Brag#624

ISSUE NO. 624 AUGUST 5, 2015

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MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE

INSIDE This Week

F R A NK T UR NE R

The prince of folk-punk returns with a bright new outlook.

T HE RUBENS

And the time they used a framed record to prop up a window.

T R A IN W R E CK

Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow unite in a rom-com hit.

K N X W L EDGE

Our decade’s J Dilla?

The jury is out.

Plus

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BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 3

rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Sam Caldwell, Vanessa Papastavros and Augustus Welby

five things WITH

SAM HUNN AND WILL COLVIN FROM VERTICOLI Inspirations SH: Jimi Hendrix, Led 2.

Zeppelin, Karnivool, At The Drive-

it a four-piece; he’s added an amazing fullness to our live sound.

In, the ‘Seattle Four’, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fugazi. “Music that makes your Honda feel like a Ferrari,” in the words of our bass player Carlos.

They just make me feel good.

The Music You Make SH: We’re a rock band.

4.

Energetic, heavy but not so heavy that

WC: I have an obsession with the Dave Matthews Band that I’m not supposed to talk about.

3.

Growing Up SH: Dad bought 1.

Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for my brother James because he thought he might like

it. That was signifi cant; it kicked off our obsession with music. James’ and my musical tastes grew together, and it led to us forming this band.

Your Band WC: Sam, James and I played together throughout high school. We eventually started jamming some material Sam had written. We tried to overcomplicate our music in the early days, but over time we became less selfconscious and more collaborative.

James moved away for work last year, but he’s rejoining us for the tour, and Will Scutt from Hobart band Rhino has recently come in as our second guitarist to make

your sister won’t like it. Drums that groove. We recorded our debut LP Punching Bag with Jake Long at Red Planet Recording. He is a weapon, and the results are awesome.

WC: How to describe our live show? Loud, raucous, fun, enthusiastic regardless of room emptiness.

5.

Music, Right Here, Right Now SH: The best thing about the Tasmanian music scene is that there isn’t a particular crowd.

Rather than have a style that everyone is trying to fi t into, Tasmanian music is super varied, and it’s a tight-knit and supportive scene. We’re new to the Sydney

scene, but we’re excited to be playing at the Lansdowne. As for local bands, we’re big fans of Born Lion, and Rick Dangerous and The Silkie Bantams blew us away live last year; we’re stoked to be playing with them!

WC: The last gig that blew my mind was Karnivool earlier this year. To be able to see their first album Themata played start to fi nish live was a huge deal. That album was, and still is, a huge inspiration and infl uence for us.

What: Punching Bag out now through Firestarter With: Rick Dangerous and The Silkie Bantams, Narla, The Knowgoods Where: Lansdowne Hotel When: Saturday August 8 And: Also appearing at Frankie’s Pizza on Sunday August 9

BIGBANG BANGERS

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: Bridget Lutherborrow, Vanessa Papastavros, Jade Smith, Augustus Welby ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com Krystal Le - 0421 662 486 / (02) 9212 4322 krystal@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 COORDINATOR: Sarah Bryant - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Vanessa Papastavros, Elias Kwiet, Jade Smith, Bridget Lutherborrow

K-pop superstars and fashion gurus BigBang are heading to Australia this spring. Made up of G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri, the South Korean boy band have been at it since 2006, constantly evolving their unique music style and flamboyant fashion. For an indication of the band’s swoon-inducing power, their official YouTube channel has accumulated more than 1.2 billion views. There’s no doubt about it – BigBang’s Australian visit promises to be an occasion of stupendous fun. They’re coming to Sydney for a show at Allphones Arena on Saturday October 17.

US pop-punk hero Tony Lovato of Mest fame will grace our shores this August to share his music and knowledge. He’ll be performing acoustic versions of Mest’s biggest hits, including audience favourites like poppunk anthem ‘Drawing Board’, crossover hit ‘Cadillac’ and ‘Jaded’. While here, Lovato will also spend some time mentoring some local pop-punk talent at The Artist’s Lounge at the Oxygen recording studios. Expressions of interest for these sessions can be sent to theoxygenartistslounge@gmail.com. Joining the live bill are Jake Grigg from Central Coast rockers Something With Numbers and Hey Reckless. Lovato headlines on Thursday August 6 at The Bristol Arms for Hot Damn! and Sunday August 9 at The Bald Faced Stag.

THAT’S THAT

This That is poised to be the next big thing for Newcastle, and the burgeoning festival has now dropped a stellar maiden lineup. The boutique festival’s program has started off strong with Sydney favourites RÜFÜS, Birds Of Tokyo and Sticky Fingers. The 16-act collective of artists will also include Aussie legends The Jungle Giants, The Kite String Tangle, Tkay Maidza, Carmada and Asta, who will be combining forces with international jet-setter Baauer for a jam-packed festival.

As music is best served with a dose of tasty food, local niche restaurants and the best of Sydney’s internationally renowned food trucks will be arming festivalgoers with munchies for the occasion. Trek north to the Newcastle Foreshore on Saturday October 31 to be a part of Newy’s newest festival.

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4 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

The Coronas

A LONG WAY FROM IRELAND

All the way from Ireland, The Coronas are heading our way for a run of Australian shows this November and December. Since their last visit in 2014, the four-piece have put together a brand new album called The Long Way, which features a number of punchy tracks loaded with enchanting guitar hooks, as well as some piano-led balladry and folk-tingled admissions of guilt. Throughout, the record shows how a relationship break-up can provide massive creative inspiration. See them prove it live at the Factory Theatre on Friday November 27.

giant list of influences that stretch far beyond The Minutemen. They’ll be showing us how it’s done in September when they appear at Sounds Of The Suburbs in Cronulla on Sunday September 27. Put it in your diary.

They’re also doing a secret show in Newtown that same day – hit up bonesouprules.com for more details.

The Fall

NO LANE LIKE NORTHLANE

Following the release of their latest record Node, metalcore outfit Northlane will head out on their first Australian headline tour in 18 months this November. Despite the Sydney quintet having traversed the globe in 2015, the Node tour will mark the first domestic headline performances for the band’s new vocalist, Marcus Bridge.

Joining them on the road are fellow heavyheads August Burns Red, Like Moths To Flames, Buried In Verona and Ocean Grove.

They’ll be at UNSW Roundhouse on Thursday November 12.

SUBURBAN GARDENS

Exciting representatives of the new wave of West Coast punk rock, The Garden are heading out for an east coast tour in September. The two-piece hang onto DIY principles, donning op-shop garb that borders on housewife fashion, while taking cues from a

STILL FALLING

Don’t fall over, but iconic English postpunks The Fall, AKA Mark E. Smith and mates, have announced a tour Down Under this October. The “favourite ever group” of legendary British DJ John Peel have managed to remain active since 1976, their most recent release coming in the form of LP SubLingual Tablet, released back in May – their 31st studio album. Sheesh. With their style continuing to evolve (“always different, always the same,” according to Peel), and Smith’s reputation for cryptic and poetic lyrics, their live act remains a sight to behold. And you can do just that on Wednesday October 21 at the Metro Theatre.

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The good people at Falls Festival have dropped the lineup for their 2015 instalment, and it’s huge. Topping the list is a trio of UK acts in Foals, Bloc Party and Disclosure. From across the Atlantic Ocean come festival favourites Kurt Vile and The Violators, Mac DeMarco and Gary Clark, Jr. Highlights of the local crop include Paul Kelly Presents The Merri Soul Sessions (featuring Clairy Browne, Dan Sultan, Kira Puru and Vika and Linda Bull), Courtney Barnett and Falls veterans Hilltop Hoods. The Falls Music and Arts Festival goes down from Monday December 28 – Friday January 1 in Lorne, Victoria, as well as Tuesday December 29 – Friday January 1 in Marion Bay, Tasmania and Thursday December 31 – Sunday January 3 in Byron Bay. For the full lineup announcement, check out thebrag.com. The ticket ballot is open now at fallsfestival.com.au.

Foals

LOVE LOVATO

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FALLING FOR FALLS

NEW STUDIO MINI-ALBUM

7.8

ALBUM OF THE WEEK LINE OF BEST FIT

8/10

‘Marks To Prove It’ and ‘Something Like Happiness’

NME

Features the singles

HEALTH

OUT NOW

DEATH MAGIC FEATURES INDIE SMASH

STONEFIST

“DEATH MAGIC IS HEALTH VIOLENTLY INTERPRETING POP MUSIC.” 4/5 THE MUSIC “LOS ANGELES ELECTRO-PUNKS’ FIRST ALBUM IN SIX YEARS MASHES GENRES TRIUMPHANTLY” 8/10 NME

7.8 BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 5

live & local

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Augustus Welby, Chris Martin and Vanessa Papastavros

five things WITH

THE GRATES

LUKE SWEETING FROM GREY WING TRIO Inspirations I really got into the 2.

Wayne Shorter Quartet albums like Speak No Evil and JuJu when I became serious about learning about jazz piano at uni. Certain patriarchs of piano were really fundamental to me in certain ways – Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, and of course Herbie Hancock and Chick.

After absorbing a bit of jazz I became growingly interested in improvisation within and outside of the style.

Your Band In the first jam I had with Ken [Allars] and Finn [Ryan], we realised we should work on this trio and make something of it.

Jamming out these epic melodies, we aimed to take the material as a reference point and improvise textural journeys, tending to keep it fresh by improvising new sections and endings, and sometimes beginnings. Finn is so distinctive. His drumming tends

3.

Growing Up I grew up in a musical 1. family – everyone had a hack on the old quarter-tone-flat heirloom piano, which was very treasured during big family hangs.

Impressionistic classical music became unknowingly interesting to me, as well as the rock/pop songs I played with bands and jammed with friends in high school.

to challenge certain conventions.

On trumpet, Ken has this insane ability to just make everything a timely blossom and he pulls you in via his incredible sound and virtuosity.

The Music You Make The live session we 4. recorded last year captured our favourite material. We are super excited to be playing a few concerts in the middle of August to release the album Amoroso.

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

I’ve found the Sydney jazz and improvised music scene so diverse and really supportive.

There are always amazing bands playing at Jazzgroove, SIMA and Foundry, not to mention the hangs that tend to spring up all over the place.

Where: The Sound Lounge When: Friday August 14

A LITTLE ON THE SLY

HIS WITS ABOUT HIM

ALL THE WAY TO TIJUANA CARTEL

Melbourne’s purveyors of astral space rock AlithiA will be exclusively unleashing their short film, Sacrifice, at two shows this month. Directed by George Kalpa, the partmockumentary-part-art film was filmed at AlithiA’s last headline show at The Workers Club and Melbourne’s Inaway Studios. Plans are in place for Sacrifice to be screened at various film festivals worldwide, so it will not be released online until late 2015. That means the upcoming Sydney show will be the only place you can catch an advanced screening – and to make the date sweeter, it will also serve as the local launch of their debut record To The Edge Of Time. AlithiA will be joined by Chaos Divine at the Factory Floor on Friday August 28. We’re giving away a double pass and a merch bundle, so hop onto thebrag.com/freeshit to enter.

HOODOO HEADLINERS

Super Best Friends

SIMPLY THE BEST OF FRIENDS

Super Best Friends have just dropped another single from their debut long player, and they’re hitting road this month to celebrate. Since releasing Status Updates on Gun Fever Records in March, Super Best Friends have barely left the stage. But the Canberra/ Melbourne trio aren’t tiring one bit. ‘All My Friends Are Leaving Town’ is the latest track lifted from the record – a sentimental number, appropriately accompanied by an adorable, puppyloaded music video. Super Best Friends will play the Captain Cook Hotel on Saturday August 29.

Castlecomer

Sydney five-piece Castlecomer are set to make another local stage their home this weekend. The harmony-heavy indie rockers have an immense CV of shared slots with the likes of Ball Park Music, Last Dinosaurs, The Griswolds, Faker and more, and have been on the circuit lately to promote their EP, Miss December. They’ll headline The Filth at the Beach Road Hotel this Friday August 7.

6 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

ALITHIA

12 years ago, Thirsty Merc emerged on the Australian music scene with their first independent EP. They’ve since followed up with three hugely acclaimed studio albums and a stack of radio hits, including ’20 Good Reasons’, ‘Someday Someday’, ‘Mousetrap Heart’ and ‘In The Summertime’. Now they’re gearing up to release their fourth studio album, Shifting Gears. After a chunk of songwriting in Sydney, Melbourne and Los Angeles, the band utilised crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic to support their efforts in the studio. The fan response was overwhelming, allowing the Merc to reach their goal within 48 hours. The first single from the album, ’The Good Life’, has already gone to radio, and to celebrate, the lads have announced a new national tour for September and October. They’ll play Revesby Workers Club on Saturday September 26, Rooty Hill RSL on Thursday October 1, Mona Vale Hotel on Thursday October 8 and The Basement on Wednesday October 14.

Gympie-raised and now Sydney-based performer Jesse Witney is bringing his latest tunes to Batch Brewery for a thirstquenching evening of live music and quality beers. It’s all in support of Witney’s new EP, Be It, which demonstrates his combination of folk, Brazilian soul and Australian roots influences. The Gene Fehlberg Trio and Danny Ross will open the show on Friday August 14.

COME AS YOU ARE

Off the back of their exultant Splendour In The Grass performance, The Grates are jumping into their Team Work Makes The Dream Work East Coast Tour. It’s been an intense year for the band so far, having recruited a new drummer, started their own label, recorded an album in ten days and had a baby. The Grates will be gracing our backyard with their talent and tunes on Friday August 14 at Oxford Art Factory.

We’re giving away a double pass to the show, with a bonus merch pack including a tour poster, T-shirt and badge. To be in the running, visit thebrag.com/freeshit.

THE MERC RIDES AGAIN

The newly refurbished and ever-so-slightly renamed Slyfox is opening its doors this week for the official relaunch of Live At The Sly, with the reliably suave and explosive Mojo Juju headlining. Live At The Sly is a late-night, midweek band night, the first edition of which will also feature The Double Shadows and Lyre Byrdland. It all goes down this Thursday August 6.

Tijuana Cartel are returning with a new album, Psychedelicatessen, on Friday September 4, and to celebrate they’re heading out on the road from August to October.

Tijuana Cartel’s influences have always been broad and the new album looks into the Australian counterculture movement – more specifically, Psychedelicatessen is indebted to a Double J broadcast from 1978 that recounted a psychedelic road trip from Brisbane to Sydney, called What’s Rangoon To You Is Grafton To Me. Help make sense of all that at the Metro Theatre on Friday October 9.

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

A music festival tailored for your kids and your inner kid alike… what’s not to love? Dress Up Attack is an all ages festival that pushes the boundaries of children’s entertainment. With a lineup boasting iconic Aussie band the Hoodoo Gurus and local garage rockers Bloods, as well as children’s entertainment duo Ta-Da!!! and audiovisual creatives Kiddyrock, the festival promises to be a crowdpleaser for children and carers alike. Dressing up on the day is encouraged but not compulsory. Dress Up Attack kicks off at 10am on Saturday September 12 at the Sydney Portugal Community Club in Marrickville.

Cosmic Psychos

CHECK YOUR BUM FOR GRUBS

The globe’s finest purveyors of farm punk, Cosmic Psychos, have announced a fresh round of tour dates. After a massive co-headline tour with Dune Rats, Cosmic Psychos are heading back on the road through September. To coincide with the new tour announcement, they’ve dropped an animated video for the track ‘Bum For Grubs’, taken from this year’s typically debauched LP Cum The Raw Prawn. The Check Your Bum For Grubs tour rolls into Newtown Social Club on Sunday September 5.

thebrag.com

lorne VICTORIA

marion bay TASMAN IA

NEW SOUTH WALES

dec 28 2015

dec 29 2015

dec 31 2015

jan 01 2016

jan 01 2016

jan 03 2016

Until

Until

byron Until

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

ALPINE THE AVENER BIRDS OF TOKYO BLOC PARTY BØRNS COURTNEY BARNETT DISCLOSURE DJANGO DJANGO FOALS GANG OF YOUTHS GARY CLARK JR. HALSEY HIATUS KAIYOTE HILLTOP HOODS KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS LITTLE MAY THE MACCABEES MAC DEMARCO THE MERRI SOUL SESSIONS FEATURING CLAIRY BROWNE • DAN SULTAN • KIRA PURU • VIKA & LINDA BULL MEG MAC OH WONDER PAUL KELLY PRESENTS RÜFÜS SETH SENTRY TORO Y MOI YOUNG FATHERS BOOGIE NIGHTS ART VS SCIENCE EL VEZ FLEETMAC WOOD ‘WEIRD AL’ YANKOVIC PLUS PLENTY MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED

fallsfestival.com

ticket ballot now open BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 7

Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR * Which music journalist started an interview with the statement, “Don’t like your new album much”? * Is Aussie music streaming service Guvera about to be listed after a “large” injection of cash? * Is Calvin Harris to shell out US$500,000 on an engagement ring for Taylor Swift? * Has Apple Music picked up ten million subscribers around the world so far? * Aside from its high debuts in Australia and the UK, Tame Impala’s Currents debuted at number four on the US Billboard chart, number one on Alternative Albums and number two on

Top Rock albums after selling 45,000 copies there in its first week. 14,000 of those (or 31% of sales) were on vinyl – the most vinyl sales for a one-week period since Jack White’s Lazaretto moved 40,000 over a year ago. * The Edge and Adam Clayton gatecrashed U2 fansite The Cutting Room’s 20th anniversary celebrations in New York, surprising organisers (who had been told the band were busy and only someone from management would attend) by performing two songs with a U2 tribute band to 450 fans. At an earlier New York show, U2 were joined by Lou Reed’s widow Laurie Anderson for a cover of Reed’s ‘Satellite Of Love’, Paul Simon for his 1972 hit ‘Mother And Child Reunion’, and the

CHANGES AT THE CBAA Changes at the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) will see Chris Johnson move to a new senior role as head of programs and services. The role will involve taking up a leadership role with the Community Radio Network (CRN) and continuing to oversee the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project. Johnson will also lead the roll-out of CBAA’s new Radio Website Services later this year. Tahlia Azaria moves to head of marketing and engagement, Martin Walters to operations manager of CRN, Rhonda Byrne to head of business services and Helen Henry to senior communications officer.

SPOOKYLAND SPOOK OUT INERTIA Sydney’s Spookyland have signed with Inertia as they work on their debut album at Conor Oberst’s Nebraskan recording studio, Another Recording Company. The past 18 months have seen them play both the US and Europe, as

woman who dialled 911 when Bono crashed his bike – who was subsequently booed by the crowd for asserting that people from New York aren’t “nice”. * Yes, Foo Fighters did say yes to playing a gig in Cesena, Italy, after a video of 1,000 fans covering ‘Learn To Fly’ went viral. * At Blur’s Perth Arena show, Damon Albarn was jumping around onstage so much he knocked Alex James flat on his back. * Sam Haycroft, guitarist with Melbourne punk rockers I Am Duckeye (and previously with Sydonia), has become a hero down the Victorian coast by saving a blind man from drowning off Elizabeth Cove after his boat capsized in bad weather. Haycroft battled the elements and paddled out to

well as at Lollapalooza over the weekend.

They’re signed with the WME booking agency for North America.

FLYYING COLOURS AT ISLAND Melbourne band Flyying Colours are the latest to join the Island Records Australia roster. Their second EP ROYGBIV is out on Friday August 21, and lead single ‘Running Late’ came out last week. ROYGBIV is already out overseas on Club AC30 (UK, Europe) and Shelflife (US), with ‘Running Late’ getting played on BBC6 and XFM and hitting number 47 in the CMJ Top 200 Radio Charts. The psych/shoegazers have also sold out gigs in the UK and Europe and played The Great Escape and Primavera Sound. In Australia they opened for Johnny Marr and will do a run of small venues this week.

UK STREAMING HITS 500 MILLION A WEEK The Brits have taken to streaming in a big way.

Currently there are 500 million streams being

save him. * Courtney Love and Frances Bean Cobain are urging a Seattle court not to release Kurt Cobain’s death scene photos after a local TV host took legal action against the city to do so.

He insists the photos will show Cobain was murdered. * Guitarist DJ Ashba has left Guns N’ Roses after six years to focus on Sixx:A.M. (lead by Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx), who are to embark on a two-year world tour. * NSW Police said they were disturbed that LSD made a comeback at Splendour. * Craze Fest in Chicago, which used a hologram of rapper Chief Keef, was shut down by authorities within minutes because the rapper is banned in that city.

played a week, according to labels trade body BPI and Official Charts Company – double last year’s figure in the same period. In the first six months of 2015, Brits clocked up 11.5 billion streams, an 80 per cent rise from the same period in 2014, with 59 tracks streamed more than 10 million times. The most streamed song between January and June this year was Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk’ (45 million), while the most streamed artists were Ed Sheeran (170 million) and Sam Smith (100 million). BPI estimates that at the current rate of take-up, UK music streams this year will reach 25 billion by Christmas.

