ISSUE NO. 587 NOVEMBER 5, 2014
FREE Now picked up at over 1,600 places across Sydney and surrounds. thebrag.com
MUSIC, FILM, THEATRE + MORE
INSIDE This Week
NOF X
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
They’ve been raising hell for years, and they’re not done yet.
JACK C A R T Y
The tireless songwriter on the joys of travel.
GU Y PE A RCE
Also
Not just another actor-turnedsinger. Take his word for it.
ISSUE NO. 8 2014 / 2015
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THE HOTTEST COMEDY STARS COMING TO SYDNEY! Em Rusciano
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07.11.14 W W W. P I NKF L OYD.CO M /T HEENDL ESSR I VER
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rock music news welcome to the frontline: the latest touring and music news...with Chris Martin and Lauren Gill
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speed date WITH
BLAKE CATERIS FROM VANITY RIOTS sweaty for our fans; the passion, the need to please them, to give them something compelling to watch – we get off on getting them off first. We look for the mad moshers, the party animals that will drink with us after getting off to our music and also all the babes that throw their bras. Keeping Busy We’ve been doing everything 2. at once. Being busy is good, and as a band, we work really well together at covering what needs to be done. We’ve recently released our 2014 single ‘Endlessly’ that we’ve recorded, shot a video for and toured. We are now writing for releases planned for next year, planning our tour of Asia in February 2015, and on the side, rehearsing for our shows that have been booked. November 8 especially!
Profile If Synyster Gates and Matthew 1. Your
Tuck had a threesome with Chrissy Amphlett. We like to get all hot and
Gig Ever The best show we’ve ever 3. Best
played was being main support for the Filipino superstars Parokya Ni Edgar at Mounties in Sydney. Playing to a sold-out crowd of 1,000 people was a euphoric experience that we’ll all never forget. We were originally scheduled for a 20-minute set and got the call five minutes before showtime that it was extended to 40 minutes, allowing us to unleash the full Vanity Riots experience on a full-size stage, onto those unsuspecting 1,000 heads. Current Playlist Whatever mainstream radio 4. tells us to listen to. Just kidding – we listen to whatever tickles our hard-ons and lady boners at that specific point in time. So many of our favourite bands are putting out really good releases right now. We’re loving our mates in Thrashed, Smokin’ Mirrors and The Art, also pretty much any rock band these days running their own tours and the
bands that write their own music and are able to sell their shows out. That right there deserves our love and respect. Your Ultimate Rider BJ loves his noodles and fresh 5. AP (don’t ask)… Monica’s the worst, she makes the promoters ship out Pokka iced coffee direct from Japan as she can’t find it anywhere in Australia; apparently it’s addictive as shit. The worst rider we ever got was when we were directed to a fridge in our dressing room at the start of the night. There were no noodles, no AP and no Pokka iced coffee, just head to toe with bottles of water. Worst. Rider. Ever. Where: Supporting The Art at Oxford Art Factory With: Marlow, Fait Accompli, Bonez, Glass Ocean, Hailmary and more When: Saturday November 8 Xxx
NOW THAT’S A COOL CAT
MANAGING EDITOR: Chris Martin chris@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ONLINE EDITOR: Tyson Wray ONLINE COORDINATOR: Emily Meller SUB-EDITOR: Emily Meller STAFF WRITERS: Adam Norris, Krissi Weiss, Augustus Welby NEWS: Gloria Brancatisano, Lauren Gill, Roger Ma, Jacob Mills, June Murtagh, Debbie Shankar ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant PHOTOGRAPHERS: Ashwin Arumugam, Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar
New York State rockers Perfect Pussy have locked in a Sydney sideshow alongside their 2015 Laneway Festival engagements. As with so many acts on the Laneway bill each year, Perfect Pussy seem on the verge of stardom, having dominated the latest SXSW and released debut album Say Yes To Love in March. The abrasive, energetic quintet arrives at Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday February 4 with support from Todd Anderson-Kunert, Tanned Christ and Low Life. Sinead O’Connor
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Paul Kelly Presents The Merri Soul Sessions
SOUL SESSIONS WITH THE KELLY GANG
GIG & CLUB GUIDE COORDINATORS: Emily Meller, Debbie Shankhar - gigguide@ thebrag.com (rock); clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties)
Paul Kelly’s ever-evolving career is set to take a new turn, with the iconic Australian songwriter presenting The Merri Soul Sessions on stages across the nation this summer. Apart from influencing generations of artists during his 30-year recording career, Kelly has often been one for collaboration, and the new project features the likes of Dan Sultan, Clairy Browne, Kira Puru, Vika Bull and Linda Bull, all of whom appear on The Merri Soul Sessions album – due out Friday December 12 – and will join Kelly on the national tour. See them at Sydney Festival’s Parramatta Opening Party on Friday January 9, and Taronga Zoo on Friday February 6, where Hiatus Kaiyote will support.
AWESOME INTERNS: Roger Ma, Debbie Shankar, Jacob Mills, June Murtagh REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Ian Barr, Prudence Clark, Keiron Costello, Meg Crawford, Marissa Demetriou, Christie Eliezer, Blake Gallagher, Fergus Halliday, Cameron James, Tegan Jones, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Mina Kitsos, Emily Meller, Adam Norris, Kate Robertson, Erin Rooney, Raf Seneviratne, Leonardo Silvestrini, Rod Whitfield, Harry Windsor, Tyson Wray, Stephanie Yip, David James Young Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of the BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121
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MUSIC AT THE HOUSE
There’s nothing like a good facelift. Once the domain of classical music chin-strokers and champagne guzzlers, the Sydney Opera House has built itself a reputation over the last few years of presenting some of the finest acts in contemporary music. Now, Ben Marshall and his team have revealed their biggest lineup yet for the Summer At The House program between December and April. Joining the already announced performances by Damon Albarn, Violent Femmes and more are the likes of Sinead O’Connor (Thursday March 19), Neneh Cherry and Rocketnumbernine (Wednesday March 11), Mogwai (Monday March 2), Caribou (Tuesday February 3), Flying Lotus (Tuesday February 3) and Lykke Li (Monday February 2). There’ll also be a David Lynch Revisited night featuring Mick Harvey, Sophia Brous and more (Saturday March 14), plus gigs by Little Dragon (Thursday February 5); Ben Howard (Sunday March 29); The Gipsy Kings (Tuesday April 7 and Wednesday April 8); Rodrigo y Gabriela (Thursday April 9); and Angelique Kinjo and Mavis Staples (Sunday April 12). Tickets to all the new shows go on sale 9am Monday November 10.
MORE KING GIZZ
On the back of their latest album, released last week, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have locked in two new Sydney dates. I’m In Your Mind Fuzz is the latest product of the Gizz’s insatiable work rate – it’s their fifth LP in the space of just over two years. While they’ve just flown out on a whirlwind tour of the US, UK and Europe, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard will celebrate their return home with a national tour. See them at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday December 11 and The Roller Den on Friday December 12, with support from The Babe Rainbow.
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
The hotly tipped Jungle proved their wares at a breakout Splendour appearance this year, and they’re coming back to do it all again at David Gray
Laneway in 2015 alongside some newly added sideshows. The Mercury Prize-nominated debut Jungle won the Brit collective plenty of fans, and a massive run of touring winds its way back to Australia in the New Year, including a date at the Metro Theatre on Thursday January 29. Tickets go on sale 9am Thursday November 6.
MARLON WILLIAMS
Singer-songwriter Marlon Williams will play a pair of intimate shows this December to launch his new band Marlon Williams & The Yarra Benders. The shows come at the end of a big year for Williams, who recently finished a ten-date tour with Justin Townes Earle and Lindi Ortega. He’ll play The Vanguard on Wednesday December 10 with Aldous Harding and Andy Golledge.
BLUESFEST SIDESHOWS
The 2015 Bluesfest announcements are coming thick and fast, and so are the sideshows. The second round of Sydney and Newcastle sideshows includes some big names, led by David Gray, who’ll do the State Theatre on Wednesday April 1. Tickets go on sale 9am Friday November 14. Also joining the fun are Michael Franti & Spearhead, playing Newcastle Panthers on Wednesday April 8; Jimmy Cliff at the Metro Theatre on Thursday April 9; Mavis Staples at Lizotte’s Newcastle on Friday April 10; The Beat at the Factory Theatre on Sunday April 5; and Jake Shimabukuro at Lizotte’s Newcastle (Sunday April 5), Lizotte’s Central Coast (Monday April 6), Lizotte’s Dee Why (Wednesday April 8) and The Basement (Thursday April 9).
thebrag.com
Sinead O’Connor photo by Donal Moloney
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A
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live & local
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Chris Martin, Roger Ma and Gloria Brancatisano
speed date WITH
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
Ash Grunwald
CARA ROBINSON FROM HAT FITZ & CARA hair and blue eyes, mostly seen playing behind a 1920s animal skin vintage threepiece drum kit, whilst playing various wooden and tin fifes from the 1800s. Both love to let their hair down and jam together for hours composing new ideas that tend to have an old-timey feel flavoured by their influences of old-time hill country blues and soulful folk. Keeping Busy Well, apart from Mr. Hat Fitz chasing 2. me around the paddock like Pepé Le Pew on several occasions, we have been back from our European tour since mid-August (which was the Do Tell album launch), clearing the cobwebs in our shed and starting to throw a few more ideas of new tunes – so drums and amp set up in the living room, of course! We also had the pleasure of being chosen to enter the heats in Memphis for the International Blues Challenge, so we are really looking forward to going over and checking out Beale Street – but before we shake a little booty over there we are sharing our new album with the wonderful Australian east coast.
1.
Best Gig Ever Best gig ever is a tricky one but it has to be 3. a recent one when we played before the great Taj Mahal this year in July at the Cognac Blues Passions in France. It was dusk and the crowd was homing in on us, as this was new stomping
4.
Current Playlist Fitzy has indeed had the Hobart Smith CD in his van playing on repeat for months now. Just last night I was listening to my all-time favourite Otis Redding songs, ‘Mr Pitiful’, ‘Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa’ and ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’.
Your Ultimate Rider Well, Byron Bay Bluesfest is like the 5. ultimate rider as there is a top-class masseuse there, sweeties, booze, hot meals on tap, honey and herb teas, great staff and a room with the most exquisite flower decorations all run so professionally. As for the usual rider requests … Fitzy likes honey in tea. I like honey in water. What: Do Tell out now through Planet MGM Where: The Brass Monkey / The Vanguard When: Friday November 14 / Sunday November 16
Eagulls
Kim Churchill
ROCK THE GATE
The controversial practice of fracking (injecting chemicals into shale rock at high pressure to release coal seam gas) is one of the largest concerns facing rural communities around the world. Fracking can have major impacts on agricultural communities, and Lock The Gate is working to raise awareness of these issues with its multi-venue festival, Rock The Gate, on Sunday November 23 at the Enmore Theatre. Showcasing an extensive lineup of artists including Pete Murray, Ash Grunwald, The Herd and many more, the festival will also feature satellite venues around the theatre with talks by members of fracking-affected communities and speakers from the Lock The Gate Alliance, as well as live comedy and theatre. We’ve got a double pass to give away to the festival – to be in the running, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us how you think you could make the world a better place.
xxx
Your Profile Male: Hat Fitz, six-foot-two, green eyes and beard, seen mostly playing a National Beeton guitar (Teisco electric 1966 model). Female: Cara Robinson, five-foot-two, blonde
ground for us; they were curious as to who we were and what we did. There was an electricity in the air that evening of that gig as the stage faced an old 15th century mansion, and as the sun’s red rays drifted down the building’s face we built the show up and up with the crowd with us all the way, more or less ending in a French frenzy. Then to top it all off Taj Mahal came onstage and we were both lifted to a new level altogether.
KIM CHURCHILL
Singer-songwriter Kim Churchill will hit the road this summer for an extensive national tour in support of his new track ‘Single Spark’. The song is taken from his fourth studio album, Silence/ Win, which was released earlier this year. At only 24 years old, Churchill has already conquered the likes of Glastonbury, Montreal Jazz Festival and Telluride Blues and Brews. He’ll close out the year with appearances at Falls and Southbound. Catch him at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday January 24.
captured attention worldwide, and now Andersen has locked in Sydney dates at The Vanguard on Thursday January 8 and the Brass Monkey on Friday January 9.
JESUS JONES
FLYING HIGH
Post-punk revivalists Eagulls are landing on our shores early next year for Laneway, and they’ve added a Sydney sideshow to their schedule. The angsty Brits’ self-titled debut explored influences from Joy Division and Dinosaur Jr., inflected with a Yorkshire sensibility, and their place on the Laneway lineup itself shows they’re tipped for big things. Catch Eagulls at Oxford Art Factory on Friday January 30.
THE ICEAGE IS COMING
Following the release of their third album, Iceage have announced new headline shows in Brisbane and Sydney this January. The Danish four-piece has recieved a slew of praise for Plowing In The Field Of Love, and with the debris from a debut Australian tour finally being swept up, it’s about time that the Iceage returned. See them at Oxford Art Factory on Wednesday January 21.
MATT ANDERSEN
With over two million views on YouTube, independent sales numbering over 30,000 albums, a 2013 European Blues Award, and having won the Best Solo Performer prize at the Memphis Blues Challenge, it appears that fans around the world are now discovering Canada’s Matt Andersen. His bluesy performances of tracks like ‘I Lost My Way’, ‘Between The Lines’ and ‘Let You Down’ from his debut album Weightless have
The ’90s revival is well and truly alive, so it is only fitting that a Jesus Jones greatest hits tour will roll through the country next March. Part of the indie/alternative dance scene in the ’90s, alongside Pop Will Eat Itself, EMF, The Shamen, Carter USM and Neds Atomic Dustbin, the UK five-piece broke out with the release of second album Doubt in 1991. The second single from the record, ‘Right Here, Right Now’, took the band global, reaching number two on the US Billboard Charts. In 1992, the album was nominated for a Grammy. When Jesus Jones return to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and
Perth, they’ll play the classic album in full as well as a special encore of other greatest hits spanning their 26-year career. Jesus Jones will take over the Factory Theatre on Saturday March 14. Tickets go on sale Thursday November 6.
THE TIGER & ME
Melbourne’s The Tiger & Me are coming to town for a launch show to celebrate the release of their latest single, ‘Call Me On Your Own’. Taken from their forthcoming album, the track was debuted at Bigsound and has been picked up for high rotation on Double J. The upcoming launch show will mark the band’s last before heading back to the studio to record the follow-up to 2012’s The Drifter’s Dawn. See The Tiger & Me at the Factory Floor on Friday November 7.
CHRISTMAS ROCK’N’ROLL MARKETS
Sydney’s beloved Rock ‘n’ Roll & Alternative Market is gearing up for its Christmas edition with over 100 traders set to show their wares at Manning House in Sydney University. More than 50,000 vinyl LPs and 45s will be for sale, along with an array of stalls selling quality unique goods. There’s also an excellent entertainment lineup featuring the likes of Brisbane swamp rock act Six Ft Hick and rockabilly group Spurs For Jesus. The Christmas edition of the Rock ‘n’ Roll & Alternative Market is on Sunday November 23.
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SINCERELY, GRIZZLY
Sincerely, Grizzly have announced a run of shows in support of their debut album, Halves. Since forming five years ago, the Adelaide-based literature rock trio has toured with the likes of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Japandroids, Cloud Nothings and Bob Mould. With only a few singles and an EP to their name, Halves will mark the lads’ first full collection of material. They’ll play at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday December 4.
thebrag.com
Kim Churchill phopto by Sam Atkinson
Sincerely, Grizzly
BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14 :: 11
Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
THINGS WE HEAR * Which groovy music video director is stressing out whether to take on a corporate client in case it blows his ‘cool’ credibility? * Which singer is being slammed for borrowing the sound of her bestie on her new album? * Is former triple j breakfast host Tom Ballard joining 2Day FM in 2015? * Just as we start to get over Robbie Williams live tweeting the birth of his second child, we get Stan Walker on Instagram explaining an accident when doing the haka for the other artists at Soulfest. “Was awesome until I ripped my pants going too hard, nek [sic] minute all hanging out
and no undies.� * In the meantime, a guy got up onstage at Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel during the Byron Bay Surf Festival and flashed, just before headliners Bonjah went on. Bouncers threw him out, and a brawl ensued outside between his mates and security. Two people, one from each side, were knocked out cold. * Ed Sheeran “married� a dying 19-year-old Scottish fan who has a brain tumor and “proposed� to him backstage just before a Glasgow show. * From mid-November, live music venue the Hornsby Inn is offering golf games through two OptiGolf simulators – the first time in a pub. * The Adelaide Film Festival auctioned a jar of Sia’s
BEATS MUSIC TO MERGE INTO ITUNES AS DOWNLOAD SALES DROP The global consumer swing to cheap streaming has meant a shift away from more expensive downloads. Apple’s iTunes is an example. In 2013, its global revenues dipped 2.1%. This year they fell between 13-14%. The Wall Street Journal claims Apple plans to rectify the problem by folding the recently acquired Beats Music into iTunes in early 2015, as part of Apple’s move into music streaming. Record labels, worried streaming revenue may not match that of downloads, are pushing services to charge a monthly subscription and scrap free ad-supported versions. American singles download income fell 11% and albums by 14%. But a 28% jump by streaming means it now accounts for nearly one-third of the US digital sales of US$2.2 billion in 2014’s first half. A Midia
breath during a movie quiz. Meanwhile, Sia was the one music act in BRW’s Young Rich List of Australians under 40. She was at number 96 with a fortune of $20 million. * While Shannon Noll copped flak for a “bogan� version of the Australian national anthem at the Spring Carnival, Staind’s singer forgot the words to the US national anthem at the World Series. * Shimon Moore says he didn’t leave Sick Puppies to do other projects, as the other two members posted, but was sacked after tension from touring. * The Dragon Dreaming Music Festival near Yass drew 2,500 over four days. 94 of them were busted for drugs in the first two hours of a police operation.
