Brag#712

THE CHANGING FACE OF AUSSIE HIP HOP

A FOODIE'S GUIDE TO NEWTOWN

ALSO INSIDE: HOW MUSICIANS EAT ON THE ROAD, HORRORSHOW, IAN RANKIN, BORIS, BOXMAC, SIX COSY PLACES FOR WINTER DINING AND MORE!

7–18 JUNE FROM EVERY ANGLE

FULL PROGRAM ON SALE NOW PATTI CAKE$

ALI’S WEDDING

SONG TO SONG

FRI 16 JUN 9:00 PM STATE THEATRE SAT 17 JUN 8:00 PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST Aussie actress Danielle Macdonald is sensational as Patti Cake$, an aspiring rapper from New Jersey who’s determined to make her mark on the music scene.

THU 8 JUN 6:25 PM STATE THEATRE FRI 9 JUN 8:15 PM RANDWICK RITZ SAT 10 JUN 7:30 PM CASULA POWERHOUSE Ali’s arranged marriage is looming, but he loves someone else. What’s a Muslim cleric’s son to do? This Australian comedy won an AWGIE for Best Original Screenplay.

FRI 16 JUN 8:35 PM HAYDEN ORPHEUM CREMORNE SAT 17 JUN 5:20 PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett star in Terrence Malick’s dreamy love story set in the Texas music capital of Austin.

ON THE ROAD

THE GO-BETWEENS: RIGHT HERE

THE FILTH AND THE FURY

THU 8 JUN 8:20 PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST SAT 10 JUN 8:35 PM DENDY NEWTOWN A seductive fictionalised music documentary featuring alt-rock indie heroes Wolf Alice on tour, directed by Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party Peoplee and 9 Songs). s

THU 15 JUN 6:30 PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST FRI 16 JUN 8:15 PM DENDY NEWTOWN The intensely passionate, creative and fraught set of relationships that formed one of the most loved bands in Australian rock history is explored in this classy documentary.

SUN 18 JUN 2:30 PM ART GALLERY OF NSW The Sex Pistols tell their own story in Julien Temple’s inspired reply to his own film, The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle, made 20 years previously.

GAME OF DEATH

RAGE

SAVE TODAY WITH A FLEXIPASS

WED 7 JUN 8:25 PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST TUE 13 JUN 8:25 PM DENDY NEWTOWN Fresh from SXSW comes a skull-smashing splatterfest about an evil board game that forces its teenage players to become serial killers. ‘Snakes and Ladders’ was never like this.

SUN 11 JUN 8:45 PM EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST WED 14 JUN 6:15 PM DENDY NEWTOWN An intriguing murder mystery, Rage cleverly delves into the lives of three suspects living amongst strangers in various parts of Japan.

The cheapest way to book lots of tickets is to buy a Flexipass of 10, 20, or 30 tickets. Share with friends, flatmates, colleagues, the one you love, or just keep it for yourself!

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in this issue

free stuff

what you’ll find inside…

head to: thebrag.com/freeshit

3

The Frontline

4

Back To Business

6-7

How At The Drive In overcame their troubled history to return with an unlikely new album

8-9

Horrorshow, Boris

10-11 How Skate Punk Became The Latest Trend In Music…

Again

6-7

12-15 Where You’re From, Where You’re At: The Changing Face Of Australian Hip Hop 16

Ian Rankin

17

Arts reviews, giveaway

“If you look at the history of hip hop in Australia and around the world, there have always been successful women.” (12-15)

18-19

“This is the side of touring people don’t talk about in VH1 Behind The Music segments.” (20-23) 18-19 Eat Your Way Across: Newtown, Six Of Sydney’s Cosiest Bars To Spend Your Cooler Nights, BoxMac 20-23 The Dos And Don’ts Of Eating On The Road: A Musicians’ Guide To Staying (Un)healthy On Tour 24

Album reviews, First Drafts

25

Off The Record, Out & About

26-27 La Pegatina, The Illuminate Project, Luke Escombe, Clap Clap Riot 28-30 Live reviews, Name The Classic Song 31

Gig guide

HEMP HEALTH & INNOVATION EXPO

Australia’s largest experiential cannabis event, the Hemp Health & Innovation Expo, is returning to Sydney this year.

The weekend-long program includes an exploration of all applications of cannabis, from medicine and skincare to food, biofuels and recreation. Tim Harding of Hi-5 fame will MC the event following his daughter’s experience with medicinal cannabis, while “America’s favourite vet” Dr. Gary Richter is a special guest.

The Hemp Health & Innovation Expo 2017 takes place at Rosehill Gardens, Saturday May 27 – Sunday May 28. We’re giving away two double passes for a day of your choice: enter at thebrag.com/ freeshit.

the frontline with Chris Martin and Nathan Jolly ISSUE 712: Wednesday May 10, 2017 PRINT & DIGITAL EDITOR: Chris Martin chris.martin@seventhstreet.media SUB-EDITOR: David Molloy STAFF WRITERS: Joseph Earp, Nathan Jolly, Adam Norris NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Tyler Jenke, Brandon John

This Way North

Sydney rockers El Duende have returned with their fourth album, Making Storms.

Spearheaded by songwriter Daniel Morphett and with production by the inimitable Wayne Connolly, Making Storms follows El Duende’s previous efforts Overcome, Fleeting Glimpses and Day To Day Dream.

Expect sounds in the vein of The National and Echo and The Bunnymen when El Duende play The Red Rattler on Saturday May 20.

ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHER: Ashley Mar ADVERTISING: Josh Burrows - 0411 025 674 josh.burrows@seventhstreet.media PUBLISHER: Seventh Street Media CEO, SEVENTH STREET MEDIA: Luke Girgis - luke.girgis@seventhstreet.media MANAGING EDITOR: Poppy Reid poppy.reid@seventhstreet.media THE GODFATHER: BnJ GIG GUIDE: gigguide@thebrag.com AWESOME INTERNS: Harriet Flitcroft, Abbey Lenton REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Arca Bayburt, Lars Brandle, Chelsea Deeley, Matthew Galea, Emily Gibb, Jennifer Hoddinett, Emily Meller, David Molloy, Annie Murney, Adam Norris, George Nott, Daniel Prior, Natalie Rogers, Erin Rooney, Anna Rose, Spencer Scott, Natalie Salvo, Leonardo Silvestrini, Jade Smith, Aaron Streatfeild, Augustus Welby, Jessica Westcott, Zanda Wilson, Stephanie Yip, David James Young Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address Level 2, 9-13 Bibby St, Chiswick NSW 2046 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: Carrie Huang - accounts@seventhstreet.vc (02) 9713 9269 Level 2, 9-13 Bibby St, Chiswick NSW 2046 DEADLINES: Editorial: Friday 12pm (no extensions) Ad bookings: Friday 5pm (no extensions) Fishished art: No later than 2pm Monday Ad cancellations: Friday 4pm Deadlines are strictly adhered to.

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EL DUENDE ARE MAKING STORMS

THIS WAY NORTH, THAT WAY GLEBE

2000S HOUSE PARTY RETURNS

This Way North are feeling the pressure. ‘Pressure’ is the name of the alt-pop/rock duo’s new single, following up their summer-friendly ‘Head Above Water’, and it takes their sound in a fresh direction. This Way North comprise Leisha Jungalwalla and Cat Leahy, and while they’ve had a busy year so far with more than 30 live appearances since January, that’s all about to step up another notch as they launch ‘Pressure’ around the country. See This Way North at The Record Crate on Friday May 19.

Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 2003.

Well, not tonight, but Friday August 18 at Hudson Ballroom, when The Bait Shop hosts another of its popular themed party series: this time a second edition of its 2000s House Party. Expect music from Britney, Backstreet Boys, Destiny’s Child, Christina Aguilera, Nelly (Furtado and the other one), Shaggy, Shakira and heaps more. Oh, and the best early 2000s outfit will win a $50 bar tab to spend on Midori and Malibu, or whatever it is you were drinking back then.

THE COKE SIGN GOES VIVID Kings Cross’ landmark Coke billboard will be transformed into a show of lighting, colours and special effects to celebrate Vivid Sydney 2017. It’s all part of the Vivid festival’s debut Kings Cross program, Vivid KX, which aims to celebrate Sydney’s historic precinct of performance art, immersive theatre, avantcabaret, music, cult films and talking heads.

The Coke sign will feature a Characters Of Kings Cross image series by photographer Katherine Williams, with portraits of some of Kings Cross’ most famous locals, including celebrity chef Kylie Kwong. There’ll also be a series of cult films, basement parties, a murder mystery tour at Crane Bar and more.

Vivid Sydney 2017 runs from Friday May 26 – Saturday June 17.

MORE YUSUF FOR YOU Anyone who has ever been followed by a moon shadow, remembered the days of the old school yard, or realised how wild a world we live in, will relate to the music of Cat Stevens.

In March, Yusuf/Cat Stevens announced what will be only his fourth tour of Australia, and shows sold so quickly that he was forced to add three more to the tour, including one at the ICC Sydney Theatre on Thursday December 7. Tickets go on sale 10am Tuesday May 16.

MERE WOMEN AIM FOR THE SKY Sydney four-piece Mere Women have announced the details of their third studio LP and an east coast album tour. Big Skies will arrive on Friday June 16 via Poison City, and is something of a concept album about women’s intergenerational experiences and the isolation felt by women living in regional communities. The record includes the title track, as well as Mere Women’s 2016 single ‘Drive’.

They launch it at The Red Rattler on Friday June 23.

CRIGHTON IS RIGHT ON William Crighton is fast becoming a staple of the Aussie live music scene. The folk rock troubadour recently released ‘Hope Recovery’, a vinyl single that’s capitalised on Crighton’s burgeoning reputation built up at festival appearances around the country in 2016.

Crighton has recently spent time in North America for Canadian Music Week and East Coast Music Week, but he’ll be much more local this weekend at Leadbelly on Friday May 12.

Smoking Martha

SMOKING MARTHA IN SYDNEY Oz rockers Smoking Martha are set to take another big step forward with their new album In Deep, releasing next Friday May 19. The songwriting partnership between frontwomen Tasha D and guitarist Mick Broome has yielded some thumping results already, including the singles ‘Say You’re Mine’ and ‘What’s Her Name?’. Now they’re launching their debut LP, recorded at Loose Stone Studios with Matthew Bartlem and packed with layered guitars, strings and Tasha D’s impressive pipes. Join Smoking Martha at Frankie’s Pizza on Thursday May 18 to celebrate the record.

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Back To Business Music Industry News with Lars Brandle

breaking biz

departures

As the ban on ticketing bots becomes official in the UK, Australia’s live industry is demanding the government take tough action. Trade body Live Performance Australia last week issued a call to Australian ministers to back stringent new proposals after decision-makers “failed to keep up with international efforts” to combat bots.

“The UK and US have taken action, but the Turnbull Government is missing in action,” LPA chief executive Evelyn Richardson said. Richardson concedes primary ticketing sites also had a role to play, but wants the government to support legislation that outlaws the use of bots to buy tickets which are then resold on the secondary market, often at vastly increased prices.

“Bots are a global problem, and Australia should be part of the global response,” Richardson added. The LPA lauded independent Senator Nick Xenophon’s recently proposed legislation to ban bots. That motion was supported by the opposition, the Greens and Senators Jacqui Lambie and Derryn Hinch, but was opposed by the government. Effective legislation and enforcement is the right response, Richardson said. “Fans and artists in Australia – and around the world – should expect the Australian government to be doing its part to fight the bots and ensure that genuine fans have fairer access to tickets.”

Ticketmaster, notes LPA, has reported that it blocked five billion attempts by bots to unfairly access its websites

CROSSING BORDERS

The Voice is coming to Singapore and Malaysia. But if you can’t sing in Mandarin, don’t bother coming to the audition. A single version of the TV talent quest will

THE DOTTED LINE

globally in 2015, and bot activity grew by ten per cent in 2016.

Meanwhile, Warner Music Group has extended its recorded music and publishing deals with YouTube.

The music major apparently did so reluctantly, according to Variety, which obtained an internal memo from WMG CEO Stephen Cooper. “I wanted to let you all know that, following months of tough negotiations, we’ve extended our deals with YouTube, separately for music publishing and recorded music,” the statement reads. “On the publishing side, Warner/Chappell tirelessly championed songwriters’ rights, and equally, our recorded music team was relentless on behalf of our artists and our music. We secured the best possible deals under very difficult circumstances. Our new deals are also shorter than usual, giving us more options in the future.”

While the memorandum didn’t flesh out terms of the deal, Cooper did have a dig at YouTube and slammed the Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and its “safe-harbor” laws. “There’s no getting around the fact that, even if YouTube doesn’t have licenses, our music will still be available but not monetized at all,” he wrote. “Under those circumstances, there can be no free-market ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ negotiation.”

Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are reportedly yet to strike new, long-term deals with YouTube.

WMG is expected to issue an earnings report later today in the US. be produced for the two markets by mm2 Entertainment, Starhub and Malaysian broadcaster Astro. But wannabe pop stars aren’t thrilled with the terms. “The Voice is always on the search for true

Kevin Garcia, the 41-year-old bass player with American indie rock act Grandaddy, died on Thursday May 2 after suffering a massive stroke.

Grandaddy returned earlier this year with their first album in more than a decade, Last Place. Garcia contributed bass parts to the LP and was meant to join the band for a US tour, which has been cancelled in the wake of his death. talents with good voices regardless of their appearances,” reads a statement on its website. “You are welcomed to join as long as you are at least 16 years old, have a good voice, are fluent in Mandarin, and are able to perform Mandarin songs.” Not surprisingly, social media is giving the show a kicking about its language exclusivity.

Commentators point out the new Voice is likely trying to take on the hit series Sing!

China, which features singers performing in Mandarin. We’ll sit back and watch how all this pans out.

THE BIG STAGE More than 25 UK festivals ‘blacked out’ their websites for 24 hours on Monday May 8 in a show of solidarity against sexual assault. As part of a Safer Spaces campaign orchestrated by the UK’s Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), members will share a short animation over social media with the hashtag #saferspacesatfestivals.

It’s part of a wider project launched by AIF with guidance from Rape Crisis England and Wales, Girls Against, Safe Gigs for Women and the White Ribbon Campaign to create awareness of sexual assault just ahead of the summer festival season. Also, more than 60 AIF members have signed a charter of best practice aimed at stamping out sexual assault through a series of measures including a zero tolerance policy towards any form of sexual harassment at their events.

Olympia

Universal Music Publishing Australia has signed Olympia to a worldwide publishing deal. The Melbourne singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist won fans with her debut album Self Talk, which was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize for the best album of 2016 (eventually won by A.B. Original’s Reclaim Australia). Olympia (real name Olivia Bartley) will take her show on the road when she plays The Great Escape in Brighton, England later this month.

The Damned are mounting a comeback.

The British punk legends signed with the Search And Destroy label ahead of their 11th album release, their first for nearly a decade. The as-yet-unnamed new set will be recorded this summer and is the follow up to So, Who’s Paranoid? from 2008. The influential rockers’ 40-yearplus career was the subject of a Wes Orshoski-directed 2015 documentary film, Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead.

The label is a joint venture of Spinefarm Records/Universal and Raw Power Management, the international artist

management company that guides the careers of Bring Me The Horizon, At The Drive In and others.

Rockhampton foursome Pandamic has joined the roster of Dune Rats’ Ratbag

CHART GEEK

Bruno Mars

DJ Khaled is The One right now. The Miami record producer snatched the top spot on the UK and Australian singles charts on the first attempt with the guestcrammed ‘I’m The One’.

It’s his first number one in either market, and is no doubt helped by the high-profile

feature slots from Justin Bieber, Migos’ Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne.

Ed Sheeran might have lost his singles chart crowns, but his third album Divide does enough to stave off Gorillaz’ Humanz to bank a ninth week at the summit of the UK albums chart – the

Records. With the deal tucked away, Pandamic will release their Archer EP on June. They’ll give the new EP a good push when they hit the road with Dune Rats and Tired Lion for a regional tour through June and July.

longest unbroken run at the top for any of this three albums.

In Australia, Bliss N Eso collect another chart-topper with Off The Grid opening at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, with Sheeran’s Divide dropping to number two and Gorillaz’ latest starting at number four.

Last week, Bruno Mars announced an arena tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The R&B-pop party boy has climbed from three to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘That’s What I Like’, while Kendrick Lamar’s Damn. continues its reign atop the Billboard 200 albums chart.

movers and shakers Lucian Grainge has another big win in the bag. The chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Music Group will be honoured at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity as the 2017 Media Person of the Year. The British-born, US-based Grainge is the first music executive to be recognised since the award was launched in 1999. The honour recognises “innovators who have shaped the future of media” and will be bestowed to Grainge at a ceremony during the festival on June 21. Just last year, Grainge, ranked number one on its annual Power Players list, was knighted

by Queen Elizabeth II for his accomplishments and leadership in the music industry, as well as his for services to British business and inward investment.

