Brag#610

ISSUE NO. 610 APRIL 29, 2015

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

MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE

INSIDE This Week

y l e k i l n U Th e Ro c k Sta r

MODEST MOUSE An eight-year gap between albums nearly drove Isaac Brock mad.

H

BEST COAST A Splendour visit means more late nights for this Californian duo.

THE DREAM It’s three ballets in one for The Australian Ballet’s latest.

courtney barnett

MI A MI HOR ROR The American influence comes to bear on their new record.

Plus

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ABSTRACT ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS SUNDAY SEPT 6

Possibly the first band to blend rock and jazz into a genre crossing sound, the iconic

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BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS

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are touring with their classic hits in tow.

Spinning Wheel, You Made Me So Very Happy, And When I Die… and more besides

Enmore Theatre

SUNDAY SEPT 13 Rooty Hill RSL

“Fastidiously authentic’ - The Daily Telegraph , London

“Sheer technical perfection” - The Evening Standard

Friday May 22 Enmore Theatre Sunday May 24 Revesby Workers Club

Relive the 80’s courtesy of that decade’s best loved music icons

bringing you the hits of yesteryear… Wherever I Lay My Hat, We Close Our Eyes, (I Just) Died In Y our Arms, Wouldn’t It Be Good…

to name but a few…

FRIDAY SEPT 11 Rooty Hill RSL SATURDAY SEPT 19 Enmore Theatre SUNDAY SEPT 20 Wests Newcastle BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 3

W I T H S P E C I A L G U E S T JAMIE T SAT JULY 2 5 - Q A N T A S C R E D IT UNION ARENA TH E M A G I C W H I P - N E W A L B U M O U T N O W BL U R . C O . U K

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C I RCA WAV E S

MON 27 JUL E N M O RE TH EATRE GLI T T ERBU G THE NEW ALBUM OUT NOW www.th ewombats.co.uk *Circa Waves not appearing in Perth

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10AM WED APR 29 WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

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WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

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SUN 26 JUL OXFORD ART FACTORY

with special guests

Tuesday 28 july Newtown Social Club A Flourish And A Spoil CD out now thru Inertia Music // thedistrictsband.com

THU 23 JUL. NEWTOWN SOCIAL CLUB DEBUT ALBUM THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL MARMOZETS OUT NOW THROUGH WARNER MUSIC marmozets.co.uk

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rock music news

the BRAG presents

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Chris Martin, James Di Fabrizio and Meggan Turner

VOYAGER Factory Floor, Saturday May 23

five things WITH ADEN

3.

Your Band It all started in Melbourne when I recorded some of Leigh’s songs and we ended up working pretty seamlessly together.

Skipping ahead two years, we’ve kind of landed on an aesthetic that we’re happy exploring a lot more. We write our songs in my home studio and then with Sam Perejuan and Rhian Todhunter, we make them work in a live setting.

Growing Up My first musical memory is buying a 1.

Backstreet Boys tape in Dubai. I didn’t really

The Music You Make We’re an electronic pop band, but we 4. incorporate acoustic/real instruments like

have much access to music growing up in the Middle East, so whenever we drove to the nearest city we bought the shittiest, poppiest thing we could find. My parents aren’t musical at all, but my brother was always into interesting music.

guitars and drums and percussive samples.

We always make sure that we’ve got a song among all the sounds that we use, and have a strong focus on songwriting as well as sound design. We recorded our upcoming EP all ourselves, other than a couple of sections of real drums, which we did at Blackbird Studios with Dave Parkin. Our live show is pretty similar to the recording with the added bonus of Leigh dancing like a Backstreet Boy. It’s

SEND ME TO SLEEP

MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ONLINE EDITOR: Tyson Wray SUB-EDITOR: Sam Caldwell STAFF WRITERS: Adam Norris, Augustus Welby NEWS: Sarah Basford, Kelsey Berry, James Di Fabrizio, Lauren Gill, Meggan Turner ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Ian Laidlaw 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: Sarah Basford, Sam Caldwell, Ayla Dhyani, Meggan Turner - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@ thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Meggan Turner, Ayla Dhyani, Sarah Basford REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Prudence Clark, Tom Clift, Keiron Costello, Christie Eliezer, Fergus Halliday, Cameron James, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Emily Meller, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, Kate Robertson, Natalie Rogers, Erin Rooney, Spencer Scott, Natalie Salvo, Raf Seneviratne, Leonardo Silvestrini, Krissi Weiss, Rod Whitfield, Harry Windsor, Tyson Wray, Stephanie Yip, David James Young

Sydney’s finest ambient/melodic post-rockers Sleepmakeswaves will wind their way back to Australia at the end of next month to finish off their epic world tour. The four-piece has just wrapped up live dates in China, those off the back of a European tour that took the band through such far away places as Poland, Hungary, Romania and Scotland. All these dates have been mapped out in support of Sleepmakeswaves’ 2014 album, the fittingly titled Love Of Cartography, and its latest single ‘Great Northern’. The band will play Newcastle’s Cambridge Hotel on Saturday May 16 and the Metro Theatre on Saturday June 13.

You can also catch Sleepmakeswaves supporting the mighty Opeth at the Enmore Theatre on Sunday May 3.

COME SEE SEETHER

Alternative rock trio Seether will cross the country in celebration of a new album, Isolate And Medicate. Having sold over five million albums worldwide, Seether take the title for the most successful rock act to come out of South Africa. With 12 number one singles under their belt globally, Seether are no stranger to crossover success – their latest album debuted at number four on the on the US Billboard charts. They’ll hit the Metro Theatre on Friday July 3.

ALL READY FOR EDDIE

Ed Sheeran has announced that he’ll return to Australia this summer for a history-making stadium tour. The Grammy-nominated singersongwriter will be the first artist to play Australian

definitely leaning towards the dreamy mellow side, but there’s enough there to dance to.

Music, Right Here, Right Now The music scene is a pretty strange 5. place to be. As a project we kinda identify

like us:

THE BRAG

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Metro Theatre, Friday July 24

WOLF ALICE Oxford Art Factory, Friday July 24

YEARS & YEARS Oxford Art Factory, Sunday July 26

ALL THE SIDESHOWS, SO MANY SIDESHOWS

If you didn’t score tickets to Splendour In The Grass this year (or let’s face it, even if you did), you’re in luck: the sideshow announcements have started rolling in, and there are some must-see shows on the Sydney schedule. Festival headliners Blur will make a return to Australia for the first time in 18 years at Qantas Credit Union Arena on Saturday July 25. Meanwhile, the BRAG will present a series of great acts on their Sydney visits: Azealia Banks at the Metro Theatre on Friday July 24, Marmozets at Newtown Social Club on Thursday July 23, Wolf Alice at Oxford Art Factory on Friday July 24 and Years & Years at the same venue on Sunday July 26. High-profile acts Of Monsters And Men (State Theatre, Wednesday July 22), The Wombats (Enmore Theatre, Monday July 27) and Mark Ronson (Hordern Pavilion, Tuesday July 28) have also locked in sideshows, alongside a heap of others – head to thebrag.com for full details.

stadiums completely solo, accompanied by just his guitar and a series of loop pedals. In what will mark his fifth visit in four years, Sheeran will perform music from across his two albums, including tracks from his chart-topping LP, X.

The tour will come at the end of a huge year for Sheeran, who is set to play more than 170 shows, including appearances at Glastonbury Festival and Southside Festival. Sheeran plays Allianz Stadium on Wednesday December 9. Tickets go on sale Tuesday May 5.

DASHVILLE SKYLINE LIGHTS UP

Inspired by an appreciation for the golden era of music that came out of America in the ’60s and ’70s, the team behind the Gum Ball Festival and PigSty In July is bringing another exciting event to Dashville in the Hunter Valley. A festival of Americana, psychedelia and alternative country music, Dashville Skyline is a family friendly event that will feature new and established Australian artists and a few from the States as well. The inspiration for the name comes from Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, one of the first commercial Americana albums ever released. The lineup for Dashville Skyline is due to be announced within the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye on thebrag.com for news as it lands. The festival will take place over the weekend of Saturday October 3 and Sunday October 4. Tickets are available from Friday May 1.

Grace Jones

GRACE JONES FOR VIVID

The enigmatic and always evocative performer Grace Jones will land on our shores next month for two dates at Vivid Sydney 2015. As part of this year’s Modulations at Carriageworks program, which already features the likes of jazz legend Pharoah Sanders and Bill Drummond across a two-weekend schedule, the Jamaican artist Jones will make her first trip to Sydney since her sold-out 2011 shows. Jones has been a fixture on the artistic scene for decades, not only as a singer-songwriter but also in modelling, record production, and even that one time she played a Bond girl. She’ll take over Carriageworks on Sunday May 31 and Monday June 1.

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

Oz rock journeyman Richard Clapton will perform a special show at Sydney’s State Theatre this August. The 2015 edition of Clapton’s now traditional annual State Theatre shows will be held under the banner The Lonesome Voyager: Songs And Stories From The Best Years Of Our Lives.

As the name suggests, it’ll be a two-part show featuring both Clapton’s hits (and those by his peers), alongside some insights behind the songs and events of the time. Richard Clapton plays the State Theatre on Saturday August 15. Tickets go on sale 10am Thursday April 30. thebrag.com

Grace Jones photo by Andrea Klarin

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AZEALIA BANKS

Blur

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Newtown Social Club, Thursday July 23

What: 28 Mansions out now independently Where: Beach Road Hotel / Oxford Art Factory When: Wednesday May 6 / Saturday May 9

EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG.

DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get the BRAG? Email distribution@ furstmedia.com.au or phone 03 9428 3600

MARMOZETS

with a lot of different sections of it. On one hand we’re in the electronic realm, which is constantly evolving and moving and generally getting a bigger fan base, especially online. And on the other hand we’ve been exposed to the more traditional band set-up, which is kind of struggling in places around Australia. So a lot of our shows are more club night vibes, which is cool and newer. We saw some cool bands in Austin at SXSW, which was a combination of overwhelming and inspiring. It was pretty cool seeing Client Liaison do their thing when we supported them, especially for the entertainment factor.

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Newtown Social Club, Saturday June 20 Years & Years photo by Mike Massaro / Wolf Alice photo by Jordan Hughes

musicians that I grew up listening to. Leigh [Craft] is also inspired by a lot of visual arts and things like that, more so than musicians.

Inspirations I record a lot of artists, and I’m more 2. inspired by that procedure rather than

MOJO JUJU

SENYCIA FROM FLOWER DRUMS

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live & local

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Chris Martin, Meggan Turner and Sarah Basford

he said she said

WITH

CHARLIE DOWLING FROM BEYOND BLUES & ROOTS FESTIVAL

H

What’s your personal background in the music industry and the wider Sydney scene?

Music has always been a really big part of my life (although I am a passionate punter, not a performer myself!). I have heaps of friends in Sydney that are performers with notable original bands too, and they’ve been really helpful with the planning of Beyond Blues & Roots.

What can you tell us about the acts booked for the event?

We’ve got several bands performing. The first band is a local blues outfit called Group – they’ve held residencies at heaps of local Darlinghurst/Surry Hills bars like The Commons and Oxford Art Factory. We also have Pluto Jonze, who many Sydney people will know.

He rocks some of the most musical indie music that I’ve heard, and he’s an incredible live performer. Grey Ghost from Melbourne is coming up especially for the event too. He’s a bit of a legend in the Australian hip hop scene so we’re stoked to have him onboard. It’s definitely a mish-mash of genres but I think people will be really entertained and engaged by that variation.

We also have Alex Dyson from triple j MCing the event. The cause is something that Alex feels very passionate about and I really thank him for donating his time as well.

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

MÖTLEY CRÜE

In 1981, the first DeLorean DMC-12 rolled off the production line and Mötley Crüe released their first album, which probably only diehard fans will remember now. 34 years later, however, nobody’s forgotten about the Crüe’s spectacular live shows, and one of them is taking place at Allphones Arena on Saturday May 16. Get in while you can: this is all part of the global farewell tour by Mötley Crüe’s original lineup. And to sweeten the deal, they’re bringing the one and only Alice Cooper along for the ride.

For your chance to win a double pass to see Mötley Crüe one last time, head to thebrag.com/freeshit.

Mötley Crüe

What: Beyond Blues & Roots With: Grey Ghost, Pluto Jonze, Group Where: The Standard Bowl When: Sunday May 3

Xxxx

ow did you come up with the concept for Beyond Blues & Roots?

I’ve wanted to organise a fundraiser for beyondblue for quite a while. My brother suffers severely from depression, and has for about 20 years. I’ve seen how hard he battles with his illness and the toll it takes on his life and my family’s. It wasn’t until recently that I started realising how many close friends were going through it as well. Music is such a great way to bring people together and provides an open and positive vibe to the day.

Just how important is raising awareness and funds for depression and anxiety these days?

Incredibly important. I think everyone will find they have someone in their life that has, or will, suffer from these illnesses at some point. One in four Australians are currently suffering from depression and anxiety, but from those figures only a small amount feel comfortable talking about it or seeking help.

The idea with raising as much awareness as possible is to help break the stigma associated with depression and create an environment where you’re encouraged to speak up and allow loved ones and professionals to help you.

free stuff

xxx

Alpine

The Venusians

THE VENUSIANS KEEP RUNNING

Seven-piece indie soul outfit The Venusians have announced a show in Sydney to celebrate the release of their latest single, ‘Keep Running’. It’s the first track to be released from an upcoming EP set to drop later this year. Taking influences from jazz, beats, electronica and contemporary artists such as Little Dragon and FKA Twigs, the Sydney band blends crystal-clear vocals with cosmic synths and golden harmonies. The Venusians’ live shows have been described as hypnotic, as they create a thick sound wall of percussive instruments and layered vocals. Don’t miss your chance to see them at the Red Rattler on Friday May 22.

LIKE WIRES PLEDGE CAMPAIGN

Ash Hansen, former frontman of Rumanastone and better known to many on the music scene by his final stage moniker Like Wires, passed away late last year of a virulent melanoma. At the time of his passing, Hansen had an album recorded and partially mixed. Close friend and colleague Millie Millgate of Sounds Australia made a promise to Hansen that she would ensure the release of his last collection of solo songs. True to Millgate’s word, Like Wires’ collection Transmission is now ready for airing.

Friends, family and colleagues of Hansen’s have worked together to honour his memory, and have launched a PledgeMusic campaign in Like Wires’ name to fund the manufacture and shipping of the album, with profits going towards Support Act. To get behind the release of Like Wires’ final album, head to pledgemusic.com/artists/likewires.

GET STONED ON SUNDAY

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Newtown restaurant Lentil As Anything is set to launch Lentil On The Rocks: Australia’s first alcohol-free mocktail bar and live music venue.

Lentil On The Rocks will be a new component of the restaurant, occupying the upstairs space.

It will provide a space for people of all ages to enjoy the kind of ambience of a regular bar, without having to worry about being of legal drinking age. The venue will be open on Friday and Saturday evenings, with live music on both nights. Local songwriters will take centre stage on Friday nights at Songsmiths, with a variety of solo performers and bands to play on Saturday nights. New mocktails will be devised weekly by mixologist Daniel Hollen, who will be in control at the mocktail bar. Lentil On The Rocks is set to launch on Friday May 8.

In celebration of their upcoming album release, Melbourne six-piece Alpine will hit the road this winter. The band’s second album Yuck will hit shelves on Friday June 12, with first single ‘Foolish’ out now. The national tour will also kick off in June, with Pearls, Darts and Olympia acting as supports. Alpine will play Newcastle’s Cambridge Hotel on Thursday July 9 and the Metro Theatre on Saturday July 11.

having used the new year to launch his latest single ‘No One’. After earning airtime on triple j and reaching the top of the AMRAP community

radio charts, ‘No One’ marks the start of good things for Smith. He’ll be playing it at Oxford Art Factory this Thursday April 30.

THE WRIGHT STUFF

Melbourne songwriter Ben Wright Smith has hit the proverbial ground running in 2015,

Elana Stone

Artefact

A SAFE PLACE FOR ARTEFACT

After the success of their debut album, No Safe Place, Artefact are getting ready to play their first-ever live show as part of Leichhardt’s Site And Sound Festival. The multimedia show will feature the six members of Artefact switching between electronics, keyboard, bass, piano, guitar and percussion, showing off their multi-instrumental talents. In addition to syncing their multimedia projections with their music, the band will also tailor the show to the unique event space. Artefact will be playing at Leichhardt Town Hall on Friday June 5.

thebrag.com

xxxx xx

The ever-popular Elana Stone will bring her solo show to the local stage this weekend. Alongside her work with All Our Exes Live In Texas and a neverending queue of collaborators, Stone has found time to put out Kintsugi, a new EP that doubles as part one of her third studio album. The name translates in Japanese to ‘golden joinery’, if you were wondering. Join-ery Stone and friends at Newtown Social Club this Sunday May 3.

