Inpress Issue #1125 by TheMusic.com.au

VICTORIA'S HIGHEST CIRCUL ATING STREET PRESS

MUSE ON SALE JUNE 7TH !! FREE POSTER INSIDE!

JACK JOHNSON

PENDULUM

DAPPLED CITIES

FAITHLESS ZEBRA

ST R U N G O U T U NE A RT H CRYS TA L C A S T L ES PA R A D E S

W E D N E S D AY 2 J U N E 2 0 10 ~ I S S U E 112 5 ~ F R E E

MELBOURNE - MORNINGTON PENINSULA - BALLARAT / BENDIGO - GEELONG / SURF COAST

33,408

SECRET SOUNDS PRESENTS

EXTRA SHOW ! ADDED

SIDESHOWS ON SALE NOW

THUR 5th AUG THE HI-FI special guests BOY & BEAR and JOHNNY FLYNN

Tickets from Ph 1300THEHIFI, www.thehiﬁ.com.au, Polyester, Greville Records

ON SALE THIS FRIDAY 4th JUNE The Album ‘Go’ CD/DVD - Experience Edition - out now

I SPEAK BECAUSE I CAN OUT NOW ON EMI

www.lauramarling.com

ASH the album A-Z Vol.1 OUT NOW WE ARE SCIENTISTS the album Barbara out June 18 TICKETS FROM BILLBOARDTHEVENUE.COM.AU, MOSHTIX PH 1300 GET TIX (438 849), OR WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU, TICKETEK, POLYESTER & USUAL OUTLETS

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

CLOUD CONTROL

WEDNESDAY JULY 28 CORNER HOTEL Tickets from venue: 57 Swan St Richmond (Mon – Sat 11am-8pm) Ph: 03 9427 9198 or www.cornerhotel.com

New album THE RUNAWAY Out July on Heavenly/Cooperative

FREE Sampler! Check out some of our favourites go to secret-sounds.com.au to download your Playlist 4

Wednesday 2 June

AKASA

8.30pm, $12/$10 Entry (band room)

Thursday 3 June

MISTER BLACK AND BLUES

5.30pm, Free in the Front Bar

THE BOY WHO SPOKE CLOUDS + BIANCA POITEVIN + GENEVIEVE AND JEZEBEL 8.30pm $7 Entry (band room) Friday 4 June

SON OF A GUN

6pm Free in the Front Bar

Saturday 5 June

BEN CARR TRIO 5.30pm Free in the Front Bar LYDIA PHILLIPS + ALANNA AND ALICIA EGAN BAND 8.30pm $8 Entry (band room) Sunday 6 June

LOUKIA FEATURING FIRST CHORUS: BAND OF SINGERS 5pm , $10 Entry (band room) EARL GREY POLICY + THE STILLSONS 8.30pm, $5 Entry (band room) Coming Up...

Open...MON - THU...from 4pm ‘til late FRI...from 2pm ‘til late SAT - SUN...from 12pm ‘til late

Live Music Bookings wesleyannebookings@gmail.com www.wesleyanne.com.au

8/6: DAN MUSIL + PHIA + DAVID GRANT, 9/6: JOHN FLANAGAN AND THE BEGIN AGAINS + YELKA + HAZELMEN BROTHERS, 10/6: THE BOY WHO SPOKE CLOUDS + GOODNIGHT OWL + VICTORIANA GAYE, 11/6: TOBIAS HENGEVELD + CLARE JENKINS, 18/6: SHANE WALTERS, 19/6: JESS CHALKER + COBY GRANT

Autumn Special Two for one meals on Mondays (excludes steak, fish and specials)

bookings: 9482 1333 5

S I H T EK E W

WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE OPEN MIC NIGHT 8PM FREE

THURSDAY 3 JUNE THE GALLANT TREES + PRAIRIE BAND 8PM FREE

FRIDAY 4 JUNE

TTHE VELVET CAKE GYPSIES + ALYSIA MANCEAU 10PM FREE

SATURDAY 5 JUNE PORT NIGHTS + DI WATSON 10PM FREE

SUNDAY 6 JUNE OPEN DECKS NIGHT 6PM FREE

635 HIGH ST THORNBURY VIC 3071 OPEN 5PM TILL LATE, CLOSED MONDAYS PH (03)9495-0341 WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THEBENDERBAR

No.109

BRUNSWICK

Thursday 3 june

Sime Nugget Solo singer - songwriter playing original roots and pop. 7.30pm

Saturdays in June

Spoonful Get ready: Spoonful are coming to town. Every Saturday in June this highly charged rhythm and blues rock band - featuring Paul Winstanley, Kit Warhurst, Andre Warhurst and David Lord - deliver a killer show. You’ve got to see to believe it. 5pm

Sun 6 june

Ewan Cloonan Union Fiddle, geetar and drums, this upbeat alt-country trio is all the way from healesville. 5pm

THE UNION HOTEL

BRUNSWICK 109 UNION ST, BRUNSWICK UHBBOOKINGS@YAHOO.COM.AU

9388 2235

PBS 106.7 FM and INPRESS present

An exclusive gig in a secret location. FEATURING

THE DRONES THE DACIOS and BATRIDER

150 double passes to be won. *

Enter when you buy a Coopers Dark Ale at these pubs:

THE GEORGE PUBLIC BAR THE CENTRAL CLUB HOTEL St Kilda

Richmond

WILD OSCARS THE COMFY CHAIR THE RETREAT HOTEL Richmond

Brunswick

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Fitzroy

COMMERCIAL CLUB HOTEL THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL Yarraville

Brunswick

THE MARQUIS OF LORNE

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Fitzroy

* Terms and conddititio ioons ap apply. See coopers.com.au for details. Exclusive gig date 17/7. Promotion ends at 11.59pm on 2/7/2010.

Secret Sounds presents

T WED 4 AUG THE HI-FI U O D L th

special guests BOYS&OBEAR and JOHNNY FLYNN

EXTRA SHOW ADDED!

th 5

THUR AUG THE HI-FI special guests BOY & BEAR and JOHNNY FLYNN

Tickets from Ph 1300THEHIFI, www.thehiямБ.com.au, Polyester, Greville Records

ON SALE THIS FRIDAY 4th JUNE

I SPEAK BECAUSE I CAN OUT NOW ON EMI

www.lauramarling.com

ISSUE 1125

WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE 2010 CREDITS EDITORIAL

Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast Editor Shane O’Donohue music@inpress.com.au Interval Editor Daniel Crichton-Rouse interval@inpress.com.au National Dance Editor Kris Swales zebra@inpress.com.au Contributing Editor Adam Curley Staff Writers Bryget Chrisfield, Michael Smith

ADVERTISING sales@inpress.com.au National Sales & Marketing Director Leigh Treweek Victorian Sales Manager Katie Owen Arts & local advertising Sarah Blaby Bands & local advertising Adrian Stoyles Zebra/Clubs Fern Greig-Moore

DESIGN & LAYOUT artroom@inpress.com.au Group Art Director Stuart Teague Inpress Cover Design / Art Direction Matt Greenwood Layout Matt Davis, Matt Greenwood, Stuart Teague

ACCOUNTS & ADMINISTRATION accounts@streetpress.com.au Accounts Qing Shu

CONTRIBUTORS

PARADES INPRESS 16

20 22 24 26 28 28 30 32 33 34 34

Foreword Line – news, opinions, tours, Backlash and Frontlash, and a look at the new Sound Emissions venture The King Khan & BBQ Show don’t like telling the truth Unearth love smashing Coopers Jack Johnson’s kids reckon their dad’s a bit soft Pendulum aren’t ruling out going completely metal Strung Out are happy underground Crystal Castles went squatting and recorded an album On The Record reviews new releases by Midnight Juggernauts, Tame Impala and The Gin Club Dappled Cities may be popular but they’ll never be cool The Vibrators are old punks but still covered Katy Perry Parades are an eclectic bunch Black Majesty have made one of the albums of the year

FRONT ROW 56

Snapshot goes to the dogs; Fragmented Films looks at the oeuvre of Edward D Wood; your next seven days planned out with This Week In Arts; Chasing Gravity’s Dominic Hooghuis trades drumsticks for the paintbrush Lux St Sin gears up for the inaugural Australian Burlesque Festival; Film Carew weighs in on New York I Love You, End Of The Line, and Food, Inc Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood talks about his other musical career as a composer; Sarah Ward joins the circus; Animal Kingdom and Sex In The City 2 get reviewed Ben Mendelsohn and David Michôd discuss the new Australian film everyone’s talking about, Animal Kingdom; we profile red gallery; Cultural Cringe attends the opening night of King Lear

34 BACK TO INPRESS 66 66 66 66 67 67 67 67 69 69 69 78 78 78 79 79 82 83 84 89 94 94

Boy & Bear are only young but already very good Barb Waters reminisces about growing up in country Victoria on her new album Gareth Skinner gets verrrry nervous before gigs Horse Stories are back in Melbourne for one show only Deborah Conway was a pop star only briefly Toe To Toe named their new album after a dead boxer Ron Rude’s old albums are being re-released Avi Buffalo never let his parents listen to his music Our LIVE section has everything you need to know about the world of Melbourne live music! Gig Of The Week says cough up for 3CR LIVE:Reviews wishes Lisa Mitchell was a bit louder Stu Harvey gives you a ShortFastReport on the world of punk and hardcore Andrew Haug takes us to the dark side in The Racket Kendal Coombs leads the under-18s boardroom in the Department Of Youth Adam Curley talks new releases in The Breakdown Dan Condon blues and roots in Roots Down If you haven’t appeared in Fred Negro’s Pub, your mother probably still speaks to you Jeff Jenkins RSVPs in Howzat! Our Gig Guide fills your diary for the weekend Find your new band and just about anything else in our classy Classifieds Finish Line hits hard with industry fact (and conjecture) Tom Hawking says don’t look back in Just A New York Conversation

PHOTOGRAPHERS Chrissie Francis, Kate Griffin, Kane Hibberd, Lara Luz, Lou Lou Nutt, Gina Maher, James Morgan, Heidi Takla, Nathan Uren.

INTERNS Andrea Biagini, Dale Brett, Mitchell Brown, Julian Hocking, Stefanie Markidis.

EDITORIAL POLICY The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. No part may be reproduced without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting letters to us for publication, you agree that we may edit the letter for legal, space or other reasons. ©

DEADLINES Editorial Friday 5pm Advertising Bookings Friday 5pm Advertising Artwork Monday 5pm General Inquiries info@inpress.com.au (no attachments) Accounts/Administration accounts@streetpress.com.au Gig Guide gigguide@inpress.com.au Distribution distro@inpress.com.au Office Hours 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday

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PRINTED BY Rural Press Victoria

GIVEAWAYS Jack Johnson

Senior Contributors Clem Bastow, Jeff Jenkins Overseas Contributors Tom Hawking (US), James McGalliard (UK), Sasha Perera (UK). Writers Nick Argyriou, The Boomeister, Paul Andrew, Atticus Bastow, Steve Bell, Tim Burke, Dan Condon, Anthony Carew, EJ Cartledge, Peter Chambers, Matthew Cheetham, Chris Chinchilla, Rebecca Cook, Kendal Coombs, Adam Curley, Cyclone, Michael Daniels, Wayne Davidson, Guy Davis, Carolyn Dempsey, Liza Dezfouli, John Eagle, Guido Farnell, Sam Fell, Bob Baker Fish, Johnny Gash, Cameron Grace, Stu Harvey, Andrew Haug, Andy Hazel, Anthony Horan, Rod Hunt, Layne Kim, Cookie Lee, Joey Lightbulb, Michael Magnusson, Baz McAlister, Keith McDougall, Sam McDougall, Tony McMahon, Adam D Mills, Count Monbulge, Luke Monks, Fred Negro, Mark Neilsen, Roger Nelson, Danielle O’Donohue, Matt O’Neill, Jordan Oliver, Adrian Potts, Paul Ransom, Symon JJ Rock, Adam Sharp, Nic Toupee, Rob Townsend, Dominique Wall, Doug Wallen, Rod Yates.

Email giveaways@inpress.com.au from 5pm Wednesday Having recently supported such big-name acts as The Presets and La Roux here at home, Triple J Unearthed winners Cassette Kids are all set to embark on their very first national headlining tour, in support of their debut album Nothing On TV. The album features the current radio single Spin, and utilises the skills of production duo Richard Wilkinson (Hot Chip, Adele, Magic Numbers, Carl Cox) and Michael Di Francesco (Van She, Ladyhawke). To celebrate the release, we have five Nothing On TV packs to give away, which include the new album plus a tote bag, badges and stickers.

After a number of critically acclaimed solo efforts, Barb Waters has returned with new band The Mothers Of Pearl to release Buffalo Mountain Girl, her heartfelt new album inspired by life growing up in country Victoria. Produced by Craig Pilkington (Gurrumul, Mick Thomas), the new album boasts delicious string arrangements blended with alt.country instrumentation, and is already beginning to receive rave reviews. Barb Waters & The Mothers Of Pearl launch Buffalo Mountain Girl this Saturday at the Thornbury Theatre and we have one double pass to give away.

Cassette Kids

As Jack Johnson tells Inpress on page 24, his kids wish his music rocked a little bit harder. We know plenty of people who’d disagree, and we’re tipping new album To The Sea will follow his previous records to the top of the charts. We have five copies to give away.