Research report published in August found 30% of consumers are streaming. 23% of those once bought more than an album a month but no longer do. 45% of downloaders now also stream. In 2013, global recorded music made US$15 billion.
SOUNDWAVE STRIKES DEAL WITH VIRGIN Soundwave’s AJ Maddah announced that the festival has struck a deal with Virgin Australia to provide cheap fares for patrons to any of its 2015 shows in the four capital cities. The deals are available at soundwavefestival.com.
WANNA WORK AT UNIVERSAL’S RECORDING STUDIO? Universal Music Australia needs a studio coordinator to manage the daily operation of its new purpose-built recording studio in Woolloomooloo. Among requirements
are a Diploma in Audio Engineering and proficiency in Pro Tools, Ableton and Logic. See umusic.com.au/job-application/ query/5921607.
show and other events, with the potential for live performances and cross promotions. For more details, contact ds.e@live.com.au or visit facebook.com/dsenterprises.
LUCKY STIFFS: MUSICIANS DIE YOUNGER
2DAY GOING FOR YOUNGER SET?
There is a romantic notion that rock stars tend to die at 27, citing Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones. But a study by psychology and music professor Diana Kenny of the University of Sydney put a scholarly bent on this. She analysed the deaths of 12,665 predominantly male US musicians of all genres between 1950 and June this year. Result: their accidental death rates were five to ten times greater than the general US population, while suicide rates were between two and seven times higher.
All indications are that 2Day FM will reboot itself to a younger demographic, bringing in Dan Debuf and Maz Compton to do breakfast, and Jules Lund to do drive until Hamish Blake and Andy Lee take it over in July 2015. The speculation is 2Day will be rebranded as Hits, similar to Adelaide’s SAFM. In the meantime, former Nova Melbourne hosts Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek, who quit their high-rating breakfast show last year, are reuniting to do a national drive show for Kiis FM.
UNIVERSAL SIGNS LANCE FERGUSON
Music Australia’s latest Music Talks series is on the latest developments in protecting artists’ rights on the Internet. The speakers are its CEO Michael Smellie, Vanessa Hutley (Music Rights Australia), Lindy Morrison and Fiona Phillips (Australian Copyright Council). It’s on Wednesday November 19 at Erskineville Town Hall. See musicaustralia.org.au.
Universal Music Publishing Australia has signed songwriter, producer and performer Lance Ferguson to a global deal, managing director Bob Aird and director of A&R Heath Johns announced. Aside from fronting The Bamboos, the NZ-born, Melbourne-based Ferguson is a broadcaster and DJ, releasing pop/ electronica under his Lanu guise. “Lance is incredibly talented and motivated,� Johns observed.
MUSICA COPA CHARITY TEAMS ANNOUNCED Musica Copa is bringing back its EDM community football tournament for a second year to raise funds for associations like beyondblue, Headspace and St Vincent’s. This year the number of teams increases to 16, with the top three splitting $12,000 for their nominated charity. 2013 winner Sweat It Out will team with Makers. Others involved are Audiopaxx, Elefant Traks/ Umbrella, Falcona, FBi Radio, Future Classic, inthemix, Ministry of Sound, MTV, Mushroom Group, Onelove, Pulse Radio, Red Bull Music Academy, Sony, UNDR ctrl and Universal. Among the artists huffing and puffing their way around the pitch will be Bag Raiders, The Herd, Touch Sensitive, Kilter, Emoh Instead, Just A Gent, Van She, Yolanda Be Cool, Jackie Onassis and Alex Burnett. It’s on Friday December 5 at Marrickville’s Kikoff, Fraser Park.
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Shock has struck a distribution deal with two international labels. They are Memphis Industries (Paul Smith & Peter Brewis, Dutch Uncles, Menace Beach, Slug) and Holy Roar Records (More Than Life, currently touring Oz.)
MUSIC CREATORS DEMAND 80% OF STREAMING REVENUE Worldwide associations representing rights holders are pushing for music streaming services to increase the current rate of royalties from 60-70% to 80%. A study titled Fair Compensation For Music Creators In The Digital Age by Pierre-E. Lalonde criticises the current rate as too low, given how much these services need music for their business. It also states that the current split favours record labels and their artists over publishers and songwriters.
FREE WORKSHOPS FROM BUNK BED BEATS Fri 21 Nov
(NZ) with & Paua
Tue 25 Nov
Nahko & The People
Sat 29 Nov
Halil Sezai
Fri 5 Dec
Helmut Uhlmann has set up the Bunk Bed Beats studio above Mars Hill CafÊ in Parramatta’s Church Street to give opportunities for local artists to record at reasonable prices. Now the 22-year-old musician and producer is holding free workshops in the studio this month on how to get the best sounds out of their own home set-up. Visit bunkbedbeats.com.
NEW LGBTI STATION LAUNCHES Sat 13 Dec
Tue 6 Jan
Wed 7 Jan
Joey Bada$$ & Run The Jewels
Fri 9 Jan
Glass Animals
The new LGBTI radio station OX Gold arrived last week, providing “Five Decades of Divas�. It was launched with a set from the Chantoozies and Paulini playing tracks that inspired her. The station is run by the team that operates Top 40/dance station OX Live, also broadcast from Stonewall Hotel on Oxford Street, Darlinghurst.
HEAVY MUSIC WANTED FOR NEW TV SHOW Sat 10 Jan
Tycho Live
Sat 17 Jan
Inquisition
Sat 28 Feb
!"!"
Thu 12 Mar
DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist
Sports entertainment company New Age Wrestling is launching a monthly show on TV with the pilot screening soon. It is looking for unsigned or independent heavy and rock bands to submit music for the
MUSIC COPYRIGHT AND THE INTERNET PANEL
Lifelines Hospitalised: Aussie bluesman Peter D. Harper broke some ribs in a car accident in his new base of Detroit, forcing him and his band Harper to cancel Aussie dates including a set at the Wangarata Jazz & Blues Festival. Recovering: Bill Tharle, head booker at Nucleus and Dirty Pool Melbourne in the ’80s, from open-heart surgery following a heart attack. At one point, he represented the cream of Oz bands such as the Oils, Chisel, Angels and INXS. Sued: Miami’s Ultra Music Festival for US$10 million by a security guard who was trampled on by gatecrashers at the March event. In Court: Erin John Vallance, who ran onstage during The Rolling Stones’ show at Adelaide Oval, was fined $560 for disorderly behavior and banned from the venue for three months. He made it backstage dressed as a crew member and was tackled heavily by a security man as he headed towards Mick Jagger. In Court: Former X Factor contestant Johnny Ruffo lost his driver’s licence for three months after being clocked doing his 93km/h in a 60 zone. Arrested: Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight and comedian Katt Williams for allegedly stealing a paparazzo’s camera in Beverly Hills. Due to prior convictions Knight faces 30 years’ jail; Williams could be in for seven. In Court: U2 bassist Adam Clayton’s former PA, sentenced to seven years’ jail for stealing £2.2 million from him, lost a bid to appeal the conviction. Arrested: Johnny Cash’s son John Carter Cash for drunkenly stripping down to his undies after he missed a flight in Canada following a hunting trip. Died: US A&R exec Craig Aaronson, cancer. Signing Jimmy Eat World to Capitol in 1995, he joined Warner Bros Records, then was Sire’s president. He signed My Chemical Romance, The Used, Avenged Sevenfold, Taking Back Sunday, Mastodon, Serj Tankian, and Against Me!. Died: Wayne Static (born Wayne Richard Wells) of defunct platinum-selling Los Angeles metal band Static-X, 48, cause of death unknown. They last toured Australia in 2009.
ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, BUILDING 220, 122 LANG RD, MOORE PARK, SYDNEY
12 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
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BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14 :: 13
F
rom little things, big things grow. We’re talking really, really big things here, too. In 1994, roughly six months after the demise of his previous band, a guy walked into a Seattle studio for a few days and recorded an album almost entirely on his own. Fast-forward to the present day, and Dave Grohl’s humble oneman project has expanded into a fi ve-man entity that feels both omnipotent and omnipresent in the greater spectrum of rock music; one that’s gone on to span a further six albums, countless radio hits and even a theatrically released documentary. We now arrive at album number eight for the Foo Fighters, and in typical Foo Fighters style, it’s not something that’s been done by half measures. The album’s eight tracks were each recorded separately in eight different American cities, with the entire process being documented for an HBO series.
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“It would have been fun to travel around the world making this album,” adds Chris Shiflett, the lead guitarist who joined shortly after the release of the band’s third album, There Is Nothing Left To Lose. “If we’d done that, though, we’d probably still be making the album. This was just about what made the most sense to us as a band.” Sonic Highways’ intention is to reflect the feelings and emotions connected with each city. It’s a record that is steeped heavily in vintage rock sounds and textures, recalling acts like The Who and the Eagles, as well as notable major influences on Grohl such as Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty. That being said, Smear is quick to stress that the band wasn’t setting out to emulate these giants – even if songs did manage to end up there. “Between the five of us in the band, we collectively seem to love every classic rock band that there is,” he says. “Anything that came out that’s reflective of that, though, is honestly pretty accidental. That’s just us, y’know? We didn’t set out and say we were going to do a song like so and so, but we might look back on a song and realise it’s a Who rip-off. We also get people telling us what they hear in the
music, and a lot of the time it’s like, ‘Oh! I hadn’t thought of that. I can see that.’” The album is also notable for being the second Foo Fighters record to feature three guitarists. For the bulk of the band’s career, everything has worked off a two-guitar dynamic. This changed, however, with the return of Smear to the fold on the Skin And Bones tour after he initially left the band in 1997. Wasting Light was the first album to feature Grohl, Smear and Shiflett all together under the one proverbial roof, and their triangulated six-string attack plan continues to develop on Sonic Highways. “I think the trick is when we’re working on new music, we try not to step on each other’s toes,” says Shiflett. “A lot of the time, we’re hammering away on the same power chords, but we do try and map it out so that everyone is playing something different. Maybe I’ll be playing some melody line, Pat will be holding down the rhythm and Dave will be playing some chords that steer the song. It all just depends on what the song needs. It’s never really a big discussion – it’s all in the way that we play.” The visual aspect of Sonic Highways follows on from the band’s
appearance in Grohl’s Sound City documentary from last year about the famed Los Angeles studio of the same name, which itself followed on from 2011’s Foo Fighters: Back And Forth, the documentary tracking the history of the band. It feels as though every move the Foo Fighters make these days is being captured for the world to see – and it’s an aspect of the band that’s far from lost on its members. “This was a little different to the documentary,” says Shiflett. “The crew for the documentary wasn’t there all the time. This time, the cameras were on every moment we were in the studio. We just became friends with all of them, so it was pretty comfortable – although I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get to the point where I cannot notice that they’re there. I’ve always got to make sure that I’m not saying anything that I wouldn’t want my mum or my kids to hear.” “A huge part of this project has been the idea that your environment influences the music that you make,” adds Smear. “Part of our environment is constantly being miked up and having cameras around us all the time. For the third project in a row – including Sound City – it’s been like that. I think we’re pretty used to it by now,
“WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING THAT WOULD STRETCH US IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, AS WELL AS SOMETHING THAT WE WOULD ENJOY.”
It’s rare that a band is afforded such luxury that it’s able to travel around and work in more than one studio on a single release, let alone eight. Then again, when you’ve been at the top of the food chain for so long, perhaps it’s your God-given right to indulge a little. As far as the Foo Fighters are concerned, changing things up in this respect was just another way to keep themselves on their collective toes. “We’re just trying to keep it interesting and exciting for us,” says Smear. “Dave always tries to make an adventure out of it. He’s always coming up with ideas to keep the whole thing fun. We have a studio and it’s a nice studio – we could have just cut the whole thing there. We wanted to do something that would stretch us in one way or another, as well as something that we would enjoy. It’s an important thing for us.” “I wouldn’t really call this record a back-to-basics record,” adds Shiflett. “The way we did it was kind of on a grander scale, and we had a heap of special guests come in and play on it. At the end of the day, though, when I listen to it, it doesn’t sound like a difficult concept record. It sounds like the Foo Fighters. It sounds like a rock’n’roll record.” What: Sonic Highways out Friday November 10 through Roswell/ Sony With: Rise Against, The Delta Riggs Where: ANZ Stadium When: Thursday February 26
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“It started out just making lists – we were just thinking of studios we wanted to record at, all over the world,” says guitarist Pat Smear, here working on his third Foo Fighters record overall following 1997’s The Colour And The Shape and the band’s most recent LP, 2011’s Wasting Light. “From that, we narrowed it down to just US cities. We thought it should be studios that weren’t superexposed and doing really well. Maybe it would be the last chance we were going to get to work there, or maybe it had a personal meaning to someone in the band – the Seattle studio, for example, where Dave recorded the last Nirvana songs and the first Foo Fighters album.”
but I can guarantee you that it’s altered me in some way. I couldn’t tell you how, but maybe it’s got something to do with being more self-conscious.”
The Smith Street Band When The River Runs Dry By Lachlan Kanoniuk more experienced, so you’re writing about past experiences more rather than about going out and getting fucked up with your mates. There is more sadness on the record, but that also comes from being on tour so much and away from home. “I’m someone who needs to be alone sometimes, otherwise I can be an arsehole to everyone around me for no reason. I grab those chances on tour where I have ten minutes to myself to pound something into my phone or scribble something on a serviette. Some of those darker lines might come from when I’m desperate.�
D
espite perpetual touring at home and now making inroads overseas, The Smith Street Band have managed to put forth a steady stream of recorded material, harbouring potent ammunition for their raucous live performances. Recording for latest LP Throw Me In The River saw the boys retreat to a secluded location in rural Victoria, accommodating their most spacious recording yet, and imbuing frontman Wil Wagner’s penchant for shout-along anthems with potent fresh air. Ahead of the band’s European run of dates, Wagner speaks on the album’s genesis. Even with the success of The Smith Street Band’s 2013 EP Don’t Fuck With Our Dreams gaining an influx of
new followers, it’s difficult for Wagner to place Throw Me In The River as a follow-up to that release or its full-length predecessor Sunshine & Technology. “I’ve never really thought about it like that,� he says. “We recorded Don’t Fuck With Our Dreams live in a couple of days. It was all quite immediate, with recent songs all about the same topic. That was because we didn’t have time to make a record. That seems like a fun thing we can do – an album one year, then a live-recorded EP the next year when we don’t have time to make a record. I think this is the first full-length we’ve made with the band we’ve had for the past couple of years, where we’ve been a four-piece. We haven’t actually made a record like that. I wouldn’t consider it a follow-up.�
The thematic elements of Throw Me In The River often touch on darker territory, but are imbued by a perspective of past tense – with triumph winning out both lyrically and in songcraft. “I have quite bad anxiety and depression, and I’ll write when I’m in a bad state as a way of dealing with it, like a therapeutic kind of thing,� says Wagner. “I guess a lot of the darkness comes from dark times. There are a few things I might not have been that comfortable talking about on past records – sadness and depression – but I feel I should talk about it, because I’d like to make our music honest. Maybe other people can relate to it. It’s definitely darker. There are things on the record about a specific break-up, so that might be a case of looking back. I’m older and
Maintaining a steady prolific streak, Wagner manages to write whenever the opportunity arises, even under duress. “I definitely struggle with writer’s block,� he confesses. “I try to write every day, a portion of a song, either a verse or a chorus. But even if I’m writing something and it’s shit, it’s still good to keep up that habit so when something good does come, a riff or a chorus idea, I can make better use of them. Like stretching before a game of footy, you need to have those muscles ready when you have that moment of inspiration where it’s like, ‘Fuck, I need to get these lyrics down now.’ “I tend to write quite maniacally. A lot of the songs on the record started out as fucking ten-minute stories with two chords underneath them and then I’ll whittle them down. There was one song that was so long I split it into two things. Every idea I have I try to write down. I’m always trying to figure out new ways to play chords; there’s always a guitar within arm’s reach all day. I would write as much as I did even if I wasn’t in the band. It’s my hobby as well as my job. I fucking love everything about playing guitar.
I’m lucky that I enjoy it all as much as I do.� Recording in an idyllic Otways hideaway in the Victorian community of Forrest, the band relished the surrounds, bringing along fully realised songs to record. “We actually did the drums before we went out to Forrest. You can do everything in a temporary studio except drums – you need a lot of space and microphones. We did the drums at Sing Sing in Melbourne, which is a really nice studio, then took those tracks out to Forrest. All the songs were written, maybe a few lyrical changes happened. But the environment and amount of time we had was a massive thing. You could fret over a guitar part for two hours, then you could just walk up a hill, look at a kangaroo, then think, ‘Fuck, who cares?’ instead of freaking out at 3am in a studio about a guitar part you know you can play but can’t at that moment for some reason. “Recording is so fucking stressful if you let it be so fucking stressful. It was such a beautiful space – the whole town was incredible, giving us baked goods, letting us ride on the local fire truck. It was just crazy; it couldn’t have been a better country town experience. I think we’ll try and record everything we do now in that house,� Wagner says. “It was perfect.� What: Throw Me In The River out now through Poison City Records With: The Front Bottoms and Apologies, I Have None Where: Manning Bar / Factory Theatre When: Saturday November 22 / Monday November 24
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PC presents
20TH album from the prolific, iconic and Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter.
