BOWLA BOWLARAMA A rties a p F o week 16th-20th 1 16 february
2011 01
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS
L I V E
W I T H
S T R I N G S
BRITISH ELECTRONIC LUMINARIES PERFORM A CAREER SPANNING SET I N C L U D I N G N E W M AT E R I A L F R O M T H E I R C R I T I C A L LY A C C L A I M E D 2 0 1 0 RELEASE, WHERE DID THE NIGHT FALL.
OUT NOW
T H R O U G H P O D / I N E R T I A
9 M AY
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5TH EDITION
200 ARTISTS INCLUDING:
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SUPPORTED BY TRIPLE J
SPARKADIA WITH
OPERATOR PLEASE & ALPINE
GREAT IMPRESSION the
TOUR FRI 1ST APRIL
THE METRO SYDNEY
TIX VENUE: (02) 9550 3666 | WWW.METROTHEATRE.COM.AU
NEW ALBUM THE GREAT IMPRESSION OUT MARCH 18TH WWW.SPARKADIA.COM
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CHUGG ENTERTAINMENT & TRIPLE J PRESENT
MONDAY 9 MAY METRO THEATRE WWW.TICKETEK.COM.AU | 132 849
ON SALE THIS THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY ALSO PLAYING GROOVIN THE MOO FESTIVAL
www.chuggentertainment.com www.thedrums.com
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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on, down and around town. With Nathan Jolly and Cool Thomas
he said she said WITH
CHRIS FROM ANIMAL SHAPES
M
y earliest key musical memories are a combination of Del the Funky Homosapien, Hootie & The Blowfish, Crash Test Dummies and possibly Alanis Morisette. I think they were all on the same mixtape I got for my eleventh birthday. I don’t think these musicians had a big ripple-effect on my songwriting, but Alanis did imprint on me a slightly skewed definition of irony. Most inspiring musician of all time would have to be Sergei Rachmaninoff. Other favourite songwriters of mine would be Paul Dempsey and Elliott Smith. I also get loads of ideas from films and books. Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ inspired a recent song actually… Aren’t I multimedia. We’ve all been mates for some years now. Gigging on the same bills in different bands, hanging out at the same titty bars, and shooting street hoops, etc... It only seemed right to forge a musical project that would a) provide a vessel for our love of twinklecore and b) form the basis of a street gang that would hopefully one day bring an end to the infamous Van Buren Boys.
description. Modern bands we’d like to sound like would be Foals, American Football, Local Natives, Dananananaykroyd, Pinback and Tellison - to name a few. We recorded our debut album, Calabi Yau, with sterling producer Lachlan Mitchell at Production Avenue Studios in a matter of three days. It was intense, chaotic and emotional. Our live show is like a jangly barber shop quartet with less stripes and organisation, and more guitars and beards. We all write and anyone can sing if they’re feeling it. Some excellent bands I’ve seen of late would be: Let Me Down Jungleman, Gently from Sydney, Ghoul (also Sydney), A Death In The Family from Melbourne and Brisbane’s Ball Park Music. Best vibing venues in Sydney right now would have to be the Annandale, the Sandringham and the Excelsior. What: Calabi Yau is out now With: Nightmaster, Let Me Down Jungleman, Gently and Mr Maps Where: The Excelsior, Surry Hills
We are an indie punk band, but twinklecore is probably a more apt
When: Friday February 18
FBI LAUNCH NEW POP UP VENUE
Kings Cross, a place first brought to the attention of Sydneysiders everywhere after the success of television’s Underbelly, is the home of FBi Radio’s new pop up venue. At the Kings Cross Hotel (opposite that Coke sign singer/ songwriters keeping referencing), FBi will be hosting a number of nights over the next twelve weeks. This is very exciting for many reasons, most of all because since the Hopetoun closed, local music has stopped, the industry has died and nobody is playing anywhere, ever. (JOKES, EVERYONE.)
PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 9552 6333 ARTS EDITOR & ASSOCIATE: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 9552 6333 STAFF WRITERS: Jonno Seidler, Caitlin Welsh NEWS CO-ORDINATORS: Nathan Jolly, Cool Thomas, Chris Honnery
DEAD KENNEDYS TOUR!
ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Dara Gill SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Susan Bui, Innerstyle, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Tom Tramonte COVER DESIGN: Sarah Bryant COVER INSET (GUINEAFOWL): Cybelle Malinowski SALES/MARKETING MANAGER: Blake Rayner 0404 304 929 / (02) 9552 6672 blake@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9552 6618 les@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Jessie Pink - (02) 9552 6747 jessie@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Conrad Richters - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance) INTERNS: Liz Brown, Rach Seneviratne REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Simon Binns, Joshua Blackman, Mikey Carr, Benjamin Cooper, Oliver Downes, Max Easton, Tony Edwards, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Lucy Fokkema, Mike Gee, Andrew Geeves, Thomas Gilmore, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Alex Lindsay Jones, Amelia Schmidt, Romi Scodellaro, RK, Luke Telford, Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this address 153 Bridge Road, Glebe NSW 2037 ph - (02) 9552 6333 fax - (02) 9552 6866 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor or Staff of The Brag. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephen Forde : accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Art Work, Ad Bookings Thursday 12pm (no extensions) Ad Cancellations Tuesday 4pm Published by Cartrage P/L ACN 104026388 All content copyrighted to Cartrage 2003 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The Brag? email distribution@furstmedia.com.au or ph 03 9428 3600. PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: www.spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 Win a giveaway? Mail us a stamped and addressed envelope, and we’ll send your prize on over...
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The Dead Kennedys are touring! Named after the tragic early rollerblading death of Neighbours’ Billy Kennedy, the band pretty much made up punk. On April 9 they play the Manning Bar at Sydney University, which is where we house most of our rebellion these days. Tickets are already on sale now, and we recommend getting in early. That moshpit won’t fill itself, you know.
Tame Impala
FUTURE MUSIC MK II
Future Music Festival has improved their embarrassingly mammoth lineup (MGMT, Chemical Brothers, Dizzee Rascal) by adding Perth’s Tame Impala, Melbourne’s Gypsy & The Cat, and Sydney’s Flight Facilities. March 12 it all happens at Randwick Racecourse, and tickets are still available. Ask Ke$ha to sign my Starter cap.
LEGEND IN AUSTRALIA
I often wonder if John Legend gave himself his moniker during high school, and figured “I’ll obviously change that later” - but never quite got around to it. I suppose I can ask him myself (security willing) when he plays a show on April 24 at the State Theatre. He will be joined by a ten-piece band, which we find both excessive and awesome - and the show is all-ages too, for all you future R’n’B stars named Jimmy Awesome and Jack Radness. Actually, Jack Radness isn’t so bad…
CLOUDY FISHING SAFARI
Cloud Control have repackaged their album with a bonus disc crammed with goodies, and to celebrate this they’re hitting the road in March and dragging along Jinji Safari and Fishing too. They hit the Metro on March 24, and we recommend you go there too; they’ll be relocating to the UK shortly after. They say it’s not forever, but so did my mum when she sent Sparky to that farm.
WILDBIRDS, PEACEDRUMS, SUNSETS
Mark March 8 on your Peanuts calendar (surely he knows she’ll pull the football away again…), because FBi are putting on another fundraiser. If you feel good causes are
overrated then you should go strictly for the music: Wildbirds and Peacedrums (Swedish folksy pop goodness), Sonny and The Sunsets (Sunshiney west-coast pop, ahhh) and Tiny Ruins (pretty singer/songwriter from New Zealand, like Neil Finn). $18 for FBi supporters, $23 presale, or $28 unorganised spur-of-the-moment, livin’-on-a-prayer,maaan, at-the-door prices. Oh yeah, it’s at the beautiful Church of Chalmers in Surry Hills, right near that wheelie bin.
THE CIRCUS IS COMING
Dead Letter Circus (not Dead Letter Chorus, equally not Dead Letter Opener) are playing The Metro Theatre (not The Metro train system or Metro magazine) on Saturday March 26 (not a weekday) with FloatingMe (not to be confused with [ME]), plus [ME] (not to be confused with FloatingMe) and Self Is A Seed (I dunno,…). Holy shit, enough of this banter, tickets are on sale now.
BELLE & SEBASTIAN
Attention pale-faced, fey, depressed, bookish, romantic young lovers out there. Belle and Sebastian have announced a show at the Metro on March 9 and tickets are on sale now. Now: go online and argue about what songs they might play based on their last North American tour.
Oh Mercy
OH MERCY!
Melbourne’s Oh Mercy are pretty much one of the best bands in the country right now, Great Barrier Grief will be one of the strongest albums of the year, and the Great Barrier Grief launch tour will be worth putting in your diary, under where you wrote “do more good things”. Alexander Gow and co play Oxford Art Factory on March 25. BRAG’s presenting this one and we can’t wait, but it turns out we have to.
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rock music news
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on, down and around town. With Nathan Jolly and Cool Thomas
five things WITH VIN
NICK MURPHY
& MARK FROM GOLD FIELDS around us, and meeting more and more of these people is becoming really exciting. Having producers and friends remix our songs has been fun and we just worked with a couple of our good mates to produce a music video, which will be finished soon. We’re touring with Bleeding Knees Club now, and then The Holidays are taking us on tour in April, which we’re really looking forward to. The Music You Make [Mark]: We’re still just recording demos 4. in Vin’s bedroom in Ballarat. We’ve got a lot of music and we’re still working out what to do with it all in regards to releases. We’ve released our song ‘Treehouse’ as a single in the UK through Young and Lost Club, and we’ve been really happy with how people have received it here as well. Another single shouldn’t be far away – we’re just really enjoying playing a lot of shows at the moment.
1.
Growing Up [Vin]: I moved to Australia from the Philippines when I was five, and grew up in Ballarat. Mum plays classical piano and taught me music from a young age, and there wasn’t much else to do in Ballarat so I took up drums and guitar and started to play in bands. Me and three of the other guys went to school together, and last year we decided to start this band, and asked Ryan to play drums. Since then, we’ve pretty much been doing it full time.
THE SEED
The Seed is one of those grants programs that give away money, for free, just for making music. I know, right? In its seventh year, the program has a range of grants, and if you fall into one of the categories (check online at theseedfund.org, I can’t do all the work), applications close April 8. Go do a thing!
DOA
Hardcore punk band DOA are Canadian, which means they are angry about Bryan Adams and Celine Dion and the lyrics on Alanis Morrisette’s second album. I imagine lead singer Joe “Shithead” Keithley is also a bit annoyed about his nickname too (words hurt) - so you know they’ll be in fine form March 11 at The Excelsior Hotel. Tickets on sale now!
DARWINISM
Darwin Deez, the world’s first successfully human/puppet DNA splicing experiment, has announced a May 10 show at the Metro Theatre for all those people who aren’t rural enough
2.
Inspirations [Mark]: With our writing and recording, hip hop and pop music is probably the biggest infl uence. We obviously all have separate tastes and we all listen to pretty much everything so musically, I think we’re infl uenced by it all. I am still trying to fi gure out country music though. I don’t get it. Yet.
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
Music, Right Here, Right Now [Vin]: We’re really proud to be from 5. Ballarat, where a lot of good music is coming from at the moment. It’s pretty exciting to be a part of. I think Australian music is getting good again. What: Hard Knocks tour with Bleeding Knees Club
Former member of The Anyones Nick Murphy has made waves as a solo artist since the group’s disbandment in 2005. His second studio album, What’s In Your Mind?, is a motley collection of harmonydrenched folk, soul, psych and pop that has earned itself regular airplay on triple j. Intimacy will be this tour’s keyword, notably when Murphy plays at Raval on February 24 (actually let’s just call him Nick, for intimacy’s sake). To see Nick and his band with support on the night from Ben Nash (of 78 Saab) and Jason Walker (of Jason Walker), just tell us the name of his first album. We have three double passes to give away.
JONNY
Britain’s Teenage Fanclub and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci had sex, fusing their songwriting genes, and the result was Jonny; and it was good. Everyone smiled. Comprised of Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and the dubiously-named Euros Childs (Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci), Jonny makes psychedelic pop to put a smile on your face and a flower in your hand. They met on tour in ’97 and toyed with each other incessantly before finally hooking up in 2006; they spent a few years-or-so avoiding serious commitment by playing only live shows. Finally, realising they had a good thing (and worried that their wombs might be dangerously close to drying up) they decided to make it official, so they could make a beautiful album together. And we have two copies of their love child up for grabs; to get your hands on one, tell us what it’s called.
Where: Oxford Arts Factory
3.
Your Band [Vin]: We’ve got a lot of talented people
When: Thursday February 17
to enjoy him at the splendid Groovin’ The Moo. Tickets are on sale now, and are likely to sell out quickly because he is from New York City, and will you just look at his hair.
UNPLUGGED, UN-UNFREE
Unplugged and Uncomplicated is a new music series that invites you to enjoy a free afternoon of live music at CarriageWorks each month. On February 26 it kicks off at noon and features the warm, lovely music of Liz Martin, Emad Younan, Thomas Hespe who is bringing the alt-country awesomeness with Richard Mason, James Brennan and The Brutal Poodles, who have one of the greatest bandnames on this whole page.
CHILDREN COLLIDE
Children Collide’s latest single ‘Arrows’ claims there is no just thing as fate, but I’m quite sure you will meet the love of your life at their Metro show on April 21, if things didn’t work out on Valentines Day. Supporting will be Red Riders and Young Revelry. Yes! Yes! Yes!
The Go! Team
THE GO! TEAM TOUR
If you were hoping that UK party band The Go! Team would play the Metro Theatre on May 4, you have fairly specific desires that will most likely disappoint you later down the track. This time though, you are in luck. Tickets go on sale Friday February 18, which gives you plenty of time to plan, unless you are only getting around to reading BRAG a week late, in which case, don’t patronise us… Go watch Raymond or something.
HOWL = HUNTING GROUNDS
When your friend shows you a song by Ballarat Unearthed High winners Howl and says you should see them support Grinspoon at Roxy Theatre in Parramatta on April 23, you can do that smug face you use when somebody misuses who/whom and say “Well, actually they have renamed themselves Hunting Grounds, ‘coz of a North Indian saying that you probably wouldn’t understand.” That’ll be fun! The John Steel Singers
HERE’S JOHNNY
Tapping into the lucrative market that opened up when Kweller, Lee and Folds teamed up for The Bens tour, The John Steel Singers and Jonathan Boulet and John Farnham are teaming up for the Here’s Johnny tour, which hits Sydney March 19 when they play the Metro Theatre. If you purchase a ticket you will receive a free exclusive track from each acts. Amazing!
...GONE FISHING
Zan Rowe called Fishing’s song ‘OOOO’ her “catch of the day” a few weeks ago on triple j, which is so cute I could squeeze her to death. The song is now available on a sweet limitededition 7-inch vinyl, which also features a B-side (as vinyl singles often do) called ‘Pee Green Bote,’ a beachy-slice of UV1000+ awesomeness. You get a free five-song downloadable EP as
well, because that’s how the good people at Young Mine/Other Tongues roll.
BLUESFEST MK II
Bluesfest laugh in the face of sensible, restrained artist lineups; apparently Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Elvis Costello and the billion others that joined them just weren’t enough awesome. They didn’t come right out and say this, obviously; they just casually dropped ANOTHER lineup announcement with a yawn, a casually dismissive hand gesture and THIS LIST: Leon Russell; George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic; Luciano & Jah Messenjah Band; Imogen Heap; Buffy Sainte-Marie; Ernest Ranglin; Raul Malo; Michelle Shocked; Peter Rowan & The Blue Grass Band; Public Opinion Afro Orchestra; Eli Paperboy Reed; The Bamboos; The Mad Bastards; Warrior King and Bonnie Casey; The Hands; Bobby Alu; and Hussy Hicks.
“Beehive hairdo, 45 on the hip Patrolwoman Saunders, don’t you give her no whip” - IRON MAIDEN 14 :: BRAG :: 399 : 14:02:11
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dance music news
free stuff
The Coffee Boy Chronicles: A New Beginning. Dance Music News... With Chris Honnery
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
he said she said WITH
KEVIN PURDY
I
grew up in Revesby, near the King Georges River. There was a lot of music in my house. My big sister was spinning the Beatles, the Ronnettes, the Shangri Las; my brother (five years older and my greatest role model) introduced me to the Beach Boys, Stones, Bowie, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed. We had the coolest 7” collection in town. I was always encouraged in my musical journeys. I’m always inspired by musicians and artists touched with madness, whose art goes beyond any personal aims. A fistful of gods that spring to mind: Brian Wilson, whose Pet Sounds ignited my brain at age 8. Other conduits of unstained genius are John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Sterling Morrison, John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Hank Williams and Neil Young... They all challenged the status quo without trying, remaining true to their ideals and feelings, though at the same time being fragile and dangerously faulty as individuals. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had many lovely musician friends come into my life when they were most needed. The crew that have gathered for this incarnation of the Purdy band consist of Rory Toomey, who’s a great mate with a musical soul. Christian Houllemare is a bit of a legend in the indie music world and a great guy. Alex Crowfoot is another top mate - he adds the UK 80s pop
touch to the line-up. Last but not least is Donna Amini, who’s the only person in the band I haven’t known for years. She has a wonderful musicality and she blends her voice in glorious unison with Alex and I. Luckily for me, there’s a very warm vibe between us all. I make music that is a combination of all the sounds that have excited me since I was a kid. I love to take the listener on a journey in their mind, finding delicious textures, conjuring up atmospheres. With Deviant Nature I was lucky to have Jim Denley and Margery Smith involved, enriching the music and taking it to a higher level. I’m hitting the stage with a six-piece band which will aim to recreate the album in a live context, with brass, synths, glockenspiels, voices and guitars. I’ve been spending a lot of time hanging in the improvised music world in the last few years, opening up my mind to new sonic possibilities. There’s a new DIY aesthetic, which reminds me of Sydney circa 78-83. It’s an exciting change from the corporate mindset that chewed up many fine minds in the past. What: Deviant Nature is out now Where: Red Rattler, Marrickville When: Friday February 18
EWAN PEARSON
Erudite [characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly] electronic luminary/DJ/ producer Ewan Pearson is back in Australia for his seemingly annual spot at Playground Weekender. But in addition to his set at the festival, Pearson will play a free show at Sunhaze, which is held every Sunday afternoon in the sunny confines of The Alexandria. Pearson’s pedigree is beyond reproach, but for anyone who needs catching up, the former UK academic has helmed three memorable mix compilations in Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi, Fabric 35 and most recently We are Proud of our Choices on Kompakt, while also chalking up production credits for The Rapture, Tracey Thorn, Delphic and Sydney’s own Lost Valentinos. Merging a pop sensibility with house and techno templates, the opportunity to see Pearson for
Black Mountain
BLACK MOUNTAIN
Canadian psych-rock outfit Black Mountain bring their palpitating, energetic sound to Australia in the dwindling summer, on the back of their new release Wilderness Heart. An exquisite blend of stoner grooves, psychedelia throwbacks and exquisite male-female harmonies drives the album; and they’ll be bringing their inimitable sound to the Annandale on February 20. These guys were featured on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack, supported Coldplay on tour, and won Best Alternative Album at the 2009 Juno awards, so you know they’re not just messing about. We have five double passes up for grabs; if you want one, tell us what the male-tofemale ratio is in Black Mountain.
free is not one that comes around very often – so seize the (hopefully sunny) day!
SASHA SIDESHOW MOVED
Originally slotted for Chinese Laundry, progressive don Sasha’s Good Vibrations sideshow on Friday February 18 has been relocated to The Forum. Having established himself as something of a superstar DJ through the ‘90s via his b2b sets with John Digweed, Sasha’s versatility was evidenced on his debut studio album Airdrawndagger in 2002, an atmospheric and ambient release that more than holds up a decade on. His Involver compilations have also garnered mass acclaim, while his remix output has become increasingly eclectic over the years; see his Depeche Mode and Kasabian reworks in recent times… Tickets are currently on sale.
James Lavelle
UNKLE AT THE OPERA HOUSE
James Lavelle’s UNKLE project will perform at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall accompanied by a strings section on Monday May 9. UNKLE first rose to prominence with the debut LP Psyence Fiction, a hugely popular and critically acclaimed release that featured guest spots from Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft and Ian Brown amongst others. Since then, the project has continue to evolve and morph, with guest collaborators and more long-term band members coming and going amid reports that Lavelle is something of a prickly customer. However accurate they may be, the man is certainly a talent - so don’t let personal judgments impede you from seeing Lavelle and a full live band performing a selection of hits plus new material from the excellent 2010 release, Where Did the Night Fall. Tickets are available from $55 through www.sydneyoperahouse.com
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM FINAL FAREWELL
Ok, so you’ve read on this very page a few times that DFA supergroup LCD Soundsystem are disbanding, but sadly it’s actually happening for real this time. The band will perform their last ever show at New York’s Madison Square Garden on April 2 according to a post on their official site. The post declares, “We are retiring from the game. Gettin’ out. Movin’ on. But for just one more night, we will be playing with friends and family for nearly three hours – playing stuff we’ve never played before, and going out with a bang. And we’d like you to be there… if it’s a funeral, let’s have the best funeral ever!!!” If you have any frequent flyer points / surplus cash, book your tickets and flights now.
LEFTFIELD SIDESHOW
Seminal UK dance music outfit Leftfield will play a Future Music Festival sideshow at Enmore Theatre on Thursday March 17. With a couple of bona fide classic LPs in Leftism and Rhythm & Stealth on their sonic CV, Leftfield boast a discography littered with anthemic tracks like
‘Phat Planet’, ‘Open Up’, ‘Release The Pressure’ and ‘Afrika Shox’. Having reformed last year, core member Neil Barnes will be joined by original vocalists Djum Djum, Earl 16 and Cheshire Cat for this tour, though Barnes’ former partner in Leftfield, Paul Daley, will not be taking part in the shows. Support comes courtesy of the always engaging Infusion and Casey Taylor.
ÂME
Esteemed German duo Âme headline Adult Disco at the Civic Underground on Saturday February 19. Drawing their moniker from the French word for ‘soul’, Âme burst onto the mainstream radar with the Ibiza anthem ‘Rej’ in 2006. After a string of crossover successes, such as ‘Where We At?’ and a remix of Rodamaal’s ‘Insomnia’ on Buzzin’ Fly, they have turned their attention to exploring the foundations of contemporary dance music of late with their A Critical Mass project, which also features Dixon and Henrik Schwarz. Âme also oversee the Innervisions record label alongside Dixon, and have been integral in the deep house renaissance while also exploring techno and ambient paradigms in their productions and DJ sets.
Mowgli
LATE PLAYGROUND ADDITIONS
Preparations are in full swing for Playground Weekender, which is but a few days away. You undoubtedly know the lineup backwards by now: De La Soul, Caribou, Four Tet and so on – but some additional acts and local DJs have been announced over the past few days as well. So in last minute news, DnB don LTJ Bukem will be doing a DJ set poolside on the Sunday in addition to his Big Top set, internationals Mowgli, Butch and Pete Herbert will also be playing in the Big Top tent along with locals like Ben Korbel and Declan Lee, while just about every well-known DJ in Sydney – and others outside of that description – will be playing tunes around either The River or Village Green stages or poolside at Club Tropicana. There will also be a Fancy Dress Parade on Saturday judged by Sydney personalities Dan Single, Imogene Barron and Chris Wirasinha. The only question remains, do you have your ticket? If not, final release tickets are still available from www.playgroundweekender.com.au where you can also find the set times for the weekend, info on how to get there and what you can and can’t bring, etc. If you like your playing times on paper, flick over to pages 54-55.
“Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast for it is a human number” - IRON MAIDEN 16 :: BRAG :: 399 : 14:02:11
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free stuff
dance music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... With Chris Honnery
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
five things WITH THE
THE NECKS
STAFFORD BROTHERS really inspired by the clubs of Europe and have toured there extensively; we love to make and play that sound. We have releases coming out this month on Ministry Of Sound Australia, and have also just done a record deal with Stealth, which is Roger Sanchez’s label - so there are a lot of tracks coming this year. We’ve got quite a lot of collaborations this year too, with the likes of Tommy Trash, Timmy Trumpet and overseas artists Dabruck & Klein and Felix Baumgartner. Music, Right Here, Right Now The scene in Australia is great, but it’s 5. definitely not as diverse as overseas markets.
Growing Up Our house was always full of music; 1. dad plays guitar and piano, and we were
he’s someone that still inspires me today, which is pretty crazy.
encouraged to play instruments at a young age. A key childhood memory for me is Christmas day with all my uncles and grandparents, singing, playing guitars and just having a large party. Good times!
Your Crew Well, it’s myself and my brother. We are 3. DJs, but I guess we try to put on a show
2.
Inspirations I used to be really into rock, especially AC/DC and guitarists like Steve Vai. I got into dance music as it was coming about - people like Reel 2 Reel were some of the first dance bands I heard of. That was Eric Morillo, and
like a band - and because we’ll also be performing with Timmy Trumpet and Tenzin there will be four of us on stage, all with slightly different musical opinions but all with a love of a party. The good times and good music always get us going.
4.
The Music You Make We make big room house music. We’re
Toro Y Moi
If you like Australia’s legendary improvisers The Necks, you should be friends with Nick Cave and Brian Eno, because they like them too. 25 years since their coming together as a band, the jazz trio have crafted a hypnotic, ritualistic concert that they’ve been performing to audiences in the UK, Europe and North America. So smitten by these charming experimentalists was Eno, that last year he invited them to take part in performances of This Is Pure Scenius for the Brighton Festival. Off the back of mammoth 2010 tour that celebrated their fifteenth studio album, Silverwater, The Necks have come back to home sweet home and are playing a string of dates in the summer. We have two double passes to give away for The Basement on February 16; to get one, name a member of the band. The Necks
This just comes down to population. I think the hardest thing Australian artists have to do is break out of the Australian scene. We are so far away from other countries that sometimes our music doesn’t travel as well - and also, going on a tour you have to base yourself in Europe for at least a couple of months at a time, as its such a long way to go. Not that that’s a bad thing! Who: The Stafford Brothers With: Miami Horror, Grafton Primary, Potbelleez, Kid Kenobi & MC Shureshock, & heaps more Where: UTS Tower Building 1: Alumni Green/ The Loft/Glasshouse Bar When: Wednesday February 23, from 2pm; $20 for members or $30
collaboration with jazz legend David Matthews (arranger behind many of James Brown’s finest albums) at last year’s Red Bull Music Academy reflects his current sonic leanings…
PLANNINGTOROCK
Bolton’s Planningtorock – real name Janine Rostron – will release her debut album through DFA Records in May. The LP is entitled W and features 11 original tracks alongside a cover of Arthur Russell’s ‘Janine’, and is described by its maker as “a dark sexy creature that sways with the relentlessly swinging propeller sound”. Rostron plays virtually every instrument on the record, with Hjörleifur Jónsson and LCD Soundsystem’s Pat Mahoney contributing some percussion - although the final product is purportedly more about Rostron’s voice than other elements in the mix. “I’m really not precious about my voice,” she affirms. “On a creative level you can do so much with your voice, and I loved pulling it around on this record. I mean, on ‘Doorway’, it’s my inner trannie singing!” Oh yeah.
MODULAR 4 ARCHITECTURE
After something of a sojourn, Architecture in Helsinki will break their hiatus and drop their new LP Moment Bends in early April on the band’s new stable, Modular Records. Recorded over a two-year period in a Buckingham Palace studio space, songwriter Cameron Bird elucidates, “Moment Bends was all about being at one with our ideas, obsessed with popular music and falling in love with our hometown. We wanted to build a record to get lost in.” The band enlisted longtime collaborator Francois Tetaz to guide them through the record-making process, in a “Spiritual Healing/Co-Production/Mixing role”. In describing the release, the accompanying press release manages to say very little despite some nice turns of phrase: “imagine a sound equal parts Italia 1982, California 1979 and Melbourne 2011, glued together with a dynamic bounce and a compelling romanticism.” Takes me back to the days when Seidler was interning at Modular…
Deadmau5
TORO Y MOI & MOUNT KIMBIE SECOND SHOWS
Following the resounding success of their Little Dragon bash, Future Classic’s series of intimate mid-week live gigs continues to prove a resounding success with the Sydney public. So much so, in fact, that additional dates have been added for both Toro Y Moi and UK bass duo Mount Kimbie after the first shows for both sold out. Toro Y Moi is 23-year-old Columbian prodigy Chaz Bundick, and anyone who missed out on tickets first time around now has a second chance to catch him the preceding night, Tuesday February 22, at GoodGod Small Club. Mount Kimbie’s second show will be at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday March 10, with Seekae also performing live and the Future Classic DJs spinning in support.