Laurent Hubert is the new president/chief revenue officer for Kobalt Music Group. Hubert, who joined Kobalt late last year to run its newly formed B2B rights management platform division, replaces Richard Sanders, who will leave at the end of June after five years at the top. In his new, expanded role, Hubert will oversee the independent music company’s worldwide music publishing and neighbouring rights activities, and will continue to chair the investment committee for transactions made

by Kobalt Music Capital and Kobalt Music Group. Prior to joining Kobalt, Hubert served as president, marketing and creative, at BMG, and as chief operating officer at BMG Music Publishing before that.

Kobalt chairman and CEO Willard Ahdritz also reportedly promoted several key executives, including Sas Metcalfe (now chief creative officer), Lonny Olinick (now chief strategy officer), Marissa Mencher (now chief people officer), and Jeannette Perez (now president of global synch and brand partnerships).

UK Music has looked outside the industry’s ranks for its new CEO. Michael Dugher, a Labour MP, will replace Jo Dipple, who is standing down from the position at the umbrella trade body. Dugher will resign as member of parliament for Barnsley East ahead of June’s general election. It would appear UK Music has a fighter as its incoming CEO – Dugher was sacked as shadow minister for culture, media and sport last year after he publicly criticised the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on several occasions. Speaking on his appointment, Dugher says he’ll work to “ensure our industry is protected during the Brexit process and that we continue to thrive.

Safeguarding intellectual property, protecting venues, promoting new opportunities and broadening diversity in the sector are all central to our work at UK Music.”

THE LAST WORD She says she might never tour again, and she certainly doesn’t need to.

Adele made £40 million last year, and is now worth £125 million, good enough to mark her out as Britain’s topearning female artist, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. Still, with all that cash, she’s only equal 19th on a list dominated by old white rockers.

Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy Shevell top the list with £780 million. xxxx

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COVER STORY

AT THE DRIVE IN Cracks In The Rear-view

BY DAVID MOLLOY

E

l Paso, 1993. Two teenage musos are locked in debate over the name for their fl edgling band. The theme, at least, is settled – they both dig that their heroes in Bad Brains took their moniker from a Ramones track, and they want to pay it forward.

The vocalist, Cedric BixlerZavala, likes ‘At The Movies’. Guitarist Jim Ward wants to rejig it a little – it could stand to sound a little cooler.

Ward’s choice of title eventually wins out; somewhat ironically, the moniker ultimately outlasts his own inclusion in the band he created. His absence from At The Drive In’s 2016 reformation is the last vestige of their acrimonious history; another prominent scar the band wears as a mark of wisdom gained through bitter experience.

Kinder journalists refer to the 16-year gap as a “pause”, a term loaded with the imminence of reset; the band’s more sobering turn of phrase at the time was “indefi nite hiatus” – a death knell every music fan instinctively recognises.

It’s a phrase that reeks of blood, of catastrophic system failure, of ‘artistic differences’ tastefully curated to cover widening personal rifts.

In 2001, the Texan post-hardcore quintet parted ways just months after releasing their third studio LP. Things had been rough between them – to put it very mildly – for some time, and nearly seven thankless years of touring in deadbeat venues to hostile crowds had soured whatever taste they had left for their work. Despite their managers’ faith in the new release and exciting prospects on the horizon, At The Drive In considered themselves dead to rights.

Of course, history would vindicate those pleading managers – the album was Relationship Of Command, a critical and commercial barnstormer that laid the groundwork for a generation of angry young musicians and proved a regular fi xture in ‘greatest record of all

“Bixler-Zavala’s memory was far from the only victim of the band’s extreme lifestyle.”

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time’ lists for years to come. But back to the break-up.

Co-founder and manic vocalist BixlerZavala took responsibility for the parting of ways, citing a desire to progress in a different musical direction along with bassist-turned-guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López. But by the time of the album’s release, an abyss had widened, carving the band in half. On one side were Bixler-Zavala and RodríguezLópez, firmly entrenched in their opioid addiction; they would go on to style themselves as dub duo De Facto before creating The Mars Volta, a crack-addled prog take on ATDI’s post-hardcore style, neck-deep in abstraction and featuring a revolving door of musical artists. On the other side were guitarist Jim Ward, bassist Paul Hinojos and drummer Tony Hajjar; after ATDI’s demise, they became Sparta, a more natural progression into commercially appealing pop-punk.

The rift wasn’t just creative, however.

“During the last tour with At The Drive In, I don’t think I’ve ever consistently played so many shitty shows in my life, and that’s because of my drug use,” Bixler-Zavala confessed to Harp writer Trevor Kelly in 2006. “I don’t even remember half of the shows.”

Sadly, Bixler-Zavala’s memory was far from the only victim of the band’s extreme lifestyle.

A

t 17, Bixler-Zavala invited Rodríguez-López into the band; he’d made friends with the guitarist while rehearsing with another band. Rodríguez-López was fresh from a ‘gap year’, of sorts – 12 months in which he hitchhiked his way out of ‘Hell Paso’ to experience what the United States could offer. He brought with him a fresh energy, enough money gained from flipping narcotics to buy musical gear, and a serious drug habit.

Kicking out chunky pop-punk tunes on their first EPs, At The Drive In proved aurally unremarkable, but made a name for their unleashed behaviour onstage. Fuelled by the classic cocktail of youthful swagger and chemical encouragement, they pushed themselves to progress; In/Casino/Out’s release in 1998, and the subsequent EP Vaya the following year, gave an indicator of the shot in the arm the band would soon give to the hardcore and punk genres.

“As lyricist, Bixler-Zavala danced on a knife edge of Rage Against The Machine and the burgeoning nu-metal scene had already captured some of the scattershot rage of the early ’90s, but the punk scene was missing an equivalent. Enter a band proudly declaring its distinction from ‘hardcore’ music; one carrying a political agenda that didn’t override its music, espoused in labyrinthine rhetoric and buried under spasmodic hooks.

As lyricist, Bixler-Zavala danced on a knife edge of clarity; his lexicon could pass for articulate if it didn’t so closely resemble a dictionary lobbed into a jet engine. He would distinguish himself as the wildest man on any given stage, donkey-kicking and leaping from amp stacks with wild abandon – but should any crowd members mosh too violently, he rained verbal fire down on them. Bixler-Zavala’s rants became viral before the term had online applications – his bleating at the “sheep” and “robot[s]” in 2001’s Big Day Out crowd ended the set early.

“Had they continued in such hedonistic fashion, In•ter a•li•a may never have come to pass.”

Rodríguez-López, on guitar, would often end sets by hurling himself bodily into his own amp; he also did his best to wholly derail the band’s nationally broadcast appearance on Later… With Jools Holland. The highintensity gigs, they said, took their toll.

The higher price was paid off stage. BixlerZavala and Rodríguez-López became increasingly absent from the studio, sharing their narcotic habits with local

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clarity; his lexicon could pass for articulate if it didn’t so closely resemble a dictionary lobbed into a jet engine.” artist Julio Venegas. In the same year as At The Drive In would release their debut album, Acrobatic Tenement, Venegas’ substance abuse reached its zenith. After injecting himself with any chemical he could grasp, causing his arm to shrivel horrifically, he slipped into a coma. A month later, on recovering, he dove headfirst from a freeway overpass.

Venegas’ death would leave an indelible mark on At The Drive In; they first eulogised him with the song ‘Ebroglio’, and Bixler-Zavala would go on to thinly veil him in the alias of Cerpin Taxt in the hallucinatory debut from The Mars Volta, De-Loused In The Comatorium.

As fate would have it, the lead-up to De-Loused’s release saw another tragedy – Volta’s “sound manipulator” Jeremy Ward (Jim’s cousin) overdosed and died in 2003, aged 27. His diaries would inspire The Mars Volta’s second album, Frances The Mute.

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Wracked by addiction and lost in grief, Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López took stock of their situation and chose to sober up. This was perhaps the clincher that allowed for At The Drive In’s eventual reconciliation. Had they continued in such hedonistic fashion, In•ter a•li•a may never have come to pass. In fact, they may well have followed Cerpin Taxt beyond the veil themselves.

A

t The Drive In’s surprise reunion gig at Coachella in 2012 was simply meant to “close the chapter on that era”, in Rodríguez-López’s words. For a few glorious moments, these five men could relive their formative years, giving the fans who had never witnessed their explosive live shows that once-in-a-lifetime gift. And they could mend the gaping holes in their relationships.

Bixler-Zavala would spend the tour claiming a disconnect from ATDI’s music (later revealed to be melancholy brought on by the death of his mother), repeatedly ruling out the possibility of recording new material. 11 years, countless bands and three dear friends (including The Mars Volta’s Isaiah ‘Ikey’ Owens) had passed – they were different people now, free from drugs and willing to forgive. A new album was out of the question.

“We can be grateful for At The Drive In’s return, as their righteous fury is needed now as much as ever.”

Now, In•ter a•li•a is upon us, despite the absence of Jim Ward; his slot is now fi lled by fellow Spartan Keeley Davis. According to Bixler-Zavala, Ward “simply wasn’t ready”. It’s possible that Jeremy’s death while performing with The Mars Volta is too great a rift to overcome.

They’ve made a career of pouring gold into the cracks in their rear-view mirror – for the first time in 16 years, it fi nally feels like they are looking forward, eyes ablaze. ■

Still, we can be grateful for At The Drive In’s return, as their righteous fury is needed now as much as ever.

What: In•ter a•li•a out now through Rise/ Cooking Vinyl Where: Hordern Pavilion When: Friday September 29

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FEATURE

“I’ve always loved the art of storytelling and been interested in

Horrorshow In Between Days By Meg Crawford

I

nner West hip hop duo Horrorshow aimed high, albeit slyly, when they borrowed their name from Nadsat – the contrarian, made-up language in Anthony Burgess’ ultra-violent dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange. In Nadsat, ‘horrorshow’ means something good or excellent, and the Aussie hip hop duo of the same name have busted their chops to earn the moniker.

It wasn’t until they’d nearly finished recording their first album, The Grey Space, that Horrorshow hit upon the name.

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interested in people’s stories.

Rap and hip hop just provide such a great platform for telling those stories and getting a window into what life is like.”

That Bryant-Smith should draw on literary origins for the band’s name and find his métier in rap isn’t surprising.

Bryant-Smith was a born storyteller and sees rap as a natural extension.

Bryant-Smith fell in love with hip hop in his early teens, and embraced the sense of community and identity that went with it. “For myself and a lot of the One Day guys, our introduction to hip hop was graffiti, which has a whole lifestyle and vernacular attached to it. Once you engaged with that and started looking out for tags on the trains and listening to the music, which at that time not many other people were listening to, it made you feel like you were in on some kind of inside joke or part of a community that not everybody else was a part of.

“Even as a kid I would write stories and get my dad to illustrate them,” he says.

“I’ve always loved the art of storytelling and been

“That sense of belonging and identity was literal sometimes as well – by picking an identity for yourself, your tag or your MC name was a way

“That’s literally what our name ‘Horrorshow’ is,” Bryant-Smith continues. “It’s like us saying that we’re dope, but doing it in a different way to everyone else.”

to reinvent or amplify yourself through that music and culture.”

Even though Bryant-Smith and Gauchan had worked on other music projects together while they were at school, Bryant-Smith initially wrote rap in secret. Thankfully, Gauchan was less private when it came to his home computer experiments with original beats. By sharing them with Bryant-Smith, he gave the latter the metaphoric kick in the strides necessary to take his rhymes public.

“I don’t have a super clear memory of what sparked us to start trying,” Bryant-Smith says. “But Adit would record a few beats and send them to me over MSN and I’d have a crack at writing for them.

It felt like a cool challenge, and then before we knew it we had an album worth of songs. But it was never like, ‘We’re gonna be rap stars,’ you know? We just started doing it.”

Indeed, Horrorshow did it so damn well that music is now Bryant-Smith’s full-time gig.

“Music is an interesting thing to do as a job. There’s all sorts of ups and downs that go with it. Some days you have your victories and things go the way you want, and other days they don’t, but the thing that remains constant for us is that we’re proud of the music that we make and we work really hard on it and it comes from an honest and true place.”

Which is why Horrorshow’s lyrics reflect moments of confidence as well as self-doubt, although such candour can be a doublededged sword. “Making music for a living and commodifying something that concerns essentially matters of the heart is a minefield. It’s certainly not as straightforward as a lot of career paths, but it goes back to the fact that we never really consciously decided that being rap stars was what

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Horrorshow phtoo by Cole Bennetts

“Adit would record a few beats and send them to me over MSN and I’d have a crack at writing for them.”

“I was taken by the book, but I also wanted to find a name that was in a hip hop tradition but marked us out as wanting to do something different with our music from other rap crews,” says MC Nick BryantSmith. Under the stage name Solo, Bryant-Smith makes up Horrorshow together with high school buddy and producer Adit Gauchan.

Boris

FEATURE

Tickled Pink By Joseph Earp

people’s stories.”

T

he more abrasive a musician’s tunes, the harder it is to imagine them pottering about in their own daily civilian life, doing distinctly human, distinctly ordinary things. It’s not easy to visualise noise rock god Merzbow going for an optometrist appointment for example, or Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine shuffling about his kitchen in slippers making a cup of tea.

Similarly, listening to Takeshi of the ear-bleedingly loud Japanese band Boris talk about the group’s touring life is rather like listening to your mum nattering away about sex.

“During a previous Australian tour we all went to a large zoo where you can touch the kangaroos,” Takeshi says with the help of a translator.

“But actually the kangaroos seemed to have more interest in touching us, and [one] stepped on my foot. We were really at such a close distance, [with] a level of contact that you could never have in Japan, so it was a unique experience. I guess since [our] interviews are always about music, this sort of topic is interesting sometimes.”

Unlike a lot of other high-touring, high-profile bands, Boris actually love to hit the road. They don’t get dragged down by the deadlines or rigid schedules, and seem to cope fine with the physical toll dished out by weeks spent living in a tour van.

“It is pretty fun just seeing towns while passing through, and laughing at weird souvenirs found at rest stops and airports along the way,” says Takeshi. “[Our drummer] Atsuo,

being vegan, seems to enjoy good vegan food and restaurants as they are usually more easily found abroad than in Japan. Each of us has our own way of enjoying the time within the tight schedule.”

Boris’ upcoming Australian tour will see them perform their landmark album Pink in its entirety, with the shows designed to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the vicious record’s release. Given the decade since the work was unleashed upon the world, one might assume that Boris know its every nook and cranny inside and out – that they could recite its every chord with their eyes closed. And yet, rather the opposite is true. As far as Takeshi is concerned, the work has only become more of an enigma over the years – its mysteries have only deepened.

“Regarding the sound production and performance of Pink, in a lot of ways it is mysterious to us, even now,” he says. “The magic of this kind of rock [makes] for interesting compositions. We still discover many new things when we rehearse.”

Yet although Pink might not have been thrown into higher definition over the years, Boris as a band have. Their years of playing have tightened them up as a group, and they are now veritable masters of the murky, brutal noise they inflict upon their adoring audience.

“Since Pink we have been touring more often and have had more

“Receiving a larger reaction than we expected gave us the confidence that we can do what we want.” opportunities to encounter new things and pick up new values,” says Takeshi. “Receiving a larger reaction than we expected gave us the confidence that we can do what we want [and] not be pinned down by any general method. I think our style of touring, recording, and making songs developed over this [ten-year] period. Our ways of expression have become more diverse, in a good way, up to the present.”

Of course, Boris have also got even better at connecting with their audience – something they argue is the cornerstone of all live music.

“I think communication with the audience is very important,” says Takeshi. “Sometimes when the light shines on an audience member’s face [who has] a look of enjoyment, the sensation that we are creating the show together with the audience becomes even stronger.”

With: Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving Where: Manning Bar When: Tuesday May 16

“Our introduction to hip hop was graffiti … it made you feel like you were in on some kind of inside joke.” we were going to do. We just started doing it because it came naturally and we’re still just following that urge to write songs and share it with people, through ups and downs.”

The fact Horrorshow are prepared to thoughtfully explore the vicissitudes of life, up to and including the inevitability of death, is reflected in their latest album Bardo State. Referencing the Bardo Thodol, better known (albeit incorrectly) as the Tibetan Book Of The Dead, the ‘Bardo state’ describes a liminal or intermediate phase of existence. It could be the state in between life and the afterlife, but in Horrorshow’s hands it captures more.

“It may not be the most straightforward title for a rap record ever, but I was fascinated by this idea of being between two lives. It relates to death, but more generally as a concept it

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relates to being in a range of different states. In Tibetan Buddhism they think you’re in a Bardo state while you’re in the womb before you’re born and a Bardo state when you’re dreaming, between being awake and sleeping.

“It resonates with me because I feel like in our lives at the moment we’re in between places musically and personally. Also, there’s an interesting dichotomy between me as a performer and musician and my normal everyday life dealing with friends and family. It’s an interesting idea to consider yourself as always being in between different possible lives and how to navigate what’s in between.”

