BMA Magazine 342 Feb 18 2010

www.bmamag.com

#342FEB17

Warehouse

Localrama!

Lupe Fiasco

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Bust a Move

Currently crashing tenaciously through another particularly ticklish deadline, as is our wont.

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Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne General Manager & Advertising Manager Allan Sko T: 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Julia Winterflood T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com Accounts Manager Ashish Doshi T: 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Sales Executive Danika Nayna T: 0408 657 939 E: sales@bmamag.com Super Sub Editor Josh Brown Graphic Design Natalie Runko Exhibitionist Editor Naomi Milthorpe Film Editor Mark Russell Principal Photographers (The Flashbulb Posse) Andrew Mayo Nick Brightman NEXT ISSUE 343 OUT MAR 3 EDITORIAL DEADLINE FEB 22 ADVERTISING DEADLINE FEB 25 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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On the night of Wednesday February 3, Gangbusters returned to Bar 32 in glorious fashion to celebrate local music.

Killing Birds and Ah! Pandita opened the night triumphantly followed by technical whiz kids Girl Sized Hands and Kasha who seized the night. If you’re unfamiliar with Gangbusters it’s one of the longest running regular band nights in Canberra, mixing local with interstate acts.

Next Gangbusters returns to Bar 32 on Wednesday March 10.

We’re Slammin’ Over the last three years, poetry slams have become a regular favourite of The Front’s monthly artistic smorgasbord.

Cosy couches and cold Coopers combine to create the perfect environment for virgin and veteran poets alike to compete for cash prizes. This year’s slams have a new feature: a High Score Table. 2010’s top poets will get a shot at the Super Secret Poetry Slam Secret Level and also learn coveted poetry slam finishing moves! The first instalment is on Thursday Feb 25. $3 entry (free for poets). Book your slot from 7.30pm on the night. Head to traversepoetry.org for more info.

Artie McArtney Having written and recorded his latest single Less Games, More Love all on his lonesome, McArtney proves not only his incredible talent as a performer, but also his proficiency as a musician and songwriter. The man fuses a pop sensibility with folk credibility and is a mesmerising force on stage. He’s headlining a free gig at The Holy Grail, Kingston on Friday February 26 with support from gorgeous local lass Marianne Mettes and her charming brother Jonathan.

Get Folked Up The 34th Port Fairy Folk Festival will be held in the picturesque coastal village of Port Fairy, Victoria from March 5-8, with a stellar lineup of roots

music from around the world.

Highlights include Bob Dylanendorsed string band expats The Greencards, the countryblues troubadour Charlie Parr, heart-wrenching Timorese songwriter Ego Lemos, and a host of local and imported heroes including Archie Roach, Jen Cloher and The Endless Sea and more. Buy tickets at www. portfairyfolkfestival.com .

Southeast Asian Cinema Many of us have travelled to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, but how many of us have seen an Indonesian love story, a Malay musical or a Thai slasher film? Southeast Asia has a burgeoning film industry that produces more than 200 films per year but very few of these films make it into Australian cinemas.

The National Film and Sound Archive’s Arc Cinema and the ANU’s Southeast Asia Centre are giving Canberra film lovers, students of Southeast Asia and anyone interested in the region the opportunity to discover some of the most exciting new films from Southeast Asia with Regional Intersections, a vibrant program of premiere films screening from February 24 to March 7. Head to www. nfsa.gov.au for more.

Ssshhh…

The opening of Secret Cities, and exhibition of digital paintings by Paul Summerfield, will be splashing colour all over The Front on Wednesday February 24. The works are inspired by cities like Tokyo and it’s running ‘til March 16.

Celebrate at the opening with sushi, plum wine and sake, and performances by Mr Fibby, Andrew and Galan and

Luke Mameo Bartolomei playing the wondrous Japanese instrument, the koto.

Got My Goat The next Woden Youthie event heralds Little Saturn’s debut in the Canberra music scene, and it’s set to explode as they open for Soheyla, West of the Sun and Goatfish on Friday February 19. Doors at 6pm, entry $5. This is a strictly drug and alcohol free event.

No Bull Like a bull at a gate Groovin The Moo is ready to charge into both familiar territory and territory never ventured before, rumble with an incredible array of Australian and international artists and put on five spectacular shows like no other music event in Australia. A one day explosion of incredible music and cavorting under the sun, clouds and moon, in front of a magnificent outdoor double stage, and in one of the biggest dance tents around. GTM is Australia’s only touring music event to feature regional cities in the tour diary, and yep, you already know this Canberra, GTM will be rockin’ the nash cap on Sunday May 9. So, hottest band in the world? Check. Iconic Australian band playing live for the first time in two years?

Check. Multi-ARIA award winner? Check. And that’s only three of them. Vampire Weekend (pictured), Silverchair and Empire of the Sun will be joined

by Tegan and Sara and Spoon as well as a sonic smorgasboard of other acts. Tickets went on sale on Tuesday February 16 so skedaddle kiddos! They’re $95.90+bf and are available from Moshtix and gtm.net.au .

VINTAGE JUSTIN: November 2007 Facebook. Don’t ignore it. Don’t try and fight it. You can’t escape.

There’s nowhere to run. It owns you. It knows where you live. It’s ferocious and intelligent and you’d better let it zombie bite you and start up a game of Scrabble or you’ll be the one at home playing with your abacus while everyone’s partying like it’s 2008.

Most of us are in three technological camps. Those that are wholeheartedly embracing this new cyber interface, those that are ignoring it like farmers who don’t trust doctors, and a more ambiguous group who are timidly setting up an account, but whose confidences have been wounded by the notion that MySpace just wasn’t enough. Just like ‘Tom’s little TAFE assignment’ took over from primitive newsgroups and blog sites, Facebook is a natural evolution, and we must accept the fact that one day it too may be surpassed by a superior form of social networking. In fact, I heard a rumour that the creators of Myspace and Facebook are working on an advanced messaging system, called something like… what was it? Oh yeah – GOING OUTSIDE! MySpace was the virtual Roman Empire for Gen-Y. We all worked hard to make it the pop culture cyber banquet of good times, but somewhere along the way it got greedy. Once the novelty value of friend collecting and ‘waz up I’m bored’ messaging fun died down, it was revealed for the clunky, spam ridden, corporate sprite-vomit of fabricated teen try hard lameness it actually is. It’s perfectly fine for artist promotion, but as a simple networking tool it suffers more unexpected errors than the Howard Government. (Ouch!) Facebook, by comparison, is a smooth Corvette of clean lines, white space, group messaging facilities and a blatant user-friendliness never before seen on the interweb. Its event invite function is an effective promotional tool, bands can start up their own groups, hell – you can even play Pacman. It appears to be the perfect prototype for a uniform, universal unilateral union of human connectivity.

Why then, does it give me the e-shits?

Three words. Sideshow freaking alley! I don’t need to return a zombie bite from a girl I sat next to in grade three. I don’t need to compare my movie quiz answers with some dude I’d have nothing to say to if I met in a pub. I don’t want a food fight, a nickname, a virtual hug, a pet fungus, a ‘places I’ve been’ map, an afro kit, a Mr T poetry generator, a Super Poke? – I’m 27 years old! Where’s the ‘email me if something’s important’ or ‘text me and we’ll meet up like adults’ applications?

Nextly, Facebook knows TOO much. Obscure girl from high school asks to be my friend, I accept, and suddenly her ‘newsfeed’ shows her my daily status updates, friends I’ve added, plus a direct copy of comments I write to my close pals. And hallelujah!

– now I’m privy to such ‘breaking news’ as the fact that dude I barely know has been tagged in a photo by some git. What am I? Brain damaged and confined to a wheel chair? Link this: www. idon’thavetimeforthismofos!.com!

Solution? I’ve become a closed book. I’ve set everything to private, got my friends down to 55, setting the bar as people I would be able to speak to comfortably at a party. I’m keeping MySpace as my ‘popularity contest’ and playing Facebook on my own terms. Being counterculture is so in! Now where’s the pen, paper and phonebook?

It’s time to start another chain letter.

JUSTIN HEAZLEWOOD www.bedroomphilosopher.com Justin performs as The Bedroom Philosopher and writes for Frankie, Jmag and The Big Issue.

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and

another

YOU PISSED ME OFF!

thing…

I’d been loitering outside for about ten minutes, talking to some girls, when I realised they were not taking any notice of what I was saying.

Instead they were looking to my midriff position, giggling. Nothing new there, I hear you say, but it turned out not to be for the reason you’re smugly assuming. Whilst I was waxing lyrical about something or other, my right hand had involuntarily formed itself into the shape it would be if holding a pint glass, in a form of muscle memory scientists would froth at the mouth about if they’d witnessed the event. Looking down, I realised I was thirsty, made my excuses and headed for the bar. John the barman was standing at the door – something that immediately set alarm bells ringing as it meant he wasn’t manning the pumps – and as I greeted him with a hearty bellow and a pat on the back, he handed me a raffle ticket. Before I could enquire why he’d favoured me like this, or indeed say I couldn’t afford it, he furrowed his brow and shook his head.

“Don’t ask.”

I didn’t, and went about my normal Sunday night business. Several hours later, realising the music had stopped, I turned to see what Steve the DJ was up to, and why he wasn’t playing the Lillian Axe album I’d brought along. Adding to this dereliction of duty was John, out from behind the bar again, who was holding the sort of straw hat people think looks sweet when put on a donkey. It was full of more raffle tickets. It transpired that Ted the landlord, tired of waking up every morning to see Steve’s wreck of a Ford Escort in the car park, had ordered Marlow’s finest purveyor of the good stuff to get rid of it. But Steve, the recent acquisitor of a Jaguar XJS, had no room for the ol’ banger and couldn’t really be arsed to try and flog it. The answer was obvious. Raffle it off to one of the regulars down the Peg on Sunday night, make it their problem.

And so, with everyone out for an archetypal summer Sunday at the Pegasus, there were about 150 tickets in the hat. Excitement was at fever pitch (though it’s fair to say it had been rather a long day, and some of the hysteria may have been somewhat manufactured, or at least cider-induced).

Has someone yanked yer chain recently? Well send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and have your sweet vengeance.

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings] To BMA readers, What the fuck is your problem? No letters to you pissed me off? FUCK OFF! That’s my favourite section, read first, just before Justin Heazlewood and he’s inevitable cross between brilliant observations truths and introspective wankery, flip to the back to read the Mark Russell film reviews and their mix bag of intelligent writing and David Stratton-inspired film snob wankery. Then I’ll flip through the pages, try to find some bands to get excited about, if I’m really killing time read the dubiously reliable information in the what’s on section, laugh at the band names in the classifieds, and toy with the idea of entering one of the contests (I never have).

In short, FUCK OFF – no ‘you pissed me off’ letters? YOU PISSED ME OFF!

FROM THE BOSSMAN

Whatever. Steve plunged his hand into the hat, causing several tickets to flutter out. Uproar. People pointed and shouted, fearful that their chances of a free auto were spinning to the floor like a sycamore leaf in an autumn breeze. Flustered, he began scrabbling around on the floor gathering up the flotsam, while John stood looking aggrieved. I went to the toilet. I never win anything you see, and I’d convinced myself that there was no point watching this fiasco.

Well DAY-m! Canberra’s got itself a big shiny pair of entertainment balls to start the new decade. The mighty cannons of the promotional world have decided the time has come to give the ‘Berra a ‘much needed shot in the arm’. We have our own Groovin The Moo festival… huzzah! Massive Attack are on their way… magnificent! Deep Purple are back… \m/! Lupe Fiasco will be popping past… dope! And now The Dead Weather shall walk the porridge encrusted halls of the ANU… mildly pleasing! Who’d a thunk it.

When I returned, the car was still unclaimed. Ignoring the shouts to redraw, Steve called out one more time.

There’s only one teeny tiny small thing for it now… FOR THE LOVE OF WEEPING BABY JESUS, BUY YOUR FRICKIN’ TICKET, PEOPLE!

“One more time: pink 64!”

And do it now-now-now. Us Canberrans can have a horrendous tendency of whinging when big acts bypass us, only to then unleash a crackling Street Fighter-style hadouken ball of apathy when they do, guaranteeing we never see the like of them again.

As I tripped over the mic lead on my way to the bar, I pulled out my last tenner to buy another pint. In it was the pink raffle ticket I’d been given earlier. Leaning on the bar, I unscrewed it. Number 64. I turned triumphantly towards the dancefloor.

“ME! IT’S ME!” I punched the air and gracelessly took the keys from the grinning emcee.

At last I knew what it felt like to be a winner…

Next time: How do you get a Ford Escort home when you’re pissed up on booze and don’t have a driver’s licence? scott adams thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

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So do your region proud, my disgustingly gorgeous Canberrans, and vote with your cash. A ticket bought now could ensure many more of its like in the future.

ALLAN “TICKETS! GEEEEEET YA TICKETS!” SKO

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with

TRAVIS HEINRICH

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WHO: The Dead Weather WHAT: Jack White’s new band WHEN: Thur March 25 WHERE: ANU Bar

I have never heard this band, and I’m not going to pretend I have. Jack White is the drummer, and I won’t attempt to feign any writer’s cred by omitting that fact. Hell, it’s about the only reason you’re going isn’t it?

Or have even heard them in the first place. Maybe not, maybe you’re from opposite land (where sandwiches eat people) and don’t care about Mr. White and are just going for the music. Hahaha! Nice try you duded-up egg sucking gutter trash. So go, shell out your hamburger flipping money and buy a ticket. They’re probably good, right?

WHO: You WHAT: Indyfest 2010 WHEN: Sat March 6 WHERE: McGregor Hall, Acton

You’re going to go back to uni this year thinking ‘this is the year I’ll buckle down and focus’. Pfft, nice try Fake Gyllenhaal. Your ceramic Yoda head bong won’t get any cobwebs – that’s a certainty. Two weeks after it starts is when you’re first going to realise this, and what better way to celebrate than by heading down to the 20th Indyfest. The venue is thrifty, and it’s a nice way to douse your ears in great local music such as Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens, Fun Machine, Rafe Morris and buckets more. In an unrelated fact, this is also Shaq’s birthday.

WHO: People doing wacky things on the street WHAT: FLIP ART WHEN: Fri Mar 12 – Sun Mar 14 WHERE: Around the City

So apparently in 2013 Canberra is turning 100. Frankly, I don’t give a shit. I’m sure there are hordes of wilted old people who think Werther’s Originals are currency too, but not me. In lieu of it all, some bright cookie has pampered to my generation by testing out some acts on our streets – getting the wheels turning so to say. You may find yourself in a few weeks witnessing STALKER fusing hip-hop with a five meter catapult (yeah what? I’m there). You may also catch Dislocate, Chrome, Zimboyz, Circus Monoxide and Erth (to mention a few) and other snazzy circus, aerial street and physical theatre!