ANDREW FLETCHER (DEPECHE MODE) DJ
Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher will play a twohour DJ set at the City Hotel this Wednesday February 16. Easily one of the most influential and revered groups of modern times – think ‘Personal Jesus’, ‘Enjoy The Silence’, ‘Barrel Of A Gun’ etc – Depeche Mode haven’t toured Australia in eons - and considering their most recent so-called ‘tour of the universe’ didn’t encompass the land Down Under, this might be the closest Aussie fans will get to the band in some time. Fletcher stated that the set will be “loosely based on my heritage with Depeche Mode; electro both old and new, from the Human League to Alex Metric. I’ll be playing brand new DM mixes from respected producers like Eric Prydz and Vince Clarke and classic old mixes
such as ‘Personal Jesus’ by Francois K. You can expect some surprises as well, as I’ve been working on a few things in the studio especially for this forthcoming DJ tour.”
OH NO @ TONE
California’s Oh No will play a show at Tone on Thursday February 24. Oh No debuted as a producer and MC with The Disrupt back in ‘04 on Stones Throw Records. With recent beat production on the albums of fellow Oxnard, CA-based MCs Wildchild, MED and new signee Roc ‘C’, Oh No has perhaps logged more beats on Stones Throw releases than anyone else besides his brother Madlib, who is himself an iconic figure in the hip hop world. In recent years, Oh No has carved out a funk-laced style related, but distinct, to that of his famed sibling, and his
CREAMFIELDS ANNOUNCED
After entering the Australian festival circuit for the first time last year with a lineup featuring the likes of Green Velvet, Ferry Corsten and The Bloody Beetroots, Creamfields returns in April this year. Deadmau5, Martin Solveig, Skrillex, Chuckie, Simon Patterson, Gabriel & Dresden, Surkin, Dada Life, Umek, Nadastrom and Tim Green will all represent but Coffee Boy’s pick is definitely the delectable back-to-back pairing of auteurs Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, playing under their collective ‘Hi Tek Soul‘ moniker for a 25 years of Detroit techno anniversary/nostalgia set. Creamfields Sydney is slotted for Saturday April 30 at Moore Park.
“Is this the end, the millions cried, clutching their riches as they died.” - IRON MAIDEN 18 :: BRAG :: 399 : 14:02:11
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The Music Network
themusicnetwork.com
Industry Music News with Christie Eliezer
LANEWAY GOING GLOBAL-ISH With Laneway Festival staged in three countries, it now has a total audience number of 60,000. Its debut in Singapore received rave reviews for its organisation and drew fans from all over Asia, who dug the event despite heavy rains. As a result, organisers will expand it to two nights next year and want to also stage it in the future in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Korea and Hong Kong. A mini-version also makes its US debut at South by Southwest next month. Meanwhile, Laneway realised the problems of transporting acts from country to country. Chk Chk Chk had to blow out Auckland (which drew 5500), after their flight from Singapore was delayed by seven hours.
DIZZEE GETS SPACED OUT Rappers like to get high, of course, but Dizzee Rascal has put his hand up to join Sir Richard Branson on a commercial flight into space. He’s good buddies with the Virgin Group mogul’s son Sam, and told him he wants to be on it - and when he dies, he wants to be cremated and his ashes scattered in space. “I meant it, “ the rapper told Esquire UK. “When I die, I want my ashes scattered in space. I just love the possibilities of what could happen. I know it sounds a bit nerdy, but your particles could merge with something...” The flight is still some years off, and Dizzee’d have to fork out $200,000 for a ticket.
APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR SEED FUND Now in its seventh year, the Seed Fund has opened applications for a number of grants. This year, the Seed has two new categories. One gives $5,000 to three managers of emerging acts (who’ve previously attended their lauded management workshops), to hire a publicist for a CD release and/or tour. The other provides up to $7,500 to develop a new public visual arts project to be shown at next year’s Next Wave Festival. Other initiatives and partnerships allow for: indigenous musicians to play festivals and events and be mentored as they prepare for the Alice Desert Festival in September; for acts to play at the Falls and Southbound festivals; and for four managers of contemporary acts (one indigenous) to attend the management workshop through APRA’s Professional Development Awards. See www.theseedfund. org. Applications close Friday April 8 and successful recipients will be notified May 15.
ILLEGAL DOWNLOADERS MORE RANDY THAN GROOVIN’ Illegal downloaders like porn more than music. Anti-piracy firm Envisional conducted a study on behalf of NBC Universal to see what type of content was being downloaded. Out of the 10,000 files tracked on BitTorrent, porn was the most popular, with 35.8%. Films were at 35.2%; TV at 12.7%; software at 4.2% and PC games at 3.9%. Music was a mere 2.9%. 23.76% of global internet traffic infringed copyrights - compared to 17.5% in the USA. Two thirds of BitTorrent, which is 17.9% of all internet traffic, is shared illegally.
THINGS WE HEAR * Sydney will lose two rock landmarks. Richard Clapton’s pile of bricks in Wahroonga, where he wrote and demo’d his songs in its recording studio for the last nine years, is up for auction this month – and the Stamford Plaza boutique hotel in Double Bay, where Michael Hutchence died in Room 524 in 1997, is to be turned into apartments. * Speaking of landmarks, the iconic building in New York City’s East Village which served as the cover of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and the video for the Rolling Stones’ ‘Waiting On A Friend’ is cashing in. One of the shops has become a tea cafeteria, calling itself Physical Graffi-tea. * It’s been on-again off-again for the past three years, but according to Nui Te Koha on Triple M, Van Halen are finally locking dates in for a world tour that starts after their next album comes out in August. Van Halen reps were out here with the Eagles in December, checking out the possibility. * This year’s triple j One Night Stand heads to the South Australian seaside town of Tumby Bay. Birds of Tokyo, Art Vs Science and The Jezabels are set to play. * Triple j discoveries Howl have changed their name to Hunting Grounds.
WANNA PLAY SCORCHER FEST? SCoRCHeR FeST (March 20 to May 29) has opened applications to acts who want to play. In its second year as a national festival, it includes a second Perth show, Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne, two Sydney shows, Newcastle, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Darwin and Auckland. Each festival includes 2-3 stages and 25-45 bands, plus a screening of the SCoRCHeR FeST Story. Go to www.scorcherfest.com.au for full details.
Split: after years of denials, Pete Wentz and Ashley Simpson called it quits last week. Apparently there were major blow-outs after she hit the piss. Charged: a 42-year old man was charged with affray, and will appear in Manly Local Court on March 2, after an incident when 20 men forced their way into a Manly nightclub, headbutting an employee and damaging property. Two other men were issued with criminal infringement notices for offensive behaviour, and another two men for failing to quit licensed premises. Sued: Madonna faces legal action from the Malawian relatives of her adopted daughter Mercy James, who claim she broke a promise to allow them regular contact with the girl, whose 14-year old mother died at childbirth. Died: Bawdy US blues singer Marvin Sease (‘Candy Licker’ in the 80s), age 64.
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* Johnny Marr found out he got an Oscar nomination for the music for the Leonardo DiCaprio sci-fi thriller Inception after a fan twittered his congrats. * Mondo Rock are off the Roxy Music tour, which has also moved the Hunter Valley show at Hope Estate on Saturday February 26 to Newcastle Entertainment Centre. Promoter Andrew McManus says that Roxy’s two shows at Leeuwin Estate in Margaret
and Allan Sko’s Radar Media, which set up Canberra’s BMA Magazine in 1992. MAF’s founder and editor Leticia Supple has left.
BRUCE JACKSON MEMORIAL A memorial service for Australian audio inventor and Jands co-founder Bruce Jackson will be held at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Friday February 25 at 10am. It is open to family, friends and colleagues.
PLAYUP LOOKING FOR ACTS
AIM FUNDRAISER
Boutique music licensing company Playup Music is looking for indie acts to place their music in film, television, advertising and all new media. They also do fashion videos, film trailers and TVCs, and have deals with overseas networks like MTV and Lionsgate (which does TV’s Weeds). For more info, go to playupmusic.com
The students of the Australian Institute of Music (AIM) are holding a fundraiser for flood victims on Sunday February 13, from 5pm at the Gaelic Club, Surry Hills. There’s music by Mavens and Rockets as well as well as comedy, cabaret and an auction with prizes, including tickets to Opera Australia’s next show, and a Fender guitar signed by Sting.
VENUE UPGRADE FOR HARVEY TRIBUTE The sold-out Harvey James celebration ‘Gimme That Guitar’ on Thursday February 17 has moved from the Factory Theatre to the Enmore Theatre, and additional tickets have been released. Sherbet are headlining, along with Richard Clapton, Renee Geyer, Ian Moss, Swanee, Dragon, Jon English, Kevin Borich, Lindsay Wells and the Band Of Friends. See gimmethatguitar.com
STRONG START FOR RADIO REVENUE
Life lines
Beady Eye
Commercial radio had a strong start for 2011. Ad revenue was up 2.61% in January compared to January 2010, to a total of $44.75 million across the five major metropolitan markets. According to the 2011 Metropolitan Commercial Radio Advertising Revenue, as sourced by Deloitte, the strongest growth was in Brisbane where it went up 4.29% to 7.41 million. Perth was up by 3.72% to $6.52 million; Sydney by 2.6% to $13.71 million; Adelaide by 2.17% to $4.16 million and Melbourne up 1.29% to $12.94 million. Last year, commercial radio recorded a 7.8% increase on the previous year to a total of $675.08 million.
STEVE VAI EYES WORLD RECORD Guitar hero Steve Vai is calling guitarists around the world to help him set the Guinness World Record for the largest online guitar lesson. “Whether you’re in Boston, Bombay, or Brussels, we’ll all be together on March 3,” he said. Vai graduated from Berklee Music, and is a passionate advocate of young players exploring their instruments and stamping their own style. The feat starts at 1:30PM EST America. See www. berkleemusic.com/vai-live.
METAL AS FUCK GETS NEW OWNER Two-year-old online metal magazine Metal As Fuck has been acquired by Scott Adams
CHUGG GETS MORE INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM Promoter Michael Chugg won International Promoter of the Year at the annual awards of US-based global live-sector trade bible Pollstar. It is his third win, having got it in 2000 and 2009. “To receive this award for the third time is not only a great honour for myself and my company, but also for the Australian music industry… [and] a testament to the health of the live touring industry here at the moment,” he said. “It’s good to see we’re holding our own against some of the biggest markets in the world.”
NEW SIGNING: WIM AT MODULAR Modular inked Sydney band WIM. Its debut album is being produced by Tony Buchen (Andy Bull, Ray Man 3, Kid Confucius) and mixed by American studio whizkid Bob Clearmountain. WIM recently won triple j’s Sydney St Jerome’s Laneway unearthed competition, and opened the festival.
DIRECTOR FOR SYDNEY FESTIVAL Sydney Festival is looking for a director to run the event from 2013 to 2015. More details from Tony Grierson at sydneyfestival@bspes.com
NRL TO USE BON JOVI SONG The National Rugby League has licensed Bon Jovi’s ‘This Is Our House’ as its theme song for the next three years. It was specifically written by the band as a sports anthem, and has been used in the US by the NFL, the New York Rangers, and the New England Patriots. “This new partnership with the National Rugby League to bring the song to Australian rugby league gives me great satisfaction,” said Jon Bon Jovi, who is said to be forking out US$150 million to buy a 15% stake in the Atlanta Falcons. “Having played countless stadium shows in your country, I know for a fact
River (WA) were the fastest sellers in the venue’s history. * Liam and Noel Gallagher haven’t spoken since 2009 — and that situation won’t change in the near future, as Liam has banned his bro from coming to see his new band Beady Eye when it starts touring in April. * According to Axl Rose, Doc McGhee is no longer managing Guns N’ Roses.
that your fans know a thing or two about marking your turf and staking your claim.” The NRL has previously used songs by Tina Turner, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Thin Lizzy, Tom Jones, The Hoodoo Gurus, Chumbawamba and Wes Carr.
ROLLING IN IT #1: AUSTEREO Austereo’s net profit was up 9.9% to $30.4 million in the July to December 2010 period. Revenue was $144.6 million - up by 11.56%, which outpaced the 8.6% growth by the capital city radio market. Chairman Peter Harvie attributed this to strong sales strategies and tight yield management. Austereo emphasised how well it looks after its clients; it retained 98% of its top 40 clients in this period. In the final survey of 2010, Austereo was #1 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – and its sales market share in December was the highest in four years. Austereo also stressed how well its breakfast shows are going; Triple M’s new drive show Fifi and Jules is already in profit with all sponsor roles filled, and their podcast is #2 on the iTunes podcast chart.
ROLLING IN IT #2: JB HI FI With retailers copping crap conditions last Christmas, JB Hi Fi didn’t reach the 17% growth it predicted for the last quarter to December 2010. But the electrical and CD chain still posted an 8.3% rise in sales in Australia to $1.68 billion, a 15.6% jump in profits to $87.9 million and a 35% rise in online sales. JB Hi Fi will open five more stores by end of the financial year, bringing its total to 158, including 13 in NZ. In the year to June 30 2010, JB recorded a net profit of $118 million.
MTV, SOUNDWAVE, PRESENT THE SOUNDIES To reward the acts who created videos to promote the festival, Soundwave has teamed with MTV Classics to introduce the Soundies awards. Fans have to vote online, and the winner will get awarded in Sydney. One lucky voter gets the chance to meet the winning band and get a signed guitar from them, a $500 Atticus clothing pack, a pair of Macbeth shoes and a signed Soundwave skate deck.
GUITAR HERO AXED One of the buzz items of this century, Guitar Hero, has been axed. Activision blamed dropping sales (Guitar Hero III from four years ago sold 1.5 million, the latest one Warriors of Rock, only sold 86,000). The high cost of licensing classic rock songs to be played on plastic guitar-shaped controllers was another reason…
BRIT AWARDS ON [V] The Brit awards will be screened on Wednesday February 16 at 7.30pm on Channel [V]. Rap sensation Tinie Tempah is up for four awards, and Plan B, The XX and Mumford & Sons for three.
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Queens Stone age BY PETER HODGSON BACK TO BASICS
Q
ueens Of The Stone Age, Eagles Of Death Metal, Them Crooked Vultures – Josh Homme has always followed his creative muse in whichever direction it led him. Recently it led him back to Rekords Rekords, a label he founded in the mid ‘90s, but which had lain dormant for some time since. The first two new releases on the label have been by fellow QOTSA bandmates: Spark by Alain Johannes, and the self-titled psychedelic showcase by Mini Mansions, aka Michael Shuman. BRAG spoke with Homme and Shuman about their many projects, Queens’ upcoming Soundwave Festival tour, and the reanimation of Rekords Rekords… “I have no idea when the label started,” Homme ponders. “I think it was around 1996 or so, when I started putting out Desert Sessions records. It was basically a home for more esoteric stuff… You’re always fighting that fight when you want to release a record through someone else’s label. Earlier this year I heard some records, which were just so good and which I wanted to release, by Alain Johannes and Michael Shuman. I’d worked with them in Queens of the Stone Age (Johannes and Shuman) and Them Crooked Vultures (Johannes) and I said to myself, ‘I want to be around this music.’” Homme clearly holds his bandmates’ skill and creativity in high regard. “They’re both just so good… so incredible - both are great in spite
of me! Queens Of The Stone Age is something we all do because we want to, and that’s a great reason - but secondarily, I want to be around my favourite musicians. “The other thing that’s really important to me is using the label to recommend other stuff - not just stuff I made, but anything cool,” he tells me later. “Things I don’t own but which I can recommend on the website so you can own it. It’s not about what I can sell to you. It’s about all the best stuff I’m aware of, and sharing that with the family.” Rekords Rekords is also re-releasing the self-titled debut QOTSA album, from 1998. The album was originally released through Roadrunner Records, and has been out of print for years. “I wanted to remaster it, but we didn’t really want to do too much to it. It had that certain thing already,” Homme explains. “Some records really benefit from remastering but this has this dark thing; it’s not too huge compared to other records, but it’s as dense as heck. You hear everything. After the remaster it’s a little bit bigger, but not at the risk of anything.” The band will celebrate the reissue by performing the album in its entirety live during their Soundwave Festival sideshows. “We don’t have a new record out, but we’ll be able to do this,” Homme says. “So get the word out, motherfucker!” Alain Johannes’ album Spark is a touching
“ONE OF THE WEIRDEST THINGS WAS BEING ON TOUR WITH OTHER BANDS AND HAVING THEM SAY, ‘YOU ACTUALLY LISTEN TO YOUR OWN STUFF?’ IT SORT OF MADE US FEEL SORRY FOR THE OTHER BANDS BECAUSE I’M LIKE, ‘I LOVE OUR MUSIC. I LISTEN TO IT ALL THE TIME.’”
tribute to his partner Natasha Shneider, who passed away in 2008. He worked with her in the band Eleven as well as various other collaborations, including Chris Cornell’s Euphoria Morning. “When Natasha died, our whole family was dumbstruck and kinda didn’t understand it. Whenever someone passes away you’re forced to think about the questions in life that are so huge that the weight of them crushes you. Alain was faced with that ‘what do I do now’ moment… He came to me and said, ‘I made a record of what I’m going through,’ and it’s very hope-laden, captivating - a very inviting work. You’re sort of dwarfed by the size of it. And it just came out of him, he made it in like a week, and you can feel that vitality in it. It’s positive – it wasn’t like misery loves company. It was like, the sun coming up on the morning after. Like, ‘I know it’s not over.’ I said to Alain, ‘Who the fuck are you?’ That’s the only question that doesn’t get answered on that album!” By contrast, the songwriting process of Rekords Rekords’ second release, for Mini Mansions, was more collaborative. The record is thick, soaring, harmonious pop with a psychedelic edge; the sound sits somewhere between The Beatles and Elliot Smith. “I wouldn’t say it was a hard record to write, but we definitely tried every possibility and every avenue for every song,” Shuman reflects. “We’d switch instruments until we found the right way to do each song; it’d take about a month and a half for each song to be written, but we’d be rotating around.” Shuman says that the strong psych edge of Mini Mansions comes from a more conceptual than musical place. “I wouldn’t say there’s a musical influence - a psych era that we’re basing our music off of - but definitely when you talk about cinematic elements, I think a lot of the lyrical content comes from film, books and even television. I watch a lot of dramatic
television, and I think a lot of the lyrical content creates a picture that you can see if you use your noggin. “They’re really just well-crafted pop songs,” Shuman continues. “A lot of our lyric content, there’s a story and there’s a basis behind each song, but there’s definitely a lot of fiction in there, which I personally prefer compared to, y’know, talking about what I did on Wednesday night…” Back to Homme, I ask the QOTSA frontman if he ever revisits his back-catalogue, purely as a listener. “Ever since I started playing, I’ve always been trying to play my favourite music that no-one else plays,” Homme says. “One of the weirdest things was being on tour with other bands and having them say, ‘You actually listen to your own stuff?’ It sort of made us feel sorry for the other bands because I’m like, ‘I love our music. I listen to it all the time.’ It’s not like I’m on a steady diet of Queens, but nothing feels better than an iPod full of music that’s only the stuff you like. If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t have Queens, and I certainly wouldn’t have a label.” What: The Queens Of The Stone Age re-release, Alain Johannes’ Spark and Mini Mansions’ self-titled debut are available from February 25 on Rekords Rekords, through Liberation With: Iron Maiden, One Day As A Lion, Slayer, Primus, Gang of Four, Bullet For My Valentine, Slash, Rob Zombie AND MORE! Where: Soundwave Festival @ Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park When: Sunday February 27 from 11am More: QOTSA’s sideshow at Enmore Theatre on Wednesday March 2 is sold out
“Tonight’s show is sponsored by Ted Danson’s Pizza shack!” – ROSS NOBLE 22 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
Fri Feb 18 Seymour Centre sydney.edu.au/seymour
Popfrenzy presents
with special guests
HIGH PLACES (US)
The Way Out Out now on Spunk popfrenzy.com.au myspace.com/thebooksmusicpage
THIS R! SUMME
Os Mutantes (BRA) Wed 9 Mar, Enmore Theatre | ticketek.com.au
myspace.com/alpineband
LIVE MUSIC
CARRIAGEWORKS
ZÜRICH EP LAUNCH Thursday 24 February GoodGod Small Club
W/ BOY IN A BOX & THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS Tix available now from moshtix.com
LIZ MARTIN
+ BHANGLASSI + TOM HESPE & RICH MASON + EMAD YOUNAN + JAMES BRENNAN + THE BRUTAL POODLES CURATED BY MUSIC FOR TREES
SAT 26 FEB F R E E ! NOON-5PM (ARTIST TIPPING WELCOME)
CARRIAGEWORKS’ CAFÉ & BAR OPEN CARRIAGEWORKS 245 WILSON STREET EVELEIGH
Zürich EP out now through Ivy League
MAIN ENTRANCE: CNR CODRINGTON STREET | TRAIN: REDFERN OR MACDONALDTOWN
CARRIAGEWORKS.COM.AU | FACEBOOK.COM/CARRIAGEWORKS | TWITTER.COM/CARRIAGEWORKS
UNPLUGGED + UNCOMPLICATED IS PRODUCED BY CARRIAGEWORKS + OCCURS ON THE LAST SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH
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Black Mountain From Home Recordings To The Studio By Mikey Carr
B
got the Walt Disney stuff from back in the 50s, it’s got the Jim Morrison echo chamber which is - I mean, I remember when Dave first put it through my headphones, I was just like, ‘What the hell is that? That’s gorgeous!’ I could’ve just sat there all day and made noises.”
lack Mountain were born out of the freedom that disinterest affords. It was 2004, and their local Vancouver music scene was disconnected from rock, leaving the band’s first forays into the musical world marked by an intense lack of pressure to be anything other than themselves. What resulted from this open forum was a sound heavily influenced by psychedelia and stoner rock, a sound captured on their critically acclaimed self-titled debut which had critics across the world describing the band as a breath of fresh air in an increasingly homogenous industry.
McBean is looking forward to Black Mountain’s next album, but understands that the band need to “do something [new], or else why would anyone care?” With their first two albums proving to be so popular, McBean wants to make sure he doesn’t get to the point where the fans begrudge the band for their new material. “It’s kind of weird, though, how bands get to that point. Maybe it has something to do with them getting too big too fast, ‘cos there are all these bands like Nick Cave or Primal Scream who are constantly changing it up, and the people who dig their music get really excited about that,” he says. “You don’t want it to get to the point where your fans are like, ‘Oh no, they’re throwing in a new stinker.’”
Cut to the present day and Black Mountain have moved on from their drugged-out psych roots; their most recent album Wilderness Heart showcases a more classic rock side to the band, reminiscent at times of greats like Led Zeppelin (‘The Hair Song’) or Black Sabbath (‘Let Spirits Ride’). “I guess it’s just a product of the combination of the songs and the way we played them,” bandleader Stephen McBean explains. “When we were jamming, things just came out a bit shorter. It was all done live, and that sort of just happened.” down record than [we’d have made] had we worked on it for a year at home.” Still, McBean believes that even had they made the record at home, it would have mostly ended up the same; “the home version would just have more bells and whistles, without being any better,” he says. “The producers had a great impact in that sense. They would be like, ‘you don’t need that,’ or ‘that’s a good idea, let’s work on that,’
Wilderness Heart was also the first time the band worked with producers; they enlisted Dave Sardy (Wolfmother, Marilyn Manson, Oasis) and Randall Dunn (Sun O))), Boris), and recorded the majority of the album at the historic Sunset Sound studio in Los Angeles. “When you’re working in a studio like that, time is money… so it’s probably a more stripped
rather than [us] spending a day on something that wasn’t worth it.” The choice to work at Sunset Sound also had an impact on the album – McBean seems head over heels with the studio, and the gear that lies therein. “That place is great, it’s just magical,” he tells me, with dreamy reverie. “It’s got the history, you know? It’s got the 60s and 70s rock thing, it’s
What: Wilderness Heart is out now on Jagjaguwar, through Inertia With: The Night Terrors Where: The Annandale Hotel When: February 19 & 20 More: Playground Weekender @ Wisemans Ferry on February 17-20 with Lamb, Cut Copy, De La Soul, Tricky, Four Tet, Caribou, Kate Nash and more
Guineafowl Making The Grade By Jordan Smith definitely started writing with a conscious bandmentality… Then one of my bandmates said, ‘Hey, I really think you express yourself more when you don’t worry about who’s going to play what, and you just write whatever comes to you’,” Sam explains. “I have a great band and I wanted to keep them satisfied – it’s about negotiating my old with my new, I guess. I’ve got to get better at it.”
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t’s a perfect time for reflection for Sam Yeldham and his band. When we talk, their Facebook fanpage is being swamped with words of support and general ‘like-age’ after ‘In Our Circles’ successfully nabbed FBi’s SMAC award for Best Sydney Song the night before. It’s just over a year since the ball got rolling for Guineafowl, and this award is a timely acknowledgement that the band has successfully completed what Yeldham refers to as “year seven in the music industry”. Beginning in November 2009 as Yeldham’s one man outfit, Guineafowl quickly inflated into a six-piece as the gig requests came rolling in off the back of ‘The Botanist’, posted on triple j’s Unearthed site. For Guineafowl, the advantage of having a full band is simple and indisputable: “Being on my own kind of bites,” Yeldham says, matter-of-factly. “It’s really hard, and trying to produce all those parts live on my own is not nearly as much fun as playing with five other people who are having just as much fun as you… I much prefer to have a band with me. In fact my band is great - so I much prefer to have that particular band with me!” And it’s working out, too; initially gigging for free to “get their musical chops,” Guineafowl clocked in at a sizeable 59 performances last year. In composition, the dust took a little more time to settle, as the addition of the band changed Guineafowl’s writing style dramatically. “I
Guineafowl’s rise from obscurity to acceptance speeches appears textbook: Unearthed recognition - to radio play - to 150 people at the second show - to signing with Dew Process and producing an EP, Hello Anxiety, with Scott Horscroft (The Presets, Little Red, Birds of Tokyo and Silverchair). But the personal journey has been less than smooth for all the members of the band. Two musicians left last year: the keyboardist bound for America to babysit Toni Collette’s children, and the drummer bound for Spain to “be a Spanish person, I guess…” And the remaining members weathered it all last year, from illnesses in the family to bad break-ups. “We were going through some really emotional stuff, while also having extreme highs,” Yeldham says. “But that’s going to happen in any band, you’ve just got to feed it into your performances. We really love each other and care about each other, and I thought it was like that with every band - but the more bands that I meet, the rarer that camaraderie seems.” Guineafowl is well aware that his career is yet in its infancy; he admits he still calls his bandmates excitedly when he hears a Guineafowl song on triple j. “I look at music as like being in high school. You’re in year seven and you become a really big presence; everyone knows you and you’re doing really well at your subjects … Then you go into year eight and it’s a completely different ball game. You’re not the same as you were, and the classes and teachers are completely different,” he explains. “Guineafowl just did year seven and we got ok marks, but we’ve got a long way before we’re anywhere major - the music industry is a very big school.” I demand he completes the analogy, by finding the industry equivalent to the HSC. “I dunno… the ARIAs?” he offers and we both laugh, and agree: they’re equally over-hyped. What: Hello Anxiety EP is out on Dew Process With: We Say Bamboulee, Cameras Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Friday February 18
Nicholas Roy Seeing Sounds By Mike Gee
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t seems that wherever you go in Australia at the moment, you’ll find people who’ve been flooded out. Young Melbourne singer/ songwriter Nicholas Roy is one of them. A few days before we talk, he found himself calf-deep in water, after his apartment had been flooded by the remnants of Cyclone Yasi, which deposited some 200mm on Melbourne in less than a day. And for Nicholas, home is where the music is; it’s where I speak to him from, and where his debut album - the lyrical, jaunty, slightly twisted pop mélange …In A Shoebox Under The Bed - was recorded. “That was really born of necessity,” he explains. “Recording in studios, apart from being very expensive, you’ve got time restraints - you’re looking at your watch half the time. [At home] I could record whoever I wanted, when I got up, or after a gig…” He says that the home-based recording process itself was pretty insular. “Just me and Jaime [Jimenez, producer], then I’d get friends in to play things. We started out demoing what were going to be previews but some of them sounded right, so we just left them,” he says. “I wanted to make songs that sounded interesting, and weren’t always predictable.” Roy is down-to-earth enough to admit he’s got a ways to go, but he has a fair idea of what he’s about and what he wants. He’s toured with acts as yin to his yang as The Audreys, but he’s gained plenty from it - and he’s keen to draw more experience from diversity. “Since I was five years old I wanted to be a film director,” he says. “When I write songs, it’s like they’re tiny little movies. I like the storytelling aspect; I like that thing of somebody seeing something as they are listening… Interesting sounds make it more of an escape than if it was just a song.”
