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www.themusic.com.au
QANTM COLLEGE
DIPLOMA & DEGREE COURSES IN: Animation Games Design Graphic Design Games Programming Web Design & Development
Come and try a course for a day – Study Day July 14th This is an opportunity to experience a full day of hands-on training in your chosen field, with industry-experienced instructors, for only $40.
Call 02 8241 5300 to Register
CRICOS Codes - 03204G (QLD) 00312F (NSW) 02047B (VIC) 02431E (WA)
BECK SIGUR RÓS
MONDO CANE GRIZZLY BEAR i e’s tton
BEN FOLDS F<I8 58<EUT F4AG<:B?7 64>8 G;8 74A7L J4E;B?F G;8 5?46> 4A:8?F 6;EB@4G<6F BMB@4G?< ?<4EF 9H6> 5HGGBAF G;8 J4E BA 7EH:F DARK DARK DARK ... and many more to be announced!
ea uring 5BBG?8: 4??8L G;8 F86E8G :4E78A G;8 64@C9<E8 FG4:8 :BHE@8G 9BB7 7E<A> FG4??F ;B?<FG<6 E8GEB I<AG4:8 4EGF @4E>8GF F<78F;BJF C?HF FHECE<F8F 7854H6;8EL :4?BE8
SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER PARRAMATTA PARK
TICKETS ON SALE THIS THURSDAY 28 JUNE 9AM
FROM HARVESTFESTIVAL.COM.AU, OZTIX.COM.AU 1300 762 545 & TICKETEK.COM.AU 132 849 *LINEUP AND VENUES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE 18+ ONLY EVENT - PHOTO ID REQUIRED
FACEBOOK.COM/HARVESTPRESENTS TWITTER.COM/HARVESTPRESENTS
THE DRUM MEDIA • 3
4 • THE DRUM MEDIA
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS OCEANIA
THE NEW ALBUM OUT NOW TOURING AUSTRALIA THIS JULY FOR SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS + SIDESHOWS 26 JULY - CHALLENGE STADIUM, PERTH 31 JULY - ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, SYDNEY 2 AUG - HISENSE ARENA, MELBOURNE HEAD TO SECRET-SOUNDS.COM.AU FOR TICKETING DETAILS SMASHINGPUMPKINS.COM | CREATE-CONTROL.COM
THE DRUM MEDIA • 5
th f e or ha m rperl hoy te
EVERY FRIDAY
l
900 PRINCES HIGHWAY, TEMPE PH: 9559 6300 www.valvebar.com.au MON 25TH 7PM
WEST TIGERS HOMEGROUND HEROES
TUE 26TH 7PM
“JURASSIC PENGUIN”
WED 27TH 7PM
“THE VANNS”
THU 28TH 12PM
“THE PHAT CONTROLLER”
FRI 29TH 7PM
“VIGILANTE”
SAT 30TH 7PM
“MONSTER GALE”
SUN 24TH 12PM
BAND COMPETITION
HARDCORE SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM “POSTAL” , “WALLOW” , “TIRED MINDS” , “VICES , “KAGAROO KEBAB”
ROCK’N’ROLL SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM “MEN OF THE WEST” , “CALL TO COLOUR” , “BRADLEY CORK & THE FOLKLORE MANTRA”
ROCK/POP/RAP SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM “PINK RIBBONS” , “TALL TEE NATION” , “POM POM”
HARDCORE SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM: “DEATHKRUSH” , “SICK PEOPLE” , “UNKNOWN TO GOD” , “NS MAYHEM” , “OILY BOYS”
HEAVY ROCK SHOW WITH SUPPORT FROM “RED BEE” , “MODERN MURDER” , “SYKO SAPIEN”
RED LETTER DAY MANAGEMENT PRESENTS:
VIBRATIONS AT VALVE BAND COMPETITION
MENU AVAILABLE
COMING UP: Wed 4 July: Hip Hop Night feat: Local Talent ; Thu 5 July: Punk Rock Show with: “Hatemail” , “After Thirteen” ; Fri 6 July: Grunge Rock Show with “Winslow’s Cancer” , “Shezbot” , “Grandville” , “ER Among The Ether” ; Sat 7 July: 12pm: West Tigers Homeground Heroes Band Competition; 7pm: Funk Rock Show with “The Rubix” , “Iniciate” , “The Dead Sets” , “Ruffle Feather” , “Halfway Home” ; Sun 8 July: 1pm: Tara Lawrence presents acoustic delights with support from Nicholas Loveridge, Helen Perris, Terra Lexus, Hannah Matysek, Kimberley Aviso
For band bookings please email valvebar@gmail.com
LEVEL 2/134 OXFORD STREET DARLINGHURST 2011
Bistro open Lunch and Dinner !!
P R E PA R E Y O U R S E L F PRESENTS
Tues
TRIVIA WITH KEVIN
Wed
$500 PRIZE POOL
Thurs 28 June
OPEN MIC NIGHT
Fri 29 June
LIVE MUSIC
Sat 30 June
MIRRORS IN ICELAND,
For Bookings
Weekly Jackpot 7.30pm
Open Mic Night 7.30pm
BYO Instruments (PA Provided) Rock up to play
SAM NEWTON, LUCY & THE B SIDES
7pm FREE 7.30pm FREE
7.30pm FREE
james@thelaunchsquad.com.au | www.thelaunchsquad.com.au
D O U B L E F E AT U R E
BATMAN BEGINS + THE DARK KNIGHT $100 CASH PRIZE FOR BEST COSTUME
SUNDAY 1 JULY, 6PM - TICKETS $10 380 MILITARY ROAD, CREMORNE BOOK ONLINE WWW.ORPHEUM.COM.AU
6 • THE DRUM MEDIA
mondays
fridays
saturdays
ope open pen m mic icc night nig gh ht
llate ate t night nig ight loun llou lounge o nge ng ge dj’s d dj j’s & m mc’s cs c’
late atee night at nigh g t lounge lo ounge dj’s d dj j’s & mc’s mc’s
monday–friday
coming soon july 24
register r egister early early to o play play g gs@ @h ha ardro ockca afe.co om m.au gigs@hardrockcafe.com.au
from 8pm from 8pm m | free free entry entryy
sundays
salsa party & class from 8.30pm | free entry
8 • THE DRUM MEDIA
from 9pm from 9pm m
happy hour
2 for 1 cocktails, wine & beer 5-7pm
from 9pm from 9pm m
breaking ground
battle of the bands see separate full page ad
THE DRUM MEDIA • 9
WED 27
8.00PM FREE ENTRY
THU 28
7.00PM $8.00 (DOOR)
FRI 29
7.30PM $25.00(PRE) $30.00(DOOR)
SAT 30
8.00PM $20.00(PRE) $25.00(DOOR)
SUN 1
2.00PM $20.00(PRE) $25.00(DOOR) LIC/ALL AGES
SUN 1
6.30PM $15.00(DOOR)
MUSO’S NIGHT ROCKIN WEEKLY BLUES JAM
‘FOOT IN THE WALL’
FEAT: SUSAN HURLEY & THE HURRICANES + ELLE KENNARD + DAN CRESTANI + DEAR LIGHT
MACABRE (USA)
+ EARTH + GRENADE + FESTERING DIPPAGE + INFESTED ENTRAILS
BASEMENT (UK)
+ ENDLESS HEIGHTS + ONE VITAL WORD + CLIPPED WINGS
BASEMENT (UK)
+ ENDLESS HEIGHTS + PERSPECTIVES + DISTANCE
‘WILLIES BLUES’ ALBUM LAUNCH
A TRIBUTE TO WILLIE DIXON PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS
COMING SOON:
JOHNNY GRETSH’S WASTED ONES BONIC THE DEAD LOVE ‘GOBOOKEM.COM’
CNR OF GEORGE + SWANSON ST
ERSKINEVILLE 3 DOORS FROM THE RAILWAY STATION
P 9565 1441 ROSEOFAUST@BIGPOND.COM
FRI 29TH JUNE
STATE OF
ORIGIN
MATCHES
9PM
BERNIE HAYES WITH
ANNALIESSE MONARO
Bernie is a Sydney institution, having played in and around Sydney venues for a lifetime as part of The Shout Brothers, The Gruesome Twosome, Club Hoy and solo. His is the voice of a whiskey soaked angel, his debut album "Every Tuesday, Sometimes Sunday" earned a rare 5 star review from the Sydney Morning Herald and his song-writing is some of the best (and most underutilised) in Australia. Bringing with Annaliesse Monaro who is an up and coming singer/songwriter. 10 • THE DRUM MEDIA
SCHOONERS AT MIDDY PRICES UNTIL FIRST TRY FREE PIZZA AT HALF TIME NOW TUESDAY TO SATURDAY
$10 - $15
STEAK &FROM RIBS 6PM
LEVEL 1 RESTAURANT ONLY
THE DRUM MEDIA • 11
THE D’VIANTS VS SCREAMING ASSAULT SIRENS
FINAL SCORE: SYDNEY ROLLER DERBY LEAGUE & DRUM MEDIA PRESENT... //////////////////////////////////////////
BOUT #3
D’VIANTS
137
VS
SAS
133
HIGHEST SCORING JAM: HATERADE - D’VIANTS (20pts) STACY DC - D’VIANTS (20pts)
BIGGEST HIT OF THE NIGHT: VIOLET VAN SLAM vs SUFFER KATE
WRAP-UP
//////////////////////////////////////////
23 JUNE 2012
AT SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK SPORTS CENTRE
BEAUTY SCHOOL KNOCKOUTS VS TEAM UNICORN PHOTO CREDIT: ROARINGSTORM PHOTOGRAPHY
NEXT BOUT: 7 JULY 2012 VENUE: SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK TICKETS: www.ticketdirect.com.au
www.sydneyrollerderby.com 12 • THE DRUM MEDIA
FINAL SCORE:
BSK
154
VS
HIGHEST SCORING JAM: TAIL’HER SWIFT- BSK (16pts)
BIGGEST HIT OF THE NIGHT: STOCKARD SLAMMING vs CAPTAIN RATZ
UNICORNS
110
THURSDAY JULY 19TH
AT THE BREWHOUSE SYDNEY’S NEWEST LIVE MUSIC VENUE
PRESENTING FAMOUS AND UP AND COMING ARTISTS IN A STYLISH AND COMFORTABLE ENVIRONMENT
WWW.LIVEATTHEBREWHOUSE.COM.AU
22 The Promenade, King Street Wharf, Sydney NSW
FRIDAY JULY 6TH FREE EVENT
PARTY WITH US AND
THE ROUGH DIAMONDS BLUES & SOUL BAND SATURDAY JULY 21ST ALL AGES EVENT
DECLAN SYKES
X FACTOR 2011 TOP 5 FINALIST UP FRONT AND PERSONAL
SATURDAY JULY 28TH
THE FLEETWOOD MAC TRIBUTE SHOW RUNNING IN THE SHADOWS
DINNER AND SHOW OR SHOW ONLY
SATURDAY AUGUST 4TH
THE ELECTRIC LOUNGE 3 ORIGINAL ARTISTS PHOEBE EVE - SHADY MAY - OLIVER GOSS THURSDAY AUGUST 9TH
OLLIE BROWN
MIDWEEK UBER COOL SINGER/SONGWRITER SESSIONS DONT MISS OUT THIS GUY IS GREAT !!
Images: Steven Rhall
Sydney Opera House Presents ILBIJERRI Theatre Company’s
Coranderrk We Will Show the Country One of the most important Australian stories, never told. Featuring Syd Brisbane, Liz Jones, Tom Long and Kelton Pell. Directed by Isaac Drandic.
+ + + +
“A swift and absorbing ensemble performance, resurrecting a historical episode that holds lessons relevant today.” The Age
Opens Thursday. *Transaction fee of $5 - 8.50 applies to all bookings, excluding Insiders.
28 June – 1 July. Tickets $25*. 9250 7777 sydneyoperahouse.com THE DRUM MEDIA • 13
GIVEAWAYS
30
THE SANDRINGHAM HOTEL 387 KING STREET NEWTOWN / 9557 1254 S YEAR WWW.SANDO.COM.AU BOOKINGSCONTACT SANDO@ATOMICDROP.COM.AU WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THESANDRINGHAMHOTEL
WED 27 JUNE
MAUX FAUX
JED ROWE
$10
+ MEDICATED YOUTH + LORENZO AND THE CANALS + BLACK ANCHOR
FREE
STREET LEVEL BAR: UNGUS UNGUS UNGUS + CAM RAEBURN
THU 28 JUNE
$10
THE DARK SHADOWS
+ HANG DAI + THE WALK ON BY + UPSIDE DOWN MISS JANE
JED RIDES INTO TOWN
Melbourne three-piece The Jed Rowe Band have a new album, The Ember And The Afterglow, and they will be performing at the Empire in Annandale Saturday 30 June. We have two double passes to the show to give away, and winners will receive a copy of Rowe’s album when they get to the gig.
RICE IS NICE – THE PARTY
Indie label Rice Is Nice is throwing a party this Sunday at The Annandale Hotel, with sets from The
FREE
DRUM MEDIA
EDDIE SPAGHETTI (THE SUPERSUCKERS) (USA) + JOHNNY CASINO + CHOPPER & THE HONEYBOY
FREE
VIDEO JUKE BOX
“DESERT SESSIONS 2012”
SAT 30 JUNE
DESERT SESSIONS
+ ARROWHEAD + SPACETICKET
$14.50 PRE-SALE / $20 DOOR SALE (DOORS OPEN 7.30PM) TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT WWW.ZOMBIEDOGENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU
STREET LEVEL BAR:
SUN 1 JULY
FREE
DAVE TICE AND MARK EVANS 4PM - 7PM DJ KAKI 8PM-LATE
NATIVOSOUL
+ THUNDER LOVE + SPECIAL GUESTS
$10 FREE
STREET LEVEL BAR: ALISON PENNEY AND THE MONEYMAKERS
EVERY MONDAY
“SANDO SKETCH CLUB”
STREET LEVEL BAR:
EVERY TUESDAY
FREE
UNHERD OPEN MIC “THE SONGWRITER SESSIONS”
FREE
STREET LEVEL BAR: ADAM PRINGLE AND FRIENDS - FUNKY AS F#CK + TOOHEYS $6 NEW JUGS (7-8PM)
COMING SOON FRI 6 JUL ---
GOATWHORE (USA) + IMPIETY (SINGAPORE)
*** WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU ***
SAT 7 JUL ---
"SANDO CALLING"
SAT 14 JUL ---
CLAGG (MELB)
SAT 21 JUL --SAT 28 JUL ---
A TRIBUTE TO THE CLASH
+ SUMMONUS
“SLAUGHTERFEST V” ROSETTA (USA) + CITY OF SHIPS (USA)
*** WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU ***
SAT 4 AUG ---
TIM BARRY (AVAIL) (USA)
*** WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU ***
----------------DJ’S BISTRO-----------------
OPEN 7 DAYS SERVING GREAT PUB FOOD ALL NIGHT 14 • THE DRUM MEDIA
The third instalment of Christopher Nolan’s take on the Batman story, The Dark Knight Rises, is imminent, so the Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne have decided it’s time to reprise the previous two – Batman Begins and The Dark Knight – from 6pm Sunday 1 July, to better prepare you all. We have five double passes to give away.
T H E D R U M M E D I A I S S U E 1 1 1 6 T U E S D AY 2 6 J U N E 2 0 1 2
FRI 29 JUNE
STREET LEVEL BAR:
NOLAN’S BATMAN DOUBLE
FOR MORE GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK HEAD TO FACEBOOK.COM/DRUMMEDIA AND CLICK ON THE GIVEAWAYS TAB
STREET LEVEL BAR: JONATHAN DEVOY + SPECIAL GUESTS
$30 PRE-SALE / $35 DOOR SALE TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU AND WWW.OZTIX.COM.AU
Laurels, Spod, Donny Benet, Shady Lane, Richard In Your Mind, Straight Arrows, Seekae DJs and the label’s latest’s signing, a surprise set you’ll have to be there in order to discover their identity. We have two double passes to the party to give away, and the winners will each collect a prize pack of Rice Is Nice CDs when they arrive at the gig.
Giveaways – Check it out for free stuff and head to Facebook for more! 14 The Front Line hits hard with industry fact and conjecture, plus Backlash and Frontlash. 16 Foreword Line – the latest news on tours, releases and more. 18 Flight Of The Conchords really do love us. 24 King Cannons are making music for the working man. 26 Lawrence Arabia wanted to have a more mystical name and take on a new personality with his moniker. 28 It wasn’t an easy road for Jonathan Boulet’s second album. 28 Eddie Spaghetti chats to Drum about how he morphed from chief Supersucker to solo artist extraordinaire. 30 The Dandy Warhols have fuckloads of fun. 30 Sures grew up quick with their instant success. 32 Kid Mac’s mixed heritage and outside views have always been a blessing. 32 Heaven are not just reuniting, they are reforming. 32 As long as we produce serial killers, Macabre will have content to write about. 32 It took a year of auditioning and 150 guys for I Am Giant to find their fourth band member. 34 It’s the journey that inspired Set Sail’s new EP. 34 Sky’High doesn’t spit accents, she spits Sky’High. 34 The Bride believe that Australian hardcore is in need of some life support. 40 On The Record reviews new release albums and singles from Smashing Pumpkins, Japandroids, King Cannons and more. 36 Chris Maric gets local with hard rock and metal in The Heavy Shit. 38 Sarah Petchell brings us local and international punk news in Wake The Dead. 38 Tom Hawking sends us a snapshot of life in the PUBLISHER Street Press Australia Pty Ltd GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Mast EDITOR Mark Neilsen ASSOCIATE EDITORS Michael Smith, Scott Fitzsimons FRONT ROW EDITOR Cassandra Fumi frontrow@drummedia.com.au CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Adam Curley EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Celline Narinli CONTRIBUTORS Aarom Wilson, Adam Wilding, Alex Hardy, Amber McCormick, Anita Connors, Anthony Carew, Bethany Small, Brendan Crabb, Brent Balinski, Bryget Chrisfield, Celline Narinli, Chris Familton, Chris Maric, Craig Pearce, Cyclone, Dan Condon, Danielle O’Donohue, Dave Drayton, Fiona Cameron, Gloria Lewis, Guy Davis, Helen Lear, Huwston, Ian Barr, Jake Millar, Jamelle Wells, James d’Apice, James Dawson, James McGalliard, Jessie Hunt, Katie Benson, Kris Swales, Liz Galinovic, Liz Giuffre, Lucia Osborne-Crowley, Mark Hebblewhite, Paul Smith, Paz, Pedro Manoy, Rip Nicholson, Rob Townsend, Robbie Lowe, Ross Clelland, Sarah Petchell, Sebastian Skeet, Sevana Ohandjanian, Shane O’Donohue, Steve Bell, Stuart Evans, Tim Finney, Tom Hawking, Troy Mutton PHOTOGRAPHERS Angela Padovan, Carine Thevenau, Chaz Webb, Cybele Malinowski, Josh Groom, Justin Malinowski, Kane Hibberd, Linda Heller-Salvador, Luke Eaton, Tony Mott
themusic.com.au
Big Apple with New York Conversation. 39 Robbie Lowe tells what makes him tick with Lowerider’s house, progressive and techno vibes. 39 Viktor Krum asks you to Get It Together with the latest in hip hop. 40 Dave Drayton gets Young & Restless for all ages. 40 Adam Curley talks pop culture in The Breakdown. 40 Cyclone digs up urban and R&B news in OG Flavas. 40 Michael Smith delivers some Blow with jazz and world music news. 41 Go south for Pedro Manoy’s Swamp Shack. 41 Dan Condon features the world of blues and roots with Roots Down. 41
FRONT ROW
This Week in Arts we chat to Gerald McMaster. Katy Perry is in Sydney walking the pink carpet for Katy Perry: Part Of Me – we’ve tickets to give away. Coranderrk opens at the Opera House and we chat to the director, and it’s Cultural Cringe with Jamelle Wells. 42 Lenny Henry chats about Cradle To Rave. Mark Alexander Erber chats about Kings Cross Tattoo, while Ian Barr wraps up the SFF with CineBarr (tear). 43 Twisted Tales is at Carriageworks and creator Yunyu tells how they’ve gone further than South Park. We’ve an artist profile on Biennale artist Jonathon Jones and Anthony Carew gets us ready for… Batmania. 44
LIVE
It’s all here: gig reviews, tour guide, what’s happening this week, gig guide, random shit and more. 45 Backstage and BTL – your guide to studios, recording, gear, courses and more. 54 The Classies – need a singer/bassist/drummer/ any other service/product you can think of? Your answer is here. And on iflog.com.au. 57 ADVERTISING DEPT sales@drummedia.com.au Brett Dayman, James Seeney, Andrew Lilley iflog.com.au
CLASSIFIEDS
ART DEPT artwork@drummedia.com.au Dave Harvey, Matt Davis COVER DESIGN Dave Harvey ACCOUNTS DEPT accounts@streetpress.com.au GIVEAWAYS/GIG GUIDE Justine Lynch THE DRIVERS Grant, David, Julian, Ray, Paul, Al, Mark PRINTING Rural Press (02) 4570 4444 DISTRIBUTION distro@drummedia.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions are $2.20 per week (Minimum of 12 weeks) – Send your details with payment to Subscriptions Dept, The Drum Media, PO Box 2440 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 (cheques/money orders to be made payable to Dharma Media Pty Ltd) ADDRESS Postal: PO Box 2440 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 Street: Level 1/142 Chalmers St Surry Hills NSW 2010 Phone (02) 9331 7077 Fax (02) 9331 2633 Email info@drummedia.com.au www.themusic.com.au The Drum Media is also available on iPad via the iTunes App Store
LEVEL 1, 354 BOURKE ST. SURRY HILLS ST PLEASURES
LIFE’S GREATE
AND MUSIC GREAT FOOD LIZOTTE’S SYDNEY O OF MARRYING TW
DOORS OPEN 6PM. FREE ENTRY ALL NIGHT. RED INK
02 9984 9933 AWARDED BEST ENTERTAINMENT RESTAURANT IN SYDNEY
27 JUNE
28 JUNE 29 JUNE
30 JUNE 5 JULY 6 JULY 7 JULY
8 JULY
Drum Media & Lizotte’s presents Live and Local Gary Honor Band Northern Beaches Orchestra with Lime Cordiale Tim Freedman Daniel Champagne Sarah McLeod Tim Finn W Lazy Sunday Lunch O N N PE with Harmony James O
DJ: KRISTY LEE
(DOORS 8.30PM)
THE CRACKS
27 JUNE
28 & 29 JUNE 30 JUNE 1 JULY 3 JULY 5 JULY 6 JULY 7 JULY
8 JULY
SEA LEGS, PHEBE STARR
DJ: BERT & BERNIE
DANCING HEALS
HOLLAND, MORGAN JOANEL DJ: PHDJ
HEY GERONIMO
28 JUNE 29 JUNE 30 JUNE 1 JULY
5 JULY
6 JULY 7 JULY 8 JULY
Daniel March The Audreys Tim Freedman Diesel – SOLD OUT Carus Thompson Rose Carleo – Acoustic Sessions with Mark Travers The Beatnix Harmony James Tim Finn
Calling all artists for Live and Locals! Contact events@lizottes.com.au Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why
Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber
Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton
w w w . l i z o t t e s . c o m . a u
SAT 7 JULY
HEY GERONIMO
THE DEER REPUBLIC, SEA LEGS
DJ: BERT & BERNIE
TESSA AND THE TYPECAST
FRI 13 JULY
TESSA AND THE TYPECAST
I AM APOLLO, DAN CRESANTI DJ: HANSOM
02 4956 2066
27 JUNE
FRI 6 JULY
DANCING HEALS
LIZOTTE’S NEWCASTLE AWARDED BEST ENTERTAINMENT RESTAURANT IN AUSTRALIA
SAT 30 JUNE
THE CRACKS
02 4368 2017
Rascal Music CD Launch Variety Club Fundraiser -The Boys of Country Diesel – Into The Light Tour The Audreys Tim Freedman Tim Finn Nate Butler Studio Showcase Harmony James Sarah McLeod Lazy Sunday Lunch with Aleyce Simmonds & Kristy Cox
FRI 29 JUNE
RED INK
LIZOTTE’S CENTRAL COAST 26 JUNE
JAM PRESENTS
FANTINE
SAT 14 JULY
FANTINE
THE DEER REPUBLIC, GHOSTS OF YORK DJ: F.R.I.E.N.D/S
COMING UP POLAR NATION, ELLIOT THE BULL, CARL FOX, THE SCIENTISTS OF MODERN MUSIC, CHASM SOUND SYSTEM FT. HAU (KOOLISM), OCEANICS, VELOCIRAPTOR, THE SHINY BRIGHTS
UPSTAIRSBERESFORD.COM.AU OR 8313 5050 FOR GIG INFO HAPPY HOUR BEFORE 8PM FRI & SAT. DINNER & SNACKS AVAILABLE
PRIVATE BOOTH & VENUE BOOKINGS 8313 5000 THE DRUM MEDIA • 15
THE
FRONT LINE
INDUSTRY NEWS WITH SCOTT FITZSIMONS frontline@streetpress.com.au
focused label and management company UNFD, part of the Staple Group of companies, have existing partnerships with Roadrunner Records, Mediaskare and Hopeless Records in America and have been looking to establish a footing in the European market. The Essential distribution and licensing deal marks their first real foray into the territory, despite having acts like The Amity Affliction and Buried In Verona complete successful tours of the region in the past. UNFD are also working with Little Press for all their publicity in the region. UNFD’s Head Of A&R Marketing Luke Logemann said, “With the Internet making international communities so much tighter, we have started to lean towards making UNFD a worldwide brand, rather than using other labels to launch our acts abroad. Essential provides all the services we need, but enables us to retain control of our product and further strengthen our name to benefit our Australian artists. We couldn’t be happier with being able to launch UNFD via Essential in the European market.” UNFD UK will launch with releases from Buried In Verona and House Vs Hurricane in August.
BALL PARK MUSIC
BIGSOUND ADDS 50 NEW LIVE ACTS
BIGSOUND Live has announced a whopping 50 new acts for this year’s live showcase, which is part of the Brisbane based BIGSOUND music industry conference each year. Following on from the first announcement that featured Kate Miller-Heidke, Violent Soho and others, organisers revealed last week that they expect to have 120 artists playing this year’s event. Taking place Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 September, the bands will play across 12 venues in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. Here is the line-up so far: Kate Miller-Heidke, The Aston Shuffle, Closure In Moscow, Ball Park Music, Hungry Kids Of Hungary, The Beards, Violent Soho, David Bridie, The Jungle Giants, Owl Eyes, Eagle & The Worm, Henry Wagons, All The Young (UK), Emperors, The Paper Kites, James Walsh (Starsailor/UK), King Cannons, The Cairos, New Navy,
NEW ZEALAND GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO UNIVERSALEMI MERGER The New Zealand Commerce Commission has given the all clear to the Universal Music Group’s $1.9 billion acquisition of EMI Music’s recorded music divisions. As debate rages around the world, the Commerce Commission’s Chair Mark Berry says he is “satisfied” that the deal is “unlikely to substantially lessen competition in any of the affected markets”. In a media release the Commission said that they are “of the view that the merged entity would continue to face strong competition from other major record labels and independent record labels for the discovery and recording of artists, and the promotion and distribution of recorded music. In addition, in the markets for the wholesale supply of recorded music and the licensing or recorded music to third parties, the Commission considers that large retail customers would be able to prevent the merged entity from exercising any market power by restricting access to promotions or shelf space.” Universal is currently in the process of getting clearance for the deal around the world, with the matter going in front of a US Senate subcommittee and the European Commission currently awaiting a response to their list of concerns. Chair of Independent Music New Zealand and owner of NZ label Arch Hill Recordings, Ben Howe expressed his disappointment at the approval of the merger. “I believe that independent and New Zealand artists should have a fair shot at getting both exposure and income from the music they make,” he said. “Unfortunately, the proposed merger would result in market-dominance by one large multinational player and that could make our goal harder. Although we are collectively disappointed with this ruling, I think the final decision will be determined outside New Zealand. We wish our fellow international independents the best of luck in blocking this proposal.”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Northeast Party House, The Snowdroppers, Art Of Sleeping, Boy In A Box, Catherine Britt, Step-Panther, Oliver Tank, Kira Puru & The Bruise, The Darcys (Canada), The Trouble With Templeton, Millions, The Preachers, Velociraptor, Cairo Knife Fight (NZ), Bankrupt Billionaires, Straight Arrows, Voltaire Twins, The Delta Riggs, Grey Ghost, Super Wild Horses, Mosman Alder, Transistors (NZ), Kingswood, Hey Geronimo, Jenn Grant (Canada), Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes, Strange Talk, Bearhug, The Brow Horn Orchestra, Saskwatch, Winter People, YesYou, Caitlin Park, Gung Ho, Underlights, Current Swell (Canada), Elizabeth Rose and Argentina. Tickets are available for entry across the event, as well as for BIGSOUND Live only. $45 will get you a one-night ticket (60 bands) while $69 will get you entry to the venues across both nights (120 bands). Prices not including booking fee.
ALBERTS’ SIGNING SPREE CONTINUES WITH HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY
Brisbane’s Hungry Kids Of Hungary have signed a world-wide publishing deal with Alberts, the latest in a long-list of acquisitions from the publishing house. The deal was confirmed last week with the band in Sydney for the Select Music anniversary event. They played three new tracks from their upcoming second record, which was recorded with Wayne Connolly at Albert Studios. The band’s manager Ben Preece told theMusic.com.au, “The band and I are stoked to be part of the Alberts family. It’s been a long time coming and they’ve already been amazing to us with an intro to Wayne Connolly who ended up producing the lads’ second record as well as their international teams. Honestly, they’re probably the nicest and most passionate people in the biz.” A recent European tour took place after the band signed a distribution deal with Rough Trade for the Benelux region. Gold coast based The Oceanics also announced they’d signed with Alberts last week. The band’s lead singer Elliot Weston is “thrilled” about joining the roster. “This opportunity gives us a more secure future. Now we get to concentrate on the importance of song writing rather than just surviving,” he said. “The deal with Alberts will make a massive difference for us. It’ll open up so many new doors and hopefully give us the opportunity to work with some amazing musicians, producers and mentors and further our passion for making music.” Josh Pyke, Tim Levinson, Harry James Angus and Sam Buckingham have also recently signed publishing deals with Alberts.
UNFD FURTHERS INTERNATIONAL REACH WITH EURO DEAL
THE GRATES SIGN WITH VAGRANT RECORDS
Brisbane indie-rockers The Grates have been announced as the newest members of the Vagrant Records roster in the US, with their third album Secret Rituals picking up an American release through said label on Tuesday 10 July. The band released their previous records through different labels, with Interscope subsidiary Cherrytree picking up the band’s debut Gravity Won’t Get You High in 2006 before indie label Thirty Tigers released 2008’s Teeth Lost, Hearts Won. Secret Rituals, released in Australia through Dew Process/ Universal in June last year, was recorded while the band were living in Brooklyn and is the first album to feature just the creative core of vocalist Patience Hodgson and guitarist John Patterson following drummer Alana Skyring’s departure earlier that year. In a statement, the band acknowledged the American influence on their third album. “Secret Rituals came from two amazing years of living in America, now we’re thrilled that it’s getting a release through Vagrant in its spiritual home. And conceptual home. OK, it’s home (just don’t tell anyone in Australia I said that OK?).” The Grates join the likes of PJ Harvey, The Hold Steady, City & Colour, Placebo and fellow Aussie Missy Higgins, among many more, on the label.
THE AMP OPENS ENTRIES FOR 2012
Entries for this year’s Australian Music Prize – The AMP – are now open and as was reported last week, this year’s competition will be free to enter. The official announcement has confirmed the news and outlined the $30,000 prize’s partnership with D-Star Digital, an online music delivery platform. The new sponsorship deal will allow artists to submit albums digitally. The AMP aims to recognise the best Australian album of the year with the recipient of the $30,000 prize, donated by the PPCA, judged by a team of industry professionals and stakeholders. Peter Skillman,
EASY LISTENING EXPERIMENT FAILING IN NEW RADIO FIGURES New easy listening radio station Smoothfm, which was launched with much bravado in a big million-dollar campaign, has taken a solid hit in the latest Nieslen radio ratings. DMG Australia re-branded the new station from Sydney’s 95.3 and Melbourne’s 91.5 and while only the first three weeks are included in the latest survey, figures are down from the last period. DMG would have hoped for strong figures given the interest-factor for listeners immediately after the re-launch. Smoothfm has most of its on-air talent, including Michael Buble, on weekends, and has enjoyed growth there, but the weekday figures have suffered.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS MUSIC AWARDS LINE UP ANNOUNCED The full line-up of artists who will be performing at this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards has been announced, with plenty of talent from across a wide range of genres being represented at the event, which hits Darwin this August. Heading up the bill is country star Troy Cassar-Daley, joined by Warren H Williams & The Warumungu Songmen, the previously announced The Medics (who have revealed they will be performing with Bunna Lawrie), Yabu Band and East Journey plus other new additions Sunrize Band and Lajamanu Teenage Band, with the triple j Unearthed winner still to be announced. Nominations for the awards themselves are still open; the public are welcome to nominate their favourite act, song, new talent and Album Of The Year at the awards’ website.
CHANNEL V TOP TWO ANNOUNCED Bridget Hustwaite from Ballarat and Marty Smiley from Melbourne, both 21, have been announced as the top two finalists in the Channel [V] presenter search. The overall winner will be announced 10.30am Saturday 30 June on Channel [V]’s show The Riff.
FRONTLASH
BACKLASH
Finally, some sense has emerged and Australia will now get a R18+ rating for video games, something that was sorely lacking in the past. Video games aren’t just for kids y’know.
It’s a sad indictment of the local music industry which, in looking for a quick buck, makes TV show talent quest winners their most important priorities. If you want evidence, look no further than the ARIA Australia artists chart this week. Of the top 20, 19 were in some way related to a TV talent show, having either been a contestant or a judge.
CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
PENDULUM Looks like they have called it a day. Another one of those acts who were huge overseas and we here probably didn’t appreciate just how good we had it with something like this in our backyard.
We Are Unified [UNFD] have announced a partnership with UK-based Essential Music to start their expansion into Europe. Punk/hardcore-
music 16 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Director of D-Star’s parent The Shooting Star Picture Company said, “Shooting Star has always been a great supporter of Australian music. Our exclusive arrangement with AIR and all the major Australian label distributors for the delivery of audio tracks via our DMDS audio system, is testament to our commitment. We are absolutely thrilled to have D-Star’s DMDS audio system as the delivery mechanism for The 8th AMP. We look forward to expanding our role in the future.” By abolishing the $55 entry fee this year The AMP are encouraging not just artists and their label/management teams to enter, but anyone who believes an album is worth consideration. To enter an album through D-Star’s DMDS digital delivery platform, log-in and upload the album, choosing The 8th AMP as the destination. To do this type ‘organisations’ and then select ‘8th AMP’. Head to dstar.dmds.com to familiarise yourself with the website. Otherwise you can send a single physical copy of the record to: The 8th AMP/DMDS; 60 Upper Deck, Jones Bay Wharf; Pirrama Road; Pyrmont NSW 2009. Full criteria available at australianmusicprize.com.au.
themusic.com.au
ARIA AUS ARTIST SINGLES
TV PROMOS We’re looking at you The Amazing Race. If you don’t deliver on all those hyped up promos then not even a change in timeslot will save you.
16 CROSS ST, DOUBLE BAY / PH 9328 4411 / WWW.BLUEBEAT.COM.AU THE DRUM MEDIA • 17
FOREWORD LINE
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
TOUR NEWS THE PRESETS
PARTY IN THE PARK
NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE
HOUSE PARTY IN THE NORTHEAST!
KATE MILLER-HEIDKE Discounted, early bird, pre-sale general public tickets for the 2012 Peats Ridge Sustainable Arts & Music Festival will go on sale at the Peats Ridge website from 10am Monday 2 July, your only chance to score reduced price tickets. While no further shows can be added, the overwhelming demand for tickets for the Wednesday 18 July Metro gig by The xx, which went on sale on a ballot basis and sold out in minutes, has prompted the promoters to assure fans that everyone who entered the ballot will be offered priority pre-sale tickets for the 2013 shows once they’re announced.
Victorian electronic outfit Northeast Party House have been progressing very nicely indeed since winning triple j Unearthed back in 2010 and their latest stellar achievement is their new single, Pascal Cavalier, which was just recently been unleashed and will be available digitally from Friday 13 July. Of course the band – renowned for pretty damn exciting live performances – wouldn’t just release it and not do anything about it; they’ll be out there playing killer live shows like their goddamn lives depend upon it. Audiences have seen them at Falls and Pyramid Rock as well as supporting the likes of Does It Offend You, Yeah?, The Go! Team and Kimbra, but the band take the east coast as their own next month, headlining shows with some special guests – including Panama and Colour Coding in Sydney – and you can see them taking centre stage at GoodGod Small Club Friday 20 July.
Perfect timing, what with a new EP set for release Friday 6 July – Boy In A Box have been invited to open for New York three-piece fun., when they put in their Splendour sideshows, the Sydney date Wednesday 25 July at the Metro. Joining Father John Misty AKA former Fleet Foxes drummer Joshua Tillman when he takes to the Oxford Art Factory stage Friday 27 July, are Mosman Alder, Melodie Nelson, The Trouble With Templeton and Joe McKee. Sures, Bearhug and Thrupence AKA Jack Vanzet will be warming the Factory Theatre stage up for America’s Youth Lagoon AKA Trevor Powers, when he showcases his debut album, The Year Of Hibernation, Saturday 28 July. Returning to Australia for the Adelaide Guitar Festival, Tommy Emmanuel is also touring the rest of the country and has just added a second Sydney show, Wednesday 8 August at the Enmore Theatre, his Sydney Opera House gig the night before having nearly sold out.
MONKS OF MELLONWAH
Brisbane’s Tiny Migrants bring their “garage chicken beat straight from out of space” to FBi Social this Thursday 28 June, joining The Nugs and Tape/Off. Wolf & Cub and Joseph Liddy & The Skeleton Horse will be joining Jonathan Boulet when he takes the Metro stage Saturday 30 June to showcase his new album, We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart. Brisbane singer/songwriter Susanna O’Leary is heading down the Pacific Highway to introduce Sydneysiders to her latest album, By My Side, at Notes Thursday 5 July, with special guests Rebecca Henry and Lauren Ojurovic. Currently touting a new single, Let You Go, Zoophyte have been travelling the east coast opening for INXS, who return to our part to play Campbelltown RSL Friday 13 July, Waves in Wollongong Saturday 14 and the Evan Theatre, Penrith Panthers, Sunday 15. Brisbane folk singer/songwriter Timothy Carroll, fresh from a European tour, brings his latest single, If I Were You, to Red Rattler Friday 13 July, where he’s opening for Rescue Ships. Brandishing his seventh album, Side By Side, singer/ songwriter Mick Hart hits the road, starting Saturday 14 July at The Vanguard, then Thursday 2 August at Lizotte’s Newcastle, Friday 3 at Lizotte’s Kincumber and Saturday 4 at the Heritage Hotel in Bulli. Children Collide have added a second show at The Standard, which now sees them playing there Friday 17 and Saturday 18 August. Kate Miller-Heidke has added a second Metro Theatre show Friday 24 August to her Nightflight Tour of the nation. Two-piece Tiny Spiders bring their self-titled debut album to the Terrace Bar in Newcastle Thursday 19 July, Black Wire Records Friday 20 and the Lass O’Gowrie in Newcastle Saturday 21. 18 • THE DRUM MEDIA
YOUR FUNERAL, BUDDY
Swedish black metal veterans Dark Funeral will be hitting Australian shores this November with their new lineup. Formed in 1993, the band’s had its ups and downs in the time since, what with a multitude of member changes. Although the tour announcement doesn’t reveal the exact lineup, we’re guessing it will be Lord Ahriman (last remaining founding member), Chaq Mol, Dominator, Zornheym and Nachtgarm. What we can be sure of is that when they hit Australia you can expect Satanic lyrics, quickfire riffs, face paint and plenty of hellfire. They’ll be playing Friday 23 November at The Factory. Ticket on sale 9am Thursday 28 June.
J’ADORE LES FRANCAIS
FOUR MONKS
Sydney outfit Monks Of Mellonwah have released a brand new EP, Neurogenesis, which they’ll be touring across the east coast. The four-piece indie rock outfit draw on many influences, past and present, but stamp their own unique and electrifying sound in the music. They’ll be playing the Rouse Hill Brewery Friday 3 August, Sandringham Hotel Saturday 18, The Basement in Canberra Friday 24, Old Manly Boatshed Sunday 26 and The Patch in Wollongong Friday 31.
Playing Parklife Sydney in Centennial Park Sunday 30 September, electronic duo Justice have just released a new EP, New Lands, digitally, to get you in the mood. Two shows completely sold out at Sydney Opera House for their first ever visit as headliners has meant the demand for tickets has justified Lady Antebellum putting on a third show there for Wednesday 3 October.
The first announcement for this year’s Parklife festival has just been revealed. The Presets and Passion Pit lead the way, along with Nero (live), Justice (DJ Set), Rusko, Modestep, Chairlift, Chiddy Bang, DJ Fresh (live), Plan B, Tame Impala, Robyn, Jacques Lu Cont, Wiley, Benga, Hermitude, Parachute Youth, Citizens!, St Lucia, Alison Wonderland, Art Department, Flume, Labrinth, Rizzle Kicks, Lee Foss and Softwar (east coast). The Sydney leg has moved to Centennial Park with festivities scheduled for Sunday 30 September. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 3 July at midday.
A charismatic partnership between Abby Dobson (Leonardo’s Bride) and Lara Goodridge (FourPlay) has given rise to a new project known as Baby Et Lulu. Australia’s vivacious French-language duo have released a self-titled debut album via MGM, the album featuring an eclectic mix of classic chansons and contemporary numbers written by some of the 20th Century’s greatest French songwriters. Baby Et Lulu will be launching their album with a tour that takes them to The Basement in Circular Quay onBastille Day Saturday 14 July, Brass Monkey on Saturday 11 August, The Heritage Hotel in Bulli on Friday 17, Clarendon Guesthouse in Katoomba on Saturday 18 and Camelot Lounge on Saturday 8 September.