“Aussie bluesman and Irish Songstress get married, form a band and make great music together. This shabby hill country blues oozes cool�. ~ Guitar & Bass
OUT NOV. 7
NEW ALBUM “DO TELL� out on PLANET RECORDS
Fri 14th Nov Brass Monkey Cronulla with guest Shelley Fitzpatrick
Sat 15th Nov Katoomba RSL Club Katoomba with guest Chris Gillespie
Sun 16th Nov The Vanguard Newtown with guest Cilla Jane thebrag.com
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The Art Dead Or Alive By Augustus Welby
T
he last thing we heard from The Art was January’s Weirdo Superhero EP. Other than a few EP launch shows, the Sydneysiders have been missing from the local live scene this year. But unlike in 2012-13, their absence isn’t the result of a massive overseas touring schedule. The BRAG caught up with frontman Azaria Byrne to find out where they’ve been. “We reassessed everything and we just needed a break,” he says. “We needed to see our families and friends and just be in one place and stay sane. Also, we had an American visa and our guitarist [Ronnie Simmons] stayed back and [the visa] ran out, so he got married and he can’t leave America for six months or he’ll lose his green card. So we had to find a new live guitarist. It’s a bit of an adjustment.” Originally named The Follow, the band was started by Byrne almost a decade ago. It’s essentially been a non-stop run of activity ever since, which culminated with the signing of a US record deal in 2012, and subsequently repositioning themselves in the Northern Hemisphere. “In the last few years most of our shows have been sitting on tours, playing 100 shows in America and then going over to Europe,” says Byrne. “And then coming for like one show, or maybe doing a festival if we’re lucky, here in Australia.” Given this hefty workload, it’s fair enough that feelings of exhaustion necessitated the recent rest period. On top of this, slowing things down for a while gave the band a vital opportunity to reflect on its creative standing. “[Weirdo Superhero] was just a small thumbprint,” Byrne says. “It wasn’t going in the direction that we wanted – it was going too ‘rock’. We were supporting bands like Steel Panther and Faster Pussycat. That was influencing us a bit, but I don’t think that’s what The Art is. It’s a bit more indie and experimental than Marshall stack glam rock.” While Byrne isn’t entirely rapt with Weirdo Superhero’s riff-heavy rock stylings, he’s not eager to bury the release. “I’m proud of that EP as well. We just never toured it, so it’s just sitting there. We didn’t do anything with it, really. It got played on [LA mainstream radio] KROQ a few times, that’s about it. “Having that break has allowed us to focus in on what we’re doing,” he continues. “Honing it all down instead of having a bunch of random songs around. We can look at the hundred or
so songs that we’ve written and [decide] which ones would serve best the band and what our voice is. You need time to do that.” Having relinquished lead guitarist Simmons to glamorous LA living, The Art are now officially a three-piece featuring Byrne, bass player Kara Jayne and drummer Jordan McDonald. At its outset, the band was completely Byrne’s brainchild, but these days creative responsibility is shared evenly among the group.
“The first album I ever did, I recorded everything,” he says. “To be honest, that was a real lonely experience. I’m glad I got it out of my system and realised that wasn’t what I wanted to do. A lot of bands start off as a band and then they get all controlling later in their career. I think it’s a bit opposite from my perspective.”
“Over time I’ve been lucky to have great musicians,” he says. “KJ has written a bunch of new stuff that I think is very strong. Everyone writes their parts and everyone throws in songs as well. It’s good to have other colours in the sonic painting. That’s the point of being in a band – it’s a collective distribution of ideas.”
The Art are now ready to share the outcome of this year’s creative reassessment. This Saturday they’ll launch the new single ‘Dead Inside’ at Oxford Art Factory. To enhance the festivities, the event will feature nine other bands, as well as pop-up stalls and exhibitions from local artists. Byrne reveals that ‘Dead Inside’ is the first taste of a forthcoming follow-up to the band’s 2011 LP, Here Comes The War.
Parting ways with a key member could poke a gaping hole in the band’s canvas, but Byrne is assured he can make up for Simmons’ absence in the studio. However, he has no desire to reclaim creative dominance.
“I think we’ll have the new album complete by early next year, then release it and tour our arses off again, which is the fun part after all the work. It’s a bit more [like] what we were doing when we started. It’s a bit more indie
and has a real big chorus, soft/loud thing. It’s a bit more dynamic, instead of guitar-based totally.” After a year away, Byrne’s confident that The Art are back on track stylistically, but it’s not as though he’s reached his definitive creative vision. “The more you live, the more you realise that the universe is endless,” he says. “I try to think that way when I approach music as well. It’s freedom. I try to stay as free as possible. “When you’re a teenager you think you know the world, but all you really know is your shitty parents and your five school friends and your city that you grew up in. Life is subjective to the individual. We’re all experiencing the universe individually and subjectively.” With: Marlow, Fait Accompli, Bonez, Glass Ocean, Vanity Riots, Hailmary and more Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday November 8
Felicity Groom The Curator By Bob Gordon
L
ife has walked on a few steps since Felicity Groom released her first album, Gossamer, back in 2011. And they’ve all been creative, from a foray into beats and electronica in Rokwell & Groom to the birth of a baby girl, Ivy, with her life and musical partner, Andrew Ryan. All these steps have led to the same place with the release of Groom’s second album, Hungry Sky. The current single, ‘Higher, Higher, Taller, Taller’, is the eldest of the songs on the LP, but it carried the seeds of what the album would become. “There was a pretty strong idea,” says the Perth songwriter. “‘Higher, Higher, Taller, Taller’ was something that pretty much indicated a direction that I was interested in. Andrew tends to have an influential role, particularly in beats, over this album. And I was kind of keen to drive it down the more beat-oriented areas. So together and alone we were working on songs with that in mind. They were mainly based on the computer, because I’m more fond of working that way now, with MIDI, on the more beat-oriented stuff.” There’s nothing bolted down about the music on Hungry Sky, other than it was recorded for the most part in Groom and Ryan’s lounge room. As a result, while there’s a core band on the album, there were guests who played a part – musical or supportive 16 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
– in the proceedings, much like friends who would gather in a lounge room in the first place. Some of those guests just happen to be members of Tame Impala. “That was a really cool aspect and a very different one to the last album,” Groom says. “Gossamer was done in two parts; I did the band recording, then I did the bit that I called the ‘solo album’, essentially. One was the traditional Black, Black Smoke band with [producer] Dave Parkin, and the other was with Sam Ford, and it was slightly more like this one in terms of inviting anyone when I wanted to. “This album began that way, because we were just in the lounge room recording – Kevin Parker came over and helped do the first few [songs], and Jay Watson was in town and he came and played a bit of guitar and basically whoever was around would just pop in and hang out,” laughs Groom. “We’d played the tunes we’d done in the day to them, so there were various people having an influence or being a part of it, regardless of whether they were playing or not. It was a really good way of doing it, because ultimately it helped maintain more control, for me, of what was going on in the songs, which I really enjoyed because every song has an infinite amount of ways that it can be.”
Of course, in spite of making such beautiful music together, Groom and Ryan’s most amazing creation is one-year-old Ivy, who chats and giggles throughout this conversation. Having a child is a profound experience for an artist. How has it changed Groom as a creative person? “I think that will defi nitely be more prevalent in album number three,” she says, “but it’s defi nitely in this one, in the lyrical content. I was pregnant with Ivy while recording a lot of the vocals and stuff like that. So the focus on the future of this kind of crazy world we’re living in defi nitely had a bearing on the interests I was honing in on.” What’s also interesting is how, through pregnancy and postchildbirth, the physicality of singing changes. “Absolutely,” Groom says. “It was quite difficult because she was two weeks and fi ve days overdue and I was singing a lot of the Rokwell & Groom stuff onstage and fi tting in recording whenever I could, so I remember the room for lung capacity or anything was tight in there. So it was a bit of a challenge.” What: Hungry Sky out now through Spinning Top/Warner
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Jack Carty Travelling Shoes By Adam Norris
R
aised in the picturesque village of Bellingen on the Mid North Coast, wandering minstrel Jack Carty has always had a strong appreciation for place. His songs are often informed by his observations on the road, travelling across the breadth of Australia like a restless salesman toting music instead of dictionaries. Currently promoting his third album, Esk, with an exhaustive 32-gig tour, he certainly seems like a man driven to explore. “It’s a big part of how I’ve been doing my music for the last four years, and I really love it,” Carty enthuses. ‘Enthuses’ is one of those strange words that tends to get dropped in description for lack of a better substitute, but in Carty’s case it is entirely fitting. When he speaks, his love of travel comes close to overshadowing his love of the music itself. “I genuinely think it’s the way for me, because it means if you’re going out, meeting people, seeing places, having these experiences, finding the connections that you make with people – ha, I was really going to try not using the word ‘connections’ – when you’re playing a gig in their hometown, it’s really solid. It’s not just a passing interest, but something tangible. You kind of become friends, in a way, with a whole bunch of people all over the place. It means that you’re interested in them, you get a sense of where and how they live, and they’re interested in what you’re doing. That way it becomes a nice, reciprocal relationship.”
record a lot bigger. It has a wider scope, and I think it’s better for that. “What I try and focus on is just getting the song across. Once the song’s out, you never know what people are going to do with it, what experiences they’ll have with it, where it might get played. The best you can do is try to get songs to a point where you feel proud of them, where they represent what it is you’re trying to say. I still very much feel that these are my songs, but they’re also not for me to control, or say what they should be once they’re out there. At the end of it all, at its most basic, the point is to get the songs across. That never really changes.” With: Esk out now through Gigpiglet/Inertia With: Playwrite Where: Lizotte’s, Dee Why / The Commons, Newcastle / The Brass Monkey When: Thursday November 13 / Friday November 14 / Thursday November 27 And: Also appearing at Mars Hill Café, Parramatta on Friday December 12 and Venue 505 on Saturday December 13
Though he ostensibly lives in Brisbane, Carty is on the road more often than not. While it’s not quite a nomadic lifestyle – he’s also spent several years living in both Sydney and Melbourne – it comes close, and given the almost instinctual sense of freedom that the image of the open road can conjure, it’s not altogether surprising. But the life of a travelling musician has to be one of the most romanticised myths we have, fuelled by the adventure of travelling great distances in order to reach a summer festival, or by the iconic road trip exemplified in films like Almost Famous (“Hold me closer, Tony Danza…”). Suffice to say, it’s not all wine and golden gods.
“I’ve learnt that you’ve just got to duck your head in and keep working, no matter what happens. It’s about the music, about playing the songs, and that has to be the reason you’re doing it.” “The highs are incredibly, incredibly high, and the lows,” Carty laughs, “the lows are very, very low. The main thing I’ve learnt is, because you’ve got such a huge continuum when you don’t have a fixed address, are constantly moving and literally singing for your supper, I’ve learnt that you’ve just got to duck your head in and keep working, no matter what happens. It’s about the music, about playing the songs, and that has to be the reason you’re doing it. For me, that’s the only way for it to all make sense. Otherwise, you’ll lose focus on what the point was to begin with. “I think I write a lot about place. Either through travel, and how great that is, or what it’s like to be there in one place. I try to write from both sides. I end up travelling solo a fair bit, where you end up spending a lot of time by yourself. So I’m writing all the time on the road. It’s always been really important to me, that notion of home and the idea of seeing new things, staying open and interested in the world. That definitely informs how I feel and what I’m thinking about, which then informs the songs.” Though a lot of the material was born on the road, the new album also features a collaboration with Josh Pyke, with whom Carty has been touring this year, as well as the inimitable Katie Noonan. It’s quite a shift from 2012’s Break Your Own Heart, an introspective and deeply personal album that saw Carty circle the wagons and produce something that was entirely his own vision. “That record is 100 per cent me, so one of the reasons I wanted to be collaborative on this one was because I don’t want to keep making the same record over and over. I mean, I’m really proud of Break Your Own Heart, but it’s more a matter of evolution. It was such an amazing thing to be able to write a song with Josh, to write a song with Katie Noonan, work a bit more closely with members of my live band. That was all really fulfilling in a songwriting sense, but also to meet people and have nice interactions, being able to just hang out with friends, I think it really made the thebrag.com
BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14 :: 17
Anvil Hope Springs Eternal By Nicholas Atkins
A
nvil – the demigods of Canadian metal – are once more bringing the noise Down Under with their new album and November tour.
The band’s latest record, Hope In Hell, has some pretty clear messages. “When you write lyrics, your state of mind always seems to reveal itself, whether you want it to or not,” explains singer/guitarist Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow. “My surroundings at the time ended up being conveyed throughout. It’s about making your dreams come true, believing in yourself and going after something with a vengeance.” Kudlow has no time for negativity, delivering a clear message to his doubters in light of the 2009 film Anvil! The Story Of Anvil. “Of course with the onset of the movie there were a lot of naysayers that told us it wouldn’t last ten minutes. ‘Enjoy your 15 minutes while it lasts,’ those kind of sentiments. Creating songs like ‘Eat Your Words’ or ‘Shut The Fuck Up’, that’s who it was directed at.” Indeed, Anvil’s notoriety skyrocketed following the film, a Spinal Tap-esque rockumentary about their rise, fall and semi-rise-again. “We certainly didn’t win the millions of fans that our good friends in AC/ DC got, but people know who I am nonetheless,” says Kudlow. “Are they
going to buy an Anvil record because they know who I am? Probably not.” The unfaltering commitment and positivity displayed by Kudlow and the boys gave the band and the movie so much appeal, and meant Anvil could connect with a broad spectrum of new fans. “Some of the demographics of people that liked the movie are off the charts,” the singer says. “We were standing outside a fast food restaurant in Chicago a couple of years ago and a limousine pulls over to the side of the road and this rich lawyer pulls out his camera and starts taking pictures of Robb [Reiner] and me and then asking for an autograph. Five minutes later a garbage truck pulls over and a 200-pound black guy gets out from behind the wheel with his cell phone going, ‘Can I take a picture, dude?’ and we’re going, ‘How does that work?’” Kudlow’s friendship with his drummer and best mate Reiner was laid bare in the movie, offering an intimate picture of two personalities that complete one another. “We really take our friendship for granted. Not in a negative way, but we just kind of think that everybody’s got a buddy that they spend their life with. It wasn’t till really after the movie that we came to realise that we’re
not that common. We look at it as a gift, and we definitely have a deeper appreciation for what we have.” Anvil will always be known as the band that should have made it but never did, and having played together since 1978, they’ve been lauded as the inspiration for metal bands from Anthrax to Slayer. “The first letdown and failure was after our third record,” says Kudlow. “We created a record that was 20 years ahead of its time. All the labels should have been interested but we were not really at the right place at the right time and they passed.” Anvil’s lifeblood and reason for being has always been playing live for their diehard fans. “It is addictive. The endorphins that are released in your bloodstream from the excitement and the feeling that you’re in a room full of people that love you is overwhelming. Those are the moments I am most alive – that and when I’m having sex with my wife. It’s hard to say which is more enjoyable.” What: Hope In Hell out now through The End Where: The Hi-Fi / Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle When: Sunday November 9 / Monday November 10
NOFX Stranger Than Fiction By David James Young “There’s plenty of stuff to be angry about,” says Melvin emphatically. “Just in politics itself, in the political arena, there’s so many fucked up things that the banks are doing. They’ve been doing them for a long time as well. There’s big pharmaceutical companies trying to run shit. The agriculture and the food industry are trying to wipe things out … everything’s just fucking nuts here. President Obama has got a lot on his plate. It feels like now, more than ever, the President of the United States has more to contend with. More than any President in the past.” Of course, when you’ve been around as long as NOFX have, a lot of information tends to build up – particularly from an online perspective, where countless stories and so-called facts fill even the most official of sources, Wikipedia. So, let’s get a few things clear. Born on July 9, 1966? “Yes, sir!” says Melvin. His dreadlocks change every time NOFX play a show? “That’s completely false.” He can play the accordion? “Oh, that’s actually true! Listen!” The phone drops, and seconds later the unmistakable creaking noise of an accordion comes down the line. “I mean, I can’t say how well I play, but it’s true!” Guess that one’s official, then. “I’m actually going to be playing some accordion on the next album,” he says, “and I’m gonna play some live for the first time ever!”
T
hey’ve been raising hell, pissing off neighbours and parents alike and delivering countless raisedfist anthems for longer than you’ve been alive. What’s more, NOFX are far from done. There are still places to go, people to infuriate and videos to edit. That last one’s not a joke, either – the band has busied itself lately with a long-awaited sequel to its 2008 documentary series, Backstage Passport. There are plenty more stories to tell from the seemingly never-ending touring that NOFX undertake.
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The second season of Backstage Passport isn’t just a look at the places NOFX are playing and the shows themselves – it’s a look at everything that goes along with a life on the road. It certainly takes the good with the bad, and isn’t afraid to show when things go sour.
