ‘up’ feel for this whole album – not only with my vocals, but the way he recorded the drums and the piano and stuff like that. But for some songs I did, like, 30 vocal takes.” the album,” she explains, “when Arts & Crafts asked whether I’d consider doing the album as Sally Seltmann. It’s easier for people here [in the USA] because there’s a little town in Michigan called New Buffalo, which is a pretty poor little working-class town, so it’s confusing for people. I think it’s confusing, too; I get sick of telling people that New Buffalo is a solo project and not a band. I get really nervous going on stage, thinking, ‘Do I say, I’m New Buffalo, or, we’re New Buffalo, or what?’ So there’s a lot of reasons. But it also felt with this album like it’s quite different anyway to the New Buffalo albums. It seemed like the right time to [change].” The contrast between Heart That’s Pounding and Seltmann’s earlier work as New Buffalo is certainly noticeable – it’s an interesting experiment to put on About Last Night or The Last Beautiful Day, say,

This, she admits, was something of a mission: “Definitely for songs like On The Borderline – there are so many harmonies!” she laughs. “But it was good. It was a really good challenge for me and I enjoyed it.” As a whole, Heart That’s Pounding is also noticeably more upbeat that Seltmann’s New Buffalo work. “I often tend to make each album as a reaction to the last album I make,” she explains. “The last New Buffalo album [2007’s Somewhere, Anywhere] – I made that alone, myself, in a garden shed on an old piano. It felt like a really lonely, solitary experience, and when I’d perform the songs live, it felt very emotional and kind of emotionally draining. So I knew that I specifically wanted to make an album that was more pop, and the songs were kind of sing-along-y, so that when we’d come to playing live, the band and I could really enjoy the songs. So it’s much happier, but for

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Lyrically, the album abounds with themes of renewal and starting afresh. “I didn’t really notice [those themes] until the end of the album,” Seltmann says. “That’s usually how it happens: ‘Oh yeah, all these songs are about this or that’. But yes, there’ve been a lot of changes in my life in the last few years and I guess that really came through in the music.” Perhaps the most fundamental of these changes was motherhood. Seltmann had her first child in late 2008. How much did becoming a mother dictate the mood of the songs? “It was partially motherhood,” she says, but only partially: I only wrote Harmony To My Heartbeat and Book Song after I was pregnant; all the other songs I wrote beforehand. But motherhood… and also [doing] the song 1234 for Feist, that definitely made me believe in myself more as a songwriter.” Still, for all the newfound confidence and positivity, there are still glimmers of self-doubt. On decidedly introverted album track Book Song, Seltmann notes that “I never aimed to own the stage or to sell my soul”, while the chorus of new single Dream About Changing confesses, “I’m a little bit shy”. Does she still find the idea of performance something of a struggle? “Probably out of all the different sides of the job, performance I find a little difficult, yeah. It’s something I feel like I try to work on a bit, because naturally, writing and recording for me is really comfortable. I have no doubts in myself when it comes to [those]. But performing... I enjoy it, but I’m really enjoying it as a band, rather than solo.” The conflict between the desire to express yourself artistically and the fact that you’re kinda shy about doing so is something plenty of artists have struggled with over the years. Seltmann says she’s finally coming to terms with her identity as a musician. “I think people like Nicole Kidman are like that, where they’re a little bit shy but also feel comfortable in front of a lot of people performing. I think I’m maybe a little bit like that: I sing about personal things, but I don’t find that difficult. It feels right for me.”

WHO: Sally Seltmann WHAT: Heart That’s Pounding (Shock) WHERE & WHEN: Saturday, Corner Hotel

STICKS AND STONES THE SOFT PACK drummer BRIAN HILL assures STEVE BELL their next album “will have a whole crap of people who think it’s junk or whatever” when discussing the San Diego band’s self-governing ways. that really sets them apart from their myriad of peers. If you compared them to Jonathan Richman fronting The Replacements you’d probably be an idiot and affront about a million people in the process, but strangely it sort of sums up their vivacious take on the rock oeuvre. “The feedback for the album has been great; it’s been overwhelmingly positive,” enthuses drummer Brian Hill about The Soft Pack. “A few people don’t like it, they kinda wanted more of what we’ve done in the past, but that’s just bound to happen with every album. I’m sure the next one will have a whole crap of people who think it’s junk or whatever, but that just goes with the territory. If you just keep making the same album over and over, what’s the point? We’ve got to keep ourselves entertained, too.” Backlash following even the most minor of victories seems to be par for the course in all fields of rock’n’roll, the early fans of any given band always seeming to resent the fact that other people have discovered their little secret. “Oh yeah, it just happens,” Hill chuckles. “I remember having that mindset, too, with certain bands when I was a kid, just thinking, ‘No, this is my band!’ and having this ownership over the band. But you can’t stress too much about it – it’s something that I had to learn through seeing it happen to friends and seeing their band get bigger and just going, ‘Oh, wow, they’re big now! They’re no longer this little thing.’ But, you know, we’re still the same people we were when nobody cared. We’re the same guys, it’s just like this non-reality thing happening around us.”

ometimes it doesn’t take much to derail a band – it seems that the slightest bump in the road can turn their momentum against them. Not so, however, for San Diego-bred rockers The Soft Pack, who first started causing a buzz a couple of years ago back when they were still called (gasp) The Muslims. Since then they’ve survived line-up changes, name changes, a shift up the highway to LA and even the obligatory backlash about their sound having evolved, but instead of letting this maelstrom of change disrupt their plans it seems to have galvanised them.

Last year, The Muslims EP – an album-length compendium of their early singles and releases, released locally under the title Extinction to save confusion for those unaware of the name games – showcased their garage punk roots, but more recently their self-titled debut album has shown that The Soft Pack are far more than just a band who should be known for the chameleon-esque nature of their moniker. Their guitarbased sound touches on all of the usual rock subsets such as garage, surf, punk and even indie, but it’s the passion and verve with which they deliver their music

Of course the backlash was at its greatest when they dumped The Muslims as their gang name, an episode with shades of the local Shihad/Pacifier debacle from a few years back, only with the reasons for the move being based in reality rather than speculation. For the band had already endured the racism and redneck rhetoric that such a name conjured in the notoriously insular USA and were fed up with the distractions and connotations that their name carried with it – it had simply run its course. The fact that they chose to rename themselves The Soft Pack – a name that, on the surface, seemingly relates to cigarettes but has variously been attributed to the band being “well mannered young gents” as well as referring to a “fake flaccid penis” that one might wear in god knows what situation – didn’t really seem to be

MAGIC HAPPENS… AGAIN ROMEO STODART, singer and songwriter with London’s THE MAGIC NUMBERS tells ANDY HAZEL about repressed accents, working with Edwyn Collins and singing with Brian Wilson.

t’s been a quiet spell for The Magic Numbers. Following their auspicious debut onto the British scene five years ago, which saw reviews glowing and concertgoers ecstatic, it was a mere 18 months between debut and follow-up album. Comprised of a double brother-sister combo – Romeo and Michele Stodart and Angel and Sean Gannon – there has been a near four-year silence from the band since their previous album Those The Brokes. So, what went down? “We finished touring, built a studio, did a lot of writing and my sister had a baby girl,” says singer and songwriter Romeo Stodart warmly. “I’m definitely excited to get out there to do shows. We’re playing some festivals here then we’re coming to Australia. We’re very keen to get back to the beach, I hope we get some days off,” he says wistfully, “I was born in Trinidad you see.” Does that explain the distinctive high-pitched voice? “Maybe,” he says laughing. “In Trinidad you speak patois with slang and if I’m stoned or angry I revert to the patois, actually, I almost feel like I’m repressing my accent day to day,” he says surprised. The band’s third album, The Runaway, sees them branching out from the harmony-laden indie pop that made them the favourites of record store aficionados and The Beach Boys-loving dad throwing a dinner party, and into moodier territory. “Yeah, I guess The Runaway came out a bit like that, more moods than pop hooks,” he explains. “There were more ways to colour the songs; more atmosphere in there. I wanted to make a guitardriven record this time; less band-in-the-room and focus on using different instruments to move songs along. I think the album needs a few listens to unveil things.” A key reason for this shift was the drafting in of Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson. “We’re all big fans of the Icelandic group Múm – one of our favourite songs is We Have A Map Of The Piano and Valgeir did a lot on that. We were halfway through recording and he was someone we’d talked about bringing in to provide an objective approach with fresh ears. He came over to London and listened to what we’d recorded so far and said, ‘Yeah, when can I start?’,” Stodart explains happily. “He’s got a really calming presence and ended up having quite a strong influence on the album. For instance, on Why Did You Call? we talked about making the drums different, not like a kit but not like a programmed drum sound either.

a factor in the repercussions, it was the dreaded act of change itself that caused offence to many outsiders. “Yeah, the name change was a huge issue with a lot of people. Pretty much everybody hated the new name,” Hill recalls ruefully. “But over time people have just come to accept it. We were hoping that would happen; we were hoping that eventually people would at least come around and just get used to it. I wasn’t really sure at the time how much people would hate it, but a lot of people were just absolutely offended that we changed it at all, I don’t think it would have mattered what we changed it to. But, you know, it wasn’t right for us any more to use that name; it just didn’t feel right. We’re a lot happier now. “Luckily it’s sort of blown over. Once in a while we get people going, ‘Oh, I wish you guys hadn’t changed the name!’ but that’s fine, I can appreciate that; I thought the name was really good, too. It just wasn’t timely I guess. It just didn’t work.” Inpress was fortunate enough to see The Soft Pack playing with The Hold Steady at SXSW last year, so can attest to what a great live band they are when on song. According to Hill, this live energy is something they’ve consciously tried to capture on tape whilst in the studio. “In the past we’ve always tried to get that live feel,” he offers, “but the way that we’ve recorded this current album was that for the basic tracks we were all in a room playing at the same time because we wanted to get that live energy in there somehow, and that seemed like the only way to really do it, just have all of us play together. “I think our sound is always going to be moving forward in some way, but I think it will still always have that core element that just sounds like us playing together. A lot of the stuff that’s on The Muslims album was recorded with a different bass player and a different drummer, and Dave [Lantzman, bass] and I only play on about three of those songs, so that’s kind of all over the place – it’s just kind of a selection of songs that they had from when they’d started the band. The first song that we worked on together was Parasites which is on the new one, and ever since then everything has been sort of taking a different shape. But I think it will still always just sound like us and what we do.” WHO: The Soft Pack WHAT: The Soft Pack (Pod/Inertia) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, East Brunswick Club

last three years. So when we were working on the new album we got it sounding the way he wanted it. We were just really lucky to have made music together.” Another recent collaboration that bore rich fruit was work with Edwyn Collins, singer with legendary Scottish outfit Orange Juice. “It was a really moving experience,” says Stodart slowly, contemplating the time spent working with Collins following his stroke last year. “Of course we were all big Orange Juice fans. We’d done a show with Edwyn before he had the stroke, kept in touch and played at his 50th birthday in Scotland, which was fantastic, and when he was making the new album I got to go down to his studio. Really, maybe nothing there was made after 1970,” he exclaims laughing. “They’ve got ProTools on a computer but it’s almost hidden, they have it there just in case someone needs to use it, everything is recorded live. I walked in and this guy shakes my hand and says, ‘Hi. I’m playing drums with you today,’ and it was Paul Cook from Sex Pistols! I couldn’t believe it,” Stodart says elated. With all this hobnobbing with idols and releasing critically adored albums, there lingers the question of what drives the band. “I do feel very lucky when I think of who we’ve worked with, and to have achieved half of what we’ve done as a band; playing big festivals, or small gigs where you see people down the front singing the songs. I can’t even describe it; it’s like, ‘Man… I never thought I’d be here.’ The all-time maddest one was – I’m big into harmonies, as you can probably tell – when we supported Brian Wilson on tour in the UK,” Stodart says, his voice still redolent with disbelief. “We were touring with him and occasionally chatting to him and for the last four nights of the tour he got us up to sing backing vocals on Love And Mercy, which is one of my favourite songs of his. To this day I look at this whole thing and that experience especially as… not real.”

Sean played the drums then Valgeir would go around the studio finding bits of paper, a box, a can, or anything that sounded good, and would layer those sounds to accompany the drum. What we like a lot is the subtleties of things, tiny things that make sounds you’re very used to hearing sound special, and he was great for that.” Clearly a lot of other people like their subtle twists on indie folk-oriented pop given the impressive record sales, their six UK Top 40 singles and legions of loyal fans. Evidence of their songwriting quality is the litany of collaborators that their first album brought them. Bringing in Nick Drake’s one-time friend and arranger Robert Kirby for The Runaway turned out to provide Kirby with a

worthy swansong before his untimely death last October. “Robert Kirby had done all the string arrangements on the album so we tribute to him the end of [final song] I’m Sorry. His arrangements are just beautiful on their own,” he says, pausing before explaining how they came to collaborate. “We got in touch while working on the second album, initially for the song Take Me Or Leave Me. Michele sat there and played the song to him and he said, ‘Wow, unusual time signature,’ and she said, ‘Really? I’m not sure what it is’,” he says laughing. “We played him some others and Robert said, ‘Look, this is right up my street, I’d love to work with you.’ We just clicked on music and we became good friends for the

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So, can there be any dreams left to fulfil? “In some ways I feel I can’t ask for more, but I still do have dreams. Neil Young, man…” Having Neil Young ask to work with you maybe? “Well, yeah, but I’m cool just to rock up and bring my guitar and have a jam. I’d love that.” WHO: The Magic Numbers

WHAT: The Runaway (Heavenly/Cooperative) WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 28 July, Corner Hotel; Saturday 31 July, Splendour In The Grass

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ERUPTING PLEASURES To Sydney psych popsters RICHARD IN YOUR MIND, life is one tropical holiday. Frontman and namesake RICHARD CARTWRIGHT shares his vision of unity with BROOKE SALISBURY.

ur story begins in a lounge room in Annandale, Sydney, where two flatmates dance unbridled to Run DMC. The year is 2005, but this tale begins years earlier at a charity store in the eastern suburbs, where a young attendant sparked an obsession with vinyl; an obsession that would see him hoard a veritable wonderland of golden rarities. That young attendant was Richard Cartwright, his partner in dance Conrad Richters. That their penchant for American hip hop should spawn one of Sydney’s most progressive psychedelic bands of the early 2000s is in fact a fitting reflection of Richard In Your Mind’s trajectory to date. Through its various incarnations, the band has maintained a few constants of its own: great live shows, great lyrics and great titles. Of the band’s latest offering, My Volcano, frontman and writer Cartwright begins, “We were operating on the working title of ‘Jamaica’ but we thought that maybe we shouldn’t have that. We just thought

it might be confusing – it’s not really an album of reggae music, is it? My Volcano is a track that didn’t make this album, but the song has this story of living on a volcano and not wanting to come down when it’s erupting and we thought that fit in with the vibe. We wanted the album to have this dangerous but beautiful island feel to it, kind of like a holiday, but a holiday where there are also cannibals lurking around. So, we thought, that really fits.” Such stories run rampant through the band’s colourful discography. Their Summertime EP was released on the first day of our last summer, while their 2008 single PS I Love You did things to The Beatles’ previously considered illegal by man. The band’s debut album, The Future Prehistoric, ran the gauntlet of strange and wonderful, though for all its many, many faces only scratched the surface of the sounds that would follow. “It’s a pretty varied album; it kind of reflects a bit more who we are,” agrees Cartwright of My Volcano. “The first record we really love and it’s really great but it’s only really one side of us.” Where The Future Prehistoric documented the band’s more organic side, their latest effort lends more time and attention to the electronic realm, and it all comes down to one man’s appearance on the scene. “Brent Griffin, ie. Spod, has mixed it for us and been an integral part of the album and that’s a new thing. I see Brent more as ‘Brent’ than ‘Spod’ in regards to working with Richard In Your Mind, because he’s just got a huge wealth of technical, musical production knowledge and knowledge of music we love, and knowledge of great vintage synthesisers and old quirky equipment that we love playing with, too,” explains Cartwright. “So in the working arrangement it’s been perfect… but there’s also the fact we’ve become awesome friends and just want to hang out all the time, too.” Griffin is not the only musician to climb on board Team Volcano in the last while: joining the band on guitar is Jordy Lane, one fellow who’s also earned a special place in Cartwright’s heart. “What a beautiful man. We were looking for a new guitarist and Jordy said, ‘Hey, I’d love to have a go,’ and then we went to see him play and heard his album and I got really scared because he’s so amazing. I was like, ‘How can he join our band? He should be leading our band!’ but luckily it was based around a friendship and we’re very lucky that he’s a wonderful, tasteful guitarist and singer.”

“My Volcano is a track that didn’t make this album, but the song has this story of living on a volcano and not wanting to come down when it’s erupting and we thought that fit in with the vibe. We wanted the album to have this dangerous but beautiful island feel to it, kind of like a holiday, but a holiday where there are also cannibals lurking around. So, we thought, that really fits.” Beyond their own toiling, the band has been busy touring wider Australia with friends and comrades Cloud Control in support of their debut album, Bliss Release. “It’s been kick-arse; it’s been so cool,” dotes Cartwright of the experience. “We’ve just been really lucky that they’re really popular and all of the shows have been huge, if not sold out, so we’ve been getting to play to a bunch of people we haven’t played for. And we’ve known those guys for a while now and they’re just really good friends. It’s been a real sort of love-fest. There was this one day in particular in Perth that was just one huge happiness montage. You could’ve put the Friends theme song under it perfectly – cooking up a big breakfast together, then eating ice-creams on the beach and having a spa…” With My Volcano’s stylish trimmings looked after – beautiful artwork courtesy of Greedy Hen; warped promotional video thanks to Spod; and a flock of dainty volcanoes multiplying across the city streets care of mystery sources – Cartwright has recently found a little spare time to collaborate on another project wherein he’s exercising a dream of his own. “This other band, particularly, is really cool because I get to focus on being an electric guitarist, because I’ve never considered myself a lead guitarist, but at the Richard In Your Mind show I’ve started to play more guitar, too, so I’m thinking maybe I am a guitarist? I’m a bit of a dodgy guitarist but a guitarist nonetheless. It’s really nice anyway – the whole thing has been really relaxing and it’s great to remember that you don’t always have to be doing something on stage; you can keep it chill.” This Friday Cartwright will return to Melbourne with his loyal counterparts, launching My Volcano in Northcote with support from locals Rat Vs Possum and Magic Silver White. When asked exactly what he’d like listeners to take away from the album, Cartwright finishes, “I’d love for them to take away a sense of wholeness and a sense of unity even though it is so crazy and seems to jump from one thing to the other. I really feel that each song is just as equally a reflection of us as the others. All up, it’s a bit of an adventure album.”

WHO: Richard In Your Mind WHAT: My Volcano (Rice Is Nice) WHERE: Friday, Northcote Social Club

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HEAL THE WORLD US pop punks BOYS LIKE GIRLS hope to improve people’s lives through the power of song. “We’d like to help kids who didn’t have two parents, or even those with no parents,” drummer JOHN KEEFE tells NIC TOUPEE. eponymous debut LP and the release of Love Drunk have been spent on the road. Keefe enthusiastically confirms that the band prefer to be in motion. “Honestly, the road is my home now,” he says, à la Willie Nelson. “It’s a little weird when I get to go back home; that life is a little strange for me now. When you’re on tour you get to see so many different places, meet different people and enjoy different cultures. I truly love what I do, and I feel fortunate to be doing it. I’m really excited that I’ll get to see more of the world.” Australia is just another destination in a long list: surely it must all become a blur of hotels and check-in lounges. It seems not so: Keefe and the band recall their last visit fondly and can’t wait to return. “After the US tour, we go back home for two weeks and then we go to Australia. We’re really excited about that! We’ve been there for a festival a couple of years ago and we loved it! It is such a beautiful country – everyone is nice, the weather is really awesome...“ At this point it is pointed out, gently, that the tour could encounter some unseasonable weather, being winter here and all. No matter. “It’s a really, really beautiful place and we couldn’t be happier about coming back,” he recovers, positively. “Unfortunately, it hasn’t been on the cards until now, but we’re coming now, and we hope to get more Australian people familiar with Boys Like Girls!”

oys like girls. It’s a simple idea for a complex time. Some artists – like Lady Gaga and Antony Hegarty – want to highlight the complications of gender: even Blur had a stab at it in Girls & Boys. Boys Like Girls – the band from Boston, USA – prefer their pop the old-fashioned way, and write power pop songs embodying a mythical age of frat parties and prom queens, home baking and heartbreak that we can only access through repeats of Happy Days. It’s seemingly a winning formula: their break-up anthem Love Drunk (also the title of their second album) has topped the US charts and nudged the Australian airwaves enough to garner them a hefty fanbase and an impending tour. John Keefe, the band’s drummer, interrupts his love affair with that other thing boys sometimes like – basketball – to talk up their imminent arrival.

“I’m in LA at a bar, watching a Celtics basketball game,” he shouts, searching for a quiet spot away from the din of hoop enthusiasts to wax lyrical. “We’re in the middle of [the US leg of] the tour, and I’ve got a break in LA for a couple of days, then we fly to Kansas to play a big summer camp with Good Charlotte and some other bands. They’re our friends, it’s a big family-type event and it will be awesome. We met Good Charlotte a couple of years ago; they are awesome guys and we all got close in the last couple of years. They’ve been amazing mentors and older brothers and showed us how to be better people.”

Pushing on with their almost evangelical commitment to promoting Boys Like Girls is the top touring priority for these cheerful lads, Keefe is keen to reinforce.

Never has partying with the boys from Good Charlotte sounded so wholesome. But that’s the way Keefe rolls. And perhaps keeping it clean is a better way to manage life on the road, as Boys Like Girls seem to be constantly touring: the three years between their

Keefe reveals the touring imperative, as he sadly explains that the band, contrary to what one might think about an act sitting on six hit singles, need to bolster the coffers.

“The future looks really bright for us, we’re really excited about what we’ve been doing, and we’re a happy band – all the best of friends! We’ve been fortunate enough to have six consecutive hit songs in the US, and we want that to cross over into other countries including Australia. Especially Australia, because it’s awesome,” he says warmly, giving me the impression Keefe missed his obvious calling in PR.

“That’s the gimmick for this record: that there is no gimmick.” WOLF PARADE’s DAN BOEKNER tells DOUG WALLEN about the hard sell of their latest record.

lthough Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner have three other bands between them, it’s always a special event when their shared outfit Wolf Parade releases a new album. So far it’s only happened three times: first with 2005’s career-making Apologies To The Queen Mary, then with 2008’s divisively arty At Mount Zoomer, and now with the new Expo 86, which roughly splits the difference between the earlier two. The songs have the directness and urgency of Apologies… but also some of the longer lengths and discursive patches of At Mount Zoomer. It’s a fertile middle ground, then, for the beloved Canadian act.

That’s exactly what Expo 86 sounds like, actually. Down to a four-piece after the 2008 departure of keyboardist Hadji Bakara, the band comes off scrappy and straightforward. As usual, the frazzled Boeckner and croaking Krug alternate songs, this time kicking off with the awesome one-two of Krug’s surreal Cloud Shadow On The Mountain and Boeckner’s Springsteenchannelling Palm Road. From there the album explores

“We’re all really close,” Keefe says. “We don’t try to be anyone else, we try to better ourselves all the time. A lot of bands take things for granted and we don’t – we want to work hard and we want to win, and hopefully make a difference.” He may sound like a character from ‘80s aspirational drama Fame but Keefe and Boys Like Girls really do believe in making it big, and that somehow in doing so they’ll improve the fortunes of the world. “There’s a lot of misery and stuff, and a lot of bad things going on in places,” he observes over the sound of cheering – the Celtics have obviously just scored. “We just want to have a positive influence. We’ve all been through stuff, no one has a perfect life, and we’ve found music to be our outlet for that. We’re happy guys even though we’ve all been through certain things, and it would be nice to have an impact on people who didn’t grow up in good homes. I mean, we didn’t grow up like kings, we had our hardships, but we’d like to help kids who didn’t have two parents, or even those with no parents. We’d like to make a difference to them,” intones Keefe earnestly. “We keep it real by being good people and trying to write the best songs we can. Hopefully, we’ll make their day better through our music and stuff. We do charity work and go to hospitals too – that stuff is really rewarding. We’re inspiring people to try to do better and work through their problems.” WHO: Boys Like Girls WHAT: Love Drunk (Sony Music) WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 14 (under18s) and Thursday 15 July (18+), Hi-Fi

there’s a misconception even in our fans that Spencer is this weird, tortured music-school dropout and I’m this hard-drinking, drug-doing rock’n’roll dude. But we’re just friends.” He then decides, “On this record we maybe felt comfortable enough to let some humour come out. Not that we’re trying to turn into Ween or anything.” Whether citing the warmth of the band members’ friendship or their palpable sense of humour, Boeckner portrays Wolf Parade as a casual, almost lackadaisical enterprise that might belie its global success and influence. Wherever fans fall with At Mount Zoomer, Apologies To The Queen Mary is an acknowledged classic of indie rock last decade. Yet this is no über-pro band we’re talking about. “Honestly,” Boeckner chortles, “when we started this band, it was just an uphill battle getting our shit together. We don’t have a manager. We’ll probably never have a manager, and decision-making is a long process.”

“I definitely agree with that statement,” says Boeckner by phone from the band’s home city of Montreal. “I think aesthetically it’s a pretty good mix. It sounds pretentious to say At Mount Zoomer was our reaction to the first record, and I don’t really feel that way about it, but the limits of Apologies definitely inspired some of the more digressive songwriting on At Mount Zoomer. And this record, I think, is basically us being us.”

Aside from that and the fact that the songs were recorded live in about two weeks, there’s nothing wildly captivating about the making of Wolf Parade’s third album. “That’s the gimmick for this record: that there is no gimmick,” Boeckner laughs. “Maybe it’s a tough sell for the record label, but it’s just a bunch of dudes playing rock music.”

He seems convinced that, just as in a Fame movie or an episode of Glee, if the band stick to their dreams and work hard then they’ll make good on both their bank balances and changing the world, Mouseketeer-stylee.

“It cost an awful lot of money to get certain producers,”

FAIR TRADERS

Expo 86 was recorded in Montreal with local powerhouse Howard Bilerman, who played drums on and co-produced the first Arcade Fire album among numerous other exploits. Boeckner also used to play in Arcade Fire and Bilerman helmed the first-ever Wolf Parade recordings – which have never seen the light of day – so there’s a great deal of history there. “We trusted him,” asserts Boeckner, “because he’s known us for years and he’s been coming to Wolf Parade shows for years.”

he laments, “and it’s hard to sell records these days. There’s never going to be a band that sells ten million records again. If you can sell a couple of hundred thousand that’s impressive these days. I wish I could sell hundreds of millions of records, keep pushing forward and do our best – and make the word a better place, hopefully. I know that the way things are, people will mostly download music and I’m not opposed to it, but I wish people would buy records so I could have a diamond plaque on my wall,” jokes Keefe.

That might explain why, five years on from Apologies…, Wolf Parade still has yet to tour Australia. But it looks like – fingers crossed – it’s finally going to happen in January. “We’re basically just picking one of three possible [Australian] tours we can do,” he confirms. “Right now we don’t really want to come down and just do a festival tour. We want to play club shows. I love playing festivals and everything, but I think rock bands are best experienced in a club. We’ve never been to Australia [as a band], and I’d rather people see us in a club than as tiny little specks [at a festival].”

the band’s knack for hard-bitten indie rock flooded with animal imagery and neon-lit grit. It’s catchy, weird and cool, many songs stretching past five minutes without quite hitting upon the prog-damaged sprawl that threw fans for such a loop on At Mount Zoomer. “I was totally expecting it,” Boeckner admits of that album’s mixed reception. “I try not to have expectations when we put a record out, but it’s really hard not to. It’s always unpleasant to make something and then read somebody being like, ‘Nah, not as good as Apologies To The Queen Mary’ or, ‘That song is too long’. That’s actually some of the milder criticisms of that record.” While At Mount Zoomer was defined by epic keyboardled jams, it’s not simply Bakara’s exit to attend graduate school that made Expo 86 turn out so differently. Credit is also due to Dante DeCaro, the former Hot Hot Heat sideman and erstwhile solo artist who joined Wolf Parade

between the first two albums. Boeckner explains: “Hadji shaped a lot of the direction At Mount Zoomer went in, but not necessarily song structure-wise. Dante’s part in the writing of this album was a lot more involved than Hadji’s part in the writing of Apologies or Zoomer. Dante’s coming from a place of being a songwriter and Hadji was this kind of Brian Eno element in the band.” Of DeCaro’s years in Hot Hot Heat, he offhandedly dismisses, “Yeah, he was in a very briefly successful disco rock band.” Sonic distinctions aside, there seems to be a newfound cheekiness to Wolf Parade on Expo 86. A quick glance at song titles like Pobody’s Nerfect, Yulia, and Cave-osapien will raise eyebrows, especially among listeners who imagine Krug and Boeckner as dark souls poring gravely over their music at all hours of night. “We’ve never not tried to have a sense of humour,” he says. “In our private lives we’re not super serious dudes. I think

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Boeckner actually toured Australia last year with Handsome Furs, the duo he shares with wife Alexei Perry. Krug, meanwhile, also fronts Sunset Rubdown and does occasional work in the low-key supergroup Swan Lake. In the past few years, in fact, Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs have arguably commanded more acclaim than Wolf Parade. So do either of those bands ever threaten to eclipse this one? Not really, says Boeckner. “Wolf Parade gives us both something I know [our] other projects don’t,” he explains. “It’s just a really specific thing. We’ve done a lot of time with everybody in the band, and we’re all close friends. I feel lucky that we’ve managed to maintain that.” “And everyone,” he adds, “always looks forward to coming back and making a Wolf Parade record.” WHO: Wolf Parade WHAT: Expo 86 (Sub Pop/Stomp)

THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS Young Sydney rockers AMY MEREDITH have experienced more of the highs and lows of the music industry than most their age. Three-fifths of the band discuss room service and bruised egos with SAMUEL J FELL. and Cameron Laing, is sprawled on a couch in one of the spare offices, can of Coke close at hand. Amy Meredith is not, as I initially thought, a female singer/ songwriter, but a five-piece pop/synth/rock group from Sydney. They began their career a few of years ago with a bang, before thudding back to earth and deciding (props to them) that the music industry wasn’t all fairytales and cotton candy, and so they sit before me today starting again, so to speak, paying their dues. “Yeah, everything started happening way too quickly,” Lo Russo remembers of the band’s early days, not two years ago. “By our third show, we had everyone, every major label and every independent label and management at this showcase, and it was ridiculous, we had lunches with them all,” he goes on. “We didn’t have any management and then we had all these contracts in place and then the fourth show we ever played was in LA… it was kinda like, ‘Look at this, we’ve made it, look how cool we are’.” To be fair, Lo Russo offers a laugh at this point, the band realising, in hindsight, how they hadn’t made it at that point, and how cool they weren’t. “It wasn’t so good for our egos though, because we came home and realised we’d actually have to work quite hard,” adds Laing with another laugh. “But it was cool, because we got a taste of what it could be like, hopefully, in the years to come, and it kinda made us realise, as we went back to working our jobs, that if we really wanna do this we knew what it’d take.”

lazy Monday afternoon in South Melbourne. Traffic on Park Street is light and the carpark next to the Sony offices only half full. Walking up the Sony stairs, I’m greeted on the top landing by a life-size replica of some movie character. I’m not sure who it is – the Terminator, maybe? Regardless, it’s an unsettling way to begin proceedings. In the reception area, there’s a lifesize cut-out (Sony, it seems, don’t do things by halves) of Angus Young, which makes me feel somewhat better. I sit

and read the Herald Sun and die a little inside as I wait for my turn to talk to Amy Meredith – a lazy afternoon indeed. “We got here Saturday morning, pretty early actually, we’d played Adelaide the night before and didn’t have much sleep then had a big day Saturday and a big night Saturday night… it was the last day of our tour, so we kinda took it upon ourselves to go all out,” drawls Christian Lo Russo, who along with Joel Chapman

“Yeah, it was a massive, massive learning experience,” concurs Lo Russo. “And it was humbling, especially having all that interest and all that hype – it was ridiculous. And then just having it drop like that, ‘What the fuck just happened? We were in LA and now we’re at [hotel chain] Formula One? We were getting room service and now we don’t even have cups to drink water’.” The three of them laugh together at these memories, and in truth, it must have been quite the shock. No doubt there have been many bands that have been swooped upon before they’ve even had a chance to find their feet, only to be shunted to the side mere weeks later, back to where they began, scrapping around in the musical trenches begging for gigs and wondering what, as Lo Russo says, the fuck just happened.

INSIDE THE KINGDOM Having perplexed critics and commentators for over ten years, CW STONEKING has ben the subject of many a smear campaign. MATT O’NEILL goes behind the scenes. I think it’s going to be a little bit more gospel music based. I’ve always really liked those old gospel bands and some of those musical elements are there in the new songs. Once I’ve got the song, I pretty much know where it’s going to go. I can figure out the arrangement and the direction and, with the last two albums, production involved adding a lot of effects and ideas. By the same token, though, it is a very long process. I’m very happy when I’m finished but it’s quite difficult for me to go through the process.” It hasn’t been for lack of effort, either. Journalists, critics, commentators and audiences have all been trying to understand the mystery of Stoneking’s work since the release of his first solo album, King Hokum, in 2006. There are those that ascribed the magic to the record’s producer – J Walker of Machine Translations – while others have been more imaginative in their myth-mongering.

t’s always read something like a magic trick. The concept of a contemporary Australian male effectively channelling the sound and spirit of pre-war American musical dialects sounds, on paper, like some kind of ludicrously specific con. Aside from the issues of why someone would even bother to attempt such a feat, one always had to ask: how on earth could it possibly be done? The sounds of pre-war America are among the most iconic in western cultural history. Arriving mere decades before the advent of popular music and only years after the development of primitive audio recording technologies, pre-war musical forms like blues and

calypso are more strongly associated with a specific time and place than perhaps any other musical phenomena in western history. Yet CW Stoneking has done it, not just once but consistently for well over a decade. The singer/ songwriter may have been born in Alice Springs in 1974 but, as far as his music is concerned, Stoneking has never resembled anything more than the archetypal early pre-war bluesman – and still, after two highly acclaimed solo albums, no one has figured out how he’s done it. “I never really thought about what I wanted when I started out,” Stoneking considers. “I still don’t. I just kind of figure out what sort of music I want to do and then I do it. I’m working on my third album now and

Not unlike Robert Johnson before him, some have suggested Stoneking’s skills have been derived from some kind of Faustian bargain while others have attributed his work to a keen intellect and a flair for mimicry. There are others, meanwhile, who have claimed Stoneking is nothing more than a hapless dilettante who finally stumbled upon a craft that afforded him some degree of success. “I don’t really pay too much attention to what people say about me,” the bluesman explains. “I don’t really read too much about myself and when I do it’s usually just something based on an earlier interview or earlier press release so I don’t really bother thinking about it too much. I don’t know – usually people talk to my wife or my friends or something and then come tell me the stories. “It doesn’t bother me. I don’t know how anyone could be bothered by that,” Stoneking continues. “There was one interview where the person clearly didn’t understand a single word I said, but that was probably one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever read. They must have thought I was on LSD or something. I actually had to save the whole thing to my computer.” The ludicrously specific con of Stoneking’s career, however, is only that there isn’t one. It isn’t surprising that audiences have spent so much time looking for

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Lo Russo cites the recent GFC as the reason why the band’s deal with any major label fell through, and so now they’ve got Sony behind them, and they’ve just released their debut LP (finally), Restless – quite an apt title, methinks. “We recorded the album about a year ago,” tells Chapman. “We spent a lot of time getting mixes done overseas, we got people to mix it again, just to keep things fresh.” “In our naivety, when we finished the album last June, we were gonna release it in July, you know – ‘It’s gonna be sick, everyone’s gonna love it’,” laughs Laing. This obviously never came to be and so Restless has been sitting on a shelf for almost 12 months – how relevant is the record to where the band are at now? Is there any point in releasing it at all? “Well, one of our favourite songs on the album is the first song we ever wrote, like four years ago,” says Lo Russo. “And I think all the music is still extremely relevant, if not more so because we’d forgotten about it for so long that it sounds fresh to us again.” “As clichéd as it sounds, there’s a journey on the record,” interjects Laing. “The very first track is the oldest song, and coincidentally, the last track is the newest… so it still does remain relevant.” For all their hipster bravado, Amy Meredith are as green as the gold that paves the streets of Nimbin. But therein lies their saving grace. It would have been pretty easy to sit here and be astounded by what wankers these guys were if they’d continued believing the hype. But they lost the hype and came crashing back to earth, and now the bruises and egos have faded, Amy Meredith are just a band. Sure, a major label backed-band, but a band coming to terms with the reality of the industry in which they find themselves. Restless pays homage to this idea and to the band’s idealism. If they ‘keep it real’, who knows where they’ll end up! “World domination,” says Laing, but he’s joking. “Wembley Stadium,” says Chapman, who’s half-joking. “We’ve got out sights set pretty high,” says Lo Russo, and we’ll just leave it at that.

WHO: Amy Meredith WHAT: Restless (Sony) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 9 September, Inferno (Traralgon); Friday 10, Ferntree Gully Hotel; Saturday 11, Pier Live (Frankston); Wednesday 15, Eureka Hotel (Geelong)

one – and, in some instances, convincing themselves they found one – but, beneath all the mythology of Stoneking’s career, there’s just a musician making music. There’s nothing more complicated at work. “I pretty much ran into this music just by picking records in a record shop,” Stoneking says with telling bluntness. “I’d see a record with a cover I liked in a store so I’d buy it. It’d link up with some other record so I’d buy that or I’d see another record by the same person and buy that. I just kept picking up records along the way. “There were other times where it would just be like a sound I came up with on my own,” the songwriter allows. “I’d have an idea or a sound in my head – like ‘jungle music’ – and then I’d go looking for music that kind of fit that idea. Like I’d poke around with African music, but that’s all there is to it. You get a notion and look around as to how to make it.” None of which is to suggest any of the praise heaped upon Stoneking in recent years is in any way unjustified. King Hokum and its sterling 2008 follow-up, Jungle Blues, were more than deserving of the sales and accolades they manage to acquire (including several ARIA nominations and AIR awards), but the reasoning behind their success is infinitely simpler than Faustian bargains or luck. CW Stoneking’s music – like all great music – is successful merely because it is a product of honest artistic expression. While some may suggest the troubadour’s devotion to pre-war forms marks him as mimic instead of an artist, one need only look closely at an eclectic album like Jungle Blues to understand Stoneking’s unique tapestry of blues, folk, jazz and calypso is much more than imitation. It is the expression of a truly idiosyncratic individual perspective. “I don’t really feel like I’m in a scene,” Stoneking says matter-of-factly. “I suppose, when I tour overseas, there are more artists doing something similar to what I do but, by the same token, I don’t see myself as being of them. I remember when I first started shows doing old blues and stuff like that, I couldn’t get a show anywhere. Though now it kind of looks like everyone’s got an old guitar with one string on it and a kind of hillbilly look about them.”

WHO: CW Stoneking WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Corner Hotel; Friday, Prince Bandroom

TROPHY BRUISES

WEST COASTING

The controversy-courting JACK MANNIX and ANGELA BERMUDA of CIRCLE PIT talk soul mates and hometown blues with SCOTT FITZSIMONS.

MIKELANGELO & THE TIN STAR are heading for more summery regions. Frontman MIKEL SIMIC talks surf and Tarantino with TONY MCMAHON.

probably more true to what we were trying to say and what we were trying to achieve.”

in a band called The Dalmatian Coast Surf Lifesaving Association about ten years ago. We started recording an album but I got very busy touring with The Black Sea Gentleman. When I moved to Melbourne, and talked to Fiete and Pete, they were just really keen to play music again. We started with some of the old tunes, but I’d been writing a lot more and it kind of evolved from that. It was nice because there was a background of us playing together and it came together really quickly.”

Bermuda, who’s later thrown the phone as Mannix disappears halfway through an answer (“Hello? Hi, sorry – Jack just ran away. I don’t know what happened. How are you?”), harbours similar feelings. “If you’re making a physical object, it’s not going to correlate with what’s in your mind. I’ve dealt with the things I don’t like about it and I really like the way it sounds and I’ve learned what to do next and how to change things,” she emphasises.

ith their glam punk DIY fashion sense, the unique approaches to their art and, most importantly, a perceived ‘delicate artist-type’ exterior, Sydney’s Circle Pit have sparked active debate on Australian music-dedicated internet forums. The duo, 21-yearold Jack Mannix and 24-year-old Angela Bermuda, have copped all manner of flack for their troubles, but having weathered most of the storm, which intensified with coverage of their Bruise Constellation album release, the two evidently maintain a strong resolve. When discussing the finished album, Mannix is not completely satisfied with the release, with an honesty that continues through the conversation. “We did it over two days at a studio and we went into it thinking we were just demoing songs for our album. So we didn’t really approach it with the idea of this realised vision we had in our heads of what it would eventually sound like. But, once we recorded it over those two days and listened back, we realised that it was kind of good enough to release and that we’d rather just get it out and move on than go back into the studio and perfect it.” The end result was not what they’d originally envisioned, but the raw, ‘70s rock’n’roll outcome still invokes his pride. “It’s an accurate representation of what we sounded like at that time and what we were feeling in that point of our lives. It stands alone as a document and testament of when we made it,” he says. “But I do think the nature of the recording process, being quite rushed and also littered with personal problems and all of that, it turned out to be something completely different to what we’d expected, but

Before he vanished from the line, Mannix had expressed a great love and understanding for his collaborator, beyond that of a sibling. “It’s more than friendship and it’s more than family – we’re soul mates, you know? It went from us writing songs together in our room.” Bermuda echoes the sentiments. “We’re like family, he’s a part of me, whether I like it or not,” she says, laughing. “No, we’re bound together. And I feel like the record is a real testament to the fact that our relationship is about healing each other and being there for each other.” The lyrics, which the two write together, “confront not the most pleasant of themes, but it’s like a dialogue with each other, trying to understand the world and ourselves and help each other do that,” Bermuda explains. That said, they’re not immediately literal. “I couldn’t pinpoint exact things, but I think all the words create this global imagery that relates to us and things that have happened and other people, like a quilt, if you will.” The band launched Bruise Constellation in Melbourne last month. Mannix previously expressed his desire for Sydney’s underground scene to “create their own culture”, perhaps as a criticism of those who’ve vocally not taken to the band’s sensibilities. This Friday they return to Melbourne to play the Espy with Beaches, Precious Jules and The Twerps. “People have taken a long time to embrace us, but I think things are starting to change and people are starting to take us seriously.” WHO: Circle Pit WHAT: Bruise Constellation (Timberyard/Shock) WHEN & WHERE: Friday, the Espy

HEAPS SICK

espite the fact that they haven’t been around all that long, surf’n’western outfit Mikelangelo & The Tin Star are definitely a band to watch. With Quentin Tarantino’s Morricone obsession as something of a jumping off point, via ‘60s garage surf music and a peculiarly Melbourne post-punk aesthetic, this is a band that simply thrills from the very first listen for the stunning way they wear their influences on their sleeves yet manage to create something entirely quirky and fresh. “I think Tarantino and I own some of the same records,” says frontman Mikel Simic. “I’ve always loved that surf guitar sound, which seems to be having a bit of a resurgence. It’s a good thing. For me, it’s the guitar sound that links surf and western music. It’s bands like The Shadows. For me, they have that certain western sound. It sounds like something [from] an old spaghetti western film soundtrack. It’s something I’ve always loved since I was a kid, and when music grabs you when you’re that young it kind of never leaves you.” In giving Inpress background information on how The Tin Star came together, Simic also gives some hint as to why their music is so assured and sounds as if they’ve played together for ages. “I’ve known some of the guys for a fair while. When I got back from London, we had two rehearsals and then we played a gig at Bar Open and it sounded really hot. I was really proud of them. I used to play with the guitar player and the drummer [Fiete Geronimo Geier and Pete Olsenin] in Canberra

Given the provocative nature of their sound – an amateurish, primitive, overdriven din in which organs, guitars and drums collide in cacophony; something shown beautifully on their freshly pressed second LP Heaps Of Nothing – is violence a common reaction to Naked On The Vague on the stage? “I don’t think our music incites violence,” Phelan considers. “Although, there was this one time that a guy took his shirt off and smashed a bottle, and was like cutting himself with the broken glass whilst we were playing. I think I can safely say that’s the most extreme reaction we’ve ever had.” Phelan formed NOTV with Matthew Hopkins in 2005, as a way of “learning how to play music”. “We stumbled into it in so many respects, it wasn’t really planned to have a band,” Phelan recalls. “For me, it was a completely new thing to do, to write a song, or come up with a bunch of ideas and put them together into a piece of music.” Early NOTV performances were a kind of artful shambles; something that became their identity. “We definitely had a presence as a band; it was something

And let’s not forget Captain Frodo. Simic says that hanging out with him might well create a new genre of music. “Captain Frodo is an amazing performer as well as being an incredible rubber man, twisting his body into all sorts of shapes. He’s going to be accompanied by Miles Brown on theremin, trying to create this completely otherworldly, UFO type of sound. It might have to become surf’n’western music goes to space in the future.” WHO: Mikelangelo & The Tin Star WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Northcote Social Club

As THE SCARE’s swan song approaches, frontman KISS REID tells BRYGET CHRISFIELD, “I just wanna be normal for a little while.”

a bit awkward,” says Phelan. “Like the awkwardness probably was the presence. There was something about the way we’d entered into the band; with no ambitions, no expectations about what we would do, or could do.”

“W

Simic fills us in on some of the machinations of what is sure to be a hectic night. “The Sljivovitz Orchestra are amazing. They’re this great seven-piece line-up and I’ll guest with them and then a few of them will guest with me. JP Shilo’s amazing. He’ll add another textual dimension to the sound. And then there’s the go-go dancers, The Go-Go Gadgets. They’re hot. They bring a whole other element of sexuality and wildness to the proceedings. So, yeah, we’ll share the love. I’ve kind of done a fair bit of almost MCing on stage with my own bands and other people’s, so I’m hoping I can marshal the troops and that the chaos is really exciting instead of it being people just falling all over each other.”

SCARED SILENT

Bar fights, homelessness and sweet hook-ups made up NAKED ON THE VAGUE’s latest US tour. LUCY PHELAN tells ANTHONY CAREW.

e got in a fight at one of our shows in Seattle with this guy who actually plays in this band Kinski, who’re signed to Sub Pop,” says Lucy Phelan, one-half of Sydney scuzz merchants Naked On The Vague, recounting what’s become a favourite tour-craziness anecdote. “He was heckling us when we were playing; he was really angry and drunk, just yelling at us to ‘Get off!’, and like, ‘Hurry up!’. This was at the end of our tour, we were totally exhausted and pretty over it, so this was like the final straw. When we got off stage, we went up to talk to him about it and he tried to swing a punch at us. So, we ended up in a bit of a fist fight.”

Mikelangelo & The Tin Star’s next gig will be their last for some time due to overseas commitments for some of its members, and the Northcote Social Club looks set to absolutely blast off with support amounting to an extravaganza. There’s The Sljivovitz Orchestra (who do – wait for it – a Balkan Elvis rendition of Viva Las Vegas), JP Shilo, a guest spot on theremin from Miles Brown and lunatic saw player and circus act Captain Frodo. Oh, and there’s go-go dancers as well, naturally.

Initially, Phelan and Hopkins had the most modest of DIY ambitions: release a 7”. Their debut 45, on Dualplover, was barely noticed locally, but a Byron Coley review in experimental music bible The Wire brought their name into the hipster underground. “There wasn’t any support at all, whatsoever, from the music industry here in any sense,” Phelan says, “so, it was nice when people from overseas were really interested in what we were doing.” Naked On The Vague ended up signing to the revitalised Siltbreeze, the iconic US lo-fi label that, in the ’90s, basically founded the New Weird America by releasing the early Charalambides and Tower Recordings LPs. NOTV’s Siltbreeze debut, 2007’s The Blood Pressure Sessions, lead to a US tour, and they returned in 2009 to open for Blank Dogs, the project of Mike Sniper, the guy in charge of the awesome Captured Tracks label. That was the tour that included their infamous showthat-ended-in-a-fight. And the adventures didn’t end there: their first night amidst the SXSW orgy (where, Phelan remembers, “it was almost like a competition between bands to see how many shows they could play in four days”), the band were stranded sans hotel room to crash in; “stuck in the middle of Austin – after we’d driven from Chicago the night before – with nowhere to stay, literally standing on the main street with all our equipment and our luggage.” With future overseas touring looming and NOTV doubled in size to a live quartet, this accidental band are finally making plans. “At the start we could only progress in baby steps,” says Phelan, “but once you’ve worked hard, and you’ve started to assemble a bit of a catalogue, you start to think more about the future, and what you want to do in the future.” WHO: Naked On The Vague WHAT: Heaps Of Nothing (Dual Plover) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Empress Hotel

ive music fans who have witnessed The Scare tearing up a stage – or frontman Kiss Reid ploughing through his audience in a demented trance – were saddened by the news that this exhilarating band are calling it quits. So how does Reid feel about it? “I feel good,” he responds. Really? “Yes, I feel REALLY good. It’s been something that I’ve thought about for a while. I didn’t really discuss it with anyone. It was hard to kinda break the news to [the rest of the band] because, you know, I’ve been with the guys for so long. So it took a while and by the time I had the guts to bring it up to them I was well and truly over it.” Reid articulates his reasons for wishing to terminate his tenure as The Scare’s charismatic leader: “When I get up and play, I don’t feel like I used to feel. I just wasn’t really enjoying it as much as I used to and I just didn’t really think it was fair to ask me to pull something out that wasn’t there.” Oozevoodoo, The Scare’s cranking Daniel Johnsproduced last album, should have increased the band’s profile. And not just because its producer was “the darling prince of Australian rock,” as Reid affectionately labelled him. There were festival bookings – Falls and Big Day Out 2010 – and momentum seemed to be slowly building for the band in this country. “I dunno,” Reid counters. “I feel like we’ve been losing momentum. I always felt like we were chasing something.” The Scare are originally from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast (“we’ve been together since we were in high school, like 17 [year olds], so that’s quite a long time”) and experienced many career highlights when they

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relocated to the UK in January 2006. The band was asked by Artrocker magazine to fill support duties for two Suicide reunion gigs in London and Reid recalls this experience of playing at Buffalo Bar, “which only holds 300 people max”, as “amazing”. “They were one of the seminal punk bands of the ‘70s and we got to play with them over everybody! And playing Reading and Leeds festivals was pretty good. We played on the main stage and, I dunno, you get told a lot of things along the line but [we were told] that we were one of the first unsigned bands – we didn’t even have a release out in England yet [were] able to play on the main stages at Reading and Leeds. We achieved that – it was good. We were there and Operator Please were there and Triple J was there covering Australian bands playing around Leeds, but they didn’t even talk to us.” From the moment The Scare returned to our shores, they ached to return to Old Blighty. “We just felt like for four years everyone was trying to get back there and it was never happening,” Reid laments. All of his soon-to-be-former bandmates – guitarists Liam O’Brien and Brock Fitzgerald, bassist Wade Keighran and drummer Sam Pearton – are now based in Sydney. “Liam’s got a band called Myth & Tropics and I’m not sure what the other guys are doing.” Following the Scare’s farewell shows this month, Reid has no further musical plans. “I’m just having a rest right now,” he explains, “just staring at the walls, and if something comes up that interests me then I’ll keep going. But I’m open to anything right now. I just wanna be normal for a little while,” he chuckles. Reid is currently regrouping in Doonan, Queensland and has some steady money coming in. “I work with my mum at her nursery,” he imparts. Looking after kids? “No! Plants,” he quickly corrects. “It’s nice to have money, I’ve never had it before – had an income – so I’m enjoying that. And looking into my bank account and seeing that there’s some money in it.” The Scare’s criminally overlooked No Money single is the perfect signature tune for a band who deserved so much more. WHO: The Scare WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Colonial Hotel

SINGLED OUT BY CLEM BASTOW

ON THE RECORD

LATEST CD REVIEWS

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

SCISSOR SISTERS ANY WHICH WAY Universal

PARKWAY DRIVE DEEP BLUE Resist/Shock

OZZY OSBOURNE SCREAM Sony Music

HOT HOT HEAT FUTURE BREEDS Shock

When it comes to memorialising disco, people conveniently focus on the fluffy strings and non-threatening falsetto vocals, forgetting the sinister quality that made it one of if not history’s most compelling genres. Leave it to Scissor Sisters, then, to perfectly recall the grime and edge (complete with evil laughter), which melds perfectly here with the 21st-century sheen of producer Stuart Price’s synth basslines. Add a spoken word bracket from Ana Matronic involving “taking my pantyhose out of their egg this evening” and my head is nearly exploding from glee.

Byron Bay’s Parkway Drive have made a gigantic impact with a minimum of fanfare. While album number three risks alienating those seeking 13 tracks solely of moshpit fodder, this album chances to yield an even greater number of devotees from the metal side of the divide, while retaining the majority of the faithful.

Ozzy Osbourne is one of rock’s great survivors. First famous for his tenure as vocalist with Black Sabbath, he has since managed to forge an impressive solo career lasting three decades, through a combination of shrewd management and collaboration with amazing guitarists and talented songwriters.

Deep Blue is more measured and disciplined. Overall the tempos have been slowed down and subsequently the elements – especially their rapidly developing melodic sensibilities – have ample room to breathe. The lesser reliance on cramming in too many ideas and riffs for their own sake is likely due to producer Joe Barresi’s influence. While often sonically highly metallic, (Sleepwalker, Pressures, Alone), many tracks’ structures are increasingly rooted in traditional hardcore (Hollow, Set To Destroy). The album does pick up speed about the halfway mark; Deliver Me is arguably the most truly dynamic excursion they’ve captured thus far, while still hurtling along at a rollicking pace. Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz drops by on the anthemic Home Is For The Heartless, easily the most punk rock thing in Parkway Drive’s canon. Fear not though, pit ninjas; there are numerous colossal beatdowns. Karma will leave countless broken and battered limbs in its wake. The “What the fuck have I become? ” epithet and seismic-shifting breakdown of Unrest also assure it will become a live set opener.

On album number ten, Gus G of Greek metal act Firewind steps in on guitar after Ozzy’s surprise decision to dump long-term axe slinger Zakk Wylde. Gus G’s playing is faultless, as you would expect from anyone paired with Ozzy based on his past record with guitarists, but interestingly it seems he had little songwriting input on the album.

Harnessing the frantic energy of a herd of wildebeests stampeding through the soul of the new wave, HHH have been purveyors of jaunty three-minute bursts of fuzzy frantic energy for a few albums now, occupying their own quirky pocket with verve and fire when they are at their best. With the haunting shadow of a brilliant debut they never have quite lived up to over them – like the teachers at school telling you how good your older sibling was – they have showed bitterness and lack of commitment on recent records. But appearing to not want to waste any more time, they’re back on volatile form with Future Breeds.

VICKY VUVUZELA BLOW YOUR VUVUZELA Universal South African pop music x Vengaboys x endless “can I blow your vuvuzela/let me see your vuvuzela” single entendres = AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Best song of the decade!

KLAXONS ECHOES Modular There’s a distinct sound, when it comes to British indie rock of the last few years or so, that sends me into the writerly equivalent of a deep sleep. It’s boomy, echoey (ho ho), full of sturm und drang and perfect for those times when the Stones call down from on high and pick a local band to open a stadium gig, and I find it utterly boring. At least Muse are relatively upfront about being over-the-top wank peddlers; what’s everyone else’s excuse?

Even though it’s anything but groundbreaking, Deep Blue is evidence that Parkway Drive have learnt to listen more to their instincts as songwriters and value the importance of songcraft, rather than solely adhering to the desires of the live crowd. Brendan Crabb

Scream does, however, benefit enormously from the input of producer and co-songwriter Kevin Churko, who brings a very modern sounding production and songwriting style to the album to give it a contemporary sheen, without trying to jump on the bandwagon of any particular current trend. It’s obvious Churko’s repeat contribution after working on previous album Black Rain is part of a deliberate effort to refresh Ozzy’s sound and try something new, which probably wouldn’t have worked had they continued with Zakk Wylde. On first listen Scream is very accessible, with memorable choruses, skilful use of musical dynamics and a lot of variety. The first half a dozen songs hold your attention and you can’t really predict what’s coming next. Let Me Hear You Scream is an anthemic, fist pumping number, made for rock radio and extreme sport soundtracks. Diggin’ Me Down is another standout track, full of machine gun riffs juxtaposed with classical acoustic guitar, atmospheric keyboards and delicate piano parts. It’s good to see Ozzy return to the spotlight with his best album since No More Tears. For fans of Ozzy old and new, Scream is definitely worth a listen.

ARCADE FIRE READY TO START EMI

With snap, crackle and pop in every beat, Future Breeds often veers towards bursting point. A dash of insanity in the synths and kooky mystery sounds keep things deliciously manic, especially on YVR and Times A Thousand. There’s the quintessential HHH classic danceable indie jig on 21@12, where the band demonstrate what they do best – writhe around in their own swelling cacophony lamenting on desire, disappointment and discord. It’s not quite as perfect as Bandages, but they’re certainly getting a lot closer to that kind of fever. The album on a whole is a pleasant surprise, the sound of a band experimenting and stretching out with renewed freedom (they produced the record, their first postWarner, themselves). Happily harking back to their jubilant beginnings, they’ve shaken off any old grievances and as a result the joy in the album is palpable. In the style of early Franz Ferdinand or middle years XTC, they are arty, dancy, witty and equally silly and sophisticated. With a depth of vision and purpose coming out with every listen, Future Breeds is a shot of adrenalin to a band who were fading to mediocrity. Kat Roberts

James O’Toole

Given how OMGAMAZING so many odious record store types tend to think Arcade Fire are, my expectations are always an odd mix of high and low (the former because, well, they’ve had some good songs; the latter because FUCK YOU, ROCK SNOBS) when it comes to approaching their output. To wit, Ready To Start, which is really pretty dull when it comes down to it. No doubt this means it will be praised as the best record of the year.