This attitude towards music partly explains why Nicholas Roy has drawn comparisons to Peter Gabriel and Beck. “Each song was approached with the question, ‘How can we make it visual?’” he explains. This, of course, means that Roy is going to have no shortage of ideas when it comes to music videos; each song is already one in his head. It’s an area he wants to explore further in the future - but that means finding a budget, which in turn means finding enough success. Thankfully, he’s not doing badly in that regard, either; the first single from his album, the quirky and smart ‘It’s All My Fault’ which bounced out over a year ago now, was a triple j favourite that reached #1 on the stations Unearthed chart, and was regularly voted for on Super Request. But he isn’t getting carried away just yet… “The way things are done these days, it’s more of a cottage industry. You have to innovate, come up with songs,” he says – and if they’re strong enough, then you’ll succeed. “Well, that’s what everybody says, but it is a steep learning curve - not just the songs, but the live thing too,” he admits. “It’s one thing to be able to write a song, but it’s another to be able to play live and get it across to an audience.” In short, there’s no big ego with Nicholas Roy. Just a talented young musician with plenty of ideas and a willingness to learn, who might just be about to escape that shoebox under the bed. What: In A Shoebox Under The Bed is out on Little Tribe, through MGM Where: Brass Monkey, Cronulla / The Vanguard, Newtown / Great Northern, Newcastle When: February 17 / February 18 / February 19
“How come Miss Universe is only won by people from Earth?” – ROSS NOBLE 24 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
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Gabby Young Glamour And Grandeur By Heidi Leigh Axton
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ublishing a picture of Gabby Young in black and white is a bit like switching off the colour on a rainbow; it’s just not the same show! Thankfully, we’ll get to experience the full colour extravaganza when the UK songstress and her band hit Sydney next week. Their album, We’re All In This Together, has already got off to a good start in OZ, with the title track featuring as iTunes single of the week last December. “Yeah, that was amazing. I couldn’t believe it,” Young says. “I got told by my cousin who lives in Australia. We were so excited; we just had no idea it was going that well over there!” Besides the flamboyant tracks that radiate the free spirited nature she’s known for, there are also more subdued personal entries on the album like ‘Too Young To Die’, a song Young penned about her brush with Thyroid cancer a few years ago. She admits the memory still cuts deep when she performs the song. “Each time I sing it live, I find it really emotional. I’ve got the all clear now and I’m fine, but it was a really horrible year of my life. Everything had to stop and health took over. It was terrifying. “The operation for having your thyroid out is very close to your voice box,” she continues. “As a singer, your voice box is your life. It was really, really hard, but a lot of good things have come from it. [So] in a way I’m pleased it happened.” The good that Young refers to is the part that her health crisis played in guiding her to the next phase of her life. She was encouraged to move from the countryside of Wiltshire, where she acknowledges she’d been making too many compromises regarding her musical dreams. “I had to make music with musicians that perhaps didn’t have quite the same vision as I did, of grandeur. They just wanted to be in a rock band, so I wasn’t quite doing what I wanted to do, and I felt a bit stuck.” From there she moved to London, where she met her current band members - and things have been on the rise ever since. “This huge thing came along that put my life on hold, but it made me re-evaluate and get the chance to start again,” reflects Young. “It was so big, so much bigger than me, that I felt it was kind of leading me somewhere else. I moved to London and that’s when everything started falling into place.” Outside of her music, Young is also known for her unique style - so much so that she
Simplex Simple Evolution By RK Although still involved with the Terra Firma project, Simplex had been working on other tracks on the side. “I’ve always had it in the pipeline to release [them], it just took some time to get it down with all the changes and stuff - people were having babies and getting married, so it was hard to find the time to get [the album] done, you know?”
started ‘Gabberdashery’, which she describes as a “pop-up boutique”. “I’ve always had eclectic taste,” she explains. “From the start, I was a free soul… I was always playing makebelieve when I was a little girl by myself, getting dressed up. Being able to do that on stage is really amazing for me.” Her fans can buy various bits and pieces at a stall she sets up at her gigs. “I used to just have a few friends’ stalls at my shows. Then I wanted to take it on the road, and started adding in other people: accessories, art, beautiful headpieces and jewellery,” she explains. “It’s all things that I would wear or hang on my wall. Things that inspire me and the people I work with are [in turn] inspired by our music. It works really well together.”
Having seen to all of the record’s production himself, Simplex is chuffed with the way it has panned out. ‘World class’ is the sort of adjective that comes to mind. “I think the whole album evolved - it started so long ago. Lyrics and production evolve, and sounds and styles change. I think that’s pretty normal in music: you know how to do something, and try something else, and move that way,” he explains. “Overall, I tried to keep a snapshot of what I did in the past.” While there’s a lot of freedom involved in self-production, there’s a flipside too: “Making it all yourself does your head in sometimes!” he says. “You have no one to work with; people say something sounds good, but you have to be the ultimate judge and [objectively] think about things on their merits. For now, I can tell you, I am not really wanting to be doing it all again [straight away] - that’s for sure!” The plan now for Simplex is to get out there, promote the record, and clear the slate. “First, right now, were going to try to push this album as much as we can and start theoretically from scratch again. I want to pretty much re-establish myself and start again - that’s kind of how I see things at the moment,” he says. “Apart from touring, there is a lot of production stuff I’ve got going on too, including around Australia and also with some of the international emcees who will be out.”
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t must be a harrowing experience, releasing your first artist album. It’s the one that sets the scene, establishes your grounding and in many ways, determines whether or not the fans will want a followup... So lucky for Simplex that he and the artists he collaborates with have skills. Terra Firma member Simplex is already a mainstay in Adelaide’s urban landscape, and his solo debut record, Audio Biography, will doubtless shine.
Who: Gabby Young & Other Animals What: We’re All In This Together is out now on Other Tongues With: Scott Spark, Stephen Revere (UK) Where: Raval, The Macquarie Hotel When: Wednesday February 23
“I started off rhyming and jamming with Terra Firma in 1995, and we started doing shows in Adelaide,” the emcee explains. “We hooked up with the Hilltop boys and did a few bits and pieces, and everyone got to know each other through that, including the Obese boys! So we started releasing our own stuff and Obese did our distribution; then [our label] Shogun fell apart and we went back to Obese - and here I am today!”
He describes an incredible growth in the local hip hop game: “Guys like Hilltop, people like that. There is so much good music out there, stuff that had evolved from the underground,” he enthuses. “Now that hip-hop is in the mainstream, it’s great - and people are still doing the same thing they were doing before, so it’s about as good as its ever been, I think. I don’t think we’re as commercial as what’s happening in America either, which is a really good thing. We have our own stature, you know what I mean?” What: Audio Biography is out on February 18 through Obese Records Where: The Great Northern, Newcastle When: Friday March 18 More: Supporting DOOM, with DJ MK at The Metro on Wednesday March 23
Rat Vs Possum Penis Injuries And Pon De Floor By Rach Seneviratne
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onsider the press shot of Rat vs Possum to the right there: naked band-members squeezed together in a diminutive bathtub, blowing and tossing shimmering confetti into the air. In a way, it sums up the essence of the Melbourne band: unabashed liberation with ridiculous ornamentation – or to put it more succinctly, nakidity and glitter. But Rat vs Possum’s enigmatic pocket dynamo Daphne Shum insists that there is a sense of order amongst this chaos. “The music is actually more structured than it might appear,” the front-lady says. The illusion of most noise rock and experimental pop outfits is that they seem to revel in a whole lot of arbitrary gadding about on several different instruments at the one time. But while Rat vs Possum adopt this vibe of spontaneity and ad hoc song-creation, their live shows are a showcase of a talented and well-oiled band. Like a Jackson Pollock painting, everything seems random to the audience, a swamp of crazy sounds and energy - but beneath the initial impact is a deeply thought-out and expertly-crafted product. “It’s not at all a jam, even though it may start out as one. Someone will play the riff of a song and we’ll build on it, and then we’ll distil it by adding structure and taking out the superfluous stuff,” Shum explains. Speaking of superfluous stuff, why Rat vs Possum? Why not Bat vs Monkey? Trout vs Human? Part of me was hoping that
the band had once organised a cruel and unusual animal showdown between an angry rodent and a bitter marsupial, so I was a little disappointed to learn that it was merely the drunken suggestion about what was making that strange, guttural noise in the ceiling at a house party. “Matt [Kulesza, guitar/vox] got out his phone and actually wrote it down, like, ‘Rat vs Possum… I’m gonna remember that’. But apart from that, no, there’s no deeper meaning. We’re not actually a very deep band – at the end of the day, we just make noise,” Shum says. Their sonic eccentricity appeals to a wide palate of genres, from krautrock to dance music – a diversity reflected in the smorgasbord of music tastes within the band. “Of course we all like krautrock, experimental music, noise… but we’re all just really really intense music lovers. I personally can find music I like in almost every genre - except for really bad Garth Brooks country music, or really shit radio rock.” As they delve into Boredoms-esque noise rock and then erupt with a palpitating African party rhythm, Shum and her band prove their love for music spans both genres and generations. In fact, a recent Rat vs Possum twitter update hinted that a cover of Major Lazer’s ‘Pon De Floor’ was in the pipeline; and when I bring it up, Shum’s zeal for yet another diverse musical path – Jamaican dancehall and reggae-dub – becomes apparent. “The only reason we found
[out about ‘Pon De Floor’] was because we were sitting around talking about daggering. It’s really crazy…people are breaking their dicks because of it. That’s what drew my attention to the song,” she laughs. Despite being in the midst of a hectic touring schedule, encompassing Laneway Festival dates as well as a string of sideshows, Shum seems relatively animated. “It took me a few tours to get the hang of it, but then I realised that [touring] was just like a holiday, except you played some shows.” The four-boys-one-girl band dynamic would test even the most stoic of women, but she seems to be dealing just
fine. “I never really had many girl friends. Now I do, but a lot of them are just the girlfriends of my bandmates,” she laughs. “But yeah, touring is great. The drudgery of daily life completely goes out the window, and whether you’re just reading a book, staring out a window or talking shit with your bandmates, everything becomes an experience… Everything becomes exciting.” What: Daughter Of Sunshine is out now on Sensory Projects With: SPOD Where: GOODGOD Small Club When: Thursday February 17
“It’s Christopher Reeves the Musical!” – ROSS NOBLE 26 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
M. Ward The Time Traveller By Amelia Schmidt
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. Ward’s Hold Time pretty much does what it says on the tin: the record is completely timeless. It could have been made in 2009 or in 1969, and each time I listen, I forget how long it’s been on for. And the fact that M. Ward is touring on the back of an album released two years ago, while welcome, is even more disorienting. Returning to Australia after many years to perform some of the biggest shows he’s ever played here, he’ll be revisiting his slow-paced, calm LP with a fresh ear. The return to Hold Time is a change of flavour for the musician, who took a break from his solo work to collaborate on different projects over the last couple of years. Recently, he’s been working with the beautiful Zooey Deschanel as She & Him, a distinctly retro-flavoured set of folky pop. But now, he tells me, he’s “sort of changing gears” and getting back into his solo groove. “Very slowly I’ve been doing some recording, and I’m always writing,” Ward assures me. Working with others hasn’t dimmed his appetite for writing at all; while there might not be a new album just yet, Ward is working on it. “Just lately I’ve had a little bit more time to go into the studio and do my own music.”
themed music with Deschanel too, amongst other things. “We’re doing little projects here and there; we’ve been doing some benefit projects, actually,” he says. “We recorded a Buddy Holly song for a tribute, we just finished that - it should see the light of day in a couple of months.” All in all, M. Ward seems to be in no huge race against time – his measured tones and quiet, murmuring voice reference a patient personality, happy to take things as they come. I imagine he’d be equally at home in Portland or in Sydney; in 2011 or somewhere in the ‘50s. He’s the kind of person that would be happy living in old cassettes, browned photo albums and nostalgic, hazy memories. “It’s been too long,” he says, of coming back to Australia. It certainly has. What: Hold Time is out on Spunk Records With: Holly Throsby Where: The Enmore Theatre When: Sunday February 20
Music for Ward is not all about the songwriting; it’s also very much about the sounds and the atmosphere, which for him often strives to emulate the past. With some production duties here and there – for She & Him’s albums, and for Jenny Lewis on Rabbit Fur Coat – Ward is quite at home in the studio, and even a cursory listen to Hold Time will reveal his penchant for a timeless production style. “When I first started playing guitar, I didn’t really know what production was,” Ward admits sheepishly. “And then I started four-tracking, a couple years later in high school - that was my first introduction to production. It sounds sort of funny when you produce something on a fourtrack, but it was my first introduction to layering sound. It filled countless hours in the studio, just imagining layers and producing songs.” Ward still occasionally uses that old four-track, but now it’s more high tech... Kind of. “I use Garageband now when I’m travelling because it’s easier to travel with,” he tells me. “It’s a pretty good program because is so easy and compact, but I only use it for demos.”
“I’m very lucky to have a great community of musicians in Portland. There’s a whole other group of musicians in LA, and New York has the same thing. Every little community has their own way of doing things...” Another recent big project for him has been Monsters Of Folk, which is (was? “We’ve all been pretty busy with our projects for the last year…”) a bit of a super-indie-folk-band made up of Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (both of Bright Eyes fame), and Jim James, from My Morning Jacket. Monsters of Folk emulate a chillaxed jam-sharing communal vibe that Ward is involved with in his home town of Portland, Oregon. “Yeah, Portland has a lot of great musicians; I’m very lucky to have a great community of musicians here,” Ward says affectionately. “I travel to LA a lot and there’s a whole other group of musicians there too, and New York has the same thing. I just did a little bit of recording in New York. Every little community has their own way of doing things, which is something I’m learning.” M. Ward is recording new solo work at the moment, an exciting prospect for his fans. I rummage for clues, but in terms of any strong concepts, he seems to be pretty opaque... “It’s a little bit too early to say, because I’ve only recorded a few songs.” Perhaps the ideas which hold his albums so tightly together emerge later in in the process, but either way what he’s doing is working out just fine - his life sounds pretty nice right now. “It does,” he agrees, “and it is. I’ve been having a great time and I’m loving the [songwriting] process. That’s always a good sign.” The past is still a place of deep inspiration for Ward, who’s currently reading All The President’s Men, a book about Richard Nixon. He tells me he’s been working on more retro-
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The Books Omnivorous Listening By Luke Telford
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aul De Jong – cellist, arranger and co-founder of avant-sample-digging duo The Books – is not feeling well. His rich German accent is thickened by an encroaching cold, but neither the illness nor his freezing New York surrounds can conceal the childlike excitement that spills into his voice at the merest mention of music.
The premise of The Books is a beguilingly eccentric one: find thousands of truly bizarre samples, and craft absurdly beautiful pop music out of them. The band formed in 1999, when De Jong and co-founder Nick Zammuto realised they had a similar penchant for collecting obscure recordings. “We both already had interesting collections that had not very much to do with each other, other than that they were really complementary,” he says. “We found out that we listened not in the same way, but in a similar way: we were both looking for that same emotional resonance in listening. I think that’s what compelled us.” Their albums are dizzyingly dense and exhilaratingly unpredictable; it’s nearly inconceivable how the band begins to construct them. “There is really no one way to go about it,” says De Jong. “Every song is created in a vastly
different way, but I think we just know how to anticipate certain compositional problems better.” The samples on their most recent record, 2010’s The Way Out, are ripped largely from old VHS, neglected spoken-word acetates and hypnotherapy tapes – painstakingly collated by the group from the charity shops of wherever their tours take them. “That’s kind of my side of the story in The Books; I’m the one who incessantly goes to thrift stores and record stores and book stores and buys all the stuff that nobody else is ever going to want,” says De Jong. “I just feel there is so much beauty to be found there; so much unusual stuff, obscure stuff.” This hermetic search for such consummately esoteric detritus isn’t motivated by the same fetishism that dogs so many collectors, but nor does it hold that fetishism in contempt. “I’m not looking for mainstream. The mainstream preserves itself. I’m looking for that stuff that people tend to overlook, or put in the garbage... Those VHS tapes are going to be landfill pretty soon,” he explains. “I’m going for something that can become a more universal voice.” Once found, De Jong presents the best samples to his collaborator, and the two go about the unfathomable task of assembling them into emotionally resonant compositions. “From there, it’s a matter of starting to combine a sample or two, or play along with a loop that seems to sound really good, that you just can’t get enough of,” he says. “You’ve got to want to hear samples over and over and over again, and every time you hear them a really special feeling you have about it gets stronger... The song grows from there, it attracts other samples, it attracts instrumental parts. There is not great magic to it: just spend a lot of time with stuff and it will kind of reveal itself.”
“I’m the one who incessantly goes to thrift stores and buys all the stuff that nobody else is ever going to want. There’s so much beauty to be found there.” After three albums created from such an intensely involved process, you have to wonder what goal continues to motivate the music. “What’s the best thing that music can do? That people can transcend their daily worries and get a new perspective over their own lives. It’s a wonderful emotional tool; there are very few things that can do that. You can stare with a group of people at a painting, but it will not communicate in a way that music can communicate, throughout an audience. I think that the strongest quality of music is the fact that it gives people a tool to transcend themselves,” De Jong says. “That’s nothing mystical, it’s just wonderful.” It’s a music that’s almost impossible to describe, but ‘wonderful’ is certainly a word that comes to mind of the pieces on The Way Out. From the bloodthirsty bickering of isolated children on ‘Cold Freezin’ Night’ through the full-body swoon of ‘All You Need Is A Wall’, there’s barely a second that doesn’t conceal some kind of errant delight, even though the source material is occasionally quietly unsettling. The nonsensical narrative of ‘The Story Of Hip Hop’, for example, was lifted from a children’s record released by the Rosicrucians - a pre-Masonic secret society built on ancient esoteric truths which, concealed from the average person, allegedly provided insight into nature, physics and spirituality. “That was an insane record I found,” says De Jong. “They put out a record with these four children’s stories, and one of the stories is about this grasshopper called Hip Hop. The first time I played it I kind of fell off my chair; you’ll never find a voice saying that in this day and age.” De Jong grew up listening to a lot of classical music, so when pressed for his views on hip hop as a genre – one which clearly shares much with The Books’ compositional techniques – he responds quite frankly. “I don’t think very much in terms of genres at all. I really think about artists. I can, for instance, mention Outkast; the stuff they have done with samples - it’s not just virtuosity, it’s total skill and musicality. I think that’s probably the aspect of hip hop that I feel I can relate to most,” he says. “I’m an omnivorous listener, but I certainly have my main dishes that I always come back to. And they’re probably not what you think…” What: The Way Out is out now through Spunk With: High Places Where: The Seymour Centre When: Friday February 18 28 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
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The Waifs Family Matters Matt Petherbridge
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f you were wondering why The Waifs disappeared off the face of the earth after their 2008 Union of Soul tour, the explanation is simple: family comes first. When I speak to Vikki Thorn - singer, songwriter and one-third of The Waifs - she’s recently returned from a farm in Southern Utah, where her and her husband retreated to raise their two boys, aged five and six. Juggling motherly duties, homeschooling and the general upkeep of the farm didn’t leave a lot of time for music... “[Motherhood] affects the way you approach everything,” Thorn explains. “The way we approach music and touring now is that it’s a time when we get to indulge ourselves in our own creative pursuits. It changes your whole approach to life, really.” Almost twenty years into their career, The Waifs are finally on the verge of releasing their sixth LP, Temptation. It will be the first studio album for the iconic W.A band since 2007’s SunDirtWater, a “disparate” record in which, by Thorn’s own admission, “the songs didn’t work as an album”. There was uncertainty in The Waifs’ camp as to whether there would even be another record, but the band had stockpiled enough songs over the
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The age old argument over song credits can ultimately be destructive (Split Enz and Fleetwood Mac instantly come to mind), and whilst Thorn describes it as “a continual frustration”, it is one that the band has come to accept. “We’ve been playing together long enough to know that if we bring forward a song and the others aren’t into it, it’s not said directly - it’s sort of politely ignored or forgotten about”. This process has seen the demise of a lot of material over the years, some of which has happily started to resurface. “You bring them out five years later and [the rest of the band] hear them and they go, ‘Oh that’s really good, I like it.’” Others though have sadly been resigned to the B-side - but Thorne is hopeful that they too may be released some time. “I have to talk to the band about that! We could compile a whole album of our B-sides to release right now…”
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Although she contributed just one song to SunDirtWater, Thorn was responsible for almost half of the tracks on Temptation, including the languid, confessional ‘Somedays’, the spritely ‘Daydreamer’ and the upbeat, Sheryl Crow-esque ‘Beautiful Night’, It was a creative rejuvenation that led her to experiment with different techniques. “The Waifs have these pretty simple song structures, generally sticking to the I-IV-V chord progression,” Thorn explains. “I’ve started to look for ways I can change up an arrangement or a chord progression… I’m tired of writing the same sort of stuff. In writing songs with different tunings, I’ve found different chord progressions. My ears take me to a different place, and the songs end up structured differently.”
“The Waifs have these pretty simple song structures, generally sticking to the I-IV-V chord progression. I’ve started to look for ways I can change up an arrangement. I’m tired of writing the same sort of stuff.”
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course of a couple of small tours in the States that they decided “let’s go in and record them live” - before spending ten days bunkered down in a Minneapolis basement. According to Thorn, the laidback, comfortable vibe of Temptation wasn’t intentional at all; “It’s just the way that it came out. You know, we’re all getting on now, some of us are in our 40’s... not me though!” Thorn laughs. “[Music] is something we love to do, and it really has this vibe now of just catching up with friends.”
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Back to the album of A-sides though. The Waifs have announced a huge Australian tour for Temptation, which will see them forgo the usual “main cities and major rural centres” string in lieu of a more personalised journey. They’ll be heading to regional communities across Australia that are starved of live music, like Denmark in W.A and Moruya in NSW, hometown of the recently newlywed Waifs’ member, Josh Cunningham. “Touring Australia is basically our bread and butter, I would probably go so far to say even more so than album sales - except for when ‘London Still’ was on the radio and we sold a lot of albums,” Thorne says. “I’m interested to see with this tour whether that’s still the case.” Thorn believes the best way to survive as an indie band in Australia is through the festival circuit. “They’re solid gigs that pay and give you maximum exposure. Instead of a pub full of people with only 10% tuning in, a music listening environment like a festival is a much better way of gaining an audience; people are paying to listen to new music.” With over twenty dates across Australia, The Waifs are lucky they no longer tour foot-to-mouth in the back of a Kombi van like they used to; and subjecting their families to life on the road can be a bit cagey, too. “Sometimes the family can come along with us, there’s a point where it’s good,” Thorne says, “but then there’s a point when it’s not.” Most of all, she hopes that the tour won’t be it for Temptation. “I really like the songs, and I’ve really enjoyed playing them,” she says. “I’d like to give them the chance to develop live because with songs we’ve just recorded, they’ve only ever been performed live once - and a song will change the more you play it.” What: Temptation is out in March Where: Enmore Theatre / Civic Theatre, Newcastle When: February 26 / February 27
Depeche Mode Can’t Get Enough By Mikey Carr
I
n terms of the biggest bands of the last 30 years, Depeche Mode are a bit of a dark horse. Selling over 100 million albums, playing some of the largest and most successful tours of all time, performing to crowds in excess of 30 million - on paper they look impressive, yet next to bands like U2 or Nirvana, their profile seems somewhat muted. Musically though, they’ve proven consistently that not only are they great innovators and pioneers within electronic music, but a band whose music has enduring appeal. Rather than settling on a popular sound, Depeche Mode have continued to evolve over the twelve albums they’ve released, reinventing themselves each time without losing their core aesthetic or compromising their legacy. And in many cases, they’ve enjoyed even greater success as a result. Made up of Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Andrew Fletcher (keyboards), the Essex band have led an almost charmed life since their debut release in 1981. “It’s been a really amazing career,” Fletcher tells me over the phone. “We couldn’t ask for it to be any better, and we wouldn’t want to change anything. I mean, we only thought we’d only last for about two years,” he laughs.
seems to like us and it doesn’t seem like we can do anything wrong, so why stop? Mind you, probably best to wait and see with the next album,” he adds with a laugh. What keeps Depeche Mode together, what keeps them making relevant, good music, is that they share a real relationship; they’re just three old friends who still like making music together. It’s this solid base in reality that’s grounded them, tied them together, and allowed them to endure the buffeting and storms of the turbulent market they’ve inhabited for over thirty years. And they’re not going anywhere for a while yet. What: Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) DJ set With: Lamb, Kool & The Gang, De La Soul, Tricky, Architecture In Helsinki and more Where: Playground Weekender @ Wisemans Ferry When: February 17 - 20 More: Wednesday February 16 @ City Hotel, with special guests
The self-doubt is understandable; Depeche Mode’s consistently shifting sounds have always sat around dark imagery and macabre tones in a way which seems at odds with longrunning mainstream success. But the band engendered a loyalty in their fans, through both their honest reflection of a troubled world and their dedication to develop their music naturally, rather than responding to trends. It’s something which Fletcher credits partly to the flexibility of their label. “We’ve got a great set up with Mute records,” he explains. “We’ve always had a great relationship with Daniel Miller [Mute founder]; he’s never put that sort of commercial pressure on us that other labels often put on their artists, so we’ve had room to grow. I think it’s always good to evolve, and that’s what we try to do.”
“What we’ve achieved is completely beyond our dreams... We’re at a place in our career where everyone seems to like us and it doesn’t seem like we can do anything wrong, so why stop?” The laissez-faire approach they take to their music has also been reflected in the band’s career. Where others get caught up in cycles of release schedules and touring, Depeche Mode have tended to take things at their own pace. “I was saying to an interviewer recently, we really don’t plan too much with our career,” Fletcher explains. “When we finish the tour, it’s not like we make a plan to start a new album in a year’s time or whatever - we try and play it very naturally. I mean, we know we’re going to make another record, but we don’t really know when that’s going to happen… We work on music when we feel like working on music, not when we’re expected to.” To survive commercially in the music industry for over 30 years is a miracle itself, especially considering that the last ten were the most uncertain period in the industry’s history; but for the good relations between band members to survive this long is almost unheard of. While it’s true that original songwriter Vince Clarke left the band after the first album, and his replacement Alan Wilder left in 1995, the nucleus of Gahan, Gore and Fletcher have somehow managed to weather the throes of fame, fortune, and Gahan’s almost life-destroying heroin addiction. “When Dave was in a really terrible way, in the end all he really had left in his life was the band,” Fletcher says. “He’d lost his wife, he’d lost everything - but he still had the band. “There is a respect and we, all three of us, realise that what we’ve achieved is completely beyond our dreams,” Fletcher continues. “I mean, we all come from the same town, we’ve got the same friends and we’ve got the same sense of humour. There have never been any thoughts of breaking up, we’ve never discussed that at all; it’s always been our attitude to carry on. We’ve always said that when our records start to deteriorate then there might be a time when we call it quits - but we’re at a place in our career where everyone
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With both Valentine's Day and the Mardi Gras Festival falling within this week's SYDNEY purview, love is definitely in the Sydney air. The theme for this year's Mardi Gras Something' - and as you'll see in the following pages, there's no shortage GAY&LESBIAN isof 'Say things to say, or ways to say it. The only rules seem to be keep it entertaining, and keep it real... We hope you enjoy our second ever Mardi Gras special edition! MARDI GRAS FEBRUARY 19 - MARCH 6
An Evening With Lily Tomlin [COMEDY] One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy – Lily is back in Sydney for the Mardi Gras! By Natasha Magi
Main image: Tomlin in Altman's A Prairie Home Companion (2006) Above: 'One ringy-dingy!': Tomlin in character as Ernestine surprised – that’s why working on Altman’s film with her we were never daunted, we’d do anything. We were never afraid for each other or of each other, we just tried to have fun but also honour the project.” However Tomlin readily concedes that her true love is the stage. “My partner Jane said to me that she thinks I love to perform live so much because it’s the only two hours of the day that I’m in 'the present'. I do love it. I do. I love the community with the audience; and the fact that we all think the same things are funny or interesting, it’s like a validation of our common humanity."
F
or most of us in generation Y, Lily Tomlin is best known as President Bartlett’s eccentric secretary in The West Wing, and for her film roles in ‘80s classic Big Business and the more recent comedy I Heart Huckabees - which spawned the infamous viral YouTube clip of her swearing spat with director David O’Russell (The Fighter). (She has joked, since then, that the incident landed her on the ‘F List’ for a while afterwards.) However, Tomlin has a vast body of work that stretches back to New York’s stand-up scene in the ‘60s. Over the five intervening decades, she’s turned her hand to acting, comedy, writing and producing, and, as far as I can tell, managed to charm just about everyone who crosses her path – including me, as I talk to her on the even of her visit to Sydney for the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Mary Jean “Lily” Tomlin was born September 1, 1939, and grew up in a working-class neighbourhood of Detroit, Michigan. Her mother was a nurse’s aide and her father was a factory worker, having moved to Detroit from Kentucky during the Great Depression. Tomlin’s acute sense of human observation, which has been the key to creating her most beloved characters, started young. “I was very socially conscious as a kid,” she tells me. “As you left our apartment building, street by street, the houses got bigger and bigger. I had friends who lived in the rich houses nearby, and I was very conscious of the discrepancy in what people had or didn’t have economically. I couldn’t help but see the divide.” Tomlin’s apartment building turned out to be the ideal stomping ground
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for a future comedian. “There was every kind of person in this apartment house, you got a little taste of everything in there. Some people were educated, others were completely uneducated; some were political, apolitical, radical or conservative. It was just like a love affair with humanity.” Tomlin came to stand-up circuitously, via a stint studying medicine at Detroit’s Wayne State University - during which time her elective courses in ‘theatre arts’ inspired her to drop out of college and pursue a career in stand-up. In 1965 she moved to New York, working days as a waitress and office temp, and spending her evenings honing her comedic craft anywhere and everywhere she could get her foot in the door eventually graduating to landmark stand-up institutions like The Improv, Cafe Au Go Go, and the Upstairs at the Downstairs bistro. By the time she made her TV debut in 1966 on The Garry Moore Show, Tomlin had already developed a loyal following on the stand-up scene; by 1969, she had auditioned and been hired for NBC’s top-rating sketch comedy show, LaughIn, where her cast of colourful characters - including precocious 5 ½-year-old philosopher Edith Ann, and sharp-tongued switchboard operator Ernestine – quickly earned her a national profile. In 1971, while Tomlin was working on her first Edith Ann comedy album, she saw a telemovie called J.T. written by a 'Jane Wagner'. In a 2006 interview she reminisced, “It was wonderful. It was poetic and sensitive and satiric and tender and funny - and so many things compressed into this one hour.”