“We played a show in Jakarta, and we were told by the promoter that he’d meet us in the morning after the show before our flight to Manila,” says Melvin. “He said he’d have the money for the show. The next morning, he didn’t turn up. We had to fly to the next show, but we didn’t know what to do! The guy owed us a lot of money. We got ripped off a couple of times by a couple of people. Luckily, we got it all on film. It’s all out there.” If that wasn’t enough, plans for the band’s 13th studio album are in motion, with hopes to have it released sometime in the second quarter of 2015. To top it all off, once you’re done with the new episodes of Backstage Passport and cranking the follow-up to 2012’s Self Entitled, you can take a load off and settle in with a
scintillating book – written by NOFX, of course. “We’re going to be releasing a book,” announces Melvin. “It’s an autobiography of the band. Right now, it’s about 300 pages in. We’re telling our own story as it goes along. It builds from the beginning of the band, with [Fat] Mike and me. It’s a pretty good read so far!” Aside from their music and their bratty antics, NOFX have come to be extremely well-known for their openly liberal politics, as documented on their album The War On Errorism and songs such as ‘Idiots Are Taking Over’, ‘You’re Wrong’, and perhaps most famously, ‘Franco Un-American’. That’s not even mentioning the Rock Against Bush movement that the band pioneered some ten years ago. So, do NOFX maintain the rage? You better believe it.
With: Frenzal Rhomb, Local Resident Failure Where: Enmore Theatre When: Wednesday November 5 and Friday November 7 And: Also appearing at Panthers, Newcastle on Saturday November 8
thebrag.com
Xxxx
“We have done a lot of touring over the lifetime of the band,” says guitarist and founding member Eric Melvin, in what is potentially the biggest understatement you’ll hear escape his mouth. “We were wondering where else in the world we could go that we
haven’t played yet. ‘If we’re gonna go, let’s bring some cameras along and film it.’ We did some shows in Israel, South Africa, Russia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea – some of those places we did before anyone else. We’re the only band I know that’s done St. Petersburg or Moscow, and we played Beijing before any band that I know played there. It was cool to go these places and film it – we were bringing what was happening right to the people that obviously couldn’t be there themselves.”
Lastly: is it true that a NOFX album from 1992 was originally going to be called White Trash, Two Kikes And A Spic before Melvin’s own mother intervened and threatened to tell his grandfather; the title then changing to White Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean? “Well, that’s both true and false, if that’s at all possible,” says Melvin. “It’s true that we said that, but it’s not true that it actually happened.” With that, he’s gone. The cosmic ballet and the hilarious, bizarre enigma that is NOFX goes on.
Guy Pearce The Music Man By Augustus Welby
T
o say there’s a general feeling of ambivalence towards actors embarking on music careers is a massive understatement. Scarred by one too many self-indulgent (30 Seconds To Mars) or purely superfluous (Scarlett Johansson’s record of Tom Waits covers) projects, news of a screen star’s transition into the world of song commonly garners a collective cringe. Australian actor par excellence Guy Pearce will release his debut LP Broken Bones this week. Pearce has been writing and recording music for more than 25 years. However, the prevalent actorcum-musician stigma stopped him showcasing this side of his personality until now. “I think any doubts that I had about my music were amplified by the sheer fact that I only ever seemed to receive cynicism,” Pearce says. “Whether that was people saying, ‘Aren’t you famous enough?’ or ‘We don’t want another bloody actor out there releasing a single’ or ‘Oh right, you’re just cashing in, are you?’” Pearce’s musical proclivity hasn’t exactly been a closely guarded secret. Over the years he’s occasionally been cast in musical theatre
productions, and back in 1991 he penned multiple songs for Australian director Frank Howson’s film Hunting. Despite this, when the 47-year-old acting maestro dropped the single ‘Storm’ in August, it came as a surprise to just about everyone. “I kept coming back to my thoughts and feelings about it all the time,” he says. “I would go, ‘Look, releasing it’s not important, it’s really just about the making of it and the playing of it. People are right, I don’t need to be in the public eye any more.’” Pearce’s initial breakthrough was in the mid1980s, when he took the role of Mike Young on classic Aussie soap Neighbours. A number of his onscreen comrades would soon cross over into mainstream pop music, most notably Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. Fear of looking like yet another one in the pack dissuaded Pearce from making his music publicly available. “I buried myself into a bit of a fearful hole,” he says. “So I promptly took myself out of that equation and said, ‘Sorry. Don’t worry, I won’t do that.’ And I just never had the confidence to come back from that.” It’s 26 years since Pearce’s stint as a soap star. In the ensuing period, he’s become one of the most versatile and reliable actors this country’s ever produced. Track nine on Broken Bones, ‘Someone Else’, was actually conceived in his career’s nascent period, but the record’s stylistic persuasion shows that scoring a gig on Top Of The Pops has never been the motivation for his songwriting. Across ten thoughtfully constructed mid-tempo rock tunes, Pearce proves he’s an eloquent melodist with a husky vocal timbre, recalling the likes of Mark Lanegan and Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones. “[Songwriting] just means so much to me. It’s really powerful,” he says. “I was going to say it’s therapeutic, but that makes it sound like you just turn to it when you need some therapy. But it’s always been a really strong driver in who I am.” Indeed, even though Pearce once decided against sharing his compositions with the wider public, that didn’t stifle his creativity. To compile Broken Bones, he scoured through an extensive song archive, amassed over the last three decades. “It’s just something that comes out of you that you can’t stop,” he says. “I’ve just carried on making the music, but no-one’s ever heard it. I kept it to myself, really. As important as acting is for me, as far as expressing who I am and what I get to investigate – as far as behaviour and personality and psychology – music’s equally, if not more, important.” In a certain respect, the common dismissal of actors’ musical projects implies a belief that just like we’d prefer rappers to keep rapping, painters to keep painting and plumbers to keep fixing toilets, actors should continue to focus on acting alone. Pearce admits he’d internalised this attitude. “As you mature and go through things, you realise all those habits that you have that mean you’re stuck in this psychological place as a 12-year-old and you’re stuck in this psychological place as a 15-year-old. You spend your life trying to get yourself unstuck from those things. This was just another one of those things that was keeping me stuck in a certain place.” So what was the turning point? Broken Bones was recorded in two stints. The first was in 2011, at drummer and producer Michael Barker’s New Zealand studio. Pearce then completed the record over the last couple of years, in between film projects, at his Melbourne home studio. Pearce met Barker (who’s drummed for John Butler Trio and the reunited Split Enz) in 2009 when they were both working on the Melbourne Theatre Company production Poor Boy. It was Barker’s influence that allowed Pearce to overcome his longstanding apprehension. “Michael said to me, ‘You’re actually doing yourself damage by repeating this story that you don’t need to get this music out. What’s the worst that can happen?’ And I said, ‘That everyone’s going to look at me and go, “Oh, this is awful, why did you do this?”’ And he said, ‘Well if people don’t like it, it’s not for them.’ “He made me realise that all of that was kind of bullshit, which was very gratifying and hard to hear and made me nervous about the prospect.” What: Broken Bones out Friday November 7 through MGM With: Dancing Heals, Emma Anglesey Where: The Basement When: Wednesday November 19
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BRAG’s guide to film, theatre, comedy and art about town
arts in focus
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arts frontline
free stuff
arts news...what's goin' on around town...with Chris Martin, Jacob Mills and Debbie Shankar
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
five minutes WITH
TOMMY DEAN
and now with these people in this room. Last night’s gig doesn’t count, tomorrow is an eternity away and tonight is the only show that matters. Comics that are in the moment are a joy to watch and really light up an audience. You’ve been in Sydney for many years now – are you happy to call it home? Thrilled! To daily awake in one of the greatest cities in the world… how could I not be happy? The city is abuzz, has some of the greatest rooms in comedy and the audiences feel ‘true’. If you get an applause break here you know you’ve earned it!
Y
ou’re hosting a showcase for up-andcoming comics at the Harold Park Hotel. Apart from good jokes, what makes a good comedian? There is no template, but the things I like to see are confidence in character and material. A sense of ‘now’ is key, as the true beauty of stand-up is this set can only happen here
DEAD TIME
How much easier or harder do you find writing about Australian culture when you weren’t born and raised here, but now know the country very well? Comedy is always easier as the outside observer. Stand-ups are the wallflowers, the kid in the last row of class cracking wise about what is happening in the middle. This makes things in a sense easier for me as everything is outside my original ‘normal’. Plus there is the excitement to discover and play with so many new ideas, places, ways of life – it is a revelation. Add in the crazy change three kids have wrought and I feel I have a lifetime of material to mine here.
One of your better-known bits is about cricket – are you looking forward to the season starting this summer? Indeed! It refreshes the material if nothing else! Cricket is a great theme to the mood of Australia. The quiet hum of commentary backgrounding summer days is beautiful. And as I come from a culture that rarely plays sport with the world, I never tire of the joy of bringing people together under a common absurdity.
THE WORST KEPT SECRETS
Looking forward to 2015, what does it have in store for you? Will you be on the festival circuit again? I am a week at a time guy. I read the diary on Sunday and do what has to be done to get to the next Sunday. There is a lot of 2014 left! That said, 2015 may see some more festival action. The kids are getting older so I may finally be able to slip away for a few weeks. Other than that, I’m always hoping something big is on the other end of a phone call. Still waiting for radio to take advantage of me…
The Worst Kept Secrets is a political drama about the reality of the life behind the public persona. What you see is not always what you get in Thomas De Angelis’ poignant take on the Australian political system as he cuts through the hubris of contemporary politics to highlight the fact we all have our own flaws. With a cast that includes Paige Leacey (Rosa, After Luxemburg), Lauren Pegus (True Face) and more, The Worst Kept Secrets is gearing up to be a thoughtful insight into the state of Australian politics, as well as the urge for more that exists in us all.
What: The Laugh Stand – Up-And-Comers Showcase Launch Where: Harold Park Hotel When: Tuesday November 11
It’s running from Tuesday November 18 – Saturday November 22 at the Seymour Centre, and we have a double pass to give away. To be in the running, head to thebrag. com/freeshit and tell us the silliest secret you’ve ever kept from somebody.
2014 NIDA Directors
THE NEXT BIG THINGS
The shocking reality of Australia’s anti-terrorism climate will be brought into the light with Lace Balloon’s maiden production, Dead Time. Based on the confronting, traumatic and incredible story of Dr. Mohamed Haneef, Dead Time recounts the events surrounding the arrest of an innocent man in 2007 under Australia’s new anti-terrorism laws. The play follows his life, prosecution and treatment. Furthermore, it investigates the nature of freedom, terrorism, racism, identity and ethics. Ultimately, Dead Time aims to give the audience an insight into the reality of imprisonment, uncertainty and entrapment, while drawing on themes of resilience and the endurance of the human spirit. Dead Time runs from Thursday November 27 – Sunday December 7 at the Tap Gallery.
The newest wave of aspiring directors who have achieved their Masters of Fine Arts at NIDA will be showcasing their graduate work for 2014 this month. The Directors’ 2014 Productions are a series of vibrant and thoughtprovoking works that range from fresh adaptations of classic stories to new Australian plays and original interpretations of German theatre. Dr. Egil Kipste, head of directing at NIDA, says the season delves into a number of different performance practices, experimenting with genres as diverse as circus, fi lm, cabaret and opera. The showcase will be happening at the NIDA Theatres in Kensington from Wednesday November 26 – Saturday November 29. Tickets and further information can be found at nida.edu.au.
Dead Time
AC/DC BOOK LAUNCH
To celebrate AC/DC’s 40-year recording history, Grand Days Books, Records & Collectables and the Old Growler are hosting Rock Or Bust In The X, a night dedicated to Acca Dacca. The event is based around the recent book release of The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC by local author Jesse Fink and the work of photographer Philip Morris, who documented the band’s rise to fame. A Q&A with two of the band’s early drummers, Tony Currenti and Noel Taylor, will kick off the night before some AC/DC-themed trivia downstairs at Old Growler to round things off. It all goes down on Thursday November 6.
’50s to ’80s, with audiences dressing up to a theme. The first screening is of the infamous Number 96 for its 40th anniversary. Backdoor
Cinema launches on Sunday November 9 at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville. For more info, head to backdoorcinema.com.au.
BACKDOOR CINEMA
The brand new Backdoor Cinema is set to launch in Sydney with host Andrew Mercado, who has been talking about movies on TV and radio since 1999. He was Kerrie-Anne’s ‘Movies Man’ on Channel Nine for seven years, and has been a regular on Foxtel’s Channel [V], Max and Showcase. Backdoor Cinema will showcase movies from four different eras of film, the God Help The Girl
TEDXSYDNEY 2015
TEDxSydney
The ever-popular TEDx event will return to town next year in the form of TEDxSydney, again being held at the Sydney Opera House. After a successful 2014 iteration which attracted 2,700 visitors to the Concert Hall and 35,000 live streams, TEDxSydney’s 2015 program will take place during the Sydney Writers’ Festival and on the eve of Vivid Sydney. TEDxSydney will take over the Sydney Opera House on Thursday May 21.
BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL
21 titles including 13 Australian premieres will be on show at this year’s Emirates British Film Festival, kicking off this week. World War I epic Testament Of Youth starring Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina) and Kit Harrington (Game Of Thrones) opens the festival, while The Imitation Game, which tells the gripping tale of coding pioneer Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), who was instrumental in cracking Nazi Germany’s Enigma code during the darkest days of World War II, is set to close the festival. Also on show is Six From The ’60s, a special retrospective which captures that era of British filmmaking. Included in the showcase are The Italian Job (1969), If… (1968), and A Hard Day’s Night (1964). The British Film Festival is on at Palace Norton Street in Leichhardt and Palace Verona in Paddington from Thursday November 6 – Wednesday November 26. Check out britishfilmfestival.com.au for more information and tickets. xx
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LATE-NIGHT HIP HOP FREESTYLE SESSIONS EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT TILL 2AM
www.foundry616.com.au The State Library of NSW presents
ray chen
with timothy young Jet-setting virtuoso Ray Chen is one of the brightest stars in the new generation of violinists. Joined by pianist Timothy Young, this program has all the spectacular fireworks you could wish for, from elegant and subtle melodies to exuberant acrobatic repertoire. MON 10 NOV 7PM & SAT 15 NOV 2PM CITY RECITAL HALL ANGEL PLACE, SYDNEY
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“From the first notes there was no doubt of being in the presence of something special” THE STRAD
Under 30? Tickets are just $30*!
A free exhibition until 10 May 2015 Galleries open daily – 8 pm on Thursdays
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Macquarie Street Sydney (next to Parliament House) (02) 9273 1414 www.sl.nsw.gov.au Find us on
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Ray Chen
La Bayadère
[CLASSICAL] Instrumental As Anything By Adam Norris
I
f you’re looking for the rock star of classical music, Ray Chen is your man. He has been touring the world since he was eight (he’s now a decrepit 25), picking up awards and accolades aplenty along the way. Sponsored by Armani, Chen has also been the proud possessor of not one, but three Stradivarius violins. Between recording for Sony Masterworks and developing his social media following (1.5 million on SoundCloud alone), Chen will be undertaking his first national tour of Australia throughout November. Not bad for a guy who started out thinking the whole thing was just a game. “Well, in the beginning you have to think of it like a game,” Chen laughs. “It’s not something that is meant to be at all serious; you don’t think of it as a career. You just think of [the violin] as an enjoyment, almost like a toy. As I got more and more interested in it, more passionate, I realised that it really has to be a self-nurtured thing. It never works out well for either party if it’s forced. I mean, in very, very rare cases you get some prodigy who is like that, but that’s more of a freak product. Most of the time it’s usually the child will end up quitting, and there’s no pleasure in it.” Of particular interest are the various histories associated with Stradivarius instruments, of
which Chen, having performed with the 1721 Macmillan, the 1708 Huggins, and currently the 1715 Joachim, is now a part. Given their prestige – being passed from hand to hand throughout some of the most tumultuous events in world history, finding themselves in the lives of so many fascinating people – they almost seem fictitious, as though they are a plot device linking different stories together. “It’s incredible,” Chen admits. “Right now I’m very excited to be playing the Joachim Stradivarius. Joseph Joachim was personal friends with Brahms. Brahms’ violin concerto was dedicated to him, and so was the Bruch Violin Concerto. And I mean, this is his instrument. To think that his hands have played this, and that it was perhaps even played by Brahms, that this instrument was in his presence, it’s just mind-boggling. It’s quite intimidating actually, and very humbling. If I make a mistake I can’t blame it on the instrument, the notes are already there. But these violins are all very different, they all have their personalities.” Chen is also convinced that the subtleties in sound and character are distinct from violin to violin, and that were you to compare the instruments side by side, the differences would be clear.