What: Bardo State out now through Elefant Traks With: David Dallas, Turquoise Prince Where: Enmore Theatre When: Saturday June 17

“The magic of this kind of rock [makes] for interesting compositions.”

BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17 :: 9

FEATURE

HOW

B Y N AT H A N J O L LY

There’s a new trend in town: a bunch of kids in a garage bashing out punk tunes inspired by slacking, skating, surfing, smoking, and the belief that anything remotely approaching authority is bullshit, maaaan.

I

t’s a familiar story, with a complicated timeline.

Punk as a movement and a musical trend alike began in the mid-’70s – either in New York City, Berlin, Brisbane or London, depending on who’s telling the history – and reached its first artistic and commercial peak in 1977, the same year that disco also spiked:

twin rebellions operating at polar ends of the musical spectrum.

The second big wave washed up in California during the early ’90s, and marked the first time this style of music was responsible for routinely producing million-selling albums. Records like Never Mind The Bollocks… by the Sex Pistols, Marquee Moon by Television and

The Clash’s London Calling were all unqualified success stories, but pale in comparison with the 11-million-selling Smash by The Offspring, and the 20-millionselling Dookie by Green Day. As with the first wave of punk, the rise of these SoCal pop-punk bands coincided with the rise of UK dance music – both genres

were a breath of fresh air after the heavy weight of grunge. Grunge was a reaction to the fakeness of hair metal, just as the back-tobasics garage rock of The White Stripes and The Strokes was a reaction against the studied anger of Korn and Limp Bizkit. Music is a reaction, most of the time. Fashion repeats. Skateboarding is not a crime.

It’s easy to see the latest trend towards scuzzy skater punk as a kick against modern music made with a Macbook and some stolen beats software, and there’s no denying this may be true for tired music programmers who recall fond days (or at least stories of fond days) where community and alternative radio pulsed with guitar distortion and power chords.

Music trends often repeat in 20-year cycles, with records from the late ’80s echoing psychedelic explorations from the late ’60s, and the cold synth and thwacking electronic drums of the early ’80s featuring on a number of singles released throughout the early ’00s. The simplicity and rebellion of late-’70s punk mirrors the flush of rock’n’roll from the late ’50s.

It’s music from long enough ago to be greeted as an exciting retro discovery by younger generations wishing to mine the past for old sounds to mimic – and recent enough to not alienate those who grew up with these sounds and now control the record labels and radio playlists.

1997 was the year of Blink-182’s breakthrough record Dude

10 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

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FEATURE

Ranch and Green Day’s Nimrod; their second big peak due to the success of ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’. It’s not surprising songs from these records could still comfortably sit on triple j today.

Hell, new music director Nick Findlay probably queued ‘Pathetic’ as I typed this.

Dune Rats hitting number one on the ARIA Albums chart this February was the biggest (local) sign to date that this all has the making of a successful movement. These bands can record cheaply, tour widely and successfully, and translate all this into chart success. Skegss are a younger band traversing

this terrain, and Dune Rats have taken them under their wings: signing them to their vanity label, taking them as the major support act for their national tour, and appearing in their videos.

When similar sounding acts band together, others follow. Others pay attention. Triple j has been amping up its support of Skegss recently, and there would now appear to be a tide of similar acts attempting to mirror this story. It’s a good thing.

When it comes to recording and releasing music, the barrier to entry is lower than it has ever

been, thanks to technology.

Punk rock is doubly simple, as it remains reliant on rudimentary musicianship – with virtuosity often regarded as a detriment – and actually benefits from being bashed out on cheap instruments and recorded in a no-frills approach; each blemish adding an air of authenticity.

“We could do this,” think a thousand kids at gigs around the country, watching simple chord progressions and untrained vocalists – and they are correct.

They could do it – and perhaps they also should. ■

Skegss photo by Charlie Hardy

A push towards early ’90s pop punk music was evident a few years back with the success of Californian bands like Best Coast and Wavves; bands who split the difference between guitar punk and Spector-style girl groups from the ’60s – a formula also mined

successfully in the ’80s by The Jesus And Mary Chain, but in a completely different way. Wavves’ 2010 hit ‘Post Acid’ sounds ripped straight from a ’90s skate video, and the early adopters at Pitchfork lapped it up.

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FEATURE

12 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

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WHERE WHERE YOU’RE YOU’RE AT: The Changing Face Of Australian Hip Hop FROM,

BY DAV I D JA M E S YO U N G

A

lthough hip hop in Australia has been a part of the underground music scene since at least the ’80s, it wasn’t until the 2000s that the genre started to gain momentum. First came a top 40 hit in 2002, the unfathomably catchy ‘Karma’ from Melbourne’s 1200 Techniques. It would take another four years for Adelaide trio Hilltop Hoods to score the first number one album for the genre in The Hard Road – an album that, it should be stressed, was Hilltops’ fourth and came nearly 15 years after the group initially formed.

Over the course of the 2000s, hip hop in Australia went from being a carved-in niche to a national phenomenon. In 2017, the game has changed once again. The genre is evolving, adapting and progressing on multiple fronts – which is not to say it’s perfect by any means, but there are unquestionably a lot more positives to its current state than negatives.

Hau Latukefu, also known as Hauie Beast, is a Canberra-raised and Sydney-based MC of Tongan descent. He is one half of ARIAwinning hip hop duo Koolism, a solo artist in his own right, and has been the host of The Hip Hop Show on triple j since 2008, when he took over the role from Maya Jupiter.

Latukefu has been a part of the Australian hip hop scene for around 25 years, and he notes some significant differences in both sound and the culture surrounding it since he took the reins of The Hip Hop Show.

“When I first started on the show, there was a certain sound hip hop had in Australia,” he says. “A lot of artists felt the need to try and pinpoint a sound triple j would pick up – this was a time when acts like Hilltop Hoods and Bliss N Eso were really hitting their straps, so as a result there were a lot of artists trying to sound like that. At that point, it was very white too. Unfortunately, that led to a redneck element creeping into the scene – not so much in the artists, but in the listeners. It’s not what I had envisioned at all.”

“Australian hip hop is definitely a grassroots movement, and I think supporting one another is an important aspect of it. I just feel as though we were too caught up in that whole thing for a while. It kind of held us back a bit.”

In that same interview, Marton expressed a generally positive outlook on where the genre was headed. “I like where it’s at now,” he said.

“I like that there are more people pushing the envelope. There was a period there where things were quite stagnant – I don’t know if that was to do with a comfort zone or maybe it was to do with fear of breaking out of a certain mould. I think, now, people are doing whatever the fuck they want. That appeals a lot to me.”

Another group of artists who have noted key changes from their inception to the present day are Thundamentals, who recently scored their highest chart success yet with their fourth LP, Everyone We Know. In an interview with Wil Wagner of The Smith Street Band for Tone Deaf, Jesse Ferris – better known as MC Jeswon – spoke highly of the evolution hip hop has undergone in Australia.

“When we started out, it was impossible to fathom that hip hop in Australia could grow into the thriving industry that it is today,” he said. “It used to really be a clandestine movement, supported largely by the participants within the culture. There was little to no airplay for hip hop artists, with the exception of specialist community radio shows. The thought of hip hop artists being invited to perform at music festivals was laughable.

“We never would have predicted that Australian hip hop would go on to be regarded as a respected genre within the wider Australian music landscape. There is such a wide diversity of artists, sounds and stories now within the scene. We just feel blessed to be able to contribute our voice to the conversation.”

“That [multicultural] representation has been in the hip hop demographic of Australia since the early ’90s – maybe “The thought of even before. It hip hop artists just seems to being invited to be getting the perform at music coverage that it festivals was deserves now.” laughable.”

– REMI’S SENSIBLE J, Seth Marton, a Melbourne-based MC who performs under the name of Seth Sentry, also recalls the late-2000s stagnation in local hip hop. “I think for a while there, people in Australian hip hop were stuck just solely listening to one another,” he said in an interview with the BRAG around the release of his second studio album, Strange New Past. “It was that whole ‘support Australian hip hop’ movement, with the stickers and stuff.

– THUNDAMENTALS’ JESWON thebrag.com

AKA JUSTIN SMITH

S

o, what exactly makes Australian hip hop great in its current form? For one thing, it’s fearless. Many of the best hip hop albums produced in this country over the last few years have been bold and uncompromising in their depiction of institutionalised and structural racism, as well as inequalities and injustices against marginalised communities.

Perhaps the biggest Australian hip hop release of 2016, after all, was the AMPwinning Reclaim Australia – the debut LP from A.B. Original, comprising indigenous MCs Trials and Briggs. Consider, also, albums such as Last Of Kin, the 2011 LP from Deadly Award winners The Last Kinection, and Phoenix, the crucially underrated 2013 album from Adelaide’s Jimblah. As reflections of both the solidarity and power of this nation’s First Peoples – as well as a glimpse into the ugly side of how they are routinely treated and depicted by society at large – albums like this are essential listening.

One can also look to individual singles that stand as some of the few real protest songs in contemporary Australian music, like Horrorshow’s 2015 effort ‘Any Other Name’, which features the aforementioned Jimblah as well as veteran MC Urthboy and indigenous singer-songwriter Thelma Plum; and ‘Change The Date’, the NITV-developed posse cut that brings together artists such as Birdz, Nooky, Tuka and Kaylah Truth to protest the use of January 26 as Australia Day. That’s not even to mention the grassroots campaign to get the aforementioned A.B. Original into the triple j Hottest 100 with their similarly themed track ‘January 26’, featuring Dan Sultan. In a countdown that garnered over two million votes, the song made an impressive dent by arriving at number 16, while the group’s reworking of Paul Kelly’s ‘Dumb Things’ alongside the man himself also entered the top half of the list.

For Sukhdeep Singh – a Western Sydney MC of Punjabi descent who has released two acclaimed LPs under the moniker of L-Fresh The Lion – talking about personal issues through something as intrinsically linked as music is now second nature.

Speaking to the BRAG in November 2015, Singh explained that the medium and his message are one and the same.

“It’s interesting when you’re discussing something like the issues of racism with other people,” he said. “For me, it’s something that I have experienced my entire life. It’s one of those things where people can respond by either listening to what it is that I have to say, or by talking over me – making their mind up about me before I’ve even said a word. Some folk just have that immediate agenda. That’s when you get people responding in a really harsh way. I don’t come from a place of anger or hatred – I come from a place of genuine love for community and for the country that I was born and raised in.”

Singh is representative of another key aspect of hip hop’s newer wave: the pride it takes in its multiculturalism. More backgrounds, more countries and more sonic elements are now part of the melting pot than ever before.

One of the most popular hip hop acts in the country, for instance, is Melbourne duo Remi, who sold out national tours last year on the back of their widely acclaimed second album,

“If you look at the history of hip hop in Australia and around the world, there have always been successful women.”

– CODA CONDUCT’S SALLY COLEMAN Divas & Demons. The band is comprised of Remi Kolawole, born to a Nigerian father and raised in Moorabbin, and drummer/producer Justin ‘Sensible J’ Smith, whose parents migrated from South Africa. In a recent interview with the BRAG, Smith said this level of visibility for the diversity of the genre was – while entirely welcome – also well overdue.

“It really shouldn’t come as a surprise – [people from different cultures] have been a part of this the entire time,” he said. “Still, it’s getting more attention and more time in the media. It’s taking over festival bills. It’s so great to see. That representation has been in the hip hop demographic of Australia since the early ’90s – maybe even before. It just seems to be getting the coverage that it deserves now.”

It’s a notion that is being deftly observed by those on the outskirts of mainstream Australian hip hop, too. In what is already an excellent series, Acclaim writer Kish Lal is currently speaking with women and non-binary people of colour involved with hip hop whom she feels are “overlooked, spoken over and ignored”. Lal, while noting an imbalance as far as successful Australian hip hop acts are concerned, is still positive about what the genre is doing for folk who are oft-maligned in the bigger picture.

“Once you delve beyond our mainstream charts,” she writes, “there is a rich and deeply interconnected community of artists creating hip hop that isn’t serving lyrics

“The beauty of the new wave of artists is that there seems to be an appreciation for those that don’t box themselves in.”

– KAYLAH TYSON, AKA KAYLAH TRUTH BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17 :: 13

FEATURE about popping pills at Pyramid Rock. It’s political; it dives into race issues, queer issues, trans issues, stories of anger and of joy.”

A

long with this cultural diversity comes a considerably important step forward in genre diversity. More and more, young women and girls are able to see themselves in key figures of Australian hip hop. Among them are the prodigious teenage MC Mallrat, who recently sold out a run of dates with little more than an EP to her name, as well as the ferocious, poetic Sampa The Great and the boundlessly energetic Tkay Maidza. For Sally Coleman – one half of Sydney hip hop duo Coda Conduct – the rise of women in terms of visibility is a significant one, but not always for positive reasons.

“What’s really interesting to look at is the waves that we’ve seen before,” she says. “If you look at the history of hip hop in Australia and around the world, there have always been successful women. In Australia, it was MCs like Maya Jupiter and MC Trey back in the ’90s and early 2000s. Obviously, back then, hip hop wasn’t making radio – especially Australian hip hop – but as far as the scene was concerned, women like them were doing big things.

“What we’ve seen is a drop-off of sorts as hip hop in Australia has arrived commercially – the long-serving artists like Hilltop Hoods ended up getting played on Nova, whereas the women of the time disappeared. It’s important to keep in context that, for women in hip hop, this isn’t a new thing. We need to be aware it has every potential to drop off again. We can’t be complacent and just think that we’ve fixed that problem. Keeping a level of representation is a constant battle. It needs to be continually addressed, or else we will face the same problem in ten years’ time.”

Maidza, in particular, has been focused on by local press as one of the new faces of Australian hip hop, and her praises have been sung by the likes of Killer Mike, Mark Ronson and Charli XCX. It’s not something that’s lost on Maidza, who expressed to FasterLouder in 2015 that she doesn’t take her position for granted whatsoever. For her, it’s about following in the footsteps of her own inspirations – a tradition she hopes continues with future generations.

“When I started, there was a rapper called Miracle who was getting signed to Sony,” she said. “He’s Ghanaian, and I thought that if he could do it, so could I. Azealia Banks, too – I saw someone who loved dance music just as much as they loved hip hop. That’s what inspired me to start making music. It was that simple. It’s the same in any situation when you’re young, really – you see someone doing something; someone like you. It connects with you – you feel the need to want to do it yourself. There’s always going to be waves of those people, especially in music. If I’m that person to any young girl or any young black kid – or both – I think that’s really amazing, and really cool.”

Another proud advocate of women in Australian hip hop is Brisbane rapper

“Intentionally trying to make your music more accessible to a wider audience is paradoxical.”

– CODA CONDUCT’S SALLY COLEMAN 14 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

Kaylah Tyson, who performs under the moniker Kaylah Truth. Having toured nationally and performed with acts like TLC and Lupe Fiasco, Tyson has unquestionably paid her dues – and with her latest single, ‘Wave’, she is currently in the top 20 on the triple j Unearthed hip hop charts. Tyson notes a considerable shift in the scene’s attitude towards women and non-binary people – one that she perceives as being a positive step forward.

“It has been harder for some women to be taken seriously in the past,” she says. “There was a time when the sound from artists like Mallrat and Tkay would never have been called hip hop, because it doesn’t emulate the boom-bap or skip hop sound. The beauty of the new wave of artists is that there seems to be an appreciation for those that don’t box themselves in. As we slowly multiply, and the new generation begin to experiment with their sound, we see a wider audience showing interest in artists that display elements of hip hop in the mix of their craft.

“In Brisbane alone, there is a greater plight for inclusivity of artists of varying gender, sexuality, musical influences and so forth. In general, there just seems to be more interest in hearing different voices now – hence the increase in the number of women being truly acknowledged in the scene.”

Both Maidza and Tyson are the type of artists who stand boldly and proudly on their own.

That may seem like an odd thing to comment on, but it’s worth taking into consideration that a lot of Australian hip hop’s boom was brought about by collectives, crews and labels. Elefant Traks, Big Village and Obese Records were just some of the key names that made up the building blocks of the country’s hip hop scene – who you represented was a crucial matter in determining your own identity as a performer.

Although labels like Elefant Traks are still proudly running to this day, the focus has shifted more onto the individual acts themselves, with many choosing to go their own way, so to speak, and not be defined by the crew around them.

One such artist is Tom Gaynor – a rapper, singer and songwriter originally from Adelaide who moved to Melbourne to pursue music under the name of Allday. Now based in Los Angeles and having just released his second studio album, Speeding, Gaynor has commented in the past about feeling somewhat of an outlier as far as Australian hip hop is concerned. For him, forging his own path was the only thing that made sense.