WORD UP TO PRIZE WINNERS: Prizes must be collected from Inpress offices during business hours (9am-5.30pm, Mon-Fri). ID is required when collecting prizes. Prizes must be collected within four weeks of the giveaway being published. Please note, Inpress giveaway policy is that winners are permitted one prize per four-week period only.

SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8 ON SALE THIS FRIDAY 1300 182 183 or theartscentre.com.au 136 100 or ticketmaster.com.au

Instore Friday June 4

Jack Johnson will donate 100% of his 2010 tour profits to charity. Learn more at AllAtOnce.org Presented by Michael Coppel, Nik Tischler & MAX I jackjohnsonmusic.com I jackjohnson.com.au I Brushfirerecords.com I coppel.com.au 13

The world’s biggest singing show is coming to Australia. It’s open to anyone over 16 including groups, even if you’ve tried out before. This time you will get a helping hand from judges Ronan Keating, Natalie Imbruglia, Guy Sebastian and Kyle Sandilands.

MELBOURNE AUDITIONS SATURDAY JUNE 5, SUNDAY JUNE 6 AND MONDAY JUNE 7, 2010

Have you got The X Factor? 14

REGISTRATION 9.00AM TO 3.30PM CAULFIELD RACECOURSE GATE 2, STATION STREET, CAULFIELD VIC 3162 www.xfactortv.com.au

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

HANLON FOR DEAR LIFE

GRIN AND BEAR IT

Urban folkster Darren Hanlon will release his fourth studio album, I Will Love You At All, next month with a national tour that will see him stop off at the Thornbury Theatre on Friday 20 August. Hanlon’s live band will feature longtime collaborator Corry Gray as well as Portland’s Shelley Short, who will join Hanlon on stage for vocal duties and open proceedings each night singing her alt.folk gems. Tickets to see Hanlon and co are on sale now from thethornburytheatre.com.

Grinspoon are going rural in September, with their Six To Midnight tour taking in venues across regional Victoria. With support from Amy Meredith and those loveable larrikins The Snowdroppers, the Aussie rockers will play the Inferno in Traralgon on Wednesday 8 September, Ferntree Gully Hotel on Thursday 9, Pier Live on Friday and the Eureka Hotel in Geelong on Wednesday 15 September. Tickets are on sale now from grinspoon.com.

GET NICKED

GOOD GRIEF

Singer/songwriter Dan Brodie is unveiling his new outfit Dan Brodie Y Grieving Widows with a show alongside folk rockers The Bulls at the Penny Black on Saturday. Brodie, former frontman of alt.country hipsters The Broken Arrows, will be joined by longtime campadre and sibling Chris Brodie on bass and Dave Nichols on drums. The performance will showcase new tracks from an upcoming album as well as some older Brodie material. Entry is free.

BELLS WILL RING

WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE

SONGWRITERS’ COLLECTIVE PRESENTS:

JESSICA PAIGE THE HAPPY ENDINGS DUCKS IN THE MUD JESS HIESER ENTRY $7, 8PM

THURSDAY 3 JUNE

New York’s experimental dream-pop group School Of Seven Bells will head to Melbourne in August, with a tour coinciding with the release of their new album, Disconnect From Desire. The trio, composed of identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza (formerly of On Air Library) and Benjamin Curtis (formerly of Secret Machines), released their debut album Alpinisms in 2008 and have since toured with the likes of Blonde Redhead and Bat For Lashes. They will play the Northcote Social Club on Sunday 1 August. Tickets are on sale now the Corner box office, northcotesocialclub.com and civilsociety.com.au.

CACOPHONY SOCIETY MANNY FOX HANGMAN’S CLUB ENTRY $7, 9PM

FRIDAY 4 JUNE

EP LAUNCH

CALICO JACKS THE KUJO KINGS

ENTRY $12, 8.30PM

SATURDAY 5 JUNE

RAINBIRD CHASING GRAVITY CRASH ARCADIA THE BLACK ACES

ENTRY $10 PRESALE, $10 DOOR, 8.30PM

MONDAY 7 JUNE

RESIDENCY

EL MOTH & THE TURBO RADS

GUEST DJS

ENTRY BY DONATION, 9PM

COMING UP:

SONGWRITERS COLLECTIVE PRESENTS: (WEDNESDAYS IN JUNE) SARITAH (10 JUNE) MARSHALL & THE FRO (ALBUM LAUNCH) (11 JUNE) A STATE OF FLUX (ALBUM LAUNCH) (12 JUNE) [ME], REDCOATS (13 JUNE) RED INK (17 JUNE) SLEEP PARADE (SINGLE LAUNCH) (18 JUNE) RAVE REVIEW 1ST BIRTHDAY (19 JUNE) MUMBLETOWN (24 JUNE) VAUDEVILLE SMASH (25 JUNE) ROOT! (26 JUNE) IDA BRAIM (EP LAUNCH) (1 JULY) JACK’S CASTLE (2 JULY) OWN KIND (EP LAUNCH) (3 JULY) CLOUD CITY (EP LAUNCH) (9 JULY) SMALL TOWN FIASCO (EP LAUNCH) (10 JULY) THE PROCESS (15 JULY) STRIKE ANYWHERE (17 JULY) JUNGAL (ALBUM LAUNCH) (23 JULY) AUTUMN GRAY (24 JULY) MATT SONIC & THE HIGH TIMES (30 JULY) NORTH EAST PARTY HOUSE (13 AUGUST) INDIGO CHILDREN (14 AUGUST)

MONEY FOR CUP Local six-piece Money For Rope will perform at this year’s Community Cup after winning the Free Kick competition at the Espy last week. They beat stiff competition from up-and-comers The Delta Riggs, Wilfred Jackal, Boarders and The Kremlin Succession. With this year’s Cup honouring The Clash, each band played one of the seminal London punks’ songs, with Money For Rope ditching their planned take on Guns Of Brixton for a charged version of White Riot. The band’s storming rock – propelled by two drummers – impressed judges representing Inpress, RRR, PBS, SYN FM and the Espy. The Community Cup sees the Espy Rockdogs take on the RRR/PBS Megahertz in a friendly game of footy on Sunday 27 June at Elsternwick Park. Along with Money For Rope, live music will be provided by The Living End, a re-formed Nick Barker & The Reptiles, The Blackeyed Susans and Little Freddie & The Pops. Money raised on the day goes to the game’s official charity partner, Reclink.

BIGGER CINEMA

With tickets for their Melbourne Splendour In The Grass sideshow sold out, Northern Irish trio Two Door Cinema Club have moved their show from the East Brunswick Club to Billboard to accommodate more fans. Tickets purchased for the East Brunswick Club will be valid for the new venue. Scoop up some of the remaining tickets for the Tuesday 3 August show from billboardthevenue. com.au, moshtix.com.au or Ticketek.

AIRBOURNE IN MELBOURNE

Hard rock expats Airbourne are returning home for their first Australian tour since 2007. With new album No Guts No Glory reaching number one on the ARIA Australian Artist chart, the band will play the Hi-Fi on Monday 1 November. Tickets for the Melbourne Cup eve event go on sale tomorrow from the Hi-Fi box office, Polyester Records, Greville Records and airbournerock.com.

LOWRIDIN’ ROUND THE WORLD

YOSHITORO

THE RESIGNATORS STRANGELY ATTRAKTIVE

Hailing from the southern suburbs of Chicago, Nick Willett draws from a range of influences including rock’n’roll, gospel, country and rockabilly. He will play the East Brunswick Club on Sunday 6 with support from DJ Mohair Slim and Melbourne’s own The Starliners, who are reuniting after years apart for a special one-night-only performance. Tickets are available from the East Brunswick Club box office.

STRAIGHT TO HELL

IT’S ALL IN YOUR MIND

With new album Round The World due for release on Wednesday, Adelaide quartet Lowrider will take their unique blend of soul and funk to audiences across the country. Having supported the likes of Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera and Lupe Fiasco, Lowrider know how to rock a live show and are ready to prove it when they stop off at the Westernport Hotel in San Remo on Friday 23 July (tickets available from the venue or moshtix.com. au) and the Corner Hotel on Saturday 24 July (tickets available from the Corner box office).

Busy with their national tour alongside fellow Sydneysiders Cloud Control, psychedelic pop champions Richard In Your Mind have announced the launch of their new album My Volcano with a show at the Northcote Social Club on Friday 9 July. Their new album is a kaleidescope of indie pop, building on the bright psychedelia of previous EP Summertime. Tickets for the July show are available from the Corner box office and northcotesocialclub.com.

Metal supergroup Hellyeah – made up of Vinnie Paul (Pantera, Damageplan), Chad Gray (Mudvayne), Greg Tribbett (Mudvayne), Bob Zilla (Damageplan) and Tom Maxwell (Nothingface) – are on the verge of dropping Stampede, the follow-up to their 2007 self-titled debut. To celebrate its release the band will play Billboard on Friday 30 July.

THIRSTY FOR MORE

Sydney’s beloved Aussie rock lads Thirsty Merc will be back on the national trail this June and July, with a new album and a string of shows across the country. The Mousetrap Heart tour will showcase brand new material off the band’s forthcoming record as well old favourites from their previous two albums. They will play Karova Lounge in Ballarat on Wednesday 7 July (tickets from the venue or oztix.com.au), Bended Elbow in Geelong on Thursday 8 July (tickets from the venue, oztix.com.au or moshtix.com.au) and the Corner Hotel on Friday 9 July (tickets from the Corner box office or oztix.com.au).

PAYNT THE TOWN

Melbourne singer/songwriter Michael Paynter will grace the Corner Hotel tomorrow night, showcasing material from his forthcoming EP, including new single After The Fall. Joining him will be special guests Coby Grant and Ben Abraham. Tickets are available from the Corner box office.

A-MUSE-ING ANNOUNCEMENT Massive Brit rockers Muse will return to Australia in December. Backing up their electrifying performances at the Big Day Out earlier this year, Matt Bellamy and co will be back to bookend 2010 with their supermassive stadium sounds. The English rock juggernaut boasts five studio albums, including their latest highly acclaimed effort The Resistance. With a live show promising a journey through the black holes, revelations, butterflies and hurricanes of the band’s formidable recording history, plus the spectacular laser and light shows they’ve become renowned for, Muse will play Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday 14 December. Tickets go on sale on Monday through Ticketek.

$2 CARLTON POTS EVERY MONDAY FRI, 4 JUNE - FAMILIA MOJA FUNDRAISER FRI, 11 JUNE – FIRE! SANTA ROSA FIRE! (ALBUM LAUNCH) FRI, 18 JUNE – CHRIS O’NEIL (EP LAUNCH)

FRI 4 JUNE FAMILIA MOJA FUNDRAISER FT.

MISO +HOULETTE + OWL & MOTH + SHEAHAN DRIVE

SUN 6 JUNE - JUNE RESIDENTS

SAT 5 JUNE ‘WONDERFUL & FRIGHTENING’ - A TRIBUTE TO THE FALL FT. MEMBERS OF WITCH HATS + PETS WITH PETS + PARADING W/ BREAKER MORANT + YIS!

THE FROWNING CLOUDS

+ DELTA RIGGS W/ HERE COMES THE SUN

SAT 12 JUNE

FRI 11 JUNE

FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE! (ALBUM LAUNCH) GREAT EARTHQUAKE (ALBUM LAUNCH) W/ KIMBRA + DEEP SEA ARCADE W/ LOVE CONNECTION + MILK TEDDY SUN 13 JUNE - JUNE RESIDENTS

THE FROWNING CLOUDS + DELTA RIGGS RESIDENCE

THURS 17 JUNE

THE GOOD CHINA (FAREWELL SHOW) W/ INSTITUT POLAIRE + THE BON SCOTTS

SAT 26 JUNE

THE BOX ROCKETS (DOUBLE A-SIDE

LAUNCH) W/ JIMMY HAWK & THE ENDLESS PARTY + SKYE HARBOUR

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS

Missed ‘em last week? Here’s another chance to score two big tracks from Tame Impala and Ellie Goulding for absolutely nothin’ – simpy head to universalmusic. net.au/freedownloads/streetpressaustralia and get downloading. Solitude Is Bliss Mickey Moonlight Remix TAME IMPALA Tame Impala are a rainbow sandstorm of stoned riffage, mind-bending melody and blessed-out adventurism from the most isolated city in the world. Their eagerly anticipated debut album, InnerSpeaker, is an explosive, cosmic wonderland of ecstatic harmony and perfectly accessible journeys into inner space. Solitude Is Bliss is a joyous summertime romp through fields of honeyed harmony and crispy good times and is just the very tip of the amorphous cosmos that is InnerSpeaker. Wish I Stayed ELLIE GOULDING Ellie Goulding is definitely a name you can expect to hear bandied around in 2010. Virtually unknown 12 months ago, Goulding has caught the attention of UK tastemakers and has already won the coveted BBC Sound Of 2010 poll, as well as the Critic’s Choice Award at this year’s Brit Awards. Very few singer/ songwriters, young or old, can flip between dance’til-you-drop euphoria and wistful, journeying spacefolk as Goulding does on her debut album Lights. Wish I Stayed pinpoints the love-hate relationship every leaver has about their home town.

