Brag#592

ISSUE NO. 592 DECEMBER 10, 2014

FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com

MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE

INSIDE This Week

Á S GEIR

Even from the other side of the world, he’s won Aussie hearts.

A NGEL S & A IRWAV E S

Tom DeLonge’s ‘serious’ band has undergone a makeover.

WAV E R A CER

This Sydney wunderkind has big plans for New Year’s.

COL D WA R K ID S

The Californian indie rockers have gone back to their roots.

Plus

HIATUS KAIYOTE THE BASICS FRANK YAMMA

A NEW PERSPECTIVE ALISON WONDERLAND FALCONS (USA) · DMA’S (DJ SET) HAYDEN JAMES YOUNG FRANCO · MAMMALS MICKEY KOJAK · BRAVE

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BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 3

rock music news welcome to the frontline: the latest touring and music news...with Lauren Gill, Chris Martin and Gloria Brancatisano

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THE BRAG

speed date WITH

LEON HARRISON FROM THE LAZYS Your Profile The Lazys are your answer to a good old1. fashioned rock’n’roll show. Loads of energy, heaps of tongue-in-cheek, bar solos, shots of whisky, ball-tearing guitar riffs, pounding drums and sing-along rock songs meant to kick your night well into gear. What we look for in a fan is anyone who loves to rock!

Keeping Busy The last few months have seen us in 2.

Canada touring throughout in support of our debut album, and single ‘Shake It Like You Mean It’. The single was co-written in July with Ian D’Sa of Billy Talent and recorded with GGGarth Richardson (RATM, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Biffy Clyro, Rise Against) in Vancouver. In its debut week we came in on the rock charts at number 41 and only recently have been added to Triple M nights here in Oz. We only just got back last week, and are now gearing up to go out on a December run of Aussie dates in support of the release here.

Roxette

Current Playlist Again in Toronto we were lucky enough 4. to get to see Royal Blood at Lee’s Palace. It was a ripper of a night – they are just killing it right now and it’s well deserved, their album is world class! On this tour of Canada we were also lucky enough to support a range of kickarse Canadian bands so watching them all was very special.

Your Ultimate Rider It’s the old saying of, “It’s not the size of the 5. wand, it’s the wizard behind it.” I don’t see my rider ever going beyond beers and a good feed!

What: The Lazys out now through Sony ATV Where: Frankie’s Pizza When: Thursday December 18 xxxx

Best Gig Ever We had a pretty special gig at The Horse 3.

Shoe Tavern in Toronto recently. We asked Ian

of Billy Talent to come up and play the single he co-wrote with the band (‘Shake It Like You Mean It’). The vibe onstage and in the room was electric! Having such a legend onstage with us is something we will never forget.

Guy Pearce and Darren Middleton

MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ONLINE EDITOR: Tyson Wray ONLINE COORDINATOR: Emily Meller SUB-EDITOR: Emily Meller STAFF WRITERS: Adam Norris, Krissi Weiss, Augustus Welby NEWS: Tori Bedingfield, Gloria Brancatisano, Lauren Gill, June Murtagh, Spencer Scott, Tyson Wray ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar ADVERTISING: Georgina Pengelly - 0416 972 081 / (02) 9212 4322 georgina@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com PUBLISHER: Furst Media MANAGING DIRECTOR, FURST MEDIA: Patrick Carr - patrick@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600 / 0402 821 122 DIGITAL DIRECTOR/ADVERTISING: Kris Furst kris@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600 GIG & CLUB GUIDE COORDINATORS: Tori Bedingfield, Emily Meller, June Murtagh - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@ thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties)

ROXETTE AT THE OPERA HOUSE

Swedish pop-rock duo Roxette have added a special On The Steps performance at the Sydney Opera House to their Australian tour dates. Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle took the world by storm with 1989 single ‘The Look’, while their hit-studded discography also includes the likes of ‘Listen To Your Heart’, ‘How Do You Do!’, ‘Spending My Time’ and ‘Joyride’. They played a reunion tour in Australia in 2012, and return next year for a run of dates including the already announced Qantas Credit Union Arena show on Friday February 27. Roxette will now play On The Steps at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday February 25 with support from Boom Crash Opera.

AWESOME INTERNS: June Murtagh, Tori Bedingfield, Lachlan Mackenzie, Spencer Scott REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Ian Barr, Prudence Clark, Keiron Costello, Meg Crawford, Marissa Demetriou, Christie Eliezer, Blake Gallagher, Fergus Halliday, Cameron James, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Mina Kitsos, Emily Meller, Adam Norris, Kate Robertson, Erin Rooney, Raf Seneviratne, Leonardo Silvestrini, Rod Whitfield, Harry Windsor, Tyson Wray, Stephanie Yip, David James Young Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Friday 12pm (no extensions) Ad bookings: Friday 5pm (no extensions) Fishished Art: No later than 2pm Monday Ad cancellations: Friday 4pm Deadlines are strictly adhered to.

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4 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

CHILDREN COLLIDE AGAIN

The core lineup of Melbourne indie rock outfit Children Collide have announced a pair of reunion shows for early next year. After spending several years apart, the trio got back together for rehearsals while vocalist/guitarist Johnny Mackay was back in town from New York for Melbourne Music Week. They’re set to play special shows in Sydney and Melbourne, but there’s no word of any gigs beyond that, so fans are advised to grab tickets quickly. Children Collide will hit Oxford Art Factory on Thursday January 15.

PLOTTING A GRAVEYARD

Already announced for Golden Plains, Nordic hard rock outfit Graveyard have locked in a run of headline shows along the east coast. Hailed as “Sweden’s 21st century answer to Black Sabbath”, Graveyard have garnered praise for their distinct sound that incorporates everything from classic rock to jazz. Their sophomore album, Hisingen Blues, picked up a Swedish ‘Grammy’ for Best Hard Rock album. And if that wasn’t enough, they’ve even got their own brand of beer in Sweden. Graveyard will play Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday March 4.

The Growlers

GETTIN’ DZ

After taking home their second ARIA for Best Heavy/Hard Rock Release at this year’s ceremony, DZ Deathrays have announced a national tour for February and March. The Brisbane duo will take over intimate venues in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Bunbury, Fremantle, Sydney and Brisbane, bringing Bass Drum Of Death and Hockey Dad along for the ride.

Since releasing their second album, Black Rat, in May, DZ Deathrays have toured across the UK, Europe, America and Europe, sharing stages with the likes of Die! Die! Die!, Band Of Skulls and The Orwells as well as showcasing at SXSW and the Reading & Leeds Festivals, alongside this year’s appearances at Big Day Out and Splendour In The Grass. Catch DZ Deathrays in sweaty surrounds at Newtown Social Club on Wednesday March 11 and Thursday March 12.

GET HIGH, SEE EVERYONE

The Smith Street Band will be kicking off 2015 with a run of dates throughout January, February and March on their Get High, See Everyone tour. With Toronto’s Pup, London’s

GUY PEARCE + DARREN MIDDLETON

Guy Pearce and Darren Middleton are teaming up for a run of joint shows next February. Known for his roles in Neighbours, Iron Man 3 and The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, Pearce recently launched his music career with the release of his debut album, Broken Bones, while former Powderfinger man Middleton is still enjoying the success of his 2013 solo LP, Translations. The pair will share the stage on their upcoming tour, performing songs from each other’s repertoire with a full backing band. See them at the Factory Theatre on Friday February 20.

Great Cynics and locals Apart From This joining in, the Melbourne four-piece will play 24 shows, taking in regional areas and including all-ages and under-18 gigs. The band will kick things off in Darwin solo, before being joined by their guests in Bendigo at the end of January and wrapping things up in Adelaide at the start of March. The Smith Street Band will play Newcastle’s Cambridge Hotel on Thursday February 12, the Metro Theatre on Friday February 13 and the Factory Theatre on Saturday February 14.

THE GROWLERS

After selling out a run of shows across the country earlier this year, California’s The Growlers will return to our shores for an extensive national tour in January. The 14-date tour will see the band hit venues across metro and regional New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. They’re currently touring on the back of their fifth full-length, Chinese Fountain, which was released earlier this year. The Growlers will play The Entrance Leagues Club on Wednesday January 7, Newcastle’s Small Ballroom on Thursday January 8, The Roller Den on Friday January 9 and Mona Vale Hotel on Saturday January 10.

thebrag.com

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 5

live & local

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Chris Martin, Spencer Scott and Gloria Brancatisano

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

five things WITH

TIM KNUCKEY FROM SATELLITE V Growing Up After seeing the 1.

Sex Pistols in ’76 on

and Hank’s mournful lyrics.

Countdown my path to rock was set. I mucked around with punk music and played bass in a band with my brother Simon Knuckey, Wet Taxis. This and my interest in early blues and hillbilly music led to my experimenting with tea chest bass and then forming my first hillbilly band the Troglodyte Hillbilly Cannibals in Sydney.

Your Band I play with some 3. veteran musicians who

Inspirations Sun Records looms 2. large on my radar, so many great acts – Hank Williams of course. I can remember listening to ‘Lonesome Whistle’ on a car radio late at night and ‘Little Red Wagon’

by Sonny Fisher on the Saturday morning radio request show, and being inspired by the twangy guitar, haunting steel, thumping rhythm section

CONSCIOUS NEW YEAR’S EVE

Depending on whom you ask, an unconscious New Year’s Eve might be the sign of a great

Lisa Mitchell

have played in country, punk and funk bands.

Paul Hayward (Baddies, Young Docteurs) joined by osmosis – as did our double bass player Smithy, who thumps the doghouse. Peter ‘The Professor’/crime writer Doyle plays the wild steel. And we pilfered our drummer Rob Souter from the Slim Dusty Band.

What brings us together is our love of vintage music and equipment, cowboy shirts and honky-tonkin’!

The Music You Make 4.

We play classic and original hillbilly tunes à la Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Wayne Hancock.

We have recorded three CDs – the first, Hail Bop,

references the demise of the Heavenly Gate cult, while the revved up ‘Beetles Miss You Johnny’ recalls Marlon Brando in The Wild One, the American outlaw biker film from 1953. From our live shows you can expect ’50s-influenced Hawaiian steel guitar, rockin’ rhythms, and a band hellbent on rockabilly mayhem.

5.

Music, Right Here, Right Now We like the new cosy bars and clubs that have recently opened around Sydney. They remind us of how good Melbourne has been for live music.

We’re hoping Sydney punters latch on! See y’all at Shady Pines Saloon on Sunday.

Where: Shady Pines Saloon When: Sunday December 14

night, or more likely, far too many expensive drinks at a bar with a terrible view of the fireworks. All the more reason to celebrate Amazonia’s Conscious New Year’s Eve this year, and get 2015 off to the healthiest possible beginnings. Onespace’s event welcomes 500 partygoers to a night of dance, movement, gong meditation and good vibrations. There’ll be live music by Murray Kyle, Saritah and many more. It takes over Paddington Chapel on Wednesday December 31.

Emma Donovan & The PutBacks

EMMA DONOVAN & THE PUTBACKS

Indigenous vocalist Emma Donovan and Melbourne rhythm group The PutBacks have banded together to release Dawn, an album that beautifully combines soul, rock, country and indigenous sounds to tell stories that are gritty, brutally honest and hard-hitting. The collective will be packing its bags and embarking on an Australian tour this month to share the newfound sound and fresh content with a live audience.

We have two double passes to give away to Emma Donovan & The PutBacks’ Sydney show on Sunday December 21 at Newtown Social Club. To be in the running, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and let us know which song never fails to have an emotional impact on you.

Nahko

NATTALI RIZE SOLO PROJECT

LISA MITCHELL ACOUSTIC TOUR

CHRISTMAS WITH DARREN HANLON

Darren Hanlon has announced the Sydney date of his annual Christmas tour, playing at St. Stephen’s Church in Newtown. The Gympie singer-songwriter has just released his new single ‘When You Go’, taken from his upcoming sixth album Where Did You Come From?, which is set for release through Flippin’ Yeah Industries in March. Hanlon is playing at St. Stephen’s on Saturday December 20, supported by Anthonie Tonnon.

Luca Brasi

WANDERLUST 2015

Music and yoga is set to intertwine once again with Wanderlust’s visit to Cockatoo Island from Friday February 20 – Sunday February 22. Renowned yoga instructors, musical acts and plenty of mindful souls will gather for the festival next year, with appearances by the likes of Nahko and Medicine For The People, Yolanda Be Cool and Ladi6. There’ll also be “yoga disco beats” by DJ HyFi, which sounds impossible to miss. Visit cockatooisland. wanderlustfestival.com for details. xx

Beloved Aussie singer-songwriter Lisa Mitchell will bare all on the road next year, after the announcement of an acoustic tour in support of her latest single ‘Wah Ha’. The track’s success has seen Mitchell get airplay across the country and overseas, and she’s just returned home from the UK where she played a pair of sold-out London dates. Kicking off in March, Mitchell and collaborator Tim Harvey will perform stripped-back versions of their finest work, while East will open proceedings.

The show rolls into Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday March 25.

Nattali Rize (formerly Pa’apa’a), frontwoman and mouthpiece of conscious roots rockers Blue King Brown, is set to launch her new project at support slots for Chronixx this month. Rize’s new musical outlet sees her performing with a couple of accompanists in trio form, giving her messages all the more chance to shine. The project makes its Sydney debut on the Chronixx bill alongside Max Glazer, Apprentice, Jamrock Sound and Foreigndub. Rize joins Chronixx at the Factory Theatre this Friday December 12.

COURTYARD SESSIONS

The Seymour Centre and The Festivalists, in partnership with the City of Sydney, have announced the fourth annual season of The Courtyard Sessions, a free showcase of emerging artists held in the Seymour Centre’s Chippendale Courtyard. The Courtyard Sessions heat up every Friday evening from 6-9pm, running from Friday January 9 – Friday March 27, and feature

OPEN TALENT WORKSHOP

WOULD YOU LUCA THAT

6 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

Joe Mungovan

The Talent Development Project, which had a hand in the early careers of musical names like Human Nature, Angus & Julia Stone and The McClymonts, has announced details of its 2015 Open Talent Workshop. Singers and songwriters aged 14 to 24 will be tutored by the likes of Francine Bell and Joe Mungovan. After five days of group and one-on-one tuition in performance, songwriting, vocal technique and more, participants will perform a public set at the Maritime Museum. The 2015 workshop runs from Monday January 12 – Friday January 16. Applications close Wednesday December 17 – visit talentdevelopmentproject.org.au for details.

xxxx xx

Luca Brasi have announced a string of headline dates around the country this March. After releasing their second album By A Thread in March, the punk rockers scored an honourable mention at the recent triple j Awards and showcased at Bigsound. On the live front they sold out shows on their national tour, played Poison City Weekender Fest, joined Violent Soho on the road, toured China for the first time and claimed a slot on this year’s Falls Festival at Marion Bay. Luca Brasi will take over Newcastle’s Small Ballroom on Wednesday March 11 and Newtown Social Club on Friday March 13.

a range of up-and-coming musicians from all around the country. The shows are allages and dog-friendly, as well as being fully licensed, and most importantly, free. Appearing throughout the program are the likes of Twin Lakes, Christo Jones, VCS, Pear Shape, Goldsmith, Bears With Guns, Green Mohair Suits, Forster Anderson, Daughters Of Dynamite, Christo Jones and Little May. Visit seymourcentre.com for details.

thebrag.com

Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR * Which singer is stroppy with her manager, whose advice was for her to remain “aloof” at the ARIAs, getting her bad press as a result? * Which interstate councillor, when assessing a venue’s application for extended trading hours, said there was no need for an extension as “women would want to go home early to cook dinner for their husbands”? * Which band, stuck in a taxi rank after a gig, was overheard exasperatedly planning (with tongue in cheek) whether to mug a driver and steal one? * A petition with 500 signatures was presented to Melbourne

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle to name a laneway after Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum. The Moll’s friends in the music biz reckon that, given his profile and contribution, he should get something larger like Meldrum Road or Meldrum Parade. * Don’t piss off yer roadies! Drum tech Norm Costa, sacked by Slipknot, got his revenge by unmasking online their new drummer as Jay Weinberg (son of The E-Street Band’s Max) and new bassist as Alessandro ‘Vman’ Venturella. * Manchester’s Parklife festival was fined £70,000 for “distressing” promo techniques.

It sent texts to ticket buyers, purporting to be from their mothers, urging them to attend the after party. Not only did it break laws about concealing

APRA AMCOS PAYS OUT $46M FOR LIVE PERFOMANCES APRA AMCOS members shared over $46 million in royalty payments from live performances in the last quarter of the year. Of this, $6 million was in overseas royalties. The payments are made to members for the live performance of their work, at a rate calculated based on reported Live Performance Returns (LPRs). These have shown a 51% increase in the last ten years due to the healthy live sector in Australia. The number of works paid in the 2013/14 financial year was 641,626.

The number of local works paid was 219,227, with 26,382 Aussie writers getting royalties.

In 2015, APRA AMCOS will launch an app to allow members to save setlists and submit LPRs whenever suits. LPR payments move quarterly from November.

The need for acts to be registered was also pointed out at the Electronic Music Conference in Sydney last week. There are 700 dancefloors in Australia spinning 15 tracks per hour at $1.33 a spin, and creating a total of

identity but some recipients had just lost their mums. * Katy Perry surprised boyfriend Diplo when she jetted back to Adelaide in a private plane for his 8pm set at Stereosonic. * Perth photographer Jarrad Seng is becoming a viral sensation. He donned a beard and wandered around the Stereosonic site pretending to be headliner Steve Aoki. He suckered punters into taking selfies with him. Within days the video got 500,000 views on his Facebook page. * On their recent return to play Newcastle, Busby Marou recounted to the Newcastle Herald that on the visit before, Jeremy Marou was served with legal papers at the Cambridge Hotel venue. It had something to do with his being overpaid

$7 million to share. But if you’re not registered, panellists said, it’s hard to claw it back.

SHEERAN MOST STREAMED ON SPOTIFY, NAPSTER Ed Sheeran is the year’s most-streamed artist on Spotify, racking up 860 million listens, and this year’s release X is the most-streamed album worldwide with 430 million hits since June. Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’ was the most-streamed song of the year globally, Katy Perry the most-streamed female, and Coldplay were the top global group around the world in 2014. Spotify said more than seven billion hours of music was streamed this year by more than 50 million users.

Sheeran was also the most-streamed artist in 2014 for Napster in the UK. The Napster Top 5 list included Coldplay, Sam Smith, Paolo Nutini and One Direction. Globally, Eminem was the biggest act of 2014, followed

by Drake, Katy Perry, Beyoncé and Rihanna.

The most-streamed album was Drake’s Nothing Was The Same.

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COMING SOON

TUE 6 JAN

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COLD WAR KIDS

JOEY BADA$$ & RUN THE JEWELS

holiday pay by a few hundred dollars five years earlier, and which he’d forgotten about. With no hard feelings, they asked the server to hang around and watch the show as their guest from side of stage. * A court has banned “the translations of lyrics (and artwork)

by Cannibal Corpse in Russia due to violent content”. * Axl Rose contacted his 862,000 Twitter followers to pacify them after a hoax TV report did the rounds, claiming his body had been found in his West Hollywood apartment. “If I’m dead do I still have to pay taxes?” he quipped. * Former Faith No More frontman Chuck Mosley is begging fans for financial help after his family was threatened with eviction from their home.

GOLDEN GUITARS SCORE TOYOTA, TEN SPONSORSHIPS Country music’s Golden Guitar Awards have got Toyota coming on board as naming rights sponsor and Southern Cross Ten as the broadcasting sponsor to screen the ceremony through its regional networks. The awards are to be held for their 43rd year in Tamworth on Saturday January 24.

GANGNAM STYLE HITS 2.15 BILLION VIEWS Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ has hit 2.15 billion views on YouTube. This meant that YouTube had to upgrade its counter, because it could only count up to 2.14 billion. Now it’s gone from a 32-bit integer to 64-bit, it can count up to 9.22 billion.

WORLD ELECTRONIC MUSIC CONTEST COMES TO AUSTRALIA Fame Music and Ministry of Sound Australia are on the hunt to uncover the next producer/DJ talent via the World Electronic Music Contest. The winner gets to produce and engineer records at Studio 301, put out an overseas release by MOS, play club gigs at venues like Pacha Sydney, score the latest gear from Native Instruments, and receive mentoring from two EDM acts. Judges include SCNDL, MOS A&R man Dylan Sanders and Studio 301’s Ben Feggans. For more details, visit famemusic.com.

EDM GLOBAL MARKET VALUED AT $6.2 BILLION The EDM global market is now worth $6.2 billion, according to the EDM Guide: Technology, Culture, Curation discussion paper unveiled at last week’s Electronic Music Conference (EMC). It was worth $4.5 billion last year. EDM has the largest proportion of digital to hard-copy sales in the US at 62%, compared to 44% for rock and 51% for rap. EDM fans tweet six times more than the average Twitter user, at 11 times a day. A third of the tweets are about EDM. They’re four times more likely to discuss what they listen to.