Tomlin wrote to Wagner, inviting her to Los Angeles to collaborate on the Edith Ann album. Not hearing back until a week before she was due in the recording studio, Tomlin nevertheless persuaded Wagner to come on board as producer. Corny as it sounds, Tomlin has described their first meeting as love at first sight. Forty years on, the couple remain partners in life, work and play, with Wagner co-writing all Tomlin’s material, and the comedienne attributing most of her famous one-liners to Wagner. Although Tomlin’s Australian shows will draw on characters from her extensive stand-up and television career, it’s impossible when interviewing this Emmy and Oscar-nominated actress, not to segue into some of the highlights from her career in film. Tomlin made her screen debut in Robert Altman’s Nashville (1975), playing a straight-laced gospel singer and mother of two deaf children. She continued to worked with Robert Altman throughout her career, with a cameo role in The Player (1992), teaming up with Tom Waits in Short Cuts (1993), and playing a singing sister act with Meryl Streep A Prairie Home Companion (2006). “Working with Altman is divine. First of all, Bob was always in authority without being authoritarian. You had respect for him. He was like the big, benign father... one time I asked him his advice, I was having problems with a project, ya know, and he said, ‘Giggle and give in’. I adored him… He was never judgmental. You never felt like you failed.” And working with Meryl Streep? “Oh to work with Meryl is like... divine. She loves to fool around and to laugh and she also wants to be
For her Mardi Gras show Tomlin is bringing out some of the old-time favourites, including Edith Ann and Ernestine – who “has been very busy since moving on from her position as a telephone operator,” Lily explains. “Most recently she’s been working at a health-insurance company, denying people coverage,” she continues, before adding, “It’s important that I keep something current coming from their mouths. It plays great here (in the States) but it might not necessarily play so well in Australia because you have a much better health care system!” One of Tomlin’s darker characters – and one of my favourites – is Lucille W. Rubber Freak – an woman with a taste (literally) for rubber. Lucille goes back 40-odd years now. “I was totally fascinated with a condition called Pica," Tomlin recalls. "There wasn’t much literature back then, but it’s people who want to ingest inedible substances. It’s usually related to a nutritional deficiency. And I used to love rubber tubing; I’d be waiting for my bus to go to school in the morning and this old store front, the windows were all painted out but they stored rubber tubing in there, and the smell just exuded through the doors and I would stand in the doorway and just inhale that rubber tubing... I just wanted eat it! Any of those human little quirky things I was (and am) always fascinated by.” When I ask if she is bringing Lucille out to play whilst in Australia, Tomlin gives a tentative thumbs up. “Id love to do it. That character tickles me.” What: An Evening with Lily Tomlin When: Friday March 4, 8pm Where: Enmore Theatre More: mardigras.com.au
Tom Ballard
Hannah Gadsby
[COMEDY] Is What He Is By Michael Brown
[COMEDY] Small talk, small victories. By Michael Brown my friends,” he recalls. Then in early 2008, Tom was chosen for The Comedy Zone, Melbourne Comedy Festival’s new talent showcase. “I was generally pretty closeted towards a few people - not in a shame kind of way, it just didn’t really come up, and the material I was doing wasn’t about that at all. And then Comedy Festival finished and I had this slow realisation that the comedy that I really love is people being really honest - and I felt like there was a lot of material there.” The result of this realisation was Tom’s debut show, Is What He Is, which premiered at Melbourne Comedy Festival 2009. “People really seemed to dig it,” says the comedian, with trademark humility. Just 19 when he debuted the show, Tom would become the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Best Newcomer Award. “It was a really legitimising moment for me.” Two years on, Tom is excited about presenting the show in his adopted hometown of Sydney. “It’s just fun, I really love performing it. I love Sydney audiences, and I love performing in theatres, so it’s perfect. I think it’s awesome that Belvoir’s having stand-up there.”
“I
n no sense do I have any illusion of having had a tough time of coming out,” says comedian and triple j breakfast host Tom Ballard. “I think it’s hard for everybody. Like even if everyone is the most supportive people in the world, to look someone in the eye and say ‘I like penises. I like penises, I don’t like vaginas,’ that’s an awkward thing to do, no matter who you are.” At Belvoir Street Theatre this week, Tom talks about coming out in his award-winning solo show, Tom Ballard Is What He Is. “It’s a very personal show, an hour of personal storytelling. I grew up in Warnambool in country Victoria, and [this show] basically tells you about me coming out as a gay man and what that means, and the trials and tribulations.” Unlike most of us, Tom's tribulations included coming out both personally and publicly. “2007-2008 in the summer was when I told
Even performing a show about being a gay man, Tom is conscious of the politics of being a gay comedian. “I think I’m conscious of trying not to be pigeonholed in that way. There are some openly gay comedians who I wouldn’t say do gay comedy; you know, they talk about their lives and part of that happens to be them being gay,” he says, citing UK stand-ups Simon Amstell and Paul Sinha as notable examples. “I find those kind of acts are a good watermark of the idea that your sexuality doesn’t have to define your whole act; you can kind of be funny about lots of different stuff, you know. I don’t want to be Julian Clary, basically.” What: Tom Ballard Is What He Is When: Tues-Sat at 7pm from February 15-27 Where: Belvoir Street Downstairs More: belvoir.com.au
A
s I’m hanging on the telephone, waiting to chat with comedian Hannah Gadsby, I’m sweating - a lot. I don’t know if it’s the 40-degree heat, or because I’m about to interview a person whose latest show is all about hating small talk... Over the last 12 months, Hannah has been touring The Cliff Young Shuffle, a show about the time she walked across England. Her new show, Mrs Chuckles, is the story of a new challenge in her life: learning the art of small talk. The show's genesis, in fact, came when an “almost stranger” told Hannah that she was not much chop at the chit chat, and was in fact verging on rude. Which was harder - crossing England or learning small talk? Well they’re both very different. But it’s easier to quit talking. I quit talking every day. So did you give up with the small talk? No no no, but I’ve given up thinking that i’ll be good at it. In a nutshell, I’ve been trying to improve my ability to small talk, to chit chat. Just trying to pick up some skills, so I don’t come across as such a douche. And the result has been... [hesitating]... small victories. Small
talk, small victories. I fail a lot. I’m getting more relaxed about the failure. So how do you pick up skills? I did a bit of research, you know, online. Didn’t ask anyone, didn’t converse with an actual human. The main piece of evidence was just, you know, you should try and talk to everyone. If ever there’s a chance to interact with people, however small that opening is, you should chat. And when you’re not chatting, you must be writing? Yes - I am writing a book; it’s hopefully going to be out next year, through Allen & Unwin. It’s pretty much a collection of stories based around my medical history. Your medical history? Five bike accidents, gall stones at age 15, pancreatitis aged 25, hit by five cars, rode my bike through a glass greenhouse, slipped on chicken fat, broke my elbow playing basketball (by myself); yeah, all sorts of things. So you’re in town during Mardi Gras actually this little chat will appear in BRAG’s Mardi Gras special. Oooh, ladies! I’m quite shy around those sorts of things. I’ve never been to Mardi Gras before really, so maybe I should get amongst it, start chatting to a few. Is it your first time at Belvoir? Yes. I’m really excited about it. Quite a privilege for the first baby steps of Mrs Chuckles. So how do you feel about chatting with Belvoir audiences after the show? They’re welcome to have a chat with me during the show. Oh, and after, but it’s new to me to chat during the show. We can learn off each other. What: Hannah Gadsby chats in Mrs Chuckles When: Tues-Sat at 8.30pm from Feb 15-27 Where: Belvoir Street Downstairs More: belvoir.com.au
Cannibal [DANCE] Choreography in the raw with Matthew Day By Liz Schaffer
W
ith his appreciation of ambiguous titles and experimental styles, choreographer and performer Matthew Day is out to change Australian dance - even if it kills him. Cannibal is the second instalment of Day’s solo dance trilogy (which kicked of with Thousands during last year’s Sydney Fringe) and is a physical exploration of repetition, extremes and transformation. It combines Day’s high-energy choreography with sound composer James Brown’s pulsating rhythms, to create a piece that is as much contemporary art as contemporary dance.
Matt Day photo by James Brown
“I am very much starting from the physical question of what does it mean to repeat something with my body, and then looking out to how that makes me feel and what kind of energy that creates in the space,” says Day, after madly tracking down a quiet spot to talk on the phone with me. Because he’s still developing his style as a choreographer, Day hasn’t asked other performers to tackle the pace, repetition and extreme positions that make Cannibal so challenging. “Part of the process is me putting myself in these situations that I couldn’t really ask anyone else to put themselves in,” he admits. “I’m really pushing my body to fatigue and the edge of injury a lot of the time… I’m like a machine gun punching away the whole time … or like a record on a loop. A stuck record that is kind of going and going and going and transforming over time.” Day didn’t set out to make extreme work, however. Inspired by artists like Vanessa Beecroft (who creates large-scale performance art featuring live female models), he hopes to push dance away from more conventional styles by using the body to make art. “I want to challenge people to open their minds to experiencing dance as something more contemporary and
something they can engage with.” It was three years in Amsterdam and an impressive backlog of Australian dance training that encouraged Day to ponder the meaning of dance. Ideally he’d like to see us dancing a little more and putting it in the same category as visual arts and contemporary music. “Dance in Australia is very particular, and it’s like anything here: there is a smaller population of people doing it so it’s more held in tradition … it is more interesting to be pushing form to engage with our lives … for people to experience dance that is a little more relevant than someone doing a triple pirouette.” So what does all this have to do with the title Cannibal? “The title was really just an instinctual thing. It’s not about me barbecuing other people. It’s a poetic use of the word,” laughs Day. When it comes to his work and his process, he says he is all about trusting his gut, firmly believing (in his experience at least) that dance is an amazing place to be instinctual. Talking over a bout of phone-related static, he explains that art requires you to listen to your tools – a dancer has to trust their body the same way a painter trusts their paints and canvas – suggesting that his process is like an unconventional conversation. “I think that’s why a lot of people make art,” says Day, “because it takes them beyond their own decision-making process and logic.” What: Cannibal Where: PACT Theatre, Erskineville When: Wednesday February 16 – 26 Tickets: from $18 at greentix.com.au/events More: Matthew Day will also be talking as part of the Mardi Gras Queer Think program on February 19. More details at mardigras.org.au
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Mardi Gras Film Festival [SCREEN] Queer Screen delivers their strongest program to date. By Alex Parker social currency and social suicide with an air of comic precision. If you’ve ever wanted Glee to be more ghetto, or wished Degrassi Junior High would incorporate intersex acceptance into its rigorous schedule of moral dilemmas, then be sure to take your socially-aware ‘80s dance moves to your nearest session.
Jim Carrey & Ewan McGregor are soul mates in I Love You Phillip Morris
E
ver wanted more lesbian than hallucination in your psychological thriller? Or a touch of dude-smooch in your bromance? Then the Mardi Gras Film Festival is priming one of their biggest programs to date - just for you. Rather than opening the season with their traditional My Queer Career showcase of local short-film talent, the festival has opted to ship in I Love You Phillip Morris from the US. Imagine a quirky romantic comedy set largely in a prison, starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as the cutest of disaster-prone couples. What this film lacks in considered structure it certainly makes up in trashy
Southern American accents, tongue-in-cheek narrative licence and entertainingly fraudulent behaviour. Also on the naughty side is Spork, a technicoloured coming of age tale revolving around a 14-year-old hermaphrodite. The energy of this film is manic, entwining handdrawn clouds in the bright blue sky with an 8-bit soundtrack and ridiculous character names – from the protagonist, Spork (a cross between a spoon and a fork), to her best friend Tootsie Roll, and their arch-enemy, appropriately christened Betsy Byotch. The performances are remarkable, with 14-year-old Savannah Stehlin negotiating the line between
Six Quick Chicks [CABARET] More bang for your buck! By Stephanie Yip Vashti Hughes
have their own solo shows in Mardi Gras. Both use material that they use in Six Quick Chicks, which is good as it keeps an ongoing momentum for the performer,” says Hughes. Conferring with the available chicks before each performance, Hughes admits she’s a taskmaster in ensuring each chick’s tenminute stint is succinct and diverse. “There’s something to be said about a slick, snappy show that has people thinking ‘What’s the next thing?’ And if you’ve got an ongoing audience, you want to ensure they have new things to look at and experience.”
S
ydney has a thriving alt-cabaret scene that is both prolific and interesting – from Cabaret Sauvignon to 34B Burlesque, Sydney Festival’s hugely popular Smoke & Mirrors, and the Opera House’s Late Night Lounge series. According to veteran ‘cabarettist’ Vashti Hughes, the only problem is making money. Vashti (who, incidentally, is part of the famous Hughes family that includes sister Christa and father Dick) says she’s spent the last 15 years trying to make ends meet, going in-and-out of teaching drama and English as a second language. So it stands to reason that her cabaret brainchild, Six Quick Chicks, was born wielding a marketing plan. “I’d just done a show and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, what a tragedy. We’ve put on a fantastic show and if people weren’t there to see it, that’s it. It’s over. And such a small amount of people saw it. I thought, I’d like to have something with more continuity that can roll-on into the foreseeable future,” Hughes recalls. “To be honest, I was trying to think of something that might be a bit more marketable. Where someone could say, ‘tell me what the show’s about.’ And I’d go, ‘In about an hour, you’ll see six completely different acts and they’re all women. We call it Six Quick Chicks.’ Performers can go in and out, bring in different characters and create work that’s ongoing - or create new work,” Hughes beams. The self-appointed “mother hen” of the group, Hughes admits that ‘Six Quick Chicks’ is somewhat of a misnomer, since she has many more than five chicks in her care; in fact, at this point she has a brood of over ten – which allows for flexibility in the show’s line-up. “Jude Bowler and Liesel Knievel 34 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
“Each act varies because each chick has different skills and paces. There’s somebody from more of a circus/physical background (Christa – aka KK Juggy, formerly of Machine Gun Fellatio), someone who’s more from singing, and someone who’s done a lot more spoken word (Edwina Blush).” As for Hughes, her background is theatre. “I’m all about odd characters who find themselves in weird situations. I like making caricatures everyone knows. They’re all a bit like me,” she admits. “They’re inspired by things I think I’m not, but when I play them I realise, ‘Yeah, that’s me.’ That repressed secretary is me, or that vocal teacher; that enormous old queen that laughs her head off is also a bit of me.” Six Quick Chicks’ Red Rattler show promises to be a wild one, filled with the theatrical wiles of Hughes, Knievel and Lucy Suze Taylor, Sydney burlesque babes Imogen Kelly and Lillian Starr, and the wordy ways of Blush. “The Red Rattler show will be a big, fun night,” Hughes delights. “We’re going to have a band on at the end of the night too - White Knuckle Fever, which is one of the chicks, Celia Curtis, and Ross Johnston, our stage manager. We’ve played Red Rattler before. It was a predominately lesbian audience. They loved it.” What: Six Quick Chicks Where: Red Rattler, Marrickville When: February 19 More: Additional shows feat. Christa Hughes at Slide Bar on Feb 23 & March 3 See sixquickchicks.com / mardigras.org.au
Speaking of acceptance: controversial filmmaker Bruce LaBruce (whose gay zombie porn L.A. Zombie was infamously banned from screening at Melbourne Film Festival 2010) proves a worthy subject for Angelique Bosio’s doco Bruce LaBruce: Advocate for Fagdom. A nice companion piece to the Canadian provocateur’s 20-year body of work, the documentary caters to curious cats and devotees alike. Who knew Kurt Cobain once declared LaBruce to be his favourite filmmaker? Or that indie heavyweights such as Gus Van Sant, John Waters and Harmony Korine would have so much to say about the softly spoken man? The festival will also be presenting work from new and established queer auteurs alike – one of the most exciting being Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin; The Doom Generation). If you’re familiar with Araki’s ‘90s fare (particularly his ‘90210 on acid’ comedy Nowhere), then the tone of Closing Night film Kaboom will come as no surprise. Simply put, Kaboom is ‘Nowhere for a whole new generation’. 18-yearold college freshman Smith wants no more than to lust after his straight bonehead of a male roommate and have the odd session of anonymous sex. Unfortunately, his best friend Stella, her possessive witch of a girlfriend
(literally) and the impending apocalypse all complicate his life slightly. While fans of the original might find this post-millennial update less substantial, there is a certain joy to seeing old-school Araki in contemporary, high definition hues. While Araki often extols the virtue of a stoner lifestyle, 21-year-old French-Canadian auteur Xavier Dolan makes you want to savour whatever remaining brain cells you possess. The young writer/director/actor has two feature films to his name and another on the way. Both completed films, I Killed My Mother and Heartbeats are screening at MGFF. Heartbeats, Dolan’s sophomore effort has faced significant critical acclaim around the world, as well as winning the Sydney Film Festival prize last year. The script, which is scarily insightful, tracks the heartache of two close friends (one played by Dolan himself) as they fall for the same guy. The action is interspersed with stylised slow motion, which can become slightly monotonous; but the dialogue, scenarios and even costume design all speak of a creative wisdom one would expect to be beyond Dolan’s ken. Well worth a look. What: Mardi Gras Film Festival 2011 When: February 17 – March 3 Where: Dendy Newtown, Randwick Ritz, Hoyts EQ, Riverside Theatres, Oxford Hotel More: mardigrasfilmfestival.com.au
Night Letters
[THEATRE] Young guns tackle Robert Dessaix's best-selling novel. By Simon Binns
S
ydney’s annual Mardis Gras festival is a cultural phenomenon. The parade down Oxford St, which serves as the centrepiece of the celebration, has become almost as iconic an image of Sydney as the Harbour Bridge, and the festival as a whole has given a public voice to a community whose interests and rights are too often marginalised. However, as impressive as the giant floats and feathers of the parade are, it’s the other, less tangible elements of gay experience that Christopher Hay, artistic director of So What? Productions, is interested in bringing to the fore. “A lot of Mardis Gras stuff doesn’t engage with anything other than ‘Oh look, pretty boys taking their clothes off’ - which absolutely has its place, but to me there is a seriousness to Mardi Gras that the theatre program has sometimes lost out on,” explains Hay. “We wanted to say, ‘There is work which is relevant and important for homosexual audiences which is not flamboyant or light. There’s a big difference between homosexual content and camp.” Hay will address the imbalance with Night Letters, adapted by Susan Rogers and Chris Drummond from Robert Dessaix’s best-selling nineties novel of the same name. The play focuses on Robert (the main characters just happen to have the same names as Dessaix and his partner), who gets sick and convinces himself, whether it be true or not, that he is going to die. In an attempt to get away from his known world and make sense of his life he goes to Europe. However, instead of being able to focus on his own experience, Robert gets caught up in the lives of the people he meets, and is left more confused than before. This process is told through letters that he is writing home, to his partner in Melbourne. Night Letters struck Hay as a work that was concerned with the more serious issues that the Mardi Gras Festival encompasses. “It’s interested in modes of masculinity, about how you can live in the world as man and what sexuality has to do with that. It’s also interested in how you can live in the world as someone whose story is not told – and those are very important confrontations that Mardi Gras is also about.” One of the last plays developed through the National Playwright’s Conference, a bastion of Australian playmaking that has since folded, Rogers and Drummond’s old-fashioned, wellmade script stood out to Hay as a great story
that was beautifully told. “It resists the trends of contemporary play writing,” the director observes. “They [Rogers and Drummond] took a stand and said, 'This is a particular type of play that is out of fashion but it’s the kind of play that we want to make.'” With an ensemble of actors who have all worked together before, the production also presents a great opportunity for this young company, who pride themselves on their bold choices. “The biggest thing we’re about is not being scared of ambition,” says Hay, citing So What's recent production of King Lear, which toured to the Adelaide Fringe Festival, as an example. The attitude is, “So what if we’re 19? It’s a work that we’d like to do, it’s a work that we’d like to challenge ourselves with. This is a space for us to do things that we might never get the chance to do again.” What: Night Letters by Susan Rogers and Chris Drummond; Dir. Christopher Hay When: February 17 – March 12 Where: Seymour Centre More: sydney.edu.au/seymour
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS
THE ZIGGY STARDUST MEETS TINY TIM SONGBOOK OR COMPARISON IS VIOLENCE
STARRING
Mike and some dads in the neighbourhood used their $2000 matching grant to organise free local bike fixing workshops.
“A WRITER AND ARTIST OF SERIOUS CONSEQUENCE, WITHOUT SACRIFICING A SINGLE SEQUIN OR SPLASH OF EYE SHADOW.”
If you are like Mike and have a great idea to do some good in the City of Sydney, find out more about our matching grants program: cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/matchinggrants or call 9265 9217
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Calvin Harris [MUSIC] He's got hugs for you By Annabel Maclean he gold-selling debut album of Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ and producer Calvin Harris, I Created Disco, caught the attention of just about everyone when it dropped in 2007. The quirky party hit ‘Acceptable In The 80s’ saw an explosion of disco-loving kids jump into the Calvin Harris cult, and the man responsible is heading to Australia this month to support Rihanna on her national tour, and to headline the huge 2011 official Mardi Gras Party. Playing alongside Frankie Knuckles, Larry Tee and Seamus Haji, it's the biggest party date on the Mardi Gras calendar.
T
"Expect huge party tunes and lots of bass. I'll be putting in the hours to prepare for this one - it's a big deal for me."
Harris is in his studio in London when we chat, working on some new tunes which he promises he’ll be bringing downunder. The tracks will be played live, but not with the familiar band arrangement - instead, it'll just be him and his DJ gear. It’s no huge surprise that Harris has started taking DJ sets abroad; Kele 'Bloc Party' Okereke, Dan and Tim from Cut Copy and even the boys from dance-punk band !!! have hopped on board the DJ train, and it’s a trend that's set to continue. What is surprising, though, is that Harris has decided to put an indefinite hold on his live band shows altogether, to concentrate solely on DJing. It’s a decision he remains confident in, and adamant about. “There’s only so far you can take the live thing,” Harris says. “I’m going to be taking the DJ show up a level with a big production - and I can play for longer that way, too.” No complaints there.
Australian festival. “[They were] the biggest shows I've played as a DJ - such an amazing atmosphere, and great to play them all in the sun!”
Harris has come a long way since his earliest professional production, working alongside Kylie Minogue on her 2007 record X (he has previously described the process as “fun, but surreal”). His second studio album Ready For The Weekend smashed the UK charts, and the leading single ‘I’m Not Alone’ debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart - Ready For The Weekend itself hit #3. Excerpts from ‘I’m Not Alone’ were used in Madonna’s remixed version of the famous track ‘Frozen’, so it’s not altogether shocking that Harris is accompanying another global pop sensation, Rihanna, on her Last Girl On Earth tour. “Our managers got together and worked something out,” Harris says. “It should be a good fit.” He isn’t giving too much away, but does hint at what’s in store for fans heading to the shows. “I’ll be playing a similar set to Stereosonic, but with some more of my own new tracks,” he says. Judging by the set Harris delivered at Stereosonic 2010, fans should be ready for some sweaty fun. “Stereosonic was a massive thing for me last year,” Harris says of the
Not only is Harris hitting us up for the epic Mardi Gras party and the Rihanna tour, but he’s got national club dates lined up too, to celebrate the release of Sonic Boom Box – One Love’s new compilation mixed by Harris himself, along with Australia's wild child Andy Murphy and cutting-edge digital lover Acid Jacks. Given the tyranny of distance between the three artists, one would presume the compilation may have been a little difficult to put together, but Harris says this wasn't the case: “Not at all, I did my thing, they did theirs." And in terms of music taste or fighting over who remixed what track (a regular occurrence when it comes to collaborative compilations) - well, that just simply didn’t happen. “I don’t think there were any clashes at all,” Harris recalls. He did have a favourite track though, which he had the privilege of mixing for the compilation. “I’m very much into Mr Blink’s ‘Gecko’. Amazing tune." Harris says fans can expect “huge party tunes and loads of bass” when he hits the decks in Sydney. “[It’s the] first time I’ll be doing this [show], I’m really looking forward to it,” he says. “I’ll be putting in the hours to prepare for this one - it’s a big deal for me.” What: The 2011 Mardi Gras Party With: Calvin Harris (UK), Frankie Knuckles (Chicago), Larry Tee (NYC), Steven Redant (Spain), Seamus Haji (UK), Yinon Yahel (Tel Aviv), Francisco Guerra (San Fran), Kate Monroe, Murray Hood, Kam Shafaati, Sveta, Feisti and Bob Downe’s All-Star Retro-Gras Where: Sydney Entertainment Quarter When: Mardi Gras Parade Night, Saturday March 5, from 10pm – 8am
Gay Bash Wedding March [PARTY] Put a ring on it By Bridie Connellan
“W
e’re tired of living in sin. Pretending we sleep in separate rooms whenever our religious parents come over. Saying we’re on a business trip whenever we check into the same hotel room. We’re ready to announce to the world that we’re in love and we don’t care who knows.” Nick Sweeney likes it, and is sure as hell about to put a ring on it. In the past five years of night-time debauchery, cheeky tunes and sexy sexy fun times, iconic Sydney night Gay Bash has (thematically) died, got naked, spooked, ballet’d, had a sleepover, and generally gyrated like nobody’s business. And if founding organiser Sweeney’s words are anything to judge by, the institution is finally ready to choose a registry, embroider matching towels and celebrate Mardi Gras 2011 with a Wedding March. “Our playlist will run the entire matrimonial gamut, from the initial spark (‘Love At First Sight’) to head-over-heels infatuation (‘My Endless Love’) to the difficult later years (‘No More I Love Yous’) - to the discovery that your spouse has abused your child, and the inevitable bloody conclusion (‘Janie’s Got A Gun’),” he tells me. “Marriage isn’t all smiles and double rainbows. It’s hard work.” As one of the only 2011 Mardi Gras club stints to bring in straight deck-spinners - “wedding DJs” this year include Kato, Matt Van Schie, Cassette, Slow Blow, Sirens, and Booms - Gay Bash turns tricks and sweats it out, without having to reject punters not sporting a tank top on Oxford Street. Having previously described the events as “gay run night[s] with a slightly straight twist”, Sweeney is adamant that tune-selection is hardly a matter of sexual preference. He assures me 36 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
that Gay Bash is as indiscriminate as a pair of Clubmasters. “We’ve never had a problem with straight people. In fact, some of our best friends are straight. Just as long as they don’t flaunt it. Or come anywhere near our families, schools, churches, drinking fountains, libraries or any creature that the Holy Spirit inhabits. None of which are at Gay Bash, so it’s a perfect fit, really.” With massive kudos circulating for the plethora of events that the gang has thrown over the years, Gay Bash continues to subvert/challenge/ de-podium the gay club cliché, by a logic only Sweeney can define; “I don’t think it’d be possible for us to become a shirts-off, muscle-bound gay club - our crowd is way too thin.” Like most moderately provocative/clever monikers, the group copped a fair amount of backlash when they hit the scene five years ago; ‘Gay Bash’ was taken as something more offensive than it was meant. Sweeney, however, is relatively nonchalant. “We still regularly receive emails from people saying all kinds of nonsense about how we’re promoting violence against gay people, but it’s total Mariah feat. O.D.B. (ie, ‘Fantasy’).” With Sweeney’s schpiels framing the Wedding March as a means to subvert the trend of “depressing suburban breeders, nearly half of whom end up getting divorced anyway”, Gay Bash marriage sure sounds more fun than the Robin Williams variety... “It does sound more fun, but we’d be happy to just get married at the Registry Office if we were legally allowed to,” Sweeney says. “Perhaps if we throw a party in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South
What: Gay Bash Wedding March
Africa, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, or the US states of Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont or the District of Columbia…” Point taken. With the theme of Mardi Gras 2011 toting the mantra ‘Say Something’, Sweeney has but one thing to throw in the mix. “We’ll just add to the end of that, .‘..or forever hold your peace.’” No objections around here.