WONDERCORE ISLAND RECORDS LAUNCHES Wondercore Island, the management company behind Hiatus Kaiyote and Oscar Key Sung, is launching a new record label with Warner Music Australia. Wondercore Island Records will be distributed through Warner’s ADA (Alternative Distribution Alliance) across Australia and New Zealand.

Wondercore periodically issues free downloadable mixtapes from Australian producers and acts. Si Jay Gould, director of Wondercore Island, said, “We have been extremely lucky to be surrounded by so many innovative musicians at this particular time.”

The first signing is Melbourne jangly indie rock/art pop band Jaala, led by vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Cosima Jaala (Mangelwurzel). A new single, ‘Hard Hold’, is available on iTunes, with a debut album out in October.

GUITARS LEAD AUSSIE SALES Guitar sales in 2014 were at a seven-year high in Australia with a 7% rise to $126 million worth of sales. According to a global report by the US-based National Association of Music Merchants, acoustic guitars were the most popular Down Under, with a 10% gain and over 150,000 imported. Also sold last year: 73,000 electric guitars and basses, 87,000 amps and $12.5 million worth of strings. This comes as good news for the Australian Music Association’s Melbourne Guitar Show, taking place this weekend at Caulfield Racecourse.

Of other instruments, electronic percussion eroded unit sales of traditional drum kits, down 1.1%. Pianos were slightly up (uprights were the best performers, up 9.1%; grands dropped 5.1%) and woodwind, brass and wind up 3.1%.

Ill: Amanda Palmer has been diagnosed with Lyme disease, posting: “I don’t know what fucking tick ruined my week, but fuck that tick… I don’t care. I forgive the tick.

The ticks are hungry. I am food. We are all one. Whatever.” Palmer, who is pregnant, stressed her unborn child is unaffected.

Hospitalised: Yellowcard’s Josh Portman had surgery for a tumour near his heart. “Looking forward to feeling good for the first time in many, many years,” he said.

Recovering: Of Mice & Men frontman Austin Carlile after surgery for complications from Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder.

Ill: Michael Jackson’s father Joe was struck blind after a stroke on his 87th birthday.

Born: a daughter, Jagger Snow, to singer/actor Ashlee Simpson and husband Evan Ross.

Engaged: Whitesnake bassist Michael Devin proposed to his girlfriend, actress Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos, Sons Of Anarchy), during a concert in Atlantic City.

In Court: singer Kate DeAraugo has lost her licence for six months and been fined $330 for driving under the influence of drugs last March, after she “smoked and ate ice” the night before. That was during a bad time for her, though she’s reportedly on the mend and released a new single earlier in the year.

Arrested: Puddle Of Mudd vocalist Wes Scantlin after a drunken 100mph police chase in Minnesota.

Sued: Korn singer Jonathan Davis for US$250,000 by his lawyers, who represented him over his failed serial killer museum.

Died: Caroline Mary Fitzmaurice Grafton co-founded pro-audio magazine CX and the ENTECH trade fair. She and then-husband Julius Grafton ran sound and lighting companies in New South Wales, including Graftons Sound And Lighting and Australian Monitor. She died at 59 from brain cancer.

Died: Everett ‘Vic’ Firth, founder of drumstick manufacturing company Vic Firth Company, aged 85.

Died: US singer Lynn Anderson, whose ‘(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden’ was a hit in Australia, from a cardiac arrest at 67.

Died: Buddy Emmons, 78, one of the world’s foremost steel guitarists.

NEWTOWN AND ENMORE TRIAL 3AM LOCKOUTS

B-girl turned Aussie-based international DJ Yo! Mafia has joined the 123 Agency roster.

Aside from playing festivals and clubs here and overseas, this year she set up Yo! Mafia Entertainment to bridge a gap between her club and corporate gigs – the latter with big names like MTV, Nike, Nova, Adidas, Reebok, G-Shock, Puma, Create Awards, Lee Jeans and Sol Beer.

Thanks to some Kings Cross clubbers moving their antisocial behaviour to other suburbs post-lockout, the Newtown Liquor Accord – which covers Newtown, Erskineville, Chippendale and Darlington – is testing a voluntary 3am lockout scheme for six months from September to keep their area safe. Ten venues in Newtown and Enmore have signed up. In addition, the Marlborough, Zanzibar and The Bank will ban shots and doubles after midnight.

DAISIES’ CUBA DOCO PREMIERES ON TWITTER

TRIVIA BEHIND NORTHLANE’S #1 DEBUT

123 SIGNS YO! MAFIA

The Dead Daisies’ documentary about their February trip to Cuba, Revolución, has become the first doco to have its world premiere on Twitter. The trip – which included band members doing workshops with school students and local musicians – raised interest, as they were the first global band to tour there since the Obama administration loosened travel and trade restrictions with the island country. The Daisies’ 43,000 Twitter followers got a virtual experience of the trip, including Q&As, video footage and photos.

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Lifelines

Sydney metalcore group Northlane’s number one ARIA debut this week with Node led chart historian Gavin Ryan to dig up some trivia. Node is the 185th album by an Aussie act to make it to number one and the 736th number one album in Australia since 1965. It is the first album to chart with the word ‘node’ in the title, and the first chart-topper for their label Unified. Node is Northlane’s second top ten entry, with second album Singularity debuting at number three in April 2013. Their first, Discoveries, reached number 85 in November 2011. thebrag.com

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

FOUNDING SPONSOR

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THE JUNGLE GIANTS

W

hen The Jungle Giants released their debut LP, 2013’s Learn To Exist, the band members were a bunch of eager teenagers fresh out of high school. This weekend, the Brisbane foursome return with album number two, Speakerzoid; an impressive step forward that shows they’ve taken the first album’s title as a directive. Speakerzoid immediately sounds like the work of a more confident band. Having spent the last couple of years ruling festival main stages and playing sold-out shows around the country, The Jungle Giants have honed their strengths and developed a craftier, more powerful sound.

That said, for frontman and chief songwriter Sam Hales, making the progression into a second album wasn’t seamless. “I try to write every day, just as a rule,” he says. “If I don’t really write that much I feel a bit shit or a bit lazy. So after the first album I went through this phase where I couldn’t really write that much. It wasn’t as much writer’s block – I think I was looking for something.

I felt like I was looking for some sort of change or some sort of new direction.”

“The first six months after Learn To Exist was dedicated to just trying new things and writing in different ways and different styles and playing with different instruments,” he says. “That’s where Speakerzoid 10 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY

came from. It came from a want for something new. I can’t explain why, I just needed to wrap my head around a new challenge.”

Much like The Jungle Giants’ debut, Speakerzoid was recorded under the watchful eye of Aussie producer extraordinaire, Magoo (AKA Lachlan Goold). However, the nature of the recording procedure – which happened in a makeshift studio space just near the New South Wales/Queensland border – vastly differed from that which birthed Learn To Exist.

“We went in with a plan,” says Hales.

“We had all these demos and I’d purposefully left lots of gaps in the demos. Like, there was a song where a bridge wasn’t completely finished and the idea was that I could finish it at home, but I also wanted to go into the studio with all the band and try however we were feeling that day. I knew with this way, the song was going to take on its own kind of feel once we started recording and jamming on it. We’d have Magoo there to [accommodate] every whim. I’d just be like, ‘Magoo, I want to slap some strings on a piano, right, so can you mic that shit up?’”

The outcome of this method is plainly obvious: from a production point of view, Speakerzoid contains plenty of interesting textural details and curious instrumental flourishes.

As a result, listening to the album on repeat proves a continually rewarding experience.

“We just built this cave that was filled

with instruments, and whenever we’d get to a point where I’d be like, ‘It needs something,’ I’d just walk into this living room that we converted into this giant instrument room and we’d kind of walk around knocking things and hitting things with sticks and blowing into things. Then eventually we’d find the instrument, we’d talk about it a little bit and see what we wanted. It was a way more creative process than the last one.”

Hales’ strong urge to uncover something new – sounds heretofore untouched by The Jungle Giants – was partly motivated by the huge assortment of fresh stimuli he was introduced to in the months following Learn To Exist.

“When we recorded Learn To Exist, there was this huge amount of music that I had not listened to,” he says.

“I moved into a house with a bunch of friends that are musicians and

“THERE’S A REALLY COOL CHANCE HERE FOR AUSTRALIAN BANDS TO JUST FUCKING SMASH IT AND BE A WORLD LEADER IN WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN MUSIC.”

they’re all older than me, and so the last two years since Learn To Exist has just been me hearing a shitload of music that I’ve never heard before.

That influenced me. Like, right after Learn To Exist was the first time I ever heard Grace by Jeff Buckley.

I’d never heard that album and it completely just fucked me up when I heard it – it opened my mind up to a whole new way of writing, or something like that. I had some spiritual connection to that album.

It was like this awesome thing. So I found a bunch of albums like that in the last two years. I listened to more music in the last two years than I ever have in my whole life. So that definitely put a huge influence into the album.”

Released in 1994, Buckley’s Grace is an easily grasped, well-crafted entity. However, in some ways, it’s all over the place – each of its ten songs does something distinctly different. In a similar manner, Speakerzoid covers a lot of ground; there are songs in which Hales sings in a deadpan, speak-sing vocal style, then there are immersive melodic moments and spacey rock numbers. However, as a whole, it presents a strong, cohesive identity.

“I’ve always liked putting a bunch of different-sounding songs on the album, all kind of pushing in different directions,” Hales says. “I feel like that opens up you and your fans to a certain thing. Beck does that on his albums. With this new Beck album that’s coming out, I don’t think anyone really knows what that’s going to sound like, and I think that’s a really good thing. Beck just writes

a shitload of music, and over the course of his albums it’s all been really different and really cool, but it still sounds like Beck. So I think just trying new things and making music that’s not all the same, to me that means a lot.”

Hales isn’t only inspired by preeminent figures in American music. It’s no secret there have been some incredible Australian records making waves internationally in recent years. A primary example is the new Tame Impala album, which follows a string of excellent releases from the likes of Courtney Barnett, The Preatures, Jack Ladder, Seekae, and King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard. Seeing all this great music emerge from Australia has compelled The Jungle Giants to work even harder at distinguishing themselves.

“I feel like the world is looking at Australia because we are throwing out so much good shit right now,” Hales says. “There’s a really cool chance here for Australian bands to just fucking smash it and be a world leader in what the fuck is going on in music. There’s so many cool bands doing fucking really different things.

All my favourite Australian bands are doing really, really fucking cool things, like King Gizzard, Pond, Tame. They’re doing cool, weird shit, being really experimental and really confident. That confidence rubs off on you. [It makes you want to] try things, mix things together, make cool music and just do it yourself.”

What: Speakerzoid out Friday August 7 through Amplifire With: Art Of Sleeping, Hockey Dad Where: Enmore Theatre When: Friday September 18 thebrag.com

The Jungle Giants photo by Rahkela

Breaking into new creative territory is never easy. In fact, if it does occur without much resistance, you should probably be wary, as there’s a strong chance you’re either fooling yourself or just stealing someone else’s ideas. With this in mind, Hales worked determinedly to uncover new ground.

THEIR NEXT BIG STEP

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Frank Turner Absolutely Positively By David James Young

F

rank Turner is not the first punk kid to have packed away his bomber jacket and picked up an acoustic guitar, and he certainly won’t be the last. What Turner is, however, is perhaps the most successful example of such a transition in the modern era – a singer-songwriter who went from playing in the corners of bars and basements to a sold-out Wembley Arena at which his hero, Billy Bragg, was his support act. The Hampshire-bred Turner has been omnipresent throughout 2015, all in the lead-up to his excellent sixth LP, Positive Songs For Negative People.

“In a way, I feel like I still don’t know that much about my own songwriting process,” he begins.

“In all the years I’ve been doing it, I think the only thing I’ve fi gured out is that I do most of my best writing in the shower – it’s just a nice, quiet place to think about words. My process hasn’t broken yet, so I’ve never really tried to fi x it. I just tend to let songs come as they please in whatever way they choose to do so.

Having said all of that, one of the major themes of this album is a sense of release. The last record that I did [2013’s Tape Deck Heart] was a very dark album, mainly concerning a break-up, about failure and fucking up my life. It was a difficult record to write and an even more difficult record to make, but I needed to do it. It helped me move forward, and that’s what led me to wanting to make this album.”

In addition to the imminent release of Positive Songs, Turner recently completed work on his first book. A memoir entitled The Road Beneath My Feet – so named for one of his own lyrics – the book details Turner’s various experiences since going solo after the demise of his original band, Million Dead.

Although Turner admits the authorship wasn’t always an easy experience, the end result was more than gratifying. “If you’re going to sit down and write about the last seven-odd years of your life, it leads you through some pretty hellish thinking about who you are and what you’ve done,” he says. “It defi nitely put me in quite a refl ective state of mind. It didn’t really occur to me that it would have me thinking this way, but I’m really glad that it did – I think the end result was a project that I was really happy with and I thought was really worthwhile.”

Anyone who has seen Turner in the last few years is aware he has kept a precise memory of how many shows he has played under his own name. Most recently, he clocked over to 1,700 – and that show was about as far a cry as possible from

the bigger rooms Turner is used to playing these days.

“There’s this group of people that go to loads of my shows when I tour through Europe,” he explains.

“German, French, Austrian… they come to maybe three-quarters of the shows I do across the entire run. One of them is a guy from Naples, and he was the only one out of the entire crew that I hadn’t played in the hometown of. I’ve not done that much touring through

Italy, and Naples is way down south. It turned into a bit of a joke that one day I’d come and play in Naples, and that somehow turned into a drunken promise that I’d come and play a show at his house – and I’m a man of my word!”

Another place Turner showed up this year was so subtle that even he was unaware of it: during a scene in the all-singing blockbuster Pitch Perfect 2, a Turner poster is visible on the bedroom wall of Anna

Kendrick’s character, Beca Mitchell.

“I hadn’t even heard of Pitch Perfect 1, if I’m honest,” Turner laughs.

“From what I understand, it was someone in set design that was a fan and somehow snuck it in underneath everyone’s nose. I still haven’t seen the film, but it’s certainly a compliment!”

What: Positive Songs For Negative People out Friday August 7 through Xtra Mile/Universal

The Demon Parade Stone Cold Rock’n’Roll By Natalie Rogers process again, but then all of a sudden I felt compelled to write music and all these songs just poured out of me.”

According to Badger, the catalyst for the Stone Circles EP can be heard in the lyrics on track three. “‘Utopia’ is the song that kick-started the whole thing,” he says. “But for the first time, we’re putting out a full release and not worrying about choosing a single or worrying about which track might work well on radio. In a way, I feel like I’ve documented four or five months of my life and put it onto a record.”

The making of Stone Circles brought about another fresh approach to the way The Demon Parade work together in the recording studio. “‘My Life In Pieces’ was recorded in one take during a rehearsal – I didn’t mix the song, I just put vocals over the top,” Badger explains. “I’d never done that before – I just left the recordings alone and didn’t feel the urge to overproduce things, and I’m so glad I did.”

W

hen we catch up with lead singer and guitarist of The Demon Parade, Michael Badger, he’s enjoying a few well-earned days off in the harbour city. “I’m so pumped! We finished mastering Stone Circles, our new EP, last night – I always leave things to the last minute,” he

12 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

laughs. “It was a mad rush and we’ve had no sleep for days, but as soon as we were done I jumped on a plane to come up to Sydney – I had to get out of Melbourne for a few days.”

As euphoric as he feels now, Badger admits that for a time last

year, he wasn’t sure he’d ever make a record again or even play another gig. “I went through a lot of stuff with my family and I questioned whether The Demon Parade would make another album or tour again,” he says. “There was definitely a time when I thought I couldn’t put myself through that

Not taking on so much responsibility this time around freed up more time for Badger and his bandmates to remember why they started The Demon Parade in the first place. “It’s been really good making music with these guys again. We drank a lot of beers and went out partying after recording sessions. They’re incredible musicians, but they’re in the band because they’re good guys as well. It’s been a really

enjoyable time and I think we’ve all rediscovered the best parts about being in a band.”

The practice of catharsis through creativity is by no means a new idea, but for The Demon Parade, it may well be the key to their survival. “I’ve been listening to Stone Circles all day and I’m feeling really happy – I’m excited and energised again,” says Badger.

“Now I want to keep the momentum going until we get sick of it or get burnt out. Our next release will hopefully be straight after this, and at this stage it’s going to be called Stone Circles Two.” The EP tour kicks off next week in Lismore, but for now Badger is enjoying his downtime. “I’m really loving the vibe up in the Sydney music scene, to be honest. There’s a real community feeling with bands helping other bands, which is lacking in Melbourne at the moment. The Cherry Dolls are doing really well lately, but I think it’s because they’ve been playing their part in the Melbourne scene.

Rather than getting people to pay their ten dollars to see them play and then sending them home, they always go out of their way to create a great vibe on a night out, and I’d love to do that.”

What: Stone Circles out Friday August 7 through Rish/MGM Where: Old Manly Boatshed / The Standard Bowl / Frankie’s Pizza When: Friday August 21 / Saturday August 22 / Sunday August 23

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Xxx

While the new record’s first single, ‘Get Better’, was received well and pleased fans with its defi ant, rockier dirge, it was its follow-up ‘The Next Storm’ that truly set things off for the promotion of Positive Songs. Its music video is an ultimate worlds-colliding moment, as Turner stars alongside former WWE wrestler and soon-tobe UFC fi ghter Phil Brooks, better known as CM Punk.

“My friend Ryan plays in the band Off With Their Heads,” says Turner on Punk’s involvement. “He’s got a lot of friends in the wrestling world, like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.

Word fi ltered back that a lot of Ryan’s wrestler friends were fans of my music. I didn’t even know that much about wrestling, but Ben [Morse], who directs all of my videos, lost his shit. He immediately came up with a treatment of me stepping into the ring with a wrestler, and then we somehow ended up with CM Punk’s email address. Before we shot the video in Chicago, I had a wrestling training day. Learning how to get a running knee strike to the face is still one of the scariest things I’ve ever had happen to me!”

The Rubens Shooting Hoops By Adam Norris

S

ure, picking up an ARIA nomination for your debut album isn’t shabby. Touring the world, amassing legions of fans? Fantastic. But having your album first go gold, then platinum, and then getting a framed plaque to hang on your wall? That is the stuff of dreams. At least, that’s what we expected to hear from The Rubens’ Sam and Elliott Margin.

Refused photo by Dustin Rabin

“Oooh, fans or trophies? That’s a hard one,” laughs Sam, the band’s singer and guitarist. “Good for different reasons. The idea of reaching people, having some kind of effect, is great. Hearing stories about people in tough times being helped out by our music, that’s nice.

And yeah, having the plaque to put on the wall is pretty cool, the kind of thing you always hope to be able to do as a musician. But it’s definitely secondary to why we do it. You’ll find when you go into some producer’s studio, they’ve got them still in the plastic wrapping propped against a wall, and that’s always on purpose. Or they’ll have awards sitting on the toilet, that kind of thing. Another Grammy? Oh, just put it wherever.”

Keyboardist and backing vocalist Elliott laughs. “I hung mine straight up. No waiting. Zaac [Margin, guitar] used his to hold a window open for ages. He saw it was the perfect size and wedged it in. Job done! You really hope no-one comes along and steals it now, ’cause it’s just sitting there. Someone would snatch it and he’d be left there crying, ‘Oh no, my breeze!’”

Unsurprisingly, the brothers have some of the most relaxed banter you’re likely to fi nd. Our conversation is peppered with thoughts and anecdotes that start

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at one side of the table and fi nish at the other, and while they are quick to poke fun at each other, it is immediately apparent their musical raison d’etre comes from a very serious place.

“I think no matter what the songs already mean to us,” begins Sam, “they can end up meaning much more because of the way fans respond to them. Stories of people saying they walked down the aisle to this song, that they proposed to someone with a certain song, that it helped them through some dark time. Those songs get added meaning. Obviously we haven’t had the chance to see that yet with the new record, but it’s kind of exciting because you just never know.”

