ISSUE NO. 671 JULY 13, 2016
FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com
MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE
INSIDE This Week
BL INK-182
Travis Barker on the new-look lineup and a proud history.
RODR IGUE Z
The Sugar Man himself is making a triumphant Australian return.
PETER GARRETT
Out of politics and back where he's most comfortable.
S W IS S A R M Y M A N
Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse? Say no more.
W EEDE ATER
And how a hungry pet inspired their evergreen band name.
Plus
LEAH FLANAGAN TA S T E FAT W HI T E FA MILY T W EL F T H NIGH T A ND MUCH MOR E
STRONGER AS ONE
It’s your career. Make it with JMC. AUGUST OPEN DAYS. Register online. Degrees and Diplomas in Music, Songwriting, Audio, Entertainment Business Management, Film and Television, 3D Animation, Games and Digital Design. The Australasian institutional partner school of the Berklee College of Music.
Your creative future starts today. Visit jmcacademy.edu.au or call on 1300 410 311. facebook.com/jmcacademy
youtube.com/jmcacademy
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WITH SPECIAL GUEST
mark pritchard
26.07.16
S YDNE Y hordern pavilion WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
BLOSSOMS (UK)
TUE 26 JULY STATE THEATRE JAKEBUGG.COM
AND
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
FOOD COURT
WED 20/7 O X F O R D A RT FA C TORY WITH SPECIAL GUEST HEIN COOPER
Wednesday 20 July Metro Theatre PETERBJORNANDJOHN.COM
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THURSDAY JULY 14TH
SONS OF THE EAST + ED WELLS
FRIDAY JULY 15TH
WINSTON SURFSHIRT + SPACE MONK
SATURDAY JULY 16TH
GRIZZLEE TRAIN + SUNDOWN STATE SUNDAY JULY 17TH
V-TRIBE
+ HEMINGWAY
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rock music news
the BRAG presents
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Sam Caldwell and James Di Fabrizio
PETER BJORN AND JOHN
speed date WITH
Metro Theatre Wednesday July 20
JAMIE TURNER FROM THE HIGH LEARYS
2.
Keeping Busy We’ve been recording a lot of new material recently, which we can’t wait to release later on in the year. We have also been writing a lot lately and have spent the last few months workshopping new songs and getting them ready to perform on our national tour this June and July.
Best Gig Ever Probably our favourite gig so far would have to be the Purple Weekend Festival in Spain, which we played back in 2014. The crowd were amazing.
3.
Your Profile The High Learys are 1. a psych-pop band from Perth, Western Australia.
Our sound has been described as a fearlessly modern take on a retroinspired sound. We’re
always looking to engage with new fans who are up for nothing short of a good time.
Current Playlist We’ve been 4. listening to a band out
of Los Angeles recently
THE 1975
5.
AWESOME INTERNS: Anna Wilson, Natalia Morawski REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Prudence Clark, Tom Clift, Anita Connors, Christie Eliezer, Emily Gibb, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Emily Meller, David Molloy, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, George Nott, Daniel Prior, Tegan Reeves, Natalie Rogers, Erin Rooney, Spencer Scott, Natalie Salvo, Leonardo Silvestrini, Jade Smith, Lucy Watson, Rod Whitfield, Harry Windsor, Tyson Wray, Stephanie Yip, David James Young
State Theatre Tuesday July 26
SAD GRRRLS FEST
With: Mount Zamia, Sun Sap Where: Newtown Social Club When: Sunday July 17
Feat: Le Pie, Coda Conduct, Twin Caverns + more Factory Floor Saturday October 8
HARDER THAN IT LOOKS
REFUSING THE CALL
Legendary Swedish hardcore punks Refused will return to Australia next year, joined by hardcore icons Sick Of It All and Australian heavyweights High Tension. Refused have become hugely influential in the world of underground rock since their 1998 album The Shape Of Punk To Come secured cult status as an all-time classic. The band reformed in 2012 to a slew of sold-out dates, bringing their music across the globe and culminating in 2015’s Freedom. New York titans Sick Of It All are also hitting milestones, celebrating 30 years as a band. See it all go down at the Enmore Theatre on Saturday January 21.
EMBRACE YOUR FATE
Las Vegas natives Escape The Fate are heading to our shores. They’ll be coming our way armed with their latest record Hate Me, which sees them bolstered by the most stable lineup they’ve had in years. They’re currently in
the best shape of their career and are ready to open up the circle pit when they visit Australia with their new live show. Catch Escape The Fate at Sydney Uni’s Manning Bar on Thursday October 6 with support from Dream On Dreamer.
REMEMBER THOSE DAYS
Off the back of their hugely successful 2015 Big Ass Australian Tour with The Amity Affliction, A Day To Remember are set to return Down Under in support of their forthcoming album. Since their explosive yet startling Australian appearances in December last year, the Florida natives have been busy finalising Bad Vibrations (due Friday August 19), headlining their own Self Help Festival in California, garnering more than eight million streams of their hit single ‘Paranoia’ and supporting Blink-182 on their North American tour. Of Mice & Men will be along for the ride as they continue to tease their upcoming LP, Cold
Cate Le Bon
World, billed for release on Friday September 9. A Day To Remember and friends will be roaring into the Hordern Pavilion on Friday December 16.
FOXTON FROM THE JAM
Having previously sold out shows in Australia, the Brit punk rockers known as From The Jam will be coming Down Under once again for another tour this year. Bruce Foxton was originally the bassist of The Jam, the ’70s punks who racked up 18 UK top 40 singles and have solidified their reputation as one of the biggest and greatest bands in British history. Foxton then teamed up with guitarist Russell Hastings to form the revivalists that are From The Jam, and they’re about to tour Australia to play classic hits from ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’ to ‘The Modern World’, as well as live favourites and songs from Foxton’s solo career. From The Jam will be blasting the roof off the Metro Theatre on Friday September 9. DMA’s photo by Daniel Boud
Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227
JAKE BUGG
DMA’s DMA ’s
EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Friday 12pm (no extensions) Ad bookings: Friday 5pm (no extensions) Fishished art: No later than 2pm Monday Ad cancellations: Friday 4pm Deadlines are strictly adhered to. Published by Furst Media P/L ACN 1112480045 All content copyrighted to Cartrage P/L / Furst Media P/L 2003-2014 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get the BRAG? Email distribution@ furstmedia.com.au or phone 03 9428 3600 PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 follow us:
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LE BON’S GOT IT
Welsh avant-pop trailblazer Cate Le Bon released her fourth record at the beginning of the year, and as she continues premiering it across the world she’ll be stopping by Australia for the first time. Crab Day sees Le Bon continue her whimsical exploration through life, featuring her signature childlike, pastoral delivery, and nonsensical lyrics like “I wanna be your motion picture / My heart’s in my supper” from ‘Wonderful’. Her live act combines the marching band accuracy and upbeat jangle of The Beatles with the grating guitars and psychedelic deviations of The Velvet Underground, and is billed as something not be missed. Le Bon will arrive at Newtown Social Club on Wednesday October 5.
Simple Plan photo by Chapman Baehler
ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHERS: D.A. Carter, Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar
GIG & CLUB GUIDE COORDINATOR: Sarah Bryant - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties)
Enmore Theatre Sunday July 24
Remember Simple Plan? Maybe you got a-dic, a-ddicted to them back in the noughties? Well, now the Canadian pop-rockers are coming back Down Under, bringing with them their newest record Taking One For The Team, which dropped in February. The fivepiece are seemingly over the angsty “Sorry I can’t be perfect” days that saw the penning of such hits as ‘Welcome To My Life’. The aforementioned album five – which debuted in the top 20 in five countries including Australia – features ‘Singing In The Rain’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Go To Bed’ (feat. Nelly), each of which have seen over two million YouTube views. Simple Plan will be out in Sydney this spring with local four-piece Forever Ends Here (but sadly no Nelly), stopping by the Enmore Theatre on Saturday September 10. Plus, $1 from every ticket sold goes to the charity launched by the band in 2006, The Simple Plan Foundation – which has donated more than $1.7m to charities around the world to date.
MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ONLINE EDITOR: James Di Fabrizio SUB-EDITOR: Sam Caldwell STAFF WRITERS: Joseph Earp, Adam Norris, Augustus Welby NEWS: Gloria Brancatisano, James Di Fabrizio, Natalia Morawski, Tom Parker, Anna Wilson
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
AT THE DRIVE-IN
Your Ultimate Rider A giant Nando’s feast would be fantastic on our dream rider, plus a large supply of ice cold Asahis to wash it down with. Mind you, it’d be pretty hard for us to go onstage and perform whilst recovering from chicken comas.
Simple Plan
ADVERTISING: Tony Pecotic - (02) 9212 4322 tony@thebrag.com
Sydney Olympic Park Saturday July 23
called Mini Mansions. Really digging their latest album The Great Pretenders. Their sound is really unique and they have defi nitely been an inspiration for us lately.
OVER THE HILL
Capping off an absolutely huge year for DMA’s, the boys will return to home soil this October to play their biggest rooms to date. Since the release of their acclaimed debut album Hills End, the Sydney trio have not stopped for a second, going from strength to strength in 2016 to play the coveted secret slot at Glastonbury, smash it on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and much more. Catch DMA’s on Friday October 14 at the Enmore Theatre.
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live & local
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Gloria Brancatisano, Tom Parker and Natalia Morawski
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
speed date WITH
WINSTON SURFSHIRT
Quest splitting spliffs with your parents’ favourite band. Keeping Busy We’ve been working on our first full2. length LP for nearly two years now, so that’s
on the cards. We’ll have a new single out pretty soon from that album and we recently featured on the new Polographia single ‘Sly’, which came out last week.
Best Gig Ever The best gig we’ve played would have 3. to be a houseboat show. We put two shows
Your Profile Six gentle men, 12 tender nipples, 1. looking for the one night stand. Must have
Your Ultimate Rider For the past few years we’ve made it pretty 5. clear what we’d like on our rider. Still to this day, not once has it been executed in the way we had hoped, yet we continue time after time to ask in the hope that it will happen and one day John Farnham will adhere to the request that he appear, as John Farnham, in the flesh. Individually, Winston needs a bottle of sambuca, The Bone needs Clear Eyes, Bustlip needs to chop and bowl, Julio needs a lil’ lean, Dool’s too nice to ask for anything and Mi-K is still in London, so he’s got problems of his own. Other than that, we all need beers and towels. Where: Moonshine Bar, Hotel Steyne When: Friday July 15
SWEET JEAN
Melbourne outfit Sweet Jean have stepped out on a national tour off the back of their new album, Monday To Friday. The album was recorded with friend, bandmate and esteemed producer John Castle (Washington, The Bamboos) at The Shed Studios, and is a collection of vintage synth tracks mixed with straightshooting narratives of everyday life. It’s the follow-up to their 2013 debut album, Dear Departure, and the new record has already made a splash with its radio-friendly single ‘Everything Changes’. Sweet Jean will be taking to the Sydney stage at Brighton Up Bar on Thursday August 4. We have two double passes to give away – enter the draw at thebrag.com/ freeshit.
PARTY AT THEIR HOUSE
Melbourne dance fi ve-piece Northeast Party House have just released the first single from their forthcoming album, and to celebrate they’re throwing a party in Sydney. Dare is billed for release on Friday September 9 and the opening teaser ‘For You’ showcases the band’s distinctive style. The record was mixed and mastered in-house by drummer Malcolm Besley and recorded between Melbourne and London. The party’s ready and raring, and it’s all going down at the Metro Theatre on Friday September 16.
xxx xxx
Alice Night
seven-inch radio edit! Polographia, NxWorries and Bustlip on the daily. Our favourite album of the past few years is easily Early Riser by Taylor McFerrin – do yourselves a favour and check it.
Xxx
own transport, a degree in philosophy, preferably DTF. Sounds like A Tribe Called
on in Manly where we live – a good friend of ours owns a houseboat that chills in the harbour called Stealth; he took us over to the beach where people chill and drink every Sunday through summer and we played on the roof until the water police got to us. Our worst – Charlie Bar. Winston, Dool and Mi-K, three hours playing to one intoxicated family asking for Queen covers. One of whom sat next to Mi-K for about an hour whilst playing and tried to get his number. Free beers though. Swings and roundabouts.
Current Playlist If it’s 4am and we’re feeling good we can’t 4. go past Craig David and Artful Dodger’s ‘Rewind’
The Lulu Raes
STEELY JOHNS
AS DAY FOLLOWS NIGHT
Alice Night has been compared to the likes of Björk, Lorde and Ladyhawke with her intimate and dreamlike vocals, and now she’s coming to Sydney to support the release of her new LP. Culture How Could You? combines radical honesty with transmuted reflection, and the album has largely been formed as a result of her collaboration with ARIA-nominated and APRA Award-winning composer Robert Davidson. Night will arrive at the Oxford Circus on Thursday July 21.
Brisbane six-piece The John Steel Singers have just released their highly anticipated fourth LP, and to unveil it to the world they’ll be playing a slew of shows around the country. Over the past two years, the quirky popsters have delved into more ’70s funk- and soul-inspired records to bring you Midnight At The Plutonium, which was entirely produced in their fi ttingly named Brisbane studio The Plutonium. Supported by Alex Lahey, The John Steel Singers will be hitting up Newtown Social Club on Friday August 26.
STAYIN’ STIFF
The Stiffys will celebrate the release of their upcoming record Art Rock Two with a huge national tour, kicking off in September. The Melbourne duo-turned-trio are set to drop this seismic collection of indie rock tunes recorded with ARIA-nominated producer Steven Schram in August. The tour will see the band playing shows in 3D (get excited), providing fans with a “truly modern and unparalleled viewing experience” – or just a really good excuse to wear funky glasses. The Stiffys will play the Oxford Circus on Friday October 14.
IN LOVE WITH LULU
The Lulu Raes have announced the launch date for their forthcoming debut EP All Our Parents Are Divorced, which will drop this September. Following a stint around the country with The Jungle Giants, this latest run of shows will see The Lulu Raes performing in six cities. Their Sydney stint is set to be a singularly triumphant New South Wales return for a band that has shared the stage with groups such as Sticky Fingers, Dune Rats and DMA’s, and appeared at festivals including Groovin The Moo, The Blurst Of Times, Secret Garden, Lost Paradise and Festival Of The Sun. The Lulu Raes will play Oxford Art Factory on Friday September 9.
NEWTOWN’S NEW VENUE
Sydney’s Inner West is about to get a new venue for live music. For years, the iconic King Street space The Vanguard was a musical home for live music and discovery, until it closed earlier this month. But the vacancy has been quickly scooped up. The Vanguard will reopen next
month as Leadbelly, a restaurant and bar with free live gigs. We’re sure the music will be up to scratch with everything The Vanguard provided, but the new owners also assure us that the booze and food offerings will be just as good. Great stuff. Leadbelly will open in August at 42 King Street, Newtown.
GL
The Pretty Littles
CAN YOU FEEL MY HEARTBEAT?
Melbourne duo Ella Thompson and Graeme Pogson, AKA GL, are set to perform against the backdrop of Xavier Dolan’s film Heartbeats. The film’s original soundtrack will be muted, giving way for GL’s ’80s-inspired analogue synthpop to complement Dolan’s heavily stylised film. The event is set to be a visual and audio experience that is energetic, immersive and unique. It all goes down at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday July 14.
TOO LITTLE, NOT TOO LATE
Masters of pop-punk rejoice: Melbourne muck lords The Pretty Littles are heading our way. They’ll be swinging round Sydney to launch their new single, ‘Sleeping In Water’, another taste of their endlessly anticipated forthcoming album. The Pretty Littles, still riding the high of their controversy-courting ‘Sam’s Mob’ single – a response to Eddie McGuire and his letchy sexism – are a tantalising proposition live. Get on it, yeah? They hit Moonshine Bar on Friday November 4 and Brighton Up Bar on Saturday November 5. xxx
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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
THINGS WE HEAR • Which wealthy music fan anonymously wrote a cheque for an inner-city venue so it could do some soundproofing? • Is Ed Sheeran negotiating to headline Glastonbury 2017? • How many Queensland nightclubs, which planned to stay open until 5am on the night the lockouts began, knocked off by 3:30am because no-one was there? • Is Metallica’s tenth album looking at a Friday October 14 release? • Was the announcement of an Australian tour by Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys delayed after Nick Rhodes took time off from the former’s US tour due to a “family illness”? • Hip hop stars responded to police shooting black men in the United States. Snoop Dogg and The Game led a protest march to the LAPD headquarters. The Game declared on Instagram, “From today forward, we will be UNIFIED as minorities & we will no longer allow them to hunt us or be hunted by us !!!” Jay Z released a song called ‘Spiritual’ about police brutality, which he first wrote about the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, but decided it should be issued now, tweeting: “I’m saddened and disappointed in THIS
THE MUSIC NETWORK ADDS LYRIC CHART
Trade publication The Music Network – which has 32 airplay, sales and streaming charts – has introduced another. The LyricFind Australia chart takes data from the lyric licensing service’s billions of lyric displays and ranks the top trending lyrics among Australian users. Globally it takes data from 4,000 publishers, and is utilised by more than 100 services including Google, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Shazam, Microsoft, SoundHound and iHeartRadio. LyricFind CEO Darryl Ballantyne said, “Australia is a vibrant music market that has created some of the brightest breakout stars of the music world. By using our Lyrics data we’re confident we can shine a light on more future hit artists and records coming out of the region.”
UNDR CTRL PARTNERS WITH YEAHSURE
Creative music agency UNDR ctrl has entered a partnership with Yeahsure, the creative content agency set up by filmmakers Patrick Rohl and Jack Toohey. Current clients include Groovin The Moo, Mountain
America – we should be further along. WE ARE NOT.” Drake penned an emotional letter about shooting victim Alton Sterling. Beyoncé said during a Glasgow show, “Stop killing our black men,” and showed a video that reeled off names of black victims of police brutality. • At the beginning of their relationship, Calvin Harris got Taylor Swift to sign a promise not to write songs about their relationship if it turned sour. But his new single ‘Ole’ looks like a jab about her alleged cheating ways with Tom Hiddleston. Lines include, “I see online that you begun to be / A good girl and take trips with your boyfriend / Being attentive, continue to pretend”. • The Avalanches’ Wildfl ower was the fastest-selling album of the last week. • The first creditors’ meeting for Guvera, held last Thursday in Sydney, didn’t go far. An expected plan to come up with paying off ex-staff and creditors looks like it’ll only be delivered later this week. • Swedish police are investigating 27 cases of sexual assault on females aged 12 to 20 at a music festival, by seven male perpetrators. Karlstad police officer Eva Hogfeldt said the assaults constituted groping and other sexual misconduct. No incidents of rape were reported.
• Cliff Williams announced he’ll celebrate his 40th year with AC/DC by quitting, as he’s lost his mojo for the road. • Bring Me The Horizon pissed off Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker with a sign they posted backstage at a Spanish music festival. Featuring a photo of BMTH, it declared: “These people are not to be stopped ever. They may not have a pass. They can escort who they want where they want with or without a pass.” Miffed with this “display of arrogance”, Baker posted the memo on Instagram with the message: “I’m going to stop these people every time I see them today and tell them how much their band sucks.” • Franz Ferdinand guitarist Nick McCarthy is leaving the band due to family commitments. • Two of That Sound Agency’s acts, Brynny and Teddy Cream, have been added to Ultra Music in Croatia this month with Carl Cox, Above & Beyond, David Guetta and Deadmau5. • Nigerian DJ Obi will know shortly if his ten-day set (with no sleep!) will set a Guinness World Record for the longest DJ set. • Daniel Johns didn’t end up selling his two beachview Bondi apartments as bids failed to reach his asking price.
Sounds, The Island Live, The Lab Syd, Gang Of Youths and Nicole Millar. UNDR ctrl director Paul Stix said, “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to take the agency to another level.” UNDR Ctrl represents Bag Raiders, Total Giovanni, Roland Tings, Just A Gent, World Champion, San Holo, Set Mo and Rainbow Chan. It offers gig bookings, brand deals, music collaborations and new revenue sources.
Jack River
Omar Musa
BIG VILLAGE SIGNS OMAR MUSA
Sydney hip hop label Big Village Records has signed acclaimed rapper, poet and author Omar Musa. His EP Dead Centre is out in August, produced by Joelistics and Poncho and featuring L-Fresh The Lion, Hau, Kate Miller-Heidke and Mataya. His debut novel, 2014’s Here Come The Dogs, followed two books of poetry.
APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR SXSW
South By Southwest (SXSW), held annually in Austin, Texas, has fast become a place where Australian acts are landing global recording, management, publishing and booking deals. Applications are open for 2017 and organisers are encouraging Aussies to get in early so judges can make their choices with enough time for selected acts to secure visas and funding. Go to sonicbids. com/sxsw to apply and create/update your electronic press kit. The current discounted application rate of US$35 lasts until Friday September 9, and goes up to US$55 for the final deadline of Friday October 21.
Independent label I Oh You, the risk-taking home of Violent Soho and DZ Deathrays, has signed genre-melting Sydney singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jack River. Jack River is the pseudonym of Forster’s Holly Rankin, who’s spent time in New York working on her music. An EP produced by Ben Allen is due this year. Lead single ‘Talk Like That’, co-produced by River with Xavier Dunn, was written “at 3am after walking around the streets with some friends in Sydney” on the day she cut it in Dunn’s studio.