Wedding DJs: Kato, Matt Van Schie, Cassette, Slow Blow, Sirens, Booms, National Treasure, Sex Azza Weapon, Hobogestapo, Matt Saville, Nathan Mahon, MC Glammer, Titty Tassels, Levins, Perfect Snatch, Champagne Hangover, Mini MC and many more TBA. Where: The Oxford Hotel When: Mardi Gras Parade Night, Saturday March 5, from 6pm - divorce More: www.gay-bash.com
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brushstrokes LARSON (HANDMADETSHIRTSBYKENZIE.COM)
sculpture and installation, I also write for theatre and make performances. What is your background/training? I grew up I Grafton and moved to Sydney when I was 18 to go to Sydney College of the Arts. I had high hopes of becoming an actress just like Nicole Kidman (seeing as I have red hair) but when that idea got boring I decided to become a visual artist. Good call. How long have you been making these tees? And what was your first one ever? This idea actually came from my parents in a sort of weird way, they made the first one when I was seven. When I was in year two in Grafton my class was organising to do a dance to the then quite popular song ‘Do the Bart man’ at the town hall square, as part of the Jacaranda Festival (a very important annual festival for Grafton). It was decided that every child was to wear a Simpsons t-shirt, because a lot of the kids in my class already had them. But I didn’t have one because parents didn’t let me watch the Simpsons (they thought it was too rude). My parents refused to buy me a Simpsons t-shirt, but they did come to the compromise of making me one, which they hand-drew.
S
omeone forwarded this website to us this week, and the name rang a bell – could it be the Kenzie Larson? The Kenzie Larson who co-wrote Some Film Museums I Have Known, opening at the Old Fitz next week…? So Kenzie: Who is Kenzie? I am an artist who mainly makes videos
About a year ago I was re-telling that story to my (then) boyfriend and I realised what a great thing they were onto. I made my very own hand-drawn Simpsons t-shirt for my boyfriend and when he wore it we got so many comments that I had to start making these hand drawn shirts for other friends. Before I knew it I was making them for all occasions - there was a Ren & Stimpy t-shirt, personal slogans t-shirts, band
competition runs from 9am-7pm on Saturday February 19, after which you can refresh your mouth hole with booze at the Vans Wrap Party at the Beach Road Hotel. For the rest of the line-up check out bowlarama.com.au
STREETWARE
In their latest bout of laneway beautification, the City of Sydney have launched Streetware, which allows five Sydney artists to use three city laneways as their canvasses: comic gangsters by Jumbo + ZAP, a suspiciously hot angel paste-up courtesy of Steve Gorrow (of clothing label Insight), children's book collages by Emma Davidson, trashtastic sculptures by Grrl + Dog, and Babushka dolls by Kat Smolynec. To see what they’ve been up to, head along to Sands Street, Dungate Lane and Nithsdale Lane (off Alberta Street) in the CBD, before April 3. As part of Streetware, an abandoned shopfront in Albert Street will also be transformed into a ‘pop-up’ gallery space, open Thursday – Saturday from 12-6pm, and housing the five artists above as residents. Artz! cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/cityart
QUEER THINKING
GO ABOVE @ LO-FI
Infamously publicity-shy, and managing to keep his identity out of public knowledge thus far, globetrotting street artist ABOVE has nevertheless acquired an international profile thanks to his giant wall pieces and arrow mobiles. Last time we checked in on his website, he was refusing to sell his pieces to anyone who couldn’t demonstrate that they had more interest than a large bank account. For one reason or another, he’s been in Sydney for a couple of months or so, and LO-FI Collective must have twisted his arm, coz they’re hosting his first ever solo show. Here Today Gone Tomorrow opens on February 24 at 6pm. Be there. Lvl 3/ 383 Bourke St, Taylor Sq.
BOWL-A-RAMA X BONDI
Tie yer laces and grab a longie (but not literally, because this is a strictly alcohol-free event) coz Bowl-a-Rama is back this week at Bondi Beach. Billed as a week-long celebration of of art, live music, ‘video premiers’, ‘giveaways’ and ‘more’, what you’re really interested in is the part where the world’s best skaters risk their lives trying to impress babes in the beachside skate bowl. The 38 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
Given that the theme for Mardi Gras this year is ‘Say Something’, it would be odd if they didn’t have a pretty kick-arse program of talks. In this year’s Queer Thinking program, there’s the chance to hear gender theorist and author Judith ‘Jack’ Halberstam (University of Southern California) talking about female masculinity, in Going Gaga; activist Peter Tatchell talk about what’s happening at the forefront of the British fight for same-sex marriage; Lauren Berlant talking about Gregg Araki’s critically acclaimed film Mysterious Skin and its theoretical context in LGBT studies; a talk about the practical fall-out of sites like Gaydar and Grindr; and Griffin Theatre Company’s Gaytown – How Theatre Translates in an Increasingly Global Culture, featuring playwrights Tommy Murphy (Gwen in Purgatory), Lachlan Philpott (Silent Disco – at Griffin this year) and Rick Viede (Whore). Queer Thinking will be a full day event spanning 12.30pm-9.30pm on Saturday February 19 at the Seymour Centre. seymour.usyd.edu.au
LATE NIGHT LOUNGE
The last ever Late Night Lounge will be held this Saturday (sad face), with an appropriately camp line-up of fabulous talent, including Broadway superstar David Campbell, sassy comedienne Mel Buttle, hip hop poetess Candy B, and the cast from The Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Jam Session. Keeping a loose rein on the party will be the Prince of Polyester, Bob Downe. As they say with Late Night Lounge (really, they do – on the press release) you never know who could turn up on the night - and with Mardi Gras kicking
t-shirts, celebrity hybrid t-shirts (Megan Gale and Fran Drescher as a two headed sex monster), depictions of friends playing gigs on the death star, and psychedelic kittens. What made you decide to turn it into a bona-fide web biz? The demand mostly, I feel like I have been making them endlessly for my friends, there always seems to be ideas worthy of hand drawing onto a t-shirt. This project is equal parts business and art experiment, to see if I can spawn a handmade t-shirt empire. What’s the strangest tee request you have had so far? A picture of a cartoon dog wearing jeans with a big booty, leaning around and looking sassy, with a caption that says “Talk to the booty because the paws are off dooty”. What other pies do you have your fingers in for 2011? At the moment I am working on a theatre show called Some film museums I have known for the Imperial Panda Festival. I also just started a three month residency at the Firstdraft Depot. For this I am making a seven-part animated/live-action video series in which I will explore the unsolved mysteries of mind, space and time. This will be shown in a solo exhibition at Firstdraft in April. What: handmadetshirtsbykenzie.com More: Some Film Museums I Have Known opens at The Old Fitz (Woolloomooloo) on Februrary 22. Tix at rocksurfers.org
TAYLOR MAC DOES ZIGGY STARDUST! New York cabaret sensation Taylor Mac is making his way to Sydney for Mardi Gras, trailing sequins, satire and sartorial compliments in his wake…
Inspired by a string of reviewers who compared him to both Ziggy Stardust and Tiny Tim, Mac decided to create a show that fused the two styles: The Ziggy Stardust Meets Tiny Tim Songbook - or Comparison Is Violence. The show, which features Mac performing David Bowie’s entire Ziggy Stardust album, premiered at London’s Soho Theatre in June 2010 earning rave reviews. Thanks to Sydney Opera House, we have two double passes up for grabs to see The Ziggy Stardust Meets Tiny Tim Songbook at The Studio on Friday February 25; to get your hands on one, tell us the name of Ziggy’s back-up band… www.sydneyoperahouse.com
off on the same night, there’s always the chance that Lily Tomlin might drop in for a bit of banjo play and banter… Well, a gal can dream, right? Late Night Lounge will kick off this Saturday February 19 from 10pm at The Studio. Tix at sydneyoperahouse.com
LAUGHING CONFERENCE
Not to be confused with the academic variety (of which there has been at least one in Sydney in recent years), Laughing Conference is a new show by David Capra and Leahlani Johnson (aka Prophetic Initiatives). Founded in 2009, P.I. is a self-described ‘ministry to the art world’. Through a series of performances and installations, P.I. aims to ‘reinterpret aspects of the religious institution’ to show how the world of art can encompass experiences beyond the rational realm – which is funny (but not funny ha ha) because the last thing we think of when we think of art is ‘rational’ practice. Running at Chippendale’s MOP 'til February 27. Mop.org.au
JODIE FOSTER'S BEAVER...
...features in Performance Space’s upcoming Queer Week program. Daniel Mudie Cunningham will be bringing his obsession with Jodie Foster (who directs and stars in the upcoming release The Beaver… Ah, disappointed face) to the P-Space ClubHouse for a night of fantasy, as he reimagines Jodie as “an icon of queer cultural resistance.’ (Um, she is.) To contribute to Daniel’s ongoing Jodie Foster Archive, you can send your Jodie fantasies to dmc@danielmudiecunningham.com. Jodie Foster’s Beaver will be at the ClubHouse (BAY 20 at CarriageWorks) on Thursday February 24, at 7pm. And on Wednesday Feb 23, Simon Casson, of “post-queer performance and events collective” Duckie (UK), will present a screening and talk on Duckie’s ‘Event Culture’ practise, and queer performance in London since the ‘70s. performancespace.com.au
SERIAL SPACE APPLICATIONS Serial Space is calling for applications from artists interested in their three-week on-site residencies, which culminate in a showing of the work. Run by artists for artists, Serial Space are all-round champs who support hybrid and interdisciplinary art, making up in passion what they lack in funding. So if you need a three-week window of space and time in which to take your 'shit' to the next level, head over to serialspace. org to download an application form. Deadline is February 28. They’re also calling for applications from peeps interested in staging screen-based events, or running on-site workshops – anything from tech gear to software, writing, video-jamming, circuit-bending… Etcetera. Get of the fricken couch, make some art already. Geez.
SEMI-PERMANENT '11
Semi-Permanent has dropped two thirds of its 2011 program, and those eight speakers alone are a good reason to order your early-bird tickets. (And, you know, the late-bird tickets are more expensive…). Highlights so far include London-based typographic hero Seb Lester, Brazilian-Parisian hybrid Surface To Air (thought these guys just did fashion? Think again), and production designer Annie Sperling (L.A.), whose film and photography collaborations include David LaChapelle, Lady Gaga and Brett Ratner. Also making the trip from L.A. is skater/designer/artist Michael Leon, founder of the Commonwealth Stacks tee-shirt emporium. Locals on the bill include Reg Mombassa (no intro needed) and the Moffit twins, founders of the Moffit.Moffit agency, and the criminally attractive music magazine DEMO.Semi-Permanent Sydney runs May 13-14. For the rest of the line-up and those early bird tix, head to semipermanent.com
34B: SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Gringos! 34B Burlesque are back with a new bonanza of babes and burlesque, in a tribute to everything South of the Border: the romance of Mexico, the Lost City of Gold, the Tequila-soaked Cantina, the Taco-Western, the Day of the Dead, the masked wrestler, and the Senorita dancing in the dusk light! Your travel companions will be Kira Hula-la, Danica Lee, Ladykillers Inc, Tino La Bamba, Briana Bluebell, Lucille Spielfuchs, Georgia Ruby – and, of course, intrepid gunslinger Francois Bublé. Gather your posse for Friday March 4, at 34B (Exchange Hotel).
Taylor Mac photo by Niall Walker
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What's hot on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.
■ Film
INSIDE JOB Released February 17 At the end of this invigorating documentary I was left with one question: now what? It’s no secret that the selfishness and greed of Wall Street executives led us to the worst financial crisis since the Depression. But trapped in a legal mirage of is-it-or-isn’t-itcriminal behaviour, those high-flyers got off scott-free and received billions of dollars in severance payments. And what’s left? A worldwide economy in rebound, massive unemployment, and the destruction of at least one country’s economy (Iceland, whose debt ballooned to six times their GDP).
Some did – people like the University of Chicago’s Raghuram Rajan and New York University’s Nouriel Roubini. They’re interviewed here and recall with some pride how they knew what Wall Street refused to believe was coming. Ferguson interviews dozens of other players and commentators, including Glenn Hubbard (Bush’s chief economic adviser) and Martin Felstein (Harvard Professor and the president of the National Bureau of Economic Research).
01:02:11 :: Australian Museum :: 6 College St Sydney 93206000
PICS :: TL
Those with something to hide inevitably slip-up under the pressure of Ferguson’s well-researched interview methods. Unlike the grandstanding Michael Moore, Ferguson doesn’t embellish his arguments with emotional pleas or stunts – the facts speak for themselves. In short, the deregulation of the financial industry in the 1980s opened the doors to a high-risk culture of greed and indulgence that encouraged the big banks to engage in sub-prime and predatory lending – a situation made more volatile through the use of high-risk “derivatives.” Meanwhile, the US Government – itself with overt ties to the financial sector – turned a blind eye.
images from adland
03:02:11 :: Australian Centre For Photography :: 257 Oxford St Paddington 93321455
Arts Exposed What's on our calendar... New Mardi Gras presents...
FAIR DAY
Sunday February 20 / Victoria Park, Camperdown Last year saw upwards of 70,000 people enjoy the sunshine and entertainment at the Mardi Gras Fair Day - and the 2011 line-up is set to make that shit look soooo 2010. So gather your posse and head to Victoria Park this Sunday: besides the excess of colour and costumes, there’s food, DJs, live music from Paris Wells and triple j unearthed contenders Garcon Garcon, a performance by drag diva extraordinaire Courtney Act, a live ‘walk off’ in which punters can be stage-wrangled by Australia’s Next Top Model judge Charlotte Dawson, and the dog show. Hot bitchez! See you there. mardigras.org.au 40 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
Henry Florence
With no one held accountable and the Obama administration doing little to change the deep-seated corruption, director Charles Ferguson seems to be using his film as a call to arms. It’s one of those documentaries that makes you angry. It makes you wonder how those in the bubble pre-2008 (when the Global Financial Crisis properly hit), didn’t know it was about to burst.
PICS :: TL
jurassic lounge
At this point the actors take over. Sure, there are some nice technical elements and clever projection, but it’s the performances from this well-applied cast that make the play so enthralling. Particular highlights include Tahki Saul’s heartfelt monologue as a man who has fallen into an old painting, and Sophie Ross’ makeup artist, who seduces a man so as to use his car to further her career. Despite the short and shifting nature of the writing, the characters all seem fully developed, which is a credit to the playwright, the actors and Sved, who has brought this infinitely interpretable script to the stage in a striking, thoughtful and, most importantly of all, tangible production.
There’s a lot of jargon like “derivatives” in Inside Job, but the film (which is narrated by Matt Damon) deftly explains them with slick graphics and charts. There are so many facts it can sometimes feel a little dense, but unbroken attention is likely to educate as well as enrage. The take home message seems to be that the crisis was avoidable, and fundamental reforms are needed to prevent it from happening again. Perhaps “now what?” isn’t the right question. The real work will come in the “how”. Joshua Blackman ■ Theatre
BEFORE/AFTER Until February 19 / Wharf 2, STC Much has been made of the fact that Cristabel Sved’s production of Before/ After was created in just four weeks. After seeing the show, and getting a sense of just how dense and expansive the play is, both thematically and theatrically, I can absolutely understand why. Roland Schimmelpfennig's script is a collection of 51 short scenes reflecting on a variety of topics, from romantic affairs, to paintings, to the breadth of life in the universe. There are recurring stories that run throughout, giving the audience something to latch onto as they journey through this expansive text. The first thing you notice as you enter the space is the stark aesthetic. Production/ set designer Justin Nardella and lighting designer Verity Hampson have done a beautiful job of populating a completely open stage with light bulbs, a piano, a clothes rack, and a single hotel bed, presenting them all on a gorgeously reflective black gloss floor that makes the room feel even larger than it already is. As the lights go down, the Led Zeppelin soundtrack fades out and the actors walk onto stage and smile at us all.
■ Comedy
SONGS IN THE KEY OF AWESOME Reviewed Feb 4 / The Studio, SOH For one of their last pre-US-tour shows, ‘romedy’ (rock/comedy) trio The Axis Of Awesome deliver a punchy, laugh-laden hour that plays like a music video/concert/ sketch show/chat show/sitcom. And rather than feeling repetitive, the relentless songbanter-song structure actually de-lulls the show, keeping it tight: ten songs and an encore in just one hour. Axis turn the rock up to eleven with smoke machines, lasers, wailing guitar solos, choreographed dancing, and soaring vocals; the audience mirror this with cheering, whistling and synchronised clapping. The Axis close with the über catchy ‘4 Chords Song’ (boasting 19 million YouTube hits), a medley traversing forty-plus pop songs in five minutes, around the theory that many hits from the past forty years use the same four chords – a simple formula, one might argue, for stardom. The song’s tenet is a tidy analogy for Axis, who masterfully exploit and surpass musical and comedic formulas to awesome effect throughout. The banter is structured under comedy rules - Lee is the stupid one, Benny is short and downtrodden (I counted eight short-ass putdowns) and Jordan plays the charismatic un-self-conscious lead singer. This basic setup lets deft writing do the work. Gifted genre masters, Axis employ a style’s formulas to lampoon it; it’s ridicule squared in songs like the subwoofer-shattering ‘Can You Hear the Fucking Music Coming Out of My Car’ and R&B tribute ‘This Is How You Write A Love Song’. The encore is chicken good times, as Lee is finally allowed by his bandmates to reveal the world’s very first song about KFC, played on his best friend Damien (his guitar). Four Keyboard Axes out of Five. Michael Brown
See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews
DVD Reviews Divas! Drama! Darlings!
JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK Madman Entertainment Released February 16
Joan Rivers is a funny lady. Funny ha ha and funny unusual. Profiling the year in Rivers’ life in which she turns 75, this insightful documentary cleverly captures the two funnies that Rivers embodies. 'Funny ha ha' is straightforward enough. Having always loved acting, Rivers got a break doing comedy on the Johnny Carson show. Fastforward forty odd years and she’s an industry stalwart allergic to ageing who greets those who call her an icon with a hearty, “I’m not ready to be told, thank you. Fuck you”. Maybe Rivers’ gerascophobia is justified. As highlighted here, her comedy was sharpest when its vital shock value entailed her using humour to raise awareness of politically taboo issues, rather than just the novelty of a septuagenarian crudely jibing about anal sex.
SHOWGIRLS
Umbrella Entertainment Released December 8 Showgirls is preceded by its reputation as one of the most derided films of all time; however, it’s also one of the bestselling videos/DVDs of all time, and the highestgrossing NC-17 film at the American box office. In true cult form, it was a disaster with critics, but has gone on to inspire both a large home video audience and critical reëvaluation in the 15 years since it was first released. More importantly, it’s trashalicious fun, and seeing it in all the colour-rich, high-def detail that Bluray affords is quite a treat – almost making up for the fact that there are no extras on this single disc release.
'Funny unusual' is more puzzling. Constantly bemoaning the state of her finances and her poor standing with the establishment, Rivers punishes herself with an exhausting work schedule. Yet evidence for her plaints is sparse. More telling is her response to a radio interviewer who, critical of Rivers’ surgical enhancements, states, “We want to be loved for our soul… sweetness… intelligence.” “I just want to be loved,” Rivers fires back.
Saved By The Bell ‘star’ Elizabeth Berkley stars as Nomi Malone, a shiny young thing who is first seen hitchhiking her way to Las Vegas with nothing more than a small suitcase and a switch blade. Nomi is leaving her dark past behind and reinventing herself, Vegas style. From seedy strip club gigs to the glittering lights of the biggest stage in town, Nomi claws her way upwards (via a series of titillating sexual encounters with Gina Gershon, among others) by virtue of her sassy attitude and steely resolve. Oh, and her smoking hot bod - breathlessly posing the question: can this ‘stripper with a heart of gold’ keep her integrity in the dirty business they call show?
Despite superficial fierceness, Rivers is portrayed as sensitive, compassionate, lonely, needy, insecure and driven by an insatiable need for success that stems from relentless self-criticism. If she was less terrified of an empty diary, she might pause to comprehend the extent of her achievements and allow herself to stop working. But then, who would love her?
Paul Verhoeven isn’t exactly known for subtlety; even since his early Dutch films his trademarks have been sex and violence – a la Basic Instinct. He’s also known for satirical ‘morality plays’, as per Starship Troopers and Robocop. So I’m not entirely sure Showgirls should be taken at face value. On the other hand, I’m not convinced it’s very deep. But it’s certainly entertaining.
Andrew Geeves
Dee Jefferson
Street Level With Ray Chong Nee new twists are explained in song, of which there are eleven. What is your background and training? I was born in Samoa, and have lived in Venezuela, New Zealand and Taiwan - but I have been in Australia since I was 12. I majored in Acting at the University of Southern Queensland, and moved to Sydney in 2005 - but have been fortunate to act all over Australia. My most recent stints were a guest role on Rescue Special Ops, and a lead role in a stage production of Peer Gynt in Melbourne with Four Larks. Film and television is where I want to continue with my acting – but that said, there is nothing like the adrenaline from live theatre.
remiering at Slide Bar throughout the Mardi Gras Festival, Alice and Alan’s Adventures in Wonderland is a bent musical comedy created by Stephen Carnell and directed by Danielle O’Keefe. The ‘Master of Ceremonies’ for the show is Ray Chong Nee, who previously worked with O’Keefe on RENT and gets to put some of his singing and dancing skills to work in the role of the Mad Hatter…
Why is the show fundraising for ACON as part of its season? For many reasons – one of which is the hard work that they do in the GLBTI community. Wonderland has many GLBTI themes and this works well with the venue Slide, which also has a strong affiliation to the GLBTI community. I’m proud that this production is associated with ACON, as I have met and been friends with people from all walks of life who, through some tragic circumstances, have contracted AIDS and are now living with it. It’s still really relevant in our society: 24 people are diagnosed with the disease every week.
Besides being the perfect cocktail of sex, comedy, song and dance, Wonderland is also raising funds for the ACON, Australia’s largest community-based gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex (GLBTI) health and HIV/AIDS organisation.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Mardi Gras? The whole festival! From Queer Screen to the Parade, you can’t walk around Sydney and not be touched my Mardi Gras and its message of love and acceptance.
P
Tell us about the show! In this version of the tale, Alice is accompanied by her twin/alter ego Alan as she has an adventure in Wonderland, a seedy nightclub on Oxford St. She encounters many of the same characters that we are all generally familiar with from the Lewis Carroll book, but there are twists and turns outside of Mr Carroll’s conventional story that will appeal to the Oxford Street GLBTI community as well. Some of these
What: Alice and Alan’s Adventures in Wonderland When: February 21 (ACON Charity Gala), 25 and 28; March 1 & 2 - all shows 7pm. Where: Slide Cabaret Bar, Oxford St. Tickets: $70 for show/3-course degustation dinner, from Ticketek (percentage of ALL ticket sales donated to ACON)
win a lawn party see website for details
Tonight
15 16 17 18 19 20 *
Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
Heartbreaker* M CLOSED Inception M The Last Exorcism MA15+ Tangled 3D PG Love and Other Drugs MA15+ Love and Other Drugs MA15+
No free list Special Valentine’s Day screening
Centennial Park Tickets at moonlight.com.au or at the gate. Gates open at 7pm, screenings at approx. 8pm
BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11 :: 41
Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK PJ HARVEY
reviews have lazily labeled this as a ‘political’ album, which sees Harvey strike out at the world; an easy assumption to make, and an easier one to believe - but listen carefully. This album is as much a celebration of England as it is a derision.
Upbeat and bouncy music, cute-coy vocals cooing something about England - so serene, so lovely, so positively Kate Bush. It’s an understatement to suggest that the opening title track of Let England Shake, the eighth album by PJ Harvey, comes as a shock. But the boppy opener sets the record's tone early, and manages to be weighty in its content while skipping along merrily: less Uh Huh Her, and more sha-la-la.
‘The Glorious Country’ sounds one part Bjork, one part Paul, Peter & Mary. It’s an evil-tinged churchyard hymn, and an early highlight. There’s an element of darkness throughout the entire record; the simple, lovely imagery of the war-wives ode ‘Bitter Branches’ and the haunted, cold, matter-of-factness of ‘All And Everyone’ (“death was all, and everyone”). ‘On Battleship Hill’ could at first be a Kate Bush ballad, but quickly turns on a dime to mirror Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads (“cruel nature has won again”). It's the album's menacing innocence that makes it such a vital listen.
Let England Shake Universal
Let England Shake may well go down as PJ Harvey’s definitive statement, despite barely featuring any of her trademarks.
Musically, this is the most upbeat and least ‘rock’ album she has released to date. Lyrically, it is a thoughtful treatise on the current state of England, more regretful and mournful than it is angry. Most
HOLLY THROSBY
THE DYNAMITES FT. CHARLES WALKER
Team Spunk Holly Throsby's music provide's the ideal soundtrack should you find yourself in a vintage dress, sipping good sencha out of your grandmother's teacup to fuel daydreams of romance, birds and whimsical nostalgia - and we love her for it. Team, her fourth album, continues along these lines. But while the thematic trends remain constant, Team contains a new element which unfortunately creates a niggling irritation that counteracts the album's easygoing feel. It’s not that the music is bad - far from it! Throsby is, as she always has been, an effective musician and songwriter; when it comes to writing punchy lyrics (‘Hi You Reckless Darling’), interesting chord progressions (‘Come Back To See Me’) and catchy melodies (‘Waiting For Me’), she still demonstrates her skill. The frustrating thing about this release is Throsby’s over-embodiment of the wispy character that Australian songstresses now seem expected to adopt. Maybe I’m missing something, but I feel that the faux-ganglyawkwardness of the Julia Stone variety is starting to get old, and more and more detracts from otherwise solid music and strong musicians. Throsby’s adoption of this persona is only irksome because of the effect it has on her songs, watering down the gutsiness that was found in the admirable stoicism of ‘The Morning’ from On Night, or the resolute sweetness of ‘A Widow’s Song’ from A Loud Call. We know that Throsby knows she’s got more substance than she indicates with her spectral presence on Team.
Kaboom! Outta Sight Records/ MGM Kaboom! is essentially a funk/soul revival album, the group’s third. Frontman and Tennessee native Charles Walker - who opened for acts like James Brown and Wilson Pickett in the 1960s - retains a strong, clear voice even though he’s been round the block a couple of times to date. The instrumentation is of the style and standard re-popularised by internationally-regarded acts like The Dap Kings and The Bamboos, played by a handful of musicians from Walker’s era plus some new young faces as well. It’s truly a generationspanning musical adventure; Hammond organs drive melodies over the backbeat, guitars add layers, horns blast… you know the stuff. It’s good stuff. As far as the individual tracks go, I like the gospel influences on the slow burning ‘Dig Deeper’; Walker shines better on songs this pace. ‘Come On In’ is a highlight, too – a nice slow funk jam, moving along at warm-up tempo, and very James Brown-esque. The lengthy ballad of ‘Way Down South’ muses on the contradictions of living in “those” Southern US states, dealing with issues that soul music has wrestled with for decades, and inevitably will for many more. Conversely, the speed-funk jams are my least favourite off this album; for instance, ‘Own Thing’ and ‘Every Time’. When the tempo is high, Walker’s age becomes apparent, and he sounds that little bit less convincing.
The good parts of Team are of course brilliant, but my enjoyment of them is tempered by a performativity that's starting to feel a little forced... Which is mostly a shame because we know what she's capable of.
The album doesn't move me like The Bamboos do, and the songwriting isn’t of that heart string-pulling standard set by Sharon Jones. Sometimes these efforts in nostalgia need a modern twist to give them more of a reason to exist.
Andrew Geeves
Tony Two-Tone
Nathan Jolly
TORO Y MOI
THE DEARS
RONNIE WOOD
Underneath The Pine Car Park/Mistletone
Degeneration Street Dangerbird Records/ Albert Music
I Feel Like Playing Shock
Before you roll your eyes and rule this out as more over-phased retrolicious confectionary, hear me out; this is both an improvement on his previous work, and a significant step sideways. '80s FM pop is still a strong point of reference for Toro Y Moi, but it’s less hazily remembered on Underneath The Pine. The torpid miasma of debut Causers Of This was easily its most endearing quality. That album presented a world where every component, be it sonic frequency, song structure or synth texture yielded to disorienting fluidity. The only real weak aspect was the songs themselves – they were sweet, but a bit H-pop by numbers. The tension between these two perspectives was at times infuriating; invariably, the allure of one detracted from the other, regardless of which tickled your fancy. Here though, Toro Y Moi dispenses with the woozy body-music, to arrive at a collection of tasteful songs that work without stylistic crutches. ‘Go With You’ opens with an interlocking harpsichord boogie, before settling into brisk, earnest balladry that’d moisten the eye of the Wax Poetics editors in a second. The muted retrofunk of ‘New Beat’ is both hazily sensual and gently absurd. ‘How I Know’ perspicuously draws together the Beach Boys, Hall & Oates and prog-era Genesis without batting an eye. It’s so near perfect that it’s a little frightening. Elsewhere, melancholic mellotron is tempered with sighing keys on ‘Before I’m Done,’ before the entire thing slides into gentle washes of vocal effects and placid texture. Underneath The Pine feels more at home sandwiched between Ariel Pink and DâM-FunK than Washed Out or Small Black. This clear-eyed step forward is refreshing for a genre so firmly rooted in the past.