CHANGES AT TRIPLE J

FRI 9 JAN

GLASS ANIMALS

SAT 10 JAN

TYCHO LIVE

SAT 17 JAN

MARDUK & INQUISITION

SUN 25 JAN ALL AGES

KERSER

Triple j’s weekend afternoon hosts Veronica Milsom and Lewis Hobba are moving to the drive shift. Joshua Merriel, who’s presented mid-dawn for the past two years, is the new host of punk and hardcore program Short.Fast.Loud. The show’s founder Stu Harvey is leaving after 11 years to focus on his label.

VINYL SALES HIT ONE MILLION IN THE UK WED 4 FEB

VIC MENSA

WED 01 APR

SWITCHFOOT

FRI 13 FEB

MODESELEKTOR

SAT 18 APR

BLACKSTREET

SAT 28 FEB

DELTRON 3030

THU 12 MAR

DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST

SUN 28 JUN

BRIBRY

ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, BUILDING 220, 122 LANG RD, MOORE PARK, SYDNEY thebrag.com

Vinyl sales have hit the one million mark in the UK this year, for the first time since 1996. They grossed £20 million (A$37.5 million), compared to £3 million (A$5.6 million) five years ago. Vinyl sales are being driven not only through daddy acts like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin but Arctic Monkeys and Jack White. Floyd’s The Endless River is the UK’s fastestselling vinyl LP of the century (so far) with 6,000 sold in its first week. White’s Lazaretto sold a record first 40,000 firstweek copies in the US, aided by hidden tracks and holograms for the vinyl version.

Last year, 137,658 vinyl albums were sold in Australia, grossing $2.8 million, compared to 77,934 copies in 2012 ($1.8 million).

Lifelines Injured: bassist Otto Schimmelpenninck of Dutch symphonic metal band Delain ruptured a testicle after a stage mishap when he stood too close to a cannon which shot streamers into the crowd. But he kept playing anyway.

Hospitalised: rapper Beanie Sigel after being shot in the stomach outside his home in New Jersey by an unknown assailant.

Hospitalised: Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox was put in a neck brace after being hit by a car in his home state of Georgia.

Suing: The Eagles are suing a man who spent years screening rare bootleg films of acts like them, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd.

Arrested: Xzibit was pulled over for allegedly speeding and being drunk minutes after he got married and was heading to the wedding reception.

Arrested: a 19-year-old was charged with trafficking after being discovered with 50 ecstasy tablets at Stereosonic Adelaide.

Jailed: Tibetan singer Kalsang Yarphel, for four years by a Chinese court for encouraging his audiences to learn and speak Tibetan.

Jailed: John Forbes, who killed Katie Louise Broadbent after reversing over her tent at January’s Got Milk festival in Rochester, Victoria, was sentenced to four years’ jail with a minimum two years’ non-parole. Prosecutors said he was drunk and drug-affected.

Ms. Broadbent worked at venues like the Standard Hotel in Fitzroy, The Public Bar in North Melbourne and The Old Bar in Fitzroy. She was Forbes’ best friend’s girlfriend.

Jailed: ex-soldier Matthew Cox got a life sentence at Brisbane Supreme Court for murdering Gold Coast nightclub singer Tony Williams with a hammer at his Mermaid Waters apartment in December 2011. Cox was jealous of his girlfriend Sarah Davis’ affection for the Sex ‘N’ Chocolate singer.

She and Williams had a child together but she’d told Cox he’d raped her.

Jailed: one-time Cake drummer Ivan McNeal for 15 years to life for molesting a three-year-old girl at a Thanksgiving party five years ago.

Died: two Rolling Stones sidemen passed within a week.

Ian McLagan, 69, better known as keyboard player with the Small Faces/Faces, died after a massive stroke in Austin. Sessions man Bobby Keys, 70, best known for his sax on ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’, died after a lengthy illness which prevented him from performing with the band in Australia this year.

Died: UK artist and producer Gravenhurst AKA Nick Talbot, who was signed to Warped Records, aged 37. He was co-founder of Silent Age Records, as well as a freelance writer and film soundtrack composer.

Died: Melbourne dancer and promoter of Bollywood music nightclub nights, Rehmat Sandhu, 21, accidentally slipped from the balcony of a city apartment building and fell 20 floors.

SPUNK SIGNS YUMI ZOUMA Spunk Records has signed Yumi Zouma, the New Zealand trio who opened for Chet Faker on his Australian tour. Their second EP, due in February, includes the track ‘Alena’, which hit number one on Hype Machine after three days. Signed to US label Cascine, they toured there with Lorde.

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 7

JOHNNY MARR A SIGNATURE SOUND

BY CHRIS MARTIN

I

n August 1984, The Smiths released their single ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’. It was a minor chart hit, and a solid enough track, though hardly in the realm of their earlier indie favourite ‘This Charming Man’. Tucked away on its B-side, however, was a song that would change the world.

‘How Soon Is Now?’ charged into view with a Johnny Marr riff that sounded like the opening palpitations of an earthquake, matched with a characteristically mopey lyric by his Smiths offsider, Morrissey.

Eventually, ‘How Soon Is Now?’ got its own A-side release, and went on to become the theme song of late’90s TV hit Charmed. Marr’s friend and fellow Manchester icon, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, once joked that the song’s guitar intro was so distinctive, even Marr had no idea how he’d done it. Speaking on a break from tour dates in Canada, Marr chuckles at the suggestion.

“WHEN I WAS STARTING OUT AS A KID, I USED TO RESEARCH AND READ EVERYTHING ABOUT GUITAR CULTURE THAT I POSSIBLY COULD … I ALWAYS KNEW THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IDENTIFIABLE, AND I FEEL VERY PLEASED TO HAVE A SOUND THAT PEOPLE KNOW IS ME.” Zimmer film scores to Inception and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and his presence in contemporary music is near inescapable. His signature guitar sound, it’s fair to say, has inspired a generation – though Marr is a little more humble about it all.

In the years after The Smiths disbanded in 1987, Marr worked as a session player and sideman with the who’s who of rock’n’roll, from The Pretenders to The The, Neil Finn and The Cribs, alongside his collaboration with New Order’s Bernard Sumner in Electronic. Throw in Marr’s guitar contributions on modern indie classics like Modest Mouse’s ‘Dashboard’ and the Hans

In 2000, Marr worked briefly on a solo project with a new band, The Healers, but it wasn’t until this decade that indie rock’s busiest collaborator at last followed his old bandmate Morrissey into the solo world full-time.

Marr’s 2013 debut, The Messenger, sounded every bit as Marr as anything and everything he’d played on before, with the added presence of his own vocals on top. Marr has been

8 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

“I took to it pretty quickly, to be honest. I understand why people might make a big deal of it, but it just felt pretty natural. Because I’m writing the lyrics and singing the songs on the album, it’s easy for me to stand behind the songs and project the intention that’s in the songs, and that intention’s really just adrenaline and an upbeat kind of high-energy… I don’t want to use the term ‘rock’n’roll’, because people confuse it with an ideology which I think is somewhat redundant these days, but certainly as far as the singing and the lyrics go, rock’n’roll is a good enough term for it, for what I do, and I’m really proud of that.”

Marr’s latest release is Playland, an 11-track collection he’ll be touring to Australia in the New Year. It’ll be Marr’s second solo visit Down Under, and he hopes to make the same connection with an audience of his own here as he’s done in the UK and US. “In Australia [in early 2014] we were playing very small places that were a lot of fun, and I was happy to be back in the country and show my band around a little bit, but they were a little too small, truth be told.

I like those places, but hopefully

people come out to these bigger venues [next year]. We just really like to play – I love plugging in with three or four other people and playing these new songs. The band have our own ambition to be one of the best live bands around and put on a decent show. I think it’s alright to have ambitions of any sort – especially when you’ve been around for a while, to still have ambitions is a healthy thing, so I don’t mean that in some cocky or bravado kind of way … I just like getting out and seeing people’s faces.”

Although Marr is keeping himself focused these days on solo work, that doesn’t mean he’s stepping away from his collaborative habits.

In 2015, he’ll appear on the second solo record by his old mate Gallagher. “[Noel] started his solo career around about the same time as I started mine, and we both have an understanding of what’s going on in this part of our lives, and what it is to go out and form your own band playing shows under your own steam,” says Marr. The only part he’s uncertain about is being dragged along to football stadiums to watch Gallagher’s beloved Manchester City.

“You have to watch it going to a City game with Noel, or anywhere, cause you could end up on the pitch, or if you go to his show with him you could end up on the stage, or if you

While those football supporters can get pretty fanatic about their teams – and Marr would know – there are perhaps no music fans more devoted than those who obsess over The Smiths. Manchester is dotted with sites that have been turned into shrines for Marr’s old band, inspired by lyrics or band photos that reference particular places around town. Beatlemania might be dead, but Smithsdom sure isn’t – though Marr suggests that perhaps the hardcore fans have thrown themselves at the feet of his elusive former singer rather than scream themselves to tears at his own shows. It’s probably for the best.

“There’s a certain kind of attitude from The Smiths that seems to encourage devotional kind of behaviour, for want of a better word,” says Marr.

“I only know about my fans who’ve been with me now for 25, 30 years or however long it is since the band split, and I’ve always got along great with those people. I like them and they know that I like them, and I’m really happy with the relationship that I’ve had over the 30 years through The The and Electronic. The people who follow me like The Smiths, but also they know the world is a big enough place so they can like all kinds of music. I’m happy that I’ve got those guys.”

What: Playland out now through Warner With: Flyying Colours Where: Enmore Theatre When: Thursday February 5

thebrag.com

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“I do know how I made it, because it took me a long time and I remember every minute of it,” he laughs. “[But] it’s nice to be given credit by people you think are pretty good yourself.

Over the years it’s become even more important to me to not really analyse what I do too much – I don’t particularly like it when I see other musicians doing it.”

“When I was starting out as a kid, I used to research and read everything about guitar culture that I possibly could,” he says. “Back then it was a very different time to what it is now, and so I did come across theories about people like Chet Atkins having his own style, or Scotty Moore, or George Harrison, or Hendrix, or any of those people I’ve mentioned being very, very identifiable. George Harrison has a very distinct slide guitar sound; Tom Verlaine has a very distinctive lead sound. So I always knew the importance of being identifiable, and I feel very pleased to have a sound that people know is me.”

touring his solo material around the world for nearly two years now, and says playing the role of the frontman has come surprisingly easily to him.

go out to dinner with him you could end up in Bono’s limousine – you never know what’s going to happen with Noel,” he laughs.

Ásgeir

“ A BOUNCING BASS-HEAVY BLEND OF RAP, HIP-HOP, BAILE FUNK AND AFROBRAZILIAN BEATS”

In Tongues By Adam Norris

ROLLING STONE

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BRAZIL’S BEST-LOVED MUSICAL EXPORT

I

t’s difficult to imagine a more pronounced geographic divide than that between Iceland and Australia; the former a land of glacier and volcano, the latter a semi-arid land with more desert than it knows what to do with. Yet Ásgeir has struck a chord here on the other side of the world, and his unique brand of enigmatic folk is leading the young musician back to Australia for the second time in a year. It’s quite a change for someone who grew up in a town of just 40 people, and who now fi nds himself corralled into interview after endless interview.

“It still blows my mind, actually. Whenever I’m interviewed I’m just so crap at making something up on the spot, I always just…” He rather appropriately trails off, laughing. “It gets tiring sometimes; you’re answering the same questions, giving the same answers.

Sometimes – and this is a really bad habit to get into in interviews; you know, you never want to seem uninterested – but sometimes I just feel like I’m telling the same uninteresting story over and over again, and I get into the habit of telling the exact same answer. It gets tiring, you know, but that’s also the way it is. There’s no way to really get around it. I need to make it more fun by telling different stories somehow.”

This seems then like an ideal time to rewrite his history, I suggest. Would he like to have been born in a hot air balloon? Or what if he were raised by foxes? “Raised by foxes would certainly get more exposure. That’s… that’s actually not a bad idea.” Ásgeir’s actual (soon to be rewritten) background certainly doesn’t lack for interest.

The lyrics to his debut album, In The Silence, were written by his 74-year-old poet father, Einar Georg Einarsson, and while the songs most audiences are now familiar with are sung in English, the album was originally performed entirely in Icelandic. Even without the music there is already an odd poetry to the album. The pre-translation titles are strange, bewitching things, like ‘Sumargestur’, ‘Þennan dag’ and ‘Leyndarmál’, and adapting them into English is not always a simple task.

“Most of the songs are translated directly, so they cannot mean exactly the same thing,” Ásgeir explains, “but most of the lyrics were translated with that in mind. To get them directly out, to say the same thing that the Icelandic lyrics mean. But there were times we didn’t really get that close to the meaning of the titles, just because it’s difficult to get that directly across. The Icelandic title of the album fl ows really well in Icelandic,” he laughs. “It sounds good, and is really poetic and interesting. But if we were to translate it directly into English it would be something like Glory In The Dead Of Silence, and that doesn’t fl ow quite as well, you know?”

The Icelandic title is Dýrð Í Dauðaþögn, which I don’t even attempt to pronounce lest I make Ásgeir burst into tears. But the process of translation is a curious beast, with inevitable compromise on what the original intended and what the adopted tongue conveys. Ásgeir’s father, however, was fully supportive of the process, and despite how thebrag.com

personal many of the lyrics were to his son’s life, the poet was committed to keeping the meaning as unchanged as possible.

“My dad was a translator back in the ’80s, and was kind of familiar with that process of translating lyrics. When I told him we had the idea of translating, [we knew] some of these words might be really personal. For some people it would maybe seem quite unusual and unnatural for a father [to translate], but my dad is a really simple guy, he’s always been there for me, and when I have some kind of idea he’s always been behind me. I came up to him and told him that we were thinking of translating, and for him that was one of the biggest things that has happened – there was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to be involved. He went through the lyrics many times before we recorded, and was on board from the very beginning.”

“Whenever I’m interviewed I’m just so crap at making something up on the spot...”

Had Ásgeir’s father not been involved in the writing process, however, the Englishspeaking world may still have seen some rather unusual and intoxicating lyrics emerge. For that matter, Icelanders wouldn’t have fared any different the other way around.

“When I was younger I used to write Icelandic lyrics to some of my songs, and for this album I’d written endless lyrics for multiple songs before we did the recording.

‘On That Day’ I had written in English and then explained to Dad what it was about, what I was feeling when I wrote it, so he got ideas from me before he wrote his lyrics. But most of the other songs I’d written with a nonsense language, because when I’m writing songs I always use made-up words that just come to mind when I’m writing a melody. I got in the habit of writing down nonsense words to songs and recording them, so for all my friends and family that I would show the songs to, they all thought they were actually hearing really good English lyrics because nobody spoke it,” he laughs. “But none of the lyrics actually made any sense at all.”

What: In The Silence out now through POD/ Inertia Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House When: Wednesday January 7 And: Also appearing alongside Alt-J, Jamie xx, SBTRKT, Joey Bada$$ and many more at Falls Festival, Lorne, Marion Bay and Byron Bay, Sunday December 28 – Saturday January 3

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The Basics Luck’s On Their Side By Augustus Welby

T

he Basics are back with a brand new vengeance. After taking a few years off, in late October the Melbourne three-piece – comprising Kris Schroeder, Tim Heath and Wally de Backer, AKA Gotye – released a new single, ‘The Lucky Country’. Lyrically, the song is a blunt assessment of contemporary Australia, which makes it the most outwardly political move of The Basics’ decade-spanning career.

Thanks to an anthemic backbone, ‘The Lucky Country’ isn’t overbearing, but with lyrics that describe Australia as a place where “pockets are deep, but hearts are empty”, it certainly leaves a sting. The BRAG caught up with The Basics’ bass player and vocalist Schroeder to find out what prompted this pointed political outbreak.

“I lived for three years in Kenya working with the Red Cross,” he says. “It had just started to come into the warm-up to election season [2013], where all of a sudden the media starts critiquing the current administration. I was looking at the vulnerable people struggling to get by in Africa and then reading this really petty shit that was coming second-hand from Australia and thinking, ‘Fuck, we just come across as such a bunch of spoilt brats.’

“We don’t appreciate what we’ve got,” he continues, paraphrasing the song’s powerful bridge.

“Someone drops the ball once or twice and all of a sudden [they’re] out. That reminded me of that quote from Donald Horne’s book The Lucky Country, that ‘Australia is a lucky country run by secondrate people who share in its luck.’”

‘The Lucky Country’ could come as a surprise to longtime supporters of The Basics. The trio has never settled with just one style – past recordings encompass everything from British Invasion pop to atmospheric altrock, reggae, funk and country.

But they’ve always opted for feelgood over forceful.

“We only got registered at 6pm on the very last day that you can get registered before campaigning starts,” he adds. “We just looked at how we can make the most effective change in the shortest amount of time. I think we did really well in trying to combine the momentum we had with another party of similar-ish values.”

“I hadn’t written it as a band song by any means,” Schroeder says. “I wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m going to write this and I’m going to take The Basics in a new direction and it’s going to be political.’ I kind of just wrote the song and sent it to Wally and Tim [just to say], ‘I’ve written something, fi nally,’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, this is fucking great.’

When months later we decided to start playing again, people really responded to it in the live sense and we started looking at recording it.”

The Labor Party took out said election by a hefty margin, which resembled Tony Abbott’s win over the hapless Labor in last year’s federal election. Within months of winning that poll, Abbott was already being labelled the most unpopular prime minister in a quarter of a century. One wonders, then, how he managed to win the election so convincingly. For starters, a pervasive societal apathy, mixed with tall poppy syndrome and media manipulation, might’ve had something to do with it.

The Basics’ engagement with Australian politics didn’t stop at ‘The Lucky Country’. To coincide with the single’s release and an EP of the same name, the band announced the formation of The Basics Rock’n’Roll Party. Far from an episode of ineffectual egotism, the party actually contested November’s Victorian election, with actor Jamie McCarney up for the Lower House seat of Northcote and Schroeder and Heath having a crack at the Upper House.

“It’s always weird when people argue about the infl uence that the Murdoch media has at election time,” Schroeder says. “I’ll have people saying, ‘Yes, I read the Herald Sun, but I’m not infl uenced by his politics.’ That’s bullshit.

You might not be infl uenced by a singular message, but all of those papers and messages put together eventually eroded enough of the confi dence in the Gillard Government, or Rudd Government, for you to go, ‘Maybe they are going to ruin our economy.’”

The party’s parliamentary bid was unsuccessful, but it did strike a preference deal with the Sex Party, which is on course to win a place in the Upper House. “It looks like they actually got in,” says Schroeder. “Our votes were crucial to keeping them in the race, or else Family First would’ve won.

Given the Australian public’s swelling distrust and enduring apathy, right now it’s crucial that those in positions to make public broadcasts – such as musicians – stand up and voice their concern. ‘The Lucky Country’ is a

gutsy example of how to do this.

However, the song hasn’t made the impact Schroeder hoped it would.

“This single has done OK. It should have done better,” he says.

“It should have been one of those moments where the Australian media goes, ‘Yes, here’s an opportunity for us to make a statement,’ but everyone’s a little bit chicken. If things like this are going to make a difference, it’s really up to the media to look at itself and go, ‘Whose side are we

on? Are we going to get behind these kind of questions about how this country is run?’ It’s up to the media to take a chance with the message and start to engage the Australian public. We can only do so much.”

What: The Lucky Country out now through Origin/MGM With: Gun Barrel Straights Where: Newtown Social Club When: Tuesday December 16 and Wednesday December 17

Cold War Kids Stories From Home By Keats Mulligan the responsibility that goes with them, but there are inevitable and unavoidable difficulties that come with trying to turn your passion into a professional pursuit.

“From the very first record, and none of us would have anticipated this, but it has been a full-time job,” says Willett. “Art is a strange thing, in that you want to be able to do it for a living, but you don’t want to be thinking about it professionally; you don’t want to think about making money. It’s not like real estate, where the goal is to make the most money.”

I

n the decade since their formation, Cold War Kids have come a long way. Their first record saw quite a lot of success, even though it contrasted so heavily with the popular sound of the time. While sonically it seemed unusually buoyant, lyrically it was a rather probing examination of some of the darker elements of humanity. From alcoholism to incarceration to vehicular manslaughter and theft, each song from 2006’s Robbers & Cowards felt like an apathetic account of a life in disrepair. It was a single dark entity floating in a sea of pastel-coloured, new-wave-inspired electropop music.

“We just had this big group of mutual friends in the LA area that were 10 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

“I don’t know if the scene was thriving, because it was the only scene I’ve ever really been a part of.