LENTIL ON THE ROCKS

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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR * Which minor label executive has just had his 12th rejection for his memoirs by a publisher?

Maybe if he’d agree to spice it up a bit… * How much do Mumford & Sons charge for festival appearances? Canada’s Calgary Folk Music Festival let slip the band wanted CAD$700,000 (AU$730,000). * Are Beyoncé and Jay Z plotting a joint album for release via Tidal? * Sydney-born guitarist Nick Maybury of the band Mink is the new axeman for Scott

Weiland’s The Wildabouts, replacing the late Jeremy Brown. Maybury has been based in New York for the last ten years. * Australia’s six-year-old DJ competition Your Shot has launched in the US, with DJ superstar Tiësto as its main judge and figurehead. First prize: a gig in Las Vegas with the Dutch DJ superstar and a slot on Ultra Music Festival in Miami. * In a series of interviews with Australian media, Django Django revealed that they’re planning to be here in January 2016. They learned to surf on their last visit in the 2012/13 summer and want to hit the waves again.

AUSTRALIA REMAINS SIXTH LARGEST MUSIC MARKET

Despite the rise of many newer music markets, Australia has retained its position as the sixth biggest market in the word.

According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries’ Recording Industry In Numbers, the US remains the most powerful with a trade value of US$4.9 billion.

It’s almost double Japan’s US$2.6 billion.

Germany is third (US$1.4 billion), with the remainder of the top ten including the UK (US$1.3 billion), France (US$843 million), Australia (US$376 million), Canada (US$342 million) and South Korea (US$266 million, which overtook Brazil’s US$247 million).

Digital music now represents 46% of total revenue after an increase of 6.9%, catching up to CDs for the first time. Downloads remain digital’s biggest earner at 52%, but are fast being replaced by streaming. In fact, streaming has overtaken downloads in 37 markets. Subscription revenue now represents 23% of the digital market. The overall music market in 2014 was flat, with revenues declining by 0.4% to US$14.97

wed

* AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd’s lawyer is trying to keep his client out of jail by arguing that the publicity he received before the court case (“more attention than Bon Scott’s death”) put him at an unfair disadvantage. * The annual charity music industry football match, the Reclink Community Cup, is due for a format change next year, reports The Age column Sticky Carpet. Starting out in Melbourne and then to Sydney, it will expand to Perth and Adelaide next year as a “tour”. Details will be out next month. * A contestant on TV reality show Britain’s Got Talent doing Parkway Drive’s ‘Dark Days’

billion. Latin America has had the fastest digital growth, with revenues up 7.3%. Global performance rights revenues increased by 8.3% to US$948 million, now accounting for 6% of total record industry revenues.

Synchronisation revenues increased 8.4% to US$347 million, now worth 2% of the global market.

FOUR AUSSIE ACTS FOR UK AWARDS

The Australian heavy rock scene received a boost when four acts were nominated for UK hard rock magazine Metal Hammer’s Golden God Awards next month. The Amity Affliction are contenders in the Breakthrough category (the same category they’re nominated for in the APMAs), Parkway Drive for Best Live Act, Northlane’s ‘Rot’ for Video and King Parrot for Best New Band.

HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN

You thought your problem at festivals was shirtless bogans? The free three-day Norman Music Festival in Oklahoma tried to ban punters from bringing guns in. The local rambos objected and took it to court. The

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stunned the judges (“My ears are bleeding!”) and saw him get turfed off. But Parkway’s Winston McCall congratulated him for his “bravery”. * Sia revealed on Australian radio that she married filmmaker Erik Anders Lang 18 months ago and introduced him to her folks on her recent visit home. * The Hillsong Church is among those lobbying for stronger antipiracy measures – its Christian following keeps downloading its music illegally. * US digital radio platform Pandora lost two million of its 79.2 million active users in the first three months of 2015. It posted a first quarter net loss of US$48.3 million.

judge agreed that a ban could only apply to a building, not a festival.

MEGAN WASHINGTON JOINS PPCA BOARD

Megan Washington has been elected to the board of the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia, which collects broadcast royalties for artists and record labels. She joins Lindy Morrison as an artist representative, replacing country singer-songwriter Graeme Connors.

INDEPENDENT MUSIC FESTIVALS GENERATE £1B

50 independent UK music festivals and events generated an estimated £1 billion (AU$1.9 billion) for the UK economy in the last four years, according to a new report by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF). Audience spend at festivals in 2014 alone was a record £296 million (AU$572.9 million), while local businesses near festivals benefitted by £80 million (AU$154.8 million) in that time.

WJO STRIKES DISTRO DEAL WITH UNIVERSAL MUSIC

WJO co-owners Will Osland and Andrew Doran have struck a distribution partnership with Universal Music Australia (UMA).

WJO started six years ago from the back of a record store, building up a large, independent country music label handling physical, digital, publishing and licensing, marketing and rights management. Osland and Doran said, “To have built what we have, completely independent, all in-house – no middle men – on our own terms and with our own finances, has been such an incredible experience.” Now they’re phasing out the distribution and warehouse side. UMA’s senior strategic repertoire manager Dave Parker said the new distro deal “secures Universal as the dominant country music company in Australia across both local and international rosters”.

2DAY ‘BREACHED LICENCE’ WITH ROYAL PRANK

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Media watchdog ACMA has released its report into the investigation of the December 2012 prank on an English hospital over Kate Middleton, which led to the suicide of a nurse. It said 2Day FM breached its licence, which prohibits the “broadcast of statements by identifiable persons without their consent” and “participants in live-hosted entertainment programs from being treated in a highly demeaning or highly exploitative manner”. 2Day had unsuccessfully gone to the High Court claiming ACMA had no right to investigate it. Now, Southern Cross Austereo’s management has reportedly banned the radio station from reporting or even acknowledging the birth of Middleton’s next baby, which is expected soon.

HEIN COOPER SIGNS WITH OVERSEAS AGENCIES

Rising New South Wales South Coast singer-songwriter Hein Cooper has signed with two overseas agents as his international career blooms. He’s now with Primary Talent (Basement Jaxx, Django Django, Metronomy, Noel Gallagher) for the UK, and France’s Uni-T (with fellow Aussies Angus & Julia Stone and Chet Faker) for Europe. Cooper is playing Canadian Music Week (his new single ‘The Art Of Escape’ was recorded in Canada with producer Marcus Paquin of Arcade Fire and The National fame) as well as The Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City in the UK and opening for Sophie Hunger in Paris.

Lifelines Marrying(?): onstage at Coachella, Drake brought Nicki Minaj up and claimed she was tying the knot with her boyfriend, singer Meek Mill.

Married: country music singersongwriter and Golden Guitar winner Ashleigh Dallas invited 80 friends and family to a Tamworth hotel for her 21st birthday – and then stunned them all by getting married to fiancé Chris Wattan.

Split: Ariana Grande and Big Sean after eight months, due to “career pressure”.

Divorced: Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow have signed the final paperwork.

In Court: a woman who made more than £23,000 from selling non-existent Glastonbury Festival tickets could face prison after admitting fraud.

Charged: two members of rap group Migos on drugs and gun charges minutes after they came off stage at a college show in Georgia.

Died: US R&B singer Johnny Kemp (‘Just Got Paid’), 55.

Died: Mingiedi Mawangu, 85, the last original member of Congo outfit Konono No. 1, whose invention of the electrified likembe drew Beck and Björk as fans.

Died: three fans of UK crust-punk pioneers Doom during a concert in Chile when the club wall collapsed as the crowd pushed to get in.

Died: Stu Mckenzie, 29, frontman of Newcastle bluegrass outfit Good Corn Liquor, in a car crash on the New England Highway which left two other members hospitalised and the 17-year-old other driver dead.

MUMFORD & SONS BREW, POP-UP VENUE

The Australian release of Mumford & Sons’ new album Wilder Mind has seen the Newtown Hotel transform into a popup venue, running until Sunday May 10.

There’ll be live sets from local acts and DJs, local artists creating a mural live, dedicated cocktails, 3D album artwork, whisky tasting and pre-release listening sessions. Young Henrys brewery will issue a limited edition Wilder Mind Ale.

HE AND SHE TICKETS?

Malaysia’s music promoters have reacted sharply to the country’s Department of Islamic Development’s latest proposal, which suggests that males and females sit in segregated seats at concerts. Also included in the proposal was the idea that touring musicians be screened for criminal backgrounds before they arrived, and ensure they dress “according to their gender”.

UNIVERSAL, SONY/ATV SUED OVER IGGY DEAL

Iggy Azalea’s label Universal Music and publisher Sony/ATV are being sued in the US by a company called Make Millions Music for breach of contract. The suit claims that the Mullumbimby-born rapper signed a deal in 2009 with then-boyfriend, rapper Jefe Wine AKA Maurice Williams. The ownership of that deal was sold on March 14, 2012 to Make Millions Music for US$25,000.

GUVERA HITS 10M USERS

The Guvera streaming service, which began on the Gold Coast in 2010 before going international, has hit 10 million users. Last October, it had 1.5 million. Over the past 22 weeks it has grown by 35,000 users a day (India came in with 3 million after launching there last November). CEO Darren Herft attributes the 85% growth to its ad-funded brand channel model, which matches brands to fans while the music is playing. Guvera is available in 20 markets and intends to be in 100 by end of 2015. thebrag.com

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SUBURBAN POETRY

T

he colloquial definition of ‘tall poppy syndrome’ refers to an outbreak of criticism directed at one of our own for becoming more than moderately successful.

Courtney Barnett must be a prime candidate for such a mean-spirited attack. The Melbourne-based singer-songwriter’s debut LP, Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, came out in late March, whereupon it debuted at number four on the ARIA charts, as well as entering the UK and US charts at 16 and 20 respectively.

Yet in spite of Barnett’s unheralded success, the predictable wave of tall poppy syndrome hasn’t transpired. Why not? Well, not only does Barnett’s songwriting relate playful observations of day-to-day experiences, but she also seems entirely lacking in pretensions.

“I don’t like the idea of trying to make people like the music you are trying to sell,” she says. “I prefer people to discover the music and want to buy it to support the artist, and then want to share it with their friends. Maybe that’s a bit pie in the sky, but that’s how music should be.

You shouldn’t buy a record because every newspaper is telling you to buy it. You should buy it if someone shows it to you and you like it.”

14 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

Nonetheless, Barnett doesn’t approach her music with utter nonchalance. Take for instance the album’s fourth track, ‘Small Poppies’. The seven-minute slow burner starts by questioning the point of the tall poppy impulse.

In the opening chorus, Barnett guardedly sings, “I don’t know quite who I am, but man I am trying / I’ll make mistakes until I get it right.”

However, as the song progresses, the lyrics shift from a two-way conversation into an internal mantra. By the final chorus, Barnett sounds empowered as she screams those same lyrics.

This development from uncertainty into decisive self-confidence mirrors the record’s creative process. “To be honest, I kind of freaked out when I did look at it as an album,” says Barnett. “I thought, ‘These songs aren’t going to fit together very well, I don’t know what I’m doing,’ which is how I live most of my life – not knowing what the hell I’m doing. But I just kept writing and it became clear that they’re not the same, but they still fit together because they’re of the same kind of mentality.”

Chart success mightn’t be the be-all and end-all, but those aforementioned sales figures are worth a closer look. Considering Sometimes I Sit And Think came out through Barnett’s own Milk!

Records label, the ensuing fervour is even more impressive. By now, the label’s roster also includes the likes of Fraser A. Gorman and Jen Cloher. However, when Barnett created Milk!, she simply wanted

something to stamp on the back of her debut EP, 2012’s I’ve Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris.

The label remains a homespun operation, and it’s fair to assume the majority of releases that surrounded Sometimes I Sit And Think on the charts had considerably larger promotional budgets. Rather than a strategic marketing plan, Barnett’s rise to international renown has been assisted by glowing critical feedback from the likes of Pitchfork, Spin, NME and The Guardian.

However, the songwriter’s influential admirers can’t take all the credit. In fact, for the most part, her journey has been conducted on foot. Over the last 18 months, Barnett and her band – featuring bass player Bones Sloane, drummer Dave Mudie and guitarist/producer Dan Luscombe of The Drones – have conducted multiple tours of the US, UK and Europe. With each return visit, larger and more rapt audiences have greeted them.

“I’m just grateful that people are connecting with my music and coming to shows,” Barnett says.

“I don’t know where they’ve come from or where they’ve heard the music, but it’s nice that they’re there. However they found out about it, they’ve obviously connected in some way.”

Prior to her inaugural overseas trip in October 2013, Barnett was still playing relatively small local shows.

Nevertheless, looking back, she wasn’t daunted about transitioning onto the world stage.

“We were kind of always just playing it by ear and never being completely organised or any of that.

But I’ve always been happy with

how we play. Then you just see how you grow as a musician. Even just playing with the same guys for the last year, we all grow in different ways. I’ve loved watching them become these amazing musicians from playing so much, but also from stepping out of the box and trying different ideas and not being scared to fuck up. It’s kind of the point of playing music – not doing the same thing all the time and being bored of it.”

Barnett and co. have just kicked off the home leg of their global album tour, which features her biggest Australian shows to date. The band’s appearances at Laneway Festival earlier this year proved how adept they’ve become at commanding a mass audience.

“Big festivals are awesome,” Barnett says. “They’re really surreal to play and you feel like a bit of an impostor, but it’s fun. It’s fun to dick around with the boys and act like an idiot in our own little space, but it’s funny being backstage and walking past some famous person and we just look at each other and giggle, because we’re there as well. It’s this really funny moment of being like, ‘Wow, we’re backstage with all these famous people,’ and it’s because we’re playing as well.

It’s still funny and I don’t think it’s something I’ll get used to.”

Barnett’s reluctance to assert ownership over her fame shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of confidence. In essence, songwriting and performance exist separately from one’s commercial standing. Barnett understands that sometimes it’s important to sit and think about this distinction.

“It’s art, it’s a flexible thing, but it’s the only thing I know how to do,

and I love doing it and the joys and pains that come with it. I definitely have moments of self-doubt. I always have, through my entire life, but that keeps you on your toes and constantly considering who you are and where you are and your place in the world and the lucky position that we’re in. If you don’t keep check of that, I think you can lose where you are in relation to everything else.”

What: Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit out now through Milk!/Remote Control With: Teeth & Tongue Where: Metro Theatre When: Thursday May 7 and Friday May 8 thebrag.com

Courtney Barnett photo by Ian Laidlaw

Of course, anyone can feign surprise in the face of growing fame, but in Barnett’s case, this modesty appears to be genuine.

For supporting evidence, you only need to look at Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit itself. First there’s the lazy Zen of the album title, which is perfectly complemented by the cover image – a pseudo-impressionist sketch of a wicker chair on a picnic rug.

But the most telling indicator of

Barnett’s commercial disregard is her idiosyncratic songwriting. It seems patently clear the record wasn’t tailored to meet the expectations of her growing stature.

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BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 15

Mini Mansions No Need To Pretend By Peter Hodgson

T

here’s an old saying in music: ‘You have all your life to write your first record and six months to write the second.’ Los Angeles trio Mini Mansions – Michael Shuman, Zach Dawes and Tyler Parkford – have managed to sidestep the ‘sophomore curse’ both by choice and fate: all three band members have plenty going on outside Mini Mansions, including multiinstrumentalist Shuman’s other gig, one Queens of the Stone Age. Mini Mansions’ 2010 self-titled debut album was an emotive, eclectic release that wandered around between various genres while tying them together with an overall psychedelic tinge. Five years later arrives the follow-up, The Great Pretenders. And while there’s still a sense of ’60s-ness about the record, there’s more of the new wave pastiche hinted at by the debut. It’s more direct and more pop, yet also more complex and nuanced.

“This is just how it evolved,” Shuman says. “It just constantly evolves. I don’t know if you heard our first EP we put out, but the first record is a world different from that, and this is different from the first record. It’s mostly just naturally becoming more comfortable in our roles in the band – especially for me. I mean, I didn’t even play drums before I started the band, and I just have a better idea now about how I want my drums to sound. And I think the same goes for Zach and his pedal board.”

The only general outline the trio followed was that they wanted to

make a brighter record than the debut, which got quite dark quite often. “This is a very dark record lyrically, but musically we wanted to make it more upbeat and more fun to play live than maybe our previous record,” Shuman says.

One particularly noticeable evolution in Mini Mansions’ sound is the prominence of the drums.

They’re usually quite direct, simplistic parts, yet are pushed way up in the mix.

“Most of the records I like to listen to are very rhythm-section-centric and heavy, and that’s the way I like a lot of my mixes too,” says Shuman.