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Hospitalised: Primus drummer Tim ‘Herb’ Alexander with his second heart attack. His first was in 2014, when he had a triple bypass surgery. Hospitalised: former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno had a “rugby ball-sized abscess” removed from his lungs, but is not suffering from cancer. Sued: rapper T.I. by 12 former employees at his Atlanta restaurant Scales 925, who claim they have not been paid in full and that he made “fraudulent” comments about how much they worked. In Court: former Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil over an alleged April 7 event at a Las Vegas hotel in which he is accused of pulling an autograph hunter to the ground by her hair while he was lunching with actor Nicolas Cage. He faces court on Wednesday July 27 and faces a maximum of six years’ jail if convicted.
Suing: US singer Darlene Love is taking action for US$75,000 against the Scripps Network for using her live rendition of ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’, which she sang for 30 years on The Late Show, to promote its programming without permission.
LUKE GIRGIS EXITS SHOCK
Shock Records A&R/label director Luke Girgis has left the business, with his role now filled in by sales boss Simon McLaughlin. Meanwhile, Girgis has entered a joint venture with another music company, with details to be announced soon. He has long been busy with other ventures, including marketing and management company Be Like Children (Little Sea, YouTube sensation Simone Giertz) and the label, management and PR company I Forget, Sorry!, which he set up with Chance Waters and Mind Over Matter.
OXFORD ART, WOOLY MAMMOTH COMBINE BOOKINGS
In a first for a major entertainment company, Sony Music has partnered with the New South Wales Government’s events and tourism entity Destination NSW. Sony’s major and emerging acts from Australia and overseas will perform at events in Sydney and regional NSW.
Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory, run by Mark Gerber, and Brisbane’s Woolly Mammoth, owned by Lachlan Bird, will from this month combine their bookings into one. The pair say the deal will allow them to collaborate more on tours and events, and will strengthen the quality of acts presented by the two medium-sized venues. Current Woolly Mammoth music and events booker Uda Widanapathirana is now handling PR and events coordination for both venues.
UK’S TOP 60 BIGGEST-SELLING ALBUMS
TEEF FUNDRAISING FOR OXFAM
SONY MUSIC PARTNERS WITH DESTINATION NSW
I OH YOU SIGNS JACK RIVER
Dating: Ruby Rose and US businesswoman Harley Gusman have made it official on social media.
In Court: one-time triple j announcer Michael ‘Tunny’ Tunn, 42, pleaded guilty to stealing pies and sausage rolls from Coles. The Adelaide Magistrates Court heard he suffers from bipolar disorder and lives on a $40-a-day disabilities pension. Tunn made his name as a 17-year-old in the ’90s as Australia’s youngest presenter.
AUSTRALIAN MUSIC PRIZE RETURNS
The Australian Music Prize has opened submissions for albums issued this calendar year. The winner, which will be announced in March 2017, gets $30,000 cash from the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA). Previous winners include Courtney Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, Remi’s Raw X Infi nity, Big Scary’s Not Art and Hermitude’s HyperParadise. Dave Faulkner of Hoodoo Gurus again chairs the judging panel, which consists of artists (Al Grigg of Palms and Phil Jamieson of Grinspoon), media and retailers. See facebook.com/ australianmusicprize.
Lifelines
To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the UK’s Official Albums Chart revealed the nation’s top 60 biggest-selling albums of all time. Queen’s Greatest Hits topped the list with 6.1 million UK sales, followed by ABBA’s Gold: Greatest Hits (5.2m), The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (5.1m), Adele’s 21 (4.9m) and Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (4.7m) rounding out the top five. The rest of the top ten are Michael Jackson’s Thriller (4.4m), Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon (4.3m), Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms (4.3m), Michael Jackson’s Bad (4m) and Queen’s Greatest Hits II (4m).
Teef Records has put together an 18-track compilation of unreleased left-of-centre Australian cuts to raise funds for Oxfam’s Syrian refugee appeal. The campaign will assist 13.5 million people who are currently without access to food, water and sanitation. The record is titled Imperium In Imperio II, which translates to "Empire Within An Empire" – a theme emphasised in the trailer and cover art by Sydney artist Jonathan Key. Featured artists include Sampa The Great, Japanese Wallpaper, Woodes, Alice Ivy, Aiya and Jack Grace, among others. Teef earlier issued a compilation for the Nepal earthquake fund.
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Proudly presents... Get Reel: Top Ten Filmmakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Festival 2016
HEART BEATS (FILM - Dir. Xavier Dolan)
The Ritz Cinema Randwick 6pm - 8.30pm, Sunday 24 July See the Top Ten Films from international filmmakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; competition, Get Reel. Winners announced at event.
(BAND)
FILM + LIVE SOUNDTRACK Thursday 14th of July at The Oxford Art Factory hearmyeyes.com.au
MC: Luke Carroll Special Guest Judges: Andrew Morley, Dov Kornits, Erin James, Greg van Borssum Jessica Grace Smith, Macario De Souza, Paul Sullivan Peter Reynolds, Socratis Otto and Ursula Dabrowsky.
Tickets $25 at www.officialtoptennight.com All funds raised go towards Suicide Prevention Australia.
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BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 11
COVER STORY
STONEFIELD
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ABOVE AND BELOW BY CLAIRE VARLEY
T
he members of Stonefield were all between 12 and 20 years old when they made their way onto the Australian rock scene. In 2010, the psychedelic siblings won triple j’s Unearthed High competition with a track they’d recorded for a school project. Six years on, their second album, As Above, So Below, demonstrates their musical and personal growth. With their flared jeans, faux fur and velvet jackets, piercings and winged eyeliner, Amy and Hannah Findlay radiate a serious kind of cool as they sit down with the BRAG. Their confidence is understated but palpable, and rightly so – they have achieved more in their young lives than most musicians even dream of, notably supporting Fleetwood Mac on their 2015 Australian tour. The past three years have seen the Findlay sisters playing gigs ferociously, bringing their brand of rock to some of the world’s biggest stages, including Glastonbury, The Great Escape and South By Southwest. Now back home, they’re ready to share new material and a fresh perspective. “We feel like we’ve developed our songwriting and grown as a band a lot in that time,” says vocalist and drummer Amy. “It’s exciting going into this new album cycle feeling like we’ve got a lot more to give.”
“It’s more mature, deeper and dynamic. I think we’ve taken the time to put a lot more care into thinking about those kind of things,” Amy says.
Stonefi eld photo by Ian Laidlaw
“As you grow older and develop as a person,” adds Hannah, “it’s natural that your songwriting improves and you learn different things.” Stonefield’s origins as a band date back to the early childhood of the four Findlay sisters. Amy, Hannah, Sarah and Holly were raised on a property in rural Victoria to a soundtrack of their folks’ record collection, with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Led Zeppelin influencing their musical identity. Eventually, their parents gave in to the sisters’ endless requests for a drum kit, and that one instrument changed everything.
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Today, Stonefield attribute much of their strength to their sisterhood, the consequentially close bond between each band member, and the love and respect they share across the board. Whether musically or personality-wise, the siblings all seem to complement each other; Amy is softer-spoken than the confident Hannah, and the latter often finishes Amy’s sentiments with direct and sure answers. “I feel extremely lucky to do this with my sisters,” says Hannah. “I don’t think I have a friendship with anyone else that matches… this sounds so lame,” she laughs, shaking her head and looking down, before turning to her sibling. “I could not imagine doing this with anybody else.” “The challenges you have because you are sisters are nothing compared to the challenges that bands in general go through,” Amy adds.
outside of our comfort zone, and I think we did that.” With the album set for release this week, Stonefield say they have “huge” tour plans in the works for later this year – and these will include Amy’s return to playing drums onstage, rather than hiring an extra pair of hands. “When I play drums it just feels right,” she says. “I like it more.”
With that in mind, any chance of Amy one day embarking on a solo project is remote. “It kind of feels like a solo project [already] because we have such a strong bond,” she says. Stonefield did introduce one outside influence for their new album – namely Spiderbait drummer Kram. After hearing the girls support Dan Sultan in 2014, the veteran rocker organised to meet up with them the next morning. He loved the tracks they’d written for their second record, and was excited about their future. That breakfast led to Kram visiting the band’s trusty shed back home to collaborate. “We just became really good friends – we just connected straight away,” Amy says. “It just made sense to continue to write with him.” “Working with Kram helped us to realise that you don’t have to be confined to one genre or one sound,” adds Hannah. “So we’ve definitely pushed the songs a lot more, and haven’t been afraid if something is sounding a bit different to stick with it, if it’s something that we like. His attitude through the whole thing was to push boundaries, and get us
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Despite their clear talents and passion for selfdirection, it comes as a disappointment in 2016 that Stonefield still face prejudice for being women in the male-dominated rock scene. Add in the fact that for a good portion of their live career, at least one of the band members has been underage, and some of the sexism they’ve experienced is borderline shocking.
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“For some people it’s just kind of a subconscious mentality, that girls aren’t as good as men are in rock, that girls can’t play drums or guitar,” Amy sighs. “We kind of use it as a form of motivation. “When we played in Alice Springs, in between songs a man yelled out, ‘Watch out girls or I might cum all over your face,’ or something along those lines,” she says.
“FOR SOME PEOPLE IT’S JUST KIND OF A SUBCONSCIOUS MENTALITY, THAT GIRLS AREN’T AS GOOD AS MEN ARE IN ROCK, THAT GIRLS CAN’T PLAY DRUMS OR GUITAR. WE KIND OF USE IT AS A FORM OF MOTIVATION.”
As Above, So Below is a departure for Stonefield, who have now officially ‘grown up’ after youngest member Holly turned 18 in January. The band’s coming of age has manifested in an updated sound. The two latest tracks to be released ahead of the album – ‘Stranger’ and ‘Changes’ – showcase both the swirling psych rock and the striking power of delivery that has catapulted the fiery Findlays from their parents’ shed to the world stage.
Amy, the eldest sibling, took an instant liking to percussion, and her sisters followed suit. While the
drummer took on lead vocals, Hannah picked up a guitar, Sarah found her way to the keys, and Holly handled bass. Holly was only seven years old at the time, but in that shed, the band that would become Stonefield was born.
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Even back in their early days, Stonefield were forced to impose rules and dress codes upon themselves, in an attempt to dispel the vulgar comments hurled at them before and during sets.
“It’s absolute bullshit that we even have to think about that,” Hannah declares angrily. “That we’re not just worrying about the music and wearing what we feel comfortable in. Fuck that – now we wear whatever we want.” Adversity has only made Stonefield stronger, however, and a clear sense of resolve and determination permeates their songs, whether in their powerful lyrics or their dense musicality. Any way you look at it, Stonefield are a force to be reckoned with. “The main thing we have learned as a band is to really stick to our guns and do what we believe in,” Hannah says. “And I think believing in ourselves and our ability to write songs has been so important. “Especially for a band like us that started so young and had a lot of outside influences trying to help us to grow, I think having the realisation that nobody knows you better than yourself is such an important lesson, and something that has affected everything dramatically.” What: As Above, So Below out Friday July 15 through Wunderkind/ Mushroom
LIVE
AT THE
5
$
TINNIES ALL NIGHT
SLY
5
$
FIREBALL WHISKEYS 7.30 - 9.30PM
Thurs 14 july
WALLACE
LYRE BYRDLAND SAGRADA FAMILIAR LIVE AT THE SLY DJs 12AM-3AM 1 9 9 E N M O R E R OA D, E N M O R E BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 13
Peter Garrett Back At His Best By Patrick Emery
P
eter Garrett watched the recent federal election at home with his family, having spent the day handing out how to vote cards in his former electorate. In the mid’80s, however, long before he served as the Labor MP for Kingsford Smith, Garrett was a senate candidate with the Nuclear Disarmament Party. Today, the ex-Midnight Oil frontman is sanguine about the drift of voters away from the major parties, placing this modern phenomenon in the context of a broader public misunderstanding of the complexity of political issues. “David Brooks in The New York Times has noted that we don’t have a great deal of civic education in our modern education system, and modern democracies and economies are very, very complex,” Garrett says. “But people, understandably, want simple solutions to what are very complex problems. And at the same time there’s been this erosion of faith in our institutions generally, and an elevation of the self. A combination of those things means that people vote a lot more impulsively – people decide they like or dislike a particular candidate. You can see this in its broadest sense in the way female politicians are viewed by men, and sometimes by women, with an example being the treatment of Julia Gillard.”
Rodriguez Back From Reality By Alex Watts
T
he career rebirth of Sixto Rodriguez is one of the most fantastic tales in the history of popular music. The American singer-songwriter released two albums in the early ’70s, Cold Fact and Coming From Reality, only to be met with commercial indifference. His subsequent disappearance from the public eye and eventual return to performing in the late ’90s was the subject of the 2012 Oscarwinning documentary Searching For Sugar Man. The success of the film and its soundtrack was such that it sparked a genuine career renaissance for the man known simply as Rodriguez. The movie is not only his story, but one about South African Apartheid. The sanctions in place during the ’70s and ’80s allowed his records to become huge hits without the knowledge of anyone outside of that country. While he was earning a low income as a construction worker in Detroit, Rodriguez’s records were selling by the millions, unbeknownst to even him at the time. However, what is not reported in the film is that, presumably also for reasons of cultural isolation, the other place that Rodriguez became big was Australia. In fact, the commercial interest was such that local tour promoters contacted the singer directly and brought him here in 1979.
“The thrill of, whatever it’s called, it’s like opening night,” he says. “It’s still that feeling, some kind of anxiety, and loads of it as well. It’s all good, it’s very positive, and now I’m very happy that it did become [my] profession.” Since the documentary’s release, Rodriguez has not only managed to maintain public interest through constant touring, but is now playing to larger rooms than ever before.
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While acknowledging the positive effect that Searching For Sugar Man has had on his life, Rodriguez is also keen to stress the difference between his work and that of the fi lmmakers. “I had nothing to do with the making of it. I even asked that certain things be removed, but they kept them in there. So I didn’t have any say. One of them was that there was gonna be a third album. There’s no third album. Sometimes the film makes it misleading. The film suggests that, you know, but that wasn’t the goal. Well, mine anyway. The words I used as I saw it myself was that it cheapened the film. But I’m not a filmmaker.” Of course, this begs the question of whether after his recent years of heavy touring and an evergrowing public interest, Rodriguez might one day release a genuine follow-up to Coming From Reality. However, the artist remains noncommittal. “Yeah, I think so, but [there’s] nothing in the works right now,” he says. Yet even without new material, the 73-year-old is enjoying the touring life and has no qualms with playing songs he wrote over 45 years ago. “I try and be true to the material, I don’t overplay it or underplay it. But it’s a moveable art form, and so that’s fun – you can move it around as well. But we try to stay true to the form of the music. “Tony Bennett – this is thinking about 1963, ‘I Left My Heart In San Francisco’ – they asked him, doesn’t he get tired of singing that song? And he said, ‘That song gave me the keys to the world.’” In conversation, Rodriguez speaks with the same philosophical leanings peppered with ’70s slang that typify his songs. When asked whether he thinks there are advantages to experiencing success so much later in life than he had intended, he is decidedly positive.
“I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MAKING OF [THE MOVIE]. I EVEN ASKED THAT CERTAIN THINGS BE REMOVED, BUT THEY KEPT THEM IN THERE.” “I can clearly say yes, very much so. I am [a] grandpa, and I think that that kind of perspective really gives you a kind of balance, if not extra strength. So you have more purpose in a sense, and I think that that’s the shift. I think that they say that [in] old age you lose some of your faculties, but I think that some of them are getting even sharper. So even if your vision is diminished…” Perhaps not wishing to discuss health issues and the glaucoma that is badly affecting his sight, Rodriguez cuts himself off and changes subject, as he does frequently throughout our interview. Thankfully, even with the astonishing 41-year gap between Coming From Reality and Searching For Sugar Man, and what is now known about the mismanagement and missed opportunities that caused that delay, Rodriguez holds no bitterness. Asked what advice he might offer now to the young musician who made Cold Fact in 1969, he leaves a long pause, before responding with typical philosophical refl ection. “There’s so much reality [that] gets in the way, and nothing beats reality,” says Rodriguez. “I don’t think you have that much clear choice all the time – we just pick the better of the choices and go for it.” With: Archie Roach Where: State Theatre When: Tuesday November 15 And: Also appearing at A Day On The Green, Bimbadgen Estate, Saturday November 19
“In some ways I felt like I needed a break,” Garrett says. “We were treading water to some extent by the end. I’d gotten so involved in conservation politics that I’d really had other things that seemed more urgent in front of me. For the Oils, we’d always made the decision that we weren’t a gravy train band – our motivations were totally different. We saw things through a totally different lens.” Garrett’s political career was, no pun intended, a rocky affair. Almost immediately after being elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, Garrett found himself having to reconcile the policies of his party with the radical discourse of Midnight Oil’s lyrics. Conservative tabloids dissected his ever-public utterances looking for signs of hypocrisy; Midnight Oil fans winced when the man who’d railed against US forces proclaimed the importance of the Australia-US strategic relationship. When Garrett found himself the scapegoat for the failures of the home insulation program – AKA the ‘pink batts’ fiasco – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hung Garrett out to dry. In the ALP’s juvenile leadership dramas of 2010 to 2013, Garrett took the side of Gillard. When Rudd resumed the party leadership, Garrett decided to leave politics. Judging by ‘I’d Do It Again’, the second track on Garrett’s first solo album, A Version Of Now, Garrett doesn’t have any regrets. But while A Version Of Now is peppered with self-referential musings on his public and political life, Garrett doesn’t see the album as a response to the critics of his career in politics.
“PEOPLE, UNDERSTANDABLY, WANT SIMPLE SOLUTIONS TO WHAT ARE VERY COMPLEX PROBLEMS.”
“I think you’ve got an opportunity to do that, and I was certainly aware of what I’d call misunderstandings of what I’d done or why I’d done it, but [my autobiography Big Blue Sky] was the opportunity to do that,” he says. “The music was a totally unexpected by-product of doing the book. I really didn’t think that I’d end up doing an album. I thought I might have a bit of music in me – it was just a way of saying in poetry what I said clumsily in prose!” Given the strictures and restrictions of the party political machine, was returning to writing music a relief? “They’re completely different paradigms,” Garrett replies. “One is the business of government – it’s the meat and potatoes of trying to get stuff down, laws passed and budgets to improve things. I hardly thought creatively in that time – I know I had creative thoughts, but I never had time to develop them. But it wasn’t because I felt I didn’t have the freedom to do this or that. I
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Peter Garrett photo by Maclay Heriot
“[They] called me on the phone for four hours,” Rodriguez says from Detroit. “Eight concerts brought me out. Boy, the time I had – so very memorable.” In fact, his ’79 tour did two national runs and a total of 13 theatre shows, with reports from the time remarking on how shocked the performer seemed at the size of the crowds.
“Last year I played a 16,000-seater and they came out to see me, so they’re still there for me,” he says. “At this stage we’ve got more control of it and we’re more conscious of what’s going on.”
It’s an astute observation that has come after Garrett’s turbulent public and political experiences. Having toured regularly over the course of his 27 years with Midnight Oil, by the time the band broke up in 2002, Garrett was looking for a new challenge.