JIM WARD
RESCHEDULED SHOW
Founding member of seminal post-hardcore band At The Drive-In and lead vocalist of Sparta, Jim Ward, has rescheduled his previously cancelled Sydney show at the Sandringham Hotel and will now be performing with his band at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney on Wednesday 25 July. His previous show, which was to take place in January this year, was cancelled due to the tragic death of a dear friend. As Ward will be back in the country to perform at the Splendour In The Grass Festival with At The Drive-In, he saw this as the perfect opportunity to reschedule the show.
CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDIES
POP YOUR CHERRY
Here only last year, the original Kings of swinging rock’n’roll are coming back to Oz once more! Get your dancing shoes on and prepare your hips for some shaking as Cherry Poppin’ Daddies return. The party starts on Friday 1 November at The Factory Theatre.
APOCALYPTICA
GET NAKED
JAMES MORRISON BABY ANIMALS
HE AWAKES
After tantalizing audiences with a single, sold-out show in Sydney earlier in the year, UK folk-pop sensation (no, not our jazz trumpeter) James Morrison is returning to Australia to play three east coast dates this September. Morrison has sold over 4.5 million records, those records have been critically acclaimed and he’s even picked up a Brit Award for Best Male Artist following his huge debut album, Undiscovered. He put out album number three, The Awakening, last year and the record has been praised for its maturity, as he deals with becoming a father for the first time as well as losing his own father. Catch him at the Enmore Theatre Tuesday 25 September. Tickets are available from Friday 29 June.
MORE BIRTHDAY TREATS
With the Annandale’s 12th Anniversary approaching, three more stellar bands have been added to the celebrations. Baby Animals, Ratcat and The Hard-Ons join an already formidable lineup at the Annandale taking over the place from Wednesday 4 July to Saturday 14. Baby Animals will be performing on Thursday 12 July, and tickets for that show go on sale this Wednesday 27 June at 9am. Ratcat will be joining the Auld Lang Syne party along with The Hard-Ons, Further, Little Lovers and Little Bastard. That party takes place on Saturday 14 July and first release tickets are already sold out, with second release currently on sale.
THE BIG 10!
Repressed Records is turning ten this July and to celebrate the label is putting on two shows at Red Rattler in Marrickville Friday 6 and Saturday 7 July. On Friday’s ‘Physical’ night $12 will get you Straight Jacket Nation, Loose Grip, Lowlife and Raw Prawn while on Saturday’s ‘Cerebral’ night you can see Damo Suzuki and The Holy Soul, UV Race, Per Purpose, Model Citizen and Hair Hockman all for $20. If you’d like to head along to both nights, you can grab a $28 ticket that covers you for the two evenings. Visit the Repressed Records store for more details at www.repressedrecordsshop.com.
SPYING AROUND
Sydney’s punk/soul three-piece, Fait Accompli, have recorded a new EP, Spies, that they’d like to share with you. It’ll be released in July via MAKEyourself Records and distributed internationally through Volcom Entertainment. And of course, to celebrate, they’ll visit Yours & Owls in Wollongong Thursday 5 July, Sugar Lounge in Manly Friday 6, Club Catalina in Batemans Bay Saturday 7 and the Annandale Friday 20.
A long way from their start as a symphonic Metallica cover band 20 years ago, metal-cello four-piece Apocalyptica have announced an Australian east coast tour for this August. The Finnish group have gone beyond their novelty tag of four metal dudes playing cellos and rocking out with some classic Euro-metal moves to build a career that has seen them work with some of the biggest names in mainstream metal. Touring on the back of their latest album, 2010’s 7th Symphony, which album featured guest vocals from Gavin Rossdale (Bush), Brent Smith (Shinedown) and Joe Duplantier (Gojira) among others. They took an interesting approach to the record, as songwriter Eicca Toppinen explains: “We decided to play it naked. It was a moment where there were four guys naked in the room just playing acoustic music. Being naked always brings good feelings. Immediately, it was much more fun.” Maybe that’s the secret behind their four million album sales worldwide. Catch them playing (maybe naked?) at The Hi-Fi in Sydney on Friday 31 August.
ADDICTED TO STEREO
NITIN SAWHNEY
INTERNATIONAL TREASURE
Sydney Opera House presents an evening with Nitin Sawhney, a special one-off concert showcasing the career of one of the world’s most influential composers and performers. Sawhney’s performances are a lush musical odyssey, and for his Concert Hall debut, he will be joined by Aref Durvesh on tabla and dholak, Ian Burdge on cello, Ashwin Srinivasan on bansuri flute and vocals and Martyn Kaine on drums. He will be gracing the Concert Hall stage on Tuesday 4 September.
themusic.com.au
Indie-alt outfit Stereo Addicts, will be hitting The Metro Theatre (The Lair) on Thursday 9 August for an insane show to launch the first single from their self-titled EP, Goin’ Away. The three-piece have shared the stage (and thus honed their live show) with the likes of Magic Dirt and You Am I. They will be supported by Sunday and Sydney DJ Starjumps.
THEY WILL BE LOVED
LA popsters Maroon 5 are returning to Australian for a whirlwind tour with special guests Evermore and The Cab, with two exclusive shows for Melbourne and Sydney. Since their last Australian tour, the three-time Grammy Award-winning band have seen their popularity grow to new heights with their latest #1 single, Payphone, which has become an anthem in the clubs and on the radio. Maroon 5 will be performing at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Saturday 13 October (all ages). Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 3 July at 9am.
THE DRUM MEDIA • 19
FOREWORD LINE
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
SYDNEY BLUES & ROOTS
Promoters of the annual Sydney Blues & Roots Festival have confirmed Ian Moss, fresh from Cold Chisel’s recent arena and UK tour, Sydney’s own alt.country/ rockabilly queen Lanie Lane and US blues harp legend Charlie Musselwhite to headline this year’s fourday event from Thursday 25 October to Sunday 28 in Windsor. The festival will also host the return of local roots performer Mia Dyson, after a long stint overseas, and the ongoing reformation of iconic Melbourne jug troupe Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band. Other international guests on the bill include Canada’s The Trews and Jill Barber, NZ’s Billy TK Junior and the UK’s Sam Cutler. Other locals announced on this first round are Ray Beadle, Backsliders, Chase The Sun, The Darren Jack Hammond Trio, Dave Tice & Mark Evans, Microwave Jenny, 8 Ball Aitken, Benjalu, Lloyd Speigel, The Lazys, Ashleigh Mannix, Marshall Okell, Genevieve Chadwick and Two Girls Will. First release festival tickets go on sale Sunday 1 July, early bird tickets are available now until midnight, Saturday 30 June.
IAN MOSS
WHIP IT JOCK!
Two rather different but very popular ‘80s pop acts are coming together for a big tour of Australia this December, as Simple Minds and Devo play a series of theatre and winery shows with support from Australian art-rock superstars the church and, for some shows, the Sean Kelly-led Models. Australia was the first territory to embrace the music of Scotland’s Simple Minds, their Love Song in 1981 a massive hit here, as was the New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) album that followed in 1982. Of course, after that, they became one of the world’s biggest bands with hits like Don’t You (Forget About Me) and Alive And Kicking, which continue to be cherished the world over. One of the most exciting, subversive and infectious acts of the post-punk era meanwhile,erica’s Devo not only have a swag of hits, but a huge number of critically adored records which have seen them become one of the most influential ofn bands. Likewise, their stage show has always been one that confounds and intrigues and their recent visits as headliners of the Splendour In The Grass and Livid festivals have shown that they have not lost any of what made them so exciting. The huge bill will land at the Sydney Entertainment Centre Friday 7 December,
20 • THE DRUM MEDIA
Bimbadgen Winery in the Hunter Valley Saturday 8, and the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong Wednesday 12. Tickets are on sale Monday 2 July.
SHAKING CAGES
Red Fire Red will be taking their high-energy rock show on the road for their Shake Your Cage tour of NSW. The boys will be heading into the studio after the tour with producer Ian Pritchett (Angus & Julia Stone, The Beautiful Girls) to record their new single, Cold Into Nothing. They’ll be thundering through The Lithgow Hotel Friday 29 June, Hotel Gearin in Katoomba Saturday 30, Hornsby Inn Saturday 14 July, Dicey Riley’s in Wollongong Friday 27, The Square Saturday 28 and the Northern Star in Newcastle Saturday 4 August.
NEW MISSION
Trance Mission is a new compilation series from the Onelove team that will take trance music to the next level. After successfully branching out with the Dubstep Invasion album series, Onelove has recognised first hand the massive response to touring global superstars such as Tiesto, Armin van Buuren
and Paul Van Dyk. The Trance Mission compilation will be a double disc mixed CD, from DJ/producer MaRLo. The Dutch-born, but now Australian resident, brings something fresh to the world of electronic music. Give it a spin once it’s out on Friday 29 June.
GET ADDICTED
Indie alternative rockers from northern New South Wales, Stereo Addicts, are set to hit Sydney with a show in The Metro Theatre’s The Lair on Thursday 9 August. The show will be part of their Goin’ Away Tour and will coincide with the release of the first single from their self-titled EP.
THEY, A MAN
Melbourne outfit, I, a Man have quickly become known for their jangly guitar sounds and layered, dreamy arrangements. The outfit have played some great shows at Falls Festival and the St Kilda Festival and will now embark on a small east coast tour to coincide with the release of their first music video for their next single, The Scene Route. They’ll be popping into the Front Bar in Canberra on Thursday 2 August and Spectrum in Sydney on Saturday 4.
themusic.com.au
PLUTO JONZE
SUNNY DAYS
Sydney-based Pluto Jonze is back with a new single, See What The Sun Sees. Growing up in a musical household, Jonze had his mind blown early by the music of the The Beatles, Beck and Bowie – obsessions he never grew out of. Since hitting the uit running last year with his debut EP, Pluto Jonze hasn’t had any time to look back. Following up his summer smash, Plastic Bag In A Hurricane, the new single, See What The Sun Sees can best be described as “a psychedelic space calypso nursery rhyme wrapped up in the warm embrace of a pop song.” Catch him on his See What The Sun Sees tour this July, which hits GoodGod Small Club on Saturday 21 July.
METAL MANIA
To fans of Massachusetts’ hugely diverse melodic hardcore masters Defeater, news of a forthcoming Australian tour will come as no surprise. The plans have been in motion for a while and they’ve hardly been secretive. Last year saw the band release the epic Empty Days And Sleepless Nights, a double LP that has been heralded in the punk rock community as one of the finer releases of last year. The band once again blending acoustic balladry with hardcore in ways that are more seamless than they should be. There’s extra special news too, that being that the band will be joined by the ever-evolving Philly post-hardcore dudes Blacklisted, who will hit our shores for the first time since 2008. These guys are unashamedly changing their sound constantly, progressing onto bigger and better things and it will be exciting to witness them live once again. There are heaps of shows planned, so throw some dates in your phone/diary/calendar now. They’ll be hitting The Annandale Hotel on Saturday 29 and 30 September. Tickets are on sale this Friday 29 June at 9am.
THE DRUM MEDIA • 21
FOREWORD LINE
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
IN THE JUNGLE
It kind of feels like only a matter of time before Brisbane’s The Jungle Giants become one of the biggest bands in the country, but it’s probably for the best their ascent has occurred at a fairly steady rate thus far. These indie kids have most recently blown audiences away in support of Melbourne indie-folk sensations Boy & Bear but are now heading out on a headline tour of their own where audiences will be able to experience the band in full flight. The tour comes on the back of the release of their new EP, She’s A Riot, which will be available on Friday 27 July, and its first single of the same name (released today!). Catch the band, with support from Sydney’s two-piece jazz-pop wonders Toucan, at Beach Road Hotel in Bondi on Wednesday 22 August, Transit Bar in Canberra on Thursday 23, Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Friday 24 and GoodGod Small Club in Sydney on Saturday 25. Tickets go on sale this Friday 29 June.
THE JUNGLE GIANTS
DANCE WITH LAKE
Z-TRIP
ANOTHER TRIP
Originator of the Mash-Up style, Z-Trip returns to Australia with his all new AV show. The Sydney stop at The Metro on Friday 10 August also incorporates the national final for Red Bull Thre3style, the DJ competition that sets out to crown Australia’s best party rocker. DJs have to play at least three genres in a 15-minute set and five state finalists will join two-times reigning Aussie Thre3style champ DJ Perplex in the comp.
22 • THE DRUM MEDIA
The UK’s Chris Lake is one of the three big names who have been called in to lend their considerable skills to the Onelove Mobile Disco 2012 compilation, alongside the masterful John Course and Acid Jack, and the truly great news is that this has given Lake an excuse to pay us a little visit down in Australia this August. The Scottish DJ has spent the past couple of years troubling the scorers on charts around the world with a number of his singles and mixes and, in 2009 released his first artist album, Crazy. He runs a couple of labels, Rising Music and Rising Trax, and now Australian audiences will get a chance to see what he has to offer in the live department. You won’t be able to get your mitts on the new comp until Friday 27 July, so you better grab one quickly as he’ll be here less than month later, playing the Marquee in Sydney on Saturday 25 August.
GIVE THEM YOUR LOVE They’ve played with some big names including Earth, Wine & Fire, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
and Maceo Parker, but now Saskwatch will be jumping on a tour of their own to launch their Your Love 7”, the second single to be lifted from their upcoming debut LP, Leave It All Behind, due out this August. It was recorded in late last year/ early this with Cam Trewin, and will be released via Northside Records and Shock Records. Catch them at the Upstairs Beresford on Saturday 28 July.
NOBODY NOWHERE NO ONE The Nothing From No One Australian Tour will see Auckland’s Antagonist A.D., Californian metalcore outfit Lionheart and Sydney’s Shinto Katana providing one impressive metal bill. Antagonist A.D. are no strangers to our shores and are easily one of the most respected bands in the international hardcore community, whilst this tour will see Lionheart making their Australia live debut. The tour will visit Tuggeranong Youth Centre in Canberra on Wednesday 15 August (all ages), Hot Damn in Sydney on Thursday 16 and Masonic Hall in Blacktown on Friday 17 (all ages).
themusic.com.au
IN BRIEF A recording of Bon Iver’s live show at East West Studios in West Hollywood is available exclusively through iTunes, performing tracks from their new self-titled album, out now, including a cover of Bjork’s Who Is It? The Presets release their new album, Pacifica, in September, just in time for you to get to know it before they join the Parklife national cavalcade. The new album, Harakiri, from Serj Tankian, is released Friday 6 July, on which day Orlando, Florida electro-pop duo Blood On The Dancefloor release their third album, Evolution, which will actually be their first physical release in Australia; Luke Escombe releases his second album, Mantown, and Japanese psych-pop duo Tenniscoats release All Aboard!, and The Dirty Projectors release their new one, Swing Lo Magellan. Friday 13 July sees the Zac Brown Band release their album, Uncaged, and the new album, Band Of Brothers, from Hellyeah. Melbourne’s Grand Salvo, aka Paddy Mann, releases his sixth album, Slay Me In My Sleep, Friday 20 July, the same day Passion Pit release their new album, Gossamer. Dappled Cities release their fourth album, Lake Air, three years in the making Friday 3 August, on which day Eugene McGuiness also releases his new album, The Invitation To The Voyage. San Diego noise-pop now five-piece Crocodiles release their third album, Endless Flowers, Friday 10 August, the same day San Diego, California five-piece Delta Spirit release their self-titled third album. Ry Cooder releases his topical new album, Election Special, a comment on the forthcoming US Presidential election, Friday 17 August, on which day Ricki-Lee will also be releasing her EMI debut album, Fear & Freedom.
www.thebasement.com.au
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YELLOW FEVER
It’s every entertainer’s greatest dream to be immortalised in yellow on The Simpsons and for the Flight Of The Conchords, this aspiration came true back in 2010 when they starred in the episode, Elementary School Musical, dominating proceedings with scene-stealing roles as counsellors at a performing arts camp attended by Lisa.
On the eve of Flight Of The Conchords’ inaugural Australian headlining tour, the taller of the Kiwi duo, Jermaine Clement, promises Steve Bell that the incessant Aussie bashing of their TV show is all in jest and that they really do love their neighbours.
Y
ou can call the guys from Flight Of The Conchords many things, but you certainly can’t question their courage. They may have moved up in the world since their years spent as New Zealand’s self-proclaimed ‘fourth most popular folk-parody duo’ – a swag of shared awards including a Grammy, as well as individual accolades including an Oscar for Bret McKenzie and an Emmy nomination for his partner-in-crime Jermaine Clement would surely attest that they’ve climbed a few rungs on that particular pecking order – but the pair haven’t been to Australia since their eponymous TV show became a massive worldwide smash, debuting on US comedy giant HBO in 2007 and wrapping up two years later, having made the pair virtually household names on a global scale. But it’s not just the tyranny of distance that makes their imminent live tour of Australia so daunting for the cocky Kiwis; they’re more concerned about how they’re going to live down the incessant Aussie bashing and anti-Australian rhetoric that liberally littered their TV show. Who can forget characters like conniving Aussie sheila Keitha, the cloyingly smug Australian diplomat Maxwell or the montage of the Conchords guys flipping the bird at the Australian Embassy in New York (where Flight Of The Conchords is based), a cross-Tasman rivalry best summed up by their description of Australians in the first series as a “bunch of cocky a-holes descended from criminals and retarded monkeys.” Them sounds like fighting words... “We do not hate the Aussies!” Clement roars laughingly when confronted about their treatment of our nation on the small screen. “Although when we were doing the show – because we have a quite a few Aussie jokes – we did get a bit worried. We were worried about how it would be received, but in general Australians have taken to it with great humour. We thought we’d be ostracised in both New Zealand – for how we made New Zealanders appear – and Australia, and we’d have to live on an island. We’re coming over to apologise for all of the terrible stereotypes we purported. We’re just going to apologise profusely and then leave. “But you know what I find the funniest thing – with all the Australian characters we had we did play around with them a bit, but we always made you guys the winners. We were always the losers. But when Australians make fun of New Zealanders it’s always the same way around too – you guys are the winners and New Zealanders are the losers. So we’re just kidding.”
The Flight Of The Conchords’ quest for contrition finds them returning to their roots, performing live and relying primarily on their hilariously whimsical songs to offset the duo’s naively stunted ‘fish out of water’ worldview and twisted inter-personal relationship. It’s how they started performing in their native Wellington back in the late-‘90s, building up the premise to the point where they were offered a BBC2 radio show in the UK in 2004, which in turn was tweaked to form the basis of their riotous TV series. “Yeah, except our shows when we started were very much like our shows in the TV show – there were hardly any people,” Clement chuckles. “They were more dedicated than in the TV show – we had fans, but they would fit on two couches that would be at the front of the venue. I remember Bret’s dad seeing us early on and saying, ‘You guys are world class!’ and I laughed at him. I thought, ‘That’s a nice dad! That’s a nice thing for a dad to say about his son’s stupid band!’” The ‘Conchords relied on this marriage of music and comedy from the get-go, but in the beginning each brought a particular skill set to the table. “We were just learning guitar, so it was mainly about learning how to play a guitar,” Clement smirks of the pair’s early material. “Actually, at my first gig I was so nervous that I couldn’t move my hand! I’d done comedy stuff before but no music and Bret had done music before but no comedy. Fortunately Bret – having played music gigs before – was confident enough to move his hands, so some sound came out. “We met doing comedy stuff – theatre stuff – in Wellington. Our first songs were just weird songs; they didn’t necessarily have jokes, they were usually about people dying and stuff. I think our very first song was actually the French one that we still do sometimes, Foux Du Fafa, which wasn’t about anything – we just wanted to sound like Serge Gainsbourg. Most of that song only has two chords and then Bret wrote some more chords to go on the end of the song. “Our first gig, we were doing auditions and stuff and Bret was playing in several bands. We were both really poor – we were flatting together – and then a friend of mine got a job booking comedy at a local club. It was the only comedy night in Wellington – it was once a week – and he said, ‘Do you want to be the band at this comedy gig?’ so we did that. Our songs had a few jokes in them [at the outset] and we just got more and more jokes, until eventually it was all jokes almost. But we were never serious, we were always doing stuff that amused ourselves at least and then eventually we started doing stuff to try and amuse others as well as ourselves.”
And amuse others they did, with the duo’s two albums to date – 2008’s Flight Of The Conchords and 2009’s I Told You I Was Freaky – being released on seminal US indie Sub Pop to much acclaim. Now, after years spent making the TV series and some serious forays into the film world – most recently McKenzie worked as music supervisor for The Muppets movie, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song for his tune, Man Or Muppet, while Clement stars as the lead villain in Men In Black 3 – the pair are looking forward to once more treading the boards. “When we’re well-rehearsed and everything, it’s the easiest and the funnest and the most interesting thing to do. It’s strange doing really big venues now though. Plus people know all the words now. Last time we toured was about two years ago, in Europe mostly. The biggest one we’ve done is Hollywood Bowl: it’s a massive leap going from ten people in downtown Wellington to playing to 15,000 people at Hollywood Bowl – mostly doing the same stuff! That was so exciting. Usually we’re pretty blasé; it’s really great touring but it’s not like we get amped every show or anything like that, but that time we were actually running around pretending to be rock stars and talking in our stupid rock stars voices, which is like this [approximates grizzled old rocker], ‘Alright, Hollywood!’ That was before the show, before we’d even started! “We used to do that a little bit when we first started doing shows in Wellington, sometimes we’d do this joke and put on these rock star personas before we’d go on and once I did it so much that I lost my voice. It was like the time where Bret had to cover with the guitar, except this time he had to cover with all the singing – I could only talk in a very weak, very distant-sounding freaky voice. “So some things are the same [as the old days], just the amount of people is different. And we get paid now! We used to get paid for those little gigs, but it would just cover the guitar strings that we’d bought for the show, so we’d break even.” With all of this recent film work under their collective belts there’s been strong talk of a Flight Of The Conchords movie in the offing. “Yeah, if we come up with one,” Clement smiles of the prospect of a movie project. “It’s the same as with songs – we only do it if we come up with it. If we don’t come up an idea for it, we won’t do it. But it probably won’t be [a continuation of the TV series], although we’d probably use the same cast. Like Monty Python I guess, where the movies aren’t really related to their TV show. But that’s only because we’ve talked about three stupid ideas so far: ‘What if
“It was a great experience,” Clement marvels. “The best bit was when we did the read-through, we were both in Wellington and at that time we actually lived about two blocks away from each other – coincidentally, we didn’t plan it, it’s just a small town – and so we were both on the phone, me at one end of the street and Bret at the other – and we were on the line to LA and they were all reading the script. It was pretty exciting really, but I had the wrong script and didn’t realise… I had an old version, I was looking on my computer and then I noticed that the lines were different so I was trying to find the updated file before I had my line. But they were all doing the voices and Dan Castellaneta had scenes where he was playing both Homer and Krusty the Clown talking together and listening to that on the phone was pretty amazing. He just switches between them so quickly, it really does sound like there are two people. “Then we went to LA and recorded it with Yeardley Smith. The funniest thing was that a whole bunch of the writers turned up and I don’t know if they were just stroking our egos, but they said, ‘This never happens! The only time all of the writers have turned up before was for U2!’ Makes sense though really...” we’re in medieval times? What if we’re astronauts?’ We haven’t even thought of one really where it’s, ‘What if we continue on from the TV show?’” Irrespective of where their movie project takes them, Clement won’t be bringing too much of his experience filming Men In Black 3 to the table. “I haven’t seen it, but it was a really weird experience, because it was such a different scale – it’s just massively huge,” he recalls. “Both Bret and I would talk often when he was working on The Muppets and I was working on Men In Black about how it’s really hard going from being the boss to not being the boss. It’s really hard for me – I would just tell Will Smith alternative story lines the whole time and he was so sick of me! And the director too! I’d go up to him and go, ‘What about this? What about this, Barry? I’ve got an idea for this!’ When we do Conchords, if I say that everyone just has to make it happen, as long as I get Bret to agree, but it’s a bit different in Hollywood. I don’t think I learnt that until I was thinking about it in retrospect; ‘Oh, they were really sick of me for suggesting things.’ I don’t want to spoil anything, but generally bad guys in movies don’t get the call up for the next sequel anyway, so it’s not the end of the world.” And despite all of their massive success so far, Flight Of The Conchords aren’t really getting ahead of themselves – they’re not even all that surprised at how well things are going. “No, when we were starting out and playing small clubs we were thinking, ‘Why aren’t we really successful? We’re handsome, we can play guitar, sort of...’” Clement deadpans. “I think we had delusions of grandeur even then and they just happened to come true.” WHO: Flight Of The Conchords WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 5 July, Sydney Opera House Concert Hall; Friday 6, Sydney Entertainment Centre; Tuesday 10, Newcastle Entertainment Centre; Wednesday 11, WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
THE DRUM MEDIA • 25
FOR THE WORKING MAN From smalltown New Zealand to the world via Melbourne, King Cannons have achieved a lot, if you’ll excuse the pun, by just sticking to their guns, as frontman Luke Yeoward tells Michael Smith.
B
ack in Melbourne after a whirlwind couple of months touring Europe, King Cannons singer, songwriter and guitarist Luke Yeoward is on the line, his Kiwi accent still strong despite being born here, having moved to New Zealand with his parents when he was about seven. It was in Auckland that King Cannons originally formed, in 2007, relocating to Melbourne two years later. “It was brewing a little before that, you know,” Yeoward explains the band’s genesis. “I kind of got to the end of my tether with punk rock music and the punk rock scenesters and I thought, like, ‘Fuck this, I’ve had enough of all of these people and the scene and this shitty lifestyle.’ It just wasn’t making me feeling good so I moved out of town and got a job and reconfigured my heart and my soul and my brain and started writing new music, and when I started doing that, yeah, that Joe Strummer film [documentary, The Future Is Unwritten] came out. “Of course, being a huge Clash and Mescaleros fan and stuff I went and saw it and those two guys [guitarist Rob Ting and bass player Jonno Smith] were there and I was, like, ‘Hey what are you guys doin’ here?’ And it was like the world was sort of speaking to me, with that film as well was very inspiring, saying, ‘You can do what you want, you’re free to make whatever kind of music you want to make,’ and, ‘be yourself’ and ‘grow up and be a man,’ and all that kind of stuff and meeting those guys there as well was like, ‘Well, we should probably start a band,’” he laughs.
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The plan was always to get out of New Zealand, though visa problems ultimately scuppered their original plan to relocate to London, but Melbourne proved no mere second easy option – Yeoward genuinely loves the city. More importantly, “when we got to Melbourne, we just did what we always do – work our arses off. We were
all living in a share house together and booking our own gigs and managing ourselves and putting all our money into a hat for recording funds and travelling funds – we were doing tours of the country in a fuckin’ Ford Falcon stationwagon – one of the guys would ride in the boot, you know, with gear on top of them! So we literally just made a lot of noise when we first came to Australia and these guys just came along and said, ‘Hey, we like what you’re doin’, we’d like to offer you guys an agreement.’” Next thing you know, King Cannons found themselves signed to EMI and releasing a self-titled debut EP. The music King Cannons make, meanwhile, is surprisingly uplifting even if some of the issues tackled reflect the band’s defiantly blue-collar, working class stance. “I think that’s always going to be an intention of mine. If I’m writing personal songs or things like that, if you’re going to tell a dark story or whatever I don’t really feel like I wanted to wallow in darkness. I think it’s more important to try and, you know, unify people and inspire people and inspire myself to rise above the shitness,” he laughs again, “and try and make something better for yourself. I dunno, positivity is important in having a good life.” The dozen songs on The Brightest Light were distilled from a frenzy of writing Yeoward undertook over a period of a couple of months.
the lyrical content’s gonna be, I don’t know how it’s gonna sound musically – I actually have not done this before so I have no fucking idea what I’m doing.’ But it’s like anything – well, you’re gonna soon fucking learn aren’t you? You’re gonna learn the hard way.”
“Before I even started writing for this album, we had, I dunno, at least forty-something songs, just from the four years prior, chipping away and writing a song every now and then, material left over from the [2009 self-titled] EP and all that jazz. But I really wanted to write a bunch of new songs because I didn’t want our first record to be like, you know, four years of dribs and drabs. I wanted it to be one concise kind of ‘this time, this place, these thoughts and these feelings’ sort of thing.
That working-class ethic also influence their choice of producer, which ended up being fellow expat New Zealander and Shihad drummer Tom Larkin. “We just wanted to make sure that whatever we were going to do was going to be really honest, obviously, and it was going to be recorded live. So we met Tom and we knew he was a pretty hardcore kinda dude and he’d spent a lot of time behind a kit and a lot of time behind the mixing desk and in studios and stuff, a really straight talking kinda guy from the same sorta place we are, smalltown New Zealand, so we understood each other’s way of being and let’s make a record.”
“So, start of 2011, I was just like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna take a couple of months off work, stay at home and just start chipping away at the block and just what the hell I can carve. I don’t know what kind of sculpture it’s gonna turn out to be, I don’t know what
Before they’d even released that debut album, however, King Cannons found themselves on a 17-date European tour. “We actually got an offer from, I dunno, these guys from Germany, this kind of like punk-rock band over there [The Broilers], they found out about us and invited
us to come over and play to these 1500-2000 capacity sold-out shows for a couple of weeks, and we were, like, ‘Yeah, we’d like to do that,’” Yeoward smirks. “And so we scraped together some money, headed over there and just had a blast, man. Really big shows and just gained so many new fans. The responses that we were getting were just overwhelming – it was really powerful because the crowds that were at the gigs were like blue-collar sorta people, so whatever English they understood in our lyrics and in my stage banter, they could really relate to. “And now EMI in Europe are putting out our record at the same time as well in I think it’s Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland – maybe another country too that I’ve forgotten – so things are kicking off all over.” WHO: King Cannons WHAT: The Brightest Lightt (EMI) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 28 June, Oxford Art Factory
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ARABIAN NIGHTS Prolific NZ musician and all-round good guy Lawrence Arabia explains to Stuart Evans that slaving away is easy, if you’re doing something you love.
H
ow many did a double-take and wondered what Lawrence Of Arabia is doing in a music magazine? A few, perhaps. Blame it on that little word ‘of’, which in this instance is an omitted preposition. New Zealand musician James Milne, also known as Lawrence Arabia (note the missing ‘of’), gets that a lot. “I wanted to have a more mystical name as I’m generally a shy person, but I like to take on new personalities. Part of the joke was that Arabia was my surname,” he laughs. It’s also a brave move to adopt the namesake of Lawrence of Arabia, although luckily for Milne there are parallels. Both are charming, both are talented and both are prolific, albeit in different realms.
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Milne has plied his musical tools since 2003 and dropped his self-titled debut album in 2006. Milne’s also the frontman for New Zealand band The Reduction Agents, which also released an album, The Dance Reduction Agents, in 2006. The Reduction Agents had two songs appear in the cult Kiwi movie, Eagle Vs Shark, which starred fellow Kiwi stalwart Jermaine Clement of Flight Of The Conchords fame. The abovementioned albums were also co-released by Milne’s own Lil’ Chief Records and Honorary Bedouin Records. “Being the record label boss and the act certainly has its pros and cons,” he admits. “Managing time is the biggest challenge that I face.” Milne admits that he is a man driven by busyness. Internationally, Milne’s known for his work with successful pop outing The Brunettes. He’s also toured with American band Okkervil River, playing bass guitar. Yet despite his collaborations and partnerships, Milne’s preference is still to work solo and focus on his ‘one-man band’ approach. “When you’re in a band you’re really performing a role. Fronting a band also comes with more angst, but when I get the chance to work with talented friends I’ll jump at it. I’m very lucky to be involved with artistic people
and lucky that I can continue to work with those people as well as focusing on my own work. I have a few projects happening and like to keep myself busy by spreading myself across lots of projects. It’s good to look for opportunities.” Milne has certainly put himself out there on display in recent years. Aside from touring, he’s won awards back in his native homeland and has tightened his own sound. Of course, flying solo comes with additional responsibilities, including signing off on the finished product. “It can also be harder to write and record on your own as you’re responsible for every decision.” He is also his own worst enemy. “I am generally harsh with myself and am always evaluating what I do well and what I don’t do well. There’s something different when I’m the only one recording tracks, but it’s probably due to me evaluating and being critical.” Yet he appears to thrive despite the additional responsibilities and pressures that come with working unaccompanied. Still, despite his achievements and successes, it’s been an ongoing learning curve for Milne. He reckons the music industry is in a constant state of flux and is an industry that doesn’t always know how to lead. “The music industry is terrified to innovate,” he says bluntly. “I try to do most things myself and avoid corporate intrusion, although it’s important to acknowledge that other people can help.” Not that money is in short supply. The music business may have been slow to react to the digital age and the transformation of music purchasing habits, but Milne reckons consumers’ demands for music has remained. “Things are shifting as they tend to do in music. The way that money is distributed and shared continues to change and is something that most are still learning about.”
Where Chant Darling was harmonious and had a sly nod to popular culture, The Sparrow harks back to the musical era of the late ‘60s. Chant Darling spawned the FM hit, Apple Pie Bed, a record that remains notoriously hard to classify regardless of its catchy hooks and rhythm. Rhythm and soul are still prevalent right across The Sparrow, even if Milne has opted for a more minimalistic approach. The witty pop elements can be heard throughout; they’re just harder to find. “I feel The Sparrow is more atmospheric than my previous work.” However, in spite of songs being written on-the-move and in the back of a van, Milne says that the songwriting process was still fraught with frustration. “You always have a goal to record songs by a certain timeframe, but you can’t force it, and it can be frustrating. There wasn’t a magical explosion where all songs were written in one go.”
The softly-spoken Kiwi is indeed a talented bloke. He’s produced music for stage and film and his latest bit of drudgery is The Sparrow, his third solo album and a response to his 2010 award-winning Chant Darling. Milne says that The Sparrow was written largely as he toured. “I wrote some of it in a back of a van and in-between shows,” he laughs.
He started to work on material for the album back in 2010, whilst on tour with another one of his bands, The Prime Ministers. He was in London for most of the songwriting, hunkering down in a mate’s studio to record the album. “Most of the basic tracks for The Sparrow were recorded live and I got friends to play certain parts. The process
was really enjoyable and once the atmosphere was captured it felt destined to have some magic to it.” With his progressive and innovative musical direction, including numerous bands, guises and ventures with running record labels, there remains something oldfashioned and traditional about Milne. He’s a modernist with ears always flapping for what occurred yesteryear. Little wonder he’s often described as a connoisseur of classic songwriting that’s inspired by the sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s West Coast movement. He laughs, “I’m very sceptical of trends and never feel compelled to follow a trend. I’m not really a fashionable person and I listen to a lot of older stuff.” The older stuff he refers to includes The Beatles, which was a recurring sound in the Milne household. “I grew up in a family that listen to that kind of music. There are modern records that have helped give me confidence that good stuff can be made.” WHO: Lawrence Arabia WHAT: The Sparrow (Spunk/Cooperative) WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday 3 July, Green Room
CLOSE BUT STILL CIGAR-WORTHY It wasn’t an easy road on the way to Sydney-bred troubadour Jonathan Boulet’s second album, but with the release behind him and in the midst of a tour in support, he has time to reflect on the record that almost nailed it. He chats with Mitch Knox.
F
or better or worse, it’s the little things that can make all the difference, like a wrongly placed decimal point in a space shuttle’s trajectory calculations, or Peter Dinklage in Game Of Thrones. Few people know this as well as lauded singer-songwriter and Parades drummer Jonathan Boulet, who felt the tiny accumulative wrath of little setbacks in putting his second album, We Kept The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart, behind him. Having finished work on the record as long ago as May last year, he found himself confronted with what seemed to be a constant stream of reasons to not release.
“There’s just this kind of vibe that I’m going for that’s a group vibe, you know? There’s a lot of inclusion. I want people to be included and feel like they can be a part of it. It’s not just a singer-songwriter and then a wall and then the crowd. I want it to be more of a thing that everyone can be involved in.” The inclusive philosophy goes further than just the vocals – We Kept The Beat… is as instrumentally rich as You’re A Animal’s title is grammatically frustrating. A good point of reference is the appearance of the always-fun marimba in the ultra-catchy This Song Is Called Ragged.
“It was just kind of all the little pieces that come with doing this kind of thing,” Boulet explains. “We had to get the art ready, and had to wait on this person and that person to come through, and eventually it was kind of, like, there’s a couple of months in the year where the label’s not happy to release anything because everyone’s on holidays, and it kind of just kept getting pushed back more and more – which is fine, because all it was about was doing it properly. Last time, we kind of just threw it out there at the start of December and there wasn’t really anything behind it. So this time we’re actually gearing up for it and doing a proper job with it, which I’m more than happy to do.”
“I was trying to get something that’s not used a lot, and it’d be a bit boring if it was just all guitars and all voice and that. We needed something that stood out a little bit. And it’s very percussive; I’m a drummer, so you can pick that up really easily, because you’re hitting something. To go along with the whole percussive element of the whole [album], it was good to have that there as well.”
Happy’s a good word for it – anyone who’s listened to We Kept The Beat… knows that the LP carries a wistful, boisterous, anthemic vibe a lot of the time, and certainly from the get-go with the fist-pumpery of You’re A Animal. All part of the plan, according to Boulet.
“There was a big list of songs that had been written prior to all of these songs that kept getting bumped off the list,” he recalls. “Sometimes one or two songs would double up, like, ‘This song is just that song in a different form,’ so one of them had to stay and one of them would have to go. You’d have to look at it like a balance; ‘Is there too much of this, or too much of that, on the record?’ and how it has to change.
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“The skeleton of that was happening very early on. We’d start our shows with a version of it, which wasn’t the song but was where the song came from. For me, that song just lays out all our cards on the table – that’s what the whole record is, drums and vocals pretty much. 28 • THE DRUM MEDIA
The end result is an album with expansive influences and evocations, itself a consequence of a dedicated effort by Boulet to create as varied a journey as possible.
“Sometimes it depends on how finished a song is, or it might be the vibe – one might have a better vibe than the other one, or just little things. There might be a couple of tiny things in there that I like more than the other one; it’s all very subjective.” Mercifully, not every aspect of the process was unnecessarily complex. But even moments of ease didn’t come easily. Boulet explains that although the vocals-and-rhythm-based Trounce was the song that
came together most easily, it “was definitely the last one that was written, so after I wrote that and I was like, ‘Okay, that’s the last one that’s going to go on the album,’ I was like, ‘Crap! I wish I had more of these!’ “It came together quick, it was just vocals and that big stab that happens throughout. It’s one of my favourites at the same time, because it’s just loud and noisy and crazy.” And at the other end of the spectrum, of course, there’s Piao Voca Slung, a song that Boulet is still not sure if he even likes all that much. “That one went through a couple of different versions of demos, just because it was… it was okay, but it wasn’t quite there. I’m still not sure about it. I don’t know if I like that song anymore. I did maybe a year ago, but now I’m just not so sure about it. “It’s just kind of something you’d expect. When it comes on the album, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, okay, cool, heard that, whatever.’ I’m not losing sleep over it. I’ve got a lot of songs on there that I’m very keen about. But yeah, it was more of a – like I was saying before – like a balance thing. I wanted a song that was longer and really quite epic, and I guess that song serves that purpose.”
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So maybe there’s hope for Piao Voca Slung yet. In fact, it’s arguable that every track on We Kept The Beat serves its purpose – which raises the question: can the parts achieve their respective goals but the whole still fall short? Boulet admits that he had ambitions going into this album. But he’s also rational enough to know he always has room to improve and, if nothing else, that kind of honesty deserves your money. “My whole thing the whole time was just that I wanted a record that was full-on from start to finish,” he admits. “I wanted it to not let up the whole time, and just be untuneout-able. You put it on and you can’t talk over it because every song is just right up to the max. “I feel like I got close, and that it’s hopefully set me on a direction where I can, if I want to do that next time, maybe… yeah. I think I got close.” WHO: Jonathan Boulet WHAT: We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart (Modular/Universal) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 30 June, Metro
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GOOD LIVIN’ His name might be synonymous with dirty rock’n’roll and all things debaucherous, but there’s more to Eddie Spaghetti than meets the eye. He explains to Steve Bell how he ended up morphing from chief Supersucker to solo artist extraordinaire, all without even the vaguest of compromise.
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here’s a moment on the most excellent 1999 Supersuckers album The Evil Powers Of Rock’N’Roll – aptly just before raucous tune I Want The Drugs is about to kick in – where a disembodied voice poses the question: “Would you say that your songs are about liquor, women, drugs and killing for the most part?”. There’s a reflective pause before a cheeky, “Yup!” is proffered and then the depraved goodness of those Supersuckers guitars kick in with a vengeance. The exchange was bootlegged from a radio interview, and the respondent voice harbouring the evil intentions belongs to Eddie Spaghetti, frontman and chief sonic architect of the self-proclaimed ‘Greatest Rock’N’Roll Band In The World’.
“I’ve been super busy doing solo stuff, and I’m on tour with the band right now – we’re in Phoenix, Arizona, getting ready to rock the Phoenicians,” Spaghetti offers with a chuckle. “We’ve been busy – we’ve been working on a new record, which is taking a lot longer than what we thought it was going to take to get it out, but it’s in the works and should be out before too long.
And while such a tag is obviously impossible to verify, if there was to be a quest to find the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band – and we’re talking proper rock’n’roll, foot-to-the-floor stuff that takes no prisoners, where the sniff of debauchery and danger is arguably more important than traits like rhythm and melody – then you could do worse than kick off the search by studying Supersuckers. Founded in Tucson, Arizona in the late-‘80s, they infamously tossed a coin when they wanted to get out of town and lady luck found them shunted to Seattle, where they signed to Sub Pop just as the grunge phenomenon hit – they suddenly found themselves in the midst of a massive rock explosion, just not entirely the right type of rock.
This solo career of which Spaghetti speaks is now three albums deep – his most recent being last year’s Sundowner long-player – but it all kicked off somehow haphazardly back in 2004 with the sessions for what became his solo debut The Sauce.
Nothing could derail Supersuckers though – they’ve always played the rock’n’roll card because that’s what they knew best, not because they thought it was going to get them anywhere. Decades later and they’re still plugging away, fighting the good fight and doing what they love because essentially they don’t know how to do anything else. Eddie Spaghetti might have inadvertently branched off into a solo career – he’s currently on the verge of his first trip to Australia on his lonesome – but it’s still business as usual for the inveterate rocker.