WHO: The Justin Walshe Folk Machine WHAT: Folk-Country extravaganza band WHEN: Sat Feb 27 WHERE: The Phoenix

I’ve heard this guy is ‘folk for people who don’t like folk’. The methadone of the folk world? “C’mon man, just one more E chord, just ONE MORE MAN!” Get that lighter away from that spoon buddy, you’re gonna need it to play on your leg! I like folk, and after hearing a few tunes, I’ll happily announce that it’s also safe for our kind. Don’t be so quick to share a DJ’s needle with a crowd of yuppies; come see something more intimate at The Phoenix – Canberra’s best venue (hands down) for smaller acts. Go kiss some grits! Slap your hands until they get an AVO out against you.

WHO: Deep Sea Arcade WHAT: Sydney’s favourite psychedelic sons WHEN: Sat Feb 20 WHERE: The Front Gallery

Deep sea ‘video’ arcade? Or is it arcade, as in those shit shopping arcades in Manuka? They always tricked me as a kid. I strutted in, preparing myself to hadouken Blanka’s face when all of a sudden I’m surrounded by mini jewellers and tailors. Back to video games – the Action bus hold music sounds like the cave levels in Donkey Kong Country. Go on, call up and cram their phone system to find out. Action has done pretty much everything they can to ass themselves up, so don’t feel bad. Anyway, go see The Deep Sea Arcade. Apparently they sound like The Kinks and/or The Zombies.

That’s enough reason to go.

WHO: Gimmeh your things, And I a-gimmeh you mine WHAT: Free things WHEN: Internet O’clock WHERE: www.yoink.com

The best things in life are free yeah? Like friendship, love, happiness, mobile phones, TVs and couches. Don’t you worry; grandma’s silly pills are dissolving in her stomach. What I’m talking about is Yoink, the nipple hardening website and iPhone app that allows people to give/receive unwanted goods for free! Just chuck your shit up, and bam before you know it some cheapskate is at your door to collect it. And if you’re that cheapskate, well then get on the information superhighway buddy! It ranks your generosity too, so the more you give away, the more your ranking will impress the babes. I’m going to put a live infant on it.

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MERCHANTS OF MADNESS

IN GAIN ALLL GA S, AL LOS, NO LO NO

JULIA WINTERFLOOD

katy hall

BMA caught up with Bec Taylor and Chris Endrey, one half of locally illustrious merchants of madness FUN MACHINE, after the announcement of their Philadelphia Grand Jury support slot, happening at ANU on Friday Feb 17.

Lucky enough to get an audience with one third of Canberra’s original and longest standing six-piece boy band, LOS CAPITANES’ Tim Kent and Dave Rodriguez, BMA sat down to discuss the past, the present and the future, and why their live shows will leave you slightly scared, covered in sweat and possibly altered forever.

You guys are unpigeonholeable. Pop, rock, funk, soul; I could throw them all at you, and then some. How do you classify your music? We very consciously do whatever we want to do naturally, something Chris describes as cheeky but Bec calls jungle pop; either way, picture rats having sex in a garbage bag overflowing with warm fat. It’ll help to take your mind off of things.

Who or what are your influences? I think we’re all in love with ideas and their expression, but we’re all from such different backgrounds they take different aesthetic form. You could make a Venn diagram for everyone and only James Fahy and The Beatles would make the middle. Maybe the Gorillaz. Bec loves Debussy, Feist and Kasha.

Ramsay is in Germany ‘til next week and can’t deny that he loves High School Musical 2 and his My Little Pony collection. Crosby lost his virginity to Ben Folds. And I don’t mean his music. Chris would eat his own liver to see Otis Redding, has now had five dreams about meeting Jack White and will ultimately marry Saul Williams.

How did you find each other? We all went to playgroup together.

Ramsay was trying to meet divorced mums, Crosby was there for nap time, Chris was pocketing fruit and Bec kept excitedly stammering something about “fresh meat”.

Tell us about the ups and downs, the dreams and hopes, the trials and tribulations of your debut EP, More is More? Actually it was all a bit of a mystery. We booked the recording while Chris was in Hungary and it turned out that we wrote four of the five tracks in the week we recorded. We were lucky to be in the capable hands of Glebe Studios’ Dan Nash, who guided Bec onto the organ and didn’t mind Ramsay just being Ramsay. Always lifting his dress up and weeing all over his pony collection.

Any plans for your next recording? Oh definitely! Cool Runnings onto VHS. It should be on soon, to get people excited about the Wintlympics. There’s a clever trick where you stop during the ads so when you rewatch it you don’t have to fast forward through them, but I never remember to do it.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? Well, there’s a fairly low ceiling for most local musos because of the spread population and limited money, but that ultimately makes it one of the better places in Australia to explore music. The venues we do have can collectively host most styles, but the painful absence of great middle-sized venues inspires house parties and open mic nights like Pedestrian Orchestra to fill the gap. There’s no illusion of money or anything so everyone’s just expressing themselves naturally in different ways.

It’s beautiful to see and a privilege to be a part of.

Fun Machine gig all over the place. Head to myspace.com/morefunmachine for all the deets. You can read the complete interview at bmamag.com .

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How long have you been together? We’ve been together seven years; its kind of like a sexless marriage, except with shitloads of sex.

What projects are you working on at the moment? We just finished recording our second album, its taken us over a year but we’re pretty darn satisfied with it. Touring is also on the cards, but we’re pretty lazy, so we might just start inviting people to our practices to save time.

You said that your sound has changed slightly with this album, what is it like now? If The Phoenix Bar date raped Bar 32 on an oval in Ainslie, and three months later Bar 32 realised it was pregnant, aborted the fetus with a coat hanger and then dumped the spawn in an alley behind Mooseheads, our album sounds EXACTLY like the last dying gargle of the discarded fetus.

For you, what’s the best part about playing live shows? Talking in between songs. We never go on about who we are or what our new song is called, we just like to tell pointless anecdotes and ‘enagage’ with people, make them uncomfortable. Our biggest fans are always overweight middle-aged guys; sure there are myths out there that our fanbase is primarily young and female, but to be honest we never get panties thrown at us, just used condoms and empty bourbon cans.

What’s a typical Los Capitanes show likely to involve? Typically our shows involve a lot of alcohol and a lot of nudity, so there’s usually a fair bit of vomiting (both on and off the stage). Compared to us, the Canterbury Bulldogs are pussies.

Who’s the crowd favourite member of the band? It’s gotta be Kieran. Known by most as ‘the gentle enigma’, this old fashioned gentlemen gets the women swooning with his smouldering good looks and composed, often stoic demeaner.

What makes you laugh? Bands that don’t seem to understand the difference between theology and trend. ‘Holier than thou’ atheists who preach more than fundamentalist Christians and people who puke out vague anarchistic rants on facebook. But also, www.latfh.com .

Do you look to the Jonas Brothers for inspiration? When masturbating? I guess things can happen in the heat of the moment, thoughts pop into your head that you can’t control and you just kind of go with it because you’ve already got the Kleenex ready.

Artistically speaking however I guess we’re not exactly their biggest fans, I dont know if its their avant-guard musicality or controversial political views, but something about them makes me want to hang myself with an extension chord.

Los Caps are lovingly lacing together a brand new LP to unleash on the unsuspecting masses. Watch these pages for more info.

Rub-a-Dub Dub Goose

TELLING FI BS

stevie easton

BEN HERMANN

One particularly shiny facet of our local music scene over the years has been the ANU’s Llewellyn Hall. While tertiary music graduates rarely thrash out simple, raw emotions while exuding pure cool quite like the occasional high school dropout does, they do often display musical integrity, depth, subtlety, and practised skill. Local reggaebased seven-piece DUB DUB GOOSE are no exception.

“I think Canberra creates really unique art, because if you really want something to happen, you’ve got to do it yourself. You have to create something that will engage people.” As Adam Hadley, (aka ‘the highly preposterous, rambling biscuit barrel’ named No Important), the story-telling frontman for MR FIBBY explains why the art created in our unassuming city is so unique, it seems almost obvious that a group like Mr Fib, as they’ve become affectionately known, have become such a local institution.

“One of the things about this band is that everyone has their own taste – we’ve all gone to the jazz school, we all compose a lot of music, so our tastes are very wide.” In the familiar surrounds of Lyneham’s Front Café, I caught up with Nick Combe, Sophie Chapman and Reuben Lewis, who make up the horn section in the band.

“We started a couple of years ago at the 2007 Moruya Jazz festival. It was just an impromptu jam session, but a reggae jam as opposed to a fast jazz jam.” One coastal jam led to another, and a more evolved Dub Dub Goose returned to the Moruya stage in ‘08. “For a while, we just jammed with instrumental stuff. More than anything, we’re searching for the dub groove.”

It’s where you make your money, and you get Hare Krishna food too

The group, a quasi-theatrical blend of gypsy folk, old-time songwriting and spoken-word storytelling, formed at the 2007 National Folk Festival when musicians Emma Kelly, Spike Thompson and Sam King decided to add a rogue element to their gypsy instrumentals through the addition of Hadley as storyteller. “It wasn’t for six months to a year after that first gig that I became a proper member of the group. It was more that if the gig was right, then I’d come up and tell stories over the music as a guest. Then it eventually turned into the four of us as a solid group.”

I kept yelling at her and she got up and punched me in the ear

Not long after that, they played their first festival, Corinbank, but as Nick explains, “we’d only just started to put some tracks together and we didn’t have any recordings.” One year on, it’s almost time for Corinbank 2010, and Dub Dub Goose have just released their first album, The Goose is Loose. Recorded at a beach house dubbed named North Durras Studios, the quality of the recording owes a lot to the setting in which it was done. “It was the most productive, most relaxed week ever. In the coast house, there was no money being ticked away; we had all the time in the world. We did it in five or six days and we’d allowed eight.”

Nearing their third anniversary, the group will again return to the tranquil surrounds of Corinbank this year; an environment that Hadley points out is close to their ideal venue. “Last year, we played on one of the smaller stages, in the forest and kind of in the dark. When there’s no amps, no mics, and we can play outside, I think that’s definitely where we flourish.” But as Hadley goes on to explain, the need for the most fitting location can pale in comparison to the need to command the audience’s attention. Hadley contrasts how the group charmed a crowd of drunken, sun-stroked, first year college students at last year’s O Week, with a violent episode at The Phoenix – one of the group’s oldest haunts and, one might expect, somewhat of a safe-haven for them. “We had one gig at The Phoenix where no one was really paying any attention to us. One girl was really drunk and getting really angry with us,” he says. “I kept yelling at her, because I heckle the audience so much when I’m in character, and she got up and punched me in the ear. It was weird because I’ve emceed there for so many years, and never been thrown by anything, but I was definitely thrown then.”

With their first album successfully released and earning some welldeserved crumbs, Corinbank 2010 is where the band aims to cement their place in the Australian festival scene, which should allow them to move away from touring around smaller venues. Dub Dub Goose love the festival vibe and the large, attentive audiences that go with it. “Hopefully over summer, we’re aiming to do Woodford, Peats Ridge – it’s where it’s at, really. It’s where you get your exposure, it’s where you make your money, and you get Hare Krishna food too.”

As well as their usual sets, and a radio show chronicling the wayward adventures of the group, Mr Fibby have also written Little Girl Lost in the Devil’s Black Beard, an hour-long theatre piece which debuted in 2009 and which they’re hoping to tour more extensively this year.

“There’s a lot more characterisation in it. Along with, of course, a tetanus-filled, rusty set,” says Hadley. “It’s always good to have a bit of danger onstage, you know – the possibility of stepping in the wrong spot and getting lock-jaw.”

Dub Dub Goose are a part of the awesome lineup at the Corinbank Festival, held over Friday-Sunday February 26-28 in the Corin Forest. Tickets still available through Greentix.

Mr Fibby play at the Corinbank Festival on Friday February 26 on the Gibraltar Grove stage from 10 to 11pm. Tickets through Greentix.

The next piece to fall into place was singer/songwriter Beth, also a friend from jazz school, whose lyrics brought a new dimension to the group and made them more accessible to audiences. “I think if we just played the kind of grooves in dub, we probably wouldn’t get as much of an audience, but a lot of Beth’s songs are slanting in a different direction.”

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a weekend pass, ticket prices start at only $165 and for just a daily pass tickets sell from $35. Under 16s get in free (+ $5 bf)!

ALL AGES The long tedious wait is almost over and soon enough you’ll be admiring the black and blistered soles of your feet in reflection of the 2010 Corinbank Festival. That is if you rush to get tickets. If not, I dare say you will live to regret it. Ironically enough, there is nothing more cleansing than getting down and dirty for a few days, not to mention that you’ll be roughing it up with You Am I, Clare Bowditch, Ash Grunwald, Urthboy, Astronomy Class, Dallas Frasca, Batucada Sound Machine, Tijuana Cartel and over 20 other spectacular artists, as well as scenic hiking, bike tours and many different workshops to keep you busy. This is all happening from FridaySunday February 26-28 at the beautiful Corin Forest Resort. For

If you’re not out at Corin Forrest for the weekend, on Saturday February 27 there is The Belco Bowl Jam. This is a free and all ages event out at the Belconnen skate park, where you’ll have the chance to see a blood pumping lineup of pro Australian and US skaters including Lance Mountain, Chet Chilldress, Grant Taylor, Andrew Currie, Corbin Harris, Trev Ward and Jing Jang. The Jam goes from 5pm ‘til late and of course is an all ages and free event. Although the after party at The Lighthouse featuring artists The Veebees, Johno and the Trannies and Lemvis as Johnny Cash is strictly 18+, sorry.

Whether you’re into the skate scene or not, this will be the place to be for any adrenalin seekers.

The National Film and Sound Archive’s popular summer outdoor screenings will only feature two more movies this year. On Saturday February 20 is the screening of La Dolce Vita (Italian for The Sweet Life). By critically acclaimed director Federico Fellini, the film has been considered one of world cinema’s great achievements, most definitely worth seeing in the NFSA’s relaxing art deco courtyard.

On Saturday February 27 you will have a rare opportunity to see The Screen at Kamchanod, a thrilling Thai horror movie written and directed by Songsak Mongkolthong. Chilling to the bone, this is among the finest of all Asian horror films (which are always goddamn terrifying).

Tickets are sold at the door, and cost $8 for concession and $10 full price.

On Sunday February 21 you could be attending the world’s biggest short film festival Tropfest. The event commences at 3pm and doesn’t finish until late, it’s a free event at Commonwealth Park, and of course is open to people of all ages. Screening in the park will be the winning Tropfest Junior film, all finalist films and constant live telecasts from the main event commencing in Sydney.

There will also be a live band and DJ, audience participation events and on site food stalls.

Unfortunately, summer is slowly proving itself over. Sure, it’s still hot, but by now I think that everybody will have found themselves back in the monotony of everyday life. By that I mean an early rise each morning, before heading off to school or work and finding responsibility under our belts yet again. Although, luckily, our weekends are still looking promising – we’re having the remains of summer handed to us on a fancy silver platter.

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

It’s here! Yes, Corinbank 2010 is finally here, and it’s pretty much all people are talking about. However, as stupidly good as Corinbank will be, there are a great many other awesome things happening this fortnight.

