rock music news
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly and Steph Harmon
He Said She Said WITH
AZARIA FROM THE ART
M
y parents weren’t musical or around much as a kid. My granddad was the only one in my family that was creative; he was a painter and taught me how to paint. He inspired me in many ways before he passed away when I was 10. I spent a lot of my childhood communicating through art and teaching myself how to play every instrument to do with rock music, as I was drawn towards the impact of sonics and words more than anything else. And I still am.
the touring we had done, we were said to be as solid as a rock, but like any good producer, Frencie drew blood out of a stone and pushes us beyond what we imagined. After the labor, we gave birth to The Art’s first album, Here Comes The War, which was released it in Australia in February. Every song on the album exists within its own reality; it’s a dichotomy of a record which visits disparate places, from vulnerability to abrasive directness. Over time, substance runs thin. Any group of people can sit around a computer these days and create something in their bedroom, but I personally idealise rock music and its processes in the same way as impressionist painting, before Dadaism came along. Who knows, maybe the modern day “rockstar” holds a laptop or a keyboard – but it sure feels better to me to hold a guitar and scream something.
The Pixies are one of my all time favourite bands. My best friend introduced me to them; Doolittle was the first of their albums that I heard. I fell in love and it changed my life. Ironically, my band got to tour with The Pixies in Australia and NZ last year, on their Doolittle tour. This band is magic and everything works. Unlike most popular rock bands today that play with backing tracks, I get off on the push-and-pull of tempos and human error; it’s what makes it live. There is something powerful, primal and romantic about live guitars, bass, vocals, drums and no bullshit! We’re just four kids on a journey together, investigating the perimeters of a dynamic rock band. Having a good time with my family
(band) on the road and tearing holes through reality in some steps that we take. I feel really lucky to be a part of this gang, and to have experienced what we have.
We recorded live to tape after our last 30-date tour of America, in late 2009. We recorded with Producer Chris ‘Frencie’ Smith in Austin Texas at the Bubble Studios. From all
With: Doubleblack, The Ramshackle Army, Generation Swine; DJs Simon Day (Ratcat), Goldfoot, Rockabilly Rhino vs Wolfman Dan; Burlesque by Kira Hu-La-La, Vesper White, Foxtrot India, Betty Grumble – plus loads more happening on the night. Where: Black Cherry @ The Factory Theatre When: Saturday July 23
September 10 (ace Sydney band who have a 2CD compilation out now through Sub Pop), Sydney indie heroes Hummingbirds will play Manning Bar on September 17, and The Moffs (fucking ace psych-pop; YouTube it!) play the Sandringham, September 23. Go to all of these!
PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com
PAUL AND PAUL AT THE OPERA PAUL HOUSE
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: Nathan Jolly, Chris Honnery
Sunday July 24 will see Paul Kelly forget about his usual suburban tales and pluck out some of his more spiritual tunes to play alongside internationally renowned jazz muso Paul Grabowsky, for a special show at the Sydney Opera House (the pointy one). Vika and Linda Bull will be there, too - the two Black Sorrows ladies whose cover of Paul Kelly’s ‘We Started A Fire’ soundtracked many an emotional Home and Away story arc...
ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Daniel Campbell Williams, Katrina Clarke, Cai Griffin, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Vicky Nguyen, Thomas Peachy, Imogen Prado, Patrick Stevenson COVER DESIGN: Sarah Bryant
Andy Bull
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Naughty By Nature
FAT AS BUTTER LINEUP
Put a huge cigarette burn through October 22 on your calendar, because you’re coming with us to Newcastle. No, we aren’t going to steal Matthew Johns’ garden gnome and put it in Daniel Johns’ garden again; we’re going to Fat As Butter, that amazing music festival they have on the foreshore. For sure. The lineup includes Naughty By Nature, the only crew that’s gangsta enough to refer to themselves as naughty, and The Living End (Sehhh-cond. Solution. Sehhh-cond. Solution. Sehhh-cond. Solution.), who have a new album out July 22. Full lineup announcement happens on July 25, and tickets go on sale August 3; let’s lock in the gnome thing for mid-September, yeah?
THIS MUCH IS TREW
You know those bands that had one killer song on a Party Of Five soundtrack and you never really heard anything else from them, but you can namedrop that one song at a party and the cute girl with the fringe will know who you mean, and love that song too? The Trews have a bunch of songs that sound like that song; they’re a power pop/kinda-radio-rock group from Canada, and want you to come ‘oot’ to their show, which is on September 17 at Notes (as part of the Sydney Fringe). We know it’s a while away, but they are Canadian, and Canadians like to plan ahead [citation needed].
THEY WILL HAVE THEIR WAY AGAIN
Yeah, you all act cool as shit – “Sure, if I get tickets I’ll rock up… probably…” – but the truth of the matter is that all of you rushed out and
bought tickets for They Will Have Their Way (the Finn brothers’ tunes done live by your Paul Dempseys and your Seeker Lover Keepers and your Oh Mercys and Lior and even cuteface Clare Bowditch), and now they’ve announced an extra Sydney show, because you went and sold the first one out. November 16 at The Opera House. Calm down, you guys.
HANGING OUT, ON THE STREET
Holy shit – remember how last night you left the ‘Don’t Go Now’ video clip from Ratcat playing while you slept? Well, it snuck out and gathered all its late ‘80s, early ‘90s inner-city contemporaries, and they’re putting on a bunch of shows through September under the banner ‘On The Street’. Brisbane’s jangle-poppers Ups and Downs play the Sandringham on September 9, feedtime play Annandale on
LOAD OF OLD BULL
Andy Bull’s Phantom Pains EP has been out for over a year, but he is only juuust getting around to properly touring off the back of it now. Which is either very rock‘n’roll, or criminally lazy and unthoughtful of him. We’ll let you decide when he plays GoodGod Small Club on August 26, with Pluto Jonze opening for him.