Fans have a tendency to get very strange about The Dears. Following 2003’s terrific No Cities Left, NME touted them as “probably the best new band in the world” - and I once read a review of their live show that declared it “the sonic equivalent of seeing the face of God.” ...But to be fair to both reviewers, The Dears are fucking terrific. Frontman Murray Lightburn has described The Dears’ sound to me as “heavy, thinking man’s rock”, and there’s plenty of that here. But more often than not, that heaviness is thematic, rather than sonic. Most of these songs are grand anthems, but the lyrics are something akin to The National’s tendency to intellectualise the minutiae of grownup relationships, the pitfalls of married life, and the inevitable torpor and stifling misery that can come from too long in suburbia. So much of this album is quiet desperation - like the stunning, plaintive cry of ‘Lamentation’, or the longing of ‘Galactic Tides’. But there’s some serious rock on this album, too: from sexy, slinky, opener ‘Omega Dog’ to ‘Blood’, probably the dirtiest song The Dears have ever written. It’s a wonderful mix of the bold and the badass – every time you start to worry that they have been lost to the soundscape, they come crashing back with a biting riff. Indeed, the only real complaint I have is that most of the truly memorable songs are within the first handful, so the back end does drag a little. If Arcade Fire weren’t so damn precious about everything, they might sound a little something like this. Another top effort from one of the most under-appreciated acts around. Hugh Robertson
Luke Telford
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK GUINEAFOWL Hello Anxiety EP Dew Process
22-year-old Guineafowl has become quite the mainstay in the Sydney music scene, in a very short amount of time. Originally a solo project, Sam ‘Guineafowl’ Yeldham is now joined by five other musicians on stage – and their debut EP Hello Anxiety shows exactly what all the hype has been about. Following on from the success of 'Botanist' and SMAC Award-winning
42 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
‘In Our Circles', Guineafowl’s new material continues in much the same vein - although with perhaps a little bit more of that titular angst. In ‘Little Fingers’ and ‘My Lovely Arms,’ Yeldham loses the pleasantries and demands more of both the listener and whoever he's writing to (“…so I’m saying that I can’t go a day without thinking that you’re fucking my brain,” he sings on ‘My Lovely Arms’). While the same sing-a-long qualities remain, the riffs dig deeper and the lyrics seem more acidic, harsher somehow. It’s hard to beat ‘Botantist’ though. The opening moments draw you in with insistent clapping and slow, languid vocals, and Guineafowl seems tired as he self-assuredly states, "I know that you
need me, like water needs a place to fall". The ambling voice seems at odds with contagious clapping and churning synths, but the juxtaposition works remarkably well. It’s a song as gripping and stunning as it is danceable. Guineafowl likely won’t start working on a full-length album until he finishes a national EP tour, meaning it could be a while before we see him in full flight. But this is good enough to sate us ‘til then. Hello Anxiety is quietly confident, strangely beautiful and totally anthemic - sparkling electro pop with more than enough drive to get you on the dancefloor. Liz Brown
Ronnie Wood is the youngest member of The Rolling Stones, at the ripe age of 63. He’s been featured regularly in the media over the past decade, if not for his work with The ‘Stones then for his many stints in rehab (to be fair, the guy’s best mates with Keith Richards…), and an affair with a Russian waitress 41 years his junior. Thankfully, none of this has interfered with his interest in making quality music. The title of his seventh studio album says it all – he just wants to play for the sake of playing. It’s like Wood has done a Bill & Ted here, and travelled through rock history to collect the best musicians from their respective generations. Slash, Flea, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Bobby Womack and a smorgasbord of legendary vocalists and instrumentalists all help him recapture the feel and sound of classic '70s rock ‘n’ roll. The album opens with ‘Why You Wanna Go And Do A Thing Like That For’, which, apart from taking up half my wordcount, also sets the tone for the entire album. The mix of heavy blues and grungy rock guitar are reminiscent of earlier ‘Stones classics, while guest musicians give the sound a new life. Signs of ageing are mostly obvious in Wood’s smoky and whisky-beaten voice, which is unfortunately the weakest part of the album. The dry, tortured vocals may hold some appeal for Dylan fans, but the better tracks are strengthened with guests - like the blues-driven ‘I Gotta See’ featuring Billy Fowler, and the gospelbacking on ‘Catch You’. This isn’t up there with The Rolling Stones’ best, but it’s a lot better than what they’ve released as a group for a long time. Well worth a listen for anyone who misses the glory days of rock ‘n’ roll. Chris Bright
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...
JENNY AND JOHNNY - I'm Having Fun Now V/A - So Frenchy So Chic 2011 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - The London Sessions
LIARS - Sisterworld WILL SMITH - Big Willie Style
G
Audio-Technica
E IV AY AW
By Tom Gilmore f there’s one thing audio geeks like, it’s getting their paws on a good set of cans - and Wesley Grabill from Audio-Technica proudly owns his title as one of the biggest audio geeks around. He took me down to the A-T Lounge, a sweet little headphone kiosk he’s set up in the new Westfield Sydney, to have a chat about what’s happening in headphones.
I
see what all the fuss is about), and plug in my phone. To be able to block out a shopping centre during peak hour? Not bad... “Not a bad price either,” Wes says. They’re $299 – you could easily pay twice that much for another brand. “We’re one of only a very few companies that make 90% noise-cancelling headphones, too.”
The place is an island of personal-soundtrack wet dreams, nestled amongst an array of urbanwear stores. We arrive at a wall of good looking headphones - various latest models placed intermittently about the place, with a cool little couch to boot. “Have a listen to this,” Wes says, whipping a pair of their top-of-theline audiophile headphones onto my head. Rage Against The Machine is playing from the inbuilt music library, and it sounds pretty damn amazing. The model is the W1000, and they boast the same wood grain that your high-end cello and violins are made of. The polished-wood finish is a nice touch, and they’re comfortable as anything. “This isn’t your new flavour of the month, either,” Wesley tells me of the brand. “Audio-Technica have been making headphones and studio microphones since 1969.”
Head over to the back of the A-T Lounge, and you’ll find ten more sets hung on the wall. It’s fun fiddling with the snap-on colour panels of the WM55s (which have a sweet self-storing cable system - kinda like a vacuum cleaner), and toying with the idea of a pair of bright pink or fluro green earbuds (we are in Sydney after all…) There are even a couple of pairs on the wall designed for baseball cap connoisseurs; the XS7 (Extreme Sport 7) have just that little bit of extra room, and a slight angle to miss the squatcho on the top of your cap.
“It’s cool to have our gear out on display like this,” he says. “You can come over, chill out on our couch and plug in your own iPod if you want.” I chuck on a pair of noise-cancelling ANC27Bs (for some reason my dad will only buy noise-cancelling headphones; I want to
“A-T’s products are solid - not many of our competitors would leave their headphones on display like this!” Wesley says, cheekily. “We’ve got over 120 models, variations and styles - but these ones are specifically for street wear. They will all be a part of our New Street line coming out later this month - we've got a lot of sick independent clothing companies and music shops getting behind us in support, as well," he continues. "I can’t wait to start launching this thing all over Sydney!”
Audio-Technica Giveaway!
W
hat’s this all about? Well, courtesy of the folks at Technical Audio Group, we’ve got a huge swag of Audio-Technica goodies up for grabs: a set of SJ Street DJ Style headphones, a shoulder bag, a cable wrap, an aluminium drink bottle and a branded T-shirt… Want it? Yep.
Tell us which world famous awards ceremony has used AudioTechnica for the last ten years? Get googling, and email your answer to freestuff@thebrag.com by February 21 – with your phone number and street address. The Audio-Technica shop design, with innovative listening stations.
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The Minor Chord
Remedy
The All-Ages rant bought to you by Indent.net.au. By Eva Balog
More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart
ALL-AGES GIG PICKS INDENT OPEN DAY
Indent is excited to announce its 2011 Open Day, in partnership with FBi Radio. This year’s Open Day will take place on Friday March 11 at the High Tide Room, Bondi Pavilion - right on the hot, sandy dunes of Bondi Beach. Indent's annual Open Day is all about giving those between the ages of 12-25 a kick-start in the music industry, through participation in the day’s events. This year's program features an open panel discussion, guest speakers, and a workshop series dealing with different aspects of working in the music industry – from sponsorship and grant writing to getting on the radio, and ‘the art of promoting’. This is your chance to learn from the pros, ask questions, network and be with like-minded people who you may just encounter on your way to the top… Hosting the day will be triple j’s Lindsay McDougall, aka The Doctor. With his help, valuable, succulent and inspiring information will be extrapolated from the minds of industry professionals such as Caroline Gates (FBi radio), Peter Keogh (Australia Council), Adam Zammit (Peer Group Media) and Ruby Marshall (Changing Lanes/MAPS Entertainment) – with plenty more speakers still to be announced. The day will also feature a live performance, take-home resources, a lucky door prize, and a demo bin so you can submit your music to FBi! You’re all invited to come along, and best thing is, it’s FREE! Places are limited so be sure to check out indent.net.au for details on how to RSVP.
SAE SOUNDS
So: FBi’s Underage Sets has wrapped up, but if you're still keen to remix the music industry, SAE Institute have teamed up with Austereo to give you the chance. SAE Sounds is a competition that invites emerging producers to create remixes or completely new tracks using all of their six nominated tracks – which can be found on the SAE Sounds website. The overall winner will receive a full 1-year scholarship for SAE’s Bachelor of Audio Production. The comp has only just opened up for submissions, so you have a bit of time to get something together. Head to saesounds.com.au for all the info.
MELLONAID
This Saturday The Monks of Mellonwah lead a four-band lineup for the MELLONAID charity concert, to support War Child Australia. Joining the monks on the bill are locals Claire, Tred and Gawk, and they’ll be taking over the Metro Theatre’s Lair to raise funds for the provision of immediate and effective sustainable aid to children affected by war. War Child currently works in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and Uganda. At just twenty bucks a pop you’ll be able to have some all-ages fun, whilst supporting a good cause.
VALÉ GARY
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 19
Mellonaid feat. The Monks of Mellonwah, Gawk, Tred, Claire The Lair, Metro Theatre
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 27
Generationext feat. James West, Aidan Molins, The Mixtapes Museum of Contemporary Art Soundwave Festival feat. Queens Of The Stone Age, Slayer, Primus, Bullet For My Valentine, and HEAPS MORE! Sydney Olympic Park
SOUNDWAVE – VENUE CHANGE
An important notice to all who are attending this year’s Soundwave, on Sunday February 27: with all the rumors, reviews and issues surrounding the festival’s venue, the organisers have announced that for this year only they are moving Sydney Olympic Park. The move comes on the back of issues around anticipated “loud rock music” from the likes of Queens of the Stoneage, Slayer, Primus, The Gaslight Anthem. All tickets bought for Eastern Creek will be valid for the new venue and are still available.
GENERATIONEXT
generationext is back again this month, with three music acts filling the space and Annie Leibovitz lining the walls!! generationext is a series of events for under-18s run by the Museum of Contemporary Art, combining afterhours art with free food, drinks and live music. This month features music from James West, Aidan Molins and The Mixtapes, plus private and exclusive access to portraits by one of the world’s most infamous celebrity photographers. Leibovitz’s private and landscape shots, however, stand out against her celebrity work. There is an intimate detail in her photos that breaks down even the celebrity barrier, allowing you to almost connect with the subjects. Well except for the Donald Trump portrait – she’s got to be poking fun at him in this one! Make sure you check it out Sunday February 27 (oh and it’s free - just RSVP a few days before via generationext@mca.com.au).
P.S. WE'RE ON RADIO!
Do remember to tune in to FBi radio 94.5fm each Wednesday at 5pm to hear TMC's all-ages picks. You can also email us at theminorchordradio@gmail.com if you have any info on all-ages events of any sort, music or otherwise!
P.P.S. RSVP
Also, don’t forget, if you’re interested, to RSVP for the Indent Open day. All are welcome! Please check the Indent website for more details - indent.net.au
VALÉ WHITE STRIPES
So The White Stripes are no more, eh? Mixed emotions on that one. On one hand we reckon they out-stayed the welcome of what they were originally doing – we figure you can develop a concept and shape it into your thing, but then you gotta be careful not to stretch that thing out too far, for too long. We thought them headlining the Big Day Out was that bridge too far. We actually stopped listening to them and their progress – most likely to our detriment – some time back. On the other hand, Jack White has proven himself to be a first class ambassador for traditional rock’n’roll and blues, and the old school methods of delivering same. Got to respect what they did though. No question.
HAVE SOME FUN
The sudden death last week of former Thin Lizzy guitarist and all-round nice bloke Gary Moore stunned everyone. Although not known for wild-man ways, The Sun in the UK initially reported that the 58-year-old, who was found in a classy Spanish hotel, had choked on his own vomit after a drinking session. However, subsequent reports suggest that he may have had a heart attack. A searing blues rock guitarist of the type (and certainly the calibre) that simply doesn’t seem to exist in anyone under 40 anymore, Moore used to climb through club windows in Belfast to catch an underage look at Jimi Hendrix, and was always far more friendly and open in interview situations than could reasonably be expected. He once completely bypassed the usual PR protocols and offered us his home address and number in case we had further questions, while happily taking the time during a chat that was meant to be about his new album to talk at length about his encounters with AC/DC, for a book we did several years back. He spoke excitedly about working with Albert King on King’s ‘Oh Pretty Woman’, from Moore’s Still Got the Blues album too – and quite deservedly so. Oh, it was Moore that played with Lizzy at that free show on the steps of the Sydney Opera House back in October 1978. Thin Lizzy. For free. Man, those were the days eh? And if you were there early enough you got to see them soundcheck with a full set too.
HOMELESS HENDRIX
Expect a tour and a debut album soon by a UK busker named Lewis Floyd Henry – or as we like to call him, the Homeless Hendrix (even though he’s probably not. Homeless that is.) But he sure does a fine down and dirty take on Uncle Jimi. The album should be an absolute scorcher.
Rhino Handmade have released a live Stooges’ album called Have Some Fun – Live at Unganos, part of which is available on that recent Stooges’ comp, The Stooges Collection – Australian Tour Edition. Recorded in New York at what’s believed to have been the release party for the Fun House album, it apparently opens with Patti Smith in some kinda rave. Virtually the entire track listing from Fun House is included, along with an unreleased 11-minute thing called ‘Have Some Fun/My Dream Is Dead’.
ROYAL HEADACHE
Expect a full-length self-titled album from Royal Headache in May, on Young Nic Warnock’s RIP Society label.
ASSORTED LOVE SONGS
We mentioned this a while back and now there’s much more detail. Eric Clapton’s masterwork, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, gets a hell of a retreatment in a stunning package that’s due on March 29, to mark the recording’s 40th anniversary. Recorded as Derek and the Dominos, the sessions took on another dimension with the arrival of Duane Allman who happened to be in Miami with the Allman Brothers. The results were magical. A boxed set of the sessions came out to mark the recording’s 20th anniversary, but that’s nothing compared to what’s coming. There’ll be a two-disc deluxe edition with the original recording, plus six tracks from what was to be the band’s second album, all four performances from the Domino’s appearance on The Johnny Cash Show in 1970 (including Clapton’s jam with Cash and Carl Perkins), two long deleted tracks produced by Phil Spector, and a session out-take of ‘Mean Old World’ with Clapton and Allman performing acoustically. On the Super Deluxe there’s also an expanded version of the Dominos’ classic double live set, In Concert and a hardcover book. So we lose Gary Moore and we regain a guitar masterwork. One door closes and another opens.
ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is Robert Fripp and Brian Eno’s 1973 ambient music precursor No Pussyfooting, with its two very long songs (which are showcases for Fripp’s guitar noddling) taking up a side each. The pair were at the height of their respective powers ,with Fripp fresh from King Crimson’s masterful Larks' Tongues in Aspic and Eno just out of Roxy Music’s For Your Pleasure; yet this is a simplistic rather than a grand-scale work. Captain Beefheart’s Strictly Personal is also spinning, and showed some of the blues howl yowl that would be given full guttural voice on the classic Trout Mask Replica.
TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS
Slayer
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Just to recap on some of the killer Soundwave side shows coming up: Queens of The Stone Age are at the Enmore on March 2, while Primus and The Melvins will be teaming up at the Enmore on February 28. Saxon and The Sword pound it out on March 1 at the Manning Bar. Trouble is that Social Distortion and The Bronx are also at the Enmore on March 1. Grrrr! Iron Maiden are at the Entertainment Centre on February 24 and Gang of Four are at the Gaelic Club on March 1. But, no High On Fire or One Day As A Lion shows in Sydney. Sniff, sob…
Tumbleweed team up with Swervedriver on February 18 at The Metro in what should be a huge night. The Laurels are also on the bill. Just in case you hadn’t heard (and we really don’t want anyone to miss out on the bill of many a year) Soundwave has moved from Eastern Creek to the Sydney Showground at Olympic Park. All tickets are valid for the new location. The huge day is still February 27, with almost every great band you’ve ever wanted to see in your entire life on the bill. www.soundwavefestival.com
Send stuff to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag www.myspace.com/remedy4rock
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live reviews What we've been to see...
ALOE BLACC & THE GRAND SCHEME Beck’s Festival Bar 28 January 2010
I’ve long been a fan of Aloe Blacc – right back to when he was in Emanon. His breakthrough 2010 album and his second full-length to date, Good Things raised his profile such that he went from a oneman appearance at Melt a couple of New Year’s Eves ago to top billing at the Beck’s Festival Bar this summer - and deservedly so. It was a perfect balmy night, and as I walked through the big green iron gates, Waajeed of Platinum Pied Pipers fame was playing some future soul material. He included some new sounds and some classics as well (old Recloose), but he wasn’t making any waves in the warm-up set; the crowd weren’t committing to the dancefloor just yet… When Aloe Blacc’s band took the stage, everyone rushed the tent in an instant squeeze. He appeared with a strippedback band of guitar, bass and drums; not quite enjoying the the 21 piece funk/soul orchestra of Mark Ronson, and there were a few comments surrounding the absent horn section… Blacc opened the set with ‘Green Lights’, one of the optimistic, lighthearted tunes off the new record. Another cheeky soul number, the warning song ‘Hey Brother’ quickly followed, before a reggae version of ‘Misfortune’, one of the cleverest examples of Blacc’s songwriting development on the new record. The crowd had warmed; there was a lot of love for the Californian in the house. Mid-set a Bob Marley cover was injected into the mix, a tribute to reggae, the soul music of Jamaica, which drew links between Blacc’s inspirations (Gaye, Wonder, Green, Cooke etc) and Bob Marley’s own. Then the lead single off Good Things, the undisputable hit ‘I Need A Dollar’, brought the house down. Aloe and the band closed by smashing up the encore - one of the first genuine encores I’ve witnessed for a while - with a cover of the The Mamas & the Papas' ‘California Dreaming’. The crowd soaked it right up. I hope someday Blacc does tour here on the scale of Ronson - he’s certainly good enough to hold it down. He’s got moves like Michael Jackson, and an understated stage presence and mic style that gives him a unique appeal. He said himself that his music follows in the footsteps trodden by some great men and women before him, but there’s something else about him that keeps stealing back my attention while it wanes from the modern funk and soul movement… And an honourable mention goes to Benji B for keeping the intensity up with a great set after Blacc left the stage. It’s a wicked sound that UK funky sound, and the extra DJ gave the party some serious extra legs. Killer night Sydney Festival at its best!
Tony Two Tone
BLONDE REDHEAD, THE VERLAINES The Opera House Saturday January 29
The Verlaines hail from Dunedin, New Zealand, circa 1980 – in fact they preface one of their songs this evening as being about 1981. Unfortunately, their sound tonight isn’t so good; you can’t actually hear the second guitarist, and the tone of the first is muddy and dull. Occasionally they hit their stride with some knotty, eccentrically-phrased guitar music, but mostly they come off as gawky teenagers, self-consciously reciting songs to a depressingly empty room at the Opera House. A hit-and-miss set coupled with awkward delivery and a deadpan crowd makes for a less than enthralling experience – but when they’re good, they’re a lot of fun.
Booking fee applies to all presale tickets. Presale tickets will always be cheaper than doorsales. All events are 18+ unless noted as All Ages. Management reserves the right to refuse entry. Please note a current ACCESS Card must be produced to receive USU Member’s Price.
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Blonde Redhead’s lighting setup is brilliant; nine photographers’ reflective umbrellas facing the crowd in two rows behind the band, lit with fauxcandles, which spark to life with a crackling hiss over the PA as the band walk on stage. The auditorium is considerably more full now, but
still a bit sparse, and the performers know it - it’s a mark of a group’s professionalism when poor turnout doesn’t affect their performance adversely. The band warms slowly into the set, with a couple of sleepier numbers from Penny Sparkle, before a brief slew of tracks from 23 elicit progressively wilder yowls from the audience. Of those that are here, a striking number are true fanatics; a few gravitate to vacuums of empty seats around the room and dance woozily through the set. Music as sensual as this really needs to be felt to have its full impact. You need to lose yourself in it, and tonight, that is not hard to do. Kazu Makino’s vertiginously-reverbed vocals are like a siren song, tempting us to the fore before drowning us in bass and shoegaze synth. Despite an enormous lighting rig hovering overhead, the band have clearly chosen to use lights minimally, employing an arc of five or six that stretches over the umbrellas and periodically reaches out into the audience, destroying the barrier between us and the performers. A brief encore of the title track to 23 sates fans less familiar with the band, and stokes the embers under a number of zealots who let go completely. All in all, a surreal and satisfying set.
Luke Telford
JENNY AND JOHNNY Oxford Art Factory Moday February 8
Hey Sydney. How do you feel about going out for macaroni cheese? If we’re all wearing checked shirts and wayfarers and rolling our cuffs, gorging on popcorn chicken and cross-Pacific nostalgia, maybe the house band from that special L.A. episode of Happy Days is what we really want… Jenny and Johnny are a slick operation; Jenny Lewis (she of Rilo Kiley) and Rice (he of, well, Johnathan Rice) have played together for the last six years. In a music scene recently topped again by poppy verse-chorus numbers (Best Coast, Wavves, The Drums), the summer-tinged janglers by J&J are snug and comforting and played with aplomb. The second guitarist bops and rocks his guitar like an accommodating prom date, Johnny alternates between falsetto BVs and freshfaced Petty yelps, and Jenny hits those sweet and practiced cherry-cola notes; she slides from smiles to mock-sneers, and sounds crystal the whole way. Beneath the bangs Jenny is starting to look a year or two past pixie, and it’s great; maybe she has lived a little heartache and caught a few of those bleary sunrises she sings about. When Johnny mumbles about love and special love and tying people up and putting them in a box before launching into ‘Slavedriver’, and Jenny slips behind the keys and croons to the crowd, well, Richie Cunningham would blush - but it’s pretty great peeping at the pretty people from a paying position. This is a cute band and a real couple, and as J&J trade instruments, picks and quips between songs, it can get a little insular. Sometimes it feels packaged, an Ed Sullivan special with predecessors Johnny and June punning through their teeth, but these two, tonight, seem sincere. And sincerity is nice. And it’s nice to sing along and nod your head and tap your toes. Sometimes you just want to jaw a whole Oreo, marvel at the food scientists for whizzing up a perfect chocolate/cream combo, and let that ratio sit in the roof of your grinning mouth. The band knocks it up a notch by the end of the show, chugging and growling through the nine-minute ‘Next Messiah’ from Lewis’ last solo outing, and it’s like someone jacked our sodas with a jigger of whiskey. There’s romance in those weary, streaked L.A. hills, and though Johnny and Jenny may be too Muppet Baby-cute for mythic coke mansions, there’s still plenty of grit for this gig to swing by.
Matt Roden
live reviews What we've been to see...
EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS The Forum Friday January 28
Someone once told me that seeing Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros live was not dissimilar to partaking in a cult - a cult of dancing, singing, hippy musicians. First impressions were excellent. To start with they had two drum kits. Then Edward Sharpe (real name Alexander Ebert, who has his own solo album due out February 25) came on stage, dancing in a style that simultaneously reminded me of Darwin Deez and my Grandma (let me clarify she is a excellent dancer). One by one the huge band assembled on the stage, last but not least female vocalist Jade Castrinos, wearing a hoodie and her trademark backpack. The band jumped into ‘40 Day Dream’, and the giddy, exultant tone established in the first few minutes continued throughout the entire set. The Magnetic Zeros were totally relaxed – taking time between each song to have a chat or watch Edward jump off the stage and mingle with the crowd. As the tunes flowed (including highlight ‘Janglin’), the Forum became filled with such an infectious sense of joyous euphoria that it seemed less like a gig and more like a house party with all your best mates. The set culminated in crowd favourite ‘Home’ – although it was disappointing to see Ebert and Castrinos omit their infamous spoken word part. The monologue, written when Ebert and Castrinos were apparently dating, involves Ebert proclaiming that on the day that Jade “fell out of the window …and nearly broke her ass” he was falling “deeply, deeply in love”. As the set wore, on I found myself composing a love letter in my head to Edward Sharpe. Like, sure she’s cute, but I can sing ‘Alabama, Arkansaw’ just as well as Jade can and I know ‘Elizabeth’ is a bit harder to fit into lyrics than ‘Jade’, but if you say it quickly enough it works. It wasn’t any kind of physical attraction, I’m not a fan of the Jesus beard, but Ebert just has such stage presence – he literally oozes charisma. For the first time in my life, I wanted to use the word ‘pizzazz’. And the strangest thing is, I think just about every other audience member was doing the same, male, female, gay or straight. Because he loved us back. As he explained that ‘they could go back off stage for an encore and wait and then play another song - or they could just stay on and play two’, I couldn’t think of another musician so involved with his crowd. And then for the final song, ‘On Nashi Me’, he invited people in the front row to come up and dance on stage. Nothing beats a bit of good ol’ requited love.
Liz Brown
DJANIMALS, KIRIN J CALLINAN Goodgod Small Club Thursday February 3
Now this is just conjecture, but I’m pretty certain that I now know where every gorgeous person in Sydney goes on a Thursday night. But the crowd at Goodgod tonight does pose the question… Since when did experimental noise-pop become such a beacon to Sydney’s beautiful art-house scene? It was the second event of the monthlong relaunch of Midnight Juggernauts’ Siberian Nights party: an intermittent venture in aid of promoting artists on their label (which is, funnily enough, called Siberian Records). Tonight’s lineup was headlined by Sydney’s very own Stones Throw Records signing, Djanimals, but when I strolled into the club at around 10pm, the stage was taken over by a hawkish, skinny fellow, setting up a myriad of guitar pedals across the expanse of the tiny stage: ex-Mercy Arms’ Kirin J Callinan. Sounding like a cabaret version of Tom Waits with an Angelo Badalamenti backing, Callinan took the crowd through thirty minutes of avant-garde chaoti-pop,
leaping from pedal to pedal, looping jagged guitar sounds along industrial marching band rhythms. Surprisingly engaging, he culminated with a sparse, drawn-out version of Rat Cat’s ‘That Ain’t Bad’ for the appreciative crowd.
Darren Hanlon
As Jonti Danilewitz of Djanimals ventured on stage, his collective looks a little thin in the ranks; the six piece band was stripped back to a duo, with only a live drummer and Jonti hidden behind his laptop and trigger-pads. Also a little thinner was the crowd by this stage, as the midnight hour loomed... The set started on the psychedelic tip of Djanimals’ recent output, with swirling Flying Lotus beats melding with clipped snares akin to Burial’s work. By halfway, Jonti had donned a guitar and was treating the crowd to calypso-infused sounds - and in the last thirty minutes the set really amazed, his dreamy offkilter beats finding their groove and keeping the crowd moving. There were moments of brilliance in both sets, but as with a lot of electronic live acts, there were sections that didn’t quite hit the mark. Occasional loops clanked liked misplaced jigsaw pieces; uber-bright drums drowned out fluttering subtleties. And as was openly admitted by both acts on the night, “Hey, sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t”.
Rick Warner
DEERHUNTER, TIGER CHOIR The Metro Theatre Tuesday February 8
Sideshow season in Sydney provides all manner of opportunities for Aussie acts looking for a leg up in the support slot sweepstakes. Taswegian three piece Tiger Choir got the nod this evening in a bit of a wildcard choice – judging by the grin glued to his face, singer Elliot Taylor, for one, seemed unable to shake his disbelief at the band’s presence. They made the most of it, mixing zippy little pop punk numbers (in the vein of Die! Die! Die!) amongst some less-inspired electronic fare. Promising, but nothing to write home about, on this occasion anyway.