For those not heading out to Corin Forest, Locality recommends making the somewhat shorter trip to The Pot Belly in Belconnen on Friday February 26. Locals Arythmia will be launching their EP on the night, and the tracks on their triple j Unearthed page are a tantalising taste of what’s to come. Entry is $5 and the launch begins at 8pm. Also promoting a new EP at The Pot Belly this fortnight are Teen Skank Parade, who will be launching Suck Satan Stick on Friday February 19. Teen Skank Parade will be joined by Paulie the Water Tiger and The Paranoia Club (Syd). Entry is $5 and the music starts at 8pm.

Anarchist Duck (QLD) are playing a few shows in Canberra as part of their current east coast tour and are teaming up with some great acts while they’re in town. You can catch the Duck alongside local favourites Dub Dub Goose at The Front Café & Gallery on Friday February 19. Entry is $12/$10 and the music starts at 8pm.

Locals Beth Monzo and Ben Drysdale have recently joined forces, Voltron-style, and become the unstoppable machine known as Beth‘n’Ben. Get along to The Phoenix on Saturday February 20 to see Beth‘n’Ben and Anarchist Duck make beautiful music together.

Entry is free and the show kicks off at 9pm.

We’re pleased to announce that Groovin in the City is continuing this month, so if you spend your lunch break in Civic during February you’re likely to come across some lovely local music. On Wednesday February 24, for example, The Chris Harland Blues Band will be playing in Hobart Place from 12.30pm. Free music in the city is rad, so get out there and enjoy it.

Domus Adultus is a weekly live music event, presented by the fine people at Cardboard Charlie and the Canberra Musicians Club. Each Thursday, three local artists are thrust onstage for your listening pleasure and they perform their little hearts out between 9pm and 12am. The big news for 2010 is that Domus Adultus has a new home, and that its new home is The Phoenix, and that entry is now free.

On Thursday February 18, Domus Adultus will feature Gemma and John, Jason Recliner and Genevieve and The Assumptions. On Thursday February 25, you can catch sets from Sally Holiday, The Blue Ruins and Mysterio.

Cardboard Charlie’s mighty Bootleg Sessions are back at The Phoenix in 2010. Be there on Monday February 22 to have your socks rocked by Tim Maloney, Matt Dent and Daniel Champagne, and head to Bootlegs on Monday March 1 to enjoy sets from Emma Dryden, Rafe Morris, The Feldons and Lady Grey. The bands play from 8pm ‘til 12am and entry is free.

Have a great fortnight, and don’t forget to give the bands some love next time you’re at a gig. Musos really aren’t that scary, and if you tap someone on the shoulder and tell them you loved their set it will brighten up their week, and yours.

Have a great one Canberra, CATHERINE JAMES locality.bma@hotmail.com

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DANCE THE DROP I am astounded by the amount of material I need to cover this issue. No room for quips and certainly no room for loosely applicable anecdotes.

The student migration has returned to Canberra and both major promoters are busy selling their wares.

The Kicks team have set the early standard in announcing details of 2010’s Warehouse Festival. Much to the pleasure of those adhering to the uni calendar this AIS shindig will occur on Saturday May 1, one month earlier than last year’s festivus. Trance connoisseurs are applauding the decision to beef up the lineup with renowned heavyweights Ferry Corsten and Marco V on the initial lineup. The Italian connection The Bloody Beetroots are also locked in with their new live

myspace.com/pangnight

troop, Death Crew 77, in tow. An interesting mix of punk and electro, the live band will hopefully blow as many ear drums as BBs’ last few visits. The Swedish House Mafia’s Steve Angello, MSTRKRFT, Green Velvet, LMFAO (live band), Bingo Players and Kid Sister (live band) are the remainder of February’s revelations. Running with this decade’s new phenomenon, KICKS are also set to include an advanced 3D projection for their set piece.

Kicks also have a few more gems in store and Friday February 19 is the date DJ Chuckie lets his bass kick in Academy. Dutch House is certainly the genre du jour for many enthusiasts and Chuckie’s track featuring Jermaine Dupri is amongst the highest in rotation. Although Chuckie is the new standout, budding Spicks and Specks fans will dually note Dupri produced ‘90s teen sensation Kris Kross and later formed Jagged Edge.

PANG! have a massive fortnight ahead too starting on Saturday February 20 with an amazing triple header. Classixx (USA) join Ajax (Sweat It Out) and The Aston Shuffle (Hussle) to celebrate PANG!’s growth into Wollongong.

Unfortunately you’ll have to make the trip down the Illawarra Highway to see this amazing trio.

The following weekend PANG! are cementing their newly formed relationship with the UC by inviting Boys Noize (Germany) to play on Friday February 26. Ajax (Sweat It Out) and The Aston Shuffle (Hussle) will also join the lineup plus (r)Adeladians The Swiss.

I raised the Party By Jake flag back in October and finally their inaugural partay ♥Heartbeat♥ will debut at Transit on Saturday February 27. U-Go-B will throw down some sultry disco to set an original musical identity for PBJ. Furthermore Deckhead DJs (Syd) will make the trip down as well as Sydney compatriots Pete Versus Toby. In an inspired move Heartbeat are involving up and coming designers to participate in their events to help promote new labels, plus give punters a chance to get their hands on stylish new threads. mi favorito… free Pete Versus Toby clothes! Go to ♥Heartbeat♥!

STAKY staceymanson@gmail.com

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ES ARES WAR RW YER US YE OW US SHOW SH

HERR OTHE MOT URM YOUR TOYO NDTO KIND BEKI BE

TIM GALVIN

STEVIE EASTON

Legend tells us that a WAREHOUSE is a mythological or folkloric music event, which under the light of a full winter moon metamorphoses a seemingly inanimate amphitheatre into a ferocious mass of musical anarchy. Pulling violently on the reigns of this unyielding beast, Lawrence Kain from Kicks Entertainment unsaddles, wipes his brow and joins me for a brief moment of retrospection.

“Doof is a culture. Doof is a lifestyle. A doof is a lot deeper than just a party,” says Adam Van Apeldoorn of Sideproject, the dedicated people who’ve been working for months to breathe life into the 2010 MOTHERNATURE FESTIVAL, which will materialise at Rose Cottage in Gilmore. For those unsure of what ‘doof’ means, think Rainbow Serpent Festival or Canberra’s own fledgling full-scale doof, Dragon Dreaming Festival.

“We spend all year coming up with production ideas for Warehouse,” he says. “Each year we custom build a new design with a unique look and feel. In 2008 we built a huge ghetto blaster that the DJs played inside and in 2009 we built a massive UFO the DJs were suspended in. Warehouse 2010 will see our biggest production yet; we have been working on the visual concept for the main stage for around eight months and our custom built design is coming off the press now. We are very excited to be able to bring new and exciting production to Canberra.”

Warehouse 2010 will see our biggest production yet

“We don’t want to give away too much but Warehouse 2010 will unleash a totally unique set piece combining both physical custom built structure and 3D mapping,” explains Kain. “The visuals are nothing without the sound quality – anyone who has been to one of our events would have noticed we pay attention to detail when it comes to effects and sound quality!”

Kicks (the handsome promotional team formerly known as Friction and Lexington Music) events have always delivered some of the most exciting, diverse and satisfying lineups of artists that our city has ever seen, and the recipe is still working. “We like to provide a good mix of genres and artists that appeal to both the commercial mainstream market and the underground dance market,” says Kain. “We always find people come to our events often not knowing some of the left of centre stuff on the lineup and leave loving it!”

A big part of the event management process is finding the right people and it seems that the Kicks crew are all stars in their own right. Are they keen to get amongst it? “We have a big crew of skilled event specialists that work with us to make these shows happen,” Kain says. “We have a core crew of managers who we love like family and work with on each event! If you want to get involved send us an email with your resume and what you want to do with yourself to info@ kicksentertainment.com.au.”

In 2009, punters were encouraged to get involved in the space theme whereas this time around they have left your costume ideas much more open to interpretation. “The general production theme we are taking is light. Yes, that is very general, I know. But you will have to come check it out, it will blow you away!”

The Warehouse Festival will be held at AIS Arena on Saturday May 1, featuring artists such as The Bloody Beetroots, MSTRKRFT, Steve Angello, Ferry Corsten, Green Velvet and LMFAO. Tickets through Ticketek.

First run in ‘06 and ‘07 on a much smaller scale, Mothernature has been resurrected in 2010, and with 38 musical acts across two stages, as well as countless other artistic, educational and spiritual contributions from members of the doof community, it is sure to be an amazing gathering, filled with positivity. “You could do a workshop, learn how to fire twirl or do yoga. You could do meditation, have a dance – the range of possibilities is very large,” explains Adam.

It’s a massive undertaking to put on a doof

Without going into too much detail, the Canberra doof community has been slowly growing over the last ten to 20 years, and festivals like this come after years of hard work. You only have to look at the festival’s Facebook page to see the number of party crews, artists and contributors who are working together to create Mothernature 2010.

“It’s a massive undertaking to put on a doof. It’s an endurance sport.”

Hard work in the ‘90s paid off in the new millennium, with Canberra’s doof culture moving from dormitories to outdoor parties and club nights, leading to full scale festivals like Dragon Dreaming and Mothernature. The two festivals being at either end of summer is no accident, but rather the product of strong cohesion and community spirit in the doof scene. This community spirit has also helped a new crew to emerge in ‘09, Full Moon Parties, who are also helping stage the festival with Sideproject and other crews. “We’ve probably got the most cohesive [doof] community in Australia,” says Adam.

Mothernature is sure to be a massive doof, and as such offers a wide range of DJs that Adam (a DJ himself) says cover a much wider, more sophisticated range of styles than when he first started doofing.

“Now, stuff’s a bit better produced, the quality of the production has risen a lot.” The two stages are named Gaia and Terra in keeping with the theme, inspired by the idea that our future relies on using ancient and tribal spirituality to give human meaning to the modern science of sustainability.

“The main stage is a trance journey,” Adam says. “It’s more intense, more full on, but if people want to get away from that, they can go to the indoor stage. It just depends what you’re into. The thing that I find really interesting is that because it’s so long and ongoing and it doesn’t break, it’s really up to you to self-manage how you want to experience it.”

The MotherNature Festival will take place at Rose Cottage from SaturdaySunday February 20-21. Tickets are $50 on the door.

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HAPPY AS A DUCK IN CANBERRA

LIGHT AND TANGY

JESS henderson

SHAUN BENNETT

Canberra is like a second home for Queensland funksters ANARCHIST DUCK. Six years young, this three-piece is heading back to the capital for their third visit in February, including a performance at the Corinbank Festival. “Canberra is our favourite city to play in,” explains singer/guitarist Felicity Flawless. “We love the music scene here and have been welcomed with such open arms every time we’ve played here. There’s such a diversity of music and an appreciation for styles a little left-of-centre, which is really refreshing.” It’s hard not to love the enthusiasm and energy that Anarchist Duck exude. Arno (drums), Jules (vocals/bass) and Flawless (vocals/guitar) make up this tightknit three-piece, who are true patrons of the kind of funky grooves that get everyone on their feet – fusing reggae, soulful harmonies, funk and a dash of hip-hop.

Melbourne has many icons to its name such as Neighbours, the Australian Open and AFL. But another iconic symbol that resonates with a lot of Melburnians is a 1930s neon sign called Audrey the Skipping Girl in Richmond. It is an underground figure that brings back a lot of childhood memories for Mark Lang, frontman of Melbourne four-piece SKIPPING GIRL VINEGAR.

“Our most memorable show [in Canberra] was by far the Backyard Backanalia held by the Canberra Musicians Club, because there was such an eclectic range of music and characters. We loved The Big Score… and also the community vibe. So many musos in one place has got to be a good thing!”

Canberra is our favourite city to play in

Anarchist Duck are already on the second pressing of their debut album, Propaganda, a testament to the solid fanbase they are building through constant east coast touring. Their current tour takes in over 20 shows from Melbourne to Brisbane throughout February and March, including a venue close to their hearts (and our town): the Braidwood Hotel. Flawless lived in Braidwood for many months, frequenting the Jam Jar nights on weekends as a soloist and later as a duo with Jules,” explains Arno. “All the musos there would just jump on instruments and improvise together and some amazing music was created. It was awesome!” Full of enthusiasm for music, Anarchist Duck have many influences – some obvious, others not so: from Veruca Salt to James Brown; Björk to Bob Marley. “We [also] love The Cat Empire, The Herd and Ani DiFranco… we love Dolly Parton!” they explain enthusiastically.

When they’re not touring Anarchist Duck spend their time songwriting and managing their expanding ‘musical empire.’ “We are independent… that is self-managed with friends helping. It’s become apparent this year that we are in way over our heads and are opening our wings for the perfect manager so we can play more music!” the group explain. “When we are touring, we all shack up in a very small space and sweat it up, labouring over songs for as long as we can tolerate each others’ body odours! Often when we are away, we will write songs separately and bring them almost finished to the band. Usually the jamming of this stuff is an amazingly quick process as we all just get on the same wavelength. Bewdaful!”

Anarchist Duck play at the Corinbank Festival (Saturday February 27), The Front (Friday February 19) and The Phoenix (Saturday February 20) with local outfits Beth ‘n’ Ben and Dub Dub Goose. They will also play The Braidwood Hotel (Friday February 26).

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It is easy to see then why the band quickly gained a strong following within weeks of releasing their first demos, leading to support slots with Little Birdy, Missy Higgins, Angus & Julia Stone and Kate MillerHeidke. “By the time we started playing live, we had a strong idea of who we were and what we were going to do,” Lang says.

In order to keep this momentum going they wanted to ensure that they could deliver a golden egg as their debut album and not surrender to the commercial buzz spiralling around them.

This meant releasing their debut effort, Sift the Noise, via their own label Secret Fox after nearly four years of hard work. “I don’t write well on the road, so I found time to myself to write new songs,” Lang says.

We had an amazing time in Canberra for our album launch

While recording with Melbourne producers Nick Huggins (Whitley, Kid Sam) and Greg Arnold the band discovered the organic pop aesthetic that defines them as a band. This new-wave pop caught the attention of American independent music icon Brad Jones (Bob Evans, Josh Rouse) who agreed to mix their debut effort.

On the back of the success of their hailed debut offering, the band crawled into the studio to record One Long Week, the newly released single from a forthcoming album. By their own admission they were exhausted, broke and worn out leading up to recording again. What keeps them going through these difficult times?

“We’re excited about the next batch of songs and we’re still going for the love of it. If you’re in music for money then you’ve got the wrong idea,” Lang says. “I also feel as if I grew up on Sift the Noise as I developed as a writer and this time I know what I’m doing and I know the people I’m working with so it’s a lot easier.”

Even though they have well and truly earned their reputation as a Melbourne underground force not to be reckoned with, the Skipping Girl Vinegar are no strangers to our town.

“We’ve always had a good time in Canberra,” says Lang. “We even had a request from management to return there. We had an amazing time there for our album launch, and that gig set up Canberra for us quite well. It truly stayed with us.”

Skipping Girl Vinegar will play an early afternoon set at Transit Bar on Saturday February 20. Entry from 3pm and the show is free!