We weren’t in LA proper, we were kinda in the Long Beach area, so it felt like we were maybe a little left of centre. We didn’t feel like we were trying to be aware of anything in any mainstream kind of way. We just kinda had labels and booking agents come in a really organic way, which in hindsight is pretty shocking, but at the time that was just the way it happened, and looking back, I think we were insanely lucky.”

Artists that make such a formidable mark on the musical landscape with their debut release are destined to always be remembered for that

initial impact. When such a bold impression is made, finding a way to further yourself and maintain your audience’s interest is a task perhaps harder than breaking through in the first place. With growth comes growing pains, yet while Cold War Kids’ inception into the world of popular music might have been organic, their development has largely been considered and purposeful.

“It’s funny. You get to a point where you think, ‘Do we make changes?

And if we do, are they forced? Or false? Or do we just get in there and start writing the songs we write and not think too hard about it?’ We knew who we were pretty early on, so you think, ‘How do we keep the sound this group [is known for] and continue to write songs and also expand and play with the space that we’ve got?’”

“Inevitably, the record is going to be compared to the first one because it is probably the most direct and to-the-point record, in many ways,” Willett says. “The last record only really came out a year-and-a-half ago or so, and we wanted to get this one out quickly and embrace all the advantages of having our own studio.

I think it’s part of the modern age of being in a band. You don’t wait around in between records, because with the technology available you don’t need [to] labour on it in the way that you might have had to in the past. So there’s an immediacy, lyrically and musically – that’s the way we approached it; we didn’t want it to sound or feel laboured over.”

There are plenty of us that sit on the outside looking in, envious of the opportunities afforded to successful musicians without considering

While Hold My Home certainly doesn’t sound laboured over, Willett’s never been one to shy away from flexing his linguistic muscle. The earnestness

“There are the times, between finishing a record and beginning a tour, that you think about it most. They’re also the times I try not to think about it. You get too introspective and think, ‘Who am I? What am I doing with my life?’ I have spent my whole adulthood on tour, and does that mean I’m a child developmentally because I’m not in the same workplace structure that most of my adult friends are? Do I have too much freedom? Do I not use it well enough? Should I be trying to write a book? Or spend more time feeding the homeless? Or do more good in general? Or just work harder in general? It’s hard to not ask yourself too many questions that just stunt you and prevent you from doing anything at all. So how does that affect my life? I guess sometimes my cup runneth over and I’m so stuck that it’s impossible to do anything, and other times I’m up and I’m doing all I can do with everything I’ve been given. I’m usually somewhere between those two places.”

What: Hold My Home out now through Downtown / Create/ Control Where: The Hi-Fi When: Tuesday January 6 And: Also appearing alongside Alt-J, Jamie xx, SBTRKT, Joey Bada$$ and many more at Falls Festival, Lorne, Marion Bay and Byron Bay, Sunday December 28 – Saturday January 3

thebrag.com

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The release of Cold War Kids’ latest album, Hold My Home, marks a shift in songwriting for the group. It’s something of a deliberate regression, an attempt to get back to basics and reconnect with the ideas and attitudes that informed their early releases.

a bunch of artists or musicians,” says vocalist and pianist Nathan Willett, remembering Cold War Kids’ formative days. “It was a big old group. It was good actually, because it meant you had about a hundred people that would come to your shows.

So with some ten years’ experience in performing this balancing act, growing and developing their sound, Hold My Home has seen Cold War Kids come full circle, blending the attitude that spawned their debut with the experience they’ve garnered since.

present in Cold War Kids’ more solemn tracks is something that can’t be manufactured – it’s the by-product of genuine introspection; something Willett reveals still plagues him in the time between keeping busy with music.

Angels & Airwaves Dream A Little Dream Of Me By David James Young

O

f all the people you would expect to grow out of Tom DeLonge – high-school kids, skate-punk diehards, ‘90s nostalgics – you may well never have picked DeLonge himself to be at the top of the list. The musician, entrepreneur and Blink-182 dick-joke connoisseur has made some major changes when it comes to his ‘other’ band, Angels & Airwaves – and it’s the sign of not only a new beginning for that band, but for himself as well. “Previously, I’ve just written all of the Angels & Airwaves stuff on my own,â€? he begins. “The other band members have always played on the record, but it always came down to what I was writing, directing, producing, engineering‌â€? He trails off momentarily, perhaps getting caught in a moment in his own private universe. “At the same time, I was sick of myself and bored of myself.

Growing up in a punk rock band, we were always suspicious of anyone that could play their instruments well.

That’s not what we were trying to do – we were trying to rebel against that sort of thing. I knew that it was time for Angels & Airwaves to do something new. It felt time to catch people off guard.�

Pulling this off meant DeLonge had to include someone else in his creative process for the first time in the band’s history. In this case, it came in the form of Ilan Rubin, the prodigious drummer and multiinstrumentalist who has played with the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Paramore and Lostprophets. Rubin joined the band in 2011, following the departure of original drummer Atom Willard, but had yet to play on an actual AVA record until now.

According to DeLonge, his presence has made the world of difference. “Ilan is a master of a handful of instruments,� he says. “He’s infinitely

better than me at guitar, he’s one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen and he plays the piano in the most beautiful way. I think where my strength lies in our relationship is having a direction when it comes to melody and being able to put a song together. I think that’s why it works for us – in a lot of ways, we’re complete polar opposites, but after a year or so of playing with one another we kind of worked into the other’s mindset.

What you’re hearing is still Angels & Airwaves, but what we’ve made here is quite the left turn for us.�

The end result is the fifth album under the Angels & Airwaves name, entitled The Dream Walker. As DeLonge himself alludes to, it’s the sound of a band redefining exactly what it is it can be – adventurous, thrilling, and at points, so crazy that it just might work. The album centres itself conceptually around a new character, Poet Anderson, who also appears in the accompanying animated short – imaginatively titled Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker.

Despite all this pointing further to DeLonge’s disconnect from himself, he indicates Poet isn’t entirely a new invention. “There’s a lot of me in the character,� he says. “A lot of the music is assigned culturally on this record – it’s reflective of the kind of tribe that the character would be a part of.

There’s songs about analogue and transistor radios, there’s songs about sleep paralysis – it all stands up on its own, and it all reflects my vision for the character. I make sure it goes into everything. You’d be amazed at the amount of conversations I’ve had with the artists, describing what Poet’s clothes would look like.�

It doesn’t just stop there: in addition to The Dream Walker and Poet, a novel is being penned with DeLonge as its co-writer. Of course,

accompaniments are not a new thing for Angels & Airwaves – see their films Start The Machine and Love for proof of this. With that said, it’s worth noting that listening to the album alone or just seeing the film doesn’t mean you’re missing out on something that only the other can explain. “The goal of Angels & Airwaves is that all the things that we’re doing can live on their own,� says DeLonge. “If you end up liking it all enough, though, you definitely do get absorbed into this world that we’ve created. That goes for everyone that’s been a part of what we do. The

animators we work with are unreal, the person writing the novel is a bestselling author, the person writing the screenplay is a veteran of coming-ofage stories. We’re shooting for something that is career-defining for all of us working on it.�

Despite there seemingly being just DeLonge and Rubin serving as the figureheads of the band, it’s been revealed that the other two members – guitarist David Kennedy and bassist Eddie Breckenridge – both remain in the fold. According to DeLonge, it’s simply a matter of everyone knowing their role in the grand scheme of things.

“Everyone would be doing different things in the band,� he says. “Matt [Wachter, former bassist] would be the guy to upload our music onto the computer, getting all these segues going; David would be building stuff for the live show, set pieces and things like that; I’d be arranging or recording. It’s no different now. We’re just starting to talk about how everything is going to come to life onstage. That’s the most exciting part.�

What: The Dream Walker out now through To The Stars

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Frank Yamma A Solitary Man By Augustus Welby

F

rank Yamma is an old soul. The Adelaidebased songwriter’s disarming vocal timbre depicts a life of rugged experience, which belies his 44 years. This impression is enhanced

by Yamma’s oft-sorrowful, figurative lyrics. In conversation, Yamma is a man of few words.

It’s not that he’s blunt or uncooperative; he’s just not interested in wasting breath. When reflecting on his new record Uncle – which follows 2010’s celebrated Countryman – Yamma simplifies: “Uncle’s quite different than Countryman. It’s like the next step. It’s similar to Countryman, but it’s different to Countryman. It’s another level, I reckon.”

“Sometimes it’s surprising,” he adds. “You see some things all the time and it sounds like you, or it’s waiting for you to write it down or something.

This happens sometimes as a surprise, like, ‘Oh mate, I can’t get this thing out of my head,’ so I put the words in a pattern and I have to find the music for it. All the things happen in that moment, so you have to grab it before it slips away.”

Both of these records are powered by Yamma’s unassailable vocals and the detailed unravelling of his unique perspective. At certain moments – such as on Uncle’s opening number, ‘A Black Man’s Crying’ – this binary spawns sublime poignancy. Attempts to articulate the precise cause of prodigious artistry are hardly ever useful, but Yamma is willing to interrogate his own songwriting process.

“First of all, when I’m writing a song, I think about the audience and the response from the song.

That’s the main important part. I just don’t like writing songs for myself. I need the audience to listen when I sing onstage.”

Yamma’s preference for time alone hasn’t deterred him from hitting the road in recent years. As well as travelling around Australia, he’s performed at numerous festivals in the UK, Canada and Europe, and in October he took part in the invite-only WOMEX world music conference in Spain. Rooted in his stunning vocal apparatus and unvarnished lyrical revelations, Yamma’s live performances are known to induce sincere vulnerability in audience members.

“The great thing about the audience,” he says, “is [it makes you think about] how you’re going to feel comfortable when you sing the song onstage. All that stuff, that’s got to be prepared for the audience to listen.”

Sydney fans will get their turn when Yamma launches Uncle this Thursday at Newtown Social Club, co-headlining with rising Australian songwriter Radical Son. Both Yamma and Radical Son’s David Leha are frequently described as ‘indigenous artists’. It’s true Yamma comes from Central Australia and identifies as a Pitjantjatjara man. However, he says this

biographical detail needn’t define his artistry.

“I know what I am, but plus, I’m just a muso who wants to play music. I know my background and I’m proud of that. It’s alright to be an indigenous music singer, but you have to share it around for everybody to listen to what you’ve got. That’s important.”

What: Uncle out now through Wantok/Planet With: Radical Son Where: Newtown Social Club When: Thursday December 11

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“I find a scale and then I have to fit the words into the scale,” he says. “Singing in a scale, [I have to choose] what words are going to be in that particular area. It makes me think really wild. I’m thinking, ‘I’ll give this word, I’ll give this word.’ [It’s] bits and pieces and when I sing it together, it just sometimes really makes me feel good.

After growing up in Central Australia, Yamma is now a city-dweller. However, he still appreciates privacy, which could explain why his songs frequently seem like intimate self-portraits. That said, he’s always aware of who’ll be listening.

Olivia Chaney Living Large By Adam Norris

L

et’s get down to brass tacks here; Olivia Chaney can fucking sing. By the end of this interview, she has certainly left an impression, due largely to the stunning strength of her voice and songwriting, of course, but also in no small part to the breathless, selfdeprecating candour of her conversation. As she finishes a glass of wine and roots around in a drawer trying to scavenge cigarettes, the variety of her performance history becomes a folk song in itself.

“If I’m really honest,” she says, “you see someone make ten records, touring the same old circuit, totally familiar with how everything works, nothing’s new. It’s just not my kind of career.

I don’t have a set kind of gig that I play. I still do stuff in classical festivals, I still end up at Glastonbury if I’m lucky, I still play really bonkers, insular but fun little folk festivals surrounded by Morris dancers. I play in churches, in hipster warehouses. I’ve never been to Australia before, so between the Sydney and Woodford Festivals I’m trying on one hand to gauge what I’ll be playing, but on the other it’s like that excitement of just turning up at a festival without looking at the program, keeping things in the spur of the moment. It keeps you fresh. The moment you start judging audiences or trying to predict just how it will be, well, you’re just a bit buggered and jaded, aren’t you?”

“There were certain times I was met with this response of, ‘Do you want to make a fucking field recording here?’” Chaney laughs. “I really wanted to capture what I’ve been honing as a craft for years, which is performing live. That was all I had sometimes. I’ve seen some tough times, and sometimes all you’ve got is going out there

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In Transit By Augustus Welby

W

and playing, just singing your fucking heart out and hoping that when you open your eyes, if you’re lucky you might have moved someone.

“If I’ve got any criticisms of the record, I think it’s not raw enough for me. But you ask yourself, ‘Where is that line?’ Shirley Collins and Bert Jansch, people in the folk world that I’ve grown up listening to, they almost are field recordings, you know? Jansch just rolled in and borrowed somebody’s guitar, sat down in front of a microphone, and they’re now iconic recordings. I can’t attempt to repeat that, but I did want something live.

Ha – with the exception of one track that was recorded in this incredible church nobody really knows about. I literally struck up a deal with the priest, tucked a few quid his way, and we had half a day there in the freezing cold. I was feeling like absolute shit, and that was definitely a kind of one-take wonder vibe. It sounds so naff, but I’ve been working on and performing these songs for so many years, and I’m happy to let go of them now but they still mean a lot to me. I still mean the lyrics every time I sing them.”

What: Sydney Festival 2015 Where: The Famous Spiegeltent When: Sunday January 11 And: Also appearing alongside Violent Femmes, Nahko and Medicine For The People, Kate Miller-Heidke, Sticky Fingers and more at Woodford Folk Festival, Saturday December 27 – Thursday January 1

hen it comes to genre allegiances, musicians and music fanatics can be awfully conservative. A prime example is the once incontestable precept that one can either be a rock fan or hip hop fan, but never both. OK, so artists like Limp Bizkit make a convincing argument against these genres ever coming into contact, but the developments seen in recent years make this bias seem increasingly outmoded.

Perhaps an even tougher gap to bridge, however, is that between the worlds of pop music and jazz. This stalemate stems from an ambiguous notion of what defines each genre; roughly stipulating that jazz must remain pure, while pop must stay away from intellect.

However, the times they are a-changin’. Right now, songwriters like Montreal pianist Emie Rioux-Roussel are proving that jazz can embrace elements from other genres without forgoing authenticity.

“I think we should democratise jazz,” she says.

“Make it known and show people that it’s not elitist music. I think this is even truer today. Jazz is now influenced by all kinds of music; classical, pop, rock and R&B. So we can’t be prisoners of an era. We have to experiment and make music that reflects the times we’re living in.”

A career in music was perhaps inevitable for Emie, whose father Martin Roussel is also a well-known jazz pianist. After learning the ropes from him, she completed a university degree in jazz performance. Roussel’s learned background is evident throughout her latest record, Transit.

Whether it’s a whimsical glissando or a transition between two disparate sections, everything is executed infallibly. Despite this, she isn’t constantly referring to the theoretical handbook.

“It’s hard to ignore theory because I learned and assimilated it,” she says, “but when I compose I try as much as possible not to think about it and just go with what I hear and feel.

I think this allows the writing to come more

freely. Being less trapped in theoretical rules, the result is more coherent and felt.

“I compose in two stages,” she adds. “In the first, I try not to impose any markers or boundaries, so it’s not very structured. After that, I play what I’ve written again and structure it with defined sections, but I don’t put any limits on the number of sections or insist on a specific number of measures. What’s important is that it sounds good.”

Roussel is joined by bass player Nicolas Bédard and drummer Dominic Cloutier to form the Emie R Roussel Trio. As well as the core trio, a string quartet features prominently on Transit. It might be Roussel’s name on the banner, but the input of her bandmates is crucial.

“We share all our ideas and our points of view on the pieces,” she says. “I’m lucky to be working with Nicolas and Dominic. They’re excellent musicians who are very conscientious, and they’re also very good friends. They’re like a second family to me. The more we get to know each other personally, the more fun we have and the better we play together.”

Roussel and co. make their way Down Under this week for a run of Australian club shows.

When playing live, theory truly takes a back seat.

“I think the music should speak for itself,” Roussel says. “Each show is different because we’re in different places with a different audience and we don’t always feel the same things. That’s what makes it interesting. Sometimes the music takes us to areas we hadn’t anticipated. I think we should just let ourselves go with that and not try to control it. The music decides.”

What: Transit out now through Espace Émergence Where: Foundry616 When: Friday December 12

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Emie R Roussel photo by Yvan Couillard

Given her debut album is yet to drop, Australian audiences likely won’t know quite what to expect from Chaney. Her online presence is rather disparate, from the stirring original ‘Swimming In The Longest River’ to her exceptional cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘A Case Of You’ (and I urge you to check it out before reading another word). What is immediately evident, however, is the quality of her live performances – something Chaney was keenly aware of when translating her songs into the studio.

Emie R Roussel

This

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arts frontline

free stuff

arts news...what's goin' on around town...with Chris Martin, Spencer Scott and Tori Bedingfield

WITH

Rotuunda photo by John McDermott

five minutes

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit Puncture

ROBERT LOVE, DIRECTOR OF RIVERSIDE THEATRES Gareth Okan & Hannah Tasker-Poland in Rotunda

creative innovation and the potential to surprise. We look for opportunities to provide our current and potential audiences with the opportunity to select the highest-quality productions from first-class new and contemporary work and interpretative productions of existing work.

The 11th annual Sydney Comedy Festival is set to kick off next April, and organisers have locked in the first round lineup of funny people from Australia and overseas. UK comedians Ross Noble and Stephen K Amos lead the international program, with Noble bringing his suitably titled show Tangentleman to town while Amos presents the new show Welcome To My World. One of Australia’s most successful comedy exports, Jim Jefferies, will return to Sydney for the festival, while onename wonders Effie and Akmal will also bring the laughs. Local favourites Ronny Chieng and Matt Okine are also on the lineup – as is former Men At Work lead singer Colin Hay and New Zealand’s Topp Twins.

The Sydney Comedy Festival Gala will be held on Sunday May 3 at the Sydney Opera House. Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 runs from Monday April 20 – Sunday May 17.

For those who aren’t familiar with Riverside, what’s the history behind it?

Birdman, Wild and Unbroken, plus the cult classic The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert on Australia Day. This summer’s St. George OpenAir Cinema runs from Wednesday January 7 – Saturday February 21. For the full program and tickets, visit stgeorgeopenair. com.au.

What’s the mission statement for Riverside Theatres when it comes to offering a quality experience to audiences?

Riverside aims to deliver highquality and culturally diverse performance programs and events engaging international, national and local talent. We aim to develop and promote cultural understanding and the unique identity of Wes tern Sydney though performance and education.

What: Riverside Theatres season 2015 More: riversideparramatta. com.au

SYDNEY FESTIVAL: PUNCTURE

Three of Sydney’s foremost performing arts companies are combining forces for the Sydney Festival performance Puncture.

Legs On The Wall, FORM Dance Projects and VOX have brought together 42 young physical theatre artists and contemporary dancers to perform alongside Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ young person’s choir in a work that explores human interaction amongst young people. Created by some of the finest choreographers, composers and performers in the country, this fascinating work is well worth catching.

Puncture plays at Riverside Theatres from Wednesday January 21 – Sunday January 25. To go into the running to win one of two double passes to the matinee on Friday January 23, head to thebrag. com/freeshit and tell us about your favourite memory of youth.

OLD FITZ MASTERCLASS Scott Dooley

MERCATO ARTE

Matthew Gillett Gallery has announced an inaugural arts market called Mercato Arte, and is calling out for artists from all creative disciplines to exhibit their work. Since opening at The Scarborough Hotel in April 2013, the gallery has sold over $50,000 worth of art,

Written and performed by two of Sydney’s best comedic talents, Gareth Davies and Charlie Garber, Masterclass will return to the stage in 2015. Following its debut in 2011 at the Imperial Panda Festival, Masterclass will be the inaugural production of the 2015 Old Fitz Theatre season. The original Masterclass earned a nomination for Best On Stage at the 2011 FBi SMAC Awards and a shortlisting for the 2011 Philip Parsons Young Playwright’s Award. This time, the popular show has undergone some changes, and kicks off Red Line Productions’ maiden season at the Old Fitz. The 2015 season of Masterclass will play from Tuesday January 13 – Saturday January 31.

Scott Dooley photo by Pip Cowley

SYDNEY COMEDY FESTIVAL 2015

The Riverside Production Shellshock will premiere at the venue. What’s the story behind it?

Shellshock by Justin Fleming is new play commissioned

by Riverside. It is an unusual love story between an Australian teenager and his mate Herman, a tortoise – the oldest living survivor of the Gallipoli campaign. It’s for young and not-so-young audiences and features Turkish shadow puppets. It’s one of three productions in 2015 commemorating 100 years of ANZAC.