“Although yeah, I like Beatles mixes where the rhythm section is not that loud, but I really like to listen to mixes with loud drums. Also we have a bit of hip hop influence when it comes to the rhythm section – not that we’re trying to write hip hop songs, but because our drums are so minimal there’s only so much we can do with it and only so much I can do. And that’s what I like about it; it stays simple and archaic. And that’s really what hip hop rhythms are like, too. So that’s what we based some of the production off of.”

The Great Pretenders was recorded at Woody Jackson’s Vox Recording Studios, one of the oldest stillrunning studios in LA, with so much gear available to use that bands find themselves spoiled for choice. One of the most distinctive elements of Mini Mansions’ sound, however, is also one of the simplest.

“One thing we did that I’ve done on the last few recordings – and which is really strange and doesn’t make sense to anybody, but it really works – is there was this 20-inch Gretsch concert tom that we stacked on top of this other floor tom, and we use my floor tom as my kick. So when you stack two drums on top of each other and just hit the one, you get this sound that’s super deep and super thuddy. And that’s just something weird that we tried and now I’ve been doing it the last three times I recorded.”

There are a couple of notable guests on the album: Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. “I should first say that I personally didn’t actually sit in a room with Brian Wilson and work with him,” Shuman clarifies. “The process started because Zach was asked to play bass on the new Brian Wilson record. He played on a song and it went really well, so he asked Brian to return the favour and sing on our record.”

The band sent Wilson the song ‘Any Emotions’ to work with. Wilson, who likes to work alone, sent back his parts. “He gave us a lot of stuff,” Shuman says. “You don’t like cutting Brian Wilson but we had to! He gave us so much stuff and it was all amazing and brilliant.

Five-part harmonies everywhere!

Vintage Brian Wilson. So in the end I didn’t sit in the room with him, but honestly it’s still just as crazy to have him on your record and have it forever. It’s wild.”

Turner’s contribution is a particularly animated vocal on ‘Vertigo’. “It’s Alex’s version of a rap and our version of a West Coast hip hop song like we all grew up on. That was the point, and the idea was to have a different kind of character come in on the second verse as if it was a Wu-Tang song, like, ‘Here comes GZA,’ y’know? Like a new guy coming in. We always imagined a British voice, and when we were recording it Alex was hanging out a lot at the studio and it just so

happens he’s British too! So it was a coincidence and it worked out perfectly.”

With our interview coming to a close, Shuman has one last thing to mention, and it’s sure to please his fans Down Under: “Hopefully we’ll see you down there in Australia soon.”

What: The Great Pretenders out now through Capitol/Caroline

Lepers & Crooks Murphy’s Law By Augustus Welby

to the riff-rock of ‘This System’ and the folky storytelling piece, ‘Jack’.

“We’ve never wanted to be a band that just pumped out the same sort of songs,” says Baker. “Our musical influence stems from early rock and ’60s/’70s kind of stuff and Pink Floyd and all these albums that took you on a journey.

Because we’ve all got different musical backgrounds, we’ve always brought different things to the table. It’s important as an artist to never be boxed. People want to label you so they can understand you, but I think it’s important for artists to constantly reinvent themselves, test their limits and test the audience.”

Diversity is one thing, but there’s a risk of scaring away listeners if your stylistic choices are too scattered. However, Baker isn’t worried about the band’s sound getting twisted beyond comprehension.

“I definitely think Lepers & Crooks has a sound,” he says. “I think you can listen to ‘Jack’ and know it’s Lepers & Crooks. We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do, and we love evolving.”

E

arly last year, famed INXS manager Chris Murphy launched his new company, Murphy Rights Management. Upon making this announcement, Murphy introduced the group’s first signing: fledgling Sydney five-piece, Lepers & Crooks. It’s been 27 years since ‘Need You Tonight’ topped the Billboard charts, but Murphy is determined to carry another Aussie band into the international spotlight.

16 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

Dreams of dodging the daily grind and focusing solely on your one true passion are not unusual. But when you’re without an income stream, plenty of simple things become rather difficult. However, Lepers & Crooks are finding a way to make it work, whatever it takes.

“I haven’t had a proper job for a fucking while now, probably about a year and a half,” Baker says.

“I’ve just been gypsy-ing around and living on friends’ couches and at different girls’ places for a while now. There’s so much that you need to put into this. If we don’t put all our energy towards it, maybe we’re going to regret it. So we quit our jobs and we’re just touring around, making money off gigs.”

In December, Lepers & Crooks released their debut EP, Her Kiss.

The four-song set paints a diverse picture of the band’s stylistic preferences, ranging from the Jeff Buckley atmospherics of ‘Her Kiss’

“You just learn so much by playing in front of live audiences,” he adds.

“It’s about winning fans as well, but it’s also about the work behind it.”

“It’s rare for any sort of relationship, especially at our age, to stay together all these years,” Baker says. “As we’ve all matured it’s pretty cool that we’ve all stayed together, and the music helps that. Spending time on the road, doing all this sort of stuff, you learn people’s roles, you see what people take on. Apart from some of my vocal training back in the day, I’ve learned everything from these guys. That’s what I think the thread through Lepers & Crooks is, just how close we are and tight-knit as a brotherhood.”

While the boys are now well on their way to building a solid fan base all across the country, one wonders how Lepers & Crooks managed to get Murphy’s attention in the first place?

“We actually went to the INXS miniseries launch party,” says Baker.

“Then we went back to Frankie’s in Sydney and I bought Chris a vodka, because I really wanted to talk to him. I went up to him and said, ‘It’s an honour to meet you.

You and Peter Grant – the manager for Led Zeppelin – could sell ice to the Eskimos.’ He was sort of taken aback that I knew who that was, and it just evolved from there.

“Since then, we’ve been working harder than we ever have, but we’re doing what we love. Chris is one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met. He’s got an invaluable amount of knowledge. And he brings you into his home and you drink a lot of red wine. It’s good shit.”

What: Her Kiss out now through Petrol Electric Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday May 2 Xxx

So just who are Lepers & Crooks?

Well, now in their early 20s, the band members have been honing their craft for a number of years. “When I first jammed with them in year ten, I didn’t want to do anything else,” says

frontman Sam Baker. “I remember sitting as 18-year-olds, coming back from a big night out and waiting for the sun to come up, and deciding, ‘Yeah man, let’s do this.’ I don’t want to go to uni and study, just to work a nine-to-five job. I feel like that would just kill me. Now we’ve just clicked and we’ve got amazing opportunities since we’ve met Chris.”

Right now, the band is finishing up a four-month, 50-date EP launch tour. Having performed everywhere else in the country, this weekend Lepers & Crooks will return to Sydney for a headline show at Oxford Art Factory. Baker explains the thinking behind the gargantuan touring jaunt: “We just wanted to soak up as much of the different places and people as we could.

Meeting people is just the bomb.

Having a few beers afterwards with randoms that you’ve met – you actually meet some fucking really cool people and it just turns into a bit of a party.

Going on tour is a sure-fire way to test the boundaries of friendship.

This has been Lepers & Crooks’ first major tour, and they’ve actually made it through largely unscathed.

thebrag.com

Fuckface Unstoppable Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am By Augustus Welby

P

utting together a band can be a frustrating process. Assembling a group of players who’ll flesh out an envisioned sound and interact in a complementary manner generally requires a whole lot of trial and error. That is, unless you’re former pro skater and infamous Jackass daredevil Bam Margera, whose band Fuckface Unstoppable came together without any major hassles.

“I basically got my brother [Jess] on board,” he says. “He was in CKY and then he called up the guitar player [Matt Janaitis] from CKY and then the bass player [Waldie] from Viking Skull.

It all just kind of came together. And I got Alex [Flamsteed, drums] from Guttermouth.”

Fuckface Unstoppable formed roughly three years ago and straight away launched into a large-scale global tour. Thanks to some highly debauched hard rock performances, the band immediately got people talking, but it was unclear whether the project would last. However, doubts about the band’s legitimacy were quashed upon the release of a debut LP early last year.

somewhere. I like to go out there and chug a bottle of whisky and have a good time, which is not popular these days for some reason. That’s what rock’n’roll is all about; some titties hanging out, some whisky and that’s a show.”

Margera is evidently baffled by the politeness pervading contemporary rock music. The inspiration for his outrageous onstage behaviour comes from a more primal era of rock’n’roll. “Go to an Iggy Pop show,” he says. “That dude’s like 60 years old and he’s fucking out of his mind.

The last time I played a festival with him, he invited like 300 people onstage and the security guards went mental. It was just mayhem. I was like, ‘This guy knows how to do it – just create complete chaos.’ I’m sure he got yelled at by security, but everyone there is going to remember that show forever. He doesn’t give a fuck. I don’t know how he does it. I’m only 35 and I get tired.”

What: Fuckface Unstoppable out now through Artery Where: Manning Bar When: Thursday May 7

“It started out just having some fun,” says Margera. “I used to own a venue here in Pennsylvania, so if Orange Goblin was in town or Clutch was playing my club, I’d come up and sing a song with them. I just liked it so I kept going. Then these booking agents were calling and putting me on tours and I’ve been on tour ever since, pretty much.

“There’s always going to be people that are like, ‘Oh, it’s a guy from TV. He’s in a band now.

Eurgh.’ But I started touring and the tours were successful and people dug it, so I kept going with it. It helped me through a lot of shit. I’ve had a rough couple of years and it definitely took my mind off things. I think I needed something new; I was getting a little bit tired of just filming TV all the time, and I had to take a break from skating because my feet were basically broken.”

“I like to go out there and chug a bottle of whisky and have a good time, which is not popular these days for some reason.”

Much like their live shows, Fuckface Unstoppable’s self-titled LP is an onslaught of gnarled hardcore metal. Along with a handful of originals, the record includes covers of Clutch’s ‘Big News I & II’ and Turbonegro’s ‘Get It On’.

“They’re like my two favourite bands,” says Margera, “so I couldn’t not do that.”

Fuckface Unstoppable also features ‘Sleepless’, first performed by UK goth metallers Anathema.

In order to reenact the original’s enraged vocals, Margera had help from the frontman of another prominent UK metal band. “Dani Filth from Cradle Of Filth showed up in Iceland when I was recording,” he says. “He went in the studio with me, which was hilarious, because we were at Björk’s studio and all the engineers are used to Sigur Rós and Björk and just mellower stuff.

Then I come in with Dani Filth and we’re fucking doing a heavy-ass metal song and screaming our heads off. They didn’t know what the hell was going on, but they liked it. It was just out of their comfort zone, which is fun.”

Fuckface Unstoppable recently added an additional famous face to their ranks: guitarist Andy McCoy, formerly of Hanoi Rocks and Iggy Pop’s touring band. Prior to next month’s Australian tour, Bam and McCoy have been working on some new recordings. However, before anything gets put to tape, it’s road-tested in front of an audience.

“There’s times when you build the song in the studio, then when you try to play it live it just doesn’t translate well,” Margera says. “So I always try to play it live and make sure that it’s awesome. Let’s face it; albums don’t really sell anymore. It’s all about your live show. That’s the reason I do this – for playing live.”

Fuckface Unstoppable last visited Oz in 2013.

As you’d expect from a bunch of CKY affiliates, their shows aren’t exactly family friendly outings.

“I want the whole show to be entertaining, so I try to keep it interesting,” says Margera. “If I’m feeling up for it I might tase my drummer’s balls, or there’s some nakedness involved or whatever. I like to just keep it fun. I want it to be like a fucking awesome party that’s crazy.

There’s a lot of bands that you look at them, and it looks like they’re trying to find a vegan burrito thebrag.com

BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 17

Modest Mouse Better Late Than Never By Augustus Welby a bunch of different influences,” he says. “You never really truly own anything. It’s just a combination of a bunch of other people’s shit. You take what you know and make it your own. I don’t think I was ever good enough to directly imitate the people I would like to, so I always ended up doing my own thing accidentally. Early on, I would probably much rather have really nailed someone else’s shtick.”

Being a master of imitation is a noteworthy skill, but anyone with a burning artistic impulse quickly moves beyond pure emulation.

However, there’s no guarantee that the creative juices will flow on endlessly. In the eight years since Modest Mouse’s previous LP – the Johnny Marr-featuring We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank – Brock did become concerned about creative well-being.

I

t took a whopping eight years, but in March, US indie rock linchpins Modest Mouse finally delivered their sixth album. It’s called Strangers To Ourselves, but the title is something of a misnomer, as the record bears all the hallmarks of the Modest Mouse we know and love. There’s Isaac Brock’s eccentric lead vocals, which shift from pretty melodiousness to outrageous yelping at the blink of an eye, plus plenty of aggressive

guitar tones and danceable rhythms supplied by drummer Jeremiah Green (the only other remaining original member).

The band’s music – which revolves around Brock’s songwriting – has long inhabited a distinct stylistic realm. This is a meritorious feat, but like most musicians, Brock began his songwriting career by trying to replicate those he admired. “I was just really piling on

“There were points where I’d be like, ‘You know what you’ve been doing for the last six months, Isaac? Not creating shit, man.’ I worked pretty hard during those eight years to get most of my catalogue onto my own label [Glacial Pace]. And also to lodge everything that should’ve been lodged – master tapes and reels and shit. It all ended up surfacing, but it was a lot of work.

So I was kind of stuck in this mode where I was doing an incredible amount of work to put shit out that I’d already done, which was by far not as rewarding.

“That actually took probably two or three years,” he continues. “There was stuff done in the meantime – I’d satisfy myself by helping other people produce shit, so as to get to be creatively involved in something.

But there was moments where I was like, ‘Holy shit, man, you’re just going to write a record about all the shitty things that you’ve been listening to. You’re going to

regurgitate some Jello Biafra-style political record.’”

On top of reissuing their earlier records, in the midst of making Strangers To Ourselves, Modest Mouse built a recording studio near Brock’s home in Portland, Oregon.

Having unrestricted studio access inspired an unforeseen perfectionism in Brock, which ultimately delayed the album even further.

“Being in my own space allowed for a brand of fucking craziness that I have not really had the luxury of before,” he says. “I also know myself as someone who’ll just fucking let things fall how they may.

I don’t think the people working with me can ever know which way we’re going. Like, am I going to spend three months working on the simplest fucking thing, but then let something that should be probably better thought out just happen?”

In spite of the various hold-ups, upon its release, Modest Mouse fans around the world quickly embraced Strangers To Ourselves.

This positive reaction effectively redeems the record’s over-long gestation period. However, Brock is uncertain about whether it was time well spent.

“To be honest, it was kind of a round trip. I’d spend an incredible amount of time just getting bogged down with the minutiae of shit and find myself back where I was a couple of months earlier. I might have gotten a bit too precious. If I’d called it maybe a year earlier, I think I probably would’ve been almost in the same spot. And I’m still not happy with it even though it’s out, because I am a crazy person.”

Brock’s obsessive studio nitpicking contrasts sharply with the way Modest Mouse recorded their first couple of albums. Both 1996’s

“Being in my own space allowed for a brand of fucking craziness that I have not really had the luxury of before.”

This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About and 1997’s The Lonesome Crowded West featured a vastly looser and comparatively lo-fi aesthetic, but that hasn’t prevented them standing the test of time. Of course, the circumstances were entirely different; Modest Mouse were then a young, relatively unknown band, signed to the Seattle independent label Up Records. Even so, they were no less committed to creating quality work.

“We were always doing as good as we were capable of,” says Brock.

“In our eyes, we weren’t putting together wobbly yet charming messes. That was as good as we could get. I mean, Jesus Christ, Long Drive – we recorded and mixed that thing in 17 days. I think [The Lonesome Crowded West] took about the same amount of time. If you put both of those records together and the couple of EPs that happened around them and a bunch of singles, it still didn’t take as long as it did for me to make this record. I hope this isn’t a lasting trend, because fuck me, that took a long time.”

What: Strangers To Ourselves out now through Epic/Sony

Best Coast Long Days And Short Nights By Adam Norris

T

he day I speak with Bethany Cosentino, guitarist and singersongwriter for Best Coast, the lineup for Splendour In The Grass has just been announced and the internet is going batshit crazy with excitement. The festival will go on to sell out in under an hour, and with such a cavalcade of acts it’s no wonder. One of the most anticipated bands returning to our shores is Cosentino’s Californian rock duo, riding the launch momentum of a third album, California Nights. While Cosentino is hugely excited to be returning to one of her favourite haunts, festivals themselves are not really her go-to events; she’d much rather get home at a reasonable hour and enjoy a nice warm cuppa.

“We’ve played a tonne of festivals all over the world,” she says, “but honestly we all really love Australia. I would say that outside of home here in America, it’s one of our favourite places to tour. It’s funny, because you’re essentially on tour with all of these totally different bands thrown together for a festival, and no-one really talks with each other at first but you’ll all end up hanging out at some weird afterparty eventually. It’s definitely fun to play your set and then drift off and see another band play. I enjoy playing festivals, but personally I would never go to a festival unless I was playing it.”