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CEMENT NO CRACKS IN THE PAVE

A NE W PAGE WITH NOONAN

katy hall

MONIQUE SUNA

In the latter part of last year, while I sat glued to a computer screen attempting to ensure myself a ticket to the 2010 PAVEMENT tour, I had a thought about how strange reunion tours are. This band had a seriously bad break up. Lead singer chains himself to a microphone, they all go separate ways, no one bothers to confirm a split, management is never sure what’s happening... it all seems a bit preposterous that they decide to face each other and experience tour bus life again, but it seems to happen a lot. Is it simply a money thing, and when they say they’re a united front, are they really?

“This woman is the whole package. She is not only one of the most versatile singers in the industry, easing her way through rock and jazz and even scaling the heights of opera, but she has the amazing ability to completely rearrange a song yet keep the emotional substance of it.”

All members of Pavement are incredibly successful in their other musical ventures and don’t seem like the type to reunite for anything simply because the interest was there.

No one in the band is on bad terms

“Every interviewer asks me this,” says Scott Kannberg with a sigh of annoyance. “The answer really is that no one in the band is on bad terms. Even when it ended no one was on bad terms. We’d been together ten years. It just reached a stage where we needed a break and it was time to move on.”

“I think we’re just going to treat the past as the present and treat it well,” he says. “I don’t mind talking about our past. It’s part of my history and I’m proud of what we made and did as a band. The tour is simple: it was just the right time to do it.

“We realised it was the only time we could really get it together – we’re all busy with families and side projects now – so if we didn’t do it now it would have been tough to find time. We never thought it would be this big. It’s not like we hadn’t been talking about it or anything. To move forward we wanted to do this, and if there’s another future for Pavement then that’s something we’ll explore when it comes around.”

In the ten years since their break up, there remained a buzz around the band, with their cult status continually growing and sweeping up fans that were ‘too young’ the first time around. With that in mind Kannberg offers, “I hope we impress people. Especially knowing there are fans there that we made since we split up.

“I remember gigs before I really decided to be a musician and there was that total excitement surrounding it and they were just the most incredible things; the things you’d talk about with your friends and think about for weeks. So I hope we can give that to some people this time around.”

“It’s a bit strange though, I’ve had to relearn all of the songs; it’s been so long since I played. Wouldn’t do too well at the first show if I forgot what I was doing,” he says with a laugh.

Keen Canberrans will either have to trek to Brisbane (Wednesday March 10 at the Tivoli) or Melbourne (Friday and Sunday March 12 and 14 at the Forum) to see the band.

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– Joni Mitchell, October 2009 I know what you are all thinking, how clumsy of this journalist to use second hand sources as an introduction to the one and only KATIE NOONAN. However, said journalist feels that it is important to acknowledge that such a hunk of musical wisdom can be found in one so small and soulful. Also, it is her belief that this should be expressed by somebody who actually knows what they are talking about. Dear Monique, music envy is not an actual talent. It is rather daunting writing an article on one of your favourite musicians and Katie Noonan absolutely deserves such fandom.

You don’t want to be in a band with a neo-Nazi

After her fantastic release of Skins in 2007, Brisbane born Noonan has been on a roll, yet it is the 2010 release of her new single Page One that has her more excited and positive about her music than she has been since the George days. “The Captains’ songs are like going on a big boat. That is where we got the idea for the name. I’m excited when the right music collaborates. Certain magic can be collaborated when you come together and agree on a certain sound and there is a certain magic that develops when the right sounds come together,” explains Noonan.

The majesty of Noonan’s new single could not have been achieved without the help of her Captains: Cameron Deyell (guitar), Stu Hunter (keys/bass) and Declan Kelly (drums). Says Noonan, “I get on with them on a lot of levels. You don’t want to be in a band with a neo-Nazi or extremist. Three of the four have children and we can connect on that level. It took years to find the right band. I haven’t felt this kinship since George and finding them was a process of osmosis. Declan had been playing for three years when we met through baby land. Our children had matching shirts.” She refers to Dexter of her three boys, the two others being Otis and Tana.

The amazing, melodious, wilting sounds and lyrics of Page One were co-written by Katie and the Captains’ guitarist Cameron Deyell, along with renowned Australian musician Don Walker (a Cold Chisel original), and is a song that Katie wrote as a wedding gift to fellow Captains keyboardist Stu Hunter and his partner.

Over the last two years Katie Noonan and the Captains have built a vessel of new songs which they plan on showcasing at the ANU Bar on Friday March 5. Tickets are $34.15 + bf and can be purchased through Ticketek.

E X H I B I T I O N I S T

seems to examine works that distort perspectives whether they be psychological or to do with physical perception.”

CALL ME YOUNG GUN jemima fort “Blaze is the best way to start a busy year that I can think of.” So says Richard Blackwell, one of the artists picked to exhibit in BLAZE #4. Blaze, presented by Canberra Contemporary Art Space, is an annual exhibition of emerging local visual artists. CCAS director David Broker explains the impetus behind the show. “I feel strongly about supporting local emerging artists because the arts is a scary business. It can take a long time to break into. You do have to sacrifice quite a lot and, if you are serious, you have to hang in there.

The more support we can offer, the better.”

To this end, Blaze exhibitions complement CCAS’s strong Emerging Artists in Residence Program. CCAS offers six six-month residencies that aim to provide professional, real-life experience for young artists. As 2009 CCAS artist-in-residence Skylen Dall explains: “Blaze is an exciting show, with a huge variety of interesting contemporary work. I think Canberra has so many talented and energetic artists and it’s great to be able to exhibit as part of this group.”

Curated by David, alongside Serge Bodulovich and Yolande Norris, this is the first year that Blaze has not exclusively exhibited work

by CCAS artists-in-residence. Blaze #4 includes five additional Canberran artists, making this show the biggest yet. The artists are Adam Veikkanen, Benjamin Forster, Erica Hurrell, Jacqueline Bradley, Rachael Freeman, Richard Blackwell, Robbie Karmel, Sarah Kaur, Skylen Dall, TJ Phillipson and Tye McBride.

Selecting the artists for a show of this quality and focus is a decision made gradually over a year of monitoring a dense and dynamic jungle of art. “We ask ‘what have we seen this year in Canberra that we can remember?’ We try to get to as much as we possibly can.”

In the case of Blaze #4 David notes, with some excitement, that a theme has emerged for the show, quite by accident. “We haven’t actively looked for work to fit a theme. What you do with Blaze is select works, then look if something does emerge. Blaze #4

Art in Canberra thrives with the support of a strong network of galleries and institutions. “Canberra has a really great art scene for a city of its size. It is hard for me to distinguish that much difference between Canberra and, say, Brisbane, which has a much larger population.” However, its development is challenged by the popular assumption that nothing really goes on here. Nevertheless, David believes this is why shows like Blaze are important. “If you want to support the development of distinctive localised cultural practice, it’s really important to support the people who are emerging into it.”

There is a tendency for general gallery visitors to favour familiar, established artists. Blaze is an opportunity for nascent artists to be seen – to introduce themselves, their art, and their ideas. These ideas are as dynamic and challenging as one might expect from an eclectic group of young artists.

Adam Veikkanen is curious about how an audience will relate to his work: “I am interested in a lot of things: music for instance is fascinating because people don’t really read an essay on it to like it. They just like it. I guess I would like the art I make to be like that: understandable or graspable. Something that relates to a person, not a theoretician.” For some, like Richard Blackwell, it can be about creation itself: “I make art because it’s a very straight-forward way of making something. Unlike other practices which are bound by some kind of function or program – someone who makes art can make anything they want.”

Or it can be something simply to enjoy, as TJ Phillipson describes: “I try to be a bit weird and different in my art and I like to think I have a unique perspective on things/life/art that other people will enjoy.” It is this diversity that has always made Blaze a particularly rewarding exhibition, for both its audiences and its curators. David explains: “my favourite thing about being able to put on a show like Blaze is the opportunity to work with enthusiastic young artists with new ideas, not weighed down by the conventions of the art world. Blaze is about freshness and enthusiasm and what happens here, in Canberra.”

After speaking passionately about the show for the last hour, David looks up at me with a clichéd twiddle of his fingers and twinkle in his eye. “You know, having talked about it, I am really excited for it to happen. It is going to be a great show.” Even as I write this, I am excited. And, as Benjamin Forster told me: “art should be exciting.”

Blaze#4 opens at CCAS on Friday February 26 at 6pm, and continues until April 1.

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ARTISTPROFILE: David Finig, or blind

What do you do? Writer, theatre-maker, festival director.

When did you get into it? Myself and three other deviants formed Bohemian Productions upon leaving school in 2001and produced a double-bill of Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter and Jack Lloyd and my script Quiet Time.

Who or what influences you as an artist? I would murder everyone I know in order to be able to produce a work that does in theatre what the Avalanches’ Since I Left You does with music. My writing comes out of my obsessions with cheap science fiction, shabby electronica, absurdist theatre and whatever Hadley’s been writing recently.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Last October Gillian Schwab and I co-directed the inaugural Crack Theatre Festival as a part of This Is Not Art in Newcastle. 16 performances, 17 panels/forums and over 60 theatre and performance artists from around Australia. We ran for four nights and only got shut down by the police on two.

What are your plans for the future? Crack pt 2 this October, and my ensemble Boho (with Jack Lloyd and Mick Bailey) is producing a new interactive work at Belconnen Arts Centre this July, touring to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

What makes you laugh? Jack found a thriller in the book section of Myer this afternoon entitled TOO MANY MURDERS. That made me happy.

What pisses you off? That Mr Fibby are not more famous.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? Indestructible. Either the powers that be haven’t got their shit together or they’re not trying hard enough, but the indie theatre scene still regularly turns out amazing work. Canberran artists are like cockroaches.

What are your upcoming performances/exhibitions? Touring a new solo work Sun Drugs to the New Zealand Fringe Festival in several weeks, directed by Ms Naomi Milthorpe. It’s a teen prom coming-of-age movie set in a flooded city in Asia and includes a DIY-vibrator making workshop. Otherwise, artist applications for the Crack Theatre Festival 2010 are now open - visit www. cracktheatrefestival.com to download a form.

Contact info: www.blind-dragonfly.com

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IN REVIEW Masterpieces From Paris National Gallery of Australia Until April 5 Despite being half-cloaked in scaffolding the National Gallery of Australia is buzzing with energy in a way it hasn’t seemed to for years.

It’s 2pm on a weekday and my timing couldn’t have been better. The Gallery is crowded, but thankfully without queues, and even without having pre-purchased my ticket I swan right on in.

I’ve spent the days leading up to this visit trying to play down my rising excitement over the Masterpieces From Paris exhibition. I worry that I’ve been won over by the fancy television commercials, afraid of ruining the experience with grossly high expectations. As I step foot into the first room of the exhibition however, I breathe a sigh of relief. This time the hype is justified - this is going to be seriously good.

Gone are the small, murkily lit works and huge, yawn-inducing blocks of text that seem common to NGA blockbusters of recent years.

No stuffing around here - instead, BAM: five Monets announce this exhibition as all killer, right from the get-go.

The next hour is a delicious blur of visual treats. I drift from the huge, seductive Sargent to luxuriously luminous Bonnards and dark and dangerous Toulouse-Lautrecs. I discover a new art crush in the work of Maurice Denis, and am caught out by a sneaky Picasso.

Yes, the exhibition is crowded but it doesn’t detract from my experience. Even the mullet bearing, singlet wearing Summernats punters (cos even petrol heads need art) are polite and accommodating, as if we are all caught under the same spell.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in front of the Van Goghs, where a hush descends over the visitors as if they are standing before an altar of high art. Starry Night, Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles – I have seen these pieces in reproduction time and time again, but nothing could have prepared me for just how vivid, how edgy, how beautiful they are in the flesh.

When I am finally able to tear myself away from the exhibition I leave on an absolute high, already planning a return visit, and still in shock to be sharing - if only for a short while - the same post code as these masters of modern art.

YOLANDE NORRIS

Starry Night 1888 Musée d’Orsay, Paris © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

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The Ronnie Johns Half Hour was last televised in 2006 and since then the members of the cast have all been busy with their own projects.

Heath Franklin has taken his character Chopper Reed on the Harden the F#ck up Australia Tour and Jordan Raskopoulos has focused his attentions on his comedy band, The Axis of Awesome. Raskopoulos says it’s good to be back with Ronnie Johns.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve all gone off and done our own thing, and it’ll be nice to come back with the old group and just do some silly sketches together.

“It will be a reunion of Ronnie Johns old characters, plus some new situations and characters,” Raskopoulos says. Any hints about any of these new characters? Yes. “There’s a PE teacher called Jase.” Intriguing!

Gnocchi is Potatas not pastas amy tipler “THE RONNIE JOHNS HALF HOUR. If you remember it from TV you’re one of the lucky few,” laughs Jordan Raskopoulos – better known as Petie the Consumer Watchdog, for us lucky few.

Television’s Ronnie Johns Half Hour has returned in the form of an 80 minute stage show. The sketch show is back and ready to entertain and offend us all again, censored only by the cowboy host Ronnie Johns and his Good Taste Pony. It will contain obscene language and will not be suitable for children. With disclaimers like that you know this show is going to be awesome!

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With characters like Poppy (the child with the scrapbook of age inappropriate pictures), Mlak Mlak (the ungrateful sponsor child), and Ronnie Johns (the slightly effeminate cowboy on the papier mache horse who has an unhealthy obsession with prairie dogs), you can expect the show to be not your average Sunday night at the theatre. The stage show will continue with the kind of lively and inappropriate material that made the TV show so much fun. “[The show is] silly and irreverent,” Raskopoulos explains. “Not trying to be overly political. Occasionally we will say something about our own views and ideas but mostly it’s just about entertaining the audience…

We’re very proud of our show and if more people are introduced to Ronnie Johns via the stage show then we’ll be very happy.”

The Ronnie Johns Half Hour Live Show is playing at The Playhouse on Sunday February 21. Tickets $38/$34, call Canberra Ticketing on 6275 2700 for details and bookings.

audiences (and Canberra theatre practitioners) could expect anything up to half-a-dozen fewer theatre productions per year.

UNINHIBITED In the last few weeks the state of the performing arts in our nation’s capital suddenly became, if not front page, then at least fourth page news, with the long-expected, long-rumoured announcement following last year’s academic review, that the ANU will defenestrate the practical element from their undergraduate Drama course.

It’s worthwhile opinionating for a moment or two on the issues thrown up by the ANU’s decision: the value of theory versus praxis (and what constitutes ‘research’ in what can be a very practical field), the necessity or otherwise of participation as an adjunct to an education in performance, the influence of the ANU’s practical training on the local arts scene, and finally, the impact upon the local theatre community of the scrapping of theatre performance at the ANU. On this last point, one of the issues that has emerged is that the ANU Drama production companies, Papermoon and Moonlight, will no longer program annual seasons as they have done in the past. The companies will now be the special preserve of ‘research’, meaning that… well, Uninhibited is not quite sure what it means, except that the understanding of ‘research’ is by no means universal and, to put it bluntly, fraught as hell, and that except by the broadest possible definitions, unlikely to result in a similar artistic output from either company. In layman’s terms, this means that from now on Canberra

We know that this doesn’t seem like much. “What’s six less shows per year?” you say. “I hardly get time to see any!”