“The only new song we’ve been able to road test like that is ‘Cut Me Loose’,” Elliott agrees. “The way we write, it doesn’t happen together. It all comes together in the studio – we make it happen then and record it there. The first time we’ll play it live is when we’re actually rehearsing it for the album. We don’t really know how any song is going to develop, or how an audience is going to respond to something. It’s all guesswork, really. We won’t know until we’re on the road.”

That opportunity is not too far away now. Kicking off from Splendour, The Rubens are touring well into November, and their set is almost guaranteed to evolve with each passing performance. It is a far cry from the frantic, hit-the-ground-running experiences of their first national tour, when their sound was still new and their stagecraft still developing.

“We’re in a much better live position now, since we have two records to choose from,” Sam says. “And we’ve never done rehearsals like this before.

Last time we came straight off the back of that record into our first tours, and we probably weren’t that great then. We were still learning. You’d sometimes see in older gigs we’d have too many slower songs and we’d have to work out how to kick that lull.

This time, we want to make things move, and this record is more up-tempo. It gives us more options of how we want each set to flow.”

The Rubens’ live performance is not the only facet that has evolved over the years; their songwriting has moved into some dark and striking spaces. Yet contrary to the usual catharsis that encourages such lyrics, the Margin brothers’ own lives are at a far remove.

“Lyrically, I’m super comfortable with darker things because none of it is about me or Elliott,” says Sam. “If I was writing stuff as a way of venting, I think it would be hard. It would be even harder to perform live, because I’d be too emotionally attached. I think if you’re a singersongwriter, that works best – just being one person there performing.

In a band, not so much. But we like the idea of writing fiction. I like starting a song and having no idea what I’m talking about in the first verse, and working out what it’s all about. Getting into that character, which might sound a bit wanky, like method acting.”

“And if the songs are that little bit ambiguous,” Elliott adds, “then people can put whatever meaning they want on it.”

“Like, ‘My Gun’ was a story, right?”

Sam explains. “Most people could see that song was basically about being afraid to come out of a relationship, and so, destructive as it is, you keep on with it. But then there’s other songs, especially on this record, where it is more ambiguous, and I think that’s a good thing. You don’t want to be spoonfeeding your lyrics to people.”

What: Hoops out Friday August 7 through Ivy League With: Saskwatch, Winterbourne Where: Enmore Theatre When: Saturday October 31 And: Also appearing at Yours & Owls Festival, Wollongong, Friday October 2 – Saturday October 3

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Gudinski

By The Book By Adam Norris Stuart Coupe

Australian entertainment history, with over 40 years of involvement in the careers of Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Barnes, Skyhooks and innumerable others. Fitting, then, that one of the most respected names in music journalism, Stuart Coupe, settled on the idea of finally pinning the story of the Mushroom Records co-founder down for all to see.

“I felt a good need to write this book,” Coupe reflects upon the release of Gudinski. “I talked to a lot of people and read up on a lot of other sources. My job was partly made easier in that Michael didn’t want the book, it isn’t authorised.

Yes, he had the right to correct factual errors. But it was really my interpretation of events. Part of that was built on talking to a lot of people who were off the record and not credited, and really weighing it all up. There are a lot of cases in the Gudinski book where my interpretation of events is very, very different to what I think he would like to see portrayed.”

I

n the world of music (and really, we’re talking every facet of it here – managing, promotion, A&R, touring, living, breathing, showering in music), there are few

folk who can claim the versatility and experience of Michael Gudinski. Loved and loathed, he has amassed a reputation as one of the hardest-working figures in

“In my case it’s been a very charmed, lucky life. I emerged at a great time for music journalism. I started a fanzine, then a music magazine. I came to Sydney to work

Coupe’s experiences have certainly helped pave his sense of narrative.

Gudinski is an entertaining, brilliantly paced construction.

Gudinski himself is already such a larger-than-life figure that ensuring he did not become mythologised within the pages was a real concern for Coupe – the author must appear balanced, and the subject must seem sincere, even if it is only ever going to be an approximation of the real thing. “[Gudinski] sat for a couple of interviews at the end,” says Coupe, “but for the whole process, prior to finishing the book, I’d spent maybe six hours in his company. Not a lot of time at all. Stylistically, I tried to find a way for the prose to reflect Michael’s voice. There is a lot more swearing in the book than I would put in normally, there’s a lot more staccato writing. I have no real idea, of course, what’s in his head, but I would find myself writing like how I would imagine Gudinski would speak. What people were thinking whilst they were dealing with him.

And of course I’d met him back in the ’80s, and I’ve spent a lot of time

with friends who have various stories about him and Mushroom.

I’ve watched and I’ve listened, and I really just tried to get the sense of this crazy, fractured world that is Michael Gudinski.”

This is a remark worth repeating: rather than an encyclopaedic exposition of Australian music since the ’70s, or a history of Mushroom Records, this is the story of Gudinski the man. It is insightful, unexpected, well researched, speculative – much like, at the risk of drawing a long bow, the man himself. Yet what is arguably most compelling of all is that for all the roll-of-the-dice fortunes and failures depicted here, Gudinski remains a very real and accessible figure.

“Michael, at the end of the day, is a rabid music fan with a lot of business acumen. One of the things I try to show in the book is that he knows as much about contemporary music as anyone. It’s not because he necessarily goes out of his way to get across it personally, but because he’s a very smart man, he surrounds himself with people who keep him informed. Michael listens.

If you call him up and tell him he needs to listen to, say, She-Rex, he’ll say, [speaking in a low, gruff voice] ‘Never heard of ’em. Any good?’ And mark my words, you see him four weeks later and he’ll either have signed them, or he’s totally moved on. That’s why he is who he is – he has this innate ability to tap into what’s going on out there. He’s always looking, and he always listens to what’s around.”

What: Gudinski out now through Hachette

Regurgitator The Imitation Game By Alex Watts not entirely sure! We’re still in preparation for that.”

Despite the intense amount of time the pair have spent together since their early 20s, Ely is genuinely excited at the prospect of returning to the stage with his co-frontman, Quan Yeomans. “Quan and I are best friends,” he says. “I’m getting married for the first time in September and he’s my best man and our manager’s my best man too.

We probably fought quite a lot for the first ten years and now we’ve gotten into a point where we know how to be together without fighting. It’s like the most perfect family scenario you could possibly imagine.

“I think the big trick in being in a band is working with someone that you really relate to on a musical level. I appreciate my relationship with Quan, because outside of Regurgitator, I’ve played in lots of bands, and I’ve never had a relationship that is as naïve and juvenile and fun. It just seems when we get together it works.”

A

s an art form and a means of communication, music is fairly unique in its ability to be at once inherently personal and all-encompassing. It can capture an indefinable feeling at a certain time and forever be held dear as a memory, while simultaneously drawing large crowds together to share a new, collective experience.

So found Ben Ely, bassist and singer in Regurgitator, when they toured in 2012 to perform their lauded albums, Tu-Plang and Unit. “I had at least six to eight couples coming up and go, ‘We had sex for the first time,’ or ‘I met my partner and then we got married listening to you,’” he laughs.

“And then you get people that go, ‘I used to listen to you when I was three 14 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

and now I’m old enough to come and see you play!’”

Unbeknownst to the Brisbane altrockers at the time, their long-time manager Paul Curtis conspired to record the Melbourne dates of that tour, and those recordings are about to be issued as Nothing Less Than Cheap Imitations – their first live album in a career spanning 22 years.

“It’s pretty warts and all,” says Ely. “It’s not like a live album like KISS would do where they go back in the studio and make it all neat and clean – it’s pretty rough and live. I think a lot of people are keen for that.”

Having been forged in the fires of early ’90s Brisbane, and rising to national prominence in a cluster of

bleached hair, tattoos and attitude with the release of Tu-Plang in 1996, Regurgitator are something of a national treasure, an anomaly in the narrative of Australian pop.

As is demonstrated on the live album, time has not diminished the Gurge’s power and intensity – something that audiences will be reminded of when the band returns for a run of shows in August and September.

“We haven’t played for almost two years now so we’re all excited about doing it again,” says Ely. “We want to treat it like a party and throw in a couple of older songs that we haven’t played for a while – maybe grow some handlebar moustaches, get some leather hot pants, I’m

The latest project the pair have embarked upon together may come as a surprise to those who will forever associate them with ‘I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am’. “We’re in the process of working on a kids’ TV show, which is really bizarre,” says Ely. “We just laugh our arses off all day coming up with these retarded ideas that are so juvenile, designing puppets and making really stupid songs. It feels really genuine, like we should have been doing this 20 years ago.”

It is refreshing to hear that the same sort of wide-eyed enthusiasm that typified their early work is still around, although applied with a little less aggression.

“We used to distort everything – the drum kit, bass and guitar, and Quan would scream kind of incessantly,” remembers Ely of their embryonic years. “We used to swear a lot more, and that kind of worked to our benefit at the start. I remember when Quan wrote the song ‘Blubber Boy’ – that definite shift from being angry young men to trying to toy with some sort of pop sensibilities and play with melody as well.”

Regurgitator were among the last wave of Australian bands to experience the budgets afforded by a major label at the end of the century. “It was great,” says Ely. “They just let us do what we wanted – we toured America and Europe quite a lot. It’s a very different industry now; you’d have to be mental to do it as a career. You just have to really love the process of making music and the enjoyment of putting the puzzle of the song together.”

The band now produces music in its home studios, with albums available for a pay-as-you-please investment via Bandcamp. “You can just have it if you want, we don’t care,” shrugs Ely. “That’s why we feel so fortunate that we’ve got those people that go to our shows. It blows me away every time we do a show and sell it out, or get a large crowd.

I personally have a lot of gratitude for the band that exists as it is today, and look back fondly on what we’ve been through in the past.”

What: Nothing Less Than Cheap Imitations: Live At the HiFi Melbourne out independently on Friday September 4 With: Godswounds, Polish Club Where: Manning Bar When: Saturday August 29

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Stuart Coupe photo by Andrew Cowen

Coupe laughs. He has a rather disarming conversational manner, quite affable and full of anecdote, but you don’t get to where Coupe is without having your eyes on the prize.

He is a savvy guy, having worked across band management (Paul Kelly, for instance), radio and promotions, is director of Laughing Outlaw Records, and has some incredibly enviable interviews under his belt. If he isn’t living the dream, well, he’s at least on a neighbouring street.

in the late ’70s and found myself on tour with Graham Parker, in a lift with KISS without their makeup on after a bomb scare, walking through Kings Cross with Tom Waits. Then I find myself in Paris interviewing Bruce Springsteen in ’81, and I think, ‘Alright, it can’t get much better.’ And then come along not one but two Bob Dylan interviews; you’re hanging at the George V hotel with Mick Jagger. You just have to pinch yourself. And I don’t pretend to be outstanding. Sure, I can string a sentence together. But a lot of it is right place, right time.”

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Health A Moment Of Magic By Lachlan Kanoniuk

“It went through multiple stages.

The biggest thing was us planning to record in the studio where we fi nished all the mixing for Max Payne 3,” he says, referring to the video game the band scored in between albums. “We were on tour with Crystal Castles and found out that fell through due to scheduling. So that threw us for a loop. It all ended up being for the best, but it’s highly unadvisable for bands to wait six years between records.

“The biggest thing for us with this record, with having more experience and perspective, [was that] we weren’t going to put it out unless it sounded right to us. The first record, logistically, we had no resources and did it ourselves. It was trial by fire. Second record, we worked with an engineer, and it came out sounding like a noisy, punk, fucked up record, and I think people liked that about it, but that wasn’t our goal. We wanted it to sound like Dark Side Of The Moon or something. It just didn’t happen. But it was the first time we worked with anybody, and we just didn’t know better.

“We’re obsessive with getting it to sound right. It can be about getting the right people to work with. Once we found that, [the new

album] went pretty quick … We worked with Andrew Dawson, who did a lot of stuff with Kanye. Then we fi nished it with Lars Stalfors, who was in The Mars Volta. It was just fi nding people that understood what we were going for. People who worked in hip hop or pop made sense to us.

Health photo by Sesse Lind

P

articularly given the proliferation of DIY-inclined acts of the mid-to-late 2000s, the music landscape has shifted dramatically in the six years since LA noise purveyors Health released their second LP, Get Color. Many of their contemporaries have ceased operating, or are now making music in ways untrue to their original form. Health, however, have returned with a resounding statement on their third album Death Magic, retaining their core elements while adapting to the evolution of listeners’ sonic appetites. Speaking from a studio, hungover, on his birthday morning, vocalist and guitarist Jake Duzsik discusses the album’s long and successful gestation.

“If you look at what happened in the interim since our last records – the production from FKA Twigs and Arca, all this really interesting music – there’s so much interesting stuff being made by kids with laptops. We just wanted to make a record we felt was sonically relevant today.

We’re not interested in putting out a record with our same aesthetic.

It would have felt like a ‘fuck you’ to fans, even though we’re asking them to come with us in a different direction – it would have been worse of us to ask them to wait six years and put out a record that was recorded the same way as Get Color.”

Not only did the task of scoring Max Payne 3 produce a paycheque beyond what your typical independent outfi t receives from album sales, the process facilitated an artistic growth that shaped the direction of Death Magic.

“It did allow us to live, for a while, as far as making money,” says Duzsik. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we don’t have to work anymore.’

People get the wrong impression.

What it did do was force us to write hours and hours of different types of music. You’re trying to aid what’s essentially analogue to scoring a fi lm, trying to cinematically bolster the viewer, or in this case, the gamer’s experience.

“There’s different settings, different plotlines. So we had to generate albums’ worth of music.

We put a soundtrack out, but we made four to fi ve hours of music for the game. That forced us to broaden our sound palette, and that really helped the record.

“We had to fi gure out how to use sounds that would help the scoring process, and when it was all over, we had this whole new bank to use in the studio on the new record. Added to that, the score is much more melodic.

Albeit mostly instrumental, but that also infl uenced the record.”

The embrace of higher fidelity also brought a renewed clarity to Duzsik’s vocals, though it’s a process that ostensibly seems like a big leap. “It was actually really natural,” he says. “We already made a conscious decision that’s how the record would be. On the past records, we used vocals

almost like an ambient component – an instrument that just aided the composition of the song, but no real punchy vocal lines that really go places or anything. With this one, it would have been frustrating if the vocals were buried in that way. The way a My Bloody Valentine record is mixed with Bilinda Butcher’s vocals is in line with the aesthetic.

“In this case, there are a lot of songs with a lot of vocal and melody. Sure, it sounds cool as fuck to have vocals drenched in reverb, and you might be safer that way.

You raise the vocals in the mix, you kinda put your balls on the line. But it was a natural accompaniment to

the way the songs were written. It was something we didn’t even think twice about.”

With their last two Australian tours preceded by some incredibly confronting announcement videos featuring Crocodile Dundee degradation, Duzsik tells us we won’t have to wait long for the next instalment.

“Of course,” he says. “When we come back, we’ll make another ridiculous video.”

What: Death Magic out Friday August 7 through Fiction/Caroline

Warren Haynes Rise From The Ashes By Peter Hodgson

W

hether you’re familiar with Warren Haynes from The Allman Brothers Band, The Dead or Gov’t Mule, you’ll know he’s a world-class guitarist with endless inventiveness, fl awless technique and limitless soul. But perhaps because his guitar playing is so damn good (and because he’s no slouch as a singer either, with a raspy, bluesy voice that expresses fragility and strength in equal measure), it sometimes feels like not enough attention is paid to Haynes’ songwriting. On his new solo album Ashes & Dust, Haynes collaborates with the band Railroad Earth on Americanainfl uenced tunes that allow his soulful vocals and nuanced songwriting to share equal space with his guitar.

As someone who has recorded with so many musicians over the years, was the overall process any different with the added element of Railroad Earth?

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“We would record as an entire band and if something was missing then we would add it.

We set everything up so that we could all see each other when we were recording, and as far as rehearsing and arranging the material, I purposely did it in a way where there was no extended period of rehearsal time. We basically learned each song as we were recording in the studio.

“So I would show the band a song, we would talk about what kind of instrumentation would be nice, we’d take the arrangement I already had and we would change it if it felt like it wanted to go somewhere different. Obviously, everybody’s input was welcome.

And when we felt like we had a good take, we would move on to the next song, which they had never heard, and we’d restart the process. Each song was recorded in a way where those guys were experiencing the songs for the first time.”

Now feels like the ideal moment

for this album to be released – outside the pop sphere, music fans seem to be falling in love with the sound of instruments played without digital enhancement again.

You can see it in the dirty rock of Rival Sons and Royal Blood, and most defi nitely in the Americana movement that is infl uencing all sorts of Australian bands.

“I think there’s a whole resurgence in people choosing to perform and record in an organic way,” Haynes says. “For me, it’s something I’ve always done and have never strayed away from. I’ve never felt comfortable recording one instrument at a time. Improvisation is such a big part of the overall spirit of what I do, that even in the more straightforward song structures, we’re still depending on the call and response.”

Australian fans mightn’t have to wait long for the North Carolina performer’s return to our shores.

“We start touring in a couple of weeks and we’re trying to do worldwide,” Haynes says. “We’re hoping to get to Australia and we’re working on that now. We’re trying to do as much touring worldwide as possible.”

What: Ashes & Dust out now through Provogue/Mascot

thebrag.com

Warren Haynes photo by Danny Clinch

“Some of these songs are brand new but the oldest one is 30 years old,” Haynes says. “Some of them are in between but several are quite old. We recorded a lot of material – around 30 songs, all told. For this first release I just picked the ones that I felt seemed to work together the best.”

“Well, for me, other than the instrumentation, it was very similar to the way I always enjoy recording. We tried to play together as we could at the same time. Even some of the vocals were recorded live.

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arts in focus

arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Chris Martin, Jade Smith and Vanessa Papastavros

five minutes WITH Hi, I’m Jeremy Oxley by Nigel Sense

Y

our portrait of Sunnyboys’ Jeremy Oxley has been accepted into the Salon des Refusés exhibit on the back of the Archibald Prize. How did you come to paint Jeremy?

NIGEL SENSE

I’m a Sunnyboys fan and I knew the legendary stories about Jeremy. After a few weeks of searching for contact details I finally was given his wife’s email address. I sent her an email and in a few days got a reply. I thought it would be a no but they were really keen to do it. It was as simple as that.

What was it about his story that appealed?

I wanted to paint someone that was a true legend of the Sydney music scene, but really it was the documentary The Sunnyboy that inspired me to paint Jeremy. In the documentary it tells the story that love can conquer all, and with the right person by your side you can achieve anything. I saw Mary and Jeremy’s relationship like my own, where having the support of my partner makes me a better artist and a better person. As an artist, it’s sometimes hard to function as society expects us to and we forget to do simple things like pay the bills.

Can you be certain before sitting down to paint someone that they’ll be a great subject?

No, it would have been really hard to paint

Jeremy if he was an arsehole to meet. But luckily he was a lovely guy who just loves music.

What about the painting speaks to rock’n’roll and mental illness?

The way I painted Jeremy’s portrait tries to show what it was like having a conversation with him, with multiple facets and stories being told at once, jumping to and fro from one another.

My painting doesn’t hide his mental illness, it celebrates it.

Have you had a chance to check out what else is exhibiting at S.H. Ervin Gallery?

I went to the opening night two weeks ago, and not to sound smug, but I always feel it’s a stronger show than the Archibald. The works are generally more contemporary and you get to see some of the best up-and-coming artists in Australia.

What: Salon des Refusés 2015 Where: S.H. Ervin Gallery When: Until Sunday September 13

free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

OMID DJALILI

British-born Iranian Omid Djalili is an internationally renowned standup comedian and actor, known for his performances onstage and screen. You may recognise him from fi lms like Pirates Of The Caribbean, Gladiator, Sex And The City 2, Notting Hill and The Infi del, on which he also served as executive producer. This year will see Djalili’s first Australian tour, performing his show Iranalamadingdong as part of Just For Laughs Sydney. In the show, Djalili discusses diverse themes of overcoming fears, relationships, the perils of celebrity and getting older, all with his own hilarious twist.

Djalili will be cracking up audiences on Thursday October 22 at the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House.

We’ve got a double pass to give away, so head over to thebrag.com/ freeshit to enter.

In news that’s sure to get Aunt Patty and Selma from The Simpsons all worked up – as well as MacGyver and Stargate SG-1 fans across Australia – Richard Dean Anderson will lead the bill at Oz Comic-Con in Sydney and Brisbane this year. The man famous for improvising his way out of a tight situation anywhere has been captured for the second edition of Oz Comic-Con Sydney, alongside the likes of Sam Lloyd (Ted from Scrubs), Daniel Portman (everyone’s true Game Of Thrones hero, Podrick) and Star Wars alumnus Tim Rose. Sydney will also host the 2015 state and national finals of the Australian Championships of Cosplay, so there’ll be something to see for everyone. Oz Comic-Con heads to the Sydney Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island on Saturday September 26 and Sunday September 27.