This is a slightly surprising revelation for a singer at both the peak of her creativity and, well, youth. Most of the performers I chat with can’t wait to launch into the next festival, hurling themselves at that transient lifestyle like an ambitious pancake to a low ceiling. But the 28-year-old Cosentino has other ambitions.

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“I’m just not much of a festival person.

Coachella is on now, and everyone I know is saying, ‘Oh, are you going to come too?’ and I’m flat out, ‘Nooooo,’” she laughs. “Those days are behind me for sure. I do enjoy playing them, but it’s not something I seek out myself anymore. If I’m going to go and see a band, I’m going to see them at a venue. I like to see more intimate shows. It’s not so much that I don’t enjoy the atmosphere you get at a festival – it’s more being out in the sun all day. I always find myself getting really tired. I’m too old for that stuff now! I’d rather just go see a band and then go home to bed.”

The intimacy that Cosentino craves when watching other bands, however, remains a double-edged sword when it comes to her own performances.

She presents an interesting dichotomy; someone committed to engaging an audience, but at the same time uneasy at the proximity and focus of so many strangers.

“I enjoy playing at big venues, but at the same time I feel there’s not much difference between them. It’s not like I prefer [small venues]; they’re just so different. It’s nice to play a small venue and see your fans right there in front of you, but it also gives me this weird anxiety. When there are people directly in front of me like that, I feel like I can’t make eye contact, so I have to kind of look over the top of everyone,” she laughs, sounding slightly embarrassed. “When you play the bigger venues you’re a bit further away from everyone, and that way I feel like there’s no-one there able to see the sweat bead off my face. But we just did these three shows after not playing much lately, and they sold out in just a few minutes. To remember

that you have dedicated fans who are so excited to see you play, it’s a very humbling feeling. Really, no matter where you are, it’s just fun to play.

“You can definitely feel there’s a disconnect between you and your fans on those big stages,” she elaborates. “I feel like that kind of happens more at festivals, when there’s space between you and them and people are coming and going to catch different bands. I feel that it’s my job as a performer to connect with fans, whether they’re an inch away and catching the sweat pouring off me, or if they’re far away. I still feel I need to draw them in. When you go to a show, you’re there to be entertained, you’re there to be part of something.

So you just have to draw people in.”

With a background in non-fi ction (thanks in no small part to the infl uence of Joan Gideon), Cosentino’s engagement with an audience is arguably much more personal than other forms of songwriting. Her lyrics are founded in real-world observations and experiences, creating a reciprocity between performer and listener; it is a kind of mutual therapy.

“Every project I do that involves writing has been different, but for Best Coast, I’ve always just wanted to write about relatable things. I’ve wanted to be able to take my experiences with life and my feelings and be honest with them, so that my listeners can take those songs and relate them to their own

lives. I get things off my chest, and in doing so I feel less alone with those problems, and I’m also making the listener feel less alone.

It’s a weird group friendship via the music. It’s pretty cool.”

What: Splendour In The Grass 2015 With: Blur, Florence + The Machine, Mark Ronson, Of Monsters & Men and many more Where: North Byron Parklands When: Friday July 24 – Sunday July 26 And: Also appearing at Oxford Art Factory on Tuesday July 28 More: California Nights out Friday May 1 through EMI/Universal thebrag.com

BRAG’s guide to film, theatre, comedy and art about town

arts in focus

Chengwu Guo in The Dream photo by Georges Antoni

the dream

the height of fantasy

also inside:

THE WIZARD OF OZ / JUST A BIT… FUNNY / STEEN RASKOPOULOS / DAMIEN POWER / LIOR SUCHARD + MORE thebrag.com

BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 19

arts in focus

free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Meggan Turner, Chris Martin and Sarah Basford

HIJINKS AT MADAME TUSSAUDS

five minutes WITH

MARK LEONARD WINTER FROM ONE EYED GIRL

One Eyed Girl

How psychologically demanding was your role as the protagonist, Travis?

Does Travis have any hope of earning a new start after losing his job at the hospital?

Not in the field that he is in. I think he realises that he is completely ill-equipped to offer any sort of guidance or care to the patients placed in his charge when he himself is hanging on by a thread. He’s lucky to be alive, really, and before he can be in any way a productive member of society the guy has to ask some pretty serious questions of himself.

You’re going on a promotional Q&A tour for premieres nationwide – do you always enjoy these kinds of events?

Yes and no. It’s nice to share the work that you’ve made with people and to see how

people respond to it, but it can also be confronting for the same reason. What was once such a private venture is now in the world and you have to deal with what you made. I’m a little nervous about this one, as it’s such a raw and exposed character.

That’s frightening. There’s nowhere to hide.

This is not your first foray into dark subject matter as an actor. What do you find most fulfilling about the challenging side of cinema?

I’m always trying to get my hands on the best material I can and stretch myself as far as I can. You are only as good as what the material demands. Essentially, though, I just like making films. It’s the most beautiful medium.

What: One Eyed Girl (dir. Nick Matthews) Where: Ritz Cinema, Randwick When: Opens Thursday April 30, with a Q&A screening on Friday May 1

STRENGTH IN ADVERSITY

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

music performers like Frankie Faux, Sheena Miss Demeanour, Memphis Mae, Bullseye Billy and more, all taking the stage in a respectful and peaceful environment where experimentation is the name of the game. No boundaries, no fists – just an evening of fun and a story to tell.

Continuing an ongoing series of ballooninspired sculptures, Experiments In Natural Philosophy by Todd Robinson is a perpetuation of the artist’s inquiry into sculptural presence, materiality and audience reception. The exhibition features a series of rope sculptures which challenge gravity, rising up to the roof in defiance of the laws of physics. Alongside these sculptures are large sculptures of balloons that droop and slump as gravity forces itself down on them.

Experiments In Natural Philosophy continues until Sunday May 24 at Galerie Pompom.

Angela Rosa Mantuano photo by Ilana Rose

Trade is the newest ensemble creation from production company Hurrah Hurrah. The play is inspired by the life of Jérôme Kerviel, a French trader who was convicted for breach of trust, forgery and unauthorised use of bank computers after losing €5 billion. Trade is a dark and hilarious exploration into the immense wealth of five financiers and the threat of that wealth when they are forced to face their own guilt. It’s also an intriguing look at the way we value money, and how it doesn’t always correlate with happiness. Catch Trade at the Old 505 Theatre from Tuesday May 12 – Sunday May 17.

Australian photojournalist Ilana Rose will be showing some of her works in conjunction with World Vision this May. Strength In Adversity will feature an array of images that Rose has taken of mothers and women in impoverished communities around the world. The images tell stories of women who are pillars of their community, holding them together even in the harshest of conditions.

Just in time for Mother’s Day, the exhibition will show as part of Australia’s premiere photography festival, Head On. Captions for each photo will be provided by well-known names such as Tim Costello and Melissa Doyle, who accompanied Rose on these journeys. Strength In Adversity is on at The Depot Gallery in Waterloo from Tuesday May 12 – Saturday May 30.

EXPERIMENTS IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

Nazeem Hussain photo by Kristian Dowling

Up-and-coming comedians Jen Carnovale and Andrew Wolfe will make tracks to the Dove & Olive in Surry Hills this weekend to perform some dangerously hilarious material.

Presented by Riot House Comedy, the night is organised by comedy fans, for comedy fans. Carnovale has made audiences cackle at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Hong Kong International Festival while Wolfe has performed sold-out shows at the Sydney Fringe Festival. Together, they’ll hit the Surry Hills stage this Sunday May 3.

Angela Rosa Mantuano

The streets of Marrickville are in for a shock, as The Riot is coming to town. More specifically, it’s headed to the Red Rattler on Friday May 1 for a night of unpredictable entertainment. Lining up on the bill are some multi-talented burlesque, art, circus and

The Big Spenders

MEANWHILE, IN THE HOUSE

Trade

I PREDICT A RIOT

To be in the running for one of two double passes to Hijinks’ 15 Minutes Of Fame party at Madame Tussauds Sydney, head on over to thebrag.com/freeshit.

The Big Spenders photo by Stepback Photography

O

ne Eyed Girl is a dark thriller about a psychiatrist haunted by a patient’s death – should audiences be prepared for a tough ride?

The film asks tough questions. Can we fix ourselves? Can we change? Can we become more than our pasts? Where do we turn to for a connection to something greater than ourselves in a world that doesn’t value that? I think the film is hopeful and honest in the way it examines real dilemmas we all face as people who have strayed from the path and yearn for something more from this life.

Very. When we meet Travis he is in a real state of inertia, incapable of making good decisions.

He’s trying but losing. Something in him is screaming out for change but he has no idea how to affect that in his life. He goes on a massive journey into himself and comes out the other side achieving the one thing he wanted to do, which is to help someone.

Famous for organising those Jurassic Lounge nights that let you legally down a longneck while frolicking among an array of dinosaur bones and insect taxidermy, The Festivalists are back with another Hijinks event, hijacking Madame Tussauds Sydney on Friday May 29. To give you the full A-list experience, there’ll be performances from a stand-up comedian, a Marilyn Monroe drag queen, fake Elvis and fake Katy Perry, as well as a chorus performance from The Big Spenders. If your kind of Friday night usually includes wax celebrities, celebrity impostors and a tonne of wannabes, you’ll probably want to jump in your pearl white, chauffeured limousine and rock up to this one.

Nazeem Hussain

When Sydney Film Festival organisers announced they’d be bringing screenings to some new venues this year, we weren’t quite expecting this. Gillian Armstrong’s new documentary Women He’s Undressed, profi ling the life of Acadamy Award-winning Australian designer Orry-Kelly, will have its world premiere aboard the Sun Princess on the stunning waters of Sydney Harbour. Needless to say, it’s the first time a premiere has taken place aboard a ship in Australia, and a blue carpet will be rolled out especially for the occasion. Women He’s Undressed will show aboard the Sun Princess on Wednesday June 10.

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NEWS FROM NAZEEM

The Sun Princess

Due to overwhelming demand, comedian Nazeem Hussain is adding two more shows on the back of his Sydney Comedy Festival season. Hussain has just wrapped up a successful season at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and had to add two extra shows down there too, so it’s all coming up Milhouse. Hussain will be performing his debut solo show, Legally Brown, at the Factory Theatre in June in addition to his shows for Sydney Comedy Festival, which started last week and are all sold out. You can catch Hussain doing two sets at the Factory on Saturday June 20.

thebrag.com

Sydney Film Festival / Princess Cruises photo by Rocket K

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BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 21

[DANCE] Three Steps Back By David Molloy

F

“I had a really immersive journey, growing up and watching and seeing performances and being a part of [them], and now that I get to do it as a career, it’s really special to share my passion and my experience with the national company,” he says.

This same passion has led Chynoweth to become one of the Sydney Opera House’s audience engagement ambassadors, actively seeking to connect with culture consumers at the iconic venue.

“We’ve travelled round the world with the ballet and everywhere you go, no matter what continent, everyone knows the Sydney Opera House,” he says. “So to call that our second home and our office when we’re not in Melbourne, to walk up Circular Quay, it just never gets old. You come to the Opera House and it’s not just an event, it’s an occasion, you know?

“We’ve just got a lot happening down here at the moment. We’re doing

The Dream

Giselle as well as rehearsing for The Dream program, but we’ve also got all sorts of other programs, so whether it’s a full evening of ballet or one of our other programs, there’s always something happening.”

As for The Dream itself, Chynoweth stars in two of the three pieces that make up the evening – as the famous trickster Puck in The Dream (based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and in the more abstract Symphonic Variations, both of which are renowned for their demanding choreography. “[The Dream] is very fast and very challenging script-wise,” he says.

“There’s lots of fast turns and huge jumps and running round the stage causing havoc, but at the same time you’ve got to be telling the story, taking everyone on that iconic journey.”

But performing two such pieces back to back? “They’re trying to make sure we don’t do both in one night, they try and split the cast so you don’t double up, but … you never know, so you’ve got to be ready for that challenge.”

Of course, overcoming said challenge will make for thrilling viewing. “It’s just a great, fun night at the ballet,” Chynoweth says. “Very musical – that’s, I think, a distinct feature of Sir Fred’s work, very clear musically. The Dream is [set] to Mendelssohn and

The Wizard Of Oz

I think people will be surprised how much they recognise the music.”

Chynoweth is clearly excited about working with such distinguished material. “There hadn’t been steps quite like that [before], or a way of telling a story quite as clearly or distinctly as in Sir Fred’s work,” he says. “Even the abstract ballets like Monotones and Symphonic Variations, they don’t really have a story as such but they have an atmosphere and a sentiment that really comes across to the audience.

It’s really nice for us to be able to channel a more refined style.”

The Dream photo by Studio Commercial

The Dream

ew people can say they share a history with their craft in the way that dancer Brett Chynoweth does – fitting for a cast member in The Australian Ballet’s upcoming triumvirate The Dream, an ode to renowned British choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton.

Since joining the Australian Ballet School at age eight, Chynoweth has lived and breathed his artform.

But despite the historical focus, Chynoweth is adamant that the program is both relevant and dynamic. “It doesn’t look like a museum piece and it doesn’t feel old, which is quite remarkable,” he says. “If you have no idea about these ballets or Sir Frederick Ashton, that doesn’t really matter because it’s still fresh in the way that this current generation of dancers has experienced it.

“I really hope that people come along and see how fresh and special it is.”

What: The Dream Where: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House When: Wednesday April 29 – Saturday May 16

The Wizard Of Oz

[THEATRE] Goodbye Yellow Brick Road By Adam Norris tells us a story about what it is to be a human being – what it is to be a child, to be an adult, full of those fundamental concerns. That’s our approach to it, rather than the fi lm or book, but we’re certainly infl uenced by them. What people will see onstage, certainly on the surface, is something that’s actually quite unlike any of those things, but deep inside is this response to the forms that have come before.”

“This is defi nitely not an adaptation of the book, nor the fi lm, nor the musical. So it’s really unlike any of the known texts,” Jacobs laughs.

“It’s our collective response to the myth of Wizard of Oz, to its narrative with these key images and symbols, how it sits in our psyche and our cultural consciousness as a very clear contemporary myth. I think of it in terms of being like a biblical myth, in which I mean that it

“There’s defi nitely a Tin Man, a Lion, a Scarecrow and a Witch,” Jacobs says. “I approached it by thinking, ‘What is an image today that corresponds to the image of, say, a scarecrow or a tin man, what is the equivalent?’ Those characters certainly do all exist in the work, but there’s no lion suit.”

L

That said, audiences still won’t have to squint to identify the archetypical characters we all expect from such a production.

This production is a curious jump for Jacobs, a director equally

fascinated by the role of myths in our personal lives, as well as those that shape us within global cultures.

Last we spoke with her, Jacobs was directing Oedipus Rex in the Belvoir Downstairs Theatre, a much more intimate, in-the-lap-of-theaudience space. Now at the Upstairs Theatre, the ethos of audience complicity and mythbuilding remains just as strong.

“Belvoir’s Upstairs Theatre is rather unique to other major theatres. It has the beautiful advantage of being able to address the audience very directly, and I think something like The Wizard Of Oz, which is such a strong and familiar story, it becomes a kind of communal ritual of some kind. The tiny theatre for Oedipus certainly gave it a tremendous impact, and while this is certainly a different beast, the principle is still the same. I’m very conscious about the relationship with the audience, and a desire to interrogate the relationship between the audience and the artist, fi nd out exactly what that is.”

As Jacobs talks, her speech grows rapid and impassioned, and it is very hard not to get caught up in her excitement.

“This is a show that we’ve been referring to as a ‘raw spectacle’. It’s not a spectacle like you would imagine in a musical; in fact, it’s actually the opposite of that. It’s a spectacle made from the imagination, made from the performers and costume and

object; these grand, operatic gestures. It’s something that’s right before your eyes, moving through this very magical journey, but it’s also something that the audience is very much made privy to.”

What: The Wizard Of Oz Where: Belvoir Street Theatre When: Saturday May 2 – Sunday May 31

Just A Bit… Funny [COMEDY] No Holds Barred By Tegan Jones

C

omedy connoisseurs know that one of the jobs of the genre is to break down barriers and challenge misconceptions through laughter.

Last year, the Sydney Comedy Festival’s Just A Bit… Funny show did exactly that. Put together under the banner of Riverside Theatres’ Beyond The Square program, the night highlighted what is arguably the last known taboo for comedians to mine – disability. The show returns to Sydney again this year with highcalibre guests such as Dane Hiser and Madeleine Stewart, and Beyond The Square creative director Alison Richardson promises that it’s going to be funnier than ever.