It was opened 27 years ago in February 1988 by Prime Minister Hawke as part of Bicentenary celebrations.

Riverside has three theatres and presents over 1,000 performances and events annually with attendances in excess of 130,000 per annum.

We are currently planning to redevelop and rebuild a new centre for the 21st century.

Puncture photo by Prudence Upton

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iverside Theatres has launched its 2015 main season. What are the most important factors to consider in tailoring the lineup for your local audience?

There are a number of factors: audience appeal, excellence, genre and content diversity,

2015 begins with The Phantom Of The Opera. What inspired you to plan such a famous musical?

It is one of the most well-known and most successful musicals ever and we love partnering with Packemin Productions and director Neil Gooding to present such a popular musical.

St. Mary’s Cathedral Adam Bull and Amber Scott in Swan Lake

DOOLS AT THE LAUGH STAND Legendary Sydney comedy venue the Harold Park Hotel has locked in a fun-filled lineup for The Laugh Stand this month, led by the TV and radio regular Scott Dooley. ‘Dools’, as he’s known to friends and fans, will play next Tuesday December 16, joined by a host of up-and-comers including Lee Lewis and Will McKellar.

SYDNEY LIGHTS UP FOR CHRISTMAS

Ross Noble

Surely Sydney’s most picturesque spot for the pictures, St. George OpenAir Cinema at Mrs Macquarie’s Point, has revealed its full 2015 program. 42 films will screen on the shoreline of Sydney Harbour this summer, kicking off on Wednesday January 7 with the Australian premiere of The Theory Of Everything. Other highlights include preview screenings of 14 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

PADDINGTON CHRISTMAS NIGHT MARKET

Sydney market hotspot Paddington Markets is hosting a twilight Christmas market just in time for the silly season. The markets’ regular home around Paddington Uniting Church will feature local designers selling unique, handmade items perfect for filling stockings – if you can bear to give them away as gifts, that is. Pudding Lane will be on hand to sell traditional Christmas puddings, while local muso Trevor Brown will play some tunes. The Paddington Christmas Night Market is on the evening of Thursday December 18.

GRAEME MURPHY’S SWAN LAKE

The Australian Ballet’s 2015 season will commence in high fashion this February after the announcement of a new Sydney-only run of Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake. These Sydney shows follow a sell-out Melbourne season in 2013, and widespread international acclaim. Murphy’s production is the fourth interpretation of the seminal ballet. Setting it to Tchaikovsky’s integral and dramatic score, Murphy melds the sheer power of a classic with a modern-day realistic and flamboyant romance. Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake will play at the Capitol Theatre from Friday February 20 – Saturday February 28.

thebrag.com

Swan Lake photo by Liz Ham

Ross Noble photo by Andy Hollingworth

ST. GEORGE OPENAIR CINEMA

Sydney’s lights are shining brightly for the Christmas period again this year, with the Lights Of Christmas program kicking off this week. Over 17 nights, video services provider Technical Direction Company (TDC) – which has contributed to Vivid Sydney, the Royal Australian International Navy Fleet Review Spectacular and Sydney’s New Year’s E celebrations – is presenting enormous 3D video projections with a festive theme. St. Mary’s Cathedral will host the Lights Of Christmas display, while MLC Centre in Martin Place will display the Merry Go Round.

The event continues until Christmas, Thursday December 25.

dedicated to championing artists on the South Coast and promoting their work. The gallery is calling for 60 artists to showcase their work during the exhibition, with applications closing soon. Mercato Arte is running at The Scarborough Hotel on Thursday February 26. Applications for artists are open now. Visit matthewgillettgallery.com.

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Aztecs photo by Stuart Humphreys

The Age Of Entitlement [THEATRE] Immersed In Truth By Kate Robertson is essentially a love story that explores the corruption of idealism.

So, what do people have to sacrifice when they come into power?

Not only perhaps the people that they love, but also the principles that they love. And why is it such a common story, which is the story of our production, that a young left-wing egalitarian leader 20 years later becomes the leader of a right-wing conservative political party? It’s not necessarily about anyone specifically in contemporary life, but definitely making original contemporary theatre we’re drawing on a whole series of references in the world, and specifically Australia.”

The Age Of Entitlement

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e’re not bystanders in our own life.

We can write our own history.”

That’s the reminder served by Mongrel Mouth’s new immersive theatre piece The Age Of Entitlement, according to director Duncan Maurice.

“We invite the audience to do whatever they want, whenever they want,” says Maurice. “In that respect, there are no specific rules. We have a structure in place whereby the actors engage them at certain points, but we’re very used to audiences being on their own terms.

For instance, every room is live with action throughout the whole show, so the audience have an opportunity to affect the narrative, talk to characters, question characters, tell them about other plot events that happen in other places. The only rule is that you don’t have to sit down and shut up.”

Altogether, the show features 20 actors who move throughout the rooms, as well as a live singer. “There is a real sense of theatricality.

Even though we are exploring those big questions that some people might find difficult, heavy and not particularly entertaining, there’s sparkle, there’s glitter, there’s make-up, there’s tunes – so we’re using those production elements, I guess, as a vehicle to explore concepts and issues that might otherwise be dry. People come to be entertained, first and foremost, and then through that we are able to explore questions about society.”

Despite the flexibility of the piece, there is a core narrative. “The central character is Lara, and we see her at two points in her life,” Maurice explains. “The Age Of Entitlement

What: The Age Of Entitlement Where: Merchants House, The Rocks When: Until Saturday December 20

Inside There Falls

Tequila Sunsets [EXHIBITION] Aztecs After Dark By Tom Clift

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ooze, bar food and a lineup of live music aren’t normally things you’d associate with a museum. But that’s exactly what you’ll get at Tequila Sunsets, a brand new summer initiative at the Australian Museum designed to open up the exhibition space to people who might otherwise give it a miss.

“It’s a long time since museums have been somewhere where we have everything behind glass,” says visitor services manager Sophie Masters, whose department previously helped coordinate the Jurassic Lounge. “The socialising aspect is so important. It’s rare to have someone who’ll come along on their own, read the labels and go home. Most people come in and want to talk to each other about what they see. It’s the sort of thing you’d do in a bar.”

Every Thursday evening throughout December and January, visitors will have access to half-price entry into the museum. Each week will feature a different set of performances and events, from a Mexican DJ to a fourpiece mariachi band, as well as quesadillas, guacamole and plenty of 4 Pines Brewery beer.

It’s all focused around the current Aztecs exhibition, a joint production between several museums in Mexico as well as the Australian Museum, Museum Victoria and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. “It’s really exciting,” says Masters. “There are over 200 artefacts that have come out of Mexico, many of them for the first time. [It] explores the whole story of the Aztecs, right from the early foundations through to their eventual demise.”

Running through the Tequila Sunsets program, Masters identifies a number of highlights, including one happening just before Christmas.

“We’ve got this wonderful artist, Sergio Plata, who’s done some work with us before,” says

Masters. “He’s coming in and doing a piñata installation, which is fantastic. Christmas is a really big festival in Mexico, and they have these amazing parties and it’s really lively and exciting.

So he’s going to come in and do these wonderful piñatas and talk to our visitors about Mexican culture and what happens at that time of year.

Then towards the end of the evening we’re going to break one of them open, and get to the treats inside.”

Speaking of treats, another standout will undoubtedly be the chocolate appreciation night. “Our food scientist is going to come in and talk about chocolate,” says Masters. “Where it comes from, how it’s grown, how you cook with it. And she’s also bringing along some incredibly delicious treats for us to sample. I’ll definitely be working that night! She brought in a sample of it all yesterday for me, and it’s amazing.”

For those who like a little music with their food, live acts on tap include guitarist Hector Patricio, DJ Don Juan and the Latin saxophone band Sax Summit, who Masters describes as “fantastic”.

The extended hours also cater to people who might struggle to make it during the day. “Some of this programming, like the Tequila Sunsets and Jurassic Lounge, has really been about getting people in who are working Monday to Friday and who are busy on the weekend.

They’re really time-poor, but they want to have great experiences. They can come in and see the exhibit, and we don’t have to have these conversations with them afterwards where they say, ‘Oh, I really wanted to see that and I missed it!’”

What: Tequila Sunsets Where: Australian Museum When: Thursday nights until Thursday January 29

The Age Of Entitlement photo by Duncan Maurice

“You don’t have to sit down, be told when to clap, be told what you see or when you can see it,” Maurice says of the production, which is taking over seven rooms over two stories of a 166-year-old mansion in The Rocks this month.

“It’s much more empowering for the audience that they can choose their own adventure.

We’re very much interested in the audience saying what they think and feel, and at times, if they so choose, they almost become another character in the work. And obviously not everyone is thrust into the narrative, the action, and there is the opportunity to just be a voyeur and watch it all go past.

The Age Of Entitlement’s exploration of themes like power and wealth comes from a place of passion. “We take something that we’re passionate about, angry about, excited about – nationally and then globally – and then we build a narrative around that,” Maurice says. “Mongrel Mouth is very interested in looking at economic difference: why in 2014 is the economic divide growing at an alarming rate, why things like access to education and healthcare are becoming further out of reach for the ordinary person. We’re very much looking at points of difference and issues like racism, the gender divide, classism, independence, corporatocracy, the oligarchy… How have the masses become disempowered enough to see that economic divide growing? And what is the power of the media in that?”

Aztecs

Inside There Falls

[INSTALLATION] Mira Calix Explores Sound And Space By Annie Murney

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In creating a work that is non-prescriptive and open to individual stories, these walls of blank pages convey how authorship is given over to the viewer. “I wanted to create the sensation of what it’s like to be in a book,” says Calix. “And when the audience comes, they participate in the narrative, they become part of the work and they take it away with them, so the work doesn’t end in the place where it started.”

Broadly speaking, Calix is interested in making things whole. Her newest work, Inside There Falls, is an exercise in sensory activation.

Based on a text written by Brett Clegg, it is also a meditation on narrative flow. “There is a strong sense of narrative but it’s non-linear,” says Calix. “It’s a very open and loose text – the kind of story you can’t describe. There’s a lot of evocative imagery. I’m interested in the idea of dipping into a story and exploring where it takes you and how you hold onto it.”

With this installation, Calix is tapping into the intrinsic human desire to be told a story.

By absorbing the fragments of narrative that are woven into the soundscape, the viewer constructs their own version of what is being said. “That’s what we naturally do,” says Calix.

“We relate to and reject certain characters and events. We also have access to more stories than ever and have developed a strong desire for long-form stories, which is funny because we do things more quickly. Twitter is only 140 characters, yet we have television series like Breaking Bad with highly developed characters.”

Premiering at Carriageworks as part of Sydney Festival in a few short weeks, this walk-through installation is constructed as a kind of labyrinth.

Sounds permeate the space between cascading sheets of paper while professional dancers move through it. Depending on which path you take, the dance sequences can be quite elusive.

“It’s less about performance and more about moving the story forward,” says Calix. “You may never encounter them or you may, so there’s an element of chance.”

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In addition to exploring the malleable space between the listener and the teller, Calix is interested in how architecture can be altered through sound. While a labyrinth could seem a claustrophobic place to be, this multi-sensory experience is full of narrative materials that are designed to propel the viewer forward.

In navigating through sound and silence, movement and stillness, there is a sculptural

musicality to Inside There Falls. Probably one of the more ambitious events on the Sydney Festival calendar, it is uniquely collaborative and interactive.

The work is part of another program at Carriageworks called Sound/On Sound, pulling together a range of internationally acclaimed artists. This focus on sonic installations represents a shift towards more crossdisciplinary forms of art-making.

“Generally speaking, people don’t embrace sonic experimentation the way they do

visual experimentation,” says Calix. “We’re all accustomed to an Yves Klein monochrome now, so perhaps it’s a matter of time. Globally, it’s a slow process and it’s trickier to manage from a curatorial perspective, but sound has the capacity to reach people in a way that visual art does not.”

What: Inside There Falls as part of Sydney Festival 2015 Where: Carriageworks When: Thursday January 8 – Saturday January 17

thebrag.com

Inside There Falls photo by Jana Chiellino

n the world of contemporary art, we’re seeing more and more practices that test the boundaries between disciplines. The work of award-winning composer and visual artist Mira Calix can be thought of in this way. Operating at the intersection between art, music and performance, she explains that her crossdisciplinary approach comes about when “one cannot survive without the other”.

Film & Theatre Reviews King O'Malley photo by Akshar Hodar

Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town

■ Theatre

DIRTY DANCING Now playing at the Sydney Lyric Theatre

The Legend Of King O’Malley ■ Theatre

■ Film

THE LEGEND OF KING O’MALLEY

SERENA

Playing at the Seymour Centre until Saturday December 13

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper filmed Serena between their other two mutual film appearances – Silver Linings Playbook, for which Lawrence won an Academy Award, and American Hustle, which was nominated for a bucketload of Oscars. While these other films saw both box office and critical success, not even the sizzling chemistry between Hollywood’s latest dream team can salvage this trite and dire screenplay.

King O’Malley is a forgotten part of Australia’s colourful political history. The oldest living member of the first Australian parliament when he died at 99, he was a travelling evangelist before moving to Australia and joining the Labor Party.

He was responsible for initiating the Commonwealth Bank and the selection of Canberra as the nation’s capital.

Similarly, the play (very loosely) based on his life is a forgotten piece of Australian theatre, premiering in 1970 as a big hit before quickly being forgotten. Melbourne company Don’t Look Away presents this revival after a successful run earlier this year.

Walking into the theatre, you’re confronted with the cast-as-gospel-choir singing a refrain, and immediately you’re immersed in an interactive, abstract and fun ride – never letting the truth get in the way of a good yarn. Beginning with his preaching days, O’Malley (James Cook) has made a pact with a young devil named Angel (Alex Duncan), who’s bought O’Malley’s soul in exchange for success and power. When O’Malley shuns the greed of the evangelical world, Angel has his wife and unborn child die of tuberculosis, and the now ill O’Malley ships off to Australia.

Things get really interesting in Act II when a rambunctious, drunken party turns out to be Question Time, and a now older O’Malley is the Labor member for Tasmania. Matt Hickey gives a strong performance here as Prime Minister Billy Hughes, and the ensemble cast alternates in various roles, ever pushing their performances to full-on and hilarious caricatures. Cook and Duncan own the show as O’Malley and Angel, offering some rollickingly funny performances while juxtaposing this with intensity later in the piece. Not a musical but a play with songs, this show still borrows much from musicals, and is a fun night out at the showhouse.

Julian Ramundi

In cinemas now

George Pemberton (Cooper) is a timber baron in 1920s North Carolina. When he meets Serena (Lawrence, in all her Jean Harlow-styled glory), also from a timber farming background, the couple fall madly in love. While some of George’s workers are sceptical of this union, the new bosslady soon proves herself by training an eagle to catch snakes that have been terrorising the workers. Once Serena becomes pregnant, it seems like their world is complete. But soon their dream scenario begins to crumble, with the remainder of the film focusing on the inexorable string of misfortune that ultimately brings them undone.

Having not read Ron Rash’s 2008 novel on which the film is based, it’s hard to know whether the gaping holes in the narrative are a result of the screenplay or the source material. Given that the book spent time on the New York Times Best Seller list, however, my money is on the screenplay. Explanations for many of the main plot points are completely omitted or only touched on briefly, which makes understanding the actions and reactions of the characters involved rather problematic.

Such lapses snowball to the point where the relatively solemn circumstances portrayed are almost, if not completely, laughable.

Fans of the movie will be happy to hear this stage adaptation, by Eleanor Bergstein, features plenty of verbatim dialogue and scenes from the film. The cast

as a whole is outstanding, and the choreography melds fabulously with the at times laugh-out-loud dialogue, making for a really entertaining performance.

Dirty Dancing is definitely a must-see – however, it’s probably not a show to take your mother to, as the catchy, sexy and old-school music really does make you feel like gyrating in a bra and a pair of cut-off denim shorts with the person sitting next to you. I managed to refrain.

Prudence Clark Dirty Dancing

Watching Dirty Dancing onstage reminded me why I don’t dance in nightclubs: the simple fact being that I can’t. While most of us attempting to dance will scull as many alcoholic drinks as possible and shuffle around awkwardly, all thumbs and toes, the athletic, strong and sexy dancers in Dirty Dancing confidently writhe around the stage to a sultry 1960s soundtrack, leaving you captivated and, uh, slightly jealous.

Let’s be honest – Kurt Phelan, who plays Castle (AKA Patrick Swayze in the movie), had big shoes to fill, especially in a Lyric Theatre filled with swooning women all gawking for attention. However, given

Festival Giveaway What's been on our TV screens this week Head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

S AY W EA IV G

Dirty Dancing photo by Kurt Sneddon

Serena

You all know the story. It’s the summer of 1963 and Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman is on summer holidays with her sister and conservative parents in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Tiring of the resort’s cheesy activities, Baby (why didn’t my parents call me Baby? How can you not be a sexy dance prodigy with that name?!) stumbles across a staff party where she meets wrong-side-of-the-tracks dance instructor Johnny Castle. The rest is all watermelons, lifts, dancing and people in corners.

the fact I spent most of the show staring at his toned abs, barely listening to the witty and sharp dialogue, it’s safe to say that job has been done. Credit also must go to Kirby Burgess (Baby), whose wholesome and typical pumpkin-pie American values fly out the window once she gets a taste of the sexiness oozing from Castle and the dancing underworld.

Husky

The only purpose fit for this mess of stereotypes would involve a bingo-style drinking game in which you take a drink every time Serena fulfils another movie cliché. Guaranteed, you’ll be drunk by minute 56 of this disappointing 110-minute shambles.

Lee Hutchison

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews Husky

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

Shakespeare In The Park Playing at Bella Vista Farm Park until Tuesday December 30

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sport For Jove Theatre Company is producing another round of Shakespeare In The Park this December with the magical and playful A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The classic and chaotic Shakespearian comedy will be performed outdoors at the Bella Vista Farm Park, heightening the magic and liveliness that the story entails.

Running concurrently is Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which will also be performed by Sport For Jove as part of the Sydney Hills Shakespeare In The Park Festival.

The Jezabels

PARTY IN THE PARK! TICKETS! WIN!

I

f there’s one thing we know all too well about festivals, it’s that often they are far too expensive and far too difficult to get to. Luckily, the brand new festival Party In The Park, which aims to give a much-needed boost to Northern Sydney’s music scene, has you covered, providing a spectacular evening of entertainment conveniently located on Sydney’s North Shore. The stellar lineup includes The Cat Empire, The Jezabels, The Paper Kites, Husky and Sons Of The East, all of whom will be doing their thing at North Sydney Oval on Saturday March 14.

The Cat Empire

We’ve got five double passes to give away to the inaugural event. To be in the running, head to thebrag. com/freeshit and let us know who you’re looking forward to seeing most on the Party In The Park lineup.

WIN!

For more information and tickets, visit sportforjove.com.au. thebrag.com

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 17

BARS SMALL

(02) 9247 2229 Mon – Sun 10.30am-midnight A Work In Progress 50 King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri noon-late; Sat 5pm-2am The Attic L1, 347 Kent St, CBD (02) 9299 4811 Mon – Fri 11am- am Ash St Cellar 1 Ash St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri 8.30am-11pm Assembly 488 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9283 8808 Mon – Tue 5-11pm; Wed – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Australian Heritage Hotel 100 Cumberland St, The Rocks

Balcony Bar 46 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 3526 Tue – Fri noonmidnight; Sat 5pm-midnight BAR100 100 George St, The Rocks (02) 8070 9311 Mon – Thu noon-late; Fri – Sat noon-3am; Sun noon-midnight Bar Eleven Lvl 11, 161 Sussex St, Sydney CBD (02) 9290 4712 Thu 4-10pm; Fri 4-11pm; Sat 3-11pm The Barber Shop 89 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 9699 Mon – Fri 2pm-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight

The Baxter Inn Basement 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-1am The Bear Thomas Lane Haymarket 0451029226 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight Bondy’s L1, 16 Philip Ln, CBD Wed – Thu & Sat 5pm-late; Fri 3pm-late Bulletin Place First Floor, 10-14 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight deVine 32 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 6906 Mon – Fri 11.30am-11.30pm; Sat 5.30-11.30pm Frankie’s Pizza

50 Hunter St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sun 4pm-4am Gilt Lounge 49 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 0000 Tue – Wed 6pm-midnight; Thu & Sat 6pm-2am; Fri 5pm-2am The Glenmore 96 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 4794 Mon – Thu, Sun 11am-midnight; Fri – Sat 11am-1am Goodgod Small Club 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney CBD (02) 8084 0587 Wed 5pm-1am; Thu 5pm-2am; Fri 5pm-5am; Sat 6pm-5am Grain Bar 199 George St, Sydney

PLAY BAR

The Fox Hole 68A Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 4369 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight The Grasshopper 1 Temperance Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9947 9025 Mon – Wed & Sat 4pm-late; Thu – Fri noon-late The Lobo Plantation Basement Lot 1, 209 Clarence St, Sydney CBD 0415 554 908 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri 2pm-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight Mojo Record Bar Basement 73 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4999 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Morrison

bar

OF

BASEMENT, 72 CAMPBELL STREET SURRY HILLS PH: 9280 0885 OPENING HOURS: 5PM-12AM TUESDAY-SATURDAY WEBSITE: PLAYBAR.COM.AU

Grandma’s Basement 275 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 3004 Mon – Fri 3pm-late; Sat 5pm-late

TH

EK

B R A G ’ S G U I D E T O S Y D N E Y ’ S B E S T W AT E R I N G H O L E S

CBD (02) 9250 3118 Mon – Fri 4pm-1am; Sat noon-1am; Sun noon-midnight

E E W

Tell us about your bar: Play Bar is raw, street and underground. It’s Sydney’s home of beats, breakin’ and musical excursion. Stop by for after-work drinks and linger well into the night thanks to live music and DJs.