THE LAUGH STAND AUGUST LINEUP

Woyzeck

SYDNEY FESTIVAL FIRST TASTE

Sydney Festival has launched its 40th anniversary year with the announcement of its 2016 theatrical centrepiece: a musical adaptation by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan of a Georg Büchner play. Woyzeck, a collaboration between the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Waits and Brennan and theatre director Robert Wilson, is Thalia Theater Hamburg’s retelling of the early 19th century play about madness, obsession and murder. The 2016 Australian exclusive season is sure to attract fans of Waits and Brennan’s work, with their initial musical version of the story fashioned into the album Blood Money. Before that, Sydney Festival’s 40th birthday celebrations will kick off early with a season of Desdemona, based on Shakespeare’s Othello, playing this October. Desdemona – as the name suggests, a retelling of the famous tale from the voice of its fiery female – took shape under the eye of Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison, Malian singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré and stage director Peter Sellars. Woyzeck will play at Carriageworks from Thursday January 7 – Tuesday January 12 as part of Sydney Festival 2016. Desdemona will play at Roslyn Packer Theatre from Friday October 23 – Sunday October 25.

With some new faces and returning favourites, August at The Laugh Stand is looking good.

Tuesdays at the Harold Park Hotel is when The Laugh Stand takes place, a night of quality comedy in Glebe. This month sees headliners Becky Lucas (Tuesday August 11) and Alex Wasiel (Tuesday August 18) take to the stage, as well as emcees Gary Bradbury (“the world’s only saxophone-playing former goat-farming stand-up comic”, no less) and Jeremy Keast introducing a whole host of others on the respective bills. Warm up those funnybones.

JULIA MARGARET CAMERON PHOTOGRAPHY

An exhibition from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is coming to Sydney, showcasing the work of influential 19th century photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

Cameron is known for her portraits that captured the likes of Lord Alfred Tennyson, Charles Darwin, Sir John Herschel, and Virginia Woolf’s mother Julia Jackson, who

Duncan Trussell

TRUST IN TRUSSELL

US comedian Duncan Trussell will perform his first-ever Australian shows this November. Trussell is the voice behind the hugely popular podcast The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, which blends laugh-out-loud humour with fringe ideas, eclectic guests and excellent interviews. It’s but one marker of what to expect from Trussell’s stand-up shows, which have made him a high-profile act on the LA comedy scene and a regular at the legendary Comedy Store. Trussell will perform at the Metro Theatre on Saturday November 7.

Festival of Dangerous Ideas by Prudence Upton 113

COMIC-CON IS COMING

was also Cameron’s niece. Her style embraced imperfection, leaving fingerprints, streaks and swirls on her prints. This, combined with her use of soft focus and shallow depth of field, made her work resemble otherworldly paintings. The exhibition includes over 100 works, alongside selected letters and a number of pieces sources from Australian institutions. The Julia Margaret Cameron exhibit is on at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from Friday August 14 – Sunday October 25.

SYDNEY ART WEEK

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THE LADIES EXHIBITION

The Ladies

Here to give you your fix of bimonthly girl power, The Ladies exhibition brings female artists together to show off their skills.

It started as a way to create a community where female artists could feel supported and be supportive, and has turned into something much bigger. The exhibitions are organised entirely by women, for women, generating an inclusive bubble for professional artists and those who have a creative talent. The next event will feature three female DJs and art by 33 female artists, sourced locally and internationally. The Ladies returns to District 01 in Surry Hills on Friday August 7.

thebrag.com

The Ladies photo by Tim da-Rin

Australia’s international art fair, Sydney Contemporary, has announced the details of the first Sydney Art Week, including a dynamic public program of art-inspired events and performances in early September.

Celebrating the vibrancy of contemporary art in Sydney, Sydney Art Week is a new initiative that brings art into the public domain and to the people through performance art trails, late-night art events and an ‘art and dine’ program with leading Sydney restaurants.

Included in the food festivities will be Sydney establishments The Apollo, Otto, Riley Street Garage and Longrain, each offering up specialised art-inspired dishes – with the latter also opening a pop-up restaurant onsite at Carriageworks. In addition to the scrumptious food will be live performances by musicians and artists, art tours and talks to get those creative juices flowing. Sydney Art Week will transform Sydney’s Inner West from Monday September 7 – Sunday September 13. For more information, visit sydneycontemporary.com.au.

Stories I Want To Tell You In Person [FILM] Psychics And Saviours By Myf Clark

O

riginally performed at Belvoir St Theatre in 2013, Lally Katz’s onewoman show Stories I Want To Tell You In Person has now been adapted for ABC TV and will screen at the Melbourne International Film Festival. As one of Australia’s most acclaimed young playwrights, Katz made her acting debut in Stories after writing the show for Belvoir when it rejected her previous show. In collaboration with director Erin White (It’s A Date), Katz has bought her show to the screen, and it is sure to charm audiences just as she did when it was onstage.

“It’s still quite true to the stage show a lot,” says Katz. “I play myself, which is more challenging than you think it would be, and it’s a story set over about a year of me trying to work out how to have both love and writing in my life and the sort of things I try to do to get there. For example, I fi nd out that I’m cursed from these psychics and I’m trying to make things work with this guy I’ve met and I feel like if I pay off these curses then it will work. It’s basically a quest to have it all.”

When it came to writing the original show, Katz was inspired by her experiences with New York mentalists. “I was really obsessed with these psychics in a personal

way and asked myself, ‘Are they my saviours?’ As soon as I was in there first talking to them, the atmosphere changed and I was suddenly in the story. And I fi nd that sometimes in life you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I’m in the story of my life right now.’”

After talking to her agent about her desire to perform in something, Katz made a realisation: “Whenever I take

characters from life, I become them for a while and I talk as them to get to know their voice.”

Following discussions with Belvoir, Katz’s show became a reality, and was programmed before she had even written it. The joy came through the opportunity to communicate directly with an audience. On screen, of course, that exchange is a different proposition.

“I think the film offers a question that a lot of people have in life – how do you balance work and love, and how and why do we stop ourselves from getting the things we dream about?” says Katz. “While it is my story, when I did the stage show, a lot of people found it quite similar to their own life quests, where you try to have everything. I guess we all know what it’s like trying to make a relationship work and we all know what it’s like to be striving for something in your

career. So even though it’s about these psychics and is a surreal film in some ways, it’s also about really common themes. Love is always a common theme – everyone carries around the torture of love.”

What: Stories I Want To Tell You In Person (dir. Erin White) Where: Screening on ABC TV on Thursday August 20 and Thursday August 27

Trainwreck Xxx

[FILM] A Crash Course In Monogamy By Tyson Wray in the movie, we’re putting this in instead’ – it was really hard to trust that. He’d say, ‘I’m going to film it this way,’ and then I’d feel scared about how it would turn out. [But] I love the movie, I love how it turned out and I learned to trust him.”

Schumer is often held up as a feminist icon within comedy, alongside the likes of Amy Poehler, Lena Dunham and Tina Fey. While 69 per cent of audience members on the opening US weekend of Trainwreck were female, she doesn’t experience any form of gender divide at her stand-up performances.

“When I’m doing stand-up and I’m on the road, the audiences are always 50/50 men and women of all different ages,” she says. “I mean, if I had to pick just one gender to be in the crowd – well, it’d be both women and gay men. But I’m not writing with any particular group in mind. I just write what I think is funny.”

I

n her debut lead role in a feature film, for which she also penned the script, comedian Amy Schumer plays a heavy-drinking, pot-smoking writer. The crux of the story follows Schumer’s belief that monogamy is an inherently unsustainable concept – an ideology she picked up at the age of nine when her father explained his reasoning for cheating on her mother multiple times, which led to their subsequent divorce. 23 years on, Schumer’s alter ego Amy Townsend is a commitment-phobe who lives in a world where casual sex is in abundance, but intimacy is non-existent.

Some literary circles carry the philosophy that everyone’s first novel will be, at no fault of their own, somewhat autobiographical. But is the thebrag.com

Amy we see on the screen and stage a reflection of the Amy her friends and family experience in real life?

“I’d say it’s an older version of me,” Schumer says, nursing a bottle of mineral water. “Maybe from like ten years ago, in terms of sleeping around, drinking a lot and smoking that much pot. Now I’m 34 and I’m really busy. I don’t get drunk very often, but like, I drink. I probably drink, well, every night. I only smoke a little bit of pot these days. I don’t have very much sex at all, unfortunately. It’s more of a safety issue, really. When I was a sophomore at college, I was sleeping around a lot. I was in a bad place, but I didn’t know it.”

Directed by Judd Apatow (the first of his films that he himself has not

written), Trainwreck features an all-star cast including Bill Hader (playing the role of Aaron Conners, a sports doctor who attempts to lull Amy out of her world of non-committal debauchery), Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Vanessa Bayer, Mike Birbiglia and NBA star LeBron James, who plays himself. The biggest surprise is how commendable and comical James’ performance turned out.

premiered at South By Southwest in March and been released in the US last month, the film has garnered widespread critical acclaim.

“He was hilarious,” laughs Schumer.

“He just showed up like that. I’ve never actually ever seen him play basketball except in the movie. I was ready to help him get ready and coach him but he was just legitimately already hilarious.”

Leaping from the stage and the small screen to the cinema is no easy feat, and Schumer faced challenges along the way. “It was hard not having complete control,” she says. “When I do my stand-up, I’m allowed to say and do whatever I want. On my TV show [Inside Amy Schumer], I always have the final say. But to collaborate with someone – to know that Judd could say, ‘No, we’re not putting that

The reviews of James’ performance are indicative of how Trainwreck has been received as a whole. Having

“I was so excited when it premiered,” Schumer says. “Everyone kind of just freaked out. I haven’t been reading that much about it now. It all gets a bit too overwhelming, but people have been super sweet about it.”

Schumer’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years. On the eve of her visit to Australia, she announced a one-off stand-up performance at the Arts Centre Melbourne. When seats went on sale the following day, the ticketing website crashed due to unprecedented levels of traffic. This is news to Schumer.

“Oh man, really?” she laughs. “I read somewhere that the website might have been having problems. That’s awesome. That’s so badass.”

With her own love of Australia so obviously reciprocated, will Schumer be bringing her stand-up shows on a full national tour anytime soon?

“I hope to, I do! And, well, if Donald Trump wins the [US Presidential] election, I’ll be moving here no matter what.”

What: Trainwreck (dir. Judd Apatow) Where: In cinemas Thursday August 6

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Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town

Detroit

DETROIT

Unity

Playing at Eternity Playhouse until Sunday August 16 It’s quite opportune that in a time when Sydney’s median house price has breached the million-dollar mark, a play like Detroit is gracing the stage. Penned by American Lisa D’Amour in 2010, it’s a work riddled with social and financial complexities, and set in what’s presumed to be Detroit, USA. The play opens with two polar opposite couples settling in for a backyard barbecue.

Mary and Ben are a well-to-do pair who own their home but are down on their luck following Ben’s redundancy as a bank loan officer. He’s hopeful, however, as he’s developing an online start-up to provide advice on overcoming debt.

The other couple, Sharon and Kenny, are in their late 20s (although they read more like teenagers). Fresh to the neighbourhood and living in Kenny’s uncle’s spare home, they’ve recently been released from rehab and are starting afresh. Neighbourhood hostility and judgement have plagued their past, but it’s the hospitality of Mary and Ben that now drives them toward friendship.

It’s as this friendship develops that the breakdown of relationships reveals itself.

Mary abuses alcohol as she struggles with Ben’s financial situation. Sharon battles to stay clean as a hostile neighbour taunts and accuses her. Kenny toils to maintain ■ Comedy

BONUS STAGE Reviewed at Giant Dwarf Theatre on Wednesday July 22 The fifth edition of the monthly Bonus Stage was a comedy night – but perhaps a little more niche than most. Billed as a “live video game talk show”, the night was such a grounded and user-friendly experience, it was more like chatting about video games with some mates – admittedly over a few beers with some music, videos, and of course, actual gaming.

Fit to burst with sketches, multimedia, chats and music from house band Benny Davis and The Triforce, the show’s format made for a few disjointed starts and pauses – but with the night’s light-hearted atmosphere, this wasn’t a problem. Hosts Ben O’Brien and Carlo Ritchie of the weekly radio show Big Head Mode were excellent, creating immediate rapport through rapid-fire jokes and game references that explored and name-checked a range of titles from Call Of Duty and Skyrim to Super Mario, Tomb Raider and Lemmings.

The sketches were great fun, parodying the lives of video game characters through portrayal of actual characters and secondhand conversation. Seaton Kay-Smith made an appearance as renowned psychologist to the video game star Dr. Oliver Sox, regaling the audience with

his blue-collar job and Ben, oddly enough, battles with his British alter ego.

This is not the only odd moment in Detroit.

It’s been discussed elsewhere as being a cocktail of straight drama and goofball comedy – both of which play excellently in this rendition. While the themes ring deep on the back of four talented actors, certain events (e.g. a drunken backyard disco and a camping misadventure) result in more than one raised eyebrow and an uncomfortable chuckle, thus bringing some light and shade to the play and its characters.

While slow to start, the quality of the acting and the characterisation in general will have you warming to this production by the middle of the first act. It’s smart and unsettling, believable and insightful, crafted yet fluid. Take the plunge, delve into Detroit and witness the niggling nuances D’Amour has implemented among the farce as she explores the effects of socioeconomic differences on relationships and humanity.

Stephanie Yip stories of his famous patients, among them Donkey Kong’s hoarding habits and Pac-Man’s haunted past. Also featured was a brand new quiz segment in the style of Banjo-Kazooie, aptly titled ‘Carlo’s Furnace Fun.’ This gave the already fairly involved audience a more vocal outlet, and with the themed buzzers, Carlo’s Grunty impressions, and audience members politely raising their hands to answer questions, the segment was a hit with the slightly boozy but ever-respectful crowd.

■ Film

UNITY In cinemas Wednesday August 12 Unity is an ambitious documentary that asks a simple question: “Why can’t we all just get along?” The film is written and directed by Shaun Monson and is a kind of sequel to his pro-veganism documentary, Earthlings.

In Unity the message is supposed to be promoting harmony, but it is a tad muddled at times.

The film has five chapters and the cast features no less than 100 different voices, including famous actors, writers, musicians, sportspeople and more.

The Australian contingent sees Geoffrey Rush, Isabel

Lucas, Missy Higgins, Rose Byrne and Joel Edgerton come together. Others include Helen Mirren, Susan Sarandon, Joaquin Phoenix, Dr. Dre, David Copperfield, Tony Hawk and Marion Cotillard. The story works on the premise that a chorus of voices is greater than the individual parts.

war, animal slaughter and environmental degradation shown alongside graphic and horrifying images of animal cruelty. A video of a cow that knows it is about to die is absolutely heart-wrenching.

These darker scenes are particularly haunting when coupled with the atmospheric soundtrack by Yuko Sonoda.

The message is anti-war and against racism, sexism and speciesism. It also highlights the contradiction between human evolution and our acceptance of tribes and the destruction of nature. There is some beautiful footage taken using HD aerial photography as well as video captured on smartphones, and just about everything in between.

The biggest tragedy in Unity is that the message is a stream-of-consciousness one, confused by some tenuous links. It means some of the points and philosophy will be lost on cynical viewers. But at its best, Unity shows a sumptuous collage of humanity and offers some real food for thought for us all.

There are also some sobering statistics about

Natalie Salvo

education profile

However, the highlight of the night came from a purely improvised number. As featured guest, Kara Jensen-Mackinnon – professional gamer and holder of several international Tetris high scores – settled down to play Tetris live in front of us all, there was complete silence. This turned into something pretty special as Ritchie quipped that the audience should all sing the Tetris theme.

Lo and behold, the crowd started humming along – softly at first – before building into full-blown singing, yelling and clapping Kara on, with the band leaping up and joining the audience on their instruments.

WITH

AIM

It was a beautiful organic moment that sealed the night’s air of inclusivity and fun, finishing with Kara smashing through triplescores and Ritchie’s comment that a whole crowd singing the Tetris theme together will never happen to any of us again.

Jade Smith

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

Matilda The Musical Now playing at the Sydney Lyric Theatre The Roald Dahl classic that holds a special place in our hearts has leapt off the page and onto the stage. Matilda The Musical is inspired by the twisted genius of Dahl’s Matilda, breathing life into some of literature’s most memorable characters (we all know a person who fits the Miss Trunchbull archetype, don’t we?). The artful songs that feature in Matilda The Musical were composed by homegrown talent Tim Minchin, who’s brought the multiaward-winning musical home to the Sydney Lyric Theatre.

Enjoy a musical masterpiece that revels in the anarchy of childhood, the power of imagination and the inspiring story of a girl who dares to change her destiny.

Tickets can be purchased online at au.matildathemusical. com.

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T

he Australian Institute of Music (AIM) is this week inviting prospective students to its Open Day – so we sought out some insider knowledge on what the Surry Hills campus has to offer.

Skills, Acting, Vocal Skills, DJing, Bass Skills, Music Theory, Drum Skills, Logic Pro, Keyboard Skills, Pro Tools – and coming soon: Musical Yoga, App Design, Introduction to SLR, Film Editing and more!

Courses on offer: Contemporary Performance, Entertainment Management, Composition and Music Production, Audio Engineering, Classical Performance, Music Theatre, Dramatic Arts, AIM High School and Graduate Studies.

What makes us different: AIM is the leading school for today’s music industry.

With world-class facilities and teaching staff, we give you the tools and support to succeed in your career in the music industry.

Short Courses: Ableton, Music Production for the Songwriter, Songwriting, Music Business 101, Guitar

Take the next step: Graduates have gone on to careers in the music industry, ranging from recording artist, session musician, artist manager, tour

manager, record label staff, audio engineer, composer, producer, stage performer and many more!

Enrolment dates: We have three intakes a year. Trimester 3 commences Monday September 7; Trimester 1, 2016 commences January 25; Trimester 2, 2016 commences May 16 Open Day: Saturday August 8 Address: 1-55 Foveaux St, Surry Hills Phone: 02 9219 5444 Email: enquiries@aim. edu.au Website: aim.edu.au

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Detroit photo © Gez Xavier Mansfi eld Photography xxx

■ Theatre

out & about

*

$35 ROM UT! F S O KET ISS TIC N’T M DO

Queer(ish) matters with Lucy Watson

L

ast weekend, a party in London caused a (queer-bubble-sized) stir. It was a party put on by The Impeccable Ladies, and was supposed to be a party for queer femme women. The door policy stipulated no men or drag queens, and butches, trans men and drag kings were only to be allowed entry if accompanied by a femme.

Perhaps understandably, there was a bit of backlash surrounding the party and its exclusory (and not to mention, fairly binary-centric) door policies. People found it unfair that men were excluded entirely, that some lesbians could be excluded from a lesbian party, and that men and women were divided in stereotypically binary ways that seemed to ignore notions of a gender spectrum – something quite familiar to the queer world at large.

So while I’m generally of the view that femme women should be allowed to have a space for themselves, my problem mostly lies with the arbitrary butch/femme divide.

I mostly understand and totally empathise with the party’s intention. Queer femme women are often marginalised and made invisible within the queer community, and are eclipsed in mainstream society by the typical lesbian stereotype. People, both queer and not, assume they’re straight because they’re not wearing plaid. Men hit on them, lesbians don’t. In lesbian spaces, butch women can often take on a patriarchal vibe, where masculinity is hyped, and the most masculine people take precedence.

I recently went out dressed in baggy ‘boyfriend’-style jeans, a baggy T-shirt, Doc Martens, a denim jacket and a backpack.

Teamed with my bowl cut, based on this description, you’d probably assume I appeared fairly butch. However, my jacket, hair and backpack were pastel pink. My T-shirt and socks, mint green. My jeans, light blue. Nothing about that colour scheme screams particularly masc to me.

Some queer women do prescribe to these identities, and obviously enough for a night like this to go ahead in London. However, I feel like in Sydney, an event like that just wouldn’t translate.

In Sydney, we’re lucky enough to have parties like Heaps Gay or Homosocial that are almost evenly gendered, or queer parties like Kooky where gender seems to be a much more fluid concept. These parties feel welcoming to all kinds of people, though I can’t speak for everyone, and all spaces risk alienating portions of the community.