SPREADING THE LOVE

Strung Out and The Loved Ones have announced the support acts for their June tour. Joining the punk rock legends on their Wednesday 9 June show at the Barwon Club in Geelong will be local outfit Lostboyfound, while breakcore upstarts Backyard Surgeons will join the party at the Hi-Fi Bar on Thursday 10 June. Tickets for the Barwon Club show are available through oztix.com. au and tickets for the Hi-Fi Bar show can be purchased at thehifi.com.au and Polyester Records.

DRUMMING UP A FUSS

New York cool kids The Drums will head down under for the first time in August, treating Melburnians to a tasty Splendour In The Grass sideshow. The post-punk indie kings will follow up their festival performance with a show at the East Brunswick Club on Monday 2 August. Joining them will be Melbourne pop sweethearts The Motifs. Tickets go on sale on Friday from the East Brunswick Club box office.

HALLELUJAH, COHEN’S BACK AGAIN Following a 2009 Australian tour that won him international praise and the Helpmann Award for the Best International Concert, Leonard Cohen will return to our shores in October. The influential Canadian singer/ songwriter has a career spanning four decades and too many honours and awards to display on one mantlepiece, including Order Of Canada and Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards. Holding the unrivalled position as both an ordained Buddhist monk and inductee of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Cohen will have his nine-piece band and backing singers in tow when he performs at Rod Laver Arena on Friday 12 November. Tickets go on sale tomorrow from Ticketek.

MARK TWO

There’s been a strong response in Melbourne to the announcement that former Screaming Tees singer Mark Lanegan will tour Australia solo for the first time since 2004 – his Corner Hotel performance on Wednesday 7 July has sold out so a second date in the Espy’s Gershwin Room on Friday 9 July has been announced. Tickets are on sale now.

WINNING FANS

London-based collective Fanfarlo will tour Australia for the first time in August, in support of their new album Reservoir. The making of this ambitious record involved not only the instrumental staples of bass, drums and keyboard, but included ukelele, melodica and saw (yes, the one used cutting wood). The quirky pop powerhouse will play the Northcote Social Club on Thursday 5 August. Tickets are available from the Corner box office, northcotesocialclub.com and civilsociety.com.au.

SNOW BIG DEAL International indie pop heroes Miike Snow will head down under this August. Finding international success with their self-titled 2009 debut, the Swedish electro pop band sees US songwriter Andrew Wyatt join Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, who have established their lyrical finesse with songwriting credits for Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Britney Spears. The trio will play the Hi-Fi on Tuesday 3 August. Tickets go on sale 9am on Friday from thehifi.com.au, with a Frontier Touring members pre-sale from noon today.

SOME TINGS

EN ES PR TS

SAY IT AGAIN With their Thursday 29 July Prince Of Wales show sold out, New York’s Yeasayer have announced a second show. In something of a marathon evening, the second show will take place directly after the first. Doors for the first show will open at 8pm, with Yeasayer onstage at 9.30pm. Doors for the late show will be 11.15pm, with Yeasayer onstage at 11.45pm. Tickets for the late show are on sale now from handsometours.com, Polyester Records, Missing Link, Greville Records, the Prince Of Wales public bar and princebandroom.com.au.

Out here for Splendour In The Grass, Brit pop duo The Ting Tings have announced they will play a Melbourne headline show before the festival. The Grammynominated outfit, whose 2008 debut We Started Nothing yielded hits That’s Not My Name and Great DJ, play the Palace on Monday 26 July. Pre-sale tickets are available from noon tomorrow; general public tickets go on sale from 9am next Tuesday.

DUTCH BENEFIT

A benefit concert at the Thornbury Theatre will take place on Thursday 29 July, in support of legendary Australian blues musician Dutch Tilders, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. The line-up includes Tilders, Chain, Kevin Borich Express, Chris Finnen, Steve Russell, Geoff Achison, Lloyd Spiegel, Stevie Page and Jeannie Lushes, with more to be announced. All proceeds from the concert will go to Tilders in support of his treatment.

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT Triple J rotation for the album’s title track, Parsons will treat Melbourne folk to some intimate solo shows this month, bringing his sincere brand of melancholic pop to the Wesley Ann on Saturday 19 and the Builders Arms on Sunday 20 June, before crossing the border for his first interstate jaunt. Parsons will be back with a full band to launch the new album with shows at the Toff In Town on Saturday 7 and Pure Pop on Sunday 8 August.

I’M A COOL DAD!

Former Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock frontman, Ross Wilson, will prove his iconic Aussie rock credentials when he brings his band, The Peacenix, to Moorabbin’s Sandbelt Live on Friday 16 July. The legendary frontman, songwriter, producer and solo artist boasts a career spanning five decades and will perform tracks from his extensive musical history and also fresh material from his new album I Come In Peace. Tickets for the show are available from the venue or through Ticketek.

SECRET SOUNDS

WAY TO GO This country’s most popular hardcore band, Parkway Drive, are set to embark on their biggest ever tour in September. The Byron Bay group’s last album, 2007’s Horizons, debuted at number six on the ARIA charts while their Parkway Drive: The DVD release has gone platinum. With a new album, Deep Blue, released on 25 June, Parkway Drive play Festival Hall on Wednesday 29 September with The Devil Wears Prada, The Ghost Inside and 50 Lions. Tickets on sale from 9am Friday 11 June from Ticketmaster.

WORTH HIS WAITE PR

T EN

As the frontman of Sherbert, Daryl Braithwaite had 20 Australian Top 40 singles, including Summer Love, the highest-selling single of 1975, and Howzat, which went all the way to number two in England. Braithwaite’s debut solo album, 1988’s Edge, spent more than a year in the national charts and spawned hits including As The Days Go By, All I Do, Let Me Be and One Summer. Catch Braithwaite playing a rare solo show when her performs at the Espy on Sunday 13 June. Music starts from 5pm, entry is free.

PARSON PARCEL

Having just released his debut album Firestarter, the next couple of months look set to be a busy time for Brisbane’s Dan Parsons. Following the early reward of

Coopers Dark Ale, PBS FM and Inpress invite you to attend an exclusive gig at a secret location on Saturday 17 July. Featuring The Drones, The Dacios and Batrider, the free Sounds After Dark show, broadcast live to air on PBS, will be the most intimate gig The Drones have played in Melbourne in years. The band, whose local shows always sell out, recently performed at the Pavement-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in the UK. You can’t buy your way into this exclusive inviteonly event; for further info on how you can score yourself a ticket go to coopers.com.au/events/soundsafterdark.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS

A physical release of Fabulous Diamonds’ second album (simply titled Fabulous Diamonds II ) is still a couple of weeks away, but the album is already being enthusiastically received in the blogosphere – “Without question the most exhilarating, immediate thing these two have done so far,” trumpeted Gorilla Vs Bear, while The Fader recommended you “check them out now before the hopeful frenzy”. To celebrate the album’s release the band bring their lurching, reverb-heavy but still somehow sensually alluring sound to the Toff In Town on Saturday 17 July with Geoffrey O’Connor and Bum Creek.

MORE MARLING Brit folkie Laura Marling has sold out her Splendour sideshow at the Hi-Fi on Wednesday 4 August, so the singer/songwriter will now also play the same venue on Thursday 5 August. Marling has been winning rave reviews for her second album, I Speak Because I Can. Support at both shows will come from Boy & Bear and London’s Johnny Flynn.

BIG LITTLE ONES

Melbourne folk pop darlings The Little Stevies will be pulling out the gloves and beanies for their Welcome Winter tour across the East Coast, before retreating to the warmth of the studio to record their forthcoming second album. Following the release of their debut album Love Your Band, the childhood friends-cum-fourpiece have been charming audiences across Australia and abroad, and will bring their acoustic pop sounds to the East Brunswick Club on Wednesday 9 July with special guests Ben Wells & The Middle Names. Tickets are available through the East Brunswick Club box office.

All presale tickets available through MOSHTIX: Phone: 1300 GET TIX (438 849) on-line: www.moshtix.com.au, or at all Moshtix outlets, including Polyester (Fitzroy & City)

GO WITH THE FLO Florence & The Machine’s performance at Festival Hall on Tuesday 3 August sold out within half an hour of going on sale recently, so the band will now play a second show at the same venue the night before. Tickets for the Monday 2 show go on sale next Tuesday at 9am from Ticketmaster.

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

SOUND PRACTICE

Live Earth Australia is launching an interactive website called SOUND EMISSIONS that just might allow everyone who loves music to make a difference. MICHAEL SMITH talks to the man behind it, MAT MORRIS. Matt Morris

“B

ack in 2007, through the Live Earth concert series, a number of environmental grants were made available, one of which I was successful in securing to look at ways to help the entire Australian music industry move towards a lower carbon footprint,” begins Mat Morris, an Australian environmental scientist and music fan who specialises in carbon and resource management solutions and pioneered the ‘carbon ticket’, which allows fans to do their bit by offsetting some of their own travel emissions. “As part of that I undertook a fairly in-depth market research process, speaking with some of our larger touring companies, festival operators and a number of artists, to really get a handle on what they felt was missing in terms of moving us forward. “I found they basically fell into three groups. There were the ‘carbon crusaders’ – tour promoters and festival operators who were well ahead of the curve, right into addressing climate change issues and had put together programs and initiatives to tackle that. Then there is a much larger group I’d call the ‘carbon confused’,” he laughs. “These were people that knew that climate change is an issue, they wanted to do something about

BACKLASH

it, but it really wasn’t their core business so they didn’t really know how to go about doing it. And then of course there were ‘carbon evaders’, a small group that basically would either wait for government legislation or were really not interested in integrating climate issues into their daily business activities. The main message was that people just wanted something simple, a place to go where they could get simple, layperson information about managing their carbon emissions – and that’s how Sound Emissions was born.” A not-for-profit interactive website, Sound Emissions is the first of its kind in Australia and aims therefore to provide members of the Australian music community and fans with information, tips and resources required to minimise their carbon footprint and help us all become a little more “carbon smart”. To give you an idea of the sort of emissions involved, here are a few facts. If you drive to a gig, depending on how far you have to travel, you’ll generate anything up to 100kg of carbon emissions. If you’re an artist flying from, say, Melbourne to Perth to perform, you’re contributing 1600kg to carbon emissions. On the macro level, a typical 20,000 person outdoor festival – in terms of artists through airfares, freight, production, vehicles, electricity, generators and so on – generates up to 200 tonnes in carbon emissions, while the audience, just through travelling to and from the event, can generate from 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes. Obviously, the science behind climate change is incredibly complex, so the idea behind the Sound Emissions website is to provide this sort of information in a way that makes sense and provide users viable ways to do their small part in reducing at least their part of the carbon footprint. “It really is a complex set of issues and I think the trick really was to present the information in a way that was digestible. So on the Sound Emissions website it’s been broken down into parts of the music industry supply chain if you like, so there’s a section on artists, a section on Gary Coleman - pictured actual size

venues, festivals, tours, record companies and most importantly fans, because when you look at the total footprint of the music industry, probably around 90% of the emissions that are generated that are associated with the music industry are generated by fans getting to and from events. So the trick was really to identify those issues that revolve around avoidance, reduction and offsetting carbon emissions and present them in a way that people could see them and say, ‘Ah, that’s what they mean, I see how I can implement that and I can also see it’s not going to cost me the earth to make these changes’. “In the music industry supply chain, there are I think two important ‘pinch’ points – the fans and the artists – and the artists have an incredible ability to influence a massive cross-section of Australians to make the necessary behavioural changes… artists are becoming more aware that they have a power to influence, say, record companies to package their CDs in a greener way, to undertake greener tours or to have particular greener aspects to festivals they might play at.” As one of the aforementioned artists, Clare Bowditch, sees it, “Right now we are the very country who could be leading the world with the grand-scale development of our own ground-breaking sustainable energy industry! What’s with the hold up?” On the other hand, The Living End’s Scott Owen reckons, “We must leave this planet as tidy as we can for future generations.” It really isn’t rocket science. We really can all make a difference and the best way to know how, each in our own way, is to check into soundemissions.com.au. WHAT: Sound Emissions WHEN & WHERE : Launches this Saturday for World Environment Day, soundemissions.com.au

FRONTLASH

GARY COLEMAN

COLLABORATIONS

We’re gonna miss ya you crazy little bastard.

We should have an album from the Mike Patton and Tunde (TV On The Radio) hook-up by the end of the year, while Jack White and Jay-Z have also been trading ideas in the studio.

NEW ED HARDY CONDOMS Chances of conceiving while wearing one: zero. Chances of finding someone willing to shag you while wearing one: zero.

HIGH VIBES CANCELLED Our favourite street festival, traditionally held lateSeptember on High St, Northcote – and set to celebrate its tenth birthday this year – looks unlikely to go ahead in ’10 following the predictable ‘safety concerns’. Boooooo.

SEX AND THE CITY 2 The reviews of this cinematic abortion are far funnier than the film itself; our favourite so far is Lindy West’s hilariously caustic verdict at thestranger.com.