VILLAGERS SHIP OF PROMISES EMI

HALFWAY AN OUTPOST OF PROMISE Plus One Records

See, why go to the source for Arcade Fire-esque portent when you could support the (relative) underdogs? Ship Of Promises sounds exactly like the sort of stuff that would make Arcade Fire believers wet themselves, which means it’s exactly the sort of thing I can blithely have on in the background while I’m busy doing other things, like “listening”, “enjoying” and “reflecting”, that don’t relate to what’s on my stereo.

Brisbane-based likely lads Halfway have created a quiet cracker of a record with third studio offering An Outpost Of Promise. Equal parts aching beauty and foot-stomping good times, the record is the work of a band coming into their own.

SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS MAGNETIC BABY Universal So these are the idiots that Perez Hilton helped into the “big” time, right? Unsurprisingly, their music contains about as much melodic/creative/intellectual value as one of Mario Lavandeira’s MS Paint cum scribbles. This is truly the worst thing I’ve heard since the rush of Sunset Strip wannabes that flooded the period immediately postnew rock revolution. Fuck off back to Hot Topic where you came from, you talentless wankers.

ROBYN DON’T F**KING TELL ME WHAT TO DO (MYLO & SHAROOZ EDIT) Modular Man, remember when Mylo was music’s heir apparent? What happened there? Who knows, but there’s a satisfyingly alternately squelchy and thunderous quality to this collaboration with Mylo and Sharooz (whoever that is), scattered with delightfully chintzy ‘80s synth bass accents and a pleasingly deadpan performance from Ms With Every Heartbeat and even a cowbell freakout. It’s too cerebral for Supré, so I look forward to browsing the Sportsgirl sale racks to it. (By the way, those aren’t my fucking asterixes.)

Recorded by the ridiculously talented Wayne Connolly with Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) on production duties, An Outpost Of Promise does not falter once, providing an alt.county soundtrack dripping with confidence but not too self-conscious to wear its heart on its plaid-clad sleeve. Opening track Oscar will have its catchy chorus of “books, booze and Oscar de la Hoya’s sweet hands” swirling in your head for days after the initial listen, and It’s OK, with its giddy harmonies and insta-likability, would not be out of place on a Jayhawks record. Sweetheart Please Don’t Start strains and soars in a fractured and gorgeous ode to heartbreak and the John Steinbeck-inspired Tortilla Code simply shines. First single Stevie is a rocking affair, sounding something like Paul Westerberg and Bruce Springsteen getting drunk together in a bar. Heaven. It would be easy to say the vocals are the star on An Outpost Of Promise, but every member of this eight-piece makes an unforgettable contribution with pedal steel, organ, guitars, banjo, kick drum and brass melding together seamlessly. An Outpost Of Promise is a record for the ages – classic, straight-up and completely unpretentious. No one could ever accuse Halfway of being cool or fashionable, but you get the sense the band are too busy being pretty great to give two hoots about those kind of labels. Now pour yourself a whiskey and get on board. Ned Pearse

THE BOAT PEOPLE DEAR DARKLY MGM Quite why this band haven’t yet ‘broken’ (should that be what they want to do, and judging by the production on Dear Darkly, it is), is a mystery only explained by The Boat People’s lack of an out-front vocalist. They receive airplay, write crackling pop singles, have a work ethic, create great film clips, have a style that is familiar yet their own, and, most importantly, have fresh ideas. By no means as beholden to the idea of ‘epic’ or ‘expansive’ pop as, say, The Temper Trap, The Boat People have, on Dear Darkly, set their sights higher than earlier releases suggested. While a trajectory is all well and good, and the natural development of a band can take a more polished path to questionable ends, The Boat People have integrity coming out their ears and this proves to be their finest album yet. Tracks like Dance To My Pain, single Soporific and the frankly unhinged Echo Stick Guitars suggest that live shows will be getting even better and the band now want you to move as well as appreciate. While mixing their Go-Betweens indie sounds with a bit of Midnight Juggernauts beats may cause some to wrinkle their nose, The Boat People make it seem like the best idea they could have had. Under The Ocean is all headlong guitar slashes and near shoegaze-submerged vocals. This is perfect for those who like their Triple J-rock and lose interest with bands like Ghostwood or Three Month Sunset. Songs like Antidote and Damn Defensive are surely just weeks away from getting sweet repositioning on a TV show or film and going totally nova. There is an ambition on Dear Darkly that is likely to surprise those who have been following the band, and it doesn’t sound like an affectation or adoption. Given the tightness and confidence from a band with a stable line-up and on their third album, there is every reason to believe that things can only get better, though it’s hard to see how the scope and songwriting can beat Dear Darkly. Andy Hazel

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HARD-ONS ALFALFA MALES ONCE SUMMER IS DONE CONFORM OR DIE Cool Bananas/MGM It’s hard to believe it has been more than 25 years since three shit-stirrers who couldn’t play got together and formed what would become an iconic name in the Australian indie scene. But that is exactly what Peter ‘Blackie’ Black, Ray Ahn and Keish De Silva did all those years ago; and not only did they conquer Australia but they put their stamp on the rest of the world, too. Countless albums, EPs and singles accented by tours and amazing supports slots such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Ramones underline their status. Even with a hiatus in the mid-1990s and a change of drummer a few years ago, little has changed; Black, Ahn and Pete Kostic still record and release music for themselves and their fans (and they love them for it). This new release is vintage Hard-Ons – a pounding hodgepodge of lurching guitar, bass and drums, sounding like a potpourri of lo-fi indie to thrash to doom metal to stoner rock. Oh, and a further Hard-Ons trademark: the album’s 19 tracks clock in at a little more than 40 minutes. The opener Feisty is a lo-fi power pop beauty with the Hard-Ons doing their best Pavement impersonation before cranking it up via a belter in Cigarettes. The ‘core kicks in with In The End We All Die Alone, and some of the best ‘heavy’ tracks include Damp, Burn Everything and Hero To Hero. The indie vibe is probably best exemplified in personal fave Everyone Seems Out To Get You, Pretend It’s Vanilla and the ripping I’m A Frozen Boy. There are other gems that stand out, including Give Me Arse A Haircut, the pyschobilly tone of Atomic Handshake, Keep Talking My Eyes Aren’t Completely Glazed Over and Aunty. Another irrepressible outing from a true blue-collar rock’n’roll outfit who have paved the way for many others that cite the Hard-Ons as a major influence. Fans hook in, this might just be their finest. The Boomeister

ON THE RECORD

LATEST CD REVIEWS

MELVINS THE BRIDE SCREAMED MURDER Ipacec/ Shock Make no mistake, Melvins are an assault. But they are a freaky assault: despite the density, the sheer humungous machismo of their sounds, they’re fucking weirdos with a sense of humour. Balls-to-the-floor rock’n’roll is stupid and bogans are idiots, so taking a few off-kilter cues from Buzz Osborne’s other role in Fantômas, Melvins decide to mess things up more than a little bit. Now they’ve got two drummers and it’s the best thing the band ever did, getting some polyrhythmic weirdness happening alongside their heavy riffing agenda. Each song is different. They move from the heavy sludge riffage they’ve built a reputation from to melodic guitar, to really strange avant-garde wrongness. In fact, their reputation precedes them – we’re talking progressive wrongness. Opener The Water Glass descends into a precision military march or perhaps cheerleader-influenced vocalistions, whilst there’s a very dodgy cover of The Who’s My Generation. PGx3 echoes Morricone’s Once Upon A Time In The West’s harmonia before descending into a ritualistic vocal tome. But you need to keep in mind that this is the Melvins; they’ve released a stupid amount of albums, they thirst for wrong, they’re bored by weirdness, anything can happen and that’s just the way they like it. Bob Baker Fish

PVT CHURCH WITH NO MAGIC Warp/Inertia

THE CAT EMPIRE CINEMA EMI

MISTA SAVONA WARN THE NATION Elefant Traks

I can’t stop listening to this. Better still, it’s drawn me back to the with-vowels Pivot’s last release, O Soundtrack My Heart, which was an aural banquet in itself. What’s strange though is that my memory of the earlier release rendered it a peculiar bedfellow for the latter – all grinding guitar weaponry and glitchy mayhem. In reality Church With No Magic follows up so flawlessly that they make for the perfect companion listen and a damn fine afternoon at that.

Eclecticism is a musical characteristic much overreferenced in recent journalism – admittedly, oftentimes by this writer – but it is a word that can scarcely be avoided when discussing The Cat Empire and their delicious new album, Cinema. In fact, so well do kooky influences as varied as Latin, jazz, indie, ska and reggae sit together on this record, that this local outfit could well be credited with having created a genre that can be spoken about in no other way than by actually naming it ‘eclectic’. Putting all this labelling aside for a second, though, Cinema is simply a flat-out terrific record: fun, silly, deep and meaningful, true. The listening experience, dare I say it, is cinematic in its breadth.

Australia is not particularly known for its reggae, but Mista Savona is on a one-man mission to change that. This is an incredibly high calibre collaboration between Savona on production duties and a slew of high-profile reggae and dancehall vocalists. Savona produced the beats in Melbourne and took two trips to Jamaica to record the vocals, enlisting the vocal talents of, among other reggae luminaries, Burro Banton, Sizzla and Horace Andy. Alton Ellis’s vocal for the rocksteady Chant Rasta Sound was recorded in London. Warn The Nation continues on from his first solo record, 2007’s Melbourne Meets Kingston, the first ever album-length collaboration between Australian and Jamaican artists.

We open with Waiting, a frisky, almost blaxploitation-ish arabesque. Then the scratching and horns kick in with track two, Falling. From here, of course, like all good narratives, anything can happen and often does. There is the dulcet-toned, calm before the storm of Only Light and the electro pop heartbreaker The Heart Is A Cannibal. The jungle rhythms and almost Police-like vocals of closing number Beyond All leaves us hanging out for the sequel. In all, when the curtain falls, this is a profoundly enriching experience. One itches to see this band live afterwards, which I suspect is a big part of the point.

Through the production of these records, Savona has been developing a name for himself in Jamaica as a reggae and dancehall producer with an Australian style. In Melbourne, he is just as well known for his hip hop production with Mantra, Diafrix and TZU, and his love of hip hop is apparent in some of the sounds on Warn The Nation. While the vocals are straight-up reggae (“Jah! Rastafari! ”), some of the rhythms could just as easily be hip hop beats. The fat dub basslines of any self-respecting reggae album are there, and some of the tracks are infused with a world music influence, too. Savona is far from being a lazy producer: this music is intricate and dense.

The embracing of vocals here results in more song-type songs thrown in amongst the atmospheres. Opener Community evokes Pink Floyd’s Animals in its curious noodling keys and whirling-bird oddness. From here we leap into Light Up Bright Fires and some of the grating percussion and guitars we recognise. Fourth track Crimson Swan slopes back into spaghetti land before we’re hit with the fabulous (and with any luck careercementing) Window, which despite the relentless airplay it’s been copping registers as the band’s defining moment thus far. Even more exciting is the prospect of this material live. In the tradition of TV On The Radio or, to a certain extent, Battles, this is the stuff that, like sea monkeys, has the propensity to morph and swell on stage. And I’d place Window up there with the best either of the aforementioned has to offer – perhaps TVOTR’s Dreams or Battles’ Atlas. It’s seriously that good. There is a separation that occurs in the early stages of the album, a step away from Pivot towards PVT that hinges on the vocality and it works. This is a complete recording, a triumph of a follow-up and a groundbreaker all in one. PVT could well be dragging awkward, knotty music out of the shadows here in Australia and I reckon it’s about time.

Like the cinema it is named after, we often forget the importance of going and sitting in a darkened room, with strangers, in front of a giant screen. Musically speaking, The Cat Empire inhabit something very much like that sacred space – a darkened room in front of a stage, perhaps? – and Cinema is an insightful reminder that this important part of our culture, even in the MySpace age, is not something to be taken lightly. Tony McMahon

The album has an over-arching theme of environmental sustainability, which sounds heavy, but the theme manages not to smother the record. The album kicks off with the atmospheric percussive drama of Drum Song, and between that and the closing cut, the Latin-infused, acoustic Why Does The World Cry, there’s a whole world of awesome dancehall and reggae on Warn The Nation. Kate Kingsmill

Samson McDougall

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INSIDE:

WEDNESDAY 7TH JULY 2010

DROP THE LIME

GAVIN KEITEL

DYNO

HYBRID

O G F L AVA S EMINEM

VS THE WORLD

SATURDAYS AT LUCKY COQ TAHL MOONSHINE ASH-LEE SAM MCEWIN

THURSDAYS.

GREYSKULL JEAN PAUL KODIAK KID PACMAN

Sundays featuring Phato-a-Mano Agent 86 Tigerfunk & guests

SKINNY DOG . 155 HIGH S T. K E W

CLINT HAR GREAVES LINDSAY M ARCHMENT FANTASTIC MR.FOX MR.BUTLE R SEBASTIAN TAHL

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CE M EN

TOURING DATES

AUGUST

DELPHIC - Aug 1, Corner Hotel GOLDFRAPP - Aug 3, Palace Theatre K-OS - Aug 3, Prince Bandroom MIIKE SNOW - Aug 3, Hi-Fi Bar LATE NIGHT DATE: DOUSTER - Aug 6, Roxanne Parlour OZI BATLA - Aug 6, Northcote Social Club TOO MUCH: RAMADANMAN - Aug 7, Mercat Cross A TRIBE CALLED QUEST - Aug 12, Festival Hall PVT - Aug 12, Corner Hotel LIBERATE: JOHN 00 FLEMING, MIKE, TRITONAL - Aug 13, Brown Alley BLISS N ESO - Aug 13, Palace Theatre SCATTERFEST II: SHARKSLAYER, MIGHTY FOOLS, NEOTERIC, BEATACUE, KIDDA AND MORE - Aug 14, The Espy RICHARD VISSION - Aug 14, Fusion/Crown Casino

SEPTEMBER

PETER HORREVORTS - Sep 4, Miss Libertine HORRORSHOW, SETH SENTRY - Sep 10, East Brunswick Club SUNNY: LEE BURRIDGE - Sep 17, Brown Alley KATCHAFIRE, THE RED EYES - Sep 19, Corner Hotel CYPRESS HILL - Sep 23, Palace Theatre

OCTOBER

PARKLIFE: MISSY ELLIOTT, GROOVE ARMADA, SOULWAX, MIX MASTER MIKE, GRUM, DELOREAN, CUT COPY AND MORE - Oct 2, Sidney Myer Music Bowl and King’s Domain GODSKITCHEN: ANDY MOOR, JOHN O’CALLAGHAN, MARCEL WOODS, WIPPENBERG - Oct 9, Venue TBC

NOVEMBER PENDULUM -Nov 1, Festival Hall JASON DERÜLO - Nov 5, Festival Hall JASON DERÜLO - Nov 6, Festival Hall

4 Zebra Magazine

ut of two drum’n’bass Pr are thee for the Wobble deb Keir. LowQui is Goldie’s Prep DJ and Qui Low MC – s ight ywe heav he a’s leading drum’n’bass M and DJ Keir is one of Australi fx, DJ Cubist, MC Wasp, MC Spin 3, AC2 a, Rets , DJs. Plus DJ Woz D as visuals by Jezworld and Fr sha and Scotty Hinds, as well rday 17 July at the Frak Satu ies. ddecor by Lava Of The Butterfl N Night Owl; 10pm-7am, $15.

SCUBA DIVING S

of Hotflush), Ras G O ratives Scuba (head honcho Ope stics (Hospital/Medic) Logi , vist) Acti -bah (Bra ( infeeder/Poo have all come together er) Snip ner/ cutio and a Total Eclipse (X-e musical espionage te crea to ffor one very special mission: l members Martin L & Declan loca e gsid alon s area e thre over Nam Hooves, Cloud Speaker, Kelly, Dust A13, Fiend, JPS VS Fugitive. Saturday 24 July and oose pag Gala Matt Radovich, at Roxanne Parlour.

ELEKTRIK TATTOO: DYNO - Jul 9, Billboard MISTA SAVONA - Jul 9, Hi-Fi Bar LIL KIM - Jul 10, The Espy SUPER DISCO: DROP THE LIME - Jul 10, Prince Bandroom STATE OF MIND, CERN - Jul 10, Roxanne Parlour GTRONIC, HAEZER - Jul 15, Roxanne Parlour STROBE: BAG RAIDERS, AJAX, BENI - Jul 16, Prince Bandroom MARTIN LANDSKY, ALEXKID - Jul 16, Roxanne Parlour SPIT SYNDICATE - Jul 16, The Evelyn HARVARD BASS - Jul 17, The Espy LOWRIDER - Jul 17, Sandbar BOB - Jul 21, Billboard AGAINST THE GRAIN 2ND BIRTHDAY: AQUASKY, NAPT, POE DE PITTIE, SKOOL OF THOUGHT - Jul 23, Brown Alley TRANCE NATION: TYDI, MARLO - Jul 23, Billboard LADY CHANN, KILLAQUEENZ - Jul 23, The Espy LAB: PABLO CAHN - Jul 23, Secret Warehouse Location LOWRIDER - Jul 23, Westernport Hotel LOWRIDER - Jul 24, Corner Hotel THE OPERATIVES: RAS G, SCUBA, LOGISTICS & TOTAL ECLIPSE - Jul 24, Roxanne Parlour THE LIKES OF YOU: JAMES HOLDEN - Jul 25, Royal Melbourne Hotel SCISSOR SISTERS - Jul 26, Festival Hall LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, HOT CHIP - Jul 29, Festival Hall WINTERBEATZ 2010: BIG BOI, FATMAN SCOOP, NE-YO, T-PAIN - Jul 29, Rod Laver Arena JODY WISTERNOFF - Jul 30, Brown Alley ORKESTRATED - Jul 30, Roxanne Parlour MAMMOTH: OPIUO, SPOONBILL, EDITOR - Jul 31, Hi-Fi Bar

JULY

LOWQUI WOBBLE LO

LA MAMMOTH QUADRELplay host to a quadruple

On Saturday 31 July, Hi-Fi will album, Spoonbill’s new launch event for Opiuo’s debut ut Niceface show. All live deb the and EP new or’s EP, Edit artists and support comes st gue ure feat will s performance performers. Expect a and VJs o, Pedr from Sun:monx, DJ ble. Pre-sale tickets wob and k night of futuristic fat won Polyester; 10pm-late. or .au .com ifi theh from BF $28+

GONNA MAKE YOU SWy EAT in Melbourne features an

The first ever Sweat It Out part Douster (Mad Decent, international guest from France: borders mixing wild uid fl own his es ZZK). Douster carv styles with raw beats. funk Latin rent samples from all diffe mari will all be Cala o Ajax, Yolanda Be Cool and Pabl ey. Local support comes Sydn ting esen repr g alon ing head a, 1928 & Sleeves, from Mugen, Matt Cant, Kris Bah Marco Polo, Glass cap, Popa sy, Jhea Vinnie Van Go!, 6 August at Roxanne y Frida S. Mirrors, Airwolf and WTR available through BF $25+ Parlour. First release tickets r. aste Ticketm

WNLOAD ITCH-E & SCRATCH-E DO t single from local

WAY OUT BEATS through to rstated. Between breaking dance music cannot be ove d Way Out to n ban utio his trib on s con che and tou ce ing Jody Wisternoff’s influen 1986 to putting the finish in old est draws earlarg 13-y the ced of h-fa one fres a early ‘90s act Sub Love was the DMC Hip Hop finals as 9, a lot has happened. His Way Out West. That’s us 200 e in gav m 4 albu 199 io in stud rren rth Wa West’s fou tol DJ Nick uit and his hook up with Bris July. on the UK rave festival circ to Brown Alley on Friday 30 d hea to you for re the t plenty of reasons righ

THIS WEEK FIVE ELEMENTS & INNER CITY SCIENCE @ MISS LIBERTINE Five Elements’ favourite international resident Takaco will ease you into the night with beats from around the world, Ghostsoul will be playing his own funky and abstract beats, Sizzle takes you back to the future and MzRizk drops all sorts of tracks. Also, soul hop heavyweights Inner City Science are hosting a month of mid-week beats in the back room. Tonight (Wednesday 7 July), free.

ELEKTRIK TATTOO @ BILLBOARD THE VENUE Elektrik Tattoo debuts with Italy’s techno wizard Dyno plus support performances from other artists featured on Bush Music’s latest EP (also called Elektrik Tattoo): Heath Renata, Steve Ward, Joel Fletcher, Mike Metro, Momo & Trav, Yoshi, Lucca Tan, Viking, Eric Powell, Chardy and many more. Some of Australia’s best tattooists

Refresh feat Scribe is the lates E. Surging into the ARIA electronic duo Itch-E & Scratchfrom the duo features per Club Chart Top 10, this stom and’s MC Scribe. Refresh Zeal New of ls voca ty migh the recordings and is the feat Scribe is out now on Hussle album Hooray For ing com forth ’s pair first cut from the d the Santiago nloa Dow ). Everything!!! (out 23 July ersalmusic.net.au/ univ at free for ix rem hido Bus & ia. freedownloads/streetpressaustral

– Devils Ink’s Justin Acca, Steve Aidone and Dan Powe – will rotate their artistry across three canvases while tattooed models roam the venue modelling their designs. This Friday, 10pm-late. Tickets through Billboard online, Moshtix and Ticketek.

Australia have made the song available for consumers to download for free at myheartsonfire.com.au. The band comprises producer and singer/songwriter Dennis Dowlut, Andrew DeSilva (ex CDB) and DJ Jarrad (City Life), and you can catch them this Friday at Neverland.

PARADISE CLUB MYKONOS CD LAUNCH @ ALUMBRA

LIL’ KIM @ THE ESPY

The sounds of the European summer head to Melbourne with the official Paradise Club Mykonos CD launch this Friday. For one night only, John Course and Andy Newman (UK) will be smashing the decks to bring you the house sounds of Paradise Club Mykonos together with Melbourne’s finest DJs including Simon Digby, James Belias, Mike Steva, Dean G, Simon Trav and Jimmy Lia. 9pm-late. $20 pre-sale tickets available (or $25 with Paradise Club Mykonos CD) through Moshtix or the venue.

DISCO MONTEGO @ NEVERLAND Australia’s Disco Montego have launched their new song, Hearts On Fire, in celebration of the World Cup. In support of United Against Malaria, Nando’s

The Queen Bee, Lil’ Kim, is in a league of her own as one of the few female stars in hardcore rap. Kim is making her way to our shores for two shows and will play her only Melbourne show at the Espy this Saturday. Tickets through espy.com. au and Oztix.

SUPER DISCO @ THE PRINCE After setting the stage ablaze at 2009’s Stereosonic festival, Drop The Lime (DTL) is heading back to tour Australia. Drop The Lime (Luca Venezia) is an electro DJ/ producer hailing from New York who has remixed Moby, Blaqstarr, Rex The Dog, Armand Van Helden and Midnight Juggernauts as well as co-writing songs with Diplo and Herve. Catch DTL at the Prince for the new Super Disco night this Saturday.

UPCOMING HARVARD BASS @ THE ESPY Fuzzy touring are proud to announce the Harvard Bass tour. Born into a family with musical taste steeped in rich Mexican culture, Victor Hugo Ramos has rhythm in his veins. Instantly adopted by Sound Pellegrino, Harvard Bass has remixed Aston Shuffle and Bag Raiders and also has a new track with Bart B More coming out. Scatterblog presents Harvard Bass at the Espy on Saturday 17 July. Free entry.

LADY CHANN & MOTLEY @ THE ESPY The UK’s number one dancehall queen Chanelle Williams (AKA Lady Chann) has been part of North West London’s vibrant Suncycle crew since its conception and now she’s branching out alone and bringing her unique talent our way. Lady Chann hits the Espy on Friday 23 July with support from Sydney duo Killa Queenz, Motley (UK) and locals Fraksha, Mat Cant, Affiks

and Mamasita Bonnita. Tickets available now from espy.com.au and all Oztix outlets.

BOB @ BILLBOARD THE VENUE BoB is bringing his Adventures Of Bobby Ray down under in July for two shows only. Dubbed “the new face of hip hop” and “a rock star in disguise” by MTV UK, BoB, (AKA Bobby Ray) also sings and plays instruments. In the words of our sista publication, 3D World, BoB is “a little bit OutKast and a whole lot of Kanye West”. Wednesday 21 July. Doors 7.30-11.45pm. Tickets $53+BF through Moshtix and billboardthevenue.com.au.

MINISTRY OF SOUND TRANCE NATION 2010 TOUR @ BILLBOARD THE VENUE After a long hiatus in the genre, Ministry Of Sound returned to the fore of trance with Trance Nation, a two-CD collection and tour. Now 2010 sees this hugely popular release return to shelves and clubs around the country once again with Trance Nation Vol 2. TyDi and Dutch-born MaRLo are assuming touring duties. Friday 23 July from 10pm-3am. Pre-sale tickets $25+BF through billboardthevenue.com.au.

AGAINST THE GRAIN SECOND BIRTHDAY @ BROWN ALLEY If you haven’t heard a NAPT beat then you don’t know what you’ve been missing out on. The architects of N-Funk, NAPT are a DJ duo comprising Ashley Pope and Tomek Naden. Catch them at Brown Alley on Friday 23 July for Against The Grain’s second birthday featuring the Brit quadrella of NAPT, Aquasky (old school breaks set), Peo De Pittie and Skool Of Thought. Earlybird tickets are $25+BF from brownalley. com and Inthemix.

JAMES HOLDEN @ ROYAL MELBOURNE HOTEL James Holden may not be a household name, but to fans of adventurous, progressive electronic sounds, the British techno sorcerer

is a renowned genius. Head of the Border Community imprint, Holden can count himself among that very modern breed of DJ with a special knack for layering the most surprising of records with an unparalleled musical ear. Check Holden out on Sunday 25 July at Royal Melbourne Hotel when he launches his contribution to the DJ-Kicks mix CD series.

WINTERBEATZ @ ROD LAVER ARENA Winterbeatz 2010 featuring urban superstar Ne-Yo, Grammy Award-winning artist T-Pain, local duo Phinesse and Australia’s DJ Nino Brown is heading our way. Not only has Ne-Yo had huge success in his own right, he has also written smash hits for a plethora of artists including one of the highest selling singles of 2006/2007, Irreplaceable by Beyoncé. Let T-Pain Buy You A Drank at the after-party. Just added: Big Boi from OutKast, and the party-king hypeman, Fatman Scoop. Thursday 29 July at Rod Laver Arena. Tickets through Ticketek.

YEASAYER @ THE PRINCE Yeasayer with special guests. Thursday 29 July. Doors 8pm (sold out). Tickets are still available to their second show (with no supports). Doors 11.15pm. Tickets $45+BF through handsometours. com, Polyester Records, Greville Records, the Prince Public Bar or princebandroom.com.au.

PACHA CD LAUNCH @ BAROQ HOUSE The Pacha CD series is back in 2010 mixed by Ibiza’s own Space resident and homegrown talent, Alex Taylor and Onelove’s Matt Nugent. Expect tracks from Yolanda Be Cool & DCup, Cassius, Danny Tenaglia, Afrojack, Roger Sanchez, X-Press 2 plus more. Many of these tracks will undoubtedly be dropped on Saturday 31 July.

DELPHIC @ THE CORNER Delphic return to our shores for the sold out Splendour In The Grass festival but don’t panic if you didn’t score tickets to that one ‘cause a sideshow is being factored into their itinerary. These torchbearers of the new Madchester called over here for a quick East Coast visit March just gone and loved us so much they will return to Melbz on Sunday 1 August. Doors 8pm. Tickets $35+BF through Corner Box Office (11am-8pm, Monday-Saturday) or cornerhotel.com.

K-OS @ THE PRINCE Trinidad-born, Toronto-raised musician/MC/producer k-os (also known as Kheaven Brereton) has enjoyed much acclaim from his fourth studio album Yes!, featuring guest appearances from Emily Haines of Metric and Murray Lightburn of The Dears. If you missed out on Splendour tickets, you can catch the k-os sideshow at the Prince on Tuesday 3 August. Tickets through Ticketek or princebandroom.com.au.

PASSION PIT @ THE PRINCE Passion Pit with The Joy Formidable (UK) and Rat Vs Possum. Wednesday 4 August. Doors 8pm. Tickets $66+BF from Ticketmaster, the Prince Public Bar (12-10pm, seven days) or through princebandroom.com.au.

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST @ FESTIVAL HALL A Tribe Called Quest will be touching down in August for their first Australian tour. Featuring all the original members – Q-Tip, Phife Dawg and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad – A Tribe Called Quest are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm, with a select number of shows worldwide, one of which is scheduled for Melbourne. Thursday 12 August (all ages). Tickets through Ticketmaster.

BLISS N ESO @ THE PALACE Bliss N Eso’s highly anticipated fourth studio album, Running On Air, will be released on 30 July. In its wake, their Down By The River tour will tear through capital cities throughout August with special guests Diafrix and Mind Over Matter. It’s Melbourne’s turn to catch the hip hop trio on Friday 13 August. Tickets on sale now through Ticketek and Oztix.

LIBERATE @ BROWN ALLEY Liberate featuring Jon ‘00’ Fleming is proudly presented by Street Press Australia. The event will take in Melbourne on Friday 13 August with a massive, extended four-hour set from Fleming as well as MIKE launching his upcoming album New York City Lights and the first ever Australian tour of trance newcomers, Tritonal. Tickets through Inthemix and onsideentertainment.com.

RICHARD VISSION @ FUSION Producer/remixer Richard Vission is considered to be an A-list remixer with a long list of chart topping clients such as Madonna, Timbaland, Prince, Weezer and Radiohead. His new single – I Like That with Static Revenger starring Luciana – has gone double platinum in Australia and was the number one requested video on MTV. Vission has played at Madonna’s private birthday party in her back yard for 64 people and will grace the Fusion (Crown Casino) decks on Saturday 14 August.

SCATTERFEST II @ THE ESPY The second installment of Scatterfest brings you Sharkslayer (Finland), Mighty Fools (Netherlands), Neoteric (Canada), Beataucue (France) and Kidda (UK) plus local representatives Wax Motif, Act Yo Age, Congo Tardis #1, Slap & Dash, Mat Cant, Lewis CanCut, Mu Gen and Scattermish.

Across multiple rooms at the Espy on Saturday 14 August. Tickets available through espy.com.au and all Oztix outlets.

SUNNY @ BROWN ALLEY It’s been two long years since dance music renegade Lee Burridge last gave Australia a work over, but this September we’ll get our fix once more. The DJ has been locked in by Melbourne institution Sunny for a five-plus hour set alongside Phil K, Gavin Keitel, Rollin Connection, Ozzie LA plus more on Friday 17 September. 10pm-10am. Tickets: $25 through Inthemix.

PARKLIFE @ SIDNEY MYER BOWL & KINGS DOMAIN Parklife have rolled out the big guns for their tenth anniversary line-up – run for cover, muthafucker! Missy Elliott, Groove Armada, Soulwax, Holy Ghost!, Kele, Busy P, Memory Tapes, Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, Uffie, Delorean, Darwin Deez, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool and Sinden plus many more. Missy Elliott is bringing a 27-strong, all dancing entourage and a brand new album! This year Parklife Melbourne moves to Sidney Myer Bowl and Kings Domain, with more grass, more trees and more space. Mark Saturday 2 October in the diary. Tickets through parklife.com. au if still available.

GODSKITCHEN @ VENUE TBA Australia’s trance beacon and superclub, Godksitchen, is returning to deliver another monumental party experience. Born in the heady days and nights of the UK’s early ‘90s rave culture, Godskitchen is now a globally revered electronic entity. Featuring an angelic line-up of trance luminaries including Andy Moor, John O’Callaghan, Marcel Woods, Wippenberg and many more, Australian dance fans can expect to have all of their prayers answered on Saturday 9 October. Tickets on sale soon.

JASON DERÜLO @ FESTIVAL HALL A second Melbourne show has been announced for Jason Derülo’s first ever national tour. His In My Head single was a number one smash in this country over summer and with one Festival Hall show (Saturday 6 November) already sold out, Derülo will now perform an extra show on Friday 5 November. Tickets on sale through Ticketmaster or Festival Hall Box Office.

PARADISE @ GWK, BALI Brought to you by Jungle Box, Paradise In Bali is a two-day drum’n’bass festival designed to give junglists a chance to come together and see some of the world’s finest artists under the sun. Sunday 14 and Monday 15 November sees the first inaugural Paradise launch its way into festival history with artists such as Makoto, Matrix & Futurebound, Utah Jazz, Ragga Twins, Squire and Bungle (live). Australasian heavyweight support comes from WA boys Shock One & Q-Bik, Kim Dela Hay (QLD) and DJ Low is representing Malaysia. Also featured will be Ragga Twins’ 20th Anniversary special, Utah Jazz’s new album tour and Bungle’s instrumental live show never before seen out of Brazil. Paradise will be held in the idyllic surroundings of Bali, enclosed by enormous limestone pillars with the Garuda figure as a backdrop and the dramatic lotus pond area has a capacity of 7,500. Tickets on sale through Moshtix or directly through paradisefestival.com.au. Holiday packages also available.

GET YOUR TOUR/CLUB/ EVENT LISTINGS, LOCAL RELEASE UPDATES AND ANY BEATS-RELATED PRESS RELEASES IN TO ZEBRA@INPRESS.COM. AU BY MIDDAY EVERY FRIDAY.

Zebra Magazine 5

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W ILS ON

DUMMIES’ GUIDE TO

POLITICAL DRUMMINGS Of course music has been filled with figures that have helped provide the impetus for real political change to make this world a better place. Here are just a few of the many bold artists who have made a positive impact, or at least tried…

WOODY GUTHRIE This early 20th century singer/ songwriter performed militant folk music that makes U2’s Bono slogans fade to the background in comparison. “This machine kills fascists” was emblazoned on his guitar as he sang working class revolution anthems such as This Land Is Your Land. Bob Dylan learnt a lot from this guy.

MARVIN GAYE Motown icon Gaye was considered a mild-mannered pop soul singer before the civil rights movement inspired him to create 1971’s watershed black anthem What’s Going On. Soon other soul artists followed (The Temptations, etc) and nothing was ever the same again. A major inspiration to political hip hop artists decades later.

ONE WOMAN ARMY

PAUL MCCARTNEY

THE CONTROVERSY-WIELDING MIA CERTAINLY WASN’T BORN FREE, AND THE END OF ONE LIFE-AFFECTING BATTLE AND THE ENTRY INTO MOTHERHOOD HAS DONE NOTHING TO DIMINISH HER FIGHTING FEROCITY. IF ANYTHING, THEY’VE MADE IT STRONGER. /\/\ /\ Y /\ IS OUT THROUGH XL/REMOTE CONTROL THIS FRIDAY.

athangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasam has become known as much for her music as MIA as for the whirlwind of controversy that follows whenever she opens her mouth and mind. With two songs so far released off her upcoming album /\/\ /\ Y /\, the wave of media interest has been so great it’s almost overshadowed the fact MIA even has an album coming out. Instead the attention has focused on YouTube quickly pulling the controversial video clip that accompanied Born Free (purportedly due to its graphic nature, as opposed to the themes of genocide and political resistance it tackles with venom) and her reaction to a piece written by Lynn Hirschberg in the New York Times that sarcastically contrasted Arulpragasam’s political stances with her now rather comfortable lifestyle. Of course, MIA isn’t one to idly take criticism. Instead, she bit back. Hard. Posting Hirschberg’s phone number on the net, along with a recording that proved Hirschberg had misconstrued a number of facts from the interview (including that it was Hirschberg who ordered the truffle-flavoured French fries, which the writer then used to take a suggestive swipe at MIA’s hypocrisy), Arulpragasam last month caused an uproar that’s become referred to as ‘Trufflegate’. So it was with respect and quote-lusty excitement that Zebra waited on the phone to speak with Arulpragasam. What sharp-edged quote gold would she stab into our Dictaphone? After all, in the past few months alone she’s done everything from accusing Facebook and Google of being CIA-developed nasties to attacking Lady Gaga with lines like, “She’s a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I fucking do!” Rather than a fired-up MIA, it was instead a tired artist that finally started the interview after spending 15 minutes or so of comedic bumbling trying to sort a coffee to help get over the early wake-up while weaving a promo trail through Europe. “Ahhh yeah,” Arulpragasam begins sleepily when asked about /\/\ /\

Y /\ and how it compares to her past two albums. “I think, in term in terms of drama, I’ve outdone them [weird sounds interrupt]. You know, so [more weird scrapings]… sorry I’m brushing my teeth now.” After the giggling from both parties subsides, the pint-sized powerhouse continues answering whether the album is a more personal one – a question considered due to first album Arular being named after her Sri Lankan Tamil rebel father, second album Kala after her mother, and now /\/\ /\ Y /\ after, well, herself (it’s the typographic equivalent of her legal name). “In the end I think it is more sort of confrontational about myself, and me having to deal with some shit. And also on, like, on all the other albums I always like dealt with the fighting-on sentiment… And if you spell my name out in forward strike and backward strikes, it’s the same sentiment. Like, you know, /\/\ /\ Y /\ spells my name, but it’s also the sentiment of fighting on.” Indeed, that fighting spirit has been instilled within MIA since birth. Although born in the UK, Arulpragasam’s Sri Lankan parents soon moved back to their motherland, motivated by her father’s desire to become a political activist in support of the Tamil Militancy in the Sri Lankan Civil War, one which only ended last year after 30 years of bloodshed. Yet this has been only one of many significant changes in the last few years for the 34-year-old. “I had to sort of deal with being not a normal

THURS 8TH:

THURSDAY IS

human being, but being a pop star, which is really annoying. And I think, yeah in that, there is...,” Arulpragasam hesitates before reeling off, ”I’ve become a mother; I’ve become someone’s fiancé and I had some stability, which I wasn’t used too; my mum became an outlaw, which she wasn’t used to; and it was just loads of different changes in peoples’ roles in my life.” MIA has had numerous death threats over the course of her career, but none were scarier than those received once she was carrying another life in her belly. Still, that didn’t waver her resolute desire to stand up and be heard. “The last month of pregnancy was the most intense for me because I was having to go on television and talk about what’s happening, and people sort of sending these intense letters, and you’re kind of hanging on your last thread but you have to say something. You know, this many people died last weekend and this many babies died and this many women are pregnant and in the camps, and when you’re faced with those kind of facts it’s really difficult because it’s real, it’s really real. And you can’t sort of separate yourself and be like, ‘Well I’m pregnant, I’m having my moment’, like, ‘Can you come back next year?’ “I don’t want to sound like a hippy but I hope it is about justice and right and wrong, and seeing the faults of mankind,” MIA says of the kind of world she’d like her now one-year-old to grow up into. At the very least, the political crusader wishes for a world where society can at least debate these

SUN 11TH:

LADIES NIGHT $5 BUBBLE & $10 COCKTAILS

DJ’S 9PM TIL CLOSE

FRI 9TH:

TOP 40 & COMMERCIAL PARTY TUNES DJ’S 9PM TIL CLOSE

SAT 10TH:

TRANSPORT HOTEL @ FEDERATION SQUARE 9654 8808 / WWW.TRANSPORTHOTEL.COM.AU

6 Zebra Magazine

80’s RETRO TUNES FROM 9PM TILL CLOSE

SUNDAY SESSIONS REECE DILLON

12.30PM – 2.30PM BAND

UNDER THE APPLE TREE 3PM – 6PM BAND

Although John Lennon is often seen as being the biggest political antagonist in The Beatles, it was actually McCartney who penned and recorded the most overtly political anthem with his Give Ireland Back To The Irish, a reaction to 1972’s Bloody Sunday (where British troops shot unarmed Northern Ireland protestors).

MIDNIGHT OIL Before Oils’ singer Peter Garrett became nothing more than a disgraceful mark on this country’s political history, he turned a nation of pub rock fans onto issues that were once considered the domain of saddo hippies: the environment, US political manipulation of Australian governments, Indigenous land rights.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE In 2000, this group of post-industrial LA rockers made a music video with Michael Moore. It was filmed on the steps of New York’s Federal Hall building. After the shoot, the band and 300 fans stormed the steps of the stock exchange – trading was stopped two hours earlier than usual as security was sent into a panic. It just doesn’t get more political than that.

THE DIXIE CHICKS Proving themselves to be more than country hicks, the Texan lasses announced at a concert, ten days before the 2003 Iraq invasion, “We don’t want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas”. Many destroyedalbums and radio station-bannings later, the Chicks ended up winning a number of Grammy awards due to their newfound infamy.

rights and wrongs in a democratic and just way. So it’s the belief in freedom that drives her fusscausing, candid discourses? “It’s weird, I put it down to one thing,” Arulpragasam says of why she keeps popping up in the media for reasons other than her music’s sound. “I’m not being controversial. I think I’m just being normal but, because no one else is saying half the shit – you know, I’m just being honest or truthful – and everybody lives in fear of losing fans. “No one says anything, and then they go, ‘How dare you say that about Justin Bieber!’” she spits in her fiercest mocking tone. “People don’t feel connected to the rest of their environment. Like a lot of musicians don’t talk about issues that are going on in the news or at home, or just say anything that’s like in your face about stuff, when they should. Everyone always whitewashes everything and acts like there’s nothing going on. And I think the media just got used to that.” So what’s her new album going to kick up a fuss about? Certainly the jagged, energetic, rocky Born Free practically punches you in the face with political messages MIA’s fans are used to. First official single XXXO is a completely different-sounding tune, its almost R&B tones helping encourage the lazy to think it might really be about kissy-huggy relationships. Yet it’s another good text for high school English classes to dissect, MIA describing it as “kind of like my relationship song with my music industry”. With Blaqstarr, Rusko and Sleigh Bells’ Derek E Miller lending songwriting and production hands to /\/\ /\ Y /\, as well as usual cohorts Switch and ex-lover Diplo, it’s no surprise the rest of the album is soaked in dirty synths, deep basslines and dark beats. Also, with lines like “I fight the ones that fight me” on Lovalot and MIA darting rhymes about a “bomb blast” over screwdriver sounds in Steppin’ Up, it’s fair to say her engagement to fellow muso Benjamin Zachary Bronfman (incidentally the son of Warner’s CEO) and the birth of their child Ikhyd Edgar Arular Bronfman hasn’t tempered her ferocity one iota. She seems far less comfortable talking about the actual sounds on the album though, preferring rather to describe it as “textures and text messages”. Instead she’s far more at home on the political frontline, spruiking her beliefs before beats. With Australia’s first ever female PM just being sworn into office, could we ever see MIA similarly making political history? “I would never want to inflict politics upon anyone,” she says with deadpan seriousness. “I just feel it’s so stupid that people’s decisions in an office can affect millions of people.” Yet that’s the power of music, and /\/\ /\ Y /\ looks set to continue MIA’s ranking as one of this century’s most fascinating political and social spokespersons.

EVERY NIGHT!

2010

WORLD CUP SHOWING LIVE ON THE BIG SCREENS EVERY WEDNESDAY

WORLD CUP

FOOSBALL COMPETITION

STARTS JUNE 16 FOR 5 WEEKS REGISTER FROM 6PM GAMES START 8PM EVERY REGISTERED PERSON RECEIVES ONE FREE BEER!

CY CL ON

BIG TROUBLE AN INTIALLY APPREHENSIVE KIMBERLEY “LIL’ KIM” JONES OPENS UP ON HER TIME IN JAIL AND THE DEPICTION OF HER IN THE BIGGIE BIOPIC NOTORIOUS AS SHE PREPARES FOR AN OVERDUE AUSTRALIAN DEBUT. xxx

LIL KIM PLAYS THE ESPY THIS SATURDAY.

sk anyone to name a superstar femcee and chances are they’ll cite Lil’ Kim, AKA Kimberly Jones. Jones and her sometime rival Foxy Brown challenged hip hop’s macho culture in the ‘90s with their playaress rap, building on Roxanne Shante’s legacy. In turn, Jones pre-empted Missy Elliott, who’d blaze on her Grammy-nominated Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix) and MIA. Jones was then sucked into a hip hop drama as mistress to The Notorious BIG (Christopher Wallace) and eventually copped jail time for perjury. Jones is said to be apprehensive about interviews, but it transpires that she just likes to be prepared. Jones won’t talk about Diddy, or that ‘biter’ Nicky Minaj, but is willing to discuss last year’s controversial Notorious movie. And, when Jones is finally on the line, she’s chatty – and smart. Like Wallace, Jones grew up

in Brooklyn, the product of a broken family (although she was a girl guide!). Jones began her ascendence as the sole female in Junior MAFIA, a group Wallace guided. Her solo debut, Hard Core, defied even Madonna’s postfeminism with its strident sexuality and hyper-materialism. Pop’s new Material Girl followed with 2000’s The Notorious KIM, the title a homage to her late friend and lover. In 2005 Jones commenced a year-long jail term and, in this time, The Naked Truth dropped. The Queen Bee always commanded greater cred than Brown – and, lyrically, The Naked Truth was tight. Mind, Jones was astonished to receive a five-mic review in The Source. “I was surprised, but I felt like it was well deserved. I went hard for a long time with my music and I felt like I didn’t – and I haven’t – gotten the recognition that I deserved in so many instances.” Jones, who

B M YT UT RO TO Y N

TIGHT SQUEEZE IT MIGHT HAVE ONLY BEEN SEVEN MONTHS SINCE DROP THE LIME WAS LAST IN AUSTRALIA BUT HE CAN’T WAIT TO COME BACK AND SHOW OFF SOME NEW TRACKS, KEEP THE VOCALS COMING AND THROW IN SOME ROCKABILLY ON TOP. XXX THE LIME PLAYS SUPER DISCO DROP AT PRINCE BANDROOM THIS SATURDAY.

ast year Drop The Lime (real name Luca Venezia) rocked the pants off those who caught him at Stereosonic with a heaving set of bassline bangers mixed in with plenty of dubstep, perhaps foreshadowing the path electro appears to be taking today. He also added his own vocal work over many of the tracks, providing that somewhat live element to the sets that again DJs are now looking at to give their act an extra edge. It’s something he firmly believes in, drawing on a background in playing with bands as inspiration for giving crowds just a little bit more to get excited about. “I think it’s really important especially nowadays because there’s so many DJs now with the internet, technology and all the different DJ software... everybody can be a DJ and I think you’ve gotta keep taking it to the next level if you wanna stand out,” he says while on a quick break from filming a new video clip. He goes on to add it’s providing that human touch that not only gives crowds something to talk about, but fires his own desires as not just a DJ, but a performer. “I’ve come from a band background so I always wanna interact with the crowd and share the experience and the performance with them and the energy. That vibe that’s created between the crowd and the performer is crucial to having a good time.” Venezia’s band background started back at a very young age when his (pretty cool-sounding) parents got him into a lot of guitar-based rock and rockabilly tunes which were a big passion until (strangely enough) around the age he was able to start going clubbing. “[Clubbing] changed my life. I saw this DJ playing and I was like, ‘Okay you’ve got one guy and not a band and all these

cameo-ed on Ludacris’ Battle Of The Sexes, maintains that it’s tough for femcees. “There’s always the barrier of the maledominated industry. You’ve always gotta fight against that, you’ve always gotta fight to be a strong business woman. The men don’t allow you really to be a strong business woman in this industry [laughs] – and, to me, that is the part that kinda sucks. But I just keep going. I don’t let it stop me.” Many believe that law-breaking celebrities are let off easily, but Jones’ perjury sentence seemed harsh, the MC ill-advisedly covering for a homie. Jones will share her experiences of being inside in an upcoming book, The Price Of Loyalty. “I’m excited about that book because there’s so many interesting things that happened when I was away and there’s so many things to talk about. People have misconceptions about prison and I would like to clear those up – and I am clearing those up in my book.” Jones was unhappy about Notorious, the Wallace bio-pic Diddy executive produced. “I was very displeased with it. I had no say-so in it. I was supposed to be able to pick who played me, and I was supposed to have my input in the movie – and it had already been greenlit, it had already went into production, and I had no clue as to what was going on. They already picked someone to play me [3LW’s Naturi Naughton]. They basically made up a script on how they wanted the people to perceive me – and depict me. They made the movie up on my behalf – and on a lot of other [people’s] behalfs. The movie was very untrue overall. I looked at the movie as a spoof. It just was not accurate at all. If you’re gonna do a movie about someone’s life, or put a part of their life in it, it’s only right that you get ‘the real’ from that person and you get that person’s input and let them be involved – and they just didn’t.”

people going crazy, I gotta see how to do this for myself!’ I just started messing around and got some samplers, drum machines and turntables and started just playing with things and trying to sound like people like Underworld, Aphex Twin and old jungle like DJ Zinc and DJ Hype.” While he’s come a long way since then, he still cites the UK scene as a big influence, one he looks to for inspiration that led him to playing dubstep in electro sets well before it became more common place. “I’ve always been very attracted to the UK culture and the UK sound because a friend of mine gave me these mixtapes that he had taken from old pirate radio stations and recorded pirate radio that was all jungle and drum‘n’bass from the early ‘90s. It’s always played a huge role and one thing led to another and I started getting into grime then I got into dubstep.” Venezia also fits the bill for many of today’s top DJ/producers in that he’s an incredibly busy man, running his own label Trouble & Bass, touring the world, working on his next LP due out soon as well as a club back in New York. The album (and his upcoming DJ sets) may surprise people, with Venezia pointing out his rockabilly roots are starting to creep into his electronic productions. In fact his whole attitude towards the album is refreshing as so often electronic albums fall into the trap of being a couple of killer tracks and way too much bland filler. “[The album] is finished, it’s bringing that rockabilly and surf guitar together with electronic music and a lot of vocal tracks,” he explains, before noting the importance of an album for all occasions. “I think an album’s really important; you should experiment with it and not just focus on making club hits for DJs. You should make music for people who don’t DJ... for people who can listen to it driving to work or fall asleep to it or have sex to it!” Zebra Magazine 7

BY CA COS TE M R O

ON THE SCORE SHEET HYBRID’S MIKE TRUMAN REVEALS THAT THEIR MORE SONG-BASED, LESS “POMPOUS” FOURTH ALBUM DISAPPEAR HERE IS THE RESULT OF A FRUITFUL NEW UNION WITH SINGER CHARLOTTE JAMES AND A MORE PERSONAL APPROACH TO MAKING MUSIC. DISAPPEAR HERE IS OUT THROUGH DISTINCTIVE/INERTIA THIS FRIDAY.

ne of the longest-running and most distinctive-sounding acts in dance music, Hybrid are still going strong. Whilst new album Disappear Here is a slight departure from their tried and tested sound, on three previous albums, the group’s reinvention has won them even more fans. The nucleus of Hybrid, Mike Truman and Chris Healings, have been writing music together since the mid ’90s. Their breakthrough hit was Finished Symphony, an enduring dance music classic, from their smash debut, Wide Angle. The album brought together the relatively disparate strands of orchestral strings, razor-sharp breakbeats and deep sub-bass, all glued together in a cinematic fashion, the group firmly professing their love of film scores. Wide Angle was rapturously received and Hybrid cemented this with a series of live performances that tore the roof off every venue they played at during

1999/2000. Again, the progressive house aficionados seemed to seize on Hybrid as champions, and their star shone brightly for most of the decade, churning through two further albums and a remix catalogue that could be described as voluminous. Disappear Here is indeed a departure for Hybrid – song-based, more band-like, less grand, but maybe a touch more ‘real’ than previous efforts. “There’s been a bit of controversy because it is a little bit more song-based,” Truman states. “We felt we needed to do something a bit more intimate, a bit more personal. We felt some of our previous work may have been a bit too grand, maybe a bit pompous. We didn’t want to alienate people and go down some electronic folk route, but we did want to make some smaller, more personal record. Which means on the next one, which we’re working on at the end of the year, it’ll probably be completely the other way.”

TOBY N UP IC EE

DEEP DIVER

ITALIAN PRODUCER DYNO IS HAPPY TO LEAVE THE WORLD CUP ANTHEMS TO OTHERS AS HE’S BUSILY WORKING AWAY ON A PAIR OF ALBUMS TAKING IN VASTLY DIFFERENT SONIC FLAVOURS. DYNO PLAYS ELEKTRIK TATTOO AT BILLBOARD THIS FRIDAY.

imini, the Torquay of Italy, was a beachside resort town that developed in the mid-’70s from nowheresville-on-sea into the best disco in town. Continuing to house a nonstop hit parade of killer dance venues and disco sounds throughout the ‘80s, Rimini collapsed into a parody of itself in the decadent high-energy haze of the early ‘90s. Italian minimal/techno artist Matteo Dini – AKA Dyno – spent his formative years hooked into Rimini’s electronic heartbeat, and by the time he was a teenager had turned his fascination into creation, both as a graffiti artist of some note and by releasing his first 12” aged just 15. “My interest in techno music started when I was 15,” Dini recalls of his early introduction to techno. “I live near Rimini and Riccione, so I grew up near Italian clubland where the best alternative Italian clubs were through the ‘70s to the ‘90s. I experienced all the dance music revolutions of the last 30 years.” He hated music lessons at school, but by his early teens Dini was keen to learn to play an instrument – his own way. “At 14, I studied piano for three years and then wanted to write techno. [Italian house producer] Aldo Polverari suggested which kind of equipment and hardware I’d need to realise what I had in mind, and since then I’ve been closed in the studio ten hours a day for the last 15 years: experiment, experiment, experiment.” After many years of pressure cooking his ideas and sound, Dini explains proudly that the recent Dyno releases have captured the attention of the world’s top labels, including Global Underground and now Australia’s own UK transplant, Bush Records. “My manager Marco told me there was an opportunity to start a music collaboration with Bush, as they were into

8 Zebra Magazine

The results are a pleasing mix of the Hybrid of old (breakbeats, bass, patches of darkness) with vocals, guitars and a more punk aesthetic. This change in direction was prompted by the addition of vocalist and songwriter Charlotte James – and a failed album attempt. “We did actually start the album, and spent about a year on it,” Truman mentions, “then realised we didn’t really like it – we’d got stuck in a weird sound, so we didn’t feel comfortable releasing it. So we binned most of it, but cherry picked a few bits that we liked the sound of, so the album took less than a year. A few people thought it was a bit too vocal, and we know that vocals in the electronic dance music world don’t always go hand in hand.” The addition of James, it seems, has elevated the band’s creativity. “We tracked her down through a couple of friends,” says Truman. “We were trying to find a really good vocalist. We sent her demos and she wasn’t from a dance music background at all, which is exactly what we wanted. Not only is a she a great songwriter and vocalist, but she’s a multiinstrumentalist. She can play cello, guitar, piano, all these different instruments. Now we’ve kind of got this smaller sort of feel, so we thought we’d go with that.” Disappear Here has spawned two singles so far, and the title track is scheduled for release as a single in September. The group are currently shooting a video for it, as well as embarking upon a series of live dates. “We’re playing live for the first time in three years so we’ve been chained to the studio for the past while,” Truman reveals. “We got an opportunity to play UK festivals starting with Glastonbury and then we’ve got some European festivals... So we’re just in rehearsals at the moment. It’s a bit like driving a car you haven’t driven for ages. Slowly we’re remembering what to do!”

my sound. Bush has several important pages in my ‘History of Techno’ personal book, so I’m just honoured.” His career hasn’t all been smooth sailing though. “In the last few years I have focused my work on Dyno only, [but] in the past I used different names and pseudonyms because I was producing so much, and the labels I was working for couldn’t release a Dyno 12-inch every week. Looking back, it’s a shame people didn’t know it was me doing all that production,” he admits sadly. Having eventually parked all of his ideas in one marina, he now feels he has created a trademark Dyno sound. “I think there is a Dyno techno trademark – I think, and I hope, that everything I make is deep! Every day I give a different sound to every song, it depends on what the head and the spirit say to me, but I am always pure about being deep.” After 15 years of releasing singles and remixes Dini is finally turning his hand to not one album, but two. Channelling his ‘70s predecessors like Claudio Simonetti from Goblin, Dini plans to make a moody ambient concept record. “I like to adventure in the whole electronic music spectrum, and I have a concept album of ambient electronica called Space Picnic, which will be released during the summer on Hell Yeah Records. It will be a little different from what you usually hear from Dyno. I’m working on a techno album as well, but I’m very busy with gigs and remixes and I can’t tell you exactly when it will be ready.” One thing Dini isn’t ready to write is a World Cup anthem, which considering Italy’s fortunes is probably just as well. “If someone were to ask me to write that I’m pretty sure I would die from a heart attack... and they would be forced to ask Kraftwerk.”