In thinking about attending this party while I was in London, I had to ask myself whether I’d be allowed entry, or whether I needed to attend with someone more visibly femme. To me, and I suspect to large portions of the Sydney community, the lines are far more blurred than the butch/femme binary allows. I choose to present in a way that is simultaneously butch, femme, and neither. Some days I might be more butch, on others I might even dabble in lipstick.

In situations like this, it would make sense to allow a space for femme women to be recognised and made visible. And really, this is one party that comes along every few months; can’t these people just be allowed to have their one exclusory night, before returning to the world that inherently excludes them?

That a door person was essentially going to judge my identity based on my outfit, and assess whether or not I was feminine enough in a snap judgement, seemed too stressful for me. I am who I am, and I don’t know whether that is femmey enough to be an Impeccable Lady – and I don’t know if I want someone else telling me so.

this week…

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE DIRECTOR JOHN BELL

19 AUGUST – 18 SEPTEMBER BOOK TODAY SYDNEYOPERAHOUSE.COM 9250 7777

#BellTempest *Under 30s ticket price, valid Sunday – Wednesday performances only. Subject to availability. Transaction fees apply.

The L Word

This Wednesday August 5 has another instalment of Goodgod Trivia, this time questioning all things The L Word. After that, Birdcage is having a relaunch in the revamped Slyfox. The venue is celebrating its new look all week. There’ll be pole dancing, performances, and all the regular DJs till late.

I MAG I N E BE I NG MAD E TO

On Friday August 7, Sydney University party scenesters Shades are back with their welcome to semester party at The Midnight Shift. For a university crowd, there’ll be guaranteed dancing if pop music’s your thing.

Saturday August 8 sees Mad Racket return to the Marrickville Bowling Club with Chicago DJ The Black Madonna. While not explicitly queer events, Mad Racket parties always boast a very welcoming crowd with great music.

Finally, don’t drink too much over the weekend, because on Sunday August 9 there’s a rally for marriage equality starting from Sydney Town Hall. With the ALP recently flaking on a conscience vote, it’s still a huge fight to pass the bill, so these rallies need all the support they can get!

FEEL L IKE CRAP JUST FOR

BEING

The Black Madonna

LEFT

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

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H A N D E D.

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BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 21

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK NORTHLANE

xxx

Node UNFD

Too soon? That, to paraphrase Hamlet, was the question: whether it was nobler in the minds of Sydney’s Northlane to suffer the slings and arrows of internet outrage in order to continue on with a new vocalist and a new outlook.

Northlane have opened a new chapter, and you can’t help but be compelled to continue reading.

HOLY HOLY When The Storms Would Come Wonderlick/Sony

Ambition has its pitfalls. A young band with big ideas and vague lyrics referencing “burning hearts” and “faces changing” risks being compared to U2, or worse, Mumford & Sons. To counter, you’ve got to bring something of your own to the table – bait to drag the listener’s mind from the horizon to the foreground.

A handsome helping of compositional clout is what sees Holy Holy’s Tim Carroll and Oscar Dawson stand head and shoulders above many bands of a similar ilk, and a debut album of class, artistry and scope is the general result of their efforts. The Brisbane/ Melbourne duo are fresh from the Splendour mud and recent European shows, where these songs have been going down a storm, including meandering first single ‘History’ and the pleasantly lilting ‘Outside Of The Heart Of It’.

Just as you’re getting used to the folky melodies, though, they hit you with the atypical ‘You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog’. An alldominating dual-guitar T-Rex of a track, its soaring lead lines and solos are easily the highlight of the album.

With Node, their third LP, now out in the world, it could be argued Northlane needed to undergo this adversity and change in order to adapt, evolve and subsequently thrive the way they have. Thriving is

BUDDY GUY Born To Play Guitar Sony George ‘Buddy’ Guy is a throwback to another era. The 78-year-old, a Bluesfest veteran, is still touring relentlessly, and this is the 28th studio album in a career that has reshaped rock’n’roll and electric guitar playing. Jimi Hendrix once referred to Guy as one of his teachers.

As ever, Guy’s rich guitar tone and soul-tinged vocals evoke a lifetime of lessons learnt. His tales of struggle from a tough upbringing on a Louisiana sharecrop farm through to performing at the White House are enthralling. On Born To Play Guitar, his solos are spiky, measured and fluent, and he wails on the soulful manifesto ‘Crying Out Of One Eye’.

Meanwhile, the thumping rhythm of ‘Smarter Than I Was’ maintains the menacing momentum of the record.

Guy’s voice proclaims, taunts and moans, whether recounting advice from his mother or musings on his eternal woman trouble.

Van Morrison joins Guy on ‘Flesh & Bone’, a wonderful tribute to recently departed friend B.B. King – a fellow trailblazer of blues music. Joss Stone and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top also appear.

Node’s business – the widescreen angst of standout number ‘Leech’ threatens to make it the single best song Northlane have put to record, while the progressively minded title track offers up a solid argument in favour of new kid Marcus Bridge being the exact right man for the job, showcasing both his exceptional clean vocals and his dramatically improved screaming.

A furthered emphasis on cloudy ambience and soundscapes, too, adds a pleasant touch and a bright contrast to the mathematically precise instrumentation that the band has long since made its touchstone.

David James Young

MOSES GUNN COLLECTIVE Mercy Mountain Create/Control Shining like the sequins on its album cover, Moses Gunn Collective’s debut album Mercy Mountain is a study in synths, smoke machines and tonnes of sparkle. These four Brisbanites are a busy lot, collecting Orphans Orphans and The Belligerents among their other projects. However, to these groups, MGC is like the awkward cousin – clearly related but more like the weird kid with a body glitter fetish that no-one really talks about.

The title track is a fun, catchy tune.

With its light bongo action, the beginning of the song is reminiscent of Rudi & Spider’s search for The New Sound on The Mighty Boosh, before it transitions into the fruity psychedelia that remains front and centre for the entirety of the album.

Crooning, swirling and striking, Mercy Mountain oozes with spaced-out fuzz, shaky falsetto and a whole lot of reverb. ‘Hot Mess’ seems to sum it all up pretty well – this record is a hotbed of sonic ideas both weird and wonderful. The sleek bass, swaying percussion and metallic riffs are pretty much a mainstay, but are thrown around well-crafted instrumentals and eyebrow-raising breakdowns alike, which makes for an interesting listen.

The ambition of that track is the major wow factor here, and while some of the slower tracks are somewhat samey, this is a debut album of some promise.

The only downside to this album is that no recording can ever truly capture Guy’s trademark charisma, flair and technique. Hopefully he’ll be back in town for Bluesfest soon.

Mercy Mountain is the sonic equivalent of looking through a kaleidoscope – messy, disjointed and perhaps a little maddening at times, but it sure is pretty.

Paul McBride

Tim Armitage

Jade Smith

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Tucked under the covers of eccentric instrumentation and lo-fi formations of pastoral pop lies the playful ambition of kids operating on the margin of potsoaked Americana with a ‘grass is always greener’ complex.

That’s the story behind The Babe Rainbow’s self-titled EP. This three-piece collective’s unaffected aesthetic is etched in the air of mild psychedelia; the type weaved with an attention and patience that is easy to underappreciate.

THE BABE RAINBOW The Babe Rainbow EP Flightless/Remote Control

22 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

A torrent of echoing guitar lines and the clack of silverware-like percussion command opener ‘Love Forever’. Dreamlike sitar and esraj drone rhythms plait in and out for the bulk of ‘Secret Enchanted Broccoli Forest’. The signature

reverberation brings to mind a sleepy-eyed Brian Jones amid a field of petals and slow-burning incense.

Aerial textures and hallucinogenic harmonies hover over a stable drum beat in ‘Planet Junior’. At the centre of this track rests a deliberate sense of ease that shape-shifts the EP to a gentler stance, not yet visited in its predecessors.

Things are eventually brought full circle as brisk tapping, woozy vocals, drowned out chords and hints of metallic clutter fill the output in ‘Ash May & Dr. Love Wisdom’. What a ride.

JOE SATRIANI

THE RUBENS

Shockwave Supernova Sony

Hoops Ivy League

An admission: I’ve always hated Joe Satriani’s music. It started in school when I was trying to learn to play guitar. While I was struggling to make a D chord, the kids in the corner scoffed as they whizzed through a million notes a minute on their snazzy guitars. Their hero was Satch. Hence the hate.

Beneath the outpouring of praise for The Rubens’ self-titled debut album back in 2012, there was a quiet worry about where the strength of the band truly lay. For some, the album seemed little more than fi ller for their irresistible singles ‘My Gun’ and ‘Lay It Down’. Many have waited eagerly to see what the group would come out with next.

The New Yorker is a virtuoso. His technical ability is mind-blowing. But does that good music make? No. That’s like saying the best novels are those that have been typed the quickest.

Shockwave Supernova is Satriani’s 15th studio album, and with huge bias, I was expecting it to be full of endless noodling and aural onanism. There is undoubtedly lots of that, but in fairness to the maestro, his overproficient playing does at least serve the songs. It’s just the songs are mind-numbingly dull. They’re all middle-of-the-road ’80s rock, too clean and too clinical, each sounding like a backing track from a cheesy tutorial video. Entirely instrumental, it’s a challenge to remember a single melody or hook.

Many dismiss Satriani because his playing lacks soul. That’s unfair and is probably said with more than a little bit of jealousy.

What he really lacks are decent songs over which to show off.

George Nott

Three years later, The Rubens have fi nally answered with Hoops, a tight and immaculately produced album. But while production values are high and serious effort has clearly been invested into it, it still somehow feels inconclusive. More precisely, it feels as though, in their attempts to live up to the bar they set themselves, The Rubens have tried to do too much, resulting in songs that feel clunky and far too complicated for their own good, such as ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Bitter End’. They do fi nd their stride, begin to relax a little and enjoy themselves with tracks like ‘Hoops’ and ‘Switchblade’, but once again, it feels that in their pursuit for perfection, something has been missed.

This isn’t to insinuate that it’s a bad album – it’s a solid effort, but it’s too audibly conscious of what it needs to live up to.

Daniel Prior

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

WOLF ALICE - My Love Is Cool BEN FOLDS - Songs For Silverman JOANNA GRUESOME - Peanut Butter

DE LA SOUL - 3 Feet High And Rising GORILLAZ - Plastic Beach

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SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2015

North Byron Parklands Friday July 24 – Sunday July 26 Splendour 2015 – three days of mud, overindulgence and a serious examination of one’s life choices. Oh, and some music. At a festival characterised by the threat of further rain and the glory of the prevailing sun, the forecasting of Splendour organisers for those elements within their control was, for the most part, laudable. Of course, it was hard to know that a well-hyped Mark Ronson would be joined by cats and dogs but perhaps less surprising that, short of an emotional ‘Valerie’ and a difficult-to-botch ‘Uptown Funk’, his first night headlining set was a bit more variety show than engaging spectacle.

Projections around new Aussie acts proved to be sounder; a breathless Tkay Maidza’s enthusiasm was infectious.

Meanwhile, Jenny Lewis and her airtight band delivered beautiful harmonies and a few classic Rilo Kiley tunes to an audience much smaller than she deserved.

A good showing of Smiths devotees turned up to Johnny Marr’s set, and he returned

up all night out all week . . .

their affection by playing spirited versions of ‘How Soon Is Now?’, ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ and a few others among his own recent material, which held its own.

Spiritualized were something of an anomaly on the lineup, and their set was no different.

Nothing new was aired, and the set focused on the more sombre, gospel areas of their catalogue.

This made for a blissed-out hour that would have worked best as a comedown at the end of the festival, and not at 8pm on the first night.

Fresh (well, relatively) from the damage of the night before, punters on Saturday were determined not to let bad weather ruin good vibes. Playing proudly in front of a banner that read “Real Australians Say Welcome”, The Smith Street Band’s tales of underdogs and fighting back matched the mentality of the dampened souls who had gathered and did a great job in energising them.

Meg Mac was a veritable high pressure system in herself, and overnight superstar Jarryd James, while shy, seriously delivered on his R&B promise. The Wombats were a reliable pick and brought

thunderous crowd-pleasers but less rousing new tracks from across the sea.

For an Australian festival, it’s a shame the only band representing the country’s musical past were The Church. Their set was representative of the band itself – wide-ranging, shaky in parts and containing hidden depths that never fail to delight.

Special mention must be made of ‘You Took’ – the song live is an odyssey.

Florence + The Machine were an odd choice for headliner, not being the hit factory Ronson is nor a beloved, almost legacy act like Blur. Surprising, then, that Florence’s set was one of the festival highlights, her natural exuberance permeating all the way to the back of the amphitheatre. Some of the more subtle elements of her set-up got lost in the mix (spare a thought for the harp player), but it was all in servitude of her voice, a powerful instrument that gets all the attention for a reason; it’s a thing to behold.

The lineup for the amphitheatre on Sunday featured a run of guitar bands of differing quality.

The devastation from the weather

was so vast the night before that Bad//Dreems’ midday set started before the main stage was open, so they played their first few songs to no-one. They still delivered them with gusto.

The Delta Riggs are the new Jet. Make of that what you will.

Last Dinosaurs delivered of-themoment indie-dance that went over well with the crowd, working in an inspired mashup of ABC’s ‘Poison Arrow’, ‘Da Funk’ and ‘Music Sounds Better With You’.

Setting the tone for what was an explosive close to the main stage, Royal Blood managed to produce a sound that belied their constitution, playing a thunderously loud but perfectly paced show to a crowd probably more sizeable and raucous than most the Brighton duo have met before.

The volume level only got ratcheted up when national heroes and more recent world conquerors Tame Impala took to the stage.

Blanketing the amphitheatre in the affected vocals and psychedelic visuals that have made Kevin Parker a household name, even newer cuts exploded, despite rumblings from the critic set about KP’s falsetto and over-reliance on

synths. A homemade ‘Fuck Trevor!’ sign got a shout-out during a quick new crowd favourite ‘The Less I Know The Better’, but it was closer ‘Apocalypse Dreams’, replete with a monster set of nested crescendos, that affirmed Tame’s reputation as one of the best live Australian bands today.

Blur, seemingly the headliner easiest to write off as a band of yesteryear, soon proved that prediction misguided with a blistering set fuelled, apparently,

by Damon Albarn’s astute preshow donut consumption. Albarn, still churning out fantastic albums with Gorillaz (and with Blur, it must be said), was positively bouncing off the walls, sugar high or not, running the length of the stage during ‘Coffee & TV’ to definitively prove age has not wearied him.

The rest of the band, delivering bucket-list checks all over the place with a searing ‘Song 2’ and a stomping ‘Parklife’, seemed to have missed the has-been memo, too. As the final strings of ‘The Universal’ rang out, those who stayed – stuck in the mud or otherwise – for Britpop’s bastions were vindicated and then some.

David Seidler and Leonardo Silvestrini

KE PHOTOGRAPHER :: KATRINA CLAR

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sabbath sessions

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up all night out all week . . .

sosueme ft. los tones

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02:08:15 :: Frankieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney

31:07:15 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711

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the vaccines

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jinja safari + sea legs

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29:07:15 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247

28:07:15 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

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live reviews

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What we've been out to see...

Sydney Opera House Saturday August 1

Doing a nice line in laptop pop, Say Hi plays in solo mode tonight, and though the introspection and small scale of his music seems made more for bedrooms than concert halls, it’s a winning and all-too-short set. By the last song, the infectious, fizzing ‘Take Ya’ Dancin’’, he’s won the crowd over and left them wanting more.

Death Cab For Cutie admit to feeling a bit like students doing a piano recital given the grandeur of the room, but they attack their work with an energy that is anything but stiff and formal. Whether by design or not, the setlist seems set out to showcase the different sides of a band sometimes unfairly pigeonholed as purveyors of heartbroken indie rock.

From the pent-up energy of ‘The New Year’ to the subtlety of the reflective ‘Grapevine Fires’, there’s something from every stage of their career – even ‘No Sunlight’ described as “the closest

up all night out all week . . .

we come to surf rock” and played in honour of the local audience.

While their lyrics have tended to the abstract in later work, ‘You’ve Haunted Me All My Life’, one of the highlights of this year’s Kintsugi, is all the more powerful for its directness. It ushers in the most downbeat stretch of the show, preceding the funereal ‘What Sarah Said’ and the hymn-like ‘I Will Follow You Into The Dark’, still their most affecting song.

While Ben Gibbard has to politely tell the crowd that clapping along with the latter song “isn’t going to work, sorry”, there’s no shortage of audience involvement in the arousing ‘Soul Meets Body’, which feels both intimate and genuinely huge.

The set proper ends with their most startling creative left turn, the hypnotic, menacing ‘I Will Possess Your Heart’, before everyone is on their feet for an encore that returns to their wordy, poignant best with ‘Marching Bands Of Manhattan’ and finally ‘Transatlanticism’.

A truly epic set.

Daniel Herborn

kitty, daisy & lewis

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, SAY HI

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01:08:15 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

wed

thu

05 Aug

06 Aug (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

fri

07 Aug

sat

08 Aug

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sun

09 Aug

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

(9:30PM - 1:15AM)

mon

tue

10 Aug

11 Aug

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

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(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

death cab for cutie

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

02:08:15 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666

OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

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S :: JAMES AMBROSE :: KATRINA

CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR ::

BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 25

BARS BRAG

A Work In Progress 50 King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri noon-2am The Attic 275 Pitt St, Sydney CBD (02) 9284 1200 Mon – Fri 11am-1am; Saturday 5pm-1am Ash St Cellar 1 Ash St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri 8.30am-11pm Assembly

488 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9283 8808 Mon – Tue 5-11pm; Wed – Fri noonmidnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Australian Heritage Hotel 100 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 2229 Mon – Sun 10.30am-midnight Balcony Bar 46 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 3526 Mon 5pm - late; Tue – Fri noon-midnight; Sat

5pm-midnight BAR100 100 George St, The Rocks (02) 8070 9311 Mon – Thu noon-late; Fri – Sat noon-3am; Sun noon-midnight Bar Eleven Lvl 11, 161 Sussex St, Sydney CBD (02) 9290 4712 Thu 4-9pm; Fri – Sat 4-11pm The Barber Shop 89 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 9699 Mon – Wed, Sat 4pm-midnight; Thurs – Fri 3pm-midnight

The Baxter Inn Basement 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-1am Bondy’s L1, 16 Philip Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9251 2347 Thu – Fri 5pm-late; Sat 5pm-late Bulletin Place First Floor, 10-14 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thurs – Sat 4pm-1am deVine 32 Market St, Sydney

THE CLIFF DIVE

Frankie’s Pizza 50 Hunter St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noon-3am; Sat – Sun 4pm-3am

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

Gilt Lounge 49 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 0000 Wed 6pm-midnight; Thu & Sat 6pm-2am; Fri 5pm-2am The Glenmore 96 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 4794 Mon – Thu, Sun 11am-midnight; Fri – Sat 11am-1am Goodgod Small Club 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney CBD (02) 8084 0587 Wed 5pm-11pm; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri 5pm-3am; Sat 6pm-3am

bar

OF

ADDRESS: 16-18 OXFORD SQUARE, DARLINGHURST WEBSITE: THECLIFFDIVE.COM.AU OPENING HOURS: FRI-SAT 6PM-3AM

Grain Bar 199 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9250 3118 Mon – Sun noon-late

TH

EK

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

CBD (02) 9262 6906 Mon – Fri 11.30am-11.30pm; Sat 5.30-11.30pm

E E W

The Fox Hole 68A Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 4369 Mon 7am-3pm; Tue – Fri 7am-evening The Grasshopper 1 Temperance Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9947 9025 Mon – Thurs & Sat 4pm-late; Fri noon-late Harpoon Harry 40-44 Wentworth Ave, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 8800 Mon – Sun 11:30am-3am The Lobo Plantation Basement Lot 1, 209 Clarence St, Sydney CBD 0415 554 908 Mon – Thu, Sat 4pm-midnight; Fri 2pm-midnight The Loft UTS 15 Broadway, Sydney (behind 2SER) (02) 9514 1149 Mon – Wed 2pm-10pm; Thurs – Fri 2pm-late Mojo Record Bar Basement 73 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4999 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu, Sat 4pm-1am; Fri 3pm-1am The Morrison 225 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9247 6744 Mon – Wed 11.30am-midnight; Thu 11.30am-1am; Fri – Sat 11.30am-2am; Sun 11.30am-10pm 11.30am-10pm The Palisade 35 Bettington St, Millers Point (02) 9247 2040 Tue – Fri noon-2.30pm & 6pm-9.30pm; Sat 6pm-9.30pm

Tell us about your bar: The Cliff Dive gives you a sense of nostalgia for a place you’ve never been. We call it Proto Tropo, archetypal islander – somewhere and nowhere. TCD is a traditional tiki bar, transporting you to the south seas of rum and relaxation.