CHRISTIAN DEATH HERE IN AUGUST

WEDNESDAY LITTLE JOHN

2 ND JUNE 9 TIL 11

"THE BLUEGRASS SESSIONS" 4 JUNE 8.30 TIL CLOSE FRIDAY HUGGY PER SOUND SYSTEM TH

(SWEDEN)

TIL CLOSE SATURDAY 58.30JUNE BIN MAN FROM OP-SHOP TO LAP-TOP 6 JUNE SUNDAY 5 TIL 7 DAN BRODIE TH

(SOLO)

7 JUNE MONDAY 9 TIL 11 ADAM AFIF & FERGUS MCALPIN TH

AND FRIENDS

OPEN FIRE DINNER 7 NIGHTS LUNCH: SAT 12PM/SUN 1PM

9415 9904 MON - FRI 3PM TIL L ATE S AT MIDDAY TIL 1AM SUN 1 TIL 11

THE MARQUIS OF LORNE HO TEL CNR GEORGE + KERR S TREET S FITZROY

Wow.

SHOW AND TELL Last time KING KHAN was in Australia he skinned a koala and fought a kangaroo. Now he’s dragged his mate BBQ back for some shows with punkish R&B rock’n’soul doo-wop outfit THE KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW. The pair discuss their unusual working methods and chequered past with JEZ HEYWOOD.

“But we kept in touch for medical reasons.” BBQ takes the line and runs with it. “I had my foot grafted on to Khan’s shoulder at one point,” before Khan fires back with, “I actually gave BBQ both my kidneys by mistake.” So what brought them back together? “Kismet. A chance meeting at a sweat lodge. I thought it was somebody else’s fingers, and that’s what happened,” Khan offers. BBQ decides to answer the question seriously. “We were always in touch, we were always close dudes, like brothers. And when Khan moved to Germany we disbanded.” Khan is also imbued with a temporary sense of seriousness. “Everyone wanted to go in their own direction and do some other stuff. You can’t go far with a band name like Spaceshits.” Talk turns to Khan’s return to Australia: “I loved it. It was amazing. I ate a lot of oysters. We had a lot of fun. It was a great time. I skinned a koala,” he rattles off when asked of his last visit. This trip will be BBQ’s first, and he’s looking forward to it. “I’ve never been. I’ve always wanted to go, not only to visit but to play shows, so I’m really happy about this. Although Khan told me that somebody attacked him with a cricket bat or something like that.” Luckily, Khan is on hand to clarify the situation: “It was a kangaroo that punched me… I was laughing with BBQ about how it was hilarious that the English sent their criminals to Australia. Like, ‘Here, go to paradise. Go surfing and eat oysters all the time and we’re going to stay in jolly old London and eat shit’,” Khan laughs. “To be honest, we’ve kinda stopped touring in the UK. Coming to Australia was such a breath of fresh air, literally, the nature is just so beautiful. I’m very impressed. I’m really happy that we were received so well. Me and BBQ are even bigger than The Shrines out there I think. I’m totally into invading Australia as much as possible.” Khan and BBQ recently toured with another member in the band, but don’t expect to see that third member out here. “That was an attempt at having like a gameshow host tour with us. Then we wound up in jail. We’re not gonna do that again,” Khan laughs. “We had this idea of spicing it up a bit with an organ and having a guy being a comedian, but unfortunately we didn’t actually test his comic skills before that and they failed miserably. And then we wound up in prison together in Kentucky and it was like, ‘Okay, see you later, buddy’.”

iven the fact an ocean separates them, Arish ‘King’ Khan and Mark ‘BBQ’ Sultan are more than used to doing things from a distance. When the call comes through, Khan is in Berlin, his adopted hometown – “I just saw Hunx & His Punx. It was awesome. I just ran back” – while bandmate and long-time conspirator BBQ is in Toronto. “We’ve made a system of tunnels underneath the ground, through the earth, which makes travel a lot easier and more eco-friendly,” Khan says when asked about their working methods. “We teleport ourselves in to the earth’s core and psychedelically combine with magma to create music. Magma and music are both five-letter words.” Adds BBQ, “I really enjoy going there, it’s cool and everything, but a lot of people have caught on. The last time I went I kept seeing ex-members of Dogstar down there.” “We have a lot of fun when we write together and I think that transfers in to the music,” says Khan. “We like to laugh at life and people like to laugh at us.” BBQ continues, “Both of us, regardless of what we do independent of each other, we’re influenced a lot by vocal groups, doo-wop and R&B vocal stuff. We both

have a big love for that stuff. When I write songs, when Khan writes songs or when we get together it’s always going to be a certain formula.” And then there’s the possibly-confronting Tastebuds, from their latest album Invisible Girl. For those of you who haven’t heard it, the song sees Khan and BBQ wishing for tastebuds in some more intimate areas. Yes, down there. “If you can’t handle that kind of song, I don’t want you listening to our music,” BBQ states rather matter-of-factly. “If you really can’t handle stuff like that, if you’re really that much of a prude, then what do you want? There’s a Canadian label that was meant to put out that album or distribute it or something and one of the girls was going to quit over it,” he says, his voice a mixture of surprise and resignation. Khan butts in, laughing. “We managed to offend our publicist with that song. I think it’s great that we can still actually shock people to that level where our publicist is like ‘I can’t believe you did this song!’ Man, it’s 2010!” Khan was recently in Australia with his other band, The Shrines, playing sold-out shows to both rave reviews and the anguished howls of those that missed out. His return, mere months later, is thanks to the Lou Reed

and Laurie Anderson-curated Vivid festival in Sydney. “I think both of us were thrilled beyond belief,” Khan says when the topic of Reed and Anderson picking him and BBQ to play comes up. “It’s an incredible honour,” BBQ adds, before the inevitable wisecrack: “We went on video chat and were jerking off.” But it’s Khan’s follow-up, actually a serious statement, that gets the biggest laugh: “Actually, my family told me that I’d finally achieved something.” Continuing the serious note for a brief moment, BBQ adds, “Lou Reed is an amazing influence on us both. Since we were young.” Since 1995 at least, which is when Khan and BBQ first started playing together in Montreal’s Spaceshits. “We spent a lot of our teenage years together. We played in what was known as a pretty notorious punk band. We played daytime national TV at eight in the morning. There was someone from the Alzheimer’s foundation in the lobby who was going to get interviewed before us, but he was late somehow, so I made the joke, ‘Oh, I guess he forgot’. And everyone scowled at us. We got banned from places, wreaked havoc, spread scabies all over America. And then disbanded,” Khan explains.

If it wasn’t already obvious, getting a straight answer out of Khan and BBQ is something a journalist shouldn’t take for granted. Examples of writers just not getting it at all are easily found floating about on the web. “We do this so much that we’ve decided that it’s better to entertain ourselves in this situation,” Khan explains. “I hate reading the same bullshit ‘real story’ – you know, ‘We met in Montreal and went to this school…’ I’d much rather talk about the core of the earth. It’s like in the tradition of Sun Ra, creating the myth. We’re two very creative people. I’d rather have fun with BBQ on the telephone than get bored. If people can’t take it, they can fuck off. If we’re bored, you’re going to have a boring interview, but if we’re having fun… You get some of these half-assed blog idiots who have no idea what journalism is. There’s enough information about us on the internet that you can find out the truth so why not have a fun time and laugh. ‘What kind of music do you make? How long have you been playing?’ Who cares? I’ve been playing for ten minutes. How about that?”

WHO: The King Khan & BBQ Show WHEN & WHERE: Tonight, Corner Hotel

UNEARTHLY PLEASURES Massachusetts metal merchants UNEARTH last visited Australia for 2009’s Soundwave Festival and guitarist BUZ MCGRATH can’t wait to get back to get stuck into some Coopers beer, he tells DANIEL JOHNSON. of Metal Blade Records, and have released their subsequent three albums with the label. “Yeah, we’ve never really had a complaint with them; they’ve always treated us very well,” McGrath says. “Brian Slagel is kind of the godfather of heavy metal labels, he knows everything about extreme music and he’s been there and done it and they just have a good team of people down there that we get along with and they know what to do with us.” Despite having sold more than 100,000 copies of their latest album The March, appearing on the covers of metal magazines and spending more time on the road than not, McGrath says the band’s members are far from the millionaires many assume them to be. “We definitely scrape by; we’re not making a tonne of money. I haven’t worked a regular job in five or six years, which is cool, I feel like I’ve been on vacation for that amount of time. Every day I don’t have to go back to work is a blessing but we struggle sometimes with finances – we make it work but by no means are we rich.

“I

t’s a brilliant place to play,” McGrath says of our home country. “Besides all the festivals and stuff down there the club shows are always good and the kids are always hyped up and ready to have a good time. I love Coopers ale and the weather down there is awesome. VB is kind of, urgh – there’s something about that I’m not into. The Coopers red label is my beer of choice. I wish I could get it here; I’d drink the shit out of it.” Cold beer and warm crowds aside, McGrath is particularly looking forward to catching up with touring buddies and labelmates The Black Dahlia Murder, who Unearth last toured with in the US back in 2004. “It was one of the best tours we’ve done,” he says. “We’ve bumped into them at shows here and there and remain good friends, and we have been trying to do a tour with them again but the schedules never really matched up, so we kept missing each other. Then this Australian thing came up – we’re doing Japan, New Zealand and Australia. We were psyched

that they were around to do it, so it’s going to be fun to hang with those guys and do that again.” One aspect of gigging in Australia that McGrath finds difficult to get his head around is the often restrictive licensing conditions of Australian venues. “It’s such a baloney policy, but I guess you’ve got to do it. I would prefer that they would just open the door to everyone,” he readily admits. “I mean, the under-18 shows are usually crazier because they’re teenagers just going bananas, just letting out all their weird teenage hormone aggressions and just partying. “Not that the over-18 people don’t trash, but you get the older people who just like to come to the show and have a beer and hang out type of vibe. Both audiences are awesome. But it’d be a way better show if they just let everyone in, you know?” After building a following with a couple of EPs and debut album The Stings Of Consciousness on Eulogy Records, the band came to the attention

“It’s funny how the media kind of casts you in a certain light and people just look at you and go, ‘Whoa, they must be this or that,’ but we’re just like regular dudes, broke and just scraping by, but it’s art, it beats cleaning toilets... we’ve been keeping it afloat this long and hopefully we can keep it going. “Just to run a tour, it’s so expensive. You’ll get a tour offer and a guarantee for each show and you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s a pretty good amount of money,’ and then you see the amount of money that goes out and you go, ‘Man, there’s not going to be anything left for me afterwards’.” Since the band’s last tour here, The March has been reissued with a few new songs and an 80-minute DVD packed with documentaries and live performances. “From the record label perspective it’s just to get people out there and buy the record, because people download it for free or whatever, so it’s just kind of like an incentive for people to say, ‘Well all right, I’d like to get this full package,’ McGrath says. “It’s just a cool thing to have and I think that’s why a lot of labels like to do that. We like to do that too; we have all this cool footage laying around and you can give people something extra.

“When you get the record, that’s the way I grew up – is you’d go to the store and get it, hold it in your hand and listen to it and look at the booklet and it kind of added to the experience and now you just kind of get a song, you go online and just get it. You hear it and it’s awesome but I feel like there’s a texture missing... but I’ve grabbed a song for free here and there so I’m not trying to be all high and mighty.” Unearth are currently in the early stages of nutting out material for a new album, and McGrath says things are starting to come together. “The riff stork is visiting me every night and impregnating me with riffs so we’re getting some ideas going. We’re probably going to get in the studio at the end of the year and hopefully have something out by May of 2011.” Although nothing is set in stone as yet, McGrath says Killswitch Engage guitarist and renowned metal producer Adam Dutkiewicz, who has worked on the majority of the band’s releases to date, is once again at the top of the their wish list. “I think he just understands what we’re trying to do,” McGrath says of working with Dutkiewicz. “We have this vision and we’re trying to push it through our brains and out of our hands and to the guitar and out of the amp and maybe you get in your own way sometimes and can’t fully develop the idea in your brain – he knows what you’re going for, he knows that shot you’re going to take and he can help you take that shot and I think that’s why we keep going to him. “He’s been our friend for years and just his ear for music and especially guitars, he’s awesome with them and he gets good performances out of the bands he produces. I don’t see anything changing; he’s our first choice for every record unless he’s unavailable and we have to do something else but he’s definitely our go-to guy.” For those wondering what to expect from the band’s live show, McGrath offers the following: “It’s just a party on stage, especially with us and Black Dahlia Murder. We share the same good-time attitude as far as shows go. It’s just a positive vibe, people having fun, heavy metal, running on top of people’s heads, getting to the pit as they call it and doing karate moves – it’s a lot of fun.” WHO: Unearth WHERE & WHEN: Friday 4 (18+) and Saturday 5 June (arvo, under 18), Hi-Fi

FAMILY MATTERS JACK JOHNSON’s kids wish their old man rocked a bit harder, he tells SASHA PERERA ahead of the release of his new album, To The Sea.

he Johnson household is a tough audience. Despite selling millions of albums worldwide and being a top live draw around the globe, at home Jack Johnson is just plain ol’ dad. “I got a six-year-old, a three-year-old and another one that’s a few months old now and they like my stuff all right, but they like The White Stripes a little more. They like real rock like Led Zeppelin a lot, but they also like kids’ music like Raffi,” a relaxed and shaggy-haired Jack Johnson says in advance of the release of his new record To The Sea. His fifth studio album, To The Sea continues to build on the simple melodic structure of Johnson’s previous efforts, this time incorporating a fuller band sound. Whilst it may not be a heavy rock record per se, the record is noticeably more amped up. So, was Johnson trying to impress his kids? “It’s funny because when we get together and we all jam out – we all get together behind the drums or whatever and play – they want it to really rock.