Blink-182 California Dreaming By David James Young
F
or the first time in many years, it has become an exciting (albeit somewhat confusing) time to be a fan of Blink-182. The band has reshuffled its lineup of nearly two decades, with estranged vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge removing himself from the fold and being replaced by Matt Skiba, whom many would know as the co-frontman of another noted poppunk three-piece, Alkaline Trio. With this version of the band in full swing, the decision was made to go from merely completing tour obligations to entering the studio. In doing so, Blink-182 realised their fresh start had legs beyond simply nostalgia – they ended up being the most fruitfully creative they have ever been.
understood completely the strictures of being in a party. I told people in the party exactly what I thought – I just couldn’t say it to the Daily Telegraph.” That said, Garrett concedes that writing music is almost by definition a more liberating pursuit than politics. “Being back in a creative space and having that part of your brain lifting off a little bit is a wonderful feeling, and that’s been surprising for me. I just wanted to grab it while I could.” While Garrett’s fellow Midnight Oil members James Moginie, Rob Hirst and Martin Rotsey took the opportunity of their frontman’s political career to return to the band’s roots with the surfpsychedelic project The Break, Garrett isn’t interested in raking over his ’60s and ’70s influences. “I’ve got that music that I love from when I grew up, and probably play one or two songs when we go out on the
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road, but that era for me is a past era – and I’m the surfer in the band,” he laughs. Garrett says recording A Version Of Now was a different experience to his days in the studio recording with Midnight Oil. “I wasn’t answerable to anyone, and they’re all my songs, so you’ve got the freedom to take it where you will. When you’re with the Oils, you’re chasing that thing when five individuals who constitute a band all nod that that’s where you wanted to land. In this case, I knew pretty much where I wanted to land, which was somewhere pretty fresh and open and have people play almost instinctively, because what they were hearing was pretty simple.” What: A Version Of Now out Friday July 15 through Sony With: Abbe May Where: Factory Theatre When: Thursday August 11
“Usually, when it’s time to make a Blink-182 album, we never go far beyond what we set out to do,” says Travis Barker, who has served as their drummer since 1998 and appears on fi ve of their seven studio albums. “If it’s an 11-track album, we’ll probably write about 12 – and that’s if we’re lucky. This is the first time that we’ve ever had a surplus of songs to choose from. By the time we had finished writing for the album, we had ended up with about 30 songs. This is the first time that this has happened. We had to cut that down, obviously, so it was a matter of everyone in the band picking their favourites.” The resulting sessions at Foxy Studios in Woodland Hills saw Blink put together their first album in fi ve years, California, which took 16 of the aforementioned 30 songs that were written throughout the second half of 2015. Overseeing the recording was producer John Feldmann, whom many punk fans would know as the driving creative force behind Goldfi nger, and many pop fans would know as a co-writer for the likes of 5 Seconds Of Summer. “When I suggested him, the other two needed a day to think about it,” says Barker. “I could see where they were coming from – when people think of Feldmann, a lot of the time they’ll only think of
Goldfi nger or the bands he’s done production work for. I feel like a lot of people don’t realise what Feldmann is capable of. There’s so much more to him outside of the stuff he’s popular for. “John’s a good dude, man. We all went to breakfast, and then the next day we went to John’s studio. We wrote three songs that day, and the other two were instantly convinced. The original plan was to be with him for a week or two, and [we] ended up staying for a month and a half. It went well beyond what any of us could have anticipated.” California sees Blink-182 – completed by bassist, vocalist and sole remaining original member Mark Hoppus – attempting to encompass everything that has come to defi ne them in their 20plus years of existence. There are free-wheeling skate-punk numbers, some vintage rock moments, a ballad or two and the inevitable 30-second gag songs. Despite the album not coming from the ‘classic’ lineup, Barker believes this is the closest Blink have come to truly sounding like themselves since reuniting in 2009. “Mark and I have wanted to write an album like this for a long time,” he says. “We felt like we were fi nally allowed to make an album like this. We weren’t arguing with someone about what the band should or shouldn’t sound like. There was no fi ghting like there was on the last couple of Blink-182 albums. I love Tom, and he’s a great songwriter, but we knew we didn’t want the band to sound like Angels & Airwaves. By the same token, I never want this band to sound like the Transplants or like my solo material. I want this band to sound like Blink-182. That’s all I want.” Barker carries a genuine sense of enthusiasm around the release of California, which is more than can be said about the previous Blink album, 2011’s Neighborhoods. Produced entirely by the band members themselves and recorded completely separate from one another, that record was met with critical indifference and
“I LOVE TOM, AND HE’S A GREAT SONGWRITER, BUT WE KNEW WE DIDN’T WANT THE BAND TO SOUND LIKE ANGELS & AIRWAVES.” a commercial slump compared to the multi-platinum sales of previous releases. “There were a few pretty clear problems with the Neighborhoods record,” Barker admits. “Jerry [Finn, the band’s longtime producer] had just passed away, and we were all disconnected – Tom had his studio, we had ours. I had survived a plane crash and was out of my mind. We were just trying to pull ourselves together. We had nobody there to be like, ‘That chorus could be bigger’ or ‘This intro shouldn’t be so long.’ There was no producer doing that, which I think is instrumental. You need that extra set of eyes and ears.” Although he’s never asked about by name, Barker brings up DeLonge several times throughout our interview. The drummer appears to have an on-again-offagain relationship with his former bandmate, noting his songwriting skills while simultaneously pointing to him as the reason for the schism between the three core Blink members. “Tom wanted the band to be different,” Barker says. “It didn’t make sense to me. We could sell out Reading and Leeds, play to 100,000 people – look at what they go crazy for. It’s all the fast, fun songs that people know this band for. I think Tom’s time away from the band will help him to realise what Blink-182 does really is awesome. I hope it convinces him of that. I’m really proud of who we are and what we sound like.” What: California out now through Vagrant/Liberator
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Fat White Family Fighting Damnation By Augustus Welby
W
e live in a time of hyper political correctness, where anyone who crosses the line of good taste is liable to be publicly shamed. But for all its positive intentions, this tendency often serves to silence people. UK rock band Fat White Family, however, aren’t tiptoeing around. Their latest record, Songs For Our Mothers, explores a range of sensitive subject matter. For instance, ‘Satisfi ed’ compares holocaust survivor Primo Levi’s desperate plight with oral sex; ‘Hits Hits Hits’ is a left-fi eld take on Ike Turner’s physical assaults of his wife Tina; and ‘Tinfoil Deathstar’ looks at escapism via heroin addiction. Songs For Our Mothers isn’t an aggressive listening experience, mind you. For the most part, a less engaged listener could just dig the warped garagey post-punk sounds without noticing the lyrical concerns. None of the songwriting is especially unconventional either, and songs like ‘Whitest Boy On The Beach’ and ‘Satisfi ed’ are immediately ear-catching and melodious. “I want to make pop music sometimes,” says guitarist and chief songwriter Saul Adamczewski. “I think ‘Hits Hits Hits’ is a pop song. I’m a bit out of touch with the mainstream, but that’s as close to pop as we’ve ever got. I wanted that to sound like Hot Chocolate.” The album was recorded with Sean Lennon in Upstate New York, and in terms of production and
songcraft, it’s a development from the band’s last LP, Champagne Holocaust. That said, the whole thing possesses a druggy haze – the sound is very woozy and a bit blurry. “I actually wanted it to be quite a challenging listen,” says Adamczewski. “Some of the songs, anyway. I wanted the music to suit the lyrics. So songs like ‘Duce’, I wanted them to have that grandiose, fascistic sound, but also at the same time have the twisted, distorted and horrible sound, which is the musical equivalent of fascism.”
despite this diversity, it all sounds at least somewhat familiar.
‘Duce’ is the most challenging song of the lot, in which vocalist Lias Saoudi spends the track’s sinister seven minutes rambling about Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. However, the vocals are drowned in effects and buried deep in the arrangement, making it necessary to strain in order to identify the lyrics. The same can be said about the record as a whole.
It should be said that nothing on Songs For Our Mothers sounds like an out and out rip-off. The record upholds a sinister and disconcertingly tongue-in-cheek personality, separating Fat White Family from many of their peers.
“To some degree I wish we’d eased off the reverb and delays just a little bit,” Adamczewski says. “But that’s the thing – for me it’s all about the sound and for Lias it’s all about the lyrics. I feel like I did Lias a bit of a misservice by burying his words in effects that then rendered them impossible to understand. But that’s why we wrote them all out on the poster.” Songs For Our Mothers covers a range of genres, from Krautrock and garage blues to loopy Syd Barrett folk-psych, glam rock, and even a grotesque waltz. But
“Most of the band can’t really play their instruments, so there’s a naivety to the way we play,” Adamczewski says. “I’ve always found things like weird time signatures a bit irritating. I’m quite simple-minded like that – I like the basic verse/chorus kind of structure. I like to twist that a little bit and distort it a little bit, but essentially that’s what I like. I’m not trying to be in Slint or anything like that.”
“Because so many other bands these days are devoid of any kind of charisma or character whatsoever, when there is a band that sound like a bunch of human beings with ideas, it actually seems to be something that people want to talk about,” says Adamczewski. “It’s not so much a compliment to us – more a damnation on everyone else.” In this context, Fat White Family can be seen as a group of antagonisers trying to some inject life back into rock music, no matter how filthy or lurid. But in assuming this role, is there a greater social agenda? Do they think rock music should go beyond the realm of entertainment and contribute a critical perspective on society?
“I don’t think rock music should do anything. I just think it’s a shame that it doesn’t,” Adamczewski says. “I think that there are plenty of bands that are saying things, plenty of bands with great ideas, plenty of bands who are making
“I DON’T THINK ROCK MUSIC SHOULD DO ANYTHING. I JUST THINK IT’S A SHAME THAT IT DOESN’T.”
interesting music with charisma and character and personality. But it’s the male-run, middle-aged music industry that’s worried about the fact that they’re dying a slow death that is keeping things safe – and therefore killing themselves at the same time.” Fat White Family will be fighting rock’n’roll’s extinction when they’re
Blossoms High Ideals By Adam Norris standing there taking it all in, finding you for the first time. I enjoy both, but some of the best gigs on this festival tour have been when we’re in a tent. We can create a bit more of an atmosphere. “You want them to always be that little bit better, and I guess that is kind of theatrical in a way. There’s even a lot of drama within the lyrics. You want to sound big and bold.” The intimacy of an enclosed venue notwithstanding, the Brits certainly managed to impress a great many people at Glastonbury who had never heard their music before. Since 2014, Blossoms have dropped four EPs, but it is only now, with their self-titled debut album approaching, that the mainstream is starting to sit up and pay attention. They are being hailed as the Glastonbury breakout act, yet for those unable to witness their festival chops first-hand at Splendour In The Grass this month, you can catch them in a different light supporting Jake Bugg’s latest tour.
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Blossoms. It’s always the surprise festival discovery that resonates longest, and in this regard the Stockport five-piece managed to walk home with a legion of fresh fans. But as frontman Tom Ogden suggests, bigger is not always better.
“You play to a huge audience and you’re going to of course get lots of exposure,” Ogden says. “It’s surreal and really enjoyable, but then when you’re in a tent, it’s a bit more intimate, it’s darker. It takes it to that next level. Even small things,
like when you finish a song and the lights go down – the audience get that excitement, there’s more drama. Whereas an outdoor show like Glastonbury is more getting our songs onto this huge stage with all of these people not knowing us, just
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Fat White Family photo by Roger Sargent
T
here was a lot to feel envious about at this year’s Glastonbury Festival – Tame Impala knocking it out of the park, Beck’s buckshot setlist, Adele cussing into an ocean of mud – but the act that truly captured its beating heart was
“Different [songs] lend themselves to different places,” says Ogden. “Like Glastonbury, when you slow things down … there’s a song called ‘My Favourite Room’, which I think went down really well. That was stripped back and they could hear every word. It’s a song that everybody in that huge crowd can relate to, they’re there with you, it’s like it’s just you and them – while other heavier songs, with the lights going mad, it creates this other atmosphere. As long as you can see people enjoying themselves, even in this big outdoor places, that’s the dream. The euphoria of seeing
Taste Playing God By Adam Norris
K
en Murdoch is doing his best not to get lost in the airport on his way to a gig in Brisbane. But between checking in, queueing for shuttles and maintaining conversation with a journalist on the phone, it’s no simple task. Luckily for him, Taste are old hands at the realities of life as touring musicians. In the ’70s, the band was one of the most popular and promising acts in the country – not bad in an era that also gave us Skyhooks, INXS and AC/DC. After being approached to support Queen, their place in glam rock history seemed assured, but to bastardise Tennessee Williams, you can always depend on the kindness of family. “Those were amazing times,” Murdoch chuckles. “You easily spent most of your life touring with other bands. We toured with Hush, Sherbet, The Sweet, AC/DC. We spent time with all those guys, so it was very much like a little club that you were very lucky to belong to. Hanging out with Marc Hunter from Dragon, drinking with Bon Scott. All those things that you look around now and think, it doesn’t really seem to exist anymore. That camaraderie. You could easily name all of the singers and guitarists from those bands, but I’m not sure you can do that these days. It’s a different world. in Australia for this year’s Splendour In The Grass, plus a bunch of sideshows. For anyone looking to attune themselves to the band’s mentality, Adamczewski has some advice. “I would do a speed ball and then I would meditate and then I would have some raki and then I would hold hands with your mum.”
What: Songs For Our Mothers out now through Without Consent With: The Pinheads, Solid Effort Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday July 23 And: Also appearing at Splendour In The Grass, North Byron Parklands, Friday July 22 – Sunday July 24
“Countdown did enormous good for everyone. It didn’t matter what level you were at, it put you through to everyone. It also brought us all together. We’d have to spend the whole of a Saturday together, someone would smuggle a bottle of Scotch in and as a result be the most popular. Having Ted Mulry and Bon Scott bashing on your door to get in. There were so many characters in those days. Marc Hunter was a wild man, just unbelievable. But they were all great people.”
It is clear when talking with Murdoch that his recollections of Aussie music throughout the ’70s are largely happy ones, even though each of the performers he identifies here has passed away. The members of Taste were only 15 when they were signed to Warner Music – the youngest artists on the roster – but they quickly became stalwarts of the scene. When Freddie Mercury came calling, they were on the cusp of signing to Sire Records with the world at their feet… until their parents showed up. “Well, my parents were very supportive, and they didn’t question much,” Murdoch recalls. “They were just happy to see us on TV and hear us on radio. But the other three families, they were always saying, ‘Well, where’s the money?’ We bought seven Marshall stacks, a two-tonne truck and an eight-seater van. So we had debts! That’s why there was no money up front, but the idea was that eventually we’d be able to be independent. So that had a big impact. “When those three parents got together, they had met a guy who owned a wine business and was very wealthy, and he said if he managed the band, we’d get paid a very nice wage and we’d fly everywhere, stay at the best hotels. And that all came true, he did all that. The only unfortunate thing was that he knew nothing about music. Just nothing. So all the industry contacts and promises, they all went. These recording companies deal more with managers than they do with the band, and they understandably just didn’t get this guy. We were just about to sign with Sire Records in America – I actually sat with [founder] Seymour Stein in Australia and he was all excited – and then we changed management, and could never get that door open again. I think that’s an important
lesson for musicians to learn. They sign managers as much as they sign up the band.” It spelled the end of Taste for almost 40 years, though no-one was sitting around idle; Murdoch himself has maintained a fruitful life as a piano entertainer. But in 2008 came Rock Is Dead, the band’s third album and first since 1977’s Knights Of Love. Today, Taste are gearing up for a resurgence across the country as their latest LP, Life On Earth, is spearheaded by lead single ‘I Am God’. It’s an unapologetic anthem to the band’s career, and though it’s catchy, the song is also quite political – in fact, it’s really rather dark. “Life On Earth itself asks the question, ‘Why do we act like animals?’ Which might actually be a bit of an insult to the animals,” Murdoch laughs. “But ‘I Am God’ is imagining that God is up there playing games, and maybe that’s what it’s all about. Maybe God isn’t as nice as everyone thinks or hopes. ‘Let’s see what this tsunami does!’ I write short stories all the time, and I’ll often go back and have a look around there, see what I can find. ‘I Am God’ came from a story where the world is being played like a Sims game, with someone throwing down these disasters just to see what would happen. “It does have a pessimistic undertone. It’s hard not to write a song like that at the moment. There’s a song on the album called ‘The Fatal Shore’, which is about the terrorist attack in Sydney. These things, they tend to make it hard to write a love song when you’ve got these other things on your mind.” What: Life On Earth out now through Goset Where: Frankie’s Pizza When: Thursday July 14
“WE WANT TO BE A BAND THAT MEANS SOMETHING TO PEOPLE, THAT’S NOT JUST AN OVERNIGHT THING THAT’S GOING TO GO AWAY.” people singing along to the words, which is the place we see ourselves in the future.” It’s a pretty significant shift from where Blossoms first embarked down this unlikely path. All five were born in Stepping Hill Hospital, which not only makes for a neat genesis story, but with a name like that is clearly the most haunted place in the world. Stockport itself is just a stone’s throw from Manchester, so growing up the lads found themselves with a gamut of influences. “We kind of found our way alone, tough there is quite a rich musical heritage there,” Ogden says. “We have Strawberry Studios – a lot of great bands have recorded there like Stone Roses, Joy Division, The Smiths. But that’s not really even a studio anymore, it’s just offices. It’s not that historically rich now. We’re so close to Manchester that all our parents were really into that music scene. That bled into us, and became part of what we grew up on. Stockport itself is like five minutes on the train from Manchester; it’s quite industrial with a lot of old mills. It’s alright, really. We’ve enjoyed living here, and when we come home there’s always that sense of finding something nice and cosy in Stockport. We have our rehearsal room here, which is actually our bass player’s granddad’s scaffolding yard. It’s quite unusual, but it’s also nice and hidden. But we’re all so busy with touring these days that we don’t really get back there to rehearse. There’s just no time.” Given the grind of recording the album and hitting the touring trail,
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it’s no surprise Blossoms are short on time, though it has brought with it inevitable sacrifi ces. Ogden once saw himself as a future filmmaker, and the band’s early videos were largely self-made. He had a gift for editing that has been put to one side now as Blossoms gain momentum, though it’s unlikely you’ll hear any of the band members complaining. They aren’t the kind of artists to take their success lightly, and while they are earnestly ambitious, their hopes for success lie entirely on maintaining their sincerity with an audience. “We are just fi ve lads from Stockport,” says Ogden. “We started this not even as a real career and now we’re playing Australia. It’s mind-blowing. We want to be as big as we can, so there’s no limit of where we would take the band. We want to headline festivals, to fi nd ourselves years and years in the future and still see people out there enjoying themselves. We want to be a band that means something to people, that’s not just an overnight thing that’s going to go away. We want to be around for a long time. We don’t want to be a drop in the ocean. We want to be a massive splash.” What: Blossoms out Friday August 5 through Virgin/EMI Where: Supporting Jake Bugg at the State Theatre When: Tuesday July 26 And: Also appearing at Splendour In The Grass 2016, North Byron Parklands, Friday July 22 – Sunday July 24
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Weedeater Scooby Snacks By Benjamin Potter
T
here are few current metal bands that have the ravenous following of North Carolina sludge metal outfit Weedeater. Since forming in 1998, their energetic live shows have earned respect from all corners of the headbanging world. The band’s most recent album Goliathan, released in 2015, is a testament to their Southern roots, with ear-bashing chords and heavy, demonic basslines from vocalist and former Buzzoven member ‘Dixie’ Dave Collins. “We’ve used the same formula for 18 years now and we have no intentions of changing that,” Collins says. “It’s not too hard to play, it’s not too hard to understand – we just do it all for ourselves and the fans who watch us play.” One of the pioneering bands of sludge metal, Weedeater’s live sets are steeped in heavy metal folklore as something that must be witnessed to appreciate fully. They encourage getting loose and having a good time, which is something Collins hopes all punters will do when they hit Australian shores in mid-July. “It’s just all about getting fucked up and having a good time regardless of your situation. We come from the South where a lot of people don’t have a whole lot, but they have music and they have us – that’s what keeps us going,” he says. Weedeater’s dirty stoner vibe almost brought them here back in 2014
with former labelmates Corrosion Of Conformity. Unfortunately, the tour was cancelled due to touring company Redline Music’s involvement in litigation that forced it to cease trade immediately. Collins assures Australian fans that Weedeater will make big amends when they arrive. “We were extremely disappointed in the situation, because we’ve never been to Australia,” he says. “But this is a band which you must see live, and we’ll be showing why that’s the case this time around. We’re excited to get to all parts of Australia and get fucked up with our fans who have waited so long to see us.” Weedeater’s tongue-in-cheek antics are exemplified through their lyrics littered with drug references and parodies of bands who take metal too seriously. Collins attributes the band’s name to a hilarious and unsettling event that happened 17 years ago. “I left my weed out in the backyard and forgot about it, so my dog ended up eating it. The name just stuck after I called him a ‘little weed eater’. He did get super high though, and passed out a couple hours later. I couldn’t not name the band Weedeater after that.” The name has inspired legions of diehard fans, who throw joints, buds and even homemade bongs on the stage for the band to smoke, something which Collins says may help them out in Australia.
“It definitely has its perks, that’s for sure. I’m sure we will have no problem scoring some, but the fans do help too. Despite our absence, we still have a lot of friends Down Under, so it will be good to catch up and have a smoke with them as well. Just tell the cops to take it easy, yeah?” Collins’ raspy, screeching voice is
another of the main attractions for Weedeater fans, and he claims to keep it in perfect condition with an unlikely routine. “Lots of whisky, lots of cigarettes and lots of weed,” he says. “I have the occasion on tour where my voice starts acting up a little bit, and then I really have to be serious, so I just take some cough syrup and then I’m fine. Probably
not the best thing to treat it, but it works for me.”
“I was asking around for a guitarist, and I was pretty specific about what I was after – ‘They’ve gotta sound like this, and be able to play like this,’ y’know? Independent of one another, Melanie Horsnell and Jackie Marshall both got in touch with me and they said, ‘You’ve got to get Adam Pringle.’ We decided to try it out with one show together, and he has pretty comfortably slipped in from there. The way he plays is really complementary and it works so well with the kind of music that I’m playing. One of the best parts of being a solo artist is being able to have that flexibility of working with different people – Adam is just one of the best around.”
involved. When it came to recording the album, we unanimously agreed that we couldn’t do it without Jim. We were able to rope him in to play some guitar, and he really left a mark on quite a few songs.”
What: Goliathan out now independently With: Conan, Lo!, Thorax Where: Manning Bar When: Friday July 15
Leah Flanagan Winter Chills By David James Young
A
lthough she calls Sydney home these days, singersongwriter Leah Flanagan is conducting this interview from her native land of Darwin. She has just touched down for a one-off performance as part of NAIDOC Week, which will include a task that other musicians would find incredibly daunting: performing ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’, the Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song widely considered to be one of the most important in the history of Australian popular music. Flanagan isn’t really fazed, however
– it’s not even her first rodeo with Kelly.
Wave Hill walk-off, so it’s as relevant now as it ever was.”
“We’ve performed together a few times over the years,” she says. “We performed a duet earlier this year as a part of a show called Exile, and a recording of that is going to be released later on this year. We’ve also sung together a few times in the past through [Flanagan’s previous group] the Black Arm Band, as well. I’m very excited to be sharing his song at such an important time, as well – this will mark the 40th anniversary of the
Following a quiet spell, Flanagan has finally come up for air after finishing work on her second studio album, Saudades, which is set for release in September. This month will see her heading out on a run of dates for the first time in a while, taking in mostly the capital cities on the east coast. She will be performing in duo mode, with Adam Pringle stepping in on lead guitar and backing vocal duties. “He came very highly recommended,” says Flanagan on her touring partner.
