ENTERTAINMENT
THE SONGS OF A SURVIVOR S H E ’S A WO M A N W I T H A B I G VO I C E A N D A N E V E N B I G G E R H E A RT.
Fifteen years after her last album, Colleen Hewett has returned to the studio to create the album she has wanted to make for a long time. Black & White sees Colleen set her stirring vocal ability free with genres ranging from emotional ballads to country and soulful blues tracks as she takes the listener on a journey that traces her family history, including previously unknown details about her ancestry and experience with domestic violence. While at time its heavy and at times taboo subject matter, Hewett manages to create an uplifting show where she presents the songs that started it all for her. A blend of blues and songs that tell the story of her life. It’s been fifteen years since your last album. What was it like stepping back into the studio for Black & White? Fifteen years goes so quickly, and during that time I have been very busy. A number of stage musicals, my first film and live performances, and so making albums was not in my thinking.
Live Music ROCKING THE YAC This Friday sees the YACROCKCAFE Hardcore shows back at the YAC. Local legends of the stage, Seabound, Moans Like Lisa and Knuckle Children join Sydney band Grizzly Adams for a massive FREE show! Seabound and Moans Like Lisa were two of the very first bands to debut at the YACROCKCAFE three years ago and they have since built up quite a following. Seabound have gone on to perform with bands such as In Hearts Wake and are
about to take part in the The Holy War Australian Tour with Thy Art Is Murder, who are currently on tour in America with Slayer and Whitechapel. Moans Like Lisa’s original claim to fame was the fact that they were the very first band ever to have come out of little old Evans Head, and boy, did they! They’ve been playing to packed audiences up and down the east coast for the last three years now. Knuckle Children emerged on the hardcore scene in 2013 and have been smashing the scene ever since. Sydney-based Grizzly Adams are
Cedar Guitar - Country Music Festival Clelia Adams, Ray Essery, Terry Gordon with Rod Coe and Warren Earl
Friday 4th Sept – 7pm
DON WALKER & Band Saturday 5th Sept – 7.30pm Come and spice up your night Experience the real taste of Thailand Free courtesy bus provided for pick up and drop off
Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club |
Club_Mullum
58 Dalley Street, Mullumbimby | 6684 2533
Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club practices Responsible Service. If Gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call the G-line toll-free on 1800 633 635. NSW Permit numbers - All Lotteries - LTPM/13/00601, Wed Draw - 14/08984, Super 10 - 14/00478
40 September 2, 2015 The Byron Shire Echo
Not me. I have no shame at all. The positive is that I chose to do something about it and while I am helping to bring awareness to a men’s help line, through Violence Free Families and Rotary, women are also perpetrators of violence. People reading this will understand what I mean so we should all wake up to ourselves and think about what we are doing. Tell me about Shut Up and Let Me Breathe. Shut Up and Let me Breathe was written by Tracey Bunn, who lives in Darwin. When I first heard the song, I immediately felt that it described the anguish and frustration of violence in my life perfectly. It was like Tracey was looking into my mind and conveying exactly how I felt through her magnificent song. We were supported by some wonderful people in the video clip who stood up and said No to family violence and we are proud of what we have achieved. What should we expect for the show at the Ballina RSL?
The story of domestic violence is everywhere, and I am not preaching anything. I refuse to say I am a victim, because I am actually a SURVIVOR. And most importantly, I never look back. When I was asked to be an ambassador for Violence Free Families by Rotary, I accepted immediately because I knew I could do my bit to help create awareness of VFF.
I have been looking forward to Ballina for quite some time, because the club management do a fantastic job in promoting Australian artists. My show will have some of the hits, some of my new material, great playing from my beautiful band, and most importantly – FUN. I want to chat to people and get to know them, share a few stories, and I want people to come and say g’day. I don’t take myself seriously and I consider it a privilege to be asked to sing today, as much as I did when my uncle gave me a special present for my 14th birthday in Bendigo. The gift was to sing three songs with his band, and I have haven’t stopped since. I am a very lucky SURVIVOR!’
Many people have such intense shame around their experience of violence.
Colleen Hewett plays the Ballina RSL on Friday at 8.30pm. Tix are $30 and are available at the club.
What is the story that you want to tell about domestic violence and the affect it has on families?
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW ONLINE AT echo.net.au/the-songs-of-a-survivor
Why is it that you have chosen to make an album and speak out?
a melodic hardcore outfit, who burst onto the Sydney Hardcore scene in 2014 with their first EP and have toured relentlessly ever since, playing more than 50 shows last year alone. The YACROCKCAFE is really excited to have all these bands back for another show in Byron! Byron YAC on Friday with doors open at 6pm for a 7pm start. The YACROCKCAFE is a combined initiative of BUDDI, Byron Underage Drinking & Drug Initiative – Community Drug Action Team and Byron Youth Service, and relies on the assistance of volunteers, grants and sponsorship funds to run their events for young people. For more information or to offer your assistance please contact Nicqui Yazdi on 0402 013 177 or email buddiyouthteam@yahoo.com.au.