“When I come down there though it’ll just be me by myself, but I let the crowd tell me what they want to hear: if they’re Supersuckers fans, and hopefully they are, then I can play pretty much anything that the crowd can shout out. That’s kinda how the solo shows go – I let the crowd tell me what they want to hear, and I try my best to play it. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose, but it’s always entertaining.”
“It sort of happened by accident – I went into the studio to record a couple of songs that I had on my own, and it turned into my first solo record, and that was such a hit with everybody that I decided to do it again, and again,” he ponders almost incredulously. “And I’m probably going to do it again and again and again after that. I’ve only just recently come to grips with the fact that I now have a career as a solo artist as well as with the band – you know, I always considered myself a band guy, and not really a solo artist per se, but I’m starting to get more comfortable with that notion. “And they totally complement each other anyway. Sometimes I’ll open for the band as a solo act anyway, and it goes really well together. And it all winds up in the Supersuckers bin at the record store anyway, so it’s good for both things.” While the solo records are predominantly more laidback concerns than your typical Supersuckers fare,
this departure from the rock isn’t a total surprise for long-term fans – the band did famously make a foray into more stripped-back country with 1997’s brilliant Must’ve Been High record. “Yeah, I fought [country music] for a long time when I was in high school and stuff like that – I kinda fought the country music that I heard blasting out of every pickup truck in town, but eventually that shit just seeps into who you are and becomes a part of you,” Spaghetti muses. “You look at artists like Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and even Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle – there’s some great country out there, and it’s too good to deny for too long. “It was kind of rough going for a while [releasing Must’ve Been High], people weren’t accepting of it and people thought we were fucking around with them – they thought we’d lost our fucking minds,” he laughs. “But over time I think that the country record is our biggest selling record, so it shows you what they know.” One thing that links all of his disparate projects is the inherent humour that underlies Spaghetti’s work, never overt enough to make his songs seem flippant but always present just below the surface. “It’s just something that I can’t get away from, for better or for worse,” he smiles. “Sometimes it kinda bites me in the ass to have some comedy in a song, because,
let’s face it, the comedy movies are never the ones that are up for the Academy Awards, but they’re always the ones that you watch over and over and over again. I always found myself having an affinity with being on the funny side of the street.” Unfortunately Spaghetti’s sunny outlook on life doesn’t extend to his take on the current state of rock’n’roll. “It’s in the toilet I think, unfortunately,” he sighs. “I was talking to my friend today about it – I think rock is going to become like jazz or blues, where it’s this little niche thing where a few old guys are doing it in a bar to seven or eight people. Very few people are going to have any success at it anymore. Unfortunately I think that real rock is just out of favour at the moment – I’m sure it will come back, but it’s going to take some sort of remarkable event for that to happen. It’s tough to think of many real good rock bands right now that haven’t been around for a while – that are new. Luckily the ‘Suckers ain’t going anywhere in a hurry though, so it ain’t all doom and gloom!” WHO: Eddie Spaghetti WHEN & WHERE: Friday 29 June, Sandringham Hotel
THE JANITORS OF ROCK “We have a good time and fuckloads of fun.” The Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor talks to Stuart Evans about the crazy trip of opening their recent shows, being social cheerleaders and not trying to be current.
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e’re really good at what we do and our prime musical direction is ensuring we can’t be confused with trying to be current. We are garbage technicians and are sick of electronic samples, sick of drum loops and sick of synthesisers. We’re the clean-up crew of rock – the janitors of rock,” says the always-modest Dandy Warhols frontman, Courtney Taylor-Taylor. As vocalist, guitarist and head producer, TaylorTaylor is not shy in coming forward. “We will always be a guitar rock band as I love to play and love the guitar,” he says. He is also not afraid to spruik the band’s talents and achievements. The band formed in Portland, west coast USA, in 1994 and released their inaugural album, Dandys Rule OK, in 1995, releasing their breakthrough effort, The Dandy Warhols Come Down, two years later. But it was Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia – the album they released at the turn of the millennium – that put the band on international charts and in the spotlight thanks to the huge commercial single, Bohemian Like You. Taylor-Taylor and The Dandy Warhols are infamous for their humour, chart hits and partying. Taylor-Taylor is also a wily businessperson. After he received his share of the royalties, largely thanks to Bohemian Like You appearing in Vodaphone TV adverts, Taylor-Taylor used the profits to build the Odditorium, a recording studio designed and built in the band’s hometown. The complex features enough space for a video production and web design studio and takes up more than a quarter of a city block. He views the song’s association with Vodaphone as a positive: “Because of that relationship it funded the Odditorium and gave us freedom.” They quickly put the recording studio to good use as their 2003 effort, Welcome To The Monkey House, continued to keep the band in the spotlight after it spawned another hit single, We Used To Be Friends. And then things went quiet. Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars (2005) and … Earth To The Dandy Warhols… (2008) received mixed reviews despite the band roping in a swag of cameo 30 • THE DRUM MEDIA
appearances for the latter, including Mark Knopfler and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. …Earth To The Dandy Warhols… was also the first album recorded on their self-funded label Beat The World Records. If dodgy reviews weren’t enough, it was about to get worse for the Dandys. In 2004, filmmaker Ondi Timoner released Dig!, a documentary about the band that focused on their relationship with friends and fellow west cost band, The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Dig! became a critical success and won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. However, despite the accolades both bands remain displeased with how they were portrayed. Taylor-Taylor has stated that he felt pressured to be a part of the film. His anger and frustration about the experience remains: “That whole thing was bullshit. It was dishonest and I was lied to about the whole thing. It took years for me to trust people again, particularly people that I toured with.” In the end, both bands thought that the filmmaker’s depiction of Anton Newcombe, The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s lead singer, was constricted and unwarranted. Still, that’s in the past and Taylor-Taylor is focused on the future, which is timely as they’re back with their new studio album, This Machine, an altogether darker, unassuming and contemplative collection. Gone are the snares and gentle synths, replaced with a sobering offering of stripped-back rock. It was a deliberate ploy, explains Taylor-Taylor. “We didn’t really have to think about this album as we said that it felt fresh again, which for us is cool. We wanted to make a simpler record and we didn’t want to do something that everyone else is doing.” Aside from being sick of drum patterns, loops and directors, Taylor-Taylor has another bugbear. “We’re not directed by what other bands are doing or what other bands are doing but not doing well.” He’s also in a reflective mood and is aware of his limitations. “I’m not someone who can just sit there and write countless songs. I have to wait for something real or something that is meaningful for the writing to happen.” Reviews for This Machine ave been mixed, with some media rags comparing the band to reformed alcoholics
who only make decent music when they’re sloshed. The criticism has been fierce and Taylor-Taylor has witnessed it first hand whilst on tour. He says that during recent gigs, when they’ve performed material from This Machine, the crowd has taken a while to get going. “For the first fifteen minutes they stand around in disbelief that we make this futuristic music. When a load of people turn up and ninety-nine per cent of them aren’t on drugs, for fifteen minutes they’re in a fucking trance. We stand on stage, looking at each other thinking this is a crazy trip before we see everyone with their fucking hands-in-the-air and palms out.” What is a given is This Machine is The Dandy Warhols stripped bare. It has more in common with Goth than electronic. “There is normally an arbitrary line between the last record from our previous album and the first record from our current album. For this album, we tried to limit ourselves with the amount of tracks we recorded and it worked well. Our approach has always been the same throughout our time together as we always ask ourselves, ‘What have we not done that we’d like to do?’” The partying – and booze – may have stopped, but the touring has not. Case in point is their latest road trip. “We’ve just been on one hell of a long tour. We had a month touring the USA and then had time in Europe. We have a good time and fuckloads of fun.”
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Other bands may have excessive demands on their tour rider; not The Dandy Warhols. “We take bicycles and barbecues on tour,” he laughs. “Spending so much time on buses isn’t great, but we have to be accessible as everyone on tour matters. We are the social cheerleaders and try to make it fun and enjoyable for everyone.” But this wouldn’t be The Dandy Warhols without something slightly odd to tell. To be different, the band hooked up with Richard Morgan, respected sci-fi author, to write their bios for This Machine. Taylor-Taylor explains, “It’s really a variation on what we’ve done before. Most bios are dull and we wanted to do something different. Pete [Holmstrom, guitar] bumped into Richard and became friends due to their interest in Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.” After nearly two decades of writing, producing and touring, what is left for The Dandy Warhols to achieve? A lot, says Taylor-Taylor. “We’ll be touring and in 2014 it’s our twentieth anniversary as a band. I’m sure we’ll have something planned for that one.” WHO: The Dandy Warhols WHAT: This Machine (Inertia) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 17 November, Harvest, Parramatta Park
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OVERNIGHT SENSATION
MAC’S LAND
Sures secured an instant audience but are still finding their sound, Matt Hogan tells Doug Wallen.
Sitting poolside in Bali on his birthday, Kid Mac breaks down how his mixed heritage and outside views have always been a blessing through his music. By Rip Nicholson.
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t’s no exaggeration to call SURES a young band. How long exactly have the Sydney duo-turned-quartet been around? “Maybe like seven months?” muses guitarist Matt Hogan. “Maybe eight.” They’ve made an eerie amount of progress in that time, graduating from being just another band uploading songs on triple j Unearthed to supporting such international touring acts as Best Coast, Real Estate and Wavves. Now they’re signed to Ivy League and have a debut EP, Stars, which pairs the titular single with their earlier home recordings. Hogan and singer-guitarist Jonas Nicholls had another band previously, as well as others “when we were kids”, but this one has already outpaced them all. Thanks to word-of-mouth Unearthed support followed by blogs latching onto the first two SURES songs that surfaced online – Poseidon and The Sun – the duo doubled in size and began playing to much bigger crowds for those support gigs. Such high-profile slots would be daunting for any young band, but especially one well under a year old, with members ranging in age from 19 to 21. The upshot, then, is that SURES could build their on-stage confidence all the faster than a band stuck playing hole-in-the-wall venues to an audience that may or may not care. “I’m definitely not as nervous as I used to be when we got up to play in front of, like, anyone really,” Hogan admits. “We’re getting used to it a bit.” SURES have now toured nationally, and are hitting the East Coast to support the EP and single. If their success might seem like a fluke, the appeal of a song like Poseidon is undeniably instant. Doused in bottomless reverb and fuzz, it’s got a gooey, up-all-night pop vibe that’s completed by Beach Boys-worthy sighs and an early-Weezer turn to Nicholls’ voice. (We keep expecting him to break into Jamie.) It taps into the slacker beach vibe that’s everywhere right now, as well as the ‘50s nostalgia of everyone from The Drums to Bleeding Knees Club. As for the other song they debuted with, the twominute The Sun hangs on wide-eyed harmonies. So are The Beach Boys huge for these guys, or is it more Beach Boys-influenced acts like Panda Bear?
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Neither, it turns out. “The harmonies are sort of folky. You don’t really hear folk music in our influences, but we both like Simon & Garfunkel and that kind of thing.” Actually, if you strip the surf guitar and reverb from The Sun, the vocals tip close to, say, Mumford & Sons. Despite signing to a well-known label and having their first official release, SURES didn’t screw with their homespun vibe. Of the EP’s five songs only the title track was re-recorded. And even though that was done with producer Dann Hume (Evermore, Lisa Mitchell) as opposed to in GarageBand on Nicholls’ computer, it’s not a radical departure. “We just ran [our] version through a better desk. We used all the same plug-ins. We didn’t even use amps. We wanted it to sound like GarageBand, but just bigger.” The next step, of course, is working towards an album. SURES already have an album’s worth of newer songs, but they want to write plenty more before they begin to narrow them down to the strongest batch. That puts their debut album back to next year for a probable release. In that time, who knows how the band will evolve? They already have a habit of changing course from song to song. “When we started the band,” recalls Hogan, “we were still learning how to write songs. And we’re still learning now. Every song sounds really different, because we don’t know how to write in a specific style. You can hear that on the EP. It still works in a way that’s cohesive, I think. I guess we’re still figuring it out.” WHO: SURES WHAT: Stars (Ivy League/Liberation) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 28 June, GoodGod
THEY’RE NO ANGELS
“I knew the name Heaven,” Robertson admits, who’d been recommended to Fryer two days before he was due to fly back to Australia for this tour by American guitarist Mitch Perry, who’d been in the Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door line-up and had to drop out because of touring commitments in the US. “I wasn’t familiar with the material but I was aware that Mitch was in 32 • THE DRUM MEDIA
“Musically, I also never felt a part of the Aussie hip hop scene and I am definitely not your typical muso. I am somewhere in the middle in no man’s land. I never took part in rap battles or kicked it in a home studio full of MCs ready to drop 16 bars after a hit of a blunt. Instead I surfed all day with my boys and in my spare time wrote songs bagging my mates and rapping about shit that we did on a surf trip up the coast. All of the above played a big role in the making of the No Man’s Land record.” No Man’s Land dropped in May and was four years in the making for De Souza – work that he describes as a journey through discovering his place in this land as well as encompassing his time abroad, meeting his childhood idols and having them mentor his career along the way. “I took my time and chipped away at [my debut album] for over four years and along the way, the journey I had was an amazing one with a lot of ups and a lot of downs as well. So it was important
De Souza toured the US last year with Mickey Avalon who features in his first single She Goes Off and had the privilege to chop it up with his heroes Warren G and Snoop Dogg, and chilled with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ frontman Anthony Kiedis at his Malibu residence discussing surf, music and MMA. And when Wu-Tang’s Abbott RZA toured down under, De Souza spent a week in a recording studio with the producer, punishing him for advice on life and longevity in this music industry. “Although they were great experiences, it was the more humble moments of my life with my family, nieces, nephews, girlfriend, friends and just by myself that added most value to this record.” 2012’s MusicOz Awards’ Artist Of The Year winner, De Souza also co-directed the Bra Boys documentary about his brotherhood in Sydney’s surf culture made famous during the Cronulla race riots of 2005. Much like the ethos of his Bra Boys, he too feels that it is important for his music and Australian hip hop to incorporate a multicultural binding. “Guys like Hau [Koolism] touch on racial topics which I have a lot of respect for. We need more of these voices and I want to put my hand up as one of them.” De Souza states. “Our Bra Boys family is very multicultural, as is my immediate family and a lot of my friends. So it is only natural for me to want to convey this message with pride.” WHO: Kid Mac WHAT: No Man’s Land (Kid Mac Music/MGM) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 29 June, The Standard; Saturday 30, Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle
Serial killer-obsessed metal veterans Macabre are ready to slash and burn their way across Australia. Mark Hebblewhite approaches guitarist Lance ‘Corporate Death’ Lencioni and lives to tell the tale.
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“We kept in touch over the years, everybody,” Fryer explains. He’s been living in Dallas, Texas for the past 30 years, as is evident from the drawl that has smothered his otherwise Scottish accent. “With the American guys [Fryer pulled an American line-up together to record the last Heaven album, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, in 1985] and the Australian band as well, and we struck up the chords there yesterday,” – he’s calling us from their rehearsal room in Adelaide – “it was like nothin’ has changed. It’s somethin’ special, and it’s even more special havin’ Rowan [Robertson, Dio’s English guitarist who featured on the singer’s final album] on board as well because he adds so much to the Heaven sound it’s not funny and hopefully the Heaven sound can rub off on him.”
“When I was growing up, I always found myself caught in the middle of two elements,” De Souza begins. “I also felt caught in between certain subcultures where half of my friends were hardcore surfers and the other half were the opposite. I never wanted to be a hardcore surfer nor did I want to be a street thug. I just took bits and pieces of each culture that I felt suited me and ran with that. I did the same thing with my Brazilian heritage and being born and raised Aussie. I eventually worked out that being in no man’s land or being not quite this or that, can be a blessing if that is where you are most comfortable.
for me to translate this same journey into the record and I was lucky enough to meet some of my heroes.”
MURDER, HE WROTE
This isn’t a reunion, the guys from Heaven insist, it’s a reformation – and they’re hungry and cocky enough to make it happen, Michael Smith discovers. or a couple of years there in the early ‘80s, Heaven – signed to a determined little indie label called Deluxe, also home to a young bunch of hopefuls called INXS – looked like they just might be the next AC/DC. Their singer Alan Fryer had, in fact, auditioned to replace Bon Scott. Soon after the core of the band – Fryer, bass player Lawrie Marlow, lead guitarist Bradford Kelly (ex-Swanee) and, a little later, rhythm guitarist John Haese and drummer Joe Turtur – relocated from Adelaide, they signed with AC/DC’s former manager Michael Browning. The aim was always to get overseas, and within a year of releasing their debut album, Twilight Of Mischief, in 1982, that’s exactly what they did, picking up the opening slots for, among others, Judas Priest and Motley Crue. American guitar manufacturers Jackson even developed a Jackson Kelly model with the now sadly late guitarist. Within another two years, however, it was all over – or so it seemed.
or Macario ‘Kid Mac’ De Souza life has taken him on journeys stretching far and abroad, all the while growing up between the surf and turf of Sydney’s beachside suburb of Maroubra. Coupled with his father being Brazilian, MC De Souza felt lost in cultural knots that have kept him from being roped solely into the Aussie way of life. He aptly titled his debut album No Man’s Land, where his external perspective of his Australia has taken shape.
“W Heaven and I’m learning the stuff now. It’s great fun to play ‘cause it’s such good material – I was really thrilled when I heard and I’m really enjoying it.” Heaven struck that all too common problem of having to change their name – to Heaven Bent – because an American band of the time was using it. The US label also changed one track on Twilight Of Mischief for what became their first US single, In The Beginning. Arriving in the US at about the same time MTV was kicking off certainly helped them. The clip for Rock School was all denim, leather and big hair. Inevitably the lifestyle as much as the egos got in the way and after a second album, 1983’s Where Angels Fear To Tread, things started falling apart. Within another year, despite having the same US management as Def Leppard, Aerosmith and Scorpions, all bar Fryer were back in Australia. When that management company fell apart, it was all over even for the American Heaven. There had been one previous reunion in 2001, the group coming together to tour Australia with Judas Priest. “It’s not a 30-year reunion,” Turtur assures. “It’s a reformation. It’s just been time. I dunno – we needed 30 years away from each other to realise we’re not such bad blokes after all. And we can actually still play.” d “Part of deal in doing this tour,” Fryer adds, “was to include an American guitarist so we could play some of the music off the American album as well as some new stuff.” WHO: Heaven WHEN & WHERE: Friday 29 and Saturday 30 June, Annandale Hotel; Sunday 1 July, Waves, Wollongong
hy are we so obsessed with serial killers? Because that’s human nature, my friend,” laughs Macabre guitarist Lance ‘Corporate Death’ Lencioni when explaining why his band has written exclusively about serial killers and their craft over a stunning 25-year history. “People sometimes look at us and think we must be crazy because of what we write and sing about. But really, everyone is obsessed with serial killers – they fascinate our society. It’s not just extreme metal guys; there are old ladies sitting around in whatever city in America who pick up the paper and just have to read the story about unsolved gruesome crimes or the capture of a notorious serial killer. It’s a morbid fascination that stems from the human condition. For me it all started in junior high when I did a book report on Bonny and Clyde. In the same book there was stuff about Ed Gein and Albert Fish, and from that moment I was hooked.” For a group who play murder metal (grindcore, death metal and old-school thrash mixed with a fascination for violence), Macabre have achieved something even most non-threatening dad rock acts can’t pull off: they’ve managed to keep the exact same line-up for more than a quarter of a century. “Sometimes I don’t know how we’ve done it,” says Lencioni. “In this day and age bands go through members all the time – especially in metal. But Macabre has been the same three guys from day one. I’ve never really analysed why we’ve been able to do it but I think it comes down to a few things. First, there are only three of us – if there were five guys, five egos and abrasive personalities, we never would have survived this long. Also it’s not like we’ve been out on the road or in the studio every second of our lives, and I think that has helped as well. But most of all we’re all friends and we’re all laid-back people: we do this because we love it and that’s kept us together.” When Lencioni says Macabre haven’t spent their lives in the studio he isn’t kidding. Last year’s Grim Scary Tales
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was the band’s first full length LP since 2003’s Murder Metal. But it seems that the break was beneficial, because the boys got the chance to research even more works about – you guessed it – serial killers. “There are a lot more songs that were written at the same time as the material on Grim Scary Tales”, reveals Lencioni. “All those years we had off meant that when it came to write, the ideas just kept flowing. Grim Scary Tales was really just the first of two parts – a history of murder if you will. On that record we covered killers up until World War One – everyone from Nero to Countess Bathory, Dracula and Burke and Hare. The next album is going to cover everything after World War One right up to the modern day. We’re going to take the chance to re-cover some of the killers we have already written about with some new lyrics and a new musical approach, so that should be pretty cool.” While no other band has covered serial killers for as long, or as comprehensively, as the Chicago-based veterans, Lencioni refuses to take credit for starting a trend that has seen everyone from Slayer to Church Of Misery tackle society’s most infamous individuals. It seems that gore-obsessed metal heads are also humble. “We didn’t set out to start any trend and I don’t want to claim that we’ve greatly influenced all these bands – that’s not what we’re about,’ he says. “We love making brutal music and telling compelling stories – and as long as society keeps producing these people we’re not going to run out of subject matter.” WHO: Macabre WHEN & WHERE: Friday 29 June, The Wall
THE DRUM MEDIA • 33
POWER OF THOUGHT
TRAVELLIN’ BAND Appropriately enough, it’s the journey, both physical and emotional, that inspired the new EP, “Hey!”, from Set Sail, as drummer Joshua May tells Michael Smith.
Three parts Kiwi, one part Brit, I Am Giant might just be the next big New Zealand rock export. Michael Smith investigates.
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ass player Paul Matthews had been in a band in his native New Zealand called Tadpole, then another called Stylus, but had moved to London about five years ago “to play music in a much bigger sort of musical climate, so the idea was to come over here and work with some people and, you know, live a different musical life – and we ended up forming a band.” That band, I Am Giant, turned out to include two fellow Kiwis, drummer Shelton Woolright (ex-Blindspott) and guitarist Andrew Kerr. All they needed was “the voice”, which turned up in the form of Englishman Ed Martin. “It took us about a year auditioning and we looked at 150 guys to find someone who was going to fit. We were open to hearing how a voice could influence our direction, because I think essentially we all just wanted to do what comes to us, and so we pretty much had music we were already writing that was natural to us. Ed did his thing and he fitted in really nicely.” That was 2009, and from there I Am Giant started gigging, did a UK tour, “just getting out there and plying our trade,” Matthews explains, “trying out our songs.” They cut an EP in 2010 but their collective eye was always on the debut album, The Horrifying Truth. For that, they came back to this side of the planet, going into pre-production in Sydney with local producer Forrester Savell, before heading to Melbourne to record. On release in August last year, the album – full of big, anthemic hard rockers – debuted at #2 in the NZ charts. “We’d done quite a few shows in New Zealand,” Matthews continues. “We sort of got away over there on the radio and started building a really great following, so we did a bunch of shows and popped over to Australia from there and stayed long enough to record.” Before that, however, I Am Giant found themselves being nominated the Quiksilver Ambassadors for Europe, which helpfully led to their playing some pretty high-profile gigs including Brixton’s Skate And BMX Jam, Quiksilver’s Chromataphobia and the Quiksilver Pro Tour in Biarritz, France. “Quiksilver
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ydney folk/indie pop trio Set Sail’s previous EP, The Riley Moore, released last year, chalked up sales of more than 14,000 copies, which in these days of downloads over hard copies is impressive indeed. With a new EP, “Hey!”, in their collective hands, they’re embarking on a two-month tour of the nation, before taking themselves off to bunker down in a log cabin in Montana in October to write their debut album. The new EP certainly gives a good indication of what we might expect when the album arrives. heard some of our stuff and just loved it and thought it would be ideal for their surf and snowboarding videos. That just kicked off a relationship and we’ve been working with them ever since.” That explains how they got world surfing champion Kelly Slater and champion skater Tony Hawk, among others, to appear in their videos. While the songwriting for the most draws from the band’s collective life experiences, their own growing awareness of mortality and the slow loss of innocence, I Am Giant aren’t afraid to tackle the occasional bigger social topic. The album’s title for instance, The Horrifying Truth, for Matthews comes via the final track, After The War. “The horrifying element of that song I guess is the motive for war, and with someone in the trenches, how far away he really is from all the ideals. You’re supposed to be fighting for God and country, and it wasn’t that at all. At the time, I’d been exploring my family tree and I had a great-great-grandfather who was in World War One – he got shot in the throat – and you look at the photo of the guy and he’s like a version of you, and you wonder what was he thinking and what I would be thinking. But there are lots of different topics and thoughts in the music. It’s not like we’re preaching anything; it’s more pondering over thoughts.”
WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 4 July, Spectrum
The debutante has other ideas however, insisting she spits unlike anyone else. “No, I don’t spit in accents; I spit Sky’High. When you’re hearing my music, you’re hearing me!” Gerrey emphasises, “No mix in my shit, I like it straight up. If people confuse me with a UK MC, I don’t give a fuck as long as my music is comin’ out ya speakers.” Gerrey, who has earned her stripes with a slew of mixtapes and YouTube hits before inking the dotted line with Elefant Traks, has employed the services of New Zealand’s premier hip hop producer, P-Money (Scribe, David Dallas, Vince Harder). On Forever Sky’High his beats flex from the rockriffing opener of Let’s Just, to the grimey dubstep of Reign, to the psychedelic Carnival and the hip hop muscles of Don Dada and Forever Gone. While P-Money’s variety may add a little to the confusion to the project’s genre, her style has proven to be scattered by design, and by her own admission Gerrey firmly believes, “You can’t label me, I make good music. If I need to fit into a ‘box’, gonna have to make a new genre. Just call it ‘Sky’High’.”
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Gerrey maintains her roots are too embedded for her to be considered anything other than a Sydney MC and may have otherwise developed a hemispherical identity to her tunes. “I’m too Sydney City for that to happen. But like I’ve said before, I make good music and I work with the best 34 • THE DRUM MEDIA
“We really wanted to move away a little bit from the traditional sense of touring, doing shows and people coming to see us,” he explains. “We thought it would be such a great idea to do these ‘guerrilla’ shows, as we’ve called them, in all these landmarks in Europe and America, where we actually went out to the people. The music was such a great medium for that. We played one actual venue, a little café in Iceland, but that came off the back of going to Reykjavik and just playing.
Things almost came unstuck though when, on returning to Australia via New Zealand, American-born lead singer Brandon Hoogenboom found himself deported for breaching his visa conditions. It seems a Facebook petition that went viral with more than 8,500 signatures of support helped ensure he was able to return. While these days when they’re not busking, Set Sail tour as a five-piece with keyboards and bass player, their secret weapon – so to speak – is classically-trained violinist Josiah Willows, who has thankfully opted not to grow a chest-covering beard. He provided the track, Charleston, for the EP, a tune that mixes up references to the Twist, surf music and the ‘20s in one big summery confection. “We used to live with a friend who used to do the Charleston – the dance – and Josiah was inspired because he could never do the Charleston, and still can’t! So he thought he’d write about it at least. It’s a bit of a Jellybean song, a bit quirky.” WHO: Set Sail WHAT: “Hey!” (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 30 June, Oxford Art Factory; Saturday 21 July Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle; Sunday 22, Brass Monkey; Thursday 2 August, Transit Bar, Canberra; Friday 3, The Patch, Wollongong; Sunday 4, Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba
HARD TIMES
With all the bluster you’d hope for from a feisty female MC, Sky’High tells Rip Nicholson she’s not about making bad music – ever.
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As well as the life journey Day mentions, Set Sail undertook a pretty impressive physical one before settling down to record the EP: a self-funded, busking world tour, which saw them travel to London, Paris, Berlin, Iceland, California, Dubai and Hong Kong, among other places – 40 cities across four continents all-up.
“When we started out playing together [two years ago], it was just that busking thing and we really learnt how music affects people. So when we do want to test out songs, it’s a really good time to
WHO: I Am Giant
SPITTIN’ FOR THE SKY here is a new femcee fatale in the Australian hip hop scene, with real streetwise bravado – Skh’ai Temalesi Gerrey, better pronounced as Sky’High on the street level where her raw and uncompromising rhymes lick out to whomever dares to be within earshot. Neither shy nor humble, the Sydney MC delivers her vernacular with such a voracious appetite, that her frantic overflow off debut LP Forever Sky’High may lead some to align her with the likes of UK’s Lady Sovereign or New York’s Nicki Minaj.
“I’m a big fan of big melodies, so anything with a strong chorus and a big hook,” drummer Joshua May admits. “That’s really been placed in these songs. I think there’s been a real growth in the band; just a maturity. We’ve all encountered relationships and partners, so that’s really in there, especially for Who Are You. When I wrote that I was starting to see this girl and that whole aspect came into it. But also unity, in that sense, as well as camaraderie – we’ve all been going through this journey and we’ve all found that we really need to stick together, and “Hey!” is an example of that. It’s more a journey as a group, where the lyrics have really come from.”
trial-and-error stuff. We just kept on noticing these certain things continuously happening when we’d do a song in a certain way. And so it’s a really good way to shape a song to see if people are going to dance. When everyone starts dancing, you know you’re onto something. It plays a really important role.”
Ahead of The Bride’s upcoming national album tour, vocalist Kevin Schwartz tells Daniel Cribb that Australian hardcore is in need of some life support. to make that happen. That’s it,” boasts Gerrey. “If anything, my album is a ‘Southern Hemisphere’ collaboration. But at the end of the day nobody is going to give a shit what [nationality] you are if you’re good at what you do. But again, I’m Sydney City. I do me! I’m as Sky’High as Sky’High gets.” Rather than shopping her music around for a palette of different beatsmiths to paint the album’s soundscape, Gerrey’s chemistry with P-Money was well-fitted and there was no need to look elsewhere. “Yeah, it was a bit like that,” she laughs. “P and I work well together – don’t need to shop around if we can make the best shit together already. So yeah, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!” Gerrey was dragged up hard out of the housing commissions of South Sydney. A colourful upbringing of family influences, with her grandmother a King’s Cross go-go dancer and mother managing strip clubs, the diversity of Sky’High comes from a Fijian, Scottish and Aboriginal ancestry. Her hardcore narrative reflects the personal woes, drug addiction and confronting street life that have formed a curvature of authenticity and given her the backbone to go full time on her chosen path into music, a career driven at full throttle toward a gutter-rap movement unseen at this level in Australia before. “I have never and will never work a normal nine to five. Fuck your nine to five. I never stop working and my music is me, I ain’t succeeded yet... still in the process.” Upon reflection, Gerrey insists that Forever Sky’High didn’t come out exactly as she had hoped for, but of course, it’s work the MC can be proud of. “No, [Forever Sky’High is] not as I had envisioned; but of course it’s good, ‘cause I wrote it and I’m not about making bad music. Ever! I’m only giving you a taste of what’s to come… It’s only going to get better and better.” WHO: Sky’High WHAT: Forever Sky’High (Elefant Traks/Inertia) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 29 June, Oxford Art Factory
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ydney for a long time had, in my opinion, the best hardcore scene in Australia,” reckons The Bride’s Kevin Schwartz of his hometown, “Unfortunately, it’s sort of slowed down a little bit over the last year, two years… Places like Brisbane, it’s pretty much non-existent, the scene’s almost gone because venues are closing down all over the place and no one wants to put on hardcore gigs anymore, which sucks. “But in saying that, because that sort of thing is happening, you’re starting to see a lot more house gigs and that kind of thing. Fans are saying ‘Hey, come play in my living room and we’ll invite everyone and charge a dollar and we’ll put sandwiches on.’ That’s the kind of scene that you saw a couple of years ago, which I think is fantastic, and I think it’s great to see it come back now. So it is on demand and I think it is getting better and better, but it’s only going to be as good as the people coming to the shows and supporting it. So yeah, come out to gigs – don’t sit at home and be lame.” Doing all they can to keep the music they love alive, The Bride have been on the road constantly since the release of their debut album, President Rd, providing ample opportunities for punters to come out of the woodwork. “We really just want to build up our fan base. We’re pretty passionate about what we do, so we try to tour new places and play to people that might not have heard us. Ultimately, the goal is playing as many of those shows as possible – as well as playing the capitals where we’ve already established a bit of a fan base. We want to play as many spots as possible and get the music out there and sort of bring back that community of hardcore that’s gone missing over the past couple of years. “[On tour] we pretty much live in a crappy little eight-seater van,” he laughs, admitting their goal isn’t an easy one. “It sucks, it’s really hard, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. Always in a van, always listening to the same songs, and always sitting next to the same smelly feet.”
themusic.com.au
Although the album came out in November last year and they’ve already circled the country a few times, this is the band’s first headlining tour in support of an album that features vocal cameos from the likes of Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive and members of Heroes For Hire. The pairing of Sydney pop-punk and hardcore reinforces the strong sense of community that energises The Bride. “For us, [community] is essential. We couldn’t have done half of the things that we do as a band without being friends with so many different people. It seems that over the past year some bands have started to keep to themselves and they don’t want to talk to other people and stuff like that. I hate that crap. I’ll talk to anyone who wants to sit down and have a chat – whether it’s about music, life or fucking sport, I really don’t care. That’s the kind of community that we’ve tried to build up, and is why we have guest vocalists on our album. “I don’t really see the point in being a band if you’re going to sit there alone by yourself the whole time. It’s supposed to be fun and it’s supposed to be about friendship and mates. That’s extremely important to us and we would never change it.” WHO: The Bride WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 28 June, Hot Damn; Sunday 1 July, Oasis Youth Centre, Wyong; Wednesday 4, Gearin Hotel, Katoomba; Friday 6, Liverpool PCYC; Saturday 7, Unanderra Community Hall, Wollongong; Sunday 8, Tuggeranong Youth Centre, Canberra
THE DRUM MEDIA • 35
SINGLES/EPS WITH ROSS CLELLAND
ON THE RECORD
That odd stuttering, then very definite breakup of the maybe unrealised story of The Middle East looks set to remain a secret between them and God. Happily however, it appears all is not lost. Rohin of the combo is now operating under his moniker of R.L.Jones. Everybody Wants To Be Your Friend (Spunk) is maybe not what you might have expected. It’s a spiky, and almost Rowland Howard-flavoured, desolate duet with Adalita’s haunted tones as the other voice washing across it. You immediately want to hear more.
Kate Nash is doing a bit of reinvention too. Overwhelmed in the smartmouth girl stakes by Katy Perry and a bunch of others, her new Underestimate The Girl (Fiction) has her going all riot-grrl on us. Rough guitar and drums, and her yelling a fair impression of a strangled cat. This, apparently, is empowering. Pity it sounds like Weird Al doing a pisstake of the form. Also channelling the ‘90s, not the least ‘cause he was actually there, Gaz Coombes – he of Supergrass and the heroic sideburns. Simulator (Hot Fruit) has a happy rush to it, which previous enthusiasts should find familiar and different enough. Among those who should have given it up in the ‘90s, and absolute evidence of the law of diminishing returns, we witness further decline and dead horse flogging from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Brendan’s Death Song (Warner) a mawkish, stoners-around-the-campfire dirge. Under The Bridge was at least sincere. This just sort of lays there and breathes fitfully.
FRIENDS
Create/Control
Lucky Number/Cooperative
Capitol/EMI
There is one thing Billy Corgan knows how to do with unabashed bravado; generating press. It’s mainly bad, but “any press is good press”, right? With comments like “I’ll piss on fucking Radiohead” ringing in the ears of the music industry and punters alike, the focus gets put back where Corgan wants it, on his band’s new album, Oceania. And it’s surprisingly good. There are tracks that will have you thinking he’s reworking old material – the intro on opening track, Quasar, is eerily close to the intro in Cherub Rock. That aside, this album is a solid addition to Smashing Pumpkins’ vast catalogue of music. It’s a ‘clean’ sounding rock record, with minimal attention placed on fuzzed-out guitars, the focus instead on songwriting and sound textures, leaving the blind aggression of his past behind.
Still cruising along on the success of singles, I’m His Girl and Friend Crush, Brooklyn indie-pop outfit Friends have given the people what they want with their debut album, Manifest!. Along with the aforementioned tracks, Manifest! is brimming with their trademark uncomplicated, party-appropriate melodies.
Kick-starting proceedings with a rousing bit of crowd rallying in Stand Right Up, King Cannons keep it LIVE real, rough and ready on their debut album. You can certainly hear The Clash in the straightforward rock approach to it all and there’s plenty of Joe Strummer in singer Luke Yeoward’s lyrical call-to-arms, whether it’s defying the system – “We’re too young to settle down/ Fighting a worker’s battleground” (Too Young) – or just to “crawl out from under that thumb” (The Brightest Light) and demand the right to choose.
There is energy on Oceania presented in the form of its sublime rock tracks; The Chimera, for instance, is replete with guitar harmonies akin to the Siamese Dream era. Panopticon is as happy as the sun is bright albeit with a dark underbelly, whilst Pinwheels is epic in nature, and the title track could well be the soundtrack for any lovelorn ‘80s movie – perhaps a moment of nostalgia hit Corgan during the recording process? With most tracks being woven together by heavily ‘80s influenced synth lines, it regrettably starts to tire towards the album’s end. Love him or hate him, Corgan is an artist’s artist. Whilst he does come across as pompous and arrogant, he is justified in his actions. He has always done what he wants with his music, which in turn has served a big middle finger to the industry. Oceania is another reflection of that spirit; bold, emotional and full of life. James Dawson
KING CANNONS
Manifest!
The Brightest Light
2011’s smash hit, Friend Crush, kicks off with a steady beat and dulcet vocals - you can’t help but croon along as Samantha Urbani coos, “I wanna be your friend”. Sorry and Home aren’t standout tracks lyrically, but their indie-disco rhythm should earn them a spot on every hip Gen Y’s party playlist if nothing else. I’m His Girl, certainly their best-known track to date, is the obvious champion of this album but there are a couple of other contenders if you really listen out for them. At times their tracks are a little clumsy, but it actually adds to the appeal. It’s hard to picture a group like this in a recording studio as this album immediately conjures up images of Urbani and crew performing in the living room of a share-house, couches pushed back to the walls as a room full of twentysomethings get lost in the melody.
VD It’s certainly an uplifting, heady mix, plugging straight
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Oceania
But as is the case with most debut albums, there’s always going to be a track or two that don’t quite belong. A Thing Like This seems to miss the mark here. True to form the beat is still catchy but Urbani’s vocals border on ‘pop-diva’ shrill. Ouch. The same can’t be said for Va Fan Gör Du, powerfully assertive with a foot-tapping tempo it does exactly what a penultimate track should do – leave you wanting more and more. Inoffensive and lively, Manifest! is an album to be taken lightly, but in the very best sense. Katherine Edmonds
into that anthemic thing that made Springsteen, another blue-collar guy who knew how to harness the popular zeitgeist. It’s all stomp and blokey backing chants; it works a treat and always has – it did for Slade and Gary Glitter back in the day as much as the more credible Clash and Living End. And to shake things up a bit, there’s percussion courtesy of Lanae Eruera, adding just enough understated exoticism to nudge it away from the formula.
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Out to make something perhaps a little more durable, our little Missy Higgins. Unashamed Desire may have been a bit of a culture shock for the play-safe faithful, but Everyone’s Waiting (Eleven) might win some of them back. All plaintive and honest, with some strings flowing through and she’s that nice, slightly troubled girl we want to buy a latte and vegetarian quiche for again. The title track of her To The Horses record (Ivy League) lets Lanie Lane perhaps move a bit away from the cabaret pigeonholing many find easy. This is a more pure country lament, just retro enough to be fashionable and stylish. And the girl can sing.
SMASHING PUMPKINS
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Also probably defunct, the Pendulum band name as Knife Party’s close-to-novelty-song sampled electronic dance totally overwhelms its parent. Internet Friends (Neon) burps and farts and dubsteps along with ‘humorous‘ use of found sounds from your interwebs. You’ll laugh the first three times you hear it and then skip over it when it comes up on random play in three months time. Yep, that’s the way pop music works.
Melodically things aren’t too complicated – some songs are pretty interchangeable – but that’s cool too. Most bands only have a couple of licks around which they wrap their careers and King Cannons’ core ones are pretty damned good ones; tensile, tried and tested and likely to remain so regardless of where rock’n’roll might go next. It’s all about tension and release and King Cannons have got that sussed, stripping back the chug through the verses and pumping it hard in the choruses – you can just see a heaving sea of blokes in blue singlets chanting along, just like the old days with the ‘Oils. Stadiums are just a shot... er, few thousand sales away. Michael Smith
Monks Of Mellonwah are one of those local indie bands who, by means of the interweb and such have inserted themselves into international song contests and such. Contrasting with that modern approach their Neurogenesis EP (Independent) tends to take its cues from the classic FM rock and the odd melodrama of newer exponents like Muse. It’s music probably bigger than the venues they’re playing in. Daniel Merriweather seems to be specialising in guest vocalist duties. As well as The Bamboos, he’s also the smooth element of Urthboy’s Naïve Bravado (Elefant Traks). It’s full of bluster and bluff skip hop, which doesn’t quite find a place or personality, thus making it perfect for many of the audience it seeks. Across the Tasman, The Black Seeds somehow make the same sort of sound that bit more unforced, Cracks In The Crown (Remote Control) running a sweetly swinging groove. And with the halo effect of The Voice fading, Delta doesn’t just mean Goodrem. For it’s deeper grooved hip hop this one offers. Alien (Obese Records) goes a bit deeper than the usual impotent outsider shouts of the genre. Perth’s Sidewalk Diamonds claim Every Season Inside (Independent) on their EP, but it mostly seems a summer-into-autumn late sunset, and a touch of Weddoes-style folk swing to parts of it. Built sturdily and durable for a few years it would appear. In Adelaide, meanwhile The Salvadors are in a similarly sunlit but perhaps slightly poppier place as they go Merrily (Independent) along. And there are those slightly rattly tribal drums carrying it along. CFCF are from the distinctly cooler climes of Montreal, but their mini-album of Exercises (Braille/ Cooperative) are focused synth and piano studies that look across the valleys as the snow melts. Most tracks suitable for use in expressionist experimental short films, but maybe worth more than just being background music. Unlike the somewhat cryptic titling there, Money For Rope bash out Misery Lane (Show Off Services) with just the kind of bluesy stomp and shudder the title suggests. The doubledrum power of them is held in some leash here, but you reckon it’d go harder if let loose. And the future could well be in good hands. Snakadaktal’s development from school band to something special continues. Dance Bear (I Oh You) builds from its delicate beginnings to be something strong, musically and otherwise, the little darkness that comes through more than just adolescent angst, of which there is so much extant. A band really forming their personality. 36 • THE DRUM MEDIA
MICK HART
SHAWN COLVIN
BEACHWOOD SPARKS
MGM
Nonesuch/Warner
Sub Pop/Inertia
On this, his seventh album, Mick Hart once again delivers a quietly powerful mix of solo and trio recordings showcasing his unerring skill at crafting melodies around lyrics that explore deeply emotive insights and feelings. And there’s even a pensive instrumental mood piece in the title track, built around a simple lapsteel lick.