Pringle is one of several musicians who appear on Saudades, which was recorded at Sydney’s Oceanic Studios. The studios have been home to artists such as The Jezebels, Art vs Science and Sarah Blasko, and are owned by Midnight Oil alum and multi-instrumentalist Jim Moginie. Much like Kelly, the legacy of Moginie is not one that’s lost on Flanagan. “I’m a child of the ’80s, and I grew up in a big indigenous family – there was no way you could escape Midnight Oil,” she says with a laugh. “Before I started making this album, I wanted to learn more about the recording process. I more or less locked myself in the studio with Jim, partly to work on some new tracks that I had floating around but also to pick up as much information as I could about recording and producing. I learned a lot about sounds, and how to get certain tones from certain instruments. Instead of just writing songs acoustically and then taking them to my band, I started to think a lot more about what sounds could be
“IF YOU’VE WRITTEN A SONG REALLY FAST, YOU JUST THINK OF IT AS SOME LITTLE DITTY. IF YOU DIDN’T LABOUR OVER IT, YOU DON’T THINK MUCH OF IT.” 18 :: BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16
In conjunction with the tour this month, Flanagan has released the first taste of what is to come from Saudades. Entitled ‘Chills’, this charming ballad came to Flanagan as somewhat of a surprise – it was written quickly, and arrived with such ease that even she was wary of it. “I didn’t even think it was going to make the album,” she says. “I mean, there was no conflict. If you’ve written a song really fast, you just think of it as some little ditty. If you didn’t labour over it, you don’t think much of it. I remember waking up one morning, writing it in one sitting and taking it to my band. I was asking what they thought could be added, but they all had the same answer: that was the song. Less is more, they said. They were even the ones that picked it as the lead single – they were able to see whatever it was that I couldn’t in it.” ‘Chills’ – and, by extension, Saudades – comes some six years after Flanagan released her debut LP, Nirvana Nights. A lot can change in such a period of time, and it’s a fact of which Flanagan is well aware. “I think that making art is a natural progression. I’ve written a lot of songs between the first album and now, and I’ve worked with a lot of different bands and a lot of different people. Some of the songs on my first record were something like ten years old when they were fi nally recorded – this is a much better refl ection on where I am now.” Where: The Midnight Special When: Thursday July 21
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BRAGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to film, theatre, comedy and art about town
arts in focus
swiss army man
Away photo by Maryna Rothe
drop dead funny
also inside:
ARTS NEWS / TWELFTH NIGHT OR WHAT YOU WILL / ARTS REVIEWS / GIVEAWAY / ARTS EXPOSED thebrag.com
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arts in focus
arts news...what's goin' on around town... with Chris Martin, Anna Wilson and Natalia Morawski
free stuff head to: thebrag.com/freeshit Natasha Leggero
five minutes WITH
JESSICA GRACE SMITH, ACTOR AND JUDGE OF GET REEL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL leadership for the meaningful reduction of suicide. This issue is very close to my heart – we don’t talk about it nearly enough. There is such a stigma surrounding suicide and yet there is an epidemic in this country and New Zealand. Being from New Zealand and seeing the threat that Lifeline is under with this disastrous National government, I also want to promote that charity and the fantastic work they do on a daily basis. Events like this are a fantastic way to start the discussion around mental illness.
T
he Get Reel Short Film Festival will screen its finalists at a red carpet event this month. What’s your shortest tip for making a great short film? It’s all about the story. Write a good story, and then it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the best equipment or most famous actors – the film will connect. What can you tell us about the charity cause behind the festival? The main charity behind the festival is Suicide Prevention Australia, which facilitates
How difficult was it to narrow down 1,650 entries to ten finalists? I imagine it was a huge amount of work. I didn’t have to watch all 1,650 entries – when I got the films they had already been narrowed down somewhat and then myself alongside the other judges voted for our favourites. I found it really tough because they were all so different! Some were more documentary-style, others more abstract with beat poetry or a film noir edge, and there was even an animation. It was really tough, but I tried to look for story first, and then connection – my gut feeling – was I hooked or not? After that I looked for the unique edge, which films really stood out for being different, and which films really spoke to a particular group or demographic different than my own.
Your own acting career has taken you from Home And Away to Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena. What’s next? I recently finished working on a thriller in New Zealand (as an actor) which will come out next year. I am also in the very final stages of post-production on my directorial debut, Everybody Else Is Taken, so once that is all done I will be entering it into festivals around the world. Do you have aspirations to move into filmmaking full-time? I really do. I had the best experience shooting that film. I have since written another short that I intend to shoot here in New South Wales, and I am currently writing a television series that I hope to pitch once I am done. I also pitched recently to direct a web series here in Sydney, so I definitely see myself moving more and more into the creation and filmmaking side of things. I still love acting though – always see myself continuing on that path! What: Get Reel Short Film Festival Where: The Ritz Cinema When: Sunday July 24
NATASHA LEGGERO
Stand-up comedian, actor and writer Natasha Leggero is coming down from the States for a show at the Enmore Theatre as part of Just For Laughs Sydney. Leggero created, wrote, produced and stars in the Comedy Channel sitcom Another Period. She’s also made an appearance on the Comedy Central Roast of James Franco and Justin Bieber, Marry Me and Modern Family. Leggero has even taken on the big screen, appearing alongside Seth Rogen in Bad Neighbours. She’s a woman of many talents, and you can catch her in Sydney on Sunday September 11. We’re giving away a double pass at thebrag.com/freeshit. Dance Integrated Australia, Off The Record sees Force Majeure returning to Carriageworks after the successful Nothing To Lose for Sydney Fest in 2015. Featuring a diverse cast of professional artists with and without disability, Force Majeure is known for creating works based on the lived experience, and Off The Record is a semibiographical piece drawing inspiration from the lives of its five performers. These include Melbourne-based contemporary dancer Jana Castillo, Sydney actor and disability advocate Alex Jones, actor Gerard O’Dwyer, contemporary dancer Marnie Palomares and actor and AUSLAN interpreter Neil Phipps. The new production runs from Wednesday August 17 – Saturday August 20.
Barangaroo
Henry Rollins
FESTIVAL OF DANGEROUS IDEAS
The 2016 Festival Of Dangerous Ideas will bring a conversationstarting series of talks to the Sydney Opera House on Saturday September 3 and Sunday September 4. The eighth edition of the Opera House’s annual talks program includes several big-name guests from Australia and overseas. Last year’s event saw 30,000 people filter through Sydney’s famous sailed venue. The 2016 program promises to address issues from politics and inequality to drugs in sport and surveillance. The highlight names include former Black Flag frontman and spoken-word artist Henry Rollins, visual artist and Drawing Blood author Molly Crabapple, local political commentator Andrew Bolt and outspoken feminist author Germaine Greer. See the full list at thebrag.com.
ST ALBANS WRITERS’ FESTIVAL
The St Albans Writers’ Festival returns to the picturesque New South Wales village for its second year this September with a program of over 50 writers and almost 40 events. Announced for the bill are more than 50 of Australia’s favourite storytellers, including Les Murray, Jane Caro, Stan Grant, Sarah Ferguson and Hugh Mackay. The festival sessions are held in a small walkable precinct that includes the historic St Albans Church, Settlers Arms Inn and marquees with a backdrop of the Macdonald River. Full program details and a list of attending writers can be found at stalbanswritersfestival.com.au. The 2016 festival takes place from Friday September 16 – Sunday September 18. 20 :: BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16
SCULPTURE AT BARANGAROO
Barangaroo, the new Sydney harbourfront precinct, will get its own version of Bondi’s famous Sculpture By The Sea this year. Sculpture At Barangaroo will take place in August, with 12 outdoor artworks by 15 Australian artists dotting the coastline of Barangaroo Reserve in the Sydney CBD. The announcement comes on the eve of the 2016 Sculpture By The Sea this October and November, the 20th edition of an event that attracts nearly half a million people to the Bondi coastal walk each year. The artists exhibiting at Barangaroo are Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, Marley Dawson, Lucy Humphrey, Ron Robertson-Swann OAM, Margarita Sampson, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Yasmin Smith, Marcus Tatton, Ken Unsworth, Sally Kiddal, Lyndsay Urquhart, Emily Nichol and Tereasa Trevor and Auntie Deidre Martin. Sculpture At Barangaroo will be on show from Saturday August 6 – Sunday August 21.
BILL’S BIG SHOW
Revered UK comedian Bill Bailey is heading to Australian shores with his new live show. Larks In Transit is a compendium of tales and shenanigans from 20 years as a travelling comedian. With musical virtuosity, surreal tangents and trademark intelligence, Bailey tackles politics, philosophy, the pursuit of happiness, death metal, ringtones, and an excruciating encounter with Paul McCartney. Bailey is known as one of the world’s most indemand stand-ups, as well as for his hilarious television roles including on the award-winning Black Books. Catch him at the State Theatre on Wednesday November 30.
THE HORIZON NEARS
Opening in August, UTS Gallery will present Over Many Horizons, a major new solo exhibition by multimedia artist Keith Armstrong. Seeking to explore the ecological and social justice issues of our time, Armstrong’s multimedia practice will incorporate electronic arts, interactive installations and art-science collaborations, resulting in the experimental exhibition that is Over Many Horizons. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue of other events as part of National Science Week (Saturday August 13 to Sunday August 21). Armstrong’s exhibit runs from Tuesday August 2 – Friday September 23.
CELEBRITY THEATRESPORTS
Celebrities’ acting and comedy skills will be put to the test this August for Celebrity Theatresports. This night of whim will take shape with theatre games, challenges and comedy skits, as professional actors battle it out for the highest score. This year’s celebrity ensemble includes The X-Files’ ‘lone gunman’ Dean Haglund; Star Wars, Home And Away, The Lion King and Play School’s Jay Laga’aia; Thank God You’re Here’s Nicola Parry and Daniel Cordeaux; Celeste Barber from How Not To Behave and All Saints; and Bjorn Stewart from Black Comedy. The show is raising money for Impro Australia’s new Indigenous Theatresports Youth Fund, aimed at bringing free Theatresports shows and training to indigenous youth across the state. The first project kicks off in October at the Redfern Community Centre with plans to extend to the rest of Sydney, regional NSW and remote communities. Celebrity Theatresports takes over the Enmore Theatre on Saturday August 6.
INTEGRATED FORCE
From Force Majeure, Australia’s leading exponent of dance theatre, in collaboration with Dance Integrated, comes a bold new work, Off The Record. Co-produced in partnership with
The Post-Haste Histories
IMPROVISED SHAKESPEARE
From the creators of Bard To The Bone comes the next epic addition to the improvised Shakespeare canon, The Post-Haste Histories. The latest offering from Sydney’s improvising Shakespeare gurus The Post-Haste Players comes to the Kings Cross Theatre for a unique evening of fun and playful improvisation, mostly in iambic pentameter. The production will feature some of the city’s improv favourites, including Atlas Adams, Oliver Burton and Anne Wilson. Formed five years ago by some of Sydney’s most experienced improvisers, The Post-Haste Players are pushing for recognition of improv as a thrilling theatrical art form in its own right. See why from Wednesday August 3 – Saturday August 20.
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arts in focus
five minutes
FEATURE
WITH DICKY TANUWIDJAYA, DIRECTOR OF ADVENTURES OF A HAPPY
HOMELESS MAN
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hat can you tell us about Rafael, the protagonist of your new film Adventures Of A Happy Homeless Man? Rafael (Felino Dolloso) is a former corporate high-flyer who has lost his job, his marriage and his home, but he still insists that he’s happy. Despite being homeless, he never loses his sense of cheekiness and his passion for music. Calling himself ‘Bobo the Hobo’, he confidently tries to pursue a music career and an acting career. I want to tell a story about how this person hits rock bottom, still doesn’t give up on his passion, overcomes the struggles and then finally gets back up on their feet again, stronger than ever.
Twelfth Night Or What You Will [THEATRE] A Comedy Of Identity By Annie Murney
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ikki Shiels has just come from a sword fi ght. The actor is rehearsing the part of Viola for Belvoir St Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s swashbuckling comedy, Twelfth Night Or What You Will. It’s week three, and the rehearsal room is a fl urry of words and weapons – “Our tongues are fl apping,” says Shiels. In the midst of these linguistic aerobics and exercises in physical exuberance, she describes the rehearsals as “creating chaos in the mad world of Illyria”.
Twelfth Night phtoo by Brett Boardman
Twelfth Night Or What You Will begins from the debris of a shipwreck. The pivotal character Viola, washed up on the shores of a strange land, takes on the identity of her presumably deceased twin brother, Sebastian. “It’s a way of dealing with her grief and liberating herself from the predicament she is in,” explains Shiels. However, the play quickly becomes a topsy-turvy arena of muddled romances and mixed identities. A love triangle arises between Viola (as Cesario), Olivia and Duke Orsino. All the while, a host of bumbling characters plot pranks and engage in hijinks. “It’s a play where people get fixated on ideas and act out of character,” Shiels says. Under the experienced hand of director Eamon Flack, the company has been growing the production from the ground up. “It’s been really fun,” says Shiels. “That’s partly to do with the rehearsal room culture that Eamon sets up. The transition from the table read to the fl oor has been one of the most liberating and fearless experiences I’ve had. We have permission to be quite extreme in our choices. The entire company moved to the fl oor at the same time, which created a beautiful camaraderie – this production is very much a company piece.” While the play revels in slapstick misunderstandings and carnivalesque absurdities, there are some deeper themes that strike a heavier note. “The play is thebrag.com
really about love and grief,” says Shiels. “It is a humanist play. Generally, the culture of grief and love is a bit more private and contained these days. I think the ritual of grief and the madness of love has been toned down throughout the ages. However, this production examines these themes in a way that opens them up for a contemporary audience.” Throughout rehearsals, the cast has been exploring the nuanced relationship between seemingly confl icting emotions. “We’ve spoken a lot about youth and aging in love and grief. In a way, you can’t have one without the other,” says Shiels. “All of the characters turn on a dime throughout the play – there is pain because there is love.” In the process of picking apart Viola (and her male alter ego Cesario), Shiels has developed an admiration for her character’s resilience and resourcefulness. “She is incredibly quick-witted – the way she is able to coin poetic phrases spontaneously. She weaves her way through this world of colourful characters and basically mirrors them in order to survive as well as teaching them a thing or two. Also, she makes these incredibly bold choices without knowing where she will end up. It’s an incredible lesson for an actor – to be brave.” While Viola’s movement throughout the play is a classic case of duck-and-weave, trapped in the guise of a man, it can be difficult uncovering the essence of the character. “It’s a treat to play a character that has so many masks,” says Shiels. “At the moment, I’m trying to fi nd the moments where she does fl ash her true self. It’s tricky and I suppose it’s a layering process.” After 400 years, Shakespeare remains a ripe source of humour. However, according to Shiels, some of the jokes don’t stack up. Wrangling with iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets, there has been some necessary pruning and creative manipulation.
“It’s hugely important to honour the language, but I think it’s equally important to treat the play irreverently.” “There’s a lot of wordplay that we can’t get our head around,” she says. “We’ve tried to have a bit of an attitude toward the text. Some of the jokes defi nitely do stack up. Generally, it’s a very English style of comedy – the humour is in the set-up and picking up the right words to emphasise.”
What made you decide to package the film’s important message inside a top layer of comedy? I want the audience to have some fun while watching the film, but also think about how the characters – not just Rafael – deal with life difficulties, and how they solve problems in humorous ways. I want the film to inspire people not to give up on their dreams, despite all the challenges in life. How much of Sydney’s homeless problem lies beneath the surface as something the average Sydneysider wouldn’t see on a day-to-day basis?
We often walk past them without realising that they may have interesting stories to tell. The film is shot in documentary style. Is the intention to give the audience a story they can relate to more closely than traditional ‘fiction’? Yes, I want the audience to get the ‘raw reality’ feeling when watching it. What are the particular challenges of making an independent film in the Sydney market? Scheduling is challenging. Everyone is so busy with their own lives. Because most of the cast and crew were only able to film at nights and on weekends, I wrote a script where most of the scenes are night scenes. And it worked perfectly because I had a great cinematographer, Ferry Lie, who captured the wonders of Sydney nights. Another challenge is budget constraint. Due to budget limitation, you can only write things that you can afford to film. However, the budget shouldn’t limit your creativity in delivering a story that moves people. What: Adventures Of A Happy Homeless Man Where: Chauvel Cinema When: Monday July 18 – Thursday July 21
arts exposed what's in our diary
Capturing the comedy has been a process of bending and breaking the text. “It’s a real joy putting contemporary thought into the muscularity of ancient language,” says Shiels. “It’s hugely important to honour the language, but I think it’s equally important to treat the play irreverently. Of course, there are moments that have to be deeply felt but irreverence is often the key to comedy.” The opening line of Twelfth Night Or What You Will is Duke Orsino’s well-known proclamation: “If music be the food of love, play on.” And true to form, this Belvoir production will ignite an atmosphere of festive foolishness. Crafted by composer Alan John, there are a handful of original songs and musical numbers that will be integrated throughout the performance. “We have yet to take on the musical aspects,” says Shiels, “but I think there will be a lot of fun and feeling to come.” What: Twelfth Night Or What You Will Where: Belvoir St Theatre When: Saturday July 23 – Sunday September 4
Betrayal Ensemble Theatre, Saturday July 16 – Saturday August 20 Harold Pinter’s Betrayal tells the tale of a thrilling love triangle fuelled by guilt. Emma and Jerry embark on their affair, though Emma’s husband is also Jerry’s best friend. But as classic Pinter goes, there’s an unexpected twist that makes this play so memorable. Betrayal won Pinter a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 1979. Directed by Mark Kilmurry, the three main characters will be played by Guy Edmonds, Ursula Mills and Matthew Zeremes. Tickets start at $65 ($32 for students and $40 for the Club 30, ages 30 and under) and can be purchased at ensemble.com.au. BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 21
arts in focus
film & theatre reviews
COVER STORY
Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town
■ Film
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
Swiss Army Man
In cinemas now In keeping with the steady onslaught of “Disney made it famous, we’ll make it big budget”, the powers that be have turned The Legend Of Tarzan into a full-length feature film, complete with real-life humans and not-so-real-life gorillas, elephants and a whole host of other African animals to substantiate that we’re in Congo circa 1890.