SUNDAY 27 FEB Lismore City Bowling Club, Lismore* THURSDAY 3 MARCH Gallipoli Legions Club, Newcastle* FRIDAY 4 MARCH The Factory Theatre, Sydney * Tickets available from flippinyeah.com WITH SPECI A L GUESTS New album ‘I Will Love You At All‘ OUT NOW Featuring All These Things and Butterfly Bones
darrenhanlon.com | flippinyeah.com
Deerhunter did their thing at Manning Bar and The Annandale when last they were in town. They’ve had a leg up or two of their own since then, with Bradford Cox’s stellar songwriting chops (and whimsy) taking the group in a poppier direction and offering the band to a wider audience via last year’s stellar Halcyon Digest. Which isn’t to say that they don’t do convulsively brain-churning quarterhour effects-pedal-offs anymore, but rather that they’ve simply learnt how to keep themselves in check, with Cox foregoing the gloriously oddball rants in which he’s sometimes indulged, and with the band themselves barely stopping for air before an apparently capacity crowd. While they’re masters of ironic delivery (right down to the cutesy half-smiled bows by which bass-player Josh Fauver acknowledges audience enthusiasm at the close of each song), the overriding impression Deerhunter give nowadays is of an earned effortlessness; Cox and guitarist Lockett Pundt play with an unfussed, I Could Keep Doing This All Day sense of containment. Highlights tonight come in two flavours: the punchy day-glo pop of the former (such as his harmonica-riffed ‘Memory Boy’), and the tightly-interlocking, carefully choreographed guitar jams of ‘Desire Lines’ or ‘Nothing Ever Happened’, powered by the latter’s meticulous picking. But even the most ardent fan’s patience was tested come encore time, when the band, their duty done, used the nostalgic waves of ‘Cover Me (Slowly)’ (track one of 2008’s breakthrough album Microcastle) as the launchpad for a twenty-five minute descent into Clive Barker-esque psychedelic sound sculpture, culminating in the aforementioned Cox-Pundt pedal-off… Still, you’ve gotta love a group that can empty a place as surely as they can fill it.
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up all night out all week . . .
LANEWAY FESTIVAL 2011 Sydney College of the Arts Sunday February 6
2010’s Laneway Festival could never have predicted the meteoric rise of Mumford & Sons and Florence Welch when the acts were booked the year before, but it certainly changed the vibe of the event. Many, myself included, mistook the elbowing crowds, horrific queues and inattentive afternoon audiences as a fault of the festival’s brand new site - but Laneway 2011 happily proved us wrong. When the festival's well-booked, the space is well-planned and the glaring sun settles down, SCA's sandstone sanctuary is pretty close to perfect. The lineup was a wet dream for any music blog enthusiast; it was hard to tell which of Pitchfork’s finest would be the highlight. And although this meant that clashes were often horrific, it also meant the crowd would spend the day evenly spread across the site. Even better, the organisers had learned that last year’s decision to cram food stalls in the narrow thoroughfare between stages wasn’t such a bright idea; they opened this year’s festival out onto a scenic dining knoll, creating a refuge away from the main site, and allowing more room between stages for a “I-just-have-tocatch-the-end-of-…” mid-set jog. The day itself began still sizzling from the hottest night on record, and news of a midday cold change staved off many early entries. We arrived at 2pm to the raucous energy of Brisbane’s Violent Soho, who from now on should open every festival, ever. Even with PVT competing on a different stage it was hard to tear away as Soho violently tore it up, spat it out and stamped on it, repeatedly. When we finally got to PVT we were relegated so far from the stage we were almost behind it; the ferocious winds carried away even the mightiest cuts from Church With No Magic. And then the cold change shivered in - with emphasis on cold. When Brooklyn’s Bear In Heaven arrived (looking unnervingly happy, tanned and fit for a band that revels in thick and soaring post-rock moodiness), it had dropped to 20 degrees. Their set was strong, and as the swirling winds shook the palm tree that framed the stage and the planes rattled gently overhead (“thunder is expanding / like your face into the ground”), we closed our eyes and pretended the bouncy frontman looked a little more broody… Menomena followed, hitting their stride by song three after the sound guy worked out how to handle the weather. Brent Knopf had quit the troubled band only four weeks prior, but new touring buddy Joe Haege and Knopf-replacement Paul “Sideshow Bob” Alcott compensated with aplomb. I didn’t think the band would be able to recreate the tense loops and clashing complexities of their recorded music on stage. I was wrong. After Blonde Redhead had electrified enough hairs on the nape of our necks, we made it to Warpaint to perve on the bill’s newest hypeband. More than just a (very) pretty face, the L.A four-piece are musically faultless, revelling in their hypnotic rhythm section and wash-overyou blissed-out harmonies. At a festival, music like this can threaten to lose an audience’s interest – but when it’s played by a band like Warpaint, you can’t break your gaze. Hearing whispers of “Ariel Pink is totally blowing” and “Yeasayer is crammed” made the decision to head to everyone's Les Savy Favourites pretty damn easy. Frontman Tim Harrington had celebrated his birthday at Melbourne's Laneway the night before by jumping a fence mid-song, going swimming in the murky river, and then drinking it from his shoe... so what did Sydney have in store? After multiple costume/character changes, his shirt was off and his belly glistening as he jumped off the stage, tore through the crowd, and found his way onto the fabric canopy above to shout a few songs, clinging up there like a gee’d-up, punky, bearded beetle. Mindblowing.
PICS :: TL
laneway festival
Deerhunter clashed with Holy Fuck in the HOLY FUCK clash of the evening, but with tickets to the former’s sideshow, I chose the latter. Good decision, too. Relying mostly on their latest release Latin, Holy Fuck got their funk on; perfect builds, dips, loops and live instrumentation galvanised us as the sun died and we formed an amorphous dance-swaying clump. By headliner time, Sydney’s under-clad crowd was all a-shiver and ready to be ignited - a tough call between Cut Copy’s promise of new material, the warm nostalgia of Gotye, and the international headliners, !!!. We chose !!!, and danced away that early February freeze… Strange weather, wasn’t it?
06:02:11 :: Sydney College of the Arts:: Balmain Rd Rozelle 93511000 48 :: BRAG :: 399: 14:02:11
By Steph Harmon
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07:02:11
:: The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St City 92642666
hell city glamours
PICS :: TT
02:02:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711
yeasayer
PICS :: TL
the naked & famous
PICS :: TL
up all night out all week . . .
sia
PICS :: AM
04:02:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711
we love indie
05:02:11 :: Forbes Hotel :: 30 York St Sydney 92993703
It’s called: Wolfden @ The Iguana Bar It sounds like: Two women scissoring in the forest; it feels like popping bubble wrap; it tastes like bacon. If you don’t like bacon, then you’re wrong. Who’s playing? Bang! Bang! Rock n Roll (aka The Vignettes), The Upskirts, Heavy Heads, Murray Lake, James Locksmith. Sell it to us: “Who wants this dog?!” “Lady’s old!” “It’s gon’ rain!” “Swimmin’ hole!” The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The bang! The rock! The babes! Crowd specs: If you want, but no hats. Wallet damage: $10 Where: Iguana Bar / 15 Kellett Street, Kings Cross When: Every Friday! Find us on Facebook.
:: SUSAN BUI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER TE MON TRA ::TOM NS MUN IEL DAN ASHLEY MAR ::
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:: INNERSTYLE ::
djanimals 03:02:11
PICS :: TT
party profile
Wolfden
PICS :: AM
02:02:11 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Road, Newtown 9550 3666
:: GOODGOD :: 55 Liverpool St. Sydney 92673787
NEW ALBUM KILLING TIME CD/DIGITAL 18 FEBRUARY
“Take one part Weezer tunefulness and one part Nirvana aggression, add a dash of Green Day’s ambition, then shake, serve, rock out.” Maxim Feb 2011
TOURING FOR SOUNDWAVE 2011
www.myspace.com/bayside
NICHOLAS ROY THURSDAY FEB 17th 9 PM THE BRASS MONKEY, CRONULLA Bookings call (02) 9544 3844 www.brassmonkey.com.au FRIDAY FEB 18th 9 PM THE VANGUARD, NEWTOWN Bookings call (02) 9550 3666 www.thevanguard.com.au SATURDAY FEB 19th 9 PM THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL, NEWCASTLE Bookings call (02) 4927 5728 www.thegreatnorthern.com.au
FEATURING SONGS FROM
"...in a shoebox under the bed" IT’S ALL MY FAULT, WALLS, TAXI, EVERYBODY’S TALKING www.facebook.com/nicholasroymusic www.nicholasroy.com BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11 :: 51
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send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
pick of the week
Mandi Jarry Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4.30pm Michael Buble (Canada) Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $90-$149.90 8pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Steve Tonge O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Ultimate Rock n Roll Jam Session Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $39.90-$55 (+ bf) 7.30pm
JAZZ
FEBRUARY 17 - 20 Cut Copy
Del Rio Riverside Resort, Wisemans Ferry
Playground Weekender
Lamb, Tricky, Cut Copy, Kool & The Gang, De La Soul, Kate Nash, The Beautiful Girls, Caribou, Architecture In Helsinki, You Am I, Roy Ayers, Midnight Juggernauts, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Derrick Carter, Four Tet, Black Mountain, The Like, I Am Kloot, Tunng, Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) DJ Set, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Toro Y Moi, Damian Lazarus, Dixon, Belleruche, Tom Middleton, Ame, Ewan Pearson, Mad Professor, Canyons, Djanimals, King Tide, Parades, Grace Woodroofe, Rat vs Possum, Betty Airs, Magnetic Heads, Dark Bells, Jack Carty, Lanie Lane, Jez Mead, Sister Jane and heaps more
$229 (3 day) - $249 (4 day) (+ bf) from 12pm on Feb 17 MONDAY FEBRUARY 14 ROCK & POP
All You Need Is Love: Nick Latta Duo, Under the Purple Tree, Alex Gibson, Tense Formations, Russell Neal The Basement, Circular Quay $12-$15 9pm Carmen Smith Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $18 (+ bf)-$78 (dinner & show) 8pm Foster The People (USA), Belles Will Ring Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $40 (+ bf) 8pm Mandi Jarry Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm
Michael Buble (Canada) Arena, Sydney Olympic Park sold out 8pm Monday Club Cock ‘N’ Bull Tavern, Bondi Junction 4pm Nicky Kurta Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4.30pm Olivia Pipitone Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm Open Mic Night Macquarie Arms Hotel, Windsor free 7pm Sarah Paton The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm The Snowdroppers The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm The Songwriter Sessions Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 7.30pm
JAZZ
Rob Eastwood Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Virna Sanzone 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 15 ROCK & POP
BNO Rockshow Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney free Jurassic Lounge: Brian Campeau, Jugu, The Cosmic Explorer The Australian Museum $15 5.30pm
Ian Blakeney Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm James Valentine’s Supper Club: James Valentine Quartet Golden Sheaf Hotel, Double Bay free 7pm Jazzgroove: Roil, Buck/ Mayas Duo 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free Return to Forever (USA) Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $112.34-$153.26 (+ bf) 8pm Soup Groove Session Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 5.30pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Don McLean Enmore Theatre $99.90 (+ bf) 8pm Tuesday Night Live: Deveaux, Kid Crumpet, Tull Kidro Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 16 ROCK & POP
50 First Dates: Dan Parsons, Steve Grady Brass Monkey, Cronulla $7 (presale)-$10 8pm Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Ben Finn Duo Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Bernie Segedin Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm The Deltorers The Valve, Tempe free 7pm Goodnight Dynamite O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Greg Byrne Northies, Cronulla free 7.30pm Happy Hippies Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 6.30pm High Places (USA), Hell City Glamours Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Inner West Fest Band Comp: Dubious Company, Ye Luddites, Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse, The Vale of AH Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $5 8pm Jager Uprising Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Kate Nash (UK), Jonathan Boulet Metro Theatre, Sydney $57 8pm Mike Bennett The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Rockit To Mars Scruffy Murphy’s Sydney free 11pm
The Study: Flight Taylor & the Makers, Braden Evans Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 7pm Ultimate Rock n Roll Jam Session Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $39.90-$55 (+ bf) 7.30pm Uni Night Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 9pm YourSpace Muso Showcase: Renee Falez, Mineral Turpentine, Danger!Bus, Jeremy Costa, Max Little & Nadia Burjan, Thomas Stefoulis, Through a Glass, Darkly, Moonshine Slim Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 7pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Daryl Aberhart 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm The Necks The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 9.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 17 ROCK & POP
Anton Korytnyj Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Arbori, Sam Newton, Issac Graham Raval, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf) Big Ben Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Captain Ahab (USA), OveNaxx (Japan), Toecutter, Passenger of Shit, Baaadddddd, MC Gaff E Iguana Bar $15 9pm Caribou (Canada), Four Tet (UK) Metro Theatre, Sydney $47.50 (+ bf) 8pm Cool Room: Stafford Brothers Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill 8pm Crimson & Clover Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney free 11pm Fiona Treloar, Wayne Tritton & Stephen Chatwood Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm G4 Marble Bar, Sydney free 8.30pm Gary Mara Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 4pm
Gimme That Guitar - A Celebration for Harvey James: Richard Clapton, Renee Geyer, Dragon, Swanee, Ian Moss, Kevin Borich The Factory Theatre, Enmore $65 (+ bf) 7.30pm Glass Towers, Sooners, The Bungalows Oxford Art Factory Gallery Bar, Darlinghurst free 8pm Gold Fields, Bleeding Knees Club, The Gooch Palms Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 (+ bf) 8pm Hard Rock Show: Tranzphat, Broken Toys, Veora, Three Wise Monkeys The Valve, Tempe free 7pm Infusion, Mad Racket DJs Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 7pm It’s All Gouda: The All Gouda Band The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $5 7.30pm Jo Meares $ The Honeyriders, Jason Walker, Moleskin Annandale Hotel $12 Johnathon Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Michael Buble (Canada) Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $90-$149.90 8pm Moon Holiday, Preachers, WIM, Jonathan Boulet The Apple Store, Sydney free 6pm Nicholas Roy Brass Monkey, Cronulla $15 7pm Open Mic Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta free 8pm Playground Weekender: Lamb, Tricky, Cut Copy, Kool & The Gang, De La Soul, Kate Nash, The Beautiful Girls, Caribou, Architecture In Helsinki, You Am I, Roy Ayers, Midnight Juggernauts, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Derrick Carter, Four Tet, Black Mountain, The Like, I Am Kloot, Tunng, Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) DJ Set, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Norman Jay MBE, Toro Y Moi, Damian Lazarus, Dixon, Belleruche, Tom Middleton, Ame, LTJ Bukem, Ewan Pearson, Mad Professor, Canyons, Djanimals, King Tide, Parades, Grace Woodroofe, Rat Vs Possum, Betty Airs, Magnetic Heads, Dark Bells, Jack Carty, Lanie Lane, Jez Mead, Sister Jane and heaps more Del Rio Riverside Resort, Wisemans Ferry $229-$249 (+ bf) 5pm Rick Price Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why
Caribou
“Is this the end, the millions cried, clutching their riches as they died.” - IRON MAIDEN 52 :: BRAG :: 399 : 14:02:11
g g guide gig g
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
Kool & The Gang $35 (+ bf)-$90 (dinner & show) 8pm Tim Pringle Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Sydney free 7pm Ultimate Rock n Roll Jam Session Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $39.90-$55 (+ bf) 7.30pm The Unravelling, Icon, Alice Spacedoll, Keystone Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $10 8pm
JAZZ
Espirito 505 Club, Surry Hills $10-$15 8.30pm Lionel Robinson Dee Why RSL Club free 7pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
The Melbourne Ukulele Festival Showcase: Uni & Her Ukelele, Ukulelezaza, Shelley O’Brien, Jontom, Paul Moore, Bosko & Honey, Dino Divo The Vanguard, Newtown $22$27 6.30pm Nick Batterham, Thom Crawford Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm Up Close and Personal: Big Ben The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm
COUNTRY
Jo Meares & the Honey Riders, Jason Walker, Moleskin Annandale Hotel $12 8pm
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 18 ROCK & POP
Animal Shapes, Nightmaster, Let Me Down Gently Jungleman, Mr Maps Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills 8pm Anne McCue Notes Live, Enmore $19.90– $42.35 (dinner & show) 7pm Anno Domini Lewisham Hotel 8pm Atomic Kro Bar, East Leagues Club free 8.30pm Big Way Out Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Blonde 182 Customs House Bar, Circular
Quay free 7pm The Books (USA), High Places (USA) York Theatre, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $40 8pm Brian Lawrence Guildford Hotel free 7pm Bright Knights, Sticky Fingers, Crochet Crooks, Kai Fresh Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Brown Sugar Marble Bar, Sydney free 9.30pm Captain Ahab (USA), OveNaxx (Japan), Toecutter, DJ Rainbow Ejaculation, Simo Soo, Toxic Lipstick, Babayaga Witches (Japan) Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $15 9pm Chase The Sun, Cass Eager & the Velvet Rope The Henry Lawson Club, Werrington County free 8.30pm Chasing Karma Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Chris Connolly Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde free 8.30pm Constant Project, Janita Klein Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Counterfeit Tribute Night – Crowded House vs Split Enz: Rex Havoc Band, FRENZY, 3 Second Rule, Josh Shipton, Hal & Brenden, The Glimmerati, judychair, The Murder Of Crow, Sally Hackett & Nancy C Mylott, Mike Frazer, Em Fatale & The Scary Rabbits Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Creedence & Beyond St Marys Leagues Club free 9pm
Daryl Braithwaite Manly Fisho’s 8pm Dave White Trio Commercial Hotel, Parramatta free 8pm Didi Mudigdo Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Drover Mad, Vienna Circus Hermann’s, Darlington free 8pm Guineafowl, We Say Bamboulee, Cameras Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 (+ bf) 8pm Hard Rock Show: The Eternal, Ritual, Vangate The Valve, Tempe free 7pm Homegrown Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor free 7.45pm I Am Kloot (UK), Jackson McLaren Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $33 (+ bf) 8pm Idol Karaoke Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 8pm The Killgirls Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 8.30pm Kirk Burgess Panthers, North Richmond free 7pm Kool & the Gang (USA), Roy Ayers (USA) Enmore Theatre $98.40– $156.20 7pm Last Night – Late Edition: DZ Deathrays, King Cannons, Red Riders DJs, Danny Clayton, Jane Gazzo, Randall Stagg, Ben Lucid Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $10 10pm LJ Chatswood RSL free 5pm Lovers Jump Creek, Lite Feed Frenzy, F.R.I.E.N.D.S DJs Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm
The Maristians Rag and Famish Hotel, North Sydney free 8.30pm Mavens, The Dead Heads, Ming Kings, Archerbolds Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Midnyt Sun Western Suburbs Leagues Club Campbelltown, Leumeah free 8pm Mission Jones Club Rivers, Riverwood free 9pm MUM: Evil J & St. Cici, Vacations, Montpelier, No Art, Hope, Cumlungz, Miss Clarence, Nic Yorke, 16 Tacos, Jack Shit, Jenny Kong, Mush, Lonewolf The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Nicholas Roy The Vanguard, Newtown $15 6.30pm Nickelback Show Penrith Hotel free 10pm Paul Greene Workers Blacktown free 8pm Philadelphia Grand Jury, Bang Gang DJs, Love & Guts Art Show Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm Pink Show Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney free 11pm Playground Weekender: Lamb, Tricky, Cut Copy, Kool & The Gang, De La Soul, Kate Nash, The Beautiful Girls, Caribou, Architecture In Helsinki, You Am I, Roy Ayers, Midnight Juggernauts, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Derrick Carter, Four Tet, Black Mountain, The Like, I Am Kloot, Tunng, Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) DJ Set, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Norman Jay MBE, Toro Y Moi, Damian
WWW.THEGAELIC.COM
wed
16 Feb
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thu
17 Feb
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
OPEN 10AM- 4PM
$12 or LESS MEALS
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SUNDAY NPL POKER
MONDAY JELLY WRESTLING
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1st MON of EVRY MONTH
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fri
THE STUDY FT
18
WED 16 FEB
Feb
(5:00PM - 8:00PM)
sat
19 Feb
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
SATURDAY NIGHT
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
FLIGHT
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
FRI 18 FEB
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
GAELIC PRESENTS
I AM KLOOT JACKSON MCLAREN
sun
20 Feb
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TAYLOR AND THE MAKERS, BRADEN EVANS
(9:15PM - 1:00AM)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
%.429
FRI 18 FEB
SUNDAY NIGHT
SAT 19 FEB
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
PURPLE SNEAKERS presents KING CANNONS(LIVE), JANE GAZZO, DANNY CLAYTON & THE PURPLE SNEAKERS DJ’S
LITTLE EDEN #/-).' 3//.