With so many female artists out there crooning away and pulling at the audience’s heart strings, it’s good to hear one of the best in her field back in the recording chair. Colvin is a three-time Grammy winner and once again she reminds us why she is so popular. Here she combines her early demos with a wonderful new reading. All Fall Down is released at the same time as Diamonds In The Rough, the album that features her early demos which have been reworked.
When LA quartet Beachwood Sparks first floated onto the scene at the start of the millennium, their cruisy cosmic country and laidback, harmony-laden Laurel Canyon-inspired rock seemed somewhat out of time, even as their two albums earned them plenty of plaudits and acclaim. Now in this era where acts like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes have reignited interest in slightly outthere Americana, it’s a perfect time for the estranged outfit to reunite – not to suggest that their music (now or then) mirrors any of these acts, because Beachwood Sparks are definitely their own beast, still owing far more to Gram Parsons than anyone like Grizzly Bear.
Side By Side
All Fall Down
Things open low-key but a little menacingly with Til The Mess Arrives, just voice, acoustic and percussion sounding a warning bell to live in the now. A pulsing bass drum underpins the similarly brooding Seeing Things before Hart’s rhythm section make their first appearance with Just Another Daydream and a touch of summery ‘60s soul pop with a twist. Light Comes sits closer to contemporary indie, before the rhythm steps back for another solo excursion in So It Goes. Cut You Up sees Hart getting a little more aggressively passionate, the cut cast in some classic ragged blues garb, though in spirit only – it’s no tired 12-bar formula, more, rather, in The Fumes/Hat Fitz way of doing things. That plaintive voice also lifts itself out of the otherwise easy strum of Life Is For You Now, before slipping back into the slow loping slide of Already Gone, on its way to deciding that, “if you don’t let go,” just maybe you can Have It All. In the end, however, it’s Hart’s voice that is the most powerful weapon in his musical armoury, as it sweeps up to a note or seems to press up against his chest before being released, cracking oh so slightly, just as you can imagine the human heart behind it might be in expressing the emotion of it all.
The title track is incredibly catchy and intelligently produced. Teaming up with her long-time musical companion Buddy Miller, the producer and guitarist provides the perfect background to her intimate tracks. Much of this album is quite slow and moody, yet it is also quite uplifting in spirit. Change Is On The Way is an example of her positive view in darker times. One of the best songs here is her version of American Jerusalem, which goes deeply into the American psyche and captures the irony of wealth and where it comes from. It is possibly one of the best songs in her career. Emmylou Harris appears on this track and on Up On That Hill, which brings new life to the genre of folk music. The charm of songs like Anne Of A Thousand Days is evidence Colvin has gone through some serious breakups. Shawn Colvin always releases albums full of depth and quality and this is an outstanding addition to her impressive catalogue. The high calibre of guests that include Bill Frissell and Jakob Dylan give you an idea of how thoughtfully Colvin puts her work together. Sebastian Skeet
Michael Smith
themusic.com.au
The Tarnished Gold
As a group of songs, their comeback album, The Tarnished Gold, their first since 2001, pretty much meanders from beginning to end on a bed of strummed guitars, pedal steel and sweet harmonies with no apparent urgency – floating along, rather, with no existential angst or quest for higher meaning. It was recorded and produced by old foil Thom Monahan (The Pernice Brothers, Vetiver), who does a brilliant job in making it soft and shiny, like a sparkling mirage always on the horizon but never quite in reach. There are numerous guests throughout, including Ariel Pink and Neal Casal of The Cardinals, but no one leaves an imprint that outshines the band. Songs like Sparks Fly Again and Tarnished Gold meander by like a gentle stream, shimmering yet shallow, while Talk About Lonesome is jaunty enough to belie its title and Earl Jean summons the effortless majesty of Wilco at their most languid. Goodbye is, title aside, the perfect closer, mellow and stately and a totally fitting finale to this most welcome of returns. Steve Bell
JAPANDROIDS
KELLY HOGAN
PIL
GOJIRA
Pod/Inertia
Anti-/Warner
PiL Official/Fuse
Roadrunner
If the title of Canadian duo Japandroids’ second LP didn’t give away the kind of music to be found within, the sound of fireworks exploding on opening track, The Nights Of Wine And Roses, should make it abundantly clear. The tone is set early on with Celebration Rock; the voices shout, the guitars grind abrasively and the lyrics demand anthemic status, moreso than they did on the band’s debut, Post-Nothing.
Country and indie rock chanteuse Kelly Hogan has for a decade been best known for being Neko Case’s beautifully-voiced foil both onstage and in the studio – as well as singing on a raft of records by a diverse array of acts such as The Waco Bothers, Tortoise, Silkworm and Drive-By Truckers – but now she’s decided to step back into the spotlight with I Like To Keep Myself In Pain, her fourth solo album but first since 2001.
Yet the nihilism of their aforementioned debut still persists in tunes such as Younger Us, a song that carries a universal nostalgia in lines like “remember when we said things like we’ll sleep when we’re dead”. The carefree way in which Brian King and David Prowse throw together their songs makes them all the more intangibly celebratory. There’s a desperation for the past married to the joy of reminiscing here, a tenuous balance that Japandroids have always been able to strike. Metaphors abound in Fire’s Highway, an ode to love found between strangers on city streets. A pleasant surprise is to be found in their cover of The Gun Club’s For The Love Of Ivy: if there ever was a song bred for the lo-fi reverb world of Japandroids, it’d be this. Swaggering cries, screeching guitars and racing percussion make it a taut rendition. The tracklist placing of it midway through the record is a bold choice, but it’s a total victory.
Once the project was underway Hogan assembled a killer band – including, amazingly, the legendary Booker T Jones on keys, soul pioneer James Gadson on drums and Gabriel Roth (of Dap-Tones and Sharon Jones fame) on bass. She then approached a slew of songwriters – friends or former workmates from various projects – and solicited this batch of songs, which were then worked up as an ensemble.
Opening with an extended John Lydon belch (beg yours), This Is PiL sees them at their deranged, challenging best and comes with a warning: “You are now entering a PiL zone.” Their first studio album in 20 years, it’s an enormously rewarding listening experience. Lydon’s vocal is as caustic as ever, percussively delivered. He has a way of manipulating/twisting words that makes you wanna steer clear of the perverse secrets nestled in the recesses of his (undoubtedly dark) grey matter: “It said what/What did it said/It said that/Now that is a rat/Rattat-tat/Go gossip that.” Council flats are portrayed as gaol cells (The Room I Am In) and his spoken-word portrait will transport you to solitary confinement. The instrumentation of Lollipop Opera is hypnotic. The best way to dance along is lurching forward and back like a chained British bulldog straining the boundaries. Occasional guitars sparkle atop a somewhat sickening drone as Lydon’s vocals taunt you. Reggie Song demonstrates the musicians’ dedication to providing the perfect foundation for his rant: oscillating, multi-layered riffs courtesy Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth’s penetrating bass and Bruce Smith’s effortlessly unpredictable drumming. Closer, Out Of The Woods, runs just shy of ten minutes, incorporates a charging “Here we AAAAAaaaare!” rallying chorus and Deliverance-esque, hillbilly banjo breakdown but would more suitably soundtrack an updated take on A Clockwork Orange. Then it all winds down, sucked through a spacey wind tunnel. It is possible to experience terror in musical form. Repeat prescriptions of 21st Century PiL come strongly recommended, though not for everyone.
Few acts have made such a gigantic statement during their first visit to our shores as Gojira. Fresh from bludgeoning us at Soundwave, here’s their first LP for Roadrunner. The environmentally-friendly French progressive death troupe has responded to the dolphin’s cry in monumental fashion. Morbid Angel meets Strapping Young Lad wrestling Meshuggah is still the foundation and it takes mere seconds into opener, Explosia, to confirm their approach is still heavier than a busload of Sumo wrestlers. That opening riff is more scathing than reviews of a new Adam Sandler movie, while Mouth Of Kala packs a gargantuan-sized groove. Planned Obsolescence’s scope is simply enormous and the title track’s seething intensity is in the vein of 2005’s monstrous masterclass, From Mars To Sirius. It’s not just about towering riffs, pinch harmonics, frenetic blast-beats or in the case of closer, The Fall, a punishing, psychedelic nightmare, however. The heaviness is underpinned by a brooding melodic sensibility, counterpunched by a pulsating ambience, robotic vocal spots and jagged polyrhythms, but all without stooping to unnecessary progressive wankery. Conversely, Liquid Fire and The Axe’s hooks will catch listeners offguard, although the majority requires time to properly devour. Gojira were already critical darlings and a cult favourite among metallers, but L’Enfant Sauvage is marginally more accessible – yet no less impacting – nature appears set to position them as the heavy band of choice among hipsters too. Public Enemy told us don’t believe the hype, but punters can make an exception here, as few metal records of 2012 will surpass this.
Bryget Chrisfield
Brendan Crabb
Celebration Rock
It’s impossible to not be buoyed by the euphoric garage noise spanning this tight, eight-track record. If you haven’t lived the stories in these songs, you want to, and you want Celebration Rock to be the soundtrack. Sevana Ohandjanian
I Like To Keep Myself In Pain
L’Enfant Sauvage
This Is PiL
Hogan’s sultry voice is still the key ingredient here, but the eclectic depth of songwriting talent on display is staggering: highlights include Vic Chesnutt’s powerful Ways Of This World, M. Ward’s free spirited Daddy’s Little Girl, Andrew Bird and Jack Pendarvis’ We Can’t Have Nice Things, The Handsome Family’s The Green Willow Valley and Stephen Merritt’s touching Plant White Roses, but there are no real duds amongst these 13 tracks. The rich and malleable canon of Case (to whom Hogan dedicates her sole self-written track, Golden) informs the tone and arrangements, but Hogan is an intuitive interpreter in her own right and this sophisticated and solemn blend of country and soul proves that she’s much more than just a pretty background vocal on a clutch of cool records. Steve Bell
THE CAST OF CHEERS
DIIV
THE MEN
LAWRENCE ARABIA
TRIPLE J FEATURE ALBUM
FEATURES SINGLE “HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?” Rising - PITCHFORK
★★★★
PLAYING LIVE JULY 3RD AT GREEN ROOM
FAMILY
Features the singles “Family” and “Animals”. Long awaited debut album out now. See them live at Splendour In The Grass and supporting Django Django.
OSHIN
OPEN YOUR HE ART GUARDIAN
★★★★★
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Best New Band
THE SPARROW
Pre-order your copy now from Red Eye and receive a pass to the show! In-store and online July 13
- PITCHFORK
themusic.com.au
THE DRUM MEDIA • 37
EVADING DEATH
American thrash metal band Dublin Death Patrol are planning to release two long-awaited albums. Previously unreleased content from the band’s 2005 old-school trash metal record DDP4Life, as well as the 2011 follow-up Death Sentence, will both be released on Tuesday 14 August in the US. The band formed in 1980, with Chuck Billy (Testament vocalist), Willy Lange (Rampage, Laaz Rockit), Steve Souza (Testament, Exodus) and three of the Billy brothers all teaming up to create heavy, aggressive music. Vocalist Steve Souza says, “This is what we have to offer the world, a kick-ass, straight up, aggressive, in-your-fucking-face album of music…”
END OF THE PYRAMID?
Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, New York, are renowned for their role in the early formation of the American heavy metal scene in the 1980s. After working with major-label and independent artists for over 30 years, the studio discovered recently that a plan for bridge construction might lead to the damage of the studios. A collection of Ithaca’s musicians and educators attended a Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting in order to convince city planners that the planned construction risked destroying the studio. The studio’s owner, Alex Perialas, argued, “We pretty much created a style of music here that people had never heard before. It would be such a shame to lose… this due to temporary construction.” The construction, however, is federally funded, meaning that for the most part, the common council’s hands are tied. A petition, being circulated online, was released earlier this week to attempt to halt the bridge’s construction.
BACK TO BLACK
Australian heavy metal band Black Majesty will have their new album Stargazer released in Australia by the end of next month. The power metal band’s German record label have recently signed a license agreement with Rockstar Records, which will allow the record to be put out internationally. After playing festivals from Slovakia to Germany, the band have garnered plenty of critical acclaim, with one critic remarking “Black Magic share unbelievable guitar work and they have one of the most impressive voices of the… Wacken Open Air Festival.” Their latest release will arrive in Australia on Friday 20 July and feature an exclusive bonus track, which will not be available overseas and is a rockin’ little power metal track in its own right.
ON VIDEO It would appear to be video clip season, with four punk bands releasing video clips for various singles this week. Each clip is pretty badarse, with copious amounts of pee, blood and plenty of violence – all in a day’s work for these punk/hardcore outfits. Every Time I Die’s release, I Suck (Blood), is a strange and rather ambitious film clip, featuring a classically pretty blonde girl, her creepy-looking homeless stalker, and what looks like a cow’s heart which arrives at the girl’s door. Turns out she’s fairly creepy as well, and quite enjoys being sent an animal organ. She pursues her stalker and winds up getting arrested. Whether or not the clip “plays provocatively with our notions of victimhood” (in the words of the band) is up to you, but it’s cool and gruesome and a little bit creepy. Falling In Reverse have put out a clip for their track, Good Girls Bad Guys. The band have hired director Zach Merck (Bad Religion, Thrice) to create a clip to pay homage to 1990s movie Friday. Complete with a cameo from Tom Lister Jr, a rooftop guitar solo and a bunch of hot girls, the clip is hilarious. It is also a particularly good visual translation of Good Girls Bad Guys, whose massive hooks and guitar riffs mix pop sensibilities with hardcore musicality. New Found Glory’s latest release, Summer Fling, Don’t Mean a Thing, is a funny little clip. As guitarist Chad Gilbert remarked, “…the song lends itself to a fun, summer beach video, but we didn’t want it to be typical.” The clip is far from typical, with Gilbert and his bandmates living in a small cardboard box on the beach. The box is discovered by a bunch of bikini-clad girls, then a homeless guy, then the park ranger, who sets the box on fire. The band succeed in “thinking outside the box while living in it,” as Gilbert said. Lo! have released a clip for their crowd favourite, Bastion – the track with a bassline that “could make you pregnant,” according to one reviewer. The film clip is a dark four minutes or so, featuring gallons of fake blood and a shadowy alleyway. The clip focuses on a below-waist shot of a bloodied man, who stumbles after his attackers. As the legs walk forward, blood sloshes onto the ground from above. Eventually, the legs fall forward to reveal a headless corpse. It’s a well-made little piece, well worth a watch. 38 • THE DRUM MEDIA
THE HEAVY SHIT It’s hard to believe that Apocalyptica have been throwing their violins and cellos around for 20 years now! And finally, their symphonic mastery is heading our way. Their most recent album, 7th Symphony, was produced by Joe Baressi (Queens Of The Stone Age, Tool) and features guests vocalists including Gavin Rossdale (Bush), Brent Smith (Shinedown), Joe Duplantier (Gojira) and Diane Warren (Award-winning songwriter for artists like Aerosmith, Toni Braxton, Celine Dion). Can you say diversity? They have come a long way from covering Metallica and FNM songs! Their live show is spectacular and you can find out for yourself when they play The Hi Fi on Friday 31 August. If you were a part of the scene around ten years ago, as my old arse surely was, chances are Anxiety Whispers were on the list of who you were going to see. Known for the intense energy levels in their explosive live performances – and dubbed the kings of ‘bounce metal’ whilst taking heavy influences from the Goth and Industrial scene – it was no wonder their unique blend of downtuned aggressive guitar riffs, dark textured keyboard melodies, brutally powerful vocals, thundering bass lines and bouncy drum beats with hammering doublekicks saw them rise to the top to become a musical wrecking ball on stages right across the country. The band released two albums (Astigmatism, ToyBox) and the fan-favourite single Broken Toys, which spawned a filmclip that was a regular on rage and even used on Sports Tonight. Like so many, they split at their peak with members going on to create killer bands such as Our Last Enemy, Melody Black, Ink and Graveyard Rockstars, which in the scheme of things has resulted in the sum of their parts being greater than the whole. Now, after eight years since their last show Anxiety Whispers will be playing a ONE-OFF reunion show with the original line-up at Venom on Saturday 7 July. Don’t miss out on what is set to be a night of epic musical proportions that has not been seen in a long time... and won’t be again! Impending Doom are set to annihilate Australian audiences for the first time this September. They have been dubbed “gorship”. Yes, another needless subgenre title, which takes the savagery of death metal, the intense atmospheric and subversive melody of too many to list, the modern brutality of Lamb Of God, the stop-start riffage of Fear Factory and the trailblazing experimentation of the Deftones. It’s still just heavy
METAL AND HARD ROCK WITH CHRIS MARIC
continues its fantastic line up selections with the likes of At Dark, Lo!, Mish, Not Like Horse and a shitload more. Grindhead Records will have a full store setup on the day including merch, vinyl and CDs for just five bucks! SFV will also be the launch day of Von Grimm Records, who will have a selection of stoner, doom and sludge vinyls form all over the world. Doors open at 1pm and entry is only $20. HAZMAT fucking metal, if you ask me! To discover just what gorship is, be at The Stag on Sunday 16 September where it will be on full display. Making your night complete will be the Gold Coast’s Prepared Like A Bride, Absolution, Hunt The Hunted and Alice Through The Windshield Glass who are launching their new album Brutalis Australis on the night. Extreme noise collective The Amenta are hard at work in the studio recording the highly anticipated follow-up to last year’s VO1D, called Flesh Is Heir. In addition to the off-kilter melody, electronic chaos and pummelling noises, they have added new elements such as noise violin, found-sound percussion (whatever that is) destroyed orchestral and choir loops. It’ll hit in October, but in the meantime, grab Chokehold, their latest iTunes offering which features a cover of Christbait Rising by the mighty Godflesh. With their upcoming tour getting nearer, US post metal titans Rosetta and their buddies City Of Ships have teamed up for a split release featuring a number of rarities and hard to find tracks. It will be released on Wednesday 11 July via Bird’s Robe. Netherlands electronic post rockers Atlantis have announced Saturday 11 August as the local release date for their latest EP, La Petite Mort, which also comes on 10” vinyl via those guys at Bird’s Robe. The EP features guest vocals from Cult Of Luna vocalist/guitarist Johannes Persson on the track Esther. Perfect for gloomy winter listening. Due to the success of supporting the likes of Fuck... I’m Dead and The Day Everything Became Nothing and returning from a very unproductive recording session in Svalbard, Mother Eel have agreed to play several shows around the nation including the fifth instalment of Slaughterfest to be held at The Sando on Saturday 21 July. This year’s Fest
WAKE THE DEAD Another week, another column, and this week I’ve got a load of reminders for you of a whole bunch of shows that are happening in Sydney THIS WEEK! First off, Basement are in town for two shows in Sydney as well as a Wollongong gig. You can catch the UK punk/hardcore/emo act playing with Sydney’s Endless Heights on Saturday 30 June at the Bald Faced Stag for an 18+ show; at the same venue on Sunday 1 July for an all-ages show; and then on Monday 2 July at Yours & Owls in Wollongong for an 18+ show. As well as this, Brisbane’s Idylls are heading down the East Coast for a couple of shows. This is in support of their newest release, Farewell All Joy, out now through Tenzenmen and Monolith Records. You can catch them on Saturday 30 June at Blackwire Records playing an all ages show with Serious Beak, Thorax, Jesus Christ Posse and Snakes Get Bad Press. Lastly, Paper Arms are hitting Sydney this weekend as well with The Outsiders from New Zealand. They will be playing an all-ages show at Blackwire Records in Annandale on Friday 29 June with Harbourer. Poison City Records have announced that they will be releasing the debut 7” from punk outfit Chinese Burns Unit just in time to coincide with their appearance on the Poison City Weekender. The Sydney band is somewhat of a ‘90s Aussie supergroup featuring Jay Whalley (Frenzal Rhomb), Glenno (Lawnsmell), Johnny T (The Optionals/Grand Fatal) and John Irish (Crus/Pure Evil Trio). The group play punchy, infectious punk rock that (according to the guys at Poison City) would “slot nicely onto an old mixtape, somewhere between The Meanies, Hard-Ons or Front End Loader.” Pre-orders for a limited edition colour version of the 7” will be available from August via the Poison City e-store. Fans of mosh hardcore, get ready to kick some serious arse in the pit as one of the most moshtastic tours of the year has been announced thanks to Destroy All Lines. The bill brings together three bands from three nations including NZ’s Antagonist AD, Californian metalcore outfit Lionheart and Sydney’s Shinto Katana. All three bands have new releases under their belts, with Antagonist AD set to release their third album,
On The Street this week (ha, who remembers OTS?) we have… The much talked-about Heaven tour finally makes its way to us having been everywhere else for the last two weeks. The band has secured the services of ex-Dio axeman, Rowan Robertson too! The Annandale is hosting them on both Friday and Saturday evening and on Sunday they hit Waves at The Gong. Hazmat are along for the entire ride too!
FRIDAY
Macabre – mixing true crime, math rock, nursery rhymes, punk, thrash, folk melodies, death metal, jazz fusion, black metal and more into an energetic, catchy and unmistakable amalgam, everyone’s favourite nutters Macabre are back in town and will be at The Stag flogging their Grim Scary Tales opus. At The Sando this evening, things are decidedly different, with Eddie Spaghetti (of The Supersuckers) doing his best to remain more punk and metal than country along with Johnny Casino and Chopper & The Honeyboy. At The Basement in Canberra, Adelaide heavy hitters, Isaw bring their debut record The Identity to life. Also taking the stage are Shadows In Ruin, Nemesphyxia and Psynonemous (who are actually headlining)
SATURDAY
Venom is the place to be with Isaw driving up the Hume to deliver more smacks to the face. Also playing live will be Graveyard Rockstars, Whisky Smile and Arteries. They have a couple of album launches too with newies from The Ghost Inside courtesy of Epitaph, Spineshank, now with Century Media and Periphery II via Roadrunner. There’s also a bit of a Cancer Bats tour party going on. heavy@drummedia.com.au
PUNK AND HARDCORE WITH SARAH PETCHELL
Jen Buxton supporting. Tickets are onsale now through the Annandale website or over the bar. For fans of The Locust, this information is for you! On 3 August Anti-Records will be releasing Molecular Genetics From The Gold Standard Labs. The record features 44 tracks of hard-to-find and out-of-print material from the early years of this legendary band. The San Diego group have been blowing musical minds since their inception in 1994, managing to mix together grindcore’s speed and aggression with mathcore’s complexity and new wave’s weirdness. If you’re a fan of the band then this is definitely a release for you! But even if you’re just a fan of weird music, this would be an excellent introduction to a profoundly influential band.
ANTAGONIST AD Nothing From No One, through Mediaskare records on 20 July. Lionheart are building up momentum and a hefty fanbase following the May release of their album Undisputed, while (as mentioned last week) Shinto Katana will be releasing their third album Redemption on 27 July through Skill & Bones. You can catch the three bands when they hit Tuggeranong Youth Centre in Canberra on Wednesday 15 August for an all-ages show; on Thursday 16 August at Hot Damn in Sydney for an 18+ show; and on Friday 17 August for an all ages show at Masonic Hall in Blacktown. Tickets go on sale this Friday. While touring back in January, Jim Ward was forced to cancel his final show of the tour in Sydney due to the tragic death of a dear friend, forcing him to return to Texas. We know that his band At The Drive-In will be here this July for Splendour In The Grass, so to make it up to Sydney fans, Ward will be playing a make-up show for the one skipped in January while out here with ATDI. He will be accompanied by his full band (as he was supposed to be earlier this year) and performing tracks from his album Quiet In The Valley, On The Shore, The End Begins. You can catch Jim Ward and his band on Wednesday 25 July at the Annandale Hotel with
themusic.com.au
It seems like there’s a little bit of a New Zealand theme with this week’s column, so let’s keep that going with the news that an NZ act named Jurassic Penguin will be hitting Sydney (and surrounds) for a whole bunch of shows THIS WEEK! If you haven’t heard of Jurassic Penguin, they’re a crazy blend of punk and hardcore that draws influence from the likes of Converge and Cursed. There’s killer riffage, punishing drum beats and an intense live show all promised for anyone that heads along to one of the shows to check them out. You can catch them on Tuesday 26 June for a free show at The Valve Bar in Tempe; on Wednesday 27 June at the Hamilton Station Hotel in Newcastle; on Thursday 28 June at Good Jelly in Wollongong; and finally Friday 29 June at Jura Books to coincide with the Idylls tour. The Revelation Records 25th anniversary shows are shaping up to be pretty phenomenal! To top it off a couple more bands who had previously called it a day are looking to reunite especially for the occasion. This week, the announcements were that Texas Is The Reason and Chain Of Strength would be getting back together for the October shows. The bands were announced through some teaser posters which incorporate some of the bands’ imagery with the Revelation logo. I’m not sure if these are one-off reunions but all I know is that it would be cool to see Texas Is The Reason head out to Australia, so fingers crossed! wakethedead@drummedia.com.au
LOWERIDER
HOUSE, PROGRESSIVE AND TECHNO VIBES WITH ROBBIE LOWE
Sometimes epiphanies come in great bursts of inspiration. Sometimes they only become clear in retrospect, when you look back upon your life and realise that what seemed an innocuous little decision actually constituted a life-changing moment. And sometimes they come looking at toothbrushes.
You don’t have to look very far for good electronic music these days as there’s a good chance it is right on your doorstep. In the last decade Sydney has become a hub for talented producers and the rest of the world is really taking notice. I’m constantly impressed by some of the music being made here in Sydney at the moment. Not only by some of the well-known and respected peeps, but a whole wave of new talent coming thru as well. Here are just some of those that have caught my attention a lot lately! Jaded & James Petrou just turned in a really good EP for Beef called Toni’s Pain. For anyone that’s not familiar with Beef, not only is it food but a Sydney-managed underground dance label – and very popular with house heads because of the consistent deep and tech-house bombs the label dishes out. Their artist roster is solid with the likes of Pezzner, Timewriter, Shades Of Gray and Martinez all churning in prime dancefloor cuts. Admittedly I only got my hands on Toni’s Pain a few weeks ago. James Petrou handed me a record when I was playing at the Spice Cellar. What a nice surprise to be given something tangible rather than the usual download link. And especially a record! (there was a time when all promos were vinyl) Not only that, it’s a good EP! Toni’s Pain is a deep chugging hypnotic groove with enough bass to keep you warm thru this chilly winter we are having. Drugged-out vocals and crisp minimalist percussion do the right job setting the mood. And guess what? There is a distinct cheeky cowbell in this tune and it sits perfect. Gotta have more cowbell! There are also quirky remixes from No Artificial Colours and Inxec. I’d say for me Inxec is my favourite mix. Love the bass line and cheeky feel from the synths and filters. I’ve been playing it a fair bit and it’s a hit. Check it out, support our local talent, you won’t be disappointed! Some more Sydneysiders doing some really forward-thinking work is Trinity & Beyond. The talented duo are really hitting their stride. They have some hot releases coming up before the end of the year, one of which is an EP for Melbourne’s Pinksilver called Reign. This explores the deeper sounds of techno and acid. German deep techno
NEW YORK CONVERSATION
TALES FROM THE BIG APPLE WITH TOM HAWKING
So it was that your correspondent found himself at Walgreen’s Pharmacy on Flushing Avenue the other day, preparing for a long flight to Australia by actually remembering for once to buy a new toothbrush to take on the plane. The thing with buying a toothbrush is, though, that you can’t just buy a plain old toothbrush anymore. Choosing one requires any number of small decisions: soft, medium or hard bristles? Angled shaft or straight? Large or small head? Faintly gruesomelooking “tongue scraper” or strange pink-ribbed “tongue scraper”? Weird plastic-y gum-cleaning things or no weird plastic-y gum-cleaning things?
TRINITY & BEYOND specialist XDB took notice and has done a remix for the guys. Killer EP! Not only that, the couple have just been signed for a collaboration with Alexkid on Moodmusic. Keep an eye out for this one; I’ve heard a sample of this and it’s very tidy! Check out more of Trinity & Beyond at their Soundcloud page. That’s just some of the talent coming out of the city and country for that matter, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg! I’ll give you an insight on some more local movers and shakers soon. I’d better run now as I have a plane to catch. And staying true to my style I left everything to the last minute and am running very late! I’m off to Noumea for a couple gigs (maybe even a surf). It’s only brief but I’m looking forward to escaping the winter chill for a couple of days. And of course excited about the gigs as well. It’s always nice to play in not so familiar overseas places. From all reports the Transit club is a lot of fun to play with a good up for it crowd. I’m not sure where the following gig is at this stage, but I’m sure it will be a blast. Until next time... lowerider@drummedia.com.au
The notion of consumer choice is one of those cultural tropes that seems hard-wired into everyday American life. It’s a central tenet of the brand of capitalism that America has given the world, for better or worse. But even so, it seems particularly apparent in the country itself – as anyone who’s waited in a New York sandwich shop can tell you, US consumers are the most pernickety and demanding in the entire fucking universe. Everyone has their own preference for exactly how they want their coffee (double mocha frappuccino with a dash of caramel and whipped cream), or their salad dressing (thousand island, not too heavy on the tabasco, served on the side, please), or their sandwich (pastrami on rye, not too thick, with mayonnaise on one side and tomato sliced thin, with jack cheese – not that first slice, it’ll be hard – and tomato). It’s a powerful idea and one that’s important to the notion of America as the land of plenty and the place of opportunity: you can have everything just the way you want it. It’s up to you to choose. But as NY Conversation stands staring blankly at the bewildering array of toothbrushes, a notion coalesces in my head: this isn’t choice. Not really. All these toothbrushes essentially do the same thing and all the bells and whizzers and ergonomic handles and angled bristles and special colour-changing strips that remind you when the brush needs changing… they don’t change that, not one iota. It’s not so much consumer choice as consumer bewilderment, a gaggle of companies trying for endless variations on
themusic.com.au
EPIPHANIES CAN STRIKE AT ANY TIME, EVEN WHEN CHOOSING A TOOTHBRUSH a simple idea in the hope of turning the consumer’s head towards their particular shade of beige. Fundamentally, a lot of what gets presented to us as consumer choice is an illusion. This manifests in several ways. Either you’re presented with a barrage of fundamentally meaningless options, or what’s presented as a choice is no choice at all – you can buy your oranges from Coles or Safeway or Woolworths or IGA, for instance, but what you’re buying most likely came from the same supply chain, or supply chains that are so similar to be for all intents and purposes identical. The concentration of supply was one of the really fascinating parts of Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation – a vast proportion of the meat sold in American supermarkets, for instance, comes from one of several large meatpacking chains, all of which are functionally identical in terms of exactly what flavour of shit sandwich you end up eating. And yet, when it comes to the really important choices in life – who to marry, how and when to die, whether or not you choose to carry a child – the whole notion of choice is controversial. If a choice is considered too dangerous or too important to be left to, y’know, the general public, the right to make any decision at all is denied you. You could also argue the same about the fundamental choice on which US society is based: the vote. After all, elections these days are fought over demagoguery and trivialities, not the sort of policy issues that make a difference. Your correspondent stood there and contemplated such matters until interrupted by a four year old girl who charged straight to the display rack and selected some sort of Hannah Montana-branded toothbrush while her mother looked suspiciously at the strange man who appeared to be staring blankly at the wall of brushes for no apparent reason. And it still took a good 15 minutes to choose a toothbrush.
THE DRUM MEDIA • 39
GET IT TOGETHER You’ll enjoy this. Remember Young Buck, the rapper who used to exist from G-Unit – 50 Cent’s crew that used to exist and sort of still does? It doesn’t really matter if you do or don’t. Anyway, Young Buck was the one who had the G-Unit spinner thing he used to wear around his neck and he was one of the worst rappers in the world. The interesting part of the story is still to come. You may already know about it, but it’s news to us. The IRS, which is the American department in charge of collecting taxes, raided Young Buck’s home, seized some of his possessions and auctioned them off to account for the tax debt! The seizure is actually old news, taking place in 2010 and the auction was in May. The new part is our access to the court documents. And one of those documents includes an inventory of the assets that were seized. Our research (i.e. our search of “Young Buck” on Wikipedia) uncovered a link to a pdf of the relevant court orders and the inventory. It’s barely legible, but it’s a doozy. Young Buck’s status is confirmed by the IRS seizing all the awards his G-Unit colleagues allowed him to keep, including the awards for albums attaining platinum status in Canada and Germany (the American awards presumably are in Fiddy’s office). Also on the inventory: “Double platinum award – New Zealand”. There’s even “Indigenous art – Australia”. We get a mention! The list goes on of course and it makes for an interesting peak into the spending habits of a person with no taste. Sadly, with the American economy the way it is, there seems little likelihood that Young Buck will ever be in a position to buy back his hand-crafted snake skin purse from Nigeria. Your 2011 boyfriend Clams Casino just keeps delivering freebies in 2012. It is very good news indeed. He’s put up the instros from some Lil B tracks and stuff he made for Mac Miller, Havoc and Squadda B. There’s something so glorious about this; something egalitarian, something celebratory, something wildly generous, something new. If you’re old enough, flash back to ten years ago and ask yourself whether one of the hottest producers on earth would be handing out beats he’s made for free. Ask yourself whether the rappers he gave the beats to would be cool with it. Ask yourself if his lawyers or his bank manager would be cool with it. This sort of thing (and Wiley’s amazing free beat dumps) is really a recent phenomenon and it rules. How good is living in the future?
HIP HOP WITH VIKTOR KRUM
The next day head to the Lucky Oz Tavern for a huge all ages hardcore lineup that features Vanitist, City Lit Skies, When Giants Sleep, Lakeside, As Paradise Falls, Past Is Practice, Elanora Heights and Caulfield (if you find the kiwi connection there you win a Kit Kat). Lastly, Kiwi quintet Jurassic Penguin have jumped the ditch and are doing a run of all ages shows this week, playing Thursday at Good Jelly in Wollongong with Wallows, Break A Leg, Clipped Wings, Cold Youth and Punchdagger, and Friday at Jura Books with Idylls and Zita Grimm. Young & Restless grabbed guitarist Matt Watts to find out a little more.
DAN LE SAC Speaking of amazing beatmakers: dan le sac. He’s friends with the rapper Scroobius Pip. The problem with their friendship is that it’s toxic. Le sac, you see, is a talented, exciting musician with a very good ear, solid pop sensibilities and rare intelligence. Scroobius Pip is untalented, irritating, delusional and arrogant. The two friends make music together. This means that, in the past, in order to hear Mr le sac’s work we’ve had to endure Mr Pip’s over-enunciated drivel over the top of it. But! That’s all about to change as dan le sac warms up to drop his debut, Space Between The Words, on us. The title itself is promising, a clear statement of intent that Scroobius Pip’s words, we hope, will be nowhere to be found. Instead, we hope, there will be a celebration of our host’s talent and the fruits of that talent. It’ll be with us in mid-July. Start counting the days, dudes. This one could be lots of fun. Sydney clique Chemical Imbalance exists. You didn’t know that, we bet. Now you do. Well done. They’ve a mixtape out called Lancaster Bomber. Despite the crash-bang-wallop of the title, it’s a hypnotic, melodic piece of work; certainly a must for you desk jockeys looking for something to stream while you mess around with decimal points in Microsoft Excel or whatever. getittogether@drummedia.com.au
POP CULTURE THERAPY WITH ADAM CURLEY
Something wasn’t quite right. Nothing that could dampen the spirits of the faithful and applause-happy audience, but it was there in the room, causing a niggling feeling, drawing out the inner cynic. As part of Patti Smith’s visit for the Melbourne Festival in 2008, her shows at Hamer Hall saw New York City’s south-end treasure play from her then most recent album, Twelve, as well as from a catalogue spanning back some 30 years.
There’s none of the same naivety to Smith’s newest record, Banga (Columbia/Sony), aside from the recognisably ‘punk’ stencil cover art. It’s a graceful record, strewn with literary references and set to a clean yet weighty band backing with plenty of piano. In many ways it’s the kind of record New York punk poets are expected to make in their autumn years, immensely listenable and serious. But it’s also beautiful. Lyrically, Smith does what she does best, exploring inner swirlings of unrest and emotional entanglements. There are no rallying cries. We’re beyond that now, into the deeper stuff. The memory of those Hamer Hall shows, however, is a reminder of how tempting it is for even thoughtful performers to use crowd-pleasing devices that add nothing to the integrity of their songs. Of course we know too well how tempting it is for less thoughtful performers. Listening to triple j in summer can be the cuss-friendly equivalent of watching Play School, where following instructions from rappers and DJs will soon 40 • THE DRUM MEDIA
ALL AGES WITH DAVE DRAYTON
Welcome our first New Zealand-themed Young & Restless! Grab an L&P and get comfy. On Friday night the perpetually impressive Paper Arms (that right there is alliteration, kids) play an all ages show at Black Wire with The Outsiders from – you guessed it, New Zealand! – and Harbourer, who are playing their first show.
BREAKDOWN
As was the festival’s wont, the shows were a celebration of Smith’s career past and present, and we got the works, including rare performances of Gloria and fellow Horses song, Land. The appearance of those songs near the end of Smith’s sets got old and young to their feet, but they also added to the niggling feeling brought on by Smith’s rallying cries and her inclusion of a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit. The punk rock message felt a little worn, despite being brandished by one of the women who helped write it – and had since written many more nuanced and heartfelt messages – though not to an audience who revelled in the nostalgia or were simply able to accept it with less cynicism than I was. The anti-establishment and anti-conformity mantras were, as they always are, worthwhile, but from the mouth of a writer who had just four years earlier told us that “mercy will embrace” in her song My Blakean Year, there was also a willing naivety to them.
YOUNG & RESTLESS
For the uninitiated, what can you tell us about Jurassic Penguin? We’re a five-piece hardcore band from west Auckland, New Zealand. We started as a vent for all the bullshit we see in daily life, whether that comes in the form of greed through capitalism and the system, people feeling excluded and alone or those oppressing others. We play shows and write for those who are down and out and want something to hold to, those who want a family and people to be there for them. Or people who like heavy music I guess. What’s the all ages scene like in New Zealand? It depends what city you’re looking at, but right now Wellington and Auckland are going off! There is a venue in both cities called Zeal. When we started as a band writing music at the Zeal in West Auckland, we had no idea what we were doing but the venue supported us and heaps of other bands and we built the scene by organising shows in a tiny room and getting people who had no idea about the scene to come along and listen to new bands. We played our last show in the same room we played our first show in and it had at least 150 people packed in a smaller room than your kitchen. The all ages scene is amazing and everyone is welcome; it’s a space to be who you are without judgement and I love that.