[FILM] It’s A Gas By Adam Norris
I
t’s not much of a stretch to say Swiss Army Man is unlike any other film. Think of your favourite buddy cop movie. Now, transplant the action to an uninhabited island, lose the cops, ditch the bad guys, replace one with a gassy, slowly decaying corpse… Hmmm. OK, what about this – think Apocalypse Now, but instead of Vietnam we have magical bodily functions, and instead of Brando we have cross-dressing and navigating by erection… No? Finding Nemo, but with fart jokes and no fish? Clearly, any comparisons to this unlikely fable fall short. As Swiss Army Man directing team The Daniels explain, it all begins with a simple ‘what if?’. “It’s interesting,” says Daniel Scheinert. “I think there are two things that happen when we come up with an idea. The first is of course the narrative. What if a lonely man came across a magical farting corpse? That has a lot of meat to it. And the other is, back in the real world we’re asking, what if this movie existed? The metanarrative is just as exciting to us as the story that we’re trying to write. The best part is, what if we made a movie about a farting corpse and it was great? What if it was beautiful? And to us, that’s the ‘what if?’ that really drives us forward.” “The ‘what if?’ that got me on board for these four years,” Daniel Kwan recalls, “was what if we started a movie with a fart that
made you laugh, but ended with a fart that made you cry? If that happened for even a fraction of the population, I would be so proud of myself. I’ve achieved something in human history.” They laugh, because hey, fart jokes are funny. But therein lies a more serious, though no less hilarious truth. Body comedy is generally the domain of forgettable frat boy films and the occasional mainstream break-out – one need look no further than American Pie. Movies that aim to say something profound usually steer clear of butts, which The Daniels find bizarre. After all, it’s pretty unlikely you’ll ever be able to outrun your own. “I find quote-unquote ‘dramas’ to sometimes be unrelatable,” says Scheinert. “But dramedy actually connects with me. Those are the most serious films to me, because I find the real world so ridiculous if you see a film that doesn’t acknowledge that – it’s like we’re not speaking the same language. The absurdity is a way to explore some really honest soul-searching. I think lowbrow humour is easy, because it doesn’t take a lot of thought to come up with a weiner joke. What people take for granted is the reason that it’s easy is because it’s universal. We thought it was just really funny at first, but also really helpful to ground our movies with the human experience. Everybody has a butt, and that’s beautiful.” The directors laugh again. “People can’t believe there would
“What if we started a movie with a fart that made you laugh, but ended with a fart that made you cry? If that happened for even a fraction of the population, I would be so proud of myself.”
be a movie about a farting corpse that also is philosophical and existential,” Kwan continues. “I think real life combines all of those things at once, and I can’t see why our stories shouldn’t have that as well. I think this is the most honest film we could have made. Everybody has these things, but no-one’s OK with talking about it. I think the common consensus out there is when you put a fart joke into your movie, you’ve failed. And we always wanted people to rethink those kind of things, those judgements. It allows us to be a little more open – and really, we didn’t put a fart joke in a movie. We put a movie in a fart joke.” It’s a wonderful line, and hard to disagree with. Finding a magical farting corpse may sound like a one-trick gag – something you would struggle to stretch into a feature, let alone find some profundity in. But peculiar as it is, the movie works. It helps that Paul Dano (Hank) and Daniel Radcliffe (the dead Manny) bring legitimately impressive performances to these unlikely roles. For all its bizarre body humour, it makes us question what it is to be human – like David Cronenberg without the horror. “I definitely think we’re trapped by the body,” Scheinert says. “It’s a terrifying thing, to be a mind trapped inside the maze of a decayed body that we have minimal control over. I think that’s part of what Cronenberg does. In our case, rather than showing off how horrifying they are, we’re trying to celebrate it all. Rather than body horror, it’s body celebration, only amplified in a really absurd way. We’re a chain reaction, where just one domino inside needs to fall and we die. It’s a pretty scary thing to think about, but the fact that chain reaction has also led to us talking on the phone right now is kind of a miracle. I have a magical body, just like Manny.” “In the beginning we established some narrative rules,” Kwan explains, “and it took a long time to figure out what that spine was. A lot fell by the wayside, and we were always happy to see those things go, because it meant that the movie was making sense of itself, and our goal was for this seemingly unpalatable content to be an enjoyable cinematic experience with a spine and heart and resolution that felt worthwhile. It was stressful, but also fun to set those rules and stick to them. We feel pretty good about where it landed.” What: Swiss Army Man (dir. Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan) Where: In cinemas Thursday July 14
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Opening with Phil Collins and the soundtrack that carried a generation, the film quickly establishes that any expectations of an intriguing plot and nuanced acting are misplaced. CGI can only be so layered, and ogling at Alexander Skarsgård’s ridiculously in-shape torso can only allow for so much depth. What is delivered in The Legend Of Tarzan is a good old-fashioned romp about the forests of Congo, led by that beautiful Swedish Tarzan and flanked by a gorgeous Aussie Jane (Margot Robbie) – who, it must be said, does stir some tender feelings with demure long glances and courageous bouts of sticking it to the man, this time being Christoph Waltz. Yet for Jane and all her diving about in hippo-infested waters, it does feel ever so trite a nod to feminism and the multidimensional female characters audiences would love to have seen instead. Samuel L. Jackson offers comedic relief, yet is somehow awkwardly irritating and irrelevant for much of the film. Waltz, who’s ever so good at playing the insidiously evil albeit polite antagonist, is squandered. There’s a hauntingly abandoned tree house, densely packed with vintage goods. Token suspense is created by flashbacks of a baby in a cradle. Otherwise, two hours of this CGI outburst amount to little more than relentless action: swinging through the trees, riding a wildebeest, fighting near a thundering waterfall, fighting in the forest. It’s all there. The Legend Of Tarzan may not challenge you intellectually, but it does raise some important questions about the supremacy of man over beast; about human greed and hope; about sustainability, harmony and co-habitation. All these themes play out as you watch perfectly executed swing sequences, and know it was here that most of the money was spent. Amy Henderson
■ Musical Theatre
YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN Playing at Hayes Theatre Co. until Saturday July 30 Originally premiering in 1967, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown began as a concept album of songs inspired by the Peanuts cartoon strip before becoming an off-Broadway musical. Told as a series of vignettes, it explores the lives of our favourite characters, including Charlie and Snoopy, as live people. With a small cast and bare setting, Charlie Brown has spent decades in the doldrums of amateur theatre societies, but it’s refreshing to see it performed by a young and professional cast. This show is built for smaller theatres such as the Hayes, and the cast utilises this intimacy to excellent effect, having strong relationships with each other as well as the audience. Every member of the cast is outstanding, and visibly having fun with such rich characters. While not the strongest vocally, Mike Whalley captures the naive malaise of Charlie perfectly. He’s by no means the lead, though, and all of the ensemble cast equally inhabit their characters and bring them to life – not as adult actors playing children, but as children dealing with the problems of an adult world. Surprisingly, as the show hits its 50th anniversary, the music or jokes have hardly dated. Even though it’s without a plot, and could be just a little shorter, it still has the crowd in stitches throughout. Julian Ramundi
thebrag.com
Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK BLOOD ORANGE
book fashioned out of a dead body – a little sexier, a little more Michael Jackson – but the combination of miracle, melancholy and malice that makes that unholy Bible so significant is all over the record.
Freetown Sound Domino
Dev Hynes’ third Blood Orange album sounds like an identity crisis, but its thrust is firm.
One of the earliest examples of anthropodermic bibliopegy – the art of binding books in human skin – is a French copy of the Bible that dates back to the 13th century. Upon first glance it’s an ugly thing: a crumbling volume crafted from a very ancient pain. But spend enough time staring at its yellowed pages and the book begins to work its magic. It’s horrible, but mighty; steeped in suffering, but signifi cant in a way few other objects are. Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound works in exactly the same way. Sure, it’s a little more kitsch than a
Ear-wormy tracks like ‘Augustine’ are tempered with snatches of soliloquy – desperate, defiant monologues, like the speech that shatters the crystal cool electro of ‘By Ourselves’ into a thousand myriad pieces – while a song like ‘E.V.P.’ somehow manages to be quietly tragic and desperately danceable at the same time. It’s R&B that’s caught a glimpse of itself at two in the morning in a grotty bathroom mirror – a very bad time masquerading itself as a very good one. Joseph Earp
BAT FOR LASHES
COOL SOUNDS
DJ SHADOW
BIG THIEF
WITCH HATS
Concept albums are contemporary music’s perennially uncool uncle – antiquated, lumbering things, forever accidentally embarrassing themselves at the family dinner table. For every The Suburbs there’s an American Idiot, and even bands creating singularly minded albums like King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard’s Nonagon Infi nity avoid invoking the dreaded ‘concept album’ phrase.
Featuring members of The Ocean Party and Ciggie Witch, Cool Sounds are a wonderful hybrid of their other projects, with a clear line of difference. Describing themselves as ‘jazz-gaze’, they utilise synths and even the odd saxophone to create a sound that is vibrant and buoyant.
It’s strange to be attracted to unintrusiveness as a musical quality, but DJ Shadow has consistently made it a hypnotic prospect. His albums all feel so welcoming; they ease into your mind, ignite your curiosity and slowly entice you into his surreal vibes. Even his most energetic soundscapes don’t require any effort, and by the time you’ve realised how deeply you’ve drifted, it’s too late – you’re already hooked.
From the lo-fi fuzz of opening track ‘Little Arrow’, Big Thief’s debut clearly marks the descent into its sweetly perturbed depths. The world of Masterpiece is emotionally charged and deceptively complex for indie rock these days, but never melodramatic. It’s an honest and disarming account of the pain that comes with the gradual erosion of innocence and love.
Ten years ago, Witch Hats held court in the smoke, piss and vomit-stained environs of Melbourne’s Pony club, banging out bruising gothic punk melodies and spitting invective against the office-bearers of the Alphington Junior Football Club. At the time, the prospect of them writing a song that sounded like The Go-Betweens would have been as incongruous as Bobby Gillespie donning a Hawaiian shirt and fronting The Beach Boys.
The Bride Parlophone/Warner
Bat For Lashes’ The Bride is unlikely to reinvigorate the genre. Though not an abject failure by any means, it does come with its own fair share of daggy concept album hallmarks, from the ever-so-slightly underwritten quality of the story itself (groom dies, bride goes on a journey of self-discovery, trademark melancholy surreality ensues) to the laughably melodramatic sound effects that kick off ‘Honeymooning Alone’. Nonetheless, the record is spotted here and there with pleasures. ‘Close Encounters’ combines Lynchian mystery and Natasha Khan’s shattered glass vocals to great success, and ‘Clouds’ pulls the record to a close with a surprisingly effective sense of satisfaction. It’s all brittle opera; a prayer that has had its shins grazed, and the sense of tragedy it leaves in its wake is palpable. Yet despite the strong third act, it’s all too little, too late. Though not a box office bomb, one hopes The Bride doesn’t spawn a sequel. Joseph Earp
Dance Moves Deaf Ambitions
With track names that are as straight to the point as the songs themselves, Dance Moves jumps into things with ‘Control’. Intricate guitar picking introduces the track as a gentle synth comes into the mix without ever feeling out of place. The fasterpaced songs on the record are also masterfully executed, with the likes of ‘Runs Wild’ and ‘Patina’ capturing the band’s immediate energy. Cool Sounds place a lot of emphasis on introspection, and throughout the album they’re refreshingly forthright in the themes they want to convey. On ‘Shake’, lead singer Dainis Lacey pleas, “Stop looking my way”, while ‘Rinsed’ sees him passionately declaring, “I need your heart and soul, total control”. While the album could at times benefit from a wider scope of sounds, it still dazzles from the very first listen and serves as the perfect snapshot of a band confident in its output.
The Mountain Will Fall Mass Appeal
Embracing the experimental possibilities of trap and EDM, The Mountain Will Fall is one of Shadow’s darker efforts, with his penchant for catchy samples and slivers of melancholic essence mutating further into heavy, bass-driven abnormalities. The opening title track eases you in with a theatrically tranquil journey set among ’80s synth-tinged galactic frontiers. It’s sweet and serene, but abruptly changes gears into the filthy funk-fused ‘Nobody Speak’, featuring a furiously foul-mouthed Run The Jewels. For many albums, that could be considered jarring. For Shadow, it’s just another of his deliberately disorienting tactics, and the desire to figure out what you’ve stumbled upon sucks you in further.
An exciting future beckons as one of the leading bands in the independent scene.
This album is at its best when it reminds you of Shadow’s classic flourishes, but otherwise, The Mountain Will Fall is a bold step into a strange new age.
Holly Pereira
Jacob Colliver
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Following the success of their debut Barbed Wire Metal in 2011 and the Heart Racer EP in 2015, Elm Street are firing up the metal scene with their new album Knock ’Em Out… With A Metal Fist. It’s an adrenalinebooster, with an explosion of twin guitar riffs and drums that instantly make you want to headbang.
ELM STREET
Knock ’Em Out… With A Metal Fist Firestarter
thebrag.com
The record starts off with ‘Face The Reaper’, which opens with acoustics that layer the song with a tender overtone, but then weaves some smashing guitar riffs and drums to break up the softness. Vocalist Ben Batres screams and you suddenly feel like you’re on a roller coaster as that fast-paced hardcore bliss breaks out. It is pure metal, and absolutely amazing.
‘Kiss The Canvas’ kicks off with soaring guitars and upbeat drums, while ‘Sabbath’ boasts a catchy drum beat that gallops throughout the song. ‘Heart Racer’ has some phenomenal guitar riffs, and when Batres snarls, “Back on the streets, on the run from the law / See us coming, she sent me back for more”, it completes the rebellious rock’n’roll vibe of the track. The album concludes with ‘Leave It All Behind’, a melodic song that showcases the band’s softer side. But we won’t be leaving this behind anytime soon.
Masterpiece Spunk
Deliverance In-Fidelity/Sony
There’s no doubt Adrianne Lenker and company are incredibly talented, and it’s the musical content that really acts as the frame that encompasses Lenker’s beautifully brutal tales. ‘Real Love’ is the track that perhaps best exemplifies the album as a whole. As a raw lament on the continuous circle of violent, volatile relationships, it juxtaposes an early example of feuding parents and an onslaught of horrible experiences that rust hardened layers around a sensitive heart. The guitars swell continuously like an aching blister, ascending from tragic twang to hot, stingingly angry thrashes – but it never gives the satisfaction of bursting, providing no relief to the uncomfortable bitterness. This artistic direction is both the point and the problem with the album and it can feel hopelessly paralysing. If you’re brave enough, Masterpiece will leave you soberingly tender.
Yet, lo and behold, here it is: ‘Religious Sickness’, the third track from the band’s belated new record, Deliverance. Its sweet, jaunty, and unashamed pop sensibility is buffed ever so slightly by the occasional jagged guitar lick and thundering bassline. But save for the equally poppy ‘Peeperman’ – a pun-ish sequel to ‘Pepperman’ from their debut EP – Deliverance is the logical quantum leap you’d hope and expect. ‘Weekend Holocauster’ spits and snarls like a Wipers-inspired punk philosophical rant on the detritus of modern society. ‘Trying To Forget’ is dark and threatening, with a surprising outro of soft sand pop. ‘Child In The Ceiling’ is ’70s FM radio rock with an acidic bite. ‘Strange Life’ sees the album out with a rambling seven-minute acid rock and pop journey that’s truly mesmerising.
Masterpiece may not be what you want, but it’s good at what it does.
It’s good to have Witch Hats back. Long may they reign.
Jacob Colliver
Patrick Emery
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... HOUNDSTOOTH - No News From Home PJ HARVEY - Let England Shake TALES IN SPACE - Formula
RADIOHEAD - OK Computer DAVID BOWIE - The Next Day
Christine Tsimbis
BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 23
BARS BRAG
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
Ash St Cellar 1 Ash St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri 8.30am-11pm The Attic 275 Pitt St, Sydney CBD (02) 9284 1200 Mon – Wed 10am-midnight; Thu 10am-1.30am; Fri 10am-3am; Sat noon1.30am
The Australian Heritage Hotel 100 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 2229 Mon – Sun 10.30am-midnight Bar Eleven Lvl 11, 161 Sussex St, Sydney CBD (02) 9290 4712 Mon – Thu 4-9pm; Fri – Sat 4-11pm The Barber Shop 89 York St, Sydney CBD
(02) 9299 9699 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight
Burrow Bar De Mestre Place, Sydney 0450 466 674 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight
Basement Bar Basement, 27-33 Goulburn St, Sydney CBD (02) 8970 5813 Mon – Thu 5pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight
The Captain’s Balcony 46 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 3526 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight
The Baxter Inn Basement 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-1am
deVine 32 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 6906 Mon – Fri 11.30am-11.30pm; Sat 5.30-11.30pm
Bulletin Place First Floor, 10-14 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thurs – Sat 4pm-1am; Sun 4-10pm
Easy Eight 152-156 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 3769
THE LITTLE GUY
The Fox Hole 68A Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 4369 Mon 7am-3pm; Tue – Fri 7am-late
Frankie’s Pizza 50 Hunter St, Sydney CBD Sun – Thu 4pm-3am; Fri noon-3am Gilt Lounge 49 Market St, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 0000 Mon – Fri 5pm-2am; Sun 5pm-midnight The Glenmore 96 Cumberland St, The Rocks (02) 9247 4794 Mon – Thu, Sun 11am-midnight; Fri – Sat 11am-1am Grain Bar 199 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9250 3118 Sun – Fri noon-9pm Grandma’s Basement 275 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 3004 Mon – Fri 3pm-midnight;
bar bar
OF
ADDRESS: 87 GLEBE POINT RD, GLEBE WEBSITE: THELITTLEGUY.COM.AU OPENING HOURS: MON – FRI 4PM-MIDNIGHT; SAT 1PM-MIDNIGHT; SUN 3-10PM
Sat 5pm-1am
El Camino Cantina 18 Argyle St, The Rocks Mon – Thu noonmidnight; Fri – Sat noon-3am; Sun 11.30am-midnight
TH
EK
A Work In Progress 50 King St, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Mon – Fri noon-2am; Sat 5pm-2am
Assembly 488 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9283 8808 Mon – Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight
Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight
E E W
The Grasshopper 1 Temperance Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9947 9025 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri noon-1am; Sat 4pm-1am Harpoon Harry 40-44 Wentworth Ave, Sydney CBD (02) 8262 8800 Mon – Sat 11.30am-3am; Sun 11am-midnight Kittyhawk 16 Phillip Ln, Sydney CBD Mon – Thu 3pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 3pm-2am The Lobo Plantation Basement Lot 1, 209 Clarence St, Sydney CBD 0415 554 908 Mon – Thu, Sat 4pm-midnight; Fri 2pm-midnight The Local Bar 161 Castlereagh St, Sydney CBD (02) 9953 0027 Mon – Wed 7.30am-10pm; Thu – Fri 7.30am-11pm The Loft (UTS) 15 Broadway, Sydney (behind 2SER) (02) 9514 1149 Mon – Fri 2-11pm Mojo Record Bar Basement 73 York St, Sydney CBD (02) 9262 4999 Mon – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu 4pm-1am; Fri – Sat 4pm-1am The Morrison 225 George St, Sydney CBD (02) 9247 6744 Mon – Wed 7.30am-11pm; Thu 7.30am-midnight; Fri 7.30am-2am; Sat 11.30am-2am The Palisade 35 Bettington St, Millers Point 9018 0123 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat – Sun 11am-midnight Mr Tipply’s 347 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 4877 Mon – Thu 11.30am-10pm; Fri 11.30am-midnight; Sat 10pm-4am
Sounds: We put on a range of different stuff, from blues to folk to solo singersongwriters, with live music every Thursday and Sunday and bands for special events like tap takeovers or art shows. Other than the live tunes, there will always be something great playing that breathes and morphs with the mood and feeling of the bar.
The front bar is where it is at, where you can be sure to get wrapped up in conversation with strangers (even if that stranger may be the bartender). If talkin’ ain’t yo thang then there are two large back rooms or a small space upstairs where you can sip in solitude and relative privacy or canoodle on the couch with a hot date. There’s also some of the best free live music in Sydney with bands like The Sweet Jelly Rolls and The Button Collective and soloists like Stephanie Grace and G.C. O’Connor crooning from under the stairs. The Little Guy is like a home away from home full of interesting strangers, great booze, and did we mention free popcorn that didn’t come out of a microwave?
Highlights: A great vibe and a place that feels like home with friendly faces and friendly service. The warmest bar in the Inner West.
The bill comes to: A pizza from next door and a pint of beer won’t set you back over $30, and we will even throw in all you can eat popcorn.
small but punchy wine list, an impressive back bar and a rotating, original cocktail menu or any made-to-order concoction that your heart may desire, plus mulled wine for winter. We also provide small meat and cheese share plates, and the pizza next door and the Vietnamese down the road deliver straight to your bar stool!