“The evening runs with a mix of stand-up comedians with and without disabilities and interspersed throughout we have video sketches,” she explains. “Those videos are captioned as well so the deaf community can still understand what’s going on.”

22 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

Making the show accessible to the hearing impaired is imperative, and a variety of measures have been taken to ensure inclusion.

“This year we’re upping the ante and having the Auslan interpreters again, a deaf comedian back and another performer named Andy Dexterity, who sings a lot of modern songs and does medleys around signing. Those kinds of things will be even better this year, just to get some continuity going with having a Sydney Comedy Festival show that’s Auslan interpreted.”

In addition to providing accessibility, the presence of Auslan interpretations adds something else to the show.

“It also adds an extra layer of humour,” says Richardson.

“Seeing things that some of the comedians were saying that may have been a bit more lewd signed and in a visual way was quite funny. So was watching the

Auslan interpreters squirm through signing it.”

Two groups from Beyond The Square will be performing comedic sketches that audience members can look forward to this year.

“We have a group called the Ruckus Ensemble, who are six performers who just happen to have Down syndrome. We’re making two videos with those guys, one being based on slapstick because they love it. The other is a silent film that has a kind of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton kind of feel to it.

“The other group we’ve got, The Real Things, is a bunch of filmmakers who have physical disabilities. They’re doing more of a non-PC sketch called ‘The Cockblocking Carer’.”

After our laughter subsides over the truly fantastic title, Richardson continues: “It’s about when they

go out to nightclubs and having to go with a carer, who can then butt in when they’re trying to pick up a girl. So they’re doing three sketches based on the idea of an arrogant carer who takes advantage of them, bludges off them and gets into things for free because they have a companion card.”

What’s truly great about this kind of comedy is that it’s not the kind of material you see comedians ordinarily touch. It’s either too dark, too much of a taboo or simply not something they identify with. This subject matter is fresh and well overdue on the stage.

“It’s good because it comes from them. I don’t identify as having a disability, but because they do and it’s what they want to talk about, it gives them more licence to do that.

And to have it in a public forum like the Sydney Comedy Festival, which has nothing to do with disabilities, it reaches a whole other audience.

It gives them a voice to highlight some issues in a funny way.”

What: Just A Bit… Funny as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 Where: Factory Theatre When: Sunday May 3

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The Wizard Of Oz photo by Brett Boardman

ike the best of stories, The Wizard Of Oz has a great deal of darkness at its heart. Death, terror, slavery and flames; the fact that it is recalled as one of the classics of children’s literature and cinema says a lot about our collective parenting skills. But the savvy folk at Belvoir Street Theatre, toiling away like winged monkeys under the theatrical sorcery of Adena Jacobs, have been constructing a rather different interpretation, inspired as much by Angela Carter and the Bible as they are by L. Frank Baum’s tale of Dorothy and her fantastic colleagues.

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Steen Raskopoulos [COMEDY] The Assassin By Nick Taras showcases their talents not only as performers, but writers also.”

The title of Raskopoulos’ new show, Character Assassin, isn’t as funny as last year’s title, I’m Wearing Two Suits Because I Mean Business, but don’t be fooled – every Steen show is a fun ride.

A

t the time of our interview, Steen Raskopoulos is in the UK filming Top Coppers – a ’70s cop comedy – alongside an upcoming star of international comedy, the bizarre John Kearns. Working alongside Kearns and The Mighty Boosh’s Rich Fulcher is a huge deal for Raskopoulos, but it’s not as if anyone is surprised by his success following his 2013 Best Newcomer nomination at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

“John plays an alter ego and is hilarious,” Raskopoulos reports from the set. “Rich Fulcher was a comedy hero of mine growing up. I loved Boosh and particularly his various characters. It was pretty surreal the first couple of days. The man is a maverick – you always have to be on your toes because he’ll change one word slightly and have you breaking character for minutes on end.”

One of Raskopoulos’ recurring characters in his one-man sketch comedy is a Greek priest who reviews blockbuster movies like The Avengers. I wonder if Raskopoulos

has any weird Greek church experiences to share.

“Well, I’ve only ever been to Greek church for weddings and christenings, and I always found it funny that the priest sang and chanted with the back-up [choir],” he laughs. “It was like a fully formed religious boy band. For me, Greek Easter reminds me of the cracking of the red eggs. One year my brother and I made eggs three weeks before and then put them in the freezer. It didn’t work at all; they were cracked by the first round.”

Sketch comedy is undergoing a renaissance in performance circles at the moment. Raskopoulos humbly attributes this to some talented peers.

“Groups like Aunty Donna, Fancy Boy, Max and Ivan and Susie Youssef have been smashing at the recent festivals and deserve a lot of the praise. I think sketch has always been appealing and exciting for audiences and performers alike. It’s pretty amazing to see a performer or group of performers change characters with a single prop or none at all. It

“I’m excited as it’s a brand new slate of characters,” he says. “There is only one, maybe two recurring characters from previous shows, but it’s mostly new stories and new forms of audience participation. With the previous two shows, I’ve always placed small nuggets for people who attended previous shows. It’s a small gesture/joke for them to say thanks.

However, there is more seeding in this show and I’m most excited about the ending. I’d tell you now, but – you know.”

The idea of new forms of audience participation is exciting. I was dragged onstage at Raskopoulos’ last show to play an interviewee at a job interview.

Before I could answer his questions, however, he turned on a nearby blender. I wonder if participants ever react in unexpected ways?

“Definitely,” he says. “I’ve had two girls fight in front of me in my first show. I was just thinking of insurance costs if one of them hurt the other. I’ve had a guy kick me on the floor and I’ve had a 65-year-old Scottish lady ride me like a horse when all she had to do was apply sunblock to my back.”

What: Character Assassin as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 Where: Factory Theatre When: Tuesday May 5 – Sunday May 10

Lior Suchard [SUPERNATURAL] The Mentalist By Tegan Jones

Damien Power

W

orld-renowned master mentalist Lior Suchard will be performing at the Sydney Opera House next week, and audiences should prepare to have their collective minds blown.

Mind-reading, telekinesis, thoughtinfl uencing and predictions are all part of his celebrated repertoire, and he promises to give people a show they’ll never forget. But how does someone become a professional mentalist?

[COMEDY] Believe It Or Not By Nick Taras

xxx

I

’ve seen Damien Power’s dick. It was Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2013 and Power had just begun his jaw-dropping conclusion about society and the media. Moments later, it became a pants-dropping conclusion, and his show was eventually nominated for the Best Newcomer award. You walked out of his show with your views challenged. And his latest show, I Can’t Believe I Cared, seems even better.

“I’m really happy with this show,” Power says. “I felt like last year I stepped away from what I think I do [well] in my comedy. I think I made a lot of choices last year and experimented a lot, and it taught me a lot. [For] this year’s show, I’ve focused on sticking with the stuff I enjoy talking about – stuff that interests me. This show’s back to what I did the first show on, which is big concepts and a strong theme.”

Power’s first show blew a lot of comedy fans away, but it was more an amalgamation of bits he’d refined from club gigs. The comedian explains that in his third show, he’s adopted a more cohesive theme.

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“There’s a very strong theme from beginning to end,” Power says.

“The theme is beliefs. It’s how ideology functions in society. The things we believe, our dreams and our ideas, and how that shapes how we see the world in sex, love, religion, beliefs and war – why we fight in them, why we need them, why humans have them, how they function between each other.

Consumerism and how ideas are sold through products. And for the first time I’ve felt like I’ve done a show from beginning to end.

Everything ties together.”

To get a taste of Damien Power, 24 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

check out his Tumblr. It’s titled We All Work For A Bank, and I ask him why.

“The actual title is just to do with the global banking system and how it controls money,” he explains. “It’s able to print money that now has no value. It’s not attached to gold or silver. The way the central banking systems around the world work is basically they’re able to create money and loan it out to large corporations and military industrial endeavours and mass global infrastructure projects and reap the interest of that. Down the line, we all work for a bank. We’re all paying off banks and loans that they created out of nothing.

“Bitcoin is going to be successful and it will be destroyed, because there’s just way too much at stake in control of money in the world. There will be blood spilt before its success.”

Now, all this might sound like the ramblings of a stoner, but I assure you Power has developed concepts to a much more sophisticated level than a 600-word article allows us to explore. He is drawn to big-concept material.

“In my personal life, I read about that stuff every day. I’m no lecturer or anything, but I take an interest in politics, society, cosmology and why we’re here. Especially the bigger picture stuff, not just, ‘Oh, Tony Abbott.’

“It’s big ideas and how we function as people and why we do what we do as people. I thought, ‘How am I going to make my comedy better than it is now?’ So it drew me to making that stuff funny. If I can make these big ideas funny, that’ll be a real point of difference and give audiences something more.

“It has to be funny. It can’t have long, lecture-like bits in it. It’s always about being as funny as possible, but if people can also leave with their perspective changed, or questioning, then I think you get more money for your ticket.”

What: I Can’t Believe I Cared as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2015 Where: Enmore Theatre When: Thursday May 7 – Sunday May 10

“So the legend says… no, I’m just kidding,” laughs the Israeli entertainer. “It started when I was six years old – I used to play games with my friends from school, like holding a stone or a coin behind your back or guessing a number from one to ten. I always knew where the coin was and what number people were thinking of. Being intuitive was just a game, but when I grew up a bit I started to explore it and study the amazement of the human mind and develop my skills and abilities like underground psychology, nonverbal communication and body language reading.”

Suchard not only developed his skills at a young age, but also his desire to perform and use those skills to entertain others. “I love to perform, do shows and get onstage. When I was 13 years old I did a performance for friends and they really liked it because it wasn’t just a demonstration, it was combined with comedy. I was a joker, super optimistic and liked to make people happy. The combination was amazing and I realised that this is something that I need to do.

“It’s not only entertainment, fun, wonder and amazement, it’s also very inspiring – because it isn’t illusion or magic tricks, this is intellectual stuff. People feel inspired because they can see the abilities of the human mind.”

Some of the people who have been inspired by these abilities are a part of Hollywood’s elite,

which has earned Suchard entry into the worlds of celebrities and politicians.

“I was in a restaurant in Los Angeles and saw Barbra Streisand at the table next to me. Somebody from my table introduced me and I told her to make up a few lines of a song that doesn’t exist and I started to hum it! A few days later I got a call from her long-time agent saying that Barbra was having her 70th birthday party and that she would like me to come and perform.”

So what can audiences expect from a show by a master mentalist?

“The show is going to be very interactive and all of the people are going to be participating,” says Suchard. “There are going to be a lot of jokes, a lot of funny things and people are going to be on the edge of their seats.

“This show is going to be crazy because I never know exactly what I’m going to do. I have some things that I always do, but between them I improvise – I don’t know what I’m going to choose or what’s going to come up. But I can promise you that people are going to be so freaked out that they will not forget this experience.”

Of course, there are always going to be sceptics out there, but that doesn’t bother Suchard in the slightest. “I call the sceptics my unpaid publicists because they keep talking about me! The show isn’t about converting or making someone believe, it’s about experiencing something unbelievable. It doesn’t matter if you believe or don’t believe; you’re just going to enjoy it and have a crazy experience that you’re going to talk about for a long, long time.

And for the sceptics… please sit in the front row. I have something special just for you.”

Where: Playhouse, Sydney Opera House When: Tuesday May 5 – Sunday May 10 thebrag.com

Film & Theatre Reviews Five Properties Of Chainmale photo by Simon Cardwell

Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town

■ Theatre

■ Film

FIVE PROPERTIES OF CHAINMALE

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Playing at SBW Stables Theatre until Saturday May 9 Given the statistics around intimate partner violence in Australia, I felt a creeping sense of dread that Five Properties Of Chainmale would paint the male psyche in a self-pitying light. That’s not to say there aren’t cultural issues around masculinity worth addressing – there certainly are. But whether this play delivers enough punch remains unsure.

Presented by Arts Radar and Griffin Independent, Nicholas Hope’s play is a self-deprecating take on the modern man.

By and large, it deals with entitlement.

Three actors (Alan Lovell, Dominic McDonald and Jeremy Waters) often assume the same character, bumbling through an art show in Oslo, a seedy London hotel room, a café in Adelaide, the streets of Sydney and a sexual assault hearing. It’s a hefty handful of scenarios to cover in just 70 minutes.

As the only female actor, Briony Williams is great. We first see her as an unfulfilled lover, lingerie-clad and irritable. She appears in various guises – always duped, or deceptive, or serving a male counterpart. The men don’t question the

In cinemas now

Five Properties Of Chainmale cultural origins of their attitudes. Existing within the bubble of blind privilege, all three of them are continually self-obsessed and self-reinforcing. That said, it’s not as heavyhanded as you might expect; irony tends to be the driving force throughout. And generally speaking, the play is entertaining and thought-provoking.

Five Properties Of Chainmale feels like a loose raft of ideas, a montage of experiences. The cast commits to this type of rhythm, holding together the integrity of each scene. However, it feels like the net has been cast too wide to afford many memorable moments. Some thematic links are perhaps buried under the flow between characters and across time zones.

Consequently, the play doesn’t cut into many hard truths or compelling insights.

Annie Murney

■ Theatre

Deathtrap

DEATHTRAP

Deathtrap photo by Helen White

Sidney Bruhl is a writer, struggling to get a new hit play written. Having had a string of successes, followed by a succession of flops, he now teaches. His student, Clifford Anderson, sends him a script that’s an outand-out hit and now Sidney needs to decide whether to help the kid get it made, or maybe kill him and sell the play as his own.

Unfortunately, this all happens in the first scene, and any more revealing of plot would ruin what is purely an ingeniously written meta-comedy, with the play unfolding in front of you as it’s written.

The Darlinghurst Theatre Company production is high-calibre, with the first, most noticeable piece being the set.

Designed by Michael Hankin, the stage is a sleek representation of late-’70s

Upstate New York without a hint of kitsch.

Lighting by Verity Hampson heightens both the suspense as well as the comedy simultaneously and to great effect. The cast is also standout, with stage veteran Andrew McFarlane excellently charming and vindictive as Bruhl while Timothy Dashwood steals the show as the initially innocent Anderson. Georgina Symes is an audience favourite as Helga Ten Dorp, the crazed psychic next door, and Sophie Gregg is equally solid in the short-lived role of Myra Bruhl.

It’s refreshing to see such a fun and unpretentious play on the Sydney stage, offering nothing more than a great night out at the theatre. Take your mum or your other half, and have a good solid laugh.

Julian Ramundi

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

Head On Photo Festival 2015 Various locations, Friday May 1 – Sunday May 31 Now in its 11th year, the Head On Photo Festival is kicking off in Sydney again this May to showcase the works of some of Australia’s and the globe’s most prized photographers. The nation’s most prestigious photo festival will attempt to offer visuals of substance and quality in a culture that is dense with imagery. This year’s festival will feature the joint exhibition of Sean Izzard and Simon Harsent alongside photography

by Matjaž Krivic, Patrick Boland, Silvi Glattaeur and a spade of other artists.

Head On will take over galleries and other locations all around Sydney. For full details on this year’s program, visit headon.com.au.

Right: An image from Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich by Sandro Miller

The Avengers are at full strength and with the Chitauri Scepter in hand, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is able to kick-start his new global defence program, codenamed Ultron – but in doing so, he unleashes a monster hell-bent on the destruction of the Avengers, and whose plans quickly grow larger.

Whedon’s confidence shows a true mastery of form – no-one understands the comic book money shot like him. With bone-shattering choreography and slow motion so slick it makes Zack Snyder look amateur, there’s a true indulgence to

Playing at Eternity Playhouse until Sunday May 10 Deathtrap is quite possibly the best comedy thriller ever written. In fact, it’s probably one of the first. Written by Ira Levin (who also wrote legit thrillers such as Rosemary’s Baby), Deathtrap is known as being the longest-running thriller on Broadway, as well as having been adapted into a film in 1982 with Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.

Walking out of the original Avengers film, it was hard not to feel elated. Finally, here was a blockbuster that didn’t condescend to its audience; that satisfied the geeks and the broader market alike. It was fast, intelligent and very, very funny, not to mention a box office recordsetter. One might think that even geek overlord Joss Whedon would struggle to make lightning strike twice, but with Avengers: Age Of Ultron, he delivers another star-studded blast of highoctane fun that is almost – almost – as entertaining as its predecessor.

Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth in Avengers: Age Of Ultron the combat sequences. The dynamics of the Avengers as a fighting unit have been expertly captured, particularly in the film’s climactic battle.

It’s also a surprisingly accessible film for those unfamiliar with the franchise.

into Black Widow’s past is especially compelling. And while Ultron’s motives aren’t original (Disney has always loved its painted villains), James Spader’s malevolent, crooning performance is an absolute joy.