CY CL ON

REMEMBRANCE WAY FIRST, MS DYNAMITE WAS HAILED AS THE NEW LAURYN HILL, THEN ESTELLE. NOW IT’S THE TURN OF ANOTHER BRIT – ROX, AKA ROXANNE TATAEI – THE YOUNG PRODIGY WHO’S JUST DROPPED HER DEBUT ALBUM MEMOIRS IS OUT THROUGH ROUGH TRADE RECORDS/REMOTE CONTROL.

ondoner Roxanne Tataei is following Amy Winehouse by bringing a modern, post-feminist, confessional slant to vintage soul on her classy debut, Memoirs. “I think people will see a young Londoner who had a bad experience of love and heartache [but] who came through the other side triumphant and learnt from her mistakes,” Tataei says of the album, stifling a giggle. “I hope people will get that, because love is a universal thing. We always get our hearts broken and we always fall in and out of love. So I just hope people can relate to it and connect with it and understand where I’m coming from.” Yet Tataei is not simply the latest ‘nu-Amy’, being that, unlike Duffy, Adele and Pixie Lott, she sang in church. And, in contrast to Winehouse’s Back To Black, Memoirs, home to the singles No Going Back, My Baby Left Me and I Don’t Believe, is largely an English production, Tataei collaborating with Al Shux, the dude behind Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind. Tataei keeps it quiet, but she attended the famous BRIT School in Croydon. She’s more open about her stint with the respected National Youth Music Theatre, among its former members Jude Law, Matt Lucas and recent Tony winner Eddie Redmayne. Before signing to Rough Trade, the company responsible for Duffy, the versatile Tataei, who plays acoustic guitar, led a jazz ensemble. Memoirs finds the half-Jamaican, half-Iranian songstress referencing her Caribbean heritage with the reggae Rocksteady – but she also reveals an affinity with folk artists such as Joni Mitchell.

CY CL ON

ELECTRIC DREAMER HIS PRIORITIES MAY HAVE CHANGED, BUT LOCAL HERO GAVIN KEITEL IS AS COMMITED TO PUSHING THE “UNDERGROUND SOUND OF MELBOURNE” AS EVER. GAVIN KEITEL PLAYS LOCAL SESSIONS 001 AT BROWN ALLEY THIS FRIDAY.

avin Keitel might have become an international superstar DJ to rival Anthony Pappa, but he chose to remain in his adopted hometown of Melbourne. Keitel escaped here from Darwin, of all places, to pursue music professionally. Back in the Northern Territory, aside from DJing, he was part of a now long-forgotten hip hop group. Keitel was the turntablist – and beatmaker. “We entered a Sony band competition and we got flown down to Adelaide to compete down there,” he recalls. Keitel also visited Melbourne – and experienced its nightlife. “I thought, ‘That’s it, I’ve gotta come here!’ So I left Darwin on my 22nd birthday and came down here with a record bag and a suitcase and gave it a shot.” A persistent Keitel established himself in Melbourne’s progressive house ranks, eventually impressing the staunchly underground Sunny collective to book him regularly. In

2005 he released the high-profile Balance compilation offshoot Electric _01 backed by EQ, the brand then undermining the influence of Global Underground. Keitel was already challenging the divide between ‘prog’ and techno as minimal spawned its own local intelligentsia. Today the DJ admits that it was “difficult” to break out of progressive. “I was just bored out of my brain at that time with progressive. It’d just gotten really deep and monotonous – and we’d all done it and done it and done it... I was really searching [for a new sound] and probably a little bit musically lost at the time.” His pivotal moment? Hearing Terry Francis’ tech house Fabric 02. “I thought, ‘This is just magic!’” Keitel determined to start mixing in the housier – and techier – records he bought but didn’t necessarily spin. As such, he’d be instrumental in Sunny’s change of direction, the parties soon attracting those notoriously cliquey – and anti-

It’s no secret: Tataei idolises Ms Hill. Her wardrobe styling, as much as the music, owes something to the youthful L-Boogie. Tataei even worked with Hill’s affiliate “Commissioner” Gordon Williams on Memoirs in New Jersey. Tataei loved vibing with the “family guy” in his home studio – Williams’ kids drew her pictures and showed off their shark book collections. But, for Tataei, like Hill, her debut was an education. She realised that cutting an album often takes longer than expected. Indeed, Tataei had intended to record Memoirs in five weeks, but that became eight months. She learnt, too, the importance of following her instincts. Tataei admits to having doubts at points. “I learnt that I should always stand my ground. I’ve always been a very strong person – always have been, since I was small – but I sort of lost my way towards the middle part of the recording process of the album, ‘cause there were so many people with opinions. I started to doubt myself – like, all the ideas I had – and I thought, ‘Maybe I’m wrong and I should do what they’re thinking?’ But I think you should always go with your gut instincts – because I ended up doing something and I had to re-record it again, anyway, and go back to my original idea. That’s what I learnt for myself – always follow your vision.” Tataei is aware of Hill’s distaste for an industry in which she’s just beginning. From what she’s ascertained in liaising with Williams, Hill most resented her loss of privacy. Tataei hopes her family – and friends – ensure she stays grounded. “I’d prefer to be the new Sade!” she enthuses. “She goes away for ten years, comes out, releases a record and it goes straight to number one – and sells millions of records. You don’t need to know about her whole life story, you don’t need to know about what she’s eating for breakfast that day – it’s just about her music. That’s what I love.”

prog – techno (and minimal) kids. In the meantime, Electric _01 found its way overseas, yet Keitel, who was working at the distribution company Listen 24-7, didn’t fully capitalise. “I just managed to fall into a really good job opportunity here and it was literally a decision [I had to make] – do I pursue something more overseas, go overseas, do a couple of short tours, try to establish that network? It’s like you can’t just go over and be a rock star – it’s hard work... [And so] I had to make a decision. I had to either pursue that or take on the job opportunity that I had here. That was the choice, unfortunately.” Keitel accepted the job with few regrets. And it’s because of his ‘other’ life, too, that he’s no techno producer. “My priorities are just a little bit different to what they used to be.” Indeed, Keitel and his wife are preparing for the birth of their first child. Nonetheless, if Keitel has never had a publicity machine behind him, it’s to do with something else entirely. Unusually for a DJ, he has little online presence. (“I’m not really a Facebook basher!”) He last remembers granting interviews five years ago for Electric _01. “I’m actually quite shy,” he confesses, adding that, in the past, this may have been misconstrued as “arrogance”. “The only real true tool I’ve got is the way that I play.” This Friday Keitel, also resident at Poison Apple, will DJ at the first of Darkbeat’s new monthly parties, Local Sessions. He’s looking forward to showcasing “the underground sound of Melbourne”, but embarrassed to be the headliner. “[The promoters are] saying, ‘Oh, this person’s gonna warm up for you, and I say, ‘Well, it’s not like that at all – we’re all just playing on the night, we all get to do our thing’. No one’s warming up for anyone, no one’s got the main slot.”

SINGLES

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

BIG BOI FEAT CUTTY Shutterbug

(Universal) With its opening post-Grindin’ old school clank, Big Boi’s comeback single threatens to be a stripped down affair, but in true Big Boi style quickly adds layers of synths and organs, molasses soul vocals, P-funk vocoders and of course Big Boi’s own doublespeed, unpredictable flow. Good stuff, and if it’s not the world-shattering classic you were hoping for, don’t worry – there’s even better material on the new album.

BOY 8-BIT

Still Killing EP (Mad Decent/Inertia) This remix collection is all over the place, but in the best possible way: I’d describe it all as “mutant house” if that didn’t sound like bad PR speak. Obi Blanche’s remix of Bulbs Burn Out lays eerie jazz saxophone over a bassy Derrick Carter groove; Boy 8-Bit’s remix of his own Cricket Scores is sparkly Turkish electro house while Memory Tapes’ take is symphonic Black Dog IDM. The other efforts here keep up the high standard.

JUSTIN BIEBER FEAT USHER Somebody to Love

(Universal) If nothing else, Bieber is an interesting test case: whatever the pre-teen is peddling must be the default pop sound for 2010. Here it’s that energetic R&B/dance interzone, with a debt to recent Usher (hence the guest spot); brisk yet lush, with little trancey arpeggios going off like party poppers. Bieber’s tremulous vocals are the weak link, letting down a confident song where they added to the charm of Baby.

HARMON & THE PSYDE PROJECTS Sip Sip

(Freakshow Disco Productions) I’m increasingly ambivalent about any sort of hip-house revivalism; nothing ever sounds as good as the 1989 stuff. Here local dude Harmon fuses smirking Spank Rock postelectroclash art-smut with, say, LMFAO’s I’m In Miami Bitch. The fidgety cowbell-dominated live-disco groove is fine, but the tune feels like a joke that you either get or don’t, rather than a ‘song’ that you ‘like’. However the hypnotic dancehall-ish syncopated groove of the DJ Crater remix is kinda brilliant.

TECHNASIA

VARIOUS/MYNC

Central

(Technorient Music/Stomp) KRIS SWALES

Technasia have always bubbled away on the peripheries of the dance music mainstream without ever really attracting the attention of those beyond the trainspotting cognoscenti, but if the clubbing gods are kind Central should be the record to turn that around. Any preconceptions that this is one for techno purists only should be checked at the door as Technasia mainstay Charles Siegling (fellow founder Amil Khan has departed to enjoy family life) has crafted a cohesive, singular, 18-track sonic voyage that weaves the classic elements of house, techno and progressive together with incredibly clean but never ‘minimal’ sound design into a wonderfully accessible whole. The waves of lush pads and synthesised arpeggios that wash over you from the moment opener Apologia slowly rolls into view are a perfect indicator of what to expect. Alternating one word vocal loops lock you in the groove of Obsession, undulating triplet chords move in and out of view on Esperance, then the record’s first real moment drops on the back of a classic rave stab breakdown on the Dosem co-produced Movement. It’s almost unfair to signpost particular tracks given the skill with which Siegling has deployed his arsenal, though Diana Ayanna’s vocal contribution on Jaya and Viviana Espinosa whispering husky Spanish nothings over the post-Balaeric beauty of Tu Isla are standouts. And as soon as you arrive at the Hong Kong railway station from which the album takes its name at the end of album closer Voyager Eternals, you’ll want to book a return trip.

CR2 Presents Live & Direct – Space Ibiza (CR2 Records/Stomp)

STUART EVANS

Space, the final frontier? Hardly. CR2’s Live & Direct series is back, this time the record munch-bunch switch focus to Ibiza’s famous debauched club, Space. This is the official compilation for the eminent club, mixed by the everpopular MYNC. As is the norm these days, the two discs with beats (not including the bonus DVD) are split into fractions. The division is thus: La Terraza, which features everything housey and La Discoteca, which features everything heavier and harder. First up is La Terraza. The brisk, lively basslines are kept moving thanks to MYNC’s nice arrangement of records, including I Feel Love, their collaboration with Rhythm Masters. Other sprightly efforts arrive from Jewel Kid’s Musica, DJ Wady’s Diskoteka and Nic Fanciulli Vs Lusine 2 Dots. La Discoteca is firmly titled to those who enjoy their house a little on the tempestuous side. It’s dark, dingy and it skulks along to increased bpms from the likes of Mark Broom’s Supersnout, Popof’s Blow Me Down, Dan Castro’s Disco Bitch and Slam’s Collecting Data. The shift in tempo, mood and ambiance from disc one is prominent and is certainly slanted to the underground. Space Ibiza may be another compilation amongst the crowd yet it stands out from the pack for its brazen and dark assortment of melodies. That Space Ibiza is packaged with a bonus DVD, which features footage from Space’s closing 2009 bash, is a dividend. CR2 are fast gaining a reputation for putting out quality combinations.

VARIOUS/ HORSE MEAT DISCO Horse Meat Disco II (Strut/Inertia)

DARREN COLLINS

There are endless comps around at the moment describing themselves as disco, be it with ‘nu’ or ‘cosmic’ or some other prefix attached to its name; in fact much like funk, garage and electro, disco has come to mean something completely different from the way it was originally intended. Except to the Horse Meat Disco boys. Starting out (and still running as) an underground club night in South London, Horse Meat Disco has travelled the world pumping the real underground disco sounds of the ‘70s and ‘80s and after the roaring success of last year’s first HMD compilation the lads were left with no option but to do it again. Make no mistake – the HMD sound is so gay it makes America’s Next Top Model’s Miss J look like Wilt Chamberlain, and this is demonstrated right from the start by Leonore O’Malley’s First Be A Woman. In contrast the set then moves into more dubby, underground gear including Bravo’s driving, percussive Italo, a spacey extended version of Scherrie Payne’s I’m Not In Love (Girl You’re In Love) and the good health advice of Electra Feat Tara Butler’s electro-boogie Feels Good (Carrots And Beets). Both cheesiness and weirdness abound as Swedish model-turned-actress Madleen Kane’s Cherchez Pas meshes rock-ish guitars and cabaret horns while Lourett Russell Grant’s Hot To Trot is (hopefully) unintentionally hilarious with its horse riding motif and ridiculous effects. The set then builds up steam.

Zebra Magazine 9

KISS TIMELINE

1994

Kiss FM sets up home in Chapel Street South Yarra and goes to air with its second full test broadcast.

1995

Kiss completes test broadcasts. Kiss releases its first compilation CDs Serious Club Choons & Serious Rave Anthems. Kiss moves to Collins Street Melbourne

1996

Timmy Byrne is appointed station manager and Kiss FM becomes the first Melbourne radio station to stream audio live using Real Audio and vision using CuCMe technology. This is an extraordinary achievement for a small community station with limited budget. Kiss releases an all Australian compilation CD Melbourne Medium Rare.

1997

Kiss relocates to Grey Street St. Kilda and Kiss CD Taste the Flavours is released.

1998

Kiss gives away a Holden Barina and launches the Choose Kiss campaign to fight for its full time licence and Kiss FM Vol. 1 the CD is launched.

BEHIND EVERY GREAT CLUB NIGHT, VENUE OR FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE, A LONE OPERATOR OR DEDICATED TEAM HAVE SWEATED BLOOD TO ENSURE EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT ON THE NIGHT. THEY ARE THE PROMOTERS OF MELBOURNE, AND FERN GREIG-MOORE QUIZZES A SELECTION OF THEM ON THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF PUTTING THEIR NAME AND BANK BALANCE ON THE LINE IN M-TOWN.

journalist for The Age once referred to it as looking like “a cross between the chicken dance and a foot stomping robot” to the untrained eye. Local dance music connoisseurs knew better – this was the unique dance style practiced in their clubs, their raves and their festivals. This was the Melbourne Shuffle, emerging in the 1980s as a distinct dance incorporating more arm flailing than usual and evolving into its present day form of expression, specifically in trance, techno and hard dance realms. This was and remains today as unique to Melbourne as the city’s famous tram lines, a result of passionately entrenched Melburnians within a sub culture brimming at the sides to leave its mark on the world. After humble beginnings in the 1990s, electronic music in Australia had trace elements of house, techno, funk, disco, hip hop, R&B and numerous other genres. It was early innovators Severed Heads who were considered to break through existing rock music barriers being the first electronic group to play Big Day Out. Defined as a music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production, no other city took to it as progressively as the city of Melbourne. “There’s been heaps of parties and crews over the last ten years, even earlier – in the late 1990s the Groove Therapy Parties were responsible for bringing some of the scene’s biggest DJ’s to Australia from the UK,” remembers long term local promoter Eden Krumins aka DJ Cubist. “But I think in the last few years the Aussie scene is slowly starting to come alive with more producers writing quality tunes and getting signed to UK labels.” Despite Melbourne’s untarnished reputation for running some of the best events and club nights in the country, it hasn’t been without incident. Local promotional companies of all sizes and calibres have inevitably faced their fair share of hardships.

Conflicting variables including government policies on liquor licensing, oversaturation of large scale festivals, the birth of the digital world and the ever growing Gen Y epidemic have challenged the sanctuary of running a business in an already competitive industry. Not to mention civil politics which, like in any industry, have had both positive and negative effects on the overall sense of community. Joe Lorback aka Comrade Dubs has been involved in the scene both musically and politically since 2006. “There are politics,

1999

Broadcast 16 begins for 6 weeks and Kiss broadcasts live from the main arena at the Big Day Out. Go magazine, a full colour dance music periodical is published.

2000

Broadcast 18 kicks off in March and goes for a month with Broadcast 19 running for a month through October/November

2001

The final two test broadcasts 20 and 21 go to air in April and November respectively. Hearing by the Australian Broadcasting Authority to decide the allocation of the three FM and one AM community licences is held at the Melbourne Town Hall in August. Kiss FM has a mammoth turn out of supporters at the hearing. The Kiss contingent is the largest of all the 23 aspirant groups. So large is the crowd of supporters that officials are forced to lock the doors. December 19th 2001 the Australian Broadcasting Authority announces its decision and even though the committee finds there is a community need for a dance music radio station such as Kiss it decides against granting Kiss a licence. Despite politics, on Friday May 30, 2008, over 3,000 members of Melbourne’s music and entertainment industry came together in Treasury Gardens to form an alliance in protest of the impending laws of the Brumby government concerning stricter regulations on liquor licensing. This was recorded in Melbourne’s live and electronic music industry as the biggest displays of mass unity between a body of people who so often found themselves in civil turf wars. Sammie Anschau, director of Boots Management and affiliated with a plethora

scene – in a demonstration that journeyed from the lush grounds of Treasury Gardens to the formidable steps of Parliament House. Never before in the history of Melbourne’s bar and club trading had so many key players come together as one to build a coalition. The event went to air on various news networks as key speakers passionately spoke of a once bustling city, world renowned for its colourful and musically unique nightlife coming to a halt if a proposed 2am lockout were to be passed by those in positions of power.

“GENRE MASHING AND QUICK MIXES SEEM TO BE IN AT THE MOMENT WITH THE NEW YOUNG CLUBBERS, SHOWING THEY HAVE A SHORT ATTENTION SPAN… BUT ONCE AGAIN AS THEIR TASTES DIVERSIFY, IT CAN ONLY BE A GOOD THING FOR MORE FRINGE STYLES OF MUSIC.” MJ, 100% PHAT

there are egos, there are stereotypes in all areas of the music industry. Because like any industry it is competitive, and this competition means we are often competing with our friends… sometimes this friction is constructive, but generally it’s divisive,” he concludes. “In terms of the relationship between music and politics that I’m passionate about enhancing, both political activism and political music have declined in the last five years. Yet I believe people are as scared about the direction the world is going in as they have ever been, and that music plays a critical role in expressing that fear and turning it into a positive reaction. “ ADVERTORIAL

of music and event promotional companies in Melbourne praises the movement. “It was fantastic to see the Melbourne nightlife community stand together and fight this. Melbourne is the most vibrant city in Australia, we are well known internationally for a culture and events – if the current government has its way this will quickly dissipate.” Melbourne Locked Out, a protest group designed specifically for campaigning against the lockout led bar, restaurant and nightclub owners, DJs, punters and members of the music industry – especially (but not only) those who were involved in Melbourne’s electronic

Perceived as a reactionary, social experiment, the ALLM (Association of Liquor Licensees Melbourne) announced they had lost all faith in Sue McClellan’s leadership as director of Liquor Licensing Victoria. Venue manager of Lucky Coq, DJ and barman Peter Baker has been an active player in the local hospitality industry for many years. “I feel it’s necessary to weed out the incompetent traders without punishing businesses that are doing their best to conform to the ever changing requirements from both Liquor Licensing and local police. I feel a much better level of communication should be

2002

In March the Kiss FM doors are locked and the organization is officially wound up.

2005

Kiss returns as a low powered network of stations on the 87.6, 87.8 and 87.9 frequencies. The return of Kiss is brought about by Tim Byrne and Kate Wignell negotiating to acquire an existing Greek formatted radio station and turning it into Kiss. Many of the old shows return and many new ones are launched including Global with Carl Cox, a State of Trance with Armin Van Buuren and Transitions with John Digweed. Kiss operates out of a small studio and office in Richmond.

2006

In March10,000 people turn up at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl for the inaugural Kiss My Grass, an all Australian line up with the largest line up of all Ozzie DJs ever assembled.

2007

Kiss My Grass is moved to Australia Day and a massive crowd of 18,000 fill the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with the day capped off by a massive fireworks display to celebrate our national day.

2008

Kiss My Grass returns in January with another successful day of festivities. In August Kiss sets up a satellite studio in Greville St. Prahran with the intention of relocating the entire operation there. However due to an unworkable relationship with the owners of the location Kiss decides to withdraw all operations back to the Richmond studio and offices in October.

2009

Results of McNair listener survey finds there are some 130,000+ weekly listeners to the station whether by conventional radio or online. Further to this an iPhone app is released thus increasing Kiss’s potential audience reach. A deal between boutique pay TV service SelecTV further increases the Kiss audience as the station is now available in 40,000 households nationally. In August of 2009 work begins on building a new studio and support infrastructure at the soon to be new home of Kiss in Abbotsford. September Kiss goes live from new Abbotsford studio and Richmond facilities are turned off. In December Kiss Pizza opens at Abbotsford studios. Kiss now becomes the only radio station in the world where listeners are able to come to the studios and watch the shows go live to air while dining in the Kiss Pizza restaurant.

2010

Kiss My Grass returns yet again and the station completes the first major review of its programs. Kiss Pizza receives positive culinary press and Carl Cox designs and cooks his own personalized pizza named The Carl Cox. The new location and concept are widely acclaimed by listeners and patrons alike.

considered by liquor licensing when making changes to laws,” Baker offers. “But in saying this, our much loved Chief of Liquor Licensing has not had her contract renewed. This is a step forward already and the replacement has pledged instead of punishing traders, he will be taking on the approach of educating traders.” The Colonel, proprietor of Abode with partner Tracy G, also sits on the committee of the Licensees Accord for the City of Port Phillip. “The recent changes to the Liquor Reform Act have created an absolute nightmare. It is inconceivable that venues and licensees with incident free trading histories are being penalized by the ‘high risk’ system. In no other industry of society do you get penalised for good behaviour… A solution will not be found until Liquor Licensing Victoria and the government realise that alcohol and violence do not go hand in hand where responsible adults and well operated venues are concerned,“ he argues. “They need to focus on identifying the problems (mostly generational and social) and fixing them.” Despite the huge change to public awareness, a 2am lockout trial went ahead in June of 2008. Licensees and other business owners who consequently suffered as a result of the lockout, including non-licensed businesses like McDonald’s and Hungry Jacks, declared it a disaster. Amidst much conflicting evidence that the trial had failed and with spring and summer party seasons approaching, the Brumby government confirmed no further continuation of the trial. Melbourne city and all who promoted her, for the most part, had won. More so problematic for promoters in recent years has been the abundance of large scale festivals, still a topic of much debate within the dance music community. On Friday 1 January, 1999, Mark James and Jason Ayoubi of Future Entertainment ran an outdoor dance music festival at Sidney Myer Music Bowl – unbeknownst to the long term success it would bring. Rave pants, pink hair, micro skirts and leg warmers were in abundance. Attendance was in the low thousands with no internationals on the line-up. Instead Summadayze boasted two stages of Melbourne’s finest local DJs including Jeff Tyler, Jason Midro and Simon Digby. Those who can truly say they were there from the beginning will reminisce in detail about how “it’s nothing like it is today” in good ways and bad, but all will recall the modest ticket price of $15. This day would essentially be known as the true birthplace of a brand which is now as prominent in Australia’s dance music culture as Technics and Pioneer. Innovators gave way to replicators and over the years, copycat festivals – some successful, others dismal – infiltrated the scene. The Suspects Company, affiliated with sister promotional company Mixed Messages, is a management crew that has been collaborating and running Mixed Genera parties in Melbourne for close to four years and have found themselves up against competing festivals on many occasions. “Do they affect parties? Yes. Do they affect our parties? Yes, to a degree. But I think long weekends – usually when festivals are held – are just

“THERE ARE POLITICS, THERE ARE EGOS, THERE ARE STEREOTYPES IN ALL AREAS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. BECAUSE LIKE ANY INDUSTRY IT IS COMPETITIVE, AND THIS COMPETITION MEANS WE ARE OFTEN COMPETING WITH OUR FRIENDS… SOMETIMES THIS FRICTION IS CONSTRUCTIVE, BUT GENERALLY IT’S DIVISIVE.” JOE LORBACK AKA COMRADE DUBS

expensive weekends for people in general”. International artists were called on as the competition heated up, ticket and drink prices soared, and attitudes changed to keep up with a new generation of hungry, short attention spanned consumerists. Some argued it became less about the music and more about the almighty dollar sign. Others argued the influx of festivals resulted in mass saturation, one being Bo Ghetto Kitty of Ghetto Arts and Miss Libertine. Key player in the Melbourne music scene for the past 10 years she reflects that, “big festivals were the hottest ticket and now I feel with saturation and scale, they have burst their own bubble. There will probably be a market for them for the 18-25-year-old bracket, no matter how shit they are, but the older, more discerning punter seems to have grown out of that and wait for sideshows with a more civilised atmosphere.” Kitty has seen both sides to the coin, “I have been involved with many big festivals as both a punter and an organiser, and I

think that they either need one of two things to be successful – a huge list of massive internationals in the one place to draw a variety of people to them, or a fantastic vibe that surpasses the need for most big name acts that people look forward to all year. [Like] Rainbow Serpent for example, where I never go for the music but for the vibe, camping and people.” Mark James, director of Future Entertainment considers that though, “many club managers/ promoters/owners blame festivals for disrupting their business, [but] the issues go beyond festivals. Although the festival scene has grown in recent years, events such as Summadayze, the Welcome series, Two Tribes, Kiss My Grass, Good Vibrations have been around for years with little or no impact on the club scene.” Inevitably, festival ‘season’ was extended, as other companies filled the perceived lucrative gap during off peak months or commenced catering the public with other styles of music. Where others have failed, John Curtin, marketing director of Totem

Onelove Group has watched the successful evolution of his brand. “Thank God we decided to move to festivals when we did. Festivals will continue to be popular, the stronger ones will grow and I can’t see too many ones starting without a few dropping off. We closed Onelove after eight years as it was time and we now have a growing list of festivals, marketing consulting, online groups and our music label.” Public opinion differed, some perceived these events and ‘dance music’ in its entirety had evolved into its own commodity. “All of a sudden every second ad on TV aimed at Gen Y had an electro track behind it. From mobile phones to cars to tampons, the corporates quickly realised the clubbing generation were their market,” intellectualises artist manager, club promoter and director of 100% Phat, MJ. “With dance music going commercial, clubbing just became the done thing. If you didn’t look a certain way, listen to certain music and hit certain clubs, then you were a social outcast on MySpace for the next week. Music definitely

lost its grip on being the number one factor that pushed the scene forward… the second factor that has really changed the face of the scene is digital downloads.” A generation of technologically savvy and musically spoilt party goers infiltrated Melbourne’s music scene. Gen Y’s were associated with expendable behavior – their obsessive need for the latest, coolest gadget, hairdo, fashion trend and music was contagious. The indie culture, with its mish mash of styles and tastes, presented Melbourne promoters with another foreseeable dilemma – move with the times, change with the scene or get left behind. “Nights have cropped up recently focusing on hip hop and four elements, trying to resurrect the sense of community and culture,” promoter of long running dancehall events and booking agent for First Floor, Sophia Di Venuto says. “Similarly there are reggae nights that are strictly vinyl, as a counter to the digital/Serato age.” As club nights and large scale festivals manufactured a ADVERTORIAL

product carved precisely for the mainstream, Future’s Mark James has been a close observer to the ever changing industry. “We have found that over the last five years, the genres have changed dramatically, people have more access to music these days and tastes have broadened,” he considers. “I feel this will keep evolving.” Sammie Anschau concurs. “Subgenres have genres now. Electro/electroclash/electro-indie/ indie-electro, this has definitely affected the club nights. There are so many different nights out there now and all very subgenre specific. I think people find it more difficult to find a night with good quality music. “ Easy access to technology awash with a culture of commercially driven people saw the electronic age giving birth to something new. The digital age brought forth an entirely new subculture of fresh faced DJs. “Anyone can now do a mash-up, an edit, a shitty remix, make a mix CD, write a blog or whatever,” MJ says. “They are by no means experts, but their work goes out into the beyond along with more established or talented people.” This quantity over quality paradigm is a standard school of thought amongst present day local promoters. Daniel Banko and Darius Bassiray, two parts of one of Melbourne’s most premier underground event companies Darkbeat, are no strangers to the scene. Their ever-expanding brand attracts a more educated punter and is recognised not only in Melbourne but Australia-wide. “We would say that the scene is struggling to some degree. We believe that this is mainly due to the fact that the newer generation of DJs and clubbers are not getting exposed to quality music as much as in the past,” the partners quip. “We have learnt to stay clear of being purist in the forms of genres we run. We believe good music is good music… We would say this fusion of genres in recent times has helped us succeed for the amount of time we’ve had.” For the most part the promoters of Melbourne remain optimistic. While there is constant concern that certain elements of electronic culture are being washed out by new forms of digital technology, extreme public social marketing/promotional sites like Facebook and Twitter, and the ‘live in the moment’ attitude of Gen Ys, hope remains. “Personally I think things will come full circle,” MJ considers. “Genre mashing and quick mixes seem to be in at the moment with the new young clubbers, showing they have a short attention span… but once again as their tastes diversify, it can only be a good thing for more fringe styles of music. So I think smaller parties and crews that are more underground will once again find a following.” DISCLAIMER: We would like to thank all those who took part in this feature, and while we recognise that there are countless others who played a big part in the development of Melbourne’s local dance music scene, the topic is so vast that it’s simply impossible to include and thank every individual. Please be assured we have each and every one of you in our mind and extend our greatest thank you for making this industry what it is today.

Kiss FM pioneering and supporting Australia’s dance music culture since 1994. ONSIDE

We promote: We are predominantly trance nightclub promoters and stage events across Australia, including White Sands in Melbourne and Liberate nationally. We also have other interests in different genres and new projects are currently in preparation. Background info: My love started with house music in the early ‘90s, early trance music and early rave; quite the spectrum of sounds but in those days there was no internet, just radio and very good record stores so the underground sound was still quite underground. I ran my first club show in 1995 and in 2001 worked closely with Hardware on a few projects before starting my own techno promotions company in 2002. Onside Entertainment commenced trading in 2009. What influences the success of your night/s? With a plethora of festivals on offer, good artists generally prefer the big stage but always have a soft spot for the intimate club nights, which is where our concept comes in. Most people prefer longer sets to

really enjoy the artist’s journey and give more respect to the show they are building. Competition is quite healthy these days and the consumer has a heap to choose from, so this in itself keeps us on our toes and reminds us to push the envelope every time and build on the previous tour. Tips for aspiring promoters: Everything begins with a good idea. It all comes down to concept and ambition. If you have both, anything is possible. Take a few risks but understand the consequences. It’s easy to run a show in a club but difficult to make it work time after time so be prepared for an interesting ride. Build relationships with other industry people and go to their promoter meetings to gain a better understanding of it all. Most of all enjoy what you’re doing and don’t lose sight of the original plan! Contact: onsideentertainment.com.

OPULENT We promote: We run the monthly hip hop throwdown known as Favela Rock, five years strong in October. We also host international tours. Some awesome people we’ve brought to our sunburnt shores include: The Cool Kids, Diplo, A-Trak, South Rakkas Crew, Rusko and Buraka Som Sistema to name but a few. Background info: It was five years ago, on a cold winter’s night that the founding members of Opulent decided to start a distribution label. This was quickly decided to be a financially unviable venture. So we thought, a print publication would be our ticket to riches. Genius. We somehow ended up hosting club nights and tours. What influences the success of your night/s? The weather. If it’s hailing, it’s hard to convince people to leave their warm house and brave the cold. Having said that, the winter parties are often the wildest. People dancing on the speaker stack, the bar, utilising

BLACK CAESAR EVENTS

We promote: Inner City Groove at Phoenix Bar, CBD (Fridays weekly), Saturday Nights at Murmur, CBD (weekly), Playpen at Section 8, CBD (fourth Saturday of every month), Soul Searching at Phoenix Bar (second Saturday of every month) and Black Caesar Events at The Penny Black, Brunswick (rotating Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays). Funk and soul equals good time party music! Background info: We’ve got well over 15 years experience putting on parties and have managed to organise and run a few popular nights around Melbourne town. Between our love of funk, soul, hip hop, edits and deep drum breaks for all parties to dance to, we cover all the bases. Basically, if it’s funky and has soul, then we’re into it. Though Black Caesar Events is new, our time in the game goes way back and we’re looking to go big. Watch this space! What influences the success of your night/s? We don’t stick to one musical formula, era or genre, so

poles. Music trends come and go as well. We ride a lot of those trends as seen by our infatuation with Moombahton (slowed down Dutch house). But we also have a base in classic hip hop party jams to keep the night grounded. Unfortunately, we have no rival club night, but if you would like to be Blur to our Oasis, please apply to favelarock@opulentmagazine.com. Tips for aspiring promoters: Don’t drink all the DJ’s drink cards, bad form. Try and not get too drunk if no one’s there 30 minutes after opening. And don’t ever put on a party to make money, ‘cause if that’s your motivation, you won’t make a dime. Contact: opulentmagazine.com.

we’re not caught out by musical trends and/ or competition. When people tell us whatever new style of club music that’s making the rounds is the best thing going, we still keep these thoughts in the back of our minds: “Ransom’s already been there and done that better than anyone else and no trend can touch a wellplaced Stevie Wonder track.” It’s just music, so we keep it simple. Tips for aspiring promoters: You’ll meet more people in this industry over a beer in the clubs than over the internet so get out there and rock the set. Prove to the venues that you can play and come with the full package (i.e. artwork, editorial and legwork). Before you know it, you’ll have your ‘in’ for throwing your own gigs. Most venues own other venues, so there’s always an opportunity out there for you. Worked for us and it can work for you. Contact: www.myspace.com/bcmelbz

SUNSET PROMOTIONS

party. This changed after the success of More Fire, and there are now several other reggae and dancehall nights happening regularly. This is obviously good for the scene in general, as it provides more choice for punters and more possible avenues for new people to discover the scene. Personally I feel that reggae and dancehall were more popular with the wider public back between 2003 and 2007, but, most importantly, the real fans never lose interest. Tips for aspiring promoters: Come to existing nights! This is a tip for aspiring DJs as well. Come and see what other people are doing, see what’s working, and identify what could be done better. Be aware of what’s already on the reggae calendar, needlessly competing against established nights isn’t going to be good for anyone. Contact: chantdown.com, facebook.com/chantdown.

PRESSURE DROP

What influences the success of your night/s? The reggae scene is small compared to other underground music cultures, so most of the promoters communicate well with each other to ensure event clashes don’t happen. Fortunately, our scene is tight, and the support base is something I’ve found to be positively unique. It has its challenges, like breaking broader stereotypes (reggae isn’t just Bob Marley). Music trends coming out of Jamaica are worlds apart from the days of Bob Marley, so the presentation of the music and keeping up to date with new releases and current trends is vital, so is balancing it with the local crowd’s tastes and favourites. Tips for aspiring promoters: Be patient and learn your craft. From the promotion, billing, venue, sound and decor to the door person who greets punters, each element plays a vital part in the way your night comes together. Contact: myspace.com/pressuredrop1

TOO MUCH

definitely on the up, a lot of not strictly dubstep promoters are putting on parties and it’s getting bigger and bigger. As for things that affect us now, other parties on competing nights and weather. Tips for aspiring promoters: Be prepared to lose money at first, don’t get disheartened and be prepared for people to dismiss you as just being another guy/ girl trying to put on a party. Work hard, be prepared to go on poster missions most nights of the week and be at every other party handing out flyers. Know exactly what you want to achieve as this gives you a solid goal to work towards and will enable you to see where you can improve. Make sure the sound is the best it can possibly be for your budget and take risks. Contact: myspace.com/toomuchdubstep, facebook.com/toomuchdubstep and twitter.com/ toomuchdubstep.

We promote: Hosted by Sista Itations and in its fourth year, Pressure Drop has become one of Melbourne’s favourite reggae/dancehall events and is now held bi-monthly at The Johnston, Fitzroy. The event mainly focuses on classic and up-to-the-time dancehall, with a dose of roots reggae thrown into the mi,x and features rotating guest selectors and live MCs. Background info: Started DJing around 2002 by guesting at other events. At the time, the only night dedicated to reggae and dancehall in Melbourne was More Fire, so my early musical education took place in the basement of the Mercat Cross. I lived in the US for a while and experienced the scene on a much larger scale. I became addicted to Jamaican music and the way it was presented in a dance. After hosting a number of one-off parties, Pressure Drop was born in 2006 out of a desire to run a dance my way. Run by myself, Tempa, Nich Power and Vida-Sunshyne, the night quickly gained much hype and is still delivering big tunes, big bass and big vibes today.

We promote: We put on dubstep/wonky hip hop/ minimal drum’n’bass/techno. Dubstep is the main genre that we push but we’re open to anything as long as it fits within our ‘sound’. At present, our home is at the Mercat Cross and they’re an amazing venue to work with. They’ve really helped us develop our brand and have given us time to grow. Background info: Pete (Same O) has been involved with parties since he was 18 helping out at Fractured and Blazin’ at Lounge. He did his first solo party (Rollin Deep) a few years ago. Dan (fooishbar) was part of the Slam It/Alas nights in Helsinki for a couple of years before he moved back over here. Together we’ve been running Too Much! for just over one year and have recently brought in David Bass as a resident. What affects your nights? At first we found just getting our brand out there and making people aware of what we were doing the hardest thing however that’s starting to change. Dubstep as a genre is

We promote: The Likes Of You and One Night Only with another bundle of joy on the way.

Background info: We started Sunset back in 2008 with a small charity night. Since then we have grown to tour some very well established artists such as Dash Berlin, The Thrillseekers, Martin Roth and in August we are hosting JOOF, Mike and Tritonal.

ADVERTORIAL

We promote: Reggae and dancehall. More Fire is Australia’s longest running reggae/dancehall night and is on the second Saturday of every month at Deep 11 (Mercat Cross Hotel basement). We’ve also toured several international artists. Background info: Chant Down was formed in 2000 when radio presenter Jesse I linked with longtime reggae selector Ras Crucial. We both recognised that Melbourne was lacking a proper Jamaicanstyle soundsystem, with a focus on selection and microphone hype, so we stepped up to fill the void. In the early days we had people coming to our nights asking, “When is the band on?”, but More Fire quickly established itself as a cornerstone of the Australian reggae and dancehall scene. What influences the success of your night/s? When More Fire started in 2001, there were no competing nights at all as reggae was generally regarded as Sunday arvo chill music, not something for a jumping

THE LIKES OF YOU/ ONE NIGHT ONLY

We promote: Sunset.

What influences the success of your night/s? Lots of things can affect an event. Trance has really exploded in Melbourne over the past couple of years and there are trance events on nearly every week. It’s good for the punter as it gives them more options to choose from about where to go and who to see, but, on the other hand, it makes it a little more difficult for us promoters to bring people to our event. It’s so important to have people who always support the events, regardless of whether they’re big or small. We are pretty lucky at Sunset to have a great group of promoters and helpers that always try their best to

CHANT DOWN PRODUCTIONS

Background info: I have worked with electronic music for close to 15 years and it came about by helping a good friend put up some posters for a party called Acid Reign in Fitzroy. The Likes Of You was started a few years back with three of us but now it is just myself and Daniel Teuma at the helm. make the event succeed. And believe it or not even the weather plays a part. Tips for aspiring promoters: Have a set of ideas and values that you like to bring to your events and stick to them. Have a group of dedicated people to help grow your idea and do whatever you can to make it succeed. Contact: sunsetpromo.com.au, facebook.com/ sunsetpromotions and twitter.com/sunsetpromo.

What influences the success of your night/s? Everything affects our shows from the clouds in the sky to the gravitational forces of the moon. It’s best not to worry about all the variables, especially web forums, as the stress will kill you in the end. Try to keep all bases covered and work with good people wherever you can. Primarily, make sure you have the best content for the price and we try to do this above all else at The Likes Of You and One Night Only events.

Tips for aspiring promoters: My tip is to stay true to the music you believe in and try not to compromise your passions. With the development of promoter/ DJs and massive festivals every month you’ll find it’s harder to stay true than you think. Contact: likesofyou.com.au and onenightonly.com.au.

Kiss FM pioneering and supporting Australia’s dance music culture since 1994. SMASH BANG RECORDS

We promote: We incorporate our label into nights around Melbourne and occasionally overseas. We have hosted nights at Lounge on Swanston Street for over four years now with release parties happening every couple of months. The label recently released some disco-influenced tunes and held a release party at La Di Da. We’ve played as a live show, showcasing our releases on the Screw boat parties, and we are currently talking to Muska and the crew from Under Suspicion about some shows at Brown Alley Saturdays. Overseas, Smash Bang has headlined parties in Brussels, Gent, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Berlin, Leeds, London and Glasgow. Background info: Smash Bang has been releasing music via Beatport since January 2007. What influences the success of your night/s? It’s always a challenge trying to play original music in a club when you’re only a visitor. We have run weekly nights and this is when we find it most enjoyable and

beneficial to the venue. A night grows on good music and we feel it’s sometimes misunderstood when it’s a one off. Overseas it seems to be easier as we’ve always been billed as a headline act and expected to do it our way. It’s very rewarding and inspiring when it works to a fresh audience. Tips for aspiring promoters: As a promoter, I usually let the music speak for itself. I find promoting is often based on who you know these days but if you use the music to talk to the people, it will help you build the right audience. By this I mean giving away CDs, posting tracks and video clips online and finding the people who will enjoy what you do, not just turn up because you told them to. This creates longevity and quality nights, not to mention a likeminded audience. Try to give something back, don’t just take the money and ignore the people’s needs. Contact: smashbangrecords.com.

ROCKSTARR

MIXED MESSAGES

We promote: All underground music but mostly techno. Under Suspicion is our new Saturday at Brown Alley. Using Mixed Messages concept ideas, it has a party techno sound. We’ll run Under Suspicion NZ in September. We support Against The Grain events as well as collaborating with crews like Heavy Innit, Subbass, Broken Beat Assault, Darkbeat, Sunny, Rock Like This and Instinct. We’re heavily involved in the Sub Sonic music festival in Sydney. We also have outdoor festivals in the works. Background info: Involved for the past seven years. I wasn’t really digging the Melbourne club scene and after meeting Tavish who had similar tastes in music he introduced me to Tahl and we started running Mixed Messages parties. We had no promoters and the music would vary from popular club anthems to the darkest depths of noise. Now we collaborate with all the major crews of these styles. What influences the success of your night/s?

We promote: Restless Entertainment currently runs and promotes three R&B/hip hop nights in Melbourne’s CBD. Keep your eyes peeled though as we are soon opening a Sunday to add to our list of hot spots! Our current nights include: Rhythm-al-ism at Fusion, which is Melbourne’s number one R&B Thursday night and has been going strong for almost ten years; Melbourne’s premier R&B Friday night, Dysfunktional at The Loft; Khokolat Koated at K Bar (Saturdays); and Be at Co (level three, Crown) is our brand new Sunday night experience opening 20 June! Background info: Restless Entertainment was formed in July 2000 by DJ Damion De Silva. For almost ten years, Restless has provided R&B/hip hop lovers with multiple regular weekly club nights to party at. What influences the success of your night/s? Absolutely everything: music trends, the competitive

ROCK LIKE THIS

We promote: Everything within the urban genre (R&B, soul, hip hop, old school and everything in between). We run weekly events including Playground at Seven on Saturdays and Scribble at Q on Friday nights. Background info: Rockstarr was formed in 2004 but the two major stakeholders have been active in the promotional environment since 1999. Rockstarr was formed to better facilitate the need in the urban market for high quality weekly events in Melbourne. We both started in the scene by running venues and hosting parties and events. What influences the success of your night/s? Our nights allow us to host a range of sub genres within the urban category. At Playground, we have four rooms of music covering everything under the broad urban music banner. Our more newly established night Scribble caters to less pop-based R&B and appeals to the more astute lover of hip hop, R&B and soul. There have been a number of hurdles to overcome since our beginnings

RESTLESS ENTERTAINMENT

in the scene due to the negative stereotypes aligned with our market and also the ongoing battle with other popular music streams and fashion movements. We have managed to succeed through it all and have worked with some of the biggest names in urban music including Justin Timberlake, Usher, Xzibit, De La Soul, Kelly Rowland, Ja Rule and Sean Kingston. We’ve also catered to many a celebrity including Russell Peters, Nicholas Cage and Gordon Ramsay. Tips for aspiring promoters: Identify your target market and go after it. Stay true to your brand and don’t become complacent or lazy expecting people will support you forever. Also have deep pockets. Contact: rockstarr.com.au.

You can’t predict its direction. You have a vision and hope that others hear it and want to be a part of it. I want to see a sub culture and I want to be part of an underground movement. You can only do your thing and be passionate about it. If it doesn’t happen then it’s just not meant to be. Tips for aspiring promoters: Don’t hang at the back of the dancefloor doing the industry chat. Get on the dancefloor, get amongst the people. Mixed Messages promotions were built on the dancefloor. Enjoy the music, be there for music, push your vision, but don’t promise anything that you can’t deliver. Ask for help or collaborate with other likeminded promoters. Surround yourself with genuine people; it leads to more good people. Keep your ego in check, all good things long and lasting never happen overnight! Contact: brownalley.com, facebook.com/ mixedmessages.

We promote: Comprising Dan Deviant, Chris Citizen and Phil Flip, Rock Like This is mainly a breakbeat touring and events company. But with breaks being an ever-changing genre, we appeal to an the electro, techno, dubstep and drum’n’bass market. Melbourne has a range of DJs across different scenes suitable to this sound that we utilise as guests and features for the party, so despite being a breakbeat crew there is more to Rock Like This than just breaks. Background info: Starting from very humble beginnings back in 2005 at a place called Bunker Lounge, we threw a small party for about 100 people every month. Since then there have been various weekly/monthly nights and special events. In 2009, Rock Like This joined forces with international record label Against The Grain to present some of the biggest international acts in the scene such as Stanton Warriors, Freestylers, Deekline & Wizard, Elite Force, Meat Katie, NAPT. Keep an eye out in your local street press for your next Rock Like This event.

market, economic trends, large events and festivals, the weather and also the acts and headliners we have scheduled on any given night to draw in additional punters. These are just a few of the many variables we have to face on a weekly basis. Tips for aspiring promoters: It’s harder than you think. So unless you’re prepared to do the hard yards, don’t bother. Always stay true to your product and don’t forget, you have to spend money to make money. Contact: restless.com.au.

What influences the success of your night/s? Melbourne’s unpredictable weather and the time of year. The economic state of Melbourne also impacts, people are just so cautious with where they spend their money now. With the large amount of venues in the city and surrounding areas, you always compete with other nights. Melbourne is pretty spoilt for choice when it comes to electronic music events, and odds are, if there’s not another party on in the same night pushing the same genre, there’ll be one of similar sound or taste. Tips for aspiring promoters: Don’t rush into running parties if you’re not prepared to follow it through. It’s a lot of work, usually always thankless and non-profitable. You’ve got to be in it for the good times not cash. Go further than booking acts and handing out flyers. Don’t hassle your friends. Be nice to them and don’t spam them. Spam is killing the local scene and making good music harder and harder to find! Contact: rocklikethis.com.au.

SPEAKER CHIC

We promote: Indie electro: Wednesday Nights at First Floor, run by myself (Smile on Impact) and my partner (Youthful Implants). Background info: We’ve been in the industry for over ten years. I started to DJ when I was 15 and started putting on all-ages shows for my band when I was 18. Youthful Implants started out selling mixtapes and drum’n’bass LPs at a record stall and moved on to promoting one of London’s most successful breaks parties called Supatronix. We had both been chasing our tales doing odd breaks and electro parties while our production was being well received internationally. Instead of continuing to try and lever ourselves into a flooded Melbourne DJ scene, we decided to take a bit of control and run our own night. What influences the success of your night/s? The main factor is how much effective effort you put into your promotion. There’s no use working really hard if you’re chasing your tail. You must adapt to changes

in music trends and be able to cope with competing nights and bad weather. Not over booking is essential. It might be pointless to spend extra cash on a killer support DJ who is not going to bring any extra heads above what the headliner will already bring down. Calculate you turnover conservatively. There is nothing that hinders motivation more than losing money. Tips for aspiring promoters: Make friends with the people that turn up to your shows. Those are your crew. Rent-a-crowd quickly runs out so make newcomers feel very welcome. Avoid chin stroking: it’s called ‘dance music’ not ‘think music’. Focus on music that people can enjoy easily and your crowds should be more consistent. Contact: Google “Smile on Impact” or “Youthful Implants”.

HOUSE DE FROST

2ND BIRTHDAY DRAG BALL EXTRAVAGANZA!

JULY 17@TOFF

ADVERTORIAL

GENERIK NAME? WHAT INSPIRED YOUR DJ “My Mother.” BE IN A NUTSHELL, DESCRI WHAT YOU PLAY? “Dance music.” HT NOW? ON RIGH WHAT TRACK TURNS YOU pso.” “Round Table Knights – Caly DJING? WHAT MADE YOU START e.” fam arty eetp “Str THING YOU’VE WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST ? LUB HTC NIG A IN SEEN ma attack due to “A bartender having an asth hine.” mac ke smo a excessive use of G TLE BOO RST WO WHAT’S THE YOU’VE EVER HEARD? seen, let alone heard.”” “Bootleg jeans should not be T YOU’VE HAD AS A DJ? THE MOST IDIOTIC REQUES ng.” timi “Nothing is idiotic, just bad S? GIG T WHEN ARE YOUR NEX er Disco at Prince. “Every Saturday night at Sup spots in between.” en hidd r othe few a as As well

PURPLE SNEAKERS

WHERE IS IT? Miss Libertine. WHEN IS IT? Every Friday. WHAT CAN YOU HEAR? The sounds of people partying, dancing and getting lucky… Oh, and also the best new party/indie tracks going around. WHO PLAYS? Purple Sneaker DJs, the best indie DJs from around Melbourne, guest bands and a whole lot more! WHO’S GOING? Apparently one in two babes from around Melbourne. W WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW? If you like to have fun then you W need to know about Purple Sneakers, come dance with us!

“

I SAW A GUY ON CHANNEL 4 NEWS REPORTING ON A MURDER STORY AND AT THE END HE PLUGGED HIS TWITTER PAGE, THAT’S NOT REALLY ON IS IT?!”

EVER EXCRETED ANY UNUSUAL FLUIDS BEFORE ROCKING A SHOW? “I may have spewed once or twice...” E? NAM MC YOUR SE YOUR BEST SHOW CHOO YOU HOW DID .” AND WHY? “It started as a joke and just kind of stuck “High Society at St ING? RAPP BEEN YOU HAVE HOW LONG Kilda Festival this year .” “Just on eight years – beautiful day, great ? WHY TWITTER IS WRONG #731 WITH CALVIN HARRIS. ARE YOU AFFILIATED WITH ANY CREW d and it’s just one crow -piece “I play with the High Society which is a seven ep of those gigs I’ve always dubst at MC live hip hop/reggae band and I also wanted to play.” and and drum’n’bass parties with the Sub Bass JAY-Z OR NAS? Twisted Audio crews.” “KRS-ONE.” WHAT CAN YOU REMEMBER ABOUT FAVOURITE COMEBACK LINE? YOUR FIRST GIG? “Stop. Ranga time.” “I had to pay to get in!” WHAT GIGS DO YOU HAVE COMING UP? ston on “High Society are playing the John the next Twisted Saturday 24 July and I’m hosting 8 August with Audio and New Grounds party on MC Harzee.” PIC BY KANE HIBBERD.

1. Ho 1. Hooray H Hoo oooray raay Fo FFor or EEveryth vver ve eryyth thing iing!!! ng!!!!!!!! ng ITCH-E ITC TCH-E TC H-E & SC HSCRAT S SCR C AT CR ATC CH-E C H--E H-E H 2.. Chu Chunk Ch C h nk n (6th ((6t 66tth B Boroug orroough or oro ugh Pr PProject roje ojjjeect c Rem Remix) R Re emiix) emix) x ARCHI A ARC AR R HI HIEE BR HIE BRONS ONS ONS N O ON N OUT OUTFIT O U FIT FITT 33.. FFut Futures Fu u ure ut u es ((Carl Car C alC Craig Crai raai raig rai agR Remix) em emi m x)) ZERO ZER EERO 7 4. Feelin’ Real Good TONI TONI LEE 5. Alive GOOD 6. Life Magazine (The Arthur Baker’s Not Going Back Remix) COLD CAVE 7. SparkyLives (V_rtek Mix) SASHA 8. David Lynch Moments GENERAL ELEKTRIKS 9. Even Though (Surfing Leons Afternoon Remix) MORCHEEBA 10. Crum Drum Drum CRUMBS

ry herrry he Sher Sher k Sherry Mark Mar

(ON TOUR) WITH NICK CONNELLAN I’’ve ooften I’v I’I’ve fte ft tteeenn w wondered on ere ond on e d aabout bou bo o t tthe hee guy guy w gu wh who ho iinve invented nvvente nve ntedd the nt nte thee bagpipes. bag ba a ppip ag ipees es. s My co cconclusion ncluus nc ncl ussioonn iss alw usi always lw ways a th ay the he ssame am ame mee – hee did m ddidn’t n’t’ nn’ rrea ea eally lyy ca ccare are re about aabbout abo ut the thhe h en eend ndd rresu esult,t aass long esult, es esu long lo ng as a itit was wass lo loud udd aand nd really result, oobn bnoxi oxi oox x oous uus. IIt’s t’s ’ an an iin str t ume tr ument n tha nt hhaat ccould ooulld oonl ou nly hav avee bbeen eeen een obnoxious. instrument that only have inv nvent ented eedd by the thhhee SScottish, Sccott Scott ottish sshh, tthe he row he oowdie dieest st nnat na a ion ation at o onn eearth on ea arth rth.. invented rowdiest nation earth. Imagine Ima magin agin inne iit:tt:: “this’ll “th tthhis iis’ ss’llll pis ppiss iisss ooff ffff tth the them hheem pposh osh os osh sh bba bastards asta sstttaard rddss ac rds aacross crro ros os o s tthe h he bbor bo or o de deer!!”” der border!” Apply you’ve Apppllyy this App A tthhis ‘bag thi ‘‘bagpipe’ bagpip bag piip ipe’ e’ the theory heooryy too a clu cclub, ub, b, an aand nndd you’v yyo ou’v u’vee ggot ott Glasgow’s Inside Out, trance night last Glasg Gl Gla sgo gow’ w’s w ’s In nsi sid ide O id ut, a tra ut, rance anc ncee nni ight hht ru r n oonn tthe run hee las at as Saturday every It’s held Arches, Sat aturd tuurd urrdayy of eve veery month. mon m oonth.. It ’ss hel he eld aatt TThe he A Arc Ar rcchhes hee , a 3,000-capacity named 33,0 ,,00000 capaci caa ac cap aaci ciity ty spa sspace sp paacee so so nnam aam medd for fo itiits ts ddistinctive ts iist ssttin incctiv ive iinternal iv nterna nnte r all rn architecture. Originally series train station arrcchit arc hiitec hi eect cttuure urre. O rigina rig inaally in ll a sser se eries er e of o de dderelict erelict cct ttr rain a n st taat atitionn tunnels, acquired multi-use tunnel tun ne s,, itt was wa ac wa acqui qui qu uired ed in 19 11991 991 91 as as a m uultltti-u i-i see art aarts ts ts venue. Besides venue. vven u Be ue esid s des art arrt ex eexhibitions xhib hibiti ibitittioon ons nns aan and nd ccomedy, om oome medy, me dyy itiit’s t’ss sin ssince nce ce hosted Mills, Carl Cox anyone hoosted hhos osste ttedd na nnames ame mees lillike mes ikee Je JJeff Jef eff M ilillllss,, Ca Car C arrll C ar ox aand ox nd an nd anyon yone eelse yo yon llse see you 2009, Arches placed top yyoou o ca can tthink can hink hhin in ink oof.ff.. IInn 20 ink 200 0099,, The TThhe he Ar A Arche rche ches hes ppl lac acedd in in the he tto op 30 clu poll conducted cclubs lubs bbss worldwide woorldw wor w ldw ddw wide iiddee inn a ppol po o l ccond ondduuct ondu cted by DJ Mag. It’s resumé It’tt’’s aann iimpressive mpp ess mpr sssive ivee rre esum uméé ffor orr a vvenue enu en enue nnue nnearing its 20th anniversary. a nive ann iversa ers rsa ssaary. ry.