Reminding us we are in fact living in a South Pacific island paradise, it shows off the art of Papua New Guinea and Timor and drinks of tropical Hawaiian resorts.

What’s on the menu?

The Cliff Dive uses our kitchen space as an area for people to

explore their creativity through short, pop-up-style ideas. We’ve had yakitori skewers and Mary’s kebabs and we are always looking for new ventures to spend some time feeding our hungry masses.

Care for a drink?

When you visit The Cliff Dive, think rum, rhum and Ron! As the seasons change, so does our drinks menu, but one thing that will always be a crowd favourite is the piña colada.

It’s made with Bacardi Superior, coconut rum, fresh pineapple, coconut and lime juice with a pinch of salt, served in a hollowed-out

pineapple and capped off with a bamboo straw and the Papua New Guinean flag. Get in quick because there’s only a limited amount available each night!

Sounds?

The music changes from hip hop and R&B to soul to Afrobeat and dancehall to classic party bangers.

It is warm and tropical and as the night gets later, the music gets louder and the underwater dancefloor really gets a steamy workout. Hosting some of the best club nights in Sydney, we have a dedicated following that returns week after week for a vibe that can’t be found anywhere else in Sydney.

Highlights: The Cliff Dive is a one-of-a-kind tropical oasis in the heart of this beautiful city. You’ll be greeted by friendly faces from the moment you get to our front door, which is decorated with a giant pineapple!

Lose your inhibitions, get onto the sunken dancefloor and shake it underwater till it’s time to go home.

Make sure you get a photo with our giant totem, Big Gusti, on your way in!

The bill comes to: To try our famous piña colada you’re looking at $21 (totally worth it). We have beers from $7, spirits from $9 and cocktails from $10.

26 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

Mr Tipply’s 347 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 4877 Mon – Sat 10am-late Palmer & Co. Abercrombie Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3172 Mon – Wed 5pm-late; Thu – Fri 3pm-late; Sat – Sun 5pm-late Papa Gede’s Bar Laneway at the end of 348 Kent St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 5pm-12am Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern 199 Elizabeth St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 6pm-10pm Rockpool Bar & Grill 66 Hunter St, Sydney CBD (02) 8078 1900 Mon – Sat lunch & dinner The Rook Level 7, 56-58 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 2505 Mon, Sat 4pm-midnight; Tue –

Fri noon-midnight The SG 32 York St, Sydney CBD 0402 813 035 Tues – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight Shirt Bar 7 Sussex Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 8068 8222 Mon –Wed 8am-8pm; Thu – Fri 8am-10pm Since I Left You 338 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4986 Mon – Wed 5pm-10pm; Thu – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight Small Bar 48 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0782 Mon – Fri noonmidnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Smoking Panda 5-7 Park St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 4618 Wed – Sat 4pm-late Stitch Bar 61 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0380 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri noon-2am; Sat 4pm-2am The Swinging Cat 44 King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 3696 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Tapa Vino 6 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay (02) 9247 3221 Mon – Fri noon11.30pm Uncle Ming’s 55 York St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noonmidnight; Sat 5pm-midnight York Lane 56 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 1676 Mon – Wed 6.30am-10pm; Thu – Fri 6.30pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight

121BC 4/50 Holt St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 1582 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight Absinthe Salon 87 Albion St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 6632 Wed – Sat 4-10pm Arcadia Liquors 7 Cope St, Redfern (02) 8068 4470 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Bar H 80 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 1980 Mon – Sat 6pm-late; Sun 11am-3pm Bellini Lounge 2 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 9331 0065 Thu – Sun 6pm-late The Beresford 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 8313 5000 Mon – Sun noon-1am

Black Penny 648 Bourke St, Redfern (02) 9319 5061 Mon – Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Brooklyn Social 17 Randle St, Surry Hills 0451 972 057 Tue – Sat noon-2am Button Bar 65 Foveaux St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1544 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Café Lounge 277 Goulburn St, Surry Hills (02) 9016 3951 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sunday 4-10pm Casoni Italian Bar & Eatery 371-373 Bourke St, Darlinghurst Tue – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5pm-10pm Central Tavern 42 Chalmers St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3814 Mon – Sat 10am-2am; Sun 10am-10pm Ching-a-Lings 1/133 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 3333 Tue – Wed 6pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 5pm-10pm The Cliff Dive 16-18 Oxford Square, Darlinghurst Wed – Sat 6pm-4am The Chalet Lvl 1, 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst 0449 998 005 Thu – Sat 5pm--2am The Commons 32 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 1487 Tue – Wed 6pm-late; Thu – Fri 12pm-late; Sat – Sun 6pm-late Darlo Bar 306 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 3672 Mon – Sun 10am-midnight Eau De Vie 229 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst 0422 263 226 Mon – Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 6pm-midnight The Forresters 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon-1am; Sun noon10pm Gardel’s Bar 358 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 8399 1440 Tue – Sat 6pm-midnight Gazebo 2 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Elizabeth Bay (02) 9357 5333 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat – Sun noon-midnight Goros 84-86 Mary St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 0214 Mon – Wed 11:30am-midnight; Thu 11:30am-1am: Fri 11:30am-3am; Sat 4pm-3am The Hazy Rose 1/83 Stanley St, thebrag.com

COCKTAIL OF THE WEEK Pour it in your mouth-hole... (responsibly).

120 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo 0403 747 788 Mon – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm – 12am Roosevelt 32 Orwell St, Potts Point 0423 203 119 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Rosie Campbell’s 320 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 8356 9120 Mon 5pm-midnight: Tue – Sun 4pm-midnight Shady Pines Saloon Shop 4, 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight The Soda Factory 16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills (02) 8096 9120 Mon – Fri 5pm-3am; Sat – Sun 6pm-3am Surly’s 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3705 Tue – Sun middaymidnight Sweethearts Rooftop 33/37 Darlinghurst Rd, Potts Point (02) 8070 2424 Mon – Thu 2pm-11.30pm; Fri – Sun noon-11.30pm

SMOKED PALOMINO @ TIO’S CERVECERIA, 4-14 FOSTER STREET, SURRY HILLS Ingredients: • blanco tequila • espadin mezcal • lime • sugar • fresh grapefruit juice • soda

More: Instagram @ tioscerveceria

Darlinghurst (02) 9357 5036 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Hello Sailor 96 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9332 2442 Tue – Sun 5pm-3am Hinky Dinks 185 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6379 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 1-10pm Hollywood Hotel 2 Foster St, Surry Hills (02) 9281 2765 Mon – Wed 10am-midnight; Thu – Sat 10am-3am Hustle & Flow Bar 105 Regent St, Redfern (02) 9310 5593 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight Jekyll & Hyde 332 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 5568 Wed – Fri 4pm-late; Sat 8.30am-late; Sun 8.30am-evening Li’l Darlin Darlinghurst 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6100 thebrag.com

Origins: inspired by the classic paloma cocktail (tequila, lime, grapefruit, soda).

Method: build ingredients, top with soda Glass: highball Garnish: salt rim with a grapefruit wedge Best drunk with: a quesadilla and totopos During: your Monday perk-up or Friday winddown While wearing: your most comfortable TGIF get-up, or nothing at all And listening to: Los Gatos Salvajes – ‘En Tu Corazon’

Mon – Sun 4pm-late

Sun 10am-10pm

Li’l Darlin Surry Hills 420 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills (02) 9698 5488 Mon – Fri noon-late; Sat 4pm-late

The Norfolk 305 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 3177 Mon – Sat noonmidnight; Sun noon10pm

LL Wine and Dine 42 Llankelly Place Potts Point (02) 9356 8393 Mon – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat noon-late; Sun 11am-10pm

The Passage 231A Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 6116 Mon – Sat 5pm-late

The Local Taphouse 122 Flinders St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 0088 Mon – Wed noonmidnight; Thu – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-11pm Love, Tilly Devine 91 Crown Ln, Darlinghurst (02) 9326 9297 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Low 302 302 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1548 Mon – Sun 6pm-2am Mr Fox 557 Crown St, Surry Hills 0414 691 811 Tue – Wed 5pm-late; Sat 10am-midnight;

Play Bar 72 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 0885 Tues – Sat 5pm-midnight Pocket Bar 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 7002 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-1am; Sun 4pm-midnight The Print Room 11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington 0424 034 020 Wed – Fri: 3pm-late; Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 12pm-10pm Queenie’s Upstairs 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Tue – Sat 6pm-late & Fri noon-3pm Peekaboo

This Must Be The Place 239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 8063 Mon – Sun 3pm-midnight Tio’s Cerveceria 4/14 Foster St, Surry Hills Mon – Sun 5pm-midnight Vasco 421 Cleveland St, Redfern 0406 775 436 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight The Village Inn 9-11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Mon – Sun 12pm-late The Wild Rover 75 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 2235 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Winery 285A Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 0833 Mon – Sun noonmidnight

Anchor Bar 8 Campbell Pde, Bondi (02) 8084 3145 Tue – Fri 4.30pm-late; Sat – Sun 12.30pm-late Bondi Hardware 39 Hall St, Bondi (02) 9365 7176 Mon – Wed 5pm-late; Fri noon-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm The Bucket List Shop 1, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive (02) 9365 4122 Mon – Tue 11am-5pm; Wed – Sun 11am-late The Corner House 281 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 8020 6698 Tue – Sat

5pm-midnight; Sun 3pm-10pm Fat Ruperts 249 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 1033 Tue – Fri 6pm-late; Sat – Sun 2pm-late Mr Moustache 61-79 Hall St, Bondi Beach (02) 9300 8892 Mon – Fri 5pm-11pm; Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon-10pm Speakeasy 83 Curlewis St, Bondi (02) 9130 2020 Mon – Sat 5pm-11pm; Sat – Sun 4pm-10pm Spring Street Social (and Jam Gallery) Underground 195 Oxford St, Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485 Tues – Sat 4pm-3am Stuffed Beaver 271 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 3002 Mon – Sat noonmidnight; Sun noon10pm

The Angry Pirate 125 Redfern St Redfern (02) 9698 9140 Tue – Thur 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-midnight Bar-racuda 105 Enmore Rd, Newtown (02) 9519 1121 Mon – Sat 6pm-midnight The Bearded Tit 183 Regent St, Redfern (02) 8283 4082 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon - midnight; Sun midday - 10pm Blacksheep 256 King St, Newtown (02) 8033 3455 Mon – Fri 4pm-11pm; Sat 2pm-11pm; Sun 2pm-10pm Bloodwood 416 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 7699 Mon, Wed – Thu 5pm-late; Fri – Sat noon-late; Sun noon10pm The Chip Off The Old Block 3 Little Queen Street, Chippendale (02) 9318 0815 Tue – Sat 4pm-11pm Cornerstone Bar & Food 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh (02) 8571 9004 Sun – Wed 10am-5pm; Thu – Sat 10am-late Corridor 153A King St, Newtown 0422 873 879 Tue – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 1pm-midnight; Sun 1pm-10pm Cottage Bar & Kitchen 342 Darling St, Balmain (02) 8084 8185 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9552 3406 Mon – Sat 4.30pm-late Doris & Beryl’s Bridge Club and Tea House 530 King St, Newtown Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat –

Sun 5.30pm-midnight Earl’s Juke Joint 407 King St, Newtown Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Freda’s 107-109 Regent St, Chippendale (02) 8971 7336 Tues – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm The Hideaway Bar 156 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8021 8451 Tue-Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-1am; Sun noon-10pm Hive Bar 93 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville (02) 9519 9911 Mon – Fri noonmidnight; Sat 11am-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm Kelly’s On King 285 King St, Newtown (02) 9565 2288 Mon – Fri 10am-2.30am; Sat 10am-3.30am; Sun 11am-11.30pm Knox Street Bar 21 Shepherd St, Chippendale Tue – Thu 4pm-l0pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-11pm Kuleto’s 157 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 6369 Mon – Sat 4pm-late; Thu – Sat 4pm-3am The Little Guy 87 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9200 0000 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 1pm-midnight; Sun 3pm-10pm Mary’s 6 Mary St, Newtown (02) 4995 9550 Mon – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm The Midnight Special 44 Enmore Road, Newtown (02) 9516 2345 Tues – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5pm-10pm Miss Peaches 201 Missenden Rd, Newtown (02) 9557 7280 Wed – Sun 5pm-midnight The Moose Newtown 530 King St, Newtown (02) 9557 0072 Wed – Sat 6pm-midnight Mr Falcon’s 92 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9029 6626 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 2pm-10pm Newtown Social Club 387 King St, Newtown (02) 9550 3974 Mon 9am-6pm; Tues – Fri 9am-8pm; Sat 10am-8pm The Oxford Tavern 1 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham (02) 8019 9351 Mon – Thu midday10pm; Fri – Sat midday-11pm; Sun midday-9pm The Record Crate

34 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9660 1075 Tue – Sat noonmidnight; Sun noon10pm The Royal 156 Norton St, Leichhardt (02) 9569 2638 Mon – Thu 10am-1am; Fri – Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-midnight Secret Garden Bar 134a Enmore Rd, Enmore 0409 284 928 Mon – Sun 1am-11pm Temperance Society 122 Smith St, Summer Hill (02) 8068 5680 Mon – Thu 4pm-11pm; Fri – Sat: middaymidnight; Sun: midday10pm Thievery 91 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 8283 1329 Tue – Thu 6pm-11pm; Fri 6pm-midnight.

Sat 11pm-3pm & 6pm-midnight Timbah 375 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9571 7005 Tue – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri noon-11pm; Sat 3pm-11pm; Sun 4pm-8pm The Workers Lvl 1, 292 Darling St, Balmain (02) 9555 8410 Thu – Sat 5pm-3am; Sun 2pm-late ZanziBar 323 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 1511 Mon – Sat 10am-4am; Sun 10am-12am Zigi’s Wine And Cheese Bar 86 Abercrombie St, Chippendale (02) 9699 4222 Tue 4pm-10pm; Wed – Sat 2pm-late

Alberts Bar 100 Mount St, North Sydney (02) 9955 9097 Mon – Wed 11.30am-10pm; Thu 11.30am-11pm; Fri 11.30am-midnight Firefly 24 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 0193 Mon – Thu 5-11.30pm; Fri 4-11.30pm; Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon10pm

Your bar’s not here? Email: chris@thebrag. com 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm InSitu 1/18 Sydney Rd, Manly (02) 9977 0669 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-10pm The Hunter 5 Myahgah Rd, Mosman 0409 100 339 Mon – Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Jah Bar Shop 7, 9-15 Central Ave, Manly (02) 9977 4449 Mon – Fri 4pm-late; Sat 9am-late; Sun 9am-10pm The Local Bar 8 Young Ln, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 0027 Tue – Fri 11.30am-midnight; Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Los Vida 419 Pacific Hwy, Crows Nest (02) 9439 8323 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Sat 11.30am-midnight; Sun 11.30am-10pm Manly Wine 8-13 South Steyne, Manly (02) 8966 9000 Mon – Sun 6.30am-late The Mayor 400 Military Rd, Cremorne (02) 8969 6060 Tue – Wed 5pm-late; Thu – Sat noon-late; Sun noon-10pm Miami Cuba 47 North Steyne, Manly (02 99775186 Tue – Thu 8am-10pm; Fri – Sat 8am-1am; Sunday 8am-4pm Moonshine Lvl 2, Hotel Steyne, 75 The Corso, Manly (02) 9977 4977 Thu 5pm-2am; Fri 1pm-2am; Sat noon2am; Sun noonmidnight The Pickled Possum 254 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 2091 Thu – Sat 9pm-1am

The Foxtrot 28 Falcon St, Crows Nest Tue – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri – Sat 5pm-2am; Sun 4pm-10pm

SoCal 1 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9904 5691 Mon – Tue 4pm-late: Wed – Thu midday1am; Fri – Sat midday- 2am; Sun midday-midnight

The Hayberry Bar & Diner 97 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest (02) 8084 0816 Tue – Thu 4pm-12am; Fri & Sat noonmidnight Sun noon-10pm

The Stoned Crow 39 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest (02) 9439 5477 Mon – Sun noon-late

Hemingway’s 48 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9976 3030 Mon – Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 8am-10pm Honey Rider 230 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 8880 Tue – Sat

The Treehouse Hotel 60 Miller St, North Sydney (02) 8458 8980 Mon – Fri 7am-late; Sat 2pm-late Wilcox Cammeray 463 Miller St, Cammeray (02) 9460 0807 Tue – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 2pm-11pm; Sun 2pm-10pm BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 27

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

pick of the week

George Maple

Andy Bull

Scott & Sean + Mic Conway & Robbie Long The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $10.

FRIDAY AUGUST 7

FRIDAY AUGUST 7 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

UTS

Winterfest Andy Bull + Slumberjack + Just A Gent + KLP (DJ Set) + Indian Summer + More 6pm. $44.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 5 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Backlash Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50.

Hammerhead, Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Aly Cook & Ben Ransom + Neillyrich The Basement, Circular Quay.

7pm. $19.20.

Ben Camden + Nick Murray The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $5.

The Wild Wild Inner West Review - feat: Michael Carpenter & The Cuban Heels + Bree De Rome + Mark Moldre Band + Jason Walker The Vanguard, Newtown.

6:30pm. $21.80.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

28 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

THURSDAY AUGUST 6 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Hothouse Presents - feat: Showa 44 + Mike Nock + Laurence Pike The Basement, Circular Quay.

7pm. $29.20.

Mike Kenny’s Lab Band Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50.

Ngaiire + The Venusians + Left Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $18.

Pardon My French Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $10.

Thursdays In Jam - feat: El

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Moro + DJ Av El Cubano Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction.

9pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

George Maple + Woodes X Elkkle + Gordi Manning Bar, Camperdown.

8pm. $29.10.

Live At The Sly - feat: Mojo Juju + The Double Shadows + Lyre Byrdland Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free.

Matt Jones Duo Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm.

Free.

Orion + Point Being + Tim And The Boys The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale. 8pm. Free.

The Gunn Show + Fox Company + Pyromance + Swamp Crocs + Reidemeister The Vanguard, Newtown.

6:30pm. $13.80.

The Ivory Elephants + Ivy + The Organics Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. Free.

Tony Lovato + Jake Grigg Bristol Arms, Sydney. 8pm. $20.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK A Night Of Story In Song - feat: Aine Tyrrell + Mick Daley Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $18.40.

John Encarnacao The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 7pm. Free.

Angry Little Gods + Pirra + Mere Cats Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham.

8pm. Free.

Astral Skulls + Scattered Order + Skull And Dagger + Yes I’m Leaving + Dominic Talarico Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $10.

Big Smack Ngaiire

Penrith Panthers, Penrith.

7:30pm. $42.

The Australian Bee Gees Show Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill.

8:30pm. $35.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Manning Bar, Camperdown.

8pm. $50.

The Rockhoppers Penrith RSL, Penrith. 8pm.

Free.

They Call Me Bruce Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill.

8pm. Free.

The Upskirts + The Pinheads Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free.

Winterfest - feat: Andy Bull + Slumberjack + Just A Gent + Indian Summer + Odd Mob + GRMM + Hatch + Tear Council + Owen Rabbit + KLP (DJ Set) UTS, Ultimo. 6pm. $44.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Andy Mammers Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

10pm. Free.

Blake Dantier Band Colonial Hotel, Werrington.

8:30pm. Free.

Blake Tailor Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor.

8:30pm. Free.

Blue Eyes Cry + Thirty Seventy Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. $15.

Jack Horner PJ Gallagher’s, Enfield, Enfield. 9pm. Free.

Rachel Collis + The Acfields Humph Hall, Allambie Heights.

7pm. Free.

Stephanie Lea Winmalee Tavern, Winmalee.

8pm. Free.

Stormcellar Town Hall Hotel, Sydney.

10pm. Free.

The Slowdowns The Old Growler, Woolloomoolo. 8pm. Free.

The Soldier’s Wife - feat: Kristy Apps + Sahara Beck + Emma Bosworth + Lydia Fairhall + Leah Flanagan + Jackie Marshall + Ms Murphy + Bertie Page + Roz Pappalardo + Deb Suckling Sydney Opera House, Sydney.

7:30pm. $30.

SATURDAY AUGUST 8 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Leonie Cohen Trio + Elana Stone Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50.

Penninstitution The Gasoline Pony,

thebrag.com

Xxx

Adz & Cookie Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm.

Free.

Kya Geisha Haus, Potts Point.

7pm. Free.