Tell us about your bar: The Little Guy is a holein-the-wall neighbourhood bar in the heart of Glebe that is a whole lot bigger than its name would suggest. With free popcorn, the best small bar trivia in Sydney, live music on Thursdays and Sundays as well as on special events, giant Jenga, drink specials
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throughout the week and a huge back bar, there is always something happening at The Little Guy, even if it is just great beers and banter or cracking good times all round. What’s on the menu? Free popcorn! A huge range of great Australian and NZ craft beers, a
Palmer & Co. Abercrombie Ln, Sydney CBD (02) 9240 3000 Sun – Weds 5pm-3am; Thu 3pm-3am; Fri noon-3am; Sat 4pm-3am Papa Gede’s Bar Laneway at the end of 348 Kent St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 5671 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Plan B Small Club 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney CBD Wed 5pm-11pm; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri 5pm-3am; Sat 6pm-3am Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern 199 Elizabeth St, Sydney CBD Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Rockpool Bar & Grill 66 Hunter St, Sydney CBD (02) 8078 1900 Mon – Sat noon-3pm, 6-11pm 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 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 4.30pm-midnight; Sat 6pm-midnight Small Bar 48 Erskine St, Sydney CBD (02) 9279 0782 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight The Smoking Panda 5-7 Park St, Sydney CBD (02) 9264 4618 Mon – 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 noon-11.30pm Uncle Ming’s 55 York St, Sydney CBD Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 4pm-midnight York Lane 56 Clarence St, Sydney CBD (02) 9299 1676 Mon – Wed 6.30am-10pm; Thu – Fri 6am-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 Cleveland Cnr Bourke & Cleveland St, Redfern (02) 9698 1908 Mon – Thu 10am-2am; Fri – Sat 10am-4am Bar H 80 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 1980 Mon – Sat 6pm-11.30 Bellini Lounge 2 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 9331 0058 Thu – Sun 6pm-late The Bells Hotel 1 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9357 3765 Mon – Sun 10am-1am The Beresford 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 8313 5000 Mon – Sun noon-1am Big Poppa’s 96 Oxford St, Darlinghurst Mon – Sun 5pm-3am Black Penny 648 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 9319 5061 Mon – Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm 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 Central Tavern 42-50 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 Wed 6-11pm; Thu – Sat 6pm-1am; Sun 5-10pm The Cliff Dive 16-18 Oxford Square, Darlinghurst Fri – Sat 6pm-late The Commons 32 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9358 1487 Tue – Wed 6pm-midnight; Thu – Fri noon-late; Sat – Sun 8:30am-late Darlo Bar 306 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 3672 Mon – Sun 10am-midnight Darlo Country Club Level 1, 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 4279 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 5pm-2am Dead Ringer 413 Bourke St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3560 Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-midnight Della Hyde 34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst Thu – Sat 5pm-late Eau-De-Vie 229 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst 0422 263 226 Sun – Fri 6pm-1am; Sat 6pm-midnight The Forresters 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Mon – Wed noon-midnight; Thu – Sat noon-1am; Sun noon-10pm Gardel’s Bar 358 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 8399 1440 Tue – Sat 6pm-midnight Gazebo 2 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Elizabeth Bay (02) 8070 2424 Tue – Sun noon-midnight Golden Age Cinema & Bar 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills (02) 9211 1556 Wed – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat – Sun 2:30pm-midnight Goros 84-86 Mary St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 0214 Mon – Wed 11:30am-midnight; Thu 11:30am-1am: Fri 11:30am-3am; Satӱ4pm-3am Hinky Dinks 185 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6379 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 2-11pm Hollywood Hotel 2 Foster St, Surry Hills (02) 9281 2765 Mon – Wed 10am-midnight; Thu – Sat 10am-3am The Horse 381 Crown St, Surry Hills 1300 976 683 Mon – Thu noon-midnight; Fri 11.30am-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon10pm Jangling Jack’s Bar & Grill 175 Victoria St, Potts Point thebrag.com
Tue – Wed 4-11pm, Thu – Sat 4-1am, Sun noon-11pm
Li’l Darlin Darlinghurst 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst (02) 8084 6100 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight Li’l Darlin Surry Hills 420 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills (02) 9698 5488 Mon – Fri noon-11pm; Sat 4pm-midnight LL Wine and Dine 42 Llankelly Place Potts Point (02) 9356 8393 Mon – Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm The Local Taphouse 122 Flinders St, Darlinghurst (02) 9360 0088 Mon – Sun noon-9:30pm Love, Tilly Devine 91 Crown Ln, Darlinghurst (02) 9326 9297 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 5-10pm Low 302 302 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1548 Mon – Sun 6pm-2am Mr Fox 557 Crown St, Surry Hills 0410 470 250 Tue – Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm The Norfolk 305 Cleveland St, Surry Hills (02) 9699 3177 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Old Growler 218 William St, Woolloomooloo 0458 627 266 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight The Oxford Circus 231 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 0457 353 384 Wed – Sun 7pm-late Peekaboo 120 Bourke St, Woolloomooloo 0403 747 788 Tue – Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight Play Bar 72 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 0885 Tue – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 5pm-midnight Pocket Bar 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst (02) 9380 7002 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight The Powder Keg 7 Kellett St, Potts Point (02) 8354 0980 Wed – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4:30pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-midnight
(02) 9130 1033 Tue – Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat – Sun 2pm-midnight
Rosie Campbell’s 320 Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9356 4653 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sun 11am-midnight
Jam Gallery 195 Oxford St, Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485 Tue 4pm-midnight; Wed – Sat 4pm-3am
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 – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu – Fri 5pm-3am; Sat – Sun 6pm-3am Surly’s 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 3705 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Sweethearts Rooftop 33/37 Darlinghurst Rd, Potts Point (02) 9368 7333 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sun noon-midnight This Must Be The Place 239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst (02) 9331 8063 Mon – Sun 3pm-midnight The Tilbury Hotel 12-18 Nicholson St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9368 1955 Mon 9am-10pm; Tue – Fri 9am-midnight; Sat 10am-midnight; Sun 10am-10pm Tio’s Cerveceria 4-14 Foster St, Surry Hills (02) 9368 1955 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight Vasco 421 Cleveland St, Redfern 0406 775 436 Mon – Sat 5pm-midnight The Village Inn 9-11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Mon – Sun noon-late The Wild Rover 75 Campbell St, Surry Hills (02) 9280 2235 Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight The Winery 285A Crown St, Surry Hills (02) 9331 0833 Mon – Sun noon-midnight
Anchor Bar 8 Campbell Pde, Bondi (02) 8084 3145 Mon – Fri 5pm-late; Sat – Sun 12.30pm-late Bat Country 32 St Pauls St, Randwick (@ The Spot) (02) 9398 6694 Mon – Sat 7am-midnight; Sun 7am-10pm Beach Road Hotel 71 Beach Rd, Bondi Beach (02) 9130 7247 Mon – Fri 11am-1am; Sat 10am-1am; Sun 10am-10pm
The Print Room 11 Glenmore Rd, Paddington (02) 9331 0911 Thu – Fri noon-midnight; Sun – Wed noon-10pm
Bondi Hardware 39 Hall St, Bondi (02) 9365 7176 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri noon-midnight; Sat 9am-midnight; Sun 9am-8pm
Queenie’s Upstairs 336 Riley St, Surry Hills (02) 9212 3035 Tue – Thu 6-11.45pm, Fri 11am-2.30pm & 6-11.45pm; Sat 6-11.45pm
The Bucket List Shop 1, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive (02) 9365 4122 Mon – Tue 11am-5pm; Wed – Sun 11am-midnight
Riley St Garage 55 Riley St, Woolloomooloo (02) 9326 9055 Mon – Sat noon-midnight
The Corner House 281 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 8020 6698 Tue – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 1pm-10pm
Roosevelt 32 Orwell St, Potts Point (02) 8696 1787
Fat Ruperts 249 Bondi Rd, Bondi
thebrag.com
The Phoenix Hotel 1 Moncur St, Woollahra (02) 9363 2608 Tue – Wed 4-11pm; Thu – Fri 11.30am-1am; Sat 8am-11pm; Sun 8am-10pm The Robin Hood Hotel 203 Bronte Rd, Waverley (02) 9389 3477 Mon-Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-10pm Speakeasy 83 Curlewis St, Bondi (02) 9130 2020 Mon – Sat 5pm-11pm; Sat – Sun 4pm-10pm Spring Street Social 110 Spring St, Bondi Junction (02) 9389 2485 Tue – Sat 5pm-3am Stuffed Beaver 271 Bondi Rd, Bondi (02) 9130 3002 Mon – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
Mon – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat – Sun 3.30pm-midnight
POKÉMON GO CHEAT SHEET
Forest Lodge Hotel 117 Arundel St, Forest Lodge (02) 9660 1872 Mon – Sat 11am-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
In case news of its release has not yet swamped your Facebook feed, the long-awaited Pokémon Go is officially in the wild, and as addictive as expected. But if you’re only just jumping in, here are a few helpful hints to make your grand adventure a little less confusing.
Freda’s 109 Regent St, Chippendale (02) 8971 7336 Tues – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm The Gasoline Pony 115 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville 0401 002 333 Tue – Thu 5-11.30pm; Fri – Sat 3-11.30pm; Sun 3-9.30pm The Grifter Brewing Co. 1/391-397 Enmore Rd, Marrickville (02) 9550 5742 Thu 4-9pm; Fri – Sat noon9pm; Sun noon-7pm The Hideaway Bar 156 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8021 8451 Tue– Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 4pm-1am
Bar-racuda 105 Enmore Rd, Newtown (02) 9519 1121 Mon – Sat 6pm-midnight Batch Brewing Company 44 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville (02) 9550 5432 Mon – Sun 10am-8pm
Kelly’s On King 285 King St, Newtown (02) 9565 2288 Mon – Fri 10am-2.30am; Sat 10am-3.30am; Sun 11am-11.30pm
Bauhaus West 163 Enmore Rd, Enmore (02) 8068 9917 Wed – Thu 5-11pm; Fri 4-11pm; Sat 2-10pm; Sun midday-10pm
Knox Street Bar Cnr Knox & Shepherd St, Chippendale (02) 8970 6443 Tue – Thu 4-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 5-10pm
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 – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Calaveras 324 King St, Newtown 0451 541 712 Wed – Sat 6pm-midnight Cornerstone Bar & Food 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh (02) 8571 9004 Sun – Wed 10am-5pm; Thu – Fri 10am-late; Sat 9am-late Corridor 153A King St, Newtown 0405 671 002 Mon 5pm-midnight; Tue 4pm-midnight; Wed – Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Cottage Bar & Kitchen 342 Darling St, Balmain (02) 8084 8185 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9552 3406 Mon 4.30-11pm; Tue – Wed 4.30pm-1am; Thu – Sat 4.30pm-2am; Sun 4.30am-midnight Doris & Beryl’s Bridge Club and Tea House 530 King St, Newtown
Gaming news and reviews with Adam Guetti
Earl’s Juke Joint King St, Newtown Mon – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm
Hive Bar 93 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville (02) 9519 1376 Mon – Fri noon-midnight; Sat 11am-midnight; Sun 11am-10pm
The Bearded Tit 183 Regent St, Redfern (02) 8283 4082 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
game on
1. Pokémon are tied to locations by geography and environment Hang out near Sydney Harbour and you may be lucky enough to stumble upon a Gyarados… or get stuck with a Magikarp. Meanwhile, visit your local park and Caterpie, Pidgey and more will be yours for the taking. At this stage, though, show a little persistence and you can find Pokémon outside of their usual habitat.
2. Don’t forget about your eggs Throughout your travels you’re likely to amass a small egg collection (mainly from PokéStops). The hatching of these eggs, much like the original game, is tied to walking. Each egg is labelled with a mandatory distance – two kilometers, five kilometers, et cetera – so to incubate it, you must place your pride and joy inside an incubator and get your steps on.
3. Always catch multiples Already have yourself a Rattata? Well that doesn’t mean your job is over. Every Pokémon you collect will come with a character-specific candy. Collect enough candies and you’ll eventually be able to trigger an evolution, so always catch multiples of the same fighters to build up your stash.
4. Footprints equals proximity As you explore the great outdoors, you’ve surely seen silhouettes of Pokémon that are within your vicinity. What you probably don’t know is that those tiny little footprints beneath each silhouette acts as a guide for just how far they are. The more prints, the further away the Pokémon is, and vice versa.
ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
NEWS
Hustle & Flow Bar 3/105 Regent St, Redfern (02) 8964 93932 Tue – Thu 6pm-midnight; Fri – Sat 5pm-midnight; Sun 2pm-midnight
Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 3-10pm
Microsoft has announced that all games it publishes will now be part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program. “Every new title published from Microsoft Studios will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store,” wrote corporate vice president Yusuf Mehdi on the Windows Blog. For those playing catch-up, Xbox Play Anywhere was introduced at this year’s E3 and will allow games included in the program to be cross-compatible for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC – including all-important save files. ReCore, the latest game from legendary creator Keiji Inafune, is currently the first title scheduled for the program. You can get your hands on it from Tuesday September 13.
KEEPING CONTROL
As the world begins to lose its collective mind over Nintendo’s debut in the mobile market via Pokémon Go, the company is already talking about its plans for future titles. First and foremost: the admission that there are no current plans to create physical controllers for its applications – though that could change in the future. “Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves,” Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo’s general manager of entertainment planning and development, said during a shareholder meeting. However, Takahashi admitted that it’s also possible to ignore them completely. “Releasing applications for non-Nintendo platforms is one challenge for us, and we will try all kinds of things as we continue this challenge,” he said.
Review: Trials Of The Blood Dragon (PS4, XBO, PC)
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) 8084 0758 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 Mr Falcon’s 92 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9029 6626 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri 3pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun 4pm-10pm Newtown Social Club 387 King St, Newtown (02) 9550 3974 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-2am; Sun noon-10pm The Oxford Tavern 1 New Canterbury Rd, Petersham (02) 8019 9351 Mon – Thu noon-midnight; Fri – Sat noon-3am; Sun noon-10pm Lord Raglan 12 Henderson Rd,
F
or the uninitiated, the Trials series harks back to a classically old-school style of game design – tasking you with guiding a stunt motorcycle along increasingly complex 2D courses with minimal failure. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, on the other hand, was an ’80s-inspired spin-off of the popular FPS franchise. From afar, the two franchises appear to pair as well as chalk and cheese, but the surprising release of Trials Of The Blood Dragon proves otherwise, painting over most elements with an ’80s and ’90s glow that helps breathe new life into Trials’ DNA – even if that isn’t necessarily always for the better. Taking place a few years after Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Trials Of The Blood Dragon adheres to a Saturday morning cartoon framework, returning focus to Rex ‘Power’ Colt who has retired from killing Blood Dragons, and is raising children Slayter and Roxanne instead. That is until Colt’s wife mysteriously disappears and he himself dies fighting Vietnam War 4, leaving his teenage children to finish what he started. Unsurprisingly, whenever the game focuses on motorcycles – RedLynx’s bread and butter – Trials Of The Blood Dragon is a boatload of fun. Not every level reaches the complexity of its often monstrous predecessors, but by toying with the ’80s aesthetic, the courses become zany, creative affairs. The inclusion of a grappling hook only amplifies this, adding another layer as you attempt to swing your vehicle from platform to platform, while an RC car that can rapidly accelerate and reverse also allows for some outside-the-box creations. However, the moment Roxanne and Slayter dismount their bikes – which is far more often than you’d think – the game takes a sharp and harmful turn, swapping tried-and-tested gameplay for a rather underdeveloped platformer with twin-stick shooter foundations that fundamentally tarnishes the overall experience. Levels that grant you control over a jetpack with a highly sensitive bomb are particularly likely to send you mad. There’s still plenty of enjoyment within Trials Of The Blood Dragon (especially thanks to a fantastic soundtrack), and the level of experimentation on offer has to be commended. But the varying degree to which those experiments work prevents it from being the no-brainer recommendation it should have been. Adam Guetti BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 25
live review
Alexandria (02) 9699 4767 Mon – Sat noonmidnight; Sun noon10pm
What we’ve been out to see...
The Record Crate 34 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9660 1075 Mon – Thu 5pm-midnight; Sat 2pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm The Royal 156 Norton St, Leichhardt (02) 9569 2638 Mon – Thu 10am-1am; Fri – Sat 10am-3am; Sun 10am-midnight Secret Garden Bar 134a Enmore Rd, Enmore 0403 621 585 Mon – Tue 7am-5pm; Wed – Fri 7am-11pm; Sat 7am-10pm; Sun 7am-11pm Staves Brewery 4-8 Grose Street, Glebe (02) 9280 4555 Thu 4-10pm; Fri – Sat 4pm-midnight; Sun 4-10pm Temperance Society 122 Smith St, Summer Hill (02) 8068 5680 Mon – Thu 4pm-11pm; Fri – Sat: noon-midnight; Sun: noon-10pm
BROODS, XAVIER DUNN, VERA BLUE
utterly bewitching. Blue could probably make gargling enchanting.
Expectations were lofty for Georgia and Caleb Nott, AKA Broods, ahead of their Enmore Theatre show. The New Zealand duo were fresh from playing stadiums supporting Ellie Goulding, had sold out their own eastern seaboard tour and recently dropped a second LP, Conscious, an album intentionally crafted to deliver high-energy performances. The bar was high for the synthpop pair, and they jumped higher.
As far as explosive beginnings go, Broods took the cake. Their set opened with dewdrop keys and Georgia’s breathy voice tiptoeing through the first verse of ‘Conscious’. It was a tease, and the fans knew it. There was a pause, a lyrical war cry – “Wait for the explosion!” – and lights blazed, synths swelled and the Notts were illuminated in all their space-cowboy badassery, wearing sleek trench coats adorned with tassels (which Georgia particularly seemed to relish as she prowled across the stage).
Enmore Theatre Saturday July 9
The evening began with falsetto-driven, ambient numbers from electro whizz Xavier Dunn. Quite the cover king, Dunn crept into the spotlight earlier this year when his folkified version of Iggy Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ reached number one on Spotify’s US Viral Chart. The song was a gem in the Sydneysider’s set, the lyrics “Who dat, who dat / That do that, do that” never sounding so sweetly earnest. Then came Vera Blue. The lusciouslocked singer-songwriter swept onto stage like an urban gothic goddess, clad in black and backed by swirling ghostly vocals. If anyone harbored doubts over the skill level of ex-The Voice finalists, Blue’s crystalline vocal gymnastics obliterated them. An easy 50 per cent of the electro-folk musician’s set consisted of improvised woo-ing and ooh-ing, but those monosyllabic melodies were
Thievery 91 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 8283 1329 Mon – Thu 6pm-11pm; Fri 6pm-midnight; Sat noon-3pm & 6pm-midnight Timbah 375 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (02) 9571 7005 Tue – Thu 4-10pm; Fri 4-11pm; Sat 3pm-11pm; Sun 4pm-8pm
Wayward Brewing Co. 1 Gehrig Ln, Annandale (02) 7903 2445 Thu – Sat 2-10pm; Sun noon-8pm Websters Bar 323 King St, Newtown (02) 9519 1511 Mon – Sat 10am-4am; Sun 10am-midnight Wilhelmina’s 332 Darling St, Balmain (02) 8068 8762 Wed – Fri 5-11pm; Sat – Sun 8am-11pm The Workers Lvl 1, 292 Darling St, Balmain (02) 9555 8410 Fri – Sat 5pm-3am; Sun 2pm-midnight Young Henrys D & E, 76 Wilford St, Newtown (02) 9519 0048 Mon – Sat 10am-7pm; Sun noon-7pm Zigi’s Wine And Cheese Bar 86 Abercrombie St, Chippendale (02) 9699 4222 Tue 4pm-10pm; Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu – Sat 3pm-midnight
Crooked Tailor 250 Old Northern Road, Castle Hill (02) 9899 3167 Mon – Sun 4pm-midnight Daniel San 55 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9977 6963 Mon – Thu 4pm-midnight; Friday – Saturday noon–2am; Sunday noon-midnight
Firefly 24 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 0193 Mon – Wed 5-11pm; Thu 5-11.30pm; Fri noon11.30pm; Sat noon-11pm; Sun noon-10pm The Foxtrot 28 Falcon St, Crows Nest Tue – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu 5pm-1am; Fri 4pm-2am; Sat 5pm-2am; Sun 4-10pm The Hayberry Bar & Diner 97 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest (02) 8084 0816 Tue – Thu 4pm-midnight; Fri & Sat noon-midnight Sun noon-10pm Hemingway’s 48 North Steyne, Manly (02) 9976 3030 Mon – Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 8am-10pm The Hold Shop 4, Sydney Rd Plaza, Manly (02) 9977 2009 Tue – Fri 5pm-midnight; Sat 3pm-midnight; Sun 3-10pm Honey Rider 230 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9953 8880 Tue – Sat 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 noonmidnight; Sun noon-10pm Jah Bar Shop 9, 9-15 Central Ave,
Your bar’s not here? Email chris@ thebrag.com
Manly (02) 9977 4449 Tue 5pm-midnight; Wed-Fri noon-midnight; Sat 8am-midnight; Sun 9am-midnight Manly Wine 8-13 South Steyne, Manly (02) 8966 9000 Mon – Sun 6.30am-late Miami Cuba 47 North Steyne, Manly 0487 713 350 Mon – Sun 8am-4pm Moonshine Lvl 2, Hotel Steyne, 75 The Corso, Manly (02) 9977 4977 Mon – Thu 9am-3pm; Fri – Sat 9am-2am; Sun 9am-midnight The Pickled Possum 254 Military Rd, Neutral Bay (02) 9909 2091 Thu – Sat 9pm-1am SoCal 1 Young St, Neutral Bay (02) 9904 5691 Mon – Wed 5pm-midnight; Thu 5pm-1am; Sat noon-2am; Sun noon-midnight The Stoned Crow 39 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest (02) 9439 5477 Mon – Sat noon-late; Sun 11.30am-10pm The Treehouse Hotel 60 Miller St, North Sydney (02) 8458 8980 Mon – Fri 7am-midnight; Sat 2pm-midnight
It was a performance of carefully orchestrated details. From the dazzling synchronised lights to the tiered stage layout, the pithy setlist to the playful costuming (an outfit change saw Georgia don a more frolic-friendly white playsuit, still with tassels), each element worked together to create moments of impact and intimacy. Electro thumpers ‘Free’ and ‘Mother & Father’ had the floor mirroring Georgia’s sashays, slow-burner ‘Freak Of Nature’ was a crescendoing catharsis of Adele proportions, while a surprise cameo from Jarryd James led to an affecting acoustic duet of ‘1000x’. Following in the footsteps of Kiwi coterie Lorde, Kimbra and Marlon Williams, Broods’ Enmore show proved they are on the up. More talent and tassels await. Jennifer Hoddinett
SAT 16 JULY SPECIAL GUESTS
BEN LEPKE
(WELCOME TO THE FAMILY)
ANDY EF
RESIDENT
KERRY WALLACE MESAN
1 0 P M T I L L L AT E PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
26 :: BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16
$10 BEFORE 12AM / $15 AFTER 1 9 9 E N M O R E R O A D W W W. S LY F O X . S Y D N E Y
thebrag.com
live reviews
DREAM ON DREAMER, THE BRAVE, STEPSON
What we’ve been out to see...
The Bald Faced Stag Saturday July 9
THE FALL OF TROY, CLOSURE IN MOSCOW, MENISCUS, OSAKA PUNCH
some bright spark decides to start calling out for ‘Free Bird’ like they’re the first to think of it. Much like that heckle, Closure In Moscow are inexplicably still around in 2016.
Manning Bar Wednesday July 6
Eight-and-a-half years ago, The Fall Of Troy took the Soundwave stage in the scorching heat of the mid-afternoon, delivering one of the best sets of the day to a boisterous crowd. Now, here we are, with one of the smallest crowds Manning Bar has seen in some time. It’s partially to do with an overzealous ticket price and an oversized venue – this would work far better at Newtown Social Club, or even literally across the street at Hermann’s. It should be stressed, however, that it has nothing to do with the band itself. As the US rockers charge into ‘I Just Got This Symphony Goin’’, a spark is lit and they get lost in the moment.
Osaka Punch are, put simply, a band of AIM students fronted by a NIDA graduate. In other words, it’s music-as-sport fret-churning as led by a Mike Patton impersonator. Best served to those who equate musical skill to overall quality and those who prefer their music performed on guitars with odd-numbered strings. Faring far better are Meniscus, who have spent the better part of the year hibernating. Now, the sleeping giant has well and truly been awoken: with little more than fluttering visual backdrops, the band delivers arresting and white-knuckleintense soundscapes.
Little things like this – moments that validate their return – are what drive the set. It’s the surprisingly positive response to the band playing new songs from OK. It’s being able to laugh with the musicians when they flub songs they haven’t properly rehearsed. It’s getting to sing the chorus of ‘F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X.’ like it’s Soundwave 2008 all over again. Whether it’s zero or a zillion people, The Fall Of Troy are going to give their all.