JURASSIC PENGUIN Why do you think it’s important to play all ages shows? Because it’s open to all people regardless of age. The music we write and play isn’t for over 18 year olds, it’s not for those people who society deems ‘old enough’ – it’s for anybody. Our music is for anyone and playing 18+ shows limits it and we don’t want to do that. Fuck bar shows, we want to play living rooms and small venues. The floor is yours, sell us Friday’s show at Jura… We kick shit to the next level, our hearts are in every song and if you believe in what hardcore is, not what it is supposed to be then come watch us play. Tough guy bullshit is for fakes – watching a band and singing some songs like brothers is what this scene is about. We want to give people a space to be themselves and let out the anger that this world puts upon them. Hardcore is a family and we want to meet our extended family; merch is cheap and hangs are free. We’ll kick with you all night and talk shit. Come to the show at Jura I guess and we’ll show you a good time. Any tips for young musos? Write music with heart, not with what is cool. You will never be satisfied with your music if there isn’t passion and playing the music you write because it’s cool will never fulfil you. If you give every ounce of your being to your music, even if you never get ‘big’ or ‘succeed’ you will be satisfied within yourself with the things you’ve done. allages@drummedia.com.au
OG FLAVAS
URBAN AND R&B NEWS BY CYCLONE
Justin Timberlake metamorphosed from a nerdy teen pop idol into a credible R’n’B star – but can Justin Bieber? He’s trying. It must help that the Canadian, now 18, has Usher Raymond IV in his corner, being the flagship act on the R’n’B megastar’s label Raymond Braun Media Group with Scooter Braun. Early on Raymond gave Bieber, a nice Christian boy, his own “swagger coach”. Ironically, Bieber (here next month for a promo tour) is dropping only his second album proper, Believe, on the tail of Raymond’s Looking 4 Myself. (Bieber last offered a Christmas collection.) MUSCLES find you with your hands in the air, repeating a line that lets the world know how much you love the season. On his second album, Manhood (Modular/Universal), Melbourne party-beat-maker Muscles is entirely aware of his role as a champion of summer exploits. He always has been, ever since he sang about ice-cream saving the day and worked his way onto summer festival bills. But even on that early single he was aware, too, of the role summer and festival culture plays in the somewhat darker world of working-class Australian males. Ice-cream was saving the day from internal frustration and the ever-present threat of violence. On Manhood, Chris Copulos makes those ties more apparent. Ready For A Fight is a night on the town with a protagonist who doesn’t know if he’s looking for a hug or a punch-on. Boys Become Men acts as the means by which boys dreaming at home of girls can break out of that solitude – “I’m gonna be your hero,” Copulos sings, by which he means come to the festival, dance to the song and your real life will begin. The Night puts the violent next to the sublime over oscillating synths: “body-rocking, lips-locking, bottle rocket…” There’s no difference here – this is manhood. As the album unfolds, something of a punk can be heard in Copulos: his irreverence for tone, his slurred words and pasted-together melodies. Like Smith he’s singing about internal unrest and like Smith he has no need for punk’s old rallying cries to make his point. But they are there, echoed in the summer catchcries that tell of so much more. He’s getting beyond them, into the deeper stuff. breakdown@drummedia.com.au
In many ways, Timberlake faced a greater challenge in attaining ‘cool’. He’d started out in The Mickey Mouse Club, later joining the boy group *NSYNC. Timberlake reinvented himself with 2002’s solo Justified, hiring The Neptunes and Timbaland. But it was the visionary FutureSex/LoveSounds that established him. Today Timberlake has apparently abandoned music – including production – for acting, his role as Napster’s Sean Parker in The Social Network widely praised, and entrepreneurialism. However, he has lost focus. Lately the Southerner, engaged to Jessica Biel, launched a homewares line! Even Timberlake’s bid to become a music mogul with Tennman Records has failed, his Dutch protégé Esmée Denters achieving little. Funnily, Timberlake, too, pursued Bieber. So can Bieber make the transition from not mere teen but tween idol to adult artist – from pop to R’n’B? This is, after all, a kid who marketed a toy keytar. And anyone who attracts screaming young female fans – in Bieber’s case, the ‘Beliebers’ – is bound to be hated on by (male) entertainment journos dismissive of women’s rites of passage. Believe is a decent record, though no Justified. Bieber jumps on the electro-hop trend with The Messengers’ All Around The World, featuring Ludacris – who previously popped up on Baby (with input from The-Dream). Diplo masterminded Raymond’s Climax and he’s back here, overseeing the romantic, not subversive, Thought Of You (alongside Ariel Rechtshaid). Alas, it’s not a euphoric club banger but rather might be a Dr Luke cast-off. Bieber is also fully embracing his R’n’B roots – evident in those old YouTube covers. He reveals a real ‘90s influence on the album’s first hit, Boyfriend, with acoustic swing from Mike Posner. Even better is Die In Your Arms, the best of two contributions from Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins (the other is the Big Sean-guesting trance‘n’grind As
themusic.com.au
JUSTIN BIEBER Long As You Love Me). It symbolically samples Michael Jackson’s early cut We’ve Got A Good Thing Going. There are impressive guest spots. Forget Ludacris – how about Drake on the chiptuney Right Here? It’s produced by Hit-Boy, currently one of GOOD Music’s in-house producers. He worked on Niggas In Paris for Jay-Z and Kanye West and, recently, the latter’s Cold. A cheeky Nicki Minaj shows on Beauty And A Beat, dance-pop from Max Martin (the guy behind Raymond’s Scream) that flirts with Daft Punk discoisms. Bieber has perfected his own brand of street cute. Yet he shouldn’t try too hard. His duet Next 2 You with the unpleasant Chris Brown was an ignorant move for one with a female following (better was ‘Ye’s remix of Runaway Love with Raekwon). Bieber needs to gather stronger material, take more creative risks, and showcase his musicianship (he plays several instruments). And he could do with a defining song like SexyBack. Bieber’s biggest dilemma? He lacks emotional range (Timberlake’s angsty Cry Me A River was about his break-up from Spears). The teen appears happy with girlfriend Selena Gomez. But he requires a musical narrative. Bieber has much in common with his mentor, Raymond – both were raised by single mums and became child stars in a warily post-Michael era. Raymond has acknowledged that Bieber is unusually centred, telling Q, “In the area of relationships, he’s actually done a lot better than I did. He doesn’t have as many issues. He knows what he wants.” And, like Raymond (and Timberlake), Bieber is astute. He has long learnt how to exploit social media, especially Twitter – and this may yet prolong his career. ogflavas@drummedia.com.au
ROOTS DOWN Fancy a visit to the city of churches sometime soon? Well the Adelaide International Guitar Festival is a pretty damn good reason to do just that and it’s creeping up on us too. The lineup is once again pretty spectacular, so I get the feeling the event has a pretty good name the world over, with all types of guitar music showcased at the event, which takes place from Thursday 9 August to Sunday 12. Of most interest to the readers of this column would be artists like the John Scofield Trio, Punch Brothers, Tommy Emmanuel, the Lucky Oceans Quartet, Harry James Angus, Roscoe James Irwin, Ray Beadle Band, Tinpan Orange and The Yearlings, but these are just a mere few of the acts that will be performing. Hit up adelaideguitarfestival. com.au for all the info you will need. Alternatively, if you’re keen to pack up your suitcase and head north for a weekend of sun, surf and music when it starts getting a little warmer – and why wouldn’t you? – then you could be very interested in a visit to the Caloundra Music Festival. It just continues to grow, this not so little event on Southeast Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, and this year the first lineup announcement is pretty darn good. It features plenty of mainstream-friendly blues and roots goodness that has made the general public very happy indeed. Of interest to some of you will be two of the headliners, John Butler Trio and The Cat Empire, two of the country’s biggest name bands, as will Sydney rockabilly/ blues/rock’n’roll lady Lanie Lane. The most exciting
NOT BLIND BLUES AND ROOTS WITH DAN CONDON
Pusher, was a ripper and the Australian tours they conducted following its release were even better, so here’s hoping the new record is as good and that they can make their way back here before long.
RY COODER name on the first announcement though is undoubtedly Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, who return to Australia for the third time in around 18 months and the second time this year. They are without a doubt one of the most exciting New Orleans bands kicking around at the moment and they’ll go off at Caloundra. Also in the first announce are The Living End, The Whitlams, Boom Crash Opera, Ball Park Music and The Beards, but there are still plenty more acts – both Aussie and international – to be announced. It happens from Friday 28 September to Sunday 30 and tickets are available through the festival’s website right now. There are a couple of excellent bands releasing new albums very soon, albums that we have been waiting on for a while now. Firstly, downhome country geniuses Old Crow Medicine Show are releasing their first album in over four years next month with Carry Me Back set for a Friday 20 July release through ATO/Shock. Their last record, Tennessee
Joey Burns and John Convertino are back with their full crew as a new Calexico album gets released Friday 7 September. The alt-country masters actually moved to New Orleans to record the majority of the new album so it’s pretty exciting to think about how that might have affected the direction they’ve taken. The record will be released in Australia through Spunk/Co-Operative, despite recent confusion that it may have had a release in this country through Anti-/Epitaph/Warner. Ry Cooder must have been busy as he also has a new record set for release soon, Election Special, set for a mid-August release in the US and probably a similar date down here as well. Cooder is never one to back down from voicing his opinions on political and social matters and that is certainly no different here; he says that US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney “scares” him and that the record is to serve as a “wakeup call” as the US presidential election creeps ever closer. It’ll be pretty much exactly 12 months since his Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down album, which was his first in three-and-a-half years, so it’s good to see him back to his prolific self. roots@drummedia.com.au
BLOW
Friday night, fresh from New Orleans where the Sydneysider has lived the past couple of years, Cass Greaves gets to showcase her debut double album, The Way It Was/The Way It Is, at 505.
Mucho Mambo + Victor Valdes – The Basement The Hang – Blue Beat
SATURDAY
Yuki Kumagai Quintet – 3pm Corrimal Hotel Maria Stavrapoulou and Nikita Ellenis – The Basement Tim Sowerbutts/Peter Inglis – Well Connected Café
GARY HONOR
SUNDAY
Six Degrees – midday Mr Big Stuff Café Maroubra
TUESDAY
James Valentine Quartet + Natalie Deitz – Golden Sheaf Gadjo Guitars – Camelot Lounge
WEDNESDAY
Sydney Fusion Jazz Jam – 3pm Beauchamp Hotel Darlinghurst Brad Child Big Band – Unity Hall Hotel Balmain
Jason Bruer with Gavin Ahearn – MosCafé
Greg Poppleton’s award-winning swing jazz radio show, broadcast twice weekly on 107.3 2SER, Tuesdays noon and Saturdays 6pm, can now be heard nationally on the Community Radio Network. This week, he also joins his band, the Bakelite Broadcasters, for a free 2pm show at Penrith RSL Saturday, and another free show Sunday 12.30pm at Concrete Blonde I Potts Point.
The Field – Colbourne Ave Glebe
MONDAY
THURSDAY
Sonic Mayhem Orchestra – Blue Beat
TUESDAY 3
Hammerhead – 505 Geoff Bull & The Finer Cuts – Corridor
Matt Keegan Trio + Mark Lewis Quartet – 505 James Valentine + Kate Wightson – Golden Sheaf
FRIDAY
Gadjo Guitars – Camelot Lounge
Alister Spence Trio –Sound Lounge
John & Yuki – Madison’s Darlinghurst
Michael Griffin Quintet – Norton’s On Norton
Daimon Brunton Quartet – The God’s Café Canberra
Kim Sanders & Friends – Camelot Lounge
blow@drummedia.com.au
THE SWAMP SHACK
ROCKABILLY/PSYCOBILLY/ALT.COUNTRY WITH PEDRO MANOY HOWLIN’ STEAM TRAIN
FRIDAY
The pokie-free Petersham Bowling Club is Sydney’s alt. country HQ, and this Friday delivers the talents of The Ramalamas with special guests Handasyd Williams and Roland Kay Smith, playing what is billed as a night of cosmic country. The Ramalamas have been busy recording their second album, Brass Razoo, and bring a unique blend of west coast country good time rock’n’roll.
Think of songs such as Little Red Rooster and I Just Want To Make Love To You and you might immediately think of the Rolling Stones. Think again and the name Willie Dixon will come to mind, the Chicago-based songwriter wrote some of the greatest songs in the history of post-war blues like Spoonful, Hoochie Coochie Man and My Babe. This Sunday in the Big Room of the Bald Faced Stag from 6.30pm, there’s a special CD launch of The Violent Loves tribute to big Willie featuring Dave Tice, Adam Pringle, Al Britton and Jim Finn plus a host of special guests.
The Swinging Blades – Marrickville Golf Club
Geoff Bull & The Finer Cuts – The East Sydney Hotel
Greg Coffin Trio – 505
The Sandy Evans Indian Project featuring Sarangan Sriranganathan and Bobby Singh on sitar and tabla respectively, Brett Hirst on double bass and Toby Hall on drums, launch their album, Cosmic Waves, in the Sound Lounge this Saturday night of course.
There’s nothing like a three-band “garage” bill to get the heart racing, especially on a cold winters night. That’s the deal this Saturday when Melbourne’s Midnight Wolf are joined by La Mancha Negra and Glitter Canyon for a night of raucous mayhem at The Square in the Haymarket. Midnight Wolf are rated one of the wildest garage combos ever to head up the Hume and feature the dynamic Raul Sanchez from Magic Dirt and Rover Of Snakes on guitar. There’s a special solo spot from Bodie from Mother & Son masquerading as Blackbear for the night.
SOUL KIND OF RETURN In 1984, Soul Kind Of Feeling by the Dynamic Hepnotics was difficult to avoid. Continental Robert Susz, the song’s writer, is returning to relive the funky blues and soul tunes that the band created back in their heyday. Fans can expect a very special version of Soul Kind Of Feeling, delivered by both Continental Robert and saxophonist Bruce Allen of the original band. The evening will combine the Dynamic Hepnotics’ classics with Robert Susz’s newer works and takes place Saturday 7 July at Blue Beat in Double Bay.
THE SKINNY Skinny Lister set themselves apart from the average “gentrified” English folk groups. Frontman Dan Heptinstall’s perceptive ballads and folk ideals meet rambunctious party vibes courtesy frontwoman Lorna Thomas. Skinny Lister are a throwback to the homegrown English folk bands of the 1980s. The band’s debut album, Forge And Flagon, has just been released in Australia.
SPLIT INTO THREE JAZZ/WORLD WITH MICHAEL SMITH
Jazzgroove and 505’s Artistic Directors have handpicked an inter-generational quartet to explore and arrange the music of the late Roger Frampton, pianist, saxophonist, composer and educator, for a special session Tuesday 26 June. The quartet, dubbed The AD’s Pick, features trumpeter Warwick Adler, pianist Harry Sutherland, bassist Alex Boneham and drummer Evan Mannell. Opening the evening are the trio Pen Island. Sydney-born and raised, saxophonist, flautist and composer Gary Honor scored himself a deal with US label Trippin’n’Rhythm/Sony RED when he was living in London. The result is his latest album, Heads And Tales, which he’s launching at Lizotte’s Dee Why Thursday night with his ten-piece band.
Blind Lemon explore blues sounds from Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton and Johnny Lang, upbeat double-time stomps to good ol’ Texas shuffles. They’ll be hitting up the Wickham Park Hotel on Thursday 19 July, the Old Manly Boatshed on Friday 20, Beaches in Thirroul on Saturday 21 and The Junkyard, Maitland on Sunday 22.
Blue Venom are joined by Odyssey and 1st Blues Platoon for a big night at the Empire Hotel. Ali Penney & Dave Blanken combine at the Blue Diamond Bar in Kiama and the Pat Capocci Combo deliver some wild homegrown rockabilly at the Town Hall Hotel in Newtown.
Sydney is now strewn with small bars – thanks to the initiative of the City Of Sydney Council – and the latest addition is the Mojo Record Bar which combines one of Sydney’s best-loved record shops with a funky new bar. Mojo Music is back with a brand new shop jam-packed with over 7,000 vinyl albums and a great new array of CDs/boxed sets. The adjoining bars means you can browse the record racks with drink in hand as the shop is licensed.
SATURDAY
TUESDAY
The Jewel-Tones Trio rock the Rozelle Markets from 11am through to 2pm. 2MBS-FM’s Stormy Monday program presents another showcase night at the Marrickville Bowlo with the evergreen The Foreday Riders, celebrating 40 years in the blues biz along with rare blues movies from 7.30pm. The Brooks Point Blues Band play the funky Raby Tavern and the Blues Pirates hoist the jolly roger at the Bald Rock Hotel. The Vanguard has an interesting bill with Howlin’ Steam Train, Papa Pilko & The Binrats and Smitty & B. Goode.
The World in The Basement hosts Ali Penney & The Moneymakers, Abuka and Berni Love 8.30pm.
SUNDAY
THURSDAY Finn play the National Press Club, Canberra whilst Glenn Cardier & The Sideshow let loose at Blue Beat from 9pm. John Hill is solo at the Monkey Bar in Balmain.
Chris Turner’s Cave Men play the Bald Rock Hotel from 6pm whilst Don Hopkins is solo at the Dee Why RSL Club. John Leigh Calder & Friends have a bluesy evening in store at the White Horse Hotel in Surry Hills. swampshack@drummedia.com.au
themusic.com.au
Brisbane’s dynamic jazz trio Trichotomy will appear at Venue 505 July 10 for their only Sydney show. The band draws on the avant-rock of Radiohead, the minimalism of ECM and a love of improvisation in order to create a truly unique sound. Trichotomy will appear with DVA, a “technically and emotionally dazzling group”. Their improvisational music has its roots in Eastern European, Indian and African music.
BROTHERS IN ARMS
Australia’s leading guitar duo, The Grigoryan Brothers, will release a CD of the Russian piano classic, Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons, on June 29. The boys have been trying to “breathe new life into classical guitar repertoire.” Tchaikovsky’s 12-movement composition written for solo piano, but has been adapted “stunningly”. “Dad’s rearrangement retains what makes it a masterpiece while presenting it in a totally different voice,” remarked Slava Grigoryan. The Grigoryan brothers will be doing a national tour.
FOR THE DUKE
Next month, Joe Jackson will release The Duke, his tribute to jazz icon Duke Ellington. The album will feature Jackson as well as guest appearances from Sharon Jones, Iggy Pop, Ahmir ‘?estlove’ Thompson, Steve Vai and more. Though the release will be a tribute album, it will also be a very distinctive Joe Jackson album. As the musician remarked, “I revere Duke Ellington, but I didn’t want this to be a reverent album.” Jackson “interprets” 15 Ellington classics, reworking melodic and rhythmic elements in a manner consistent with Jackson’s own musical style.
A LADY
Country music aristocrats Lady Antebellum are embarking on a six-date Australian tour, with a run of Sydney shows from October 1-3. The band’s three consecutive Sydney Opera House shows are testament to their huge popularity — two of the three shows sold out within days. Further, these will be Lady Antebellum’s first ever headline shows in Australia, after supporting Keith Urban last year, where the band received standing ovations after each show. The band are incredibly excited, with lead vocalist Hillary Scott saying, “We can’t wait for our first big headlining tour… we hope to create a once-in a lifetime experience and make some really special memories with our fans.” Lady Antebellum are currently touring on the back of their latest release, Own The Night, which debuted at Number 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart last October and gave Lady Antebellum the biggest first week debut for a country artist. The band has commenced touring in the US, and has already received some immensely positive reviews.
HATS OFF
The Toyota Hats Off To Country Music Festival kicks off next week. After receiving a major sponsorship from Toyota, the event will expand this year, and its “future now seems assured,” according to the chairman of the Tamworth Country Music Stakeholders’ Group, Barry Harley. “Toyota’s sponsorship…is further evidence of their continued support for the country music industry,” he said. More than forty up-and-coming country artists will perform at the festival, including multi Golden Guitar winner Catherine Britt, country music legends The Dally Croft Band, as Christina George and The Blowflies. THE DRUM MEDIA • 41
FRONTROW@DRUMMEDIA.COM.AU
THIS WEEK IN
ARTS
GIRLS
WEDNESDAY 27
SUNDAY 1
Anne Veronica Jannssens – Belgian artist Anne Veronica Janssens has brought her innovative installation works to Sydney. From the creator’s mouth the work is based upon science, however don’t be scared by this description it is about the most creative use of light and space one could imagine. Among her installation work are Wonka like misty worlds of colour and fog. Opening Night, Carriageworks, exhibiting until 16 September. Dumb, Drunk, and Racist – with all the drama surrounding Australian identity and recent investigations on our appalling racist reputation what’s better then getting a documentary mini series to delve in headfirst. This is the second episode of the mini doco series, by journalist Joe Hildebrand who takes Indian tourists to Sydney, visiting places such as Sydney’s Lakemba. Episode 2, ABC 2, 9.30pm. National Theatre London Frankenstein Version 2 – director of Slumdog Millionaire Danny Boyle brings you the production by a play by Nick Dear thats based on the novel by Mary Shelley. If you’re a fan of the old gothic tale then this is another chance to see the tale on a new level. Watch The Creature track down his creator with some saddening vengeance, it will make you once again engage in threat of scientific advancement. Last session, The Orpheum, 6.30pm.
Tiger Street Soccer Finals – street artists, Beastman, Numskull, Thomas Jackson & Roach will be producing live street art as a backdrop to the soccer action on the pitch. In the shadow of the Museum of Contemporary Art. This is a free event for all and Tiger Beer will be flowing all day. Batman Begins & The Dark Knight – pumped for the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises? Possibly the best way to count in the next and final Batamn instalment from Chris Nolan is to head to a double screening of the first two films. Watch Christian Bale become Batman all over again, with a side of our beloved Heath Ledger in one of his best performances as the quirky, dark and completely sadistic Joker. The Orpheum, 6pm.
SATURDAY 30 Twisted Tales – former triple j unearthed winner Yunyu. teams up with New York Times #1 Best Selling Manga Artist Queenie Chan and leading animators from around the world, to create a twisted adult storytime. Where Pied Piper comes back as a cult leader, Little Matchgirl has a drug habit and Dorothy isn’t lost in Kanas, she’s lost in space. Carriageworks, 8pm.
MONDAY 2 Girls – get involved with this one! A coming-of-age comedy focusing on a group of 20-something women in New York and their adventures in post-collegiate floundering. Two years out of liberal arts school, Hannah played by Lena Dunhamwho is also the creator, writer and director of the show believes she has the talent to be a successful writer and though she has yet to complete her memoir (she has to live it first). Episode 8 Season 1, Showcase, 8.30pm.
ONGOING Porn Cake – a play that shows us the real issues in life. Sex and cake. written by Vanessa Bates it focues on two middle-aged couples that are struggling to deal with their relationship issues in the age of technology, an age where Gen Y satisfyingly thrives but where these characters are amusingly lost. Dysfunction is even more entertaining with sexual connation, and this is exactly what this play offers. Griffen Theatre Company, 7pm, until 14 July.
GIVEAWAYS
BE YOURSELF AND YOU CAN BE ANYTHING Thanks to Paramount Pictures, we have five double passes to Katy Perry: Part of Me, a documentary that chronicles Katy Perry’s life on and off-stage. For more info about the film go to www. katyperrypartofme.com.au. Some good news after Australian fans 42 • THE DRUM MEDIA
stormed twitter, it was announced that Katy would return to Sydney at the end of the month. To walk the pink carpet at the Australian premiere, held in Sydney at Event Cinemas, George Street on Saturday June 30. Katy Perry: Part of Me will be released nationally Monday 2 July. For your chance to win tickets go to www.facebook.com/ thedrummedia
ALL OUR RELATIONS The 18th Biennale of Sydney kicks off this week and Paul Andrew chats to Artistic Director Gerald McMaster about the kind of art we can expect to see at this year’s most loved of winter arts festival. Cockatoo Island – the once dilapidated penal and maritime precinct in Sydney Harbour – is being magically transformed. Biennale Artistic Director Gerald McMaster is sauntering around the island quietly contemplating works of art when we speak, however solitude and reverie here requires an extreme measure of patience as the forgotten island is also the habitat for angry birds. “The seagulls sound very hungry,” McMaster observes, and with the compassion of a Zen Master he prefers to describe the ungodly din during our interview as “a chorus”. In fact, it is this relational and compassionate approach that
GERALD MCMASTER
SMALL BUSINESS KARAOKE BY JIN SHI forms the prevailing mood for this year’s 18th Biennale of Sydney, 100 artists from all around the globe working in a collaborative manner and “representing the Biennale themes, which include migration, contamination, corruption and coercion.” McMaster, speaking a little louder now, explains the melodious soft humming emanating from inside a series of beehives titled Swarm (ASX). “We have to turn the volume up very high in order to fully contemplate the scale and pitch of this work.” He is describing a poetic installation by UK-based artist Alec Finlay, however this time it isn’t the chorus of silver gulls he compensates for but the chorus of artist enthusiasms, “the critical mass of artists and volunteers are arriving and installing their works; it’s amazing.”
HUMAN RIGHTS THEATRE Coranderrk director Issac Drandic talks to Dave Drayton about the power of history and verbatim theatre. History, as they say, is written by the victors. Coranderrk is a verbatim work based on the people of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve who took on the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in a fight for justice, dignity and self-determination in 1881. Associate Director of Melbourne-based theatre company, Ilbijerri, Isaac Drandic enjoyed his directorial debut through the company, taking on the massive task of Coranderrk after Ilbijerri Aristic Director Rachael Maza had guided it through early readings and workshop performances. Maza set the task for Drandic rather directly, as he recalls, “I’d just previously been assistant director on a show for the Perth Festival called Waltzing The Wilarra that Wesley Enoch directed. Rachael Maza’s of the opinion that you can only do assistant directing once before you just need to start directing and so she offered me my first directing gig.” Drandic took to the task eagerly, seeing in Coranderrk an important and resonant story that he felt needed to be told for its empowering qualities, continued relevance, and its ability
Finlay is a poet and publisher as well as artist passionate about social and natural “fluctuations” in a time of climate change. In collaboration with sound artist Chris Watson, they have installed ten wooden beehives on the lawns in the upper island precinct and each hive has an internal speaker projecting an audio of honey bees which changes in tenor and volume according to the “live” parallel fluctuations of the Global Stock Exchange. McMaster suggests this is a reference to human responses to natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes. “Knock on the Sky, Listen to The Sound is an installation by New Zealand artist Tiffany Singh comprising an array of wind chimes,” he continues. ”Tiffany’s title is also a Buddhist expression. We had to find an outdoor site here
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ISSAC DRANDIC to render moot often troublesome issues of ‘white guilt.’ ”I think no matter where you travel Aboriginal people around Australia have experienced a very similar history since white fellas have been here – the impacts that have affected our communities are impacts that we all share and so I think seeing and hearing this story is inspirational for all people really. It’s inspiring and it’s empowering for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people; it’s empowering for white fellas to go, ‘Look, back then in the early times of settlement there were some good white fellas out there that were way ahead of their times in terms of human rights issues,’ and from the black perspective we’re going, ‘Listen to these leaders, listen to these intelligent, smart Aboriginal people – back in 1881 – these fellas that didn’t go to a university, aren’t educated like we are nowadays, yet they were calling for exactly the same things that we’re calling for now in Indigenous politics in Australia.’ We want land rights, we want economic independence and we want self-determination and those [ideals] echo so loudly in the Coranderrk script.”
for the work where the wind is best, where it can be both gentle and strong.” As McMaster details to me the diverse spiritual dimensions to Singh’s work a strange silence prevails, the chorus of gulls falls into pausa, silence – I begin to appreciate the curator’s sensibility – together we notice the feint tinkling of chimes trickling through the stillness. “There is a feeling of sadness here,” he reflects while gazing at an overgrown boat ramp. “This place has been abandoned for a long while. Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi comes from the 400-year old Mughal Miniaturist tradition and is transforming this old ramp with intricate acrylic drawings that echo the plant life engulfing it. Imran describes that his approach to making art is to collaborate closely with nature’s forces; this work is titled, They Shimmer Still. “This [is] the most exciting part of the curatorial process so far,” he suggests, prompted by the beehives, the miniature patterning and murmuring wind chimes. “Artists and hundreds of volunteer art students enthusiastically collaborating, changing the landscape. Nature is slowly repossessing this island, the artists are renewing it.” WHAT: 18th Biennale of Sydney. WHEN & WHERE: Various Locations around Sydney, Opening Wednesday 27 June – 16 September.
The full company of the Australian Ballet is in New York for its first visit in ten years. Artistic director David McAllister tells us the company has taken the dancers, eight shipping containers, 52 staff and more than 600 costumes. They have been performing a triple bill to showcase the company’s 50-year history, along with Graeme Murphy’s famous interpretation of Swan Lake. Australia will soon have an R18+ category for video games. The highest rating for computer games is currently MA15+, meaning overseas adult-only games are mostly banned here or given a lower classification, allowing children to get them. The new laws bring computer games in line with the classification system for films and other material and means we are more consistent with overseas standards. The changes take effect on 1 January 2013. Comedian Chris Lilley has been banned from posting on his own Facebook profile for 30 days after putting up a picture of a fan exposing his genitals. His mockumentary series, Angry Boys, had characters Nathan and Daniel undressed and he says he often gets sent ‘Sneaky Nuts’ shots from Angry Boys fans. This year’s Storylines Festival at the Parade Theatre is a celebration of cultures whose stories often go unheard. Built around three plays by Justin Fleming, it features installations, dance and live music from African refugee, Islamic and Indigenous communities. Artistic director Suzanne Millar tells us artists from Villawood Detention Centre will exhibit by number to suppress their identities. The script comes from recordings of official testimonies before the 1881 Government Inquiry into Coranderrk, and it’s the very nature of its being verbatim that makes it so powerful, says Drandic. “These are the actual words spoken by those people in 1881, and when you read the script you go, ‘Woah, this could be being said right now, everything in it resonates now in 2012.’ I could probably turn on the radio and listen
Anna Funder’s debut novel, All That I Am, has won the $50,000 Miles Franklin Literary Award. The novel beat four other shortlisted works - Blood, by Tony Birch, Frank Moorhouse’s Cold Light, Favel Parrett’s Past The Shallows, and Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears. All That I Am also recently won Book Of The Year and Literary Fiction Book Of The Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards, the Barbara Jefferis Award, the Independent Bookseller’s Award for Best Debut Fiction and Indie Book Of The Year. It tells the story of an elderly Sydney woman’s role in the opposition to Hitler leading up to World War II. After 14 years of often contentious planning, the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre finally opens its doors to the public in November. The centre will be home to an art gallery, Katoomba Library, the World Heritage Interpretive Centre, a viewing platform to the Jamison Valley and workshop and seminar spaces. The first gallery exhibition will be Picturing The Great Divide: Visions From Australia’s Blue Mountains. Paintings, drawings, prints, photos, sculptures and ceramics by 50 artists will be featured. Part of the ticket sales for Celebrity Theatresports at Enmore Theatre Saturday 21 July will be donated to cancer charity CanTeen, the Australian organisation for young people living with cancer. Celebrities who have already thrown their comedy hats into the ring include Deal Or No Deal’s Andrew O’Keefe, The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel, 702 ABC’s Adam Spencer and Silver Logie Award winner Rob Carlton. All are champion Theatresports alumni, invited back for the occasion. to some of our Aboriginal leaders in this country and hear the echoes from 1881 from William Barrak and from the people of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve, and so the power lies in that verbatim.” WHAT: Coranderrk: We Will Show The Country WHERE & WHEN: Thursday 28 June until Sunday 1 July, Sydney Opera House Playhouse.
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RAPPING AND RAVING British comedian Lenny Henry has crafted a new show addressing his lifelong flirtation with being a musician. He tells Baz McAlister all about Cradle To Rave. Never one to rest on his laurels, veteran comedian Lenny Henry is always seeking new ways to connect with audiences – and his latest show, Cradle To Rave, is all about his love of music. He delves into the musical moments that have defined his life in a show that’s being called ‘comedy cabaret’ by some. “I think the ‘cabaret’ element is because there’s a piano on stage – but I’ve only been playing piano since I was forty, and I’m shit,” admits the now 53 year old. “Me sitting at a piano on stage is a false image because you’re looking at a guy who wants to be a musician, but the gap between wanting to do something and actually being able to do it is huge. In the show, we are in that gap.” Henry recently read a book that talked about the idea of it taking 10,000 hours to master anything –
from golf or cricket to swimming or playing an instrument. As he and his crew toured Cradle To Rave around the UK, they did some sums. “If you were to have lessons for two hours a day, it would take you nine years to master the piano,” he says. “It’s impossible, really. You’d have to start when you were too little to understand how long two hours is. I was a normal kid – I went outside and played with friends and so on. There’s a slightly antisocial thing about musicians. They don’t want to be with people, they want to be with an instrument.” It could be argued that Henry’s 10,000 hours spent hanging around with his friends prepared him perfectly for the role of comedian, and he agrees. Kicking off his acclaimed comedy career in the mid-‘70s he found success
on TV in the ‘80s with his own show, and that’s when the sniff of a music career came knocking again. “I was told I had to be a comedian or a musician, I couldn’t do both. And I chose comedy because at the time, I’d been doing it for ten years and I was doing well, and it was paying for my mum’s house. A lot of musicians would like to be funny, and a lot of comedians would like to be good musicians, but never the twain shall meet – except for Bill
Bailey and Tim Minchin, because those guys are freaks of nature.” Henry’s done all right with music, for a comedian. He fronts a funk band (with Hugh Laurie on keys) called Poor White Trash, he’s sung Sex Machine on The Jonathan Ross Show, he’s sung with Bootsy Collins, Tom Jones and Kate Bush, and met Prince and Stevie Wonder – and of course he created the well-known comedy character of wild, sexy crooner Theophilus Wildebeest. “I could sing as Theo – but when you’re singing in character it’s very different to singing as your naked self,” Henry explains. And recently this Renaissance man has been getting rave reviews for his theatre performances, including notably a fantastic run as the eponymous tragic hero of Shakespeare’s Othello in England. Unsurprisingly, music features in that, too. “I would put in headphones backstage and listen to very loud hip hop to psych myself up for the scene where he has to kill Desdemona,” Henry laughs. “I’d play Ice Cube and Biggy Smalls – because it at least seemed like they had some idea of what it was like to pop a cap in someone’s ass, or at the very least slap someone around.” WHO: Lenny Henry WHAT: Cradle To Rave WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 28 & Friday 29 June, Sydney State Theatre
STICKY FINGERS Mark AlexanderErber chats to Paul Andrew about the decadence of Kings Cross Ink tattoo parlour, the new reality show that is about to start filming, and his rock and roll family. Actor, entrepreneur and Kings Cross Ink visionary Mark Alexander-Erber was so inspired by a visit to High Voltage Tattoos in Los Angeles, the famous studio featured in the hit reality TV show, LA Ink, that “we” – he is particular about using the pronoun we – “decided to open a parlour,” and make some reality TV along the way. “I also had a particularly great tattoo experience in Hong Kong a few years back, at Ricky’s Tattoo,” he adds. “Ricky’s studio has been there for over sixty
years now. I remember the tattoo artist there that night had a cigarette hanging from her mouth, there was even a cockroach scuttling across a wall, but the rock was pulsing, the streets were alive, the feeling was amazing. It was just right.” Alexander-Erber is quick to point out that it’s the ambience of his two particularly memorable inked experiences, not the cigarette smoke, cockroaches and seediness he wants to infuse in his Kings Cross parlour. “I have travelled a lot during the last
twenty years and I haven’t seen anything like what we have created. I didn’t want that standard clinical, sterile feel you often get in studios around, I wanted decadence. We have called it a parlour because it is bohemian, the decor is all black and silver, all black leather couches, black chandeliers, leopard skin wallpaper. I wanted to create a ‘70s rock vibe. I’ve even had wall paper made from classic band photos of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Metallica, The Who and The Rolling Stones, and the only place that seems to have 1970s rock band photos is in Germany these days, so, I had them sent over from Germany.” Alexander-Erber pauses, reflecting for a moment and dropping his kidlet-loose-in-the-lolly-shop fervour. “If there is one thing that has inspired the feel and mood of the Parlour it would have to be The Rolling Stones 1971 album, Sticky Fingers. That album sums up the feeling I wanted to create here.” Kings Cross Ink is also the centrepiece of a new reality TV show being shot in July along the lines of the hugely popular Miami Ink TV series. He remains spoiler
alert about the details of the show but outlines that it is by the same crew who produce TV mainstays like Australia’s Got Talent, The X Factor, Masterchef, So You Think You Can Dance and Australian Idol, “What we can say is the TV show includes the personalities in the studio, in the Cross at places like Coluzzi cafe that I also manage, and my son Jagger, the nine year old drummer who is on Australia’s Got Talent right now.” As mentioned earlier, Alexander-Erber prefers to use the pronoun ‘we’ during the interview when speaking about the parlour and he explains. “It’s a family business, and we have all had some major input, Jagger too.” I ask him whether his son Jagger wants to get a tattoo there when he turns 18; it seems a fitting gesture for a prodigy drummer. Jagger smiles, he too is reflective for a minute like his Dad. “It’s a cool place, Yes I would like to get a tattoo one day. I would get Animal from Sesame Street on my back; it will be all pinks and purples.” WHAT: Filming of Kings Cross Ink starts July 2012
CineBarr ALPS - OFFICIAL COMPETITION WINNER
TABU
After 12 days that felt a lot shorter, SFF finished last Sunday. I’ve mostly found things to nitpick in prior CineBarr columns, but that’s pretty unfair given what a fine job Nashen Moodley did in his first year as the new festival director, not letting the slimmer quantity of films get in the way of adventurous programming. Besides, it’s worth noting that if I ran a film festival, I’d motion to equip chairs with rollercoaster seat-locks and catheters so that walkouts during screenings would be prohibited. Last week, I made passing mention to Alps, Yorgos Lanthimos’ follow-up to Dogtooth, which ended up the surprise winner of the Official Competition sidebar. While I applaud the Rachel Ward-presided jury for an unconventional and surprising choice, I wish I were more enthusiastic about the film itself. Intriguing and creepy though it is, it takes a fascinating premise (the dissolution of a covert group of professionals who ‘play’ the recently deceased for the consolation of loved ones) and for the most part, lets that very premise itself do most of the heavylifting; not quite absurdist or surreal enough to work as allegory a la Dogtooth, nor credible enough to work on a dramatic level. On the other hand, the prize has at least piqued my interest to give it another viewing. My personal pick of the 12 films – selected as representing “courageous, audacious and cutting edge” filmmaking – would’ve been Miguel Gomes’ Tabu. I saw it before the fest and it still remains one of my favorites, for, among many reasons, its implicit belief in silent cinema as an absolutely valid contemporary form, with huge reservoirs of unexplored poetic potential. In that sense, it’s a shining example of film as film preservation and puts many a ‘love letter to cinema’ to shame,
not least the winking pastiche that is The Artist. (I don’t even particularly dislike the latter, but it’s reached critical mass – a kind of drooling shorthand for ‘film history’ and its endangerment). This year, more than any previous year, I’ve felt more awareness of how I watch films. Maybe it’s no coincidence that at least four of the most resonant ones (Amour, Holy Motors, Whores’ Glory and Tabu) included images of an audience, or at least a group of people approximating one, looking back at us. There’s been so much documented opinion about the transition from film to digital – ranging from luddite scorn, to measured ambivalence, to James Cameron-y James Cameron-ism – that it’s increasingly easy to divert one’s attention from the film at hand and towards the materiality of the rare film prints when they’re projected (roughly 90 per cent of the films shown at this year’s fest were DCP). And yet, I’m not fearing for cinema’s future so much as genuinely curious about it. For perspective, about five years ago I remember sitting in bafflement as a guest speaker to the festival gave a presentation informing us that cinema as a popular art was dying, that it’d eventually mutate into interactive installation art, and that Miranda July was one of its Great White Hopes (LOL). This year, a panel discussion at the Festival Hub between a group of critics and programmers on ‘The Future of the Cinema Experience’ took a more pragmatic and sensible tone, and I remembered the former discussion with wry affection. I expect this kind of cycle to repeat itself for a lifetime.
SPLENDOUR 2012 ARTS PROGRAM ANNOUNCED…SPLENDID Splendour has announced it’s Arts Program for this year, it includes Let’s Get Metaphysical by Nicole Breedon a work illuminated by fire each night of the festival. Clint Hurrell will be in the mix up tent with projections of fractured reality. Hurrell is know for his spectacle art from bush doofs to major iconic festivals. The much-loved Tent of Miracles is back with The Art of Marriage directed by Andy Forbes. An experiment in the joining of souls utilizing voodoo, science, witchcraft and super glue. For more info go to www.splendourinthegrass.com, Splendour is running 27-29 July.
Over the next few months in Sydney, we’ll be installing new equipment which is designed to bring you a better experience than ever before from Vodafone and to prepare for 4G. If you are a Vodafone customer there is likely to be some disruption to your service. However, we’ll mostly be working throughout the night between 11pm and 8am to minimise any inconvenience. We apologise sincerely for any inconvenience. If you have any queries or experience any issues please visit vodafone.com.au/networknews or call us on 1300 650 410.
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“What’s creepy is how they get cleaned up,” Yunyu states. “The origins are quite dark. I mean, Cinderella involves toe amputation.” When the Singapore-born former triple j Unearthed winner Yunyu brings her latest multi-arts show to the stage she will taking the fairy tales we all love (or loath) and giving them a damn hard twist. Indeed Twisted Tales is not just a ‘concept concert’ but a Manga-assisted dive into the murkier depths of these archetypal yarns. “They travel across cultures, which makes them extra creepy,” she suggests. “It’s like people from every part of the world, with big differences and big distances, still recording the same tale. I mean, Cinderella has its origins in the Middle East and China. So, it’s quite bizarre. I mean, how could the different cultures have done this? It’s like they had internet a very long time ago.” Of course one of the things that Yunyu is doing with Twisted Tales is yanking fairytales into the internet age. However, this is no crude modernisation. “One of the contributing factors was the stories that my Dad used to tell me. He used to corrupt every single ending and so when I was in school my version of Three Little Pigs ended with them hiring the Godfather. Romeo & Juliet had mobile phones and sometimes they didn’t die. Sometimes they sued the mobile phone company.” Although on the surface Twisted Tales is a concert with added comic visuals, Yunyu is keen to enrich
BATMANIA Anthony Carew reviews Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy on the eve of The Dark Knight Rises.
incorporating the work of bestselling Manga artist Queenie Chan, Yunyu is looking to push the envelope out a little more. “Let’s go further than South Park ever dared go,” she says with obvious energy. “Queenie wanted to create this really bright harmless universe that was kinda like adult candy.”
FURTHER THAN SOUTH PARK Yunyu, creator of Twisted Tales, tells Paul Ransom that it’s time Cinderella was rescued from the horror of Disney. To that end Yunyu has created a manga musical extravaganza to liberate the fairy tale. the experience with as much juicy subtexts as possible. “We wanted to troll the Disney culture, y’know that kinda world where Cinderella just waits around for the Prince. But y’know he’s not coming. He doesn’t even exist,” she laughs. “We feel
like we’re the absolute trolls of Disney brainwashing. Actually that was the most fun part of the project, to throw some light onto the kinda mass political correctness of Disney and the allergy to anything mildly of contention or sexual.” By In an era of requisite sequels stretching to infinity,’ young adult book series and box office receipts demanding future episodes laid out for a decade, there’s a sense of genuine expectation with the still-mysterious The Dark Knight Rises, the third, July 19-due instalment in Christopher Nolan’s take on the Batman mythos. Of course, the third part of a trilogy is its own requisite instalment; in the world of tentpole action franchises, three is, forever, the magic number, placing closure — “A legend ends,” the tagline intones — in the coded structure of three-picture tales. After the royally shitty Batman Forever and Batman & Robin in the mid-’90s, Nolan’s appointment signalled a flirtation with credibility for DC Comics’ cash-cow. What the new franchise steward brought to the table was actual filmmaking chops: a disdain for digital, an inventive sense of frame, and a love of cinematic parlour-tricks, which he’d shown with Following and Memento, and would later blow out big with The Prestige and Inception. The rebootin’ tone was set early in Batman Begins, when a young Bruce Wayne cowers in the police station after his parents have been shot. “Good news!” a cop beams, and for
Bringing theatre, music, a seven-piece band and live VJ together was, for Yunyu, a natural progression. As someone who “grew up” on Manga she was keen to explore where the art could take the stories and the songs. “It helps to illustrate where the characters are coming from and going to. Y’know, the fairy tale universe is very otherworldly and we’re trying to bring this otherworldly world to our universe but still have a sense of intrigue.” Both the album and now the concert, Yunyu argues, are not so much an adulteration but a reclamation of fairy tales. “These stories were originally designed as entertainment for adults. I dunno what happened but they became entertainment for kids, which is sometimes pretty disturbing. And yeah, the temptation to go Jungian or Freudian was very difficult to resist.” Whether you prefer Cinderella with missing toes or not, Yunyu’s Twisted Tales are designed to make the sprinkling of fairy dust just that little bit more mindbending. WHAT: Yunyu’s Twisted Tales WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 30 June, 8pm Carriageworks. a moment the boy’s eyes twinkle with dreams of parental survival. “We got him!” the cop exhorts, the seized bad guy the ultimate hollow trophy for an orphaned boy. From there, the emptiness of retribution — be it justice, vigilante justice or vengeance — has been the centre of Nolan’s ‘dark’ vision of the Dark Knight, and that’s permeated through pirouetting backstory and action-movie sequences both. In the trilogy template, the original gets to do all the formative storytelling — the ‘origin’ story — whereas the middle episode is the ‘down’ one, the empire striking back and chosen-one hero going from virtuous crusader to flawed, selfdoubting outsider (“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”). The punning title of the second stanza — The Dark Knight descending into an eternal dark night — echoes the picture’s war-of-attrition, where skirmishes between hero and villain (Mumblin’ Ledgie, in an inspired turn made sainted after his death), cops and crimelords, police and politicians leave the corpses of collateral damage scattered across a nightmarish vision of living in a city.