Live & Local - feat: Jamie Forsberg + The Acfields + James Bennett + Hayley

Mast Lizotte’s, Newcastle. 7pm. $10.

Live Music: Faces From The Crowd - feat: Alex Cameron Art Gallery Of New South Wales, Sydney. 6pm. Free.

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

Sarah Belkner + Katie Wighton The Newsagency, Marrickville.

7:30pm. $16.50.

Sosueme - feat: Battleships + Odd Mob + Flyying Colours Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free.

The Blindfolds + The Dysfunctions + David Aurora Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $10.

One Romantic Night - feat: Gregg Arthur Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $21.50.

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

Sexy Sunday Jam Bellini Lounge, Potts Point.

7pm. Free.

Suzanne Wyllie The Basement, Circular Quay.

7:30pm. $29.20.

The Jo Fabro Quintet The Sound Lounge, Sydney.

8:30pm. $20.

Royal Hotel, Bondi. 9pm. Free.

Blue Eyes Cry Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8pm. $15.

Castlecomer Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free.

Choke Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10.

Dave Mason Cox Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. Free.

Devotional + Roadhouses + Smoke Bellow The Vanguard, Newtown.

7pm. $11.80.

King Curly + Soursob Bob The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $10.

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

Orpheus Omega + The Seer + Hadal Maw Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7:30pm. $15.

Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. Free.

Rubber Soul Revolver feat: Jordie Lane + Marlon Williams + Husky Gawenda + Fergus Linacre Sydney Opera House, Sydney.

8pm. $89.

Sarah Paton Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 5:30pm. Free.

Soundproofed Engadine Tavern, Engadine.

9pm. Free.

That Red Head + Jarryn Phegan The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 7:30pm. Free.

The Angels + Black Label

g g guide gig g

g g picks gig p up all night out all week...

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Marrickville. 5pm. $5.

Sexy Sunday Jam Bellini Lounge, Potts Point.

7pm. Free.

The Protesters The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

Brad Johnsjalapeno Deluxe Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free.

Brenny B Side Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly.

9:30pm. Free.

Chase City + Little Coyote Hotel Steyne Manly, Manly.

9pm. Free.

Dragon Canterbury Leagues Club, Belmore. 8pm. $30.

Gang Of Youths + I Know Leopard + Zefereli Metro Theatre, Sydney.

7:30pm. $29.41.

Good Riddance Manning Bar, Camperdown.

8pm. $47.85.

Harry Heart Chrysalis + Hannah Robinson + Hunter Adams + Alex Guthrie Bridge Hotel, Rozelle. 8pm. $10.

Hits & Pieces Wentworthville Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 10pm.

Free.

Jack Carty & Jordan Miller Venue 505, Surry Hills. 6pm. $25.

Jalapeno Deluxe Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free.

Jimmy Bear Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. Free.

Lime Cordiale Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 9pm. Free.

Nova And The Experience + Elliot The Bull + Past Paradise Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15.

Painters & Dockers + Ups & Downs Factory Theatre, Marrickville.

8pm. $29.

Panorama Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9:30pm. Free.

Penny Lane Club Rivers, Riverwood. 6pm.

Free.

Robber Dogs Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm.

Free.

Rubber Soul Revolver feat: Jordie Lane + Marlon Williams + Husky Gawenda + Fergus Linacre Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $89.

The Angels Wenty Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 8pm. $40.

The Australian Bee Gees Show Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown. 8pm. $35.

The Coldplay Show Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm.

Free.

The Lazys Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 8pm. Free.

Uberfest - feat: Stormbird + Fifth Dawn + Seasons + Into The Wild + The Somedays + The Last Exposure + Insanity Proof + Miss Mikaila + Benj Axwel + Rosaye + Jasmin Jones + Kartik Kuna + Panik + Be Faced + The Radics + Ambulare + Bounty Hunters + Daddyfrisco + Feytalistic + The Kids Don’t Like It + Dark Raven + Quake Machine + Ellen Rose Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham.

2pm. $28.60.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK thebrag.com

Blake Tailor The Fiddler, Rouse Hill. 8pm.

Free.

Brad Johns The Crest Hotel Sylvania, Sylvania. 7pm. Free.

Clive Hay West Tradies, Dharruk.

8:30pm. Free.

Dubowgale Beats - feat: Archie Roach + Kevin Bennett + Street Warriors + Brendan Gallagher + Kahl Wallis Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $38.50.

Evie Dean Penrith Panthers, Penrith.

5:30pm. Free.

Ivy + Eddie Boyd And The Phatapillars + Little Coyote Standard Bowl, Surry Hills.

8pm. Free.

Jed Zarb Wallacia Hotel, Wallacia.

8pm. Free.

Make Like A Tree + Ornaments + Yours Truly Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. Free.

Mojo House Band - feat: Jesse & James Mojo Record Bar, Sydney.

7pm. Free.

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

Stephanie Lea Duo Town Hall Hotel, Balmain.

9:30pm. Free.

Sydney Blues Society: Blues Challenge Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 9pm. $15.

Werombi Rain Plough & Harrow, Camden.

8pm. Free.

SUNDAY AUGUST 9 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Rick Robertson + DJs Rob Kay And Brenny B Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly.

3pm. Free.

Yuki Kumagai + John Mackie + Trevor Rippingale + Tony Burkys + Martin Highland Cronulla RSL, Cronulla.

12:30pm. Free.

ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK

Chase The Sun Towradgi Beach Hotel, Towradgi. 3pm. Free.

Evie Dean Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 1pm. Free.

Squeezebox Boogaloo B.E.D., Glebe. 5pm. Free.

Stayin’ Alive - The Australian Bee Gees Show Wenty Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 7:30pm. $35.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Beatnix - Beatles Show The Golden Sheaf, Double Bay. 8pm. Free.

Becky And The Pussycats Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 6:30pm. Free.

Byren And The Bayou Boogie Boys Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm.

Free.

Danielle Deckard + The Iron Horses The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 5pm. $5.

Double Lined Minority + Home On Monday + We Take The Night + The Crimson Horror + AdrianLee Smithman Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $10.

Dumb Punts + Pow Pow

Kids + Black Zeros + Verticoli Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm.

Free.

Gary Johns Trio Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

8:30pm. Free.

Good Grief Music Festival - feat: Smaal Cats + Suns Of The Universe + Salvador Dali Llama + The Dinlows Factory Theatre, Marrickville.

3pm. $11.

Marc Ribot + The Mango Balloon The Vanguard, Newtown.

6:30pm. $42.30.

Sidebar Sundays - feat: Dave White Side Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free.

Sunday Courtyard Sessions - feat: Jenna + Zana The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 3pm. Free.

Synth Sundae + Orion + Enderie Nuatal + Yaws Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 5pm. $10.

The BellRays + Dallas Frasca + Bandintexas Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 6pm. $38.

The Road Runners Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. Free.

White Bros Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

4:30pm. Free.

MONDAY AUGUST 10 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Nova And The Experience + Elliot The Bull + Past Paradise Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15.

Painters & Dockers + Ups & Downs Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $29.

Rubber Soul Revolver - Feat: Jordie Lane + Marlon Williams + Husky Gawenda + Fergus Linacre Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 8pm. $89.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 5

Castlecomer Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free.

Live Music: Faces From The Crowd - Feat: Alex Cameron Art Gallery Of New South Wales, Sydney. 6pm. Free.

Devotional + Roadhouses + Smoke Bellow The Vanguard, Newtown.

7pm. $11.80.

Sarah Belkner + Katie Wighton The Newsagency, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $16.50.

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

Sosueme - Feat: Battleships + Odd Mob + Flyying Colours Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach. 8pm. Free.

Sonic Mayhem Orchestra Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

THURSDAY AUGUST 6

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS

George Maple + Woodes X Elkkle + Gordi Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $29.10.

Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm.

Free.

They Call Me Bruce Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9pm. Free.

TUESDAY AUGUST 11 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Live & Originals @ Mr Falcons - feat: Scott Gibson + Susie Hurley + Krystie Steve + Stuart Dwyer Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7:30pm.

Free.

INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Co Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks.

9pm. Free.

Olly Murs Enmore Theatre, Newtown.

7:45pm. $89.

JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC

Acronym Orchestra Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 8:30pm. Free.

Jazzgroove Presents: Casper Tromp Trio + Shug Avery Foundry616, Ultimo. 7pm. $16.50.

Swing Tuesdays Wk 2 feat: The Finer Cuts The Basement, Circular Quay. 6pm. $6.

Leonie Cohen Trio + Elana Stone Foundry616, Ultimo.

8:30pm. $21.50.

Live At The Sly - Feat: Mojo Juju + The Double Shadows + Lyre Byrdland Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm.

Free.

Ngaiire + The Venusians + Left Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $18.

Tony Lovato + Jake Grigg Bristol Arms, Sydney. 8pm. $20.

FRIDAY AUGUST 7 Astral Skulls + Scattered Order + Skull And Dagger + Yes I’m Leaving + Dominic Talarico Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $10.

Orpheus Omega + The Seer + Hadal Maw Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7:30pm. $15.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $50.

The Soldier’s Wife - Feat: Kristy Apps + Sahara Beck + Emma Bosworth + Lydia Fairhall + Leah Flanagan + Jackie Marshall + Ms Murphy + Bertie Page + Roz Pappalardo + Deb Suckling Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7:30pm. $30.

SATURDAY AUGUST 8 Dubowgale Beats - Feat: Archie Roach + Kevin Bennett + Street Warriors + Brendan Gallagher + Kahl Wallis Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $38.50.

Gang Of Youths + I Know Leopard + Zefereli Metro Theatre, Sydney.

7:30pm. $29.41.

Good Riddance Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $47.85.

Jack Carty & Jordan Miller Venue 505, Surry Hills.

6pm. $25.

The Protesters The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8pm. Free.

Uberfest - Feat: Stormbird + Fifth Dawn + Seasons + Into The Wild + The Somedays + The Last Exposure + Insanity Proof + Miss Mikaila + Benj Axwel + Rosaye + Jasmin Jones + Kartik Kuna + Panik + Be Faced + The Radics + Ambulare + Bounty Hunters + Daddyfrisco + Feytalistic + The Kids Don’t Like It + Dark Raven + Quake Machine + Ellen Rose Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 2pm. $28.60.

SUNDAY AUGUST 9 Dumb Punts + Pow Pow Kids + Black Zeros + Verticoli Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney.

4pm. Free.

Good Grief Music Festival - Feat: Smaal Cats + Suns Of The Universe + Salvador Dali Llama + The Dinlows Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 3pm. $11.

Marc Ribot + The Mango Balloon The Vanguard, Newtown.

6:30pm. $42.30.

The BellRays + Dallas Frasca + Bandintexas Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 6pm. $38.

TUESDAY AUGUST 11 Olly Murs Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $89.

with our magical botanical extraction machines!

Herbs to get you happy, healthy and romantic.

The Happy Herb Shop

347 King St, Newtown BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 29

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, Bridget Lutherborrow and Vanessa Papastavros

he said she said WITH

JAY KATZ

Y

ou’re back on the Sydney scene with Toho Nights, your first regular party in more than a decade. What inspired the new night at Goros?

Many, many reasons have inspired me to step back out into the real world regularly. One was finding the right venue and working with creatively dynamic individuals like Adam Lewis and Elliot Solomon at Solotel. They both have a vision to improve and push the boundaries on night-time entertainment in Sydney. [Also] the abundance of new and past music that is now more accessible than ever. Vinyl will feature predominately in Toho Nights and the revolution in record cutting and production means that so much extraordinary material is now ready to hit the wheels of steel again. My wife, Aspasia (Miss Death), who is my true inspiration, is totally fed up with me dancing around our archives without an audience!

We hear you have some special guests on the cards – any hints as to who we can expect?

Over the years I have worked extensively with many local and international artists, and some of these will definitely be making appearances at Toho Nights. Initially for the launch we will experience living legend Jeff Duff perform some of Bowie’s white plastic soul from the Young Americans album and also coming up in August the one and only Christa Hughes will appear. We have a strong relationship with Mike Patton so who knows what the future will bring!

What musical flavours will you be delivering?

Hopefully the most eclectic mix of rare groove to ever be heard

Sable

Tuxedo

in a nightclub. We will glide by all the decades focusing on swing, soul (deep and northern), funk, punk, exotica, noise pop, ska, industrial, Europop, stock, dub, electro, soundtrack and much more, ultimately finding tunes that complement each other and do not disturb the vibe on the dancefloor.

Expect the unexpected.

The Sydney scene has certainly changed in the last decade, and especially in the last year. What’s your view of Sydney in 2015?

Difficult but exciting, so much on offer but few real alternatives.

Underground arts are suffering because of the lack of experimental and risk-taking venues. Sydney 2015 is ripe for a revolution in listening and seeing. I know there is a large audience out there just ready to ignite the moment they experience something that is driven by passion and not just the almighty dollar.

Where does Sydney nightlife need to go next in order to remain vibrant?

Diversity is what gives entertainment an edge. We all need to be inspired to create and express our deepest emotions. Music can provide that platform and bring us together as a community that wants more from life than just being fed fast food culture.

Arise Sydney – Toho Nights could just be the launchpad you need. Join us on the 6th for the ultimate musical love-in!

What: Toho Nights With: Jeff Duff, Crookedmouth, Miss Death Where: Goros When: Thursday August 6

LOOKING SHARP

Tuxedo, the electrofunk superduo made up of Mayer Hawthorne and Jake One, are bringing their DJ set-up to Australasian clubbers this September. It’ll be Hawthorne’s first trip to the Pacific region for three years – a period in which his name has blown up internationally thanks to a Grammy nomination and tour with Bruno Mars. However, this Tuxedo collaboration goes way back to 2006, though a first release didn’t happen until two years ago. It’ll be an electric evening of funk at The Jam Gallery on Saturday September 26.

POTS AND PANS

Ten years into their career, Berlin techno exponents Pan-Pot have risen to the top of their game. It’s the kind of privilege that lets them make the trip to the other side of the globe to launch new music – which is exactly what’s going down this September when Tassilo Ippenberger and Thomas Benedix arrive in Australia for a three-date tour. Since 2005, Pan-Pot have remixed for labels like Cocoon, Kling Klong, Sci+Tec and Get Physical, and had a large hand in the success of Mobilee Records.

Their new album, The Other, is due out in September, just in time for an appearance at The ArtHouse on Saturday September 12.

YOU SAY TKAY

Tkay Maidza has been making quite the stir over the last 12 months, and now she’s announced her biggest

headline tour to date. After a lauded appearance at Splendour In The Grass and a high-profile support tour with Mark Ronson, Maidza will bring her savvy future hip hop to the fore on this national run of dates. She’s also just launched a new video – a collaboration with cult animation house Adult Swim – for her current single ‘M.O.B.’. Maidza will play at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday September 12 before an all-ages show at The Metro Lair on Sunday September 13.

CITY TO SURF TO CLUB

Sure, sometimes the dancefloor is enough to keep you fit – but sometimes it’s not. Let’s face it, that’s why you’re forsaking a night out this Saturday for an early start in the City2Surf on Sunday August 9, Sydney’s favourite ‘fun run’ (is

A ROSE BETWEEN THE THORNS

there really such a thing?). But if you still need your fix of beats after Heartbreak Hill, the Beach Road Hotel has you covered. Conveniently located right near the finish line, the venue is hosting its famous afterparty and BBQ with DJs from 10am-10pm.

Sounds by Young Franco, Luen, Nick Drabble, Stu Turner and DJ Mr Belvedere.

DIBS AND DABS

Dibby Dibby Soundsystem is taking over The Cliff Dive for another two nights in August and October.

The London collective of DJs and producers comprising Tim Brownfoot, Paul Mant and Nick van Tiel are hell-bent on giving Australia another taste. The next event is inked in for Saturday August 15. Then they’ll be taking advantage of the October long weekend for another go on the decks come Sunday October 4.

Elizabeth Rose

Local producer and performer Elizabeth Rose has capitalised on the momentum from her Splendour In The Grass set with the announcement of a national DJ tour. Rose created a buzz at the festival by airing ‘Division’, her new single tackling the issues around marriage equality in Australia, and she’s working towards a debut album release later this year. Expect dancefloor-fillers and unreleased gems at Chinese Laundry come Saturday August 22.

OUTSIDEIN FINAL LINEUP

The good folk at Astral People and Yes Please have announced the third and final lineup of artists performing at OutsideIn. Perth’s jubilant bass house producer Sable has joined the program, alongside Detroit house and hip hop don DJ Dez AKA Andrés, 18-year-old Brisbane based producer UV Boi and Gold Coast artist Montgomery. DJ Ben Fester will also be there to kick off a new OutsideIn tradition, in which a local Sydney DJ will be picked to do the sunset courtyard set every year, as well as fellow FBi Radio hosts Adi Toohey, McInnes and Andy Garvey. With a lineup comprising the finest purveyors of house, techno, hip hop and electronica across three thoughtfully curated arenas, this year’s OutsideIn is sure to go off. It takes over Manning House on Saturday September 26.

30 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

thebrag.com

Knxwledge West Coast Beats By Dina Amin “They got a lot over time, and that’s how I built my foundation for musical appreciation.”

After establishing skills on a bunch of those instruments, Knx turned to production and sampling – he would even record snippets of church sermons to tape and then loop them.

William Basinski photo by Peter J. Kierzkowski

“I was always trying to record,” he says. “I was playing everything from scratch. In the beginning, everything was primarily keys and drum-based.

I bought a Roland SP-303 – that was my first piece of hardware I could get my hands on. I wasn’t able to have a computer yet.”

W

hen I tell Knxwledge that he is our decade’s J Dilla, he doesn’t quite know what to say. It gets a little awkward while I wait for a response. “That is a crazy statement,” he chokes out fi nally.

But is it really that unfathomable a comparison? Like Dilla before him, Knx lives and breathes hip hop, making countless beats a week (according to FlyLo, Knx “makes a million tracks a day; it’s insane, keep up if you can”) and producing for the illest cats in the game.

Both artists are key members of the Stones Throw family – even after Dilla’s passing in 2006, posthumous releases were still brought out though the label – and both are incredibly prolifi c.

Knx’s Bandcamp discography is evidence alone: since 2009, he’s released more than 70 mixtapes,

albums and EPs. Dilla and Knx a “crazy” comparison? Perhaps not.

Fusing hip hop, soul and jazz, Knx provides the perfect soundtrack for those late-night feeds and early morning car rides. Put simply, his music is very cool and very West Coast. Like Knx’s music, the Los Angeles sound is epitomised through the iconic Stones Throw label, founded in 1996 by Peanut Butter Wolf. After Knx made the move from Philly to LA in 2009, it didn’t take long for Wolf to snatch him up.

“I was playing a Boiler Room session,” Knx says. “Wolf came up to me while I was playing a Charizma remix and we had a meeting a few days after that. I’d met him back in Philly when I lived there a few times. We’re family now.

Wolf is an incredible human being.

“With Stones Throw, I can do whatever I want,” he continues.

“I can release whatever I want.

It’s also an incredible thing to be a part of a label that is all about vinyl. If you make something that’s sufficient enough, it’s going straight to wax.”

Raised in New Jersey, Knx’s childhood was full of music.

Not only was his house full of instruments, but the church he belonged to was a goldmine as well, stocked with an array of instruments that he would eventually inherit.

“My parents used to clean the church that I was a part of, so every Saturday I’d go and clean the church with them and play the instruments – I could pretty much be alone with all of the instruments.

Before moving to LA, Knx lived briefly in Philadelphia, where he attended university and continued working on his music. There, he met his good friend and current labelmate Ringgo Ancheta, AKA Mndsgn. But it was at a show at San Diego University where Knx got his first taste of the Californian music scene.

“Halfway through college I was booked for a show,” Knx explains.

“It was me, DJ House Shoes, The Gaslamp Killer, Samiyam and Danny Brown.” After that, he couldn’t stay away – “I had to move for the music.”

The ensuing years have been fruitful to say the least. An impressive discography and numerous production credits have awarded Knx ubiquity on the West Coast. His recent collaboration with crooner Anderson Paak is scheduled to arrive any day now. Working under the name Nxworries, they have already released ‘Suede’, a very sexy single that fuses Knx’s smooth and mellow production with Paak’s

suave vocals. Knx looks forward to their forthcoming full-length.

“It’s gonna be a good one. I’m just getting the artwork done and we’ve just done a video for ‘Suede’. It’s coming out soon,” he says.

Speaking of collaborations, only last year Knx’s fellow Californian resident Kendrick Lamar was chilling in a car with the renowned photographer and filmmaker Eric Coleman, doing a cover shoot for Complex magazine.

Knx’s Anthology tape was in the cassette player, and Lamar liked what he heard on the instrumental track ‘So[rt]’.