Mr Tipply’s 347 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 4877 Mon – Sun 10am-late Palmer & Co. Abercrombie Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3172 Mon – Wed 5pm-late; Thu – Fri noon-late; Sat – Sun 5pm-late Papa Gede’s Bar Laneway at the end of 348 Kent St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 5pm-12am Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern 199 Elizabeth St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm

Care for a drink? We do cocktails, ales, spirits and vino… plus a wide selection of craft beers!

Sounds? Old-school hip hop, soul and funk, breaks and boogie. The live music lineup varies.

Highlights: Some of Sydney’s best local DJs, international DJs and live music – all with the patent Play Bar vibe.

The Angry Pirate 125 Redfern St Redfern (02) 9698 9140 Tue – Thur 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun – 5pm-10pm Bar-racuda 105 Enmore Rd, Newtown (02) 9519 1121 Mon – Sat 6-midnight The Bearded Tit 183 Regent St, Redfern (02) 8283 4082 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat midday - midnight; Sun midday - 10pm Blacksheep 256 King St, Newtown (02) 8033 3455 Mon – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat midday-midnight; Sun midday-10pm

Mon – Fri 10am-3am; Sat 10am-4am; Sun 10am-midnight Knox Street Bar 21 Shepherd St, Chippendale Tue – Thu 4pm-l0pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-11pm; Sun 2pm-9pm Kuleto’s 157 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 6369 Mon – Wed 4pm-late; Thu – Sat 4pm-3am; Sun 4pm-midnight The Little Guy 87 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9200 0000 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 1pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Mary’s 6 Mary St, Newtown (02) 4995 9550 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm

Rockpool Bar & Grill 66 Hunter St, Sydney CBD (02) 8078 1900 Mon – Sat lunch & dinner

The Midnight Special 44 Enmore Road, Newtown (02) 9516 2345 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm

The Rook Level 7, 56-58 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 2505 Mon – Fri 4pm-late; Sat 4pm-late

The Chip Off The Old Block 3 Little Queen Street, Chippendale (02) 9318 0815 Tue – Sat 4pm-11pm

Miss Peaches 201 Missenden Rd, Newtown (02) 9557 7280 Wed – Sun 5pm-midnight

The SG 32 York St, Sydney CBD 0402 813 035 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight

Cornerstone Bar & Food 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh (02) 8571 9004 Sun – Wed 10am-5pm; Thu – Sat 10am-late

The Moose Newtown 530 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 0072 Wed – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5-10pm

Shirt Bar 7 Sussex Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 8068 8222 Mon –Wed 8am-6pm; Thu – Fri 8am-10pm

Corridor 153A King St, Newtown 0422 873 879 Tue – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 1pm-midnight; Sun 1-10pm

Since I Left You 338 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4986 Mon – Wed 5pm-10pm; Thu – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight

Cottage Bar & Kitchen 342 Darling St, Balmain (02) 8084 8185 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm

Small Bar 48 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0782 Mon – Fri noonmidnight; Sat 5pm-midnight

Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9552 3406 Mon – Sat 4.30pm-late

Stitch Bar 61 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0380 Mon –Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri noon-2am; Sat 4pm-2am

a taste of Americana street food.

We recommend any of the subs!

Sat 6pm-midnight

Bloodwood 416 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 7699 Mon, Wed –Thu 5pm-late; Fri – Sat noon-late; Sun noon10pm

The Spice Cellar Basement 58 Elizabeth St, Sydney CBD (02) 9223 5585 Mon – Sun 4pm-late

What’s on the menu? The guys from The Nighthawk Diner bring you

18 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

225 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9247 6744 Mon – Wed 7.30am-midnight; Thu 7.30-1am; Fri 7.302am; Sat 11.30-2am; Sun11.30am-10pm

Tapavino 6 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay (02) 9247 3221 Mon – Fri 11am-11.30pm Uncle Ming’s 55 York St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri 11am-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight York Lane York Lane, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 1676 Mon – Wed 6.30am-10pm; Thu – Fri 6.30pm-midnight;

Earl’s Juke Joint 407 King St, Newtown Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Freda’s 107-109 Regent St, Chippendale (02) 8971 7336 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri noon-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm The Green Room Lounge 156 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8021 8451 Wed 5pm-late; Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 5pm-1am; Sun 5-10pm Hive Bar 93 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville (02) 9519 9911 Mon – Fri noonmidnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm Kelly’s On King 285 King St, Newtown (02) 9565 2288

Mr Falcon’s 92 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9029 6626 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-midnight; Sun 2-10pm Newtown Social Club 387 King St, Newtown (02) 9550 3974 Mon – Sat noonmidnight; Sun noon10pm The Oxford Tavern 1 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham (02) 8019 9351 Mon – Thu middaymidnight; Fri – Sat midday-3am; Sun midday-10pm The Record Crate 34 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9660 1075 Tue – Wed 11am-10pm; Thu – Fri 11am-midnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm The Royal 156 Norton St, Leichhardt (02) 9569 2638 Mon – Thu 10am-1am; Fri – Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-midnight Secret Garden Bar 134a Enmore Rd, Enmore 0409 284 928 Wed – Sun 5pm-11pm Timbah 375 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9571 7005 Tue – Thu 4-9pm; Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 2pm-midnight; Sun 2-8pm thebrag.com

The Workers Lvl 1, 292 Darling St, Balmain (02) 9555 8410 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 5pm-3am; Sun 2-10pm ZanziBar 323 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 1511 Mon – Thu 10am-4am; Fri 10am-6am; Sat 10am-5am; Sun 10am-12am Zigi’s Wine And Cheese Bar 86 Abercrombie St, Chippendale (02) 9699 42221 Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Sat 2pm-midnight; Sun 2pm-9pm

121BC 4/50 Holt St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 1582 Tue – Thu 5-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight Absinthe Salon 87 Albion St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 6632 Wed – Sat 4-10pm Banter Surry Hills 425 Bourke St Surry Hills Sydney (02) 8354 0954

Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm

(02) 8084 6100 Mon – Sat 5pmmidnight

The Cliff Dive 16-18 Oxford Square, Darlinghurst Wed – Sun 6pm-4am

Li’l Darlin Surry Hills 420 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills (02) 9698 5488 Mon – Thu noon-3pm & 5-11pm; Fri – Sun noon-11pm

The Commons 32 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 1487 Tue – Sun noon-late Darlo Bar 306 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 3672 Mon – Sun 10am-midnight Darlie Laundromatic 304 Palmer St, Darlinghurst (02) 8095 0129 Wed – Sun 5-11pm Eau De Vie 229 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst 0422 263 226 Mon – Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 6pm-midnight The Flinders 63-65 Flinders St, Surry Hills (02) 9356 3622 Tue – Thu 5pm-3am; Fri – Sat 5pm-5am

Tue noon-midnight; Wed – Sun 6pm-12am

The Forresters 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon-1am; Sun noon10pm

Bar H 80 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 1980 Tue – Sat 6pm-late

Gardel’s Bar 358 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 8399 1440 Tue – Sat 6:pm - 12am

The Beresford 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 8313 5000 Mon – Sun noon-1am

Gazebo 2 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Elizabeth Bay (02) 9357 5333 Mon – Thu 3pm-midnight; Fri – Sun noon-midnight

Black Penny 648 Bourke St, Redfern (02) 9319 5061 Tue – Sat noonmidnight; Sun noon11pm Brooklyn Social 14 Randle St, Surry Hills 0451 972 057 Mon – Sun 12pm-2am Button Bar 65 Foveaux St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1544 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Café Lounge 277 Goulburn St, Surry Hills (02) 9016 3951 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sunday 4-10pm Casoni Italian Bar & Eatery 371-373 Bourke St, Darlinghurst Wed – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5pm-10pm The Carlisle 2 Kellett St, Kings Cross (02) 9331 0065 Thu – Sun 6pm-late The Carrington 565 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 9360 4714 Mon – Sun noonmidnight; Sun noon10pm Ching-a-Lings 1/133 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 3333 Tue – Wed 6pm-11pm; Thu 6pm-midnight; thebrag.com

The Hazy Rose 1/83 Stanley St, Darlinghurst (02) 9357 5036 Tue 3-11pm; Wed – Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Hello Sailor 96 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9332 2442 Tue – Sun 5pm-1am The Hills 42 Chalmers St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3814 Mon – Sun midday-2am Hinky Dinks 185 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6379 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 1-10pm

LL Wine and Dine 42 Llankelly Place Potts Point (02) 9356 8393 Tue – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri 5pm-late; Sat 11am-late; Sun 11am-10pm The Local Tap House 122 Flinders St, Surry Hills (02) 9360 0088 Mon – Wed noon-2am; Thu – Sat noon-1am; Sun noon-11pm Love, Tilly Devine 91 Crown Ln, Darlinghurst (02) 9326 9297 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Low 302 302 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1548 Tue – Sat 5pm-2am; Sun 6pm-2am Mr Fox 557 Crown St, Surry Hills 0414 691 811 Mon –Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Norfolk 305 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 3177 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon-1am; Sun noon10pm The Passage 231A Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 6116 Mon – Thu 5pm-late; Fri – Sun noon-late Play Bar 72 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 0885 Wed – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Pocket Bar 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 7002 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-1am; Sun 4pm-midnight The Print Room 1 Glenmore Rd, Paddington 0424 034 020 Wed – Fri: 3pm-late; Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 12pm-10pm

4pm-midnight The Soda Factory 16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills (02) 8096 9120 Mon – Wed 5pm-late; Thu 5pm-2am; Fri – Sat 5pm-5am

Tio’s Cerveceria 4/14 Foster St, Surry Hills Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Unicorn Cellar Basement, 106 Oxford St, Paddington (02) 9360 7994 Tue – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Vasco 421 Cleveland St, Redfern 0406 775 436 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5-10pm The Victoria Room Lvl 1, 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9357 4488 Tue – Fri 6pm-midnight; Sat noon-2am; Sun noon-midnight The Wild Rover 75 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 2235 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Winery 285A Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 0833 Mon – Sun noonmidnight

Anchor Bar 8 Campbell Pde, Bondi (02) 8084 3145 Tue – Fri 4.30pm-late; Sat – Sun 12.30pm-late Bondi Hardware 39 Hall St, Bondi (02) 9365 7176 Mon – Wed 5-11pm; Thu 5pm-midnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm The Bucket List Shop 1, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive (02) 9365 4122 Mon – Sun 11am-late The Corner House 281 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 8020 6698 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Fat Ruperts 249 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 1033 Mon – Fri 6pm-late; Sat 4pm-late; Sun 4-10pm

Hustle & Flow Bar 105 Regent St, Redfern (02) 9310 5593 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight

Roosevelt 32 Orwell St, Potts Point 0423 203 119 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight

The Rum Diaries 288 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9300 0440 Tue – Sat 6pm-midnight; Sun 6-10pm

Jekyll & Hyde 332 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 5568 Wed – Fri 4pm-late; Sat 8.30am-late; Sun 8.30am-evening

Santa Barbara 1 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross (02) 9357 7882 Wed 6pm-1am; Thu & Sat 6pm-2am; Fri noon2am

Speakeasy 83 Curlewis St, Bondi (02) 9130 2020 Mon – Fri 3pm-late; Sat – Sun noon-late

Li’l Darlin Darlinghurst 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst

Shady Pines Saloon Shop 4, 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sun

Pour it in your mouth-hole... (responsibly).

Sweethearts Rooftop 33/37Darlinghurst Rd, Potts Point (02) 9368 7333 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sun noon-midnight

Queenie’s Upstairs, Forresters Cnr Foveaux and Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Tue – Sat 6pm-late

Hollywood Hotel 2 Foster St, Surry Hills (02) 9281 2765 Mon – Wed 10am-midnight; Thu – Sat 10am-3am

COCKTAIL OF THE WEEK

Spring Street Social (and Jam Gallery) Underground 110 Spring St Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485

THE GROG ZOMBIE @ THE ANGRY PIRATE 125 REDFERN STREET, SYDNEY Ingredients: • Homemade spiced rum (‘Grog’) • dark rum • apricot brandy • Absinthe • Bacardi 151 (78.5%) • passionfruit • brown sugar • fresh pineapple • lime • lemon Best drunk with: The lights out, this baby’s on fire.

During: A wild night out with loose friends.

While wearing: One of our pirate hats and little else.

And listening to: King of the North, The Prodigy (‘Firestarter’), Johnny Cash.

More: theangrypirate.com.au

Origins: The original Zombie Cocktail has its origins at Don The Beachcomber’s restaurant in the 1930s. The drink got its name after a returning customer complained that the drink had “turned him into a zombie”. Billy Connolly advised his audience to try the Zombie as “in an extraordinary concept, [the consumer gets] drunk from the bottom up”.

Method: Muddle the lime, lemon, sugar and pineapple, and add all the booze except the Bacardi. Add ice and shake. Pour all into a tiki mug and top with passionfruit. Add sugar and Bacardi 151 into half a passionfruit shell and ignite.

Glass: Tiki mug Garnish: Flaming passionfruit half

Tues – Sat 4pm-3am Stuffed Beaver 271 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 3002 Mon – Sat noonmidnight; Sun noon10pm

The Bay Jam Bar 2A Waters Rd, Neutral Bay 0407 454 0815 Tue – Fri 11am-midnight; Sat – Sun 7am-midnight Firefly 24 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 0193 Mon – Wed 5-10pm; Thu 4-11pm; Fri – Sat noon11pm; Sun noon-9.30pm The Foxtrot 28 Falcon St, Crows Nest Tue – Sat 5pm-3am; Sun 5-10pm Harlem On Central Shop 4,9-15 Central Ave, Manly (02) 9976 6737 Tue – Sun 5pm-midnight The Hayberry Bar & Diner 97 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest (02) 8084 0816

Tue – Sat:4pm-12am; Sun 4pm-10pm 1Hemingway’s 48 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9976 3030 Mon – Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 8am-10pm Honey Rider 230 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 8880 Tue – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm In Situ 1/18 Sydney Rd, Manly (02) 9977 0669 Mon 9am-6pm; Wed – Sun 9am-midnight The Hunter 5 Myahgah Rd, Mosman 0409 100 339 Mon – Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Jah Ba Shop 7, 9-15 Central Ave, Manly (02) 9977 4449 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Local Bar 8 Young Ln, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 0027 Mon 5-10pm; Tue – Wed

8am-10pm; Thu – Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 8am-10pm Manly Wine 8-13 South Steyne, Manly (02) 8966 9000 Mon – Sun 7am-late The Mayor 400 Military Rd, Cremorne (02) 8969 6060 Tue – Fri 10am-late; Sat 8am-late; Sun 8am-10pm Miss Marley’s Tequila Bar 32 Belgrave St, Manly (02) 8065 4805 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5-10pm

Mon – Tue 4pm-midnight: Wed – Thu midday-1am; Fri – Sat midday- 2am; Sun midday-midnight The Stoned Crow 39 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest (02) 9439 5477 Mon – Sun noon-late White Hart 19-21 Grosvenor St, Neutral Bay (02) 8021 2115 Tue – Thu 5pm-late; Fri 4pm-late; Sat 2pm-late; Sun noon-8pm Wilcox Cammeray 463 Miller St, Cammeray (02) 9460 0807 Tue – Thu 4pm-11pm; Fri - Sat 11am-11pm; Sun 11am-10pm

Moonshine Lvl 2, Hotel Steyne, 75 The Corso, Manly (02) 9977 4977 Thu – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 3-11pm The Pickled Possum 254 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 2091 Thu – Sat 9pm-1am SoCal 1 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9904 5691

Your bar’s not here? Email: chris@thebrag. com

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 19

Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...

ALBUM OF THE WEEK BEN FROST

only seethe under the surface without amounting to anything more.

Listening to Ben Frost’s last album, Aurora, is something like the sonic equivalent of enduring a punch in the gut.

Its thundering drums and claustrophobic noise may not be easy for the ears, but there is no denying the colossal vision within Frost’s production.

Some spectacular moments light up a Ben Frost redux.

For something as ambitious as Aurora, it’s fi tting that Frost has recruited some heavyweights for its remix EP, Variant. Evian Christ’s remix of ‘Venter’ begins with long, drawn-out sounds that build and drop, seeding anticipation. It comes as a surprise, then, that the next two songs, credited to Dutch E Germ and HTRK,

While the tracks still retain Frost’s unmistakable flavour, the originals’ piercing, often ugly synths are pared back for a more familiar, club-driven sound. Perhaps the most divergent is Kangding Ray’s remix of ‘No Sorrowing’; seven minutes of sparse techno that segue beautifully into Regis’ edit of ‘Nolan’, where everything escalates into faster perpetual motion before crashing back down in a catharsis of ambient noise.

As a whole, Variant is fragmentary at times, as is often the case with remixes. But what it lacks in structure it makes up for in its individual moments and the artists’ intelligent treatment of Frost’s material: a clean polish to the harsh ambiguities of his sound.

Amelia Zhou

DRAWCARD

WU-TANG CLAN

EX COPS

THE BENNIES

Goons Ltd MGM

A Better Tomorrow Warner

Daggers Downtown / Create/Control

Heavy Disco Poison City

Drawcard, who I thought were called ‘Goons Ltd’ (I admit, I wanted to review them to remind myself of happier times), are another poppunk/alternative rock/whatever band – think Paramore, 30 Seconds To Mars – this time hailing from Brisbane. Unfortunately, and I say this a lot about the modern world, there’s not much new to Drawcard’s sound – it’s all been done before.

It’s been a rough road to release for Wu-Tang’s sixth studio album, A Better Tomorrow, tainted by internal bickering worthy of the Kardashians, all types of delays, and a technically challenged Ol’ Dirty Bastard hologram onstage last year. The album title is almost begging you to forget the recent past.

It’s been an interesting year for Amalie Bruun, to say the least.

Earlier this year, she dropped an exceptional EP of intense black metal under the moniker Myrkur.

She’s now followed that up with the second album from Ex Cops, which she fronts with multiinstrumentalist Brian Harding.

Unless you were aware of the fact prior, there is absolutely no way you could tell that both projects shared a member. If anything, it’s indicative of Bruun’s versatility and her smart approach to looking at the bigger picture from a musical perspective.

Throughout Melbourne’s music history, ska has been a nearconstant presence since the late ’70s and carries on today with bands like Area-7 and The Resignators. Although The Bennies lean towards the punk side of ska-punk, the majority of songs on their new EP, Heavy Disco, contain enough skankin’ goodness to keep fans of the genre happy.

However, these fellas really aren’t too bad. Throughout my art philosophy classes at uni, the idea of measuring art against the artist’s intentions and ambition seemed pretty legit to me. In that light, Goons Ltd is really good. There’s spades of ‘pop’ – every song on this EP is a big sing-along. For a young band, Drawcard have really nailed down their songwriting and melodic capabilities. It’s really hard to single out a highlight, as they’re all pretty equal, but ‘The Bridge’ and ‘The Next Time’ were personal favourites.

Whilst the ‘pop’ dominates, the ‘punk’ and ‘rock’ qualities are given their chance to show off as the melodies take a breather, and excel at every turn, with hints of grunge and metal also thrown in.

It’s hard to listen to this album without pricking your ears for any note of insurrection, and RZA engenders the image of a long-suffering parent on a road trip, just trying to get everyone home in one piece. That said, A Better Tomorrow is exquisitely produced, and by the tenth track it’s clear that we are dealing with vintage Wu, as Masta Killa lays it out: “This is what y’all wanted back / Classic Wu, RZA track”. He’s not wrong: the ’90s kids are grown up sufficiently to pine for the past, and this brand of nostalgia and gimmick-free hip hop strikes right at their FUBU-clad core. Old lyrics are reworked, talk of ‘legacy’ and ‘memory’ is rife, and ODB’s unmistakable whinny is the first voice that hits your ears, taking you right back to another era.