Ray Chen
With: Timothy Young Where: City Recital Hall Angel Place When: Monday November 10 and Saturday November 15 And: Also appearing at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music on Saturday November 8
[DANCE] Stan’s Stories By Adam Norris
S
tanton Welch wanted nothing to do with dancing throughout his adolescence. Having parents who are widely respected as two of Australia’s premier dancers likely played a large part in this decision. After all, few teenagers want to grow up and be their parents. The real surprise isn’t that Welch would eventually drift into the world of dance, rising through the ranks until reaching his current position as artistic director at the Houston Ballet and resident choreographer for the Australian Ballet, but that he didn’t follow through on his rebellion and become an investment banker or neurosurgeon. Plus, his name is something straight from an Elmore Leonard story. “Well, it’s an interesting thing,” Welch laughs as he recounts the genesis of his name. “My mother’s side of the family had all been Stansomething. They’d been a Stanislaw, a Stanley, a regular old Stan. My parents were on tour dancing in America, where Stanton is a rather common surname, and they saw it on a gravestone and liked the sound. It was a name they hadn’t heard before, and look, it had a ‘Stan’ in it. As a child I hated it, of course. Who wants a name from a gravestone?” When one thinks of a dancer’s upbringing, the immediate image that springs to mind is the young child pirouetting before a mirror, practising their batterie and port de bras with obsessive zeal. Welch, however, was able to delay his induction to the family business for quite some time. While this is possible for a ballerino, girls don’t quite have such a period of grace. “I think certainly for a young lady it would be difficult to start dancing after the age of, say, ten or 12,” Welch says. “But men, as long as they’re active, already limber and have the right physicality for it, it’s achievable. It’s the pointe shoe that tends to eliminate the girls from learning late. If a young lady wanted to
learn contemporary dance that isn’t en pointe and started late…” He gives the idea some thought. “It just depends on how active you are. I was always a sporty kid. I did gymnastics, I swam a lot, so I had a level of flexibility and coordination that really helped. I think that’s why Australians in general are such strong dancers, because sport is such a part of our childhood. You almost can’t be an Australian and not play cricket as a boy at Christmas gatherings.” With La Bayadère, Australian audiences can get a first-hand taste of this notoriously complicated production. Mounting a ballet that features some of the dance world’s most recognisable scenes – notably, ‘The Kingdom Of The Shades’ – and strikes a balance between the restrictions of an established performance and delivering fresh interpretation is something of which Welch is keenly conscious. “With each ballet I feel it’s going to be a little bit different. With Bayadère, I really focus throughout on the dancing. For example, there are instances where we stop moving the story and someone walks forward to perform a variation. In a ballet like Romeo & Juliet, which I’m doing here in Houston, it’s the opposite of that. There is no break in the story, it unfolds like a play. But Bayadère was very different. ‘Here is the Dance of the Four Girls, now have some acting,’” Welch chuckles. “Here I like to think when you watch the ballet the story is clearly told, but also quickly told. Dance is just as expressive as acting. It’s just in a different form.” What: La Bayadère Where: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House When: Thursday November 6 – Saturday November 22
La Bayadère photo by Jeff Busby
“I firmly believe that one can hear the difference, but it will always depend on the player. There is a famous Heifetz story, when one lady said to him, ‘Mr. Heifetz, the sound of your violin is so beautiful.’ And he held up the violin to his ear and said, ‘Funny. I don’t hear anything.’ And I do think to some extent, yes, that’s true. Well, being a violinist myself of course I’d say that,” he laughs. “But I have to credit the instrument a great deal. Between Strads it’s a matter of different tastes, different personalities, some more preferable to others. These things are like finding a partner, and in a sense that’s exactly what your relationship to an instrument is. When you’re performing onstage you need someone you can trust, someone who you know very well. And that’s your violin, even though it’s strange to be talking about them like this. They’re more than just inanimate objects.”
La Bayadère
A Christmas Carol [THEATRE] House Of Humbug By Adam Norris
“T
hey are Man’s and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”
Yes, ’tis the season for gravy and graves, and Belvoir has stepped up to the plate with one of the classics of seasonal theatre. Yet of the above quotes, only one is taken from the source. The second hails from The Muppet Christmas Carol, and is almost certainly the more familiar for a generation raised with a knowledge of Dickens’ name, if not his actual writing. As Belvoir resident director Anne-Louise Sarks describes it, there is quite a gulf between what we remember, and what we actually know. “I think the truth is that people don’t actually know this story all that well,” Sarks says. “When I went back to the 24 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
Reinventing a tale that so many feel they are familiar with is a unique endeavour. The language of Dickens is unmistakably evocative, but certainly far from contemporary phrasing. Additionally, there is the element of surprise (not bad for a story that first appeared in 1843) when faced with an audience which only thinks it knows what to expect. Having recently wrapped her season directing Nora, Sarks also isn’t shy of taking on vintage texts. “I’m not afraid of taking on classics,” she explains, “but the thing here is that it’s a very different challenge. It’s a novella, and so has to be reimagined in order to be brought to the stage. I wanted to create a work that spoke to an audience in a way the book spoke to me, and what really struck me about this play weren’t the things I thought I already knew – things like Scrooge
being a miser, the magic of the spirits – but the very deep, rich emotional journey that is at the core, this incredible story about a man who has nothing but remorse for every decision that accumulated to make him who he is, and who wants desperately to change his life. I thought that would be a very beautiful thing to bring to the stage, and starts to touch on why it is we come together at this time of year and what that might mean.” It is also interesting to note how the original novella had its genesis. Were it not for a belief in the basic kindness of people – and a keen understanding of how society is shaped by its entertainment – A Christmas Carol may have been a markedly different beast. “The story is, instead of A Christmas Carol, Dickens was going to write a political pamphlet about social injustice, about the poor during Christmas, until he realised that there was a much more powerful way to engage people and to tell this story. To create change, he understood that empathy was necessary. So he wrote this book,
Miranda Tapsell in A Christmas Carol believing in the power of art, and I don’t think most people have any idea that that’s what is really behind it. It’s something that doesn’t have much to do with it being a big classic. It’s just a story that really moves you that you want to share.”
What: A Christmas Carol Where: Belvoir Street Theatre When: Saturday November 8 – Wednesday December 24 thebrag.com
A Christmas Carol - Miranda Tapsell photo by Alex Craig xxx
Familiar? No? How about this: “Doomed, Scrooge! You’re doomed for all time! Your future is a horror story, written by your crime!”
book I thought I knew what the story was, and I was quite surprised at how dark it was, how complex. I think people have a sense of what this story is, and I think that’s potentially as a result of versions like The Muppets’, as a result of the condensed, simple archetypes that have come out of this story.”
Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen around town ■ Film
INTERSTELLAR In cinemas Thursday November 6 With Interstellar, director Christopher Nolan has created the 2001: A Space Odyssey this generation deserves; a topdown built Masterpiece™ that attempts to merge Kubrick’s galvanising, philosophically inclined cosmic spectacle with Spielberg’s mass-appeal sentimentality. In both regards, the film comes up short, leaving the gulf between its naked ambition and actual results on display like a gaping black hole.
metabolism, libido, or anything that might potentially nullify the universal resonance of the ideas they’re able to articulate so effortlessly (here, the dialogue is tin-eared as ever). This is detrimental to a film that repeatedly hammers home the importance of love, whilst only depicting it in abstracted, broad strokes; aside from one powerful scene that tests and proves McConaughey’s recently unearthed acting prowess, it’s up to Hans Zimmer’s overbearing, bowelloosening music score to do the emotional heavy lifting, and it can’t disguise the sheer dopiness of the entire package. It’s also another of Nolan’s films in which the main character’s deceased wife is used like a trump card, and the sentient women in the film – particularly Hathaway’s conveniently irrational scientist – don’t fare much better.
Like another of Nolan’s touchstone films – 1983’s The Right Stuff – this three-hour film begins with a lengthy portion on Earth, as farmer and former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) frets about the future of his children while famine ravages the planet. Mankind’s only hope lies in Michael Caine (playing Michael Caine), a physicist who unites Cooper with a team of astronauts (played by Anne Hathaway, Wes Bentley and David Gyasi) to test the (sometimes literal) waters in the farthest reaches of the galaxy for inhabitable, hospitable land, even if it means abandoning his loved ones forever.
Between the distracting guest star appearances, subplots and over-explanatory gasbagging, Nolan finds time for some truly spectacular interludes of interplanetary lightshow that distinguish Interstellar as his most aesthetically striking film to date, aided in no small part by the tactile cinematography of wunderkind Hoyte van Hoytema (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Her). It’s here that Interstellar excels, even as it remains Earthbound in every other regard.
Characters in Nolan’s films tend to be vague ciphers, who exist in a realm beyond
Ian Barr
■ Theatre
Calpurnia Descending
CALPURNIA DESCENDING Playing at Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre Company until Saturday November 8
Calpurnia Descending photo by Brett Boardman
Calpurnia Descending is unlike anything else currently playing in Sydney, and miles away from anything you’d expect to see at the STC. It’s commendably mad; a revue show with main-stage polish, but one that still manages to retain the raucously unpredictable spirit of the wine cellar. The characters and plot are old as the hills, lovingly so. An ingénue with big dreams (Ash Flanders) discovers a reclusive diva (Paul Capsis) who’s been shuttered away in her Manhattan apartment for ten long years. A gravel-voiced impresario (the inestimable Sandy Gore) and a hotshot young director (Peter Paltos) can’t believe their good fortune: the star in abeyance is just the ticket they need to get out of the financial doldrums. Soon, of course, the ingénue draws the eye of the director, much to the chagrin of the insecure leading lady, without whose involvement the entire show will fall through. Calpurnia is the latest from Melbourne duo Sisters Grimm, consisting of Flanders and Declan Greene. They wrote the show together, and Greene directs. Parodying movie melodramas is their thing, on a formal level as well as a linguistic one. Calpurnia is projected onto a screen for almost the entire second half, the actors
not seen in the flesh at all, but one of its marvels is that it still feels like a pure shot of theatre, vital in its sense of immediacy and spontaneity. Live video seems to be the de rigueur theatrical device these days, but here for once it’s a stylistic choice that feels inextricable from content. It’s a bold gambit but also fitting, given the inspirations to which this show pays homage: films like Sunset Boulevard, divas like Bette Davis, the hard-boiled dialogue of vintage noir.
Keanu Reeves in John Wick ■ Film
At a tight 100-or-so minutes (packed with as much fast action as it is creative ideas), John Wick feels like one of the strongest action thrillers in years.
sketching out Wick’s past in the opening scenes, the film dives right into the stylish, heartpounding hyperviolence that Reeves was born to play. The slick direction (handled here by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch) and sharp script do a great job of setting up narrative dominos before letting the hero blow them away.
The film follows the titular John (Keanu Reeves), a former hitman who comes out of retirement after his dog (a final gift from his late wife) is killed by the arrogant heir to the biggest crime syndicate in New York (played by Alfie Allen). After quickly but effectively
If you’re in it for the top-notch action, John Wick does not disappoint. The choreography, aesthetic and soundtrack all come together in exhilarating fashion. There are even some fun co-stars (including Willem Dafoe and Adrianne Palicki) in the mix who do a great job of
JOHN WICK In cinemas now
giving Wick a run for his money – helping Keanu’s lead seem incredibly badass without ever feeling truly invincible. The film also proves quite adept at world-building, with cool concepts like a neutral safe zone hotel and a specialised gangster cleaning service not only fleshing out the setting but also adding some great comic relief. Though the second half of the movie may fatigue some, John Wick still stands out as one of the best action flicks of the year. Fergus Halliday
five minutes WITH
LELAND KEEN, DIRECTOR OF THE WAY THINGS WORK
Most of all, Calpurnia is zany fun. At one point in the first half the lights went up and a voice announced that there was a technical problem. Everybody looked around, grinning – this was surely yet another meta gag. I’m still not entirely certain. A bit later a giant rat ambled onto stage, danced a jig, told the audience to stay in school, and shuffled off. It’s that kind of show. Harry Windsor
See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews
Arts Exposed What's in our diary...
Newtown Festival 2014 Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Sunday November 9 Newtown Independence Day is here. We already knew the Sydney arts and music scene’s favourite suburb was a little… different… but now Newtown has made it ‘official’. That’s the cheeky spirit behind Newtown Festival 2014, and while there’s plenty of music on the cards this year – artists like Deep Sea Arcade, Astronomy Class and Donny Benet – there’s also heaps of other entertainment on offer, from the writers’ tent to the Green Living Centre’s Eco-Zone, the live art hub, and too many stalls to count. It’s free entry, but make sure you arrive well before the 5pm lockout. For more info and the full program, visit newtowncentre.org/festival.
T
ell us about the concept behind The Way Things Work. The play is a black comedy looking at the world of mates and corruption by Melbourne playwright Aidan Fennessy. It follows three scenes and six characters, all played by two performers, and looks at the difference between special concrete and normal concrete. Why is the relationship between politics and big business so fruitful an area for drama and comedy? I think it is the size of the characters in real life that it has to draw on. They are larger than life and their situations are so farcical that they make for wonderful drama. Especially in the
current climate with Royal Commissions and the ICAC starting a new inquiry every second week.
It’s incredibly challenging for them and really amazing to watch as they transform through each of them.
It must be particularly special to present the world premiere of this Australian play? It is. The Rock Surfers has a proud history of producing new writing. And this play is our first full commission, which has been made possible by CJZ (Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder).
Can life imitate art? What do you think the politicians and business types of Australia can learn from The Way Things Work? I think there is a lesson in there for them but I’m not sure that many of them would be that keen to learn it. You get the criminals you pay for.
Introduce us to the cast – who’ll be helping us navigate this world? Ashley Lyons and Nicholas Papademetriou are the two performers. They play all six characters in the play, moving from scene to scene.
What: The Way Things Work Where: Bondi Pavilion Theatre When: Wednesday November 5 – Saturday November 29
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bread&thread Food & Fashion News...with June Murtagh
FLAVOURS OF THE WORLD
Did someone say ‘free ice-cream’? That’s right, for four days this month, the Flavours Of The World pop-up is offering up free scoops of Gelato Messina’s finest in the spirit of celebrating all things delightful. Travel insurance company InsureandGo will be hosting the event, and sticking to the theme of good summer vibes, it’ll also be giving attendees the chance to win return flights to Bali. With the sun in the sky, the holidays creeping up and free ice-cream at your fingertips, the only thing you’ll need to worry about is what flavour to go for. You’ll be able to pick up your scoops of goodness at Level 2, Westfield Pitt Street from Thursday November 6 – Sunday November 9.
PIZZAPERTA
As if the culinary lineup at The Star couldn’t get any better, an open-air Italian pizzeria and bar has now been added into the mix. Renowned Italian chef Stefano Manfredi and restaurateur Julie Manfredi Hughes will open the restaurant, with Australian Ambassador for Neapolitan Pizza Gianluca Donzelli taking on the role of head chef. So what sets Pizzaperta apart from other pizzerias? It will use fine Italian flours and introduce a dough making technique that is yet to be seen in Australia in order to create woodfired pizzas that are refined and authentic. Accompanying this will be a fine selection of Italian-influenced cocktails and a unique wine list. Pizzaperta opens on Thursday November 20.
BONDY’S BRINGS BACK THE ’80S
Feeling nostalgic? Or maybe just in the mood to boogie to some ’80s tunes and get lost in a time warp? Never fear, Bondy’s is here! The frivolous, glamorous and absolutely fabulous bar is open and ready to go, dripping in diamonds, pearls and an excessive amount of shoulder pads. Hospitality trio Daimon Downey, Tim Holmes a Court and Kate McMahon have created this lavish bar as a tribute to excess, ostentation and Alan Bond. Bondy’s boasts its own house brew, Bondy’s Lager, frivolous canapés and a cocktail that will set you back $20,000. All of this can be enjoyed from the comfort of a velvet booth, with
a soundtrack of power ballads playing in your ears.
BAR100 LAUNCHES SUMMER MENU
Summer is approaching and Bar100 is ready to shake things up to accommodate the warm weather. Think salads you could only dream of, seafood prepared to perfection and summery cocktails that really hit the spot. Timothy Fisher, the head chef at Bar100, has experience cooking Mediterranean, French and Italian cuisine, and has some big visions for his summer menu. The intimate, sandstonewalled bar adjoins an outdoor terrace and sunroom, overlooking Circular Quay and the gorgeous Sydney Harbour.
INDIAN CUISINE AT CIRCULAR QUAY
Get ready to spice up your life with the latest player on the Circular Quay culinary scene, The Spice Room. The exotic, flavoursome Indian restaurant has been opened by Jewel Fine Foods, which is new to the restaurant game but has more than enough experience in the creation of fine meals. Head chef Darbyan Singh has been working for over 20 years as a curry and tandoori cook, specialising in the majestic and mouth-watering flavours of North India. The restaurant itself is unique in that it offers a range of Indian cuisine, the menu covering everything from street food to fine delicacies. The Spice Room is located at 2 Phillip Street.
HARDTOFIND FINDS ITSELF AT THE ROCKS
Hardtofind is one of Australia’s online gift retailers, and this Christmas, it’ll be making your life just that little bit easier with the introduction of a pop-up store at The Rocks. The store boasts a selection of beautifully designed
products, and aims to have a little something for everybody, whether it be for parents, children, cousins, friends or colleagues. Hardtofind will be open from Friday November 28 – Sunday November 30, then every Thursday and Sunday until December 14. This little gift store won’t be hard to find at all, conveniently located in the foyer of 5 Hickson Road, The Rocks.
ABOUTLIFE NATURAL MARKETPLACE
Fresh fruit, cheese counter, deli, pizza bar, too many cakes to choose from… hungry yet? Aboutlife Natural Marketplace has just opened its fifth store to date – an expansive and mouthwatering treasure chest of natural and organic products that not only cover every dietary requirement in the book, but also happen to be pretty delicious. Inspirational artist Matteo Charles will be hitting up the Marketplace on Sunday November 9 to paint the day away and to give customers the opportunity to win one of his works. Aboutlife is open now at 285a Crown Street, Surry Hills.
A BAR WITH A VIEW
The elegant, high-altitude rooftop bar, Sky Terrace, has returned for the second summer running. The bar sits adjacent to The Star Event Centre and has available a wide selection of drinks, all prepared by a team of expert bartenders. On top of this, the bar has a team of rotating head chefs who offer dishes from The Star’s award-winning restaurants. To top it all off, the fine food and beverages can be enjoyed while witnessing a magnificent sunset over Sydney’s skyline and experiencing the sounds of an impressive lineup of live music.