“He texted me immediately and it was on,” Knx explains. The ensuing track, ‘Momma’, ended up on Lamar’s number one album, To Pimp A Butterfl y.

While Knx says the rest of 2015 will undoubtedly see even more collaborations and mixtapes, the producer is also midway through an Australian tour. So how does such a prolific artist with a huge back catalogue decide what to play in a single set?

“That’s a good question,” he says.

“I actually don’t ever plan anything when I play. It’s kind of weird, but less stressful that way. I just like mixing it up and playing whatever.

I’ll either drag something in or I’ll just stop everything and ask somebody in the crowd what they want me to play. My computer is full of songs – I’ll just play whatever.”

What: Katalyst, B Wise, Klasik.1, Prize, Bustlip Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Saturday August 8

Mantra Collective Black And Gold By Marissa Demetriou

B

eing a partygoer in the time of Sydney’s lockout landscape has proved itself difficult to say the least. Never mind taking the time and effort to create a familyminded series of parties with the microscope on underground house.

Enter Mantra Collective. Comprising Whitecat, Aboutjack, Space Junk and Antoine Vice, the crew has carved itself a niche in a market that has become increasingly fraught to navigate.

Whitecat and Antoine Vice first met seven years ago, playing electro at Candy’s Apartment, and eventually – with likeminded selectors Aboutjack and Space Junk on board – decided they’d join forces and throw their own parties.

Collectively, Mantra Collective has hosted and played alongside names such as Rampa, Alex Niggemann, David Mayer and Hot Since 82.

“Jack and I had started a party, so we decided to join up with Telly [Space Junk] to start another one – we decided to team up together and book ourselves,” explains Whitecat, AKA Tim Reeves-Smith. “We’re all really good friends as well as DJ mates, so we catch up every week and have a mix by ourselves, which is really fun.

“When we play out, it’s great, because we don’t get a chance to play out all the time together,” he adds. “We’re trying to work on playing together, so when we do [Chinese] Laundry, for example, we have The Cave to ourselves for five hours, just us, and we build off each other.”

As Sydneysiders have been forced to adapt to a new style of partying post-lockouts, promoters and DJs

thebrag.com

have found themselves in the same boat. This, Reeves-Smith says, has fostered a strengthened bond within the dance music community.

“It’s made the scene more inclusive, in a way. The people who go to our parties are always going to our parties, there are more crews doing parties and those parties are more specific music-wise – they’re familybased and oriented and that’s good.

“It’s not just ‘party here, party there’, and it’s not just a venue booking DJs – there’s a family concept in each area. The people doing parties now are in it for the right reasons. You can’t just throw a party now, because the lockouts have prevented that. You can’t clap your hands and become a millionaire promoter. Every promoter in the last year has had a ‘What the fuck am I going to do?’ moment. You’ve just got to keep going.”

When it comes to hosting its own parties in non-traditional venues, curating an experience for the partygoer is a huge priority for Mantra Collective.

“You have to adapt and you have to do things differently to be successful,” Reeves-Smith says.

“I think that’s something we had in mind from the outset when we started doing unconventional venues. Everything had to be perfect – the sound, the gear we played on had to be perfect; security and door staff. I think the effort we go to for our parties has paid off because we’ve sold out eight in a row.

“People come to the parties and have been to one or two, some have been to them all. People have

come up and said, ‘Hey, we were at number three and number seven, they were sick.’”

The community vibe runs deep.

Reeves-Smith explains it’s not uncommon to have partygoers stay back to help pack down, move furniture or tidy up, and that only reinforces the family values Mantra stands for. Now, the collective is preparing its second vinyl-only party of the year, Black Gold.

“All of us buy a lot of records, and in the past year we’ve only been buying records. That’s kind of narrowed our music down, because when you buy vinyl, you really have to listen to it.”

Playing vinyl at parties comes with its own challenges, however.

“You have to be really careful when you’re mixing on vinyl and

you have to really know the tracks better because you can’t see anything,” says Reeves-Smith.

“You have to use your ears – I mean, you should use your ears all the time when you’re DJing; if you don’t, everyone is going to know – [but playing vinyl] strives you to be a better DJ, because you have to know what you’re doing all the time. Otherwise it’s an embarrassment,” he laughs.

The aim of Black Gold, ReevesSmith says, is “basically us playing our favourite records to people, and we want to put across that passion we have for the records to everyone”.

As for what’s lining the record crates? “There’s a lot of stuff from Romania we’re playing at the moment. Our favourite Romanian producer at the moment is Barac.”

Other selections on the pile include releases from Apollonia, Diego Krause, John Dimas and Dorisburg.

Before he departs, Reeves-Smith hints at some big events in the pipeline – with the ultimate goal of a permanent place to call home.

“We’ve got a lot of big parties happening soon. We’re just going to keep having fun and keep playing … If we can find a home we could do regular parties at, that’d be good.”

Your move, Sydney.

What: Black Gold With: James Cripps, B&H Smooth Where: Civic Underground When: Saturday August 15

BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 31

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

club pick of the week Drapht

FRIDAY AUGUST 7

Metro Theatre Xxx

Drapht + The Funkoars 8pm. $39.15.

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 5 CLUB NIGHTS

Salsa Wednesdays - feat: DJ Miro + Special Guests The Argyle, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free.

Side Bar Wednesdays - feat: Bangers & Mash Side Bar, Sydney.

9pm. Free.

The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free.

TLC Dance Class - feat: Amrita Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 6pm. $17.

THURSDAY AUGUST 6 CLUB NIGHTS

Five Dollar Thursdays - feat: DJs Steve Zappa + Skinny Scubar, Sydney.

8:30pm. Free.

Insert Coin(s) - feat: DJ Glenn Be Trippin + DJ Harry White Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 6pm. $15.

Kicks The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free.

Toho Nights - feat: Jay Katz + Jeff Duff

+ Crookedmouth + Miss Death Goros, Surry Hills.

8pm. Free.

Vallis Alps + Fortunes Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $13.90.

FRIDAY AUGUST 7 HIP HOP & R&B

Drapht + The Funkoars Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $39.15.

CLUB NIGHTS

Bassic - feat: Hucci + Aywy (Flow-Fi) + Spenda C + Samrai + Tdy + Ventures + Gudu + Robustt Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $27.70.

Blvd Fridays - feat: Ember Marquee, Pyrmont.

10pm. $13.40.

Brasilian Journey II - feat: Bateria 61 + Mark Crissy + DJ Paulo Play Bar, Surry Hills.

4pm. Free.

Derriere - feat: Rotating DJs Goros, Surry Hills.

6pm. Free.

El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm.

32 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

Free.

Feel Good Fridays feat: DJs Bar100, The Rocks.

5pm. Free.

Fridays Frothers feat: Babysham + Jesse Sewell Side Bar, Sydney.

9pm. Free.

Grime Time - feat: Champain Lyf + Aidan Bennison + Low Motion + Paul Fraser + Cache One X The Rudy Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. $10.

Jam Fridays Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 9:30pm.

Free.

Sam Wall Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 8pm. Free.

Scubar Fridays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

Tantrum Desire + Strafe + Blaine Stranger + Kyphosis. + Ncrypt And Jayem Candy’s Apartment, Potts Point. 9pm. $17.

SATURDAY AUGUST 8 HIP HOP & R&B

Boombap Sessions 4 - feat: P.Smurf

+ DJ Cost + Platterpush + Codeks Play Bar, Surry Hills.

6pm. Free.

Red Bull Music Academy Presents: Knxwledge + Katalyst + Prize + Klasik-1 + B Wise + Bustlip (MPC Set) Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm.

Free.

Swagger | Rack To The Future Arq Nightclub, Sydney. 10pm. $20.

CLUB NIGHTS Ears Have Ears - feat: Ju Ca Vs Corin + Peter Blamey + Collector + Jonathan Baker Vs Jacques Emery + Ears Have Ears DJs 107 Projects, Redfern. 7:30pm. $10.

Disco Inferno feat: Brenny B Side Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 9:30pm.

Free.

Dom Pérignon Masquerade Party - feat: Didier Cohen + Miss Nine Marquee, Pyrmont.

10pm. $28.80.

El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm.

Free.

Foxlife Opening Party - feat: Rabbit Taxi Slyfox, Enmore.

9pm. $10.

Frankie’s Pizza Saturdays - feat: DJs Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. Free.

Frat Saturdays - feat: Jonksi + Guests Side Bar, Sydney.

7:30pm. Free.

Homemade’s 7th Birthday - feat: Royaal + Venuto + Rees Hellmers + I.K.O + Seiz + J-Reyes + M.V.P Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour.

9pm. Free.

It’s A Bitch 10th Birthday - feat: DJs Kate Monroe + Sista P + Amanda Louise + Renae Stanton + Mumma Megs + Cyndi Tan Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $28.70.

Le Fruit DJs Goros, Surry Hills.

8pm. Free.

Lndry - feat: KLP + Set Mo + Terace + Crux + Jack Bailey + Sleak + Lora + Seher + Just 1 + King Lee + Jade Le Flay Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.60.

My Place Saturdays Bar100, The Rocks.

8pm. Free.

Pacha - feat: MaRLo + Dave Winnel + Alex Preston + Jesabel + Samrai + Chris Arnott + Vito + Wheeler + Jonathan Terrifi c + Nanna Does + Just 1 + Eko + King Lee + Nes + Stu Turner + Pro/Gram + Here’s Trouble Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $53.30.

Scubar Saturdays feat: Live DJs Scubar, Sydney.

8:30pm. Free.

Venom Clubnight - feat: We May Fall + Double Chamber + Azreal + Hollow Heart + Baltimore Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15.

SUNDAY AUGUST 9 CLUB NIGHTS

TUESDAY AUGUST 11 CLUB NIGHTS Coyote Tuesdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10.

Terrible Tuesdays - feat: Forrest Ensemble + Sekwensa Slyfox, Enmore. 6pm.

Free.

up all night out all week...

THURSDAY AUGUST 6 Toho Nights - Feat: Jay Katz + Jeff Duff + Crookedmouth + Miss Death Goros, Surry Hills. 8pm. Free.

Vallis Alps + Fortunes Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $13.90.

FRIDAY AUGUST 7 Bassic - Feat: Hucci + Aywy (Flow-Fi) + Spenda C + Samrai + Tdy + Ventures + Gudu + Robustt Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

9pm. $27.70.

Brasilian Journey II - Feat: Bateria 61 + Mark Crissy + DJ Paulo Play Bar, Surry Hills. 4pm.

Free.

Grime Time - Feat: Champain Lyf + Aidan Bennison + Low Motion + Paul Fraser + Cache One X The Rudy Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 10pm. $10.

SATURDAY AUGUST 8 Dom Pérignon Masquerade Party - Feat: Didier Cohen + Miss Nine Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.80.

Ears Have Ears - Feat: Ju Ca Vs Corin + Peter Blamey + Collector + Jonathan Baker Vs Jacques Emery + Ears Have Ears DJs 107 Projects, Redfern.

7:30pm. $10.

Foxlife Opening Party Feat: Rabbit Taxi Slyfox, Enmore. 9pm. $10.

Homemade’s 7th Birthday - Feat: Royaal + Venuto + Rees Hellmers + I.K.O + Seiz + J-Reyes + M.V.P Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. Free.

It’s A Bitch 10th Birthday - Feat: DJs Kate Monroe + Sista P + Amanda Louise + Renae Stanton + Mumma Megs + Cyndi Tan Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $28.70.

Lndry - Feat: KLP + Set Mo + Terace + Crux + Jack Bailey + Sleak + Lora + Seher + Just 1 + King Lee + Jade Le Flay Chinese Laundry, Sydney.

9pm. $22.60.

Pacha - Feat: MaRLo + Dave Winnel + Alex Preston + Jesabel + Samrai + Chris Arnott + Vito + Wheeler + Jonathan Terrific + Nanna Does + Just 1 + Eko + King Lee + Nes + Stu Turner + Pro/ Gram + Here’s Trouble Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney.

6:30pm. $53.30.

Red Bull Music Academy Presents: Knxwledge + Katalyst + Prize + Klasik-1 + B Wise + Bustlip (MPC Set) Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 9pm. Free.

SUNDAY AUGUST 9 S.A.S.H Sundays - Feat: Jay Smalls + Gabby + Garry Todd + Jake Hough + Sari Amia + Raffi Lovechild + Tezzel + Shepz Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 6pm. $10.

KLP

S.A.S.H Sundays - feat: Jay Smalls + Gabby + Garry Todd + Jake Hough + Sari Amia + Raffi Lovechild + Tezzel + Shepz Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour.

6pm. $10.

MONDAY AUGUST 10 CLUB NIGHTS Mashup Monday - feat: Resident DJs + DJ Thieves + Recess + Otg + Chivalry + More Side Bar, Sydney.

8pm. Free.

thebrag.com

Off The Record Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray

V

enues, venues, venues news this week. First up, another one bites the dust: Hugos Lounge in Kings Cross has been forced to close after going into voluntary administration. And why would that be? The lockout laws, of course. According to Inthemix, after 15 years owner Dave Evans stated that running the club was not fi nancially viable, with a 60 per cent loss in revenue due to the reported 80 per cent drop in visitors to Kings Cross following the lockout laws. Sadly, we’ll probably be reporting the same story about another venue next week, and the week after, and the week after that.

Several Newtown and Enmore venues are set to trial 3am lockout laws for six months from the beginning of September. Last week, ten publicans agreed to trial the lockouts in order to improve public safety, as patronage of the area has greatly increased since the introduction of the CBD lockouts, and led to an increase in violence.

Speaking of which, it has been reported that Slyfox is the only venue that has declined trying the self-imposed lockouts. And here’s why: Kerry Wallace, the main man behind S.A.S.H, bought the venue back in May. After completing the renovations (inspired by Melbourne’s Revolver), he announced that as of this week the hotel will become a latenight live music venue, with Fridays and Saturdays focusing on house, techno and disco. Hit facebook.com/ slyfoxenmore for more information.

Anyone up for a trip to the 3000?

Melbourne Festival has revealed

its 2015 program, and this year the international techno drawcard is Sweden’s Axel Willner AKA The Field.

Ever since the release of his 2007 debut From Here We Go Sublime, the Swede has been at the forefront of electronic music, and one of the biggest success stories on the legendary label Kompakt.

He’s collaborated with the likes of Thom Yorke and Helmet’s John Stanier, and this will be the first time he’s been in Australia in almost fi ve years. So, yeah, worth getting a fl ight for. He’ll play at the Foxtel Festival Hub on the banks of the Yarra on Friday October 23.

Reading material: the infamous Sven Marquardt, bouncer of arguably the world’s best club Berghain, has opened up in a rare interview with GQ. Want to know the secrets about how to get past the most notorious doorman on the planet? Hint: he doesn’t give much away. The mystery remains.

Tour rumours: we’re going to get visits from Felix Da Housecat and Pillowtalk next month. Oh, and expect to see Rick Howard on our shores early next year.

Best releases this week: the new Huerco S. release Railroad Blues (on Proibito) is super solid, as are DJ Fett Burger’s Pogo/Kaosfi eld (Mongo Fett), The Maghreban’s Wonder Woman (Versatile), Life’s Track’s Venere (Bosconi), Nu Guinea’s World (Tartelet), Pulpo (AKA Bookworms and Patricia)’s CCCP016 (Russian Torrent Versions), Pablo Mateo’s Old Cars In New Man (LACKREC.) and A Vision Of Panorama’s Patches Of Light (Music For Dreams).

Huerco S.

RECOMMENDED SATURDAY AUGUST 8

Ejeca

The Black Madonna Marrickville Bowling Club Dean Benson Oxford Hotel

SATURDAY AUGUST 15 Ejeca Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY AUGUST 22

Borrowed Identity Bridge Hotel

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20

Pan-Pot TBA

Lapalux Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27

Kangding Ray Bridge Hotel

Eric Cloutier Marrickville Bowling Club

FRIDAY DECEMBER 4 – SUNDAY DECEMBER 6

Subsonic Music Festival: KiNK, Dop, Rick Wade, Roman Flügel + more Riverwood Downs Mountain Valley Resort, Barrington Tops

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

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

BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15 :: 33

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VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT

up all night out all week . . .

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live reviews What we've been out to see...

OPEN FRAME Carriageworks Thursday July 30

Have you ever felt lost?

Completely, utterly and hopelessly lost? You know where you are, but have no knowledge of your surroundings. Everything around you is suddenly foreign. You’re thrown into oblivion.

Earth is 4.5 billion years old.

The effects your life will have on the future of humanity amount to next to nothing. That is, of course, unless you come to terms with these facts. You learn from them. You adapt your actions to counteract. You are only able to change an ideology if you treat it with the level of respect it commands.

These realisations are what transpired within the audience at Carriageworks on the first evening of Room40’s Open Frame event – a celebration to mark its 15 years as one of Australia’s most internationally revered record labels – featuring performances from William Basinski, Makino Takashi, Chris Abrahams and Louise Curham, alongside a worldwide premiere of an exclusive commission from Jim O’Rourke.

PICS :: AM

s.a.s.h sundays

The music on the evening, as is the way with many works that call Room40 home, found complexity in simplicity.

To create the colour white, you need to combine every frequency of light in the visible spectrum. The venue was often next to pitch black, but the music was inescapably emotionally white. Some sat, some lay down.

02:08:15 :: Home Nightclub :: 101/1-5 Wheat Rd Darling Harbour 9266 0600

MØ, ELLIPHANT Oxford Art Factory Wednesday July 29

Post-festival sideshows can be hard work. Everyone’s bound to have a slight case of the comedown blues, and it can turn into a bit of a lethargic pity party for the saps who didn’t make it to the main event. Apparently nobody told Mø and her ‘very special guest’ Elliphant – from the get-go, the girls didn’t give anyone a chance to go flat.

oxjam: undr ctrl 1st birthday

01:08:15 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

34 :: BRAG :: 624 :: 05:08:15

S :: JAMES AMBROSE ::

PICS :: AM

The Scandi-safarian Elliphant softened the crowd up as opener, dousing Oxford Art Factory in intense kodakchrome visuals while delivering her abrasive blend of synthpop/hip hop.

She kept her set minimal, accompanied only by her affable and cuddly DJ, but she chatted the whole time and kung fu’d her way around the stage, graciously whetting the crowd’s appetite for the main event.

Coming from a punk background, Mø has garnered a bit of a reputation as absolutely fucking mental onstage, and OAF certainly bore the brunt of it. The fiery Dane took the stage rocking a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Death Metal”, and with a three-piece that looked more like an electronic Minor Threat than a vanilla synthpop band. The

During the closing moments of his performance of Cascade, for which he titles the live version The Deluge, Basinski introduced a simple horn loop as the visual accompaniment crafted by his partner James Elaine trickled behind him.

The piece is predominately a sample of a piano motif exorcised through a number of filters. The implementation of this loop – one that sounded remarkably similar to the sample used in his 2002 track ‘Dlp 1.1’ – encapsulated the evening succinctly.

It’s a clichéd notion to describe something as indescribable – it’s also arguably sycophantic to call a show life-affirming – but that’s what it was. You were swept up in an amorphous whirlwind of ambience.

There were no vocals, yet you were surrounded by unheard voices. You listened to instruments having life breathed into them before being lulled back to sleep, and eventually, death. The meaning of life was shown to the audience simply by taking it away. This was music with purity; music you couldn’t just listen to, you had to experience.

To call the night an aural epiphany would be a coarse understatement. Room40’s penchant for fostering the esoteric means it will never be one of the most fashionable labels in the world, but for those lucky enough to discover and embrace it, it will undoubtedly be one of the most influential.

Tyson Wray

show proceeded accordingly.

Mø’s vocal range and sheer force is truly impressive, and she worked her album No Mythologies To Follow to the bone, giving tracks like ‘Maiden’, ‘Don’t Wanna Dance’ and her Spice Girls cover ‘Say You’ll Be There’ wholesome new flavours through a heavy reliance on her percussionists.

OAF is a good venue to play if you want to break down any audience/performer barriers, and the amount of physical contact in the set was intensive. With the recent Vic Mensa and Earl Sweatshirt misdemeanours, Mø spent a lot more time neck-deep in the pit than management looked like they were comfortable with, and she ended her set with a gratuitous stage dive that took her right round the floor. Thankfully no shoes were stolen or overzealous embraces attempted.

With the audience literally howling for an encore, Mø and Elliphant took the stage together for their final number ‘One More’, which was more of a jubilant epilogue that brought us all down a notch than an opportunity to tear the roof down. The whole night read like a how-to manual for a good sideshow, sending everyone home satisfied.

Nic Liney

KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR

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