“The weird thing is that I was at hip hop shows and battles in Adelaide when I was around 12 or 13,” he says. “I was at all the historic events of that era – I was definitely a little Aussie hip hop kid, catching CDs all the time. I feel like, by the time I was old enough to make my own music, I no longer related to that subculture as a whole. I didn’t want to be bound by living up to the expectations of a bunch of old dudes that were living in a bygone era. I didn’t see anyone whose life I wanted to replicate.

“I’m glad I did my own thing. There was no-one I had to suck up to or bow down to. It’s never been a big deal – it’s just the way things unfolded.”

Gaynor is quick to point out, however, that he holds no ill will against the scene at large.

“I love so much music that’s coming out of Australia,” he says. “I just did a song with Erik Sanders [‘In The Air’]. I love Gill Bates. I love Tkay – of course, she’s from Adelaide too.

“I may like to poke and prod when I talk about it in interviews, but Australian hip hop has a really good history. There’s been a lot of good music, and it took a lot of their music to exist in order for artists like me to exist. I’m on Twitter, I’m on Facebook – if anyone wants a list of great Australian hip hop albums to dig into from its history, message me.”

Tyson backs the notion of making your own way in Aussie hip hop. “I believe the change in mentality that we are witnessing is actually a result of artists moving away from the crew mentality,” she says. “Repping your label doesn’t seem to be as much of a thing, as more of us are doing it independently.

Having more creative control over your own craft is empowering, and you’re less likely to tear others down when you’re happy within yourself.”

For an artist like Latukefu, who came up through hip hop at a time where cliques and crews were a package deal within Australian hip hop, he is able to see the points made by artists like Gaynor and Tyson. He does feel, however, that perhaps the proverbial baby is being thrown out with the bathwater.

“I think it’s a generational thing,” he says.

“Millennials have the confidence in themselves to get out there and achieve whatever they set out to do. When I was coming up, we didn’t have the internet. Phones weren’t really a thing. We had to go out to record stores, and we’d meet people that way. There were hubs where you would meet like-minded people at that record shop or at a gig. I really feel for the generations coming through that never had that. It might not feel like a big deal to them, but it was a really beautiful thing.

“There are definitely still some awesome collectives around, but there’s definitely a focus more on independence now. I feel like it breeds healthy competition, and there’s definitely room for everyone to succeed.”

“I really feel like we’re starting to see the start of the next golden era.”

– HAU LATUKEFU

W

ith acts like Gaynor and Maidza making inroads over in the US, not to mention artists like Remi finding a surefire following in Europe, the crucial question is thus: what will it take for Australian hip hop – long thought to be too far carved into a niche to succeed internationally – to break out on a global scale?

For Tyson, the vision is simple – keep making noise until the higher-ups can hear it. “Major record labels, radio stations and festival organisers need to come to terms with the fact that the scene in Australia is evolving,” she says.

“They need to open their eyes to the diverse talent we have in our own backyard and support their local artists. Until then, we’ll just keep using technology as our strongest tool to push ourselves, or we do what other talent has done and go straight to the overseas market, bypassing Australia altogether. Let’s be real, though – it would be a crying shame for our own country to miss out on what we’ve got to offer.”

Coleman believes there is definitely a place for Australian hip hop to succeed overseas – all it will take is the right artist. “Look at an artist like Stormzy, for instance,” she says.

“That’s maybe the first time a non-American hip hop artist has made it that big in the States. He’s never felt pressure to change his music to fit a wider audience. He uses his local slang, he raps in his own accent, he makes music that is relatable to his peers but is also honest enough to relate to a wider audience.

“Hip hop has always been about a sense of place – it’s about representing where you’re from, grounded in specifics like the names of streets or stores. Intentionally trying to make your music more accessible to a wider audience is paradoxical. People want to hear about you and your experience, which they may not have encountered themselves. If an Australian hip hop artist comes along and achieves that success, it won’t be someone who is inauthentic. It

“There’s no gatekeepers any more. All the ones that were there before are at home with their kids.”

– TOM GAYNOR, AKA ALLDAY will be someone who does it the way that it’s always been done – relaying their own stories.

“There will be an artist that will open doors.

Tkay is in a great position to do something like that. She’s not a traditional hip hop artist, but that’s what I feel it takes to break overseas. You can’t just be regurgitating what’s happening in American hip hop. It needs to be highly original. We’ve seen artists from different genres in Australia manage to make the crossover, but hip hop is such an American thing that it needs a truly unique spin on it for people to truly take notice.”

Whether solo or within a group, black or white, and regardless of gender or sexual orientation, there is one hard and fast rule about Australian hip hop in its clear and present evolution: there are no rules.

Collaborations with artists as diverse as Japanese Wallpaper, Gurrumul and Caitlin Park are not only entirely plausible, they produce excellent results. A beat can shuffle, submerge, boom, blip or float. A hook can come in from left-field, from the heart or not at all. There is less and less of a grid to latch onto as the genre moves forward.

“There’s no gatekeepers any more,” declares Gaynor. “All the ones that were there before are at home with their kids.

We’re the new gatekeepers. We decide what goes on, and there’s so many great rappers that are influencing the way things are going. Genres are just blurring more and more. More popular rappers now sing, as well – definitely more than those who don’t.”

For Tyson, the widening of hip hop’s immediate spectrum has worked wonders on not only her music, but her confidence in it as well. “One particular bit of feedback I got when I released my debut single in 2014 was that I was rapping – so it was kinda hip hop – but the beat wasn’t hip hop enough,” she says.

“I just created the song [‘Oh Diva Me’] without a thought to categorisation, because that’s what I was feeling at the time. The whole need for other people to categorise you can rub off and block your creativity, but if you let go and ride the new wave mentality, you might create some next-level stuff that you didn’t even know you were capable of.”

As for Latukefu, he’s going to keep rallying behind the next wave of Australian hip hop over on The Hip Hop Show for as long as triple j will let him. In his eyes, we’re in a truly exciting time for the genre.

“I feel like the last few years in Australian hip hop have been really amazing,” he says.

“I’ve seen a lot of artists come into their own that are expanding what we’re used to perceiving as Australian hip hop. Look at acts like Remi, Sampa, Manu Crook$ and Midas.Gold. We’re seeing a lot more stuff coming from Western Sydney and southeast Melbourne, and parts of Perth as well.

“I really feel like we’re starting to see the start of the next golden era. There’s no rules. It’s an open slate. People are making the music they feel like making, as opposed to the music that might get them airplay or whatever.

“For me, it’s one of the most exciting times for hip hop since I started out.” ■ thebrag.com

thebrag.com

BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17 :: 15

arts in focus FEATURE

“When I start writing a book, I genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen.

I know as little as the detective in the book.”

Ian Rankin Murder On His Mind By Joseph Earp

I

an Rankin is pottering about his home in Edinburgh, waking himself up by making a cup of tea and talking about murder. Naturally, this is par for the course: Rankin is the UK’s most popular crime writer, the bestselling neonoir stylist behind the compellingly constructed, deeply human Rebus novels. Death and dismemberment are to his novels as madeleines are to Proust.

“Any kind of book that you read, the question is, ‘Why do you keep reading?’” the author ponders in his Scottish purr. “‘Why do you want to turn the pages?’ There is always information that is being held back from you; information that you only gain if you keep reading. What crime fiction does is that it codifies that, so right from the beginning the audience knows that they are playing a game. They are being given clues.”

Rankin is playing this game too, of course, and usually without much more information than his audience. Unlike some crime fiction authors who relentlessly plan and plot out their novels, Rankin allows himself to be led by the story, often diving into a work without even really knowing where it is going to end up.

“I kind of make it up as I go along. When I start writing a book, I genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen.

I know as little as the detective in the book. So although usually the books start with a murder or a crime that’s

“The only way I can find out more information about [Rebus] is to keep writing about him.” happened, I might not know who the killer is, or who is responsible. The first draft is me being the detective, working out what is going on.

“Usually, two-thirds of the way through the first draft, I’ll go, ‘Oh, it’s you,’” he continues. “And then I’ll go back through the second draft aware of that, tweaking the book so that it’s rational that that person is the killer or the person behind the crime.”

Though such a style relies on the kind of relentless revisions that some authors try to avoid like the plague, it does mean that Rankin can keep things almost endlessly fresh for himself. That, for example, is how he’s managed to keep writing novels starring his beloved detective John Rebus for 30 years – Rebus is a person whom Rankin uncovers rather than creates, and over the course of each book, his hero slowly becomes more and more real.

“The reason I keep writing Rebus is there is information he keeps withheld from me himself. The only way I can find out more information about him is to keep writing about him. I still haven’t gotten to the core of what makes him who he is. With each new book, I kind of find out a little bit more about him.

“Of course, the books are also written pretty much in real time. So with each new book, Rebus is not the person that

arts giveaway: JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2

win

The man in black is back. John Wick: Chapter 2 sees the eponymous assassin lured back from retirement into his old habits – or more accurately, forced to draw on his top-drawer training when a bounty is put on his own head. Keanu Reeves stars as Wick in one of his career-defining roles, joined by a litany of stars including Ruby Rose, Ian McShane, Common, Riccardo Scamarcio, Laurence Fishburne and John Leguizamo.

John Wick: Chapter 2 opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday May 18, and we’ve got ten in-season double passes to give away. Enter the draw at thebrag.com/freeshit.

16 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

he was in the previous book. That keeps me on my toes. I mean, when I started writing these books, he was 40 years old, so he is a very different character now that he is in his 60s. In the early books, he was quite physical, he would chase suspects. Well, he can’t do that any more. So I’m actually writing about a different character.”

Like all ageing men, Rebus eventually had to face retirement. Back in 2007, Rankin said that he thought his famous detective was done – that the arc was complete, and that Rebus would live a new life as a civilian, retired from the force, lurking around police stations and going through cold cases, undisturbed by Rankin’s prying pose.

“A few years ago, I retired him,” the author says now. “I thought that was the end of him. And that was fine. I was having fun writing about other characters. But then when I decided that he should come back, that presented a challenge, because I wasn’t sure if his voice was still there.

But as it transpired, his voice was very much still there.

It had just been subconsciously in my head. And readers were quite happy to have him back.”

But although Rebus’ essential voice might have remained in Rankin’s head, the detective isn’t the man he once was.

The post-retirement Rebus novels have been tinged with a certain furious melancholy; a kind of raging against the dying of the light that particularly charged Rankin’s 2016 outing, Rather Be The Devil.

“In the later books I’ve introduced mortality,” Rankin agrees. “Rebus is dealing with the things that people do deal with when they get older – Rebus ‘aches in the places where he used to play’, as Leonard Cohen once said.

That means all those readers who have been there from the beginning go, ‘Yeah, that’s me. I have those aches, I have those worries. It hurts now while I walk; my hearing is going; my eyesight is going.’”

In that way, Rebus is a cipher to project upon – not only for the readers who have stayed by his side for three decades, but for his author as well. “Certainly the books for me are therapeutic,” Rankin says. “I’ve always written since I was a kid, and I’ve always written to make sense of the world, and partly to communicate with the world.

“When I’m writing a book I’m sort of doing it to work out some problem, some question, to find out some answers.”

What: Who Says Crime Doesn’t Pay? as part of Sydney Writers’ Festival 2017 Where: City Recital Hall When: Friday May 26

thebrag.com

arts reviews ■ Comedy

■ Comedy

DeAnne Smith Enters The ‘Post-Joke Era’ With Her No-Holds-Barred Comedy Show

Doug Anthony Allstars Are Going Down Swinging

By David James Young of North America, exploration of gender identity and a clearer idea of what middle age looks like. It’s all dealt with in equal parts empathy and hilarity on Smith’s behalf, who has an uncanny ability to find humour in what would otherwise be considered quite bleak scenarios.

t can be difficult to categorise DeAnne Smith’s approach to stand-up, insofar as she has carved a niche for herself without ever risking accessibility or reliability.

I

There’s a real energy to Smith’s performance tonight – maybe it’s the loosened approach that comes from her flow getting disrupted, or perhaps it’s simply the fact the Friday night vibe is just right. Whatever the case, she makes for an arresting performer, her hour onstage flying by so quickly you’re half expecting her to bound right back up for round two.

With Post-Joke Era, Smith continues to blur the lines and forge her own unique path that results in getting the best of both worlds. She knows her audience from the outset – the studious lesbians, the right-on lefties – but she’s also determined to get a crack out of a few blank faces staring out from the first few rows.

Still, if you’re gonna finish a show, you might as well do it in style. Through both a hilarious “double act” bit and a tackedon “bonus track” in which she details a text exchange with a wrong number, Smith properly combines her flirtations with surrealism with her knack for smartly structured storytelling.

She knows when to draw into specific detail when covering politics and gender, but can also swing for the fences with broader, sillier jokes when the time calls for it – which includes one of the single funniest prop gags Sydney Comedy Festival may have ever seen. It’s so good that if Smith didn’t mention that it wasn’t normally placed in that exact part of the show, you wouldn’t have noticed.

Essentially, Smith is one of the more adept and versatile comics on the circuit – and whether you’re picking up what she’s putting down from the opening lines or it takes a moment to warm up, no-one gets left behind.

If you’re at all intrigued by the idea of queer comedy in every sense of the term, you needn’t look much further than the self-described “gentleman elf” you see before you.

A lot has gone on around Smith’s life recently – including the political climate

“There’s a real energy to Smith’s performance tonight – maybe it’s the loosened approach that comes from her flow getting disrupted.”

■ Comedy

By David James Young

He’s been described in the past as a comedian who’s high-energy, hyper-literate, neverendingly bizarre and less thinking outside the box and more dismantling the box entirely. The fact that Foot is still able to elicit such gut-busting laughter in a room on the other side of the world – not only that, but perhaps be more popular now than ever before – speaks volumes of how much he still gets out of performing.

Truth be told, no two Paul Foot performances are ever going to be the same – even if the structure remains across an entire festival run, there will always be

different interactions and improvisational moments that make your night with the mullet-toting madman.

Besides, let’s face it – structure and Paul Foot never did quite go handin-hand.

Perhaps the single most important thing to know about Foot is that his set-ups and punchlines don’t always come at the obvious time or in the exact way that you’d expect them to. A oneliner about the film Titanic, for instance, scores one of the biggest laughs of the evening, if only for how its simple twist completely bowls over any anticipation one may have had for its conclusion.

There’s also an entire segment in which Foot reads jokes that are exactly nine words long.

It’s hard enough for most comedians to be funny in 140 characters or less – the fact that Foot aces these bite-sized bits of humour shows his

attention to detail and the method to his proverbial madness.

Without wanting to give too much away, the audience is also treated to stylised violence, some hilariously OTT character work and a whole chunk on Oscar Pistorius – a case that, now several years old, can seemingly be discussed in some odd ironic fashion. In a lesser comedian’s hands, it wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. With Foot, it’s as wonderfully weird and outright hilarious as you might expect.

Essentially, ’Tis A Pity She’s A Piglet is a show about nothing in particular.

When you’re watching it, though, it feels like everything you could have ever asked for.

Paul Foot played The Comedy Store on Wednesday May 3 as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2017.

“There’s also an entire segment in which Foot reads jokes that are exactly nine words long. It’s hard enough for most comedians to be funny in 140 characters or less.” thebrag.com

Despite describing themselves as “a pensioner, a cripple and a songwriter” in their final song of the night, DAAS are going down swinging, shining a light on questions of life and death, tolerance and racism, and youth and old age, all while making the slow descent into retirement.

A screen set up at the back of the stage heralded the

Paul Foot’s Bizarre Humour Was Everything Sydney Comedy Festival Ever Needed

2

D

oug Anthony Allstars’ Sydney Comedy Festival set at The Concourse in Chatswood was one of endurance.

With Paul Livingston (AKA Flacco) stepping into Richard Fidler’s shoes as guitarist, only two remaining members of the original trio are left – Tim Ferguson, who developed multiple sclerosis in his early 20s, and Paul McDermott.

DeAnne Smith was reviewed at the Factory Theatre on Friday March 28 during Sydney Comedy Festival 2017.

■ Comedy

017 marks 20 years since eccentric English comic Paul Foot first stepped onto a stage and began doing stand-up comedy.

It’s a remarkable amount of time in a single field for any occupation, but it’s especially impressive given the nature of Foot’s work.

By Sarah Little beginning of the show.

The first thing we saw was Ferguson sitting in a wheelchair with his head lolling around in silhouette: his illness was at the fore throughout the entire performance, and they didn’t shy away from it. “It’s great to be alive. Laugh it up, dirtbags,” he said early in the set; he would go on to describe his life of “burning, screaming pain” and being “ecstatically happy all the time even when [he watches] war films” – a side effect of his medication.

McDermott continually referred to Ferguson as “a head in a chair” and joked about how he and Livingston had aged terribly.

McDermott continued to play the easy-to-anger tough guy of the group, while Ferguson moved away from embodying the vain, dashing twit of his youth to

“McDermott continually referred to Ferguson as ‘a head in a chair’ and joked about how he and Livingston had aged terribly.” instead relying on slowburning gags, including two poetry readings.