They love to rock out, so maybe it is just me being a middle-aged guy who’s trying to impress my six-year-old who’s a real rocker.” Audiences concerned that Johnson has completely changed gear need not worry. In the same way that the album Sleep Through The Static took it up a notch, To The Sea lifts the musical backdrop with a more band-like presence. It is best exemplified by the first single You And Your Heart, which fuses both acoustic and electric guitar lines to find a natural progression to the Jack Johnson sound. “A lot of times we record the songs before we’ve ever played them live, so they’re really acoustic-guitar based and then we go out and play them live and they tend to transform into a sound that has more energy. I think this time going into the studio I felt a little more comfortable with the electric guitar after having played it on stage on the last world tour. “Also, the band actually produced this album. That was the first time we’ve ever done it where the four guys in the band, plus our friend Robert [Carranza] who engineers most of the records, co-produced the record together. We went in without a producer – no one was really in charge, so we approached it more with everyone throwing in their two cents. I think, as a result, the music became a little more band-focused.”

“I always have to ask myself the question, ‘Is this song too personal, to the level that I’m letting people know too much about my family?’ and hopefully the answer is no… When I sing a song about my little girl I really don’t want people to know details about her, other than it’s about a father meeting his little girl for the first time and thinking about what he’s going to have to teach her in this world.” At home in Hawaii since the bulk of the touring for his last album finished in August 2008, Johnson settled into family life, periodically picking up his guitar to write in between daddy-duties. “I mostly write songs at home and a lot of times nowadays it’s once I get all the kids to sleep and have time to reflect on what’s been going on in my life. It’s times like that where I’ll sit down with an acoustic guitar and play some music. It’s mostly in the house, but every once in a while I’ll go into the studio, which is basically the garage, just sectioned off. My brother and I built some walls in there and that’s where we’ve recorded most of the albums. “I can’t run all the equipment really. It’s not a real fancy studio, but my friend Robert runs the equipment, so when he’s not around I usually just use a little four-track that I used to use when I was a kid. You just press record, so it’s a little easier. Most times I’d start out with a drumbeat – on this album I started with the drums – and build from there, which was kinda backwards from normal for me. I’ve been playing the drums more and more, ever since I’ve been playing with the band. That’s my favourite thing to do; to just sit down and play the drums. This album has that difference where it’s not so acoustic-based this time around. Some of it started with the groove and then we built on top of that.” The title of new album To The Sea, aside from being a song on the album, is also related to a couple more tracks on the album that use the phrase in their lyrics. Johnson says that the overarching theme refers to the analysis of dreams and myths in which water represents the subconscious, and that the album is about finding out who he is underneath it all. Johnson explores these ideas with caution, ensuring that he doesn’t reveal too many intimate and specific details about his family. “A lot of times the songs feel really personal and they are because that’s where they come from, but I always have to ask myself the question, ‘Is this song too personal, to the level that I’m letting people know too much about my family?’ and hopefully the answer is no. My songs are very personal, but at the same time they’re very broad and I think that’s why people connect with them. “When I sing a song about my little girl I really don’t want people to know details about her, other than it’s about a father meeting his little girl for the first time and thinking about what he’s going to have to teach her in this world. I write it because I feel those emotions, but I put it on an album because someone may hear it and be able to apply it to their own life,” reasons Johnson, the epitome of the laidback family-guy. “That’s the balancing act for me – having these songs that are fairly personal, but without compromising my own privacy or my own personal life.”

WHO: Jack Johnson WHAT: To The Sea (out Friday through Universal) WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 8 December, Sidney Myer Music Bowl

FULLY IMMERSED Drum’n’bass/rock genre benders PENDULUM have moved on from the criticism that greeted 2008’s In Silico to return with third album Immersion. ANGELA KING gets the lowdown from bassist GARETH MCGRILLEN.

mmersion is the third full-length release from Perth-born world conquerors Pendulum. Upon first listen it is clear Pendulum can no longer be categorised as a drum’n’bass act; elements of metal, dubstep, breakbeat, electronica and rock permeate the album’s energetic 15 tracks. According to bassist Gareth McGrillen, Immersion is a culmination of several years work and making it – unlike their last two albums – was a pleasant experience. “It’s been in the making since we hit the ground running after In Silico, so a couple of years, but the main work for the album was done intensively within the last eight months and that was quite mental. It’s actually been more of a pleasure working on this album than the previous ones… I guess we’ve got more of a headspace on where we are at and what we want to be doing, so it was easier to balance this album and know which direction we wanted to go.” Collaboration was a high priority when producing

Immersion. The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett features on track Immunize, while Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree lent his vocals and guitar skills on The Fountain. Much to the surprise of the band, Swedish melodic death metal outfit In Flames were most enthusiastic when asked if they wanted to work with Pendulum. McGrillen explains, “We gave our people a wish list of people we wanted to work with and In Flames were low on the list in the sense that we didn’t think that they would want to work with us. We had a clear idea of it working because we have followed metal almost into drum’n’bass; we liked metal then got attracted to drum’n’bass because of its similar energy, so it made sense to us. We thought they would probably laugh at us, but they turned out to be fans and had seen us do some headline slots at some big metal festivals and so they were bang up for it. And next thing we knew, we had six big Swedish guys in our studio – it was incredible.” But will Pendulum ever exclusively turn themselves over to the dark side and become a purely metal band? “I think anything is possible,” McGrillen suggests. “At first I was going to say no, but you just don’t know. Rob [Swire, vocals/ synth] and I started out in Perth as a metal band, so yeah, we definitely have metal roots as well as electronic roots.

“I think the mental demons that we are all going to have to deal with – with people being turned off and stuff like that – that all happened with the last album. I think we are all seasoned professionals when it comes to dealing with criticism. We just ignore it and don’t really read it any more…” “I guess Pendulum to me is mine and Rob’s musical playground where we are the directors of a film that can go any way that we want, anywhere that we want. That’s the cool thing about having a foot in different genres, we can smash them all together any way we want. The main thing behind Pendulum has been just this creative project where we can combine different things.” Aside from Pendulum, star producer Swire recently lent his skills to a sound that couldn’t be further from his usual style – pop music. “Our manager had a hook up with Jay-Z and Rihanna’s people and asked us for some beats,” McGrillen explains. “We sent them across some off-the-cuff beats, one of them was more of an entire tune, not just a beat – it had the melodies and music as well – and they really liked it and so [Rob] is responsible for one of Rihanna’s number one hits. That was a good look for Pendulum.” As much as this kind of work can bring in the dollars (or pounds), McGrillen isn’t exactly enthused when asked whether more future pop partnerships will materialise. “It’s quite soulless and, even if it’s not successful, it feels so much better to be behind your own music than someone else’s. We never say never though. Personally I don’t see it as a future for myself – producing for other people. I always want to be in charge of my own thing. But I think Rob, being such a talented producer, he may get into it in the future.” Pendulum received major persecution from many within the drum’n’bass community in reaction to their last album, 2008’s In Silico. As the ever-optimistic McGrillen explains, although the band did retaliate to criticism at the time, they now refuse to be affected by trivial d’n’b politics. “I think the mental demons that we are all going to have to deal with – with people being turned off and stuff like that – that all happened with the last album. I think we are all seasoned professionals when it comes to dealing with criticism. We just ignore it and don’t really read it any more because when you have an entire festival of 100,000 people going mental, plus when you have record sales and statistics coming in saying this, that and the other, you start to realise that someone out there likes it. Even if it’s a small amount of people or a large amount, it’s enough to keep you confident in making music. “It is very, very easy to dwell on that one person who just really cuts to the core of you with a comment because what they can be saying sometimes has an element of truth to it. It can be something you have already worried about and they can highlight that, so it’s best to just ignore it and just continue doing what you want to do. It will always matter but it’s just about learning to ignore it.” Controversy aside, Pendulum are a band steaming ahead in a realm of their own with no signs of slowing down. A content McGrillen muses over the group’s outwardly bright future. “Now we have wrapped up this record it’s time to take it on the road for the next 15 years,” he laughs. “We kind of live in the moment; all we really want to achieve is making something we are happy and proud of and to do better than we did the last time. So if we tick those boxes I think we are quite happy.”

WHO: Pendulum WHAT: Immersion (Warner)

CRYSTAL CASTLES 2.0 CRYSTAL CASTLES are back with the follow-up to their self-titled debut. The man behind the beats/noise, ETHAN KATH, begrudgingly chats to TROY MUTTON about abandoned buildings and dying machines. chat with Ethan Kath is predictably stilted, but no less interesting, as he provides some insight into the man who controls the melodies. In fact, things get off to a bad start when Kath is innocently asked what the feeling is like when just about to release a second album that’s already being considered a success by many. “I haven’t been able to think about it, we’ve just been touring and doing lots of these [interviews],” is his short reply. Fortunately, Kath quickly warms up when it comes to what actually went into the making of the album, one recorded in various parts of the world as a result of constant touring and limited down-time. “Because we were touring for so long, we gave up our apartment in Toronto because it made no sense to pay rent somewhere and not be there for seven months, right? So we just gave it all up, and what we’ve been doing is after the last day of tour we’d have nowhere to go home to so we’d just stay in the city of the show.” It might seem giving up your home due to touring is a sad fact of the rock’n’roll lifestyle, but not half as depressing as the situation that led to them being able to record overseas. “We ended up being in Detroit at one time – we had weeks off in Detroit so we used that time to record. Their economy is completely fucked up right now and all of these businesses were just abandoned because no one was making any money. You know, there’s all these stores and you can just squat at these stores so no one will ever find you or bother you. So we, like, squatted in a store and set up and recorded.”

or a band that so clearly don’t give a rat’s behind what others think of them, Crystal Castles have captured the hearts of many critics and general music-lovers alike. Perhaps it’s that attitude (including singer Alice Glass’s numerous spits and spats with high profile musicians) which draws people in, but more likely it’s their polarising music. Their debut LP ranked a rather impressive #39 in NME’s top 50 albums of the decade, and while their second probably won’t scale those impressive heights come 2020 (put simply the shock of something so different and exciting is

gone), it is an altogether more assured and impressive effort. Much like Crimewave before it, first single Selestica lulls you in to thinking the album is going to be an indie/electro fan’s wet dream, but the record is evenly mixed with the noise/punk/thrash numbers that have lost none of the abrasiveness of earlier tracks, but feel much stronger and less obnoxious. The duo are notoriously difficult when it comes to interviews and publicity – they’d clearly rather be holed up in the middle of nowhere and left alone, so Inpress’s

It’s a pretty amazing story, and it kind of puts a bit of perspective on why this duo create so much hype just through their desire to do something different, a desire ironically enough born out of doing something very similar. You see, Kath wasn’t always trying to break through sonic barriers filled with crazy synths, blips and bleeps and howling female vocals run through 40 different filters. Far from it. Once again after a few uninterested answers regarding remixes (“I haven’t done one in years, so I can’t answer that”) and the internet, he perks up at the mention of his obsession with circuit-bending and searching for new sounds. “That came about because I was in a garage metal band that was essentially paying tribute to The Stooges and Iron Maiden... like, the classics. I realised that it was fun getting paid in beer and playing local shows every week

HAPPY UNDERGROUND

History is littered with once seemingly underground bands who have simplified their approach to chase the dollar. STRUNG OUT frontman JASON CRUZ tells BRENDAN CRABB how such a temptation has never been a consideration. yourself against something that’s never going to happen. Embrace what you do have and what you are good at. I guess the older you get the better you get at that. I have no idea why we’ve lasted so long, honestly. I don’t really particularly think we’re anything special – I don’t think I’m anything special or anybody in the band is. People keep showing up to the shows, it’s inspiring and we keep doing it. As long as we can still excite ourselves with the music that we write... when that stops then I guess we stop.

“I think we’d write a bitchin’ acoustic record. I think it’s a testament to a band’s songs to be able to play them acoustic, strip it down without all the aggression and distortion.”