MR CHANTY PANTS If you want to raise your vibrations and connect with the planet, then join in on the Chant Up with Tarshito, Nyck Jeanes, Tiana Moontara, Virginia Cook and guests. Well-loved and respected local muso Tarshito joins with Nyck Jeanes (BayFM presenter and Subway Bhaktis chanter) and a delightful friends to bring you Heart Chant. Delicious fun to be had as well as deep meditation and celebration. A simple and freeform experience of communion, singing together. Nothing too serious, no guru required!
Every Wednesday from 7pm at The Troubadour Lounge at Creative Intuitive, 12 Bayshore Drive, Byron Arts & Industry.
FULL PINTS! Los Pintar are a raw garage rock ’n’ roll duo, with influences such as The Stooges, The Velvet Underground and John Lee Hooker. Los Pintar came together by accident one night when the drummer was a no-show. At the last minute Emma was there to improvise on a borrowed kit. That night has become the core of their performance. Keeping the audience engaged with raw, emotive, improvisation and a tendency to become dark and theatrical. They play the Bangalow Bowlo on Friday.
SPIKE & ISABELLA Spike & Isabella is a rather unique pairing of musical styles – a postrock inspired instrumental band and a jazz/pop a cappella choir. This unusual musical combination came about after band leaders Cameron Spike-Porter and Dylan Curnow had a chat over a coffee and both agreed that an event together would be an interesting and unusual concept and that it would also prove to be an exciting and unique night of live music. Dylan and Cameron have had a long friendship and musical history together, first meeting when touring together back in 2009 in the Lisa Hunt band. This is a community-based fundraising event run by local musicians with all funds raised going towards a tour of Japan, recording and studio expenses. At the Byron Theatre on Wednesday from 7pm. Tickets: $25.
THE SUAVER DON WALKER & HIS EVEN SUAVER FUCKS Don Walker’s songs have been mapping Australia, from Kings Cross to regional towns and the spaces between, for more than thirty years, through solo albums and shows, a couple of albums with Tex, Don and Charlie, back to his youth as a member and main songwriter of Cold Chisel. In the years between he has toured with his superb band The Suave Fucks. This is the band he is bringing on the 2015 tour: Michael Vidale – bass, Hamish Stuart – drums, Garrett Costigan – pedal steel, Roy Payne and Glen Hannah – guitars, and The Don on keys and lead vocals. He is supported by songslinger Jimmy Dowling at Club Mullum, at the Ex-Services Club on Saturday from 7.30pm.
PERKO & PATTY You would have to have been in a coma for the last two decades to not know who Tex Perkins is… but who, you may ask, is his current collaborator Murray Paterson? A talented songwriter, Paterson’s compositions include Fine Mess and Ice in the Sun from Perko’s Dark Horses album along with Lucid, Midnight Sunshine and A Name on Every One. He also contributed to I Miss Your Big White Bum to the Joel Silbersher album Greasy Lens. Paterson and Perkins co-scored the soundtrack for the film Beautiful Kate, the directorial feature debut from Rachel Ward, receiving an ARIA nomination for best soundtrack. Currently Paterson oversees Headland, a film retrieval project in which
8mm film shot by amateur moviemakers involved in northern NSW surf culture in the 70s is collected and archived. He also scored for the edited footage. Catch this duo as they present tunes from their new album at the Bangalow Hotel on Thursday from 7pm.
PHAT MUSIC Sydney-side rootsy indie trio Eddie Boyd and The Phatapillars have spent the last year making serious inroads into the hearts and minds of those who like to jump around. They won a wildcard entry onto Byron Bay’s Bluesfest and haven’t looked back since, with audiences from Perth to the Sunshine Coast digging their mix of acoustic grunge, killer songwriting and intense onstage vibe. At The Rails on Saturday at 7pm.
CHECKING YOUR BUM FOR GRUBS ‘There’s more to me than beer and pubs,’ insists Ross Knight on the Psychos track Bum For Grubs ‘So take me home, I’ll check your bum for grubs’. Cosmic Psychos are nothing if not eloquent wordsmiths. The infuriating thing about this three-piece is that even if their grotty sensibilities aren’t to your taste, those riffs can bore their way into your head like some gnarly heavy duty farming plough. It’s a reality recognised throughout reviews for the Psychos’ new album Cum The Raw Prawn, which delighted in the band’s awesome form and confirmed that they’re ‘as cheeky, angry and depraved as ever’ (Stack magazine). At the Hotel Great Northern on Sunday.
Byron Shire Echo archives: www.echo.net.au/byron-echo