Although DAAS aren’t at the height of their careers any more, they still know how to make a room full of people fall into hysterics with their biting lyrics, satire and political commentary.

Doug Anthony Allstars played The Concourse on Friday April 28 as part of Sydney Comedy Festival 2017.

Mae Martin’s Outsider Comedy Falls Into The Weirder Corner Of Sydney Comedy Festival

By David James Young

O

n Sundays, every show at Sydney Comedy Festival is moved forward one hour for convenience’s sake. It may not seem like much, but even such a relatively minor altercation can completely throw the vibe that’s been established through previous nights.

When Toronto-raised, London-based Mae Martin walks onstage tonight, it’s just shy of 7:30pm as opposed to 8:30pm, which could easily disrupt whatever she’s had going for her in her brief run. What that doesn’t take into consideration, however, is how Martin would probably be like this regardless of what time of night it was. It’s in her nature to be a little uncomfortable, awkward and frazzled. Truthfully, it lends authenticity to what she’s doing as a comic, which is telling stories that are autobiographical in nature but skew the layman framework of attempting to relate to a wider audience. Martin is all too aware that her story is too unique, too weird and far too specific for an audience to empathise with completely – and really, that’s totally fine.

The throughline of Dope is that Martin’s mother once remarked on how her daughter has an addictive personality.

Martin contemplates and explores this, recalling her obsessions with Bette Midler (a recurring part of the show) and then stand-up, eventually becoming one herself at age 14. This takes a darker turn, as Martin openly discusses some of the lesscute addictions she’s faced in her life.

“She persists and pulls through when you’re half expecting the whole thing to topple over.” such a grandiose pop culture icon, but also provides a succinct insight into Martin’s personality.

The directional pacing may be off in parts, and Martin gets a little too distracted by a couple on their first date in the front row (one of whom is way too chatty). Still, she persists and pulls through when you’re half expecting the whole thing to topple over.

As scattershot as her approach can be, when she hones in on a bit she is formidably hysterical and practically irrepressible. Truly, any perceived shortcomings that come with Dope can easily be overlooked. Above everything else, you want to spend even more time with Martin – if only to find out what other surreal stories are to be found through her intriguing, fascinating life.

Of particular note is her closer, which involves a fantasy with the aforementioned Midler. Not only does it play around with the absurdist notions of fantasising over

Mae Martin was reviewed at the Enmore Theatre on Sunday April 30 during Sydney Comedy Festival 2017.

BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17 :: 17

FOOD + DRINK

FEATURE

BoxMac

Meet The Mac And Cheese Obsessives

BY JOSEPH EARP

The Duck Inn

TH

ST

OF

Six Of Sydney’s 6 Cosiest Bars E E B

TO SPEND YOUR COOLER NIGHTS Winter is coming, and it’s getting chillier every day.

While we are lucky enough in Sydney to avoid giant blizzards and literally freezing temperatures, it still gets a bit miserable at this time of year. It’s essential to stay warm and comfy, so here’s a quick guide to the best places to cosy up in Sydney.

1. The Duck Inn

The Hero of Waterloo

74 Rose St, Chippendale This Chippo pub is well known for its dogfriendly, people-friendly warm atmosphere and impressive tap list, with stouts and ESBs through to lagers. The food is up there with some of the best pub grub in Sydney, so get involved in the roast duck for two served with sides or one of the homemade curries. Curl up by the bookcases and relax, and keep your fingers crossed that a friendly retriever pops in.

2. Bitter Phew 1/137 Oxford St, Darlinghurst Bitter Phew, hiding on Oxford Street away from the hustle, is all dark wood glamour and sexy warmth. Head here to sample some exclusive beers: Bitter Phew has 12 guests barrel on at a time, from both local and international brewers, and a pagesand-pages-long list of bottled beers in every style and from all around the world. Games night is Monday, so grab your boo and settle down into the sofas with a coffee porter to play a round of Cluedo or two.

By Harriet Flitcroft

5. Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe This little nook, tucked into Glebe Point Road, boasts a fine offering against the winter winds. The dimly lit bar is mellow and buzzing at the same time. The cocktails are worth trying (our personal favourite is the sours) and it’s now offering late-night burgers on Friday and Saturdays.

Sit in a quiet corner by the fish tank until the wee hours.

6. Play Bar 72 Campbell St, Surry Hills

There’s an open fire, an excellent choice of drinks, and if you need a feed, you can pop into the bistro. There’s live music too, with Irish band Green Jam and swinging jazz cats Old Time Band playing on the reg. If you’re lucky you might catch a ghost too.

4. The Butler 123 Victoria St, Potts Point We know; an open verandah doesn’t exactly scream ‘COSY!’,

but this Potts Point joint does winter well. The view itself is enough to get the heart beating, and heaters make sure you can tolerate the outside air. The menu is designed for sharing and offers tempting morsels that include the daily cheese section, whole roast shoulder of lamb, fried cauliflower with hazelnuts, lemon and ricotta and beetroot pearl barley. Wash it down with one of the signature espresso martinis.

Play Bar is not quite what you’d expect from the word ‘cosy’ – but it is. This small bar brings together art and music with a great drinks list (excellent cocktails and an extensive collection of spirits) and sexy eats. The walls are covered in graffiti and the music lineup changes from Afro-Brazilian to break beats and hardcore hip hop. The menu is allAmerican and is designed by the Nighthawk Diner chefs. Grab a Philly cheese steak (layers of onions and capsicum, beef brisket, cheese and lots o’ sauce) or nachos.

These days, people seem to imagine that online cooking videos don’t get much more complicated than those visual recipes currently clogging your Facebook feed – you know, those clips of disembodied hands cooking up carb-heavy delights that you share, tags your mates in, and then never actually do anything about. But that’s just the very tip of the online gustatory iceberg: the internet is awash with talented creatives dedicating entire series (not to mention hundreds of hours of their time) to the cooking of their favourite obscure foodstuffs.

Case in point: BoxMac, a YouTube show hosted by two friends – and macaroni and cheese diehards – Frankie Frain and Jonathan Hunt. Professional filmmakers in their own right, Frain and Hunt have spent the last two years searching for the perfect brand of boxed macaroni and cheese, filming their exploits and in the process producing one of the funniest YouTube shows around.

For Australians, it might seem a bit odd that anyone would want to make (or watch) a show dedicated only to boxed macaroni and cheese – surely there can’t be that many different brands to go through? But packaged mac is a significantly bigger deal over in the US; a certifiable culinary institution with so many offshoots and brands that Frain and Hunt have so far filmed 76 episodes dedicated to cooking and consuming the stuff.

When pressed to explain why mac and cheese is such an American staple, Frain has a few answers. “There are many theories,” he explains. “The best I’ve heard is that because cheese was highly subsidised by the government during the Great Depression of the ’30s, more recipes involving cheese were created, which popularised mac and cheese as a tasty but affordable meal.

“I believe the fast food boom of the last few decades also contributes – there’s a big market in our high-paced lives for quick and easy meals. But above all that, I think it’s just that it’s so delicious.”

And of course, Frain would know. He has tried mac and cheese from all over the world – including a box from our fair isle of Australia. He didn’t much care for it. “The mac and cheese we were sent from Australia was in fact manufactured by Kraft, but tasted nothing like traditional Kraft macaroni and cheese. The cheese was in a tin can, which is very unusual here. It tasted more like Cheese Whiz,

“

We’re informed immediately if mac and cheese is in the news or there’s a new mac and cheese product.

3. The Hero of Waterloo 81 Lower Fort St, Millers Point The Hero, situated in the historic suburb of The Rocks, has been open for 170 years, which is a long time to work on getting things right.

18 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

The Butler

thebrag.com

FOOD + DRINK

FEATURE

“

We’ve gotten requests to shout out people’s birthdays and weddings as surprises for spouses.

which is used more for crackers or nachos here, but not mac and cheese. The pasta, strangely, tasted like cardboard.”

Yet for every mac misfire, Frain and Hunt have a cheesy, carby mac delight to make up for it – and, of course, they also have the love of their fans to nourish them. “We get mac-andcheese-related memes [from fans], we’re informed immediately if mac and cheese is in the news or there’s a new mac and cheese product (like the Burger King Mac N’ Cheetos), we get an endless amount of recommendations on what to mix into mac and cheese, and lots more.

“We receive great photos of fans in our swag, or unboxing our merchandise, and we’ve gotten requests to shout out people’s birthdays and weddings as surprises for spouses. We’ve even received amazing BoxMac-inspired artwork, including drawings, posters, animations, and mac-and-cheese-inspiredmake-up.”

Frain and Hunt repay that creativity with zany creations of their own, of course – aside from the traditional BoxMac episode set-up (the pair cook, eat and rate the mac, chatting away as they go), they also shoot themed episodes. They’ve produced Halloween episodes narrated by a Tales From The Crypt-esque skeleton, a Christmas show that pays homage to cheesy ’80s sitcoms, and even an outdoors episode where they encouraged their mates to make their own home-style macs.

“It’s already a bit zany to do a mac and cheese review show, but to stretch the concept to fit horror or sitcom narrative formats just shouldn’t work, but we’re very proud of the [episodes],” Frain says.

Nonetheless, what unites both the themed episodes and the regular old garden variety BoxMac instalments is the overall production value. Indeed, it’s the first thing that fans notice – for a show about macaroni and cheese, BoxMac sure does look classy. “When people notice high production value from BoxMac, I believe they’re seeing a blend of quality camera work using quality camera equipment, clear audio, styled editing, and hopefully entertaining content,” Frain says.

Eat Your Way Across:

BY JESSICA WESTCOTT

W

elcome to our new series, in which we teach you to eat your way across some of the most delicious suburbs in Sydney. Naturally, we’re starting with Newtown – we’d be silly not to. So whether you’re a Newtown newbie or part of the op-shop furniture, we’ve got your next five weeks of dinner dates sorted for you.

START AT:

Corridor

Corridor 153A King St For a tucked-away, cosy cocktail to kick off your evening, there’s no better hideaway than Corridor. This candlelit gothic haven is home to $10 happy hour cocktails and a seasonal menu that is enough to whet your palate for the night to come. Try an old fashioned with one of the dipping share plates to kick off your evening.

GET SNACKS:

Clem’s Chicken Shop 210 King St “I’m just getting some chips at Clem’s,” is the cry of the Newtown high schooler as they call their mates after school. Clem’s is a timeless classic, serving up the same chicken and chips menu for nigh on 40 years. Grab a bag of wings to go and, if you can hack it, a pasta salad on the side.

HEAD TO:

The biggest problem the pair face is not finding more macs to make, nor an audience, nor even keeping the formula exciting enough to stop it from getting old: it’s expiring macs.

Lentil As Anything 391 King St If you haven’t heard of this all-goodness, all-vego institution, then you really must be new here. With a menu that changes daily and a ‘pay what you can’ system that helps run the bustling business, this is one place that’s worthy of its legend status. Try a mixture of whatever is on the board, and pay as much as you can afford. The volunteers here are the backbone of this suburb, and deserve all the praise we can give them. Don’t overeat though! The night has just begun.

“We’ve received a bevy of strange and hilarious mac and cheeses from around the globe. Since we’re sent so much mac, expiration does become a problem. We only shoot about once a month, at which time we bank about four episodes. So we normally try to see what’s expiring, and then design shows around that if possible.”

As a result, as long as they keep getting sent mac (and as long as they can get through it before it expires), Frain and Hunt will keep cooking it up and making the show – in the process inspiring fans from around the world.

Newtown

THEN GO TO:

Thai Pothong 294 King St Here we have the mother of all Thai restaurants. And by that I mean this place has been around as long as Newtown has, and basically birthed the Newtown Thai movement. Plus, once you’re done with your pad see ew (or other noodle dish, but really, why would you eat anything else?) you can peruse the gift shop for oversized gold elephants and bamboo fans. What a rollercoaster.

“I love BoxMac most when it inspires creativity and art from our fan base,” Frain says. “I never would have thought a review show about mac and cheese would showcase so much talent and imagination.”

FOR DESSERT:

The Pie Tin 1A Brown St It’s pie. This is a restaurant that only serves pie. What else really needs to be said? Have a cherry, have a banoffee, have a potato and bacon – the choice is yours. But the winner of the day is indisputably the 12-kilogram beast known as The Pie That Ate Newtown.

MORE DESSERT:

Cow And The Moon 181 Enmore Rd Take the walk from The Pie Tin down Enmore Road towards this beloved ice creamery. Winner of multiple international gelato awards and numerous times dubbed “the best gelato in the world”, Cow And The Moon is a homegrown star that deserves the glory it continues to scoop up.

FINISH THE NIGHT:

The Marlborough Hotel 145 King St Marly Bar is open late, offering great music and plenty of grouse dancing spots. Leave your heels at home, and down a few G&Ts while the live bands play through the weekend.

thebrag.com

BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17 :: 19

FEATURE

s O t ’ f n o D d n A The Dos A Musicians’ Guide To Staying (Un)healthy On Tour Justin Bieber blamed ‘too much milk’ for this unfortunate moment

Puking Performers: Why Eating Before A Gig Can Go Horribly Wrong

“I think everyone thinks [I vomited] because I was drinking but it was actually because I ate: I had dinner too close to performing and I was just so full.” – HARRY STYLES

O

n September 30, 2012, international pop star Justin Bieber took to the stage before a packed, adoring crowd – and promptly vomited.

Not just once, either. After an initial sly little puke, the ‘Baby’ crooner hid around a notquite-obscured-enough corner and vomited again.

The internet had a field day. After all, Bieber is the easiest target in a digital world saturated with easy targets – he’s the 21st century’s multipurpose snotnosed brat, the pesky little brother practically begging for a couple of swiftly dealt Chinese burns. Videos of the gaffe quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, and the image of Bieber, bent over, hands slapped upon his thighs, became fodder for a thousand jibing memes.

“Side effects of a Justin Bieber concert may include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea [sic], and in some extreme cases, death,” read one meme. “I was like, ‘Baby, Baby, Baby… Blechh,’” said another. The latter image reached the top spot on Reddit and stayed there for a full day. Some enterprising businesspeople even turned the moment into a T-shirt, presumably to tap into Bieber merchandise’s untapped market: Bieber haters.

Funnier still was the Biebs’ reason for screaming Ruth in front of an auditorium full of grossed-out preteens and their unimpressed parents. The cheeky spew wasn’t brought on by a hangover, or the aftermath of some wild night of celebrity debauchery – rather, Bieber blamed “too much milk” for his illness. Too much milk.

Not whisky shots. Not greening out. Not an excess of blow. Too much milk.

But as fun as it might to single the guy out, Bieber is far from the only musician undone by their gustatory preperformance rituals. Harry Styles of the chart-topping boy band One Direction suffered the same fate in 2012 after going too hard on his rider before a show, and had to scarper off stage to vomit – only to be unfortunately snapped by a few spew-spotting paps down the front of the theatre.

Spare a thought for Lady Gaga while we’re here, too. The ‘Poker Face’ singer vomited three times in front of an audience in Barcelona back in 2012, eventually retreating backstage to Jackson Pollock up the very last bit of her rider. “I went backstage and vomited – I did not want you to see this,” she said upon returning, perhaps unaware that the audience was already well acquainted with the contents of her guts by this stage. “It happens to me sometimes.”

Yet such performers should consider themselves lucky that their food came back up from their uppermost ends rather than the alternative. After all, they could easily have gone the way of Chris Brown or Ed Sheeran. According to an interview Brown did with MTV in 2011, a habit of overindulging in the rich delights listed on his rider once backfired (no pun intended) when the R&B singer shat his pants right in front of an adoring crowd. “This is real disgusting and too descriptive, [but] … I just remember it running down my leg,” he helpfully explained.

“This is the side of touring people don’t talk about in VH1 Behind The Music segments.”

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Sheeran made a similar mistake. Full of food, the

world’s ultimate sad boy once “sharted” (his terminology) in front of a sold-out crowd. “It was like midway through a performance,” Sheeran told an interviewer back in 2015. “I was really lively, and then halfway through I was like, ‘All right, I’m just going to stand for the rest of the performance, and hope it’s over soon and then go home and throw these trousers out.’”

“If you do decide to indulge in all the free food you feel you are owed, you (and your pants) may well very quickly come to regret it.”

Indeed, though it might not often get discussed in polite circles, live music has its own faeces-splattered, urine-drenched, vomitsoaked Hall of Shame.

Artists as diverse as Fergie, GG Allin and Björk have all voided their bowels, upped their guts and flushed out their bladder in full view of their audiences – almost all of them undone by poorly thought-out preperformance snacking.

Clearly, this is the side of touring people don’t talk about in VH1 Behind The Music segments, or in the tragedylaced biopics cinemagoing audiences endlessly chew up. As glitzy and glamorous as life on the road might appear to be, the truth is a far cry from on-screen fantasies: the real world, after all, contains rather a lot more shit.

thebrag.com

FEATURE

Eating On T he Road

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verything is just that little bit more gross when you’re actually out there living the muso’s life. Just ask almost any contemporary Australian touring musician and they’ll tell you that touring is less Almost Famous than it is 120 Days Of Sodom, and even something as benign as getting a bite to eat before a show is more akin to a feeding frenzy than the kind of polite, civilised grazing one might imagine.