SOKYO
restaurant/bar profile
LEVEL G, THE DARLING, THE STAR, 80 PYRMONT STREET, PYRMONT BREAKFAST DAILY 7AM-10:30AM, LUNCH THU-SAT 12PM-2:30PM, DINNER SUN-WED 5:30-9:30PM AND THU-SAT 5:30-10:30PM It’s called: Sokyo Who’s the cook/bartender? Head chef Chase Kojima. Awards: One Chef’s Hat – SMH Good Food Guide 2015; One Chef’s Hat – SMH Good Food Guide 2014; Two Glasses – Gourmet Traveller Wine List of the Year Awards 2014; Award of Excellence – Wine Spectator Restaurant Wine List Awards 2012.
Care for a drink? Chasing Kojima 18 – Yuzu sake, pink grapefruit, lemongrass and elderflower.
The main course: Lamb chops – scorched eggplant purée, aka miso, basil.
Sounds: We have a lineup of DJs playing some cool sounds from indie lounge to soft house.
Room for dessert? Goma Street – caramelised white chocolate, sesame icecream.
Make us drool: Sokyo isn’t only a restaurant, as we have a cocktail bar lounge for your pre-dinner gathering where you can ask our
expert bartenders to create a cocktail to match your taste. Then into the restaurant where you can order à la carte or let the staff create a degustation for you. Unless of course you are sitting at the sushi bar where the chefs can create a specific menu for you. So come, relax and enjoy… The bill comes to: $87 for the selection above. Website: star.com.au/sokyo
Eye candy: Paul Kelly designed the interior of the restaurant. Flavours: Served in the traditional Kaiseki style, or multi-course Japanese dinner, the hot and cold dishes are designed to share. A blend of bold and complex flavours sets this menu apart, with diners able to order straight off the menu, or take advantage of a personalised dining experience. Something to start with: Kingfish miso ceviche – green chilli, crispy potato, miso ceviche.
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thebrag.com
Album Reviews
What's been crossing our ears this week... What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK CD OF THE WEEK THE SMITH STREET BAND xxx
Throw Me In The River Poison City
The Xxxx Smith Street band return with a fuller sound, but it doesn’t compromise their punk ethos.
Wil Wagner has travelled the world, fallen in and out of love and continued his ongoing quest to find a greater method in the madness that his life has seemingly become. Of course, these were contributing factors to his band’s previous LPs, too, but here they’ve been boosted by some of the most mature and progressive songwriting the group has ever collectively attempted.
MARK LANEGAN BAND
THURSTON MOORE
Phantom Radio Heavenly/[PIAS]
The Best Day Matador/Remote Control
Mark Lanegan is perhaps best known for gruffly howling over big distorted riffs, either in Screaming Trees or Queens of the Stone Age. Phantom Radio is his ninth collection of solo originals. While early solo records positioned him as a downtrodden blues crooner, 2012’s Blues Funeral marked a shift towards synthesised new wave production.
If you’ve ever hoped Thurston Moore would just make an albumlength version of Sonic Youth’s ‘Pink Steam’, then this is the album for you.
Phantom Radio pushes this aesthetic even further. Synths and electronic programming mitigate Lanegan’s habitual morbidity. Several of Phantom Radio’s concisely drawn compositions take on an optimistic edge, but Lanegan is still surveying a grim scene. His lyrical interests are summed up in album opener ‘Harvest Home’: “Black is my colour, black is my name / I need something to help me chase the devil away”. The hope intimated by the upbeat gait of ‘The Killing Season’ or the dreamy synth play of ‘Torn Red Heart’ is slashed down upon noticing the track titles. Bereft of conventional ‘rock songs’, the electric guitar is almost entirely kept at the album’s periphery. Lanegan’s fibrous melancholy oddly suits the synthetic setting. While he’s largely appeared either cantankerous or downcast in the past, when placed amid playful electronics, Lanegan’s inimitable vocal gravel gathers near-tragic romance.
Moore has said his band, featuring Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and My Bloody Valentine’s Deb Googe, pushed him to write better songs, and it shows. It’s evident right from opener ‘Speak To The Wild’, with the kind of Television-inspired guitar odyssey that Moore does so well when he feels like it. Not only is he getting back to the guitar playing that made him one of the best in the world, he’s expanding it further. ‘Grace Lake’ has some of the most melodic guitar he’s ever laid down. It doesn’t all work. ‘Detonation’ is a holdover from Moore’s recent, midlife crisis phase. It’s an attempt at a punk song Moore just can’t pull off anymore. And his beat poetry lyric style is still in effect – ‘Tape’ is about as literal as lyrics get. But if you listen to Sonic Youth for the lyrics, then you’re doing it wrong. Focused, tight and filled with great songs, on The Best Day Moore has abandoned the acoustic music of recent solo albums and replaced it with what he does best: evocative, beautiful guitar music.
Behind the boards is Jeff Rosenstock, who many will know from his time under the moniker Bomb The Music Industry! Here, he pushes out The Smith Street Band’s workman-like take on melodic punk with an expansive layering of keyboards, horns and strings. Rather than feel like superfluous space-fillers, in many cases they end up as the definitive aspects of the song in question. The title track is a majestic slow-burner, while ‘Calgary Girls’ could practically be a Paul Kelly song – and there is no known universe in which that’s not a compliment.
“I have plans for you and me,” sings Wagner excitedly during ‘Something I Can Hold In My Hands’, before adding: “Our lives are gonna change”. Throw Me In
The River sounds like the first day of the rest of The Smith Street Band’s life. David James Young
FOXYGEN …And Star Power Jagjaguwar/Inertia
KATIE NOONAN
MARIACHI EL BRONX
Songs That Made Me Universal
Mariachi El Bronx (III) White Drugs/Cooking Vinyl
The obvious next step for retrorock revivalist duo Foxygen was to embrace the epic double album, and you can instantly visualise the 1970s-style cover of …And Star Power gracing a gatefold sleeve in vinyl. It’s not the sort of album that will instantly charm you, unlike last year’s minor classic We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic. But it does pull you in with its wild, wavering force, particularly during its classic rock opening quintet (knowingly subtitled ‘The Hits’) and the four-part ‘Star Power Suite’, which make a satisfying first side that easily matches Foxygen’s past work.
After the success of her Songs That Made Me tour in 2013, Katie Noonan has expanded the project this year to include an album. It features Noonan collaborating with some of Australia’s finest female musicians including Deborah Conway, Kylie Auldist, Angie Hart and Ainslie Wills. One of the many highlights on Songs That Made Me is their mesmerising interpretation of The Pretenders’ ‘Hymn To Her’, with beautiful harmonies.
‘New Beat’ is an excellent start to this album, delivering the get-upand-dance-after-thumping-somenachos tunes we’ve come to know and love from Mariachi El Bronx. However, from here on in, the mariachi part gets lost somewhat.
With 24 tracks clocking in at 82 minutes, consistency is out the window. The organ-led ‘Mattress Warehouse’, the Stones-like garage thrash of ‘666’ and the drugged-out grooves of ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ are standouts on ‘Side Two: The Paranoid Side’, but then patience is sorely tested with the freeform but fumbling ‘Side Three (Journey Through Hell)’ and a soggy couple of soft-rock ballads that weigh down the end of the album. You could argue that there’s enough on here to make one great album that’s half the duration, but there’s no denying that its sprawling length, raw production and willingness to experiment is all part of its cosmic charm. It’s certainly an… experience.
The artists on this album cover songs which clearly mean a great deal to them. Melody Pool impresses with her version of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’. Sam Buckingham’s acoustic cover of the Phil Collins hit, ‘Another Day In Paradise’, is a personal favourite. Noonan’s angelic vocals shine on her unique take on a Jeff Buckley classic, ‘Last Goodbye’. Wills’ rendition of Feist’s ‘Let It Die’ and Maples’ cover of Radiohead’s ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ are other highlights. Songs That Made Me is a delightful collection that will encourage listeners to further explore music from each artist. Let’s hope Noonan creates similar compilations in the future. Ali Birnie
Rather than try to once again nail a traditional mariachi record, the boys from The Bronx have set out to make an album inspired by but not constricted to the genre. Perhaps as a result, there’s a mix of tempos here, including some slower numbers such as ‘Sticks And Stones’. This track, and others, incorporate a chorus of backing vocals that don’t quite hit the mark. ‘High Tide’, too, is a bit bland, even though there’s sometimes a lot going on. Perhaps it’s the throw-ina-million-strings approach or the uninspiring vocals, but it’s definitely one of the more forgettable Mariachi El Bronx tunes. ‘Nothing’s Changed’ is an example of a slower one that works, while ‘Wildfires’ and ‘Raise The Dead’ are both enjoyable. However, on the whole, Mariachi El Bronx III is a little disappointing after the rollicking feel of I and II. Perhaps the hugely successful side project has run its course. Maybe it’s just a transitional record, and the next offering (if there is one) will feel a bit more cohesive and settled. It’s a bit difficult to tell.
Leonardo Silvestrini Chris Girdler
Augustus Welby
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Behind every boozy has-been, there’s someone who once was – or so we’re lead to believe on Jersey Flegg, the debut album from the now-Sydney-based collective You Beauty. Some of the best Australian bands you’ve never heard of run through the pedigree of the group’s members, including Ohana, Hira Hira, Mere Women and Absolute Boys. It’s interesting, then, that their new project sends them in an entirely new direction from their prior work.
YOU BEAUTY Jersey Flegg Rice Is Nice
Jersey Flegg delves into postpunk and garage-rock-fl avoured jangle-pop, presented in lean cuts and sudden jolts. Atop it is vocalist Will Farrier taking on the
life of a ’90s rugby league star, who’s the best player in the game with the hottest girlfriend (AnnMaree Biggar – remember, from Agro’s Cartoon Connection?). It’s not too long before it’s all down the drain (‘Now Her Skirt’ to ‘Rabbits’), but can our hero get back on the fi eld? You’ll have to fi nd out for yourself – and with a sub-30-minute runtime, surely you’ve nothing to lose. Whether you know every last rule or couldn’t pick a player out of a line, there’s a lot of fun to be had with Jersey Flegg. Let’s hope the story doesn’t end here.
Josh Fergeus
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... TV ON THE RADIO - Nine Types Of Light FRIGHTENED RABBIT - Pedestrian Verse POWDERFINGER - Odyssey Number Five
SIA - 1000 Forms Of Fear BEN OTTEWELL - Rattlebag
David James Young
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ice on mercury
PICS :: AM
up all night out all week . . .
my zombie riot
PICS :: AM
02:11:14 :: Frankie’s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney
PICS :: AM
lanie lane
aqua
30:10:14 :: Newtown Social Club :: 387 King St Newtown 1300 724 876 28 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
PICS :: AM
01:11:14 :: The Captain Cook Hotel :: 162 Flinders St Paddington 9360 4327
01:11:14 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
MAR :: S :: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY
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up all night out all week . . .
PICS :: AM
halloween at frankenstein’s pizza by the slice
30:10:14 :: Frankie’s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney
DEL BARBER
2014 DEBUT AUSTRALIAN TOUR PICS :: AM
halloween ft. kingswood
Performing tracks from his acclaimed Prairieography album
30:10:14 :: Newtown Hotel :: 174 King St, Newtown 9557 6399
Wed Nov 19
Melbourne Folk Club, VIC with CR Avery (Canada)
Thu Nov 20 Brighton Up Bar, NSW with Emma Swift & Fanny Lumsden
Winner Songwriter of the Year + Roots Solo Recording of the Year – 2014 Western Canadian Music Awards
Nov 22-23
Mullum Music Festival, NSW
Nov 28-Dec 21
Festival of Small Halls , QLD with The Mae Trio
Dec 27-Jan 01
Woodford Folk Festival, QLD
extension chord
PICS :: AM
Prairieography out now thru Planet MGM.
02:11:14 :: Shady Pines Saloon :: 4/256 Crown St Darlinghurst shadypinessaloon.com thebrag.com
www.delbarber.com
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g g guide gig g
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
pick of the week The Art
Pendle Inn, Pendle Hill. 7:30pm. free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 7pm. free. Songsonstage - feat: Chris Raicevich Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale. 7:30pm. free. Songsonstage - feat: Mick Hambly Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. free. Stormcellar Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 10pm. free. The Crooked Fiddle Band + The Tiger & Me + Hattie Carroll Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 9pm. free. The Snakemen The Wild Rover, Surry Hills. 7pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8 Oxford Art Factory
The Art
+ Marlow + Fait Accompli + Bonez + Glass Ocean + Vanity Riots + Hailmary + Rick Dangerous + Stars Of Addiction + Daggerz + More 7:30pm. $20. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Mitch Anderson & His Organic Orchestra Coopers Hotel, Newtown. 8:45pm. free. Songsonstage - feat: Helmut Uhlmann The Loft (UTS), Ultimo. 6pm. free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Gang Of Brothers Jam Night Spring Street Social, Bondi. 9pm. free. Lionel Cole Imperial Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
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Walk With Lions + Daniel Tomalaris + Perception Shift + The Maladies The Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt. 8pm. $15. The Happy Hippies Ettamogah Hotel, Kelly Ridge. 6:30pm. free.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Joe Satriani State Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $91.52. Lady And The Amp - feat: Vanessa Caspersz & Gaia + Sarah Attfield + Diolita + Lorin Elizabeth + Madame Wu & Elise Graham + Little Haus + Coda Conduct + Holly Friedlander Waywards, Newtown. 8pm. free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Blake Tailor
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Bin Juice Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 8pm. free. Dee Alexander Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $30. Jazz Hip Hop Freestyle Sessions Foundry616, Ultimo. 11:30pm. $5. Soul Tattoo Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 7:30pm. free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Angelena Locke Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee. 9pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
A&R Department Presents 50th Music Makers Club feat: King Colour + Magic Bones + Harts + The Ruminaters + Battleships + Polarheart + Little Coyote + Sons Of Alamo + Space Monk + The Desert Sea + Boson Higgs + Lanks + Elstow + Russo Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7:30pm. $2. Backsliders The Vanguard, Newtown. 8:30pm. $25.80. Bandsonstage - feat: Peter Jones With Complimentary Gentlemen + Dominic White + Red Shift Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. free. Burning Blue Sky feat: Shadow Republic + Drillhorse + Sound Concern Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 9pm. $10. Cath & Him Dee Why RSL, Dee Why. 10pm. free. Darren Johnstone Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill. 8pm. free. Davey Lane Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle. 8pm. $14.60. DJ Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 4:30pm. free. Drew The Oriental Hotel, Springwood. 8pm. free. Elevate Vinyl Room, Gymea. 9:30pm. free. Fantails - feat: Throax + Obat Batuk + The Farting Arses + Culture Of Ignorance Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Fret + Mas Carne + The Two Dark Eyes Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 8pm. $5. Katchafire The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 8pm. $45.50. Live Music At The Royal The Royal, Leichhardt. 9:30pm. free. NOFX + Frenzal Rhomb + Local Resident Failure Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:20pm. $66.60. Paul Dempsey Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $35.
Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Ryan Thomas Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Shannon Noll + Ollie Brown Mounties, Mount Pritchard. 8pm. $35. Sherpa + Sleepy Tea + Nick Saxon + Zombie Cats + Obscura Hail Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $10. Soul Tattoo Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 7:30pm. free. Steve Edmonds Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 10pm. free. Super Driver Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction. 7:30pm. free. The Kamis Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free. The Mark Of Cain Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $41.90. The Regulators Colonial Hotel, Werrington. 8:30pm. free. The Sphinxes Vineyard Hotel, Vineyard. 9:30pm. free. The Tribe Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. free. Visions #8 - feat: Richard In Your Mind + Okay Cocaine + Deep Sea Arcade DJs + Shocking Pink DJs + DFA Records & Flying Nun + Visions DJs Waywards, Newtown. 8pm. free. Wagons + Joseph Liddy And The Skeleton Horse + Emma Swift Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $25.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Chich Batch Brewing Co, Marrickville. 4pm. free. Dee Alexander Foundry616, Ultimo. 8:30pm. $30. Geoff Power Penrith RSL, Penrith. 2pm. free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Bayou Boogie Boys Shady Pines, Darlinghurst. 6pm. free. Blake Tailor Barvarian Bier Cafe, Parramatta, Parramatta. 7:30pm. free. DJ Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 8pm. free. Ed Kowalczyk Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 8pm. $72. Leon Gort Panania Diggers, Panania. 8pm. free. Paul Hayward And Friends Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. free. Songsonstage - feat: Phil Gray + Guests Petersham Bowling Club, Petersham. 7:30pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Abbalanche - The Australian ABBA Tribute Show Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde. 7:30pm. $18. Altitude
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Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney. 9pm. free.
Baddies + Minge Dynasty + Haiku Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 8pm. $5. Captain Cook Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. free. Ezekial Ox Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. free. Fat Bubba’s Chicken Wednesdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Gary Johns Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 7:30pm. free. Gemma Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 7:30pm. free. Lillye + The Royal Artillery Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 8pm. free. Mariana’s Trench Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $54.90. Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free. NOFX + Frenzal Rhomb + Local Resident Failure Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:20pm. $66.60. Strut At The Stag Semi Final 1 - feat: Cursing Stone + Solid Esteem & The Galactic Factory +
Bandsonstage - feat: Volky + Where’s Marco + Starr Witness Hampshire Hotel, Camperdown. 7:30pm. free. Belle Haven Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst, 7pm. free. Blake Tailor Duo Pendle Inn, Pendle Hill. 7:30pm. free. Cath & Him Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 4pm. free. Evie Dean Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free. Ezekiel Ox + The Twoks The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $13.80. Kaleidoscope Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 5pm. free. Machine Machine + Restless Leg + David Dreadnaught Union Hotel, Newtown. 8pm. free. Monks Of Mellonwah + Eden’s March + Monte + Cicada Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $10. Pierce Brothers + Timberwolf + Alex Gibson Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $20. The Late Night Soda Social Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. The Living End Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $49.90. We Are But Citizens feat: Jeffery’s Garbage + Furious Penguin + Capitol Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. White Bros Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free.