These blokes have gone out to make pop-punk and they’ve managed to throw out five brilliant songs. I’m not enamoured with this genre, but they got me jiving.

Despite tight-knit production, this is nothing extraordinary.

Although there are a couple of standouts, the supposedly final album for one of hip hop’s most prolific supergroups sounds more like a death rattle than an apotheosis.

Nicholas Hartman

Nic Liney

Daggers arrives nearly two years following the duo’s debut, and the momentum is not dropped for a second. It’s safe to say the record’s first three tracks are less radio-friendly and more radiohungry – in a perfect world, they’d be immovable from every radio playlist for the entire summer. Their dynamic is similar to The Kills in that they constantly play off one another’s moves, but Daggers also shows there’s something going on here that’s far greater than the sum of its parts.

Absolutely anything could happen next when it comes to Ex Cops – and it probably will.

The world of pop feels like an adventure all over again.

David James Young

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK

MESA COSA YaYa Brouhaha Off The Hip

20 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

Ben Frost photo by Börkur Sigthorsson

xxx

Variant Mute / Create/Control

Mesa Cosa make balls-out, garage-y punk rock. YaYa Brouhaha, the band’s long-playing debut, is a filthy piece of work. The Melburnians assume a total disregard for finesse, but that doesn’t mean there’s a deficiency in skills. Each of YaYa Brouhaha’s ten tracks come out fast and hard, but the record’s lined with clever chord runs and a bounty of memorable gang vocals.

Latino flavour. The same goes for ‘Bruja’, where Alvarado’s frenzied vocals verge on psychotic.

Opener ‘Why Yo’ sets the stage, shoving bottles down the gullet and unleashing a fit of accelerated mania.

Frontman Pablo Alvarado is a Mexico City transplant and he doesn’t keep his heritage a secret. Take ‘Satanas’, for instance: in many respects a rampaging Cramps-meets-Minor Threat number, only it’s spiked with more than a touch of cocaine-addled

Such dynamic contrasts and aesthetic splicing push this LP beyond being a good old lark.

YaYa Brouhaha is captivating and unpredictable, at once whipping you in the face, grinning deliriously and furnishing your belly with towers of beer.

Towards its conclusion, YaYa Brouhaha sidesteps into a freakish six-minute episode called ‘Bad Blood’. Embodying the hangover from hell, the song snarls into view and plants a knife into your brain, again and again.

This EP has everything usually associated with ska-punk: a simple yet effective horn section, the typical upstroke style of guitar strumming, a two-tone beat, and of course, the obligatory song about weed (‘Green-Mix City’).

As a whole, it’s good fun. They tend to stay in the shallow end lyrically, but it suits the upbeat partying vibe they seem to be going for. It’s songs like ‘Stay Free’ and ‘Party Whirlwind’ that’ll guarantee an excellent live show.

‘Party Whirlwind’ gets a special mention for having a sweet trumpet solo. ‘What’s Your Fuckin’ Problem?’ is a great example of the punk and ska fusion, with its raw, angry vocals followed quickly by a nice, uplifting trumpet riff.

It’s the sweet and salty of music: kind of weird, but really fucking good.

Cassie Hedger

THE SLOW READERS CLUB Live At Central Library Extenso Four blokes got around a table somewhere in Manchester one day and decided to name themselves The Slow Readers Club. Whatever floats your boat. It’s possible the unimaginativeness of their name isn’t entirely unrelated to the unimaginativeness of their music.

Having had ample time pass since the 1980s, these Mancunians have adopted a sound eerily reminiscent of their English forebears, Depeche Mode. It isn’t an imitation, but their songs sound like a ground-down, simplified adaption. In other words, Slow Readers have a foundation consisting of quiet electronica, easy-going guitars and backing percussion (which sometimes breaks out into drum’n’bass) that seemingly serves to provide a platform for the booming, dominating, kingly vocals.

In every song, the vocals are at the forefront, and this clear enunciation makes the occasionally terrible lyrics quite conspicuous (“I sat out, upon a lake” is a pearler from ‘Fool For Your Philosophy’).

These fellas seem like they’ve achieved half of their desired sound. Perhaps if they found one other influence and strongly infused that into their sound – like, I dunno, post-rock – they’d have the chance to be a pretty decent band. Until then, though, they’re gonna be half as good.

Nicholas Hartman

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...

THE STONE ROSES - The Stone Roses TV ON THE RADIO - Seeds THE LIVING END - The Living End

ARCADE FIRE - Refl ektor WITHERED HAND - Good News

Augustus Welby thebrag.com

1ST JANUARY 2015 - 4AM NEW YEARS MORNING SUNRISE CRUISE

SPACE DIMENSION CONTROLLER OLIVER KOLETZKI TRUS’ME NIKO SCHWIND UK

DE

UK

DE

FANTASTIC MAN MELB BEN FESTER & PREACHA

HEDON & JEREMIAH

MURAT KILIC JAMES GREVILLE & DECLAN ESAU

ROBBIE LOWE U-KHAN & GERRIT OLIVER

THESPICECELLAR.COM.AU

Thu 18 Dec 6:30-9:30pm Sea Life Sydney Aquarium WWW.HIJINKSSYDNEY.COM

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 21

snap sn ap

live reviews

up all night out all week . . .

What we've been out to see...

JANE TYRRELL, ELANA STONE, MAPLES Newtown Social Club Friday December 5 The female-led night of music at Newtown’s just-big-enough venue proved just as stellar as its lineup promised. Having lent her vocal chords to Aussie hip hop names like Hermitude, Horrorshow and Urthboy for the past decade, it was now Jane Tyrrell’s turn to stand in the solo spotlight for the launch of her debut album, Echoes In The Aviary.

Sydney musician Maples AKA Gabby Huber of Dead Letter Chorus fame (“Let us run wild!”) was first to stand onstage, and with keyboards and pedals for company, she succeeded in piquing and then holding the room’s attention. Appreciative of the quiet audience, the talented muso returned the favour with an electric rainforest of sounds, broken only to allow her often saccharine, often low, but always controlled voice to break through.

Dispelling the electronic haze with some upbeat folky pop was Elana Stone and her two bandmates. Small but sprightly, Stone spread her invisible dancing juice and generally great vibes with her sharp banter and beautifully performed songs, complete with the unexpected appearance of an accordion. Life lesson #750: you can’t go

past Stone for an electrifying, slowed down and nearly unrecognisable cover of Mariah Carey’s ‘Emotions’.

Hovering on the side of the room for most of the support sets, Jane Tyrrell emerged smiling and fierce in a brilliant sleeveless red coat. Tyrrell is certainly no stranger to the local music industry and both Maples and Stone were particularly generous in their thanks of the leading lady. “She’s one of those gems that carries the flame,” Maples had said early on in the night.

Tyrrell’s dark and deeply refined vocals showcased the best of her album as well as a beautiful Paul Kelly cover (‘Stolen Apples Taste The Sweetest’).

It was one moving track after the next, with no tendency to mess around. That’s not to say Tyrrell didn’t have a bit of fun.

Waltzing into the audience for a few lines of ‘Shapeshifters’, divulging her favourite Australian band (nice one, PVT) and making sure everyone was on the same page about ’80s dancing, Tyrrell charmed any audience member who wasn’t already a devotee.

Although Echoes In The Aviary is a stunning record, it was made inescapably awe-inspiring live. The flame was well and truly alight from start to finish with Tyrrell’s voice as its life-giving centre.

Katie Davern

PICS :: AM

violent soho + ceres + trophy eyes 05:12:14 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

Metro Theatre Friday December 5 On Friday Violent Soho demonstrated that you don’t have to redefine rock’n’roll to be great, you just have to know what the hell you’re doing. The sentiment was obvious from the start. Trophy Eyes, a five-piece melodic hardcore group from Newcastle, thundered through the opening set with the passionate energy that is characteristic of the genre. Breakneck instrumentation coupled with a frontman who embraced the whole stage made for a solid display of post-punk.

The next band, Ceres, shifted gears with catchy riffs that could have slipped into generic pop-rock had it not been for the authenticity with which Tom Lanyon, their frontman, delivered his emotionally charged lyrics. In between songs he told the crowd, “Touring with Violent Soho is the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

His honesty translated into tracks that resonated, creating an inclusive set filled with the warmth one feels in the solidarity of pop-punk stylings.

Throughout the night the atmosphere at the Metro had been congenial and

22 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

welcoming. When Violent Soho walked on, the excitement was at fever pitch. James Tidswell, their guitarist, raised his beer with the affable smile of Garth Algar. He began the intro to ‘Dope Calypso’. And then the crowd lost its collective mind. The moshpit, from the barrier to the stairs of the Metro hall, became an awesome pulsating mass as fans bounced through the entire fiveminute song. As the band rolled straight into ‘Lowbrow’ it didn’t look like there’d be any end to the crowd’s enthusiasm.

The fans literally threw themselves into each and every song, with individuals flying through the air as they crowd-surfed the wave of bodies underneath. They knew the lyrics to every song, chanting alongside frontman Luke Boerdam’s furious cry of nihilistic frustration with dead-end jobs.

With long, straggly hair swinging, Violent Soho head-banged their way through the night. Ending on an extended jam of ‘OK Cathedral’, which culminated in a heavy breakdown, they left the stage amidst a flurry of colour and lights. The feedback of guitars echoed through the theatre. A testament to the power of their songwriting, Violent Soho had dominated the night with their anthemic choruses and an intuitive understanding of what makes great grunge music.

James Ross

frankie’s 2nd birthday

PICS :: AM

VIOLENT SOHO, CERES, TROPHY EYES

07:12:14 :: Frankie’s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney thebrag.com

snap sn ap up all night out all week . . .

The Hi-Fi Friday December 5 Riding on a wave of rave reviews for their debut album Blue Planet Eyes, The Preatures delivered a crackling performance to a sold-out crowd on Friday night. The electric Isabella Manfredi captained the tight set, leading the band through its groovy pop-rock tunes with charisma, charm and brilliant showmanship.

Hordes of youngsters lined the balcony upstairs at this all-ages gig while the bobbing heads below hosted a few grey hairs, a few hipster haircuts and a few comically oversized cowboy hats (Pharrell?). All were treated to two great supports; the soft folk-rockers Hot Spoke and the hard folk-rockers Holy Holy. Hot Spoke’s singer-songwriter Ness Muir has a great set of lungs, while Holy Holy’s wall-of-sound style blended with intelligent lyrics and technical guitar playing to get the crowd stomping.

The Preatures took to the stage with their new album’s slow burner title track ‘Blue Planet Eyes’, before jumping into their single ‘Somebody’s Talking’ with infectious energy. Slowing things down, Manfredi’s

strong vocals shone through in the ballad ‘Two Tone Melody’.

Throughout the whole show, everyone’s eyes were on Manfredi. She pulled out all the stops: handstands, crawls, merciless hip thrusts, everything. Her intensity, energy and indomitable sass captivated the audience, even during the quieter songs. She’s a born performer, completely at home on the stage.

But it wasn’t just a one-woman show.

Backup vocalist and guitarist Gideon Benson earned some teenage-girl screams with his singing, although it was hard to hear him. Lead guitarist Jack Moffitt was a dominant presence with his clanging riffs and solos. There was a fantastic chemistry onstage, complete with synchronised dancing and smiles galore. The offstage romance between Moffitt and Manfredi continued onstage like a musical soap opera, with mock fi ghts, mock make-ups, and loving staring competitions. It was pretty cute.

the preatures

PICS :: AM

THE PREATURES, HOLY HOLY, HOT SPOKE

06:12:14 :: The Hi-Fi :: 122 Lang Rd Moore Park 1300THEHIFI

The band fi nished with the rollicking landmark hit ‘Is This How You Feel?’ before returning for an encore. Punters of all ages left the venue armed with merchandise and big smiles. The Preatures are a joy to watch.

Fintan McDonnell

party profile

the rhythm section xmas party It’s called: The Rhythm Section Xmas Party It sounds like: Swamp rock blues gumbo Acts: Lloyd Spiegel, The Widowbirds, Cass Eager Saxon (Benjalu), Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars & The Velvet Rope, Nick , A Girl’s A Gun. Three songs you’ll hear on the night: The Blues, The Rock, The Carol And one you definitely won’t: Odd Mob – ‘Is It A Banger?’

Sell it to us: No need to head to a festival, the best of Aussie blues and roots talent will be here, and The Vanguard will be in cocktail party mode with lots of room to strut your hillbilly stuff on the dancefloor, or if you’d prefer, stand at the back and drink bourbon and talk about the good old days, as we party late into the night.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The Shred Crowd specs: Come one come all (18+) Wallet damage: $16+bf presale, $20 on the door Where: The Vanguard, 42 King Street, Newto wn When: Thursday December 11, 8pm

OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

thebrag.com

:: ASHLEY MAR ::

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 23

g g guide g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week THURSDAY DECEMBER 11

Ian Anderson

Paul Capsis Venue 505, Surry Hills.

8pm. $40.

Spookyland Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale. 8:30pm. free.

The Happy Hippies Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill. 6:30pm. free.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 11

FRIDAY DECEMBER 12

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

200k The Wild Rover, Surry Hills.

7pm. free.

Georgia Maq + Jack Livingston + Shelby Clements Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle. 9:30pm. free.

Ian Collard + Sweet Lil Rider + Jeremy Edwards The Basement, Circular Quay.

9pm. $24.10.

Rhythm Section Christmas Party - feat: Lloyd Spiegel + The Widowbirds + Cass Eager + Nick Saxon + Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars + A Girl’s A Gun The Vanguard, Newtown.

7:45pm. $16.

Sydney Opera House

The Best Of Jethro Tull feat: Ian Anderson 8pm. $99.90.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Lionel Cole Imperial Hotel, Paddington.

8pm. free.

Marlon Williams + The Yarra Benders + Aldous Harding + Andy Golledge The Vanguard, Newtown.

6:30pm. $23.80.

Vanishing Shapes Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Ian Collard + Sweet Lil Rider + Jeremy Edwards Brass Monkey, Cronulla.

8:30pm. $14.30.

Songsonstage - feat: Phil Gray + Mon-Ami + Guests Olympic Hotel, Paddington.

7:30pm. free.

Songwriting Society Of Australia Showcase - feat: Pete Scully + John Chesher + Blonde Baggage + Paul McGowan + Charli + Gavin Fitzgerald Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo. 7pm. free.

Tim Chaisson Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

7pm. $10.

24 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney.

9pm. free.

Brad Johns Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

7:30pm. free.

Captain Cook Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. free.

Cloud Nothings Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $51.20.

Joan Armatrading

Fat Bubba’s Chicken Wednesdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

Gary Johns Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill.

7pm. free.

Jay Brannan Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $48.

Joan Armatrading Enmore Theatre, Newtown.

8pm. $96.20.

Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

10 O’Clock Rock Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney.

10pm. free.

Alex Hopkins Open Mic Night Wenty Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 8:30pm. free.

Andras & Oscar Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

5pm. $18.

Black Diamond Hearts Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

10pm. free.

Blake Tailor Panthers, Penrith. 6:30pm. free.

Crash Tragic + Rainbow Death Ray + At The Clouds + Rigasaurus + Shinra Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Dan Spillane Dee Why Hotel, Dee Why. 7pm. free.

Dave White Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. free.

David Agius Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill.

7pm. free.

David Ryan Harris Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $28.60.

Greg Agar Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 10pm. free.

Harbour Masters Fortune Of War, The Rocks.

7pm. free.

Joe Echo Duo Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 9pm. free.

Kaleidoscope Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 5pm. free.

Matt Jones Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free.

Melody Rhymes Panthers, Penrith. 4pm. free.

Rachael Fahim Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 7:30pm. free.

Sarah Paton Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. free.

Songsonstage - feat: Phil Gray + Monica + Maxine Kauter + Rose Winter Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale.

7:30pm. free.

Songsonstage - feat: Mick Hambly + Guests Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. free.

The Best Of Jethro Tull feat: Ian Anderson Sydney Opera House, Sydney.

8pm. $99.90.

The Chosen Few Pendle Inn, Pendle Hill.

7:30pm. free.

The Double Shadows The Robin Hood Hotel, Waverly. 7pm. free.

The Late Night Soda Social Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

The Mess Up Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale. 8pm. free.

White Bros Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9pm. free.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 12 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Benjalu Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst.

7pm. $12.25.

Bones Atlas + Montes Jura + The Rumours Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $5.

Songjam - feat: Stuart Jammin + Monica Rosehill Hotel, Clyde. 7:30pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Ben Panucci Trio + Baz Venue 505, Surry Hills.

11:30am. $15.

Chronixx & Zinc Fence Redemption + Special Guests Factory Theatre, Marrickville.

8pm. $75.

Jazz Hip-Hop Freestyle Sessions Foundry616, Ultimo. 11:30pm. free.

Space Dream Project Christmas Party Cinema Den, Darlinghurst.

7pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Aaron Oswald Kareela Golf Club, Kareela.

6:30pm. free.

Amanda Easton Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 10:30am. free.

Andy Mammers Duo Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point.

8pm. free.

Bandsonstage - feat: Third Hour + Lost Trolleys + Insanity Proof Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. free.

Bandsonstage - feat: Trash Jacket + The Petrodollars + Boris Driver Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale.

8:30pm. free.

Ben Finn Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

9pm. free.

Blake Tailor Barvarian Bier Cafe, Parramatta. 7:30pm. free.

Boy Meets Girl Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci.

7:30pm. free.

Brad Johns Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill.

3:45pm. free.

Brad Johns Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free.

Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers Show Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 10pm. free.

Christie Lamb Duo Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill.

7pm. free.

Dark Horse + Canine + Not Like Horse + Culture Of Ignorance + DWA Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Dave Phillips

G SINGIN ERS H C A E T EeDtro IR m y e REQSU n yd Must have own studio/space & Wwc cert, Experience essential

Call Hayley 0422963373 Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 8pm. free.

David Agius Marrickville Ritz Hotel, Marrickville. 8pm. free.

Dee Donavan Rooty Hill Rsl Club, Rooty Hill.

10:30am. $15.

East Coast Band Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 10:30pm. free.

Empty Whispers Yardarm Taphouse, Manly.

7:30pm. free.

Evie Dean Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free.

Georgia White Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

5pm. free.

Glenn Esmond Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 8pm. free.

Glenn Esmond Duo The Mill Hotel, Milperra. 4pm. free.

Grooveworks Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 10:30am. $15.

Groovology Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free.

Gyroscope Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.80.

Harbour Masters Duo Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee.

12am. free.

Infinity Broke - feat: Sounds Like Sunset Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

7:30pm. $15.

James Englund Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown. 6pm. free.

James Reyne Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 7:30pm. $50.

Jed Zarb The Oriental Hotel, Springwood. 8pm. free.

Jess Dunbar PJ Gallagher’s Whisky Bar, Jacksons On George, Sydney.

5:30pm. free.

Jimmy Bear Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

8:30pm. free.

Joe Echo The Grand Hotel, Rockdale.

5:30pm. free.

Joe Echo Duo PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt.

10pm. free.

John Vella Chatswood RSL, Chatswood.

5pm. free.

Joseph Gatehau Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill.

8pm. free.

Kye Brown Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4pm. free.

Live Music At The Royal The Royal, Leichhardt.

9:30pm. free.

Matt Jones Duo Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill.

8pm. free.

Matt Price PJ Gallagher’s, Enfield. 9pm. free.

Max Power Overlander Hotel, Cambridge Park. 7pm. free.

Michael McGlynn Harlequin Inn, Pyrmont. 8pm. free.

Milko Foucault-Larche Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 10:30am. $15. thebrag.com

g g guide gig g

Xxx

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Noel Macdonald Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

6:30pm. free.

Original Sin - INXS Show Colonial Hotel, Werrington.

8:30pm. free.

Outlier Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. free.

Replika Greystanes Inn, Greystanes.

8pm. free.

Riz Hallowes Parramatta RSL, Parramatta.

5pm. free.

Rose Carleo Duo Emu Sports Club, Leonay.

7:30pm. free.

Soft Kitty Vineyard Hotel, Vineyard.

9pm. free.

Steve Tonge Duo Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free.

Sunbeam Sound Machine + Methyl Ethel + Yon Yonson Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10.

Ted Nash Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction.

7:30pm. free.

The Best Of Jethro Tull feat: Ian Anderson Sydney Opera House, Sydney.

8pm. $99.90.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus And Hawthorn Heights + Hawthorn Heights + Mixtape For The Drive The Small Ballroom, Newcastle. 8pm. $51.55.

Tim Conlon Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale.

6pm. free.

Tori Darke Adria Restaurant, Darling Harbour. 4pm. free.

VIP Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. free.

Zoltan Duo Pittwater RSL, Mona Vale.

7:30pm. free.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 13 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Chich Batch Brewing Co, Marrickville. 4pm. free.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Benjalu Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 7pm. free.