WED 23 FEB
4(% 7)$/7 ")2$3
FRI 25 FEB
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SAT 26 FEB
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BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11 :: 53
g g guide gig g
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Lazarus, Dixon, Belleruche, Tom Middleton, Ame, LTJ Bukem, Ewan Pearson, Mad Professor, Canyons, Djanimals, King Tide, Parades, Grace Woodroofe, Rat Vs Possum, Betty Airs, Magnetic Heads, Dark Bells, Jack Carty, Lanie Lane, Jez Mead, Sister Jane and heaps more Del Rio Riverside Resort, Wisemans Ferry $229-$249 (+ bf) 12pm Purdy, DJ Sir Robbo, DJ Lars Cresta The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $15 (conc)–$18 8pm The Ramalamas Petersham Bowling Club $10 8pm The Rocks Markets by Moonlight: Ngaratya, Ngaiire The Rocks free 6pm Skyscraper Vineyard Hotel free 9pm Sophie Hutchings, Raven, Tony Gorman Raval, Surry Hills $15 (+ bf) 7.30pm Stormcellar Crown Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Suite AZ Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 8pm Swervedriver (UK), Tumbleweed, The Laurels Metro Theatre, Sydney $45 (+ bf) 8pm TCB Band Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm Ted Nash Pittwater RSL free 7.30pm They Call Me Bruce Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm Tim Pringle Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool free 4pm Twilight at Taronga: Paul
54 :: BRAG :: 399 : 14:02:11
Gray, Erik Weideman Taronga Zoo, Mosman $56.50 (child)-$68.50 (adult) all ages 7pm Ultimate Rock n Roll Jam Session Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $39.90-$55 (+ bf) 7.30pm Velvet Hotel Mosman RSL Club free 7pm The Wharf Sessions: Magnetic Heads Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre Company, Walsh Bay free 10pm
JAZZ
Baz 505 Club, Surry Hills $10-$15 8.30pm James Morrison Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House 8pm SIMA: Bernie McGann Quartet The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (member)-$20 8.30pm Vince Jones Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $45 (+ bf)–$87 (dinner & show) 8pm
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 19 ROCK & POP
031 Rockshow Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney free 11pm 3 Way Split Peachtree Hotel, Penrith free 9pm Alex White, Justice Yeldham, The Dynamic Ribbon Device,
Knifecrimes, Kusum Serial Space, Chippendale $10 8pm Anni Piper Blues Band Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Atomesquad, Not Like Horse Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Back To Funk Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 9pm Bad Shit, Capital LS Demons Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach $25 8pm Black Mountain (Canada), The Night Terrors Annandale Hotel $48 (+ bf) 8pm BNO Rockshow Crows Nest Hotel free 11pm Bright Knights Lewisham Hotel 8pm Cougar Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 9pm Double Whammy Earlwood-Bardwell Park RSL Bowling Club free 8.30pm Forever Diamond: Peter Byrne Auditorium, Workers Blacktown $5.50 (member)-$7.70 7.30pm Francesca Sidoti, Dean Stafford, Mick Raven Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Funkstar The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Keep The Faith Bon Jovi Show Kiama Leagues Club free 8.30pm The Last Waltz Tribute Show Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $38 (+ bf)–$95 (dinner & show) 8pm
Max Sharam Notes Live, Enmore $22.95 (show only)–$45.40 (dinner & show) 7pm Mayer Hawthorne & the County (USA) Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $35.70 (student)–$42 (+ bf) 8pm Michael Buble (Canada) Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $260 (dinner & show) Midnight Shift Guildford Leagues Club free 8pm Miramar, Stone Parade, Red Remedy Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills 8pm The Monks of Mellonwah, Claire, Tred, Gawk The Other Room, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $20 (+ bf) Party Central Kro Bar, East Leagues Club free 8.30pm Pilots, Casanova, Baby!, Ghost Of York, Little Eden DJs Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf) Playground Weekender: Lamb, Tricky, Cut Copy, Kool & The Gang, De La Soul, Kate Nash, The Beautiful Girls, Caribou, Architecture In Helsinki, You Am I, Roy Ayers, Midnight Juggernauts, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Derrick Carter, Four Tet, Black Mountain, The Like, I Am Kloot, Tunng, Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) DJ Set, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Norman Jay MBE, Toro Y Moi, Damian Lazarus, Dixon, Belleruche, Tom Middleton, Ame, LTJ Bukem, Ewan Pearson,
Mad Professor, Canyons, Djanimals, King Tide, Parades, Grace Woodroofe, Rat Vs Possum, Betty Airs, Magnetic Heads, Dark Bells, Jack Carty, Lanie Lane, Jez Mead, Sister Jane and heaps more Del Rio Riverside Resort, Wisemans Ferry $229-$249 12pm Renae Kearney Picton Hotel free 8.30pm Road Crew Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool free 9pm Royal Chant, The Ivys, Molly Wood Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Seattle Sound Celebrity Room, Blacktown RSL Club free 10pm Sound Stream Brighton RSL Club, BrightonLe-Sands free 8pm Suvi Riverwood Inn free 8pm Syndicate The Factory Theatre, Enmore $15 (+ bf) 8pm Take Two Western Suburbs Leagues Club Campbelltown, Leumeah free 8pm Tice & Evans, Kaki Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Tony Williams Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Tour de Force: Elton Jack & Jimmy Mann North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray $25 7.30pm Tunng (UK) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $41.80 (+ bf) 8pm
Twilight at Taronga: Paul Gray, Erik Weideman Taronga Zoo, Mosman $56.50 (child)–$68.50 (adult) all ages 7pm Ultimate Rock n Roll Jam Session Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $39.90-$55 (+ bf) 1.30pm, 7.30pm Vacations, Inland Sea, Kids of Yesterday Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Van Bogan Manly Fisho’s $10 8pm
JAZZ
Jane Irving 505 Club, Surry Hills $10-$15 8.30pm Jazz Nouveau Supper Club, Fairfield RSL free 7pm Joel Davis Trio Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde free 8.30pm Now We’re Swingin’: Tom Burlinson The Cube, Campbelltown $28 (member)-$32 7.15pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 5pm SIMA: Bandaluzia Flamenco The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (member)-$20 8.30pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Cool Room Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill free 9pm Muddy Feet The Belvedere Hotel free 8pm Steph Lentz, Eye Opener Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta free 8.30pm
gig guide
gig picks
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 20 ROCK & POP
’50s Rock ‘n’ Roll Show: Cornstalk, December, The Truth Is, Howler, The Ride Ons, Nick Saxon & The Elusive Few The Valve, Tempe free 7pm 50 First Dates: Dan Parsons, Steve Grady Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 8pm Ben Gunn Panthers, North Richmond free 2pm Black Mountain (Canada), The Night Terrors Annandale Hotel $48 (+ bf) 8pm Chris Turner & the Cavemen Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Deep Trio Kro Bar, East Leagues Club free 6.30pm Driftwood Theory, Tenpenny Towers, Stodowa, Sarah Connor, City Of Ghosts Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 7pm Drive: Peter Northcote Bridge Hotel, Rozelle $10 3.30pm Elevation U2 Acoustic Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm Glenn Whitehall Collaroy Beach Hotel free 3pm Helpful Kitchen Gods, Forenzics, Und, Stuart Jammin, Dick Buckland, Dr Delites Gladstone Hotel Chippendale free 4.30pm
The Hoo Haas Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7pm LJ Oatley Hotel free 2pm M. Ward (USA), Holly Throsby Enmore Theatre $67.60 Partee Jam Riverstone Sports Hotel free Pear & the Awkward Orchestra, Brian Campeau, Emma Davis The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $9-$12 (incl CD) 8pm Playground Weekender: Lamb, Tricky, Cut Copy, Kool & The Gang, De La Soul, Kate Nash, The Beautiful Girls, Caribou, Architecture In Helsinki, You Am I, Roy Ayers, Midnight Juggernauts, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Derrick Carter, Four Tet, Black Mountain, The Like, I Am Kloot, Tunng, Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) DJ Set, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Norman Jay MBE, Toro Y Moi, Damian Lazarus, Dixon, Belleruche, Tom Middleton, Ame, LTJ Bukem, Ewan Pearson, Mad Professor, Canyons, Djanimals, King Tide, Parades, Grace Woodroofe, Rat Vs Possum, Betty Airs, Magnetic Heads, Dark Bells, Jack Carty, Lanie Lane, Jez Mead, Sister Jane and heaps more el Rio Riverside Resort, Wisemans Ferry $229-$249 (+ bf) 12pm Sleek Sunday Supper Sessions The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction free 8pm Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day: Paris
up all night out all week... Wells, Garcon Garcon, Courtney Act Victoria Park, Camperdown $2 (donation) 10am Ted Nash Waverley Bowling Club free 3pm Ultimate Rock n Roll Jam Session Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $39.90-$55 (+ bf)
JAZZ
Cafe Carnivale - Gypsy Caravan: Lolo Lovina, Eddie Bronson Trio Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $22 (member)-$28 James Parrino The Belvedere Hotel free 5pm The Martini Club: Johnny Gleeson, Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross free 9pm Roy Ayres (USA) The Basement, Circular Quay $50 (+ bf)-$60 10pm The Subterraneans Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 6pm Unity Hall Jazz Band Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 4pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK Matt Jackson Pontoon, Darling Harbour free 2pm Sunday Sounds The Apple Store, Sydney free 3pm
COUNTRY
Hunter & Suzy Owens Band Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club free 4.30pm
Mayer Hawthorne & The County
MONDAY FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14 FEBRUARY 18 Foster The People (USA), Belles Will Ring Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $40 (+ bf) 8pm
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 16 Kate Nash (UK), Jonathan Boulet Metro Theatre, Sydney $57 8pm
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 17 Gold Fields, Bleeding Knees Club, The Gooch Palms Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 (+ bf) 8pm Nicholas Roy Brass Monkey, Cronulla $15 7pm
The Books (USA), High Places (USA) York Theatre, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $40 8pm Guineafowl, We Say Bamboulee, Cameras Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 (+ bf) 8pm Kool & The Gang (USA), Roy Ayers (USA) Enmore Theatre $98.40– $156.20 7pm MUM: Evil J & St. Cici, Vacations, Montpelier, No Art, Hope, Cumlungz, Miss Clarence, Nic Yorke, 16 Tacos, Jack Shit and more The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Philadelphia Grand Jury, Bang Gang DJs, Love & Guts Art Show
Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 19 Mayer Hawthorne & The County (USA) Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $35.70 (student)–$42 (+ bf) 8pm Tunng (UK) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $41.80 (+ bf) 8pm
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 20 Black Mountain (Canada), The Night Terrors Annandale Hotel $48 (+ bf) 8pm M. Ward (USA), Holly Throsby Enmore Theatre $67.60
BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11 :: 55
club guide
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week
Percussion Junction
Sasha
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 18
The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction Mish, DJ Peej free 6pm Wentworth Hotel, Homebush Wentworth Weekend Warm Up Wentworth DJs free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM Evil J & St. Cici, Vacations, Montpelier, No Art, Hope, Cumlungz, Miss Clarence, Nic Yorke, 16 Tacos, Jack Shit, Jenny Kong, Mush, Lonewolf $10-$15 8pm
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 19 Strange Talk, Dixon, Ame, Andy Fletcher, Derrick Carter, Mick & Toff, Fort Knox Five $199-$219 12pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst The College Party Home The Venue, Sydney I Heart Unipackers Iguana Bar Captain Ahab (USA), OveNaxx (Japan), Toecutter, Passenger of Shit, Baaadddddd, MC Gaff E $15 9pm Martin Place Bar, Sydney DJ Richie free 5pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Teenage Kicks Urby, Monkey Genius, Johnny Segment, Nik V free
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 18
The Forum Theatre, Moore Park
Sasha (Wales), Robbie Lowe, Matttt $45 (+ bf) 9pm
MONDAY FEBRUARY 14 The World Bar, Kings Cross Mondays Mista Killa free
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 15 The Australian Museum, Sydney Jurassic Lounge Brian Campeau, Jugu, The Cosmic Explorer $15 5.30pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst Coyote Tuesdays Kid Finley, MC Pee Wee Pete Sandringham Hotel, Newtown Adam Pringle free 8pm The Valve, Tempe Underground Tables DJ’s Myme, Ato, Gee Wiz free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic Karaoke, DJs Cris Angel, Mad Honour (Neon Hearts), Andy & Mike free
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 16 Bank Hotel, Newtown Girls’ Night DJ Emme Jay free City Hotel, Sydney Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) free 7pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst R&B Goodgod Small Club Front Bar, Sydney Special Moments Long John Saliva free 8pm The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction Anthony K free 8pm Tone, Surry Hills Dust Tones Fort Knox 5, Percussion Junction, Omegaman, James Locksmith, Bentley $10 7pm Tracks Nightclub, Epping Hotel Inthemix Sounds of Summer TomPiper 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall presents Good Art
Good Heart – QLD Flood Disaster Fundraiser $12 Pizza, Free Dubstep Party free 8pm
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 17 The Attic, Mona Vale Hotel Jugg DJs 8pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Bowlarama Infusion, Mad Racket DJs free 8pm Candys Apartment Ewun (USA), Dauntless, Geeflux, Mazza, One-Niner & Sytrax, Person 3, Yayogi, Zoix, Dtech MC 8pm Del Rio Resort, Wisemans Ferry Playground Weekender 2011 Tricky, Lamb, LTJ Bukem, Four Tet, Caribou, Damian Lazarus, Norman Jay, Roy Ayers, Kool & The Hang, De La Soul, James Curd, Roska Heidi, Clive Henry, Tom Middleton, King Tide, Meem,
Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill DJ Retro free 9pm Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Beth Yen free 9pm Bar Europa, Sydney Illya free 8pm Candys Apartment Liquid Sky Detektives, Cunningpants, Wizzfizzkids 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Sasha (Wales) $45 (+ bf) 10pm Civic Hotel, Sydney House Inspection Kevin Griffiths (UK), YokoO, Nic Scali, Bella Sarris, Zushy Woolstone, Marc Javin, Chris Leffers $10 10pm Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool Fuego K-Note & DreadJuan, Mac, Dennis, C-Major, The Empress MC The Dugout Bar CO.DEEP Whitey, Fire, Missree, R-Type, Nicky Damage 6pm Favela, Potts Point Zen Stoneface & Terminal $18.20-$28.40 9pm The Forum Theatre, Moore Park Sasha (Wales), Robbie Lowe, Mattt $45 (+ bf) 9pm Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills Last Night – Late Edition DZ Deathrays, King Cannons, Red Riders DJs, Danny Clayton, Jane Gazzo, Randall Stagg, Ben Lucid $10 10pm
The Gaff, Darlinghurst Fat Fridays Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Captain Ahab (USA), OveNaxx (Japan), Toecutter, DJ Rainbow Ejaculation, Simo Soo, Toxic Lipstick, Babayaga Witches (Japan) $15 9pm Home The Venue, Sydney Sublime Nasty (ACT), Nick Farrell, Peewee Ferris, MC Losty, Iko & Flite, MC Suga Shane, Dirty Stopout, Person 3, Monk3y VS Fazed, Energizer Bunny VS Tulz free (guestlist)-$25 10pm Kit & Kaboodle Falcona Fridays Falcona Fridays $10 10pm Ladylux Nightclub, Potts Point Ladylux Fridays Venuto, Jack Sword, DJ Olic, Mr Marcello, Bobby C free-$10 Le Panic, Kings Cross Box Social MYD, 3Hundreds, Sotiris, Jamie What, 14th Minute, Jordan F $10 9pm Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown DJ Michael free 8pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Friday I’m In Love free 11.30pm Oxford Art Factory Gallery Bar, Darlinghurst Phatchance, Coptic Soldier, Charlie Mayfair, Atlas B Salvesen free 8pm Phoenix Bar, Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Bootie Sydney – Love Mashups Marty Batfreak, Mr Chad, Earley Curley $5-$10 9.30pm Pontoon, Darling Harbour Nic Philips free 9pm The Rouge, Kings Cross Hollywood Gossip J Smoove, Coops, Bounce Crew DJs, Astrix $10 10pm St James Hotel, Sydney Club Blink Club Blink DJs Sting Bar, Cronulla Electro Sessions DJ Soda, JustMore DJs, Brosman, Knocked up Noise, Matt Mandrell, Riggers free 8pm Tank, Sydney RNB Superclub G Wizard, Def Rok, Troy T, Eko, Lilo, Jayson, Losty, Ben Morris, Matt Nukewood, Charlie Brown, Oakes & Lennox, Venuto, Adrian M $15 (with pass) 9pm
DJ Rainbow Ejaculaton
Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park Utopia DJ Luna (Netherlands), DJ Activator, Josh & Wesz, Wasted Penguinz, Nitrogenetics, Day Mar, Dozer (Sweden), Suae, Toneshifterz, Losty, DJ Dougal (UK), Squad-E, S3RL, Weaver, Matrix, X Dream (Germany), Shadower, Haze, Team Rocket, Erase MC, Destiny $65 (early bird)-$120 Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Delacroix free 9pm Bella Vista Harbour Queen, Pyrmont Temple of Dance: Sunset Bros, Alex K, Steve S, Micky D, S Dee, Pulsar, Steve Play, Chris Sauro, Vertigo, Antonio Martinez, Andre Jay $45 (+ bf) 6pm Candys Apartment Big Guns Dorkatronique, Lights Out!, Zomg! Kittens!, Disco Volante, MooWho, Pretty Young Things 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Tom Middleton, Beni, Mo’funk, Jeff Drake, Matt Nukewood, Ember, Club Junque, Naiki, A-Tonez $15$25 9pm Empire Hotel, Darlinghurst The Temple Alex K, Sunset Bros, Outsource, Rata, Steve Play, Andre Jay, Dk1, Wilz, Frantic, Benino G, Blinky, ScottyO, Nick Nova, Danny P, Rath The Forbes Hotel, Sydney We Love Indie We Love Indie DJs The Gaff, Darlinghurst Secret Saturdays Halo MC Shureshock, Greg Packer $13.10 10pm Home The Venue, Sydney Homemade Saturdays Hotel Chambers, Sydney Red Room Troy T, K-Note, Mac, Mike Champion free (guestlist)-$20 Ivy, Sydney Pure Ivy Saturdays John Glover, Kristiano Carroll, Minx, Cadell, Adam Jacob, Mark Matthews $15 5pm Ladylux Nightclub, Potts Point Ladylux Saturdays Venuto, Illya, Titty Tassles $10-$20 Lady Rose, Departing King St Wharf Summer Lovin Alex Taylor, Kate Monroe, Dan Murphy, GI Jode, Kristen, Pearson, Rob Morrish $48.90-$59.10 12pm Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown George B free 8pm Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Funkstar free 8pm Metro Theatre, Sydney Tricky (UK) $75 8pm Mona Vale Hotel Purple Sneakers DJs 8pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Saturday I’m Pregnant free 11.30pm Phoenix Bar, Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Phoenix Rising Dan Murphy,
“That’s the thing, in a deaf class; no-one can hear you scream…”– ROSS NOBLE 56 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11
club guide
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com Tricky
Rusco and more $15 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! Li ght Year Kato, Levins, Adam Bozzetto, Illya, Moneyshot, Foundation, Venuto, Bad Ezzy, Harry Cotton, Ennsu, Temnein, Daigo, Say Whut? $15-$20 8pm
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 20
Johan Khoury, Mark Alsop $10 4am Pontoon, Darling Harbour Phil English, Nobby Grooves $10 8pm Proclaim Royal Wreck’d Jools, Chris B, Lianda, Adrian ‘Grey Wolf’ Lawrence, DJ Lloyd, From Alice with Love, Jimmy Beatz $35 4.30pm The Rouge, Kings Cross Le Rouge Ben Morris, Dan Mac, Coops Micky P $10 9.30pm St James Hotel, Sydney Trash Trash DJs 8pm Sugar Lounge, Manly Regrooved Fort Knox 5, Slynk, Jon Ohms, D-funk, Rephrase, Paul Master $10 (presale)-$15 9pm Tank, Sydney Fake 9pm The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction Shifty free 7pm
Valve Nightclub DNBBQ Big Bud, Foreigndub, Semper Fi, Alf, Highly Dubious, King B-Fine, Reload, Kakhand, DJ Ability, Low Society DJs, Fernatik, Erecsean, Patto, Scatterbrain, Atone Feat, Gina, Janny, Flaco, Fangle, Sam The Chemist The Vault, Sydney House Your Soul Zepherin Saint, George Kristopher, MrX, Mikekon $20 9pm The Wall (Bald Faced Stag), Leichhardt DJ Skae’s A-List Launch Party Sereck, Torcha & B-Don, Sceptic & Dseeva, P.Smurf & Mute MC, Rivals & LC Beats, DJ Skae, DJ Myme $10-$15 Woodport Inn Bounce 4 Rooms Ajax, Jake Mexon, Random Knightz, Victims, Chris Lawrence, Warren Hook, Midshifterz, Nemesis, Biscut, Ricktor,
Bank Hotel, Newtown Official Fair Day After Party Kitty Glitter, Sandi Hotrod, David DC, Beth Yen, DJ Delacroix free 2pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Bowlarama Firehouse Sound System, Dynamite Sounds, Dave Slade, Franlkin Furter, Sinclair, Scott Wolfe, Skills Gilbert The Forbes Hotel, Sydney Church Of Techno Mitch Crosher, Kerry Wallace, Joey Kaz, Jey Tuppaea, Jaded, Shepz Home Terrace, Sydney Spice After Hour Club Matt Aubusson, Nic Scali $20 5am Penrith Panthers Sunsets On The Terrace 2 Faced free 2pm Petersham Bowling Club Kojo $10 3pm Phoenix Bar, Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Loose Ends Matt Vaughan free 10pm The Rouge, Kings Cross Cheap Thrill$ free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Fortune Disco Punx free 6pm
club picks up all night out all week...
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 16 City Hotel, Sydney Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) free 7pm Tone, Surry Hills Dust Tones Fort Knox 5, Percussion Junction, Omegaman, James Locksmith, Bentley $10 7pm
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 17
Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Bowlarama Infusion, Mad Racket DJs free 8pm Del Rio Resort, Wisemans Ferry Playground Weekender 2011 Tricky, Lamb, LTJ Bukem, Four Tet, Caribou, Damian Lazarus, Norman Jay, Roy Ayers, Kool & The Gang, De La Soul, James
Infusion Curd, Roska Heidi, Clive Henry, Tom Middleton, King Tide, Meem, Strange Talk, Dixon, Ame, Andy Fletcher, Derrick Carter, Mick & Toff, Fort Knox Five $199-$219 12pm Iguana Bar Captain Ahab (USA), OveNaxx (Japan), Toecutter, Passenger of Shit, Baaadddddd, MC Gaff E $15 9pm
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 18
Oxford Art Factory Gallery Bar, Darlinghurst Phatchance, Coptic Soldier, Charlie Mayfair, Atlas B Salvesen free 8pm
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 19 Tom Middleton
Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park Utopia DJ Luna
(Netherlands), DJ Activator, Josh & Wesz, Wasted Penguinz, Nitrogenetics, Day Mar, Dozer (Sweden), Suae, Toneshifterz, Losty, DJ Dougal (UK), Squad-E, S3RL, Weaver, Matrix, X Dream (Germany), Shadower, Haze, Team Rocket, Erase MC, Destiny $65 (early bird)-$120 Chinese Laundry, Sydney Tom Middleton, Beni, Mo’funk, Jeff Drake, Matt Nukewood, Ember, Club Junque, Naiki, A-Tonez $15-$25 9pm Metro Theatre, Sydney Tricky (UK) $75 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! Li ght Year Kato, Levins, Adam Bozzetto, Illya, Moneyshot, Foundation, Venuto, Bad Ezzy, Harry Cotton, Ennsu, Temnein, Daigo, Say Whut? $15-$20 8pm BRAG :: 399 :: 14:02:11 :: 57
Deep Impressions
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS
Underground Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery
AFRO CELT SOUND SYSTEM THE LEGENDARY COLLECTIVE PERFORMS ITS GREATEST HITS
Wolf + Lamb
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'GREAT DANCE MUSIC WITH DEEP SOUL & WICKED INTELLIGENCE.'
THE TIMES, UK
'AWESOME STUFF AMAZING TO WITNESS LIVE.' THE INDEPENDENT, UK
'FRESH, CURRENT AND WHOLESOME...' fROOTS
ONLY SYDNEY SHOW!
14 MARCH TICKETS FROM $49* * TRANSACTION FEE OF $5 - $8.50 APPLIES TO ALL BOOKINGS, EXCLUDING INSIDERS
02 9250 7777 58 :: BRAG :: 399 :: 07:02:11
SYD N E Y OP E R A H O U S E . C O M
ith the dust only just settling following the last Pulse Radio AGWA Boat Party with Damian Lazarus and Art Department, news has just surfaced regarding the final maritime fiesta of the summer, on Saturday March 19. Headlining the event is UK duo Audiofly, who are gearing up to release their debut album on Get Physical in the near future, and American pair Wolf + Lamb. Comprised of Zev Eisenberg and Gadi Mizrahi, the latter will be making their eagerly anticipated Aussie debut on the top deck under the final searing rays of summer. Wolf + Lamb’s tour will tie in with the forthcoming release of the DJ Kicks mix they’ve compiled with Soul Clap. The compilation incorporates 27 tracks – 9 of which are exclusive – including cuts by prodigious producer Nicolas Jaar, Crosstown Rebels’ Deniz Kurtel and fast-rising duo Benoit & Sergio, along with all the Wolf + Lamb ‘big guns’, including No Regular Play. A strong local support cast will support Wolf + Lamb and Audiofly, headed by a couple of lads celebrating their respective returns from abroad: Jimmy Posters and Emerson Todd. Tickets are now on sale. German house and techno figureheads Stephan Bodzin and Marc Romboy are about to release a triple CD packed with their own cuts, a myriad of remixes and an 80-minute bonus mix, which will be available on our shores through Melburnian distributor I Like the Noise It Makes in early March. The bulging 3 x CD / 6 x 12” box set is titled Luna, which is the name of Marc’s daughter, and coincidentally that of Stephan’s wife as well. Stephan and Marc have been churning out consistently solid tech-house releases for a number of years now on labels such as Spiel-Zeug, Superstition and Ovum, as well as through their own Systematic and Herzblut labels. Luna compiles 16 tracks plus two new productions, ‘Triton’ and ‘Oberon’, along with a truckload of remixes from more than 20 different producers, including Joris Voorn, Speedy J, Chris Liebing and Gui Boratto. Now: before moodier, self-proclaimed ‘edgier’ types begin writing in, slamming this column for being too ‘obvious’ (or populist if you prefer), here’s one for the chinstrokers. On the first of March, Rough Trade will release XI Versions of Black Noise, a collection of new remixes of tracks from German techno romantic Pantha Du Prince’s last album. Pantha, known to his mother as Hendrik Weber, toured our shores recently for Future Classic, so any recent converts ought to rouse themselves from their summer stupor and take note of this release. A formidable roll-call of artists has been assembled to rework tracks from the original Black Noise, which was released last year and generally lauded as one of
LOOKING DEEPER SUNDAY FEBRUARY 27 Ewan Pearson The Alexandria
SATURDAY MARCH 5 Chemistry presents a Mardi Gras Extravaganza Feat. Schwa, Trinity, Jimi Polar, Jamie Lloyd The Velvet Lounge Tom Clark, Guido Schneider Marrickville Bowling Club
SATURDAY MARCH 19 Wolf + Lamb, Audiofly AGWA Boat Cruise
the better albums of 2010 alongside the LPs from Four Tet, John Roberts and Caribou; let’s leave it to those bearded, bespectacled ‘muzo’ types to animatedly debate precisely which was supreme over glasses of grapefruit juice in assorted Enmore cafes. The likes of lo-fi Chicago house maestro Hieroglyphic Being and Pantha’s former Dial labelmates Lawrence, Carsten Jost and Efdemin all feature on XI Versions of Black Noise, while Animal Collective also contribute a remix, continuing their close ties with Pantha after Du Prince remixed Collective’s ‘Peacebone’ back in 2008. Discerning listeners will dig deeper still and tell you that the band’s Panda Bear also contributed vocals to ‘Stick To My Side’, which is remixed on this upcoming release by Four Tet. Back to that grapefruit juice, pal. Martin Stimming, commonly referred to simply as Stimming, has announced the release of his new album Liquorice in late March on Diynamic Music. And the early word cautions listeners to prepare for something completely different. Stimming has been crafting brooding tech-house and minimal cuts over the past few years, but this new album is said to be more experimental, relying on field recordings instead of mere beats and rhythms. Personal issues have purportedly had a huge effect on the LP, which explains why Liquorice is much darker and moodier than some of the man’s earlier work. “I had to sleep on the couch in my 16-square-metre studio, certain circumstances didn’t allow me to sleep at home,” Stimming revealed. Yeech. But I speak for most clubbers when I say I’m glad Martin channeled his angst in the studio, as opposed to wasting it on the psychiatrist’s couch!
Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com.
Soul Sedation
Soul, Dub, Hip Hop & Bottom-heavy Beats with Tony Edwards
Atmosphere
Soul Sedation goes live every Wednesday night on Bondi FM (88.0 or bondifm.com.au). Tune in 10pm 'til midnight to hear a deep and soulful selection of the tunes covered here, and plenty more that I don't have room for.
A
tmosphere are back with another album, The Family Sign. One of this column’s favourite indie hip hop groups, their performance at Days Like This alongside Brother Ali was a truly memorable experience, and put a lot of touring US hip hop acts to shame. Soul Sedation is sure this will be an album with all Slug and Ant’s integrity poured into it once again. The record is due out April 12 on the Minnesota-based label Rhymesayers. Jazzman records are re-releasing Canadian funk band The Sidewinders’ ‘Flatfoot Hustlin’. Previous copies of the record have sold for over $1800. Up until this re-release, it was incredibly rare, allegedly only becoming known to “collectors” collectors in recent years. It is a great track, some fantastic funk ‘n’ soul from the ‘70s – not that I’d ever part with $1800 for one record, so I’m clearly not one of these “collectors”. But I might snap up one of these re-releases because I can. Oddisee is an MC I’ll never forget. His tune ‘Musik Lounge’ with DJ Premier is on Soul Sedation’s all time deep hip hop playlist. The Diamond District frontman has a new album coming out on Fat Beats records, entitled Travelling Man. His productions skills ain’t too shabby either, as you’ll find on this 24 track instrumental album. Brooklyn’s Bastard Jazz Recordings has decided to digitally release Captain Planet’s very first 12” – The Gumbo Funk EP – with two bonus tracks not included on the vinyl. Originally selfreleased in ‘05 and unquestionably ahead of it’s time, Gumbo Funk bridges globally scattered genres such as salsa, samba, Afrobeat, Bollywood, dancehall, disco and hip hop with the universal love of a danceable breakbeat. The product of Captain Planet’s enormous record collection and more than 10 years experience as club and radio DJ, the EP samples bits and pieces of the old and obscure from around the world. Tightly woven layers of syncopated percussion build the foundation for piercing horn blasts, driving bass riffs, wah-wah guitars, jazzy keyboard vamps, and reinterpreted vocal samples. Gumbo Funk is exactly what it sounds like: a cross-cultural cornucopia of sound. Produced entirely in a Brooklyn bedroom, Captain Planet takes the DIY approach to music making in the likes of contemporary sampledelic funkateers Quantic, Madlib, and Beatfanatic. All appreciators of Thievery Corporation’s Outernational Sound, J-Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, or the feel-good Turntables On The Hudson party should pick up this EP without a second thought.
ON THE ROAD FRI FEB 18
Kool & The Gang, Roy Ayers Enmore Theatre
SAT FEB 19
Mayer Hawthorne & The County Manning Bar
SUN FEB 20 Roy Ayers The Basement
SAT 26 FEB Roska, Lorn Tone
FEB 17 - 20
Playground Weekender Wiseman’s Ferry
SUN FEB 27
Planet Asia, Copywrite Tone
TUE MAR 15 Dead Prez Oxford Art Factory
WED MAR 16
Horace Andy, Dub Asante Metro Theatre
FRI APRIL 8 DMZ Oxford Art Factory
And… Type this into your googles: Deep Thaw Mix – Captain Planet & DJ DRM. It’s a hastily compiled (warts and all) mix of some killer track selection. Features unreleased music from Planet and DRM and the rest of the US-based Bastard Jazz family. The man of many monikers, many faces, and many collaborative projects, Doom, comes to Australia for the first time this March. DJ MK, tour DJ for both Dizzee Rascal and Roots Manuva, and Adelaide producer/MC Simplex are on support duties. It all goes down March 23 at The Metro Theatre. The Herd, it turns out, have been doing their thing for 10 years now. Celebrating the milestone with the new single, ‘Sum Of It All’, they’ll be embarking on an east coast tour taking in Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. The Sydney show is Saturday April 9 at the Factory Theatre, with Joelistics on support. I can’t quite believe that it’s been five years since Dilla left the earth; that five years has gone quickly. Sydney’s hip hop community celebrates with a Dilla tribute event, The Genius of J Dilla. Sunday February 20 at Ching-a-lings. The party runs from 4-10pm. The following DJs pay homage: Shortee Blitz (UK) / Naiki / Ology / Jonah / Shantan Wantan Ichiban / Sonny Syah and its all hosted by Kween G (KillaQueenz).
Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com
- Weds 16th -
- Fri 18th -
Dust Tones
Heart Beat
Fort Knox Five
Taksim to Surry Hills
- Thurs 17th -
- Sat 19th -
Howl
All Sorts
Live bands
Bands mini festival
www.tone.net.au facebook.com/tonesydney twitter.com/tonevenue
16 Wentworh Avenue, Surry Hills NSW 2010 (02) 9287 6440 BRAG :: 399:: 14:02:11 :: 59
snap snap
adult disco
PICS :: TL
upall allnight nightout outall allweek week...... up
P*A*S*H
PICS :: TT
05:02:11 :: The Civic Hotel :: 388 Pitt Street CBD 80807000
the wall
PICS :: AM
04:02:11 :: Qbar :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245
chinese laundry
PICS :: AM
02:02:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700
ghetto disco
PICS :: AM
05:02:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958
05:02:11 :: Q-Bar :: 34-44 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93601375
It’s called: A Velvet Affair It sounds like: A luscious line-up of ladies. Who’s playing? Burlesque babes Heidi Hoop s and Venus Vamp, Drag King host Johnny Castrati and newcomers Matth Slutatris, PLUS Sheena Miss Demeanour (Lond ius the Labidinous and on Burlesque Festival), Rita Fontaine (Miss Burlesque Australia), Nikki Nouveau (Most Thrilling Theatrical Event at The Sydney Fringe 2010) , Herbie Strangelove (Sydney's prominent Boylesque performer) and Jazmin Baret (Paris). Sell it to us: Come and immerse yourself in bump, grind, hoola hoop, boylesque, and twisted cabaret. This will be a night of velvelicious burlesque, with a dash of variety! The bit we’ll remember in the AM: ‘Did I really see that!?’ Crowd specs: All types of lovers!
Wallet damage: $20 Where: The Supper Club / 134 Oxford St, Darlin ghurst When: Friday February 18: doors at 8pm, show at 9pm
60 :: BRAG :: 398: 07:02:11
last night 04:02:11
PICS :: IS
party profile
A Velvet Affair
:: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St Surry Hills 92111687
:: SUSAN S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER TRAMONTE ::TOM NS MUN IEL DAN :: MAR ASHLEY
BUI :: INNERSTYLE ::
snap
03:02:11 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245
wham
PICS :: DM
hot damn
PICS :: TT
up all night out all week . . .
05:02:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700 :: SUSAN BUI :: INNERSTYLE :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER ::TOM TRAMONTE ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS
BRAG :: 398 :: 07:02:11 :: 61
snap
dust tones
PICS :: TT
up all night out all week . . .
robopop
It sounds like: The soulful sounds of Maye r Hawthorne Who’s playing? Mayer Hawthorne & The Count y with special guests Electric Empire and DJs Miss Micah and Mike Corbett Sell it to us; Mayer Hawthorne, the heartthrob from Ann Arbor, Michigan, returns to Australia after wowing audie country in January 2010. Creating a stir when nces all over the his single ‘Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out’ was released, Mayer and his band The County have just finished recording a new album - so they’ll be showcasing some brand new tunes at Manning Bar. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Dancing (and ladies swooning) to some world-class soul. Crowd specs: Anyone keen on a great night out!
Wallet damage: $42 + bf Where: Manning Bar / Sydney University, Camp erdown When: Saturday February 19
PICS :: AM
05:02:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711
Mayer Hawthorne & The County
party profile
sosueme feat spit syndicate
PICS :: WN
04:02:11 :: Tone Venue :: 116 Wentworth Ave Surry Hills 9267 6440
teenage kicks
PICS :: TT
mum
03:02:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700 62 :: BRAG :: 398: 07:02:11
PICS :: SB
02:02:11 :: Supper Club :: 134 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93313437
04:02:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700 :: SUSAN BUI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER TE MON TRA ::TOM NS MUN IEL DAN ASHLEY MAR ::
:: INNERSTYLE ::
GARDEN
MUSIC
JONATHAN BOULET JINJA SAFARI DEEP SEA ARCADE LANIE LANE NGAIIRE
SUNDAY 13 MARCH BOOK NOW
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