It’s IIt’ It t’t’s hhard ard rd ttoo under rd uunderstand un nder ddeeersta errssta tand ta nd tth the he cl cclub’s lubb’’s ssuccess. uccess uucc sss. IItt hhas ass one one of loudest muddiest systems you’re likely thhe tthe he lo loude oud uude ddest est st and annndd mu m uddi dddi diest st so ssound oun uund ndd ssy yste stem mss yyou ou’re ’rree lilikel kkeel kel ey ttoo fifinnd. nd. d. Walking Wal Wal Wa alkin kin ki inng inside insi nsside de is is like likke stepping step teepppin te piin ing into innto too a kitchen kittcheen kitche blender. t-out ble leende nnddder.. Its Itts fifit-o t--oout is, t-o iss, well, weell, w lll, non-existent. non-e no n-exis n-e x ste tten eent. entt.. The The Th he walls waalls w lss are aarre bare, grotty blow-up ba bar arre, e, gro gr rrootty tt br tt bbrick, brick rick iccckk, aand nd iililluminated nd llumi m nat naateedd bblo llow-u w-u - p ddecorations e orra ec eco rat aattio ion ons hang thee ceil han anng ffrom rom m tth cceiling. e ing eil ngg. TThe floor is mostly concrete, a ng. your after kkiller ki kil iller ler eer on on yyo ourr kne kknees kn nneeess aaft af fftte only a few hours. The doors only aaree op oopen pen en onl n y ffrom rom te ro rom ten en ‘‘til three; hardly enough time your groove to get to get yo ge our gr ggro ooove v on oon. n. TThe h bar staff are slow. And yet... here sspend spe sp ppendd a ffew eew w hours hoou hhou o rs rs her he e e and it’ll become apparent. er short opening period Thee sh hoor ort rrtt oop peen eni nniinngg per erioo means punters party hard. er Bothh rrooms heave B Bot Bo ooom oo om ms hheav eav aavve iinn ttitime im to the cacophony issuing im from gigantic speaker fro rom m the thhee gigant gig igant ig ntic ic spe ic peak akkee stacks. At 11pm it feels ak ake music like lik i e 44am. am.. Th am TThat hat at th the he mu m usi s c is barely discernible doesn’t sic matter the they ma m mat atte tter teer ttoo th he cro ccrowd; row rro owd; d; the th he just want loud, angry noise. he FFrequently, Fre reequ quuentl que ntlt y, y the thee da ddancefl ance c flo ce floor o erupts with voices yelling in time beat; “Barry, tittim me ttoo the thee bbea ea eat;; “B “Ba Barry B rrryy, Barry – Barry fucking Connell!”, a ttribute rib ibute tee too th tthe he SScottish ccot otttis tiiish trance jock who passed away in ‘08 with acute meningitis. Local support is strong at Inside Out. In the trance room, Mark Sherry need barely touch the mixer for the crowd to explode. There’s never dancing; only jumping or moshing. In short: the

MYS STT @ PLATFORM ONE

WHERE R IS IT? Platform One, Vault 7 & 8 Banana Alley, Flinders Street, Melbourne. WHEN IS IT? Launch on Friday 9 July – doors open at 9.30pm. WHAT C CAN YOU HEAR? We are playing the best of ‘80s an and ‘90s dance, old school house and electro. WHO WH ’S PLAYING? Introducing three new DJs – DJ Bear, DJ Pete and DJ Georjii. WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNO W? The Red Bull Wings team will be there there and have heaps of Red Bull giveaways as well as bus busttin ting ingg tu in ttune u s at the front of the venue from the Red Bull car. Ladie Lad iess ge gett a fr free champagne cocktail on arrival as well as $15 entry. Dressss co Dre code is neat casual – collared tops and sneakers all good, no thongs and singlets. Guesstl Gue sttltlist ist av avail ailaaable by emailing mystnightclub@liv ail e.com and you can find us on Facebook.

atmosphere is peak time, all the time. Inside Out has all the makings of an awful club night. ID checks logically done at the door occur at the bar instead, meaning the place is full of underagers. Topless heroes strut their stuff and molest those on the dancefloor. Pioneer logos on the CDJs have been modified to read ‘ponce’, ‘boner’ and ‘queer’. However, against your will, you find yourself enjoying the discordant and vicious assault on your ears. Well, not so much the music itself as the reactions, just like the time your Aunt Kathy had a bagpiper at her third wedding, and you laughed at how much everyone hated it. It’s the kind of club where you turn to your mate with a huge smile and announce: “this kind of shit should be illegal”.” Inside Out is one of a kind, and definitely worth the effort. nickconnellan@gmail.com

WITH CYCLONE

OG Flavas Eminem: E minem: Breaking Dawn B reaking D awn Hi ho Hip hop’s p’s en eenfant nffan fa t tterrible, fant erribl err ible, ibl e Emi EEminem, inem, hhas inem a rea reached e che ched h d th tthe he poi he point intt whhheere w where whe re he he can ca no no llo longer onge ger sshock hoc ho ock – un unles unless, les eess off cou course co course, rsse hhee rse discovers discov vers rreligion. The irony is that Marshall Mathers is now presenting prese pre sentitin ting i g his most personal material, having outgrown his ‘Slim Shady’ ‘Sl Slim Sl Slim m Sha Shad hhad alter-ego. Last year’s bleak Relapse, his first album alb um sin sinc since c 2004’s Encore, chronicled the MC’s descent into depression, dep de depres eepres ressio esssio es io ion on and prescription drug dependency, post-fame. Mathers M Mat herss m her meant to offer Relapse 2 in late 2009 but scrapped ititt, in it, iinstead nste t add recording “a completely new album” in the transformative Recovery. tra ransf nsform nsf ormaa orm Somee crit Som ccritics ritii felt that the Mathers of Relapse was burntrit out.t. O out Onn Ta TTalkin’ Tal all 2 Myself, an aural blog, the MC admonishes himself, bravely admitting that he dropped the ball. He himsel him sel se e f,f, br ttranscends tra r nsc scend endd the politically incorrect on the raw single Not Afraid as well as the existentialist, and inspirational, Going Through Changes. Kanye West is credited as the ‘Godfather of Emo-rap’, but that mantle really belongs to Mathers – although, coming from impoverished Detroit, his music is more gothic, if not grungy. Mathers’ rapping here is also relatable, something that can’t be said for Drake with his monologues on celebrity. Recovery’s artwork is curiously metaphoric, depicting the star of the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile in Detroit’s decayed downtown. Mathers is photographed in the foreground of the Renaissance Center, a white elephant in a city that has struggled to regenerate itself. He’s stayed loyal to the city – others leave. 2Pac suffered from subpar beats – his greatest moment Dr Dre’s California Love – and, similarly, Mathers’ lyrical prowess is such that he’s neglected the music. For Recovery, he’s hired beatmakers other than his mentor Dre, who, frankly, has been off the boil for ages. (He returns for the tokenistic, yet decent, So Bad.) And so we see names like Just Blaze, DJ Khalil and Jim Jonsin – plus hot newcomer Boi-1da (Drake) – in the credits. (The underrated Mr Porter is back, too.) The funny thing is that they all attempt to cut trademark ‘Eminem-style’ basement beats, even deploying offbeat rock samples. Guests are few. Once the subject of Mathers’ jealousy, Lil Wayne, the sole featured rapper, is almost incidental on the epic No Love, which, bizarrely, recycles rec ecyc ycl Haddaway’s Euro-dance hit What Is Love (didn’t Mathers Maat Mat athe he say he hated techno?). Pink brings rock swagger to the he metal Won’t Back Down, while Rihanna plays off Mathers Maathe Mat he on the disturbing Love The Way You Lie, about a

MATA MATA M MUST & MU M ST LAUNCH LA AUN UNCH UNCH CH

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MAGGOT MA MAGG AGG GOT OT M MOUF O F LP OU L

dysfunctional relationship. (The dys y fun functi ctiona cti onall rrela on ona elatio ela elatio tionsh ionsh nship. ip. ip p ((T Thee flfliip-side ipp-sside d is de i the thhe ace cee Spa SSpace c Bou ce Bound ndd – an Emi Eminem nem lo love ve son ssong?) g?) ?) Ultimately, what underscores Ul U Ult lttimatel ltima iima m te ma ttelly, wha h t Rec RRecovery ecove overy veryy un ndersco deersc dder scoores is i thatt tther there ever Eminem. th tha heree w her will ilill on oonly lyy eve vveer bbee one one ne Emi Eminem Em nem em.. Other white US rappers, some talented, have floundered, but he remains omnipresent in hip hop.

Get Shady

Rock/hip hop collabs are not an enticing prospect, typically smacking of corporate opportunism, but the idea of Jay-Z working with Jack White is cool. And, certainly, The White Stripes dude has greater cred than Coldplay’s Chris Martin. White confirmed the hook-up – thought to have culminated in the song Ray-Bans – earlier in the year. White has ventured into hip hop before. He appeared on Mark Ronson’s Here Comes The Fuzz alongside former Jay-Z affiliate Freeway. Still, it’s a pity that White never vibed with fellow Detroiter Eminem – it would carry greater symbolic value, the two doing much to put the Motor otorr City on the music map again.

SSoo I ggenerally ene een nerra ne ral aalllyy bu bbuy uuyy my my bbe beer eer er fro from rom tthe hhee sam ssame ame chea ame ccheap-arse heaphea p arse p-a rsee rs liquor liquo liq uorr stor st store orrree ev ever every erryy titime. me. Mo Most ost of the th time, time, th thee dirt ddirty irtyy looking loo lo ookin oo kinng ddu dude uude dde be bbehind ehin hindd tthe hee cou co counte counter ounnte ter is is w wearing ear ea aring ngg a Mag Maggot aggot go go Mouf know Maggot Mou uf tt-shirt. -shhirt irt.. Th TThat’s hat at’s ’ss why I kno n w Magg M a ot Mou agg Mouff is is some some authentic grimey Melbourne Plus, aaut uthen hentic titic gr grime im ime meey M Melb elbour el elb elbou ouurnee rapp shit. ourne shitit.t PPl sh lus u th us, the he dude dude ud performs perfor per for fo orms ms con continually ntin inual ually lyy aro aaround ound the the ccity ity to fa fans ans thr throwi throwing owing ng Melbourne Bitter longnecks mean muggin’ bback bac ackk M eelb lbbour ou nne Bit B ittter ter llo te ongn ngn ngneck gneck ecks and andd mea eeaan m mugg ugg uggin’ ggiin in’ n’’ to Mag M Maggot’s got’s ggot ’ m ’s menaci men menacing acing ng misery mis misery. i ery. ry. A Afte After fterr popp ppopping opping ng uupp compilations shows, on a ffew ew com ew o ppilililati ations tiions o an andd ffrequent requen req uent llilive ive shows ive sh hows,, Maggot Mag a gott Mo Mouf uff is rea rready dy wit w withh a ne new w LP LP You You’re ’re Al Alll EEars. Ear arrs. FFeaturing Feeeat eaturi urin ing pro prod production ductio ducti i n ffrom rom Ci Ciecmate, iecmate ate, t , SSammy ammyy amm Scissors Sci cisso ci ssors ssor rrs and Bi Bigfo Bigfoot g ot plu gfo ppluss gguest uestt spot ues sspots ppot o s from from 1/ 1/6, 6, Scotty Sco c tty Hinds Hinds (N (Nine ine ne Hi H High) gh) an andd D Dekoda, eko k da, da, You’re You’ree A Al Allll Ears Friday through Ear ars drops drops p Fr rida idayy 1166 July Julyy th throu rough g Bro gh Broken ken To Tooth othh EEntertainment/Obese. t t i t/Obb t/O

LIL’ KIM THIS WEEK

Yep, it’s happening this Saturday. Queen Bee will play the Espy while Nicki Minaj will be somewhere in the US fanning herself with money. This kinda reminds me of Roy Jones Junior’s recent Australian appearance. While

Maggot Mou

we we’ re tal talkin kingg Lil’ kin Lil’ Ki Kim, m a sskim kim of her he W iki ikiped k ped pediaa pag ge tell ttells ellss we’re talking Wikipedia page me Deb D ebora bora r h Harr H arrry w rotee a so rot song ng cal ccalled lled ledd Dir Di D i ty ty And A d De D epp Deborah Harry wrote Dirty Deep in Kim Kim’s ’ss hon honour our af after ter Li Lil’l’ Kim was was lock llocked oc ed up for ock or pe erju r ry. y perjury. SSeriously. Seri eriou iously l . I ca n’t ’ bbe beli lieve lie ve I’v I’’ e nnever I’ve eve ver hheard ear a d iit.t.t Lil ar Li il’ KKim im m pla plays ys can’t believe Lil’ the h EEspy Espyy thi this h s SSatu hi aturda rd y 10 rda 10 JJuly uly. Ti uly TTickets Tick ick ckets kets $$6 6611.2 1.20 20 avai aavailable v illabblle vai Saturday July. $61.20 now ow th throu r gh rou g Ozt O ix ix. through Oztix.

INNER IN NNE NER CITY NER CIITY CI TY YS SCIENCE CIEN CI CIEN ENCE CE CE

Weekly W Wee kly l hhi ly hipp hop hop o liv lives i es on iv on inn Mel Melbou Melbourne! b rne bou ne!! Even Even in th this iss bri brickckkarse winter we’re through ars se cold cold lldd wi inte ntt r we’r w e’rree goin ggoing oi g tthro oin hroug hro hrough ugh ghh rirright ight ht no ht now, w, you o motherfuckers City Science can’t’t hol can holdd thes tthese hesee m otherf oth e uuck erf ckers do down! wn! n In Inner ner e C Ci ty Sci c enc encee is han is hhandling anndli ddlilil ngg JJul dling July’s ly’s ’ week we weekly ekl ekly kklly hhip iipp hop hop fix, x holding h lddin hol dii g itit down down ow att Miss M Mis isss LLibe Libertine ibe b rti rtine ne eve every very ryy Wed Wednes Wednesday nesday nes dayy ni nigh night. gh . It ght It kick kkicks ckss off ck of ton tonigh tonight igh ghtt (Wednesday (We W ddne We nesda sday d y 7 Ju JJuly) uly) l )w wi with ithh Aux A Aux-One, ux-On -One, O e, Inner Inner e Ci C Cit City iti y SScience cience cie i nce n an andd you little Relik. Rel ik Entry Entryy is fr free, ee or ee, o yyo ou can can drop dro rop a lilittl t e ddonation tt onatio ona ttioon at at mixtape. Street, the h door door for a mix mixtap tape. e. Mis Misss Libe LLibertine, iberti b rtine, ne, e 344 Fr FFranklin anklin ank klin in SSt r t, ree CBD. CBD

TMV: TM V: TOO TOO M MUC MUCH UCH UC H VA VARI VARIETY RIET RI ETY ET Y

That’s TTha Th h t’s t’’ riright, ight, ght ht, TToo ht oo Muc M Much u h VVariety. ariiety t . IItt rreminds eminds eemi d me m off Yu YYum um um Cha.. Too Cha Too Much Much Vari VVariety ariety ety is a rec e ord la label abel bba sed he here re in record based Australia A Aus tralilia tralia i bbu but ut with with ithh their tthh iri ey eeyes es set ett fifirml rmly rmlly on on international inte nterna t rnaatio titional nall success. After a few years of the ups and downs often experienced by start-up labels, TMV are ready to drop their debut album, imaginatively titled The Album. Well at least there’s no question about the fact that it’s an album, and not a mixtape. Or a street album. Or an album prelude. TMV’s album is available now on iTunes, or check y toomuchvariety.com.au.

Whatt could Wha co be more awesome than witnessing the co he almighty alm mig ighhty t Orbital closing Glastonbury one more time me withh ttheir wi wit he stunning Doctor?, AKA their remix of the Who theme song? Doctor Do Doc tor W g Well how about adding thh 11 the 11th 11th th and and nne e newest doctor Matt Smith occasion? It’s a headcave to the to th occa oc c s ca moment mom moment, entt, aand n even his playing of t lead the lead line lin ine out of time is slightly ccharming. cha rmi rm m ng. mi ng To ng Tom o Baker and his scarf w wou would oould l hhav have ve bbeen a real moment though… tho h ugh gh… …

ANN OMINOUS HOW WOULD YOUR MUM DESCRIBE YOU? “Quiet and thoughtful. The arty dark horse of the family.” WHAT’S ONE GENRE YOU WOULD REMOVE OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND WHY? “I wouldn’t remove anything off the face of the earth, because I believe everything happens for a reason. Music reflects time and place, and is a documentation of the world. Of course, there are some genres of music which I don’t particularly tticularly care for, but I don’t think any human should have such a concentrated amount of power to remove anything off the face of the earth. You won’t hear any salsa or emo music in my sets.” WHO INSPIRES YOU MUSICALLY? “At the moment, I really like this band Salem. I can’t wait for the new Dipset album album. Usually I’m inspired by anything that makes my head bang.” NAME THREE TRACKS CURRENTLY DETONATING YOUR DANCEFLOOR. “The KLF & Tammy Wynette – Justified And Ancient, Lil’ Kim – How Many Licks, MIA – XXX0.” SPIKE MILLIGAN QUIPPED HE’D LIKE HIS TOMBSTONE TO READ ‘I TOLD YOU I WAS ILL’ – WHAT WOULD BE ON YOURS? ”’Had her heart broken about ten times before she even hit age 13’.” FOR ALL THE DJ STALKERS OUT THERE, WHAT GIGS HAVE YOU GOT COMING UP? “I’m the resident DJ at a night called Grouse. The next one is this Friday at the Bendigo Hotel.”

Kiss FM Chart VARIOUS Circuit C c Breaker 2 (Lightsounds/MGM) When Australian retailer Lightsounds put the call out for local producers to submit their unsigned works for inclusion on what became the first Circuit unsig Breaker Break compilation in 2006, even they probably didn’t expect to uncover an internationally respected breaks act and Triple unc J Hottest 100 band, but that’s precisely what they did in Hot Brisbane-bred Sydney residents Bitrok and Sydney reprobates Brisba Bluejuice. Blueju So the sequel Circuit Breaker 2 has been a long time coming, comin and from the outset it reflects the changing state of the Australian music landscape. Austr In keeping with the times it’s a hip hop act who lead off kee proceedings, Melbourne’s Toasters Boutique wrapping the proce rhymes of female MC Mars E Pan around a sinewy electro backing on Puro Estillo. Rip Lee’s electro-breaks fusion Sulaco delves straight back into clubland before Fixd’s This Is Not Electro isn’t fooling anyone no matter what its title maintains. The genre mix from here might be a little much for some, but when you hear the progressive-psy breakbeat of Subset alongside the glitch tech of A-Drone one thing’s clear – the future of Australian dance music is a bright one. GLORIA LEWIS

Reviewed

11.. De D Devil e Walking MARK MA M MAR AR KNIGHT A 2. Gr 2. G Gra Graceland rraa (Christian Smith Remix) DARREN DA DAR ARR EMERSON & JAMIE AR ARR MCHUGH MCH M C CH H 33. SSuper Sweet SPACE INVADAS 4. I Can Change (Stereogamous Mix) LCD SOUNDSYSTEM 5. Another World THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS 6. Coma Cat TENSNAKE 7. Business in Tracksuits MATA & MUST 8. Viro PRYDA 9. 2:3 Minutes URBAN PROSE 10. All About The Money AGENT 86

EUROTRASH

EUROTRASH EUROTRASH

EUROTRASH

EUROTRA ASH

ABODE

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE

ABODE

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE LOFT

LOFT

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE LOFT

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE LOFT

LOFT

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE

LOFT

CIRCUS

CUS CIRCUS

CIRCUS

RHYTHMALISM @ RHYTHMALISM @

FUSION

CIRCUS

RHYTHMALISM @ FUSION RHYTHMALISM @ FUSION

RHYTHMALISM @ FUSION

RHYTHM MALISM @ FUSION

PLAYGROUND

PLAYGROUND PLAYGROUND

PLAYGROUND

PLAYGRO OUND

SCRIBBLE FRIDAYS @ QBA

SCRIBBLE FRIDAYS @ QBAR

SCRIBBLE FRIDAYS @ QBA

SCRIBBLE FRIDAYS @ QBAR

SCRIBBLE FRIDAYS @ QBA

SWEAT

BE. SUNDAYS @ CO.

274 JOHN JOHNSON HNSON ST, ABBOTSFORD ABBOTS TSFORD PH: 9417 122 1221

BE. SUNDAYS @ CO.

CARL COX & ALI B

JADE MCRAE & ELEANOR

LOUISE & DAHANA

BE. SUNDAYS @ CO

SAM AND TOTAL ECLIPSE

WEDNESDAY

COQ ROQ @ LUCKY COQ

DJs Lady Noir, Agent 86, Kiti, Mr Thom and Joybot give you nothing but the best new wave, punk, Brit pop, bong rap and hair metal this side of Seattle from 9pm.

COSMIC PIZZA @ BIMBO DELUXE For those of you not content on mere earthly pleasures, join NHJ and friends for a taste of space. Playing freaked-out bass jams, depressed disco, tropi-jazz and shit you won’t hear on the other nights.

REVOLVER ROCK @ REVOLVER Revolver Rock is Melbourne’s longest running rock/retro/electro/ cheese night. For the last three years Revolver Rock has been the place to go for a dose of your favourite rock and old school tracks. Join our DJs Spidey, Mary M, Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Whitt (Spiderbait) for a night you won’t forget... Or remember.

CANDY STORE @ LOUNGE It’s time to indulge your sweet tooth with an early start to the weekend. Join resident DJs PCP and Matt Radovich playing fine flavours of sweet house music all night. $5 entry.

THURSDAY

RING THE ALARM @ FIRST FLOOR

A night of deadly dancehall and killer reggae. Residents Jesse I and Major Krazy are joined by weekly guest selectors. This week’s special guests are Rus Tuffa and Gaza. From 9pm-3am. Free entry.

LOVE STORY @ THE TOFF Featuring special guest Andy Murphy with support from 1928 and rotating guests Tranter, Rad Pitt, Megawuoti and Sleeves playing everything you love in electro, techno, indie and disco. From 11.30pm-5am. Free entry. International and interstate guests monthly.

MISK @ MISS LIBERTINE A place where the music floats between deep melodic tech house, groovy jazz-spaced stabs, crunchy minimal techno and smooth cocktail house. Featuring resident DJs U-one and Dave Pham plus this week’s guests Myles Mac and My Friend Samuel. Free entry.

RHYTHM-AL-ISM @ FUSION The Rhythm-al-ism team bring you the best urban jams and house grooves every week. This week special guest DJ D-Kutz will be making the journey from Sydney to play a special set. Featuring Damion De Silva, FMR, A-Style, K Dee and Simon Sez. From 9.30pm4am. $15/$12 guestlist (guestlist@ restless.com.au).

THURSDAYS @ NEW GUERNICA There’s a new ‘tude for a new night down at Guernica. Resident DJs from 9pm include Negativ Magick, Post-Percy and Nu Balance. Free entry.

FRIDAY

R&B NIGHT @ FIRST FLOOR

A night of super smooth R&B and urban sounds. Featuring DJs Kay-Z, Simon Sez, Ayna, Cargo and Anferny. From 9pm-5am. $10 entry.

NEO FETISH @ ABODE A sophisticated night of fetish for the alternative community. Featuring unique deep techno and tech house sounds from resident DJ Lady J. Dress in fetish, leather or just plain old alternative.

WAX! & HAUL MUSIC HAUS PARTY @ REVOLVER Amassing releases on some of the world’s most acclaimed labels, you can catch the local boys of Wax! Also on is the monthly Haul Music Haus Party, featuring Adrian Miles Gorel EP launch. Wax! will feature Oohee, Lewie Day, Andee Frost, and Otologic from 10pm plus Sunshine’s morning set from 7am.

PURPLE SNEAKERS @ MISS LIBERTINE Step away from the couch and into the tropical indie sounds of locals The Boo Hoo Hoos as they perform a live set. A burst of psychedelic with a Richard In Your Mind DJ set is just what the doctor ordered while Fantomatique and Toki Doki’s organic blend of indie and dancefloor hits will have you dancing away your problems. If pain persists, see the support cast of Ebony And Ivory, James Kane, Quick Fix DJs and Tranterco. $12 entry.

FRIDAYS @ CIRCUS Now into it’s third year and still bringing quality tunes ranging from commercial house to underground electro.

HANGTIME @ EUROTRASH

LIKE DISCO @ LA DI DA

Hangtime continues to rock the shit out of Eurotrash. Featuring a rad line-up of rotating DJs to keep you boozed and buried on the dancefloor.

What is Like Disco? Motown and funk led us to disco and now original disco classics have been re-edited, remixed and reinvented. Disco continues to be a constant source of basslines, riffs and vocals for house and techno. So put your hands up and let your hair down as you dance to everything that’s like disco. From 7pm-dawn. $15/$10 guestlist.

FREE RANGE FUNK @ LUCKY COQ Free Range Funk DJs Who, Agent 86, Lewis CanCut and special guests tempt you into the night with their eclectic bag of treats. Setting the mood early, expect to be charmed with delightful jazz, deep soul and funk. Stick around after dessert and it’s fruity disco, choice house and hipster dance drops. Free entry.

VARSITY @ BIMBO DELUXE School’s out for the week and we’ve cleared out the lounge room. Teaching you a lesson in hip hop, soul and funk after school are Matt Radovich, Mr Moonshine, Just Lindsay, Tahl and Rowie.

3181 THURSDAYS @ REVOLVER Revolver keeps it laidback and local from 6pm. There are tunes from Hans DC, Who and guests. Plus vintage video games, foosball, free wi-fi internet and half price meals every week from Colonel Tan’s kitchen for local residents and traders. The second Thursday of each month features the designer market.

BASS CAMP @ LOUNGE A night that encompasses party funk, breaks, electro and tech house. This week DJs Axe, JD, Citizen.com and Dirty Mother Funka play a blend of booty and basslines. From 10pm-4am and beyond.

18 Zebra Magazine

FRIDAYS @ EUROTRASH Mu-gen and NXR playing party through to electro. Free entry. Open until 3am.

FRIDAYS @ NEW GUERNICA You know it’s going to be a good night when you’re at a club and the DJs work the same part-time jobs during the week as you; it means they’re probably up for getting loose just the same. At New Guernica we’ve got more Nudie Jeans folding clerks and fixie part importers than you can poke a stick at.

BAMBAATAA FEAT NICK VERWEY EP LAUNCH @ LOUNGE Join the crew this week to celebrate the release of Nick Verwey’s From The Street Corner EP. Featuring resident DJs Nick Verwey, Popeye, Hey Sam, Tom Ellis and Adrian Bell playing house, minimal, tech and disco from behind the decks whilst handing out promo CDs. From 10pm-late. Email badrunnerproductions@hotmail. com for guestlist.

POPROCKS @ THE TOFF Join the crew at the Toff with Dr Phil Smith playing no-brainers

and guilty pleasures from the ‘60s/’70s/’80s/’90s/today and tomorrow. The sounds of pop, disco, rock, R&B, funk, soul and oddball covers. The party starts at 9pm and entry is always free.

FRIDAYS @ TRAK LIVE LOUNGE BAR Featuring Past To Present and the very talented Kate Alexa. Free entry 9-11pm/$10 after. Dress code applies.

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ LOFT Damion De Silva, Ken Walker, K-Dee, Suga and Durmy are the funkin’ five in audio control. Playing R&B, grooves and whatever funk keeps you movin’. From 9pm-late. $15/$12 guestlist (guestlist@restless.com.au).

SATURDAY

GLOW STICK RAVE @ EUROTRASH A night featuring T-Rek and hundreds of glow sticks. T-Rek has released three albums of his own original material over the last two years and is more qualified than anyone in Melbourne to play at a rave of this magnitude. With support from 1928, Sleeves, Tranter, Megawuoti and Mu-gen. $10 guestlists (eurotrashbar.com.au).

IT’S OUR HOUSE @ LOUNGE Join Darren Coburn and Moose for a sensual start to your Saturday night. Then, from the Smashbang label, it’s Luke McD smashing out original left-of-centre techno/ electro tracks. Finally taking you beyond the night is Nick Coleman, playing tunes to keep you up until the early morn’. From 10pm-late.

SUPER DISCO @ THE PRINCE

STRUT @ TRAK LIVE LOUNGE BAR

Super Disco is all about house music and the pleasure of the dancefloor. From the people who brought you industry-defining brands like Onelove, Honkytonks and Third Class comes the club night for fabulous nobodies and embarrassing somebodies. Finally the drought in Melbourne’s club scene breaks – a club night that is about the house music. From 9pm6am. Entry $20/$15 (students).

Strut Saturdays has all of the ingredients to tantalise your taste buds in fashion, music and dance. Special guest John Course pumps out the latest house tunes. $15/$12 guestlist. Dress code applies.

MORE FIRE #112 @ DEEP 11 More Fire returns to its roots this July, bringing back the traditional reggae dance in honour of Haile Selassie’s earth month. Joining resident Chant Down (featuring Jesse I and Ras Crucial) will be special guest MC Jornick (Mista Savona) plus Cassawarrior and Boover Banton, Blood Lip Sound, Flavio and Bellyas. Doors open at 10pm. $10/$8 (concession holders/ PBS members).

SO ELECTRIC @ MISS LIBERTINE From the crazy warehouse/house party/club setting of the first instalment at Noise Bar, the second So Electric party will be held at Miss Libertine. Featuring Redial, 1928, Mu-gen, Post Percy, On&Off, Gavin Ly, Cosmo K, ADD and Bobby Lane. $15 entry.

IQ @ ABODE Styled for an intelligent, quirky crowd. DJs Scruffy, Beaker, Jon Montes and guest Queen Martine play sexy tribal, progressive and deep house beats. From 11pm-late.

MAMA SAID @ CIRCUS Gear up as the Mama Said crew bring the very best of deep tech and house that Melbourne has to offer over two levels. Doors open at 10pm, so come down and check out what all the fuss is about.

THE LATE SHOW @ REVOLVER Featuring breaks, dubstep, grime and funky in the front room while the back room samples disco, boogie, cut-ups, house and the rest. With residents Ransom, Nick Thayer and Raph Boogie along with guests Mat Cant, Danielsan, Lewis CanCut, Neil Stafford and Booshank. Plus Boogs and Spacey in the morning.

THE HOUSE DE FROST @ THE TOFF The House De Frost is a modern day discotheque with its feet and ears firmly rooted in the nostalgia of days gone by. This is true disco, not nu-disco. Helmed by the infamous Andee Frost.

UNDER SUSPICION @ BROWN ALLEY Under Suspicion is Brown Alley’s new resident Saturday night. It’s a party that represents the best of underground culture and music. Under Suspicion aims to create a new underground culture that breaks down the walls of industry trends and ignites a party experience like no other.

THE TECH REPUBLIC @ POISON APPLE In the main room Boogs, T-Rek, Jen Tutty, Phil K, Ross Horkings, Tyrone and Bianca White supply the soundtrack to your evening while in the basement Gavin Keitel, Mike Callander, Lister Cooray, Bart Bara, Clint Morgan and Jamie Coyle bring you some of the finest house and techno to get your arse groovin’. $15 guestlist (inpresslist@live.com).

PLAYGROUND @ SEVEN Spread over six rooms, Playground has been showcasing R&B and hip hop for five years. Complimented by regular live acts, come and celebrate the best in urban culture that Melbourne has to offer. This week Australia’s number one R&B DJ Nino Brown drops in for a set.

SWEAT SATURDAYS @ ONESIXONE The new undisputed jump-off for lovers of sophisticated grooves, Sweat continues bringing the goodness. Featuring DJ Who, Anthony Larr, Ant J Steep and MJ. Doors open at 10pm. $15/$10 (mention Sweat).

DISCO SOCIAL @ FIRST FLOOR Enter studio 393 as the disco bandits, Kano and Mr Moonshine, play all that is disco, boogie and funk. Support from Disco Harry and Junji Masayama.

SATURDAYS @ LUCKY COQ Spread over two levels with DJs downstairs including Pacman, Jean Paul, Sam McEwin and Greyskull playing tech house and electro. Upstairs you’ll find Kodiak Kid, Moonshine, Ash-Lee and guests playing funk. From 9pm-late. Free entry.

SATURDAYS @ THE LOFT Featuring DJs Scotty Erdos, Phil Ross, Nick James and Ontime dropping top 40 dance and house tunes in the main room and DJs Achos, G-Funk, DJ Ryza, Shaggz, Az, Dylisco and Julez in the R&B room.

VIBEZ @ ESCOBAR United DJs and Escobar present Vibez, a huge new night spread over two levels. House DJs Joshur, Matt Sofo and Wei Shen are on one level with R&B and hip hop DJs Crusador, Apex, Yun, Bonez, KC, Wiki, JC, Lady D and Duchess Kay on the other level. From 10pm-late.

SUNDAY

BE @ CO

Featuring DVS (live), Damion De Silva, Jay-J, Ken Walker, Kate Jean, DJ Ryza, Lightening, Rev and Hoesty playing R&B, old school, house and mash-ups. $15/$12 guestlist (info@houseofgroove. com.au). From 9.30pm-late.

INDUSTRY SUNDAYS @ CIRCUS When you’ve stopped serving the masses, come to Circus and let loose. Great for people who love to party on a Sunday and for people who work in the industry.

SUNDAYS @ REVOLVER Revolver’s all-day electric disco party is one of the world’s most unique clubbing experiences – tight like family and welcoming like long lost friends. Featuring Boogs, Spacey Space, Radiator and T-Rek.

SUNDAYS @ NEW GUERNICA A mix of Little Richard slamming a piano with a pair of blue suede shoes to John Lydon pissing off Sex Pistol fans with his new band that was just as important, along with

all the good new wave, death disco, punk funk, post punk and Liverpool pop you can hear in a good night out. Free entry.

KHOKOLAT KOATED @ K BAR Khokolat like you’ve never tasted. Featuring Damion De Silva, K Dee, Jay Sin and weekly guests playing R&B sounds strictly for the urban elite. From 9.30pm-late. $15/$12 guestlist (guestlist@restless.com.au).

SOUTH SIDE HUSTLE @ LUCKY COQ Pilgrim Light Circus kick the night off from 5-7pm playing live jazz and funk. Following them is Askew, Booshank, Paz, Ms Butt, Jumbo, Junji & Harry, Pete Baker and guests laying down slick Sunday tunes until 3am.

SUNDAE SHAKE @ BIMBO DELUXE Slide into your favourite comfy couch or across the dancefloor as masters of entertainment Phato-A-Mano, Agent 86 and Tigerfunk hit you between the ears every Sunday.

MONDAY

STREET POETICS @ FIRST FLOOR

Rotating MCs host an open mic night with the Street Poetics live band. The house band includes the likes of Mr Savona (Illzilla), Tom Tom (True Live), Choi (Cookin On Three Burners) and Miss Vida Sunshyne. DJ Wasabi is also hand, accompanied by his mammoth bag of cuts to ensure you hear all those hip hop classics. $5 entry/free before 10pm.

DIAMOND DOGS @ BIMBO DELUXE Inspired by David Bowie, Lady Noir and Kiti span the ages of rock, glam and indie. If you’re after something a little different, then look no further.

DEEP @ NEW GUERNICA An mp3 player on shuffle isn’t as entertaining as listening to someone who actually loves playing good music getting loose with you from behind the decks. Hence New Guernica’s new take on Monday evenings. Every Monday on rotation from 9pm music lovers grace our organ and play sounds from the deep to keep the weekend wrongness flowing.

THE OMGS @ LUCKY COQ Self-proclaimed hipsters The OMGs play live. The six-piece band bash out original tracks over two sets from 9.30pm. Free entry.

TUESDAY

PERCY’S PLAYHOUSE @ NEW GUERNICA Hosted by the delightful young chap who thinks high tea means margaritas on a Monday morning. Special appearances by Percy’s colourful friends and a rabidly fun, five-hour-odd set of party dance with one of Melbourne’s most eloquently wasted madmen.

NEVER CHEER BEFORE YOU KNOW WHO’S WINNING @ REVOLVER Join hosts Mikey Cahill (Rock City/ Joey Lightbulb) and Kerrie Loveless (K-Lo) and tackle Revolver’s ultimate trivia contest. Win CDs, DVDs, movie passes and meal tickets. Register at nevercheer@revolverupstairs.com. au to book (eight people per team) and get bonus questions. Kicks off at 7.30pm. Free entry.

CURIOUS TALES OF A VIVID LUSCIOUS @ BIMBO DELUXE DJ Who delivers surreal sass and cunning in the forms of sly, charming music and sumptuous live art. Be entertained and amazed in a world existing between couches and canvas.

UPCOMING

STROBE @ PRINCE After throwing epic nights and days with Proxy, Fake Blood, Feadz, Boy 8-Bit, Jesse Rose, Sinden and more, Strobe throw a party to show support for some of their favourite Australian acts – Bag Raiders, Ajax and Beni (Kitsune/Riot In Belgium). Over two rooms with 1928, Sleeves, Megawuoti, Tranter, Kris Baha and James Fava. Tickets through Moshtix. Friday 16 July.

SPIT SYNDICATE @ THE EVELYN Spit Syndicate bring the Starry-Eyed national tour through Melbourne on Friday 16 July. The Sydney duo recently released their sophomore album Exile to widespread acclaim and will be joined by special local guests at each stop. Accompanied on stage by musical mercenary DJ Joyride, Spit Syndicate have built a monster reputation on the back of their unique, high-energy live shows.

JAM @ FIRST FLOOR The third instalment of Jam featuring resident DJs Ayna, Duchesz and Wax Vandal tearing it up alongside super special guest DJ Sizzle. Doors open at 10pm. $10 entry. Friday 16 July.

THE HOUSE DE FROST DRAG BALL @ THE TOFF To celebrate their second birthday The House De Frost is having a birthday bash like no other. Paying homage to the night’s origin, they will be installing a runway and everyone will get the chance to strut their stuff. There will also be some outrageous shows, including a performance by the legendary Millie Minogue. Saturday 17 July.

NO POLITICS @ MISS LIBERTINE A night dedicated to fluidity, no interruptions and no breaks in the music. Inoffensive noise and smiles all ‘round, where the only way to truly express yourself is on the dancefloor. $5 entry. Saturday 17 July.

ELOQUOR ALBUM LAUNCH @ REVOLVER Like the glow of the city streets, Melbourne’s Eloquor is the amalgamation of a spiritual soul with the battered underground. Digging deep into the aural landscape of New York’s hip hop roots, the talented hip hop lyricist and memorable performer returns to launch Charge, his second album. Supported by Melbourne’s finest emerging hip hop crews including Doc Felix, BBS, In Good Company, Scarlet City and Strike One, the night promises to deliver a full charge of underground hip hop like no other. Tickets $13 on the door, from 9pm. Friday 30 July.

PURPLE SNEAKERS @ MISS LIBERTINE Sydney’s Purple Sneakers DJs have unveiled the all-star tracklist for their forthcoming debut compilation, We Mix You Dance, and have also announced national tour dates to promote the 29-track, two-disc release. Born from the womb of Sydney’s most popular indie club night, Purple Sneakers, this compilation is expertly mixed by PhDJ (founder Martin Novosel), MIT and Ben Lucid. Friday 30 July.

PHONETICS @ DEEP 11 Taking over the infamous Mercat Basement, Phonetics presents a monster line-up bringing you the freshest drum’n’bass sounds with a touch of dubstep. Featuring Cubist Vs JPS, Dabeata Vs Finna, West:One, Rickdirk, Dstract and your host for the evening MC Harzee. $10/$5 before 11pm. Friday 30 July.

HORRORSHOW @ EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB Horrorshow’s Inside Story tour earlier this year was a smashing success and saw the Sydney hip hop duo play to over 4,000 people. After appearances supporting Hilltop Hoods in England and Germany next month as well as a spot on the sold out Splendour In The Grass rollout, Horrorshow will be primed for their Walk You Home tour. Melbourne’s rising star Seth Sentry (The Waitress Song) is on support duties. Stay tuned for more details. Friday 10 September at the East Brunswick Club. Tickets on sale through Oztix and from East Brunswick Club box office (eastbrunswickclub.com).

GET YOUR TOUR/CLUB/ EVENT LISTINGS, LOCAL RELEASE UPDATES AND ANY BEATS-RELATED PRESS RELEASES IN TO ZEBRA@INPRESS.COM. AU BY MIDDAY EVERY FRIDAY.

Zebra Venue Guide

FIRST FLOOR 393 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9419 6380 THE FOX 351 Wellington St, Collingwood 9416 4917 FUSION Level 3, Crown Entertainment Complex, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank ABODE 9292 5750 374 St Kilda Rd, St Kilda 9525 5552 GEORGE LANE BAR ALIA Level 1, 83-87 Smith St, (corner of 1 George lane (off Grey St,), St Smith St, and Gertrude St), Fitzroy Kilda 9486 0999 9593 8884 ALUMBRA THE GERTRUDE HOTEL Shed 9, Central Pier, Docklands 148 Gertrude St, Fitzroy 9690 0883 9419 2823 THE APARTMENT GERTRUDES BROWN COUCH 401-405 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 30-32 Gertrude St, Fitzroy 9670 4020 9417 6420 ATTICUS FINCH GOLDEN MONKEY 129 Lygon St, East, Brunswick 389 Lonsdale St, (enter via 9387 0188 Hardware Lane), Melbourne THE BALCONY 9602 2055 422 Little Collins St, Melbourne THE GOOSE & VINYL 9642 8917 91-93 Flinders Lane (entrance via BAR 362 Duckboard Pl), Melbourne 362 St Kilda Rd, St Kilda 1300 843 466 9534 4666 GRACE DARLING HOTEL BARAKI UPO MEZETHES 114 Smith St, Collingwood 168 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9416 0055 9663 1002 THE GREAT BRITAIN HOTEL BARBARA 447 Church St, Richmond Level 1, 203 Swan St, Richmond 9429 5066 9429 3146 THE HAIRY CANARY BAR OPEN 226 Little Collins St, Melbourne 317 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9654 2471 9415 9601 HORSE BAZAAR BERTHA BROWN 397 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne 562 Flinders St, Melbourne 9670 2329 9629 1207 HOTEL BARKLY BIGMOUTH 109 Barkly St, St Kilda 168 Acland St, St Kilda 9525 3332 9534 4611 INFLATION BILLBOARD 60 King St, Melbourne 162 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 9614 6122 9639 4000 KATUK BIMBO DELUXE 517a Chapel St, South Yarra 376 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9827 9004 9419 8600 KHOKOLAT BAR BLUE BAR 43 Hardware Lane, Melbourne 330 Chapel St, Prahran 9642 1442 9529 6499 LA DI DA BLUE TILE LOUNGE 577 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 95 Smith St, Fitzroy 9417 7186 9670 7680 BOUTIQUE LA LA LAND 134 Greville St, Prahran 134 Chapel St, Windsor 9525 2322 9533 8972 BROWN ALLEY LAIKA Corner of King St, and Lonsdale St, 9 Fitzroy St, St Kilda Melbourne 9534 0002 9670 8599 THE LOFT CABINET BAR & BALCONY Level 2, 117 Lonsdale St, 11 Rainbow Alley, Melbourne Melbourne 9654 0915 9650 3388 CANARY CLUB LONG BAR 6 Melbourne Pl, Melbourne 60 Lygon St, Carlton 9663 1983 9380 4004 CANVAS LOOP Level 1, 302-320 Burwood Rd, 19-23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne Hawthorn 9819 2200 9654 0500 CHAISE LOUNGE LOUNGE Basement, 105 Queen St, Melbourne 243 Swanston St, Melbourne 9670 6120 9663 2916 CHASERS LOVE MACHINE 386 Chapel St, South Yarra Little Chapel St (Corner Malvern 9827 7379 Rd), Sth Yarra 9533 8837 CIRCUS LUCKY COQ 199 Commercial Rd, South Yarra 179 Chapel St, Prahran 9804 8605 9525 1288 CO. NIGHTCLUB MADAMME BRUSSELS Level 3, Crown Entertainment 63 Bourke St, Melbourne Complex, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank 9662 2775 9682 1888 MAEVE FOX THE CONTINENTAL HOTEL 472 Church St, Richmond 1-21 Ocean Rd, Sorrento 9427 1233 5984 2201 THE MARKET COOKIE 143 Commercial Rd, South Yarra Level 1, Curtin House, 252 Swanston 9826 0933 St, Melbourne 9663 7660 MATCH BAR & GRILL THE CORNISH ARMS 249 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 163A Sydney Rd, Brunswick 9654 6522 9380 8383 MANCHURIA CROFT INSTITUTE 7 Waratah Pl, Melbourne 21 Croft Alley (off Little Bourke St), 9663 1997 Melbourne 9671 4399 MERCAT CROSS HOTEL CUSHION LOUNGE 456 Queen St, Melbourne 99 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9534 7575 9348 9998 DECCA BAR METROPOL 95 Queen St, Melbourne 60 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9534 5999 9600 0900 MISS LIBERTINE DING DONG LOUNGE 34 Franklin St, Melbourne Level 1, 18 Market lane, Melbourne 9663 6855 9662 1020 MISTY PLACE THE DROWNING OLIVE 3-5 Hosier lane, Melbourne 407-409 Swanston St, Melbourne 9663 9202 9650 5486 MOTHER’S MILK (BRIGHTON) ELECTRIC LADYLAND 287 Bay St, Brighton Level 1, 265 Chapel St, Prahran 9596 9470 9521 5757 MOTHER’S MILK (WINDSOR) EMPRESS 17 Chapel St, Windsor 714 Nicholson St, North Fitzroy 9521 4119 9489 8605 NASH HOTEL ESCOBAR 344 Victoria St, Richmond 189 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9428 3418 0407 845 278 NEVERMIND ESPLANADE HOTEL 336 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn 11 The Esplanade, St Kilda NEVERWHERE BAR 9534 0211 185 Smith St, Fitzroy EUROTRASH 0422 560 890 18 Corrs Lane, Melbourne NEW GUERNICA 9564 4411 Level 2, Hub Arcade, 318 Little EVE BAR/LOUNGE Collins St, Melbourne 334 City Rd, Southbank 9650 4464 9696 7388 THE NIGHT CAT E-55 141 JohnSt,on St, Fitzroy 55 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 9417 0900 9620 3899 THE NIGHT OWL Basement, 33 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 9614 277

NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB 301 High St, Northcote 9489 3917 ONESIXONE 161 High St, Prahran 9533 8433 THE ORDER OF MELBOURNE Level 2, 401 Swanston St, Melbourne 9663 6707 PALACE THEATRE 20 Bourke St, Melbourne 9663 4288 PLATFORM ONE Vault 7/8 Banana Alley, Melbourne 9620 7080 THE POST OFFICE HOTEL 90 Swan St, Richmond 9428 6674 PRINCE OF WALES 29 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9536 1166 PUBLIC BAR 238 Victoria St, North Melbournee 9329 6522 THE PURPLE EMERALD 191 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 9650 7753 Q BAR 257 Toorak Rd, South Yarra 9804 7800 RANDY DRAGON Basement, 313a Flinders Lane, Melbourne 9629 9141 RED HUMMINGBIRD 246 Russell St, Melbourne 9654 2192 RED BENNIES Level 1, 371-373 Chapel St, South Yarra RED LOVE MUSICROOM Level 1, 401 Swanston St, Melbourne 9639 3722 RED VIOLIN 1/231 Bourke St, Melbourne 0411 423 245 REVOLVER 229 Chapel St, Prahran 9521 5985 D-Bridge ROBARTA 109 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9534 9041 ROBOT 12 Bligh Pl, Melbourne THE OG YOLAND 9620 3646 LADY JOJO? A ROOFTOP BAR Level 7, Curtin House, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne BOPPIN’ THE BLUES 9663 3596 ROOM 680 Level 1, 680 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn 9818 0680 he take the piss reatt to see her It’s grea ROXANNE PARLOUR ’ out of those ‘she’ss got a cock 2/3 Coverlid Pl, Melbourne YolandA Be Cool’s We rumours, if that is her as male 9663 1018 No Speak Americano Butt if B is now a hit in eight Eu RUBY’S LOUNGE model Jo Calderone in VVogue. This ‘70s edition of Sony’s series of Aus pop ropean countries, eve who n getting the Sydneysid 1648 Burwood Highway, Belgrave it is, we know a photographer compilations unleashes a lost local disco ers to nu like mb er one in 9754 7445 Denmark and the Ne may want to sue – looks awfully tune in the form of Marcie Jones’ Armed therlands. Congrats. . SAGI BAR a Peaches shoot we saw once And Extremely Dangerous. We are hooked 57 High St, Northcote (the collection also features Flash & The 9489 9983 Pan – yay!). THE SAINT 54 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9593 8333 SECTION 8 27-29 Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne 0422 972 656 SEVEN 52 Albert Rd, South Melbourne 9690 7877 SOFTBELLY BAR 367 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 0410 329 129 SORRY GRANDMA! 590 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 9670 7493 STAR BAR 160 Clarendon St, South Melbourne 9810 9954 ER BIEBER SYN BAR OH BIEBER BIEB Level 1, 163 Russell St, Melbourne 9663 8990 TERMINUS HOTEL 605 Victoria St, Abbotsford 9427 0615 TOFF IN TOWN Level 2, Curtin House, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne 9639 8770 TRAMP 14 King St, Melbourne TRANSIT Federation Square, Princes Bridge (corner Northbank), Melbourne 9654 8808 TRANSPORT PUBLIC BAR Federation Square, corner Flinders St and Swanston St, Melbourne 9654 8808 TRYST 3 Wilson St, South Yarra MEL RUNS FROM 9827 5533 DANNY GLOVER TYRANNY OF DISTANCE 147 Union St, Windsor 9525 1005 VELOUR 121 Flinders lane, Melbourne 9663 5589 VIOLET TEARS What the hell is wrong with Mel Gibson? He seems io 192 Barkly St, St Kilda hell bent on racially slurring every possible e that digital rad decided group 9534 4445 Whoever the fuck ANY local music (most of people known to man before he shuffl y es off this local) WAH WAH LOUNGE didn’t have to pla io ha mortal coil. We’d tell him to stick to movie h s to play 25% s but havee 185 Lonsdale St, Melbourne ercial music rad Justin g mm co yin pla io rad you seen his output from the last decad d de?? 9654 5793 t listen to 24/7 ooooooo! deserves to m. Booo WHITE BAR Bieber at them 129 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9593 9077 ZEE R AMMELL WINDSOR CASTLE 89 Albert St, Windsor y 28 June aged 49. The famed US graf artiste and hip hopper died Monda 9525 0239 this guy. The world woulda been a whole lot different without WORKSHOP Level 1, 413 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 9326 4365 YAK 150 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 9654 6699

THE ARSE END HEADS UP

A GA LADDIE GAG

BOPPIN’ THE BLUES

THE SPREAD OF AMERICANO

ARSE LICKS

VERY MAD MAX

O DIGITAL RADIIO

QUOTAS

RAMMELLZEE RIP

Zebra Magazine 19

frontrow@inpress.com.au

7 UP

SEMINAL CINEMA: THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF MOVIE GENRES By John Eagle 1. DW Griffiths’s The Birth Of A Nation (1915) - the first historical epic 2. Fritz Lang’s M (1931) - established the conventions of film noir and serial-killer movies 3. Thomas A Edison’s Electrocuting An Elephant (1903) - the earliest example of the exploitation film 4.Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931) the beginning of the horror genre 5. Edwin S Porter’s The Great Train Robbery (1903) - the first Western 6.Robert J Flaherty’s Nanook Of The North (1922) - the birth of documentary film-making 7.Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1930) - the prototypical gangster movie

THIS WEEK IN WEDNESDAY 7 Event Horizon lectures – as part of the Event Horizon exhibition, CCP are hosting two lectures, the first by astrophysicist Professor Jeremy Mould, and the second, by scientific photographer David Malin. Centre For Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy, 6pm. Event Horizon runs until 18 July.

THURSDAY 8 Edinburgh Comedy Tattoo and Auction – help out Felicity Ward, Sammy J, and David Quirk with some spending money to accompany them whilst in Edinburgh for Fringe, by buying stuff from tonight’s auction – and see the comedians live in action. Items up for auction include Quirk’s BMX, Sammy J’s debut album, and Ward’s debutant dress. Bella Union Bar, Trades Hall, 9pm. Thursday Nights at The Burton Club – a weekly carnivalesque nod to Tim Burton, featuring a variety of Melbourne artists coming under the influence of and inspired by the filmmaker. Tonight: Dada absurdities, ghost story waltzes, gritty colonial cabaret, and sodden sea shanties from Pete And The Tar Gang, while street theatre artist Judith Lanigan transforms into The Dying Swan. The Burton Club at ACMI, 6pm.

FRIDAY 9 Chronox – a series of new devices, games, and publications designed to absorb the viewer into its simple temporal mechanics, to be activated by and evolve in the mind of the audience. Part of the Liquid Architecture Festival. Tape Projects, Carlton until 11 July. Gertrude St Projection Festival – opening night of this festival of projection art, 2010’s theme being ‘Me. You. Us.’ Workers Club, 7pm. Gertrude St Projections Festival features artworks projected onto various Gertrude St locales, until 17 July. (See thegertrudeassociation. com/projection for details.)

SATURDAY 10 RB’s South Side Show – weekly Saturday night soirée of circus, burlesque, cabaret, and sideshow

ARTS performers. Tonight: dance artist Andrea Makris, cabaret/circus performer Chris Morant, contortionist Jacinta Rohan, and DJs Mike Gurrieri, Knave Knixx, and Edd Fisher. Red Bennie’s, 9pm.

ACTING ON

IMPULSE KRISTEN STEWART IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR ACTORS ON THE PLANET, AND HER LARGE FANBASE ARE ABOUT TO GET A DOUBLE HELPING VIA THE THIRD TWILIGHT FILM, ECLIPSE, AND THE RUNAWAYS. ALICE TYNAN CHATS TO THE 20-YEAR-OLD.

Time To Leave – a masculine melodrama from 8 Women and Swimming Pool director François Ozon. World Movies Channel (Foxtel), 8:30pm, as part of their 25 Filmmakers You Must See Before You Die series.

SUNDAY 11 Gertrude St History Walk – conducted by the Fitzroy Historical Society, take a stroll and learn more about your local area. Meet corner Smith and Gertrude Sts, 3pm. Matthew Barney On Film – last day of this limited-run showcase of video works from the acclaimed (and terrifying, but awesome) American artist Matthew Barney (Björk’s husband), including his complete Cremaster cycle. These films aren’t widely available on DVD. ACMI. (See acmi.net.au for screening times.) Phantastical Photography – exhibition of highly evocative and creative photographic works by French artist Vivien Racault (excerpts from her Outsiders series), Keren Dobia (exploring the emotions and fantasies in children’s stories), and Michael Ross (10,000 Miles Of Dreaming). Opening night address by Emmanuel Santos. Obscura Gallery until 5 August.

ONGOING Skins N Sharps – exhibition dedicated to the underground Sharpies movement of Melbourne in the 1970s, featuring vintage fashions, artefacts, music, photography, arts, and footage. Kustom Lane Gallery until 25 July. The Sound Playground – curated by Bus Projects and Craft Victoria, this is a set of experimental instruments, sound sculptures and sonic installations that will be performed upon throughout the course of the showing. fortyfivedownstairs until 17 July.

he air of hysterical celebrity that surrounds Kristen Stewart is as bizarre as it is intense. The screaming fans, the litany of magazine covers featuring endless romantic rumours, which in turn leads to strict provisos for interviewing press: no personal questions. Yet, perched on a chair in a sunny Sydney harbourside hotel, legs folded under her, Stewart looks very much like your everyday, fresh-faced 20-year-old. She’s bright and personable, with only an absently twitching leg belying the truth behind what must be an interminable junket promoting the monolith that is Twilight. “I had no idea Twilight was going to be such a big deal,” Stewart says of the furor surrounding her. “I didn’t even know for sure that we were going to make a sequel.” For those left unflustered by Bella Swan and her vampire predilections, fortunately there is much more to Stewart than Twilight. The accomplished actress has featured in an impressive number of movies for her young age, including starring opposite Jodie Foster in David Fincher’s Panic Room. And in between Twilight installments Stewart has racked up quite a collection of independent films, such

ON SET WITH ECLIPSE DIRECTOR DAVID SLADE as a scene-stealing cameo in Sean Penn’s superb Into The Wild, as Meg Ryan’s feisty daughter In The Land Of Women, and opposite Robert De Niro in the wry look at Hollywood, What Just Happened?. “I choose my work very impulsively. There could be a part in a script that fits my description, but that doesn’t mean it connects in a way that I could bring it to life. It’s really about gut instinct,” she says. “I haven’t deliberately tried to switch it up in between the Twilight movies, it’s just generally what I’ve been attracted to has been what’s appealed more to [an] indie audience. That’s just what I’m into.” This sentiment certainly holds for Stewart’s turn in rock’n’roll biopic The Runaways. Releasing in Australia a mere fortnight after the latest in the Twilight saga, Eclipse, Stewart

embodies rock legend Joan Jett in a drug, alcohol, and sex-fuelled portrait that would surely ruffle Edward Cullen’s Victorian feathers. “They were epic, so I hope that we did them justice,” says Stewart of the titular American all-girl rock band. “What I’m really excited about is that everybody sort of knows who Joan Jett is, but nobody knows where she came from and that the first band that she was in was really one of the first all-girl bands that took a lot of shit for being the way they were.” The Runaways is based on lead singer Cherie Currie’s autobiography Neon Angel and follows the band’s meteoric rise during the mid-1970s. Dakota Fanning may be Stewart’s Twilight nemesis Jane, but in The Runaways she plays the blonde bombshell frontwoman and the two

spark off each other incredibly well. Impressively, they also sing the band’s smash hits Cherry Bomb and Queens Of Noise. “It’s really good music and it captures the ’70s really well,” says Stewart. “There’s a real good sense of freedom and abandon that I love about [The Runaways] and it’s got good feminine qualities to it as well. It makes you feel good about being a girl.” Stewart will soon be soaking in wild abandon again, sans band, in an adaptation of the seminal Jack Kerouac novel On The Road. “I’m flipping out!” she enthuses. “We have a four-week beatnik bootcamp, where we going to spend all of our time together and we’re going to read everything that they read and listen to all the music, so that’s awesome. “Walter Salles [The Motorcycle Diaries] is directing, and with anyone else we wouldn’t be given that much time, so I’m really excited, because I think they’re going to do it right. It’s so impulsive, so it’s going to be cool. “I actually recently took a road trip because I hadn’t done it and I’m not going to have time – because I promote [Twilight] forever then I’m going to go back and go straight to rehearsal. So I drove with two of my friends to Ohio from LA – which is almost all the way towards the East Coast – and back in four days. It’s hard! I think I’m much better at pretending [to be on the road].” Stewart is also well aware that she’s taking on yet another beloved author in Kerouac, who (like Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight) comes with his own passionate following. “I’ve played parts that really are important to other people,” she says. “It’s different because typically it’s really important to you and it’s really important to the director and the other people making the movie, but until it comes out, nobody knows and nobody cares. “I’m intimidated by [the weight of expectation] but at the same time that really is the driving force.” Another in her indie line-up sees Stewart star with James Gandolfini in Welcome To The Rileys. The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and Stewart describes her character Mallory as, “An incredibly vivacious, seemingly really solid girl, but she was a 16-yearold runaway, stripper, prostitute, who was absolutely so completely corroded and broken.” So while Stewart doesn’t take on such dramatic departures from Bella Swan in a calculated fashion, she is eager to embrace change. “[Bella] would feel much too much like an alter ego if it was just one part for years,” she says. “It’s healthy to feel the part being ripped from you at the end of the six week shoot. So if I didn’t have movies in between, I would just be too close to it, I would become obsessed. You need to switch it up.” WHAT: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse / The Runaways WHERE & WHEN: In cinemas now / Thursday 15 July

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FILMING THE HUMAN SPIRIT THE BAYSIDE FILM FESTIVAL KICKS OFF NEXT WEEK WITH A PROGRAM OF FILMS SHOWCASING THE TRIUMPH OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. TONY MCMAHON TALKS TO ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AMEDEO MARQUEZ-PEREZ.

ith a festival in Melbourne for just about every occasion, the Bayside Film Festival has achieved the not inconsiderable feat over the last few years of standing out markedly. With a focus on youth participation and local issues, Bayside rightly takes its place with those rare events that truly deserve to be described as important. Reflecting this, the theme for 2010 is the triumph of the human spirit, and besides some amazing films on the subject, the festival also offers the innovative Youth Documentary and Digital Stories programmes, where students from the area as well as the rest of the state produce short films with fresh new eyes. Artistic director of the festival, Amedeo MarquezPerez, explains its philosophical bent. “We really want young filmmakers to have a voice in their community, to be able to actually tell their stories. Even though some of them are not necessarily going to go and become professional filmmakers, it’s about being able to tell a story in a different way. Some of them are quite wary at first of this new technology, but it’s amazing to see them begin to understand at the workshops we run that, ‘Hey, we can actually tell a story this way’.” But this is only a small part of what the Bayside Film Festival has to offer. Naturally, there are some incredible films, foremost amongst them, perhaps, Rohan Spong’s The Songs They Sang, a feature-length documentary about the musical performances that took place in the Jewish ghetto in Vilna, Lithuania during the genocide of World War II. “That’s the jewel in the crown,” says Marquez-Perez, enthusiastically. “It’s the first feature film I’ve commissioned and produced as well. For a festival with a moderate budget

LOOKIN’ SHARP

GERTRUDE LIGHTS UP

The Sharpies have taken over Melbourne once again – if only for a few weeks this time, at the Skins N Sharps exhibition at Kustom Lane Gallery until Sunday 25 July. Open daily (free entry) from 12pm to 6pm this little slice of 1970s includes Sharpies paraphernalia such as vintage fashion, artefacts, photography, art, music, and video footage, with artists and musicians Fred Negro, Stephen Prictor, David Mellows, and Paul Hughes coming together to revive the underground movement. Featured events includes a book signing by Julie Mac, author of RAGE: A Sharpies Journal: Melbourne 1974 to 1980, Sunday 11 July (3pm); City Sharps playing live Sunday 18 (5pm); and Little Freddie & The Pops playing live Sunday 25 (3pm). For more information on the exhibition head to skinsnsharps.com/exhibition.