The cast is eminently watchable; the Avengers themselves have clearly grown into their roles and the rhythm of Whedon’s dialogue.

The air is thick with one-liners, the ‘secondary’ characters are more rounded, and the overall tone of group conversations is far more jovial. Don’t mistake it for harmony, however.

Seeds of dissent are sewn by one of Age Of Ultron’s most exciting character additions, Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen): a telepath with the ability to inflict hallucinations.

Her power is used to disorient, but also to explore character backstories without breaking stride; the glimpse

Where the cracks show is in a few hangovers from the Disney/Marvel archives: the perfunctory ‘damsel in distress’ sequence and some mild ethnic jingoism are strange to behold, if measured.

A growing familiarity with the Whedon formula makes Avengers: Age Of Ultron a less revelatory experience than the first, but it’s much like riding your favourite rollercoaster for the second time – you may know what’s coming, but you’ll still love every second.

David Molloy

five minutes WITH

BROOKE ROBINSON, WRITER OF ANIMAL/PEOPLE Animal/People

W

hat can you tell us about the ideas behind Animal/ People?

I wanted to make something riveting. My favourite theatre experiences are those where you’re literally on the edge of your seat.

It doesn’t happen too often and it’s not easy to do, but that’s what I was aiming for with this show. I also like plays where the audience has to work quite hard – that was one of my criteria for writing this play.

You’ve chosen a particular style with which to present these stories – why did the monologue appeal?

The most riveting experience I’ve had in the theatre was the original UK production of Grounded – a one-woman play about a contemporary female American fi ghter pilot who develops PTSD. I’d already started writing this play but seeing this show really brought home to me that the monologue form, when done well, has the power to thrill and get to places you otherwise can’t access.

It’s the right form for a psychological thriller.

Is animal instinct really our default mode as human beings, even in suburbia?

What else is there? All the other stuff – like psychology, emotions, codes of behaviour – aren’t ‘real’, they’re just things

humans have created words for.

Is there such a thing as being born a bad person, or do people only become them?

Psychologists and scientists working in this space have different ideas, but the consensus seems to be it’s usually a mixture of nature and nurture. I’m interested in the work of Australian bioethicist Julian Savulescu, who talks about the possibility of screening for genetic factors that can lead to psychopathy.

I met someone recently whose mother is a doctor.

Ten years ago she had a patient – a fi ve-year-old – who kept trying to kill his little sister. The parents didn’t know what to do, they just couldn’t change his behaviour and they were naturally terrifi ed he’d

eventually succeed. The doctor concluded that this child was born this way, that he should be excluded from society and they had him institutionalised.

How closely have you been involved with Rock Surfers Theatre Company’s production of your play?

Very much. We’ve had a great development process and everyone has contributed really valuable insights that went into the fi nal draft – the sound designer, the set designer, everyone working on the show.

What: Animal/People Where: Bondi Pavilion Theatre When: Wednesday April 29 – Saturday May 16

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bread&thread Food & Fashion News... with Sarah Basford and Meggan Turner

The Nag’s Head Hotel

CHEAP AS CHIPS LUNCH AT THE NAG’S HEAD

Quality food is what The Nag’s Head always strives to offer.

That, and affordability. The Glebe venue’s classic menu offers your staple Englishstyle pub food like bangers and mash and braised lamb shanks. The $10 selection kicks off at 12pm daily, and also includes the good ol’ chicken schnitzel, as well as curries and risottos of the week. Every Sunday, the pub dishes up roasts to those who have the need for feed.

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Surry Hills’ favourite Japanese dining and cocktail destination just got a whole got more adventurous, with the opening of new karaoke rooms at the renovated Goros. The restaurant reopened this week after a mini-renovation, with six new booth spaces in which to hide away late into the night (and we do mean late; Goros is outside the lockout zone), alongside the new private karaoke haunts. If you need to down some sake to get your courage up before you sing, the Goros bartenders will have you covered there too.

NIQUE WAREHOUSE SALE

Melbourne fashion label Nique will bring its seasonal warehouse sale to Sydney for the first time this Friday May 1 – Sunday May 3. Heavily reduced Nique wear and white label clearance stock will be available along with the most recent seasonal samples including heavy winter jackets, exclusive shirts and dresses, woollen scarves, premium basics and many more. To get you in the mood, local guest DJs will be playing tunes and there will be giveaways. Get

Fort Denison Restaurant

Fort Denison Restaurant photo by Zoom In With Eden

SING ALONG AT GOROS

GOURMET CINEMA

The Sydney Film Festival’s Gourmet Cinema program is back for its fourth year and looking deliciously entertaining. Three foodie films will be shown as part of the schedule accompanied by a fine dining experience catered by some of Sydney’s best chefs. The films in question are Sergio Herman: Fucking Perfect, Foodies and Good Things Await. All meals are paired with wines selected by Eden Road Wines and beers from Little Creatures. The Gourmet Cinema screenings will take place from Tuesday June 9 – Thursday June 11. For more information, see sff.org.au.

Neil Perry

STARLIGHT IN THE CITY

Foodies

down to the Golden Age Cinema & Bar in Surry Hills from 10am to score yourself a real deal.

FINDERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS

The ever-popular Finders Keepers Markets will be adding Sundays to its trading weekends this year. The addition times itself perfectly with Mother’s Day – which is good, because mothers Xxx love markets. The markets have

The colours purple and yellow are set to dominate the CBD hub that is World Square on Friday May 1. The Starlight Children’s Foundation’s biggest annual fundraising event, Starlight Day, will be transforming World Square into a vibrant, fun space – including an adult jumping castle and duck races – in the hope of raising $1.3 million to support 30,000 gravely ill children around Australia. Neil Perry, long-term supporter of the foundation, will be setting up a Burger Project popup store selling limited edition cheeseburger sliders for $5, with all proceeds going to Starlight. Grab a cheesy burger, offer a cheesy grin and think of the children this Friday. also now reached over 200 stalls.

That’s a lot of opportunities to find a last-minute gift for Mum. More exciting news comes in the form of a new beauty product line of stalls, adding to the fashion, accessories, jewellery, textiles, art, stationery, homewares, ceramics, publications and children and toys areas. The markets will also

see the return of live music from independent musicians, and Farmer’s Lane, where you can go and grab a bite to eat and recharge before exploring the rest of the stalls. The next edition of the Finders Keepers Markets will be held at Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh from Friday May 8 – Sunday May 10.

MARTIN PLACE MARKETS IN MAY

A pop-up market, Taste And Talk, will appear in Martin Place from 12-2pm this Thursday April 30 to launch the Markets In May campaign, organised by The Local Market Guide. The pop-up will be full of local stallholders who will offer samples of their products as well as relevant workshops. Ferment It, one of the stallholders to feature in the market, will be presenting a workshop on the benefits of vegetable fermentation and how to do it yourself. Other stallholders taking part include The Bagel Shop, Spice Vine, Backa Smallgoods and Sydney Salt Co.

DINE ON FORT DENISON FOR VIVID

Sydney has one island restaurant; it’s on Fort Denison and it’s rarely open to the public for dinner. That’s about to change during Vivid Sydney 2015, with Fort Denison Restaurant offering its Dinner De-lights deal for the duration of the festival. While the location isn’t ideal for viewing the bright lights around Circular Quay, it’s a rare chance to dine at an iconic location in the heart of Sydney Harbour.

Head chef Dion Green has created a four-dish menu with entrees of confit pork belly coated in chilli lime glaze, and Alaskan crab cakes dipped in sauce romesco. If that tingles your tastebuds then the main menu will leave your tummy grumbling for more. It comes complete with crispy skin Humpty Doo barramundi with braised spinach, caper and parsley butter, or fillet of grass-fed beef drizzled in veal jus and served with potato gratin and green beans. Seating will be snapped up quickly, so to avoid disappointment, book in for weekend dining between Friday May 22 – Sunday June 7 at fortdenison.com.au.

Taste And Talk

PEEKABOO BAR 120 BOURKE STREET, WOOLLOOMOOLOO OPENING HOURS: TUE-THU 4-10PM, FRI-SAT 4PM-12AM It’s called: Peekaboo Bar Who’s the cook/bartender? Erykah Saba Eye candy: The fit-out comes courtesy of Edge Design Studio. Stripped back to reveal its original framework, there are exposed sandstone walls, naked light bulbs, a varnished timber bar top and a custom-painted mural paying homage to many movie greats.

Peekaboo Bar’s raw yet polished feel provides a cozy haven for singles, couples and groups alike all looking for a perfect escape.

Flavours: For something to nibble, there is a selection of smaller share plates or more substantial meals if you feel like making a night of it, including a generous charcuterie board that offers a selection of cured meats, pate and olives ($25) which would wash down nicely with many of the wines available by the glass.

The selection of soft tacos ($6 each) are the perfect bite-sized treat and the oven-baked buffalo wings ($12) will have your mouth watering with a spicy marinade and blue cheese dipping sauce.

For the perfect winter warmer, tuck into Peekaboo’s house-made pot pie ($15) – with flavours changing daily they are sure to warm your cockles, perfectly matched with a hearty red or cleansing ale.

classics tailored by the Boo’s bartenders, like The Cheshire ($19) with gin, Aperol and honey water capped with a mint and grapefruit granita, or edgier mixes like Boops Ride ($19) – Hennessey, Cointreau, lemon juice and watermelon served up martini style. Or try the Golightly ($18), one sure to light your fire with a mix of Jack Daniel’s, Campari, Amaretto peach bitters and a splash of honey water served on the rocks.

The wine list also packs a punch, satisfying most tastes with a selection of local and international drops all available by the glass as well as a handpicked selection of craft beers.

Make us drool: Just when you thought Sydney’s slew of small bars couldn’t get any better, another great little hideaway opens up, Peekaboo Bar. A worthy contender, this charming, sultry small bar is tucked away from the main drag on Bourke Street, Woolloomooloo.

To top it off, Peekaboo Bar hosts Sunday Bloody Sundays with live soulful music to set the mood from 4pm. Settle in with a selection of Bloody Mary’s, Bloody Bulls, jugs of Pimms or tinnies and chow down on buffalo wings, cheesy fries and soft tacos.

to $25. Cocktails start from $16 and wines are all available by the glass from $8 and bottles from $34.

The bill comes to: Food prices range from $6

Website: peekaboobar.net.au

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Care for a drink? Peekaboo Bar does some mean cocktails – consider old-school

restaurant/bar profile

26 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

thebrag.com

Album Reviews

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

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK CD OF THE WEEK ALABAMA SHAKES Sound & Color Rough Trade/Remote Control

The greatest mistake anyone will make when listening to Alabama Shakes’ new album is expecting it will be 12 tracks recalling ‘Hold On’. Sound & Color is the Shakes’ follow up to their indie-radiobursting debut, and boy howdy, does it live up to expectations – apart from regurgitating their early hit, that is.

The Southern soul revivalists return with a broader band effort.

DJANGO DJANGO Born Under Saturn Because/Warner

Django Django are like that dude at school who’s always really quiet and normal in class, but then you see him at the mall with a way hotter girlfriend than you. You get mad and ask yourself, “What does he have that I don’t have?” The answer is a kick-arse falsetto and musical versatility that puts Django Django among the better indiepoppers around.

Born Under Saturn is another strong showing from the British soundslingers, and it lives up to the standard they set on their eponymous debut. ‘Giant’ opens the album with Flaming Lips-esque experimentalism, layering piano on top of a walking, blues-lined bass section and pulling us into the most hard-to-define album so far in 2015. Tracks like ‘Shake And Tremble’ take us on a mini-surf voyage headed by thick vibrato, while cuts like ‘Found You’ have a range of ethnic percussion elements from guiro to cabasa.

As with any effective record, there has to be a consistent thread from song to song, and Born Under Saturn is tied together by the boys’ flawless vocal harmonies. Unfortunately, the album is a little fatty – you could chop it down to eight or nine tracks and not lose anything.

Jacob Mills

Brittany Howard’s charming, androgynous vocals once again lead the journey across an impressively versatile album that

showcases downplayed soul-funk on ‘This Feeling’ and Etta James-like power vocals on ‘Miss You’. But by far the greatest evolution from 2012’s Boys & Girls is how well showcased the rest of the band is; the debut was Howard with a band behind her, Sound & Color utilises vocals by the other three musicians to great effect, producing brilliant harmonies throughout – most notably on ‘Future People’ and ‘Gemini’.

Ultimately, Alabama Shakes are a band that is sincerely difficult to dislike. Sound & Color is Americana reinterpreted; it stands out as an ode to an era of country and soul that might have been lost to the sands of time.

Jacob Mills

OSCAR KEY SUNG

GEORGE FITZGERALD

GALLOWS

LIEUTENANT

Altruism Warner

Fading Love Domino/EMI

Desolation Sounds Double Cross/Cooking Vinyl

If I Kill This Thing We’re All Going To Eat For A Week Dine Alone

Oscar Key Sung has never been worried about breaking away from the norm in the electronic music space, and Altruism demonstrates a tentative foray into finding himself a more offbeat sound within the genre.

The first LP from Berlin-based producer/DJ George FitzGerald sidesteps the dancefloor-ready fare for a collection of wholly enveloping tracks that manage to hit you right in the feels.

The EP’s opener, ‘Skip’, gently eases the listener into his peculiar world of electro, guiding them in with strong beats and mesmerising, repetitive wordplay of the word ‘skip’. He even experiments with soundscapes like ringtones – so no, that’s not your phone going off. The aptly named ‘Premonition’ is perhaps the most interesting track on the EP, experimenting with continuous loops and whispering hidden among captivating lead vocals. It’s breathy and intriguing, and it’s here that we can see Sung really start to push the boundaries of his sound.

Fading Love works the driving thud of techno and the warm rush of house and electronica together into a lovelorn tangle. A rather gloomy and slightly jaded lovelorn tangle, that is – just check out ‘Knife To The Heart’ or ‘Your Two Faces’.

Whose side are you on? A war of sorts has broken out among fans of English ne’er-do-wells Gallows over the last few years. Some adamantly stuck to the band’s original leader, Frank Carter, as the ‘real’ version of Gallows; others have accepted the changing of the guard in the form of Alexisonfire’s Wade MacNeil.

However, some of the tracks on this EP don’t make for such easy listening, as ‘Inside Job’ and ‘Light’ move in stranger directions. Twisting and turning with little regard for an overarching melody, things get more edgy and steer away from the norm.

Lead single ‘Full Circle’ (feat. Boxed In) is a surprisingly catchy standout, resplendent with regret and an airtight beat that’s just the right amount of rough around the edges.

The record favours traditional song format over an extended DJ set style of album, and FitzGerald makes it work to his full advantage.

Snappy choruses and vocals that never feel perfunctory mean this record delivers on just about every angle – ‘Shards’ is an unexpected gem and essential listening.

Altruism is an interesting and clever release, but whether it can shine within the nearsaturated electronic music scene is uncertain. Sung begins to explore a new sound, but doesn’t throw himself into it with enough direction, which is a shame.

There is a markedly human touch on Faded Love, bringing warmth to a record that hasn’t been polished to within an inch of its life, and doesn’t meander about trying to find itself. It knows the story it wants to tell, and you’ll want to listen to this one over and over again.

Erin Rooney

Marissa Demetriou

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK

MARK WITH THE SEA When The Blood Runs Dry Heart Of The Rat

Ballarat’s Mark With The Sea excel at the type of Australiana that Paul Kelly, Crowded House and The Gin Club churn out in their sleep. Songs are fi lled with plenty of space for deliberation, all rooted in a specifi c time and place that could only be the best friggin’ country in the world.

Opener ‘Bows & Arrows’ is an immediate classic with a tight, moody grip, and menacing guitars suggesting a threat just beneath the surface. Type ‘Bows & Arrows’ into YouTube if you’re tickled by the idea of a grown man dancing senselessly in his jocks, and I’ll wait here.

Adding members and fi lling the sound out more since 2013

thebrag.com

release 13 Years suits Mark With The Sea well, as the group is at its best when using the whole band and deviating towards the sinister – the aforementioned ‘Bows & Arrows’, ‘Kind Of Girl’ and ‘Who Will Watch Over You’ will attest to that. At the other end of the spectrum, ‘I’ll Be The Artist, I’ll Paint You’ and ‘Go To Sleep’ have a calming and sweet veneer.

They could be lullabies, if your kids aren’t old enough to clock the existential dread contained within.

Great care has been put into this album, and like all your favourite stuff, it sounds way better in headphones.

Of course, those with a bit more logic to them are able to see merit in what both frontmen have brought to the band in separate contexts, but it’s hard to convey that in all-caps online arguments.

True to their nature, Gallows Mach 2.0 have pressed on, regardless of outside opinion – and it’s resulted in Desolation Sounds, their first LP in three years and perhaps their darkest, strangest record yet.