If ever an album title summarised a band’s outlook, it would be Agents Of The Underground, the latest disc from Californian punk/hardcore/metal crew Strung Out. “I just think it’s embracing the fact that we’re not a mainstream band, that we’ve done everything through hard work and very little radio and media,” singer Jason Cruz tells Inpress, shortly before heading off for band practice. “[It’s] just a testament to a workingclass band; this is what we do and here we are.” It must be a relief in some respects that the quintet can operate just outside the mainstream radar. “Hell yeah,” Cruz says. “I think it’s better actually. Everyone has their dreams and aspirations, but the reality of the situation is that you do it because you love doing it. You’ve got to work your ass off with anything that you do and if there’s one thing that I hope people can walk away from listening to or being exposed to our band in some way,

is that we’re just a bunch of guys that work our ass off, just like everybody else out there. We just happen to play music and we’re here for the music.” Have there been any points during the band’s career when they’ve had pressure from the outside to steer them towards accessibility and greater sales? “No, never. We’ve always been on Fat [Wreck Chords, their long-time label]; they’ve just let us do what we want and have faith that we are going to be Strung Out. I don’t think we’ve ever consciously tried to sound [like] or do anything.” Having survived so long – last year marked the band’s 20th anniversary – without having to compromise is largely due to the members’ focus and dedication, not to mention that of their fanbase. “I realise that not everybody’s going to like our style of music; we don’t appeal to everybody and that’s fine. We don’t have that radio sound. You realise that early on, not to break

“Making a living off this [has been our greatest achievement]. I’ve been able to make a living and do my thing and live a life where I can try other things. Strung Out takes up a lot of time but I think I’m most proud of the fact that we’ve been able to do this and travel to so many cities and meet so many people. At the same time it gives you a chance to experience other things in life that you wouldn’t normally have the time to do, because you’re bogged down with other things. Every good thing in my life has come because of Strung Out and I will always embrace and appreciate that.” They’ve also managed to successfully distance themselves from any musical trends that have come and gone (and sometimes come back again) during the past two decades. Cruz suggests this has been easier than you may believe. “I don’t think about it too much. I guess when you do it all the time and you’re surrounded by it, you kind of tend to shy away from it. I tour so much and deal with this band so much that I don’t think about it. I don’t even listen to hardcore or punk too much; I listen to the bands that I like but I think it’s good to separate

but I wasn’t really proud of the music because it wasn’t anything new. It was just a rehash of The Stooges. At our very best, we were an imitation of The Stooges.” While you could say they are similar to some other nu-rave acts out there, à la Late Of The Pier or Klaxons, you definitely could not claim they were imitating them – a result of Kath’s obsession with pulling things apart and seeing how they sound. “I wanted to do the opposite of [imitating bands] which was to try to find a new sound; try to find something completely different. And it felt like the only way to do that was to find sounds that nobody was using. So I got into circuit-bending. Like, I could think of bending the same equipment someone else is, but it’s gonna sound different every time. And I was really attracted to that and what I would do with, you know, breaking things open, altering things inside, and I’d always have the record button on no matter what I was recording, just in case that one split second of sound happened.” He gets even more poetic, bordering on sorrowful: “My favourite thing to do is find like a moment when the machine breathes or sighs or moans. Where it sounds like its dying and it’s on its last gasp, you know that’s what I’m looking for. And when I find that moment, I throw that moment into the sampler and build a melody.” It almost sounds too romantic, too intense. But, at the same time, it goes a long way to understanding the mindset of a man who is simply obsessed with finding new noises and sounds, an obsession that he is transferring into exciting music that has grabbed the hearts and minds of purists and fans alike. “Our original intention with recording was just to release some songs, and we hope that maybe some rebellious teenagers in 2030 would discover it as some really old relic, you know. We love garage bands from the ‘60s and punk bands in the ‘80s. We wanted to put something out that would be discovered in 30 years. That’s what we were thinking and we wanted it to be true to ourselves and be proud of it.” It’s an incredibly heartfelt response to how the duo operate and why they do what they do and he seems almost at a loss to explain why people like it. “We find it really hard to believe. We are shocked when the kids talk to us and they tell us how much they like it – we don’t even believe them. How are they even getting this? We can’t wrap our heads around it.”

WHO: Crystal Castles WHAT: Crystal Castles (Fiction Records/Shock)

yourself from that, so you don’t get too wrapped up in what everyone else is doing. Then you [can] kind of come at it from a different perspective than anyone else. I don’t read trade magazines or any of that stuff. I don’t listen to too many bands that are big right now, because you bring different stuff to the table. The stuff I’m into is so different than anything that’s going on right now; I think it makes our music more interesting.” The band’s high-energy music has flirted with a number of styles throughout their seven-album career, yet their sound has remained distinctively theirs. Despite this, the vocalist has one particular musical goal that he’s yet to make a reality. “I think we’d write a bitchin’ acoustic record. I think it’s a testament to a band’s songs to be able to play them acoustic, strip it down without all the aggression and distortion. I think Strung Out songs have always been that strong. I would like to do a record where we just do acoustic instruments. My band shreds, they’re all good, but I think it would be kind of cool. Some [fans] would probably bitch about it, but I think most are pretty open-minded. I think a lot of bands underestimate the versatility of their fans. I like to push people’s perception of the band. That’s my job in the band, to try and defy expectation and I think a lot of fans respect that. If the songs are good and the work is quality, you can’t argue with that. I would like to rework some old songs; play different keys, different tempos, add different things to the songs and then try some new stuff. Maybe it’ll happen one day, maybe it won’t.” Even with a hard-won reputation as road dogs (according to Cruz, their upcoming run with Pennsylvanian punkers The Loved Ones is their seventh Australian visit), such extensive trekking is still a unique balancing act. “Definitely the best things are being out on the road, being in a strange city and working,” Cruz enthuses. “You’re picking up your world, taking it out to the big world, working and doing the best that you can. I like not sitting around and waiting for shit to happen – I like going out and making it happen. The worst part is not having any quiet time. For me it’s hard to get some peace in your head sometimes.”

WHO: Strung Out WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday 9, Barwon Club; Thursday 10 June, Hi-Fi

festival hall saturday november 6

on sale tuesday june 8 136 100

or ticketmaster.com.au

In stores now

Presented by Michael Coppel jasonderulo.com I coppel.com.au 29

SINGLED OUT BY CLEM BASTOW

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SINGLE OF THE WEEK

SCISSOR SISTERS FIRE WITH FIRE Universal

THE DEAD WEATHER SEA OF COWARDS Third Man/Warner

TEENAGE FANCLUB SHADOWS Liberator

JOHN GRANT QUEEN OF DENMARK Bella Union/Shock

Every now and again I get stuck in the mire of my ‘1970s AM’ playlist (heavy on Supertramp et al) and I wonder just who is making “music like that” “these days”. It’s a stupid question, really: Scissor Sisters have been doing it all along, and Fire With Fire is precisely the sort of gloriously inspirational, slightly bittersweet pop mastery I wish the charts were crammed with. Imagine if they collaborated with Jeff Lynne? Or Todd Rundgren? Or Supertramp!?

The supergroup comprising Jack White, Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes/The Saboteurs) and Dean Fertita (Queens Of The Stone Age) release their second longplayer in ten months. The squally guitars of opener Blue Blood Blues alongside White’s adamant, chanted demands – “Check your lips at the door woman/ Shake your hips like battleships” – conjure the Unholy Of Unholies. White’s cymbal-heavy drumming makes you flinch and Lawrence’s sinewy bass playing harnesses the mayhem. Fertita’s possessed organ/piano melodies complete the soundtrack for flutterwhacking that would rival The Mad Hatter’s. I’m Mad is an unhinged cut with a whirring sound at the halfway mark that calls to mind the section in Fatboy Slim’s The Rockafeller Skank where your brain gets marmalised. The precision with which this tune snaps back into beat is breathtaking. Mosshart’s portrayal of lyrics that largely repeat the confession, “I’m mad – ha ha!” channels a banshee embracing insanity.

Here’s one for trivia buffs: Teenage Fanclub’s splendid third record Bandwagonesque took out Spin magazine’s 1991 best album poll. It edged out a couple of low-key releases you may be familiar with, Nevermind by Nirvana and Out Of Time by REM. Indeed, at the time Kurt Cobain regularly referred to the Glaswegian quartet as the ‘best band in the world’. Lavish praise indeed, particularly in light of subsequent efforts; only Grand Prix, released at the height of the Britpop phenomenon, and Songs From Northern Britain (1997) would threaten to garner the acclaim Bandwagonesque had generated. Since then the band’s output has been sporadic and although critical praise accompanied the Fannies with every effort, widespread commercial success has not followed. Despite this, they have remained a popular touring act and favoured visitors to our shores.

While John Grant never really attained the level of success he had wished for serving as frontman of Denver, Colorado moodists The Czars over their decade-plus career, Texan folk rockers Midlake were always huge fans of his work. In the musical wilderness since 2004, Grant has recorded his 2010 record, Queen Of Denmark with all members of Midlake on board to provide the instrumentation and frame the Bowie-esque Grant vocal.

CHIEF BREAKING WALLS Domino There’s something about this sort of low-key folk rock (if you can really call it that, but “folk rock” seems to be a catch-all for the end of the rock spectrum that isn’t as soft as “soft rock”, and the harder end of folk, and so on) that reminds me of late-’90s holidays spent sulking with my (tape) Walkman, jammed with Buffalo Tom and Crowded House. Breaking Walls is perfect music to mope to.

NE-YO BEAUTIFUL MONSTER Universal I’m not sure that Stargate are the unflappable production geniuses they were a few years back. This collaboration with Ne-Yo (who, make no mistake, I still think is the best male R&B artist around) just sounds so... 1996. What’s been happening to R&B in the past few months? I don’t know if I’m ready for a Euro-house throwback just yet; it makes me feel like I’m shopping for citrus-print polyester bodyshirts on Bridge Road, and no one needs to feel that shit.

BIFFY CLYRO BUBBLES 14th Floor Records My sources tell me these guys have a reasonably impressive following, and while there’s something about the guitar filigree that accompanies the verse of Bubbles, the chorus is just so... average white rock band. The whole thing starts out promisingly enough, but by the end of it, isn’t it just a British-accented version of the rest of the alternative-in-name-only rock industry’s endless rivulets of reasonably listenable but relatively beige filler music? If it ends up being a hit then I would bet money on next season of American Idol’s “rock” contestant performing it.

The Dead Weather members seem to be nourishing dark urges through this project and achieve a distinctive sound that’s far from repetitive. Haunting solo portraits of each musician – most peering through demon eyes and one of which sees Fertita nursing a sword-swallowing iguana – perfectly conceptualise this world. First single Die By The Drop may be the weakest link and has moments of White’s Bond-flick collaboration with Alicia Keys, Another Way To Die. Closer Old Mary embodies voodoo better than Angel Heart did with its blasphemous reworking of the Hail Mary prayer – “Now and ‘til the moment of your last breath”. Fertita stabs out insistent piano chords and guitars sound like fingernails scratching from within a prematurely buried coffin. There are not enough rosary beads in the world to redeem these lost souls who create music that sounds like The Addams Family on crack – “Knock on the door and the door knocks back”. Wonderfully neurotic.

Shadows follows the patented Teenage Fanclub formula; gentle, cleverly crafted guitar patterns, sweeping strings, Beach Boys harmonies and the occasional burst of spectacular pop. There are a number of tracks here that would stand proudly beside a ‘best of’ effort. The Beatle-esque opening of Into The City is rich fare but the remarkable coda, all shimmering chords and joyful vocal refrains, launches the song into orbit. The nostalgic ode The Fall will also please, with the world-weary line, “I light a fire underneath what I was/I won’t feel sad, only warmed by the loss,” repeated over and over as the underpinning bass and organ swell then fade. Sweet Days Waiting recalls the seemingly effortless guitar pop of the Grand Prix era and album closer Today Never Ends has a unique, Neil Young tinge that washes over blissfully and provides an apt wrap for another wonderfully executed recording. For fans, Shadows will deliver sweet memories of past glories. For newbies, expect to be won over by this selection of gorgeous tunes.

THE PRETTY RECKLESS MAKE ME WANNA DIE Universal Someone get Michael Bay on the line; Make Me Wanna Die has Transformers 3: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture written all over it (mostly because it sounds like a female-voiced version of The Used’s Pretty Handsome Awkward, with a dash of the Batman Forever soundtrack). It looks like The Pretty Reckless are going to be the exception to the usual rule of actresses-turnedsingers’ pet projects stinking to high heaven.

PENDULUM WITCHCRAFT Warner For some reason, whenever I see the name Pendulum, I expect bowel-loosening progressive metal. Instead, I get low-rent surf shop background music. Who listens to this? No, seriously: it sounds like it’s being played on orbital sanders. WHO?

JEWEL SATISFIED Universal Satisfied – a pretty ballad in the You’re Still The One vein – is probably the most traditional country song Jewel’s ever released – so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if Jo Dee Messina (or similar) releases a Nashvilled-up cover of this in full power ballad mode soon enough.

While the playful Elton John-esque Chicken Bones is a groovy ditty, Silver Platter Club, in its vaudevillian delivery, is a vitriolic open letter to Grant’s critics for judging his lifestyle. All this, with a barbershop quartet Midlake harmony, make it a strange, camp, but engaging tune. Much like the record as a whole – strange, camp, but highly engaging. Nick Argyriou

Bryget Chrisfield

THE CUBICAL COME SING THESE CRIPPLED TUNES Fuse Like so many spanking new, critically lauded UK acts, The Cubical’s debut album sinks under the weight of its own parochial press. Despite ferocious barracking to the contrary, this muddy mix of retro rock/blues could only have seen the light of day due to the anointing hand of star producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, Primal Scream, Wolfmother). Otherwise, one suspects, these strictly run of the mill Captain Beefheart impressionists would still be hawking their scratchy demo around the streets of Liverpool. Unforgivably, Sardy’s hand only rescues eight of the 11 tracks, meaning the bemused listener gets the unwelcome privilege of being exposed to part of that Liverpool demo; from full-flavoured, balls-to-the-wall swamp rock one minute, to rubber band bass, washedout vox and tinny snare the next. The premise, however, is terrific. Take one seriously gifted lyricist with vocal chords drowned in bourbon and gravel, sling two jumped-up psychobilly axemen beside him and peddle as fast as possible. Frontman Dan Wilson does sound like the real deal, soaked in noirish imagery and channelling the menacing low notes of Nick Cave on the slower numbers. This is particularly so in the record’s standout track, Would Be Lovers. Over a simple acoustic riff and steady bar room piano, Wilson sings with genuine intent: “But with every soul unto the depths, she’d plummeted too soon/Left gasping in her room, and cursing at the moon.” But the album presents nothing new musically and Wilson doing the Tom Waits’ shtick wears off quickly. Lead guitarist Alex Gavaghan does create some tasty licks (check the garage stomp Edward The Confessor) and one imagines this five-piece would put on one helluva show. Overall, however, Come Sing These Crippled Tunes is simply not a strong enough suite of tunes. EJ Cartledge

Grant’s vocal is a sweet one. Hymnal in its delivery, it’s an effortless cabaret-style expression heard particularly on Where Dreams Go To Die and Caramel. It’s also quirky and filled with variation on the metaphor-riddled Sigourney Weaver, that places Grant’s own troubled past on a par with Weaver’s Ripley character in Alien – both struggling with their own mental and physical demons, both trapped and gasping for air.