One problem is diversity. The NC scene (and most scenes, in fact) suffers from a fatal familiarity: you tend to see the same things – faces, styles, accents - over and over again. The money comes from one source, that money has a particular way of doing things, and – hey presto – homogeneity. We all love The Importance of Being Earnest, but even Wilde’s sparkling gem gets a little dull from too much rubbing.

Another issue intimately tied up with the emerging news from the ANU, is that of practice itself and how, if we wish to have a vibrant performing arts culture, Canberra theatre makers can continue to practice (or, indeed, given the latest news, learn) their craft. I mean, it took Uninhibited several months of our misspent youf to learn how to raise each eyebrow separately, and that’s just one facial feature. What about something that requires technique? Like an Irish accent? Can you perform lazzi at the drop of a hat? The basic question is: how can a performer know their stage lefts from their stage blacks without practice?

Perhaps Canberra doesn’t want a vibrant performing arts scene.

Certainly the evidence from the last year, most especially the government’s gleeful Fringe Festival bloodletting, suggests that we don’t. But it seems a shame to dismiss a culture which has fostered the development of scores of artists, and which seeks to bring joy to its community.

NAOMI MILTHORPE exhibitionist@bmamag.com

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bit PARTS WHO: Wayne Scott Kermond WHAT: Candy Man WHEN: March 17 - 21 WHERE: Canberra Theatre Centre Candy Man is an all-singing, all-dancing celebration, not of the classic urban legend horror movie starring Virginia Madsen, but of the life of the coolest member of the Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr. The show stars seasoned showman and winner of five MO awards, Wayne Scott Kermond, who was also the principal motion capture performer for Happy Feet. Candy Man takes us from Davis’s early days in vaudeville, through performing in Sin City nightclubs and finally to breaking out in Hollywood. There’s a band, a choir, and according to the press release, five of the best musical theatre practitioners out there. Call 6275 2700 for deets.

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WHO: Poets WHAT: Traverse Poetry WHEN: Slam events starting from February 25 WHERE: The Front Gallery, Lyneham Shops Slam and performance poets unite, for Traverse Poetry’s 2010 calendar is up! The first slam for the year begins at 7.30pm on Thursday February 25, with one slam night per month at Lyneham’s Front Gallery. The good people at Traverse are also running their Slam Shop performance poetry workshop at Corinbank so for aspiring slammers, it’s a good place to start. Entry to the vanilla slam is generally free, enabling you to keep your pennies for the things most important to a poet: cravats, laudanum, and incest. Word. Or rather, words.

WHO: Skylen Dall WHAT: Cut Cord WHEN: Feb 25 to March 7 WHERE: CCAS Manuka SHAMELESS QUOTING: “Cut Cord, by emerging sculptor Skylen Dall, was developed during an intensive six month studio residency with the CCAS last year. Dall […] SAYS of her work: ‘Cut Cord is an installation that provides a space for reflection on a collection of personal objects. Viewers enter a darkened space, where oversize veins emerge from the ceiling and connect with precious knickknacks scattered on the gallery floor. The veins taper to fine threads, and ribbons becoming delicate tendrils; a sensitive connection to the past.

Cut Cord questions our irrational attachment to inanimate objects and exposes the bittersweet sentiment that binds us to them.’”

WHO: Boozy wordsmiths WHAT: Z4 and the ACT Writers Centre join forces on the good ship SPONSOR WHEN: Until the wine runs out…

WHERE: In vino veritas?

All jokes aside (and we’re trying to make as many of them as we can before they pass out), wine goes with writers almost as well as it does with cheese. So how perfect is it that Z4 Wines are now the official sponsors of the ACT Writers Centre? The press release says: “Sponsorship will include the provision of wine as part of the support

by Z4 Wines for the Writers Centre meetings and events, including the Annual Poets’ Lunch and literary awards. They will also continue to generously provide the prizes for the annual Z4 Wines Book Reviewing Award, which is in its third year in 2010.” Drink up!

WHO: Wang Xu WHAT: Wang Xu 2010 WHEN: Til February 28 WHERE: Paintbox Fine Art, Lonsdale Street Braddon

WHO: Bollywood boffins WHAT: The Merchants of Bollywood WHEN: March 1 - 7 WHERE: Canberra Theatre Centre

Wang Xu. Well-known painter. Archibald finalist many years running.

Awesome. Exhibition. Paintbox. QUOTING: “Wang Xu is well known for his vivid urban scenes and streetscapes, principally of Sydney, where he revels in the crush of buildings, the more dilapidated the better and the life force of the traffic in the inner city. He combines all the experience of his years of training with close observation of the urban condition to create vibrant paintings which demand the viewer’s attention. The exhibition includes some restful paintings of Sydney’s coves and bays.”

MOST SHAMELESS QUOTING OF ALL: “A theatrical dance spectacular, The Merchants of Bollywood charts the enchanting history of the world’s largest and most prolific film industry, and a dynasty of stars that have lit its way over generations. A fictional story, yet based on real life, The Merchants of Bollywood will reveal to the Western audience the workings of cinema and the part it plays in the heart and soul of Indian society in an extraordinary evening of music and dance at the heart of which lies a heartfelt story of a young girl, her grandfather and their love of dance.” Phew.

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COMMUNITY SERVICE

CALLING THEIR BLUFF

BEN HERMANN

KATHERINE QUINN

It’s not surprising that JONATHAN BOULET has captured the attention and imaginations of so many people around (and even outside of) Australia. Unlike most fresh-faced 21-year-old indie musicians, Boulet has the courage to be himself and not concern himself with the ironic, emotionless, apathetic ‘cool’ attitude (and when I say ‘attitude’ I mean it in the derogatory sense) of his indie contemporaries. So it’s well-deserved that he’s just embarked on his first ever national headlining tour that will bring him to Canberra later this month.

Canberra isn’t exactly the place you’d expect to find gritty, soulful country music inspired by the likes of John Prine, Hank Williams and The Little Willies. Nonetheless (and despite protests from band members – “I don’t sound like Norah Jones, get fucked!” jokes lead singer Naomi Milthorpe) it is the stomping ground of THE BLUFFHEARTS, a supergroup comprising members from local bands such as The Missing Lincolns, The Wedded Bliss, One Foot In The Gravy, Cool Weapon, Lettuce Play! and The Big Score. With backgrounds ranging from punk to folk to smut comedy, this band was always destined to be a heady mix.

Known for the diversity of styles he utilises, while constantly maintaining strong soft-rock and pop foundations and an unashamedly optimistic attitude, I ask Boulet, on the eve of his tour, whether such an assortment of influences is likely to define his solo career, or whether it is symbolic of the soundsearching many artists go through on their early albums. “I’m not sure, to be honest,” he says.

“The stuff I’ve been writing lately is all kind of similar, and more united than the songs on the album. Maybe they’ll all fit into the same category. But at the same time, I do like the variation, and if I write too many of the one style, I’ll probably get annoyed with myself and write something of a different style.”

I like being solo – I don’t have to convince anyone else of my ideas

Such an array of inclinations and influences may not even be so much experimentation but actual experience in varying genres.

Boulet, alongside his solo career, plays drums with the chamber pop group Parades and bass guitar for the shred-metal group Snakeface.

“I like being solo, because all the decisions get made on the spot, and I don’t have to convince anyone else of my ideas,” he admits. “But it’s also fun to be in a band, because the weight’s not all on you. Having less pressure, and being able to bounce ideas off people, can really alter your creativity.”

Boulet’s debut, self-titled album of 2009 was famously recorded, mixed and produced almost entirely by himself from his Castle Hills garage; a fact partly reflective of the limited means available to him at the time, but also reflective of his determined independence and partiality towards DIY. “Even for the next album, I really wanna keep it in-house,” he says. “The whole album was a huge learning curve, but I feel like I’ve got a good understanding now of where I want the next album to go. If I palmed the recording and producing off to someone else I feel like I’d lose control of everything I learned from the first album.”

Like his music, Boulet’s fanbase reflects his eclectic influences and nomadic social lifestyle. “The music reaches out to musician and non-musician types, and all the grey in between. I’ll think that I know, but then I’ll go to a show and it will be the complete opposite crowd.

It keeps me guessing.”

Jonathan Boulet will play a free gig at ANU Bar on Thursday February 25.

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“Everybody’s had heartbreak, whether you’re from Nashville or Canberra or wherever!”

Naomi says of finding inspiration in the capital. “It’s a fun genre to explore – all about pain and misery and drinking too much. They’re emotions everybody’s experienced.” A former ANU student, Naomi drew on her university experience to write the song Poverty Line. “For the three years of my PhD I’d always been bitching about having no money. I’d always just assumed it was because I was a spendthrift, but then I read this article which said that PhD students often live under the poverty line, and I was like ‘oh my god – it’s not just me!’”

People in bands are basically sluts

Naomi’s literary background has no doubt helped her musical career, learning about country music whilst on research trips to Texas, and writing songs via email with founding member Luke McGrath. “Luke said ‘hey, do you wanna sing in my country band?’ and I said ‘hell yeah!’

That was it.” Naomi says, when I ask how she first got involved. As for what attracted musicians from such diverse backgrounds, she thoughtfully replies, “it was basically the music – Luke’s written a suite of really awesome songs,” before adding, “and I guess also people in bands are basically sluts! We all just love playing music, and a really wide variety of music. It’s the burning desire to make sound.”

A sense of rawness and nonchalance pervades The Bluffhearts’ recordings, and when I enquire about this Naomi laughs, confessing, “it was the hottest day in the world, and we were recording in this aluminium shed – we were just baking in this heat box for two days. So of course we were drinking a lot of beer to cool down!” A fantastically rock and roll mentality for a country band! “The less polished it is the better, because it’s more authentic,” Naomi insists.

“I’m a child of grunge music, so I like the unfinished quality.”

Well, it’s not every day you have a grunge goddess confessing to a fancy for country music, let alone fronting an alt-country band, but Naomi and I agree that “everybody in the world secretly loves country music.” So whether you’re into punk or grunge or folk, consider The Bluffhearts your guilty pleasure. Don’t worry – I won’t tell anyone.

Be sure to catch The Bluffhearts at the Corinbank Festival the weekend of Friday-Sunday February 26-28. Tickets through Greentix.

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in May. Expanding on his signature sound, FlyLo will continue his journey into the ‘psychedelic reams of soul’ and this time feature collaborations with Rebekah Raff, Thundercat, Laura Darlington and Thom Yorke. I smell a classic on the horizon!

THE REALNESS What’s up good peoples? In case you hadn’t realised I’m now all up in EVERY issue of BMA, so you’ll get more good music info, more ranting and more realness. So without further ado, let’s get busy with a nice lil rant on hip-hop at the moment. Now I know that the early months (Jan-Feb) are usually quiet for hip-hop, but is it me, or is the hip-hop scene mad stagnant right now in regards of quality releases? There hasn’t been anything that’s really blown me away for a minute or so now, so I am very thankful that releases from boombap beat-extraordinaires Jake One, M-Phazes and Statik Selektah are close on the horizon. I mentioned Statik’s new LP last issue, but also coming up is the mighty Jake One, who is set to release his collaborative album The Stimulus Package with Philly microphone slayer Freeway very very shortly. Expect slamming production, vicious rapping and some high profile guest verses from the likes of Raekwon, Beanie Sigel and Bun B. It’s on Rhymesayers too – bridging that gap between mainstream and independent sounds very nicely. That man M-Phazes is set to release his production LP Good Gracious on Obese at the end of the month too – complete with collabs with Muph + Plutonic, Dialectrix, Phrase, Illy, Solo and many many more. M-Phazes is killing these days, so can’t wait to hear the fruits of his labour (think he’s got a few previews up on his MySpace too, so get listening and spread the word).

Speaking of talented beatsmiths, the legendary Flying Lotus will release his much anticipated second LP Cosmogramma on Warp

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Also on the verge of a second full player is UK’s Breakage, whose upcoming album is entitled Foundation. Melding his d‘n’b roots with his newfound love of dubstep and downtempo, Breakage has been making some major noise with some big big singles of late (Run Em Out, Hard), so I expect the album to be a monster. On Foundation he’s worked with the likes of Burial, Donae’o, Newham Generals, Roots Manuva and Kemo – so I’m expecting him to go deep on this one. Can’t wait.

A few tidbits now. Thundamentals have released the third single from their Sleeping On Your Style LP – the latin/soul influenced My Lady featuring Sydney’s Ray Mann. They’ll be touring about the country during February/March so stay tuned for that.

Jess Harlen’s latest single I Go is also out now and is again produced

by Plutonic Lab. It’s taken from her album Neon Heartache and comes complete with shimmering harmonics and meditative lyrics (written in Brooklyn, NY!). More real soul music on Obese’s offshoot Plethora Records.

I mentioned the Summer Rooftop Party last issue – but don’t forget it’s coming up on Saturday February 20 and features Canberra’s finest hip-hop outfits. Come and get involved!

To hear music from all these releases and more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3 FM from 9:30 – 11pm every Tuesday night.

Roshambo roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

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Saturday February 27 marks a significant night in the Canberra hiphop calendar, when the mighty Lupe Fiasco – he of Kick, Push and Superstar fame – descends on the UC Refectory. In lieu of catching up with the elusive Lupe, we had a chat to supports Koolism, Katalyst and D’Opus & Roshambo about the man, and found out what Australia’s own icons of hip-hop have planned for us.

downtime. Working with the likes of Katalyst, Trials (Funkoars), Hermitude, Jacob Giles, A-Love... list goes on. It’s exciting. Daniel and I have a special chemistry but working with others gives me a different perspective on creating music. Stay locked. (A free download can be found at http://bit.ly/ hanzhigh and check out Koolism’s new website koolism.com).

Katalyst – Ashley Anderson

D’Opus & Roshambo – Ro

1) What are your thoughts and opinions on Lupe and his music?

1) What are your thoughts and opinions on Lupe and his music?

COMPILED BY ALLAN SKO

Kick, Push caught the ear of a lot of people cos it had potential to cross boundaries. I liked that beat as it sounded like some classic ‘90s jam with a modern edge. I sought out more of Lupe’s tunes to check him out. He’s cool for sure. Looking forward to the show.

2) What will you be bringing to this Canberra hip-hop night of nights?

A whole bunch of fresh unreleased hip-hop beats that me and my man Geoff Barrow from Portishead have been cooking up, with a host of international MCs on the project. It’s called Quakers cause we’re quaking the ground with these ones; heavy beats for days.

Also some of the album I’m doing with Chicago’s based MC Diverse and another cat form North Carolina that I’m doing an album with.

3) What awesome things are you up to, and why we should we be excited to attend the show early and check you out?

I will be previewing new tunes of the forthcoming Space Invadas album that just hit the airwaves at the end of last year. That album drops March 26 and is called Soul- Fi. We shoot the second video this weekend. It’s going to be a slick black and white number so look out for that at the start of March. We’re playing a lot of festivals over the next couple of months so the live band will be tight by the time we get to Canberra.

Koolism – Hau 1) What are your thoughts and opinions on Lupe and his music?