Blake Tailor Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 4:30pm. free. Blaming Vegas St George Leagues Club, Kogarah. 9pm. free. Ebony And Ivory Panthers, Penrith. 8:30pm. free. Evie Dean Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free. Glenn Esmond Crown Hotel, Camden. 8pm. free. Jed Zarb Heritage Hotel, Bulli. 8pm. free. LJ Chatswood RSL, Chatswood. 5pm. free. Nick Saxon Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $12. Pat O’Grady Kareela Golf Club, Kareela. 6:30pm. free. Songjam - feat: Stuart Jammin + Guests Rosehill Hotel, Clyde. 7:30pm. free. The Backsliders + Doyle Bongers Downhome Trio The Vanguard, Newtown. 6:30pm. $25. The Tiger & Me + Bearded Gypsy Band Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $12.
g g guide gig g
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send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Kareela Golf Club, Kareela. 8pm. free. Aversions Crown + Molotov Solution Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $25. Bandsonstage - feat: Young Fellas + The Lightning Experience + Jasmin Jones Hampshire Hotel, Camperdown. 8pm. free. Big Radio Dynamite Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free. Bounce Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 10pm. free. Clay Vetter Cock & Bull, Bondi. 2:45pm. free. Coffin - feat: Playground Of Hate + Whisky And Speed + The Bottlers + Guests Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Davey Lane Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15. Dirty Deeds - The AC/DC Show Wenty Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 10pm. free. Elevate Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 9pm. free. Evie Dean Sir Joseph Banks Hotel, Botany. 8pm. free. Funkified Riverwood Inn, Riverwood. 8pm. free. Jackson Holt Cock & Bull, Bondi. 6pm. free. Jed Zarb Old Fitzroy Hotel, 8pm. free. Live Wirez + Hardrives + Raw Envy + Donger Darcy Chatswood RSL, Chatswood. 7pm. free. Matchbox 20 Show Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 10pm. free. Matt Lyon Duo Panthers, Penrith. 9pm. free. Melody Rhymes Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Mental As Anything + Kay Proudlove Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 8pm. $25. Mr James Band Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 7:30pm. free. No Troubles Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. free. Party Central Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Paul Hayward And Friends Town And Country Hotel, Sydney. 4pm. free. Penny Lane Novotel, Rooty Hill. 6pm. free. Rebecca Johnson Band South Hurstville RSL Club, South Hurstville. 9pm. free. Safari Suits Henry Lawson Club, Werrington. 7:30pm. free. Sherpa + Laura & The Blackjacks The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8:30pm. free. Skyscraper Crown Hotel, Camden. 9pm. free. Sydney Darts Club - feat: Rusty Stewart + DJ Iron Feather + MC Phil Power + Van Gerwen The Bat And Ball Hotel, Redfern. 2pm. free. The Art + Marlow + Fait Accompli + Bonez + Glass Ocean + Vanity Riots + Hailmary + Rick Dangerous + Stars Of Addiction + Daggerz + The Dead Love DJs + The Delta Riggs DJs Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7:30pm. $20. The Other Guys Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8pm. free.
thebrag.com
They Call Me Bruce Plough & Harrow, Camden. 8:30pm. free. Tim Shaw Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 9:30pm. free. Under Wraps Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 9pm. free. V.I.P. R.G. McGees, Richmond. 9pm. free. Village Echoes The Sly Fox, Sydney. 8pm. free. Yobfest - feat: Rust + Headbutt + Front End Loader + Mass Hysteria + Australian Beefweek Show Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. $10. Yuki Kumagai + John Mackie + Tony Burys Well Co Cafe , Glebe. 8pm. free.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Andy Mammers Band Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Anvil The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 9pm. $60.50. Cambo Henry Lawson Club, Werrington. 12pm. free. Clive Hay St Marys Rugby Leagues Club, St Marys. 1pm. free. Day Break Metro Theatre, Sydney. 4:45pm. $15. Johnny G & The E-Types Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 7pm. free. Kick - INXS Show Ettalong Bowling Club, Ettalong. 2:30pm. free. Nathan Cole Moorebank Hotel, Moorebank. 2pm. free. Newtown Festival feat: Deep Sea Arcade + Astronomy Class + Donny Benet Show Band + Tigertown + Richard In Your Mind + East + The Lulu Raes + The Morrisons + Straight Arrows + Sleepmakeswaves + Bloods + Daily Meds + Day Ravies + The Fabergettes + The Upskirts + Vanessa Caspersz + Echo Deer Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Newtown. 9:30am. free. Pepa Knight Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $12. Peter Byrne Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Sherpa + Laura Zarb Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham. 7pm. free. The Archaic Revival + King Of The North + Bury The Veil + Drug Mother Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. free. Vintage 4 Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Adam Eckersley Band Shady Pines, Darlinghurst. 6pm. free. Angeleah Heap Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown. 2pm. free. Angelena Locke The Mill Hotel, Milperra. 12pm. free. Blake Tailor Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool. 4pm. free.
Daniel March The Wild Rover, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Darren Johnstone Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 2pm. free. Ed Kowalczyk Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 8pm. $72. Glenn Esmond Bella Vista, Pyrmont. 12pm. free. Glenn Esmond Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 6pm. free. Melody Rhymes Panthers, Penrith. 3:30pm. free. Peach’s Sunday Jam feat: Peach Montgomery + Guests Garry Owen Hotel, Rozelle. 3pm. free. Riley Beech Riverstone Sportsmans Hotel, Riverstone. 12pm. free. Sam Lyon Duo Cronulla Leagues Club - Sharkies, Woolooware. 2:30pm. free. Ted Nash Ingleburn Hotel, Ingleburn. 3pm. free.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 10 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Songsonstage - feat: Stuart Jammin + Massimo Presti + Chris Brookes Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 7:30pm. free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Latin & Jazz Jam Open Mic Night World Bar, Kings Cross. 7pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Anton Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11
wed
thu
05
06
Nov
Nov
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Swingtime Tuesdays The Basement, Circular Quay. 7pm. $9. Tori Amos Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $89.90.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Co Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free. Lij Gilmour Metro Theatre, Sydney. 4:45pm. $18.50. Triumphant Tuesdays - feat: Dave Eastgate Karaoke Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 8:30pm. free.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
fri
07 Nov
(9:30PM - 1:30AM)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
sat
08
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
Nov
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
sun
09 Nov
(9:30PM - 1:15AM)
mon
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
tue
10 Nov
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
11 (9:00PM - 12:00AM)
Nov
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
Blues Tuesdays Spring Street Social, Bondi. 7:30pm. free. Declan Kelly + Mark Bishop + Davo Fester With Red Slim Bar 34 Bondi, Bondi Beach. 8pm. free. BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14 :: 31
gig picks
up all night out all week...
The Living End
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5
Paul Dempsey Factory Theatre, Marrickville. 7pm. $35.
Mariana’s Trench Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $54.90.
The Backsliders + Doyle Bongers Downhome Trio The Vanguard, Newtown. 6:30pm. $25.
NOFX + Frenzal Rhomb + Local Resident Failure Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:20pm. $66.60.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6 Ezekiel Ox + The Twoks The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $13.80. Joe Satriani State Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $91.52. Pierce Brothers + Timberwolf + Alex Gibson Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $20.
NOVEMBER 2014 MONDAYS FROM 9PM
TRIUMPHANT TUESDAYS FROM 8PM
WEDNESDAY FROM 9PM
THURSDAY
10’O’CLOCK ROCK FROM 10PM
SUNDAY
SABBATH SESSIONS FROM 6PM
FRANKIE’S WORLD FAMOUS HOUSE BAND
LILLYE, ROYAL ARTILLERY (QLD) HEY LADY, AXE GIRL THE SOLICITORS (MELB) THE SWEET JELLY ROLLS
6 TH 13 TH 20 TH 27 TH
STORMCELLAR SINGLES (MELB) SLOW CHASE (MELB) SHERIFF (MELB)
2 ND
GLASS OCEAN, JOVA, ICE ON MERCURY
9 TH
ARCHAIC REVIVAL, KING OF THE NORTH (SA)
23 RD 26 TH
WAXHEAD, BORNEO, THE NICE FOLK 30TH KENTCORE METALFEST
32 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
Wagons + Joseph Liddy And The Skeleton Horse + Emma Swift Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $25.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7
Aversions Crown + Molotov Solution Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $25.
A&R Department Presents 50th Music Makers Club - Feat: King Colour + Magic Bones + Harts + The Ruminaters + Battleships + Polarheart + Little Coyote + Sons Of Alamo + Space Monk + The Desert Sea + Boson Higgs + Lanks + Elstow + Russo Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 7:30pm. $2. Katchafire The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 8pm. $45.50.
Davey Lane Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $15. Ed Kowalczyk Seymour Centre, Chippendale. 8pm. $72. Sherpa + Laura & The Blackjacks The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8:30pm. Free.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9 Anvil The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 9pm. $60.50. Newtown Festival - Feat: Deep Sea Arcade + Astronomy Class + Donny Benet Show Band + Tigertown + Richard In Your Mind + East + The Lulu Raes + The Morrisons + Straight Arrows + Sleepmakeswaves + Bloods + Daily Meds + Day Ravies + The Fabergettes + The Upskirts + Vanessa Caspersz + Echo Deer Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Newtown. 9:30am. free. Pepa Knight Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $12.
Live Wirez HHardrives d i Raw Ra Envy E Donger Do Darcy D
The Archaic Revival + King Of The North + Bury The Veil + Drug Mother Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. Free.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11 Tori Amos Sydney Opera House, Sydney. 7pm. $89.90.
frankiespizzabytheslice.com • facebook.com/stcfrankiespizza 50 HUNTER STREET, SYDNEY
Visions #8 - Feat: Richard In Your Mind + Okay Cocaine + Deep Sea Arcade DJs + Shocking Pink DJs + DFA Records & Flying Nun + Visions DJs Waywards, Newtown. 8pm. Free.
The Living End Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $49.90.
DAVE EASTGATE’S ROCK&ROLL KARAOKE 5 TH 12 TH 19 TH 26 TH
The Mark Of Cain Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8pm. $41.90.
facebook.com/livewirezband fac fa cebook. ok.com k com/li /livew /li vewiire irezba b ndd • facebook.com/rawenvy facebbook face book.c k.com/ om/raw /rawenv envyy • dongerdarcy.com donge ddo ngerda rdarcy d rcy.co .com m P.A. by www.goannaaudiovisual.com thebrag.com
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
dance music news Royksopp & Robyn photo by Kacper Kasprzyk
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Martin and Debbie Shankar
make us a mixtape WITH
URTHBOY
RENEGADES OF RHYTHM
Already announced for Golden Plains, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist will bring their vinyl-only Renegades of Rhythm tour to Sydney next March. The incredible show, which debuted in the USA last month, sees the two going head-to-head and playing cuts that are exclusively taken from Afrika Bambaataa’s epic record collection (we’re talking 40,000+) on six turntables. It goes down at The Hi-Fi on Thursday March 12.
Royksopp & Robyn
EMBER AND KRONIC
Hot young things Ember and Kronic have mixed Ministry of Sound’s The Annual 2015, which has been announced for release this Friday November 7, and they’re going on a national tour to support it. Ember’s disc one features summer beats from Armand van Helden remixing Sam Smith’s ‘I’m Not The Only One’, Timmy Trumpet, Peking Duk, Porter Robinson and more. Disc two, mixed by Kronic, includes tracks by Will Sparks, Uberjak’d and Martin Garrix, among others. And if that’s not enough, there’s a third ‘VIP’ disc of in-house remixes. Meanwhile, you can party with Ember and Kronic at Newcastle’s King Street Hotel on Saturday December 6 and Ivy for Pacha on Saturday December 27.
SAVAGE GOES WEST Pioneering Aussie rapper and Elefant Traks main man Urthboy, AKA Tim Levinson, loves a good mixtape. Like many of us, he grew up in the days of winding back the cassette tape to grab just the right songs from the radio that captured how we felt or what we wanted to say. Urthboy is bringing his all-star Make Me A Mixtape show to Sydney this week, in which he celebrates the not-soforgotten art of mixtape-making – so we asked him to make us a special BRAG mixtape of music we need to hear.
Mau Power feat. Archie Roach – ‘Freedom’ Mau Power hails from the Torres Strait and is an artist more people need to hear. He’s doing great things and has a clear sense of purpose about what he’s doing. And Archie Roach comes through with one of the most moving choruses I’ve heard this year. When he sings the word “freedom”, it cuts through to the bone. Spine-tingling. Brilliant. I’d love to hear this on triple j.
Jacob Quest (produced by Mr Zux) – ‘Oasis’
RÖYKSOPP AND ROBYN
Samoan rapper Savage has been added to the lineup for Vanfest, being held in Central West NSW next month. The hip hop star is based in New Zealand these days, and made his name performing with Deceptikonz on singles like ‘Stop, Drop And Roll’. Now he joins a bill including Chet Faker, Matt Corby, Sneaky Sound System, Van She, All Day and more at the upstart Vanfest event at Forbes Showgrounds on Saturday December 6. Visit vanfest.com.au for more.
support and help decide the winner. Here’s hoping there’s a clap-o-meter...
WAX WARS LAUNCH
HARBOURLIFE AFTERS
You thought spinning wax and turntabling was a lost art form? You thought wrong. Play Bar is bringing it back with its Wax Wars series, featuring some of the nation’s best talents in hip hop selection, including Zero, Steak N Kidnie, Cost, U-Wish, Dameza and Nan Tablist. It’ll be a ‘royal rumble’ style format, with DJs facing off each week to find Sydney’s best mixmaster. The final takes place Friday December 19. Meanwhile, the battles kick off this Friday November 7 with Morphingaz taking on Heavy Hands, plus a showcase set by J-Red. Get along to show your
Scandanavia’s finest, Röyksopp and Robyn, will join forces on headline Australian dates next year. Röyksopp’s announcement comes on the eve of their fourth studio release, The Inevitable End, due out this month and sure to progress their ever-changing electronic sound. After Swedish singer Robyn’s latest collaboration with Röyksopp on Do It Again, she’ll join them for live dates across Australia. Röyksopp and Robyn do it together at the Hordern Pavilion on Tuesday January 6. Tickets go on sale 10am Friday November 7.
Chinese Laundry might just be recovering from its Sasha Garden Party over the weekend, but the action doesn’t stop this week – the venue will host the official Harbourlife afterparty this Saturday November 8. Taking over the stage and the dancefloor will be Hot Creations man Lee Foss, joined by Tkay Maidza playing a live set and a host of local selectors including Spenda C, Danny T, Natnoiz, Jace Disgrace, Fingers, DJ Just 1, Nine Lives, King Lee and Helena Ellis. Flash your Harbourlife wristband at the door for discounted entry.
The Potbelleez
I remember a few songs from Mr Zux circulating over a decade ago – I think they came through Nuffsaid, and they were way ahead of what was happening here. He’s a producer and rapper and this is one of his newer productions. He has a new album called AfricanSpearacy Theory coming out soon.
Sohn
LANEWAY SIDESHOWS
As we move into summer, the festival sideshow action is heating up, with Vienna-based Brit producer Sohn and Harlem rappers Ratking confirmed for headline dates alongside their Laneway engagements. Sohn will make his return Down Under after a tour in June this year, and plays Oxford Art Factory on Thursday January 29. Ratking, meanwhile, headline The Basement on the same night.
Fishing – ‘Recoup’ Great tune from these left-field Sydney producers. This year saw them drop an exciting album that some people compared to The Avalanches cause everyone is trying hard to hear it, but Fishing are in their own lane.
Airling – ‘Wasted Pilots’
BEAT STREET AND BREAKDANCING COMP
Son Little – ‘Your Love Will Blow Me Away When My Heart Aches’ Beautiful blues with a bit of a hip hop vibe in the rhythms. Son Little’s voice is so dope – perfectly raspy and worn in a way that does justice to the pain in the song. What: Make Me A Mixtape With: Ngaiire, Joyride, Jane Tyrrell, Ev Jones, Rival MC Where: The Basement When: Saturday November 8 thebrag.com
THE POTBELLEEZ
To think it’s only been six years since The Potbelleez announced their arrival with ‘Don’t Hold Back’. They’re nigh on Sydney dancefloor institutions by now, and with new single ‘Here On Earth’, they’re gearing up for summer with a bunch of dates scheduled. What better place to start than Marquee this Saturday November 8? The trio will perform live, and the frivolity will be flowing.
Calling all B-boys and fly girls. Set in New York, seminal hip hop drama Beat Street, starring a young Rae Dawn Chong, Guy Davis and Saundra Santiago and produced by Harry Belafonte, told the story of an aspiring DJ making his way into the world of music and showbiz. Beat Street inspired DJs, breakers, MCs and graffiti artists across the world. Now, turntablist DJ Frenzie (Groove Therapy) will be playing to celebrate the film’s anniversary as breakdancers are invited to show off their stuff following a special screening. Winners will take home some great prizes, and there’ll be DVD and vinyl giveaways. The screening and competition is on at Play Bar on Wednesday November 26. BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14 :: 33
xxx
Sohn photo by Amelia Troubridge
Produced by Tom (Big Scary), this is hard to deny. A great introduction to Airling and in a period where there’s no shortage of female vocalists working with electronic music, this indicates she’s got something special going on.