EJ Cartledge

PEARL JAM AMONGST THE WAVES Universal Whenever I hear Eddie Vedder’s yowl I’m always surprised to hear that Pearl Jam are still a functioning unit, in much the same way I LOL’d heartily when Stone Temple Pilots recently attempted a comeback. Alas, Pearl Jam have been grinding along reliably, and gee whiz, here’s another single. Amongst The Waves is... I don’t even know. There’s something about Pearl Jam that just makes my brain do the mental/creative equivalent of the face that Stains the dog makes when Victoria the dog lady won’t give him the cupcakes.

Honest as hell, the openly gay artist weaves a sad confessional linear throughout Queen Of Demark as he documents his struggles with homosexuality, the drink, the drugs and suicidal thoughts. While heavy in subject matter, most obviously on the track Jesus Hates Faggots, the record’s aesthetic leans more towards a sprightly, unburdening musical flow. Much of this has to do with the Midlake lads’ current day medieval soundscape that incorporates strings and woodwind over their previous electrified folk fuzz blend of yesteryear.

TAMIKREST ADAGH Glitterhouse/Other Tongues Right from the outset it’s going to be difficult to separate this Northern Mali ensemble from their forefathers, the now legendary Touareg blues band Tinariwen. And to be honest Tamikrest are doing little to differentiate themselves, even thanking Tinariwen in their liner notes. Perhaps the biggest difference is the presence of only one lead vocalist and also the occasional kit percussion, where Tinariwen rely wholly upon djembe. Whilst they’re coming from the same world, there are definitely differences: the electric guitar sound is different, perhaps a little thicker; the vocals less guttural, despite a certain similarity in the lyrics; and then of course there are the handclaps, whoops and predominantly female backing vocals. But Tamikrest also seem really interested in breaking things down, working off limited instrumentation in an attempt to develop atmosphere, even delving into a little studio trickery. Perhaps this is thanks to the production from Americana stalwart Chris Eckman of The Walkabouts, who the ensemble apparently met at one of the Festival In The Desert performances. Perhaps the oddest and most unexpected element is slide guitar from our own former Bad Seed, Hugo Race. It would be fascinating to know how he fell into their orbit. Tamikrest means junction, and the band variously come from Mali, Algeria and Nigeria, which may also explain some of the sonic links to Niger’s Etran Finatawa. While it isn’t particularly new or groundbreaking, it does feel part of a movement and there’s nothing like that desert blues sound. Finally we’re reaping Tinariwen’s reward – new bands inspired by their success, ready to strike out on their own. And that can’t be a bad thing. Bob Baker Fish

OH NO ONO EGGS etcetc This is a feast of an album. Not a roast lamb and potatoes kind of feast, mind you. More of an elderflower soup and caviar icecream kind of affair. With lots of mushrooms. Yes, those kind of mushrooms. The Danish quintet clearly listen to a lot of psychedelia, old and new. They took nine months to record Eggs, and a surprisingly huge number of field recordings – from waterfalls and birds to echoing scrapes and thuds – lend a slow-burning, luscious, velvety texture to the album. It’s an otherworldly, immersive experience that just begs you to put on your headphones and turn the volume right up. But Eggs is not just about trippy sounds and clever effects – it somehow manages to pin these elements to ten incredibly addictive, playful and often euphoric songs, fluttering from guitar-based verse/chorus structures to free-floating choral rock-outs. Opening track Eleanor Speaks is a bit Tea Party, almost Swans. But the sitars and sombre vocals soon give way to the swelling strings and soaring lullabying of lead single Swim. The bubbly, sample-heavy introspective moments recall Stereolab, but the ghostly-high tinkling keys and the organ-driven melody make the song feel fantastically carnivalesque. Listening to this song – and to much of this album – is like eavesdropping on a merrygo-round’s most secret private thoughts, teetering on the edge of delirium and dance. It’s hands-in-the-air joyous in the way that The Flaming Lips and MGMT and even Burt Bacharach can be at their best, and it’s kooky and funny and oddball like Strawberry Alarm Clock or weirdo American candy or a Russ Meyer film. By the time Oh No Ono are done with channeling the Beach Boys’ harmonies on Helplessly Young and dropping some serious acid for the lyrics of Icicles (wondering “if I had a tongue” and watching “that girl dancing in the snow” ), you’ll be wanting to press the repeat button for sure. Roger Nelson

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THE GIN CLUB DEATHWISH Plus One Records

LISA MILLER CAR TAPE 2 Raoul

I hate labels and genres at the best of times. Whatever the tag, Midnight Juggernauts are the thinking person’s band. The fact also seems (and seriously no pun intended) that this juggernaut continues to gain momentum particularly with the Australian public, and increasingly the overseas market too.

There’s this white fuzz at the opening of the first track It Is Not Meant To Be that acts as a gentle teaser – the least refined moment on the album. They’re laughing on us with that, tempting us into an onslaught they will not bring. It’s a few seconds of disparity in a seamlessly sculpted work from possibly Australia’s hottest prospect right now.

The 2007 debut album Dystopia, along with a raft of EPs, propelled the band to sit atop Australian pop culture with the likes of The Presets and Cut Copy. Their station was cemented with inclusions to festival bills such as Coachella, Fuji Rock, Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz Festival and the 2010 Big Day Out. With the release of The Crystal Axis, more success will undoubtedly follow.

Tame Impala seem to have skirted the teeth-cutting period and jumped straight to the top of the pile. Their psych grooves feel impossible for their years, their songs are ready and their jams are oh so impressive. Bastards! I’d love to hang shit on this release so much it hurts. I want to hate them, I do. But alas, their debut InnerSpeaker is a little ripper and I’m sure they know it.

The Gin Club are one of Bris Vegas’s finest, yet potentially one of the most underrated acts in this fair country. Sure, they certainly have a large and ardent fanbase but have never really cracked the commercial market (or indie, for that matter), a fact this humble reviewer still finds amazing – particularly if you have ever been lucky enough to catch one of their scintillating live performances. Deathwish is another classic potpourri of folk/alt.country/ acoustica that raises the bar on 2008’s double LP Junk. That album earned the band critical acclaim, local awards and high rotation of the killer track Ten Paces Away.

The grungy chords of the opening song juxtaposed by the sweet, tender vocals of Lisa Miller indicate this is going to be a fascinating journey. That song is Hidden Charms, written by Willie Dixon back when R&B meant something rough and ballsy. Interestingly, Elvis Costello recorded this very song for a similar concept album of slightly obscure covers named Kojak Variety, back in 1995.

With the exception of Induco, an ambient electro opener, what immediate stands out on the tracks is the quality and maturity shining through in the lyrics – hence the “thinking person’s” tag. Second track Vital Signs is also the second single from the album, already gaining high radio rotation, and it is a belter. It’s catchy on so many levels; hooks and lyrics (again) come to the fore with the optimistic chorus, “You’ve gotta open up mind/And feel the love in your life.” The listener is rapidly propelled through more of the same vein with Lifeblood Flow and first single This New Technology, with its Vangelis-meetsELO breakdown. The serious dance groove of Lara Versus The Savage Pack gives way to the wall of sound opus that is The Great Beyond, followed by a slowing of the vibe with Cannibal Freeway and Virago.

From the restraint of the opener, listeners will realise this is a step away from their live freak-outs. Some of the songs – Solitude Is Bliss and the Cream-esque Desire Be Desire Go – will set alarms off in your mind. As a counter to the grip of their performances this record is bordering on Sunday afternoon couch time. Instrumental beast Jeremy’s Storm is a steam train – all grinding bass and clashing cymbals, it’s a storm – but it’s so pared back in the production it’s as gentle as a guinea pig. Subsequent listens reveal the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of main man Kevin Parker, the stuff that suffers from the wash of guitar on stage. Further listening offers up new candidates for album favourites. The psychotropic Expectation comes close, but then you’re distracted by the classic lick of Runway, Houses, City, Clouds. It’s impossible to choose.

The Boomeister

The pop sentiment these dudes are emanating scares me a little. Heaven knows they’ve got the talent to take this wherever they’d like it to go. I just hope they find appeal enough in the psychedelic realm to push on a little further, at least for one more. Samson McDougall

From rockin’ opener Pennies there is something for everyone and, as always with The Gin Club, the sound is big but never overbearing. The Salter-penned Say You Will is a gentle ballad complemented by some fine fingerpicking, and followed beautifully by the first single Rain, which oozes pop classic à la Neil Finn’s Crowded House. Gone does too, for that matter. The swirling title track is quietly dark but things are perked up immediately by a simpler tale in Choppin’ Wood and the intriguing Book Of Poison. Harmonies abound in Slow Down and Do Right, the caustic shards of Eternity are another highlight and it’s great to hear Lewis take the lead on Milli Vanilli. This excellent album is closed out with the rollicking Shake Hands and the great line, “Shake hands at the end of the day/It’s been a long fight but I feel OK”. The Boomeister

Long-time collaborator Shane O’Mara has worked his magic on the album, with warm production and incisive arrangements. Most of the time his job has been to let Miller do what she does best, and that is to move us with her tender voice. I’m caught hook, line and sinker by the second track, Tim Hardin’s It’ll Never Happen Again. Her impeccable phrasing only adds to the emotional intensity and the sparse production lets her vocals sing out like a lonely bell. First listen, Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly, and the astonishing take on Moonraker (yes, the James Bond theme tune!) are highlights as well as the aforementioned Hardin track. The beauty of these recordings lies in the weaving together of a disparate bunch of songs and genres to make a cohesive collection that is at times profoundly moving, and at others simply makes you smile with glee. Kaz Mitchell

What do THE DRONES, THE DACIOS and BATRIDER have in common?

Visit coopers.com.au for all details.

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The door is brilliantly slammed shut on this one with the Lennon-esque Winds Of Fortune, Dynasty and Fade To Red, and though these are less dance-oriented, they are nonetheless impressive pieces. This will be right up there for Aussie dance/electronica release of the year, and features some ripping singles to boot.

With the number of members ranging from seven to 11, the number of personalities and influences is also clearly high and brings forth the eclectic diversity of the band’s output. Permanent members Ben Salter, Dan Mansfield, Adrian Stoyles, Scott Regan, Bridget Lewis, Conor Macdonald and Gus Agars are all talented artists in their own right, sharing duties – particularly vocals and songwriting – and are truly a musical collective.

Car Tape 2 is the follow-up to Miller’s first Car Tape album, released in 2002. The idea for this derives from those old cassette tapes we all used to compile back in the day before iPod shuffle was invented. The best compilations were a mix of weird and wonderful tracks that had no right to sit side by side but somehow worked. The more obscure they were the better, as long as they were chosen with love. Car Tape was a huge success for Miller and this version along the same theme will no doubt please her devoted fans and inevitably create new ones.

CITIES OF GOLD

“We probably should pay a fine, sorry Melbourne!”

As TIM DERRICOURT, singer/guitarist with DAPPLED CITIES, impersonates the accents of various characters his band have encountered while touring abroad, BRYGET CHRISFIELD finetunes her bullshit detector. Alex Moore, Dappled’s bassist, jotted a few memorable quotes down to commemorate the band’s SXSW experience on dappledblog.com. Can Derricourt please divulge the source of the following quote: “I can tell you right now that you will never be cool, but you can definitely be successful”? Derricourt laughs, “That was a manager we met there, a Scottish manager.” How about: “You just got to pull the skin back on that pickle”? Derricourt now laughs so heartily that he sounds like a kookaburra. “Alex? Who was that?” The fact that Moore answers, “That was the cab driver,” without the aid of reiteration is proof that this isn’t an ‘a’ to ‘b’ conversation. “Oh my god!” Derricourt’s memory kicks in. “We got in a cab and this guy – there was four boys so he’s obviously thought, ‘I know what these guys like, sex with women!’. And so we got in and he was like, [employs American cab driver accent] ‘How you goin’? Do you guys have a lady? Do you put the pickle in the hole?’. And then pretty much spent about ten minutes doing all sorts of weird, amazing metaphors for having sex with a lady.”