I dig him a lot. A few tracks I don’t connect, but overall, he’s tops. I definitely think he’s in his own lane. A lot of these ‘hipsters’ have modelled themselves on his music and style. But they just don’t have his intelligence or lyrics. I interviewed Lupe for the triple j Hip Hop Show once. I asked if he wanted to swap his gold Rolex for my gold data-bank Casio. He stupidly declined.

2) What will you be bringing to this Canberra hip-hop night of nights?

My Queanbeyan swagger!

3) What awesome things are you up to, and why we should we be excited to attend the show early and check you out?

Koolism are in the final stages of completing our long-awaited fifth album The Umu. I’m excited about finally unleashing it to the people.

We’ll be performing a few tracks off it so get your camera phones ready. Besides that, I have been working on solo material in my

He’s definitely a true original! Highly intelligent lyricist, who understands both the technical side of emceeing and also making his viewpoint accessible to his audience. I was surprised that he could have such mainstream appeal – many of his songs are quite dark in theme/tone and he uses a lot of (non-obvious) metaphors.

He makes you work for meaning. But the kids love him and he’s got that skater/hipster appeal haha; guess that’s what clothing labels can do for you! Should be amazing live with a full band!

2) What will you be bringing to this Canberra hip-hop night of nights?

We’ll be bringing plenty of vibrancy and energy – showcasing a bunch of banging new tunes from our forthcoming LP Past Time (it’s nearly finished!). D’O and I have been rehearsing with a live band of late (Lethal Miller on bass and Kay Chinnery on drums) so we are working on a brand new live show for 2010. For Lupe it will be back to basics, just the two of us. We’ve developed our ideas, our sound is more refined, more boom-bap, so we’re excited. We’ve been hiding away in the studio for nearly 12 months so it will be fun to let loose and air out the new tunes.

3) What awesome things are you up to, and why we should we be excited to attend the show early and check you out?

Past Time is nearing completion – it is soulful, downto-earth, organic sounding hip-hop music that we really feel the people are going to like – we’ve learned from our past efforts, and we’re excited to get it out to the people.

We’ve really stepped up the song-writing aspect of our music, the album is chock full of fully realised compositions and we’ve worked with very talented folk from around Australia. It’s sounding dope, so can’t wait to perform the tunes live.

Catch Lupe and the gang at the UC Refectory on Sat Feb 27. Tix from Ticketek, Oztix and Moshtix.

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METALISE February is a month so chock-a-block with heavy happenings I’m sure any coverage of Soundwave and its related side shows, AC/ DC and the like, will only serve to duplicate the eleventy million websites, fora and blogs on the subject. Drive safe as the year is only just beginning to heat up in terms of local shows!

Templestowe are gearing up for an XXL show at The Basement on Tuesday February 23 out in Belco with Melbourne band Humonic and locals Tortured and Forgery. The band are sharpening their tools for the national touring they’re undertaking this year (see interview with ‘stowe’s resident lungsmith Jon Hocking from last issue) and you should all be well familiar with their material from their acclaimed debut Cimmerian by now. Get along and see these guys ply their trade.

While on young local bands, make sure you check out the new CHUD recording also. CHUD, by the time of press, would also have had a chance to play at the Daysend album launch show for their sophomore effort Eve of Chaos, which should be in stores Friday February 19.

Melbourne and Australia’s leading exponents of the gurgly pitch shiftin’-est vokills The Day Everything Became Nothing are going to disgrace The Basement in Belconnen with their presence on Friday March 26. Having toured America and Europe and just finished supporting Mastodon in Melbourne recently, the band is in fine form so circle the 26th on your calendar for some of those super riffs.

Get ready to go back to Absolute Zero! Soulcrusher took out the Canberra triple j Unearthed competition back in 1996 with the track Absolute Zero (actually if my extremely foggy memory serves they shared the accolade with Liquid) and the band have decided to chuck a reunion show on Saturday March 6 at The Basement. Also along for this burst of nostalgia are Immorium and Scapegoat.

The Genitorturers are doing a tour of Australia in April for their fifth album Blackheart Revolution. Those keen to catch them can do so at Sydney’s Fetish Ball on Sunday April 25 at The Gaelic Theatre.

Alchemist are hard at work recording a new EP. Look forward to hearing the hard work gents!

There’s a bit of a Sydney metal mini-fest happening up the Hume at the Lewisham Hotel on Saturday April 17. Called Carnage, the fest features Killrazer, Deathcage, Cunt Butcher, Familia, Summonus, Sanctum, Forgery and Arrowhead. Also advertised are “metal markets” with discounted clothing, CDs, vinyl and more as well as more humorous touches such as a “metal comedian” and meat tray raffles. $20 bucks from Moshtix or $25 at the door.

Australian Iron Maiden cover band Maiden Oz are back at The Basement on Friday March 5.

Josh NP: Bastard Samurai – High on Fire – Serpents for the Divine JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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BLACKBOX

on games After months of speculation, Apple finally announced their tablet and iPad be thy name. A device best described as either an iPhone that doesn’t make calls, an iPod too large to fit in your pocket or a Mac Book that’s missing most of its functionality. And why’s this so, I pretend to hear you ask? Because Apple didn’t make this device for you. Indeed, if you’re capable of using two programs simultaneously, then you’re already over qualified to use the iPad. So while many of us are left asking questions like: why doesn’t it have HDMI port so I can hook it up to my HD 1080p LCD? Everyone else got scared off by all the acronymous in that sentence.

However, don’t start thinking that the iPad is totally useless quite yet.

If, like me, you double as an on-call technical assistant to your parents, the iPad could be your saviour. Yes, indeed, these are the people who Apple made this device for; the technically challenged.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that’s the extent of its market however.

There’s always the fashion hungry, Mac freaks out there, ready to hand over their (hard earned?) money, to ensure they have the latest and greatest shiny product.

Anyway, fanboys aside, one of the positives about the iPad is that it will be able to play all your favourite iPhone games. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at two of the more popular titles, to see if they deserve their hype.

Doodle Jump / Flight Control Publisher / Developer: Lima Sky / Firemint Rating: Buy it Playing style: Short bursts Length: N/A

Keep jumping higher and higher, until you fall; it’s a simple premise, but a surprisingly addictive one (You said it Torb. I don’t even own an iWank and I’m addicted - Ed.). Granted, you probably won’t play this game for hours on end, but it’s the kind you can pick up, have a crack or two at trying to beat your best score and then happily move on. Admittedly, it’s not action packed, but there’s a far greater chance you’ll be playing this a month after purchasing it than most other titles on offer. My only gripe is that the friend system could be a little more predominant, given how ludicrous the online scores are.

Appropriately enough, many of Doodle’s best qualities also hold true for Flight Control too: simple concept, great execution and some ‘have another crack’ playability. However, unlike Doodle, you’re going to need to invest a bit more time into each attempt, at which point it’s simple premise can start to tire. That said, it’s still enjoyable and at just over a buck it’s safe to say you’ll get your money’s worth. What’s more, it’s made by an Australian company, so players are treated to a special Flying Doctors level.

TORBEN SKO

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As Blackbox goes to press, the Winter Olympics (WIN, daily until Sun Feb 28, 9am + 9.30pm) are in full swing – presuming they’ve managed to truck in enough snow into Vancouver. This of course means four things: 1) nobody else is showing anything good*, 2) everybody else is airing the 39th run of a popular comedy or action movie*, 3) none of the big ticket new programming – Underbelly, V – is going to start until after the closing ceremony and 4) you get to watch weird sports you’ve never heard of and test the white balance on your telly at the same time. The Chez Blackbox favourite is curling – do your bit and lobby the Australian Olympic Committee for a curling team so we can be the Jamaican bobsled team of curling. Unlike the Delhi School Carnival later in the year, the Winter Olympics will have you on the edge of your seat willing the Aussie team to victory against the odds, even if they’ve spent so much of their lives in countries laden with snow that they don’t really sound like Aussies anymore. But the best reason to watch – Aussie folklore –is after all the event that coined the phrase ‘doing a Bradbury.’

On the subject of interesting sports – roller derby fans might want to check out Airways (Prime, Sun Feb 21, 8pm) which stars the Sydney Assassins derby team on the way to a meet. Nothing like checking out the potential competition for our own Surly Griffins and Black ‘n’ Bluebells (crdl.wikispaces.com).

Seven Ages of Rock (ABC1, Thu Feb 18, 8:30pm) winds up this week with an episode entitled What the World is waiting for: British Indie.

Blackbox has a different view of Oasis that may lead to BMA being banned, if published here.

The press release for Cougar Town (Prime, Thu, 8.30pm) says it “explores the honest truths about dating and aging in our beauty and youth obsessed culture” but really it’s just a bit of fun. It does for cougars what Big Bang Theory (Go!, Sun-Thu, 7.30pm + WIN, Mon, 8pm) did for nerds – makes them cool.

New shows hitting screens during the Olympics include cult Danish crime series The Killing (SBS1, Wed Feb 17, 8.30pm), Sanctuary (ABC2, Mon Mar 1, 9.30pm) – a sci-fi monsters come crime show with Stargate-style writing, plotlines and stars, Gavin & Stacey (ABC2, Thu, 9.30pm) – the quirky show that Prime buried last year gets a rerun on Auntie.

James May’s Toy Stories (SBS1, Fri Feb 26, 7.30pm) takes an in depth view of such childhood delights as plasticine – from which he creates an entire garden to enter the Chelsea Flower Show and Sex: The Revolution (ABC2, Wed Mar 3, 9.30pm) charts the sexual revolution from the 1950s until today – Auntie style rather than SBS style.

7TWO continues to be a dumping ground for Prime and a promotional tool for the main channel – at last count there had been four encores of the Lost season opener. Blackbox doubts anyone dedicated enough to still be watching a show that should have lasted a maximum of two seasons would have missed the season opener of the penultimate season.

Don’t miss Academy Season: Guess who’s coming to dinner (ABC2, Sat Mar 6, 8.30pm).

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com *except SBS and the ABC who figure most of their ratings come from people who don’t watch sport (except lawn bowls, local rugby and girls sports).

37

the word

on albums

album of the week animal collective fall be kind [domino]

Despite their performance at Meredith Festival being as enthralling as watching paint dry, Animal Collective hit the stage opening with the single from their new EP Fall Be Kind.

The song ripped through the Amphitheatre and proved why the band were the most deservedly hyped of 2009.

Featuring the only licensed sample ever from the ‘70s greats The Grateful Dead, What Would I Want? Sky sees the band sounding closer to Panda Bear’s solo material than their previous releases.

But let’s cut down to brass tax, this isn’t a bad thing. Keep the psychadelia but ditch the childish playfulness. Inject a brooding ethereal angst and that may give you an idea of what this beast sounds like.

Merriweather Post Pavilion opened 2009 like a shotgun full of wonderment and awe to the face. Fall Be Kind ended it with your hands clasping the gaping wound on the back of your head. You don’t know what on earth happened but you’ll happily take this trip again. And considering they’ve pumped out both of these best releases of 2009 even without key contributor Deakin; what would I want? More Animal Collective! lachlan shields

secret masters Words Power Sound [master tunes]

jonathan boulet jonathan boulet [modular]

The lion on the CD cover, done in the colours of the Jamaican flag, is a dead giveaway to the style of this album – it’s pure reggae mon! This is the second album from Australian duo Donnie Dub and Pieter Bourke. Recorded both here and in Jamaica, this international collaboration has guest vocals from a number of overseas artists. The white dudes from Melbourne have injected plenty of soul by featuring, amongst others, Jamaicans Kulcha Knox and Mad Doggy Dog. Whilst the core rhythm is always unmistakably reggae, there’s plenty of variety in the songs through the use of different tempos and the enhancement of melodies using various electronica.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any triple j listening indie poptarts in Australia who didn’t know the distinctive opening notes of A Community Service Announcement – the first single of Jonathan Boulet’s infatuating debut album. The fact that A Community Service Announcement – the album’s most accessible, but far from most immersive, track – is the last on the record reflects appropriately the modest assuredness of this potential laureate. Recorded by himself in his Castle Hills garage, Boulet has conjured an intriguing mélange of pop stylings which have the potential to both seduce and infuriate the listener. Boulet’s charm is that his determination and conviction, coupled with his creative curiosity, allow him to write songs ranging from beautiful acoustic odes, to electronica, disco-tinged indie treasures, to nearexperimentalist jungle-pop, to name but a few of the album’s movements. Conversely, his ability to infuriate is rooted in the almost suffocating positivity of each song. Despite the diversity of styles on the album, the overwhelming “life-affirming” tone and “unbridled optimism” (as articulated in his bio – I couldn’t have said it better) of every single moment of the album makes you feel like you’re being forced to spend 45 minutes with a group of psychopathically joyous teenagers fresh from World Youth Day. However, luckily for Boulet, there is the slightest, teasing, sense of a darker and more intriguing side to his character, and that alone is enough to make him one to keep an eye on.

The pace varies from the chill-out Baby I Love You So (a definite highlight) with the cool voice of Australia’s own Kylie Auldist, to the fast and bouncy title track. Dub influences feature strongly, with Hot in the Club being a notable highlight.

Themes go from the serious topic of racism in Black Culture to the madcap ganja anthem More Weed. What If contains some stand out lyrics, including the enlightening “What if people never smoke cannabis, then I couldn’t write lyrics like this”.

The fine differences between songs can best be appreciated on the second disk, which provides instrumental versions of all tracks. While those who can take or leave reggae may find it a bit of overkill, fans of the genre should lap this up.

RORY MCCARTNEY

38

BEN HERMANN

keel The Right to Rock - 25th Anniversary re-issue [Frontiers/Riot] It may be hard for you youngsters to comprehend, but when TRTR first came out, the forces of repression were abroad in the world, and heavy metal was under the cosh from politicians and ‘religious’ people everywhere – and a band proclaiming that we all had ‘the right to rock’ was nowhere near as crass as that statement now appears on paper, a quarter of a century after the fact.

Of course good won over evil in the end, and it’s the right of all humans of voting age to rock as they go about their daily business. But will they be rocking to Keel?

Probably not. Despite its shinily re-mastered appearance, The Right to Rock is what it is – a top-of-the-second-division eighties metal record. Of course it has its moments – the title track is an absolute, of its time metal CLASSIC, but elsewhere there’s a lot of ham fisted posturing going on, saved only by vocalist Ron Keel’s impassioned bellowing and some occasionally enticing guitar work from the amusingly named Marc Ferrari, both of whom do their best to enliven some workaday outings which often sound like offcuts from the Kiss albums of the time – no surprise when you know that the album was produced and in parts co-written by ol’ Mr Tongue himself, Gene Simmons.

More misses than hits, then, and not without some period charm – but you can live without this.

SCOTT ADAMS

singled out

with Dave Ruby Howe

grant hart hot wax [fuse]

minkengine mink engine [interscope]

the new christs gloria [impedance]

There is little to compare to the exhilarating sonic rush that burst forth from 1980s US punk band Husker Du despite the often worthwhile solo efforts from former band members.

The intense emotional release on classic albums like Zen Arcade and New Day Rising resonated with similarly inclined boundary breakers like The Pixies and Nirvana who also understood that catharsis through raging guitars and a bit of screaming was the most effective way of dealing with that pesky artistic sensitivity.