Starting this Friday, Gertrude St becomes a giant canvas as 23 sites along the Fitzroy street come alive to the theme of ‘Me. You. Us.’ for 2010’s Gertrude St Projection Festival. Artists have responded to this year’s theme, and their responses will be gracing façades until Sunday 18 July. In conjunction, at the Workers Club on Wednesday 14 July will be Sensory Overload, an “adults only event” with VJs galore projecting imagery on the walls. Artists include Spool Rellik vs Projection Oscura, Oskr Wyldkat vs iCandy, ExtraSupa vs Cletus Ecoboffin, CatGrrl vs Inexile, Dark Organics vs Kontinuum, and Cat Full Of Ghosts and LightLeaks. Other highlights include Gertrude Art Tour Thursday 15 July, where a guide will take you around the works, and the Gertrude St History Walk, where members of the Fitzroy History Society take you through the street’s – Melbourne’s oldest – history. For more info about the Projection Festival head to thegertrudeassociation.com.

like Bayside to have a world premiere and a film that is creating so much interest worldwide is incredible. It really started with the film Rohan Sprong had in last year’s festival, T Is For Teacher, I loved the sensitivity of that film. He’s truly an exceptional filmmaker. I was spellbound. After I’d finished watching the film, I put it back into the DVD player and pressed play again. I could not believe what I’d just watched.” Another highlight is sure to be The Betrayal, a film 23 years in the making, which tells the story of the struggles of a family from Laos who move to America after the end of the Vietnam War. “I’m working on a three-year cycle. Last year was my first year, and I put things in motion fairly early because I like the idea of creating continuity in story telling. Last year we had a producer here who made this beautiful film which was nominated for an Academy Award. This year I’ve been able to get it for the festival for its Australian premiere. It’s a great expose of what actually happened after the war in Vietnam. It’s about transition and the resilience of the human spirit, which is a theme that’s running through the festival this year.” And Marquez-Perez says that opening night short Jyoti about a young village girl trying to find her brother in Mumbai is also one to look out for. “That’s a film by an important emerging local filmmaker that’s been supported by the festival as well. It’s about that human connection which is the underlying spirit of the festival.” WHAT: Bayside Film Festival WHERE & WHEN: Palace Brighton Bay Wednesday 14 July to Saturday 17

PREMATURE PREDATORS If, like us, you’re stupidly excited about the upcoming Predators film (Robert Rodriguez! Adrien Brody! That guy from Con Air!) then you’ll want to know about the special advanced screenings happening tonight (Wednesday 7 July) at Hoyts Highpoint, Central, Chadstone, Northland, Victoria Gardens, and Eastland. Screenings will also feature a pre-recorded Q&A with the film’s producer, Robert Rodriguez. Book tickets through hoyts.com.au.

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FILM

CAREW

WITH ANTHONY CAREW Being a film cricket, the lure of watching bad movies is eternal. Because: a) they’re free; and: b) you get to hang shit on them in print. But, even still, I couldn’t be bothered watching the latest Twilight instalment. Having sat, dulled, through two prior Mormon-approved episodes of the world’s most charmless, hangdog, self-pitying Penelope-in-peril being alternately rescued by her rivalling upper-class/ lower-class (um, I mean, vampire/ werewolf) love-interests, I grew to resent the feeling of being forced to care about some worthless cultural institution just because of its omnipresence. This time, I’m down with the Beck/Bat For Lashes jam on the soundtrack, but not for the waste of two hours in a cinema; so, let us turn to Kristen Stewart not as insipid Bella, but butching it up as Joan Jett in the obligatory biopic re: The Runaways. Blandly translated to screen by music-video stylist Floria Sigismondi, the pic bios Cherie Currie’s hilariously-titled Neon Angel: A Memoir Of A Runaway to a conscripted formula: girls meet, rock band starts, humiliations are suffered, a big break comes their way, fame erupts, then things fall apart in a spiral of behind-the-music clichés (Drugs! Girls! Ego!). Michael Shannon and Dakota Fanning revel in the inherent, instantaneous camp of the project with enthusiastically silly turns, but Stewart is little more than a mopey presence in a bad wig, draining the colour out of a supposedly ‘neon’ experience. Speaking of bad wigs: Creation affixes the fake muttonchops to Paul Bettany so as to tell the tale of a late-in-life, authoring-The-OriginOf-Species Charles Darwin. And Jon Amiel’s moving picture does so in a most new-millennial fashion: nonlinear, jumping between timeframes, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, depicting life as a scattershot montage of memories; John Collee’s convoluted screenplay interested not in exploring its character’s deeds, but the psychology behind them. Everything builds towards not the moment of publishing, but the reveal of a (very obvious) secret; Creation more haunted ghost story than airy period-piece. Leaving finds Catherine Corsini taking that bourgeois dramatic staple – the steamy infidelity movie – to riotously brutal

THEATRE TOPSY fortyfivedownstairs Using former US president George Bush’s rhetoric, it is the war between justice and cruelty, freedom and fear, that frames the narrative of Melbourne playwright Kit Lazaroo’s RE Trust Award-winning play Topsy. The shock of seeing a mistreated Coney Island circus elephant publicly electrocuted to death compelled Lazaroo to break a personal pact never to write about American themes, places, or characters. The horror inspired in her by the century-old footage was later given a contemporary context when pictures of tortured detainees at Abu Ghraib surfaced. In its first full production by Here Theatre, Topsy’s world is indeed a dark and misty Edwardian America, but aside from elephant keeper Vasco (Alex Pinder) the characters are Australian, three of them, who travel to see Topsy before her death.

extremes. Corsini has made a career of opposing two characters in cinematic psychological warfare (from La Répétition’s salty sapphic stalkery to Ambitious’s grift-a-go-go farce), and, here, we get Kristin Scott Thomas as wife and Yvan Attal as husband, waged in a battle ’til death do them part. When upstanding wife/ mother scandalously ends up in the arms of swarthy immigrant labourer Sergi López, a host of expectations arise; yet Corsini goes out of her way to undermine them all. Here, passion is as much a prison as marriage; following your heart isn’t an act of glorified bravery; and the vindictive husband is less a villain than are the patriarchal divorce laws he abuses. Utterly unsentimental and happy to revel in its characters’ humiliations, Leaving is a charmingly-ugly antidote to the blandeur of so much arthouse product. In 1973, a pre-Mad-Dog-Morgan Philippe Mora discovered Eva Braun’s home-movies of Hitler housed in the depths of the Pentagon. He cuts them into Swastika, a mosaic that charts the rise of the Third Reich by interspersing these mundane home movies interspersed with German propaganda films and newsreel footage; making for a magnificent commentary on the mundanity of evil. With much irony, the film is vilified for ‘humanising’ its subject; which, of course, went against the ‘demonising’ that was the required cultural norm. Nearly four decades later, Swastika now rescued from obscurity, this humanising - Hitler was, at home, an awkward, socially-maladjust dork who took a backseat to his kooky wife - feels like a revolution; a tonic for a media climate in which, more than ever, issues are reduced to the most ridiculous black and white. Naught’s more noxious than when an idiotic revenge-movie uses the dead wife/kid cliché as morally-absolved motivation. And Steven Kastrissios’s dogshit-stupid soap-opera The Horseman doesn’t skimp on such: even pulling out the old faux-homevideo-footage-of-daddy’s-little-girl chestnut to justify our mythical ‘hero’ torture-porn-ing his way through a host of badly-played bad-guys who, like, made a skin flick or something with daddy’s dead little girl. Add on an embarrassing road-movie element as emotional rehabilitation, and you’ve got a transparent, manipulative, fuckwitted, utterly despicable movie.

DANCING OUT THE DEMONS LIZA DEZFOULI TALKS FEAR AND LOATHING WITH CHOREOGRAPHER LUCAS JERVIES OF HUMAN ABSTRACT.

“H

uman Abstract started a long time ago,” says choreographer Lucas Jervies, talking about the first show from new Melbourne-based dance company, Jack. Human Abstract, which premieres this week at the Malthouse, deals with the physical and emotional experiences of confrontation and fear. “I read a poem by William Blake years ago,” explains Jervis. “It struck a chord with me – it is a heavy, dramatic, beautiful piece, about who we are from a spiritual perspective.” In case this sounds too ambitious or alarmingly dark and looming, Jervies is quick to add that the company hasn’t taken on more than they can truthfully express in one show. “I’m young; I didn’t want to set myself up for too big a hurdle to jump,” he says. “But the emotion of fear is universal. We’ve all been exposed to it in a way. It is an easy subject to explore. Fear is so common and present, every day, for everyone.” The piece was inspired, too, by an essay Jervies came across by Charles Darwin on the physiology of fear and excitement. “Fear and astonishment have the same physical reactions,” he explains. “Heart rate, sweat, muscle tension.” Although named Human Abstract, the work turns out to be not so abstract

after all; a narrative presented itself throughout the rehearsal process. “Officially we were not going for narrative,” Jervies explains. “We were work shopping physicality, we started with anxious, short, sharp movements, short impulses, contractions, but the more that happened, the smoother the whole became; lyrical, something fluid came from something hard and aggressive. We found something extra, like jewellery, an appendage; something beautiful within. Through that a narrative was born.” Inevitably personal experience does play a part. “A memory that we’ve all had. It is still quite abstract,” adds Jervies. “I don’t want to give too much away. People can make up their own minds.” What Jack is presenting to Melbourne audiences with Human Abstract is something more familiar to our European counterparts, says Jervies. “It happens all the time in Europe; the fusion of performance approaches, disciplines – working across disciplines that we love: theatre, dance, opera.” The company draws on classical ballet to inform the work’s dance vocabulary. “I still believe in classical technique; it is what I am familiar with. I have my own kind of vocabulary,” he continues. Personal challenges for Jervies

GIVEAWAY!

FOX FM LOOKING FOR TEMP HOST

The Runaways tells the story of the band that launched the careers of Joan Jett and Cherie Currie (played by Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning), The Runaways, which rose quickly to fame whilst its stars were teenagers and imploded spectacularly into the annals of rock’n’roll history. Thanks to Hoyts we’ve got five double in-season passes to give away. For your chance to win one email giveaways@inpress.com.au with ‘RUNAWAYS’ in the subject line.

Fox FM’s breakfast show host Matt Tilley is heading over to the Tour de France and as such a replacement host needs to step in and keep co-host Jo Stanley company. But instead of calling in famous friends they want you (well, maybe not you personally, but ‘you’ the public) to step into the chair. If you think you’ve got what it takes – funny voice, face for radio, ability to not say dumb things in awkward situations – then you need to head to fox.com.au and submit your entry. The winner will, of course, get to co-host six shows, from Monday 19 July to Monday 26, which means a lot of 4am starts. But hey, how often do you get to wake up on air?

A KIND OF ALASKA

be woken up. Their brain function it would be discovered was surprisingly not damaged by the disease. A Kind Of Alaska opens with one such awakening. One day teenage Deborah (Michele Williams) simply ‘stopped’; she is awoken by her physician Hornby (Phil Roberts) nearly 30 years later. Despite a slow start, punctuated by Pinter’s famed pauses, Williams successfully channels the spirit of a teenage girl trapped in a woman’s body and struggling to conceive what has happened to her. Roberts manages to imbue his clinical dialogue with a sense of gentle compassion. Trent Baker’s careful direction gives the audience a sense of Deborah’s claustrophobic condition. The final scenes are more chilling than any horror film and lingered in my thoughts for days after the performance. Season finished REBECCA COOK

REVIEWS The playful use of language in Lazaroo’s script delights, allowing whimsy and humour to sit comfortably with emotive speeches and evocative imagery. The power of words and vanity of literary pretension is ridiculed to great effect and best illustrated when the illiterate Clothilde (Carole Patullo) recites a speech lamenting Topsy’s fate written by Grenitch (Colin James), rousing it from his helpless anger into her own fiery call to arms. Director Jane Woollard allows Lazaroo’s words to command the space, employing minimal props and focusing on the actors’ delivery of the script’s slightly off-kilter rhythm. Georgina Capper as the nervy Bruna and Carole Patullo as Clothilde are particularly engaging. And there’s even room for a couple of jaunty vaudeville moments, including a song about the architect of Topsy’s demise, inventor Thomas Alva Edison. Until 11 July TOBY WALKER

The Theatre Husk There are some performances where you witness scenes from your own unremarkable existence being played out earnestly on stage or where your face hurts from being whacked with the political rhetoric stick, and there are others where you learn something truly fascinating about the world or human behaviour. Harold Pinter’s A Kind Of Alaska presented by Winterfall Theatre thankfully fits into this third category. Pinter was inspired by renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks’ book Awakenings that investigated the stories of survivors of a sleeping sickness that plagued Europe in 1917. Sufferers were conscious yet not fully awake and spent decades in a pseudo-zombie state. It wasn’t until experimental drugs in the 1960s that some of the surviving afflicted could

include a very short time to develop the work: “The rehearsal period was very quick – only three weeks!” In addition Human Abstract is the first full-length piece Jervies has developed. “I have only ever worked with shorter pieces. This is my first evening work. My biggest hurdle is finding the right dynamic of energy for a longer piece, how it continues, how the fifth scene balances with the first, how to let the audience be reminded of something from first scene. I have studied this lot, seen it often, but putting it into practice is a

TRAILER

whole other ball game.” Jervies sees his company as occupying a creative niche that isn’t possible for the larger dance companies or schools to fill. “We are open to all forms of creativity at this stage,” he says. “We wanted to remain completely creatively free. We don’t see too much of that from the big companies – and for good reasons!” WHAT: Human Abstract WHERE & WHEN: Merlyn Theatre, CUB Malthouse until Sunday 11 July

TRASH

CINEMA WITH GUY DAVIS Let’s get a little wacky and talk about… books (you’ve heard of them, right?), and in particular The Passage, Justin Cronin’s big, dense doorstop of a post-apocalyptic tale (and apparently the first volume of a trilogy). The buzz was vuvuzelaloud on this one before it even hit bookstore shelves, with Ridley Scott snapping up the film rights for nearly two million bucks pretty early in the process. Even though I’m only 250 or so pages into it (with the bio-engineered vampire virus just starting to take hold of the planet), I can already see why it has captured the imagination of so many people – it’s got sweep and scale to spare but it’s also brimming with beautifully detailed character work. It’s been described by many as akin to Stephen King’s great end-times epic The Stand, and even at the quarterway mark I reckon such claims are far from empty. I highly recommend you grab yourself a copy. Cronin’s not the only guy with a badass vampire trilogy burning up his word processor’s hard drive, though: Guillermo del Toro (who’s no longer directing The Hobbit – boo! – but may be overseeing a Van Helsing reboot – yeah!) has teamed up with crime writer Chuck Hogan for a three-volume series that started with last year’s The Strain and will continue with the release of The Fall later this year. Making terrific use of both the conventions of the horror genre and the police procedural, The Strain was a rattling good read, and I can only assume that the follow-up

will continue in the same vein. (Yeah, I made a ‘vein’ gag. I’m not proud.) By the way, in addition to the 3,000 other projects on his slate, del Toro is reportedly overseeing a Strain miniseries. While we’re talking vamp stories, regular readers will be aware of my affection for Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt Casebooks series, featuring the frequently crimson adventures of Pitt, a bloodsucking private eye trying to navigate the murky world of NYC’s vampiric clans. (I used to like Colin Farrell as Joe for the screen version; I’m now leaning towards The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner.) The fifth and presumably final book in the saga, My Dead Body, is out now and it brings Joe’s odyssey to a hard-edged but more than satisfying conclusion. (And while it’s not vamprelated, definitely check out Huston’s novel Sleepless for a nifty slice of genre-tinged neo-noir.) To round out the column, a Blu-ray recommendation: Daybreakers, the Spierig Brothers’ follow-up to their often-ingenious, often-terrible debut feature Undead. I was a little tough on the bros’ story of a vampiric world running perilously low on human blood, but a second viewing (and a fair few subsequent viewings) changed my mind. While the execution’s not flawless, this is a really solid B-movie with some strong ideas and some awesomely gory moments. And the two-hour making-of doco – longer than the movie itself! – is utterly interesting and informative.

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C U LT U R A L

CRINGE

WITH REBECCA COOK There was an incident towards the end of the opening night of MTC’s new offering Dead Man’s Cell Phone so shocking that audience members were discussing it before they even got up from their seats, and were still discussing it at the bar at the after-party. It wasn’t the opening scene nudity, nor was it the ‘death’ implied by the title; there was no liberal spraying of the C-bomb… So what caused such horror to cross the glitterati’s faces? The throwing of an iPhone. “It wasn’t a real one!” “She must have swapped the real one with just a case.” “I wanted to scream ‘stop!’” “Do you think it was a real one?” “Would they need one for each night of the performance – how long does it run for?” Yes, a play designed to make you think about your addiction to your mobile phone and a room full of addicts simply want to nurse that poor little white body back to health. The injured iPhone could have taken its pick of nursemaids in the near-packed house. Among them Shane Bourne, Nadine Garner, Damian Richardson, and Nadia Townsend turned out to support their City Homicide cast member, John Adam, in his role as the aforementioned dead man. Adam bared more than his stage craft and Cringe is sure Adam’s chest is now looking for its own agent. Note to City Homicide’s writers: NYPD Blue saw fit to flash David Caruso’s behind to camera on a semi-regular basis and it didn’t lose any of its

grittiness – the TV show, that is. But back to the matter at hand: Dead Man’s Cell Phone was a gentle delight – consistently funny, slightly anarchic, with several incursions past the fourth wall and a little wacky with a couple of unexpected plot twists. All-in-all a step up from the MTC’s other recent contemporary comedy, The Grenade. The premise – what if you answered a dead man’s mobile? – goes the distance with some truly admirable performances in particular from Sue Jones as the dead man’s mother. The much publicised Lisa McCune had less to play with in what gradually became one of the straighter roles as Jean, the woman who answers and inherits the phone. If you’d like to know more about the health of the iPhone (and catch the show as well), then book yourself in for Sunday 25 July (matinee session), which will be followed by wine and cheese tastings, free Genovese coffee, beats from DJ Fiona Scott Norman and the potential for awkward discussion with the actors from the show. In brief, you don’t have to go to Buller to see snow this weekend. Just head to the City Square, which will be “transformed into a beautiful vista with snow falling lightly,” according to the folks at the sustainabilityfocussed seven thousand oaks festival. The flakes will be falling this Saturday and Saturday 24 July. For more details head to seventhousandoaks.org/festival.

FILM

REVIEWS

SET

WITH ANDREW MAST

PREDATORS Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) may be presenting Predators, but you can’t help but wish he’d directed it. Nimród Antal (Armoured) does a perfectly adequate job rebooting the franchise, though it feels like an opportunity was missed to elevate the story from B-grade thrills to some genuine creepiness. Then again, perhaps that’s missing the point entirely. Schwarzenegger’s impressive musculature notwithstanding, guns, neon green blood and the vibrant, sensory vision of the aliens are the reasons to see Predator, and this remake serves them all up in spades. Antal throws his audience straight into the fray as a soldier (Adrien Brody) awakes to find himself plummeting to earth, his parachute opening just in time. Also newly arrived is your stock standard racial and gender mix, barring Topher Grace’s doctor, AKA the comic relief. The audience is then free to ponder the exact order they

will be picked off: will it be the murdering rapist (Walton Goggins), the soldier from Sierra Leone or Russia (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali and Oleg Taktarov), the Yakuza or the Mexican cartel member (Louis Ozawa Changchien and Danny Trejo), the doctor, or the token female (Alice Braga)? Designer sweat, mud and John Debney’s ludicrously bombastic score essentially create the ensuing action. Brody proves to be captain obvious, eking the solemnity out of his lines of tortured exposition with a grave, gravely voice. Predators’ thrills may be paint-by-numbers, but there’s still much to enjoy. The broader theme of the predator within is also largely wasted, but then Schwarzenegger’s 1987 original wasn’t exactly Shakespeare. WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas from Thursday (advanced screenings tonight: see hoyts.com. au for details) ALICE TYNAN

Local TV networks are still in denial of the exodus brought on by their continual juggling of schedules, ad breaks and clusterfuck of promotional copy they cram onscreen every millisecond they aren’t screening actual ads. However most now have some kind of online alternative… iView: Without doubt ABC have online broadcasting nailed the best in Aus. Shows usually go online immediately after TV broadcast although sometimes those shows won’t stream smoothly – sometimes not at all. (Is this a traffic problem?) However, leave it a day and it’s seamless viewing. Their menus are easy to manouvre and, like the BBC in the UK, they have learnt the value of using the site to preview shows before they air on TV. One major problem (as with most online networks) is that if your ISP hasn’t got an unmetered deal with the ABC this will eat up your monthly download quota like crazy. Plus7: The best of the commercial networks. Like the ABC, shows seem to go up just seconds after their TV debut. But it’s a commercial network and they have to make a living, so there are ads before and during the streamed shows – and the ads somehow fuck with the stream flow, stopping and starting as if they are larger files than the actual shows. The site doesn’t include all shows – you can find the hits (and some shows from 7Two) but don’t expect to find late Sunday delights like Ponderland.

And again, if your ISP doesn’t have a deal with 7 you are fucked. Seriously, Ten!: Seriously annoying. Ten has the expected ads before but also has the unexpected feature of dividing its shows into parts as if you were watching an illegal stream on YouTube. The ads appear at the start of each part. Menu is cumbersome. ninemsn: A crap menu makes it hard to even be bothered exploring far. And the help page is useless. There is minimal content and eventually it becomes obvious that their GO! Network is hosted separately. How about a click-through, guys? Now, GO! follows Nine’s habit of messing with screening times and recently shuffled US sitcom Community around its schedule without warning. So an attempt to see what episodes may have been missed in the move seems like a good way to test the site. Okay. No mention of Community on home page. Click ‘Shows’ in the menu. There’s a list of programs under the title “Shows A-Z Index”, except they aren’t in alphabetical order. But Community is there. Click. Oh, a one sentence episode synopsis. a brief cast list and a note that this is ‘ep 14’. Doesn’t say when, where, or why there is this random listing. Okay, click on ‘Clips’. Ummm… a mess. SBS: Involves a pop-up player that is annoying and any other information is difficult to find. Foxtel: Cut a deal meaning you can’t watch on Macs. Nice one.

A CUT ABOVE

BLOOD FROM A STONE

Minneapolis punks OFF WITH THEIR HEADS literally live on the road, singer/guitarist RYAN YOUNG tells DOUG WALLEN.

FABULOUS DIAMONDS keys man JARROD ZLATIC throws ALICE BODY a few curveballs as they discuss the Melbourne duo’s second album.

arming basslines and tankard-sloshing tempos. And despite the penchant for brevity, OWTH pack a compact bout of showmanship into the 151 seconds of Their Own Medicine. More surprising still, the back-to-back I Just Want You To Know and My Episodes are almost ballad-worthy in their upfront romantic sentiment. At the end of the day, though, this is very much a punk band, and one with a defiantly old-school sound. Makes sense: the members cut their teeth with house shows and other all-ages gigs in the fruitful Minneapolis underground. “I would sneak out of the house and go see bands like Dillinger Four and The Strike,” Young shares. “That was my introduction to the punk scene. I didn’t even know it existed before then. I wound up just hanging and making friends. That’s how the band got started. It was just a bunch of parties really.”

f judged solely by the number of albums to their name, Off With Their Heads would seem like a lazy band. After all, the new In Desolation is only the American punk quartet’s second LP since forming back in 2002. Look more closely, though, and you’ll notice a mindblowing catalogue of 7” singles that will number 20 by the end of next month. Oh, and the band live on the road. Literally. “For two years straight we’ve been on the road,” confirms singer/guitarist Ryan Young, “with a week and a half off every two months. We all either packed up or got rid of everything we owned and live wherever we can.” So while Young, guitarist Zack Gontard, bassist Robbie Swartwood and drummer Justin Francis hail from Minneapolis as a band, these days they’ve been made transient by their hard-touring lifestyle. That, incidentally, explains the lack of more albums as well as the wealth of vinyl singles, which includes a handful of splits with other bands. “We’d just [record] a couple songs,” Young recalls, “and then we’d have something to tour on. If we did one every two months, we’d have a reason to go back out.”

Off With Their Heads have been compared to everyone from Bouncing Souls and Hot Water Music to Dillinger Four and Against Me!. Yet there’s a singular quality to the quite short, propulsive songs on In Desolation. Young’s raw, gritty bark is the band’s most immediate feature, followed closely by the straightforward urgency of his lyrics. But that’s not to discount the rest of the band, who apply a hot blast of scene-setting hooks, strong-

The band still try to adhere to the all-ages circuit, although their no-nonsense style isn’t hugely popular with today’s emo masses. Still, the fact that In Desolation came out on Epitaph Records should get a lot of people’s attention. Young says the band were content to selfrelease the album before Epitaph head (and Bad Religion legend) Brett Gurewitz called him personally out of the blue with a pressure-free offer. Gurewitz gave the band their advance for the album and told them they could either keep the money or go into a studio and take a bit of time with the recording. They chose the latter, a big departure from their past approach. And so the album got 20 days devoted to it rather than three. Obviously it came out great, even if Young did lose his voice when it finally came to record his vocals. But he powered through, something he’s learned how to do from constant touring. Speaking of, Off With Their Heads are looking at making their maiden voyage to Australia in either December or February, although nothing is definite yet. Until then, the four hard-trucking mates will continue to tour in an old caravan loaned from their merch person’s parents. At least, for as long as that’s in one piece. “We’ll totally screw it up and it’ll be dead,” Young insists with a laugh. “But hopefully not any time soon.” WHO: Off With Their Heads WHAT: In Desolation (Epitaph)

SPARKLING SMILE

with forthcoming-ness. I should have paid heed to those unanimously unfavourable reviews I saw dangling off Fabulous Diamonds’ MySpace page, like heads mounted on a trophy board (“I just think they’re funny”). Clearly it’s the work of a man not overly concerned about what people think. Instead I try digging deeper. It goes something like this:

he first five seconds of my conversation with Jarrod Zlatic are a future echo of a discussion that turns out different from any I might have expected. I saunter into common ground by stating the subject of the interview: so, your album Fabulous Diamonds II is coming out in two days. “Yeah, I thought it was already out, but I don’t really know,” Zlatic replies. “I guess it is.” I stop. I check my notes. Yeah, the 19th of June is when it’s supposed to come out. “Oh, okay. I don’t really worry about that kind of thing. I was ready for it to come out months ago.” My follow-on question disintegrates into a useless comment that presumes he’s not really nervous or excited about it. “No, it doesn’t worry me one iota.” Right. Zlatic makes up half of local hard-to-definers Fabulous Diamonds on keys, with drummer Nisa Venerosa the other half. The two have been playing together for a little more than five years from fairly humble beginnings: Venerosa had only just started playing drums and she and Zlatic were not much more than casual acquaintances. “The whole thing has been a big snowball,” Zlatic explains. “We just got together as something to do, as a sort of little band side-project thing. We don’t really have any aesthetic goals. In the past I was conscious of having a repetitive thing going but apart from that… we’ve just kind of jammed.” It’s intriguing, this laissez-faire attitude of Zlatic’s, and one I’ve not prepared for. For a band who experience encouraging criticism from the likes of Pitchfork, and tour with international heavies such as Deerhunter and Beach House, I presumed Zlatic would be bursting

“We’re all really inspired by what our friends are doing, and I think they feel the same way,” says Quinn Walker, the 30-year-old oddball who founded Suckers. “There’s a circle of artists making music here in what’s not necessarily a community, more like a giant group of friends that you meet along the way who’re making things that you also enjoy. And, if you’re lucky, that influences your imagination. There’s a lot of people we feel that way about: Yeasayer, Chairlift, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, TV On The Radio, Dirty Projectors, Bear In Heaven; there’s so many people who came up in Brooklyn around the same time as us that we really like and really enjoy, and we all go to each others’ shows and support each other. It’s not something that’s as easily pinpointed as grunge-era Seattle, but there’s this real inkling that you’re all in this together.” Walker grew up in the white flight of suburban Connecticut, and his childhood was big on both delinquency – drug use, dropping out, hitchhiking and the like – and music-makery. His partner-incrime, in both instances, was his cousin Austin Fisher, who, not coincidentally, has turned out to be Walker’s foil in Suckers. As well as playing in

The nimble bassist confirms the notion that Behind Crimson Eyes’ new material will be a step or two in a heavier direction; perhaps a welcome change for some of their older fans, given that the band really geared things in a pop-oriented direction with last year’s self-titled album.

For Walker, this would eventually become his working way, his solo work coming to light before Suckers even existed, when CocoRosie released a doublealbum compiled of Walker’s home recordings on their Voodoo-Eros label. Dubbed Laughter’s An Asshole/Lion Land, the set was big on psychedelic strangeness and general frivolity, and earned Walker a small following amongst Brooklyn hipsters. When Suckers came together, their three principals – Walker, Fisher, and the mysterious, singularlynamed Pan – had each been working solo; they initially called themselves “three one-man-bands playing together”. The band initially started out playing Walker’s solo songs, but after adding percussionist/ etc Brian Aitken, they switched to “making songs that were a quarter-each input from each member”. And, “being bored” by bands with a single style or sound, the newly-founded Suckers hoped the collision of their four personalities would fuse into something musically new. “Our main objective was not to sound like anybody else we’d ever heard, and not to sound like ourselves on each song,” Walkers says, of their ambition. “We definitely try to stay away from having two songs that sound similar. That’s the challenge of writing new things in this band: trying to stay away from what you’ve already done, trying to create something totally new.” The sparkling-sounding Wild Smile isn’t music entirely anew, but its idiosyncratic take on rock does harken back to any past era, and, even better, it comes blessed by glorious four-part harmonies. “We definitely wanted a band in which everybody was capable of singing,” Walker says. And, unlike other flavours-of-months that litter the blog realm, Suckers are a band whose music holds obvious, broad-ranging appeal. By design. “To me,” Walker admits, in earnest, “I hope that anyone can find something that they like in our music, whether it’s vocals, or an instrument, or a bridge, or a chorus.” WHO: Suckers WHAT: Wild Smile (Spunk/EMI)

WHO: Fabulous Diamonds WHAT: Fabulous Diamonds II (Chapter Music) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 17 July, the Toff In Town

BEHIND CRIMSON EYES are embracing DIY after feeling compromised on their last album, bassist GARTH BUCHANAN tells LOCHLAN WATT.

countless combos together – “death metal bands, punk bands, hardcore bands” – the cousins made more-experimental solo recordings on their own.

The insular vibe Zlatic gives off about his music making – the concern with instinct and flow, the disinterest in communicating meaning, the general irreverence for things like release dates, record sales (“Oh, we don’t know how many records we’ve sold”) and external criticism – permeates most of our conversation, to the point where maybe I’ve learnt something after all. I tentatively suggest that in a culture that links success with money and status, maybe it’s commendable that Zlatic’s focus on the music eclipses such values. “Yeah, I don’t really have any concept of success,” Zlatic says. “I’ve already succeeded; I’ve got everything paid for and people buy my records.”

A NEW SET OF EYES

Brooklyn’s SUCKERS unashamedly hope everyone will find something to like on their debut album, QUINN WALKER tells ANTHONY CAREW.

uckers are a true band of the digital times. Their music synthesis an array of genres in an unironic, natural fashion; they’re obviously informed by Animal Collective; and, on their 2009 debut self-titled EP, they’re produced by Yeasayer. And, now, with their first album, Wild Smile, just out, they’ve been hyped for almost 18 months; another band buzzed-up by the blogosphere long before they’ve made an album. A lot of this can be explained by where they’ve come from: the kooky quartet are eyeballs deep in the Brooklyn scene, and they wouldn’t even attempt to deny it.

Inpress: I noticed on the tracklisting of this new album that you have two much longer songs, one on the beginning and one on the end. Zlatic: “Yeah. Like a sandwich.” Inpress: Did you consciously structure it like that? Zlatic: “Yeah, well it’s not in the order in which we recorded the songs.” Inpress: I mean, having it structured like a sandwich, is there anything you’re trying to say? Zlatic: “No, we’re not trying to say anything. I’m hesitant about making grand statements. It’s really just about the flow of the album.” Inpress: You guys don’t explicitly say very much. Zlatic: “It’s just very instinctual.” Inpress: It reminds me of how some artists don’t label their work, with the intention of opening it up to interpretation. Zlatic (reluctantly): “Yeah… I guess.” Inpress: I mean, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, it’s just your albums don’t really have names and you don’t go, ‘This song is called this and it’s about this’. Zlatic: “Well, that’s more a pragmatic thing. It’d be annoying trying to decide on a song title between ourselves.”

“We still want to incorporate the bits that we love most of everything we’ve done. I guess we’re just trying to capitalise on what we do best. We want to try and get rid of the stuff that’s not up to scratch, and just concentrate on what we do best: heavy vocals and heavy lyrics and big riffs, and just writing heavy shit. That’s what the band always was. That’s what the band was before I was in the picture. The last album, I love it, but it was kind of a compromise. It was the only thing that we could all agree on.”

“W

e’re not actually doing an album; we’re going to do three EPs,” says enthusiastic bassist Garth Buchanan of Behind Crimson Eyes’ latest ambitions. Following up on the post-hardcoremeets-pop-punk anthems of 2006’s A Revelation For Despair and 2009’s self-titled album, the latest sample from the group (who formed in 2004 with Buchanan jumping on board in 2006), shows a band involving more of their heavier roots in an ever-evolving sound and gradually rotating line-up. Much like 2005’s Pavour Nocturnus and Prologue releases, their next outings will be in the EP format as opposed to full-lengths. “Rather than the same old album cycle thing, we’re trying to do something a bit different – think outside the box, you know? If we do EPs, the outlay is much less and it means that we can do more. If you do an album, there’s only so much you can tour it. It wouldn’t be any different to an EP, but we can do it on a more regular basis. Kids don’t have to wait so long before a new release; it’d be eight to 12 months instead of two years or whatever. “They’re all going to be concepts – all story-based,” he further elaborates. “We’re trying to do it so it’s not tacky; we just want to make it really good, and not only like story-based, but musically, we’re going to try and tie it in with each CD. We’re still figuring out how we’re going to do that, but we’ve got some ideas anyway.”

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Refusing to take the demise of their unsatisfactory relationship with prior label Roadrunner Records as a breaking blow, the four-piece that currently also includes vocalist Josh Stuart, guitarist Aaron Schultz and new drummer Dan Kerby, used it to fuel their intent to embrace independence and regain complete control. “We’re going to put this one out ourselves. We’re financing everything ourselves and have been for over a year now,” says Buchanan, now quite aware of the potential pitfalls that stem from the uglier side of the music industry. “We’re happy to be an independent band. We’ve sold a lot of records over the years, but even if we only sell a fraction of what we did in the past, it’s going to be more rewarding because we’re doing it all ourselves. I don’t think people realise how DIY we are – but I guess that’s kind of the presence we had in the industry, with Roadrunner and what not.” Buchanan says that with the new trio of releases, “it’s going to be good that we’re going to be at the forefront of everything, because we’ll be able to see it through and make sure it gets the right kind of attention,” and that anxious fans can expect the first EP by the year’s end.

WHO: Behind Crimson Eyes WHEN & WHERE: Friday 16 July, The Castle (Dandenong, all ages); Saturday 17, Bang at the Royal Melbourne Hotel

ISSUE 1130 - WEDNESDAY 7 JULY, 2010

TOURS

PRESENTS

THIS WEEK INTERNATIONAL

MARK LANEGAN: Tonight Corner Hotel; Friday Espy Gershwin Room THE SOFT PACK: Thursday East Brunswick Club OM: Sunday National Hotel (Geelong)

NATIONAL

KARNIVOOL, SLEEP PARADE, MM9: Tonight, Thursday Hi-Fi THIRSTY MERC: Tonight Karova Lounge; Thursday Bended Elbow; Friday Corner Hotel SIANNA LEE: Tonight Empress INDIANA AVENT, JORDIE LANE, ADRIAN STOYLES, COBY GRANT, MA PETITE, EMILY ULMAN, ALUKA: Tonight Northcote Social Club MATT CORBY: Thursday Toff In Town; Friday National Hotel (Geelong); Saturday Baby Black Cafe (Bacchus Marsh) LOVE CONNECTION: Thursday Tote MIKELANGELO & THE TIN STAR: Thursday Northcote Social Club CW STONEKING, AL DUVALL: Thursday Corner Hotel; Friday Prince Bandroom DAVE GRANEY & THE LURID YELLOW MIST: Thursday Grace Darling Hotel THE VASCO ERA: Friday The Loft (Warnambool), Saturday Barwon Heads Hotel RICHARD IN YOUR MIND: Friday Northcote Social Club THE LITTLE STEVIES, BEN WELLS & THE MIDDLE NAMES: Friday East Brunswick Club CIRCLE PIT: Friday Espy THE DEAD SALESMEN: Saturday East Brunswick Club EAGLE & THE WORM: Saturday Northcote Social Club SALLY SELTMANN: Saturday Corner Hotel CROW: Saturday Tote MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE: Saturday Spensers Live GUN STREET GIRLS, DIRTY YORK, THE BONNIWELLS: Saturday Grace Darling Hotel LEE MEMORIAL, TRANSCRIPTION OF ORGAN MUSIC, MACHINE TRANSLATIONS: Saturday Yah Yah’s CUSTOM KINGS: Tuesday Toff In Town

GIG OF THE WEEK EAGLE & THE WORM

SATURDAY, NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB

friend often trots out the adage that if a band is having a good time on stage, then he’s bound to be having a good time watching them. Judging Eagle & The Worm by that criterion, it’s hard not to love this good-time local nine-piece, who’ve recently warmed up crowds for The Gin Club and Dan Kelly. Boasting two bassists, a swinging horn section and the oddly charismatic Jarrad Brown out front, this is music made for the dancefloor. With a new double A-side single (the tropical knees-up All I Know, backed by a cover of the Tom Jones hit It’s Not Unusual) out now, the band play a massive launch party – their first headline show in ages – on Saturday. Also on the bill are Norwegian Viking metal band Barbarion (fresh from pillaging Cherry Rock 010), Robin Fox’s Laser Show, Ballarat upstarts The Black Hill Five and Rat Vs Possum DJs.

Regurgitator pic by Heidi Takla

THE SOFT PACK: Thursday East Brunswick Club SALLY SELTMANN: Saturday Corner Hotel OM: Sunday National Hotel (Geelong); July 16 Hi-Fi THE WILSON PICKERS: July 15, National Hotel (Geelong); 16, East Brunswick Club; 17 Lot 19 (Castlemaine) KASABIAN: July 23 Festival Hall GRIZZLY BEAR, HERE WE GO MAGIC: July 27 Palais ALBERTA CROSS: July 27 Corner Hotel THE MAGIC NUMBERS: July 28 Corner Hotel YEASAYER: July 29 Prince Bandroom SURFER BLOOD: July 30 Corner Hotel MIDLAKE: August 1, 2 Prince Bandroom ASH, WE ARE SCIENTISTS, LAST DINOSAURS: August 4 Billboard The Venue LAURA MARLING: August 4, 5 Hi-Fi SLASH: August 11 Festival Hall CKY: August 12 Hi-Fi BLISS N ESO: August 13 Palace MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS: August 19 Forum THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES: August 20 Trak SCARY KIDS SCARING KIDS: August 20 (arvo U18; evening 18+) Hi-Fi ART VS SCIENCE: August 27, 28 Hi-Fi CORDRAZINE: August 28 East Brunswick Hotel TAKE ACTION TOUR: September 11, 12 Corner Hotel BIRDS OF TOKYO, SILVERSUN PICKUPS: October 1 Festival Hall SARAH BLASKO: October 7 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 8 Palais; 9 Meeniyan Town Hall

It’s amazing what memories the line “I will lick your arsehole” can help raise. I can almost feel the grease in my hair and the acne-driven lumps on my face. It seems the guy beside me can think of nothing else after an hour straight of hair stroking and twirling. Perhaps his fear of lit-up hair has been awakened by supporting act Ouch My Face, as Celeste Potter screams down the microphone, “I’M ON FIRE!” As the sweat drips down to make a nice little pool on the floor, I get the slightest inkling that a fire extinguisher may be quite necessary. Nonetheless, the My Disco-style dark droning of guitars is methodical and would be quite mesmerising if someone wasn’t screaming one line over and over again, torturing me like a parrot.

Frightened Rabbit Monday 2 August Hi-Fi

Regurgitator come out giving it 100% with Blood And Spunk. In the ‘90s, these genrebending mixes of rap, electronics, Rolf Harris instruments and punk probably gave bassist Ben Ely a neck aneurysm. Officially considered Australia’s coolest nerds, these guys still have it. In fact, they are fucking awesome.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL

BOYS LIKE GIRLS, HOT CHELLE RAE: July 14 (U18), 15 (18+) Hi-Fi Bar LICHENS: July 14 Toff In Town; 23 The Tote SNFU: July 15 Arthouse OM: July 16 Hi-Fi STRIKE ANYWHERE: July 16, 17 Evelyn KASABIAN: July 23 Festival Hall MIDNIGHT FROM MEMPHIS: July 23 Harvest Moon (Bellarine); 24 Spenserslive; 25 Guildford Music Hall HAIR STYLISTICS: July 25 Toff In Town SCISSOR SISTERS: July 26 Festival Hall THE TING TINGS: July 26 Palace GRIZZLY BEAR, HERE WE GO MAGIC: July 27 Palais

LIVE: REVIEWS

REGURGITATOR, OUCH MY FACE EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB

othing oozes sweaty awkwardness like a teenage reminiscence. Go on – slam that bedroom door after refusing to eat your mum’s seafood marinara and, huffing and puffing down the hallway, go off to cry to your Kurt Cobain poster because the only sexual contact you are going to have for the next three years is between a poster on your wall and your bedspread.

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New tracks are still getting churned out – Distractions puts some speed on toast and drives everyone around a motor rally. It even momentarily distracts hair-stroker from his chore. But the speed and ferocity seem to be lost on the audience for a while. It takes some blood, sweat and tears from Quan Yeomans and a bit of Hullabaloo to get some body sweating and pressing up the front of the crowd. And once it starts, it doesn’t stop. It’s a roll of messy manliness jumping into each other with devil horns to The Drop and screaming to Black Bugs, before Yeomans slides slyly into a Sweet Child Of Mine guitar riff. Apparently the end of Satan’s rainbow holds a big fat pile of Guns N’ Roses. And the nerds love it. Forget the clean cut sounds of later Regurgitator, tonight is all for reminiscing about everything that was messy, raw and out of control in the ‘90s. I wish I was wearing denim. Leonie Richman

live@inpress.com.au

ALBERTA CROSS: July 27 Corner Hotel FOALS: July 27 Hi-Fi Bar BAND OF HORSES: July 27 Palace MUMFORD & SONS: July 28 Palace Theatre 30 SECONDS TO MARS, THE ART: July 28 Festival Hall BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB: July 28, 31 Billboard THE MAGIC NUMBERS: July 28 Corner Hotel LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, HOT CHIP: July 29 Festival Hall YEASAYER: July 29 Prince Bandroom THE STROKES: July 30 Festival Hall HELLYEAH: July 30 Billboard The Venue RICHARD ASHCROFT & THE UNITED NATIONS OF SOUND: July 30 Palace SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS: August 1 Northcote Social Club MIDLAKE: August 1, 2 Prince Bandroom FRIGHTENED RABBIT: August 2 Hi-Fi THE DRUMS, THE MOTIFS: August 2 East Brunswick Club FLORENCE & THE MACHINE: August 2, 3 Festival Hall GOLDFRAPP: August 3 Palace Theatre MIIKE SNOW: August 3 Hi-Fi Bar BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: August 2, 3 Corner Hotel TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB: August 3 Billboard The Venue ASH, WE ARE SCIENTISTS: August 4 Billboard The Venue KATE NASH: August 3 East Brunswick Club; 4 Corner Hotel LAURA MARLING: August 4, 5 Hi-Fi Bar BAND OF SKULLS: August 4 East Brunswick Club JONSI: August 4 Palace FANFARLO: August 5 Northcote Social Club PASSION PIT: August 4, 5 Prince Bandroom TESTAMENT: August 6 Billboard SLASH: August 11 Festival Hall A TRIBE CALLED QUEST: August 12 Festival Hall CKY: August 12 Hi-Fi Bar Midnight Juggernauts Thursday 19 August, the Forum

KATY PERRY: August 12 Plaza Ballroom 3OH!3, TONIGHT ALIVE: August 14 (U18), 15 (18+) Hi-Fi Bar CHRISTIAN DEATH: August 14 Corner Hotel 3OH!3: August 14 (under-18), 15 Hi-Fi EELS: August 15 Palace THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES: August 20 The Trak SCARY KIDS SCARING KIDS: August 20 (U18), 20 (18+) Hi-Fi SENSES FAIL: August 21 day (18), evening Hi-Fi CHRIS BOTTI: August 22 National Theatre XIU XIU, HIGH PLACES: September 3 East Brunswick Club LA GUNS: September 4 Hi-Fi NAPALM DEATH: September 5 Hi-Fi SOULFLY, CITY OF FIRE, INCITE: September 8 Palace ATTACK ATTACK!, PIERCE THE VEIL, DREAM ON, DREAMER: September 11 Corner Hotel METALLICA: September 15, 16, November 18, 20, 21 Rod Laver Arena MAYHEM: September 23 Hi-Fi Bar CYPRESS HILL: September 23 Palace PETER HOOK & FRIENDS: September 24 Palais ENTER SHIKARI: September 25 (18+), 26 (U18) Hi-Fi YOU ME AT SIX, THE AUDITION: September 25 Billboard ASLAN: September 30, October 1 Clifton Hill Hotel EXODUS: October 3 Corner Hotel SIMPLY RED: October 6 Melbourne Exhibition Centre; 9 Rochford Wines (Yarra Valley) ALEXISONFIRE: October 10 Palace PARAMORE: October 13 Sidney Myer

Music Bowl BEDOUIN SOUNDCLASH: October 4 Prince Bandroom RUFUS WAINWRIGHT: October 24 Palais PAUL WELLER: October 26, 27 Forum CELTIC WOMAN: October 30, 31 Palais Theatre PETER GABRIEL, CHICAGO, AMERICA, PETER FRAMPTON: November 1 Etihad Stadium

LCD pic by Bob Baker Fish

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: November 5, 6 State Theatre OWL CITY, THE ALBUM LEAF: November 10 Palais LEONARD COHEN: November 12, 13 Rod Laver Arena BLONDIE, THE PRETENDERS: December 1, 2 Palais; 4 Rochford Wines HOT WATER MUSIC, THE BOUNCING SOULS: December 4 Corner Hotel JACK JOHNSON: December 8 Sidney Myer Music Bowl MUSE: December 14, 15 Rod Laver Arena THE EAGLES: December 17, 18, 21, 22 Rod Laver Arena

NATIONAL

SIANNA LEE: July 14, 21, 28 Empress LITTLE RED: July 15 Prince Bandroom LOVE CONNECTION: July 15, 22, 29 Tote THE WILSON PICKERS: July 15 National Hotel (Geelong); 16 East Brunswick Club; 17 Lot 19 (Castlemaine) DAVE GRANEY & THE LURID YELLOW MIST: July 15, 22 Grace Darling Hotel TEX PERKINS & THE DARK HORSE, WENDY MATTHEWS, LUCY FISHER, LEENA: July 15 Espy Gershwin Room SHANE HOWARD: July 16 Oakleigh RSL; 17 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine) BROWN PAPER BAG (feat. RAT VS POSSUM, THE PARKING LOT EXPERIMENTS, EAST BRUNSWICK ALL GIRLS CHOIR, NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE): July 16 Ding Dong Lounge ERNEST ELLIS: July 16 Northcote Social Club THE PEACENIX: July 16 Sandbelt Live WHITE WOODS: July 16 Workers Club MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE: July 17, 23 Spensers Live FABULOUS DIAMONDS: July 17 Toff In Town CHARLES JENKINS & THE ZHIVAGOS: July 17 Corner Hotel THE NATION BLUE, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY: July 17 East Brunswick Club ASH GRUNWALD: July 18 The Loft (Warrnambool) BOYS BOYS BOYS!: July 22 One Six One VIOLENT SOHO: July 22 Northcote Social Club RICK PRICE: July 22 Wellers (Kangaroo Ground), 23 Thornbury Theatre, 24 Palais (Hepburn Springs) THIRSTY MERC: July 23 Westernport Hotel HARD-ONS: July 23 East Brunswick Club LOWRIDER: July 23 Westernport Hotel (Phillip Island); 24 Corner Hotel THE TEMPER TRAP: July 24 Festival Hall THE SCREAMING JETS: July 24 Hi-Fi YOUNG HERETICS: July 24 Northcote Social Club DRUMSCENE LIVE: July 24, 25 THE JD SET with WOLFMOTHER: July 29 Espy DUTCH TILDERS BENEFIT CONCERT with DUTCH TILDERS, CHAIN, KEVIN BORICH EXPRESS, CHRIS FINNEN, STEVE RUSSELL, GEOFF ACHISON, LLOYD SPIEGEL, STEVE PAGE and JEANNIE LUSHES: July 29 Thornbury Theatre LLOYD SPIEGEL: July 30 East Brunswick Club THE RED EYES: July 30 The Loft (Warnambool); 31 Northcote Social Club; August 6 Sandbelt; 7 Village Green Hotel SUPER WILD HORSES: July 31 Victoria Hotel THE DINGOES, MICK THOMAS: August 6 The Corner THE CAT EMPIRE: August 8 Prince Bandroom; 19, 20 Palace PVT: August 12 Corner Hotel SHIHAD: August 13, 14 Northcote Social Club GLIDE: August 13 East Brunswick Club BLISS N ESO: August 13 Palace JEZ MEAD: August 13 Elwood Lounge; August 20, September 3 Morning Star Hotel; August 29 Drunken Poet

LCD, A BAND CALLED LIFE SUNSHINE & GREASE Sunshine & Grease is a gallery space and record store with a decidedly experimental bent. On this chilly Thursday night we’re knee deep in the Melbourne underground, a place where weirdness and stupidity call home. What’s so refreshing is that these two bands aren’t your earnest chin-stroking experimental artists who treat their knob-twiddling with the gravity of a UN tribunal on human rights. Instead both have a firm handle on the absurdity of their actions. And this makes it fun. First up are duo A Band Called Life, one member masked, the other wearing a t-shirt bearing the legend ‘pop it like it’s hot’. They have a Casio keyboard, cymbal, laptop, and cassette player and they use them, scattered, like medicated pre-schoolers with syndromes. Over this mess they recite nonsensical poetry, often with different texts at the same time. “I’m really enjoying saying things into the microphone between songs,” offers the t-shirt as they trade injokes with the audience. One exuberant lass tells the tale of her friend who dreamt she slept with her grandfather – “But it was only because he had just died.” The only time this band can make sense is when you’ve got the flu, your whole body aches, it’s 3am, you’re desperate for sleep and your eyes hurt. They’re unbelievably terrible, but very, very funny. LCD are the best noise band in Melbourne. They’re ridiculous, with a table full of electronics, bowed electric guitar, feeding back no-input mixing board, a couple of synths, not to mention their mason cards and dice. This duo do absurdity with flair. Dressed in matching aprons and chipmunk punk LP covers on their heads they hand out propaganda pamphlets, and gesture importantly to each other over this bizarre creeping drone music that quietly ascends into difficult pitches and noisy madness. You get the sense that their interplay is nonsense and you hope it is, but you never know. It’s their tenth anniversary show. They haven’t played in two years. It’s a crime. Experimental music needs them. Bob Baker Fish

MR PERCIVAL NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB Everyone gravitates to the floor of the Northcote Social Club when Mr Percival (the person, not the pelican) takes the stage, kind of like kids at storytelling time. Mr Percival doesn’t buy into our passive postures, however. He’s investing all his natural energy and charisma toward building a bonfire, slowly, from the dry remains of that traditional audience stance peculiar to this day and age: stationary, expressionless, arms closed. Not for long. Mr Percival galumphs through the crowd, ploughing some deep groove within us and planting the seeds of funk. Hell, I mean: bonfires, tilling the stony audience-earth and manually planting little kernels of genre… You could almost take these figurative statements literally if you saw the extent we punters changed: from being detached observers enjoying the music to becoming inextricable, inexorable limbs of the rampaging Percival Beast. I guess you had to be there. Anyway. Mr Percival (real name Darren Percival) is a one-man band, in one sense of the word. It’s him up on stage with a microphone or three and looping pedals. He basically does that Bobby McFerrin thing of recording and layering his voice – whether through beat-boxing, harmonising or simulating trumpets

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and cellos – over itself to create multifaceted tracks. He does it all live on stage. On the other hand, Mr Percival is not a one-man band at all, at least when he’s performing live. For fear of sounding like a goddamn hippy, I’m going to say this simply and quickly: you feel love at a Mr Percival gig. For god’s sake, we were all singing this at the top of our voices: “I don’t have a problem with you/You don’t have a problem with me/If we get busy and love each other/ One day we’ll all be free.” Everybody! Meanwhile there’s Mr Percival sweating and jumping around the stage like a bullfrog on crack. It was a quasireligious experience, or maybe like I’d jumped back into my childhood. I walked out smiling like a fool and humming Mr Percival’s cover of Electric Avenue. This was one of the best gigs I’ve been to in a long, long time. The flocks of people scrambling to have a chat to the man after the gig were testament to his infectious, affable awesomeness. Go to a future gig, I challenge anyone not to honestly enjoy it wholeheartedly. Alice Body

LOVE CONNECTION, OTOUTO, EV & SHAGS THE TOTE I arrived at the Tote to the strangling, warped strains of Ev & Shags. Evelyn Morris and her hirsute partner in crime, Shags Chamberlain, (both of Pikelet) already had a fairly decent crowd transfi xed by their unique brand of synth-pop. With the pair sitting comfortably amongst an assortment of Australianainspired paintings, the scene was inevitably set for a casual start to Love Connection’s residency. The crowd almost completely cleared out between sets, with Otouto seeming to attract a brand new audience, which quickly filled the room, hinting at an already solid fanbase for these unassuming Melburnians. The punters didn’t seem to notice the multitude of technical difficulties that plagued sisters Hazel and Martha Brown, who quickly called the attention back to their stunning vocal harmonies and charming, poppy tracks. Although the trio appeared less than comfortable for the most part (most likely due to those tech difficulties), they had a really good flow of uppers and downers in their setlist, and a beautifully sparse sound. W Hillier was a definite highlight, with Hazel briefly putting down the guitar and even managing a smile as they clicked and clapped their way through the adorable crowd-pleaser. This was this writer’s second time seeing Love Connection and, despite suffering similar sound issues as their support, they brought the same amount of energy and hype to their first night of this Tote residency. The opening track warmed the crowd up as they filtered back in from courtyard smokos, with singer/guitarist Michael Caterer thrashing it out like Animal for his drum solo. I Know You’re Real had everyone moving and was a clear highlight with its poppy, rock stomp feel and Trilogy was a great mix of driving drum beats and beautiful vintage keys, although it didn’t quite have the intensity of the recorded version. The band managed to deliver all of the same warm synth-sounds and beautiful multi-tracked vocals as I remembered from their previous supporting show, although this set list could’ve done with a bit of re-shuffling (finishing with two brand new tracks was a gamble that I’m not sure paid off). Despite a few glitches, Love Connection delivered an infectious set of songs to a happily infected crowd. Elke Braithwaite

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WILDE ABOUT SUE

THE OPEN ROAD

The Wildes from Melbourne set out on their own national tour this July and August in support of new radio single, Sue Ellen. After a series of warm up shows and festival appearances, the band will cover the coast from Sydney to Bundaberg and back to Melbourne – then regional Victoria and South Australia. The Sue Ellen tour will see the band, who’s debut record ranked runner up in Radio National’s Album Of The Year list in 2009, perform in intimate venues such as theatres, galleries and even converted churches. Amongst their Vic dates are Thursday 5 and Friday 6 August at the Wesley Ann, Saturday 7 at the Barwon Club and Friday 13 at the Piping Hot Chicken Shop, Ocean Grove.