‘Bonfire Season’ slithers through territory where the band has previously stomped, maintaining an imposing nature while still encapsulating new ideas. There’s also the furious ‘Death Valley Blue’ and ‘Mystic Death’, which harkens back in their own way to how Gallows originally established their name.

Fans of Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel AKA Lieutenant will say it’s good he’s stepped away from his 20-year alma mater to do something new, but we shouldn’t care; this isn’t a departure or a coming-of-age rite.

Mendel’s a dusty relic of the postemo era, now a little less dusty. In ‘Belle Epoque’, he channels James Mercer with his verse-end divingboard sighs (they’re sort of wails in his interpretation), and sounds like he’s relieved he gets to stop singing for a bit.

If I Kill This Thing may not be a symbol for a bunch of different cosmic dramas, but it’s certainly a tour of the times rock was up its own arse a bit too much. Mendel’s melodies meander just the way music geeks will like, though. He’s gone for the toughest crowd, those wild ones that sit, hoping and praying for a modulation or key change to relieve some deviant erotic desire.

It’s beguiling and at points disconcerting, but it always comes back to a matter of both perseverance and defiance. This is Gallows right now – take it or leave it.

If you like silent types who seem to regret themselves ontologically, the cutesy aspect of If I Kill This Thing will never wear off and you’ve got a neat thing. If you don’t, you’ll still get a full sense of post-emo dirges that have pretty much nothing to do with Dave Grohl.

David James Young

Nathan Hewitt

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

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH - Some Loud Thunder FLEET FOXES - Fleet Foxes LAURA MARLING - Short Movie

JOHNNY MARR - Playland TOOL - 10,000 Days

Nick Hilton BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 27

snap sn ap

VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT

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wolfpack

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

george maple

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

PICS :: AM

26:04:15 :: Frankieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney

steve smyth

PICS :: AM

24:04:15 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711

25:04:15 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711 28 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:03:15

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g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

The Groovemeisters Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

The Roots & Riddim Club Feat: Errol Renaud Trio + DJ Dizar Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Bella Kerr + Joel Leggett + Grace Pitts + Nathan Hawes Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $10.

Muso’s Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. Free.

Songsonstage - Feat: Russell Neal + CJ Fairleigh + Guests Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham.

8pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

A Wilhelm Scream Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $39.

Anastacia The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 8pm. $101.85.

Charli XCX + Tkay Madiza Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50.90.

Dave Graney + The Mistly Camelot Lounge, Marrickville.

7pm. Free.

James Thomson Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 7:30pm. Free.

Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm.

Free.

THURSDAY APRIL 30 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Sugar Bowl Hokum The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 3pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Glenn Cardier & The Sideshow + The Continental Blues Party + Jeremy Edwards The Basement, Circular Quay.

7:30pm. $15.

Muso’s Club Jam Night Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill.

8pm. Free.

Songsonstage - Feat: Ben Osmo + John O’Brien Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm. $10.

Songsonstage - Feat: Mick Hambly + Chris Brookes + Andrew Denniston Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm.

Free.

Songwriter Sessions - Feat: John Chesher + Guests Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta.

7pm. Free.

Xxx

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Ace Frehley + Graveyard Rockstars + Witchgrinder Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $88.15.

Ben Wright Smith Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $13.50.

Cath & Him Pendle Inn, Pendle Hill.

7:30pm. Free.

Fallon

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Penrith RSL, Penrith. 11am. $8.

Greg Hooper + Dee Donavon Penrith RSL, Penrith. 11am.

Free.

Jack Dawson Honeysuckle Hotel, Newcastle.

7pm. Free.

Ricky Martin Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 7:30pm. $70.35.

Sarah Belkner Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $8.

Sewercide + Frank Rizzo + Under Night’s Cover + Dog Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

The Pragmatics + Hurray For Kej The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville.

7pm. $5.

White Bros Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm.

Free.

Yoke Single Launch + Left + Polish Club Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

8pm. $10.

FRIDAY MAY 1 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Gervais Koffi + The African Diaspora - Feat: Gervaise Koffi + The African Diaspora + United Colours Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15.

Ultimate All Staff Party Band + That Foot + The Brother’s Dude Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Clint Boge Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. Free.

James Thomson + Bej-Jean Stewart Camelot Lounge, Marrickville.

7:30pm. Free.

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

Karnivool Newcastle Panthers, Newcastle. 8pm. $51.

Melody Rhymes Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill.

8pm. Free.

No Troubles Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free.

Paper Hearts Band Marlborough Hotel, Newtown.

11pm. Free.

Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. Free.

Rob Henry Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. Free.

Rockin Eddie Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm.

Free.

Sarah Paton Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 5pm.

Free.

Soundproofed Colonial Hotel, Werrington.

9pm. Free.

The Delta Riggs + Harts + Food Court Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $22.05.

The Script Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 7:30pm. $89.51.

Tijuana Cartel + Kallidad Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst.

8pm. $23.80.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Acoustic Sessions - Feat: Anthony Charlton Hornsby Inn, Hornsby. 7pm.

Free.

Flamin’ Beauties

Crown Hotel, Sydney. 8pm.

Free.

SATURDAY MAY 2

pick of the week Karnivool

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Sirens Big Band Venue 505, Surry Hills. 7pm. $20.

Steve Clisby + Alex Gibson The Basement, Circular Quay.

7pm. $40.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Mark N The Blues The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 3pm. $5.

Paul Hayward Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Blake Tailor Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 10pm. Free.

Buddy Glass & The Wise Childs + Lisa Caruso Camelot Lounge, Marrickville.

7:30pm. $14.70.

Counterfeit Tribute (Cave vs Young) - Feat: Josh Shipton & The Blue Eyed Ravens + Rex Havoc Banned + The Youngsters + King George The Third + Just Put Together + Michael Fridge & The Downhome Band + Sunset Sounds + Laura Nolan + Eli Harvey + DJ Earley Curley Town Hall Hotel, Newtown.

9pm. Free.

Evie Dean Panthers, Penrith. 5:30pm.

Free.

Front End Loader + Big Smack + Eggmalt Tattersalls Hotel Penrith, Penrith. 8pm. Free.

G J Donovan Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. Free.

Hits & Pieces Club Cronulla, Cronulla. 8pm.

Free.

Karnivool Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $49.85.

Laurie Bennett Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm.

Free.

Lepers & Crooks Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $13.50.

Mark Seymour Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $35.

Mods Mayday - Feat: The Pollydevlins + The Dandelion + The Ozkas + The Sons Of Mod + The Smart Folk Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 6:30pm. $15.

Panorama Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. Free.

Paradise City Hermann’s Bar, Darlington.

9pm. $10.

Penny Lane Novotel, Rooty Hill. 6:30pm.

Free.

Reckless Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

9:30pm. Free.

Sarah Paton Plough & Harrow, Camden.

8pm. Free.

Soundproofed Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm.

Free.

The Blackbird Collective King Street Brewhouse, Sydney. 7:30pm. $10.20.

The Noxs Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free.

The Peep Tempel

SATURDAY MAY 2 SUNDAY MAY 3 Metro Theatre

Karnivool 7pm. $49.85.

Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15.

The Pigs Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 7:30pm. $25.

The Punk Rock Hillbilly Album Launch + The Delta Lions Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle.

8pm. $10.

The Shrine Tokyo Sing Song, Newtown.

7pm. Free.

Venom Clubnight + By The Horns + Sound Of Immortals + Rzrgang + Billabong Of Blood Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $15.

SUNDAY MAY 3 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

From Street To Stage - Feat: Joe Moore + Various Other Artists Soda Factory, Surry Hills.

6pm. Free.

Maya & Nash Nag’s Head Hotel, Glebe.

6pm. Free.

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

3pm. Free.

Songsonstage - Feat: CJ Fairleight + Guests Harlequin Inn, Pyrmont.

5:30pm. Free.

The Roadrunners Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. Free.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Dorian Mode’s Original Hammond Trio Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 6:30pm. Free.

The Glamma Rays The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm. $10.

Yuki Kumagai + John Mackie + Lee Hutchings + John Smith Illawarra Master Builders Club, Wollongong. 2:30pm.

Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Beyond Blues & Roots Feat: Pluto Jonze + Grey Ghost + Group Standard Bowl, Surry Hills.

2pm. $20.

Blake Tailor Panthers, Penrith. 3:30pm.

Free.

Clint Boge Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 8pm.

Free.

Darren Johnstone Plough & Harrow, Camden.

3pm. Free.

Elana Stone Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $18.

Funk Star Trio Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. Free.

Georgia White Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool.

3pm. Free.

Jed Zarb Pendle Inn, Pendle Hill.

7:30pm. Free.

Jimmy Bear

The Henry Sports Club, Werrington County. 1pm. Free.

Karnivool Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $49.85.

Lonesome Train Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. Free.

Opeth Enmore Theatre, Newtown.

7:45pm. $80.50.

Scorcher Fest - Feat: Aidan Pauna + Aves + Breaking Point + Chasing Giants + Chess Club + Cosmic Flanders + Crawford Brothers + Drones + Emily Perry + Envy Prince + Equanimity + Finn + Forbidden Envy + Godawful + Goo + Grey Sky Catalyst + Hayley Novelli + Herbie + Jon Alban + Just Ace + King B-Fine + Kollekt & Illumin8 + Lunar Sea Boatmen + Mad Cowboy Disease + Martha + Mel & The Bournes + Michael Charlton + Mz. Rockastella + P.S. Rolecall + Pep-C + Pillager + Raging Waters + Romisounds + Rude Rahlis + Saifi + Set By The Sea + Simon Hell + Steven Farrugia Band + TC + The Boy And The Bird + The Last Exposure + The People And Us + Tjuan Benafactor + William Ncredubles Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $32.95.

Tall Timbre Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm.

Free.

The Shrine Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 7pm.

Free.

BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 29

gig picks

g g guide gig g

up all night out all week...

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29 Anastacia The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont. 8pm. $101.85.

A Wilhelm Scream Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $39.

Charli XCX + Tkay Madiza Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50.90.

Sonic Mayhem Orchestra

MONDAY MAY 4 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Sonic Mayhem Orchestra Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Songsonstage - Feat: Stuart Jammin + Chris Brookes + + Guests Kelly’s On King, Newtown.

8pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Marty Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm.

Free.

Sarah Belkner Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $8.

TUESDAY MAY 5 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Steve Mckenna Trio Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Live & Originals @ Mr Falcons - Feat: Merilyn Steele + Mark Bishop + Jasmine Beth + The Flumes + Katherine Vavahea Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7:30pm.

Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Co Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm.

Free.

THURSDAY APRIL 30 Ace Frehley + Graveyard Rockstars + Witchgrinder Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $88.15.

Ace Frehley

Opeth Ben Wright Smith Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $13.50.

Glenn Cardier & The Sideshow + The Continental Blues Party + Jeremy Edwards The Basement, Circular Quay.

7:30pm. $15.

Ricky Martin Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 7:30pm. $70.35.

FRIDAY MAY 1 The Delta Riggs + Harts + Food Court Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $22.05.

The Script Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. 7:30pm. $89.51.

Tijuana Cartel + Kallidad Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $23.80.

SATURDAY MAY 2 Buddy Glass & The Wise Childs +

Lisa Caruso Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $14.70.

Lepers & Crooks Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $13.50.

Steve Clisby + Alex Gibson The Basement, Circular Quay. 7pm. $40.

The Peep Tempel Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15.

The Pigs Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill.

7:30pm. $25.

SUNDAY MAY 3 Opeth Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $80.50.

Elana Stone Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $18.

The Shrine Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 7pm.

Free.

I MAG I N E BE I NG MAD E TO

FEEL L IKE CRAP JUST FOR

BEING

LEFT

H A N D E D.

Okay, that’s hard to imagine? But being gay, lesbian, bi, trans or intersex is no different to being born left handed, it’s just who you are. So stop and think because the things we say are likely to cause depression and anxiety. And that really is pretty crap.

GO TO LEFTHAND.ORG.AU TO WATCH THE VIDEO

30 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

STOP t THINK t RESPECT

thebrag.com

brag beats

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

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Martin, Tyson Wray and Meggan Turner

five things

Ø [Phase]

Porter Robinson

WITH XXXY

PORTER ROBINSON

PHASING OUT

Growing Up Music wasn’t a big thing 1. in my house as a kid; my

Janson sets and walks with my dog currently inspire me.

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

The music scene is in

brother was a big fan of indie music and would always have a cassette on when he was home in the holidays. Guitar music was my first love and I used to spend all my pocket money on tapes and CDs as well as Spectrum ZX games.

I played the piano, the guitar and the flute, all badly, and I sang in a choir. I only really enjoyed playing the guitar, although I never had any formal training. I was in bands throughout school, singing and playing guitar. I got into electronic music in my late teens and from that I got into production and DJing.

3.

Inspirations It’s hard to nail down 2. my biggest inspirations

The Music You Make And Play 4.

House, techno, garage and

good health right now; lots of young producers have amazing tools at their fingertips and are able to get their sounds out and heard very easily. There is a lot of really interesting music around. The scene in Berlin is great – there are always gigs to go to, fantastic festivals and some of the best clubs in the world are here. There are many producers, DJs and musicians; it makes for a really interesting and diverse scene. My highlights recently have been seeing Virginia at Panorama Bar on New Year’s Day and Empty Set at Hebbel am Ufer as part of CTM Festival.

– great producers inspire me as much as great DJs and great bands. I also get inspiration from what is around me. The Levon Vincent album, Beautiful Swimmers mixes, Gerd

sometimes some weird stuff. Expect to hear Doc Daneeka – From Mine To Mistress, Max D – ‘Cassette Arabic’, Mia Dora – ‘Un.sub’, Christian Piers – ‘Beat Wiser’ and Alden Tyrell – Acid 7.

Your Crew When I was a student I had a great bunch of friends who were always playing records and going out to nights; they showed me lots of really interesting and different music. I am lucky to have lots of good friends who are music producers and DJs – their ability pushes me to better myself. It was music and my friends that got me through the harder times before I was able to make music my profession. Now I work alone at home, so my crew there would be a tabby cat and an Italian greyhound.

Techno superstar Ø [Phase] has confirmed details of his upcoming visit to Australia. The British expat, now plying his trade in Belgium, has been at the top of the game for 15 years, with a long list of festival appearances on his CV and regular appearances at all the global hotspots, from Berghain to the Boiler Room. Ø [Phase] started working with the Belgium-based Token Records back in 2007, and released his long-awaited full-length album Frames Of Reference in 2013. He’ll play the Dimensions Festival launch party at the Burdekin Hotel on Saturday May 16.

IT’S HEAPS GAY, EH

Vivid Music has announced a new addition to its spectacular lineup, as Heaps Gay joins the fun. Featuring local and international music acts, Heaps Gay and FBi Radio will transform the Factory Theatre into a hub of music, art and performance over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend this year. There are plenty of artists to get excited about, including Kim (The Presets), Black Vanilla, Catlips, TEES, The Magda Szubanskis, Levins, Sveta and many more, all spread across three stages. There will also be performances from Hissy Fit, Diesel Darling and Wisteria Hysteria, as well as enchanting light installations from No Lycra No Lights, Glitta Militia, Optic Soup, Torrie Torrie and Bubble Rave. In addition, the event will be hosting a photography project to raise

With: Yolanda Be Cool, Mike Metro, Brodanse Where: Chinese Laundry When: Saturday May 2

Lock and load – one of the biggest names in EDM has announced a Sydney headline show alongside his Splendour In The Grass billing.

Porter Robinson, the man behind one of the biggest club anthems of 2014 in ’Lionhearted’, has continued his rise up the electronic ladder with the release of his chart-topping debut album Worlds. Having sold out a DJ tour last year, Robinson will finally bring his full live show to Australia this July. He’ll storm into town on Wednesday July 22 at the Enmore Theatre.

awareness for beyondblue. Heaps Gay takes over the Factory on Sunday June 7.

THUMP IT UP

It’s been a while since the party people at Thump have thrown down in Sydney. But now they’re making up for lost time, and to make things even better, entry is free. Beat Spacek, Edd Fisher and Anomie will all be there, churning out tunes and getting you dancing.

It will be Fisher’s first time doing DJ stuff in Sydney, so get down and show your support.

Speaking of, Rekorderlig will also be supporting the event, which means there’ll be lots of lovely cider to consume throughout the evening. It’s shaping up to be a good night at the Imperial Hotel on Friday May 8.

THIS IS AN EDIT

Play Bar in Surry Hills will this weekend host the launch party for That’s Not An Edit Vol. 2, a new release packed full of tunes and mixes by Australia’s finest underground talent. D’Funk, JR.Dynamite, The Owl, Meem, Benny Badge and Hober Mallow are among the names featured on the tracklisting, and each of them will be DJing at the launch. Strewth, will this be a party or what?