Seedy Reed The Newsagency, Marrickville.

8:30pm. $16.50.

The Bunker Coogee Diggers, Coogee.

8:30pm. $18.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Abbalanche - ABBA Show Canterbury League Club, Belmore. 8pm. free.

Alex Hopkins Buena Vista Hotel, Mosman.

2pm. free.

Alex Hopkins New Brighton Hotel, Manly.

10pm. free.

Alithia Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 6pm. free.

Angie Dean Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

6:30pm. free.

Antifest - feat: Anarkokvlt + Eager 13 + Wounded Pig + Inebrious Bastard + Abacination + The Bottlers + Coffin + Two Faced + Dead In The Gutter + Mangrove Jack + The Unhinged + Rude Rahlis + Skinpin + Swine + The Berkshire Hunting Club Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel,

thebrag.com

Jack Carty

Ultimo. 1pm. $10.

Back To The 80’s Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill.

9pm. free.

Ben Finn Trio The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill.

9pm. free.

Bob Bernard Jazz Band Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. free.

Bobby Fox The Basement, Circular Quay.

7:30pm. $40.

Bobo & John Epping Club, Epping. 7pm. free.

Bonez & Friends Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale. 2pm. free.

Brad Johns Henry Lawson Club, Werrington. 7:30pm. free.

Cara Kavanagh & Mark Oats Duo PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt.

10pm. free.

Daryl Braithwaite & The Old Married Couple Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 8pm. free.

Dave Mason Cox Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. free.

Dave White Experience Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 10:30pm. free.

David Agius Greystanes Inn, Greystanes.

8pm. free.

DJ Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

8pm. free.

Endless Summer Beach Party Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci.

7:30pm. free.

Evie Dean Panthers, Penrith. 5:30pm. free.

Flux Rock Lily, Pyrmont. 9:30pm. free.

Georgia Maq + Spencer Scott + Jack Livingston + Isaac Graham + Shelby Clements Record Crate, Glebe. 8pm. $10.

Glenn Esmond Duo Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee.

12am. free.

Heath Burdell Sir Joseph Banks Hotel, Botany. 8pm. free.

Hits & Pieces Plough & Harrow, Camden.

8pm. free.

Jack Carty + Playwrite Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $15.

James Reyne + Palace Of The King Western Suburbs Leagues Club, Leumeah. 8pm. $50.

Jamie Lindsay Stacks Taverna, Sydney. 6pm. free.

Jed Zarb Pj Gallagher’s, Enfield, Enfield. 9pm. free.

Jess Dunbar Duo St George Rowing Club, Wolli Creek. 7:30pm. free.

Joe Echo PJ Gallagher’s, Moore Park.

7:30pm. free.

John Vella Crown Hotel, Camden. 9pm. free.

Keith Armitage

Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free.

Leon Fallon Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

4pm. free.

Luke Dolahenty Duo Horse & Jockey Hotel, Home bush. 7:30pm. free.

Luke Zancanaro Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 8pm. free.

Mark Travers Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill.

1pm. free.

Matt Jones Woolwich Pier Hotel, Woolwich. 2pm. free.

Matt Jones Duo Albion Hotel, Parramatta. 9pm. free.

Matt Price Cronulla Leagues Club Sharkies, Woolooware. 7pm. free.

Melody Rhymes Duo The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill.

6pm. free.

Mercury White Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 7pm. free.

Mesa Groove Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

10pm. free.

Michael McGlynn Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point.

8pm. free.

Mick Thomas & The Roving Commission Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $25.

Outlier Trio Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. free.

Pat O’Grady Rose Bay Hotel, Rose Bay. 8pm. free.

Pluto Jonze Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $15.30.

Hunch + Prints + Grand Oyster Palace + Hunch Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $5.

Rachael Fahim Brewhouse Marayong, Kings Park. 8pm. free.

Rebecca Johnson Band Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill.

8pm. free.

Renae Stone Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

5:30pm. free.

Riz Hallowes Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

9pm. free.

Rob Eastwood Fortune Of War, The Rocks.

8pm. free.

Rock Of Ages Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 9:30pm. free.

Salsa Kingz Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free.

Sarah Paton Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free.

Sleep Manning Bar, Camperdown.

8pm. $49.

Soft Kitty Yardarm Taphouse, Manly.

7:30pm. free.

Songsonstage - feat: Andrew Denniston + Monica + Mike De Vere Petersham Inn, Petersham.

8pm. free.

Soundproofed Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm.

free.

Sydney Psych Fest Factory Theatre, Marrickville.

2pm. $30.

The Chosen Few Duo Pritchards Hotel, Mount Pritchard. 7:30pm. free.

The Cleftomaniacs Choir Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill.

7pm. free.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus + Hawthorne Heights + Mixtape For The Drive UTS Underground, Ultimo.

4pm. $51.55.

The War On Drugs + Ali Barter Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $53.70.

Tim Conlon Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free.

Tori Darke Le Pub, Sydney. 9pm. free.

Under Wraps Kareela Golf Club, Kareela.

8pm. free.

Wildcatz Band Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. free.

Harlequin Inn, Pyrmont. 3pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

SUNDAY DECEMBER 14 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Louis Isaac The Wild Rover, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

Peach’s Sunday Jam - feat: Peach Montgomery + Monica + Guests Garry Owen Hotel, Rozelle.

3pm. free.

Songsonstage - feat: Stuart Jammin + Guests

Andy Mammers Duo Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. free.

Bryen And The Bayou Boogie Boys Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. free.

Dan Spillane Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 4pm. free.

Daryl Braithwaite Campsie Rsl, Campsie. 1pm. free.

David Agius Summer Hills Hotel, Summer Hill. 3pm. free.

Drew Old Fitzroy Hotel, 1pm. free.

Ebony And Ivory Henry Lawson Club, Werrington. 1pm. free.

Evie Dean Cronulla Leagues Club - Sharkies, Woolooware.

2:30pm. free.

Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks.

6pm. free.

Greg Byrne Duo New Brighton Hotel, Manly.

5pm. free.

Jamie Lindsay Duo Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill.

3pm. free.

Jared Baca Ingleburn Hotel, Ingleburn.

3pm. free.

Jess Dunbar Buena Vista Hotel, Mosman.

2pm. free.

Joe Echo Duo The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill.

1pm. free.

Joe Echo Duo Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel,

wed

Sydney. 4pm. free.

John Vella The Mill Hotel, Milperra. 12pm. free.

Jones Theory Trio Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 2pm. free.

Lance Link Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci.

2pm. free.

Luke Dolahenty Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 6pm. free.

Mandi Jarry St George Rowing Club, Wolli Creek. 1pm. free.

Mark Shelley Plough & Harrow, Camden.

3pm. free.

Matt Jones Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee.

8:30pm. free.

Matt Jones Family Inn Hotel, Rydalmere.

2pm. free.

Max Power Riverstone Sportsmans Hotel, Riverstone. 1pm. free.

Melody Rhymes Panthers, Penrith. 3:30pm. free.

Millions + Japanese Wallpaper - feat: Hockey Dad + Flowertruck + Dr Spaceman Metro Theatre, Sydney.

4:45pm. $25.

Outlier Trio Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. free.

Phosphorescent + Ali Barter Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $48.

Rachael Fahim Pritchards Hotel, Mount Pritchard. 1pm. free.

Rebecca Moore Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 2pm. free.

Rick Fensom Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

8pm. free.

thu

10

11

Dec

Dec

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(9:00PM - 1:00AM)

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

fri

12 Dec

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

sat

13

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

Dec

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

sun

14

(9:30PM - 1:15AM)

mon

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

tue

15 Dec

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

Dec

16 (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

Dec

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 25

gig picks

g g guide gig g

up all night out all week...

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Stone Haven - feat: Zounis + Hammerhead + The Dissolutes + Tommy Adams Group Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $10.

Ted Nash Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 1pm. free.

The Re-Mains Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 7pm. free.

Three Wise Men Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

4pm. free.

Tony Williams Le Pub, Sydney. 3pm. free.

Turbjugend Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney.

4pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Andrew Morris And The Triplex - feat: Ninth Pillar + Tyran Hall + Sabrina Soares Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm. $10.

MONDAY DECEMBER 15 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK

Songsonstage - feat: Stuart Jammin + Massimo Presti + Chris Brookes + Rick Taylor + Mon-Ami Kelly’s On King, Newtown.

7:30pm. free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN &

Millions

WORLD MUSIC

Latin & Jazz Jam Open Mic Night World Bar, Kings Cross. 7pm. free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Bernie Segedin Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

7:30pm. free.

Collide Magazine’s Xmas Party - feat: Terza Madre + The Walk On By + Women’s Auxiliary Choir The Vanguard, Newtown.

7:30pm. $15.

Steve Twitchin Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free.

The War On Drugs + Ali Barter Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $53.70.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 16 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Co Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free.

Gemma Observer Hotel, The Rocks.

7:30pm. free.

Triumphant Tuesdays - feat: Dave Eastgate Karaoke Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney.

8:30pm. free.

ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Blues Tuesdays Spring Street Social, Bondi.

7:30pm. free.

Gyroscope

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10

Gyroscope Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.80

Cloud Nothings Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $51.20.

Sunbeam Sound Machine + Methyl Ethel + Yon Yonson Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10.

Jay Brannan Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $48.

Joan Armatrading Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $96.20.

Marlon Williams + The Yarra Benders + Aldous Harding + Andy Golledge The Vanguard, Newtown. 6:30pm. $23.80.

Spookyland Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale. 8:30pm. free.

Tim Chaisson Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $10.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 11

Antifest - Feat: Anarkokvlt + Eager 13 + Wounded Pig + Inebrious Bastard + Abacination + The Bottlers + Coffin + Two Faced + Dead In The Gutter + Mangrove Jack + The Unhinged + Rude Rahlis + Skinpin + Swine + The Berkshire Hunting Club Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 1pm. $10.

Benjalu Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 7pm. free.

Jack Carty + Playwrite Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $15.

Rhythm Section Christmas Party feat: Lloyd Spiegel + The Widowbirds + Cass Eager + Nick Saxon + Eddie Boyd & The Phatapillars + A Girl’s A Gun The Vanguard, Newtown. 7:45pm. $16.

Sleep Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $49.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 12

The War On Drugs + Ali Barter Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $53.70.

Bones Atlas + Montes Jura + The Rumours Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $5.

Chronixx & Zinc Fence Redemption + Special Guests Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $75.

Dark Horse + Canine + Not Like Horse + Culture Of Ignorance + DWA Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

26 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

SATURDAY DECEMBER 13

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus + Hawthorne Heights + Mixtape For The Drive UTS Underground, Ultimo. 4pm. $51.55.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 14 Millions + Japanese Wallpaper - feat: Hockey Dad + Flowertruck + Dr Spaceman Metro Theatre, Sydney. 4:45pm. $25.

Phosphorescent + Ali Barter Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $48.

Turbjugend Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. free.

thebrag.com

BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

brag beats

inside:

plus: + club guide + club snaps + weekly column

hiatus kaiyote

wave racer new year’s with the locals Have you heard?

thebrag.com Extra bits and moving bits without the papercuts thebrag.com

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 27

brag beats

BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

free stuff

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Spencer Scott, June Murtagh and Chris Martin

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

WITH

CARGO NYE ON THE HARBOUR

xxx

five things

Still stuck for New Year’s Eve plans? NYE On The Harbour is returning to welcome in 2015, which makes it the place to be on Wednesday December 31. The party is renowned for hosting some of the best dance acts around, and this year boasts a lineup of boisterous and fun-loving artists including Hermitude, Yolanda Be Cool, Crooked Colours, Hayden James and more. The celebrations will be held at Cargo, where you can not only boogie to the beats, but also witness the fireworks over the water from a prime location.

VJ SPOOK

We’ve got two GA double passes to give away. To be in the running, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us what you’d most like to be doing when the clock strikes midnight on NYE. Yolanda Be Cool

Dameza Growing Up As a teenager I spent many 1. weekends watching Rage on the ABC. It was a huge part of my musical upbringing and explains a lot about my love for video clips. This is when music became a visual experience for me.

Inspirations As a child I remember being visually 2. inspired by artists like Peter Gabriel and Dire Straits, who in their videos pushed the boundaries of what was possible in multimedia at the time. The first album I ever bought, though, was Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill. I was seven years old and I have my older brother to thank for igniting my passion in breaks and beats. These days a vast amount of my new inspiration comes from the net, as well as the constantly changing local scene I’m proud to be a part of.

Your Crew I’ve been tour VJ for Sydney hip 3. hop heavyweights Bliss N Eso since their Flying Colours album release in 2008. I’m also one half of the AV duo NTSC with the dusty-fingered digger of the deepest crates, DJ Raine Supreme. I’m co-founder of the Sydney chapter of Hip Hop Karaoke and I’ve recently started VJing with the Daily Meds crew of the Big Village family.

The Music You Make And Play I listen to almost any type of music 4. given the right mood, but my heart has always been in hip hop. From golden era to the finest in new-school intellectual raps, my sets are AV mash-ups and mixes to mess with your senses.

ZERO VS DAMEZA

The second semi-final of the Wax Wars turntablist competition kicks off this weekend, with Zero and Dameza going head-to-head for the adoration of the masses. Hailing from Kuala Lumpur, Zero has made a name for himself in this comp, becoming known for his lightning-fast skills. Dameza (AKA James Walsh), meanwhile, switches between electronica, OG funk and hip hop, and is an award-winning spinner hailed for his live video performances. The winner of their Friday December 12 battle at Play Bar will advance to the Wax Wars final. Plus there’ll be showcase sets on semi-final night from Thundamentals man Morgz and hip hop selector Skoob.

SOUL OF SYDNEY NEW YEAR’S PARTY

It’s time to get dancing with the Soul Of Sydney peeps as they host yet another one of their legendary bashes, bringing their oldschool sounds into 2015 for their NYD Funk Block Party. A huge lineup of DJs will be mixing up a bit of feel-good funk, New York disco, old-

ROBAG WRUHME

The one and only Robag Wruhme is set to make his mark at The Spice Cellar this weekend. The man otherwise known as Gabor Schablitzki has crafted a reputation that’s straddled the boundary of the underground and pop culture, first breaking through as part of Wighnomy Brothers. Wruhme’s solo exploits have seen him release on the likes of Kompakt and Pampa, but the best measure of his output will be to see him in the flesh this Saturday December 13. Mike Witcombe, Murat Kilic and Toby Neal will spin in support.

5.

What: Channel Zero With: Adverse, Caratgold, Makoto, Juzzlikedat, Tom Dobalina, Benny Hinn and more to be announced Where: Play Bar When: Saturday December 13

28 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

Seekae

MARQUEE MARCHES ON

Robag Wruhme

It’s been a pretty massive last week or so for Sydney nightspot Marquee, which hosted the likes of Tiësto, Laidback Luke and Cedric Gervais on the back of Stereosonic and EMC. That doesn’t mean the summer fun is all over, of course – far from it, with this weekend’s Summer Series party featuring Carl Kennedy behind the decks.

The Birmingham export won the seal of approval from Pete Tong way back in 2003, catapulting him to stardom. The producer and DJ takes over the Sydney dancefl oor this Saturday December 13.

FUTURE CLASSIC COMPILATION

Sydney indie imprint Future Classic has had a watershed year, what with success stories Flume, Flight Facilities, Basenji, Seekae, George Maple and more. After programming a stage at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival back in February and altogether convincingly living up to its ambitious moniker, Future Classic is looking back on the year that was with the release of Teen Idols, a compilation that speaks as much to the appeal of its artists among youthful fans as the youthfulness of those artists themselves. The 16-track collection includes 12 of the label’s biggest hits from the past 12 months, plus some brand new cuts. Teen Idols is out Friday December 19, just in time to fill those Christmas stockings.

Robag Wruhme photo by Katja Ruge

Music, Right Here, Right Now From a VJ’s point of view, there is simply not enough love for visuals from most promoters in the Sydney scene. For a while there we had visuals at almost every hip hop event, but as I’ve stepped back from the club scene and one-night-only shows, I haven’t seen a lot of development in the art.

Touring video DJs like Yoda, Peanut Butter Wolf and more recently Mike Relm tend to inspire a small burst of visual creativity out of a handful of cats, but then it dies down as there is no AV scene to keep it going. I’m now hosting a monthly gig called Channel Zero at Play Bar in Surry Hills to build a home for video DJing in the Sydney hip hop scene. I’m using the night as a workshop to bring in other DJs with an interest in video and get them smashing some pixels!

school jams and early house beats to get your body moving. The party will also be host to an exhibition of street art, a soul train, and live hair braiding and dance showcases, making it a true celebration of all things funky. Soul Of Sydney will be kicking off the New Year’s Day celebrations at a secret location on Thursday January 1.

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Spencer Scott, June Murtagh and Chris Martin

five things WITH

KLP

DOMINIK FROM FOURWARD internet and sometimes find some treasures.

Your Crew We all started skateboarding/ 3.

DJing/producing at almost the same age and same area in Austria, and it was just a matter of time to meet up and join forces.

The Music You Make And Play 4.

People can expect an undergroundy, steppy, neuro-funk set, because that’s the kind of thing, in my opinion, we do best.

I have a proper crate with dubs with me.

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

I’ve got the feeling the DnB scene

Growing Up My key childhood memory 1. was a car ride where my mum, my dad and me sang together a song – I can hardly remember which song it was, but I guess it was a Michael Jackson song. We always listened to a lot of different stuff,

which reflects my kind of musical taste. My dad played the flugelhorn in a music ensemble for over 30 years, so I think I got most of the music genes from him.

When I was 11 or 12 I really 2. Inspirations

BAG RAIDERS + TOUCH SENSITIVE This weekend, Chinese Laundry hosts a bumper double header: Bag Raiders playing a DJ set and Touch Sensitive live. Bag Raiders

was into Nirvana a lot. It was the Nevermind album and it just blew me away for a long time, especially in the morning on my way to school. You remember Walkmans?

Nowadays it’s a mix of everything I hear, somewhere on the road or on the radio. I look it up on the

are doing the Laundry on the Sydney leg of their homecoming tour, having been pumping out the jams since 2005, while Future Classic’s own Touch Sensitive will play his best party tricks with a MIDI keyboard and bass guitar. Joining the

is constantly evolving and it feels good. We have a pretty healthy scene in Austria and almost everybody knows each other; I like that too. Beside the DnB scene I visited a show with Ghostface Killah in Vienna recently and that was just rad!

With: Itsu, Ellagator, Bruxism, Bassriot, Sakura Where: Hermann’s Bar When: Sunday December 14

fun this Saturday December 13 are A-Tonez, Avon Stringer, Fingers, DJ Just 1, King Lee and Coda. Meanwhile, the Cave room will feature Knights Of Columbus, Pantheon, Oscar de Lima, Spike The Punch and Circa 87.

KLP KRISTMAS PARTY KLP will host her very own Kristmas Party at the Civic Underground this week – a charity event that’s been curated by KLP herself to close out the year. The hand-picked lineup is massive and features acts such as Yolanda Be Cool, DCup, Elizabeth Rose, Hatch and Cassian, as well as triple j favorites Matt & Alex and Lindsay ‘The Doctor’ McDougall, plus a very special live act TBA. 100 per cent of the proceeds are going directly to the Nordoff Robbins charity, which uses music therapy to assist adults and children with a variety of mental heath needs.

KLP’s Kristmas takes place at the Civic Underground on Wednesday December 10.

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 29

Wave Racer The Boy Wanderer By Augustus Welby

F

or many people, early adulthood involves plenty of all-nighters in dance clubs and backpacking adventures around the globe. It’s also a time when we’re especially driven to make a mark on the world. In this respect, 22-yearold Sydneysider Thomas Purcell is living a fairly typical existence. With his electronic dance music project Wave Racer, Purcell’s spent the last year travelling around Australia, America and Western Europe, going from one nightclub to the next. On top of this, Wave Racer’s growing popularity suggests Purcell is leaving a strong impression everywhere he roams.

Wave Racer’s journey took flight in early 2013, when the tracks ‘Rock U Tonite’ and ‘Stoopid’ snared him a deal with Sydney label Future Classic. The signing attracted mountains of hype, which intensified with the release of Wave Racer’s follow-up single ‘Streamers’ this February. It wasn’t long until overseas tour opportunities started flooding in, which suited Purcell just fine.

“I’m pretty lucky to be in my position, doing work that I love and travelling the world doing it,” he says. “But at the same time, it does get very exhausting, especially when you’re on the road for two months by yourself. It’s just important for me to keep in the right mindset, because at the end of the day I’m playing music and I’m doing what I love doing.”

Another common attribute for people in their early 20s is the tendency to delay any particularly pressing tasks.

There have been no new Wave Racer releases since ‘Streamers’.

Having had such a busy year, Purcell’s procrastination is easily

forgiven, but he’s recently returned home and started work on a debut EP. “It’s definitely my number one priority to get the new music out there and make sure it’s good,” Purcell says.