Husker Du was an incredibly integrated unit, so it was unfortunate that it all ended acrimoniously. Guitarist Bob Mould subsequently embarked on a hit and miss solo career, as did drummer Grant Hart who has broken a long silence with a new solo album that teases out all those melodic hooks that Husker Du often buried under layers of noise.

Hot Wax seems to happily explore a 1960s garage rock vibe through an emphasis on organic instrumentation and the suggestion that a simple melody is often the best one.

In this respect, such tracks as I Knew About You Since Then pursue a whimsical breeziness that would have been right at home on a Kinks album of the late 1960s. On the final offering My Regrets, Hart strangely sounds like former Husker band mate Bob Mould. I wonder if such lines as, “I’m sending you all my regrets,” were meant for him, or possibly any one of us?

Mink Engine’s latest electro pop release, Acres Of Diamonds, is set to make inroads into the overcrowded genre of electro pop. The ‘80sesque sound, laden with synths and drum machines, achieves the duo’s goal of creating a hyper technicolour beast rampaging through my mind, if I concentrate enough.

Askii (Adam Milburn) and Touch Me Tiger (Holly-Anne Buck) let their tweaked speech liven up most of the tracks while in others the generally mild bass and electronic tidbits do their work.

However, their simple and catchy lyrics serve the purpose of breaking up the tracks and keep things interesting. Through their sugary and floaty lyrics they seek to communicate an (unexpected) variety of moral messages regarding the futility of fame, the dangers of over indulgence and arrogance and the mindcontrolling society we live in.

And they do this using a host of fun characters; Dick Chicken, Cakehead, Dr Daikon and Mutant Apples. The Melbourne based duo’s decidedly arty background reverberates through their album, film clips and website.

TMT is responsible for the group’s computer generated surrealist-pop-art-collage with hints of ‘80s video game graphics with a smattering of Warhol that make for a truly individual visual display. This visual element is a massive component in all their work, apparently coming into full effect in live shows. I reckon the Engine’s tracks will not be long from dance floors and will ride neatly alongside MGMT, The Presets and Midnight Juggernauts.

Like sands through the hourglass indeed. Turn your back for a moment and suddenly youth has slipped through your fingers. You’re some washed-up hack in your 20s with your best days behind you and nothing but a stack of papers and some Sloan records to show for it all. And all the while that New Christs album has been sitting on your desk, unattended.

Dan Bigna

jessica conway

In truth it’s only been about six months, but that’s already far, far too long. A new ‘Christs record is rare enough in itself, so it’s unforgivable I’ve left Gloria to gather dust.

Led, as always, by former Radio Birdman frontman Rob Younger - the one constant through the group’s 30-year history, which has seen members of Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, The Saints (Canberra’s adopted son Bruce Callaway, to be precise), Celibate Rifles, Lime Spiders, The Hitmen and countless others pass through the ranks - the band sound as vital as ever.

While Birdman powered along on the furious riffage of Deniz Tek, there’s a swagger, an almost menacing groove to The New Christs. The Posse is an instant classic, while album closer Bonsoir à Vous is one of the most anthemic cuts of power-pop you’re likely to come across this side of the millennium.

While by no means a substitute for their excellent - not to mention deafening - live show, Gloria is very fine rock and roll LP. PETER krbavac

Goldfrapp - Rocket [EMI] For those of us that loved the electro, Black Cherry version of Goldfrapp, last album Seventh Tree was a bit of a fizzler. But it would seem as though Goldfrapp have got their groove back, or at least their platform boots as comeback single Rocket shoots along on glitter-lined clouds of smooth ‘80s synth-pop. It’s cheery as hell and it feels damn good.

Ke$ha - Blah Blah Blah (Sony BMG) Despite any lingering good will she might’ve had for Tik Tok, which was admittedly insanely catchy, that chick with the dollar sign in her name has officially outstayed her welcome with new single Blah Blah Blah which simply regurgitates the harddrinking, hard-partying electro rap that worked so well the first time. $eeya.

Marina & The Diamonds Hollywood (Warner) Marina finally comes into the light with Hollywood; a gleeful mix of bouncy piano, lustrous production and of course Marina’s bright lyrics delivered in her twisted operatic style. It’d be easy to put her down as the latest Kate Bush wannabe, but she spins her own style and it’s very special to hear.

Two Door Cinema Club Undercover Martyn (Kitsune) I honestly cannot stop going on about these kids. After two brilliant singles they’re back and kicking off their debut album.

Sure, Undercover Martyn isn’t as strong as past jams, but it’s still a deliriously upbeat bit of stylish garage-pop and kicks the butt of any other song you’ll hear after it.

Unless you press repeat, that is.

39

the word

on films

WITH MARK RUSSELL

Having watched Invictus this issue, I’m a little unsure of myself. When I first heard Nelson Mandela and Morgan Freeman mentioned in the same sentence, I confidently declared that this, was a prepackaged Oscar. Thankfully it doesn’t look like he’s really the frontrunner and, to tell you the truth though – I’d be quite disappointed if he won.

Not quite Denzel winning for Training Day disappointed...

Nowhere near Crash beating Brokeback Mountain and Good Night, and Good Luck disappointed... Or even The English Patient beating Fargo disappointed...but...Jesus, why do I keep watching this goddamn ceremony?

quote of the issue

“He’s a man, not a saint. With a man’s problems.”

Linga Moonsamy (Patrick Mofokeng) Invictus

invictus

a prophet (un prophete)

valentine’s day

As a character of history, Nelson Mandela is relatively bulletproof.

Some people have drawn attention to his less than perfect treatment of his wife, but on the whole he comes off pretty spotless. This kind of character makes for great history, it doesn’t necessarily make for great cinema.

imdb.com’s plot synopsis of A Prophet is beautifully succinct: “A young Arab man is sent to a French prison where he becomes a mafia kingpin.”

Indeed, we join 19-year-old Malik (Tahar Rahim) at the start of a six-year stint in the big clink. His crime is unnamed, but his scars tell a story. He is tough, but wide-eyed and nervous. His Arab background sees him coerced by fearsome Corsican crime boss Cesar (Niels Arestrup) to kill Arab snitch Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi) residing in Malik’s cell block.

‘Naff’ is a word so rarely justified. Few situations require the depths of blandness and lack of inspiration conveyed by this sentiment. Valentine’s Day sets out to change this alarming negligence of language.

Invictus is well-acted. Morgan Freeman is good (though surprisingly less than brilliant) in the role he was born to play.

Matt Damon shows a lot of class, even occasionally outshining the heavyweight leading man.

It’s well-directed, as would be expected from Clint Eastwood, even if the cinematography is a little uninspired.

The main area where the film lacks spark is the story – it’s just not Nelson Mandela’s. The way he engineers the unification of black and white South Africa through rugby builds nicely, but halfway through it all just turns into a football movie, with occasional crosses to Nelson biting his nails. Damon’s rugby captain Francois Pienaar dominates these sections, partly because he gets more air-time, partly because he actually undergoes some kind of journey. It seems that as an ideal, and as an idol, Mandela is too sacred to be given human character flaws. The throwaway line that is the quote of this issue is the only suggestion we get of any chink in his moral armour. Instead, he’s reduced to an endless succession of rousing speeches, which lose their poignancy as they grow in number.

It’s all passable enough, but Invictus doesn’t excite and inspire as it should. mark russell

40

Over the next six years, and near two-and-a-half hours running time, we witness the subtle transformation of Malik as manipulated to manipulator as he learns the machinations and politics of organised crime.

It sounds like a grandiose action flick, but is instead an insular character piece, and in this it is amazing. The Malik at the film’s conclusion is completely different to the one at the start, but his journey is so well crafted as to make such a transformation believable. A Prophet is meticulous, captures the drudgery and occasional violence of prison life without resorting to continuous Ozlike extremes, and has some magnificent performances, particularly that of Rahim whose expressive eyes remind one of a young Al Pacino in The Godfather. It is also deliberately slow, and its pace will divide audiences. Some will find it interminably dull, others an expertly paced character piece.

I moved from the former to the latter; A Prophet has lived in my head. A succinct plot that spins an intricate journey. allan sko

It’s easy to say that any film based on interweaving storylines about love is taking something from the Working Title film Love Actually. It’s much easier to make the comparison however, when the film in question steals wholesale from it. The makers of Valentine’s Day even found a bunch of reasonable actors to assist with this larceny.

Note: real emotion and comedy – come out of realism.

Everything in this film operates in some kind of cliché-ridden surreality. This is a place where eighteen year old teenagers are getting ready to have sex for the first time, as opposed to their friends who are waiting to ‘make it special’. Only the pope and Tony Abbott would call that realism in today’s society.

There’s even a moment where love-sick florist Ashton Kutcher convinces a grumpy airport attendant to let him through the boarding gates without a ticket, simply by saying if he doesn’t it will ruin the life of someone who is “like sunshine”. In our post-911 world, your average airport would eclipse that shit real damn quick.

If February 14 sees has you looking for saccharine sap over substance, this might be right up your alley. If you prefer a little less formula and a little more originality – this sort of thing has been done better many, many times. mark russell

the word on dvds

Lancelot Link Secret Chimp [Shock]

From the Basement [Eagle Rock/Shock]

So here’s the deal. It’s 1970.

Everyone’s really fucking high because in their mind Woodstock is still going or they’ve just come back from the real downer that was Altamont. On the one hand Black Sabbath released their genre-defining debut album – on the other the My Lai Massacre defined the worst excesses of military power. Elvis Presley made his live comeback and Paul McCartney officially dissolved The Beatles. Through it all a bunch of chimps dressed as secret agents, evil German henchmen, Mexican cowboys and Native Americans entertained all and sundry with hilariously plotted adventures that lead me beg the questions: (i) why? and (ii) no, seriously, why?

Inspired by UK institution The Old Grey Whistle Test, famed record producer Nigel Godrich has created a music show without overzealous hosts, audiences of screeching provincial teenagers or seizureinducing editing and lighting.* Originally envisaged as a podcast, that format was – as with most good ideas – soon found to be financially nonviable and the program was shopped to the networks, which is why we have to make do with this highlights package from the first season.

The devil-may-care attitude of the era did throw up the occasional gem (The Banana Splits and HR Pufnstuf, for example) but the sight of chimps donning hilarious Hitler moustaches, chimps masquerading as a groovy psychedelic band (The Evolution Revolution) or chimps rocking out the tweed’n’trilby combo is not only a struggle to take seriously – it’s frankly difficult to figure out what the hell is going on.

The slim plots of each episode are built around the unpredictable antics of the ‘talent’ who were voice-overed by simians further up the evolutionary chain in postproduction. It’s total ‘70s kitsch, apparently quite an expensive venture and I would normally recommend any absurdist, who-gives-a-shit TV show from any decade but Lancelot Link has be the worst case of chimpsloitation I’ve ever seen.

And as my friends will readily tell you – I take chimpsloitation very seriously.

JUSTIN HOOK

As befits its ‘serious music program’ status, and unsurprising given Godrich’s involvement, Radiohead feature heavily, but we also have, amongst other things, Sonic Youth’s sublime rendition of The Sprawl, a glorious turn from Super Furry Animals, Albert Hammond Jr ploughing through Guided By Voices’ one-chord chugger Postal Blowfish and Eels’ Mark Everett delivering a positively heartbreaking solo performance.

While programs like The Word or Top of the Pops undoubtedly have their place, providing a platform for any number of infamous performances over the years, it’s quite nice to be able to actually enjoy the tunes on offer – and with Godrich behind the mixing desk the sound here is, obviously, spot on. As are the visuals, with the artists shot in beautifully composed, lingering frames.

Given the complete dearth of quality music shows on Australian TV, the scraps from Ol’ Blighty’s table will clearly have to suffice.

PETER KRBAVAC *For one of the worst offenders, track down The Prodigy’s 1992 appearance on the excellently titled Dance Energy.

the september issue “I don’t do fashion, I am fashion” said Coco Chanel, a few words reducing the fashion industry to its core elements: self aggrandisement, hysterical narcissism, wit, a thin grasp of grammatical construction and image obsession. It’s about living in an alternate reality and in an industry built on unchecked ego Anna Wintour is some sort of terrifying, figurehead. As editor of US Vogue, Wintour’s job remit is to organise lots of pretty pictures on pages so they look fabulous next to each other, yell at her staff and sit dispassionately in sunglasses at fashion shows whilst young designers throw themselves at her feet. It’s a uniformly vulgar display of obsequiousness, but that’s the business folks.

The September Issue - directed

by RJ Cutler, also responsible for the insidery The War Room which followed the Clinton campaign in its 1992 White House tilt - is in the same boat as last year’s doco about disgraced boxer Mike Tyson (Tyson). Whilst both films project impartiality, they are hagiographic apologias. In Tyson’s case it was overcoming a charge sheet as long as it was violent. In Wintour’s case it’s reversing her well earned hard faced bitch reputation; in fact the doco seems like a reaction to the thinly veiled attack book/ film about her, The Devil Wears Prada. So we get lots of footage demonstrating her considerable business acumen; we also get plenty of footage confirming her status as a style maker and a family scene or two to soften the edges. But we also get a glimpse into the beating heart of Vogue in Grace Coddington; ex-model and Wintour’s longsuffering offsider and only person strong enough to stand up to her severely-fringed boss.

It may be Wintour’s magazine – but Coddington is the star.

She almost makes you forget how venal the fashion industry can be.

JUSTIN HOOK

41

GIG GUIDE Feb 17 - Feb 21 wednesday february 17

thursday february 18

arts

arts

Last Studio Artists’ Exhibition

Arc Cinema: Departures

‘Til Feb 28.

M16 ARTSPACE

Wednesday Gallery Talks

Jude Rae discusses her portraits of artists Micky Allan and Richard Lee in Idle hours.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Bald Archy Prize 2010

A newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arc Cinema: Into the Shadows Explores behind the Australian big screen to meet the filmmakers, distributors and exhibitors.

An exhibition of portrait of humour, dark satire, light comedy and caricature. ‘Til March 8.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

WATSON ARTS CENTRE

Dance

Flying Flings

Faux Real

Exhibition by Emily Valentine. ‘Til March 20.

CRAFT ACT

Australian of the Year: Inspiring a Nation Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Australian of the Year Awards. ‘Til April 26.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Walykumunu Palaynma - Paint Right Way

New paintings from Papulankutja. Until Thursday March 4.

CHAPMAN GALLERY

Live Pieno Presents Voss, Hoodlum Shouts and Kasha Twisted tales from Voss, sleep-time grit from Hoodlum Shouts and the metronomic guts of Kasha. 8pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Piano duo with Kylie Loveland and Ella Luhtasaari. $2 entry. Refreshments $1.

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE

The Drunk Uncles THE PHOENIX PUB

Haiti Fundraiser: Live Music Night

Raising much needed funds for the people of Haiti, with Turbulence, Scaramouche and Astrochem.

Faux free. 9pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Live Daniel Champagne

With Julie Barnes and Friends.

THE MERRY MUSE

The Bridge Between 6-9pm.

BLAKSTONE, MANUKA

ROSE COTTAGE

Bass Kleph

On The Underground tour.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Kasey Taylor (Portugal) and Phil K (Mel) Presented by Effigy Entertainment. With Fourthstate, Gabe Gilmour and more.