“If we get free beer before the show, it’s a free-for-all,” says Totally Unicorn guitarist Aaron Streatfeild. “It’s like a family of rats – if you don’t get in and gorge yourself, you’ll miss out. You’re more than welcome to wander off and get ‘dinner’, but you’ll be buying your own drinks.”

It’s not even a guarantee that your rider will feature anything much worth eating anyway. Although we often associate musicians’ food requests with blue M&M’s, or fragrant steamed rice flown over from India, or some other impossible to obtain, ridiculously extravagant foodstuff, in actuality you have to sell a lot of albums before your minders start trekking out to the local farmers’ market to harvest you a bounty of bok choy.

If you’re in a mid-level band, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a plate of caterers’ sandwiches – those anaemic slices of

bread stuffed with plastic cheese and watery iceberg lettuce – and if you’re not, you’ll get some salt and vinegar chips and a couple of takeaway pizzas. And even then, you’ll have to fight your mates tooth and claw for a slice of cold pepperoni and a handful of crumbs from the bottom of the chip packet.

But even getting exactly what you want has its own downsides. By the time you’ve loaded in, played soundcheck, got through a few warm-up rituals and then retreated backstage for a drink or two, you might have less time than you thought to get through your meal – and then things get tricky. “I once played a show with someone who ate an entire lobster during our set,” says Kell Derrig-Hall, guitarist for The Singing Skies. “He got a half-priced meal as a part of the rider and it came just before we played. He just set it up next to his snare drum on a little stool and was chomping away between songs.”

Of course, if you do decide to indulge in all the free food you feel you are owed, you (and your pants) may well very quickly come to regret it. Add alcohol, a stomach full of grease – or, God forbid, a whole lobster – to a bad case of nerves and a roomful of eyes watching you for any signs of error, and it’s little wonder that many musicians dread eating too much before they take to the stage.

“I personally don’t like to eat anything too

heavy before playing,” says Derrig-Hall.

“You don’t want to be burping into the mic.”

Some musicians do try to eat at least a little something – but they do it selectively.

“I like to eat before a gig as it gives me the energy that I need to perform at my best,” explains Siebe Carl Pogson, primary composer with Funk Engine. “I don’t eat anything heavy like steak as that makes me feel quite tired and heavy. I usually go for some Asian cuisine or pizza. Most venues have pizza on offer, so that usually works out quite well.”

Then there are the musicians who abstain from chowing down altogether. “The boys [in the band] don’t seem to mind eating, but I can’t eat before a gig,” says Imi Ireland, vocalist for folk-funk powerhouse Joseph Liddy and The Skeleton Horse.

“My body seems to go into fight-or-flight mode – I get butterflies before we play.

I can’t waste all that nervous energy on digesting. Plus, who can dance with a huge full belly? After a gig I eat pretty much everything I can find.”

Lara Chrystal, the drummer for Newtown’s self-proclaimed “shittest rock band” Scabz, would have to agree. In fact, Chrystal’s aversion to chowing down pre-gig is a result of once pulling a Bieber herself. “I definitely can’t eat before a gig,” she says.

“Drumming is super physical. I’ve been

BY JOSEPH EARP

sick once onstage mid-song and won’t be doing that again any time soon.”

Indeed, for Rebecca Callander – onethird of hair rock wunderkinds Rackett – even the possibility of going full Bieber is enough to stave her off too much preshow indulgence. “With all the jumping we do, we tend to avoid eating anything before a show or it will mostly likely end up on someone in the front row.”

Yet even going foodless is an option fraught with its own difficulties. “It’s tempting [not to eat] but not really feasible if you’re playing semi-regularly,” says Trischelle Roberts of the Sydney-based indie rock band Mere Women. Who would want to step onstage in front of the mic and have their stomach start gurgling?

“It’s a fine line,” Streatfeild agrees. “On one hand you can eat too much food court clearance cuisine and feel horrid; on the other hand, you can have too little and have nothing to combat the rider-abuse leading up to show time.”

That’s the Sophie’s Choice every musician is faced with. Eat and face the horror of your bladder and bowels embarrassing you in just about the most heinous way you can imagine. But don’t eat and you might have to deal with a whole load of bilious, drunken banter spilling out of your mouth. Either way, you’ll be crapping – your only choice is out of which orifice.

“Eating well takes on an even greater importance than usual.

It can be the difference between getting home unscathed and breaking down mid-tour.” – MATT LEGROIX, AUX.TV

Sweat, Snacks And Salt: The Horrors Of The Touring Diet

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he best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley,” wrote the Scottish poet Robert Burns. He was talking about the inability of any animal – human or otherwise – to prepare for the hardships of life, but he might as well have been talking about Totally Unicorn’s often foolhardy attempts to stick to a nutritionally sound diet while touring. After all, the Sydney metalcore band’s schemes for good health have consistently “gang aft a-gley” ever since they began their rigorous touring schedule, and their bodies have taken the toll pounded out by life on the road.

“On tour you get to make adult decisions, which eventually lead to gout, haemorrhoids and a heap of oily boys.”

– TOTALLY UNICORN’S AARON STREATFEILD

“On tour you get to make adult decisions, which eventually lead to gout, haemorrhoids and a heap of oily boys,” says Streatfeild. Indeed, those “adult decisions” often result in an overindulgence in the salt- and fat-heavy delights offered up by McDonald’s, and the band list Macca’s as their go-to gustatory spot. “Yeah, whatever, judge all you want,” Streatfeild jokes. “We don’t have standards or ethics. Also, we’re a family, and families stick together and order from the gourmet creations menu.”

Not that Streatfeild and his band of oily boys are the exception to the rule. It seems that few groups – no matter how committed and health-conscious they might usually be – can avoid the allure of takeaway. “It can be hard to eat healthy food when you’re travelling interstate for shows,” admits Derrig-Hall. “Airports and service stations have lots of delicious unhealthy options. I tend to gravitate towards something salty and battered [and make] food choices that I would like to tell myself I might be more sensible about otherwise.”

“Kebabs are everywhere.

Home-cooked meals are for children.”

– PRIVATE FUNCTION’S CHRIS PENNEY

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“When we’re on the road, the ratio of processed foods versus fresh food in a convenient location, like a service station or airport, is totally out of whack,” agrees Callander. “Before we travel, we have to prepare. Having said this, it takes less time than re-stringing a guitar and is far more effective in fuelling our bodies for all kinds of rock activities.”

“My go-to food is a banana.

It’s a vegan’s best friend.

[That’s the] saddest sentence ever.”

– SCABZ’S LARA CHRYSTAL

In fact, so alluring are the unhealthy options available that some musicians just entirely give into the sirens’ call and overindulge in fast food every single day of the tour. For example, when asked if he struggles to keep up a healthy diet when on the road, Chris Penney of the punk act Private Function laughs off the question. “Nah,” he says. “Kebabs are everywhere. Home-cooked meals are for children.”

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FEATURE

Of course, cost factors into such decisions too. The first few years of a touring musician’s career – if not the entirety of it, barring some incredible, rags-to-riches success story – must be micromanaged to ensure that as little money as possible is wasted.

There’s barely enough cash to handle proper accommodation, let alone the possibility that bands might be able to eat out at fancy, comparatively healthy restaurants every day. And the idea that the rigorous touring schedule might be disrupted enough so that musos can spend a little time off the road in order to cook some meals themselves is frankly laughable.

“When you’re driving a long distance to a gig, most of the places to stop for lunch or dinner are fast food outlets, which aren’t exactly the healthiest joints in the world,” says Pogson. “Then when you fi nish the gig, it’s late at night and the only places still open are again fast food joints. The only way to avoid them completely would be stopping at a town where there might be a cafe or something, but when you’ve got to be at a venue at a certain time, going off the highway to drive into town uses up

valuable time that you may need to get to the gig.”

Even when self-managed bands do fit a couple of quick rest stops in, such breaks are considered a luxury rather than a necessity. “We’re a big band on a budget, so we usually stay in friends’ houses if we tour,” says Ireland of The Skeleton Horse’s touring habits. “Some of us have been lucky enough to be cooked for before.”

As a result, a lot of bands (although obviously not Penney’s) begin to fantasize about the most basic of homemade foodstuffs, and start fetishizing the kind of simple snacks they can make entirely by themselves – or at least, without the assistance of Ronald McDonald or the Colonel or any of their greasy mates. “I miss home-cooked stuff and cooking so much,” says Derrig-Hall.

“The best meals are home-cooked meals,” agrees Pogson. “Even if you do get time to stop off at a nice restaurant and eat a well-cooked meal, there’s something special about eating a meal that you’ve cooked for yourself or a meal that’s been cooked by a friend or loved one. For some reason, it tastes better.”

Funk Engine’s Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork Shoulder Ingredients: 18.5 kilograms of pork shoulder One large onion, chopped Four cloves of garlic, minced Two tablespoons of vegetable oil Half a cup of apple cider vinegar One cup of chicken stock One tablespoon of chilli powder One tablespoon of thyme Two tablespoons of mustard Two tablespoons of brown sugar One-and-a-half cups of BBQ sauce Method: 1. Pour vegetable oil in pot followed by pork shoulder 2. Mix remaining ingredients in bowl and pour over the top 3. Cook on medium heat for about six hours

Private Function’s Awesome Bolognaise Sauce Ingredients: Heaps of mushrooms Heaps of zucchini Heaps of carrots Heaps of capsicums Heaps of green olives One jar of bolognaise sauce Method: 1. Grate all of your ingredients into a pan of bolognaise sauce 2. Cook 3. Eat

Rackett

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eedless to say, all these problems are further compromised if you have a vegan – or even a vegetarian – in your band. Unless they plan on picking the patties out of their McDonald’s burgers and chowing down on two bits of bread so sugary that they are technically classified as cake, a lot of the time band members with dietary needs are going to go hungry – or will be forced to improvise. “My go-to food is a banana,” says Chrystal, a long-time vegan. “It’s a vegan’s best friend. [That’s the] saddest sentence ever.”

“Being a combination of hardcore vegans and softcore vegetarians, [Rackett] mostly live on fruit, vegetables, nuts, grains and sugar,” adds Callander. “This usually means no airport food. At best we’ll eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and at worst, anything fried potato.”

Nonetheless, some bands see their vegans as secret weapons: human radars that they use to search out tastier, healthier snacks. “Fitting food into the logistics of touring can get frustrating,” says Roberts. “Our saving grace is that Kat [Byrne, drummer] is vegan, so she usually has some local knowledge on hand. A few of these, like Smith & Deli, have become regulars.”

This is how bands like The Skeleton Horse ultimately manage to avoid saltsaturated artery hardeners. The tenpiece are an equal mix of “vegetarians, vegans and garbage guts”, and as a

22 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

result, try to find a healthy-ish middle ground to satisfy the entire troupe.

“Eating on the road definitely forces you to compromise a lot,” says Ireland. “Either you split to go hunt down exactly what you want, or you go with the group decision and be happy with that. We generally aren’t a fast food type group, though – someone always gets sick. After all, you’re getting no sleep, drinking, eating badly, and there’s minimal showering. We’re all just hot-boxed in a Petri dish.”

Notes: I love heaps of vegetables in my bolognaise. But sometimes I think to myself, “What the fuck is this sauce? It’s just too chunky.” It’s like I’m sitting there eating a salad or something, digging through all this bullshit, trying to get the perfect bite. That’s not what sauce is about, man, you know? So I had this awesome idea – I’ve started grating all the vegetables in the bolognaise. It becomes this awesome thick sauce where every bite has a bit of everything.

The Singing Skies’ Eggplant & Potato Curry Ingredients: A pinch of cumin seed A pinch of mustard seed Two teaspoons of chilli Two cloves of garlic One onion A pinch of turmeric Two good-sized sliced potatoes Rice One third of a can of diced tomatoes One good-sized eggplant Method: 1. Fry the cumin seed, mustard seed, chilli, garlic, onion and turmeric in an oil-coated pan 2. Add a third of a can of diced tomatoes to the pan 3. Boil two potatoes. When boiled, slice them into cubes 4. Slice up the eggplant and fry it until it changes colour and starts going soft 5. Put all the above cooked ingredients into a pot, cover with water, and then boil on a reduced heat until the mixture becomes thicker and more amazing 6. Serve with rice

Totally Unicorn’s Road Rolls Ingredients: A dozen Coles cheese and bacon rolls One tub of Tabouli Pack of cigarettes (they’re cheaper at the supermarket) Five longnecks (any brand; get them across from the supermarket) Cling wrap (not the Home Brand stuff, that is fucking useless) Method: 1. Crack a beer and smoke a dart: grocery shopping is a punish 2. Forget about everything else in the van for a few days and just eat shitty takeaway (allow to marinate at least overnight)

But the likes of The Skeleton Horse are a rare proposition indeed. Most bands, no matter how hard they try, always end up back in the food court at some dead-end shopping centre in the outer suburbs, chewing down on the saltiest, fattiest, most fulfilling thing they can find.

And who can blame them? There is just something so deeply convenient – so damn alluring – about side-of-the-road fast food outlets. They aren’t only havens for musicians because they’re everywhere, or because they can serve you fast, or because they’re cheap. It’s because such joints are hard-wired to please you.

Everything you chow down at a McDonald’s or a KFC – or even your grotty local kebab store – has been dreamt up to fulfil your every salty, fatty desire. A Filet-O-Fish burger might not be a Lamborghini – in fact, it might be more akin to a beat-up old moped you scored for a steal off eBay – but it will get you where you need to go. And when you’re in a band, movement is the name of the game.

Totally Unicorn

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Joseph Liddy and The Skeleton Horse’s Pasta Bianco

Joseph Liddy and The Skeleton Horse

Ingredients: Fettuccine (or linguine) Two cloves of garlic Half a brown onion One spoonful of butter One egg Fresh parsley or basil Shaved Grana Padano A splash of white wine Olive oil Salt and pepper Chilli flakes Method: 1. Cook pasta al dente 2. Chop and caramelise the garlic and onion 3. Add pasta to the pan 4. Stir in raw egg while hot 5. Throw in the rest 6. Eat Notes: Joe’s pasta bianco is perfect for a drunken, post-gig, late-night wind down. Feeds the whole family (except the vegan).

Ainsley Farrell’s Thai Green Curry Ingredients: One onion Two gloves of garlic Four carrots Two broccoli One capsicum One teaspoon of shaved ginger Half a block of tofu Half a cup of coconut milk Two tablespoons of green curry paste

Rackett’s Tofu Spinach Lasagne Ingredients: Half a pound of lasagne noodles Two ten-ounce packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained One pound soft tofu One pound firm tofu One tablespoon sugar A quarter of a cup of soy milk Half a teaspoon of garlic powder Two tablespoons of lemon juice Three teaspoons minced fresh basil Two teaspoons of salt Four cups of tomato sauce

the recipes

Method: 1. Fry up all your veggies and tofu in a big pot 2. When ready, turn the heat down and add in your coconut milk and curry paste 3. Mix well and let the veggies/ tofu relax and soak up the flavours

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in

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Notes: Serve with rice. Satisfies a band of vegans, vegetarians or meatlovers on a meat hiatus.

Method: 1. Cook the lasagne noodles according to the package directions; drain and set aside 2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit 3. Squeeze the spinach as dry as possible and set aside 4. Place the tofu, sugar, soy milk, garlic powder, lemon juice, basil, and salt in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth 5. Stir in the spinach 6. Cover the bottom of a nine-inch by 13-inch baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of noodles (use about onethird of the noodles) 7. Follow with half of the tofu filling 8. Continue in the same order, using half of the remaining tomato sauce and noodles and all of the remaining tofu filling.

9. End with the remaining noodles, covered by the remaining tomato sauce.

10. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes

Vast Hill’s Chicken Pesto Salad Ingredients: One roasted chicken from Woolworths One jar of pesto One packet of baby spinach One packet of Parmesan cheese Method: 1. Empty the spinach into a massive salad bowl and shred the chicken in there 2. Empty half of the pesto jar into a glass and mix in a bit of water (not too

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much; enough to give it a dressing-like consistency) 3. Pour onto the salad and mix through 4. Mix through Parmesan to taste Notes: I know when you hear salad you immediately think “boring”, but this chicken pesto salad is the bomb! It only costs about $15 and serves around three people.

Mere Women’s Spices Ingredients: Three tablespoons of smoked paprika

Three tablespoons of ground chilli One-and-a-half teaspoons of ground cumin One-and-a-half teaspoons of onion powder One-and-a-half teaspoons of garlic powder One-and-a-half teaspoons of ground black pepper Half a teaspoon of chipotle powder Method: 1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl Notes: It’s not a recipe as such, but instead a spice mix I use a lot. It works well in mayonnaise with a little lime juice and salt as a sauce for grilled corn.