“I’m not very good at actually writing in hotel rooms and writing on tour.

I’m best at writing when I’m at home and I’m in the right space. So it’s good to be back home doing that.”

Despite his youth and relative inexperience, Wave Racer has become a festival favourite over the last 12 months, appearing at the likes of Falls Festival, Groovin The Moo and Splendour In The Grass.

His live shows tend to emphasise bass-heavy grooves and anarchic dubstep manoeuvres. In contrast to this, Purcell is experimenting with some lighter flavours in the studio.

“In the past the stuff I’ve done has been very fun and bouncy, but also got quite a heavy vibe to it,” he says.

“The stuff I’m working on now is a little bit slower and a little bit more chilled out. It’s definitely still music you can dance to, but if anything it’s even more chilled out, with maybe more intricate detail at the same time.”

Wave Racer was introduced to the public before Purcell had much time to think about what the project represented, so it’s not surprising he’s still honing his specific style.

“In this new piece of work that I’m working on right now, I’m aiming to get a little bit of a different perspective on my music out there,” he says. “I think this EP that I’m making right now is going to show people a little bit more about the sound that I’m capable of creating.

I’m still developing as I go, so by no

means is it a completely uncovered and defined style that I’m doing right now.”

It’s no secret that the music industry has been going through a fairly crazy time in recent years, with artists getting thrown into the spotlight then cast aside at a click of the fingers. This could certainly be overwhelming, but Purcell keeps a cool head. “I’ve always been of the attitude that if I can put out high-quality music and music that I’m happy with, and I think that other people will enjoy, I don’t really have to do much else apart from that. Even if it’s six months between releases or even longer, I know that if I come out with an end product that is satisfying and exciting for people, then I think it’s not going to be a problem.”

Wave Racer’s mammoth year hasn’t come to a close just yet. He’ll notch up one more triumph by appearing at Sydney’s iconic New Year’s Eve Harbour Party. Although he’s received a warm welcome from many of the world’s greatest cities this year – New York, London, Vancouver and Amsterdam, to name a few – Purcell’s affection for Sydney is unwavering.

“I’ve lived in Sydney my whole life, and I’ve grown up with the developing electronic music scene that has taken over Sydney right now, so it’s cool to be a part of that.

Before I was doing the Wave Racer stuff, I was constantly immersed in the Sydney music culture, going out to different club events and going out to see live music as often as I could.”

In addition to the city itself having an influence on his musical journey, Purcell’s been helped along by some of his high-flying contemporaries.

“People like Cosmo’s Midnight, who I’m best friends with, and Basenji, who I’ve made music with in the past and is also one of my best friends, those dudes are killing it in the Sydney music scene right now and I don’t think any of us would be in the position that we’re in right now if it weren’t for the whole network of people.”

What: NYE Harbour Party 2014 With: Stafford Brothers, The Potbelleez, Ganz, Wax Motif, Cosmo’s Midnight and more Where: Luna Park When: Wednesday December 31

Hiatus Kaiyote Trial By Fire By Augustus Welby out other music in the scenes that we’re involved with because they like what we do. A friend of ours who’s a producer, MFP, came over from Japan because he loved our music and assumed there’d be a dope music scene here.”

The thing that distinguishes the present situation from previous instances of international intrigue is that, thanks to the internet takeover of the music industry, listeners everywhere can now discover more than just the few Aussie acts with overseas record deals. “[In the past] there’s been a lot of successful Australian musicians that have broken through to the other side, like the Bee Gees and Kylie Minogue and AC/DC,” says Palm. “I feel like that recognition has already been happening, but I think people are more aware that it’s specifically Australian now, because of the internet and because people are finding it in their own way, instead of just having it marketed to them.”

An interesting consequence of the contemporary hunger for Aussie music is that growing numbers of local artists are finding recognition overseas prior to gaining a serious following at home. For instance, the likes of Courtney Barnett and Jagwar Ma were showered in praise from US and UK media before Australian listeners really latched on.

T

hroughout the history of popular music, overseas interest in Australian music has ebbed and flowed. At present, offshore curiosity is at an all-time high. Seemingly, the international impact made by the likes of Tame Impala, Cut Copy and Sia has demonstrated that Australian music doesn’t begin with Savage Garden and end with Jet.

30 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

Melbourne’s Hiatus Kaiyote are another Aussie collective who’ve recently made a big impact elsewhere. Singer and guitarist Nai Palm says their growing profile has helped direct more attention to the Australian music scene.

“It’s pretty awesome to be able to tour to all these different places around the world and [have fans] check

“My manager’s been releasing this Wondercore Island Mixtape, which is all local acts like Remi and Laneous and The Family Yah,” says Palm. “So it kind of gives people a direct link to check out the scene. Just recently I was in Warsaw, and there were massive Sex On Toast fans. It was so funny. The amazing thing about the internet and social networking is that all the information is there, and if you

catch people’s ears, they tend to do some digging.”

Hiatus Kaiyote’s recent ascent is a paramount example of social media’s attention-steering capacity. Rather than instituting a comprehensive viral marketing campaign, Hiatus Kaiyote’s major boost came in the form of voluntary – and unexpected – Twitter endorsements from Questlove and Prince.

In both instances, the praise was directed towards ‘Nakamarra’ – the lead single from Hiatus Kaiyote’s debut LP, Tawk Tomahawk. While the record didn’t really take off until last year, it was actually released in mid-2012. The By Fire EP landed last month, bridging the gap to a followup album that the four-piece has just finished recording.

“It’s coming together and I’m so excited about it,” says Palm. “I went to Miami to track vocals at Salaam Remi’s house, who’s the label head [of Flying Buddha Records]. He’s a musician first and foremost, so there’s no real solid deadlines. He just wants us to be happy with it. So we’ve been taking our sweet arse time and getting it really intricate and I’m really proud of it … We’ve just come back from a tour, which gave us a fresh perspective, and we’ve been working on the final mixes.”

Considering Tawk Tomahawk was a breakthrough success, contemplating what to do next could be fairly stressful. Of course, it’s impossible to guarantee the rapt public response will be repeated, and attempting to mimic that success is likely to hamper the adventurous spirit that made Tawk Tomahawk stand out in the first place.

“We don’t have to tailor to a demographic, because we’ve already been accepted for how we naturally

are,” says Palm. “It’s actually really inspiring and motivating to just keep bringing it. All the artists that I love, the reason that I love them is because their music is timeless. The reason it’s timeless is because they’re sincere in their art. I’ve always been a little bit left-of-centre creatively and I guess we would be that way regardless.”

On top of their preference for defying convention, Hiatus Kaiyote have grown into a far stronger unit since they recorded Tawk Tomahawk. “With Tawk Tomahawk we’d only been together as a band for, like, six months or a year,” Palm explains. “We were still working it out. I’d never been in a band before. Whereas now we have a couple of international tours under our belts, our playing is really cemented, so it gives us more of an opportunity to go deeper with it.

“Tawk was such a rookie record, and it’s cool,” she adds. “To have the response that Tawk Tomahawk had when we were still just working it out, it gives you faith that now that we’re really bringing it, you have the ears already there.”

Even though Palm remains fiercely independent, she says there were a few unnerving moments during the recording process.

“The scariest part was knowing that Stevie Wonder and Prince and all these people would hear it. I was definitely hyperaware of that when tracking vocals. Like, ‘Is this good enough for my idols to hear?’”

What: By Fire out now through Flying Buddha/Sony With: Remi, Kirkis, Silent Jay & Jace XL Where: Metro Theatre When: Sunday December 14

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Off The Record Dance And Electronica With Tyson Wray

from his love of the sport, as he used to be a semi-pro player. He’ll be playing at a boat party on the harbour on Saturday February 21. Ticketing details TBA.

Theo Parrish

S

ound Signature label boss and Detroit house and techno luminary Theo Parrish is returning to Sydney.

From his work with supergroup Three Chairs to his revered Ugly Edits series, Parrish is one of the most respected selectors in the game. His latest longplayer American Intelligence is also just about to drop – and judging by the samples, we might have a last-minute contender for album of the year. He’ll be joined by Toronto DJ duo Invisible City and the Netherlands’ Tako. Friday March 6 at Oxford Art Factory. In the diary.

Hold the phone – friggin’ Rick ‘The Godson’ Wilhite will be in town this weekend! Another member alongside Parrish in the aforementioned Three Chairs, the Detroit don will be hitting Australia for a series of free shows this month thanks to the lords over at Red Bull Music Academy. He’ll hit Goodgod on Friday December 12 – RSVP via Dash Tickets.

DJ Tennis will be making his debut sojourn Down Under next year. Based between Miami and Berlin, he runs the renowned Life And Death label, founded the Elita festival in Milan and the Dissonanze festival in Rome, and even shares a studio with Tale Of Us. And before you ask, yes, his name does come

DJ, producer and cartoonist Mr. Scruff has locked in a Sydney headline show.

From his debut 1999 record Keep It Unreal to his latest full-length Friendly Bacteria (released in May this year), over the course of his career he has flirted with almost every genre under the sun, from house to reggae, disco to ska, Latin to hip hop. His performances are also a visual spectacle, with his own animations playing behind him on the big screen. Saturday February 7 at the Metro Theatre. Lock it in.

Sad news: the first two Summer Dance parties (with Vakula and House Shoes) at the National Art School have been cancelled. The news came via the Astral People Facebook page, where they announced that even though the series “has had the best reception both online and throughout media nationwide compared to any other event we have done in our three years of existence, this has sadly not yet translated to ticket sales”. The first Summer Dance will now take place on Sunday January 11 with Detroit’s Omar-S. Buy yo’ tickets from summer-dance.com.au.

Tour rumour: I’d put $100 on a February visit from Detroit techno royalty Magda.

Uhh, that’s all I’ve got this issue. Geez, I’ve mentioned Detroit a lot this week. Detroit.

Best releases this week: Rivet’s Surun Aika (on S.E.L.F.) has not left my headphones all week. Other highlights include Kareem’s The Jet Set (Overdraw), Ontal’s Combat Engineering (Overdraw) and Helena Hauff’s Shatter Cone (Lux Rec).

UNITED COLOURS OF DRUM & BASS FOURWARD [AUT] SHOGUN / CITRUS / VIRUS / DSCI4

LOCAL SUPPORT —

BRUXISM SECRET PERFORMER (LIVE) BASSRIOT TYPHONIC SAKURA ELLAGATOR Hermann’s Bar Cnr City Rd & Butlin Ave Sydney University +

Sunday 14 December 2014 4:00pm until 10:00pm +

$20 On The Door www.hermannsbar.com

Rick Wilhite

RECOMMENDED SATURDAY DECEMBER 12 THURSDAY JANUARY 1 Rick Wilhite Goodgod Small Club

SATURDAY DECEMBER 13 Robag Wruhme The Spice Cellar

Addison Groove Goodgod Small Club James Holden Oxford Art Factory

SUNDAY DECEMBER 14 Vakula The Spice Cellar

FRIDAY DECEMBER 19 Tim Sweeney Goodgod Small Club

Spice Afloat: Space Dimension Controller, Trus’Me, Oliver Koletzki, Niko Schwind Sydney Harbour

SATURDAY JANUARY 10 Tycho The Hi-Fi

Daniel Avery TBA Pender Street Steppers TBA

SUNDAY JANUARY 11 Omar-S National Art School Tim Hecker, Ben Frost Sydney Opera House

SATURDAY DECEMBER 20 FRIDAY JANUARY 16 Lido, Sophie, Nadus, QT Metro Theatre

Omar Souleyman The Aurora

Dubfire Greenwood Hotel

SATURDAY JANUARY 17 Oneman The Famous Spiegeltent

Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos?

Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon. thebrag.com

BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 31

g guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week Fourward

SUNDAY DECEMBER 14

Hermann’s Bar

Fourward + Itsu + Ellagator + Bruxism + Bassriot + Sakura 4pm. $20.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10 CLUB NIGHTS

DJ Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

KLP Kristmas Party feat: Cassian + DCup + Elizabeth Rose + Hatch + Jawz + Joyride + Lindsay Mcdougall + Nicky Night Time + Set Mo + The Boiler Makers + DJ Snorlax + Yolanda Be Cool Civic Underground, Sydney.

8pm. $20.

The Wall - feat: Various Local And International Acts World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $5.

Whip It Wednesdays - feat: Various DJs Whaat Club, Kings Cross.

9pm. free.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 11 Pool Club Thursdays - feat: Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. free.

The World Bar Thursdays World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

HIP HOP & R&B

Ice Cube Enmore Theatre, Newtown.

8pm. $87.90.

Joyride Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 6pm. free.

32 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

HIP HOP & R&B

Hau + Soul Benefits + DJ Krystel Diola Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale. 9pm. free.

Hustler Fridays - feat: MC Shaba Hustle & Flow, Redfern. 7pm. free.

Watsky UTS Underground, Ultimo.

8pm. $25.

CLUB NIGHTS

Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free.

Frisky Fridays Scubar, Sydney. 5pm. free.

Loco Friday - feat: Various Live Bands And DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. free.

Soul Control - feat: Ben Fester The Spice Cellar, Sydney.

10pm. $15.

Tantrum Desire + Hydraulix + Chenzo + Bruism + Bassriot + Spenda C + Cheap Lettus + Thrillest Vs. Tukind + Double Dip + Catalyst + Tildawn Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

10pm. free.

Tenzin Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40.

Thank Funk It’s Friday The Ranch, Eastwood.

9:30pm. free.

Wax Wars Semi-Final 2 - feat: Zero Vs Dameza +

Morgz + Skoob Play Bar, Surry Hills. 8pm. $5.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 13 HIP HOP & R&B

Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 10pm. free.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 14 HIP HOP & R&B

Hiatus Kaiyote + Remi + Kirkis + Silentjay + Jace Xl Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $33.70.

MONDAY DECEMBER 15

CLUB NIGHTS

De La Soul Garden Party - feat: Miracle + Joyride + Samrai & A-Tonez + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

12pm. $53.30.

Fourward + Itsu + Ellagator + Bruxism + Bassriot + Sakura Hermann’s Bar, Darlington.

4pm. $20.

La Fiesta - feat: Samantha Fox + Agee Ortiz + Av El Cubano + Resident DJ Willie Sabor The Establishment, Sydney.

8pm. free.

Reggae Sundays Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 5pm. free.

S.A.S.H Sundays

CLUB NIGHTS

Crab Racing Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free.

Mashup Monday - feat: Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. free.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 16 CLUB NIGHTS

Chu World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.

Travolta Song Launch Party - feat: Ray Isaac + Lenovo Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst.

6pm. free.

send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10 KLP Kristmas Party - Feat: Cassian + DCup + Elizabeth Rose + Hatch + Jawz + Joyride + Lindsay McDougall + Nicky Night Time + Set Mo + The Boiler Makers + DJ Snorlax + Yolanda Be Cool Civic Underground, Sydney. 8pm. $20.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 11 Ice Cube Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $87.90.

Pre Xmas Hip Hop Mass - feat: Subz + T-Wreckz + Dseeva & Nihilist + Skit & Twoslie + Sub & Creep + DJ Rob Jimmy New & Hard Evidence + Qlds Tryumph + Boody B & Clickz + Izzy & Profit With DJ Maniak + Smacktown + Losty + Soul Benefits Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

T.I. + DMX Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 7:30pm. $91.76.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 12

CLUB NIGHTS

Wax Wars Semi-Final 2 - feat: Zero vs Dameza + Morgz + Skoob Play Bar, Surry Hills. 8pm. $5.

Benibee Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. free.

Cakes - feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10.

Carl Kennedy Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60.

Channel Zero - feat: VJ Spooks B’Day Video Jam Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. free.

El’ Circo - feat: Resident Circus Act Performers Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst.

7pm. $109.

Frat Saturdays - feat: DJ Jonski Side Bar, Sydney. 6pm. free.

Masif Saturdays

Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10.

Sunday Sessions - feat: Cadell + Tom Kelly + Ocky Goldfish, Kings Cross. 4pm. free.

Sundays In The City - feat: Various DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 12pm. free.

Soul Control - feat: Ben Fester The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $15.

Tantrum Desire + Hydraulix + Chenzo + Bruism + Bassriot + Spenda C + Cheap Lettus + Thrillest Vs. Tukind + Double Dip + Catalyst + Tildawn Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 10pm. free.

Tenzin Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40.

Watsky UTS Underground, Ultimo. 8pm. $25.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 13 Benibee Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. free.

Carl Kennedy Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60.

Channel Zero - feat: VJ Spooks B’Day Video Jam Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. free.

Pacha Sydney - feat: SCNDL + Brooklyn + Glover + A-Tonez + Ben

Ice Cube Morris + Spenda C + Fingers + Danny Lang + Just1 + Jace Disgrace + Nanna Does + U-Khan + Keyes + King Lee + Nes + Eko + Dylan Sanders Pacha Sydney, Sydney. 6:30pm. $37.90.

Spice 13.2 - feat: Robag Wruhme The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $25.

T.I. + DMX Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 7:30pm. $91.76.

Undr Ctrl Summer Rooftop Series feat: Cassian + Frames + Adi Toohey Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 10pm. free.

SUNDAY DECEMBER 14 De La Soul Garden Party - feat: Miracle + Joyride + Samrai & A-Tonez + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 12pm. $53.30.

Hiatus Kaiyote + Remi + Kirkis + Silentjay + Jace Xl Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $33.70.

S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10.

thebrag.com

Fourward photo by Samuel Erik Von Tiefenrausch

CLUB NIGHTS

FRIDAY DECEMBER 12

Space, Sydney. 10pm. $25.

Pacha Sydney - feat: SCNDL + Brooklyn + Glover + A-Tonez + Ben Morris + Spenda C + Fingers + Danny Lang + Just1 + Jace Disgrace + Nanna Does + U-Khan + Keyes + King Lee + Nes + Eko + Dylan Sanders Pacha Sydney, Sydney.

6:30pm. $37.90.

Purple Disco Machine + Set Mo + Nightwalkers + Some Bonde DJ + Natnoiz + Chris Fraser + Front 2 Back + Tom Budin Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

9pm. free.

Sienna Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney.

9pm. free.

Soda Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Playing Disco And Funk Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

5pm. free.

Something Else Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst.

9pm. $20.

Spice 13.2 - feat: Robag Wruhme The Spice Cellar, Sydney.

10pm. $25.

Undr Ctrl Summer Rooftop Series - feat: Cassian + Frames + Adi Toohey

snap

wax wars

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

05:12:14 :: Play Bar :: 72 Campbell St Surry Hills 9280 0885

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presents

nova red room ft. tiësto 03:12:14 :: Marquee :: The Star Sydney Pyrmont 9657 7737

jam gallery presents: mr. bill

CHRIS franklin

"He's a bloke, he's a yobbo and his best mate's name is Robbo"

party profile

It’s called: Jam Gallery Presents: Mr. Bill

It sounds like: Unlatched, glitchy breakbeats , heavy, swung-out basslines and flawless edits with a large dash of palata ble melodic content.

Acts: Mr. Bill, Mr. Shepherd Songs you’ll hear on the night: Mr. Bill – Settling For Mediocrity (album teaser), ‘The Enabler & The Enabled’ And one you definitely won’t: Rebecca Black – ‘Friday’ Sell it to us: Opening with a live body art and fashion show by 25th Shot with over 50 models, Jam Gallery will then open launch of Mr. Shepherd AKA Jack Man Friday up for a huge double album with his incredible beatboxing music and loops. Headlining is Mr. Bill (live) from NYC with his new visual show. If you miss him at Subsonic here is your chance to see him slay one of the biggest custom-built subs in the South ern Hemisphere for free! Open till 3am, no lockout.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Bottom less dubstep drops, erratic reverb and mash-up of progressive trance, electro and experimental.

Wallet damage: Live body art and fashion show: $33 on the door from 7:30pm. Free after 9:30pm.

BOOK ONLINE NOW 8PM DEC 17 TICKETS $10 +bf

Where: Jam Gallery, 195 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction When: Saturday December 13 :: ASH LEY MAR OUR LOV ELY PHO TOG RAP HER

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BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14 :: 33

snap

goldfish 6th birthday

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up all night out all week . . .

s.a.s.h sundays

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illy 07:12:14 :: Home :: 101/1-5 Wheat Rd Darling Harbour 9266 0600 34 :: BRAG :: 592 :: 10:12:14

PICS :: AM

06:12:14 :: The Goldfish :: 111 Darlinghurst Rd Potts Point 8354 6630

06:12:14 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666 :: ASH LEY MAR OUR LOV ELY PHO TOG RAP HER

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c i s u m f o e t u t i t s n i N A I L A AUSTR aim.edu.au @ 5 1 0 2 r o f w o n enrol

For more information visit aim.edu.au or call Sydney: 02 9219 5444, Melbourne: 03 8610 4222