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ARTIST PROFILE
five minutes with
JONATHON JONES Sydney-based artist Jonathon Jones is best known for his fluorescent light installations, works which fuse Aboriginal art with 1960s American Minimalism. For his Biennale work it’s the Aboriginal shell midden that is the object of inspiration, ancient mounds of shell artifacts demonstrating the Indigenous interrelationship with country and with marine life. “A number of years ago I attended a workshop for traditional south-east Australian weaving conducted by Ngarrindjeri leader Yvonne Koolmatrie. Meeting and learning from such a master was something that has continually shaped my own practice. Yvonne’s teachings went beyond just being learning techniques. I connected with the way in which Yvonne is able to reach into the past, drawing on her traditions to create contemporary forms that maintain and strengthen her culture while forging new ground. I think I was the only Aboriginal student in that class and Yvonne welcomed me and looked after me and she has been a guiding light in my practice. “The relationship between Aboriginal art and minimalism? As a Wiradjuiri Kamilaroi artist I’m interested in mapping, country, culture and community. Light has always provided a medium that best represents the fluidity and adaptability of these concepts. Where other, more odious entries in the comic-book-movie realm put all their chips behind the unassailable ‘right’ of their campily-costumed super-hero, writing off the evermounting casualties as ‘by any means necessary’ cost, The Dark Knight, amidst its chase sequences and Imax’d skylines and ethnic stereotypes and explosions, found time to ponder quandaries and poke at politics, questioning the very need for heroes in an era in which the notion of a virtuous vigilante (or, indeed, a benevolent big brother) is as outmoded as satin underpants over coloured tights. With the Nolan Bros behind the screenplay for The Dark Knight Rises, we can rest assured that this ‘final’
Early minimalism movements have a direct and simple relationship to materials, often basic familiar materials, engaging with low technology. I connect with this immediacy of minimalism in form and construction.” Jones prefers to work with domestic/familiar materials, like fluorescent lights, as a way of connecting art and the concepts that he is interested in with the everyday and the real. “This way people can connect with work personally, through their own understanding and engagement with the material,” he suggests, “and for the work untitled (oysters and teacups), I have used thousands of old teacups purchased through a variety of outlets including opportunity shops on my travels throughout rural NSW over the past year or more.” “The theme of collaboration?” he adds when asked. “Other Biennale artists are bringing teacups from throughout the globe, strengthening the connection to the Biennale concept of th 18th Biennale of Sydney: All Our Relations. The bulk of the oysters have been collected in the Clyde River in the south coast of NSW and many have been collected over the years from family gatherings, special events and occasions. Together the two vessels, the oyster shells and teacups, represent countless engagements and gatherings, collectively holding something more than the sum of the parts.” Paul Andrew WHO: Jonathon Jones WHAT: Oysters and Teacups WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 27 June – Sunday 16 September, Cockatoo Island, part of 18th Biennale of Sydney: All Our Relations. film will be structurally provocative and morally compromised, which, given they’re stuck having people in silly costumes say funny things before punching people, is all you can really ask. To pretend that the franchise is coming to an end — as that tagline proclaims — is a delusion; Batman will be re-born again, re-originised by someone else at some other time. Luckily, Nolan has given future keepers of the Batman flame something to live up to. WHAT: Relive Nolan’s first two films with a screening of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 1 July, 6pm, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace.
Want to experience film like never before? Every school says “we’re different”. The difference at IFSS is that we live up to that promise. In two years with us, you make up to eight films and work on up to 24 other films being made by your peers. You won’t get to do that at any other film school in Sydney! The school is run like a working professional community with what we call a holistic approach to teaching, delivered through the Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media where students can focus on either Screenwriting, Directing and Producing OR Cinematography. Apply Now and experience filmmaking at IFSS
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TOUR GUIDE FEATURE TOUR
THE AUDREYS
The Audreys are on their first tour in 18 months in support of their compilation release, Collected. Dubbed the Cool, Calm And Collected Tour, The Audreys’ Taasha Coates and Tristan Goodall will tour as a duo playing tracks from across their three ARIA Award-winning albums, as well as B-sides and new material. They’ll be playing the Brass Monkey on Tuesday 26 June, Clarendon Guesthouse in Katoomba on Wednesday 27, Lizotte’s Newcastle on Thursday 28, The Vanguard in Newtown on Friday 29, Lizotte’s Kincumber on Saturday 30 and again at The Vanguard on Sunday 1 July.
DRUM PRESENTS
THE AUDREYS: Jun 26 Brass Monkey, Jun 27 Clarendon Guesthouse, Jun 28 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jun 29 The Vanguard, Jun 30 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 1 The Vanguard
JORDIE LANE: Jun 29 Royal Exchange, Jun 30 Camelot Lounge
LAWRENCE ARABIA: Jul 3 The Green Room
TIM FREEDMAN: Jun 29 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jun 30 Lizotte’s Dee Why, Jul 1 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 6 & 7 The Basement Circular Quay, Jul 27 Street Theatre, Aug 2 & 3 Clarendon Guesthouse, Aug 4 The Vault
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS: Jul 5 Sydney Opera House, Jul 6 Sydney Entertainment Centre, Jul 10 Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Jul 11 WIN Entertainment Centre THE MEDICS: Jul 6 Annandale Hotel, Sep 12 Spectrum, Sep 27 Transit Bar, Sep 28 The Patch, Sep 29 Cambridge Hotel
SELECT MUSIC 7TH BIRTHDAY OXFORD ART GALLERY, THE STANDARD, UPSTAIRS BERESFORD: 21/06/12 The sheer number of bands Select Music brought together for its seventh birthday celebrations was incredibly impressive – nearly 30 bands, four stages, five hours. In theory, this made for the best one-night festival imaginable; in practice, it was a night that involved endless walks between The Standard, the Beresford and Oxford Art Factory, as well as a constant, nagging feeling that you were missing out on something. Emma Louise played a gloriously stripped-back set at the Oxford Art Factory. Performing on acoustic guitar and with keyboard/backing vocalist accompanist, each track was full of delicate, angelic harmonies and carefully arranged guitar and keyboard lines. Her opening track was a neat little acoustic number that gave way to a gritty keyboard rhythm. Set closer, Jungle, was magnificent – the pair were unable to rely on the enormous rhythm section to build intensity and instead built tension through low keys and vocal harmonies. Argentina aka Alex Ritchie has a cocktail of things going on onstage at the Oxford Art Factory Gallery. Sure, his synthesised rhythms and multi-layered melodies make some of the tracks sound a little weak, but several tracks have gritty, intense vocals – particularly Chalk Outlines. The sheer intensity of his performance is impressive; his music is capable of creating strange, dark moods. His music is also incredibly well-produced, with melodies and rhythms sounding clear and precise. It’s a cut above more typical, synthesised indie pop. Millions are making some impressive sounds at present and as a result, they attracted a decent little crowd to the OAF Gallery stage. Millions are adept at making these golden little indie rock numbers full of catchy hooks and boisterous guitar lines. There were a few issues with sound distortion however, but the tracks came out quite well regardless. Millions’ lyrics toe the line between hilarious and insightful: “Some day we’ll all be separated/And I think that’ll be just fine”. They do a sublime job of dispersing catchy, buzz-pop choruses through well-written verses. Step-Panther play good, honest, straight-up rock’n’roll, which they did at The Standard. There is something incredibly effortless about the music they create – laidback, carelessly throwing lyrics and instrumentals together. And yet they’ve struck gold. They seem to take
these lovingly trashy, distorted garage rock bass and guitar lines and strip them back; purify them. The energy and enthusiasm of their live sets is simply indescribable. The Jungle Giants put on a fantastic show at The Standard. Their percussion and themes have a little in common with Jinja Safari, but they’ve thrown it all over classic indie pop guitar lines. They’re wild and excitable and the audience sang their sweet choruses as loudly as the band. This band’s popularity is exceedingly well deserved.
SOUND OF SEASONS: Jun 29 Expressive Grounds, Jul 1 Hotel Gearin, Jul 3 Mars Hill Café, Jul 4 Hamilton St Station, Jul 6 Liverpool PCYC, Jul 7 SFX, Jul 11 Woden Youth Centre Canberra SUGAR ARMY: Jun 29 Kings Cross Hotel
THE SHINS: Jul 25 Hordern Pavilion
NANTES: Jun 30 GoodGod
ZULU WINTER, HOWLER: Jul 25 Oxford Art Factory
DEF WISH CAST: Jun 30 Cambridge Hotel, Jul 7 Transit Bar
THE JOE KINGS: Jul 29 Beach Road Hotel
SET SAIL: Jun 30 Oxford Art Factory, Jul 21 Great Northern Newcastle, Jul 22 Brass Monkey, Aug 2 Transit Bar, Aug 3 The Patch, Aug 4 Clarendon Guesthouse
ELECTRIC GUEST: Jul 31 Oxford Art Factory THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: Jul 31 Sydney Entertainment Centre
JONATHAN BOULET: Jun 30 The Metro
PENNYWISE: Aug 25 UNSW Roundhouse
DAIMON BRUNTON QUINTET: Jul 3 The God’s Café Acton Canberra, Jul 6 Yours & Owls, Jul 8 The Builder’s Club, Jul 10 Grand Hotel Newcastle, Jul 11 The Basement Sydney
XAVIER RUDD: Sep 6 Newcastle Civic Theatre, Sep 7 Waves Hotel, Sep 8 Enmore Theatre
THE CAIROS: Jul 4 The Patch, Jul 6 Great Northern Newcastle, Jul 7 GoodGod
JULIA STONE: Sep 12 The Abbey, Sep 13 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Sep 15 The Metro
HEROES FOR HIRE: Jul 4 The Loft Newcastle, Jul 5 The Patch, Jul 6 & 7 Oxford Art Factory, Jul 8 Wesley Hall
DJANGO DJANGO: Aug 1 & 2 Oxford Art Factory
TIM & ERIC: Oct 2 The Metro SYDNEY BLUES & ROOTS: Oct 25 – 28 Windsor BASTARDFEST: Nov 9 & 10 The Basement Canberra, Nov 17 Sandringham Hotel
NATIONAL
THE AUDREYS: Jun 26 Brass Monkey, Jun 27 Clarendon Guesthouse, Jun 28 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jun 29 The Vanguard, Jun 30 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 1 The Vanguard
It would be difficult to find, amongst the whiskey, water and Jake Stone sweat-drenched crowd, a patron who didn’t think Stone and Stavros Yiannoukas were ridiculously good showmen. Bluejuice’s wild onstage high jinks have become excessively popular and Thursday night’s performances of enormous hits like Vitriol, Facelift and Act Yr Age were no exception. Their tracks are well written, with a heavy enough bass line to get punters dancing and with hilariously funny, devil-may-care lyrics that keep the party going. The only problem is that there are only so many times you can watch Stone nearly strangle someone with a microphone lead, or down shots on stage, or lick the face of some lucky audience member. Bluejuice are, essentially, playing the same show they were playing two years ago.
SURES: Jun 28 GoodGod
The Select Music birthday gig was a collection of performances from astounding artists. As with any event with a lineup that’s just too good to be true, it was impossibly hard to get your fill of the night’s talent.
360: Jun 29 The Metro
Jessie Hunt
KID MAC: Jun 29 The Standard, Jun 30 Great Northern Newcastle
OF MONSTERS & MEN: Jul 22 Oxford Art Factory
PASSENGER: Aug 17 The Hi-Fi
After a busy run of festivals and tours, Hungry Kids Of Hungary have been fairly quiet over the past few months. Nonetheless, the band had a dedicated following waiting for them when they took to the Beresford stage. The sheer joy the band seems to derive from playing for an audience – the small smiles they share, their energy and their down-to-earth, genuine stage manner – is priceless. They played a well-selected batch of tracks from their 2010 album, as well as preceding EPs, with the audience shouting lyrics back to them on singles like Scattered Diamonds, Wristwatch and Coming Around.
6 Polish White Eagle Club, Jul 7 De Ja Vu, Jul 13 Lass O’Gowrie, Jul 14 Good Jelly
THE JED ROWE BAND: Jun 28 The Front, Jun 30 Empire Hotel, Jul 1 The Junkyard EMPRA: Jun 28 Gee Wizz Nightclub, Jul 1 Lucky Aussie Tavern, Jul 13 Dicey Riley’s, Jul 14 The Basement Canberra NEW EMPIRE: Jun 28 Yours & Owls, Jun 29 & 30 Glee Coffee Roasters, Jul 1 Brass Monkey KING CANNONS: Jun 28 Oxford Art Factory
MAKE THEM SUFFER: Jul 4 Tuggeranong Youth Centre Canberra, Jul 5 Spectrum, Jul 6 Manly Youth Centre, Jul 7 Unanderra Community Centre THE ARACHNIDS: Jul 5 Transit Bar, Jul 6 Oxford Art Factory, Jul 7 Great Northern Hotel Newcastle THE BROW HORN ORCHESTRA: Jul 5 Oxford Art Factory, Jul 6 Macquarie Hotel, Jul 7 Great Northern Newcastle, Jul 8 Rock Lily, Star Casino KINGSWOOD, MONEY FOR ROPE, DAMN TERRAN: Jul 5 Great Northern Newcastle, Jul 6 Lansdowne Hotel, Jul 7 Yours & Owls THE LUKE ESCOMBE CORPORATION: Jul 5 The Newsagency, Jul 6 Old Manly Boatshed, Jul 7 The Mac VENUS FIRE: Jul 5 The Vanguard FAIT ACCOMPLI*: Jul 5 Yours & Owls, Jul 6 Sugar Lounge, Jul 7 Club Catalina, Jul 20 Annandale Hotel LACHLAN BRYAN: Jul 6 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 7 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jul 8 Lizotte’s Dee Why
COLLARBONES: Jun 28 Terrace Bar, Jul 5 Kings Cross Hotel
BURIED IN VERONA: Jul 6 Manly Youth Centre, Jul 7 Unanderra Community Centre
THE BRIDE: Jun 28 Spectrum, Jun 29 Golf Club, Jun 30 Open Studios, Jul 1 Oasis Youth Centre, Jul 4 Hotel Gearin, Jul 6 Liverpool PCYC, Jul 7 Unanderra Community Hall, Jul 8 Woden Youth Centre
HUDSON ARC: Jul 6 The Newsagency, Jul 7 Northern Star, Jul 12 Clarendon Guest House
HEAVEN: Jun 29 & 30 Annandale Hotel, Jul 1 Waves Nightclub FUN MACHINE: Jun 29 Burdekin Bar, Jul
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DANCING HEALS: Jul 6 Upstairs Beresford
THE MEDICS: Jul 6 Annandale Hotel, Sep 12 Spectrum, Sep 27 Transit Bar, Sep 28 The Patch, Sep 29 Cambridge Hotel WORLD’S END PRESS: Jul 6 GoodGod THE NIGHT TERRORS: Jul 6 Kings Cross Hotel THE DRUM MEDIA • 45
TOUR GUIDE HOLLAND: Jul 6 Upstairs Beresford, Jul 7 Old Manly Boatshed, Aug 3 Kings Cross Hotel SHANNON NOLL: Jul 6 Revesby Heights Ex-Serviceman’s Club, Jul 7 Rooty Hill RSL, Jul 20 Mounties, Jul 27 Castle Hill RSL, Jul 28 Wentworth Leagues, Aug 3 Dapto Leagues, Aug 4 The Cube, Aug 10 Mingara Recreation Club, Aug 11 Penrith Panthers, Aug 18 Belmont 16ft Sailing Club, Aug 21 Taren Point Hotel HEY GERONIMO: Jul 7 Upstairs Beresford VAN SHE: Jul 7 Zierholz, Jul 8 Cambridge Hotel, Jul 14 The Metro 50 YEARS OF DYLAN feat. JOSH PYKE, HOLLY THROSBY and more: Jul 8 Sydney Opera House CLUBFEET: Jul 11 GoodGod KARNIVOOL: Jul 11 Entrance Leagues, Jul 12 & 13 The Hi-Fi, Jul 14 Panthers Newcastle THE FUMES: Jul 12 Brass Monkey, Jul 13 Notes, Jul 14 Heritage Hotel MILLIONS: Jul 12 Yours & Owls, Jul 13 GoodGod, Jul 14 Transit Bar YUNG WARRIORS: Jul 12 Front, Jul 27 The Patch WHITEHOUSE: Jul 12 The Front, Jul 13 Beach House, Jul 27 The Patch, Jul 28 The Roxbury NINE SONS OF DAN: Jul 13 Cambridge Hotel, Jul 14 Youth Arts Warehouse, Jul 15 The Metro THE RESCUE SHIPS: Jul 13 Red Rattler, Jul 18 The Lass O’Gowrie, Aug 3 The Front Bar, Aug 11 Clarendon Guesthouse BABY ET LULU*: Jul 14 The Basement Circular Quay, Aug 11 Brass Monkey, Aug 17 Heritage Hotel, Aug 18 Clarendon Guesthouse, Sep 8 Camelot Lounge THE RUBENS: Jul 18 & 19 Oxford Art Factory CAMERAS: Jul 18 UNSW Roundhouse, Jul 21 Kings Cross Hotel CARL FOX: Jul 18 Yours & Owls, Jul 20, Upstairs Beresford DAVE GRANEY & THE MISTLY: Jul 19 Lizotte’s Kincumber, Jul 20 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Jul 21 Notes, Jul 22 Lizotte’s Dee Why THE PAPER KITES: Jul 19 The Lair THE SIDE-TRACKED FIASCO: Jul 19 Glasshouse UTS, Aug 17 Dicey Riley’s, Aug 18 PJ O’Reilly’s Canberra, Aug 24 The Townie, Aug 28 Old Manly Boatshed EMMA LOUISE: Jul 20 Oxford Art Factory FRENZAL RHOMB: Jul 20 Manning Bar, Jul 21 The Basement Canberra NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE*: Jul 20 GoodGod PLUTO JONZE*: Jul 21 GoodGod RAINMAN: Jul 27 Kings Cross Hotel HOUSE VS HURRICANE: Jul 28 The Hi-Fi, Jul 29 Oasis Youth Centre THE JOE KINGS: Jul 29 Beach Road Hotel PHANTOMS: Jul 31 Tuggeranong Youth Centre, Aug 1 Cambridge Hotel, Aug 4 Bald Faced Stag, Aug 5 Oasis Youth Centre SOPHIE KOH: Aug 2 Kings Cross Hotel I, A MAN*: Aug 2 The Front Bar, Aug 4 Spectrum MONKS OF MELLONWAH*: Aug 3 Rouse Hill Brewery, Aug 18 Sandringham Hotel, Aug 24 The Basement Canberra, Aug 26 Manly Boatshed, Aug 31 The Patch THE GOOD SHIP: Aug 3 Great Northern Newcastle, Aug 4 GoodGod HILLTOP HOODS: Aug 4 Hordern Pavilion, Aug 16 UC Refectory HUNTING GROUNDS: Aug 9 Yours & Owls, Aug 10 GoodGod, Aug 11 Transit Bar SNAKADAKTAL: Aug 11 The Metro THE JUNGLE GIANTS*: Aug 22 Beach Road Hotel, Aug 23 Transit Bar, Aug 24 Cambridge Hotel, Aug 25 GoodGod XAVIER RUDD: Sep 6 Newcastle Civic Theatre, Sep 7 Waves Hotel, Sep 8 Enmore Theatre JULIA STONE: Sep 12 The Abbey, Sep 13 Lizotte’s Newcastle, Sep 15 The Metro
INTERNATIONAL
PENNYWISE: Aug 25 UNSW Roundhouse
FESTIVALS
HARDCORE 2012: Jul 7 & 8 The Hi-Fi SLAUGHTERFEST: Jul 21 Sandringham Hotel SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS: Jul 27 – 29 Belongil Fields, Byron Bay PARKLIFE: Sep 30 Centennial Park WHIPLASH: Oct 20 Sandringham Hotel, Oct 26 Cambridge Hotel, Oct 27 ANU Bar
JURASSIC PENGUIN: Jun 27 Valve Bar, Jun 27 Hamilton Station Hotel, Jun 28 Good Jelly, Jun 29 Jura
SYDNEY BLUES & ROOTS: Oct 25 – 28 Windsor
DOORLY: Jun 27 The Clubhouse, Jun 28 Soho
BASTARDFEST: Nov 9 & 10 The Basement Canberra, Nov 17 Sandringham Hotel
THE POPES: Jun 27 Great Northern Newcastle, Jun 28 The Vanguard, Jun 29 Mars Hill Café, Jun 30 City Diggers Club
46 • THE DRUM MEDIA
HUXLEY: Jun 30 One22 JAY BRANNAN: Jun 30 The Standard LAWRENCE ARABIA: Jul 3 The Green Room I AM GIANT: Jul 5 Spectrum GOATWHORE: Jul 6 Sandringham Hotel SIMONE FELICE: Jul 6 Notes, Jul 8 The Basement Circular Quay MELISSA ETHERIDGE: Jul 11 & 12 Sydney Opera House Concert Hall ALEX SMOKE: Jul 14 One 22 C&C MUSIC FACTORY: Jul 14 The Factory NIC FANCUILLI: Jul 14 Goldfish RENNIE PILGRIM: Jul 14 World Bar SAY ANYTHING: Jul 14 The Hi-Fi CANCER BATS: Jul 15 The Metro BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH: Jul 18 The Vanguard LADYHAWKE: Jul 18 The Metro, Jul 19 Cambridge Hotel, Jul 20 ANU Bar JAMIE XX: Jul 19 GoodGod THE TEA PARTY: Jul 21 Hordern Pavilion OF MONSTERS & MEN: Jul 22 Oxford Art Factory MICHAEL KIWANUKA, BEN HOWARD: Jul 24 The Factory FUN.: Jul 25 The Metro JIM WARD*: Jul 25 Annandale Hotel THE SHINS: Jul 25 Hordern Pavilion ZULU WINTER, HOWLER: Jul 25 Oxford Art Factory FRIENDS: Jul 26 The Standard HOUSE OF SHEM: Jul 26 Cambridge Hotel, Jul 27 The Standard THE AFGHAN WHIGS: Jul 26 The Factory JACK WHITE: Jul 26 Hordern Pavilion LANA DEL REY: Jul 26 & 27 Enmore Theatre METRIC: Jul 26 The Hi-Fi BAND OF SKULLS: Jul 27 The Factory FATHER JOHN MISTY: Jul 27 Oxford Art Factory ROSETTA: Jul 28 Sandringham Hotel, Jul 29 Yours & Owls, Jul 30 Black Wire Records, Aug 1 Bar 32, Aug 8 Great Northern Newcastle YOUTH LAGOON: Jul 28 The Factory YUKSEK: Jul 28 Oxford Art Factory TONI CHILDS: Jul 28 State Theatre, Jul 29 Newcastle Civic Theatre, Aug 9 Evan Theatre, Aug 10 Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE: Jul 29 Oxford Art Factory MIIKE SNOW: Jul 30 The Metro HARMS WAY: Jul 31 Tuggeranong Youth Centre, Aug 1 Cambridge Hotel, Aug 4 Bald Faced Stag, Aug 5 Oasis Youth Centre ELECTRIC GUEST: Jul 31 Oxford Art Factory THE SMASHING PUMPKINS: Jul 31 Sydney Entertainment Centre DJANGO DJANGO: Aug 1 & 2 Oxford Art Factory ED SHEERAN: Aug 1 Enmore Theatre MARK GARDENER: Aug 3 The Metro OLIVER$: Aug 4 Chinese Laundry TIM BARRY: Aug 4 Sandringham Hotel, Aug 5 Cambridge Hotel PUNCH BROTHERS: Aug 8 The Basement Circular Quay BILLY TALENT: Aug 10 UNSW Roundhouse PASSENGER: Aug 17 The Hi-Fi
STEEL ASSASSINS: Nov 2 – 3 Sandringham Hotel
NEWTOWN FESTIVAL: Nov 11 Camperdown Memorial Rest Park
EDDIE SPAGHETTI: Jun 29 Sandringham Hotel
HARVEST: Nov 17 Parramatta Park
MACABRE: Jun 29 Bald Faced Stag
* indicates new or amended listing this week
themusic.com.au
the cream of Louisiana’s best musicians is always going to sound good and tonight was no exception.
ASH GRUNWALD @ THE METRO. PIC: MACLAY HERIOT
A Lil’ Band O’ Gold show is rough and ready and one doubts whether there’s even a setlist drawn up before the show. And therein lies the charm. Collectively the musicians in the group have played on thousands of sessions and paid their dues in just about every Louisiana bar, club and honky tonk. At The Basement tonight the band were clearly here to enjoy themselves. There are numerous references to the Louisiana/New Orleans music tradition with songs from Bobby Charles and Earl King to name just a couple. There were also some inspiring instrumental moments from both saxophonist Dickie Landry and steel guitarist Lucky Oceans (yes, we will claim him as one of our own) and there were no less than four vocalists in the lineup. The towering figure of C.C. Adcock on guitar and vocals delivered a pumping version of Seven Days To Rock while Steve Riley belted out Cajun favourites. Pianist and vocalist Dave Egan is one of the great Southern songwriters and could easily have performed an entire show of his own originals. Tonight we got just a tantalising taste plus a superb version of Fats Domino’s take on Blueberry Hill. Whilst this is definitely an all-star band, brimming with some amazing musicians, it was hard not to see drummer and vocalist Warren Storm as “the” star of the show. Resplendent with a shock of jet black hair and snappy white gloves, his kit was positioned dead centre of the stage and he simply radiated charisma. This guy cannot possibly be 75 as his drumming was effortless and his vocals as sweet as honey.
ASH GRUNWALD, THE FINGERS MALONE ENSEMBLE
Alex Hardy
In the thick of his national Trouble’s Door tour, Ash Grunwald had lost none of his energy even after a month on the road. An enthusiastic roar from the crowd met him even before he announced that the gig was to be recorded. Launching straight into a dirty blues groove with Skywriter, he had the room heaving, hips swinging and fans screaming.
AUDEGO, KILTER
After hearing the man’s stereotypically ocker speaking voice, it was quite a surprising contrast to hear a rich, vibrato-drenched singing voice come from the same mouth. He switched effortlessly from bluesy growl to gospel belt, all the while pumping a bass drum with one foot, a drum machine with the other and rocking a guitar in some impressive multi-tasking that he somehow made look easy. The Demon In Me kicked off the start of the audience participation with Grunwald admitting he “is addicted to the singalong.” An old favourite, Mojo, got him playing on his feet and with a backdrop of smoke and lasers, he was a classic rock god silhouette with dreads whipping around his head like Medusa’s snakes. For a one-man band, the sound was big and, in a new direction from his previous albums, incorporated more electronic hip hop-style beats. He kept the tempo changing constantly and indulged each song to a fully extended version. Perhaps it was for the radio listeners, but he seemed to do an extra amount of chatting between songs that sapped a little of the momentum, especially when he took to an acoustic version of Ramblin’ Man. He began to pick up the energy again with more material from the new album, but abruptly walked off stage in what was the end of the set, but could have easily been mistaken for a toilet break. The Fingers Malone Ensemble joined Grunwald on stage for an obviously anticipated encore, having also opened the evening in the support slot with his own take on the one-man band act creating live beats with a synth and drum machine and singing/rapping over the top. His music was mainly bass and beats, which was simple yet effective; however reading your own lyrics off a piece of paper is never a good look. Grunwald and The Fingers Malone Ensemble performed a dubstep-infused track featuring a sample of Skrillex’s Scary Monsters And
CARGO BAR: 23/06/12 It’s no secret that despite of the success of his critically acclaimed debut album, Guns Babes Lemonade, a lot of people have thought Muscles’ live shows were a piece of shit, so it was going to be no easy task to impress the crowd at Cargo Bar with the launch of his new album. After an impressive run across the Groovin’ The Moo festivals, the Melbourne artist had to prove to the crowd this same energy could translate to a smaller stage – and he did. Muscles propelled his previously low bar into the sky with a surprising set that did not fail to deliver. Though it was an understated performance, he has smoothed any prior issues with his live set and produced an excellent gig. Armed with a DJ and keyboards, the set was filled with the signature his punchy melodies, overlain with shouting lyrics and woos. Crowd favourites Ice Cream, Sweaty and new track, Girls Go Crazy, received the best responses for the night and got the crowd into a state of frenzy in the mosh with jumping and grinding running rampant through the room. More recent tracks were also received favourably by the audience – already warmed up by theresident DJs – gaining momentum as it drew later into the night. Diehards lined the front of the stage, yelling Muscles’ lyrics back to him word for word.
Between them Lil’ Band O’ Gold could probably deliver a set of literally hundreds of songs and would probably play all night given the opportunity. Tonight was just a small sample of a remarkable songbook and was a moment to treasure for years to come.
Visually, Muscles’ new props, which make him look like a combination of a rave astronaut and a zany super-villain from the neck up work on a grand setting of a festival stage, just seemed awkward in such a small scale venue. It was described by one onlooker as “like going and watching your friend’s older brother play a gig.” In spite of the flamboyant nature of his tracks, the performance worked best when he just looked like a regular dude in jeans and a shirt with only his music to hide behind. And this is the only complaint, as the man has definitely picked up his game in the past two years.
Pedro Manoy
Cara Sayer-Bourne
MUSCLES @ CARGO BAR. PIC: ANGELA PADOVAN
Nice Sprites, which was an interesting twist but well received all the same. As an encore, the pair worked well together.
METRO THEATRE: 23/06/12
MUSCLES
GOODGOD: 23/06/12 Opener Ned East, aka Kilter, cleverly fused funk and soul vocals and samples with hip hop beats as his fingers tapped furiously on a small beat pad. Tracks from new EP, Forever Ago, got the small early crowd warmed up, including the night’s headliners, who were bopping along to the set while waiting their turn to go on stage. Melbourne duo Audego’s Carolyn Tariq aka Big Fella brought a retro sparkle to the stage, sporting a flapper-style dress and sequin-covered headband. Joined by Paso Bionic aka Shehab Tariq (TZU, Curse ov Dialect), the electro/instrumental hip hop duo brought a deep, full sound to the stage that channelled Massive Attack, Moloko and Lamb. The addition of a light projection show set the mood as colourful planets, clouds and abstract shapes morphed and pulsated in the background to the sound of the phat beats reverberating around the room. Tariq’s sultry, emotive vocals lifted and created another layer of sound and complexity. Sadly, the pair’s lack of real stage presence made the silence between songs deafening at times and with the small crowd in such close proximity, they could have embraced the intimate venue more. Tracks from new album, Abominable Galaxy, featured including Unfamiliar Song and the solid No Restraining You, sampling the comforting sound of a crackling old record with layers of melodies and samples. The two copies of their new album Audego had for sale at the end of the set were snapped up before they could even pack up their kit. Success! Helen Lear
LIL’ BAND O’ GOLD
THE BASEMENT CIRCULAR QUAY: 24/06/12 This was the second Australian tour for Lil’ Band O’ Gold, having first played here a couple of years ago. Apart from the bonus inclusion of Steve Riley on accordion, who unfortunately missed the Sydney shows last time around, nothing has really changed. An eight-piece band drawn from
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THE DRUM MEDIA • 47
LADY GAGA, LADY STARLIGHT ALLPHONES ARENA: 20/06/12
Before even reaching the doors of Allphones Arena, the theatre had begun. All the Little Monsters, teetering precariously in the highest of heels, created a sea of wild costumes, bright make-up and tremendous hair. This night was for the outrageous and for the misfits – and didn’t the Lady know it. Opening the night was New York DJ and performance artist Lady Starlight. Sitting at a distance and with no visuals on the big screen, this act came off more confusing than entertaining. At one stage Lady Starlight rotated on a disc, dressed as a mummy, with a glam rock track pulsing behind her. I’m sure there were plenty of layers going on here, but stadiums weren’t built for intricacy. When the curtains draw on the main event, a four-storey castle bathed in purple light appears and through the castle gates comes Lady Gaga masked and atop a human horse, opening with Highway Unicorn. Evident immediately, this night rests on two things – the strength of her voice and the over-the-top dramatics. With an alien visitor storyline, sexually provocative choreography and camp costuming, The Born This Way Ball feels a little like an avant-garde take on Rocky Horror, with a similar message of accepting the weird and wonderful. Pumping through a vibrant first half, supported vocally by backing tracks, Gaga strutted, gyrated and sassed through hits Bad Romance, Just Dance and LoveGame before slutty-biker Gaga emerged and the sermon began in earnest. After a close interaction with the VIP monsters in front, Gaga moved to a motorcycle/piano hybrid where she strung out the intro to Hair in order to deliver her thoughts on acceptance, love and a little politics. Though this bracket slowed the night’s momentum, this image of openness and intimacy stirred the strong devotion she receives from her fans and as such was a canny inclusion. Lifting again for the last half hour, Gaga donned some meat attire and burst through the Spanishflavoured Americano and Alejandro before reaching a concert highlight in early hit, Poker Face. Sadly, in order to accommodate another costume change she threw away Paparazzi, leaving it to the animatronic “motherbot” to deliver from a neon diamond up high. Saving the strongest of her recent releases, The Edge Of Glory, for the encore, Gaga whipped the crowd into a frenzy before grabbing a rather delirious fan from the crowd and leading her around the catwalk to closer, Marry The Night. It was a night celebrating pop, glitter and difference, a concert that makes the nippleexposing antics of Mads look old hat. Love her or hate her, the Lady left it all on stage. Katie Benson
CRASH LAND
Sydney DJ Dedders will make an appearance at Burdekin Bar this Friday night. This is the latest spin-off act from Manek Deboto and Nuke Puke ‘Em – previously of Dead Inside The Chrysalis. The boys will be launching their first album under their new moniker, titled Crash Land, and putting on a brand new live show. Their performance will feature a special BAD Channel/Joystixx Live Hybrid Electro DJ Set, featuring Skull Dancer Go-Go Girls, and MC’d by Vid Vicious and Nancy X. Support will come from The Dark Shadows, Fun Machine and Lanterns.
HAZARDOUS
Australian thrash metal band HAZMAT will be hitting up the Annandale this Friday and Saturday night as part of their L.A Studios tour. The band will be supporting Heaven. Sunday 1 July will see both Heaven and HAZMAT hit up Wollongong.
DOWN THE LANE
Jordie Lane, famous purveyor of acoustic and synthesised fuzz-pop and alternative tunes, is returning home from a stint in the USA for an intimate run of solo shows. This Saturday night, Lane will appear at the Camelot Lounge alongside The Falls for his first headline concert in Sydney since last year.
COLLECTION
Alternative/country duo The Audreys will be touring with their recent album, Collected, this week. The tour will be intimate, set in small theatres and clubs across the country. Fans will also be able to pick up one of their Collected digipacks, which includes a copy of each of their ARIA-award winning releases. The band is teaming up with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for this release, attempting to bring attention to the live export trade. They play Tuesday at The Brass Monkey, Wednesday at Clarendon Guesthouse in Katoomba, Thursday at Lizotte’s Newcastle, Friday and Sunday at The Vanguard and Saturday at Lizotte’s Kincumber.
LUNCH BREAK
This Wednesday, FBi Social – as usual – will be treating us to one of their weekly, free lunchtime concerts. This week, the special guests will be Sydney’s The Fabergettes, who draw on retro and garage pop as well as ‘60s girl groups to create their highly unusual sound. They have a penchant for the trashy and the saucy, and are an exciting band to check out. See them this Wednesday at 1pm.
TO THE RESCUE
This Wednesday night, a quartet of bands with strange and unique sounds will be taking over FBi Social. Urbantramper – a three-piece New Zealand band who embrace futuristic sounds and pay homage to wifi, email and online chat through lyrics – will headline. Supporting them will be Telafonica – a loose collective of musicians, visual artists and graphic designers, all united by their love of delay pedals, Colour Coding – a duo made up of ex-Operator Please members and cousins Tim and Chris, and the Dirty Projectors-esque Rescue Ships – whose genius for carefully crafted tunes is making them famous.
WE ALL HAVE VICES
Vice Magazine have returned to FBi Social, keen to make a bit of a racket with some truly insane bands. This Thursday night, their third VICE Party will feature self-proclaimed “space garage pirates” Tiny Migrants, who bring with them their wild brand of straightjacket rock and roll. Psycho indie-fuzz rockers Tape/Off and extremely loud four-piece The Nugs will support. Get on Facebook and RSVP to get your name on the door.
BATTLE WEATHER
Sydney music scene veterans, Bell Weather Department, have been receiving plenty of accolades for their recent release, Asterisk. They’re hitting up FBi Social this Saturday night, experimenting with some new tracks, instruments and line-up changes. Head down early to catch Battleships and Sorry Socrates.
JOIN THE CLUB
GIVE A LITTLE
Up and coming indie music specialists Maxine Kauter Band have teamed up with roots maestro Genevieve Chadwick to present the Give A Little, Get A Little show at The Vanguard this Wednesday. With the Maxine Kauter Band launching a fanfunding campaign for their second album, and Genevieve Chadwick giving away copies of her EP for free, this seems like the show to be at.
FINN This Saturday night, local band Finn will be hitting up The Taverner’s Hill Hotel in Leichhardt. His country, blues and roots sounds are reminiscent of the bush, and entry is free. Finn will also be hitting up The Wall in Leichhardt’s Bald Faced Stag Hotel on Sunday night to support the release of The Violent Loves’ Willie Dixon Tribute CD.
COMBO This Friday night at Newtown Town Hall, The Pat Capocci Combo are going to kick off a residency. Regarded as “one of the most entertaining acts in the rockabilly genre,” the band will be appearing at the Townie on the last Friday of the next two months, and entry will be free.
Canberra trio Fun Machine will be appearing at the Burdekin Bar this Friday night alongside Dedders, The Dark Shadow and Lanterns. Their colourful, eclectic, energetic live shows and their unique kitsch-pop sounds are earning them something of a reputation – they’ve supported Architecture In Helsinki, Boy & Bear and Gotye. Turn up a little early to hear the band release their latest single, Ready For the Fight.
SNAKES AND RIOTS
This Saturday night, Sydney’s own Sunset Riot are bringing their Uprising tour home from the United States. After hitting up legendary US locations like Hollywood’s Sunset Strip and appearing alongside musicians like Megadeath and Slash, the band are ready to bring home an explosive show. They’ll be supported by young upstarts Rattlesnake and Canberra five-piece Tonk. 48 • THE DRUM MEDIA
LEGEND
Renowned Australian blues singer, songwriter and guitarist Glenn Cardier is currently touring with what some have called his “finest work”, his latest album, Stranger Than Fiction. Containing flashes of dark humour and stark beauty, Cardier unites the vocals of Captain Beefheart, the lyrics of Leonard Cohen, and a touch of Elvis to create a unique sound. You can catch Glenn Cardier at Blue Beat this Thursday night.
JURASSIC ERA
Playing a crazy cocktail of DIY punk and hardcore, Jurassic Penguin will make an appearance at the Valve Bar in Tempe this Tuesday night and at Good Jelly in Wollongong on Thursday. The band is hailed as one of “New Zealand’s best kept secrets,” and are best known for their heavy guitar riffs.
MALARKEY
This Thursday night, indie music duo Mr Malarkey will be hitting up The Supper Club, upstairs at the Oxford St Hotel. With a set of new songs to whip out, these two are all set to play a sneaky little four-song set.
HANGING
This Friday night, fifteen-piece Latin band Mucho Mambo will be hitting up The Basement. Special guest Victor Valdes will join them, to celebrate their ten years playing in and around Sydney.
FOLLOW THE TRAIL
AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
Sydney community radio station 2SER brings us their Live At The Loft series every Wednesday. The series is broadcast live on 2SER, as well as open for audiences from 5pm on Wednesday at The Loft next to UTS. This week brings us The Maple Trail, who will be launching their latest release, Cable Mount Warning.
This Saturday night, disco will be wholly celebrated with Blue Beat’s party night line-up – with The Booty Affair, J Connection, Stephen Ferris, Michael San Francisco and Perfect Snatch all pitching in to provide a seamless six hours of nonstop disco grooves and dancing hedonism.
TELLING TALES
The new album, The Ember And The Afterglow, from The Jed Rowe Band, came courtesy a songwriting mentoring program, as Rowe tells Michael Smith. across it, Rowe telling stories, contemporary and imagined historical, of women in trouble in one way or another, whether it be abusive relationships or unwanted pregnancies, love lost or gone wrong, from the women’s point of view.
EMBERS
READY
The recent release of Sugar Army’s latest single, Hooks For Hands, laden with catchy hooks, schizophrenic guitars and unpredictable arrangements, is a cause for celebration. The band is descending on FBi Social with Sydney locals Tom Ugly and artistic FBi Radio favourites 1929Indian. This gig will take place this Friday night, so don’t miss out.
The Hang will be playing an intense set which blurs the lines between funk, jazz and dance music at Blue Beat this Friday night. They will be accompanied by Michael Wheatley and explore old school urban soul. Bek Jensen will wrap up the night with her soulful R’n’B vocals.
MUCHO MUCHO
This Wednesday and Thursday night, the Musos’ Club Jam Night is on again at the Bald Faced Stag Hotel in Leichhardt, and the Carousel Hotel in Rooty Hill, respectively. Dust off your old guitar and join in the noise making, or sit back and have a listen.
Victoria-based indie/roots three piece The Jed Rowe Band will be taking over The Empire Hotel in Annandale this Saturday night after hiding away in the studios. After producing an album with Jeff Lang, the band are ready to bring a whole set of new tunes to their eager audience.