A Kombi named Shirley is the rock behind roots duo THE APRIL MAZE, as TONY MCMAHON discovers when he bursts in on SIVAN AGAM and TODD MAYHEW. most, and these turned out to also be the songs that we felt displayed ‘our sound’ the best.” “It’s a great feeling,” adds Agam. “Now that we feel confident playing less instruments and being more focused on pulling the best sounds on our best songs rather than playing loads of different stuff within the one band. So I think this is certainly a development from the previous EPs where we were still finding our sound.”

TAILOR DEIGN Tailor Made For A Small Room are the changeable-indie-psychedelic-minimal-toy-chamberelectronica-folk-pop duo from Tokyo. They moved to Melbourne this year and in a short time have built up much love and admiration amongst local artists and music scene. This month they take over the Builders Arms every Thursday night for their first residency in Melbourne. Catch them this Thursday with the hype-causing Milk Teddy and ii. Entry is $8 in the band room from 8.30pm.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

YOU GOT WORMS Eagle & The Worm launch their second 7” single at the Northcote Social Club this Saturday night. Following Dan Kelly and Gin Club national tours, Eagle & The Worm re-surface to the headline spot after some months; this time celebrating in ‘60s Vegas-boogie style. The single, lifted off their coming full-length Goodtimes, is a 7” featuring the Muppets-inspired original A-side All I Know and their B-side, a cheap-shot homage to the impenetrable force of Tom Jones and his iconic Vegas anthem It’s Not Unusual. So roll those dice snake eyes and step away from that craps table as Eagle & The Worm’s nine-piece extravaganza takes the stage! Support comes from Barbarion, Robin Fox Laser Show, Black Hill Five and Rat Vs Possum DJs. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm.

ABHORRENT JAM

Matt Corby plays the Toff In Town tomorrow (Thursday), Geelong’s National Hotel on Friday and Bacchus Marsh’s Baby Black on Saturday. HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “I released an EP called Song For in May last year, and have just released my new single My False. I’ve spent the last two months writing and recording in London. I’m working on my debut album with a UK producer called Ian Grimble, who has produced records for The Libertines and Seasick Steve.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Folk gospel. That’s it.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “Jónsi. I cant stop listening to his record and apparently his show is mind-blowingly amazing, so that would be a good choice I think.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Pink Moon by Nick Drake.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I have two. I have my Route 66 denim shirt and also an old country and western two-tone collared shirt. I wear one of them at pretty much all my shows.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Good old-fashioned tin of baked beans. Can’t go wrong.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “I think it is called the Red Curtain and it’s in Carlton. The staff are amazing and I have figured out how to get free games of pool. And you can buy jugs of Carlton.”

After touring nationally throughout February with American black mettallers Wolves In The Throne Room, Agents Of Abhorrence kick out some furious new jams at the Arthouse Hotel this Friday night. Support for the gig comes in the form of bag-tatterers The Day Everything Became Nothing, Trench Sisters and more. Get on down!

NICE GUYS FINISH MESSY Nice Guys are a heavy, fast punk band who combat their insecurities and neuroses with passion, aggression, fun and friendship. You may know some of them from Flame The Fire, Yeah Bears, Call The Medic, Call The Nurse!! and Hira Hira. This Friday they hit Pony with On Sierra, who will make their first ever appearance on the night. Sonically beautiful, post-rock in nature and effortlessly talented, On Sierra will no doubt soon be making waves. You may know some of them from The Sharks, They Bite!, Ghosts In Cars and In Tongues. Rounding out the awesome bill are Madonna and Hunter. Doors at 9pm.

LAZY SUNDAY Singer/songwriters Lazy Raine and Kerryn Fields join forces for a laid-back acoustic afternoon at the Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood. Settle in by the fire with two of Melbourne’s up-and-coming acts, playing a collection of folk and blues-infused originals. The music starts at 3pm and entry is absolutely free, so you’ll have more dosh to spoil yerself rotton on a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

3PBS TIPSHEET The First Three 45s RICHIE 1250 & THE BRIDES OF CHRIST On A Clear Day JAMIE OEHLERS/ PAUL GRABOWSKY Red Dog Speaks ELVIN BISHOP Hammer Of The North GRAND MAGUS South African Funk Experience VARIOUS ARTISTS Fifteen SUPER WILD HORSES Lero-Lero LUISA MAITA A Poison Tree MOVIE STAR JUNKIES Por Unos Ojitos Negros VALENTINO Betty’s Soup JONESEZ

fter three self-produced EPs, alt.folk duo The April Maze have released their long-awaited debut album, Recycled Soul. There are many standout features to this truly beautiful record, but paramount amongst them are the gorgeous though powerful male-female harmonies and an overwhelming sense that this is music that comes from a profoundly solid foundation. Guitarist/vocalist Todd Mayhew has spoken of his and vocalist/cellist Sivan Agam’s musical pairing as being like a marriage, and sticky-beakish Inpress wanted to know if all that time spent together in the studio working on Recycled Soul had shaken the abovementioned foundations any. “It’s definitely put a strain on the relationship,” says Agam. “It’s been months and months of intensely working together on every aspect of the writing/ recording process. But in a way, who cares? The music takes priority over the relationship.” “It still amazes me how well we work together under pressure,” says Mayhew, like most men as far as these matters are concerned, seriously in denial. “The majority of the time Sivan and I agree, and we were lucky to have a democratic engineer/producer [Hugh McDonald of Redgum fame] to keep things moving forward when those indecisive moments did arise.” Given The April Maze has only two members, they understandably experimented with a lot of different instrumentation on their previous records. According to Mayhew and Agam, though, Recycled Soul was an entirely different animal. “The big challenge with recording an album,” says Mayhew, “was to ensure we’d found our sound. Over the past four years, we’ve written songs within so many different styles from reggae, folk, rootsy blues, rock and mellow jazzy numbers. So the preparation for this album began with choosing the songs we were feeling the

ELECTRIC BLENDER Blending electro, punk and dance, The White Electric are no strangers to the Melbourne live music scene, having traipsed through countless venues over the last two years. With their synth-filled, drum-ridden sound and a cutting-edge frontwoman, The White Electric will be hitting the stage at Pony this Thursday. Indie electro rock band 8 Bit Love will be sharing the love and will no doubt get you dancing along to their mind-blowing, electrock tunes. Samson will also be along for the ride to give you a fast, indie hit and The Townhouses will give you some experimental, ambient sounds to get you in the mood. Doors at 9pm.

NIM’S PONY ISLAND Hailing from Kyoto, Japan, Nim is a mixture of three guitars interweaving beautiful melodies and catchy mid-tempo hooks, led by singer Kato’s passionate vocals. Constant touring around their home country, as well as the release of their album in 2008 in Japan and Korea and a subsequent Korean national tour left a trail of new fans everywhere they went.

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For the launch of Recycled Soul at the Toff In Town, Mayhew says that he and Agam will be keeping things relatively simple and, even if they become U2, they’d probably not change. “Our mantra during the creation of Recycled Soul has been ‘less is more’, so we’re sticking to that with the live performance and will be playing the album through in an organic way. We love music that doesn’t require smoke and mirrors, and is delivered with soul, just as it needs to be. I think, as an audience member, it’s the best way to feel where the songwriter is coming from. A large fancy backing band will not necessarily be the best way to deliver music that is coming from a deep place, especially when you’re an independent, self-funded artist. If we could afford the best players in the country, maybe our approach would change, but then again maybe not.” But Agam says that this doesn’t mean punters will not be in for a pleasant surprise or two. “If you haven’t seen us live already, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much sound we can make with two instruments, two vocals and a stomp box.” After their Melbourne show, The April maze take off for an extended national tour in a famously unreliable 1976 Kombi. Again, Mayhew seems in grave but somehow infectious denial. “Kombi’s rule, man, because they have soul. Our Kombi, Shirley, is a campervan and doubles as our home. We are lucky that Shirley is extremely reliable and will hopefully last forever. Our national tour is of the grass roots variety. We’ll be doing a lot of busking and playing some house concerts along with the normal venues and bars, and making the most of seeing some remote parts of Australia.” WHO: The April Maze WHAT: Recycled Soul (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: Sunday, the Toff In Town

Now, in 2010, Nim are heading over to Australian shores in support of their split CD with Brisbane’s In Sepia. Catch them when they roll into Pony this Saturday with special guests Our Anatomy, In Sepia and Hawaiian Islands. Doors open 9pm.

SHAKE YER WEEKENDER Down from Sydney and hot on the heels of putting the final touches to the debut LP, hotly tipped inde rockers The Shake Up take over Weekender at Ding Don this Saturday night. Take a look at their awesome video for the new single Everybopdy Loves It online. They’re joined by another hot act from NSW, Long Island Sound. Weekender will also launch the new solo LP for Bloc Party frontman Kele, The Boxer. Then Steve and Gregory will thrill you with indie pop rock retro and electro tunes from the likes of Vampire Weekend, The Drums, Two Door Cinema Club, The Smiths, New order, MIA, Phoenix, Kasabian, The Cure, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Libertines, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, plus all your Weekender favourites in one massive night. Entry is $10 from 9pm.

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SEA BISCUITS Hailing from the “slatternly, ugly” city of Brisbane, At Sea are venturing south for the first time to infect you with their heady mix of garage, psych, and dark soul. Catch them at the Old Bar this Friday when they launch their new EP, In Transit. Joining them on the night will be heavily sedated fuzz rockers The Grand Rapids, proponents of country-tinged violence Death Valley Band, and brain-bending mindshakers Clavians. What’s more, entry is only $8; especially cheap when you consider that in QLD you now get fined $100 for swearing. You can also see At Sea supporting sunshine state exiles The Dead South at the Retreat this Saturday.

LEE LETS WOMEN LOOSE Lee Memorial are excited to announce the release of their new twin singles, Tiptoe and We Let Our Women Down – the first recordings with the new Lee Memorial line-up of Tom, Karl, Laura and Karl’s ex-Sodastream cohort, Pete Cohen. Download the songs for free from leememorial. com.au. That’s right, you don’t even have to pay for the new tunes! Show the band your gratitude by getting down to their show at Yah Yah’s this Saturday, when they launch the singles with Machine Translations (solo) and Tasmania’s Transcription Of Organ Music.

RÁV FOR REVOLVER Ráv Thomas is the definition of a singer/ songwriter with a distinct sound and style of writing, yet a product that is easy to grab hold of, and a live show that takes this to a new

level again. He released his debut EP, Lily, to a sold out show in Melbourne and debuted at #2 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart and #2 on the Australian Independent Singles Chart. Lily went on to stay in the ARIA charts for two months, and Thomas has since sold out a number of headline shows since both in and out of Victoria. Thomas plays at Revolver Upstairs this Friday with Matchstick Rockets and guests. Entry is $12 from 9pm.

IT ALL GO DOWNHILLS Sean McMahon, lead singer/songwriter and guitarist with respected alt.country outfit Downhills Home, quietly released his first solo offering, the musical story book album Welcome To Gippsland. Part lament, part celebration, Welcome To Gippsland is a collection of fictional narratives told from the perspective of four characters that bring to life “the dark side of the Great Dividing Range”. With stunning vocal performances from Laura Jean, Liz Stringer and Matt Walker, each character is given their own unique voice. Now, for the first time ever, McMahon and Downhills Home come together with Walker, Jean and Stringer to perform the album at the Northcote Social Club on Sunday 18 July. Also joining in support will be Jordie Lane and Van Walker. Entry is $12+BF from the venue or $15 at the door if still available from 7.30pm.

TOP THREE RECHORDS Following the release of their split album with The Salt Flat Trio in June, The Rechords are dishing up a few acesounding shows in July. This Saturday at the Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood they play with Midnight Woolf and The Yard Apes, followed on Sunday with a gig at the Gem for the Saddle Up Sundays sessions. They then head back to the Gem on Sunday 18 July to do it all again from 7.30pm.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

The Blush Foundation play the Workers Club on Saturday. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Billie Muchmore, vocals: “We met each other five years ago in some sloppy rock’n’roll bar in Sydney. Things were so electric we knew we had to do something together. It started off as guitar jams in the park, then realising we both shared a love of ’80s music, it progressed to the computer and keyboard.” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “We were tooling around in the bedroom for ages but we have just released our debut album, Pretty Little Heart, which can be purchased on iTunes and CD Baby. Or, if you like it the old school way and want a hard copy, go to theblushfoundation.com to order.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Synth pop/electro/new romantic/glam.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “If I could be transported back to the ’80s I’d say Kate Bush, but if it was right now I’d say Goldfrapp. I LOVE her. I want to support then party with Goldfrapp, Peaches and Kate Bush.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Ooh, I love my record collection, that’s tough... It changes. Right now I’ve been flogging Concrete Blonde’s Bloodletting.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I have these little black hot pants I wear on stage all the time, and have for ages. I’ve recently upgraded, though, to little black hot pants made out of sequins. It’s tradition.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Dinner parties always end up in a drunken stupor, and the food becomes irrelevant, but it starts out with good intentions. I’d make something really relaxed, like haloumi burgers with garlic aioli. Yummy.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “The Tote. So glad it’s re-opened. We’ve had some mad times there.”

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NAKED PITS

OX IN THE HOLE

So… there are a couple of seriously awesome Sydney bands in town this week, playing launch shows and generally just getting their rowdy on, for all the garage and noise heads on the northside. Well, this Sunday they’re playing a ‘secret’ show under pseudonyms at the Workers Club from 6pm. Head down to see Sydney’s Purple Spit and Nasal On The Brain (gee, who could they be?) with Lakes, Snawklor and Interzone. Wink wink, nudge sigh, yeah! Entry is $10.

John Fox knows how to write songs. That is, he seems to understand implicitly how to produce songs that sound like they’ve always been there. Songs that traverse the great songwriting traditions of the 20th century and yet don’t feel tired or clichéd for a moment. Songs that seem to capture the essence of his own experience and yet have a wonderful universality to them. This duality is present in other ways in his work, for example in the humour that is there in the bleakest moments of the stories he tells. Though this, John Fox in his songs gets close to the heart of the contradictory nature of the human condition. He plays the Edinburgh Castle this Friday with Ewah Lady and Steph Brett. Entry is $5 from 8.30pm.

FCORBY REVEALS ALL

SHAKE UP, POP Set to headline Ding Dong Weekender this Saturday, Sydney trio The Shake Up are holding an album release party for their brand spanking new album …If You Have No Shame (which hits shops on Thursday). Fusing the immediacy of British punk with the melodies of indie rock, The Shake Up deliver tight, energetic music that positively buzzes. Produced by Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, Dirtbombs) and mixed by John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr), the album features 12 tales of inner city life that range from full-on punk bursts to indie dance fillers to the anthemic. Entry $10 at the door from 9pm.

HEART OF TEXAS Texas Tea will be visiting Victoria this week, jumping on the tour bus with Canadian Carmen Townsend and Sydneysider Jason Walker. They stop in at the Karova Lounge in Ballarat this Thursday, the Empress Hotel this Friday and the National Hotel this Saturday for a rare treat for Victorian fans of the alt.country heartbreakers. They’ll have their new double-sided limited release vinyl on offer and will be showcasing songs from it, as well as giving audiences a sneak peak of new works from their upcoming third album, to be released in 2011.

Having spent the last nine months writing and recording in London, Melbourne and Sydney, and playing live shows across Australia and London, local Sydney singer/songwriter Matt Corby is releasing his first new material since his debut EP Song For in 2009. My False is a stomping folk anthem recorded in Melbourne with Dann Hume, who produced part of Lisa Mitchell’s debut album Wonder, whilst Lighthome, recorded in London late last year, is a stunningly stark ode to the draw of home. Corby revelas his new wares at the Toff In Town this Thursday with Tara Simmons and Ben Abraham. Tickets are $10+BF from Moshtix.

KAUSS IS GROUSE

SYN SWEET 16 Echoes KLAXONS Mummy GRAVEYARD TRAIN Dreaming Of Another World MYSTERY JETS Boy+Girl PIONEERS OF GOOD MUSIC You Won’t B Here PERFUME GENIUS Thinking About You BIG SCARY By Some Miracle PHILIP SELWAY The Strip THE WITCH Power KANYE WEST Here We Go LOWRIDER Parachutes Forever SALLI LUNN The Skills RU CL Sexy Polizei BLACK CAB Way Out DAN WEBB These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things THE GOOD SHIP Hustle On GIGGS

DARREN’S A HOTTIE Genius, heart throb, pop star. Darren Sylvester returns to the Workers Club for a special late night rendezvous with old mates Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, who will playing tracks from their near to release debut album, Para Vista Social Club. Joining them is Adelaide’s best kept secret: Fair Maiden, Ellen Carey of Birth Glow’s brand new project returns to Melbourne for their first full band show here. Filling out the rhythm section is brother Joel Carey – no stranger to the road or the drum kit, you may know him from Wolf & Cub – and Liam, who apparently can’t be described using words. Rounding out the bill are Full Ugly. Entry is just $6 from 9pm.

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Grouse Party is back for another monthly installment of guaranteed hangover-inducing, wild queer party action this Friday night at the Bendigo Hotel, and the crew have called on a few out-of-town hotties to heat you up outta the thick of winter. Purely by coincidence it’s a fairly Sydneycentric line-up this month featuring DJ Samar Kauss (Syd/Brazil), special guest DJ Jack Mannix from Circle Pit/Kiosk (Sydney), and from Sydney originally, but thankfully now a Melbournite, resident DJ Ann Ominous (Romy/Macromantics). Doors open at 9pm, so heaf down early and party ‘til late!

THE GOOD BOARDERS Local pop shoegaze wonderkids Boarders headline the Birmingham Hotel this Saturday. Boarders play with support from three top notch bands: Toyota War, Celery and Seesaw. Well, Celery isn’t really a band, more a vegetable lady… but anyway, get on down to the Birmy for a cracker of a night from 8pm. Entry is just $5.

POP LITTLE FREDDIE Locally loved ‘60s heartbreakers Little Freddie & The Pops get all fab and groovy this Friday at the Retreat Hotel with very special guests and then DJ Jess Cougar Mellenguire spinning the kind of tunes you like to listen to until 3am. The gig kicks off at 9.30pm.

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KICKER IN THE DONG Bands, booze and good times are the house specialty at Ding Dong and every Thursdays this month offers hot new bands as the dish of the day. This Thursday check out the angular Gang Of Four meets Wire riffs of The Kickers, the indie Britpop groove of Orange Room, the folk rock jangle of In The Woods and the smoking hot Little Red meets the Beatles doo wop rock of The Messengers. Each band will take turns headlining with guest DJs spinning discs until the wee hours, and with entry just $5 and cheap jugs (ahoy!) this is one of the hottest Thursday night tickets in town – don’t worry about work on Friday because rock’n’roll is a 24/7 lifestyle!

HAVE YOU HEARD?

ON THE

STEREO

LEFT, THEN EAST Drawing from a rich tapestry of influences and sounds, classy Melbourne lads Left On Wellington have created a dynamic & unique blend of poetic pop and powerful alternativeindie rock. With their dramatic flavour, soaring melodies and infectious hooks they are already creating waves of followers likening them to no other. Ranging from edgy melancholy to prime time power ballads they do not serve to disappoint. Join them as they unleash their debut self-titled EP at the East Brunswick Social Club this Sunday with The Moons and Who Needs Enemies. Doors at 7.30pm.

DUST BUSTER

Eagle & The Worm play the Northcote Social Club on Saturday. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Jarrad Brown, vocals/bass: “Made some songs at home and called up some friends to jam.” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “We have an album in the can; it’s out in late September. It was mostly made at home – I love tooling around in my bedroom.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Lots of dudes singing – nine, in fact. We have brass and vocal harmonies, etc.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “I love playing alongside friends, like Grizzly Jim Lawrie, Dan Kelly and Heavy Mental.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Today my favourite band is Richard In Your Mind. I would save their new record, My Volcano.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “No, I don’t have any lucky things. Sometimes, though, I get edgy about whether or not to get the guns out…” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Probably just a vegetarian pasta, with capers, olives, tomato pesto, mushrooms and garlic.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “The Birmingham Hotel.”

The Grace Darling band room is gonna be buzzing this Thursday night when Jane Dust & The Hooploes team up with the ever-present but always welcome Davey Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist. Dust is set to release her second solo album of sultry lounge folk in August through Vitamin Records. Also joining them on the night will be psychedelic glam surf band The Stu Thomas Paradox, whose new album, Ecape From Algebra, is out now. Oh yes, that’s one pretty darn sexy night at the pub.

The Story Of An Artist DANIEL JOHNSTON R&B Hipshakers Vol 1 VARIOUS ARTISTS Beer Bottle Poetry DIRT RIVER RADIO Betty’s Soup JONESEZ Learning PERFUME GENIUS Sun A Buzz THE SILENTS Sail Becomes A Kite THE BANK HOLIDAYS OJ Simpson GUILTY SIMPSON Pearly Gate Music PEARLY GATE MUSIC Dan Kelly’s Dream DAN KELLY

DINGOES GO CLUBBING The Caravan Music Club (located at the Oakleigh/ Carnegie RSL in Oakleigh) continues its showcase of musical delights over the next couple of months with Shane Howard launching his new album Goanna Dreaming on Friday 16 July, Barb Waters & The Mothers Of Pearl showcasing their new album Buffalo Mountain Girl on Sunday 18 July and just announced, The Dingoes with special guest Mick Thomas on Wednesday 4 August. Get there and check out the beautiful old stage and candlelit seated theatre style setting and hear some amazing music while you’re at it. See caravanmusic.com.au for show and ticket details.

Melbourne’s craziest alternative rockers The Whole Molko have been doing the music thing for over three years, earning kudos for their wacky onstage antics and grandiosely deranged rock melodies. Despite their greatest efforts to put anything to tape, it seemed that never-ending car repairs, expensive girlfriends and the insatiable need to buy old-school Pokemon games would make it near impossible. The lads have finally scrounged up enough cash, bottling up their brand of garage grunge into their very first EP, Buyers Remorse. They launch it at Revolver Upstairs this Saturday with William Tell, The Villains Lair and local pop punk heroes The Quarters. Doors at 8pm and entry is $5 with a free EP.

Crowd-pleasing favourite Yelka headlines the Wesley Anne on Saturday 17 July with a night of amazing female singer/songwriters. Her music has seen her play all over Melbourne. Also playing on the night is talented NSW country singer/songwriter Katie Brianna, who has worked with Paul Kelly and had her EP produced by Bill Chambers. The incredible Nicola Watson starts off the night fresh off her debut album with her solid songwriter and powerful voice. Three talented songwriters that can’t be missed!

DANI, LIKE KYLIE

FANTASY FICTION

BRITAIN’S ECONOMY The Voodoo Economic are back in action, playing a double set at the Great Britain in Richmond this Thursday. Catch the quartet as they show their more sensitive side playing their tunes in a more stripped back acoustic fashion. This is a great opportunity to witness Sascha Ion’s distinctive vocal power laid over the sonic interplay of Andrew Fuller on guitar, the bass backbone of Ben Franz and kick-snare finesse of Shaun Lohoar on percussion. They get going at 9pm.

Love Connection perform every Thursday in July at the newly reopened Tote Hotel – with massive weekly line-ups and DJs and free BBQ to boot! Since the release of their self-titled debut album through Sensory Projects, the youthful quartet have been honoured with great reviews (Inpress, The Age, Rolling Stone), spotlighted as a feature album (RRR, SYN-FM and RTRFM), and performed with The XX, Micachu & The Shapes, Dan Kelly, Pikelet at the St Kilda Festival, and held a jam-packed in-store at Polyester Records city store. This Thursday they’re joined by Parking Lot Experiments, Darren Sylvester and Kyu. Entry is $8 from 8pm.

WHOLE STICK ONE IN

NO EGG ON YELKA

With their new single, Every June, already making an impact at radio, Brisbane four-piece My Fiction are set to hit the road to launch their debut album Fireromancefire along the East Coast. The tour announcement comes as Every June continues to win fans thanks to rotation on Triple J – with the band also unveiling a powerful new clip for the track that will be featured as Rage Indie Of The Week this coming weekend. They play Pony on Saturday 31 July with Radio Star and The Ravenous.

IT’S TOTES LOVE

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE Three-piece power trio Cloud City are launching their EP, Meaningful Meaningless, at the Evelyn Hotel this Friday. They will be joining forces with friends and comrades-in-arms Copse, who will also be launching their debut EP on the night. With two launches on the same night this will prove to be a very special event; a stunning feast of good tunes, anticipation and merchandising! Cloud City and Copse will be joined by special guests Sons Of Abraham and Faeble. By the power of Grayskull this is one gig unlike any other that you just have to check out! Tickets are $10+BF from Moshtix and on the door.

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Influenced by music ranging from ‘60s girl groups to ‘80s electro pop, pint-sized songstress Dani Marie takes bubblegum pop to a new place by teaming her angelic voice with that ‘something beneath the surface’ attitude. It’s the upbeat, happy vibe of Kylie meets the honesty of Lily Allen. Her debut EP, Just, produced by Ryan ‘RHyNO’ Ritchie (True Live, Paris Wells) features some of Melbourne’s finest instrumentalists. Marie plays the Edinburgh Castle this Sunday evening with The Sweets and Agiility. Entry is $5 from 8.30pm.

HALL AND OATH The Hallrunners grace the Great Britain band room for their second Sunday in July this weekend. Blending the best of old school country, bluegrass and old-timey, these multi-instrumentalists will get your toes tapping to a different tune. From dark murder ballads to uplifting songs of redemption, The Hallrunners are as tight as an amphibian’s posterior in regard to their synchronicity. Expect three-part harmonies, acoustic guitar, violin, double bass, harmonica, mandolin and a whole lot of good times for free from 6pm.

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SMELLS SWAMPY Hailing from the subtropics of Queensland, touring on the backs of dolphins, and drinking coconut juice instead of morning coffees, The Swamplords are a ranchero surf rock band nurturing vintage tones and sub-Saharan melodies. The band have been performing countless headline shows throughout Brisbane, and are currently doing the round in Melbourne on their Tiki tour to launch their debut EP. They play the Builders Arms this Friday with Running Guns, Constant Mongrel and Space Cactus. Entry is $9 from 8.30pm.

FEEL THE LOVE RICHIE 1250 tells ALICE BODY he’s throwing “a fun fucking party” to celebrate five years of his PBS radio show, Stone Love. stage and getting really lost, sweating… Doing that shit, it’s such a good feeling.”

YOU ARE SOL

STAY PURE Tony Johansenn & Glenn Ford continue their acoustic run across this fair city of Melbourne, stopping this month at Pure Pop Records for a residency! The boys are rapt to be cosying up in what they refer to as their “spiritual home”, where they’re in the middle of a four week run of Saturday gigs. Expect the usual acoustic good times with the occasional hint of public drunkenness. They play the St Kilda record store and venue every Saturday this month from 6pm until 8pm, and it’s free!

IN YER FACE Ponyface gather inspiration from a diverse list of bands including Sparklehorse, Dirty Three, The Drones, Daniel Lanois, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Cat Power, Smog, Interpol, Black Cab, Bruce Springsteen, and Neil Young (Crazy Horse). The band released their first EP, Bearded Little Girls, in 2008 and have fast become a staple favourite on RRR. The band is making the final preparations to their debut album to be released in the coming months, but you can catch them at the Edinburgh Castle this Thursday. Entry is $8 from 8pm.

ABSENCE OF MONKEYS Hailing from the south coast of New South Wales, Absence Of State are a high-energy three-piece grunge punk band who formed in early 2009, touring prolifically throughout the year and quickly gaining an interstate following. In September 2009 they released their debut EP, known as the Toasted Monkey Syndrome. This recording featured no less than seven tracks that showcase Absence Of State’s unique blend of punk, grunge, rock and metal influences. Catch them at Ruby’s Lounge in Belgrave this Saturday with Husk, Space Ticket, Sunset Circus and Moniker Soul. Entry is $12. Cabins

EVERYTHING’S A LIE Some people are just freaks. For instance, Go Genre Everything recently led hundreds of innocent Melburnians through a cardboard camp before stuffing them in a tiny room and berating them with vodka-drenched mythological creatures. True story. And Dropbunny recorded a song where the main instrument is someone stamping barefoot on wineglasses while screaming at themself. Also true. And experimental grunge metal band Applikator recently ate their own weight in lesser metal bands because it was Tuesday. Maybe true. You can check these facts for yourself this Friday night at the most excellent Prague Venue, 911 High Street, Thornbury. Show starts at 8pm.

3RRR SOUNDSCAPE Fifteen SUPER WILD HORSES I Will Love You At All DARREN HANLON Demolicion: The Complete Recordings LOS SAICOS This Smudge Is True SMUDGE To Anything EP BEARHUG Shake It Down THE WILSON PICKERS Expo 86 WOLF PARADE A Town Called Obsolete EP ANDREYA TRIANA Pearly Gate Music PEARLY GATE MUSIC Hearts ARTISAN GUNS

Any calculation that involves barbecues, beers and boogie has got to be a winner. But there’s more: “I’m also doing a raffle. Every year on the radio I give away my sack of crap. It has things like weird Japanese holographic masks, the diary of Laura Palmer, and heaps of CDs and records, old 45s… Just various cool shit that I’ve collected throughout the year.”

Take a large melting pot, fill it halfway with reggae, add a dash of East Timorese folk song, a punch of Cuban salsa, a sprinkle of Latin dance, three parts Afrobeat, two parts tropical rhythm, a sprinkle of Brazilian samba, fill with funk and stir. Let it settle and taste Sol Nation! Drawing some of its members from top world and reggae bands, Sol Nation play Ruby’s Lounge in Belgrave this Friday with 2Swai and Feed Ya Munkie. Entry is $12.

ichie 1250 (real name Richie Hebden) moseys into the corner of the beer garden where I’m sitting. He’s wearing a long coat with a furry collar and he’s got a pot of beer in one hand and a shot of something strong in the other… it’s all quite Captain Jack Sparrow. I know we’re here to talk about the birthday bash that marks the five years his Friday night show, Stone Love, has been on the PBS airwaves, but soon he’s got us conversing how two strangers normally would, on mutual terms, where the dialogue is anything but structured or focussed. Maybe it’s because he’s usually the one interviewing, as a writer and radio presenter. I’m quizzed about where I come from and how long I’ve been writing for. Then he’s telling me about grindcore and how it feels like an intellectual pursuit because he’s new to the sound. I find myself blathering on about being into heavy metal as a teenager and how I find it interesting that different genres induce different mindsets… But… Uh… Oh yes. The birthday bash. This Saturday at the Arthouse. All proceeds toward supporting PBS. Half an hour into the interview and we’re finally getting down to business. “We’re going to have a gold coin barbecue out the back and all the bands inside. There’ll be DJs between each band for 30 minutes at a time,” Hebden tells me in his typical languid drawl. “Hopefully it’ll be a fun fucking party.”

CABINS TONE UP The Tone Deaf crew are up for another huge night of rock’n’roll at Ding Dong this Friday. Flying down from Sydney in a primordial howl are Cabins, one of Sydney’s hottest bands who are quickening heartbeats with a rave response to recently released album Bright Victory. Channelling the droning rock’n’roll blueprint of the Velvets and whip cracking poetry of Dylan, they’re joined by the buzzsaw Mary Chain meets MBV white noise of hot new kids on the block Iowa. Adding to the crackle and crunch is the bluesy howl of The Cocoa Jacksons as well as party men Telecom. The Tone Deaf DJ crew will be throwing themselves around the DJ booth playing hot and heavy indie rock, psychedelic and garage rock nuggets. Doors at 8pm.

Bands playing include Melbourne staples The Exotics as well as Hebden’s own band, Richie 1250 & The Brides Of Christ. Hebden’s reputation as an exuberant frontman precedes him. “Yeah, I’m just a ham. I like performing.” A ham? “Yeah, I’m just a fucking ham. I really enjoy entertaining people and performing, going on

GO-GO THE TOTE Since forming in 2006 as The Great Apes, Melbournian psych popsters Go-Go Sapien have delivered steaming hot serves of synth-infected garage to ravenous Victorian rock connoisseurs. In this time, the recently renamed band have shared stages with international and local rock‘n’roll luminaries such as The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist, Kim Salmon & The Surrealists and Even to name (drop) but a few. They play the Tote

SUN 11TH:

THURS 8TH:

THURSDAY IS

LADIES NIGHT $5 BUBBLE & $10 COCKTAILS

DJ’S 9PM TIL CLOSE

FRI 9TH:

TOP 40 & COMMERCIAL PARTY TUNES DJ’S 9PM TIL CLOSE

SAT 10TH:

TRANSPORT HOTEL @ FEDERATION SQUARE 9654 8808 / WWW.TRANSPORTHOTEL.COM.AU

REECE DILLON

12.30PM – 2.30PM BAND

80’s RETRO TUNES FROM 9PM TILL CLOSE

SUNDAY SESSIONS UNDER THE APPLE TREE 3PM – 6PM BAND

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The raffle prize is a special sack of crap with nine year’s worth of Christmas CDs – really the roots and bones of Stone Love. “The genesis of me getting into doing a radio show is that every year since 2000 I’ve been making a Christmas CD, for my mates or cousins or whatever. People would always say, ‘You’ve got lots of music, you’ve got a funny voice, you should be on the radio’.” It’s perhaps pertinent here to note the significance of the choice of venue, as while Stone Love celebrates growing up, the Arthouse is shutting down. “The Arthouse is fucking fantastic. The whole band room is padded out with multicoloured pillows and sheets, just random polka dotted whatever-they-could-get,” Hebden enthuses. But: “It’s only got one year left of its 20-year lease. Apparently the owners just do not want to renew the lease. I don’t know what they’re going to do with it, but apparently that’s the go of it. It’s not a happy situation.” It’s fitting that a benefit gig for a radio station – one intent on sharing underrated music – endeavours to bring people to an underrated venue. The Arthouse has been, as Hebden puts it, “so far out of the non-mainstream mainstream” that the majority of gig-goers may not even notice it gone. I can’t help but feel it brings a depth to the occasion, an emphasis on the underground and what a wonderful sense of discovery it can bring to your average punter’s night. Or, hold on to your raffle tickets, here’s another thought while you’re sinkin’ yer stubbie and snag: dance, for the love of little known funk, hip hop and Stonesy rock’n’roll, dance!

WHAT: Stone Love’s fi fth birthday bash WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, the Arthouse

this Sunday evening with Beat Disease, who’ve been causing quite a few whispers around these parts of late. We’ll be there – so should you! Doors at 7pm.

PLANES FOR ARMS Get out of the cold and into the Cornish Arms this Saturday as Paper Planes turn up the heat with their brand of melodic indie rock. Adding fuel to the fire are Union Radio and Sydney’s Antimidas, and entry is free, so come and cosy up at the Cornish! Doors at 9pm.

EVERY NIGHT!

2010

WORLD CUP SHOWING LIVE ON THE BIG SCREENS EVERY WEDNESDAY

WORLD CUP

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STARTS JUNE 16 FOR 5 WEEKS REGISTER FROM 6PM GAMES START 8PM EVERY REGISTERED PERSON RECEIVES ONE FREE BEER! 61

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SHORT FAST

Devil Wears Prada

OF YOUTH

REPORT

Hardcore and punk with STU HARVEY shortfast@inpress.com.au

All things under 18 with KENDAL COOMBS accessallages@inpress.com.au

Horrifying news from the Madina Lake camp this week. You may remember them as the pop punk group featuring twin brothers Nathan and Matthew Leone. This week Nathan, who fronts the band, shared details of a horrific incident: “A few nights ago, Matthew walked from my apartment a block and a half down the street to meet a friend for a drink. Halfway there he saw a man severely beating his wife. Being the most amazing, strong, heroic and incredible person I know, even though the guy was twice his size, Matthew intervened. He managed to subdue this guy for a second and since his wife was beat up pretty good called the cops… as he did so the guy jumped him from behind and beat him. This guy did things I can’t even type. He and his beaten wife left Matthew unconscious on the street. Matthew is in the hospital with a third of his skull removed as we wait for the swelling in his brain to go down. I’d rather not share any additional information at this time besides the fact that he acted as a hero (as he always would in any of these situations) and is paying a horrific price. Please send all your love and good energy and vibrations to him. I’ve been and will be next to him throughout the entire recovery process. We don’t know enough details yet about how that will develop… but it has shocked, stunned, disgusted our best friends, family and band (which are both).” Our thoughts are with Matthew and the Madina Lake crew.

Victorian high schoolers Iotah won the 2010 Triple J Unearthed High competition in nowhere near the overwhelming coverage the competition was blazed in last year when Ballarat youngsters Howl took out the title of best high school band in Australia. British India this past week headed up to Gisborne Secondary College to transform the band’s school gym into scenes reminiscent of a ‘90s grunge film clip as they performed with the group in a special competition-winning concert. Following legal threats, Iotah have since changed their name and will be known as Stonefield. The four-piece all-female group have always been on the DOP radar, regularly playing FReeZA gigs and progressing through the rounds of the Push Start Battle Of The Bands competition, so it is great to see them being recognised for their talents. Congratulations to Stonefield on their win and name change.

We announced on Short.Fast.Loud last week that Trash Talk are the latest bands announced for Soundwave 2011! The Sacramento hardcore outfit will make their second visit ever to Australia to be part of the event. From DIY shows to massive stages – it’s a pretty big step up for the band who recently released their album Eyes & Nines. Tune into Short.Fast.Loud tonight because I’ll be announcing another band for the 2011 line-up. You Me At Six also announced an Australian last week and they’ll be bringing The Audition with them as support. Of the three Australian dates that were announced only the Sydney show is all-ages, so the announcement was bittersweet, considering much of You Me At Six’s fanbase seems to be under 18. Petitions are already doing the rounds online and the band reacted immediately announcing to fans via Twitter: “Australia, don’t you worry. I’m working hard to get all shows all-ages! It’s gonna be such a fun tour!!!” Those over 18 who want to catch them in Melbourne can pick up tickets from Friday for the show on 25 September at Billboard. The Devil Wears Prada will have a new EP coming out soon, possibly just around the time that

THE

RACKET Metal, heavy rock and dark alternative with ANDREW HAUG theracket@inpress.com.au Behemoth fans are surely rejoicing at this piece of good news: the District Court in Gdynia, Poland has dismissed charges against vocalist/ guitarist Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski in connection with a September 2007 incident when he reportedly called the Catholic Church “the most murderous cult on the planet” during a performance in Gdynia, and tore up a copy of the Bible onstage. Darski was formally charged on 8 March for insulting Roman Catholics (offending somebody’s religious feelings is a criminal offense under Polish law). He would have faced two years in prison had he been found guilty of the charges. According to a posting on the band’s MySpace page, “During the preparatory proceedings, the defender filed the application which was entirely accepted by the Court. The defendant’s behavior wasn’t recognised as a crime. Moreover, the Court acknowledged no causal connection/ cause-and-effect relationship between Adam Darski’s behavior and the consequence in a form of outrage of religious emotions.” It’s finally underway – death metal veterans Morbid Angel have entered Mana Recording Studios in St Petersburg, Florida with engineer Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) to begin recording their ninth full-length album. Due late-2010/ early-2011 via Season Of Mist, the new CD will be the band’s first to be recorded without longtime drummer Pedro ‘Pete’ Sandoval, who recently underwent back surgery for a deteriorating disc problem. Filling in for him on a temporary basis is Tim Yeung, who has previously played with Divine Heresy.

DEPARTMENT

they head back to Australia to support Parkway Drive in September. The Zombie EP will be their first new release since With Roots Above And Branches Below, which came out in 2009.

SHORT FAST REPORT TOP 5 Parkway Drive. Huge congratulations to the Parkway boys – their third album, Deep Blue, has shot straight to number two on the ARIA charts! Amity last week and Parkway Drive this week: great to see Australian independent music getting so much local support! La Dispute. Our friends from Grand Rapids have unveiled a new song this week from their forthcoming split with Touché Amore. Head to myspace.com/ladispute to preview the new track, How I Feel, and then to nosleepstore. com to pre-order your copy. Don’t forget they are returning to Australian in January 2011! The Gaslight Anthem in March? According to frontman Brian Fallon, the New Jersey band are heading back in 2011. He told the Triple J breakfast show last week, “Yeah, we’re supposed to be coming back there in the beginning of March. Set me aside a surfboard because I hear your waves are pretty good.” GBH tour. Yes, get set for the Perfume & Piss tour! Still going strong after 30 years in the game, you can catch them at the Hi-Fi on 15 October with guests The Rumjacks. SFL Mid-Year Report. Tonight on SFL we countdown the 20 best releases of 2010 so far as voted by the Short.Fast.Loud listeners.

Soilwork have also joined Korn’s ban on using fuel sold by BP or its affiliates in the wake of the company’s catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf Of Mexico. Soilwork will not use any BP or BP-affiliated products and facilities on the band’s upcoming 2010 North American headlining tour. “We’re outraged about BP’s obvious profit-over-safety policy leading to this terrible disaster and their extremely poor handling of the oil spill,” Soilwork said in a statement. “In joining the boycott and calling all our fans to do the same, we can collectively make a statement strong enough to bring this shameless, careless corporation to its knees and to avoid such catastrophes in the future.” Denver, Colorado-based technical death/grind metallers Cephalic Carnage have set Misled By Certainty as the title of their new album, due on 31 August via Relapse Records. The CD is described in a press release as a “50-plus-minute journey into metal’s most extreme realms”. TMZ.com reports that Glenn Danzig has been sued for allegedly “recklessly crash[ing]” his car into the rear-end of another vehicle back in January. According to the suit, which was filed Friday in LA County Superior Court, the alleged victim, Guy Wilson, claims he has had to endure “pain and suffering” and “emotional distress” as a result of the crash. He is suing for unspecified damages. California metal band DevilDriver recently finished recording their fifth album at Sonic Ranch studios in Tornillo, Texas with producer Mark Lewis (Trivium) for a tentative early-2011 release through Roadrunner Records. According to drummer John Boecklin, acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap (Megadeth) will mix the effort in late-July at Andy’s Backstage studio in Derbyshire, England. Regarding the new album’s musical direction, Boecklin stated, “It’s interesting to me – it’s not the fastest shit we have done, nor the slowest, [but it] just [has] lots of groove. But to me, when people say ‘it’s got groove,’ I think it’s a nice way of saying simple and boring these days. We wanted to avoid this. Our record has a great

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Round three applications for the Push songwriting workshops are open until this Friday, so get cracking on your application because this year’s workshops are gearing up to be great. Participants will workshop and develop their initial song ideas and sketches with the program founder and renowned Melbourne songwriter Charles Jenkins. The remaining two sessions will involve the esteemed talents of other local songwriting luminaries including Wally De Backer, who you may recognise as Gotye and the drummer of The Basics, as well as Liz Stringer, Monique Brumby and Joel Silbersher. The workshops runs from Tuesday 27 July to Tuesday 31 August.

FRIDAY The Epic Festival is hosting the Eastern Metropolitan Push Start Battle Of The Bands heat at the Hawthorn Town Hall from 7pm. Tickets are $10, which also includes performances from headline acts Howl, The Rhetorics and Thieves in Law. The second FReeZA Push Start Battle Of The Bands Southern Metropolitan heat is on at the Narre Community Learning Centre, Narre Warren from 6pm. Tickets are $10 on the door.

WEDNESDAY 14 JULY US band Boys Like Girls play an underage show at the Hi-Fi from 4pm. Tickets are $48.40 through Moshtix and the Hi-Fi box office.

contrast of dark riffs, stomp bouncing drums with the right amount of blasts and double bass, and outstanding vocal delivery from Dez [Fafara] that takes it past your average approach of the metal attempt. I’m not talking about reinventing the wheel or nothing. I just think our new album sits in its own corner from any of our other albums.” Massachusetts band All That Remains have set For We Are Many as the title of their fifth album. The album was again produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. Polish extreme metal veterans Vader have set Return To The Morbid Reich as the tentative title of their next studio album. According to guitarist/ vocalist Piotr ‘Peter’ Wiwczarek, the CD will be recorded in March/April 2011 at Hertz Studio in Bialystok, Poland and it will be released in August/ September 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records.

TOURS, TOURS, TOURS Om – Sunday 11 July, National Hotel (Geelong); Friday 16, Hi-Fi Bar Testament – Friday 6 August, Billboard Slash – Wednesday 11 August, Festival Hall Napalm Death – Sunday 5 September, the Hi-Fi Soulfly, City Of Fire, Incite – Wednesday 8 September, Palace Mayhem – Thursday 23 September, the Hi-Fi Overkill – Friday 24 September, the Hi-Fi Exodus – Sunday 3 October, Corner Hotel Metallica – Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 September, Thursday 18, Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 November, Rod Laver Arena Andrew Haug hosts Triple J’s The Racket every Tuesday from 10pm – triplej.abc.net.au/ racket. Email theracket@inpress.com.au

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THE

Fleetwood Mac

BREAKDOWN Pop culture therapy with ADAM CURLEY She let the needle of the record player fall, looked over to me on her bent knee from across the room and smiled through the guard of people lining the kitchen table. I smiled back but, with the first notes of the familiar song, a lump formed, not so much in my throat as in my chest, and I could tell it wasn’t just indigestion from the massive amount of cheese that seems to go with any share-house dinner party – the thing to bring when you want to look like you’ve made an effort and spent some money but can’t be arsed actually making anything. My friend was leaving, going to London to study for however long that would take, and we all knew there was a chance she would never return. Not permanently, anyway, and not for a long time at least. A few hours into her farewell dinner, populated with the friends and ‘lovers’ and exes (some one, some the same, but that’s just the mess of life), it was time to bring out the sentimental symbols of the bonds we’d formed. After all, by that point, we’d knocked back a couple of bottles of champers. The waggish ones always come out first: the cardigan lent a year ago finally being returned; the stories of long supposed-to-be-studying university days (or, for me, supposed-to-be-finding-work postuniversity days) spent drinking coffee and smoking rollies before shrugging our shoulders at it all and going to the pub; the song that caused the lounge room riot at that house party we had that time – it was Young Americans, right? Or was it Fame? Someone should write a thesis on Bowie’s continued use as a soundtrack to early-20s liberation. Then, always at the time that your last sip of champagne is the one that gives you your first real head-spin, someone says something that reminds you of what you’ve really been through together. It doesn’t even have to have been something shared, but you or they were around when it happened; you know how much it meant. A break-up or a crisis or a lonely stretch. A song can be an equally smacking reminder and, on this night, it was Fleetwood Mac’s Storms. The thing was, we’d never even knowingly listened to it together, but she let the needle of the record player fall, looked over to me on her bent knee and we both knew how much of our past and present it encapsulated; the things we’d been through separately but together.

ROOTS DOWN

Blues ‘n’ roots with DAN CONDON rootsdown@inpress.com.au As much as I’d love to continue crapping on about the amazing music I was able to see overseas, there’s so much great stuff happening close to home that it’s about time we directed our attention to the local scene again. One of the biggest blues events of the year anywhere in Australia is the Great Southern Blues Festival, which was held in Narooma up until this year when it will move to its new home in Batemans Bay. There has been a fair amount of conjecture about which artists would make up the bill for this, the 15th showing of the festival, but a couple of weeks ago all rumours could be cast aside as the first announcement confirmed suspicions and delivered a few surprises. From the USA comes Todd Rundgren’s Johnson (yes, that Todd Rundgren) who will be playing a special set comprising of a bunch of Robert Johnson songs reinvented in the Rundgren style. Also coming over from the States is the incomparable Jon Cleary, bringing his Piano, Bass & Drums show back after a successful showing earlier in the year; blues, rock and soul guitarist Wolf Mail; Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm whose brand of blues is heavily injected with hip hop and funk influences; singer/songwriter Ben Kweller and Rick Estrin & The Nightcats will be making their return. The festival will also welcome Canada’s Harry Manx, who was only here just over a month ago, and anyone who has read this column in the past would know we can’t praise this guy enough. Once again the locals are well accounted for, with the legendary Dave Hole heading up the local bill which also features the fantastic Lonnie Lee and young guns Dallas Frasca, Marshall & The Fro, Kim Churchill, The Pete Cornelius Band, Ray Beadle Band and Blue Shaddy. The festival hits Batemans Bay’s Mackay Park from Friday 1 through until Sunday 3 October; tickets are available from bluesfestival.tv from $80 up

Searching out the song in the pile of records had followed a conversation of my newfound appreciation of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk or, really, of anything beyond their most famous songs. I was unreasonably late to the game, but I’ve come to realise that you don’t get to choose when some music reveals itself to you. She’d been a Fleetwood fan forever and, even before my revelation, any time they were mentioned I was reminded of her. Maybe that’s how our bond over Storms was begun, as simple as an association given time to ingrain itself into a relationship. But it was more than that. At least it felt like it. She came and put her arms around me and I could see it in her face. All that shit adults tell you as a teenager about the things you learn after growing up becomes the everyday of the rest of your life. All the little bits that might mean nothing at the time but clump on top of each other and stick to you like gum to become the story of what’s been. And then there were the words given new meaning by the situation at hand – my friend was going away. And, boy, did Stevie Nicks know it. So we stood there and shared the song while our friends and ‘lovers’ and exes (some one, some the same) picked the blue castello from the salad and talked the pros and cons of Julia Gillard. “So I try to say goodbye my friend/I’d like to leave you with something warm/But never have I been a blue calm sea/I have always been a storm.”

to $250. Keep your eyes on these pages for any local sideshow announcements that may crop up. One thing about Diesel is that he’s not the kind of guy who just shows up to a gig, plays his songs, then pisses off to the next town. No, Diesel likes to educate and has been illuminating his many fans for years now with special performances that feature more than a bunch of great songs, they feature stories and explanations behind all of the tunes as well. On his upcoming 7 Axes To Grind tour, he’ll shine a light on the origins of each of the seven stringed instruments he will have on the road with him and how they affect and inform the writing and performing of his music. You can catch this intriguing tour when Diesel plays the Palms At Crown on Saturday 30 October, tickets are available now from the venue from $50 up to $70. Stay tuned for more dates. Cup eve is always one hell of a great reason to celebrate and this year the people of Melbourne have the chance to do so in the finest of style as Etihad Stadium hosts the massive Cup Eve Celebration Concert. The incomparable Peter Gabriel headlines proceedings, in his first (and only) Australian show in around about 16 years, soft rockers Chicago, America and Peter Frampton and a blockbuster local line-up featuring Kate Ceberano, Blue King Brown, Daryl Braithwaite, Ross Wilson, Joe Camilleri, Deborah Conway, Stephen Cummings and Danielle Spencer. Tickets for this massive celebration are on sale from Ticketmaster right now; they start at $125 and go all the way up to $380 for those of you who can afford it! It all happens at Etihad Stadium Monday 1 November from 5pm. If you’re yet to check out local troubadour Alex Hallahan, we can reveal to you that his live show brings together the genres of folk, alt. country and soul, all of which are given his unmistakably unique stamp. There are plenty of opportunities to see him coming up as he and his band take up residency at the Edinburgh Castle each Sunday afternoon of this month. Hallahan has promised quite a bit of new material will be aired, so it should be worth a look. They play two sets from 5pm in the front bar and entry is free.

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BRUNNY’S NOT BROKE!

ONE LONG VENUS

As many of you know it has been one year since the Brunswick Hotel turned a corner with a new owner and was the beginning of big changes to an already thriving live music venue. This Saturday will be a showcase of some of the best live music acts who have taken the stage (well, one of the two stages) at the Brunny over the past year! Opening from midday and going ‘til 5am, it’s going to be an absolutely mammoth day with bar specials and free entry. There’s even going to be a free BBQ!

Vultures Of Venus are releasing their debut album at Yah Yah’s on Saturday 24 July. Joined by The Stu Thomas Paradox (The Surrealists), The Mercy Kills as well as the psychotic shenanigans of The Watermelon Man (previously seen on Australia’s Got Talent!). Vultures Of Venus have created an album of beautifully crafted modern pop gems that blend dirty garage riffs with psychedelic electronics from the sci-fi realm. Joining them on-stage will be the booty shaking extravaganza that is The Venus Man Traps in all their crazy costumed glory. Free single giveaways, lollies for the kids and free foot massages with complements from the Marshall stacks will keep you warm and happy.

MUSICAL CHEERS

SICK TRACY This Thursday night, the Retreat welcomes the wonderfully talented Tracy McNeil and her band to play with support from Darwin’s Leah Flanagan and co. Little Freddie & The Pops (featuring Fred Negro) are back on Friday night with special guests and then on Saturday evening in the front bar, catch Dirt River Radio with Dead South and Brisbane’s At Sea out the back from 10pm. Sunday come down and see Steve ‘Stretch’ Teakle’s new outfit Stretch ‘N’ The Truth with help from Fiona Lee Maynard’s The Lowdown Dirty Shames from 7.30pm. The Retreat Sunday Roast is back on too and the open fires will be cranking so get down and have dinner and be warmed up by some great music while you’re at it. And don’t forget Bogan Bingo is back on every Monday night from 8pm – it’s free to enter but be warned, it’s adults only with a high possibility of swearing and nudity. See you there!

After a two-month break from live shows, My Musical Collective return to the Toff In Town this Saturday to showcase material from their upcoming debut album. The band have been working hard over the past weeks, writing and recording music described as Frank Sinatra crooning with Vampire Weekend. They launch their first single, Lawrence Of Arabia, with help from Kiwi songstress Kimbra and her full live band playing a hybrid of Nina Simone and Janelle Monae-influenced jazz. Opening the night will be The Ocean Party, whose Australiana sound will set the mood for an exciting night. Tickets $10+BF through Moshtix or $12 on the door from 7.30pm if available.

CREATURES CRAWL OUT Backwood Creatures are Jeb Cardwell, Grant Cummerford and Tim Burnham. Emerging form the dank, deep corners of the public bar at the Espy back in 2004, Backwood Creatures are a swamp accident that was waiting to happen. Two-thirds of the band were the house band for what can only be described as a tragic open mic night that left the floor resembling that of a butchers come closing time, when out of the mist wandered Jeb Cardwell to introduce the lads to his brand of swamp. The open mic is now a distant, blurry memory and the Creatures live on. Catch the swamp fever this Saturday at the Drunken Poet from 9pm.

Last year proved to be chaotic for Star Assassin. After releasing their debut album, Bleeding To The Circle, the boys spent the better part of the year cementing new drummer and guitarist Mike White and Aaron Campbell, splitting with independent record label Vemma Records and writing a stack of new material for Star Assassin’s forthcoming album Revelations, which is due to be released in November. This year is shaping up to be no different. Fresh from their East Coast Sickness tour, Star Assassin are on the road again for a full national album tour! You can catch them at the Hi-Fi this Friday night with help from Crash & Burn, Into The Night, The Arachnids and Japan For. Doors at 8pm.

YOUR MATE JACK Best described as stab you dead swamp rock’n’roll, The Jacknives are taking their swingin’ no-nonsense live show to the Cherry Bar on Saturday 17 July for the launch of their second independently released LP. Back Handed Sting, their latest 11-track beast, tamed and captured in Sing Sing and Sound Park Studios and produced by Matt Maddock, is ready to be unleashed to lovers of sordid gutsy blues and edgy punk. Supported by The Toot Toot Toots and special guests Midnight Woolf, this will be a night of irresistible grooves and garage rock goodness.