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK AT THE DRIVE IN in • ter a • li • a Rise/Cooking Vinyl

The progenitors of post-hardcore have been watching the throne and biding their time. Now we finally see At The Drive In’s first shot at the title in nearly two decades, and what could have been a cantankerous effort from a band past its prime is shot through with enough adrenaline to get it over the line.

The translation of the record’s title is “among other things”, a name that gives the sense that At The Drive In have much more to rage about than the issues addressed in these 11 tracks. And as Cedric BixlerZavala rips into ‘Continuum’, boy does he sound pissed off.

ATDI have always sounded like the aural personification of Bixler-Zavala’s furious mule-kicking,

“As Cedric Bixler-Zavala rips into ‘Continuum’, boy does he sound pissed off.”

but they’re now able to aim and control those kicks with greater accuracy. Don’t forget, that energy ripped the band apart more than once in the past – restraint makes the group more impactful as agents for change.

At The Drive In’s return is not a throwing down of the gauntlet, a direct challenge to the recalcitrants of the genre (or at least the less bellicose); it’s more of an offering of the gauntlet.

Confident in maturity, they hold out their former mantle of furious rebellion, waiting expectantly for the new blood to reach up and rip it from them. All the pack needs is a leader.

David Molloy

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK SLOWDIVE

eight suitably synth-drenched passages of noise and haze propelled by heavy effects and delicate vocals.

The approach has certainly worked for them in the past and in many ways, it still does.

Slowdive Dead Oceans/Inertia Crucial trailblazers and carriers of the shoegaze torch, Slowdive were one of the definitive bands of sonic adventurers to emerge out of the early ’90s cluster of noise in Britain. Making strides alongside other indispensable acts such as Ride and My Bloody Valentine, the group helped create and mould the sound of the short-lived yet vital genre.

Now back with their first album since 1995’s Pygmalion, Slowdive’s self-titled fourth record is a collection of

‘Star Roving’, ‘Everyone Knows’ and ‘No Longer Making Time’ compound elements of ambient and post-rock to create something quite beautiful, and in fact echo some of their best work. But the potential for a great album is lost within the insipidness of the remaining tracks.

This album is ultimately a disappointing return from a band we haven’t heard from in 22 years; musicians known for their powerful and inventive sound. The intention is there, but the delivery falls short of anything truly remarkable.

Slowdive is beautiful, but a little hollow, like a pleasant dream you awake from only to immediately forget.

Edward Acheson

“Slowdive’s self-titled fourth record is a collection of eight suitably synth-drenched passages of noise and haze.”

FIRST DRAFTS Unearthed demos and unfinished hits, as heard by Nathan Jolly EMINEM – ‘LOSE YOURSELF’

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y palms are sweaty, knees weak, and there’s no real way to break this to you, so I guess I’ll just say it: the “mom’s spaghetti” line is not in the original version of ‘Lose Yourself’.

In fact, none of the original lyrics made the final cut, despite being every bit as dexterous and clever as anything he has written. The music stays much the same in both versions – not surprising, considering how hip hop is created from the beat up – but the lyrical differences between this version and the final show how driven Marshall Mathers was at this point, honing the words until they was perfect.

He rewrote and reworked the lyrics between takes on the set of 8 Mile, recording the final threeverse version in one frenzied take.

He came game-ready. One shot.

The energy shifts from a swamilike harnessing of self to that of an attack dog; both sets of lyrics implore action, but only the finished version hums with the urgency that is the song’s ultimate hallmark.

The second verse on the demo is downright poetic: “When we descend together, we begin to move as one / In perfect unison just like the moon and sun.” It’s heartening to think of young Marshall penning this ode to the same sweetheart he once wrote, “Quit crying bitch, why do you always make me shout at you?”

Co-writer Jeff Bass told Billboard that during the year or so it took for the fi nished version to emerge, they continuously played the chunky guitar line back. “The only thing that we noticed, honestly,

is that the track felt so good. We didn’t know why it felt so good, but it was something that felt good to us.”

Millions agreed. The song is perennially used as hype music by everyone from Olympic athletes to motivational speakers. While the music itself clearly breeds something inspirational in the vein of the Rocky theme or Chariots Of Fire (or St. Elmo’s Fire, for that matter), the key is the triple-punch of the uplifting music, the rags-toslightly-better-rags plot of 8 Mile, and Mathers’ exceptional lyrics.

The original intro contained the same loose idea – “Yo, if you could just, for one minute, or one split second in time, Forget everything / Everything that bothers you, all your problems” – with one vital change: the original is about escapism, while the finished version is about being so inside a moment that you can control it, and with this laser focus, perhaps control your own destiny.

Or at least win a rap battle, fuck Brittany Murphy against the wall of a stamping plant, and make millions of people regularly rap the word “mom’s spaghetti” in dead earnest. That’s how to harness power.

Listen to the original ‘Lose Yourself’ demo at thebrag.com.

“The song is perennially used as hype music by everyone from Olympic athletes to motivational speakers.”

24 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

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out & about

brag beats

Off The Record

Queer(ish) matters with Arca Bayburt

Why ‘Tolerance’ Isn’t Good Enough For LGBTQ Kids To Survive Missy Higgins

Dance and Electronica with Alex Chetverikov

Skrillex

“TOLERATION IS FOR A CO-WORKER’S BAD BREATH, NOT FOR OUR LIVES.”

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o, a bunch of Australian celebrities have lent their support to a call for the milquetoast Trumble government to introduce anti-bullying programs to schools, with a focus on LGBTQ kids. The campaign includes the likes of Missy Higgins, Paul Mac and Guy Pearce among others.

Why The Search For True Innovation In Music Is Fraught With Difficulty Troye Sivan

This sounds great in theory, except it’s not. It’s not great by any stretch, it’s just laughable. Why? Because it calls for tolerance.

Not respect and understanding and acceptance and education – just tolerance.

The campaign is led by Troye Sivan, who is a gay musician. The letter he and this laundry list of celebrities are encouraging people to sign has a disturbing focus on mere tolerance, rather than y’know, the humanity of it all.

The letter mentions “tolerance” six times. Here are a few examples: “…some United States programs are now combining anti-bullying and antidomestic violence teachings. Importantly, these programs teach tolerance and respect of LGBTI people.”

Skrillex photo by Jason Nocito / Missy Higgins photo by Cybele Malinowski

“Make no mistake of our request”? Are you kidding me? You mean, “Make no mistake, we do not wish to encroach upon you, good sirs; we merely want to skitter around beneath your feasting table eating the scraps from ’neath your divine boots.”

At best it’s simpering and eye-roll inducing.

At worst, it is damaging.

People might think it’s not a big deal, but perhaps they just need some perspective. For example,

“We would expect nothing less from any similar program that is rolled out in Australia.

Such a program in Australia must include tolerance and mutual respect of LGBTI people at the core of its teachings.” here is a small list of people we should just ‘tolerate’.

Women Black people Indigenous people Disabled people

I mean, they aren’t really people, are they – just members of the less important branches of humanity. Their presence should be tolerated, because we are so benevolent as to allow them to exist in such

this week…

On Friday May 12, Sydney’s original parody drag band, The Magda Szubanskis, are back with Starstruck, a most excellent show at Newtown’s Tokyo Sing Song. With special guest DJs Smithers and HipHopHoe, come join the crew for a night of divas and dancing with the group that started it all. Entry is free.

On Saturday May 13, head over to Giant Dwarf in Redfern for this month’s gathering of queer storytellers for Sydney Comedy Festival – Queerstories. Some of Sydney’s best comedians will be spinning yarns

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“Make no mistake of our request: we do not seek a program that seeks approval of the way certain members of our society live. We seek only mutual respect and tolerance.”

cosy proximity to us.

Aren’t we sweet?

So maybe now you can see how fucked it is to talk about queer tolerance.

It’s dehumanising and panders to a bigoted world view – one that can only be formed by looking at others as less than human.

As something to merely tolerate.

Don’t sign this insipid letter.

Toleration is for stuff like a co-worker’s bad breath, not for our lives.

and having good times, including Geraldine Hickey, Jackie Loeb, Annaliese Constable, Bish Marzook and Brendan Maclean. The evening will be hosted by Maeve Marsden and the event is Auslan interpreted. Tickets are available now.

On Sunday May 14, House of Mince is turning six, and its party is on in Alexandria (location details are under wraps for now, but will be revealed closer to the date). Festivities will feature House of Mince resident DJs along with Boris and Volvox, with more to be announced. Tickets are available now and are going fast. So go get ’em.

M

y day job (copywriting) often involves a particular and occasionally mind-numbing range of vocabulary: INNOVATION! DYNAMIC! and other such exclamations.

Indeed, much is invested in promise or illusion. Expensive diversions such as the hysterical, pathetic downfall of Fyre Festival are testament to the promise or illusion being simply that: a bloated distraction that contributes nothing to music whatsoever.

The power and persuasion of language is, of course, the (copy)writer’s foremost medium, their proverbial bread and butter – using words to elicit emotional response or reaction towards a brand, product or idea. When we step back and look at the semantics of language, and how they actually help construct an idea or understanding, we realise a lot of what people write can be summed up in a handful of words, or that much of what is being said is really saying nothing at all.

The word ‘innovative’ has reared its malignant head

all too many a time. In discussing music, we’re constantly, obsessively exposed to this idea of the innovator (Derrick May will forever be ‘The Innovator’). Whether in reflective dialogue, in looking to the past (Kraftwerk among the predictable), or casting to the future (projections of our own anxieties and aspirations), we seek to understand or define innovation.

In other words, it makes me wonder how on Earth we consider Skrillex and deadmau5 as innovators.

I’d love someone to explain that to me.

“IT MAKES ME WONDER HOW ON EARTH WE CONSIDER SKRILLEX AND DEADMAU5 AS INNOVATORS. I’D LOVE SOMEONE TO EXPLAIN THAT TO ME.”

What can we really consider to be innovative in a world saturated with distractions and the constant of continuous technological advance? I’d personally vouch for the (admittedly underwhelming) collaboration of Jeff Mills and Tony Allen as one example: an innovative techno craftsman exploring the conventions, boundaries and possibilities of sound with one of music’s most dynamic and creative drummers.

But will we ever come to a reasonable definition on what ‘innovation’ really means?

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST Lone has released Ambivert Tools Vol. 1, the first of four EPs on classic Belgian label R&S Records, with ‘Crush Mood’ in particular an absolute banger. He’s moved further away from the synthier/video game influences that defined his earlier albums, and to great effect. Plus, another shout-out for an NTS radio show – this time Billy Goods’ Bump City, packed with fortnightly deliveries of the very best soul and boogie.

RECOMMENDED FRIDAY MAY 12

Sleep D & Albrecht La’brooy (live) TBA Bell Towers Freda’s

Welcome To The Raveforest / Owt. X Comfort Club Ricardo’s, Marrickville

Sundays: FRIDAY JUNE Radiohead – OK Artefakt Computer The Bunk3r The World Bar

SUNDAY MAY 14

Adi Toohey GoodBar

Classic Album

FRIDAY MAY 19

9

FRIDAY JUNE 23

Juliana Huxtable (House Of Ladosha) Club 77

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on the record WITH

TRISTAN HEMI COLENSO FROM CLAP CLAP RIOT

1.

The First Record I Bought I grew up in the late ’80s and ’90s. Mum listened to a lot of classic rock and heavy metal, bands like Guns N’ Roses, The Eagles, Red Hot Chili Peppers…

Nirvana and Iron Maiden were amongst the most memorable and really got me into wanting to play and make music. I think the first album I actually bought was Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As a bass player, that seems rather cliché to like such an album, but at the time, I just remember really liking the songs and not really focusing on the individual instruments. To be honest I was completely unaware of the how integral the basslines were in those songs – probably didn’t even know what a bass was – but I just really liked the songs.

guitar and Steve and I sung. I guess looking back on it, I do cringe a little, considering how far we have come as musicians and songwriters. You have to start somewhere and make mistakes. It’s all part of the journey, and what a journey it has been.

2.

We put a big focus on to creating honest but catchy music. I like to think that this record will be wellreceived – the lyrical content is based on things I think most people can relate to and tonally I think it’s a beautiful-sounding record.

The Last Record I Bought I actually can’t remember the last record I actually bought in hard copy form. I come from the generation where purchasing music in hard copy is a special thing. I’m a wee bit embarrassed but I actually haven’t bought a full album/record in so long. I have a Spotify premium account, so I can tell you the last albums I downloaded for offline listening: Kendrick Lamar – Damn. and Future Islands – The Far Field.

3.

The First Thing I Recorded Stephen, Dave and myself have been playing/music on and off since our mid-teens.

We started as a comedy trio act recording through a hi-fi quality microphone from Dick Smith Electronics into a Minidisc player. Dave played acoustic

4.

The Last Thing I Recorded Our latest record Dull Life was the last thing we recorded. It was produced and engineered

by Tom Healy (Tiny Ruins, Pop Strangers) at The Lab Recording Studio in Mount Eden, Auckland.

We actually just released it last Friday; sadly on the same day we had to say goodbye to a dear friend of ours – pretty much the sixth band member who you never saw but an integral part of our music careers.

5.

The Record That Changed My Life So many records! There wasn’t one record but many records; each one at a specific time in my life. In my early childhood I have memories of Mum blasting Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I. In the car, when we would go on camping trips to Kaikoura in my adolescent years, Nirvana’s Incesticide was a game changer (I actually still have the album on cassette) and also the soundtrack/ musical score to the video game Final Fantasy VII. What: Dull Life out now through Universal NZ

he said she said WITH

LUKE ESCOMBE Mine was Chronic Symphonic in 2012. That was my comedy show Chronic performed with an eight-piece band, a giant screen and a string section. There’s a DVD of it.

What’s on your playlist at the moment?

Vulfpeck, Leon Bridges, All Our Exes Live In Texas, Kendrick Lamar and Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall.

T

ell us about yourself and what you’ve been up to.

I’m a singer-songwriter, blues guitarist, comedian and health advocate who has just

26 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

released a new album, Skeleton Blues. I created Chronic, a oneman comedy show about living with IBD, and The Vegetable Plot, a nationally touring “roots

musical” for kids, families and foodies.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever played?

How did you become a health advocate as well as a musician and comedian?

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease (AKA IBD) at the age of 14 and didn’t want to talk about it for 15 years. Finally I reached a point of acceptance with it and started mining my horrifi c experiences for comedy gold. I think the fact that I could be honest but also funny about a disease that carries so much stigma helped me reach past people’s defences and activate their empathy. I’m a proud ambassador for Crohn’s & Colitis Australia and have just come back from speaking in the US, the fourth continent I’ve spoken on as an advocate. I’m thinking of writing a book and calling it Incontinence On Four Continents (mic drop).

Do you have any advice for recently diagnosed Crohn’s patients?

Be kind to yourself. Some ridiculously famous and successful people have had IBD, from gold-medal-winning athletes to major entertainers, Charles Darwin and two US Presidents (Ike and JFK), so it doesn’t have to stop you living an amazing life or pursuing your dreams. But it is important to take the time you need to focus on your health, both mental and physical. Take an active role in managing your condition and connect with other people who have the disease and can understand what you’re going through. Crohn’s & Colitis Australia (CCA) has some really good support services, including access to an inspiring, engaged community of people in exactly the same position. Their website (crohnsandcolitis.com.au) is the best place to go if you’ve recently been diagnosed. May is actually IBD Awareness Month, and the slogan this year is ‘Live Fearless’. I wouldn’t wish an IBD diagnosis on anyone, but it does help you activate your courage and connect with your inner badass.

More: crohnsandcolitis.com.au

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five things WITH

LA PEGATINA

1.

Growing Up As we are eight musicians in the band, we all come from different universes. Some of us went to a music school, but the original sound of La Pegatina comes from the several musical influences we have.

2.

Inspirations As we can travel a lot by touring, we discover a lot of music.

That’s one of the best parts of touring. The culture makes people live and believe! We listen to a lot of music in the van. The driver is the one who puts the music on. It’s a good way to discover music.

3.

Your Band Next year we will celebrate 15 years. Nowadays, we are eight in the band, and 12 on the road (with our technicians and our road manager). We have released five albums, a documentary about the band, a video game, a live album and a DVD of the tour we made last year (13 musicians and a VJ animating a big LED screen). You can also find several funny music videos on our website, lapegatina. com.

4.

The Music You Make We always play and create music to make people have fun at our shows. We really love to see the crowd smile and skip along.

And that’s why people come to our concerts: enjoy a two-hour happiness show! Our three first albums were recorded by Mario Patiño. The last two albums were created at Grabaciones Silvestres, in co-production with Marc Parrot’s

studio. The sound of the band is different on every release. But the energy gets bigger and bigger year after year, with more styles of music to make people dance.

5.