UGLY ARMY
“I had [guitarist] Jeff Lang as a mentor,” Melbourne singer/songwriter Jed Rowe remembers the Push Songs writing program he attended in May last year that led to Lang producing his second album, The Ember And The Afterglow, “And I must admit I dropped a few good hints that we were looking for someone to produce. He was excellent to work with. Jeff likes to do things as live as possible with a band, so there’s a bit of rawness and live energy about it. “And he also had a fair bit of say in the choice of which songs to record. I sent about thirty demos to him, and while there were a few where I said I really wanted to do them, mostly he picked ones that he thought were the strongest.” While it’s certainly not a concept album, there’s quite a strong feminine element thematically
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“I’ve got two young kids myself and just going through that stage of pregnancy, having young kids with my wife, and she usually found it really difficult at times, so maybe there’s a little bit of that kind of her story in there, even though her story’s quite different, but just being able to have a bit of empathy for people in that situation I guess. But I read a lot of books as well, so who knows where the stories come from? Often they just come out that way. “As to writing from the woman’s perspective, it’s not all that unusual for a novelist to do that – male or female, older or younger or different nationalities – but the guys in the band like to have a dig at me about that,” he laughs. “So just as a storyteller, I find an interesting story and often the first person perspective is good, just has more ‘realness’ to it. I guess I’ve always been interested in stories.” WHO: The Jed Rowe Band WHAT: The Ember And The Afterglow (Fuse) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 28 June, The Front, Canberra; Saturday 30, Empire Hotel: Sunday 1 July, The Junkyard, Maitland
DESERT ROCK
FOUND THE SOUND
Jonathan Boulet, the much talked about ex-drummer from Parades, will be embarking on an eight-city tour to promote the second album from his explosive solo project. The album, titled We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart, has generated plenty of buzz from fans and critics alike, and this tour will be the first time Boulet plays many of its tracks live. He will be joined by Wolf & Cub for all tour dates. He will appear in Sydney at The Metro this Saturday night.
ROMANCE Sydney nu-wave five-piece Young Romantics are preparing to headline the Oxford Art Factory Gallery Bar for a free show this Thursday night. The boys are also getting ready to release a brand new double A-side in the next few months, which is currently being mixed by Last Dinosaurs’ wunderkind Jean-Paul Fung.
SOLID GOLD One of Melbourne’s wildest garage rock bands Midnight Wolf is returning to Sydney this Saturday night to play The Square. The band will be supported by swamp-rock quartet La Macha Negra, the unhinged Glitter Canyon and the gritty, raunchy Blackbear for a night of rollicking good times.
The Annual Sydney Desert Sessions returns with a bang this Saturday 30 June at the Sandringham Hotel. The festival pays homage to stoner rock, performed by a bunch of like-minded local musicians. We grabbed a few of the singers lined up this year – Jeremy Davidson (Snowdroppers), Scott James Smith (Bob Sledge), Matt Powers (Lomera) and Caroline Miller (Lovebucket) – to talk all things stoner rock.
RICE IS NICE
Sydney record label, Rice Is Nice, have some of the country’s best indie and alternative acts signed to them. They are putting on a party this Sunday from 4pm at The Annandale. The lineup includes psychedelic Richard In Your Mind, Shady Lane (Jordie Lane’s banging project) Straight Arrows, The Laurels, a Seekae DJ set, plus many more – as well as a surprise set from a mystery brand new signing.
GOING DUTCH Friday night at the Beach Road Hotel is going to be a little insane, as hip hop artist Skryptcha launches his new single. He will be supported by the one and only up-and-coming dubstep professionals, Dutch.
The mother of all Sydney band nights, MUM at the World Bar is, yet again, bursting with some of the best new bands the Sydney scene has to offer. Featuring Mat Cant, Sativa Sun, Let Me Down Jungleman, Permanent, The Heavy Heads and Padlock, as well as DJs Swim Team, Wet Lungs, Cries Wolf, DJ Boy, 10th Avenue, Glenn Be Trippin and Padlock. This Friday night at The World Bar.
HAVE YOU HEARD
What movie do you think your music would best accompany and why? Bikini Drive-In Part 2. One of my favourite teenage films. It sounds like just bodies and boobs, but there are many passionate, emotional scenes, which my music would slot into from any direction. What are your plans for the immediate future? I have been wearing thermal underwear for days, so my first goal is to get into socially acceptable attire for public interaction. Favourite “pick me up for a big night” drink? A Cosmo with the girls. Favourite hangover cure? To not wake up!!! For more info see: www.jordielane.com. When and where are your next gigs? On Thursday 28 June at 5 Church St., Bellingen (with Kelly Stoner), Friday 29 at Royal Exchange Hotel in Newcasle (with Kira Piru) and Saturday 30 at Camelot Lounge in Sydney (with The Falls).
How would you describe the stoner rock scene in Sydney? Jeremy Davidson: Let’s face it... small.
Caroline Miller: An underworld of very talented musos and well-rounded, knowledgable and dedicated fans. A newbie comes to you knowing nothing about stoner rock – what album do you play him/her as the best example and why? Davidson: Oooooh this is a controversial one but for me it would be Fu Manchu’s In Search Of…’cause that’s what started it for me.
What do you think is your act’s greatest strength? Christopher Brownbill, guitars/pedals: Tristan agostino (drums), living at a studio
If you could time travel back to any gig in history which would it be and why? Mary singing a lullaby to her newly born son, Jesus.
SCOTT JAMES SMITH
Matt Powers: While it is small, there really are some great stoner bands in Sydney with Arrowhead and Mother Mars being two of my favourites.
IDYLLS
What do you think is your greatest strength? Penis.
MATT POWERS
Scott James Smith: Very encouraging to see bands re-inventing the genre – young bands appearing, taking influence from the originators but also the bands that evolved since then.
HAVE YOU HEARD
JORDIE LANE
JEREMY DAVIDSON
YOUR MUM
THE DEEP END Sydney indie music darlings Deep Sea Arcade return to the Beach Road Hotel’s Wednesday Sideshow this week, delivering some of their singles from their debut album Outlands. The band always draw a crowd, particularly in an intimate setting the Beach Road Hotel, so jump on tickets.
CAROLINE MILLER
Smith: Queens Of The Stone Age’s self-titled first album.
If you could time travel back to any gig in history which would it be and why? Archie Shepp live at the Both/And Club in San Francisco, CA, 19 February, 1966.
Powers: Kyuss’ Blues For The Red Sun is a pretty easy choice, but Black Sabbath is the root of it all so you gotta start there.
What movie do you think your music would best accompany and why? The Man Who Laughs, our record doesn’t go that long but we could make heaps of feedback to fill it out.
Miller: Hmmm that’s a tough one. And The Circus Leaves Town by Kyuss – it rocks your insides from the outside. The basslines get hold of my everything in this album.
What are your plans for the immediate future? Releasing a split with a band from Melbourne called Palisades, they just broke up and are playing their last show with us when we are down there. What is your favourite song lyric and why? “Peanut butter, ‘cause I’m not butter/In fact I snap back like a rubber/Band, I be Sam, Sam I am/And I don’t eat green eggs and ham/Style will hit ya, wham!, then goddamn/You be like, ‘Oh, shit, that’s the jam.” Meth quoting Seuss and rhyming “butter” with “rubber”. Swish. Favourite “pick me up for a big night” drink? Earl Grey Favourite hangover cure? The Cure For more info see: idylls.bandcamp.com; fb.com/ idyllsidylls; or monolithmonolith.bigcartel.com/ When and where are your next gigs? Wednesday 27 June, Hamilton Station Hotel , Newcastle; Friday 29, Jura Books (all-ages); Saturday 30, Black Wire Records (all-ages); Sunday 1 July, Yours & Owls, Wollongong (all-ages); Wednesday 4, Bar 32, Canberra
When you look back at the first event in 2010, why do you think the Annual Sydney Desert Sessions has been such a success and continued again this year? Davidson: Pure stubbornness haha! The undying passion and desire to keep on rocking. That and the money. Smith: I think what is evident is that this isn’t cabaret – it isn’t a group of hired guns that could slay every song – it’s a true, soulful expression of love for the music, and the audience responds to that honesty. Powers: Sydney loves its stoner rock. Especially the original Southern California bands like Kyuss, anybody who saw the reception that greeted Fu Man Chu a couple months back will know what I mean. Miller: It’s back to question one. The stoner rock underworld come out in droves for a taste of what they have been missing in a live capacity. The band line-up are well respected in this scene and they themselves greatly respect the bands they play homage to (in a very tasty way), so it’s a treat for a lot of dedicated die-hards.
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Can you fill us in on what you have in store for your Desert Sessions performance? Davidson: They give me all the songs that basically involve screaming like an idiot... so yeah, I guess a bit of that and some partial nudity and we’ll be right! Smith: The great part about these gigs for the performers is that there is no separation of stage and spectator – in our out of the spotlight, the night feels like a friend’s party where you get to have a sing along the way =) Powers: I’m doing covers of a couple of local bands so hopefully people will recognise them and get into it. Miller: There’s some Sabbath in my jeans. What’s your favourite collaboration from the original Desert Sessions Josh Homme put together? Davidson: The Eagles Of Death Metal stuff was cool, but I mean you can’t really go wrong. Smith: Have trouble going past I Wanna Make It Wit Chu. Powers: Probably the track they did with PJ Harvey, Crawl Home. Miller: Anything with Mark Lanegan will do me. The fact that it’s a one off collaboration every time is off the hook. Kyuss Lives! – bloody awesome or blasphemy? Davidson: Let’s put it this way, I have never seen so many happy, drunk men in my life. So I think it’s fair to say it was a success. Smith: A let down I’m afraid – but it was the Big Top – hard to enjoy that venue. Powers: Yeah, cool. Maybe a little nostalgic but their shows were great. Miller: I think it’s great but Kyuss was all about Josh for me. You get the chance to play with your favourite stoner rock band – who is it and why? Davidson: Monster Magnet. Space Lord. Enough said. Smith: QOTSA – the genesis of my stoner vintage. Powers: Black Sabbath. ‘Cause it’s Sabbath. Or maybe Sleep, they might play again right? Miller: QOTSA, but my answer would be not for publication. THE DRUM MEDIA • 49
TUE 26 ADAM PRINGLE: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown ALI PENNEY AND THE MONEY MAKERS, BERNIE LOVE: The Basement - Circular Quay BONDI JAM: Beach Road Hotel - Bondi CAROLYN WOODORTH, DAVID SATTOUT, MICHELLE CASHMAN, SAMANTHA JOHNSON, BRIAN MANNING: Harbourview Htl JAZZGROOVE feat, THE ADS PICK MUSIC OF ROGER FRAMPTON, PEN ISLAND: 505 - Surry Hills JOHN HILL: Dee Why RSL JURASSIC PENGUIN, POSTAL, WALLOW, TIRED MINDS, VICES FOR VIRTUE, KAGAROO KEBAB: Valve Bar - Tempe MANDI JARRY DUO: Maloneys Hotel - City OMG!: Scruffy Murphys - Sydney ROB HENRY: The Observer Hotel - The Rocks RUSSELL NEAL, THE BANDICOOTS: Taverners Hill Hotel - Leichhardt THE AUDREYS: Brass Monkey - Cronulla
WED 27 ANDREW DENNISTON, ADAM KISS, DAVID MARK, MARK BERTHOLD, DARREN PAUL, ANDREW VALLENTINE: Evening Star Hotel - Surry Hills ANDY MAMMERS DUO: Maloneys Hotel - City BERNIE SEGEDIN: Dee Why RSL BLACK DIAMOND, RICHARD BROWN, SARAH CHERLIN: Cookies Lounge and Bar - North CO PILOT: Orient Hotel - The Rocks DANIEL HOPKINS, JULES BACKMAN, JOHNNY WILDBLOOD, RITCHIE: Taren Point Hotel DAVE WILKINS: Coogee Bay Hotel - Beach Bar DJ NIC, DJ LANCELOT, DEEP SEA ARCADE, WOE & FLUTTER, I KNOW LEOPARD: Beach Road Hotel - Bondi DJ PAULY: The Marlborough Hotel ELANA STONE, NGAIIRE: The Newsagency Marrickville FRAT HOUSE DJS: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale GREG COLLINS TRIO: 505 - Surry Hills
GREG SITA, MATT MCGOWEN, TWO SCREWS LOOSE, FALLON CUSH: Cat & Fiddle Hotel - Balmain JASON BETTINGER: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord JOSH MCIVOR: Mean Fiddler Hotel, Sub Bar - Rouse Hill JURASSIC PENGUIN, IDYLLS, INHALE THE SEA: Hamilton Station Hotel - Newcastle LIVE AT THE LOFT, THE MAPLE TRAIL: The Loft, UTS - Broadway MAUX FAUX, BLACK ANCHOR, LORENZO AND THE CANALS, MEDICATED YOUTH: Sandringham Hotel (afternoon) MAXINE KAUTER BAND, GENEVIEVE CHADWICK: The Vanguard - Newtown MEN WITH DAY JOBS, MIRRORS IN ICELAND, JORDAN DONNELLY, CROWN POINT: Lizottes MIKE BENNETT: The Observer Hotel - The Rocks MILTON WARD, NATALIE COLAVITO: Belmont 16’s - Belmont NICKY KURTA: Summer Hill Hotel - Summer Hill PETER HEAD: The Harbour View Hotel - The Rocks
PIA ANDERSON & PAT CAPOCCI, THE ASTON MARTINIS, DJ BRIAN: Rock Lily - The Star Casino - Pyrmont RUSSELL NEAL, KYLE DESSENT, CHRIS INADA, MAX DE GROOT, REBECCA FIELDING, ALAN WATTERS, PHOEBE EVE CARDEN, MICHELLE CHRISTENSEN: The Basement - Circular Quay STEVE TONGE DUO: O’Malleys Hotel - Kings Cross TAOS, DAVID SATTOUT, SIMON LI, JOHN CHESHER, GAVIN FITZGERALD: Coach & Horses Hotel - Randwick THE FABERGETTES, URBANTRAMPER, TELAFONICA, COLOUR CODING, RESCUE SHIPS: FBi Social THE FALLS, ST CECILIA SET, ACHOO BLESS YOU: Oxford Art Factory - Gallery THE POPES: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle THE VALLEY FLOOR: Brass Monkey - Cronulla THE VANNS, MEN OF THE WEST, CALL TO COLOUR, BRADLEY CORK & THE FOLKLAW MANTRA: Valve Bar - Tempe UNGUS UNGUS UNGUS, CAM RAEBURN: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown
FRIDAY 6TH JULY THE STANDARDCK CARTY with DIRT FARMER and JA
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WILDCATZ: 3 Wise Monkeys Pub - City
THU 28 ALEX BOWEN: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle ANDY MAMMERS: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord BEN VEREEN: Parade Theatres (NIDA) - Kensington B-MASSIVE: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale COLLARBONES, BON CHAT BON RAT: Mounties - Mt Pritchard COURTNEY MURPHY: The Como Hotel DAVE WHITE: Orient Hotel - The Rocks DAVE WILKINS: Marlborough Hotel - Newtown DIESEL: Lizottes Central Coast DJ STUART, SKRYPTCHA: Beach Road Hotel - Bondi ELEVATE: Scruffy Murphys - Sydney GARY HONOR BAND: Lizottes Sydney GEOFF BULL AND THE FINER CUTS: Corridor - Sydney GLENN CARDIER & THE SIDESHOW: Blue Beat - Double Bay GOODNIGHT DYNAMITE: O’Malleys Hotel - Kings Cross GORDON: Campbelltown Catholic Club HAMMERHEAD: 505 - Surry Hills HEATH BURDELL: Northies - Cronulla HELMUT UHLMANN: Mars Hill Café Parramatta JAMIE LINDSAY TRIO: Maloneys Hotel - City JAZZ FACTORY: Great Northern Hotel, Tiki Bar - Newcastle JIMMY BEAR: Davistown RSL JJ DUO: Brighton RSL - Brighton JOHNATHAN DEVOY: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown JURASSIC PENGUIN, BREAK A LEG, CLIPPED WINGS, COLD YOUTH, PUNCHDAGGER, WALLOW: Good Jelly - Wollongong KING CANNONS, MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS: Oxford Art Factory KIRK BURGES DUO: Sackville Hotel - Balmain LIONEL ROBINSON: Dee Why RSL MARTY STEWART: RG McGees - Richmond MATT JONES BAND: Bull & Bush - Baulkham Hills MICK AQUILINA: Bankstown District Sports Club MIKE MATHIESON, CHRIS ALEXANDER: Ingleburn RSL - Ingleburn NICKY KURTA: Dee Why Hotel - Dee Why PETER BYRNE: Paragon Hotel - Circular Quay POPES: The Vanguard - Newtown RED INK, TOM UGLY: Rock Lily - The Star Casino - Pyrmont
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REMMOS K, ADAJA BLACK, ANNE MARIE: Town & Country Hotel - St Peters RUSSELL NEAL, ANDREW ROBINSON, MASSIMO PRESTI, NICK DOMENICOS, SPENCER MCCULLUM: Kogarah Hotel - Kogarah SKETCH THE RHYME: Macquarie Hotel - City STEVE TONGE: The Observer Hotel - The Rocks SURES, WOE & FLUTTER: Goodgod Small Club - City THE AUDREYS: Lizottes Newcastle THE BRIDE, WISH FOR WINGS, TRAINWRECK, AS PARADISE FALLS: Exchange Hotel THE JED ROWE BAND: The Front - Canberra, ACT THE NUGS, TINY MIGRANTS, TAPE OFF: Kings Cross Hotel - Kings Cross THE PHAT CONTROLLER, PINK RIBBONS, TALL TEE NATION, POM POM: Valve Bar - Tempe THE POD BROTHERS: Gymea Bay Hotel - Gymea TOM TRELAWNY: Coogee Bay Hotel - Beach Bar TONY WILLIAMS: Greengate Hotel - Greegate VAN MORRISON TRIBUTE, INTO THE MYSTIC: The Basement - Circular Quay YOUNG ROMANTICS, THE PROFESSOR: Oxford Art Factory - Gallery
FRI 29 360, SPIT SYNDICATE, BAM BAM: Metro Theatre ALEX CANNINGS, CAMBO: The Observer Hotel - The Rocks ANGUS & MALCOLM: Royal Exchange Hotel - Marrickville ARMCHAIR TRAVELLERS DUO: Kyle Bay Club A-TONEZ, DISKORIOT, TANTRUM DESIRE, HYDRAULIX, SPENDA C, MOO HOO: Chinese Laundry - Sydney BEN FINN: Castle Hill RSL - Castle Hill BLUE SUEDE ROCKERS: Belmont 16’s - Belmont BLUE VENOM: Empire Hotel - Annandale BOBBY C: The Mark Hotel - Newcastle BOY MEETS GIRL: Ramsgate RSL - Ramsgate BREAKING ORBIT, THE HUNGRY MILE, SCATTERFLY, SWING FROM A STREETLIGHT: The Square - Haymarket CALLING MONDAY, HALFWAY HOME BUOY: Fitzroy Hotel - Windsor CASS GREAVES: 505 - Surry Hills CRAIG THOMMO: Bankstown Hotel DAN LAWRENCE: Parramatta RSL DANIEL ARVIDSON: Duke of Wellington Hotel DARREN JOHNSTONE: PJ Gallaghers Drummoyne
DAVID AGIUS: Northies - Cronulla DEDDERZ, THE DARK SHADOWS, FUN MACHINE, LANTERNS: Burdekin Hotel - Darlinghurst DJ ALLEY CAT, KNOBY KNEW THEY WERE ROBOTS, THE ARCHAIC REVIAL: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale DJ EXPRESS: Wentworthville Leagues DJ IVAN DRAGO: Jacksons on George - Sydney DJ JEDDY ROWLAND, CANDIDATE, GIMME FIVE: Cohibar Darling Harbour DJ JOHN GLOVER: Mounties - Mt Pritchard DJ MARKIE MARK: Campbelltown Catholic Club DJ MATT ROBERTS: The Watershed Hotel - Darling Harbour DON’T FORGET THE DRUMMER: Western Suburbs Leagues Club DR ZOOM DUO: Charlestown Bowling Club EBONY & IVORY: Crown Hotel - Sydney ELEVATE TRIO: East Leagues Club - Bondi Junction ENDLESS SUMMER BEACH PARTY: Moorebank Sports Club - Moorebank FALLON BROTHERS: Stacks Bar - City FIONA LEIGH JONES DUO: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord GARY JOHNS: Novotel - Brewery Bar, Olympic Park GENERATION GAP: Vineyard Hotel - Vineyard GERARD MASTERS, STUIE AND CAMILLE, ROUND MOUNTAIN GIRLS: Manly Fig GRAND THEFT AUDIO: Exchange Hotel GREG BRYCE, THE BAD BAD THINGS: The Stag & Hunter Hotel - Mayfield GTS: Taren Point Bowling Club HAPPY HIPPIES: Unity Hall Hotel - Balmain HARBOUR MASTER: Chatswood RSL HEAVEN, HAZMAT, CRIMSON LAKE: Annandale Hotel HOORAY FOR EVERYTHING: Corrimal RSL HOWLIN’ STEAM TRAIN: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle IGUANA: Hotel Jesmond - Jesmond IPANEMA: Bankstown District Sports Club JACK VIDGEN, JESS DUNBAR: Canberra Southern Cross Club - Top Of The Cross JJ DUO: Springwood Sports Club - Springwood JURASSIC PENGUIN, IDYLLS, ZITA GRIMM: Jura Books, Petersham KID MAC: The Standard KIM SANDERS, GYPSY BALKAN PARTY: Camelot Lounge - Marrickville KOTADAMA: Dungog Memorial RSL Club KRISHNA JONES DUO: Courthouse Hotel - Taylor Square
LA VISTA: Petersham RSL LAURA JACKSON 5, Dan Lissing: Crows Nest Htl LIME CORDIALE, NORTHERN BEACHES ORCHESTRA: Lizottes Sydney LJ: Figtree Hotel - Wollongong LUKE AUSTEN DUO: Windsor Castle Hotel - Newcastle LUKE DIXON DUO: Kirribilli Hotel - Kirribilli LUNACY, DJ RAIN JULZ: Luna Lounge Nightclub MACABRE: Bald Faced Stag MAD COW: Engadine Family Tavern MAT CANT, SATIVA SUN, LET ME DOWN JUNGLEMAN, PERMANENT, THE HEAVY HEADS, PADLOCK: World Bar - Kings Cross MATT JONES: North Richmond Hotel MATT MILFORD: The East Sydney Hotel MIKE MATHIESON, CHRIS ALEXANDER: Dooley’s - Lidcombe MOHI CHASE: Oasis on Beamish Hotel - Campsie MOONLIGHT DRIVE: Warners at the Bay MORGAN JOANEL, BLACK DIAMOND HEARTS: Dee Why Hotel - Dee Why MUCHO MAMBO, VICTOR VALDES: The Basement Circular Quay MYTH & TROPICS, DAMPVAMP, DRAKE THE FAKE, THESE NEW SOUTH WHALES: Kings Cross Hotel - Kings Cross NICK BARKER & THE REPTILES, CHUCK’S WAGON: The Factory Floor NICK RASCHKE DUO: Northern Star Hotel, Hamilton NICKY KURTA DUO: Hillside Hotel - Castle Hill NOVA TONE: Kurnell Rec Club - Kurnell ORIGINAL SIN - INXS SHOW: St Marys Band Club - St Marys OUTLIER, CONRAD GREENLEAF: Rock Lily - The Star Casino - Pyrmont PARTY VIBE: Marlborough Hotel - Newtown PAT CAPOCCI COMBO: Town Hall Hotel - Newtown POSTAL: Penrith Gaels - Kingswood RAPTURE: Customs House Bar - Circular Quay RATTLE & HUM-U2 SHOW: O’Donoghues - Emu Plains RED HOT NUMBERS: Illawarra Leagues RED INK, DJ KRISTY LEE: Upstairs Beresford - Beresford Hotel RUSSELL NEAL, FLICK THE BEAN, FALLON CUSH: Cat & Fiddle Hotel - Balmain RYAN ENRIGHT: Tipple Bar - Surry Hills
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SHANE FLEW: North Manly Bowling Club SHIVON DUO: Revesby Workers - Revesby SKY’HIGH: Oxford Art Factory - Gallery SLAVA GRIGORYAN, WILLOUGHBY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: The Concourse - Chatswood SMASH BANG POW, STALKER, CRUX, DONALD CRUMP, SLIP & SLYDE, ACID MOUTH, RETROJUNK: Candy’s Apartment - Potts Point STEVE EDMONDS BAND: Warilla Bowling Club - Warilla STREAMS OF WHISKEY: Paragon Hotel - Circular Quay SUGAR ARMY, TOM UGLY, 1929INDIAN: FBI Social THE AUDREYS: The Vanguard - Newtown THE AUSTRALIAN GUNS N ROSES SHOW: Bull & Bush - Baulkham Hills THE DEEP: Parramatta Leagues - Firehouse THE FABULOUS RHYTHM CATS: Blacktown RSL Celebrity Room THE GOOD STUFF: Scruffy Murphys - Sydney THE HANG, MICHAEL WHEATLEY, BEK JENSEN: Blue Beat - Double Bay THE HITMIX: Toongabbie Bowling Club THE JED ROWE BAND: Tathra Hotel - Tathra THE MONOTONES: Macquarie Hotel - City THE POD BROTHERS: Club Rivers - Riverwood THE RAMALAMAS, HANDASYD WILLIAMS, ROLAND K SMITH: Petersham Bowling Club THE SUNNY SIDE UP, WAKE THE GIANTS, FOREVER ENDS HERE, BREAKAWAY: The Lair - Metro Theatre THEY CALL ME BRUCE: Quakers Inn - Quakers Hill THIRD TIME LUCKY: St George Leagues - Kogarah TIM FREEDMAN: Lizottes Newcastle TORNADO WALLACE: The Spice Cellar - Sydney TOUCHWOOD: Oriental Hotel - Springwood TRILOGY: Coogee Bay Hotel - Beach Bar TWINSANITY: Nelson Bay Diggers Club VIGILANTE, DEATHKRUSH, SICK PEOPLE, UNKNOWN TO GOD, NS MAYHEM, OILY BOYS: Valve Bar - Tempe WE BUILT ATLANTIS, BY DESIGN: Cambridge Hotel - Newcastle WHITE BROS: Red Cow Hotel - Penrith WILDCATZ: The Juniors - 1st Floor ZOLTAN: Cronulla RSL - Cronulla
SAT 30 031 ROCK SHOW: Scruffy Murphy’s - City AM2PM: Revesby Workers - Revesby ANDY MAMMERS: PJ Gallaghers - Drummoyne 52 • THE DRUM MEDIA
BACKLASH: Penrith Gaels - Kingswood BASEMENT, ENDLESS HEIGHTS, ONE VITAL WORD, CLIPPED WINGS: Bald Faced Stag BATFOOT, DELTA LIONS, HAZARDS, EXCITE BIKE: Cambridge Hotel - Newcastle BELL WEATHER DEPARTMENT, BATTLESHIPS, SORRY SOCRATES: FBi Social BEN WALTON, LEWIE DAY: The Spice Cellar - Sydney BIG WAY OUT: 3 Wise Monkeys Pub - City BLACK DIAMOND HEARTS: North Bondi RSL BLONDE 182: Huskission Hotel - Huskission BLUE VENOM: Engadine Tavern CHRIS PATON, NICKY KURTA: Northies - Cronulla CRAIG THOMMO DUO: Yardhouse - Haymarket CRASH AVENUE: Novotel - Brewery Bar, Olympic Park DARREN BENNET, BLACK DIAMOND, SIMON MARRABLE, LAURA BEASANT: George IV Hotel - Picton DAVE DEBS, CHRIS BAILEY, DAN RUMOUR, MIKE GUBB, PAUL PJ JOHNSTONE: Brass Monkey - Cronulla DAVE WHITE DUO: Mean Fiddler Hotel - Rouse Hill DAVID AGIUS, SUITE AZ: Castle Hill RSL DES GIBSON: Lansvale Hotel - Lansvale DESERT SESSIONS, ARROWHEAD, SPACETICKET: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown DIAMOND RHYTHM: Petersham RSL DIESEL: Lizottes Newcastle DJ MATT: Gymea Bay Hotel - Gymea DJ MATT ROBERTS, YELLOW SOX: Cohibar - Darling Harbour DJ MICHAEL STEWART: Luna Lounge Nightclub DJ SIMON LAING: Jacksons on George DUSTY THE CONCERT: The Cube, Campbelltown DV8: Belmore Hotel - Newcastle ELEVATION-U2 SHOW: South Hurstville RSL FALLON BROTHERS: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord FREE FALLIN’: Royal Federal Hotel FUNKSTAR: Marlborough Hotel - Newtown GEN-R-8: Nelson Bay Diggers Club GREAT BIG HITS: Windsor Castle Hotel - Newcastle GREG POPPLETON & THE BAKELITE DANCE BAND, HIT MACHINE: Penrith RSL HAYLEY SALES: The Belvedere Hotel - Sydney HEAT, SHERLOCK BONES, PRETTY YOUNG THINGS, CHICK FLICK, STALKER: Candy’s Apartment - Potts Point
WINTER WARMERS MINI FESTIVAL feat. EAT ART TRUCK, BELLS WILL RING, THE WALKING WHO, MAJOR TOM & THE ATOMS, ILUKA, DUSTY DUETS, MANCHOIR, FRENZIE: Beach Road Hotel - Bondi YUKI & JOHN MACKIE, TONY BURKYS, LEE HUTCHINGS, ALAN GILBERT: Corrimal Hotel ZOLTAN, BEN FINN DUO: Ettamogah Hotel - Rouse Hill ZOLTAN: Ingleburn RSL - Ingleburn
GIG OF THE WEEK
SUN 01
360
About to wind up another successful tour, 360 pulls into The Metro on Friday for the final date of The Flying Tour. He’s sold out venues all around the country, multiple times in some instances, plus upgraded to bigger venues in other parts, so you can imagine he’d be riding high as he finishes up his tour. No idea if anything special is planned for the end of the tour, but you can guarantee 360 and his crew will be having a ball. HEAVEN, HAZMAT, CRIMSON LAKE: Annandale Hotel - Annandale HORNET: Exchange Hotel HOWLIN’ STEAM TRAIN, PAPA PILKO AND THE BIN RATS: The Vanguard - Newtown HUE WILLIAMS: Imperial Htl, Mount Victoria IGNITION: RG McGees - Richmond JAY BRANNAN: The Standard - Surry Hills JAZZ NOUVEAU: Supper Club Fairfield RSL Club JEWEL-TONES TRIO: Rozelle Markets JJ DUO: 3 Swallows Hotel - Bankstown JOHN LEIGH CALDER: The Whitehorse Surry Hills JOHN MELLENCAMP SHOW, BRYAN ADAMS SHOW: Bull & Bush - Baulkham Hills JOHN VELLA: Panthers North Richmond JONATHAN BOULET, WOLF & CUB, OH YE DENVER BIRDS, JOSEPH LIDDY AND THE SKELETON HORSE: Metro Theatre JORDIE LANE, THE FALLS: Camelot Lounge - Marrickville JOSH MCIVOR: Sir Joseph Banks Hotel KID MAC: Great Northern Hotel - Newcastle LATE SHIFT: Wentworthville Leagues LETTERS TO HOME, EMERSON, GEM CALDBECK: Cat & Fiddle Hotel - Balmain LIME CORDIALE, LENOX, GODS OF RAPTURE, DUBIOUS COMPANY, VANITY RIOTS, DIRTY GROTTO: Lansdowne Hotel - Chippendale LIVING CHAIR: Cardiff Panthers
LIZ MARTIN: 505 - Surry Hills LJ: Hoyts, Entertainment Quarter LOOSE BAZOOKA: Belmont 16’s - Belmont MACSON: Coogee Legions Club - Coogee MARK DE COSTA, THE BLACK LIST: Crows Nest Htl MATCHBOX: Ramsgate RSL - Ramsgate MATT JONES: Brewhouse - Marayong MATT PRICE: Hillside Hotel - Castle Hill MICHAEL MCGLYNN: Kirribilli Hotel - Kirribilli MIDNIGHT WOOLF, LA MANCHA NEGRA, GLITTER CANYON, BLACKBEAR: The Square - Haymarket MIKE MATHIESON, CHRIS ALEXANDER: Parramatta RSL - Parramatta MIRRORS IN ICELAND, SAM NEWTON, LUCY & THE B SIDES: Excelsior Hotel - Glebe MONSTER GALE, RED BEE, MODERN MURDER, SYKO SAPIAN: Valve Bar - Tempe MOONLIGHT DRIVE: Bay Hotel MR JAMES: Bankstown District Sports Club NANTES: GoodGod Small Club - Sydney ONE HIT WONDERS: PJ’s Irish Pub Parramatta ORIGINAL SIN - INXS SHOW: Bradbury Inn - Bradbury PANORAMA TRIO: Mercantile Hotel - The Rocks PARTY REVIVAL: Mounties - Mt Pritchard PETE HUNT: Hollywood Bar & Café
PETER MCWHIRTER: Campbelltown Catholic Club POP UP PARTY: Great Northern Hotel, Tiki Bar - Newcastle RACHEL LAING: Novotel Rooty Hill RED HOT NUMBERS: Courthouse Hotel - Darlinghurst ROB HENRY, GEMMA: The Observer Hotel - The Rocks RUSSELL NEAL, ALEX THOMPSON, BEN EATOUGH: Terrey Hills Tavern - Terrey Hills SARAH PATON DUO: O’Malleys Hotel - Kings Cross SET SAIL: Oxford Art Factory SIBO BANGOURA, KEYIM BA: Macquarie Hotel - City SKYBAR: The Watershed Darling Harbour SOULED OUT: Paragon Hotel - Circular Quay SPRING BREAK: Stacks Bar - City STEVE EDMONDS BAND: Dicey Riley’s Hotel - Wollongong SUNSET RIOT, RATTLESNAKE, TONK: Notes Live - Enmore TED NASH: Manly Leagues Club - Brookvale THE ASTON SHUFFLE, A-TONEZ, MURRAY LAKE, KING LEE, LA TECH: Chinese Laundry - Sydney THE AUDREYS: Lizottes Central Coast THE BLUES PIRATES: Bald Rock Hotel - Rozelle THE BOOTY AFFAIR’S DISCO DIMENSION: Blue Beat - Double Bay THE CRACKS, SEA LEGS, PHEBE STARR, DJ BERT, BERNIE: Upstairs Beresford - Beresford Hotel
themusic.com.au
THE ENDLESS SUMMER BEACH PARTY: Macarthur Tavern - Campbelltown THE FOREDAY RIDERS: Marrickville Bowling Club THE JED ROWE BAND, DAN HOPKINS, THE GENEROUS FEW, RUSTY PEACH, KETTY ELLEN, MATT RAINSHADOW: Empire Hotel - Annandale THE NOX, DJ URBY: Rock Lily - The Star Casino - Pyrmont THE PEEP TEMPEL, THE ELECTRIC VOGUES: Oxford Art Factory - Gallery THE POD BROTHERS: Coogee Bay Hotel - Beach Bar THE RADIATORS: Blacktown RSL Celebrity Room THOMPSON GUNNERS: Carousel Inn - Rooty Hill TICE & EVANS: Sandringham Hotel (afternoon) TIM FREEDMAN: Lizottes Sydney TIM SOWERBUTTS, PETER INGLIS: Wellco Café & Wine Bar - Leichhardt TOM T DUO: Parramatta Leagues - Firehouse TONE RANGERS: Kingswood Sports Club - Kingswood TOTALLY GA GA - AUST. LADY GAGA SHOW: Dundas Sports Club TWO GOOD REASONS: The Mark Hotel - Newcastle WE BUILT ATLANTIS, BY DESIGN: Liverpool PCYC WEEKEND DETENTION: Ingleburn Bowling Club WHISPERING JACKFARNHAM SHOW: Eastern Suburbs Leagues
ALISON PENNEY, THE MONEY MAKERS, NATIVO SOUL, THUNDER LOVE: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown ANDY MAMMERS: Shore Club Manly ANTOINE: O’Malleys Hotel - Kings Cross APHRODISIAC: Jacksons on George - Sydney BLACK DIAMOND, DAVID SHEPARD, COL WATERS, GRIFFIN JAMES: Corrimal Hotel BOBBY C: Nelson Bay Diggers Club CATHERINE SUMMERS QUARTET: The Royal Hotel - Paddington CHRIS TURNER & THE CAVEMEN: Bald Rock Hotel - Rozelle CHRISTIE LAMB, JIMMY BEAR: Campbelltown Catholic Club CRAIG THOMMO DUO: Coogee Bay Hotel - Beach Bar DAVE CARTER: The Mark Hotel - Newcastle DJ BRYNSTAR: The Watershed Hotel Darling Harbour DJ SANI, DJ OMAR: Beach Road Hotel - Bondi DUST: World Bar - Kings Cross FATT LIPP: Riverstone Sports Hotel - Riverstone FRANKY & JOHNNY: Belmont 16’s - Belmont GEMMA GLENDENNING: Empire Bay Tavern - Empire Bay, Central Coast GEOFF BULL AND THE FINER CUTS: The East Sydney Hotel GREG POPPLETON & THE BAKELITE DANCE BAND: Concrete Blonde - Sydney JESS DUNBAR: Panthers- Penrith JOSH MCIVOR: The Belvedere Hotel - Sydney MARTY from RECKLESS, DAVE WHITE DUO: Northies - Cronulla MATT JONES: Novotel - Brewery Bar, Olympic Park MATT JONES, ROB HENRY, MIKE BENNETT: The Observer Hotel - The Rocks MIDNIGHT WOOLF, BLACKBEAR: Music Farmers Wollongong MIKE MATHIESON, CHRIS ALEXANDER: Bankstown Trotting Club NEW EMPIRE, JAKE NAUTA: Brass Monkey - Cronulla
NICK BARKER & THE REPTILES, CHUCK’S WAGON: Heathcote Hotel - Heathcote NICKY KURTA: Mill Hill Hotel - Bondi Junction PERSPECTIVES, BASEMENT, ENDLESS HEIGHTS, DISTANCE: Bald Faced Stag PETE: Parramatta Leagues - Firehouse PETER HEAD TRIO: The Harbour View Hotel - The Rocks RAOUL GRAF: Oscars Hotel - Pyrmont REELS ON FIRE: Paragon Hotel Circular Quay ROCKIN EDDIE: Penrith RSL RUSSELL NEAL: Salisbury Hotel - Stanmore SATELLITE V: Marrickville Bowling Club SHANE MACKENZIE: Cohibar - Darling Harbour SLAVA GRIGORYAN, WILLOUGHBY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: The Concourse - Chatswood STEVE EDMONDS BAND: Catherine Hill Bay Pub Catherine Hill Bay THE AUDREYS: The Vanguard - Newtown THE CONTINENTAL ROBERT BLUES PARTY: Rock Lily - The Star Casino - Pyrmont THE DEEP: Gymea Bay Hotel - Gymea THE JED ROWE BAND: The Junkyard - Maitland THE LAURELS, STRAIGHT ARROWS, SPOD, DONNY BENET, RICHARD IN YOUR MIND, SHADY LANE, SEEKAE DJS: Annandale Hotel - Annandale THE WHITE BROTHERS: Ettamogah Hotel - Rouse Hill THE WHITE BROTHERS: Harbord Beach Hotel - Harbord TOMBSTONE RAMBLERS: Botany View Hotel - Newtown TRIPPING UP STAIRS: Mean Fiddler Hotel - Rouse Hill
MON 02 BASEMENT, ENDLESS HEIGHTS, HARBOURER, COLD YOUTH: Yours and Owls - Wollongong BERNIE: The Observer Hotel - The Rocks CARRIE UNDERWOOD: Sydney Opera House DOIG BIG BAND: 505 - Surry Hills O WILLY DEAR, HUGH KEOGH, LAURA SULLIVAN, GRAHAM HEALY: Camelia Grove Hotel RUSSELL NEAL, CARRIE TONG, MASSIMO PRESTI, CHRIS BROOKES: Kellys on King - Newtown THE THINGOS: Sandringham Hotel - Newtown
BEHIND THE LINES DAYLIGHT ON YOUR FACE
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
WITH MICHAEL SMITH
MARR GETS A SIGNATURE JAG
Perhaps the world’s best known “anti” guitar hero, Johnny Marr initially came to the world’s attention through his first band, The Smiths, but has gone on to work with The Pretenders, The The, Modest Mouse and The Cribs among others, as well guesting on and arranging all manner of records. Whether he accepts the guitar hero tag or not, Fender thought it was time he got a signature axe so he opted to go with the Jaguar, a guitar he first encountered when he worked with Modest Mouse in 2005, loving its “big, clear, ringing sound”. Ironing out some of the flaws he felt were inherent in the original design and going through 15 vintage Jaguars over a series of tours, for the Johnny Marr Signature Fender Jaguar, he replaced the original three-switch design for a single four-way Telecaster-style switchblade, the first three positions remaining standard, the fourth putting both bridge and neck pickups in series so they act like one big humbucker, providing a thicker, darker sound. There’s also a filter switch on the top panel for more high end and a repositioned high-pass filter from the original design repositioned to where the “jazz circuit” usually sits. The pickups are vintage 1962 pickups but wound so the polarity is the same on both rather than opposed.
SOLO LOVETONE
The Lovetones’ singer, songwriter and guitarist Matthew J Tow has been working on his debut solo album, which he hopes to release both here and in the US before the end of the year, recording in his home studio and then uploading files to Brian Jonestown Massacre bass player Colin Hegna, who has a studio in Portland, Oregon called Revolver Studios which he operates with Nalin Silva. There Hegna, guitarist Ryan Carlson, from The Asteroid No. 4 and The Dead Skeletons, and drummer Jason Anchondo from The Warlocks have been putting on their parts. btl@streetpress.com.au
Oh Mercy’s Alexander Gow talks to Michael Smith about recording their third album, Deep Heat.