It’s that time of year when all your friends are away enjoying the European summer while you watch so much Dr Phil you actually start believing he is the key to your happiness. The simple solution is Purple Sneakers at Miss Libertine this Friday! Step away from the couch and into the tropical indie sounds of locals The Boo Hoo Hoos as they perform a live set, followed by a burst of psychedelics with a Richard In Your Mind DJ set. Fantomatique and Toki Doki’s organic blend of indie and dancefloor hits will have you dancing away your problems. If pain persists, see Ebony & Ivory, James Kane, Quick Fix DJs and Tranterco. This week is also the launch of the selftitled debut from Brooklynites The Drums thanks to Shock. For more details and giveaways visit the Boundary Sounds website at boundarysounds.com.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Small Town Fiasco are following up their 2009 debut EP This Winter with mini-album Ruins, a stomping, soaring collection of numbers altogether more pulsing, more groovy, more heavenly and definitely more devilish than their last effort, which is saying something. Joining them at the Evelyn to celebrate the launch of Ruins this Saturday will be the brooding, sinister Arrows, the cosy rock-out country stylings of Tall Buildings (featuring members of Gersey) and perennial partners in pop-bombast Ghosts In Cars. Doors at 8pm and cheap CDs at the door! Famous Last Words is the powerful and heartfelt debut from earthy Melbourne singer/songwriter Matt Glass. Sounding like the lovechild of Paul Kelly and The Waifs, Glass has a strong ear for melody and fingers that tingle up and down your spine. One listen to Famous Last Words will leave you in no doubt as to this young man’s extraordinary penmanship. Live, Glass’s catchy melodies and insightful laconic poetry have long been popular on the Melbourne acoustic scene. Now with a brand new album and an incredible live lineup, Glass looks set to fly in 2010. Catch him for an intimate evening at the Spanish Club in Fitzroy this Saturday. Entry is free.

BONA FIDE BUMPKINS The Bona Fide Travellers are a riveting roots band whose members were at the vanguard of the progressive country scene of the ‘70s. Peers of legends of Australian country rock The Dingoes, the members of the Travellers were alt.country before the term existed. This is music inspired by the prerhinestone era of country, an old-timey sound with raw instrumentation and simple, affecting tales. Joining The Bona Fide Travellers this Sunday at the Drunken Poet will be Irish troubadour Andy White. A former winner of Hot Press magazine’s Irish Songwriter Of The Year, White is now based in Melbourne, and we are the better for it. White begins the evening at 4pm.

MIDNIGHT RUMBLE Straight outta the swamplands, Midnight Woolf take the ruckus to Collingwood this Saturday, spearheading another edition of the successful Rumble evening at the all new Bendigo Hotel. If you haven’t seen these guys live then you better not miss this show – let the garage, the surf and the country furnish your entertainment. Bringing the noise in the support department are The Yardapes, who continue to impress punters with their swirling surf trashabilly stylings, and The Re-Chords who come off a Cherry Rock appearance. A special guest will open the evening so make sure you get down early – there’s a free drink on entry for those in the door before 9pm. Entry is $10 from 8pm.

BEN DOES IT GENTLY If David Bowie and Johnny Cash had a sexy knife fight with Gene Pitney and Jonathon Richman in a Central American cathouse, it might go something like this. On Saturday 17 July, Brisbane’s inimitable Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side thrust their flailing heartbreak into the warm confines of the Tote for one very special night. Featuring members of SixFtHick and David McCormack & The Polaroids, Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side will showcase tunes from their forthcoming album, Magnetic Island, on which alcoholic isolation explodes into violence and regret at the drop of a guitar pick. This is a rare Melbourne performance from the exotic flightless bird that is Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side. See them before they’re hunted out of existence.

FROM RUSSIA WITH GLOVE Melbourne based rockers Russia will be warming up an icy cold winter night this Thursday at the Espy. Russia has just finished their new EP, Life In Black And White, and will have their new video for the track Centrelink on rage in a couple of weeks. Special guests on the night include good friends The Mercy Kills and The Grand Rapids. Bands start at 9.30pm.

SMALL TOWN RIOT

FAMOUS LIKE MATT

BOO HOO, YER PURPLE

For those in need of a little more lechery in their lives, this weekend sees the arrival of Sydney band Doc Jones & The Lechery Orchestra, playing Open Studio in Northcote this Friday and Bertha Brown in the city this Sunday (7pm). This will be the band’s first visit to Melbourne having emerged last year from the burgeoning underground scene in the back blocks of Marrickville, which has become a magnet to quirky and gypsy-inspired bands like Monsieur Camembert, Lolo Lovina and Rumpunch. Their offbeat bohemian cabaret style has seen them instantly embraced on the festival scene and made them a perfect choice, along with burlesque mayhem of Rapskallion, to launch the newest venue at the National Folk Festival, a two-pole circus tent called the Majestic. Don’t miss them!

TAP THAT ASSASSIN

TRACEY’S NEW CHAPTER This Sunday, revered WA pop songwriter Tracey Read heads to Melbourne for a rare show at the Empress Hotel, in advance of her new album Sketchbook, to be released on Phonostatique Records later this year. Read will be joined by New Estate and Guy Blackman, the three acts on the bill all having ties to the Chapter Music label. In the ‘90s and early noughties, Read was a Chapter Music stalwart with her minimal, insightful folk pop. Similarly, headlining noisy pop masters New Estate are comprised of Mia Schoen and Chris Gorman, ex-members of Chapter’s ‘90s flagship band Sleepy Township. To top it all off, opening act Guy Blackman has been running Chapter Music, now one of Australia’s longest running and most fondly patronised independent labels, since he was a 17-year-old Perth nerd in 1992.

DOC GIVES BERTHA

GO THE RANT The Little Stevies play the East Brunswick Club on Friday. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Robin Geradts-Gill, bass/vocals: “Once upon a time Sibylla entered a songwriting competition. Part of the prize was to perform at the Corner Hotel, so she roped Beth and I in to help her out for the show. A few years later Josh joined us on drums, and we were complete!” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “Yeah, we have recorded an album and an EP. I once knew a guy who recorded an album in his bedroom and then at night he’d go and sleep in a recording studio.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “No. It’s too complex.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “Justin Bieber. I don’t know who that is but the girls said it would be funny to say that.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Frankly I wouldn’t risk it in the internet age – probably just grab the demos for our new album.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Something with lots of coriander.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “In a park. Carlton Gardens or St Kilda Botanical, maybe?”

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The Rant start slow. They start quiet. They’ll lure you into a false sense of comfort. Then BAM! They’ll have you rocking out. They hit Bar Open this Sunday with Meet Me At Montauk, who prove that pop punk is well and truly kicking, as well as the Yeah Boys, who’ll be stepping out the garage for the first time they are sure to bust out all the moves: solos, stage dives, power stances – the whole nine yards. Filling out the bill is Tomas Strode. He’s what every man wants to be and whom every woman wants. Its Josh Pyke mixed with Angus & Julia Stone, a recipe for greatness. Doors at 7.30pm.

JUST BEAT IT The Beat Brothers mix the music of the old masters like Fred McDowell and Robert Johnson with a sleazy lo-fi vibe that is distinctly their own. They released their debut EP in April and have since dazzled audiences across Melbourne with their new songs and sound. Previously a two-piece, The Beat Brothers have now got the extra players to create the sound they’ve always wanted. With an arsenal of new material at their disposal The Beat Brothers are putting on a very special show this Thursday at the Old Bar with support from The Crooks and Jay Howie. This should fookin rock.

XENO, WARRIOR PRINCESS Xenograft return to the John Curtin this Friday to headline a great line-up with a one-hour set. With enough time to truly showcase their progressive psychedelic fusion, this Xenograft gig should not be missed by anyone interested in exploratory music. Supporting will be Moroccan Kings. who will bring their alternative funk rock mayhem to the stage, changing your impression of how powerful a three-piece can be. Opening the night will be Rocket Suit, sending you out of atmosphere with their unique blend of progressive pop rock.

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HOWZAT!

gets a good review and pissed off when he gets a bad review? “I don’t read my reviews,” he says, laughing. “Any artist who trots that line out is a fucking liar. I love reading the reviews of the new album – it’s a symbolic thing for me to have an acknowledgment of something I’ve done, and whether someone thinks it’s good or bad doesn’t upset me too much, unless it gets personal. I’m also aware that I’ve written bad reviews and am in no position to throw stones at anyone else if they don’t like or understand what I do.” So what line on the new album is Jason most proud of? “In general, I’m a bit embarrassed about my lyrics. I really aim for profundity, but generally I miss. But I do like the line about ‘I just had a lonely moment for a while/dancing to records I scratched when I was a child’. That one just popped into my head one night at the dinner table.”

Jason Walker

Local music news by JEFF JENKINS

THE WRITE STUFF Jason Walker’s new album, Ceiling Sun Letters (out now on Laughing Outlaw), is one of our 2010 favourites. Unlike Howzat!, Jason is a music journalist who’s musically talented. Asked to provide the Jason Walker story in 30 words or less, he replies: “Kid with ambition lacking in musical ability leaves NZ. Comes to Australia, addresses shortcomings, becomes known as guitarist/pedal steel player, then as solo artist. Also writes books in his downtime.” Last year, Jason – who’s playing at the Empress on Friday – released a biography, Billy Thorpe’s Time On Earth ($35, Allen & Unwin), and he’s also done a Gram Parsons bio, God’s Own Singer. What’s more creatively fulfilling, writing a book or doing an album? “Both are pretty satisfying activities for me,” Jason says. “They’re very similar in that they’re not so much a career path as a journey – there’s not a lot of money in it unless you’re appealing to lots of people, and I wouldn’t put shit on people whose art is more appealing to the masses. Writers have it a bit easier, I think, because it’s just you there sitting at your desk, tapping away. But they are both incredibly fulfilling creatively. The one process kind of kicks the other along, too. Once you’ve been writing for a few hours, other little ideas and phrases start jumping around in your head and then you have the beginnings of a song.” Did Jason learn anything from documenting Thorpie’s life that he could apply to his own life? “Plenty of things. I admire his total commitment to his own career, his vision and his ability to achieve many of the things he aimed for. I’ve never experienced a festival of 40,000 people singing along to one of my songs – not that that’s the be-all and end-all of anyone’s career, but it would be fun. I’d love to be able to sing like that.” Who’s Jason’s favourite music journalist turned artist? “That guy from the Pet Shop Boys is one,

TURN ON THE LIGHTS “And way up on high, the clock on the silo says 11 degrees…” Leaps And Bounds is an Aussie classic. Paul Kelly always sneaks a peek at the Nylex clock when he’s driving down Punt Road. “And I always get a little buzz when it’s 11 degrees,” he admits. Only problem is the clock has been switched off for many months. Howzat! is launching a campaign to get the Nylex Clock switched back on. It should be an election issue!

isn’t he? Although he’s not really a favourite per se. That bloke from Gay Dad? Nah, Jake Stone from Bluejuice, for sure.” Has being a critic helped Jason as a songwriter? “Only when it comes to being able to pigeonhole myself accurately. I practically invented the alt.shoegaze category.” Does Jason get excited when he

Nick O’Byrne told The Music Network: “We know there is a direct link between sales and exposure from commercial broadcast, and this ruling has the potential to damage the financial viability of the Australian music industry.”

CHART WATCH Just one Aussie act in the national top 20. We No Speak Americano YOLANDA BE COOL (number nine) Lying AMY MEREDITH (28) All The Lovers KYLIE MINOGUE (30) iYiYi CODY SIMPSON (33) Mousetrap Heart THIRSTY MERC (37) Unbroken STAN WALKER (38) Big Jet Plane ANGUS & JULIA STONE (40) Big debuts for Parkway Drive and The Cat Empire. Deep Blue PARKWAY DRIVE (number two, debut) Cinema THE CAT EMPIRE (three, debut) We Are Born SIA (eight) Down The Way ANGUS & JULIA STONE (12)

THE LIVING DEAD

Iron Man 2 AC/DC (21)

The Dead Salesmen return for one show only, at the East Brunswick Club on Saturday, with a bill that also features Augie March’s Glenn Richards. “We had many late nights together in the late-’90s at the Arthouse and the Public Bar,” Deads singer Happy Hayward explains. “Augie March supported us I think. Then we were supporting them. They were good drinkers and could stand their ground with any of our hi-jinks. Glenn can write beautiful songs and also take the piss. I remember laughing with him a lot at three in the morning on quite a few occasions.”

Mousetrap Heart THIRSTY MERC (23)

RADIO WAVES Howzat! has long argued that local radio should play more Australian music, so we’re disappointed that local quotas won’t apply to digital-only stations for at least the next three years. As AIR chief

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Immersion PENDULUM (24) Intriguer CROWDED HOUSE (25) April Uprising THE JOHN BUTLER TRIO (35) Youngbloods THE AMITY AFFLICTION (40)

HOWZAT! PLAYLIST Everybody’s In Debt JASON WALKER Tentative THE DEAD SALESMEN Audacious UNDERMINERS Easy Targets LAZY SUSAN Always Coming Down CORDRAZINE

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WED 07

3 Bellies Full Film Fundraiser Loop Aaron Hull, Thugz & Playaz, Nic Tammens, Lloyd Honeybrook Stutter Don Hillman’s Secret Beach Clifton Hill Hotel ‘Fly The Nest Benefit’, Jordie Lane, Adrian Stoyles, Coby Grant, Ma Petite, Emily Ulman, Aluka Northcote Social Club Henry Manetta & The Trip Red Bennies Hetty Kate, Kate Lucas The Drunken Poet Holliava, The Public Life, Crying Sirens, Green Tea Circus Esplanade Lounge Jess Ribiero & The Bone Collectors Edinburgh Castle Hotel Kins, Guests The Old Bar Little John’s Bluegrass Sessions Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Mark Lanegan, Amaya Laucirica Corner Hotel Mitchel Paxton Ward, Nathan Burley Wesley Anne Open Mic Bender Bar Open Mic Grind ‘n’ Groove Bar Open Mic The Elwood Lounge Open Mic with Matt McFarlane Brunswick Hotel Revolver Rock in the Backroom, Cloudmouth, Iron Cast Pinata, The Greenroom Revolver Upstairs Rhymada, Shortfall, Say It With Me Evelyn Hotel Shannon Bourne The Standard Hotel Sianna Lee, The Tiger & Me, Jesse Lee Empress Hotel Sounds of Sirus, Praetorian, Cold Divide The Arthouse Tessa & The Typecast, The Alchorettes, Stephen Bowtell, Paulo Birmingham Hotel Thee Wylde Oscars Cherry Bar Trjaeu, Duck Duck Chop, Baptizm Of Uzi Bar Open

IOWA GROW POTATOES After tearing through a live set on PBS and supporting Three Month Sunset’s sold out EP launch, buzzsaw Swervedriver-meets-MBV white noise wall-of-sound merchants Iowa will be supporting Cabins debut headline show at Ding Dong this Friday night. Flying down from Sydney in a primordial howl are Cabins, one of Sydney’s hottest bands who are quickening heartbeats with a rave response to recently released album Bright Victory. They’re fresh from national support slots with US band The Soft Pack, Children Collide and Wolf & Cub. Telecom and The Cocoa Jackson are also on the bill! Grab tickets through oztix.com.au.

THU 08

Absence of State, Shoot the Sun, Space Ticket, Breakfast Over Gunfire, Red Rockets Of Borneo Brunswick Hotel Ainslie Wills, Mon Ami Empress Hotel Bakersfield Glee Club Union Hotel Brunswick Bois et Charbon, Future Happiness, Roman Holiday Wesley Anne C.W Stoneking, Al Duvall Corner Hotel Cast & Crew, Green Green Green, Ghosts in Cars, Fieldings Birmingham Hotel Curds n Grain The Elwood Lounge Dancing Heals, Skybombers, Red Berry Plum Workers Club David Graney, The Lurid Yellow Mist, & guests Grace Darling Hotel John Montesante Quintet, Michael Jordan The Commune Ladies Night Transport Hotel (Fed Sq)

Leslie Avril, Peter Baylor & the Roadhouse Rodeos Spenserlive Love Connection, Parking Lot Experiments, Darren Sylvester, Kyu The Tote Lynched from Dublin The Drunken Poet Matt Corby, Tara Simmons, Ben Abraham, Love Story ft Andy Murphy The Toff In Town Matt Katsis, Ben Wells and the Middle Names, Chris O’Neill, Justin Carter Esplanade Basement Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, JP Shilo, Saint Clare, Tin Starlette Go Go Dancers, The Sljivovitz Orchestra Northcote Social Club Pony Face Edinburgh Castle Hotel Revolver Designer Market at 3181, Hans DC, WHO, Booshank Revolver Upstairs Ring the Alarm, Dubarama Rus Tuffa, Gaza First Floor Riverside Travellers The Spanish Club Rock Aerobics, The Fckups, The Sweaters, The Great Divide, Pauli Douglas Yah Yah’s

Russia, The Mercy Kills, Orange Room Esplanade Lounge Saint Jude, Ferry Tails, The Blue Peter, The Peep Tempel Bar Open Songlines NAIDOC Acoustic Sessions, Lee Morgan Bender Bar Sun Tzu, I Exist, Trainwreck, A Breach Of Silence, Letters To Past Lovers, Red Letter Day Next Tailor Made For A Small Room, Milk Teddy, ii Builders Arms Hotel Texas Tea Karova Lounge The Beat Brothers, The Crooks, Jay Howie The Old Bar The Huw Joseph Experience, Changing Falls, The New Brians, Cyanide Hell Ruby’s Lounge The Kickers, Orange Room, In The Woods, The Messengers Ding Dong Lounge The Latonas, Cloudmouth, Seesaw Evelyn Hotel The Lights, The Enclosures, Zombirds Reveller’s North (downstairs) The Putbacks 303 The Soft Pack, Cabins East Brunswick Club The White Electric, 8 Bit Love, Samson, The Townhouses, Slow Dance Pony This Town A Forest, Emerson, Sheer Abandon, December’s Fallen The Arthouse

Tracey McNeil, Leah Flanagan Duo Retreat Hotel Voodoo Economic Great Britain Hotel White Boyz Can’t Funk Cherry Bar

FRI 09

Agents Of Abhorrence, The Day Everything Became Nothing, Trench Sisters, Rort The Arthouse Ancient Man, Desert Sessions, Tubovas Brunswick Hotel Buried Feathers, The Thod, Cordyceps Cherry Bar Cabins, Iowa, The Cocoa Jacksons, Telecom, Guest Dj’s Ding Dong Lounge Carmen Townsend, Jason Walker, Texas Tea Empress Hotel Celadore Sand Bar, Mildura Circle Pit, Beaches, Precious Jules, The Twerps Esplanade Lounge Cloud City, Copse, Sons of Abraham, Faeble Evelyn Hotel Crow, New War, East Brunswick All Girls Choir, Nick Murphy Band The Tote CW Stoneking Prince Bandroom Death Rattles, Merri Creek Pickers, Kiri O’Connor The Public Bar

PIKELET FOR ONESIES She may have played the final show of her national Stem album launch tour in Adelaide last week, but that doesn’t mean Melbourne psych pop wonder Pikelet is going to put on her tracksuit pants and veg out in front of the telly for the rest of winter. This Sunday, Pikelet leader Evelyn Morris teams up with freewheeling Sydney avant pop duo Kyü for a special afternoon show at the Empress Hotel. It’ll be Morris’s first solo Pikelet show since the release of Stem in February and a rare Melbourne appearance for the hotly tipped Kyü.

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Death Valley Band, At Sea, The Grand Rapids, Clavians, DJ Applejack The Old Bar DJ Fanta Pants Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Finn Audio, Voiteck Loop Gertrude St Projection Fest - Opening Party, Darren Sylvester, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, Fair Maiden, Full Ugly Workers Club ‘Grouse Queer Party’, Samar Kauss, Jack Mannix, Ann Ominous Bendigo Hotel Grunt Bucket, Mount Disappointment, Suzie Stapleton Band, Richie 1250 Yah Yah’s Higher Arc Magazine Fundraiser, Electric Smile Band, Promised Land, + Heaps More Grace Darling Hotel Ildiko, Jim Patterson Bender Bar Jess Mitchell Band Reveller’s North (downstairs) John Fox Band, Ewah Lady, Steph Brett Edinburgh Castle Hotel Jungal Grind ‘n’ Groove Bar Kay Z, Simon Sez, Ayna, Cargo, DJ Anferny First Floor Kyle Taylor Vibe Bar Lady J Abode Little Freddie & The Pops, Davey Lane & Psychotic Pineapples, Jess Cougar Mellenguire Retreat Hotel Little Sisters Of The Poor, James Kenyon & The Lloyd Weir Wesley Anne Madonna, Nice Guys, Hunter, On Sierra, The Mourning Sons, Touch It Pony Mark Lanegan, Amaya Laucirica Esplanade Gershwin Room Mista Savona, Dexter, Polo Club, Lotek, Jesse I, Manchild, Bass Bin Laden, Wasabi, Mantra HiFi Bar Mystic Fields, Muddle Hands, Leone Western Barleycorn Hotel Open Mic ET’s Hotel Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith The Toff In Town Rav Thomas, Matchstick Rockets, WAX! Weekly Audio Extravaganza, The Revenge, Haul Music House Party, Adrian

Miles Gorel Rezzalp Richard In Your Mind, Rat Vs Possum, Magic Silver White Northcote Social Club Ross Royce, Jimmy Pita, Snakadaktal, Wrong Town, Stolen Moon Esplanade Basement Shaun Kirk The Elwood Lounge Sol Nation, 2swai, Feed Ya Munkie Ruby’s Lounge The Little Stevies, Ben Wells and the Middle Names East Brunswick Club The Original Snake Skins, The Swamplords, Running Guns, Constant Mongrel, Space Cactus Builders Arms Hotel The Tiger And Me Reveller’s North (upstairs) The Vaudeville Smash Bar Open Thirsty Merc, Porcelain, Renee Cassar Corner Hotel TOP 40 & COMMERCIAL PARTY TUNES Transport Hotel (Fed Sq) Traditional Irish Music Session, Dan Bourke & Friends The Drunken Poet Xenograft, Moroccan Kings, Rocket Suit John Curtin Hotel

SAT 10

80’s RETRO TUNES Transport Hotel (Fed Sq) Absence of State, Husk, Space Ticket, Sunset Circus, Moniker Soul Ruby’s Lounge Alex Legg, Fats Wah Wah St Andrews Hotel Amber Cashel The Elwood Lounge Backwood Creatures The Drunken Poet Bin Man Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Blarke Bayer / Black Widow, Heirs, Agonhymn, Firewitch The Tote Boarders, Toyota War, Celery, Seesaw Birmingham Hotel Brides of Christ, The Exotics, The Once Overs, Romance The Arthouse Chris Wilson Union Hotel Brunswick City In Motion John Curtin Hotel

Deadly Are The Naked, The Overview, Power Fuck, Lucifer’s Gift, The Madness Method, Charm, Mesa Cosa, The Rostovs, The Jane Austin Argument Brunswick Hotel Dirt River Radio, Dead South, At Sea, DJ Anto Mantooth Retreat Hotel Duck Musique, Space Cactus, Isle Adore Builders Arms Hotel Eagle and the Worm!, Barbarion, Robin Fox Lazer Show, Black Hill 5, Rat Vs Possum Djs Northcote Social Club Fergus Mcalpin, George Hyde Edinburgh Castle, early show Fermez La Bouche, These Hands Could Separate The Sky, Fourteen Nights At Sea, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Gatherer, Radiant City, Nice Guys, Bodies, Bone The Old Bar Florelie & The Backlash Brew, Run For Your Life, Lady Lash, DJ Tremendous, DJ Billy Hoyle Esplanade Basement Geoff Achison Grind ‘n’ Groove Bar Gun Street Girls, Dirty York, The Bonniwells Grace Darling Hotel Harmony Byrne, Emily Shobbrook, Czardaz Edinburgh Castle Hotel John Flanagan Reveller’s North (downstairs) Jordie Lane Northcote Town Hall Kano, Mr Moonshine First Floor Lee Memorial, Transcription Of Organ Music, Machine Translations, Melvis & the H-Dog, Mess Around Yah Yah’s Lil’ Kim Esplanade Lil’ Kim, Killa Queenz, Peril, M-Phazes, Flagrant, Manchild, Wasabi Esplanade Lounge & Gershwin Room Matt Glass Band The Spanish Club Missouri Breaks, Northlane, Cheerleader Bang My Friend The Chocolate Cake Spenserlive My Musical Collective, Kimbra, The Ocean Party, The House deFROST, Andee Frost The Toff In Town

Wed. 7th (Wine, Whiskey, Women) 8pm: Hetty Kate 9pm: Kate Lucas Thurs. 8th 8pm: Lynched from Dublin Fri. 9th 6pm: Traditional Irish Music Session with Dan Bourke & Friends Sat. 10th 9pm: Backwood Creatures Sun. 11th 4pm: Andy White 6.30pm: The Bona Fide Travellers Tues. 13th 8pm: Weekly Trivia

All Shows Always Free! The Drunken Poet, 65 Peel Street (Directly opposite Queen Vic Market). Phone: 03 9348 9797 www.myspace.com/drunkenpoets twitter.com/inpressmag

gigguide@inpress.com.au Naked On The Vague, Zond, Repairs Empress Hotel Nicky Del Rey & The Slowtown Social Club, The Rusty Pickers, Haynestown Chandelier Room Nim, Our Anatomy, In Sepia, Hawaiian Islands, Fuckface, Pink Fitt Pony Paper Planes, Union Radio, Antimidas Cornish Arms Hotel Phil Para Esplanade Lounge Pitch(B):tch Loop ‘Rumble’ Rockabilly Night, Midnight Woolf, The Yard Apes, The ReChords Bendigo Hotel Sally Seltmann, Otouto, Kyu Corner Hotel Scruffy, Beaker, Jon Montes, Queen Martine Abode Small Town Fiasco, Arrows, Tall Buildings, Ghosts in Cars Evelyn Hotel Spectrum trio Nathalia Hotel Star Assassin, Crash & Burn, Into The Night, The Arachnids, Japan For HiFi Bar Texas Tea National Hotel

The Blush Foundation, Video Video, Valentine Workers Club The Boys, Dirt Birds, Lady Grey, TK Bollinger Wesley Anne The Dames Great Britain Hotel The Dead Salesman, Glenn Richards East Brunswick Club The Denotators Monash Hotel The Jacks, Thrashdance, Deadocracy The Public Bar The Party Girls The Palais, Hepburn Springs The Revels Reveller’s North (upstairs) The Whole Molko, The Quarters, The Villians Lair, William Tell, The Late Show, Nick Thayer Album Launch Revolver Upstairs Three Man Duo, Jackson Fish Bender Bar Tony Johannson, Glenn Ford Pure Pop Records Tropical Space Lab, Cumbia Cosmonauts, Nahuatl Sound System, Sonidero Esperanza Bar Open Weekender, Long Island Sound, The Shake Up, DJ Steve Ding Dong Lounge

Wicked City, Mourning Sons, Beat Disease Cherry Bar

SUN 11

Alex Hallahan Edinburgh Castle, early show ALP The Elwood Lounge Andy White, The Bona Fide Travellers The Drunken Poet

April Maze, Broni, The Sunday Set, Andyblack, Haggis The Toff In Town Changing Falls, Colour Kids, Brendon Asked The Arthouse Comics At Work, Brad Oakes, John Burgos, David Tulk Esplanade Basement Curious Fingers, Carvel Brunswick Hotel Dani Marie, The Sweets, Agility Edinburgh Castle Hotel Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers Sandbelt Hotel

SPACE RACE Do yourself a favour and get down to the Curtin Hotel on Friday 16 July to see punk wunderkind underdogs The UV Race! They’re playing with WA’s Golden Staph, who may or may not have infectious beats, Gold Tango and up-andcomers Interzone, a collaboration between the lauded and hypnotic Fabulous Diamonds and bleakly mesmeric Chrome Dome.

Go Go Sapien, Beat Disease The Tote Grand Wazoo Soul Supergroup Blue Diamond Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Esplanade Lounge Heather Stewart, Dan Dinnan, Tane Emia-Moore, Prairie, Frankie Wesley Anne Jimmy Stewart, Jason Bunn The Standard Hotel Jules Hutcheson, Backyard Funk Chandelier Room Lavelle Collins, Zac Lister Lord Newry Hotel Lazy Rain, Kerryn Fields Bendigo Hotel Left On Wellington, Who Needs Enemies, The Moons East Brunswick Club Lil Fi St Andrews Hotel Luca Della Night Owls, Sleep Decade, Portal Window Evelyn Hotel Matt Joe Gow & The Dead Leaves, Bullet Yah Yah’s Mick Pealing Manhattan Hotel New Estate, Tracey Read, Guy Blackman Empress Hotel

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OLD BAR UNICORNS AFTER PARTY, The Death Rattles, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Eaten By Dogs, DJ Katie, Go ‘Corns!!!! The Old Bar Open Decks Bender Bar Pikelet, Kyu Empress Hotel, Arvo Show Politics, Fubex, Desiderata, Minami Ex, Root Down, VGC & the Coastguards Esplanade Gershwin Room Purple Spit, Nasal On The Brain, Snawklor, Interzone Workers Club Reece Dillon, Under The Apple Tree Transport Hotel (Fed Sq) Revolver Sundays, Boogs, Spacey Space, Radiator, T-Rek Revolver Upstairs Russ Kellet’s Jam Session Ruby’s Lounge Sabrina & The Red Vans, Fair Maiden Builders Arms Hotel San Gras Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Stretch & The Truth, The Low Down Dirty Shames Retreat Hotel Swamp Land Union Hotel Brunswick The Hallrunners Great Britain Hotel

The Patron Saints, Lewi Pommer Lyrebird Lounge The Rant, Yeah Boys, Thomas Strode, Meet Me at Montauk, Crouching Tiger DJs Bar Open The Stetson Family Carringbush Hotel Waylon Joes Clare Castle Hotel

MON 12

Adam & Fergus Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Applejack, Shivering Timbers, The Adventure Spirit Wesley Anne Bogan Bingo Retreat Hotel Hatful of Awesome, Steve G. Mileham III w/ Cassie La Forge, Prairie & Lance, Sunset Blush Empress Hotel Josh Owen Band Esplanade Lounge Monday Night Madness!, Mike Elrington Brunswick Hotel Open Mic Station 59 Swing Classes The Toff In Town

The Hogeye String Band, Ol Timey Hoedown, ‘Crotchety Knitwits’ The Old Bar

TUE 13

Custom Kings, Matheson The Toff In Town DJ Shaky Memorial Retreat Hotel Galaxy, Aaron Peterson, Mark Phillips, Ryan & the Lion, Kim Wood & the Dirty Dishes Esplanade Lounge Karaoke, The Investors, Trivia Revolver Upstairs Open Mic Empress Hotel Red Ruby Blue, Jacob S Harris The Old Bar The Beat Brothers, Lost Burros, Coal, The Darts Evelyn Hotel The Brunswick Discovery, The Whole Molko Brunswick Hotel Weekly Trivia The Drunken Poet

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THURS JULY 8

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TUES JULY 13

THE BRUNSWICK DISCOVERY

GIVING CHANCES TO NEW UP AND COMING ARTISTS (ENQUIRIES TO WWW.BRUNSWICKHOTEL.NET) THIS WEEK: THE WHOLE MOLKO

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gigguide@inpress.com.au Saturday Florelie & The Backlash Brew, Run For Your Life, Lady Lash, DJ Tremendous, DJ Billy Hoyle Sunday Comics At Work, Brad Oakes, John Burgos, David Tulk

303 Thursday The Putbacks

BANG Saturday Missouri Breaks, Northlane, Cheerleader

BAR OPEN Wednesday Trjaeu, Duck Duck Chop, Baptizm Of Uzi Thursday Saint Jude, Ferry Tails, The Blue Peter, The Peep Tempel Friday The Vaudeville Smash Saturday Tropical Space Lab, Cumbia Cosmonauts, Nahuatl Sound System, Sonidero Esperanza Sunday The Rant, Yeah Boys, Thomas Strode, Meet Me at Montauk, Crouching Tiger DJs

BENDER BAR Wednesday Open Mic Thursday Songlines NAIDOC Acoustic Sessions, Lee Morgan Friday Ildiko, Jim Patterson Saturday Three Man Duo, Jackson Fish Sunday Open Decks

BENDIGO HOTEL Friday ’Grouse Queer Party’, Samar Kauss, Jack Mannix, Ann Ominous Saturday ’Rumble’ Rockabilly Night, Midnight Woolf, The Yard Apes, The ReChords Sunday Lazy Rain, Kerryn Fields

BIRMINGHAM HOTEL Wednesday Tessa & The Typecast, The Alchorettes, Stephen Bowtell, Paulo Thursday Cast & Crew, Green Green Green, Ghosts in Cars, Fieldings Saturday Boarders, Toyota War, Celery, Seesaw

BRUNSWICK HOTEL Wednesday Open Mic with Matt McFarlane Thursday Absence of State, Shoot the Sun, Space Ticket, Breakfast Over Gunfire, Red Rockets Of Borneo Friday Ancient Man, Desert Sessions, Tubovas Saturday Deadly Are The Naked, The Overview, Power Fuck, Lucifer’s Gift, The Madness Method, Charm, Mesa Cosa, The Rostovs, The Jane Austin Argument Sunday Curious Fingers, Carvel Monday Monday Night Madness!, Mike Elrington Tuesday The Brunswick Discovery, The Whole Molko

ESPLANADE GERSHWIN ROOM

MOURNING AFTER PILLS The Mourning Sons return to the stage after a short break following the successful release of their debut single from their forthcoming album Pipedreams. The band will be putting it on for young and old with their rockin’ guitar onslaught doing the 2am slot at Pony this Friday (actually Saturday morning), followed by a show at Cherry Bar with Wicked City on Saturday. The band are currently finalising arrangements for their next single release, Ramble, which is expected to come out in August. Check it out!

BUILDERS ARMS HOTEL Thursday Tailor Made For A Small Room, Milk Teddy, ii Friday The Original Snake Skins, The Swamplords, Running Guns, Constant Mongrel, Space Cactus Saturday Duck Musique, Space Cactus, Isle Adore Sunday Sabrina & The Red Vans, Fair Maiden

CHERRY BAR Wednesday Thee Wylde Oscars Thursday White Boyz Can’t Funk Friday Buried Feathers, The Thod, Cordyceps Saturday Wicked City, Mourning Sons, Beat Disease

CLIFTON HILL HOTEL Wednesday Don Hillman’s Secret Beach

CORNER HOTEL Wednesday Mark Lanegan, Amaya Laucirica Thursday C.W Stoneking, Al Duvall Friday Thirsty Merc, Porcelain, Renee Cassar Saturday Sally Seltmann, Otouto, Kyu

DING DONG LOUNGE Thursday The Kickers, Orange Room, In The Woods, The Messengers Friday Cabins, Iowa, The Cocoa Jacksons, Telecom, Guest Dj’s Saturday Weekender, Long Island Sound, The Shake Up, DJ Steve

EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB Thursday The Soft Pack, Cabins Friday The Little Stevies, Ben Wells and the Middle Names

Saturday The Dead Salesman, Glenn Richards Sunday Left On Wellington, Who Needs Enemies, The Moons

EDINBURGH CASTLE HOTEL Wednesday Jess Ribiero & The Bone Collectors Thursday Pony Face Friday John Fox Band, Ewah Lady, Steph Brett Saturday Harmony Byrne, Emily Shobbrook, Czardaz Sunday Dani Marie, The Sweets, Agility

EMPRESS HOTEL Wednesday Sianna Lee, The Tiger & Me, Jesse Lee Thursday Ainslie Wills, Mon Ami Friday Carmen Townsend, Jason Walker, Texas Tea Saturday Naked On The Vague, Zond, Repairs Sunday New Estate, Tracey Read, Guy Blackman Monday Hatful of Awesome, Steve G. Mileham III w/ Cassie La Forge, Prairie & Lance, Sunset Blush Tuesday Open Mic

EMPRESS HOTEL, ARVO SHOW Sunday Pikelet, Kyu

ESPLANADE GERSHWIN Saturday Lil’ Kim

ESPLANADE BASEMENT Thursday Matt Katsis, Ben Wells and the Middle Names, Chris O’Neill, Justin Carter Friday Ross Royce, Jimmy Pita, Snakadaktal, Wrong Town, Stolen Moon

Friday Mark Lanegan, Amaya Laucirica Sunday Politics, Fubex, Desiderata, Minami Ex, Root Down, VGC & the Coastguards

ESPLANADE LOUNGE Wednesday Holliava, The Public Life, Crying Sirens, Green Tea Circus Thursday Russia, The Mercy Kills, Orange Room Friday Circle Pit, Beaches, Precious Jules, The Twerps Saturday Phil Para Sunday Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Monday Josh Owen Band Tuesday Galaxy, Aaron Peterson, Mark Phillips, Ryan & the Lion, Kim Wood & the Dirty Dishes

EVELYN HOTEL Wednesday Rhymada, Shortfall, Say It With Me Thursday The Latonas, Cloudmouth, Seesaw Friday Cloud City, Copse, Sons of Abraham, Faeble Saturday Small Town Fiasco, Arrows, Tall Buildings, Ghosts in Cars Sunday Luca Della Night Owls, Sleep Decade, Portal Window Tuesday The Beat Brothers, Lost Burros, Coal, The Darts

GRACE DARLING HOTEL

Saturday City In Motion

MARQUIS OF LORNE HOTEL Wednesday Little John’s Bluegrass Sessions Friday DJ Fanta Pants Saturday Bin Man Sunday San Gras Monday Adam & Fergus

NEXT Thursday Sun Tzu, I Exist, Trainwreck, A Breach Of Silence, Letters To Past Lovers, Red Letter Day

NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB Wednesday ’Fly The Nest Benefit’, Jordie Lane, Adrian Stoyles, Coby Grant, Ma Petite, Emily Ulman, Aluka Thursday Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, JP Shilo, Saint Clare, Tin Starlette Go Go Dancers, The Sljivovitz Orchestra Friday Richard In Your Mind, Rat Vs Possum, Magic Silver White Saturday Eagle and the Worm!, Barbarion, Robin Fox Lazer Show, Black Hill 5, Rat Vs Possum Djs

PONY Thursday The White Electric, 8 Bit Love, Samson, The Townhouses, Slow Dance Friday Madonna, Nice Guys, Hunter, On Sierra, The Mourning Sons, Touch It Saturday Nim, Our Anatomy, In Sepia, Hawaiian Islands, Fuckface, Pink Fitt

PRINCE BANDROOM Friday CW Stoneking

RETREAT HOTEL Thursday Tracey McNeil, Leah Flanagan Duo

Friday Little Freddie & The Pops, Davey Lane & Psychotic Pineapples, Jess Cougar Mellenguire Saturday Dirt River Radio, Dead South, At Sea, DJ Anto Mantooth Sunday Stretch & The Truth, The Low Down Dirty Shames Monday Bogan Bingo Tuesday DJ Shaky Memorial

Tuesday Weekly Trivia

THE OLD BAR

Friday The Tiger And Me Saturday The Revels

Wednesday Kins, Guests Thursday The Beat Brothers, The Crooks, Jay Howie Friday Death Valley Band, At Sea, The Grand Rapids, Clavians, DJ Applejack Saturday Fermez La Bouche, These Hands Could Separate The Sky, Fourteen Nights At Sea, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Gatherer, Radiant City, Nice Guys, Bodies, Bone Sunday OLD BAR UNICORNS AFTER PARTY, The Death Rattles, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Eaten By Dogs, DJ Katie, Go ‘Corns!!!! Monday The Hogeye String Band, Ol Timey Hoedown, ‘Crotchety Knitwits’ Tuesday Red Ruby Blue, Jacob S Harris

THE ARTHOUSE

THE PUBLIC BAR

Wednesday Sounds of Sirus, Praetorian, Cold Divide Thursday This Town A Forest, Emerson, Sheer Abandon, December’s Fallen Friday Agents Of Abhorrence, The Day Everything Became Nothing, Trench Sisters, Rort Saturday Brides of Christ, The Exotics, The Once Overs, Romance Sunday Changing Falls, Colour Kids, Brendon Asked

Friday Death Rattles, Merri Creek Pickers, Kiri O’Connor Saturday The Jacks, Thrashdance, Deadocracy

REVELLER’S NORTH (DOWNSTAIRS) Thursday The Lights, The Enclosures, Zombirds Friday Jess Mitchell Band Saturday John Flanagan

REVELLER’S NORTH (UPSTAIRS)

THE DRUNKEN POET Wednesday Hetty Kate, Kate Lucas Thursday Lynched from Dublin Friday Traditional Irish Music Session, Dan Bourke & Friends Saturday Backwood Creatures Sunday Andy White, The Bona Fide Travellers

Thursday David Graney, The Lurid Yellow Mist, & guests Friday Higher Arc Magazine Fundraiser, Electric Smile Band, Promised Land, + Heaps More Saturday Gun Street Girls, Dirty York, The Bonniwells

THE SPANISH CLUB Thursday Riverside Travellers Saturday Matt Glass Band

THE STANDARD HOTEL Wednesday Shannon Bourne Sunday Jimmy Stewart, Jason Bunn

THE TOFF IN TOWN Thursday Matt Corby, Tara Simmons, Ben Abraham, Love Story ft Andy Murphy Friday Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith Saturday My Musical Collective, Kimbra, The Ocean Party, The House deFROST, Andee Frost Sunday April Maze, Broni, The Sunday Set, Andyblack, Haggis Monday Swing Classes Tuesday Custom Kings, Matheson

HIFI BAR

THE TOTE

Friday Mista Savona, Dexter, Polo Club, Lotek, Jesse I, Manchild, Bass Bin Laden, Wasabi, Mantra Saturday Star Assassin, Crash & Burn, Into The Night, The Arachnids, Japan For

Thursday Love Connection, Parking Lot Experiments, Darren Sylvester, Kyu Friday Crow, New War, East Brunswick All Girls Choir, Nick Murphy Band Saturday Blarke Bayer / Black Widow, Heirs, Agonhymn, Firewitch Sunday Go Go Sapien, Beat Disease

JOHN CURTIN HOTEL Friday Xenograft, Moroccan Kings, Rocket Suit

YOUNG LOVE Young Heretics are about to set off on a national tour launching their brand new album, We Are The Lost Loves. The Melbourne duo will be joined by a number of friends as they wow crowds with their theatrical soundscapes, driving beats and dramatic pop compositions. The duo have also just released a brand new video for their single Risk/Loss. The clip is now circulating at all the tastemaker blogs before being uploaded to the bands MySpace page next week. They play the Northcote Social Club on Saturday 24 July with Guineafowl, Siren Lines and The Nymphs. Tickets from the venue.

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TRANSPORT HOTEL (FED SQ) Thursday Ladies Night Friday TOP 40 & COMMERCIAL PARTY TUNES Saturday 80’s RETRO TUNES Sunday Reece Dillon, Under The Apple Tree

UNION HOTEL BRUNSWICK Thursday Bakersfield Glee Club Saturday Chris Wilson Sunday Swamp Land

WESLEY ANNE Wednesday Mitchel Paxton Ward, Nathan Burley Thursday Bois et Charbon, Future Happiness, Roman Holiday Friday Little Sisters Of The Poor, James Kenyon & The Lloyd Weir Saturday The Boys, Dirt Birds, Lady Grey, TK Bollinger Sunday Heather Stewart, Dan Dinnan, Tane EmiaMoore, Prairie, Frankie Monday Applejack, Shivering Timbers, The Adventure Spirit

WORKERS CLUB Thursday Dancing Heals, Skybombers, Red Berry Plum Friday Gertrude St Projection Fest - Opening Party, Darren Sylvester, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, Fair Maiden, Full Ugly Saturday The Blush Foundation, Video Video, Valentine Sunday Purple Spit, Nasal On The Brain, Snawklor, Interzone

YAH YAH’S Thursday Rock Aerobics, The Fckups, The Sweaters, The Great Divide, Pauli Douglas Friday Grunt Bucket, Mount Disappointment, Suzie Stapleton Band, Richie 1250 Saturday Lee Memorial, Transcription Of Organ Music, Machine Translations, Melvis & the H-Dog, Mess Around Sunday Matt Joe Gow & The Dead Leaves, Bullet

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EMPLOYMENT ADMINISTRATION

Second Nation’s new EP, Delinquent, is available now on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, eMusic and Rhapsody. For those wanting the physical copy, go to Big Cartel or CD Baby. Also, watch out for the video of “You’re So Easy”, currently in post-production. The band are set to tour in support of the new release, with shows planned for mid-August. For further information contact: 2ndnation@gmail.com www. myspace.com/secondnation

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Excellent condition Marshall Vintage Modern 100W Head VM2466 and two Marshall Vintage Modern 4 x 12 Cab, that separates with roadcases made by Transitpak in Thomastown, Melbourne, which is one of the leading custom road case manufactures in the world. Constructed of lightweight high strength 8mm laminated plywood with aluminium extrusions, quality butterfly catches and castor wheels. Roadcases only for head and top amp, bottom amp has no road case. $4000 Negotiable. Contact Rob - 0430 203 859.

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CONTRIBUTORS WANTED TheHeadChimp.com is looking for writers, artists, advertisers and photographers to be part of our newest initiative, The Head Chimp Magazine. Our site is growing extremely fast and we are looking to implement the Mag very soon. If you feel like becoming part of our awesome team, drop us an email: info@theheadchimp.com.

100 watt head and matching 4/12 angled quadbox.2 fully seperate channels with reverb/crunch/mean/filth. effects send/return.all footswithable. very versatile.Australian designed quality.MINT CONDITION.$850 ono.

LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY

English made reliability. 100watts in 2 fully seperate channels with reverb/ chorus/lead boost. all footswitchable. very grunty. great fat sound! PERFECT CONDITION! $400.00 Ph Jimbo on 0428744963 iFlogID: 5833

A CLASS TUBE AMP $250!!!

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Sabian 20” AA Rock ride, Sabian 17” med thin crash, Sabian 14” AA Regular hihats all with Ragone case. As new, $700, ph 0419760940 iFlogID: 5821

“Colours” is the new 5 track EP from Melbourne Alternative Folk-Rock musician Joe Forrester. Described as: “5 songs written on a mini guitar, recorded in a tiny room, conceived in a very short space of time after a lovely little trip to visit the fam in N.Z. ...A package of badly drawn childlike artwork, warm acoustic guitars and nostalgic strings; a classic sound, reminiscent of early rock records of the 50’s-60’s and a pinch of fat electronic synths. Songs about love, loss, wonder and French-English translation.” Available June 1st through http://www.myspace.com/ joeforrester

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MARSHALL VINTAGE MODERN

HUGE GUITAR CLEARANCE

ACOUSTIC GUITAR MATON M225 Maton M225 Solid Sitka Spruce soundboard Queensland Maple Back, sides & neck Rosewood with dot inlays fingerboard Australian Made Original Elixir strings Natural Finish $750 *pick up in Sydney area iFlogID: 3645

Selling a Epiphone les paul 100 Starburst. Good Condition 400$. Hardly been Used. More Info Email Me. wtf_juice@hotmail.com

GIBSONS SG CLASSIC 60’S CUSTOMSHOP-WHITE $2995 SG DIABLO -ONLY 1000 MADE-RED $2995 SG ROBOT - MINT COND. - RED $2295 LES PAUL STUDIO - WALNUT $1495 LP 1960-CLASSIC-GOLDTOP $2995 LP 1960-CLASSIC - SUNBURST $2995 LP ROBOT - DARK PURPLE $2195 LUCILLE BB KING $3295 ALL GUITARS ARE SECONDHAND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.. CALL TIM 07 54743033 MUSIC@NOOSA

Shop online 24/7 at www.tsp.net.au for Australia’s biggest and best range of official licensed band merchandise. Hundreds of bands, thousands of products! AC/DC, Blink 182, David Bowie, Dead Kennedys, Escape The Fate, Iron Maiden, Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division, Megadeth, Metallica, MGMT, Minor Threat, Misfits, Nirvana, Opeth, Parkway Drive, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Ramones, Slayer, Sonic Youth, Tool, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more! T-shirts, fleecy hoodies, caps, beanies, bags and loads of other cool stuff. Shop now at www.tsp.net.au.

SECONDHAND 1960 RI LES PAUL GOLDTOP IN EXCELLENT CONDITION W/CASE ONLY $3395 CALL US 07 54743033 - MUSIC@NOOSA

HUGE FENDER NEW AND USED SALE

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Need a live clip to promote your band?? SnakeEyeProductions offers multi camera filming of your next gig in Hi Definition, includes Editing and Uploads at great rates.. Ph0416120639 iFlogID: 5675

Rare 7string Ibanez AX7221, 22 fret, on the back it’s signed by JOE SATRIANI, equipped w/Seymour Duncan Invader pickup (w/volume & tone control) & DiMarzio clip-lock strap. Heavy tone & huge sustain. Features hand-painted (by owner) biomechanical landscape in the style of H.R.Giger.. AU$2500..Price INCLUDES new black guitar hard case & postage if required.. Call for more info, I custom-paint any guitar.. Michael 0417184213. iFlogID: 5921

KEYBOARDS KORG TRITON EXTREME88

For Sale! Fantastic Sounding AKG K701 Headphones, Brand New with original packaging, manual and warranty card. Bought $900, will let go for $700. You don’t wanna miss this occasion, don’t you!? Email me on vangelis2133@yahoo.com or just phone: 0449672435. First Come, First Serve! iFlogID: 5059

LITTLE MUSIC SHOP IN THE LANE Have YOU been to our shop. Sales / Repairs / Hire / Service / Rentals / Trade –Ins / Tuition. We also deal in Pre-Loved equipment.OPEN Monday to Saturday - MUSIC CAVERN - JOHN LANE , Beenleigh - 3807 5688 iFlogID: 5234

IMMORAL FASHION

CALLING ALL DJS & ARTISTS

YAMAHA NP30 DIGITIAL PIANO

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GUITARS FENDER GIBSON MARTIN

NEW SEAGULL ACOUST/ ELECT

BRAND NEW SEAGULL ENTOURAGE RUSTIC BURST ACOUSTIC IN BOX Top : Select Pressure Tested Solid Cedar Back & Sides : Wild Cherry Neck : Silver Leaf Maple with the Seagull

Rare 7string Ibanez AX7221, 22 fret, equipped w/Seymour Duncan Invader pickup (w/volume & tone control) & DiMarzio clip-lock strap. Heavy tone & huge sustain. Features handpainted (by owner) biomechanical landscape in the style of H.R.Giger. Price includes new black guitar hard case & postage if required. Call for more info, I can custom-paint any guitar.. Michael - 0417184213. iFlogID: 5649

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PA EQUIPMENT HEADROOM SOUND

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Using; P Audio, B & C, JBL and E.V. Top quality drivers in all our custom built bins. Top boxes, mids, subs, wedges to spec. This online pic is our new folded horn with one 18inch challenger, putting out 137db – 140+ when coupled. Call us for a free quote. 0414355763 iFlogID: 3098

ROSS PC110 POWERED MIXER

RARE PAINTED 7STRING IBANEZ AX

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Vintage and USA guitars. Buy, Sell and Trade. mattsvintageguitars.com 02-9518-0150

“They’ve really stripped back their sound to a garage/punk feel, raw without frills and great songwriting” David Harrison - Xpress Magazine The raw, no-nonsense sound of the band gives Second Nation’s Delinquent release a timeless quality: it could have been recorded in the heyday of Pub Rock, yet there is no mistaking its contemporary relevance. Don’t be fooled by the hooks of “You’re So Easy”, or the appeal of “Breathe Easy”, ‘cause you can sense something more just below the surface.

A rarely used example of this classic and much sought-after synthesizer in excellent condition. Price includes delivery to any destination on mainland Australia.

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12-24 MONTHS INTEREST FREE, NO INTEREST EVER, TAKE HOME YOUR GUITAR,AMP,P.A,KEYBOARD,ETC TODAY... CALL US FOR MORE DETAILS 07 54743033 MUSIC @ NOOSA

A new original night has started a a very popular Sydney venue, in the heart of the City. Venue runs cover bands 7 nights a week, and has a great in house PA system and operator. Venue is Trialling Original Bands on Monday nights, and its a great opportunity for bands to get exposure. Venue has a steady stream of clientele, so no need to drag your fans along. Venue prefers 3-4 piece guitar based rock acts, which perform mainsteam radio friendly original music. Looking for good Sydney bands, as well as interstate bands who maybe be touring Sydney and would like to tack a monday night show onto their tour. Interested acts should email me a link to their website, or myspace. Email promo to : kypo@bigpond.net. au. Your welcome to call Kypo on 0404 065 976, but its best to send me your promo first.

BOOKING AGENTS

May Madness sale only $349 Power adapter an extra $29 Call 02 9520 3044 or email shop@engadinemusic.com

SECOND NATION DELINQUENT E.P

CITY VENUE WANTS ORIGINAL BAND

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FENDERS SECONDHAND 1979 STRAT- ASH BODY IN CASE $2695 1975 MUSIC MASTER IN CASE $1795 MEX STRAT W/DUNCAN H-BUCKER $649 NEW USA STANDARD TELE S/ BURST $1799 USA STANDARD STRAT -BLK $1749 USA JAZZ BASS - SUN BURST $2199 MEX JAZZ BASS BLK $849 ROAD WORN STRATS AND TELES $1499EACH CALL TIM 07 54743033 MUSIC@NOOSA LTD STOCK

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LIVE GIG FILM CLIPS

ABSOLUTE VALUE!

RARE PAINTED 7STRING IBANEZ AX

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www.myspace.com/thespaced

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GUITARS

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For sale is a British made A class tube amp for dirt cheap! It is an Ashdown Peacemaker 20 watt combo which I bought a few years back for $2000. It has a beautiful vox like clean sound, great for blues jazz. The overdrive is great for that vintage blues rock tone. reason why I’m selling it so cheap is that it needs a service. Fuse needs repairing, reverb unit needs replacing. The cost of repair with the sale price is negligible compared to the value for money you are receiving with this amp! Check out more here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/ scooterjohn/349150246/

For sale is a mint condition, Maton Mastersound Deluxe electric guitar for $1000 off the recommended retail price!!!! I bought this guitar four years ago. It has a beautiful sound, is extremely versatile (especially with the coil taps on both the bridge and neck pick ups). The reason for selling is that I don’t play electric guitar anymore (have taken up the oud), and this beautiful instrument just sits at home unplayed. Sale price $1700 o.n.o. Contact me at brent.keogh@ students.mq.edu.au Specs as below: Maton Mastersound Deluxe Tone Cap: Blackwood or Rock Maple Binding: White Neck: Set Rock Maple F/Board: Rosewood F/Board Radius: 12 inches Fret Markers: M.O.P. Blocks Scale: 25.5 Fret Wire: Jim Dunlop 6130 Bridge: Chrome Tailpeice & Bridge Finish: Gloss Machines: Chrome Grover Bridge Pick Up: MVB2 (Coil Tapped) Magnets - Alnico 8 1000G Coils - 2x8.5k Neck Pick Up: MHN2 (Coil Tapped) Magnets - Alnico 5 950G Coils - 2x8.5k Controls: 2 Volumes 2 Tones (2 Coil Tapped) 3 Way rotary selector switch Colours: Sunburst

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THE SPACED ARE HERE!

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SECOND NATION DELINQUENT E.P

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ARE YOU LOOKING FOR FREEDOM? Do you earn a great income but have no time to enjoy it? Are you working harder and harder to help someeone else live their dreams? Can you follow a simple and proven system? Do you have a burning desire to change your personal and financial situation. ONLY

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SABIAN CYMBALS

GIBSON 1960 RI GOLDTOP

SECOND NATION - delinquent E.P. AVAILABLE NOW for $4.99 at www. myspace.com/secondnation

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Want the freedom of your own business working your hours? Village Guitar are leaders in contemporary music tuition. Our strong profile, proven methods and ongoing support will give you every chance of succeeding in your own business. We are looking for guitar players. You don’t have to be a rock legend, however you must be good with people. We can teach you to teach others and to effectively run your business. Very low start up costs. Take the first step today. Call Mark on 02 9580 9284 or 0409 701 249.

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Pearl EXR (2005 model) drum kit with the following: - 14” snare - 8” tom 10” tom - 12” tom - 13” tom - 16” floor tom - 22” bass - double kick pedal - single kick pedal - Pearl drum rack - numerous clamps for additional drums and/or cymbals - brand new skins for all 5 toms - Drum City cymbal bag (leather) - clamp arm 3x boom cymbal stands - 2x straight cymbal stands - stool - additional tom arms Cymbals: - Zildjian A Custom 14” hi-hats - 10” splash - 17” crash - 18” crash - 16” fast crash - Zildjian A - 21” sweet ride All in perfect condition, reluctant sale. Call Kieran on 0410691616. Pickup from Sydney.

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Genuine 1980’s Pete Townshend jap model. all original. in case. amazing action. beatiful tone and sustain. plays great. nice patina. very rare. suit collector. EXCELLENT CONDITION! $2500.00 Ph Jimbo on 0428744963.

SELLING EPIPHONE LESPAUL

MARSHALL VS100 VALVESTATE AMP.

SELF-EMPLOYMENT

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MATON MS 2000DLX CHEAP!!!

PEARL EXR CYMBALS RACK STANDS

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Would you like to be able to offer everyone you know and everyone they know and so on, the BEST PRICES GUARANTEED in the world for all their new brand name shopping? Well take a look at this. This is most certainly a lifetime opportunity to launch ongoing income well into the future. www. hotglobalbusiness.com/fortunate

“COLOURS” EP OUT JUNE 1ST

our new folded horn with one 18inch challenger, putting out 137db – 140+ when coupled. Call us for a free quote. 0414355763

SHOP FOR BAND MERCH ONLINE!

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DRUMS

BUSINESSES

The Directory is a sourcebook for all the contacts in the Australian music market. There are over 5,000 listed companies & individuals in 70 sections covering all business sectors from Artists cross referenced by Booking Agents, Managers & Record Labels, Promoters, Music Media, Venues, Lawyers, Publishers & much more! We have 3 versions of the Directory available in Print $55 (GST & Postage included)--6 Month Online Subscription $40--iPhone App $19.95 (from Apple iTunes Store). To purchase your print or online version go to www.immedia.com.au/amid or call the IMMEDIA! Office (02) 9557 7766

FENDER PINK PAISLEY STRAT.