It’s a double-edged sword having Meniscus on – they’re always a welcome addition, but they’re incredibly difficult to follow. Case in point: Closure In Moscow. There’s a brief respite at the beginning of their set, as they borrow a couple of tunes from their 2009 debut First Temple and harken back to the closest thing they have to glory days. Naturally, however, it all goes to hell in a handbasket once they lean into songs from their disastrous 2014 LP Pink Lemonade. Somewhere in the middle,
David James Young
snap sn ap
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up all night out all week . . .
Set for a night of post-hardcore epicness, Stepson and The Brave join Dream On Dreamer on The White Rose Tour, the rustic interior of The Bald Faced Stag the ideal place for some heavy ambience to burn your eardrums. Like a car with a bad engine, first support Stepson chug into action with spluttering soundchecks – all pretty anticlimactic for such a setting. They hint at epic potential with ‘Compassion & Growth’ – think early 36 Crazyfists – and though a messy mix inhibits them, they try to work through it. When ‘Twelve’ comes round, lead singer Brock Conroy is giving everything he’s got, pushing through obvious exhaustion and owning the stage. Don’t be fooled by the youth of The Brave – these Brisbane babies pack a punch. Setting the bar for their whole set, they explode onto the stage, beefy and tight, rhythm guitarist Kurt Thomson snaking around and lead singer Nathan Toussaint hurling himself about like a plastic bag in the breeze. They play with the energy and experience of a band far more advanced in years, and it’s that energy
GLASS ANIMALS, JAMES CROOKS Metro Theatre Saturday July 10
Supporting any act with a great reputation for their live show is no easy feat. Surrounded by gear, solo act James Crooks multi-tasked to no end while facing the tricky task of opening for Glass Animals. The self-confessed bedroom beatmaker from Sydney juggled at least five different tools to gradually bring the pace and the room’s bubbling energy to the surface. Playing to backing tracks, Crooks’ surprising dance cover of British India’s ‘I Said I’m Sorry’ featured female vocals and upped the dynamics while his only single ‘Naturally’, featuring mysterious Melbourne singer Paige IV, capped things nicely with a solid trio of drums, keys and vocals. With darkness and a computerised voice filling the room, the start of Glass Animals’ final show on their Australian tour arrived in direct opposite fashion to the set ahead – dark, artificial and empty. The quartet swiftly ensconced themselves in the Metro with the lively ‘Life Itself’ blasting into things and lead singer Dave Bayley capturing everyone’s attention, barely drawing for air and exuding enthusiasm. While the show was down on the palm trees that decorated their stage of tours past, Glass Animals’ tropical vibes oozed through the bouncing bass and lighting accompanying tracks from 2014’s Zaba. ‘Walla Walla’ and
PHANTASTIC FERNITURE, BETTY & OSWALD, SUIIX Newtown Social Club Wednesday July 6
Here’s the thing: some of us dorks have been waiting fucking lifetimes for a true Sydney musical scene to emerge. And not only to emerge, but to be nourished by audiences; for punters to follow the rise and fall of local bands with the same relish that takes hold of them when they gush about groups from America and the UK.
PICS :: DC
live@the sly
In that sense, Phantastic Ferniture’s performance at Newtown Social Club wasn’t just a gig – it was a victory lap, a rattling showcase of a sound that hasn’t been copied, or nicked, or dredged out of someone’s mate’s dad’s record collection. Phantastic Ferniture are a collective of supremely talented musicians, but their music is about much more than technical skill. It’s a pitch perfect balance between chaos and control – like a day of back burning in Hell, it’s all over the place, yet carefully so.
09:06:16 :: Slyfox :: 199 Enmore Rd Enmore 9557 2917
Although they might have been the headliners, Ferniture weren’t the only band that took the night by the throat. It would be condescending to trot out that hoary old cliché and suggest Betty & Oswald are
that draws the crowd in towards them on Toussaint’s request. There’s a measure of anticipation from the crowd as Dream On Dreamer arrive, but in front of a half-full room the Melbourne outfit are initially lacking in energy and kill the buzz. They find their feet, though, and with more people trickling in through the doors, ‘Infinity’ sees the inner animal of drummer Aaron Fiocca brutally setting the pace. Lead vocalist Marcel Gadacz is adamant he wants the crowd clapping along – for every single song – and through ‘Souls On Fire’, ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Darkness Brought Me Here’, his insistence takes away from his performance, of which there is little unless there’s clapping. Otherwise, he’s content to let the crowd sing for him. It’s pretty disheartening and often boring, but it seems that Gadacz needs to draw on the audience’s energy for something like ‘Society To Anxiety’ – at last, his vocals hit the crowd like a tsunami, relentless and forceful. With such powerful numbers in their set, there’s an obvious appeal for the antics that Dream On Dreamer bring, yet while no band can ever do without the encouragement and love of their fans, it’s disappointing that these guys have to rely so heavily on crowd involvement to be functional. Anna Wilson
‘Hazey’ saw the crowd promptly take over vocals by the first chorus as a purple haze soaked the stage and Bayley jumped onto the drum kit for the first of many times. The antics were well appreciated if the amplified cheers were anything to go by. Peeling off his hardly practical, yet considerably cool printed jacket just four tunes in, Bayley gave his best rap game for a bassy and moody live incarnation of ‘Exxus’ before those unmistakeable chimes of ‘Gooey’ rang out and the adoring audience roared. Any act playing their biggest tracks before hitting halfway risks signalling a mass exodus, but for Glass Animals it was purely part of the magic, the crowd heaving and dancing non-stop as a result. By delivering some new tunes from impending second album How To Be A Human Being, their brilliant cover of Kanye West’s ‘Love Lockdown’, ‘Gold Lime’ – a clever mash-up of Erykah Badu’s ‘The Healer’ and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Gold Lion’ – and Zaba’s slinky ‘Cocoa Hooves’ and ‘Toes’, the group left the stage with everyone wanting more, even if there wasn’t much left to give. Hinting they’ll be back “very soon”, Bayley and co. will need to expand to significantly bigger venues for any returning shows, regardless of the reception to their new album. These kinds of performances cement the reputation that precedes them. Emily Gibb
a “band on the rise” – after all, they have already risen. They are doing things that some groups take ten years and six albums to work up to, and they are doing it with ease, control and style. They might have swapped out gypsy folk rock for surf-punk stylings, but these guys have never once betrayed themselves in the process. They’re too smart for that. Too savvy. Too good. Even the evening’s very first support, Suiix, had all the unbridled energy of a headline act. Playing music both letchy and luscious, they came across like a multi-car pile-up scored to the Drive soundtrack; all style and broken bones. Instrumental freak-outs teetered towards total collapse, but in a way that encouraged dance rather than despair. And dance people did. It might sound naff to suggest that spectators are creators – that audiences hold some essential power of their own – but it’s true. Packed in tight, breathing out so much hot air, the crowd heaved and applauded. The night belonged to Phantastic Ferniture, and to Betty & Oswald, and to Suiix. But more than anything else, it was the crowd’s night, one of those blissful moments when a room full of strangers unites for a single, beautiful purpose: to celebrate their city, and its sound, and themselves. Joseph Earp
ER S :: ASHLEY MAR :: D. A. CART OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
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BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 27
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
pick of the week Dappled Cities
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Flamin’ Beauties Kings Park Tavern, Kings Park. 7pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
SATURDAY JULY 16 Oxford Art Factory
Dappled Cities
13th Floor Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain. 9pm. Free. Andy’s Night On The Prawns The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7. Blake Tailor Penrith Panthers, Penrith. 8:30pm. Free. Cath & Him St George Leagues Club, Kogarah. 9pm. Free. Georgia White Club Liverpool, Liverpool. 5:30pm. Free. Imogen Clark Oxford Circus, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $13.90. Jack Horner Springwood Sports Club, Springwood. 8:30pm. Free. Jellybean Jam Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. Ladyhawke + Gideon Benson Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.80.
Malibu Stacy Red Rattler, Marrickville. 7pm. $10. Marcus Whale Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8:30pm. $12. Mirella’s Inferno + Ed Wells + La Vif + Clulow Forester Oxford Art Factory Gallery, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $12. Psycho Smiley + Disclaimer + Last Dig + Academy Barside Chatswood Club, Chatswood. 8pm. $15. Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Rita’s Late Night Lounge - feat: DJs Al & Dion The Oxford Tavern, Petersham. 9pm. Free. Shihad Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $35. The Jim Mitchells + Gypsys Of Pangea + Velvet Elevator Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10. The Owls + Rackett + Darren Cross + Gerling (DJ Set) Waywards, Newtown. 8pm. Free. Weedeater + Conan Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $65. Why We Run +
Georgia Mulligan Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 7pm. $10. Winston Surfshirt + Space Monk Moonshine Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free.
SATURDAY JULY 16 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Foreday Riders Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $25. Queen Porter Stomp The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7. Straight No Chaser Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 8pm. $64.60.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Big White The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale. 7pm. $9.50. Cog Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50. Dappled Cities Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $28.70. Feedtime Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8:20pm. $20.
Finn + Dave Tice Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor. 9pm. Free. G J Donovan Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 5:45pm. Free. Jonny Gardiner Band Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain. 9pm. Free. Katcha Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7:30pm. Free. Matt Gresham Oxford Circus, Darlinghurst. 7:30pm. $16.90. One Hit Wonders Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. Free. The Single O Band Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Totally 80’s - feat: Martika + Berlin + Limahl Of Kajagoogoo + Paul Lekakis + Katrina + Men Without Hats + Stacey Q + Wa Wa Nee + Real Life Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $96.40. Valhalla Mist + Noose For A Necktie Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 2pm. $10. Whispering Jack Show (A Tribute To The Music Of John Farnham) Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde. 8pm. Free. Grizzlee Train + Sundown State Moonshine Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free.
8pm. $28.70.
WEDNESDAY JULY 13 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Live Music @ Manning Manning Bar, Camperdown. 3pm. Free. Muso’s Club Jam Night Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Live & Original @ Lazy Bones - feat: Fla + Lucy Lowe + Jasmine Siarn Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $10. Paul Winn Duo Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Spike Vincent + Ruth Carp & The Fish Heads + Phanosland + Bura Bura Waywards, Newtown. 8pm. Free. Sugar Jam Open Mic Night Sugarmill, Kings Cross. 8pm. Free. The Ramblers Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 7:30pm. Free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Baltic Bar Mitzvah + Devil On The Rooftop + Djangologists The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $10. Bugs Bunny At The Symphony II - feat: Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 1pm. $49.
THURSDAY JULY 14 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Ginger’s Jam - feat: Various Bands Oxford Hotel, Darlinghurst. 7:30pm. Free. Isaiah B Brunt B.e.d., Glebe. 7pm. Free. Live Music @ Manning Manning Bar, Camperdown. 3pm. Free. Muso’s Club Jam Night Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. Free. The Snakemen
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Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 8:30pm. Free. Willie Watson + Josh Hedley Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $38.50.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Bugs Bunny At The Symphony II - feat: Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 1pm. $49. Gin + Jazz Busby, Woolloomooloo. 6pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Babe In The Woods + Kit & The Cub + Peta & The Wolf The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7. Bandviews Sessions - feat: The Ramblers Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 7:30pm. Free. Chris Cooke Duo Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free. Heartbeats & GL Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $23.10. Live At The Sly - feat: Wallace +
Lyre Byrdland + Sagrada Familiar Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free. Live Band Karaoke Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain. 9pm. Free. Madison McKoy + Kirsty Bolton Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. Free. No Refunds Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. Free. Roadhouse Rockabilly Night feat: Wes Pudsey & The Sonic Aces Miss Peaches Soul Food Kitchen, Newtown. 7pm. Free. Sons Of The East + Ed Wells Moonshine Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free. Taste Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. Free.
FRIDAY JULY 15 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Soulganic Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. Free. Suite Az Fridays + DJ Troy T The Arthouse, Sydney. 8pm. Free.
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g g guide gig g
gig picks up all night out all week...
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Alan Solomon Jazz Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. Free. Groovology Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 8pm. Free. The Squares The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 3pm. $7.
SUNDAY JULY 17 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
The Unity Hall Jazz Band Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain. 4pm. Free.
Ladyhawke photo by Jen Carey
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Heath Burdell Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain. 3pm. Free. Meats & Rockabilly Beats - feat: The Drey Rollan Band The Oxford Tavern, Petersham. 2pm. Free. Miss Peaches Hootenanny Bluegrass Sundays Miss Peaches Soul Food Kitchen,
Newtown. 8pm. Free. Playing Brazil Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Stephanie Lea Jamison Hotel, Penrith. 1pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Catches & Halves + Colytons + Puzzles + Awol + Postmentalist Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 4pm. $10. Cog Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50. Ed & Astro Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. Free. Nerdlinger + Ivan Drago + Wasters + Raised As Wolves + Josh Arentz Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 6pm. Free. Rockin Mustangs Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. Free. The Cover Notes Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. Free. The High Learys Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 6:30pm. $10. The Western Distributors The Gasoline Pony, Marrickville. 7pm. $7. V-Tribe+
Hemingway Moonshine Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free.
MONDAY JULY 18 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Latin & Jazz Open Mic Night The World Bar, Kings Cross. 7pm. Free. Leon Bridges + Ngaiire Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:30pm. $69. The Monday Jam - feat: The New Ojezz House Band + Local DJs The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $5.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
John Maddox Duo Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Live & Original @ The Corridor Corridor Bar, Newtown. 7pm. Free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK &
COVERS
Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Marty R Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free.
Shihad
TUESDAY JULY 19 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Kurt Hugo Schneider & Sam Tsui + Sam Tsui The Concourse, Chatswood. 8pm. $63.97. Live Rock & Roll Karaoke Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free. Tom Trelawny Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. Free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Bucket Lounge Presents – Live & Originals Mr Falcon’s, Glebe. 7pm. Free. Live Music @ Manning Manning Bar, Camperdown. 3pm. Free.
WEDNESDAY JULY 13
Ladyhawke
Bugs Bunny At The Symphony II Feat: Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 1pm. $49.
THURSDAY JULY 14 Eartbeats & GL Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $23.10. Live At The Sly - Feat: Wallace + Lyre Byrdland + Sagrada Familiar Slyfox, Enmore. 7:30pm. Free. Taste Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 9pm. Free.
FRIDAY JULY 15 Ladyhawke + Gideon Benson Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.80. Marcus Whale Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8:30pm. $12. Shihad Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 8pm. $35. Weedeater + Conan Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $65. Winston Surfshirt + Space Monk Moonshine Bar, Manly. 9pm. Free.
wed
thu
13 July
14 (9:00PM - 9:15PM, 10:15PM - 12:00AM)
July
SATURDAY JULY 16 (9:00PM - 12:00AM)
fri
15 July (10:00PM - 1:40AM)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
sat
sun
16
5:45PM 8:45PM
July
SUNDAY JULY 17 The High Learys Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 6:30pm. $10.
Cog Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $50.
Nerdlinger + Ivan Drago + Wasters + Raised As Wolves + Josh Arentz Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 6pm. Free.
Feedtime Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8:20pm. $20.
MONDAY JULY 18
Totally 80’s - Feat: Martika + Berlin + Limahl Of Kajagoogoo + Paul Lekakis
Leon Bridges + Ngaiire Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:30pm. $69.
4:30PM 7:30PM
17 July
(8:30PM - 12:00AM
(10:00PM - 1:15AM)
mon
18 July
Big White The Chippendale Hotel, Chippendale. 7pm. $9.50.
+ Katrina + Men Without Hats + Stacey Q + Wa Wa Nee + Real Life Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $96.40.
tue
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
19 July
Leon Bridges
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BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 29
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Natalia Morawski, Chris Martin and Anna Wilson
five things WITH TENZIN
Growing Up Your Crew Growing up in Byron My crew is awesome 1. 3. Bay, I used to play bass – my manager PD, my guitar in a few bands and that’s really what got me started. I have a young, faint memory of my father owning a guitar but I never saw him play anything on it. I was kind of the only one who had any real musical ability in my family. But I will give some credit to them, as all of the records they listened to while I was growing up were definitely a positive influence on the way I am now.
2.
Inspirations Two favourite guitarists are Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix – their music influenced my life and the paths I chose. My favourite band of all time is Rage Against The Machine. My favourite DJs are DJ AM and DJ Ajax; both of them carved a unique style for themselves and had a massive influence on my early DJing years.
agent Luke Spags at Lucky Entertainment and my best mate Timmy Trumpet. And my hipster tour manager Miami Bryce. Plus I am lucky enough to have a string of friends who love the free drinks. I’m fortunate enough to not have had a day job except for making music for a very long time.
The Music You Make And Play 4. I make a variety of music styles – my latest release ‘Love Me Baby’ (feat Zoë Badwi) has gone down a more tropical house path. But it’s not what most people are used to me producing. My latest remix of ‘Speedo’ by Neon Giants is on the future house tip and my previous record ‘Dip U Low’ (with Snoop and G-Wizard) was on a more trap vibe. I love producing big electro as well as Melbourne bounce. I play a
variety of styles in my sets, so it definitely rubs off on me when I’m in the studio. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. I’m feeling like it’s moving
into very special and exciting times, if you’re a granddad with massive haemorrhoids. It really does suck with what our communist government is doing in regards to lockout laws and strict drinking rules. What was wrong with a little bit of fist-pumping (in the right manner) and a round of wet pussy shots after 1am? Not to mention all the establishments closing and lots of my friends losing their jobs, and crushing their dreams of ever owning a club! Music is great at the moment – with the whole ‘nothing over 110bpm’ it’s mellowed everything out, and I’m liking the change from the big bangers. Where: The Argyle When: Friday July 15
HERE’S NINA Hayden James
JUST ANOTHER LOVER
On the back of his new single ‘Just A Lover’, Hayden James will tour Australia with his first national dates in 18 months, joined by Dena Amy. James will be heading back to Australia having wrapped up a huge Europe and US tour. The Sydneysider found success when his 2015 single ‘Something About You’ was placed on high radio rotation. Now with Future Classic, James is set to continue his success with ‘Just A Lover’. He’ll play the Enmore Theatre on Thursday September 15.
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One of the leading lights on the Australian electronic scene, Nina Las Vegas, will be back behind the decks on a national tour in July and August. Already one of the nation’s most infl uential music fi gures thanks to her work on radio and with NLV Records, Las Vegas released her debut Ezy Or Never EP earlier this year, and jetted over Stateside for sets at Coachella and in Los Angeles. She’s now announced a new monthly show on RBMA Radio, Collect All And Rave, but you can see her in person at Ivy for Pacha on Saturday August 13.
SOUND SELECT AT THE CIVIC
Red Bull continues to give us wings and uncover new musical talent as round four of the Red Bull Sound Select night hits the Civic Underground this month. Laneway’s Travis Banko is back in the driving seat with
GG Magree
MAD FOR MAGREE
The coming week at Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel sees GG Magree and Surfdisco perform after the third State Of Origin game, plus producers Hounded and Spaces bringing in the weekend. Whether New South Wales is celebrating or not, the Beach Road Hotel is providing hump day performances from Sydney’s own Magree with support from Surfdisco, Bernie Dingo and Sports for the weekly Sosueme party this Wednesday July 13. Magree has been named ‘one to watch’ by Spotify and the selector has supported the likes of Pharrell, T-Pain, Azealia Banks and Wu-Tang Clan. Over the weekend, Sydney producers Hound and Spaces will be taking on the decks for Beach Road Hotel’s Saturday July 16 party, Yours.
a lineup he’s hand-picked to feature a headlining act in the Melbourne-based Oscar Key Sung. Warming up the stage for Sung will be the multi-instrumentalist Dreller, plus Mossy. After three stellar sold-out shows, Red Bull Sound Select is at the forefront of musical curation and is giving artists a step up across Australia. Last month’s act Lucy Cliché will be making her debut at Splendour In The Grass this year. Register your RSVP at redbullsoundselect.com for the event on Friday July 29.
Colour Castle
ALL HAIL THE NIGHT MAYOR
The Night Mayor of Amsterdam, Mirik Milan, has been announced as the first keynote speaker for Sydney’s Electronic Music Conference 2016. EMC is back for its fifth annual program of speakers, showcases, masterclasses, performances and parties, taking over the Ivy complex in late November. And the timing of Milan’s visit couldn’t be more ideal. Since 2012, Milan’s role as the Night Mayor of Amsterdam has seen him oversee the Dutch city’s world-famous nightlife while ensuring it’s a safe environment for residents, business owners and the public to go about their day-to-day lives. Amsterdam has flourished under his supervision, and with the ongoing pall cast by Sydney’s lockout laws over our own nightlife, the opportunity to pick Milan’s brain for ideas to revitalise our city will be irresistible. EMC 2016 takes place from Monday
WALK THIS WAY
Since being premiered by Danny Howard on BBC Radio 1, Colour Castle’s hit single has dominated the ARIA Club Chart, holding the top spot for six consecutive weeks. Now, the Sydney house prodigy has locked in a national tour. ‘Walk Right In’ samples Loleatta Holloway’s classic soul anthem ‘Love Sensation’, chopping and reprogramming to dazzling effect. The track has proved to be a club favourite in party hotspot Ibiza, and has followed suit on Australian shores. Catch Colour Castle at Taylor’s Rooftop on Saturday July 16 and Chinese Laundry on Saturday August 20.
November 28 – Friday December 2. Earlybird tickets are on sale now.