Optimo Viva Glasvegas By Augustus Welby
B
ack in November 1997, fearless Glaswegian DJs JG Wilkes and JD Twitch launched the Optimo club night. Optimo proceeded to take over Glasgow’s Sub Club every Sunday evening up until April 2010. Not long after introducing Optimo, Twitch and Wilkes were in demand all over the globe. “It’s a pretty great job,” Wilkes says. “We have seen so much of the world through it and met and been inspired by so many great people and places.” Optimo will head our way this month to present a taste of the Glasgow scene to Australian audiences, and Wilkes is proud of his heritage. “Ever since I can remember Glasgow has had a thriving and innovative music scene,” he says. “For a city of half a million people, it’s quite incredible the number of new bands that come along and the number of live gigs it’s possible to attend in a single week.” While Optimo stopped weekly club operations four years ago, they didn’t disappear from the Glasgow scene. In fact, Wilkes and Twitch host an event every second month, which regularly spotlights local talent. On top of this, they’re behind the Optimo record label, which also fosters the city’s left-field music scene. “There’s always new stuff emerging and musicians from different bands collaborating on new projects,” Wilkes says. “Check out new Glasgow two-piece Laps on Clan Destine Records, who feature on the Optimo mix for triple j.” Twitch and Wilkes are certainly proud Glasgow denizens, but it’s unlikely they could’ve upheld an irrepressible reputation for party-starting over the past 17 years if they’d blindly supported everything bearing a Glaswegian postcode. “The fact is that there is a lot of really great music produced here in Glasgow and so we support that if we can,” Wilkes says. “However, if it wasn’t any good, we wouldn’t play it. We feel privileged to be a part of it and to be in a position to support artists by hosting bands we love and releasing music we really believe in.” Given the current music industry climate, a network of solidarity and kinship among musicians – and others whose lives are invested in music – is important for preserving authenticity and spreading the word about quality music. It’s certainly true in Australia, and Wilkes says a similar spirit permeates Scotland. “In my experience of living in Glasgow as an artist myself, and someone who has been in the position of hosting a lot of new young bands at the club, the spirit of kinship is alive and well.” Optimo’s support for Glaswegian culture extends beyond what happens in clubs on the weekend. For instance, in the wake of the recent Scottish independence referendum, all proceeds from an Optimo gig were put towards providing food for people in Glasgow’s poorer areas. “That was a great experience for us all,” says Wilkes. “The plan is to continue with a program of fundraising events in 2015, on a larger scale, in fact. It’s a disgraceful state of affairs that we need food banks in Glasgow. However, the fact remains that the government has failed the poorest in our communities. We have always strongly believed in community, and a DIY approach is integral to everything we do. So we pledge an ongoing commitment to doing what we can to help the people in our community who are in the greatest need.” The fact that they’re such proud Glaswegians could suggest Twitch and Wilkes would be reluctant to ever leave. However, Optimo’s gig schedule requires they be away from home for a significant portion of the year. As it turns out, Wilkes is more than happy to venture around the world with his partner in crime. “[We] never feel reluctant to leave. Getting to travel is amazing and the fact that we are a duo means we always have company, which is important, too. It’s a nuisance when you get delayed and let your loved ones down by getting home later than planned or getting sick on tour or losing your records after a transfer, but you won’t hear us complain much.” Upon Optimo’s inception in the late ’90s, Twitch and Wilkes quickly gained notoriety for pushing past the confines of techno and filling their DJ sets with everything from funk to post-punk, noise rock, electro and ’50s swing. Adopting a boundless approach to DJing could of course upset certain crowd members, but it hasn’t obstructed Optimo on the path to popularity. In fact, it’s become their leading character trait. “That’s something that just comes naturally to us, I think,” Wilkes says. “Music is music. I think it’s been a case of always being willing to try something new or something at least previously not known – in other words, new to me. “Within any style or genre that one initially might find distasteful, it’s always possible to discover within it. Maybe first looking for the better end of it is important and then maybe finding a gem in there somewhere when you least expected it. It’s better to not shut anything off completely.” Optimo evidently keep their ears alert for exciting, adventurous new music to include in their DJ sets at all times. But they also refer back to plenty of old favourites. “I’m always pulling out records I shelved years previously,” Wilkes says, “which relate somehow to the new material and that I can play alongside [it].” What: Lost Disco With: Seth Troxler, Âme, Pachanga Boys and more Where: Greenwood Hotel When: Saturday November 22 34 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
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Off The Record Dance And Electronica With Tyson Wray
Move D
Nina Kraviz
G
ood news for Move D fans who can’t wait it out till Subsonic – he’s locked in a sideshow. One of the most venerated names in the deep house game, since the release of his debut LP Kunststoff in 1994 (on his own Source Records imprint) he’s gone on to release with seminal labels such as Modern Love, Workshop, Smallville, Warp, Running Back and Electric Minds, produce for projects Magic Mountain High (with Juju & Jordash) and Reagenz (with Jonah Sharp), and is always one of the most on-point selectors around when he gets behind the decks. He’ll hit The Spice Cellar on Friday December 5. More good news for those who can’t make it to Subsonic (or just want a double dose): Robag Wruhme has confirmed a sideshow too. Best known for his work with Sören Bodner (AKA Monkey Maffia) as the Wighnomy Brothers, over the course of his career the ever-prolifi c German has released under a number of noms de plume including DJ Robag, Die Dub Rolle, Machiste, Themroc and Rolf Oksen. His most recent full-length, 2012’s Olgamikks, still stands as one of the best releases of the era – so expect a heavy-hitting night of dubby techno and bouncy house when he hits The Spice Cellar on Saturday December 13. Robag Wruhme
Tour rumours: I’m told Chicago house don Derrick Carter will be returning to Sydney in January, and don’t be surprised if one of Tokyo’s finest, KZA (AKA Ikuzumi Kitazawa), drops a Sydney date later this month. It’s been revealed that the next in line to mix !K7’s lauded DJ Kicks series is none other than Russia’s demigod of house and techno, Nina Kraviz. Judging by the tracklist, it looks like Ms. Kraviz will be showcasing a different, grittier and darker side rather than her signature penchant for stripped-down jacking grooves, with an eclectic range of selections ranging from Goldie, Fred P, Bradley Strider and Steve Stoll amongst a bounty of exclusive and unreleased tracks from her own label трип. It drops on Monday January 26, and she’ll also be appearing at Stereosonic next month. More in-the-mix goodness: Kölsch has been locked in for the forthcoming Balance mix. Since first being signed by Kompakt’s Michael Mayer on his Speicher label in 2010, Kölsch’s melodious and colourful techno has seen him thrust into the spotlight ever since, culminating in his debut full-length record 1977 last year. Set to kick off with the unmistakable arpeggios of Galaxy 2 Galaxy’s ‘Journey Of The Dragons’, his Balance tracklist features cuts and rerubs from the likes of Henrik Schwarz, Minilogue, Danny Daze and Kenny Larkin. It drops on Friday November 28; he’s also spinning at Stereosonic this year.
SHOW
CASE
SET
PL Y BAR SYDNEY
241&7%6+10 5'48+%'5
Best releases this week: I can’t stop spinning Karenn’s new three-tracker SHEWORKS006 (on Works The Long Nights), while other highlights include Laurent (AKA IVVVO)’s Untitled (Gene’s Liquor), Annanan’s Lyser (Forbidden Planet), Zennor’s Never In Doubt (Trilogy Tapes) and the Rhythms Of The Pacifi c Volume 1 compilation (Pacifi c Rhythm).
RECOMMENDED SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9 Prosumer Vic on the Park
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14 Ten Walls The Hi-Fi
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14 – SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16
Return To Rio: Ten Walls, Lake People, Laura Jones, Gavin Herlihy Del Rio Resort
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22
Lost Disco: Seth Troxler, Âme, Pachanga Boys, Optimo Greenwood Hotel
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 23
Stimming The Spice Cellar
SUNDAY DECEMBER 14
Laura Jones, Gavin Herlihy S.A.S.H
Vakula Sydney’s National Art School
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28
SATURDAY DECEMBER 20
Powell The Imperial Hotel
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29
OutsideIn: Pantha Du Prince, Seekae, Client Liaison Manning House, Sydney University
FRIDAY DECEMBER 5 Move D The Spice Cellar
SATURDAY DECEMBER 13
Lido, Sophie, Nadus, QT Metro Theatre
SUNDAY DECEMBER 21 House Shoes Sydney’s National Art School
THURSDAY JANUARY 1 Spice Afloat: Space Dimension Controller, Trus’Me, Oliver Koletzki, Niko Schwind Sydney Harbour
Robag Wruhme The Spice Cellar
Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon. thebrag.com
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club guide g send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week The Potbelleez
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8
6:30pm. $35. Sienna Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney. 9pm. free. Soda Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Playing Disco And Funk Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Something Else At The Burdekin - feat: Red Rack’em & Simon Caldwell + Ian Pooley + Mr. C + Set Mo + Max Graef Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 4pm. free. Spice 08.11 - feat: Santé + Robbie Lowe + Mantra Collective The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 7pm. $25. The Potbelleez Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $28.60. Wolfpack + Royall + Venuto + Reed Hellmers + DJ Iko + DJ Seiz + MVP + J Reyes + Nick Arbor + Simon Lovell + MC Suga Shane + MC Bones Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. free.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9 CLUB NIGHTS
La Fiesta - feat: Samantha Fox + Agee Ortiz + Av El Cubano + Resident DJ Willie Sabor The Establishment, Sydney. 8pm. free. S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10. Sunday Sessions - feat: Cadell + Tom Kelly + Ocky Goldfi sh, Kings Cross. 4pm. free. Sunday Spice 09.11 - feat: Adi Toohey + Charlie Chux + Kali + Guests The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $10. Sundays In The City - feat: Various DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 12pm. free.
HIP HOP & R&B
Jeff Spec + DJ Jon Deck + KWC + Bretheren + Izzy & The Proffit + Bayside Wreckers + Oakbridge Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 3pm. $10.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 10 CLUB NIGHTS
Crab Racing Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free. Mashup Monday - feat: Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. free.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11 CLUB NIGHTS
Chu World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.
Canadian Invasion - feat: Relic + Ghetto Socks +
Marquee
The Potbelleez 10pm. $28.60.
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5 HIP HOP & R&B
Ina Maker + Kimberly Aviso + Katherine Vavahea The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $16.80.
CLUB NIGHTS
DJ Tom Kelly Goldfi sh, Kings Cross. 9pm. free. Punk Rock DJ Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. The Wall - feat: Various Local And International Acts World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $5. Whip It Wednesdays - feat: Various DJs Whaat Club, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6 HIP HOP & R&B
Joyride Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 6pm. free.
CLUB NIGHTS
Fear Of Dawn Goldfi sh, Kings Cross. 8pm. free. Goldfi sh And Friends feat: Regular Rotating Residents Goldfi sh, Kings Cross. 10pm. free. Hot Damn Spectrum, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $10. Loveit - feat: Tom Witheridge + Rabbit Taxi + Gerrit Oliver The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 7pm. free. Pool Club Thursdays feat: Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. free. The World Bar Thursdays World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.
36 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7 HIP HOP & R&B
Hustler Fridays - feat: MC Shaba Hustle & Flow, Redfern. 7pm. free.
CLUB NIGHTS
Bassic - feat: Doctor Werewolf + Toneshifterz + Blake Tripp + Sippy & Kyphosis + Whyse + Dillytek + X-Dream + Instinct Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. free. DJ Flash Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40. DJ S Huskisson Hotel, Huskisson. 8pm. free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm. free. Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free. Frisky Fridays Scubar, Sydney. 5pm. free. Jack + DJ Nycks + Charles Lilaim Club Eleven, Paddington. 10pm. $10. Loco Friday - feat: Various Live Bands And DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. free. Thank Funk It’s Friday The Ranch, Eastwood. 9:30pm. free. Wax Wars Launch Night feat: Morphingaz + Heavy Hands + J-Red Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. $10.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8 HIP HOP & R&B Urthboy: Make Me A
Mixtape - feat: Ngaiire + Joyride + Jane Tyrrell + Ev Jones + Rival MC The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $30.
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 5
Tkay Maidza
Ina Maker + Kimberly Aviso + Katherine Vavahea The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $16.80.
CLUB NIGHTS
Cakes - feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. Channel Zero Audio Visual Night - feat: Raine Supreme + VJ Spook + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills. 8pm. free. El Loco Later - feat: DJs On Rotation Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. 10pm. free. El’ Circo - feat: Resident Circus Act Performers Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $109. Frat Saturdays - feat: DJ Jonski Side Bar, Sydney. 6pm. free. Harbourlife 2014 - feat: Kygo + Dusky + Lee Foss + Classixx (DJ Set) + Miguel Campbell + Thomas Jack + Mark Farina + Future Classic DJs Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquarie’s Point. 2pm. $115. Harbourlife After Party - feat: Lee Foss + Tkay Maidza + Spenda C + Danny T + Natnoiz + Jace Disgrace + Fingers + DJ Just 1 + Nine Lives + King Lee + Helena Ellis Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.60. Infamous Saturdays - feat: Live DJs Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free. Masif Saturdays Space, Sydney. 10pm. $25. Pacha Sydney - feat: Samuel James + JDC + Glover + Ben Morris + Matt Nugent + Spenda C + Fingers + Nanna Does + Just1 + Chris Fraser + Jace Disgrace + News + Heres Trouble + Deckhead + Mike Hyper + Jonathan Terrifi c + Sloclo + Trent Rackus Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6 Loveit - Feat: Tom Witheridge + Rabbit Taxi + Gerrit Oliver The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 7pm. free.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7 DJ Flash Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $18.40. Jack + DJ Nycks + Charles Lilaim Club Eleven, Paddington. 10pm. $10. Wax Wars Launch Night - Feat: Morphingaz + Heavy Hands + J-Red Play Bar, Surry Hills. 6pm. $10.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8 Harbourlife 2014 - Feat: Kygo + Dusky + Lee Foss + Classixx (DJ Set) + Miguel Campbell + Thomas Jack + Mark Farina + Future Classic DJs Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquarie’s Point. 2pm. $115. Harbourlife After Party - Feat: Lee Foss + Tkay Maidza + Spenda C + Danny T + Natnoiz + Jace Disgrace + Fingers + DJ Just 1 + Nine Lives + King Lee + Helena Ellis Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.60. Pacha Sydney - Feat: Samuel James + JDC + Glover + Ben Morris + Matt Nugent + Spenda C + Fingers + Nanna Does + Just1 + Chris Fraser + Jace Disgrace + News + Heres Trouble + Deckhead + Mike Hyper + Jonathan Terrifi c + Sloclo + Trent Rackus Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $35.
Spice 08.11 - Feat: Santé + Robbie Lowe + Mantra Collective The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 7pm. $25. Tkay Maidza + Lee Foss Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.60. Urthboy: Make Me A Mixtape - Feat: Ngaiire + Joyride + Jane Tyrrell + Ev Jones + Rival MC The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $30.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9 Sunday Spice 09.11 - Feat: Adi Toohey + Charlie Chux + Kali The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 9pm. $10. Canadian Invasion - Feat: Relic + Ghetto Socks + Jeff Spec + DJ Jon Deck + KWC + Bretheren + Izzy & The Proffit + Bayside Wreckers + Oakbridge Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 3pm. $10.
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snap
live review
up all night out all week . . .
What we've been out to see... OUIJA BEATS Big Top, Luna Park Friday October 31 Luna Park was the perfect venue for a quirky Halloween party: spooky in its own right, the place was decked out for the night in flickering lights, cobwebs, zombies and pumpkins. Eerie music played around the park and the distant screams of kids on the Mad Mouse only added to the Halloween vibes. With rides included in the ticket, our bodies were thrown around the harbour recklessly for a few hours, as if to prep us for the music to come. The Big Top foyer had been transformed into a paranormal party space, with glowing backdrops and hectic lighting; bands and DJs/ producers split accordingly between the two stages. Kicking things off, Olympic Ayres gave us their energetic disco-infused jams, culminating in their single ‘Magic’, which – like many great bangers of the 21st century – gained huge popularity through its appearance on a FIFA soundtrack. We were then greeted on the producers’ stage with the first circus performer of the night – a guy twirled fire sticks and ate them before introducing the otherworldly Willow Beats. The androgynous, earthly duo was almost spiritual in performance,
with contemporary dance moves inspiring the crowd to follow suit. Kalyani Mumtaz’s mysterious, indistinguishable lyrics and ability to power over the backing beats was great through tracks like ‘Elemental’, sounding like Purity Ring playing in a rainforest. Northeast Party House followed the next circus performance of the night, which was some kind of burlesque show involving a woman removing articles of clothing with a python draped around herself. My Anaconda Don’t? Future Classic’s new baby boy Basenji came on and filled the dancefloor with the very cute, very vogue, offkilter beats his scene is known for. Part Wave Racer, part Cashmere Cat, his set moved around trap, hip hop and kawaii beats including the Hi Tom remix of Jeremih’s ‘Fuck U All The Time’ and Sable’s edit of Justin Timberlake’s ‘My Love’. The crowd really got down when Basenji delved into his own catalogue, especially when he dropped the single ‘Heirloom’. For its inaugural year, Ouija Beats performed admirably, and with a beefier lineup and more hype it could set itself up as one of Sydney’s banging Halloween spots in the future. Raf Seneviratne PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR
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sasha garden party
PICS :: AM
up all night out all week . . .
01:11:14 :: Marquee :: The Star Sydney Pyrmont 9657 7737 38 :: BRAG :: 587 :: 05:11:14
PICS :: AA
marquee halloween
s.a.s.h sundays
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01:11:14 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999
02:11:14 :: Home :: 101/1-5 Wheat Rd Darling Harbour 9266 0600 LEY MAR S :: ASH WIN ARU MUG AM :: ASH OUR LOV ELY PHO TOG RAP HER
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