Limited tix on door.

HIPPO LOUNGE

My Favourite Things 4

Ivoj Nob

Hip hop and dubstep and funk and dnb, these are a few of our favourite things.

HELLENIC CLUB

Live

The ultimate Bon Jovi tribute band. ‘80s rock attire a must!

Teen Skank Parade

MERCURY BAR

Polo Club

Anarchist Duck

YHA

POT BELLY BAR

TRANSIT BAR

Domus Adultus

D’Opus & Roshambo, Wax Lyrical, Truth Benders, Smith Brothers and more.

Alongside local favourites Dub Dub Goose. $12/$10, music starts at 8pm.

Skipping Girl Vinegar Afternoon show. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Feat. Gemma and John, Jason Recliner and Genevieve and the Assumptions.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Heuristic

Special K

Leanne Melmoth

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

THE PHOENIX PUB

10pm-2am.

10.30pm-2.30am.

9pm-midnight.

Something Like This

Holly Throsby

Kristy Apps

D’Opus

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFE

HIPPO LOUNGESATURD

Sydney’s favourite psychadelic sons hit The Front.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Energetic, accoustic drive and live.

Something Different PJ’s Variety Night

An eclectic mix of live music, comedians and loads of giveaways.

Kicks off at 8.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Karaoke

Cash prizes, 2 for 1 basic spirits and tap beer, and free pool. DJ Peter Doree from 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

THE DURHAM

$5, 9pm.

saturday february 20 arts Arc Cinema: Wake in Fright

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arc Cinema: Louise-Michel

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arc Cinema: La Dolce Vita ARC OUTDOOR CINEMA

friday february 19

Foreplay Fridays

9 ‘til 5 with DJs Pete & Matt. Free entry before 10pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Rev

Canberra’s weekly alt club night with two levels of DJs playing rock/indie/ dance/punk/pop. $5.

BAR 32

Frank Madrid

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

42

Let the Bass Kick in Miami Girl + MC Ambush, A-Tonez, Staky, Cheese and Sean Kelly. $15 presale.

Alternative arts, music, and lifestyle festival, feat. multiple stages, markets, workshops and more.

Summer Rooftop Party

Something Different

TRANSIT BAR

DJ Chuckie

Mother Nature Two Day Festival

Joined by Paulie the Water Tiger and The Paranoia Club (Syd). 8pm, $5.

dance

2 for 1 pizzas all day. Get fed and watered and still have change for pool.

Result.

TRANSIT BAR

Live

POT BELLY BAR

$5 Night @ Transit

Strangeways DJs

dance Candy Cube

Supported by The Cashews. Free show.

Deep Sea Arcade

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Something Different Carry-On Karaoke

Every Saturday, from 9.30pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

Cinema Under the Stars: La Dolce Vita

Arc Cinema’s Cinema Under the Stars- returns in Summer with outdoor screenings of old favourites.

ARC OUTDOOR CINEMA

sunday february 21

10 ‘til 5 with DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse.

arts

[NULL]

World’s biggest short film festival.

3pm, free.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

A cyberpunk themed club night featuring giveaways from madman.com. au . 9pm, $5.

TRANSIT BAR

Nathan Frost

Cooling your loins in the heat of the night.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Tropfest

COMMONWEALTH PLACE

The Ronnie Johns Goodtimes Campfire Jamboree Your fav sketches and characters from the Logie nominated show. canberratheatrecentre.com.au .

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

43

GIG GUIDE Feb 21 - Mar 3 Arc Cinema: Louise-Michel

What to do when the workers of a factory have been laid off overnight?

Louise has an original idea.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Dance Cube Sunday

Party on after the weekend’s over with DJ TJ from 10 ‘til late. Free pool.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Live The Bridge Between 2-5pm.

BLAKSTONE, MANUKA

Irish Jam Session

Come and have a fiddle.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

monday february 22

Cut Cord

D’Opus

Corporate Takedown

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

AXIS YOUTH CENTRE, QUEANBEYAN

Exhibition by emerging sculptor Skylen Dall. ‘Til March 7.

Arc Cinema: Opera Jawa

A song and dance piece from Indonesia about the Indian Hindu mythological story of the Ramayana.

Smooth grooves from the dancefloor doctor. D’Opus will keep your temperature up.

Dance

Corinbank Festival

HIPPO LOUNGE

Le Chat Noir

Burlesque performances, live music, fashion and DJs in the sumptuous surrounds of the Kremlin Bar. KREMLIN BAR

Strangeways DJs TRANSIT BAR

Yeah you read right. Lupe-krunkinFiasco with full band!

Imperial

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

DJ Crunch

Lupe Fiasco

Live

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

With Steady the Fall, Short Fuse, No Assumption, 6-10pm, AA, free. No drugs or alcohol.

UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA

Oscar

Arythmia EP Launch

10.30pm-2.30am.

POT BELLY BAR

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

The Justin Walshe Folk Machine

Three days feat. You Am I, Clare Bowditch, Ash Grunwald, Urthboy, Astronomy Class and more.

Folk-country extravaganza.

THE PHOENIX PUB

CORIN FOREST MOUNTAIN RESORT

Robin Casinader with Jenny Spear

Velvette

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

saturday february 27

Of Dave Graney & The Coral Snakes and The Wreckery Fame. Gold coin donation entry.

TAKE THYME OUT CAFE

Ashley Feraude

Arts

Something Different

dance

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Belco Bowl Jam

Hospitality Night feat. UniVibes DJs

Live

Arc Cinema: The Screen at Kamchanod

Proof that disco ‘aint dead.

TRANSIT BAR

tuesday february 23 live Bootlegs

Illusion of Despair

An innovative and talented bunch of central-coasters? No illusion, we swear.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Domus Adultus

Feat. Sally Holiday, The Blue Ruins and Mysterio.

THE PHOENIX PUB

A quietly disturbing horror film from Thailand that’ll hang with you. Be warned!

ARC OUTDOOR CINEMA

Arc Cinema: A Poet

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Arc Cinema: Agrarian Utopia

Tim Maloney, Matt Dent and Daniel Champagne.

Charles Chatain KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Dance

Wolves in the Throne Room (US)

Jonathan Boulet

With Monarch (FRA), Agents of Abhorrence and 4Dead.

THE BASEMENT

wednesday february 24 arts Wednesday Gallery Talks

Maria Ramsden takes you behind the scenes to see how new acquisitions become part of the collection.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

9pm-midnight.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Sugar and spice and all things twice with Jemist and Blake Budak.

Karaoke

Cash prizes, 2 for 1 basic spirits and tap beer, and free pool. DJ Peter Doree from 11pm.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Arc Cinema: The Dreamers

Leave it to the French to be exploring l’amour in all its myriad possibilities!

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Live

friday february 26 Arts Blaze 4

Dance Foreplay Fridays

9 ‘til 5 with DJs Pete & Matt. Free entry before 10pm.

Trivia

DJ Bucky

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

Free, 9pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

thursday february 25 Arts Poetry Slam

Open mic and poetry slam. Doors open 7.30pm. $3 entry (free for performers).

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFE

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TRANSIT BAR

A Hong Kong disturbance as a 23 year old man hooks up with a 15 year old girl.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Cube Sunday

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

The Hump Day Project

Trouble Makers Music making tourble at Academy.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Candy Cube

10 ‘til 5 with DJs Peter Dorree and Matt Chavasse.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

The Justin Walshe Folk Machine

monday march 1 live Bootlegs

THE PHOENIX

wednesday march 3 live Katie Noonan and the Captains ANU BAR

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Something Different TRANSIT BAR

Launching Sydney street-fashion label Pete Versus Toby, with DJs and more.

THE PHOENIX PUB -

WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE THE PHOENIX PUB

Heartbeat

Arc Cinema: Talentime

Wednesday Lunchtime Live

Nick and Liesl

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Live

Raved as one of the best Malaysian movies in living history.

Aeolus Wind Trio. A sunny little concert with works by Gershwin, Ibert, Milhaud and more.

Ladybird Lounge

Blaze is CCAS’s annual emerging artist showcase exhibition. ‘Til April 1.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Arc Cinema: Adrift

A young newlywed couple in Hanoi begin to experiment with their sexual desires.

Arc Cinema: At the End of Daybreak

French Region Evening

Secret Cities Exhibition Opening An opening for new digital paintings by Paul Summerfield.

With Mario Gordan. $10, 9pm.

HIPPO LOUNGE

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

Arts

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

One Love

Something Different Presentation of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Booking & payment essential by Feb 18.

BELCONNEN SKATE PARK

sunday february 28

New cinema from Southeast Asia.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

THE PHOENIX PUB

A blood pumping lineup of pro Australian and US skaters. 5pm-late.

AA, free.

Rev

Canberra’s weekly alt club night with two levels of DJs playing rock/indie/ dance/punk/pop. $5.

BAR 32

OUT mar 3

flipart grinspoon gangbusters angus and Julia stone tokyo shock boys

Boys Noize (Germany)

With Ajax, Aston Shuffle and The Swiss, Hubert, Cheese and Offtapia. $35+bf.

UCU REFECTORY

…AND MORE

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SIDE A: BMA artist profile

Velvette

Where did your band name come from? Random band name generator.

Group members?

Martin Tavaya (vocals), Ally Cowell (vocals), Dan Tonkovic (bass), Adrian Tonkovic (drums), Liam Wilson (keys), Daniel Miller (guitar).

Describe your sound: Fresh and energetic; a fusion of funk, soul, r ‘n’ b and hip-hop.

We will have you mesmerised with our live funk hip to the hop sound.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise?

Anything that grooves, vibes, and feels good.

What’s the weirdest experience you’ve had whilst performing?

Not really weird, but it was funny having the lion from Madagascar groovin’ to us at the Tuggeranong Festival in 2009.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far?

Recording our debut album Velvelution in our own studio and having people like Mark Webber (CIT) who mixed our CD and Don Bartley (The Saints, Savage Garden) who mastered it, saying “this sounds great! I don’t have to do much…”

What are your plans for the future?

Playing more shows and writing/recording another CD. At the moment Dan’s doing an urban compilation CD, which will feature some of Canberra’s premium urban acts.

What makes you laugh?

Gotta say auto-tune – it’s on EVERYTHING these days (even our stuff, haha).

What pisses you off?

Being badly sunburnt under a tent/tarp at a Christmas gig.

What’s your opinion of the local scene?

It’s really diverse, so many great bands and acts in Canberra, in all the different genres.

What are your upcoming gigs?

O Week at the ANU (held over Monday-Friday February 1519) and at King O’Malley’s on Friday February 26.

Contact info: Ally Cowell – 0419420727 velvetteband@gmail.com www.myspace.com/velvetteband

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FIRST CONTACT Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 Adam Hole Adam 0421 023 226 Afternoon Shift Adam 0402 055 314 After Close Scotty 0412 742 682, afterclose@hotmail.com Alcove Mark 0410 112 522 Alice 0423 100 792 Allies ACT (Oxfam Group) alliesact@hotmail.com/ myspace.com/alliesact Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410 308 288 Amplif5’d Classic rock covers band Joy 0407 200 428, joybarac-heath@hotmail.com Annie & the Armadillos Annie 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone, sax & flute, singer/ songwriter (guitar) Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows - bookings@birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438 351 007 Blister Bug Stu 0408 617 791 Bridge Between, The Rachel 0412 598 138, thebridgebetween.com.au Bruce Stage mgr/consultant 6254 9857 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 Chris Harland Blues Band 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Clear Vision Films rehearsals/film clips/stunts - 0438 647 281 wcoulton.clearvisionfilms.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 087 833/colebennetts@gmail.com Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 Dawn Theory Nathan 0402 845 132 D’Opus & Roshambo hifidelitystyles@yahoo.com DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 DJ Latino Rogelio 0401 274 208 DJ Moises (RnB/Latin) 0402 497 835 or moises_lopez@hotmail DNA Vic 0408 477 020 Drumassault Kate 0414 236 323 Easy Mode Daz 0404 156 482, easymodeband@gmail.com Entity Chris 0412 027 894 Epic Flagon band@epicflagon.com Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402 055 314 Final Warning Brendan 0422 809 552 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410 381 306/ Lachlan 0400 038 388 4dead Peter 0401 006 551 Freeloaders, The Steve 0412 653 597 Friend or Enemy 6238 0083, www.myspace.com/friendorenemy Funk Shui Dave 0407 974 476 Gareth Hailey DJ & Electronica 0414 215 885 GiLF Kelly 0410 588 747, gilf.mail@gmail.com HalfPast Chris 0412 115 594 Hancock Basement Tom 6257 5375, hancockbasement@hotmail.com Happy Hour Wendy 0406 375 096 Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com Hitherto Paul 0408 425 636 Infra Retina Kyle 0437 137 775/Michael 0425 890 023/www.infra-retina.com In The Flesh Scott 0410 475 703 Inside the Exterior Nathan 0401 072 650 Itchy Triggers Andrew 0401 588 884

Jacqui Seczawa 0428 428 722 JDY Clothing 0405 648 288/ www.jdyclothing.com Jenn Pacor singer/songwriter avail. for originals & covers, 0405 618 630 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408 287 672, paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/ dj@karismakatz.com Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Andy 0401 572 150 los.chavos@yahoo.com.au Manilla Green Herms 0404 848 462, contactus@manillagreen.com, Mario Brujo Gordon world/latin/ reggae/percussionist and DJ. 0405 820 895 Martin Bailey Audio Engineer 0423 566 093 Mercury Switch Lab Studios mercuryswitch@internode.on.net Missing Zero Hadrian Brand 0424 721 907 hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Huck 0419 630 721 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 Phathom Chris 0422 888 700 The Pigs The Colonel 0422 412 752 Polka Pigs Ian 6231 5974 Premier Audio Simon 0412 331 876, premier_audio@hotmail.com Redletter Ben 0421 414 472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404 178 996/6162 1527 Rhythm Party, The Ross 0416 010 680 Roger Bone Band Andy 0413 483 758 Rob Mac Project, The Melinda 0400 405 537 Rug, The Jol 0417 273 041 Samsara Samahdi 0431 083 776 Sansutra J-Ma 0403 476 350 Simone Penkethman (Simone & The Soothsayers, Singing Teacher) 6230 4828 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401 588 884 Solid Gold Peter 0421 131 887/ solid.gold@live.com.au Super Best Friends Matt 0438 228 748 Surrender Jordan 0439 907 853 Switch 3 Mick 0410 698 479 System Addict Jamie 0418 398 556 Taboo Bamboo Greg 0439 990 455 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tiger Bones & The Ferabul-Zers Danny feralbul@aapt.net.au Tim James Lucia 6282 3740, LUCIAMURDOCH@hotmail.com Top Shelf Colin 0408 631 514 Transmission Nowhere Emilie 0421 953 519/myspace.com/ transmissionnowhere Udo 0412 086 158 Undersided, The Baz 0408 468 041 Using Three Words Dan 0416 123 020, usingthreewords@hotmail.com Voodoo Doll Mark 0428 650 549 William Blakely Will 0414 910 014 Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

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