FIGURE IT OUT
Chinese Laundry’s Bassic night will live up to its billing this Friday July 15 with a triple bill of renowned bass faces in the house. Top of this list is Indiana producer
and DJ Figure, best known for the Monsters series in which he mixes samples from horror movies into his patent dubstep/drumstep. Figure’s countryman Crankdat will be along for the ride, as will Noy, plus a whole stream of locals: Goreway, Robustt, Bvsik, Ebony, Bank Wobber and Delfi k. thebrag.com
Off The Record
RECOMMENDED Magda Bytnerowicz
Dance and Electronica with Tyson Wray M.A.N.D.Y.
SATURDAY JULY 16 Dense & Pika Chinese Laundry One Night Stand: Magda Bytnerowicz Jam Gallery
L
ast week, Return To Rio announced its 2016 lineup. To celebrate (and get’cha into the mood) it’s hosting a launch party next month. Headlining proceedings will be childhood friends Philipp Jung and Patrick Bodmer, otherwise known as M.A.N.D.Y. The duo, who back in 2002 founded the Get Physical imprint with DJ T (Thomas Koch) and Booka Shade (Walter Merziger, Arno Kammermeier and Peter Hayo), have helped foster the careers of the likes of Claude VonStroke, Andhim and Blond:ish. Alongside playing basically every festival and club across the planet, the pair have also seen their own productions fi nd homes on Cityfox, Fabric, Great Stuff and Renaissance. They’ll be joined by Mark Craven vs Tristan Case, Amháin vs Sampson and B_A vs Nick Law plus many, many more. It’s happening on Saturday August 20 at Manning Bar. Four VIP tickets to the festival will be up for grabs for the best-dressed attendees.
One of Italy’s foremost DJs and producers Pirupa is coming our way later this month. Weaving a meticulous blend of house and techno within his productions, he’s a regular on labels such as Crosstown Rebels, Desolat, Get Physical and Defected, and has secured himself a fan base that boasts the likes of Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Loco Dice and Marco Carola, to name a few. Over the course of his career he’s also been called up to remix the likes of Jamiroquai, Riva Starr and NiCe7. Catch him with the S.A.S.H crew on Sunday July 24 at Home Nightclub. Picnic is upping the ante with its next instalment of One Night Stand, calling upon one of Sydney’s fi nest selectors Magda Bytnerowicz to take it home all the way from 9pm until close. Alongside running the infamous 4our parties with Trinity (which has seen them host the likes of Peter Van Hoesen, Steffi and Eli Verveine), in recent times she’s been hand-picked to support
techno luminaries DVS1, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Tama Sumo and Kyle Hall. Catch her for (at least) eight hours of power when she takes the reins at Jam Gallery on Saturday July 16. Support will come from, oh yeah, no-one. Lock and load. Tour rumours: a little birdie tells me that it won’t be all too long until we fi nally see the return of Kerri Chandler. Chez Damier wouldn’t go astray too, hey? Best releases this week: it goes without saying that y’all need to get yourself a copy of Omar-S’ Desert Eagle (on FXHE Records), but holy shit is the artwork terrible, while Objekt’s Kern Vol. 3 (Tresor Records) is one of the best mixes I’ve heard all year. Otherwise I’d suggest spending some time with Lindstrøm’s Windings (Feedelity Recordings), BNJMN’s Droid (Delsin) and Segue’s Over The Mountains (Silent Season).
Red Bull Music Academy Weekender: Mr. Fingers, Bok Bok, Peanut Butter Wolf + more Various venues
SATURDAY JULY 23 FRIDAY NOVEMBER Delano Smith 11 – SUNDAY Burdekin Hotel NOVEMBER 13 Subjected Zoo Gallery
SUNDAY JULY 24
Pirupa Home Nightclub
SATURDAY AUGUST 20
Return To Rio Launch Party: M.A.N.D.Y. Manning Bar
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8 – SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11
Return To Rio: Carl Cox, De La Soul, Eric Powell, DJ EZ + more Del Rio, Wisemans Ferry
FRIDAY DECEMBER 2 – SUNDAY DECEMBER 4
Subsonic Music Festival: Lee Scratch Perry, Mad Professor, Josh Wink, Ben UFO + more Riverwood Downs Mountain Valley Resort
Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon. Hit me on Twitter via @tysonwray.
40 Thieves amháin Mesan Jack Ross
2 Years at HOME
Greenwood Hotel 2pm to 10pm
Residents Take Over: Gabby Jake Hough Matt Weir Kerry Wallace
HOME Nightclub 9pm till 4am thebrag.com
Secret Guest Darius Bassiray Ben Fester Mike Who Dean Relf Tailor Solo 200
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club picks p up all night out all week...
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club pick of the week Seth Sentry
SATURDAY JULY 16
FRIDAY JULY 15
HIP HOP & R&B
Enmore Theatre
Seth Sentry + Remi
7:45pm. $44.50. WEDNESDAY JULY 13 CLUB NIGHTS Birdcage - feat: Various DJs Slyfox, Enmore. 9pm. Free. Dua Lipa Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7:30pm. $36.90. Sbw - feat: Jonski Babysham + Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. The Wall The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. Free.
THURSDAY JULY 14 HIP HOP & R&B
Kweens Block Party - feat: DJs Flexmami + Elle Sass + Luen Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. Free. Phondupe Golden Age Cinema, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free.
CLUB NIGHTS
FRIDAY JULY 15 HIP HOP & R&B
B00bjob - feat: Zsa Zsa Lafine + Laxe Luther + King Single + Dweeb City + Batesy + Skaky Handz Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. Free. Seth Sentry + Remi Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $44.50.
CLUB NIGHTS 15.07 Breaks - feat: 8 Diagram + Matt Lush + Scatterbrain + Andrew Wowk Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm.
xxx
Bookclub - feat: Baytek (Unknown Associates Takeover) + Beni Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 9pm. Free. Femme Fetale The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Heather’s Birthday
Party - feat: Red Gazelle + The Fossicks + Furious Monk + Jonathan Devoy + Heather And Andrew Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. Free. House Keeping - feat: DJ Conor Boylan + Guests Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Thursday Mix Up feat: DJs + Bands Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 4pm. Free. Toho Nights - feat: Jay Katz + Special Guests Goros, Surry Hills. 8pm. Free.
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Heavenly - feat: Florist + Guests Slyfox, Enmore. 10pm. $6. Loco Friday - feat: DJs On Rotation The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. Free. Memo Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Cargo Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. Free. Scubar Fridays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. SODF + Korky Buchek + Double Agent + Tekie + Mojoman + Jaco Ching-a-lings, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $18.40. Welove - feat: Various DJs Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. Free.
$10. Argyle Fridays The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Banquet 1st Birthday - feat: Swick + Sports + Denzel Sterling + Han Yolo + Basic-J + Jesse + Matrick Jones + Benefits The World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. Free. Bassic - feat: Figure + Crankdat + Noy + Goreway + Robustt + Bvsik + Ebony + Bank Wobber + Delfik Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $28. Blvd Fridays - feat: Jesabel Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $12.30. CC:Disco! + Simon Caldwell + Noise In My Head + Andy Garvey + Sydney Pony Club Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 8pm. $16.50. DJ Sam Wall Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 8pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. Free. Friday Frothers feat: DJ Babysham + Guests Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Fridays At Zeta Zeta Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Harbour Club Fridays The Watershed Hotel, Sydney. 6pm. Free.
Sarah Connor + Losty + Bigredcap + Next Calibre + Nardine And Georgia Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $11.
CLUB NIGHTS
Argyle Saturdays feat: Tass + Tap-Tap + Minx + Crazy Caz The Argyle, The Rocks. 6pm. Free. Breakbeat Chaos - feat: The Orignal Rudeboy + Lorna Clarkson + Tgmn + Kato + Ritual + A.L.F + MC Antic + Sydney Pony Club + Maximus Nice Guy + Taridas + The Streat Secret Location, Sydney. 10pm. $22. Charades - feat: Byron The Aquarius + Mike Who + U-Khan + L’Oasis DJs Barrio Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $16.50. Clique Sydney Cruise Bar, Sydney. 8:30pm. $20. DJ Anthony Toomie Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 9pm. Free. DJ Tim Densely Rooty Hill RSL Club, Rooty Hill. 8:30pm. Free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 9pm. Free. Father Bass Club Weekly - feat: Myrne + Hatch + Luude + Holly Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $20. Foxlife - feat: Ben Lepke + Andy Ef + Kerry Wallace + Mesan Slyfox, Enmore. 10pm. $10. Frat Saturdays feat: Danny Simms + Jayowens Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. Free. Havana Nights feat: Havana Brown Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $31.80. Heaps Westie Fundraiser - feat: Secret Awesome Headliner (TBC) + Sveta + Hiphophoe
+ Issac Keating + Tennis Boys + Gussy + Heaps Gay DJs + Burley Chassis + Ladonarama + Canoe + Radha La Bia + The Fads Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 9pm. Free. Kings Cross Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 5pm. Free. Lndry - feat: Dense & Pika + Friendless + Kormak + Elijah Scadden + Harry Sanger + Harry Hooper + Offtapia + Harrison Jones + Sarkozy + Fiktion + Dollar Bear + DJ Just 1 + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $28. Mantra Collective & C.U Saturday Present: Black Gold - feat: Brock Ferrar + Mantra Collective + Datura + A. Lias Civic Underground, Sydney. 9pm. $22. Massacring The Valve - feat: The Plague + Bastardizer + Murder World + Gutter Tactic Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. My Place Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Bar100, The Rocks. 8pm. Free. One Night Stand - feat: Magda Bytnerowicz Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 9pm. $11. Pacha - feat: Sikdope + Arcane Echo Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $38. Pure Privacy #1 feat: David Bangma + Lowgrind + Az-Ra + Bistro + Batesy + Wutrump + Male Gaze Secret Location, Sydney. 9pm. $6. Rita’s Late Night Lounge - feat: Money For Nothing DJs The Oxford Tavern, Petersham. 9pm. Free. Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs + Special Guests Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross. 10pm. $10. Scubar Saturdays - feat: DJs On Rotation Scubar, Sydney. 8:30pm. Free. Soda Saturdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 6pm. Free. Something Else Vs Sessions - feat: Human Movement + Lylac + Bronx + Bodywork + Shivers* + Tech No More Sook Yen Vs Eliot Mireylees Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10pm. $16.50.
SUNDAY JULY 17 HIP HOP & R&B
Narly The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 4:45pm. $17.
Heaps Westie Fundraiser - Feat: Secret Awesome Headliner (TBC) + Sveta + Hiphophoe + Issac Keating + Tennis Boys + Gussy + Heaps Gay DJs + Burley Chassis + Ladonarama + Canoe + Radha La Bia + The Fads Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 9pm. Free.
Havana Brown
WEDNESDAY JULY 13 Dua Lipa Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7:30pm. $36.90.
THURSDAY JULY 14 Bookclub - Feat: Baytek (Unknown Associates Takeover) + Beni Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 9pm. Free.
FRIDAY JULY 15 Banquet 1st Birthday - Feat: Swick + Sports + Denzel Sterling + Han Yolo + Basic-J + Jesse + Matrick Jones + Benefits The World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. Free. Bassic - Feat: Figure + Crankdat + Noy + Goreway + Robustt + Bvsik + Ebony + Bank Wobber + Delfik Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $28. CC:Disco! + Simon Caldwell + Noise In My Head + Andy Garvey + Sydney Pony Club Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 8pm. $16.50.
SATURDAY JULY 16
Lndry - Feat: Dense & Pika + Friendless + Kormak + Elijah Scadden + Harry Sanger + Harry Hooper + Offtapia + Harrison Jones + Sarkozy + Fiktion + Dollar Bear + DJ Just 1 + King Lee Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $28. Mantra Collective & C.U Saturday Present: Black Gold - Feat: Brock Ferrar + Mantra Collective + Datura + A. Lias Civic Underground, Sydney. 9pm. $22. One Night Stand - Feat: Magda Bytnerowicz Jam Gallery, Bondi Junction. 9pm. $11. Sarah Connor + Losty + Bigredcap + Next Calibre + Nardine And Georgia Plan B Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $11.
SUNDAY JULY 17 S.A.S.H By Night (2 Years At Home Residents Takeover) - Feat: Gabby + Jake Hough + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace + Secret Guest + Darius Bassiray + Ben Fester + Mike Who + Dean Relf + Tailor + Solo 200 Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $15. S.A.S.H By Day - Feat: 40 Thieves + Amháin + Mesan + Jack Ross Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 2pm. $15.
Charades - Feat: Byron The Aquarius + Mike Who + U-Khan + L’Oasis DJs Barrio Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $16.50. Foxlife - Feat: Ben Lepke + Andy Ef + Kerry Wallace + Mesan Slyfox, Enmore. 10pm. $10. Havana Nights - Feat: Havana Brown Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $31.80.
CLUB NIGHTS
Beresford Sundays - feat: DJs On Rotation The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills. 12pm. Free. DJs Somatik And Brenny-B Sides + Tim Boffa + Joyride Manly Wharf Hotel, Manly. 3pm. Free. S.A.S.H By Night (2 Years At Home Residents Takeover) - feat: Gabby + Jake Hough + Matt Weir + Kerry Wallace + Secret Guest + Darius Bassiray + Ben Fester + Mike Who + Dean Relf + Tailor + Solo 200 Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm.
Baytek
$15. S.A.S.H By Day feat: 40 Thieves + Amháin + Mesan + Jack Ross Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. 2pm. $15. Sin Sundays The Argyle, The Rocks. 7pm. Free.
MONDAY JULY 18 CLUB NIGHTS I Love Mondays Side Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Lost In The Zoo feat: Open Decks 9 To 11 + Anthony
Elia + Anya B2B Surkess B2B Nick Reverse + Kazi Zoo Project, Potts Point. 9pm. Free.
TUESDAY JULY 19 CLUB NIGHTS Coyote Tuesdays The World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $10. Side Bar Tuesdays feat: Black Diamond Hearts Side Bar, Sydney. 9pm. Free. Terrible Tuesdays Slyfox, Enmore. 5pm. Free.
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snap
live review
George Maple made a bold return to Sydney for the start of her Australian tour with loads of new music and attitude. In fact, it was difficult to know whether to crudely grind or simply sway to her tunes, with a variety of new, grungier songs added to the setlist alongside her gentle, airy tracks from the past. Jake Yuma got things started with some subtle beats, building the energy slowly as he warmed up and a bigger crowd was drawn into the space. Once the house lights were turned off, it was time to party. UV Boi took the decks with confidence and style, and his syncopated electro beats gradually got the crowd moving. It’s a shame the mix wasn’t quite right at this point in the night – the sound was foggy, and too quiet for his danceable beats. However, UV Boi did an excellent job of keeping the energy flowing and his original tracks were particularly memorable, filled with emotion and personality. When George Maple hit the stage, it was clear she had planned for this to be as much a show as a musical performance, and in this way her costumes were a nice
touch. She was a shimmering vision in everything from gold coats to thigh-high boots and a sequined onesie, which added some colour to the stage. She danced sensually, adding to the ‘strip club’ atmosphere of some of her new tracks – not to mention the promise of an actual playful striptease when the crowd shouted the lyrics to ‘Gemini’. The set drifted between ambient, relaxed tunes and harsher tracks with strong beats, with the latter working better to light up the audience. It was jolting at times to go from a high-energy track like ‘Sticks And Horses’ to a more atmospheric one that broke up the intensity and dancing. But the highlight of the night was a guest appearance from homegrown rapper Tkay Maidza, who instantly brought the mood right up to perform a new collaboration track. The pair bounced off each other well and their timing was powerful and polished. Maple left everyone with a rendition of ‘Talk Talk’, however the show felt unfinished, with both support acts playing longer sets than she did. Though the fans shouted passionately for “one more song”, not keen on letting their Friday night slip away too early, the lights went up and that was that.
s.a.s.h by day
PICS :: AM
Metro Theatre Friday July 8
thebrag.com/snaps
up all night out all week . . .
What we’ve been out to see...
GEORGE MAPLE, UV BOI, JAKE YUMA
VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT
10:07:16 :: Greenwood Hotel :: 36 Blue Street North Sydney 9964 9477
Erin Rooney presents
2
ND
BIRTHDAY F U N D R A I S E R
R O L A N D T I N G S DJ set J U S T A G E N T just added R A I N B O W C H A N LIVE
MOTORIK VIBE COUNCIL PURPLE SNEAKERS DJS ADI TOOHEY LUEN
T H I R D F L O O R LIVE debut
WORLD CHAMPION DJS
3 0 . 0 7.1 6
A R I A N E Rhythm of the Night set
8
pm
- L AT E
OXFORD ART FACTORY
KATO B2B BAD EZZY
ANNIE BASS B2B ELLIE SASS
UNDRCTRL.COM
UNDR Ctrl DJs
Early Bird Tickets SOLD OUT
Visuals by E G O + P U R E L Y M E N T A L
DRESS CODE IT’LL BE ALL WHITE ON THE NIGHT [AGAIN]
PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
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BRAG :: 671 :: 13:07:16 :: 33
snap sn ap
out & about
VIEW FULL GALLERIES AT
thebrag.com/snaps
up all night out all week . . .
Queer(ish) matters with Lucy Watson
Tegan And Sara
Tegan And Sara’s latest offering, Love You To Death, has reminded me that I’ve truly outgrown that phase. I find little to like among all the synth and bored-sounding voices. Perhaps it’s not a matter of growing out of it. Perhaps their format has just grown tired, and so I’ve moved on to bigger and better lesbian bands. One of those bands is Scabz, the shittest band in Newtown. Full disclaimer: I live with one-third of Scabz. Another third lives across the road, and the final third just up the street. But that doesn’t mean I can’t compare them to Tegan And Sara with a decent amount of objectivity. It’s hard not to – the mainstream media thinks all lesbians are the same (seriously though, why are so many famous lesbians called Ellen?), so when two lesbian bands come along, it’s hard not to look at them side by side and see the similarities.
But by far, the most obvious comparison between Scabz and Tegan And Sara is the subject matter they cover. This is no more apparent than on each of their latest singles: Tegan And Sara’s ‘Boyfriend’ and Scabz’s ‘Straight Girl’. They’re like two parts of the same narrative. Scabz start us off, telling us about the pretty girl on King Street in a cute summer dress, who of course, turns out to be straight, because as lead singer Von laments, “I always fall for straight girls”. Here, Scabz have met the girl at the stage where she is willing to flirt with a woman, but that’s about it. Then we pick up the narrative with ‘Boyfriend’. Here, Tegan And Sara have finally convinced the girl to date them, though she’s still unsure about it all. “You treat me like your boyfriend,” they sing. Later, they complain that they “don’t wanna be your secret anymore”. The ‘falling in love with a straight girl’ narrative is an almost quintessential lesbian experience. Both Tegan And Sara and Scabz have been able to tap into this almost universal feeling to pierce the hearts of lesbians everywhere – only while Tegan And Sara do it with synths, Scabz will do it with a thick Aussie twang and some VB.
First, there’s the floppy lesbian side fringes that both bands expertly sport. There’s a healthy level of plaid, tattoos and facial piercings present among both bands. Of course, appearance alone does not make for a good comparison between lesbian bands. But wait, there’s more, et cetera.
The big difference between the two bands, of course, is their accessibility. While Tegan And Sara will be at the Metro after Splendour, it’ll cost you $70 (and it’s sold out anyway). Scabz, on the other hand, are almost guaranteed to play for free somewhere near you within the next week or so.
Both bands have excellent onstage banter. At the height of my Tegan And Sara phase, I would laugh along to Tegan’s jokes and
And on a personal level, I’ll probably never meet Tegan And Sara, but I get to play Wii with Scabz practically every day.
bookclub
07:07:16 :: Greenwood Hotel :: 36 Blue Street North Sydney 9964 9477
live@the sly
PICS :: DC
You’re not really a lesbian if you haven’t had at least one Tegan And Sara phase. I remember my own: newly 18, singing along to ‘Nineteen’ as though as I was old enough to reminisce about an age I hadn’t yet turned, longing to meet a girl of my own who looked and sang like Sara but had Tegan’s wit (yes, they look different – no-one likes Tegan’s bottom lip piercing).
Sara’s cute awkwardness and think to myself that if they didn’t make it as musicians, then surely they could become a comedy duo! Scabz also make funny jokes onstage, mostly about being bogans who love the Marrickville Metro, but if you want an objective opinion on the matter, ask Murray from The Wiggles – he thinks they’re funny too, and he doesn’t live with them.
PICS :: AM
F
or lesbians, there is a certain pull to the music of Tegan And Sara. Their songs seem to cut through all the bullshit and hit you right at the centre of your sapphic soul.
30:06:16 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
ER :: S :: ASHLEY MAR :: D. A. CART
Scabz
this week… This Friday July 15, Homosocial is celebrating its second birthday, along with local legend Matt Format and Astrix Little. So head down to Secret Garden Bar and celebrate this little baby’s birthday.
And if you happen to be in Wollongong on Saturday July 16, my new favourite band (I swear I’m not getting a rent discount for this) Scabz are playing at the Queer & Now festival at Jane’s. It’s an all-ages gig with India Sweeney, Neon Hexes and Gryf & Cassandra.
xxx
Every Thursday, starting last week and for the next seven weeks – including this Thursday July 14 – The Shift is hosting its Lip Sync Battle Royale with cash prizes. It’s hosted by Krystal Kleer and Coco Jumbo, and if you want to enter, just rock up.
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Australian Institute of Music
SYD : AUGUST 06 MEL : August 13
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