Music, Right Here, Right Now There are more and more people playing and listening to music,

that’s the good point. The bad point is that culture isn’t promoted the right way by government. In Spain, the VAT rate on culture is 21 per cent! It is ridiculous. It’s really hard for new music bands to survive that. Culture and education made people live together, dream about societies, and build them – the money didn’t.

[This year is] the very first time we’ll come to Australia. We are really excited to see how people react to our music. And we know we will make them sweat a lot!

We also are interested in talking to people and bands about the music scene over there, about culture in Australia. If anyone wants to take us to party in music

venues, bars, clubs, we are waiting for you! Just send us a message on the social networks, and we will answer you.

With: QVLN, Oscar Jimenez, DJ Sir Bolivar Where: The Lair @ Metro Theatre When: Saturday May 20

he said she said WITH

W

hat are the goals of The Illuminate Project for the SISTER2sister

RYAN BUCKLAND FROM THE ILLUMINATE PROJECT

Spare Pages

charity?

The Illuminate Project, proudly made possible by Nivea, is an initiative to support the charity SISTER2sister, created to shine a light on Australia’s most disadvantaged young women. The Project launched with an exciting new original song and music video, ‘Illuminate’, written and performed by Grammy shortlisted new music duo, Spare Pages, to call out to Australians to look at the alarming reality of neglect and abuse affecting thousands of Australian teenage girls in their own backyard.

Who are Spare Pages, and how did they become involved in the project?

Musical duo Spare Pages was forged when Australian musician Emily Rex, who hails from the 2014 series of The Voice Australia, used social media to reach out to published American poet Azure Antoinette. Azure has been described as “the Maya Angelou of the Millennial generation”, her emotive poetry has caught the attention of the likes of Oprah Winfrey and she has been recognised by Forbes magazine as one of the ‘100 Most Powerful Women in the World’. Their debut album, First, Listen., was shortlisted for a 2017 Grammy.

What are some of the key messages of the song and clip itself?

Azure says: “We’re telling the

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story of two very different young women to show that often times the challenges a girl is facing at home aren’t obvious just by looking at her, but they still affect many aspects of her life. We’re aiming to portray the value of mentorship and empower young women to know that everything that they need is already inside of them.”

How does SISTER2sister assist teenage girls in Australia?

The SISTER2sister program is a unique year-long mentoring and risk management program combining the benefi ts of one-on-one mentoring with monthly fun activities and life skills workshops, designed to encourage Australia’s most marginalised teenage girls

aged between 12 and 18 to step out of their comfort zones and tap into their limitless potential. The early intervention program addresses the deeply entrenched intergenerational problems in our disadvantaged youth, and focuses on the core underlying issues, starting with the lack of a stable positive role model.

How else can people support SISTER2sister’s work?

Australia can join Nivea and Spare Pages in supporting the crucial work of the SISTER2sister program by heading to theilluminateproject. com.au or downloading the song on iTunes.

What: ‘Illuminate’ out now More: theilluminateproject.com.au

BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17 :: 27

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What we’ve been out to see...

HANS ZIMMER’S ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE WAS A JAW-DROPPING MUSICAL EXPERIENCE

By Poppy Reid When Hans Zimmer took the arena stage in Sydney, he was in dress pants, a button-up white shirt and a waistcoat; by the end of the career-spanning, three-hour blockbuster, he was in a black T-shirt.

Fresh from an appearance at Coachella, where the 59-year-old was joined onstage

by Pharrell Williams, Zimmer debunked any preconceived notions about how an iconic German movie composer with more than 150 film scores under his belt should perform.

With minimal backing visuals – ones that only acted as clues for those less initiated – Zimmer and his band of 40+ players sent scenes from films like Gladiator, Interstellar, True Romance and The Da Vinci Code rushing into memory as their soundtracks unfolded layer by layer.

“If you need to give the choir a bit of a

workout, that one will surely do it,” Zimmer laughed after the opener, a triple wave medley of Driving Miss Daisy, Sherlock Holmes and Madagascar.

Most of Zimmer’s touring musicians are young and at the top of their game, like Chinese cellist Tina Guo, who’s been playing since she was three. She came to work with Zimmer after he saw her perform with the Foo Fighters at the 2008 Grammys.

Incredibly, the best part of the night wasn’t his anecdotal tales of his scores’ various origins – “Do you want to do a movie about men in skirts?” was his first thought after a phone call with Gladiator director Ridley Scott. It wasn’t even when Zimmer’s Gladiator co-composer Lisa Gerrard joined him onstage in a bejewelled canary yellow gown to sing the emotional phonemes only she understands – “Australia has a national treasure; this is it,” said Zimmer.

Instead, it was Zimmer’s wide-eyed expression as he watched his band with childlike glee, just like the rest of us.

Zimmer is still the mighty mind behind some of the most moving scores in music history, but to a sold-out arena of dropped jaws, he was also an excited musician slinking behind pianos, guitars and a glockenspiel; all the while looking on in awe of his comrades.

Perhaps the only parallel moment was when Lebohang ‘Lebo M.’ Morake (best known for his work on The Lion King soundtrack) brought the film to life with his 23-year-old daughter Refi.

“When I first met him he was working in a car wash and he was a political refugee from South Africa,” Zimmer said of Lebo M. “He was the inspiration for all of it.”

When it was time for, as Zimmer put it, “a little superhero stuff”, things got loud enough to quake the floor beneath you.

Scores like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Man Of Steel and ‘Is She With You?’ (the Wonder Woman theme) featured epileptic lights in a string of climaxes.

Zimmer later spoke of how the death of Heath Ledger made him doubt his raw

“Zimmer is still the mighty mind behind some of the most moving scores in music history, but to a sold-out arena of dropped jaws, he was also an excited musician.” composition for The Dark Knight, and when he introduced ‘Aurora’, his dedication to the Aurora shooting victims, he said he hoped it was received as a pair of arms reaching across the Atlantic to offer a hug.

Closing with his gargantuan soundtrack for science-fiction thriller Interstellar, if Zimmer’s goal was to shake us to the core with his bracing layers of sound and fury, then victory is his.

Hans Zimmer Revealed played Qudos Bank Arena on Tuesday May 2.

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

PNAU’S RETURN TO THE SYDNEY STAGE WAS AN UNPREDICTABLE HODGEPODGE OF HIGHS AND LOWS

By Emily Gibb In hindsight, we should’ve expected an unconventional show from Pnau at their first Sydney headline date in five years, but what went down was still a surprise.

Casually gracing the stage as if he were chatting with a bunch of his best mates, Pnau founder Nick Littlemore let the buzzy yet distracted audience know that their imminent 90-minute set would be filmed. Oh, and that everyone should make bird noises and essentially get more rowdy before his return in approximately four minutes’ time. And once ‘Wild Strawberries’ kicked into gear, the party was on.

Joined by drummer Tim Commandeur, producer Sam Littlemore and vocalist Kira Divine, Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes created their own late-night disco club vibe to endearing yet confounding effect. While animated visuals illuminated the stage and

“A seemingly disbelieving Littlemore found it difficult to keep up the energy with everything else happening onstage.”

Divine worked her moves to match her stellar voice, a seemingly disbelieving Littlemore found it difficult to keep up the energy with everything else happening onstage.

A wide range of tracks from across Pnau’s discography – early instrumental bangers nearing 20 years old to those crowd-pleasers from Pnau – saw the balance and consistency of the set waver between instrumental and vocalled tunes rather than flowing cohesively.

It all sounded great individually, but put together, it felt fickle.

Just like the one poor soul dressed in a deflated, vision-impairing disco ball costume as he was bounced around the stage like a pinball, many of the crowd was sweaty, finding it hard to keep up and unsure of what would come next, but going along with it anyway.

Nonetheless, the life-sized disco ball wasn’t enduring, and when Pnau’s new classic ‘Chameleon’ came out of nowhere mid-set, it was the perfect opportunity to re-energise and bask in the splendour of brilliant dance music.

Littlemore and the new live version of Pnau eventually found their groove in time for their self-titled album to fi ll the rest of the set. The frontman gave thanks to the heaving crowd, explained how encores are weird because everyone knew the only song left to play was ‘Embrace’, and requested more bird noises to a roar of enthusiasm.

Pnau played the Metro Theatre on Friday May 5.

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

28 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

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name that song What famous song from the ’70s is this illustration depicting?

Submit your answer at facebook.com/thebragsydney.

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ART BY KEIREN JOLLY

BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17 :: 29

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What we’ve been out to see...

PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR

By Alex Chetverikov Hear the name Milky Chance and you might be forgiven for a cursory glance – two random words perfunctorily squashed together, inspiring notions of bad translation. Thankfully, there’s more to music than a name, and the packed and vocal Enmore Theatre crowd would attest as much.

Milky Chance’s success is in some respects a similar oddity: the casual, carefree drift of their folk-pop (or folktronica if you’re a genre sadist) isn’t new by any means. While they’ve barely deviated from a now well-established template of simple, pretty, jangling guitar riffs underpinned by soft electronic

POLISH CLUB CAME TO PARTY AT THEIR SOLD-OUT OXFORD ART FACTORY SHOWS

By David James Young In a city where any arsehole in a leather jacket can play by-thenumbers rock’n’roll for a quick buck, it’s always refreshing to see a band such as Top Lip. This a band with zero preoccupation in trend or cred points – hell, they’re probably not even all that fazed if a red or green drum appears next to their songs on Unearthed. Top Lip remind you of the simple joys of kicking around in a garage with some twanging guitars and some good mates. It’s a simplistic but sound subversion of the selfserious scenesters shilling shallow singles.

By the same token, Bloods have been making their presence felt for years, charming the jeans off any and all lucky enough to witness them in the flesh.

Their love of Blitzkrieg bopping, indie rocking and bubblegum popping is an instant joy to behold, and tonight it’s as wonderfully loose and entertaining as always. With a fill-in lead guitarist (“He

“David Novak is stunned at the packedin masses that have filled the room from wall to wall. Not his little band, surely?”

rhythms, there’s an evident Euro-cheese factor (I say this with utmost respect – it works for them) that lends them a disarming and familiar quality.

And wasn’t this crowd ready to lap it all up, with shrieks and whoops of anticipation as the four-piece eased into as consistent a set as you’ll see. In town to promote their second album Blossom, Milky Chance’s double-percussion setup of drums and one-man bongo/conga ensemble drove the performance and lent them a welcome impetus, adding that extra bit of muscle to their floaty folk-pop anthems.

‘Cocoon’ and ‘Firebird’, two of Blossom’s safer summery flutters, were the most obvious beneficiaries and the better of their new material. Rather than stray to reggae-lite, they simplified the songwriting, to much better effect.

One of the welcome surprises came in a slight reworking of mega-hit ‘Stolen Dance’, catching a hypnotised crowd off guard. For all their pleasant familiarity, it was refreshing to hear something different. Harmonica bursts from touring regular Antonio Greger added essential fl avor alongside the nasal infl ections of lead vocalist Clemens Rehbein, they in themselves a warm, occasionally incomprehensible stream of harmony.

Beams and patterns of colour splashed green, red and pastel hues about the room, redolent of debut album Sadnecessary’s cheerful cover art.

With their fashionable tertiary student get-up and charming boyishness, you suspect these lads are as humble as they come, with lead vocalist Clemens Rehbein reduced to coy remarks: “You guys are really loving it,” he said through a smile. This was just as much

“For all their pleasant familiarity, it was refreshing to hear something different.” fun for Milky Chance as it was for the willing crowd, and it showed in their energy.

The incredible success of their early singles aside, they’ve clearly developed popularity beyond – a young and bubbling crowd hanging on chord and word in familiar sing-along, and screaming their delight after every track.

Milky Chance played the Enmore Theatre on Wednesday May 3.

learned these songs last night!” bassist/ vocalist Sweetie Zamora informs) joining them, the entire set seems to fly by the seat of its pants – again, a timely reminder as ever that rock’n’roll is fun.

Ring the bell if you want it.

“Did you think you had tickets to someone else?” Staring out at what would be the first of two sold-out crowds at Oxford Art Factory, vocalist/guitarist David Novak is stunned at the packedin masses that have filled the room from wall to wall. Not his little band, surely?

Not after a few years of straight-up hustle, touring and the release of their shit-hot debut LP? Truthfully, the biggest surprise is Polish Club didn’t catch on sooner. Just watch the way they play off one another – drummer John-Henry Pajak is an unstoppable force to Novak’s immovable object. He breaks sticks and blasts beats, while Novak howls like he’s been possessed by the spirit of Otis Redding.

Theirs is an immediate, fiery urgency, and one that is illuminated by their live show. ‘My House’ and ‘Beeping’ charge out of the gates, ‘Don’t Fuck Me Over’ oozes soul and a breakneck cover of The Strokes’ ‘Someday’ busts out the early-2000s dancing shoes.

By the time big-swinging single ‘Come Party’ rolls around, no-one in the room needs a second invitation. Novak starts up a call-and-response of the words ‘fuck’ and ‘yeah’ in quick succession, and it succinctly sums up the entire night.

Polish Club played Oxford Art Factory on Thursday May 4.

dappled cities

PICS :: AM

MILKY CHANCE’S CHARMING EURO-CHEESE HAD THEIR SYDNEY FOLLOWERS IN A FANATIC MOOD

04:05:17 :: The Lord Gladstone Hotel :: 115 Regent St, Chippendale 9310 1483 30 :: BRAG :: 712 :: 10:05:17

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g g guide g

send your listings to : gigguide@seventhstreet.media

pick of the week

For our full gig and club listings, head to thebrag.com/gig-guide.

All Time Low

Green Day

SATURDAY MAY 13

Green Day + The Interrupters Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. Wednesday May 10 – Thursday May 11. 7pm. $117.75.

Hordern Pavilion

All Time Low + Neckdeep + The Maine 6:40pm. $105.25.

The evergreen Bay Area punks return for another lap of Australia off the back of their 2016 album, Revolution Radio.

Against Me!

Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point. Monday May 8 – Tuesday May 9. 9pm. $69.90.

Alongside their Groovin The Moo festival dates, Laura Jane Grace and co. are touring sweaty venues around the nation with help from locals Camp Cope.

WEDNESDAY MAY 10

The Black Dahlia Murder

Green Day photo by Daniel Bedford

Shaky Hands + DJ Cecil Coleman Freda’s, Chippendale.

8pm. Free.

THURSDAY MAY 11

Brant Bjork + Sean Wheeler The Bald Faced Stag, Leichardt. 7pm. $51.20.

Band Of Frequencies + Slumberhaze Hotel Steyne, Manly.

8pm. Free.

Entombed A.D. Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $66.70.

K.Flay Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $43.10.

Hudson Ballroom, Sydney.

7:30pm. $22.70.

First she went to B-Grade University, and now she’s graduating with honours on a tour around intimate venues, including the up-close-and-personal Hudson Ballroom.

Sydney. 9pm. $28.

Sasy Max Watt’s, Moore Park. 9pm. $91.80.

Bad Girl Garden 2.0 – feat: Fresh Violet + Ines + Madame Wu + DJ Lou Lou Spring Street Social, Bondi. 10pm. Free.

The Darkness Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:45pm. $79.

Alex Lahey

Pegazus + Temtris The Bald Faced Stag, Leichardt. 8pm. $16.90.

The Animals The Basement, Circular Quay. 7pm. $54.90.

Architects + Ocean Grove Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7:30pm. $59.90.

Alex Lahey

Against Me! + Camp Cope

The Animals Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $60.

Soul Messengers + Anatomy Class + SMLXL Leadbelly, Newtown.

8pm. $15.

Snakehips Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $55.30.

FRIDAY MAY 12 The Black Dahlia Murder + Putrid

Pile + The Faceless + Unravel + Whoretopsy Manning Bar, Camperdown. 7:30pm. $63.

Lyall Moloney + Coast And Ocean Knox Street Bar, Chippendale. 8pm. $14.30.

The Murlocs + The Pinheads + Rosa Maria Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $28.70.

8:30pm. $26.50.

Heavy Lids + Mini Skirt + I Oh You DJs + The Delta Riggs DJs Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 9pm. $10.

Johnny Osborne + DJ Fatta

The Lair @ Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $45.

Living Colour Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $81.50.

LNDRY – feat: Solardo Chinese Laundry,

Tired Lion Hudson Ballroom, Sydney. 7:30pm. $22.70.

SUNDAY MAY 14 Nerdlinger + The Frankner + The

Great Awake + The Mexican Age Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 7pm. Free.

Slim Jim Phantom The Bald Faced Stag, Leichardt. 6pm. $38.90 Toe To Toe The Record Crate, Glebe. 8pm. $15.

TUESDAY MAY 16 Boris + Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving Manning Bar, Camperdown. 8pm. $49.

the BRAG presents

SATURDAY MAY 13 Brendon Moon + Georgia Mulligan + Zane Thompson Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $9.50.

Gregg Arthur Foundry616, Ultimo.

SMOKING MARTHA

SAN CISCO

DAPPLED CITIES

Frankie’s Pizza Thursday May 18

Enmore Theatre Friday June 2

City Recital Hall Sunday June 4

Bob