Lancelot

Azealia Banks

MONEY IN THE BANKS

thebrag.com

25-year-old Australian producer Lancelot left his homeland behind last year to chase the dream in the UK, but that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten his roots. After composing the soundtrack for ABC’s Bondi Hipsters comedy show Soul Mates, Lancelot is back on the production front, and making his way Down Under again for a series of parties. It’s all in support of new single ‘Connection’, which has won over ears at BBC Radio One. There’s plenty to celebrate, and you can do just that with Lancelot at The Civic Underground on Sunday June 7.

BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 31

Xxx

One of the most talked-about hip hop artists on the planet, Azealia Banks, is heading to Australia. Having broke through in 2012 with her ubiquitous hits ‘Liquorice’, ‘Van Vogue’ and ’212’, Banks finally saw the release last year of her long-awaited debut album Broke With Expensive Taste. Alongside her performance at Splendour In The Grass, she’ll perform sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney. The latter goes down on Friday July 24 at the Metro Theatre, presented by the BRAG.

A LOT OF LANCELOT

Miami Horror A Hard-Earned Holiday By Gabbi Johnston

I

t’s been fi ve years since Miami Horror released their debut album Illumination, and after spending a busy three years living and recording in Los Angeles, the Aussie synthpoppers have returned with their all-new record All Possible Futures.

This sophomore album has been a long time coming, but over that time the group’s sound has grown and matured. Frontman Ben Plant says the new album is the result of blending the feel of Illumination with some new and experimental sounds.

“I think we really tried to achieve a balance between what we really wanted and doing what you would expect from the first album,” he says. “We initially started with a lot of experimentation with different genres and sounds to what we normally would, and then kind of tied it all together with the sound of the original album.”

With the boys confi dent they had their production techniques sorted after recording their first album, Plant says the foursome had more of a chance to write from a deeper, personal perspective on All Possible Futures. “We focused a lot on songwriting, which we didn’t really focus on so much in the first album. That was more about production and genre, but this time we felt that we already had that down pat and we focused more on writing from a personal point.”

Ahead of the album release, fans got their first taste of the updated Miami Horror sound with lead single ‘Love Like Mine’ getting regular airplay on triple j. Plant says the response from listeners has been nothing but positive. “It’s been all good news so far. They’ve played it for four weeks on high rotation so it’s pretty good for us. The rest of the world seems to be reacting well too, and I haven’t seen anything bad.”

The new album draws plenty of inspiration from LA’s laid-back lifestyle, and Plant says it’s a place he’s always been fascinated with from a young age. “We chose LA

just because it’s a very original city. Even compared with a lot of places in Europe – they all have their own thing about them but they’re quite similar in the way that they’re built and the weather and the way that they’re run. I guess LA has its own strange thing that I’ve always been attracted to from childhood.”

As well as having a unique vibe, LA also happens to house some of the best recording studios in the world. Interestingly enough, however, Miami Horror chose to record the new album from the comfort of their own home studio. The quality of production is a testament to Plant’s skills behind the desk, and he says it’s no different to how they would have done it back home in Australia. “We recorded at home in LA and we would have recorded at home in Australia too. It’s more so that we’re lucky enough to be in the position that we can do it wherever we want. We found the place really interesting and we rented a house and had a studio in there.”

Although Miami Horror have never officially

released any music in the United States, the band is starting to develop a devoted American fan base. “We had already toured America maybe two or three times before,” says Plant. “Once DJing and twice with the band. Considering we never really officially released anything here and it was all just word of mouth, we got a really good reaction.”

Most of the band members also have side projects they’ve been busy working on while living in the US for the past couple of years.

“Josh [Moriarty] has always been interested in a more rockier style of music, so All The Colours was his outlet for that. Wunder Wunder was this idea that Aaron [Shanahan] and I had where we went for more of a psychedelic, ’60s-inspired style. We weren’t sure if that music would fit Miami Horror, so we created that outlet to do that and we wanted to get that out of the system before we went on to the Miami Horror record.”

Now that All Possible Futures has been released, Plant says the band would like

Off The Record

Kobosil

P

urveyors of the tastiest techno around, Trench, will celebrate their second birthday in style this June with emerging German heavyweight Kobosil. Having first risen to prominence in 2013 with his remix of Barker & Baumecker’s ‘Silo’ (which was released on the seminal Ostgut Ton imprint), recently the Berlin native has seen his penchant for analogue techno twisted with pulsing acid and dark distortion picked up by Marcel Dettmann’s MDR label. The venue is still to be announced, but keep Friday June 26 in the diary.

Those lads over at Astral People have announced the return of one of the most compelling beatsmiths from the UK, Flako,

One of the finest producers Australia has to offer, Andras Fox, has locked in a Sydney headline show. An alumni of 2010’s Red Bull Music Academy in London, the Melbourne native released one of last year’s standout albums in Overworld (which also served as the soundtrack for a contemporary dance work of the same name), and also released the collaborative LP Café Romantica with Oscar Key Sung. Expect a serving of instrumental funk, spicy disco and slow chugging house cuts when he performs live at Spice (now at the Imperial Hotel) on Saturday June 6. Support will come from Ben Fester, Adi Toohey and Steven Sullivan.

Lancelot will return to home shores in June. Having relocated to the UK back in

“We’re probably going to be touring for the next two years, so there won’t be much downtime,” says Plant. “I guess it will be spread between LA and Australia, but the thing with LA is we have a house, so that’s kind of become home for the moment, whereas every time we go to Australia we have to find somewhere to stay.

“Sometimes it’s not about what place you want to be in, it’s more about not moving to another place. It’s just nice to stay somewhere for a while, so I guess once we’re back in Oz we probably won’t want to fly back to LA soon.”

What: All Possible Futures out now through Remote Control

RECOMMENDED FRIDAY MAY 1

Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray

scheduled for next month. Last here in 2013, the master of the MPC will be bringing a whole new live show to Sydney, so expect to hear some dazzling cuts taken from his debut full-length record Natureboy, which dropped last week. He’ll be joined on the live front

by Sydney’s own Black Vanilla and Beat Spacek, while Dreems and Mike Who will be manning the decks for the evening. It goes down on Saturday May 16 at Marrickville Bowling Club.

to be based back in Australia, but they no longer have anywhere to set up tent Down Under after living overseas for so long. For the time being, it looks like LA will be home to Miami Horror – though they’re set to hit the road to promote the album soon.

June last year, the former Sydneysider has announced a national club tour in support of his new release ‘Connection’. It’s been a pretty goddamn big 12 months for the 25-yearold, having headlined rooms in London, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Moscow, performing alongside the likes of Julio Bashmore, Jamie Jones and Horse Meat Disco, and receiving support for his signature curveball house from Isaac Tichauer, T. Williams and Danny Howard, just to name a few. Catch a rare hometown appearance at The Civic Underground on Sunday June 7.

Tour rumour: what’s this I’m hearing about a tour from house and nu-disco duo luminaries Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani AKA Metro Area? Lock it in for later in the year.

Best releases this week: despite having one of the worst album names I’ve heard all year, Thomas Brinkmann’s What You Hear (Is What You Hear) (on Editions Mego) is bloody phenomenal. Nthng’s 1996 (Lobster Theremin) is earth-shattering techno at its best, while other highlights include Feingold’s Nuff Zang (1080p), Dartriix’s Flying One Hand (Op.disc) and Deep88 and Melchior Sultana’s Playing Without Moving (12 Records).

Cassius Select Goodgod Small Club

Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY MAY 23 Kyle Hall Imperial Hotel

SATURDAY FRIDAY MAY 2 MAY 29 Xxxy Chinese Laundry

Carmada Oxford Art Factory

Rabih Beaini Burdekin Hotel

SATURDAY MAY 30

SATURDAY MAY 9 AFFKT Burdekin Hotel Polar Inertia Oxford Hotel J.Phlip Chinese Laundry

Steve Bug Imperial Hotel

Basic Soul Unit Burdekin Hotel

SATURDAY JUNE 6 Andras Fox The Spice Cellar

SATURDAY FRIDAY MAY 16 JUNE 26 Ø [Phase] Burdekin Hotel

Kobosil TBA

Flako Marrickville Bowling Club

SATURDAY AUGUST 22

Edu Imbernon

Borrowed Identity The Bridge Hotel

Edu Imbernon

Flako

Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon.

32 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

thebrag.com

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

club pick of the week A$AP Ferg

FRIDAY MAY 1

CLUB NIGHTS

Aden Mullens + Raye Antonelli Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly.

6pm. Free.

Cakes - Feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests The World Bar, Kings Cross.

8pm. $10.

El Loco Later - Feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills.

10pm. Free.

Infamous Saturdays - Feat: Live DJs Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. Free.

J-Trick Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60.

Lndry - Feat: Xxxy + Yolanda Be Cool + Mike Metro + Brodanse + Jace Disgrace + Sleeping Sang + Donaldo Leicester + DJ Just 1 + Samrai + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

8pm. $17.50.

Pacha - Feat: Disorder & Hookie + Slice N Dice + Tenzin + Matt Nugent + Dave Winnel + Glover + Dylan Sanders + A-Game + Lavida + Mo’Funk + Def Rok + Just 1 + Samrai + Nad + Vito + Jace Disgrace + Wheeler + AJC Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney.

6:30pm. $38.

Rampa + Aboutjack + Whitecat + Antoine Vice + Space Junk + Daniel

George The Spice Cellar, Erskineville.

10pm. $25.

Rave Radio Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. Free.

Sienna Saturdays - Feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney.

9pm. Free.

The House Of Who - Feat: Rotating DJs + Levins + The House Of Who + Nacho Pop + Kato’s Wig Shop Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

SUNDAY MAY 3 CLUB NIGHTS

DJ Somatik + Rob Kay Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly.

5pm. Free.

Kate Monroe + Paris Groovescooter + Guests The Spice Cellar, Erskineville.

7pm. Free.

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 Home Nightclub, Darling

Harbour. 2pm. $10.

Steve Tonge + DJ Somatik + Rob Kay Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly.

11am. Free.

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.

MONDAY MAY 4 CLUB NIGHTS

Mashup Monday - Feat: Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free.

Strobe Light Unicorns Feat: Jonny Seymour + Paul Mac + Guests The Spice Cellar, Erskineville.

2pm. Free.

TUESDAY MAY 5 CLUB NIGHTS

Chu The World Bar, Kings Cross.

9pm. Free.

Max Watt’s

A$AP Ferg

up all night out all week...

+ Paper Diamond

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29

8:30pm. $65.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29 HIP HOP & R&B

Ivan Ooze + S.Kape + Coda Conduct + DJ Samrai Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 9pm. Free.

CLUB NIGHTS

DJ Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 9pm.

Free.

The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross.

9pm. $5.

THURSDAY APRIL 30 CLUB NIGHTS

Pool Club Thursdays - Feat: Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm.

Free.

Safia Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $20.

The World Bar Thursdays The World Bar, Kings Cross.

9pm. Free.

HIP HOP & R&B Gazele + Yum Yum Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $10.

FRIDAY MAY 1 CLUB NIGHTS

Aaron Manhattan + Amanda Louise + Guests

thebrag.com

The Spice Cellar, Erskineville.

7pm. Free.

Argyle Fridays - Feat: Resident DJs The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm.

Free.

Bassic - Feat: Paper Diamond + Protohype + Autoclaws + Chenzo + Blackjack + Lennon + Troy Kete Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

8pm. $12.40.

Cassius Select + Alba + Adrian E + T. Mingus Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

10pm. $15.

Chardy Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $13.40.

El Loco Later - Feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills.

10pm. Free.

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

7pm. Free.

Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm.

Free.

Godskitchen - Feat: Pure Nrg + Jorn Van Deynhoven + Jordan Suckley + Richard Durand + Solarstone Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $69.

Kid Kairo + Radge + Cache One + Baby Face Thrilla + Victoria Kim Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

9pm. Free.

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

Free.

SFX - Feat: DJs Absynth + No-Ez + Mi77enz + Matticus + Amy Maree Miind Nightclub, Darlinghurst.

9pm. Free.

Treble N Bass

Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly.

8pm. Free.

HIP HOP & R&B

A$AP Ferg + Paper Diamond Max Watt’s, Moore Park. 8pm. $65.

Filth Wizard + Berkshire Hunting Club + Remy Phillips + DJ Red Eddy Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $10.

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

Free.

MC Filth Wizard + Berkshire Hunting Club + Remy Phillips + DJ Red Eddy Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $5.

That’s Not An Edit Vol.2 Launch Party - Feat: Benny Badge + Jr.Dynamite + D’Funk + Hober Mallow + Meem + The Owl Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm.

Free.

SATURDAY MAY 2

Ivan Ooze + S.Kape + Coda Conduct + DJ Samrai Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 9pm. Free.

THURSDAY APRIL 30 Gazele + Yum Yum Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $10.

FRIDAY MAY 1 Cassius Select + Alba + Adrian E + T. Mingus Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. $15.

Godskitchen - Feat: Pure Nrg + Jorn Van Deynhoven + Jordan Suckley + Richard Durand + Solarstone Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $69.

Kid Kairo + Radge + Cache One + Baby Face Thrilla + Victoria Kim Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. Free.

HIP HOP & R&B

Astronomy Class + Srey Channthy + Vida Sunshyne Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown. 7:30pm. $10.

Boom Bap Sessions - Feat: DJ Cost + Codecks + Platterpush + Tenth Dan + LC Beats Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm.

Free.

Spice 1 + Levins + Captain Franco Goodgod Small Club, Sydney.

9pm. $20.

SATURDAY MAY 2 Lndry - Feat: Xxxy + Yolanda Be Cool + Mike Metro + Brodanse + Jace Disgrace + Sleeping Sang + Donaldo Leicester + DJ Just 1 + Samrai + King Lee

Ivan Ooze Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 8pm. $17.50.

Pacha - Feat: Disorder & Hookie + Slice N Dice + Tenzin + Matt Nugent + Dave Winnel + Glover + Dylan Sanders + A-Game + Lavida + Mo’Funk + Def Rok + Just 1 + Samrai + Nad + Vito + Jace Disgrace + Wheeler + AJC Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney.

6:30pm. $38.

Rampa + Aboutjack + Whitecat + Antoine Vice

+ Space Junk + Daniel George The Spice Cellar, Erskineville. 10pm. $25.

Spice 1 + Levins + Captain Franco Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. $20.

SUNDAY MAY 3 S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10.

BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15 :: 33

snap

VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT

thebrag.com/snaps

up all night out all week . . .

party profile

the golden years remixed It’s called: The Golden Years Remixed It sounds like: All your favourites revised and updated in a showcase of classics with a modern touch.

Acts: D*Funk, Pro/Gram, Daigo, E-Cats Sell it to us: Four party DJs bringing to us their own private collection of re-edits and mash-ups for a night of jams ranging from the ’60s to the present.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: When you heard a disco mix of Notorious B.I.G, or when you heard a hip hop mix Whitney Houston, and just thought, ‘Yeah, that’s of Flume, or a trap edit of what I’ve been missing.’

Crowd specs: Old-school groovers lurking on the up on the stage, avid bowlers chasing that perfec bleachers, spotlight divas t game, pool sharks and people-watchers on the mez and your new best mate waiting for you at the bar.

Wallet damage: It’s free, the bowling and the entry.

Where: The Standard Bowl, Level 3, 383 Bourk e St, Darlinghurst

s.a.s.h sundays

PICS :: AM

When: Saturday May 2

360

PICS :: AM

25:04:15 :: Home :: 101/1-5 Wheat Rd Darling Harbour 9266 0600

25:04:15 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

party profile

freshly squeezed fridays It’s called: Freshly Squeezed Fridays It sounds like: Shaking up a massive bottle of Goulburn Valley’s freshest (dope hip hop).

Acts: LGEEZ (Alex Jones and Son Of Sam), Hyjak, P.Smurf and heaps more.

Three songs you’ll hear on the night: LGEE Z P.Smurf – ‘Holdin It Down’, Fugees – ‘How Many – ‘Speed Of Sound’, Mics’ And one you definitely won’t: Katy Perry – ‘Last Friday Night’ Sell it to us: We’re consistently bringing in the finest interstate acts while showcasing the best local talent we have to offer. Rugged, positive vibes from 7pm-2:30am. DJs mixin’ the classics and MCs spittin’ the rawness. Always fresh and never out of date.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Possibly somebody’s name.

Hopefully that person you pashed. The good times.

Crowd specs: Nike to Ksubi.

Wallet damage: $5 entry Where: The Lansdowne Hotel When: Friday May 1 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

34 :: BRAG :: 610 :: 29:04:15

:: ASHLEY MAR ::

thebrag.com

apply now at aim.edu.au

Australian Institute of Music For more information visit aim.edu.au or call Sydney: 02 9219 5444, Melbourne: 03 8610 4222 C C CR CRI COS S 00665 00665 6 5C C