“W
e’re just doing mixing revisions at the moment,” singer, songwriter and guitarist Alexander Gow explains, on the line from the balcony of The Family Farm studio just outside of Portland in Oregon where Oh Mercy have been for two months recording their third album with Sydneybased producer Burke Reid (The Drones, Jack Ladder, Wolf & Cub). “I’ve had a bit of time to wonder about and listen to the mixes and there are just a couple of things I need to fix up but basically it’s all done.” The band was already in the US on tour – they’d just finished up in Los Angeles – when they heard about The Family Farm through some local friends. “The studio was kind of offered to us in a way in that we could spend a fair amount of time in it, and I really wanted to spend that kind of time in the studio because to investigate sounds and ideas you need the leisure of time and I haven’t had that before, so that was the idea of coming here. The other thing is I wanted to put flutes on the record, and one of my favourite saxophonists, Steve Berlin from Los Lobos, lives in Portland, so we got him to play on the record.” Located by a coniferous forest 16km from downtown Portland, The Family Farm is one of those studios that also offers the option to live on site, is all decked out with plenty of exposed wood panelling and offers both digital and analogue equipment, with an API 1608 console with John Hardy and Vintage API summing and a Neve BCM-10 console with BAE 1084s and two Neve 2264s, both of which Oh Mercy used, as well as UAD Quad Omni Satellite digital processing among other things. “There was a lot of acoustic design put into it,” Gow explains, “which was really important ‘cause it’s a unique space – it was basically a three-storey house
e s u u o Do y sy? Ecsta
that was gutted and converted into a studio, which is something I found really attractive because I’ve spent a little bit of time in studios and they all kind of look the same, so you could kind of be in Melbourne or Berlin or Antarctica or something. So to come here and make a record in a house that’s been converted to a studio was wonderful. I mean, just having daylight on your face while you’re making music is a real treat, and we could open up the front and back sliding double doors and had bees coming through while we were recording and mixing. There were also a couple really impressive tape machines that we used a lot as, like, tape delays and used as preamps for guitars – a Scully [280 eight-track 1”] tape machine, which was out of Electric Ladyland – and then it was all dumped down to ProTools.” Oh Mercy worked with high-flying American producer Mitchell Froom, whose CV includes records for artists as diverse as Richard Thompson, Pearl Jam and Crowded House, on their previous album, Great Barrier Grief. Deep Heat producer Burke Reid, along with albums for Dan Kelly, The Drones and Gareth Liddiard, produced the latest album, FOMO, for Liam Finn. “Firstly I wanted someone a bit like a renaissance kind of guy that would be able to be the producer and the engineer all in one,” Gow explains of his choice of Reid, “because I really wanted someone that would be able to convert my ideas into sound in real time. I didn’t want it diluted by trying to describe something to someone who then has to describe it to someone else. I would literally be standing in front of the speakers and say, ‘Well, how about this?’ and he’d be able to make that happen for me in an instant, which made it really productive – I knew that’s the kind of guy that I wanted. And he made Jack Ladder’s [2011 album] Hurtsville, which is like a modern Australian classic; I love it. So it was a pretty easy choice and luckily he had the time to do it. Burke’s an interesting guy. I don’t think that there’s a pre-production style; he doesn’t come in with, like, an ego or anything like that. He’s there to make the records the bands want to make
and do that with as little fuss as possible, which is really admirable, so I suppose he helped me define my ideas and my conceptual approach to the album. He pushed me as a musician to be as creative as possible and made me write a few more songs in the studio, which I did and I’m really glad for – they’ve all made the album. ” And just how does that final product sound? “It was important to me not to layer everything up, which is tempting having the time that we did – it’s really easy to fall into that trap of doing overdub after overdub. Something that I learnt from making the record with Mitchell was the power of having a minimally arranged track. Basically I wrote all these songs on the piano and then had this idea that I didn’t want to have any kind of rhythm playing on it, as in no rhythm guitar or no chords running through the entire song. I wanted the chords to be implied by the bass playing, so basically vocals, drums and bass guitar, and flourishes of things here and there. That’s why it was important to have Steve Berlin there as a saxophonist and flautist. I wanted lead breaks with instruments I haven’t used before but always been interested in. So we didn’t stack it up too much.” Deep Heat by Oh Mercy is released by EMI Friday 24 August.
Y ROLLER DERLEB AGUE
SYDNEY
2SER AND DRUM M
EDIA PRESENTS:
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Researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre would like to speak to ecstasy users. Face to face interviews will be conducted between March and May.
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The interview takes around one hour and is held at a convenient location for you. Interviews are anonymous and confidential.
TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM TICKETDIRECT.COM.AU
You will be reimbursed $40 for your time. Contact Laura on (02) 9385 0407, email nswedrs@unsw.edu.au or sms details to 0404 786 677 (you do not have to use your real name). 54 • THE DRUM MEDIA
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NOW $300 + GST PER SONG THE DRUM MEDIA • 55
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Wedding & Corporate Entertainment supplied by the Best Musicians in Australia. Visit www.dannyammar.com for more info.
DRUM KIT WANTED, anything considered. Also looking for vintage drum kit ludwig/ Gretsch etc , snare drums or cymbals, ph 0419760940 iFlogID: 18332
TAMA ROCKSTAR 5 PIECE FUSION KIT IN BEAUTIFUL LIQUID AMBER FINISH, MATCHING TIMBER SNARE, STARCAST SUSPENSION MOUNTS, CYMBALS AND HARDWARE, GREAT CONDITION, BARGAIN, $675. PH 0419760940 iFlogID: 18330
Vintage Drum Kit Imports new and Custom Made kits for sale. Also cymbals, stands, pedals, guitars, accessories and much more. www.atlargemusicstore.com info@atlargemusicstore.com http://facebook.com/aTLargeMusic 93362190 0421987370 Hampton Rd, Fremantle, WA
iFlogID: 13117
HIRE SERVICES For all your production needs, upto 20,000watt systems.Tailored to your requirements.Delivered,setup & operated by professional engineers. Loud ‘n’ Live Sound Systems Ph 0417 268850 iFlogID: 18432
For all your production needs, upto 20,000watt systems.Tailored to your requirements.Delivered,setup & operated by professional engineers. Loud ‘n’ Live Sound Systems Ph 0417 268850 iFlogID: 18434
For as low as $100, you get a professional sound/pa mixer system with operator for the evening. Suitable for weddings, pub/ clubs band gigs, private parties etc. Infovision@yayabings.com.au. Contact Chris 0419272196 iFlogID: 15173
LEGAL / ACCOUNTING IMPORTANT 2012 TAX MESSAGE
iFlogID: 18328
OTHER FLUTE & RECORDER SHEET MUSIC, most EXC from $3ea! Solo, accompanied & ensemble, including many exam materials. Can quote postage Australia wide. All items listed online www.mediafire. com/?3wtv34dsqzyqr or email jthornley@yahoo.com iFlogID: 18792
TOOL Concert Poster - Big Day Out, Auckland MT Smart Stadium 21Jan2011. Adam Jones Artwork - Ltd Edition of 100. Mint Condition. 60 x 45cm on Heavy Card. $70 Ph0449713338. iFlogID: 18689
TOOL Concert Poster - Big Day Out, Gold Coast Parlands 23Jan2011. Adam Jones Artwork - Ltd Edition. Mint Condition. 60 x 45cm on Heavy Card. $90 Ph0449713338. iFlogID: 18687
TOOL Concert Poster - Brisbane Entertainment Centre 24Jan2011. Adam Jones Artwork - Ltd # Edition of 50. Mint Condition. 60 x 45cm on Heavy Card. $90 Ph0449713338. iFlogID: 18683
TOOL Concert Poster - Melbourne Myer Music Bowl 02Feb2011. Adam Jones Artwork - Ltd Edition # of 100. Mint Condition. 60 x 45cm on Heavy Card. $90 Ph0449713338. iFlogID: 18685
STUDIO GEAR Sony DAT Walkman model TCD-D8 original owner perfect condition includes Sony ECMMS957 stereo mic, head cleaning tape and power plug. $400.00 firm 042 408 1965 or jdmuspub@gmail.com iFlogID: 18747
MUSIC SERVICES BAND MERCHANDISE Bass guitar lessons for beginner to intermediate levels. Over 10 years playing/performing experience. Contact Blake here: Phone: 0432 128 729 Email: blake.cateris@gmail.com iFlogID: 18542
PA hire Sydney.400 to 4000 watts.Immaculate sound reasonable rates.Experienced reliable operator.For clubs,pubs,weddings
With the most customer centric & passionate mastering in the business, we exist to serve you & your music. Utilising the best analog & digital equipment, under the microscope of a world-class monitoring system, we guarantee your music will leave the studio in its best possible form. We are not a Mastering Drive-Thru, with the same care, passion & energy taken for all projects, on all levels. All whilst under the guidance of our senior engineer. Paul is sponsored by Shure USA with credits from EMI Music, Sony Music & Liquid US, & artists like FAKER, The Art, Papa Vs Pretty, Melody Black, Guy Sebastian, David Guetta, & ex members of The Sex Pistols, Blondie, Jerk, The Cult & The Ramones. All pricing is fixed & includes services normally charged for additionally; all receive a Master Red-Book CD, Master DDP DVD & Master Reference CD. Plus, you are more than welcome to attend the session [Sydney], or utilise our secure FTP server from anywhere in the world. For advanced bookings [of 21 days notice] we also offer unsigned artists a discount of 20%... that’s just $560 for a complete album, or $320 for an EP. 0403 435 686 /or/ info@the-butler. com /or/ WWW.THE-BUTLER.COM
PA / AUDIO / ENGINEERING
The 2012 Tax year will soon end. Find out how Detax can maximise your tax refund or minimise your tax liability with effective tax strategies before June 30. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Entertainment & Arts Industry Tax & Accounting. www.detax.com.au
6000 watt System with Peaveys twin 15inch box’s,18inch twin subs, Shure Mics, 2X LED IPAR bars 64, 32 channel Mixing desk 1200watt fold backs. Great sound for live bands
BRAND NEW GEAR
MANAGEMENT
iFlogID: 18837
MANAGER WANTED | 100% COMMS Red Oxygen needs a Manager to assist with the business end of our music. We’re established with iTunes, Demo CD, Film-clip in production, Facebook fans. We’re happy to pay 100% commission for 1st 6months of management Search: RedOxygen Music iFlogID: 18238
OTHER ++ play more chinese music - love, tenzenmen ++ www.tenzenmen.com iFlogID: 14468
Award-winning Experienced, Qualified Music Producer: 1.Doing Instrumental version of any song for $40 2. Mix your multi-tracks for $50 and produce personalized original instrumentals for $50. 3. Check lovenabstudio on soundclick.com email: vangelis2133@yahoo.com iFlogID: 18269
Get your Band or Business Online Cost effectively and PROFESSIONALLY from $299 including Hosting and email addresses! Contact info@bizwebsites.com.au or see www.bizwebsites.com.au iFlogID: 15452
Music publicity. Do you want to get noticed? Affordable exposure for your band by someone that actually cares! www.perfectlywrite.com.au Drop me a line! iFlogID: 15737
MASTERING Audio Mastering, mixing, recording. CD-R music & data duplication, cover artwork,
iFlogID: 17084
Want to know what it takes to record a song? It’s so much easier, cheaper & way more fun than you probably think! Visit www.musicentourage.com or email studio@musicentourage.com iFlogID: 14478
Newcastle based PA hire, Flexible setups, with/without operator, Cerwin Vega powered speakers, Allen & Heath mixer, Mics, lights, stands. Great for Bands, duo’s, soloists, weddings and functions. Great Rates. Brendan 0439720305 iFlogID: 17878
Experienced, energetic and proactive live audio engineer for $300/event + equipment hire (passed on directly from Lots of Watts). Free preproduction - call Helmut on 0433946982 to discuss your event. iFlogID: 18062
QUALITY PA HIRE with friendly, experienced operator. Vocal systems to full band rigs. All with lighting and at great rates. Corporate entertainment specialist. Graham 0418 423 463 platonic@bigpond.com
iFlogID: 17747
SWEETLEAF REHEARSAL STUDIO MTDRUITT open 7 days, 3 rooms, aircon, food & beverages, Flat lug, Parking, PA & Lighting Hire Call - 9832-8890 iFlogID: 17546
STUDIO HIRE Gold Coast ParallelHarmonyStudioRobina. 30 square metre live room, large vocal booth. Handsome range of range of topoftheline Neumann, Rode and Shure microphones. Call 0755808883 for details. www.parallelharmony.com.au iFlogID: 18640
TUITION ACCOMPLISHER SINGING TEACHER Northern beaches area. Ex cabaret, session, studio singer, music producer. Toured with Shirley Bassey and Perry Como. Totally experienced. Free assessment. Beginners and all ages. Peter Flanagan 9905 8742, 0414860118 iFlogID: 18184
5 STRING BANJO TUITION Up-Picking (Pete Seeger Style) and 3 Finger Picking (Scruggs Style). tel. John 0431953178 iFlogID: 18815
BENNETTS GUITAR TUITION
Experienced and professional teacher based in Croydon, Sydney. -Tuition of Electric, Acoustic, Bass and Theory -Individual or Group Lessons -All ages and skill levels very welcome -Step by step method covering most styles -Accurate and clear scores and transcriptions provided aimed to suit the students musical goals *One Free Introductory Lesson for Anyone Interested!!* Please contact Michael @ 0420 371 624 mbennetts_@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18646
BLUES GUITAR TUITION
iFlogID: 18648
iFlogID: 18534
POSTERS GOLD COAST BYRON BAY NORTHERN NSW Poster distribution for touring artists & bands. Fast, efficient & reliable service at a competitive price www.thatposterguy. com.au iFlogID: 17120
RECORDING STUDIOS Have you got a song in your head? Music Producer available to turn your imagination into reality. Professional results and afford-
With experienced, friendly and fully qualified tutor. Who has 20 years of studio and live performance. Most styles including Rock, Pop and Jazz. Learn to play your favourite songs, practical theory, improvisation, proper technique, etc. etc. Beginners to advanced are welcome. In the convenience of your own home. Good results guaranteed. Reasonable rates. Phone Oles on 0407413143 or email olesguitarlessons@yahoo.com iFlogID: 18767
GUITAR TUITION BY MAL EASTICK Enrolling new students now for 2012. Tuition customised - beginners to professionals. Blues, rock, tone & theory my specialties. 39 years professional experience, national concert touring level, 4 Gold & 2 Platinum albums. Central suburban Sydney location. M: 0407 461 093 - E: mal@maleastick.com iFlogID: 15035
GUITAR TUITION Fingerstyle guitar, open tunings, slide, flat picking, improvisation, rock, country, blues, folk, celtic styles, music theory, arranging, ear training, singing, banjo and mandolin. www.acousticfingerpicking.com PHONE JOHN: 0431953178 iFlogID: 18817
GUITAR.BASS & UKULELE. Current professional performer and teacher for 30 years. Learn Chords, Scales/Modes, Arpeggios, Music Theory & Ear training. Learn your favourite guitarists songs and tunes. 0422 838 924 iFlogID: 17619
LEARN FROM A SIGNED VOCALIST! Modern-Vocal-Lessons- 25yr Old Signed Vocalist/Artist. Recorded Vocals for #1 Aria Album. Lessons at Gordon. Beginners to experienced singers welcome. 1hr lessons $50, Half-Hour lessons $30. Call AJ on 0448-080-619. iFlogID: 18105
Learn The Drums - Have fun and discover your rhythm. I’ve created a step by step program for you on learning how to play the drums, go to www.chrismccaig.com/learn-the-drums iFlogID: 14503
Music tuition, classical / flamenco guitar, celtic harp, theory & harmony, arranging. 9am - 9pm, 7 days. Parramatta area. $40 hr, $30 half hr. Mature & patient. Harps for hire. Ph: 02 98905578 iFlogID: 15154
Music tuition, classical / flamenco guitar, celtic harp, theory & harmony, arranging. 9am - 9pm, 7 days. Parramatta area. $40 hr, $30 half hr. Mature & patient. Harps for hire. Ph: 02 98905578
iFlogID: 14573
Sydney Music Photographer available for all photo work: studio, live shots or promo work. Low prices, quick turn around, high quality! Check out www.sarahholmesphotography.com for portfolio
iFlogID: 18911
GUITAR LESSONS
REHEARSAL ROOMS
PHOTOGRAPHY Image is everything! If you have a band wanting to get ahead let me capture the next gig. High quality pictures say everything. http://roybarnesphotography.com/ 0414 243 811
Beginners-to-Advanced. Learn the JimiHendrix Led-Zeppelin Level of guitar playing, or just strum chords to sing songs. 1xFREE lesson-appraisal Beginners you are most welcome. Acoustic-Electric-Classical Guitar all styles. 0405-044-513.
You’ll never regret recording your songs... but we garuntee you’ll ALWAYS regret not doing it! ***Every song Produced, Mixed & Mastered to Radio Release Quality*** studio@musicentourage.com www.musicentourage.com
iFlogID: 18655
iFlogID: 18587
A Manager is required for an already-successful Singer/Composer/ Performer/Poprock Band/Show/Recording Artist. Maintain the success, move with us to the next level: international success. Phone Extraordinary Entertainment 9969 1179 (Mosman).
NEWTOWN
Recording Studio, Parramatta, $30hr casual rate. No kits! Singers, songwriters, instrumentalists for acoustic, world, classical genres specialist. 25+yrs exp, multi instrumentalist, arranger, composer, producer. Ph: 02 98905578, 7 days.
iFlogID: 14616
iFlogID: 18859
iFlogID: 18453
ZILDJIAN 16” DARK THIN K CRASH BRAND NEW $250. ZILDJIAN AVEDIS 18” FAST CRASH BRAND NEW,$250 16” FAST CRASH BRAND NEW,$230. ALL NEW IN PLASTIC BAGS, PH 0419760940
iFlogID: 18131
RECORDING STUDIO $30ph
Want to be a recording artist? We’re looking for singers/songwriters for recording & development. Contact studio@musicentourage.com or 0405 988 811
DUPLICATION/ MASTERING CD MANUFACTURING:Acme is Australias best price CD manufacturer. 500 CD package = $765.05: 1000 CD package = $1320.00 Short run also available. www.AcmeMusic.com.au KevinW@AcmeMusic.com.au
able rates.
iFlogID: 15160
iFlogID: 18717
iFlogID: 18691
BOLD HEADING
and special functions.For enquiries ph john 041 822 1680 or go to www.crystalsound.com.au
iFlogID: 15158
From Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton. tel. John 0431953178 iFlogID: 18809
DRUM TUITION. Drum Tuition in Stanmore with a Billy Hyde trained Teacher. Dip Ed, Dip Drums. All levels and all styles taught. Beginners Welcome!. Call Lee 0403307796. www.lee-carey.com iFlogID: 17906
Eastern Suburbs guitar/ukulele/bass/slide lessons with APRA award winning composer. Highly experienced, great references, unique individually designed lessons from Vaucluse studio. Learn to play exactly what YOU want to play! www.matttoms.com iFlogID: 16690
GUITAR LESSONS
Paramount Guitar Tuition. Learn to play the guitar. Or learn to compose &/or improvise on guitar. Most importantly, learn at your own pace, no pressure! Classical & other styles. 0402 630 243 www.pgtonline.net pgtonline@hotmail.com Parramatta area iFlogID: 15320
PICKS AND STICKS STUDIO. Private Guitar lessons from an experienced teacher. All levels, All ages, All styles. Improvising, Theory, Song Writing, Tech-
For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au
nique Seven Hills, Sydney. Call Dave 0410 963 972 or email davemormul@hotmail.com iFlogID: 16948
SING WITH CONFIDENCE
SLIDE GUITAR TUITION All styles from Duane Allman and Ben Harper to Blind Willie Johnson and Son House. www.acousticfingerpicking.com tel. John 0431953178
Professional mature-age Drummer/Vocals/ reads/back acts/shows - all styles including jazz - available for casual work. phone:(02) 9807-3137 Mob:0413-931-897 eMail: nadipa1@yahoo.com.au
iFlogID: 18811
iFlogID: 17160
VOCAL TUITION
SEARCHING DRUMMER
for students having problems with pitch, placement and breathing. tel. John 0431953178
Stixx man searching for motivated working original band. No pretenders and lazy musicians things happening all the time, rehearsals leading to performing and recording if this is you drop me a line. style of music melody driven funk to heavy rock please send links to your music Frankie 0404089601 frankiej_1969@hotmail.com
iFlogID: 18819
VocalHub - Sing like no one is listening! Singing lessons for vocal technique and care, audition tips and repertoire in a encouraging and supportive environment. Visit: http://www.vocalhub.com.au iFlogID: 17102
Sing and perform with confidence. Let’s see if I can help. First consultation with seasoned professional free. contact Rosaria on 0403086266 iFlogID: 18909
SINGING & PERFORMANCE LESSONS Highly qualified Professional Singer of 18 years and Singing Teacher of 7 is now available for private singing tuition. From beginners to advanced. Whether you are wanting to learn for the fun or more serious about your craft, I will guide you accordingly. I cover all techniques from breathing, support, tone, pitch, phrasing, pronunciation, support, dynamics and emotion to microphone techniques, stage presence, movement and expression, audition skills, building a repertoire and of course marketing. If you suffer stage fright or need help with your self-confidence, my lessons will assist in this area also. So if you are serious about moving ahead in your career, wanting to gain self-confidence or would like to learn for fun, please call me to talk further or make a booking. Louise. MOB; 0452 006 693.
Wanted left handed electric guitar teacher Parramatta area, Contact John at... rodt1114@yahoo.com iFlogID: 16308
VIDEO / PRODUCTION D7 STUDIO MUSIC VID FROM $250. Live gig edits, multi angles, fr $125 a set, 1 live track $100. All shot in full HD. d7studio@ iinet.net.au 0404716770 syd based iFlogID: 13368
Kontrol Productions is a highly professional production company that specializes in the production of music video’s. We ensure that our products are of the highest industry standards. For enquiries www.kontrolproductions.com iFlogID: 13827
OTHER
Music video production, live event filming, EPK’s, pro photography and more. Great rates for indi artists. Call Paul on 0412 222 111 or email paul@popfilms.com.au or visit www.popfilms.com.au iFlogID: 18398
MUSICIANS AVAILABLE BASS PLAYER Electric & upright bass. Good gear. Comfortable in most styles. Experience performing live and in the studio. Check out my website if you wanna hear more. http://www.wix. com/steelechabau/steelechabau iFlogID: 16159
TEACHER TO THE STARS!
DJ
RINTOUL
iFlogID: 18602
DJ/Buttonpusher. Plays most genres from Dubstep to Gabber. Punctual. Reliable. Up to $100 p/h ono. m:0438848155, e:rintouldj@hotmail.com for bookings. iFlogID: 18117
DRUMMER A1 TOP PRO DRUMMER AVAILABLE FOR SESSION FREELANCE WORK, TOURS ETC. EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE, TOP GEAR, GREAT GROOVE AND TIME.SYDNEY BASED, WILL TRAVEL. PH 0419760940. WEBSITE www.mikehague.com iFlogID: 18334
Experienced Soul / Reggae / R’N’B / Blues / Funk drummer (36) available for work preferably in Northern Beaches. YouTube: sydneypollak . Mobile: 0402 549 423 Michael iFlogID: 17324
SINGING LESSONS
This is a rare opportunity to have individual lessons with Kristy Robinson one of Sydney’s Top Session/Live SIngers with over 20 years Industry Experience. First Lesson Free! Limited places available. Inner West area. Call between 1pm-8pm. 0410 680 100
We are a friendly jazz band playing music to any style for romantic situations, weddings, anniversaries, small cozy clubs - very affordable. contact Chris 0419 272 196 ventura@yayabings.com.au iFlogID: 15177
SINGER Depressed female singer seeking purpose. Dark music preferred, eg. metal, rock, industrial. Can also play some electric violin. Contact dragonlugia@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18798
MUSICIANS WANTED BANDS Anyone wants to form a REGGAE band in Northern Beaches NSW? I play drums, percussions and keyboard. YouTube: sydneypollak. Mobile: 0402 549 423 Michael iFlogID: 18610
Anyone wants to form a REGGAE band in Northern Beaches NSW? I play drums, percussions and keyboard. YouTube: sydneypollak. Mobile: 0402 549 423 Michael iFlogID: 18612
Dj available Dubstep to Drum&bass. Willing & able to adapt to your event. Low hourly rates. Everything negotiable. Easygoing, flexible entertainment. Call for a quote today. KN!VZ Entertainment Group Ph:0415680575 iFlogID: 16661
Steve Ostrow, New York voice teacher and vocal coach who discovered and nurtured the careers of Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Peter Allen, Stevie Wonder and countless others now Sydney City based and welcoming students on all levels; beginners, advanced and performers; Rock, Pop, Classical etc. For availability call on 0408461868. For a free e-copy of my book ‘On Becoming a Singer..A Guide To How’ email me on sostrow@bigpond. net.au. Lessons include the entire scope of singing...voice production, musicianship, interpretation, performance skills etc. I look forward to hearing from you.
18 year old guitar player looking to form Rock N’ Roll band. Influences: Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, New York Dolls. Preferably in South. Call Tom on 0401722767.
iFlogID: 18014
iFlogID: 18477
iFlogID: 18667
GUITARIST
iFlogID: 13358
MUSIC VIDEOS offer a great way to gain exposure. Immersion Imagery has worked with over 30 artists and strives to offer creative quality Music Videos. www.immersionimagery.com info@immersionimagery.com
Singing lessons in a positive environment with a highly experienced and professional singer/songwriter. Lessons tailored to suit individual needs. Also beginners guitar. www. realvoice.net.au for more details. Inner West, Rosanna 0431 157 622.
iFlogID: 14261
Musician/Guitarist seeking fame. I play blues and have a good ear for melody and improvisation. Im looking for likeminded people who want to start touring. Go to peterbuckley.me
iFlogID: 18835
SINGING LESSONS
iFlogID: 18796
TOP INTERNATIONAL DRUMMER available. Great backing vocals, harmonica player and percussionist. Gigs, tours, recording. Private lessons/mentoring also available. www.reubenalexander.net
Professional drummer/percussionist/vibraphonist available for performances/recording. Toured with international acts such as Dianna Krall, David Campbell and Patrizio Buanne. Have huge range of instruments including vibraphone. More info at www.davekemp.info iFlogID: 17317
Professional mature-age Drummer/Vocals/ reads/back acts/shows - all styles including jazz - available for casual work. phone:(02) 9807-3137 eMail: nadipa1@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 16562
BASS PLAYER WANTED URGENTLY Psychedelic Alternative Rock Band from Inner West seek Bass Player for Upcoming EP release and tour dates. Influences include: MUTEMATH, Tame Impala, Spiritualism, Kaiser Cheifs and MUSE. Pro Gear and Positive Attitude essential. Contact 0409 991 854 iFlogID: 18707
BASS PLAYER WANTED! up and coming band. metal/thrash/punk/ grunge/funk/hiphop etc. some skill required (obviously), but a can do attitude is a must. must be prepared for challenging and different music. iFlogID: 18779
BASSIST WANTED Alt rock style band needs capable bassist with good gear and travel. Grunge sounds and pop elelments in low tunings. loves p j harvey & desert sessions call Nat 0406727076 iFlogID: 18929
Experienced bass player with pro attitude is looking for musicians for prog/alt rock outfit. Commintment, love to music, realiability is required. Great opportunity to bring in their own ideas. 0411743248
Lead guitarist rhythm and lead looking to form groove/funk rock band influences Hendrix, Santana, RATM, RHCP, Funkadelic. Looking for bass players and drummers, music has to come before egos, good listeners, and interested in similar music. Ambitious and drive. Contact Javier 0450 459 869 or email javlopz@yahoo.com.au. Cheers. iFlogID: 18925
NEW ALT ROCK BAND SEEKS MEMBER New Sydney band forming looking for members - Bass Player and a Singer. We are a new band just forming (Guitarist and Drummer). Both have years of professional gigging, recording, so only experienced players with a history of playing in originals bands please contact us. Influences Soundgarden, Karnivool, Alice in Chains, Tool, Pearl Jam, Grinspoon, Deftones and more. Email me for demos. We are based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches for rehearsals – Brookvale area. rockband@y7mail.com iFlogID: 18663
PLAY BASS IN ROSE OF YORK ROSE OF YORK looking for an Experienced Bass Player (21-30). About to Launch 3rd E.P (PRODUCED by Aria Award Winner Paul McKercher) If you: · Are committed to regular rehearsal and gigs · Have your own transport · Own Pro-Gear · Are an experienced performer · Can sing in tune/do harmonies · Love ROCK of all styles Then listen to our tunes at: www.triplejunearthed.com/roseofyork Email Chris and Daz at roseofyork@hotmail.com if interested! iFlogID: 18754
PLAY SWING CALLING ALL INTERMEDIATE WIND PLAYERS There is a place for you in our swing band. Come and join our group, working with an experienced band director.’ Contact Dave 98078866 or email oddsocksmusic62@yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 18777
young guitar player looking to start metal, punk band. influences include metallica, ozzy, black sabbath megadeth, trivium, bullet, anthrax, slayer slipknot and many many more. email space1996@hotmail.com if interested iFlogID: 17027
BASS PLAYER
BASS PLAYER WANTED ASAP
Bass player wanted urgently for original grunge/rock n roll band looking to gig and record ASAP. Influences brmc, QOTSA, nirvana. Must be willing to rehearse weekly in the city. Email zoocitylads@live.com.au. iFlogID: 18866
CHRISTIAN BASS PLAYERS NEEDED Christian Bass Players needed for Contemporary New Church Plant in Sydney (2yrs old, 50-100 people), Sunday services and Tuesday practice. Call Lex on 0438654765 iFlogID: 18901
Do you get a gut growl when listening to Nirvana? Do you have a good stage presence? Then play in our f#*cking band NOW! Call 0488 488 546 NOW! iFlogID: 18565
HARDROCK/ METAL BASS
Bass player with metal ability wanted for originals hard rock band. Own equip + exp a must. Influences Megadeth, Van Halen, Dream Theater. Have songs but no bass written Check site bandcamp.com under No Warning,Been playing a while and have lots of giging experience contact us at reidrokka@yahoo.com.au
iFlogID: 18298
iFlogID: 18931
FREE RECORDING Audio students seeking bands to record & mix in a professional studio. Located in Sydney CBD. Must be able to play to a click track. Text 0433442255
Wollongong-based hard-rock-with-ladyvocals outfit looking for no-bullshit bass player for local gigs, possible recording. Ages 17-25. Influences: Zelda, Pokemon, Pirate Metal NO DICKHEADS PLEASE Contact: emrisband@gmail.com
iFlogID: 16983
KEYBOARD PLAYER WANTED: Working Central Coast based 50’s Rock & Roll band looking for a keyboard player. Must have knowledge of 50’s music and own reliable transport Email: raveon56@hotmail.com iFlogID: 18591
iFlogID: 18760
DRUMMER 3pce rock band needs decent drummer w/kit/transport/ability/experience, dynamic songs solid rock, age/gender irrelevant, scope for self-expression whilst being tight, seriousfun band, loud, irreverent, rock. mp3 available phil 0402069500 iFlogID: 18735
CAN YOU HIT STUFF GOOD?! Indie rock duo from Campbelltown looking for a dedicated drummer. Between 18 - 25, own gear and transport is required. Contact Anton: 0426822750 iFlogID: 18719
CHRISTIAN DRUMMERS NEEDED Drummers Needed – Christian drummers needed for Contemporary New Church Plant in Sydney (2yrs old, 50-100 people), Sunday services and Tuesday practice. Call Lex on 0438654765 iFlogID: 18897
Drummer hard rock/blues style with chops like John Bohnam, Ian Paice, Mitch Mitchell. Physical Graffiti band need you, rehearsals in Homebush/Kogarah area. For an audition call John 0404018730. iFlogID: 18732
Drummer needed for Sydney hard rock band. Aged 17-21, must have a dedication to music, good work ethic, and playing experience. Contact: 0400 886 673 for more details. iFlogID: 18559
DRUMMER WANTED!!!! Experienced drummer wanted for a new and original project based in Sydney’s inner west. Styles include Hard rock, jazz, funk, dark groove, acid jazz, fusion, rock and trip hop. This is an unconventional line up of two bass players and horns. Persons interested must have transport, good equipment and be willing to jam once a week in the inner west area. Anyone interested can contactDan 0424529917 or Wayne 0430131541 iFlogID: 18807
Experienced drummer with a commitment to practice and regular rehearsals required for Melbourne-based alternative rock band. Influences QOTSA, Foo Fighters, Nirvana… www.myspace.com/mollydredd 0411 372 469
GUITARIST WANTED Female singer wants guitarist for covers duo to do gigs. rock/pop sarah 0439915707 iFlogID: 18789
Heavy, light Garage/punk/rock Stix and/or Axe/vox needed for 3/peace Original band in Sydney. Big Beats, raw Riffs & Poppyseed melodies of d minor Fuzz. Ages 0-100. Influenze: NIRVANA. Apply within 0403859234. iFlogID: 18377
Looking for Hard Rock / Metal guitarist with prog influences for Western Sydney band, must have own gear and transport and be reliable. Call Anton on 0426822750. Cheers! iFlogID: 18468
Nationally touring band seek guitarist. Influences RHCP, RATM, hedPE, Suicidal Tendencies. Pro gear/attitude. You can listen to songs @ www.thesidetrackedfiasco. com. Rehearsals Sydney Inner-west Contact Johnny 0434-970-561. iFlogID: 18764
PUNK, THRASH, HARDCoRE band is looking for a drummer. Influences from Left Over Crack and Piss Christ to NOFX, The Descendents, and The Distillers. Original music written and ready to play! Newtown area. Msg 0406605180 iFlogID: 18677
SIGNED BAND TRIALING DRUMMERS Signed Sydney Indie/Rock/DrumNBass Trio are looking for a young(18-26), gig ready, dedicated and ambitious drummer. Must have great gear/kit/sampling+electronics. Think Pendulum meets Muse. Call 0448-080-619 to arrange audition! iFlogID: 18749
Working band looking for versatile DRUMMER. Blues/Roots/Swamp/Rockabilly areas, original material and standards. Ability to jam and play on any kit. MUST be able to tour occasionally, be dedicated, interested in being a part of a band. Nthn Illawarra based. Age preferred 25+ but OPEN to ALL applicants. See website for songs. www.damnfinegentlemen.com.au contact damnfinegentlemen@gmail.com iFlogID: 18846
GUITARIST
iFlogID: 18899
Country rock band requires keyboard/synth player to complete lineup, harmony vocals an advantage. Originals and covers. Rehearsing Botany Tuesday evenings, paid gigs. Send your bio to; alteregoprom@gmail.com check out the songs and vibe on www.merilynsteele.com iFlogID: 18833
SINGER Acoustic guitarist looking to form duet 3 piece to perform original acoustic songs. Looking for singers who also write to colloborate. Genres blues soul but not restricted, more about having fun and writing good music. Contact Javier 0450 459 869 or email javlopz@yahoo.com.au. Thanks. iFlogID: 18927
CAN YOU SING?!!
iFlogID: 18547
Energetic and charismatic singer wanted to front a newly founded hard rock band with a groove. Must have easy access to Bondi 2-3 times a week. Preferred age:18-26. Call Jonno-0412362425. iFlogID: 18526
GOSPEL SINGERS WANTED for nondenominational music ministry to record triple-CD in Perth. World-class, passionate and devotional vocalists sought. View www. THE001Music.com for details. Jesus is KIng! Reverend Eslam. God Bless You! iFlogID: 13088
Looking for other original acoustic duo’s/ bands with a following to share the bill and do live gigs together. Contact RemmosK@gmail.com iFlogID: 18849
iFlogID: 13407
iFlogID: 18893
CHRISTIAN GUITARISTS NEEDED Christian Guitarists needed for Contemporary New Church Plant in Sydney (2yrs old, 50-100 people), Sunday services and Tuesday practice. Call Lex on 0438654765 iFlogID: 18903
Guitarist wanted for new original band. Rock/alternative/punk with 2 females 1 male. Rehearse in the inner west. No time wasters or beginners. email meeghankairus@hotmail.com
CUSTOM MADE MUSICIAN PLUGS Musician Plugs come in four different filter choices to reduce the volume of loud music to a safer level. They will not distort the tonality of the music, rather simply reduce the volume ‘equally’ across all tones. Fitted by a qualified hearing professional we have a number of locations throughout Sydney as well as in the CBD. To make an appointment call 9223 0225. iFlogID: 17016
Fully Qualified & 8yrs Experience, Thai Massage $49/hr or Sensual Balinese Aroma $69/hr. In/Out calls, Male/Female Welcome. www.takecaremassage.com.au - By Anson 0433646338 iFlogID: 17428
GRAPHIC DESIGN FULL COLOUR BAND GIG POSTERS @ AMAZING PRICES 100 A4 full colour on Gloss = $40 100 A3 full colour on Plain = $50 100 A3 full colour on Gloss = $80 100 SRA3(32 x 45cm) full colour on Gloss = $80 WWW.BLACKSTAR.COM.AU
SINGER WANTED - ASAP Experienced Progressive Heavy Groove Band seeks, Strong Heavy/Melodic Vocalist. Think Sevendust(ish) for vocals style wanted etc. READY TO PLAY!!! Call Sven 0421540972 iFlogID: 18370
iFlogID: 18762
MUSIC PRODUCTION COURSE 6 WKS.
A practical guide to computer based recording with the bulk of the course being hands on with no more than 2 students per work station. The course is software neutral. The software and platform take a secondary role to the concepts that are being taught. Six 3 hour lessons over six Saturdays @ $660. Students are able to use the teaching resources anytime during the six weeks course for free. Contact Zen Studios 02-9550-3977. www.zenstudios.com.au iFlogID: 18917
SCHOOL OF ROCK - ZEN STUDIOS
Get your Band or Business Online Cost effectively and PROFESSIONALLY- from $299 including UNLIMITED pages, Logos, Hosting and 5xemail addresses and much more! Contact info@bizwebsites. com.au or see www.bizwebsites.com.au
School of Rock teaches students from primary school to high school, from anywhere in Sydney with any level of musical talent. School of Rock helps students form a suitable band based on each of their musical likes and level of experience. Classes run every day of the week (Weekdays: 4.30pm – 6.00pm, Saturday/Sunday: 8.30am – 10.00am) at $320/per term (including all teacher fees, room and instrument rental). Each term includes a free recording session @ Zen Studios and a live show at The Valve Hotel in Tempe. Contact Ash 0450-406-201. www.schoolofrockinnerwest.com.au
iFlogID: 13864
iFlogID: 18803
iFlogID: 16754
The Cleftomaniacs (pun intended!), the enthusiastic 25-member a cappella choir who brought you the most recent Sydney A Cappella Festival, invite new members (especially those lovely tenor & bass blokes). Eclectic repertoire from Sting to gospel to classical polyphony and we love to gig! Rehearsals school term Thursday evenings in Waterloo. Contact Catherine 02 9388 7010 / 0414 517 010 / flittie@iinet.net.au
TUITION DRUMMER AND DRUM LESSONS Avaliable in Gladesville Teach all Levels, ages and experience.16 years experience. I studied at The Billy Hydes Drumcraft Academy and Obtained a Diploma in Drummig. $60/HR Mob: 0402663469 Michael
iFlogID: 18887
BEAUTY SERVICES
Christian Keyboard/Pianists needed for Contemporary New Church Plant in Sydney (2yrs old, 50-100 people), Sunday services and Tuesday practice. Call Lex on 0438654765
MY OH MY are looking for a singer, we are the real deal. Solid existing supporter base, playing alternative rock. Influences Foo Fighters through to Mayday Parade call Dane 0407795671
iFlogID: 18721
Singer for classic rock band - think Cream, Free, Bad Company, Muse, Stone Temple Pilots. Age 30+, male or female. Professional and mature attitude needed. Call Noel 0409 455 280
SERVICES
18 year old guitar player looking for another guitar player. Influences: GN’R, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, New York Dolls. Preferrably someone in the south (Shire). Call Tom on 0401722767 CAN YOU SING AND PICK GOOD?! Indie rock duo from Campbelltown looking for a dedicated vocalist / guitarist. Between 18 - 25, own gear and transport is required. Contact Anton: 0426822750
iFlogID: 18933
SINGER FOR CLASSIC ROCK BAND
CHRISTIAN KEYS PLAYERS NEEDED
= iFlogID: 18375
PUNK ROCK DRUMMER WANTED
For Originals Hard Rock Band. Strong Voice, Style, Presence. Have songs but no Lyrics and Vocal melody. Influences Megadeth, Van Halen, Dreamtheater. check site bandcamp. com under No Warning, have lots of giging experience and rehearse regularly. contact Stuart at s.t.u.t@hotmail.com
KEYBOARD
iFlogID: 16936
Heavy, light Garage/punk/rock Stix and/or Axe/vox needed for 3/peace Original band in Sydney. Big Beats, raw Riffs & Poppyseed melodies of d minor Fuzz. Ages 0-100. Influenze: NIRVANA. Apply within 0403859234.
ROCK SINGER WANTED
Get your Band or Business Online Cost effectively and PROFESSIONALLY from $299 including Hosting and email addresses! Contact info@bizwebsites.com.au or see www.bizwebsites.com.au iFlogID: 15450
Graphic designs, desktop publishing, logo, cd cover, business cards, flyers - very reasonable price. 7+ years experience. Contact: Nix 0401270304 tw3ntyonedesigns@gmail. com www.facebook.com/twentyonedesigns iFlogID: 18514
Limited Edition mens tees and hoodies with a sense of humour. All hand-screened and numbered. monstrositystore.com
SYDNEY RADIO SCHOOL Take the first step towards a career in the media. Enrolments now open. sydneyradioschool.com.au iFlogID: 18304
iFlogID: 13611
OTHER EARPLUGS FOR MUSICIANS Protect your hearing with custom moulded earplugs designed to reduce the level of sound without adversely affecting the frequency response of the music. Choose between 10,15 and 25dB attenuation. Fitted by professional audiologist, by appointment only. Ph 9387 3599
TUITION - GUITAR, BASS, DRUMS
iFlogID: 15216
Get your Band or Business Online Cost effectively from $299 including Hosting, Shopping Cart and 5 email addresses! Contact info@bizwebsites.com.au or see www.bizwebsites.com.au. iFlogID: 15454
If you want to use DRUGS, that’s your business If you want to STOP, we can help. Narcotics Anonymous 9519 6200 www.na.org.au iFlogID: 16217
Need to promote your restaurant, club and make it the place to go? Contact us now, because providing good entertainment is a personal skill. Chris 0419 272 196 ventura@yayabings.com.au iFlogID: 15175
What happens when you start paying attention? When you become an active member and start participating in this elusive thing we call life. WWW.WHATISTHEHAPS.COM iFlogID: 17980
iFlogID: 18737
iFlogID: 18895
For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au
The School of Rock offers tuition in guitar, bass guitar, drums, harmonica, singing and songwriting techniques. Our instructors have years of experience teaching people how to play and take that talent onto the stage.For more info. call 02 9550 3977 or visit www.schoolofrockinnerwest.com.au. iFlogID: 18484
SHARE ACCOMMODATION AVAILABLE CHEAPER THAN A TAXI! Stay at Melbourne Metro YHA this weekend - cheaper than a taxi and more comfy than couch surfing; YHA hostels are not just for backpackers! Multishare beds from $27 per person. iFlogID: 18743
THE LEADING SCHOOL FOR TODAY’S MUSIC INDUSTRY
TRIMESTER 3 STARTS 10 SEPTEMBER APPLY NOW