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MUSIC INDUSTRY BIBLE

Slim 1.72” nut width. Fingerboard & Bridge : Rosewood Tusq® nut and compensated saddle Finish : Rustic Burst Custom Polished Finish Electronics : Godin Quantum I PICKUP RRP $ 949.00 SELL $700.00 SHIPPING $30.00 Phone: 02 49597421

FS: Digidesign C|24 control surface, 10K ono - the ultimate front end to take your Pro Tools system to a professional level. 16 premium mic preamps and inbuilt submixer, 5.1 monitoring and advanced HD features as well. Works with both PT LE and HD. INCLUDES: $2500 worth of DB25 to RTS break out cables at no extra cost. Will also deliver for free within sydney and help to install. 16.5K new, Im only asking 10K ono. Cheaper than buying overseas!! Call Brent 0406 501 192 iFlogID: 5871

OTHER HEADROOM SOUND Using; P Audio, B & C, JBL and E.V. Top quality drivers in all our custom built bins. Top boxes, mids, subs, wedges to spec. This online pic is

Are you a budding bedroom DJ busting to get your BIG break? Are you struggling to get work in this economic climate? Do you want to stand out? If you’re going to get the attention of the media, labels, promoters, clubs, agents or just about anyone else in the music industry, you’re going to need a professional artist promotional pack. A promotional pack or website is your introduction to the world and these promotional tools should always put your BEST foot forward. Let’s face it... Times are tough these days and we know what it takes to get you noticed without having to spend a fortune. We can tailor a package deal that will help get you one step closer to your first gig or your next big step in the industry. For more information please contact us on +61 449 729 009 or email info@ cheekydjs.com iFlogID: 5005

DUPLICATION/ MASTERING HIGH QUALITY - LOW PRICES 100watt rms. 4 channell with EQ/ REVERB. stereo CD input. CUBE STYLE. Very good condition. $300.00 Ph Jimbo on 0428744963. iFlogID: 5837

MUSIC SERVICES BAND MERCHANDISE ON LINE BOOKING AGENCY

CD Duplication for no minimum

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copies and quick turnaround. CD Replication for runs over 500. Cost effective and high quality. Several packaging options. Delivered to your door - see our website for more details: www.musicdesignsolutions. com.au Or email us for a quote: info@ musicdesignsolutions.com.au

publicity.com or visit our website at www.clkclickpublicity.com We look forward to working with you!

MASTERING MASTERING BY PAUL GOMERSALL

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WE LICENSE YOUR MUSIC!

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HIRE SERVICES PA/OPERATOR FOR HIRE For as low as $100, you get a PA system with a sound mixer, complete with a human operator as well to set it up for you for the evening. You can play your own music through it, sing, talk, do a disco, small function, etc, etc, etc. Contact Chris 0419 272 196. iFlogID: 3721

PA AND INSTRUMENT HIRE

Melbourne Pa and Instrument Hire Specialists. We have a large range of Pa equipment, large and small to suit any occasion. Dynacord,yamaha,mackie,cordless mics,etc etc. Instrument hire also available such as drumkits,keyboards,amps and much more. Call for 9689 4622 Just 10 min from cbd

Trust your next mastering project with Paul who’s been working with major international artists for over 25 years..you’ll probably find his name on CDs you own.....For a limited time song transfers through the ATR100 - the worlds finest 1/2” tape machine - is absolutely FREE!! (Worth up to $100 a song)...So for only $88 per song you can get the results you want at the price you can afford..-..Post - Upload, or call in......For further details visit --- www.gomersall.com --- Call Paul 0407 488 697

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SPACE SHIP NEWS.COM.AU

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MATTHEW GRAY MASTERING - $99

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Perth Music News Your one stop for local Perth music news, gig guides, photogrpahy, reviews, bands, CD’s & more... Sign up to our weekly e-news & keep up to date! www.spaceshipnews.com.au

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And you get paid! Pressplay Media seek music licensing opportunities for Independent Artists and Labels for various uses of copyrights, including: Synchronization/Placement into Film, Television, Commercials & Games AND the Reproduction of their music to be played in venues and businesses within the Hospitality and Retail industries. We are constantly seeking new artists which enable us to continually strengthen our database of songs. Any artist or label wanting to register should fill out the form provided on our web site for “Music Owners”. Go to: www. pressplay.com.au We look forward to working with you! iFlogID: 5652

CUSTOM MYSPACE SPECIAL ON NOW

TOP SHELF DJS - MELB DJ HIRE

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FORENSIC AUDIO MASTERING

For short time only. Please see samples: www.myspace.com/ mayainthemansion www.myspace. com/blackteahouse Visit our site for more info: www.musicdesignsolutions.com.au Unlike other DJs, Top Shelf DJs have a background in alternative and indie music. So if you want your party to have a distinctly indie/alternative feel,or just want a few alternative tunes in the mix, we are the perfect fit for your event! Find out more at www.topshelfdjs.com.au iFlogID: 5074

GET IN THE KNOW!

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PA SYSTEMS, LIGHTS , STAGES

HEARTICAL SOUND SYSTEM HIRE

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GUITAR TECH Guitar tech available for one-off Melbourne shows or touring. Affordable rates. Stage manager experience. Worked on stages big and small from O2 Arena, London to the Espy, St. Kilda. Call Brent on 0438 919 811 iFlogID: 5960

soundornot.com

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We have the gear and have the people. From small to BIG - give me a call for a quote - PA SYSTEMS from $110 - CALL MATT on 0424 399 801

DOMC MASTERING - $95 PER TRACK

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MUSIC PUBLICITY AND MARKETING

Promoting a CD? Want to let fans know about your gigs? Take your band to the next level with our competitive rates for your marketing and publicity needs. We strive to bring our artists to as wide an audience as possible conducting a broad media campaign which encompasses national print media and online promotion and an artist administration area allowing access to realtime 24/7 campaign results. We can also look after your paid advertising, sourcing some of the most competitive pricing. Contact 0402257148 or www.aaaentertainment.com.au

Domc Mastering is a dedicated mastering suite located just outside of Brisbane. We specialise in getting your next audio project ready for the public. DOMC work with you to get you the ‘sound’ that you are chasing.

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From the people who brought you TheMusic.com.au comes two new free news resources, The Daily News Feed and Velvet Rope; the only source of music business and industry news you will ever need! Each morning the Daily News Feed posts crucial music business news, helping you stay current with Aussie and overseas breaking stories. Velvet Rope is brought to you via Door Bitch and is a weekly news column that keeps you up to date on the happenings of the music biz. From job opps, news, events & a bit of back room gossip, Door Bitch has it covered. It’s out every Friday at noon. Check out the new news at www.TheMusic.com.au iFlogID: 5089

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

From small PA to large high powered rigs. Crystal clear custom built mids and tops cabs with heavy duty bass bins. Suitable for indoor and outdoor events. delivered, set up and operated. Call Derek for quotes on 0423979396 iFlogID: 5135

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COOL PERTH NIGHTS

Are you a solo artist or in a band? Do you want a quality demo but can’t afford expensive studio time? Rockstart offer an affordable recording service and are located in St Kilda, Melbourne. We record in Cubase, with quality software based amp simulators, soft synthesisers and sampled or sound replaced drums. This technique suits rock, pop, house, dance, or even metal! Visit www.rockstart. com.au for further information or contact us on 0406111999 info@ rockstart.com.au

We are a commercial recording studio in Sydney’s CBD, We also have full production capabilities and we promote artists too. We create awesome beats-check us out. 0416651247 support@vibedoctors. com www.vibedoctors.com http:// www.myspace.com/vibedoctors iFlogID: 5771

PRO MUSIC PRODUCTION PERTH

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PHOTOGRAPHY BAND PHOTOS Looking for a photographer for your band?Checkout theartofcapture. com to see examples and portfolio of work. Studio and location shots.All states. Contact Kane Hibberd Kane@theartofcapture.com or call 0419 570 660. iFlogID: 1256

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Ableton certified trainer and author of Ableton video training for Groove 3 (USA) Craig McCullough is available locally in SE Qld for private Ableton and music technology training. Video training is also availble from www. groove3.com. Mobile: 0431 556 746 email: abletontrainer@optusnet. com.au iFlogID: 4154

Learn to play from some of Australia’s best guitar teachers. G4 GUITAR is a network of over 100 teachers across Australia using the latest learning techniques to ensure students the absolute best tuition available. Backed by the G4 GUITAR METHOD our teachers have the reputation to take you from beginner to pro. Please visit our website to find your closest teacher and grab a free download. www.g4guitar.com.au or Phone 0405-274456

Get Your Tracks Produced by a PRO International Award-Winning producer! 1. Seasoned Producer/ Arranger and Engineer with ten years Experience and 16 albums of Diverse Styles. 2. Has also Composed and Recorded for Film, Television, Documentary and Musicals. 3. Complete yet Cosy Studio, calm atmosphere based in Armadale, 20min of Perth City. 4. $50 per hour, Flexible Hours, Price Include Production/Arranging, Recording And Mixing! Contact: recording_studio19@y7mail.com Tel Mob: 0449672435 iFlogID: 6088

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Heavy rock band Drop Tank are making a film clip. We need your home videos of burnouts, skilled driving, awesome machines in action, to use for our song about a car. We will be pixellating numberplates (and faces if needed), so send all killer, no filler to: Droptank or droptankband@ gmail.com via sendspace (Any format will do but AVI or MPEG-2 is preffered) or to: DROP TANK PO Box 443 Brookvale NSW 2100 www.myspace. com/droptankband *Drop Tank does not promote dangerous driving iFlogID: 6076

PA / AUDIO / ENGINEERING

DANE BEESLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

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POSTERS ILLUSTRATOR AVAILABLE NOW!

A rockin’ salute from the Team at Clk Click Publicity! Clk Click Publicity is a music and entertainment publicity company that specialises in providing excellent quality management, marketing and PR services in order to promote music, film, arts and events in Australia. We have an introductory offer that will blow your mind, and keep your pockets full! For a limited time Clk Click Publicity can whip you up a professional Bio and Press Release for only $100. We can also organise band photos and logo creation for a very reasonable price. If you’re interested in finding out about our full range of publicity services, we’d love the opportunity to have a chat with you and put together a proposal for your next release, event or tour. For further information please shoot us an email at info@clkclick-

Headroom Sound Australia. Re-cones to all models e.g. JBL, P Audio, B & C, E-Tone etc Custom built crossovers, all at budget prices. For quotes contact Ray on tallpoppies@iprimus. com.au or 04143 55763

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PORTABLE RECORDING

**MENTION THIS ADVERTISEMENT TO RECEIVE A FULL 5 HOUR REHEARSAL STUDIO BOOKING ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY FOR $45** WELCOME TO CAULFIELD MUSIC REHEARSAL STUDIOS. WE HAVE FIVE LARGE, SOUNDPROOF ROOMS AVAILIBLE FOR HIRE. ALL OF THE ROOMS ARE THE SAME SIZE (APPROXIMATELY 7 X 6 METRES). EACH ROOM IS EQUIPPED WITH A 12 CHANNEL P.A. SYSTEM, 4 MICROPHONES, 4 MICROPHONE LEADS AND 4 MICROPHONE STANDS. OUR REHEARSAL ROOMS ARE ALL AIR CONDITIONED. THEY ARE ALWAYS KEPT CLEAN AND WELL MAINTAINED. WE HAVE TWO ROOMS WITH PIANOS AVAILABLE FOR SOLO, PRIVATE USE. THESE ROOMS ARE AVAILABLE FOR HIRE WHEN THEY ARE NOT BEING USED FOR TEACHING. PLEASE CALL FOR AVAILABILITY. THEY ARE HIRED AT $5.50 PER HOUR. EXTRA EQUIPMENT CAN BE HIRED WITH THE ROOMS. PLEASE TELL US WHAT YOU WILL BE NEEDING WHEN YOU BOOK SO THAT WE CAN HAVE IT READY FOR YOU. FOR ALL BOOKINGS PH: (03) 9532 9530. iFlogID: 4330

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SINGING LESSONS THAT ROCK

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A1 very experienced guitar teacher available for home call tuition.we come to you! become a better musician soon!based in sydney’s inner west.I had the best teachers,now you can too.learn the fundamentals that make a great guitar player!many styles taught in a relaxed,fun manner that will get you happening fast.ph 0421727864. iFlogID: 4240

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CAULFIELD MUSIC CENTRE Caulfield Music Centre MUSIC SCHOOL * where students become musicians * www.caulfieldmusic. com.au QUALIFIED TEACHERS AVAILABLE Monday - Friday: 4pm-9pm * Saturday: 10am-4pm * Sunday: 11am-4pm * *Please call for lesson availability times. PRIVATE LESSONS - $28 PER HALF HOUR GUITAR BASS PIANO SINGING & VOICE PRODUCTION DRUMS PERCUSSION SAXOPHONE FLUTE RECORDER HARMONICA VIOLIN At Caulfield Music Centre Music School, we offer private, oneon-one lessons. We believe this is the best way for students to learn their chosen instrument. All students receive special student DISCOUNTS on musical instruments and equipment. All lessons are payable weekly, one lesson in advance. A DISCOUNT applies when paying for 10 lessons in advance. Missed lessons incur the full fee unless a minimum of 24 hours notice is given. Exceptional circumstances will be considered. ALL ENQUIRIES AND BOOKINGS PHONE 9528 1162 OR EMAIL music@ caulfieldmusic.com.au iFlogID: 4356

INTEGUITAR.COM

Play songs on guitar instantly. $49.99 postage inc. kit of 4 x interfaces + tutorial CD. Special deals for the first 100 buyers. The guitar is an easy instrument to play but it is an extremely difficult instrument to learn. Getting past the initial stumbling clanging strumming period of learning guitar can take a number of years and its made all the more difficult by the blank fret board. InteGuitar solves this problem by giving the fret board a temporary movable visual interface of rudimentary OPEN and BAR Chords in the form of a silicon strap. If you can see how the chords are played these basic functions can be over come in much shorter time and be less frustrating. Because the interfaces can be repositioned along part of the neck Bar Chords be displayed. It takes a few attempts to get used to setting up an interface eventually taking 1 to 5 minutes to complete. Silicon Interfaces stretch to fit on all steel string acoustic and electric guitars. Fatter necks like classical guitars are a little harder to fit. Call us now on 0405 044 513 iFlogID: 2716

BLUES HARP LESSONS

Professional illustrator available for any project. Book covers, children’s books, album art and much more. Based in Melbourne, drawing world wide! Excellent rates. www.paulikin. com -Phone: 0403 996 129 or email paul@paulikin.com

A1 HOME CALL GUITAR TUITION

iFlogID: 2633

REHEARSAL ROOMS

Photography...Get the right shot the first time at an affordable cost..Contact Mike 0447572106

CUSTOM BASS DRUM HEADS

Custom bass drum heads ensure your bands name gets remembered after the gig. The sickest, best quality custom bass drum heads, banners, backdrops, stickers, and full drum wraps! www.kustombassdrumgraphics.com.au sales@kustombassdrumgraphics.com.au

GUITAR TUITION 100+ LOCATIONS

DO YOU AND YOUR BAND WANT TO STAND OUT? WE HAVE THE BEST STUFF FOR YOUR GIG’S, WE ARE THE PROFESSIONALS IN SOUND AND LIGHT, WE HAVE THE TOP OF THE LINE GEAR AND WE ARE READY TO GIVE YOU AND YOUR BAND THE SHOW YOU NEVER FORGET Call Roger on 0447025967

PHOTOGRAPHY

SPEAKER REPAIRS - ALL MODELS

OTHER

KARAOKE & JUKEBOX HIRE Superstar Karaoke & Jukebox Hire is friendly, efficient and affordable. We’ve also got the BIGGEST selection of songs with over 10,000 karaoke tracks and over 5,000 jukebox songs. Plus, we update our song lists monthly so we have the classics and all the newest hits! Visit www.superstarkaraoke.net.au today and see how we can assist you with making your next party or function one to remember.

TUITION

CAULFIELD MUSIC CENTRE

iFlogID: 5710

iFlogID: 5801

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RECORDING STUDIO + PRODUCERS

FOOTAGE FOR VIDEO CLIP NEEDED Professional high end audio mastering in our dedicated analog and digital mastering studio. Professional results at highly competitive rates. Pay by the track. Integrated online service available. www.forensicaudio.com.au

is taken with each job to get the best from your guitar. We work hard to give you the feel and the sound you want. 0405 253 417 tara@rockinrepairs. com www.rockinrepairs.com

iFlogID: 5628

PROFESSIONAL SOUND AND LIGHT

iFlogID: 4790

MUSICIANS FOR FUNCTIONS/ VENUES

Are you thinking of hiring quality musicians that bring an audience ? Do you have a function/event and considering live entertainment ? For a limited period, we are offering a Venue Promotions Package featuring favourite entertainers. If it is about raising your venue profile or just great entertainment you want, contact us now. Chris 0419 272 196 http://infovisionproductions.yayabings.com.au

Cool Perth Nights weekly mailout features all the coolest live music, theatre, indie film screenings and art exhibition happenings in and around Perth Western Australia. Sign up via www.coolperthnights.com and receive this clean presented and very fun info each Wednesday lunchtime WST.

SERVICE Assisting with CD releases, Live DVDs, Offering you professional audio which you can also upload to Myspace, YouTube, E.P.Ks etc. ANY GENRE 18 channels of Pro Tools, 16 channels of professional isolated stage splitters (Radial, JensenTransformers), Quality pre amps, Great microphones, Internationally experienced engineer Jeremy Conlon MOB: 0421 836 876 EMAIL: jeremy@cooperblack. net www.myspace.com/jeremythesoundengineer B. Music (Composition) , Cert IV Music Tech, Cert IV Work Place Skills and Assessment

SINGING TEACHER NYC TRAINED CONTEMPORARY AND MUSIC THEATRE SINGING TUITION. TRAINED WITH LEADING NYC VOCAL TEACHER WORKED WITH ARTISTS IE. AVRIL LAVIGNE, KELLY CLARKESON AND BEYONCE. WORLD RENOWNED VOCAL EXCERSISES TO VASTLY IMPROVE VOCAL TECHIQUE BASED ON EXCSERCISES FROM MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC. LOCATED EASTERN SUBURBS. AVAILABLE TO TRAVEL. ORIGINALS WELCOME. AUDITION COACHING. 0435 426 012 iFlogID: 4452

NY TRAINED SONGWRITING TUITION PROFFESSIONAL ROYALTIES EARNING POP ROCK SONGWRITER AVAILABLE FOR TUITION AND GUIDANCE. TRAINED WITH LEADING NYC VOCAL TEACHER WHO HAS WORKED WITH ARTISTS IE. AVRIL LAVIGNE, KELLY CLARKESON AND BEYONCE. COMMERCIAL RADIO PLAY FOR ORIGINALS. LOCATED EASTERN SUBURBS. AVAILABLE TO TRAVEL. ORIGINALS WELCOME OR BEGINNING FROM AFRESH. K.I.S.S. = $$$$$. 0435 426 012 iFlogID: 4454

PRODUCTION/MIXING TUITIONS I’m a professional Music Producer and Sound Mixer who has worked with internationally renowned artist such as Seal and De La Soul, and I’m offering private tuition in Mixing and Production. Bring your own session (Logic or Protools) or use one of mine, and I will show the tricks that they do not teach you at school, I work from my home setup (Surry Hills) only, $65 per hour. http://www.steevebody. com iFlogID: 4776

iFlogID: 4701

BASS/ GUITAR/VOCAL TUITION

RECORDING STUDIOS EASY TIGER RECORDIND STUDIO Relaxed and atmospheric studio tucked away in Melbourne’s inner suburbs. Good Gear Good Vibe! www. myspace.com/easytigerstudio or ph 0417038353 easytigerstudio@ yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 5420

ROCKSTART DEMO RECORDINGS

Do you live to play? Whether you’ve just bought a new guitar or an old favourite is feeling a little faded, we’ll bring the best out of it! Rockin’ Repairs is based in Point Piper in Sydney, Australia and offers restrings, setups, upgrades and repairs for all guitars and basses; no matter what you play or how you play it, we’ve got the tools and techniques to breathe life back into even the most mistreated guitar. We treat every instrument individually; time, care and love

Learn Blues Harmonica all styles from Ragtime, Country Blues , Chicago Blues styles. Private lessons in Sydney with Blue tongue & Workshops across Australia with Bluetongue, Ian Collard & Doc Span. web- http://www. bluetongueharmonica.com.au p-02 80037132 m-0412 668575 iFlogID: 3683

ABLETON CERTIFIED TRAINER

Modern Life Music School offers professional performance based tuition

For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au 73

for the dedicated beginner or established musician. A tailored program to achieve your goals utilizing a modern studio and live performance facility will ensure that you achieve your potential .

DRUMMER TOP PRO DRUMMER AVAILABLE

iFlogID: 5039

GUITAR TUTOR - WE COME TO YOU Experienced guitar teacher in many styles of music, teaching in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. We come to you. Learn to play guitar in the comfort of your own home. $30/ 1 hr lesson. 0412 291 577

MUSIC PRODUCTION TUITION 1. Master Audio and MIDI. 2. Ten Years Experience in the Industry Tutor. 3. Weekdays or Weekends, Flexible. 4. Learn with Up to Date Technology. 5. Intensive Theory and Practical Sessions. 6. Individual Student Hands-On Practice. 7. Only $30 per hour. contact me on vangelis2133@yahoo. com or on 0449672435 between 8 a:m and 2 p:m or after 6 p:m. iFlogID: 5879

VIDEO / PRODUCTION 360 DEGREE INTERACTIVE VIDEO

VOCALIST WANTED for gigs,tours,sessions etc. Good equipment, professional attitude. Many years pro experience working with well known artists. Please check out my website, www.mikehague. com Ph 0419760940 iFlogID: 5819

DRUMMER AVAILABLE! Drummer is seeking recording experience as a session musician. This service will be free. Bachelor of Music completed. Been playing drums for over 10 years. Drumming style: rock/ funk. My influences are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink 182, Toto etc. No Jazz or Metal. My services would suit University students, audio engineering students and professional musicians. Have own professional gear and transport. Based in Cambridge Park N.S.W. Phone Will: 0413 772 911 iFlogID: 5869

GUITARIST GUITARIST TO FORM/JOIN BAND Panoramic Video create interactive 360 degree online videos that are a unique addition to any website, putting your fans and web viewers virtually there with you. We can add in hotspots into the videos too so that you can direct users to other web sites for ticket or music purchasing, and with the ability to be embedded into other pages such as blogs etc, a Panoramic Video is a perfect choice for viral marketing.. Our videos keep the interest and by their nature keep users and fans on your website for longer than a standard video. It’s cool, and it’s unique, and a great option if you are looking for something different and innovative.. Costs will vary depending on where you are and what we do for you, but our rates are very reasonable.... We are a new innovative business in Melbourne and looking to help promote local bands and artists with our interactive videos.. so give us a call for a great deal. Check out some of our samples at www.panoramicvideo.com.au then give us a call on 03 9457 7600 today.. We would love to hear from you!

i am looking to form a serious band, influences include Stone Roses, The Smiths, Beatles, Kinks, Suede. Preferably looking for vocalist to collaborate with, then add bass and drums later. songs ready, looking to be gigging asap. own transport preferable. email - thevilliers@hotmail.com iFlogID: 4990

LEAD GUITARIST AVAILABLE Lead guitarist looking to jam/form a heavy metal band, preferably on the central coast but willing to travel. Influences: Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Metallica, Iron maiden - Blake 0403138542 iFlogID: 6021

OTHER SAXOPHONIS AVAILABLE

HAVE YOU SEEN MIKE HUNT

iFlogID: 4994

BASS PLAYER WANTED Bassist wanted to join melodic metal band with death/black/thrash influence. Must be determined, skilled and have own gear and transport. Easygoing but professional environment. Ages 18-30 Wollongong/ Sydney based. Influences: Dimmu, Old man’s child, arch enemy, children of bodom, immortal, megadeth, slayer, amon amarth etc. Interest gained nationally and internationally with distribution deals on offer for the band. Great opportunity. www. myspace.com/asmodaiaus or email asmodai_aus@hotmail.com iFlogID: 5302

AAA BASS PLAYER WANTED Are you a bass player and are tired of playing cover songs where you cannot truly express yourself? Are you being confined to root notes, and would like to play “lead bass”? Then get in touch with The Clue: we are a Sydney-based band, play mostly original stuff (classic rock, pop and folk), and rehearse every Monday in Ultimo. We are looking for YOU! Good gear a must, vocal harmonies a plus. See you soon! iFlogID: 5638

SYDNEY DOOM BAND SEEKS BASSIST Sydney doom band Rituals of the Oak are seeking a bass player. Influences include Candlemass, Pentagram, Solitude Aeturnus, and Warning. Must have own gear etc, rehearsing in Belmore area. Currently waiting to record second album, first album released on Eyes Like Snow label from Germany last year, signed for 2 more albums. Contact Matt on 0418435898. www.myspace.com/ ritualsoftheoak

GET SIGNED TO A MAJOR LABEL!

MUSIC VIDEOS

iFlogID: 5701

Professional band with clubwork and agent, looking for charismatic male vocalist.Ideal influences would be 80’s 90’s pop/soul.Must be true showperson. Age: 35 - 50years of age. For details call Cora on 0418 122 370.

iFlogID: 5823

iFlogID: 2774

Bird-dog Media low budget music video production. State of the art HD equipment. Talented Staff. Prices start at $500. Examples online. Ph: 0412060489 Email: bdvideoproduction@gmail.com

BASS PLAYER WANTED Bass playwer wanted for originals band in Melbourne. Have the basics of songs completed, just need to learn the songs to add the bass and get them gig ready. Looking for someone determined and eager to play. Influences are Sonic Youth, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, etc. Contact 0403929446. iFlogID: 4224

iFlogID: 5795

Experienced saxophonist is looking for bands and studio sessions. Jazz, funky, afro, reggae, latin, rock, folk. If interested contact me at 0410041979. Cheers. Lorenzo iFlogID: 2848

PRO TROMBONIST AVAILABLE

fun but business minded band so you must be 100% committed and have own transport and equipment. No time wasters. Check us out at www.myspace.com/thewrittencrusade and call Dinora on 0419 198 696 or email– thewrittencrusade@ gmail.com to partake in this moving forward band!!

BASS PLAYER

Session Bass Player Wanted! Drummer is forming a fast paced professional original alternative rock band to get signed to a major label. Must be ambitious, self-motivated, committed, reliable and have a lot of drive. No metal! Age: 18-30. Rehearsing at Wetherill Park. Only contact me if you want to get signed to a major label! E-mail: cooleywill2@hotmail.com.

iFlogID: 5945

Yo, consider yourself to be a bit of a Duff McKagan? Got posters of Nikki Sixx on your walls? I’ve been offered a regular gig down in Hawthorn and have begun the process of forming a new band with a friend of mine on drums and myself on guitar, and we can’t wait to blast good old dirty rock and roll to a bunch of unsuspecting teenagers who are missing out on music that will give them eargasms long into the night. We’re sick of the current music scene and need a bassist to come join our line up, ready to fuck on the world. Were no cover band, and i’ve got a plethora of songs waiting to go. Influences include Ratt, W.A.S.P, G’N’R, Motley Crue, Pantera, Aerosmith and ya mum. iFlogID: 6019

WANTED... BASS PLAYER Professional female musician looking for bass player to form tight 3 piece band, to record and gig...All original... Strong middle eastern/rock influences... www.myspace.com/kaishasolo contact: kaisha33@yahoo. com 0416120639 iFlogID: 6029

DRUMMER FUNKY RYTHYM SECTION WANTED! funky rythym section wanted for dynamic sexy funk/rock/blues hip hop band.influences-the meters,early rhcp,sly stone,james brown,jimi hendrix,parliament/funkadelic.phone 0421727864. iFlogID: 4238

WANNA BE IN MY BAND??!!! Who wants to be in a all girls original pop rock band hav some fun and make some $$$?! Guitar/bass/ drummer needed. Must be able to sing passable back up vox and luv performing!Practice 1-2 times per week. Gig asap. All ages welcome. www.myspace.com/nicolesero 0435 426 012 iFlogID: 4394

DRUMMER WANTED Drummer wanted for originals band in Melbourne. Have the basics of songs completed, just need to learn the songs to add the drums and get them gig ready. Looking for someone determined and eager to play. Influences are Sonic Youth, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, etc. COntact 0403929446. iFlogID: 4431

iFlogID: 6007

MUSICIANS AVAILABLE

Professional Trombone player available for gigs, session and tours. Jazz, Funk, Latin, Pop, Rock and Classical. Can sight read, improvise and write parts. Contact Brendan 0409833827. iFlogID: 4099

SINGER

BASS PLAYER

LOOKING FOR LIFE TIME BAND

BASS PLAYER AVAILABLE

genuine music man searching life time members. iFlogID: 2424

JASON AYRES

iFlogID: 4485

WANTED PERCUSSIONIST/ DRUMMER Professional female musician looking for a percussionist/drummer to form tight 3 piece band, to record and gig... Strong middle eastern/rock influences... www.myspace.com/ kaishasolo

DRUMMER WANTED looking for a drummer, age 13-15, some experience with drum iFlogID: 5067

METAL DRUMMER NEEDED Guitarist and bassist need drummer.Playing in the style of Pantera,BLS,Children of bodom. Some demos recorded, If you love metal and are keen to jam text steve on 0433709133 iFlogID: 5756

DRUMMER NEEDED ASAP

PRO BASSIST NEEDED.ROCK COVERS

iFlogID: 5037

Acoustic Pop-Rock Specialist -www. jasonayres.com-

iFlogID: 5777

MUSICIANS WANTED

Im after a professional bassist with BV’s for a rock covers band. $150/gig. dates booked. playing mainly newer hits with the odd classic. good gear and pro attitude a must. Rick 0419 437 794 or email replikatrio@live. com www.replikatrio.com iFlogID: 6000

GET YOUR FUCKING GROOVE ON

KEYBOARDIST AVAILABLE!!! I am looking for a job that is musically related, preferably performing or something along those lines. Studying a B. Music (Performance) at AICM. mobile number: 0435544916 email: brat.dog@hotmail.com Thankyou

Remember The Bodysnatchers? I am looking for expressions of interest in forming Melbournes first (I think!) ALL GIRL SKA BAND. All female musos will be considered (we need Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keys, Horns & Vocals). 0417575713

iFlogID: 5531

G4 Guitar is an Australia wide network of Guitar Teachers who teach from their own homes and studios. With over 100 teachers we are the No.1 name in guitar tuition. We welcome both inexperienced and experienced teachers and we provide online training and support. To apply to become a teacher please visit our website at www.g4guitar.com.au or phone 0430-426137 iFlogID: 2631

For 50s & 60s RocknRoll Band Make New Mates, Have Fun & Play Gigs Practice in Osborne Park (WA) Area Mike - 0438 935 031 Leave a Msg if No Answer iFlogID: 5666

NEED KEYBOARD &/OR GUITAR

LEAD GUITARIST WANTED “Original rock band seeking lead guitarist with b/vox. Cognito is 28-35yo, western suburbs, regular rehearsals, pro equipment, pro attitude but flexible. Successful applicant will be similar. www.myspace.com/cognitoband john.cognito@gmail.com” iFlogID: 5839

GET SIGNED TO A MAJOR LABEL! Session Guitarist Wanted! Drummer is forming a fast paced professional original alternative rock band to get signed to a major label. Must be ambitious, self-motivated, committed, reliable and have a lot of drive. No metal. Age: 18-30. Rehearsing at Wetherill Park N.S.W. Only contact me if you want to get signed to a major label! E-mail: cooleywill2@hotmail. com. iFlogID: 5863

GUITARIST FOR ROCK MONSTER

iFlogID: 5899

KEYBOARD SKILLED KEYBOARDIST WANTED to complete lineup of new show. Ability to cover orchestrations and excellent sounds to match a must. High quality show with good pay. Contact: onemoreguitar@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 4323

METAL BANDS WANTED FOR ITUNES

iFlogID: 4976

MUSICIANS WANTED FOR POP BAND Western Sydney based Rock/Pop band seeks male/female replacement drummer aged 18-28. Original songs and gigs lined up. We are a

Melbourne bassist seeking RELIABLE, DEDICATED, CONFIDENT, CREATIVE musicians to form pop band. Influences: Faith No More, INXS,

Five world-class passionate vocalists wanted for a Gospel music CD project. Must have beautiful, passionate, powerful and devotional delivery.

SINGER FOR GRUNGE/ROCK BAND

SEEKING KEYBOARD PLAYER/ GUITARIST FOR LONG-TERM COLLABORATION. I CURRENTLY HAVE A SONGWRITER’S CONTRACT FROM NASHVILLE AND HAVE MANY IRONS IN THE FIRE. IF YOU ARE PROFICIENT WITH APPLE, GARAGEBAND IT’S A BONUS. CALL ME TO SET UP AN AUDITION ON 0407-781156 or Email me. iFlogID: 5799

COVERBAND REQUIRE KEYS Sydney based, agent backed coverband requires a keyboardist. We are looking for ages 18 - 35 yrs, and we are playing modern covers. Must have good gear, own transport able to gig most fri / sat nights. Please send your details to brotherbooth@ gmail.com iFlogID: 5903

COVERBAND REQUIRE KEYS Sydney based, agent backed coverband requires a keyboardist. Must have good gear, own transport able to gig most fri / sat nights. We play mostly modern covers and are after ages 18 - 35. Please send your details to brotherbooth@gmail.com

Details: http://hotelwilliam.yayabings. com.au This is the underground melting pot of music jam sessions, organised by the Yayabings Music Club with the JazzKatts romping the Fusion Bar. Musicians/singers, comedians and artists at all levels perform by coming in on that evening. Totally impromptu and musicians may improvise with other musicians/singers or perform their own set. Local/Backpackers/ Internationals all welcome. iFlogID: 2923

ROCK BANDS WANTED FOR ITUNES

MULTI-GENRE KEYBOARD PLAYER SEEKING KEYBOARD PLAYER WITH A LIKING AND SKILL IN VARIOUS GENRES OF MUSIC FROM THE 60’S ONWARDS. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A LONG TERM PARTNERSHIP WITH A PROFESSIONAL LYRICIST, SINGER WITH AMBITION TO FROM A SONGWRITING DUO TO CREATE SONGS FOR ALBUMS, FILM AND OTHER MEDIA. PROFICIENCY IN APPLE, GARAGEBAND A DISTINCT ADVANTAGE. , PLEASE CONTACT ENRICO ON 0407 781156 FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

GOSPEL SINGERS WANTED

iFlogID: 3585

iFlogID: 5905

Rock Monster are in need of a guitarist for lead and rhythm. Bonus points if you can sing! Melbourne - eastern suburbs. Male or female, mid-20s to 40s. myspace.com/RockMonsterMelbourne RockMonsterMelbourne@ gmail.com

SINGER

iFlogID: 5514

iFlogID: 5970

Attention all Techno, Dance, Electronica bands, DJs and producers! Valleyarm Digital are releasing an Aussie Electronic compilation album called “Technically Australian”. The album will be exclusive to iTunes and will released and promoted worldwide. Submit your track (1 per band) and bio to info@valleyarm.com now to secure a spot. We’ll also be offering a $5000 online marketing and global digital distribution deal to a “Stand Out” act that we think has what it takes...this could be you!!

Attention all metal bands! Valleyarm Digital are releasing an Aussie Metal compilation album called “METAL AS F#@K!”. The album will be exclusive to iTunes and will released and promoted worldwide. We want to show the world just how heavy Australia is so submit your track (1 per band) and bio to info@valleyarm.com now to secure a spot. We’ll also be offering a $5000 online marketing and global digital distribution deal to a “Stand Out” act that we think has what it takes...this could be you!! iFlogID: 5516

ELECTRONIC MUSICIANS WANTED Electronic musicians wanted to form a live act. Preferably using Ableton & with some hardware. Influence :Groove Armada, Bent, Justice, Faithless, Röyksopp, Nightmares on Wax, Thievery Corporation, Air, Bonobo, Cassius. Tell me a bit about yourself & preferably send some links to your soundcloud : whooyeah@gmail.com. Also Want to hear from other musicians that would like to colaborate on this type of project. iFlogID: 5522

MUSICIANS WANTED

MUSICIANS AND AUDIENCE WANTED

Sydney Based “Sons Of Genghis” need versatile drummer, if you play like primus meets Chilli Peppers, Faith no more meets Pantera,this is the band for you and we want your chops!! Check the sounds at www. myspace.com/sonsofgenghis. Call Jono 0410 330 702 or Andy 0420 771 357.

iFlogID: 5901

iFlogID: 5512

TECHNO WANTED FOR ITUNES!

KEYBOARDIST WANTED

iFlogID: 5861

Rock Monster are in need of a bass player. Bonus points if you can sing! Melbourne - eastern suburbs. Male or female, mid-20s to 40s. myspace. com/RockMonsterMelbourne RockMonsterMelbourne@gmail.com

iFlogID: 5226

distribution deal to a “Stand Out” act that we think has what it takes...this could be you!!

OTHER

iFlogID: 5967

Gary Soloman Bass player for Marie Wilson, Bo Diddley, Free zone etc is available for local/ touring gigs and recordings. Original acts or covers OK , any genre styles OK call Gary 0407505764

GUITARISTS WANTED TO TEACH

SONS OF GENGHIS NEED DRUMMER!

BASS PLAYER FOR ROCK MONSTER

Australian Bands Only.Do you have A You Tube Rock Band Video you want to promote,if so Mike Hunt wants to promote it.Just send your link to admin attention Mike Hunt and we will do our best to list you for free worldwide at www.clearhunt.com

GUITARIST

Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, GnR, Soundgarden, The Police, Godflesh, Icehouse, M.I.A, Depeche Mode, Pantera, Genesis ect listen to demos at soundcloud.com/integra and call Mike on 0424 838 782

If you want to join a band, form a band, find a new band member, get exposure, or just jam, then Ozjam is for you! Whatever instrument or genre of music you play, Ozjam can connect you with other talented, like minded musicians who are looking to jam, gig, and even tour the World! Ozjam is loaded with features, it’s free to join and with over 4000 members its fast becoming the largest online music community in Australia today!

iFlogID: 4187

SKA SINGER WANTED We are a new band called Low Gear. Have had about 16 practices together at home, and now about 10 in a studio. We’re not looking for anyone interested in making money as soon as they join a band as we are not gigging yet, but will be looking to just for fun to start, then who knows. Whilst we dont like to admit to being influenced directly by any particular bands, we all like a mix of, The Specials, Toots and the Maytals, Madniess, Reel Big Fish, Prince Buster, Sublime as far as ska goes, we also individually have many opposing influences such as, The Clash, The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers and thats just me! We have had a great time in the rehearsal rooms in Marrickville, Sydney for the past couple of months, doing 2 hours every fortnight until we get storage then looking to make it more regular. We are now finding that we are hitting a wall without a singer and are looking for someone to come along and give us some input and help us over this hurdle. We are looking for a singer who is decent, but doesnt feel the need to bash it out at 100% all the time, someone who can relax into a voice and also belt out some cheeky stuff every now and then too. If you feel you would have a good time practising with us, give us an email and see how you go. If you enjoy our company then I am sure you would be a welcome friend. iFlogID: 4579

SINGER NEEDED

iFlogID: 5610

LIVE BAND MEMBERS 4 SOLOARTIST Solo composer looking for musicians to support for live acts/form a band. If you play bass, drums, piano/ keyboard, guitar or sing then you can help me out playing original songs + help compose :) To hear them musical style visit and listen @ www. myspace.com/ stevewilliams91 or http://www.reverbnation.com /stevewilliams91 Ages 17-25 contact via myspace (above) or stevewilliams91musicprofiles@ gmail.com iFlogID: 5677

Attention all Rock bands! Valleyarm Digital are releasing an Aussie Rock compilation album called “ROCK ME DEAD!”. The album will be exclusive to iTunes and will released and promoted worldwide. We want to show the world that Australia has the best rockin’ bands on the planet so submit your track (1 per band) and bio to info@valleyarm.com now to secure a spot. We’ll also be offering a $5000 online marketing and global digital

Sydney Grunge/Rock band Samsara looking for a talented singer and front man to join a complete band looking to gig and record. An albums worth of music is already written but need vocal melodies and lyrics. Influences include Silverchair, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Black Sabbath etc etc. Contact Daniel: 0403 885 433, for more information and demos.

LETS DO ROCKSTEADY Remember The Bodysnatchers? I am looking for expressions of interest in forming Melbournes first (I think!) ALL GIRL SKA BAND. All female musos will be considered (we need Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keys, Horns & Vocals). 0417575713 iFlogID: 5965

LETS DO ROCKSTEADY

Singer needed for hard rock band. We’re looking for a singer, male or female, for our all original hard rock band. The guitarist and I (bass) have been playing together for over 8 years now and over 3 years with our drummer. We have been writing new songs the last 2 years and continue to work on fresh original material. We have also been playing gigs all over Melbourne for the last year getting some stage experience up but we are really dying to get a frontperson with a voice that works with our music. We’re willing to give anyone a listen, we’re all easy going and in it for the fun above all else, but also been keen to take the next step and make it a serious commitment. Have a listen at our myspace link upon application. http://www.myspace.com/psyecho Please note the myspace recordings are over 2 years old now and we have progressed in style and skill greatly since then.

For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au 74

iFlogID: 5131

SIMPLY RED VOCALIST REQUIRED Professional Sydney based band with club work and agent requires a frontman for Simply Red tribute show.For further information call Dianne on 0418 122 370. iFlogID: 5290

CAN YOU FUCKING SING???

We are VIRGINIA KILLSTYXX and we need a frontman with a voice that could kill, charisma, attitude and a will to do what it takes... think from Guns N Roses to Motley Crue to AC/ DC to Motorhead etc... check us out on www.myspace.com/virginiakillstyxx 0418639860 iFlogID: 5728

GET SIGNED TO A MAJOR LABEL! Male singer-songwriter wanted(experienced)! Drummer is forming a fast paced professional original alternative rock band to get signed to a major label. Must be ambitious, self-motivated, committed, reliable and have a lot of drive. No metal! Age: 18-30. Rehearsing at Wetherill Park N.S.W. Only contact me if you want to get signed to a major label! E-mail: cooleywill2@hotmail. com.

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SONG WRITER GET SIGNED TO A MAJOR LABEL! Male singer-songwriter wanted (experienced)! Drummer is forming a fast paced professional original alternative rock band to get signed to a major label. Must be ambitious, self-motivated, committed, reliable and have a lot of drive. No metal! Age: 18-30. Rehearsing at Wetherill Park N.S.W. Only contact me if you want to get signed to a major label! E-mail: cooleywill2@hotmail.com.

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OTHER MISS WORLD AUSTRALIA FINALIST ALEY GREENBLO has been selected to represent SYDNEY and attend the NATIONAL FINAL OF MISS BIKINI WORLD AUSTRALIA IN DARWIN. Aley will be competing against 34 other girls and the winner will represent Australia at the international final. Aley is currently MISS GLOBAL AUSTRALIA, MISS SUPRANATIONAL AUSTRALIA and a MISS EARTH finalist and is in search for a sponsor. Diesel Promotions will be filming the 11 day Miss Bikini World competition for a reality TV show which will provide great exposure. Aley will also be photographed during the competition and these photo’s will be circulated through the press and gain major publicity. In return, Aley has allowed her pictures for advertisement purposes for your own business. Additionally your logo and website link will be put on the official MISS BIKINI WORLD AUSTRALIA website as well as on Aley’s blog and other social networking pages. Aley is currently also engaging in Social Media, utilising Facebook as a way to engage with the public, increase my fan base, and raise awareness for local charities to protect the environment. The page will be custom designed, and is offering a sponsor to completely brand her Facebook page. You will also have the opportunity to run competitions on my page, as well as offer discounts, and engage with my audience. Working with a top global marketing company based in Australia, the Facebook fan page will have 10,000 fans by the end of August 2010. These fans are highly targeted towards your demographic, and will be a great way to engage with them. Please see Aley’s blog for more info about her and we look so forward to hearing back from you http://aleygreenblo.blogspot. com/ Facbook: Aley Greenblo Email: aley_greenblo@hotmail.com iFlogID: 5560

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FINISH LINE

INDUSTRY NEWS BY BRYGET CHRISFIELD

Vince Neil readies himself to go for a drive

DIGITAL RADIO EXEMPT FROM LOCAL MUSIC

FRAGMENTED FREQUENCIES OTHER MUSIC FROM THE OTHER SIDE WITH BOB BAKER FISH He can’t stand the quiet

An exception to the Commercial Radio Codes Of Practice has been made to free digital radio stations from having to play a minimum quota of Australian music. All traditional commercial radio stations have to devote between 5% and 25% of airtime to Australian music, depending on the station’s format, and the local music community had hoped to have a similar quota enforced on digital radio. The decision won’t be revisited until 2013.

SOUTH LAWN REFORM The Killers broke their ‘hiatus’ for a performance to honour the US troops on the South Lawn at the White House last Sunday 4 July. The band were invited by President Barack Obama to make a special appearance as part of the Salute To The Military United Service Organisations Concert together with actor/comedian Cedric The Entertainer and Seattle-based singer/ songwriter Brandi Carlile and the celebration was streamed live via the White House’s website. A debut solo record from The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers, titled Flamingo, is due to drop in September. The video for the album’s lead single Crossfire was directed by our own Nash Edgerton and will debut this Thursday. It also stars Charlize Theron.

Hal Hartley’s 1992 film Simple Men (Aztec) is blessed with one of the most lasting scenes in independent cinema. A highly agitated Martin Donovan (Weeds) pulls to the side of a rural stretch, rips off his cap, kicks it and screams, “I can’t stand the quiet.” Cut to everyone dancing wonkily to Sonic Youth’s Kool Thing. It’s a scene that connects with our need to fill the void with useless chatter, with music, sound, noise, anything to keep the most horrible thing in the world at bay. Ourself.

FLIPPERS RETURN TO SPLENDOUR With UK duo The Ting Tings “delaying” their visit to our shores for Splendour In The Grass, local outfit Art Vs Science will step into their shoes for what will be their third appearance at the festival in as many years. This means the Sydney trio will have played Splendour every year since taking out Triple J’s Splendour In The Grass competition in 2008, which earned them a slot on the Mix Up Stage that year. The Ting Tings are unable to appear “due to the rescheduling of the next Ting Tings album to later in 2010”. Refunds are available for the outfit’s Sydney and Melbourne sideshows.

STOP SCALPING In response to NSW Fair Trading Minister Virginia Judge calling for a national review of scalping, Moshtix has launched a survey to investigate the affect this has on the entertainment industry. The survey can be found at coredata.com.au (follow the links) and the results will be used to form Moshtix’s submission to the Government’s review into ticket scalping. All survey respondents go into a prize draw to win $250 worth of Moshtix tickets.

SWANNING ABOUT The follow-up to Antony & The Johnsons’ 2009 album The Crying Light will feature a duet with Björk, titled Flétta. Seemingly drawing inspiration from the Icelandic artist’s previous Oscars attire, the forthcoming LP that’s scheduled to drop on 11 October is called Swanlights.

FROST UNDER ENO Ben Frost – a 30-year-old composer, producer and musician who is originally from Melbourne – has been chosen by Brian Eno for a year of mentoring as part of the international Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Frost has lived and worked in Iceland since 2005 will receive personal access to and creative dialogue with Eno as part of the initiative together with a $US25,000 grant. Successful protégés are also eligible for a further $US25,000 to invest in a creative project the year following their mentorship.

LAURA WANTS YOU Australia’s six-piece instrumental outfit Laura are currently looking for someone to handle management of the group. The duties include managing the band’s affairs in Australia, Japan and the USA as well as continuing growth into new territories. Forward your expression of interest to David Gagliardi at mail@ wearemappingyourdreams.com.

MOVES & SHAKES George Ash has been appointed President of Universal Music, Australasia and will be responsible for the company’s operations in Australia and New Zealand. Max Hole is now the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Ash will report to him. Spunk Records farewelled Michaella Solar-March last week. Any Spunk-related questions can be emailed to curnow@spunk.com.au. Solar-March can be contacted via m.solarmarch@gmail. com. Empire Touring, Marketing & Events has moved to Level 1/156 Military Road, Neutral Bay, NSW 2089. Ph: (02) 9953 6577.

SUBSCRIBE TO FALLS This year Falls Festival will offer most of the tickets for both the Lorne and Marion Bay events to subscribers via a ballot, with only a few allocated to the general public. If you’ve subscribed before, you’ll need to do so again by Wednesday 18 August in order to be eligible for the ballot. Organisers have confirmed that The Soft Pack from San Diego, currently over here for their maiden tour, have been locked in for this year’s festival line-up. Expect to hear the first line-up announcement for Falls on Wednesday 11 August. Got news? Announcements? Gossip? Unsubstantiated but hilarious rumours? Send them all to finishline@streetpress.com.au.

CRÜE SINGER DRUNK AT WHEEL… AGAIN Mötley Crüe’s lead singer Vince Neil was arrested for drink driving in Las Vegas last week. Neil was pulled over shortly after he left the Las Vegas Hilton hotel where his tequila bar, Vince Neil’s Tres Rios, is situated and was immediately taken to the Clark County Jail where bail was set at $2,000. The 49-year-old has just released his first solo album in 15 years, which bears the title Tattoos & Tequila (a collection of ‘70s rock covers plus a rendition of Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley), with a memoir of the same name due out in September. In an interview with the Associated Press a week prior to his arrest, Neil claimed to be off the booze and said he hadn’t taken drugs in 20 years. “There’s just a point in your life where you kind of stop, that’s what happened with me,” he was quoted as saying. “There’s other things in life than just drugs and alcohol.” This is Neil’s second DUI incident. The first occurred in 1984 and cost passenger Nicholas ‘Razzle’ Dingley (Hanoi Rocks drummer) his life. Neil was subsequently charged with vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years probation. He also agreed to pay $2.5 million in compensation to the victims. Neil will appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on 27 September to answer to this latest charge.

MADINA LAKE ROCKER ATTACKED

KOOKABURRA’S LAST LAUGH

Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone is recovering in hospital after being savagely beaten and left unconscious when he attempted to break up a domestic violence dispute on a Chicago street. His twin brother and Madina Lake frontman, Nathan Leone, has kept vigil by his brother’s hospital bed ever since and told MTV News: “[Matthew] had all kinds of injuries, and his brain was swelling, so doctors had to remove part of his skull and put it on ice while we wait for the swelling to stop and the hematoma to stop leaking. It was touch and go for a while there, but at this point, things are starting to turn around, which is wonderful. The first couple of days, he couldn’t recognise me or say anything coherent, but this morning he did. And now he’s aware and talking and moving around a little, which is wonderful. So the prognosis is getting better by the hour.” An updated post from Nathan Leone revealed that his brother’s alleged attacker has been arrested. The bassist will undergo surgery on 16 July.

On Tuesday 6 July, Justice Peter Jacobson ordered the composers of Men At Work’s worldwide hit Down Under to hand over 5% of their earnings to Larrikin Music for breach of copyright. Larrikin Music holds the copyright for children’s tune Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree, which the flute riff in Down Under is said to plagiarise, and this melody was originally penned by schoolteacher Marion Sinclair more than 75 years ago. ABC TV’s Spicks And Specks initially raised the alleged similarities during an episode of the quiz show in 2007. Norman Lurie, managing director of Larrikin, sued shortly afterwards, seeking royalties dating back to 2002 and a share of future profits. Songwriters Colin Hay, Ron Strykert and EMI will be forced to part with a lot less than the 50% originally sought by Luthie with Justice Jacobson dismissing this estimate as “overreaching, excessive and in [his] view unrealistic… Whether the hypothetical bargain is assessed at 1982 or 2002, the percentage interest payable is at the lowest end of the spectrum,” the judge said.

POISON IDOL Ignoring his doctor’s orders by travelling to, and appearing on, the live finale of Celebrity Apprentice, Bret Michaels was rewarded by being “hired” by Donald Trump. After this continued success on the small screen, kicked off by the Rock Of Love series, the former Poison frontman is now meeting with American Idol producers to discuss possibly replacing Simon Cowell on the show’s judging panel. “They did a poll and I think it was Madonna, P Diddy, Howard Stern and myself, and I took 50% or 60% of the vote,” Michaels told Parade magazine, “and that’s tremendous. I would love to be a judge on American Idol. I think I would bring a lot to the table. I would have to bring my own personality. I think if they have someone in there to try to imitate Simon [Cowell], it would be a mistake; he’s an original. Bring Bret Michaels in to be original to who and what I am.” Michaels is lucky to be alive after suffering from a massive brain hemorrage, followed by a warning stroke, in April and has returned to the stage to promote his forthcoming album Custom Built. “While Bret may be out on the road and performing, he is still not 100%,” Janna Elias, vice president of Michaels Entertainment, told People magazine. She revealed the 47-year-old rocker still experiences headaches, abnormal fatigue and short-term memory loss.

YOU’RE CORNERED The Corner Hotel turns 15 this December and will be putting together a zine to mark the occasion. If you have any memorabilia such as photos, setlists, ticket stubs or remarkable stories that you wouldn’t mind being published, hit up anniversary@cornerhotel.com.

THE ENEMY TO RETURN? Iconic rap conglomerate Public Enemy will return to our shores for a December tour if their official website (publicenemy.com) is anything to go by. At the tail end of a comprehensive tour listing and under the month of December, “AFRICA and OZ TBA,” is included. PE’s current world tour celebrates 20 years since their Fear Of A Black Planet album dropped. The last time Chuck D, Flavor Flav and co got all up in our grills was for festivities to kick off the New Year in 2009. These included appearances at Sydney’s Days Like This and the Espy in Melbourne, during which the crew played It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back in its entirety.

PSYCHEDELIC NERD NERD’s fourth album, Nothing, is due out in September and Pharrell Williams told Rolling Stone that it features ‘60s influences from bands such as The Doors and The Beach Boys. “I love flowers as much as I love Ferraris,” he told the mag. “I’m not telling you to not buy a Ferrari. Buy it with the rims, kid. But it’s about being alive and not just this person in the Matrix. I used to not realise that currency is not your money. Currency is time, currency is love, currency is education. What would happen if we spent more time enriching those aspects of our lives?” Williams, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley originally laid down 27 tracks featuring singer Rhea Dummett but strayed from these recordings that Williams described as “great, but they weren’t unforgettable.” The artist has also been working in conjunction with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack for the animated movie Despicable Me.

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So it’s interesting when someone has the opposite experience. Standing on a subway platform in Manhattan, George Michelsen Foy was suddenly overcome by the intense noise of his city. It’s an experience that changed his life. Purchasing a decibel meter he went looking for some peace and quiet. He chronicles his obsessive quest from Paris to Canada to Minnesota in Zero Decibels: The Quest For Absolute Silence (Simon & Schuster). It’s a detective story of sorts as he valiantly attempts to not only locate objective silence but determine if it even exists. What’s interesting is how much of our daily lives we shut out. “The human mind is a masterful piece of equipment and is able to block out so much information as a means of making sense of the environment,” Australian sound artist Lawrence English once offered in an interview with Fragmented Frequencies, before listing the hum of the fridge, the tick of the clock, the whir of the air conditioner. Once armed with his meter and newfound obsession, Foy’s ears likewise were suddenly tuned into his surroundings. The early part of his journey consisted of attempting to locate an elusive omnipresent sub-frequency rumble that he termed “the monster’s breath” – the sound of New York. He quickly moved beyond “good” and “bad” characterisations and became fascinated by the diversity and subtleties of sound. Analysing everything, he discovered that most sounds possess at least two layers of tone, elasticity and depth. He became a sound connoisseur. He calculated that New Yorkers on average are subjected to 50db every waking minute, a dangerous volume that, according to some studies, can lead to increased heart troubles. Foy went in search of the anechoic chamber at Harvard that supposedly inspired John Cage’s 4’33”, and delved into notions of silence in composition by artists as diverse as Walter Marchetti, Yoko Ono and Tom Johnson, who used silence as a tool to draw upon the imagination of the listener as a compositional device. He questioned people deaf since birth now given hearing with the aid of technology, discovered how fish obtained their hearing, observed differing cultural meanings of silence and travelled two miles down a mine shaft in Ontario. There was a dalliance with weaponised sound, and an attempt to win a case of Guinness by staying for more than 40 minutes in the quietest place on Earth, an anechoic chamber in the Midwest rated at -9.4db. No one had succeeded before – like Donovan in Simple Men they couldn’t stand the quiet. Far from wanting to snub out sound, Foy’s research gave him a newfound appreciation of reducing the clatter and allowing the simplicity of the minute sounds to peek through. It also gave him an appreciation of the pockets of silence that he was able to snatch, though attempts to integrate his new theories and sensitivities into his daily family life were a struggle. Like all detective stories the book is a complex, multilayered journey filled with dead ends and red herrings. When one avenue closed another opened up as he sifted through the noisy layers of debris that constitute modern life in the search of his own private sonic nirvana. Whilst the Oscar-winning documentary on the slaughter of dolphins in a small Japanese fishing village is enough to get even the most ardent carnivore outraged, The Cove (Madman) features an amazing feat of guerilla field recording. It’s cloak-and-dagger stuff as the team plant hydrophones underwater and capture some of the most harrowing and repulsive sounds you will ever hear. Even if animal cruelty doesn’t give you the horn these sounds will blow your mind. It’s devastating. Finally if film sound is your thing, Radio National’s Into The Music recently presented a journey through sound editing with Peckinpah, Kubrick and Roeg sound editor Rodney Holland. Holland discussed his surprising decisions in real time on Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon and Peckinpah’s Cross Of Iron. It’s fascinating and archived at abc.net.au/rn/intothemusic.