“Y

ou were meant to hear from Dave [Rennick, guitar/vocals] but he’s not here,” advises the other alternating frontman of Dappled Cities, Tim Derricourt. “He’s in Paris, France. He went on Gumtree [website] and got a lift. He hitched a ride with a man, his two sons and his two best friends – all of varying ages – and we haven’t heard from him since. I can imagine gaîté Paris is Dave’s territory.” It’s eight in the morning in London, where Dappled Cities are currently based, but Derricourt is quick-witted, enthusiastic and ready to exercise the British tradition of taking the piss. On whether his band has been affected by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud, Derricourt offers: “Well it is lifting – you couldn’t see ten metres in front of you in London!” Is he for real? “No, no I was having you on,” he chuckles. “There were some nice sunsets.” Luckily Dappled Cities had the week off to “hang out in London” so the resultant airport closures didn’t inconvenience them, but Derricourt shares, “I’m really bummed because so many of our friends are travelling in Europe right now and they were gonna come and hang out with us in London and now they can’t… And

the London book fair – not many delegates this year.” The Dappled Cities itinerary saw them once again hitting the South By Southwest Music & Media Conference, which they also performed at in 2006 and 2009. “Our accommodation was awesome,” Derricourt enthuses of the quintet’s digs the third time around. “We went for the billeting option this year, which is [when] a family gets a free ticket to the festival if you can stay at their house for free – it’s awesome. And we totally lucked out and stayed with this really lovely family with a four-year-old son and two big dogs and we just hung out, drank beer and had a fire pit in the back garden.” A photo of aforementioned toddler riveted by a Dappled Cities soundcheck (with humorous caption stating that the band, “Impressed the more important industry leaders”) takes pride of place on the Dappled blog. “He was cute,” Derricourt confirms, “and when we left, his dad was carrying him to bed and he was like [impersonates toddler with American accent], ‘Where are they going? Are they going to Australia?’. And [the dad]’s like, ‘No, they’re on tour and they’re going to New York’. And he was like, ‘I miss them’.”

Zounds, Dappled Cities’ third album, dropped in Australia last August and saw the five-piece nominated for a slew of awards. Although the band walked away emptyhanded, their performance at the Australian Independent Record Awards (AIRs) was one of the night’s highlights and their costumes, which utilised paper planes constructed from hand-painted fabric, were a definite talking point. The designer of these matching get-ups was Robyn Wilson, “who’s got her own little design company called View Of Courage”. “She was contacted pretty last minute and just pulled this thing together, it was very impressive,” Derricourt commends. Reflecting on the AIR experience, Derricourt says the band enjoyed the night despite being denied the opportunity to give an acceptance speech. “Next time though, hey!” he remarks. “That was saying that Dappled Cities are prize-worthy – next year, BAM!” Derricourt and co discovered an alternative use for Wilson’s costume design following the ceremony. “We got back to the hotel and we ended up with 200 paper planes that we got to throw off the balcony,” Derricourt enthuses. “That’s the thing about her designs – very useful.” Obviously the lads then bolted down to street level and retrieved the painstakingly crafted pieces? “No, we just littered in Melbourne,” he confesses.

Was Wilson also responsible for the gold Lurex onesies the band sported as their stage outfits for the Laneway festival tour earlier this year? “No, that was Ned [Cooke, keyboards/samples],” Derricourt commences before a voice in the room objects and he corrects himself. “Oh, Dave and Ned. They were proud of their new, toned buttocks so they wanted to find some skintight bodysuits and they found them,” he laughs. Once the Laneway tour wrapped, Dappled headed to Los Angeles for a week. “[We] hung out at our label’s office there and they had a little room out the back and we had an amazing week where we stayed up all day and all night and just fiddled around with songs and came up with a whole bunch that we were really happy with,” Derricourt marvels. “And we gave them to the label and they were like, ‘Sounds amazing!’. And so it turns out we’ve got a new album. I think we wanna write a few more [tracks] and so that’s also kind of the purpose of being over here – to try new things out that we’d probably be a bit nervous about trying in front of Australian or American audiences in a new environment. And from there we’ll have a smasher of a new album. “We do wanna try and move faster with getting albums out because we felt we waited a little too long with the last one just to kind of get it happening. So, yeah! We’re really, really excited that we’ve got these new tunes, which are better than our last stuff, which is the only thing you can really hope for.” For their last Australian tour, Dappled Cities went all out with their visuals and featured segments from Alphabreaks – a Disney series that starred the band singing a different ditty per letter, which was designed to help teach kids the alphabet. Dappled also performed their encore sporting the fairy light jumpsuits from the music video for their single The Price. Presumably the rest of the world is being treated to similarly lavish productions. “Oh, no, no, no, we’re kinda keeping it more rough and ready,” Derricourt counters. But what about those navy Hard Yakka jumpsuits draped in fairy lights? “Afraid not,” he bemoans. “Because we’ve got so much musical equipment, we get charged so much that we can’t afford to take all the fun stuff on tour. It’s annoying. For the winter tour that we’re doing [in Australia] in June we’re gonna have an insane laser display.” WHO: Dappled Cities WHEN & WHERE: Friday 11 June, Prince Bandroom

LASTING PLEASURE Currently gearing up for their first ever Australian tour, KNOX from punk legends THE VIBRATORS tells MATTHEW HOGAN about the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, Malcolm McLaren and, erm, Katy Perry.

he Vibrators are one of the last remaining remnants of the British punk scene of the mid-‘70s, and are still as keen as ever to spread their own anarchy throughout the world. With founding members Ian ‘Knox’ Carnochan and John ‘Eddie’ Edwards still in the band after 34 years, their upcoming Australian tour will be the first time they’ve ever played in this country. “I got a guitar for Christmas when I was 13 because my friend round the corner had one,” Knox begins to tell his story. “There really was almost no rock’n’roll then, it was 1959. My friend played me Duane Eddie’s Rebel Rouser on the guitar and I though that sounded good. Then some rock’n’roll started; you could hear it on a jukebox in a café in Watford and gradually you heard more songs and you got to listen to records your friends had, songs by Buddy Holly, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, The Shadows and Elvis. We started a band at school and it sort of carried on from there. Rock’n’roll was this fantastic world that was your own world away from the stupid adult world, and represented a true kind of freedom. It was very important when you were growing up.” Before he knew it, it was 1976, and the places in London to be were the 100 Club and the Roxy. “We started The Vibrators in February 1976, six months before The Clash by the way,” Knox states matter-of-factly. “I thought it might be another ‘go nowhere band’, but due to the efforts of Eddie and Pat Collier the bass player, we got lots of gigs. We played at the 100 Club supporting the Pistols. They were really great and they sort of arrived fully formed – they had the clothes and the music, though they’d been around for a bit. In fact, their first gig was supporting our friends’ band Bazooka Joe in 1975. I liked the Pistols more than The Clash but The Clash were great as well. It’s funny as we were all just playing gigs, you didn’t think it was going to be slightly historical.”

The only question left to ask after all this time is whether the band regrets choosing the name The Vibrators and sticking with it for more than three decades? “If we had a different name it might have all been very different as I think the name kept us off the radio and TV quite bit,” ponders Knox. “If we’d have had a different name we might have had the additional airplay and such, which would have made a big difference, and we’d all be millionaires now! But it’s a good name and still feels a bit subversive today and it looks good when it’s written down. Also I sometimes feel the band has a degree of credibility from not being huge, people know we play and record because we love it and not for the money.”

WHO: The Vibrators WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 13 June, the Arthouse

“McLaren was very influential, charismatic, colourful and clever. I only really met him one time when I had a drink with him and some of The Ants and that evening he really had to be the centre of attention and make pronouncements about things, but that was his way. At least he was passionate about things… Although it’s very sad he’s dead, he’d sort of seemingly retired from punk rock years ago.” There weren’t many gigs from the scene more historical than Ron Watt’s International Punk Festival, where The Vibrators played alongside the Sex Pistol, Siouxie & The Banshees, Buzzcocks, The Clash and more, but the band also found themselves supporting the godfather of punk rock when Iggy Pop rolled into town on tour in 1977. “Iggy was great,” Knox gushes. “We only got about five minutes of sound check on the whole six dates we did, but we could handle that, plus not having hardly any room on the stage, but that was the deal and we just got on with it. It was a fantastic tour, Iggy with David Bowie on keyboards, I mean you can’t really get beyond that. Plus Iggy’s guitar player, David Gardiner, was very good. Both Iggy and David Bowie came and introduced themselves but we didn’t see much of them. I imagine they were busy with interviews, etcetera.” With the recent passing of UK punk stalwart Malcolm McLaren, Knox has some nice things to say about the man who contributed so much to the scene. “McLaren was very influential, charismatic, colourful and clever,” he says. “I only really met him one time when I had a drink with him and some of The Ants and that evening he really had to be the centre of attention and make pronouncements about things, but that was his way. At least he was passionate about things. Punk in those early days wouldn’t have been as exciting or perhaps such a big movement without him. Although it’s very sad he’s dead, he’d sort of seemingly retired from punk rock years ago.” The band have spent much of the last five years continuing to tour as well as bringing out a trilogy of covers albums. Knox says the idea came courtesy of Brian Perera at US label Cleopatra Records. “He has these ideas and we’re pretty accommodating and only change or suggest a few other covers as he really knows his subject and has thought about it,” he says. “I think we might not do anymore for a while, it depends on whether there’s the right kind of songs to do. They’re easier to make than a normal album as the songs are already there!” Heck, they even covered I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry. “That song was again an idea of Brian’s,” Knox admits, “I think to get the band some interest, maybe, as it’s an interesting idea for a cover.” After 34 years of sticking together, you think there would be a secret to their longevity, but the down-to-earth frontman says it’s really quite simple. “If you love it, you just keep on doing it,” Knox says. “It’s partly a job in a way, and that’s what you do, play music. There’s nothing clever about keeping on doing it, millions of people do it. The years go past on their own and that’s it! You have to put up with lots of rubbish sometimes, but you get to stand on the stage and record your songs. It’s quite often great! I think you need to have quite good skills at getting on with people and being totally reliable.”

RULES FOR RADICALS DAN CUNNINGHAM explains to NICK ARGYRIOU how PARADES threw out the rulebook to create the band’s eclectic debut record, Foreign Tapes.

arades are a Sydney art-rock/post-rock/very fine musical collective on the verge of something quite big. For starters, their record Foreign Tapes weaves a clicky, orchestral web that does its darndest to explore a range of musical boundaries. Incorporating three-part harmonies, punchy rhythms and jagged-edged guitars, Foreign Tapes is a fresh record that demands your attention and leads you into uncharted indie pop waters. Songs change directions on countless occasions, never settling for a verse/chorus, verse/chorus format, instead breaking off into Krautrock-style guitar runs, Afrobeat rhythms and even Mariachi-inspired melodies that are all pulled together by Jonathan Boulet’s inspired Phil Selway-meets-Machine effort on the drums. It’s apt then that Foreign Tapes was recorded in the garage-cum-studio of 2009’s breakout artist, Boulet, who features throughout the album on drums, percussion and vocals; Boulet also produced the record for his longtime mates who all met at Sydney’s Gilroy College in Castle Hill. While they’re all still just 21, they continue to fly the Aussie flag in a year that is producing some quality indie records that ooze universal appeal. With the lads in Parades all heavily influenced by hardcore groups like Swedish punks Refused and Massachusetts’ Converge, Parades’ members also play in their own hardcore ‘bit of fun type’ band on the side. They’re a mixed bag, that’s for sure. “We don’t really have any preconceptions regarding what we do and the way we write music,” explains Cunningham. “We take the approach that anything goes and then somehow get the songs to be cohesive along the way.”

There’s this interesting element happening throughout Foreign Tapes that is to be admired. All songs play out to a different beat and style, all are filled with their own nuances and intricate moments, yet there is this ethereal vibe that hovers over each song that helps to bind them together. The fact that no two songs are the same, or on many occasions even remotely share the same musical DNA, is testament to Parades throwing out the rulebook when assembling Foreign Tapes, and acting on instinct and feel, rather than anything premeditated. “We just like to keep things interesting and when we’re writing songs they tend to take unexpected turns only because that’s the natural path they take,” admits Cunningham, in reference to the sense of intuition that resonates within the band. “Our ultimate objective with Foreign Tapes was to create something completely different… we’re nowhere close at the moment, but maybe in a couple of records’ time we will get there.” With many strange comparisons flying around placing the Parades sound firmly into a Sigur Rós meets Radiohead meets Pink Floyd space, Cunningham (also a music writer for Music Feeds, Fasterlouder and Who The Hell) believes it’s time for journos to move away from the tired old label game. Easier said than done though. “We got Fugazi once and I just don’t know where this comes from,” he laughs. With Foreign Tapes primarily written by both Cunningham and guitarist Tim Jenkins, Cunningham wants to explain the method behind his songwriting madness, but admits he can’t. While acknowledging that there is a ‘vibe’ weaving through his lyrics, he is damned if he can articulate it. “All I can say is that there is this ethereal tangent running through, but I can’t elaborate on it,” he says. I push a little. He retreats. We both laugh. “It’s kind of funny,” says Cunningham in relation to how well Parades have nailed their sound. “Collectively, our knowledge of recording is limited. Our goal was to create a record that we could play live and so we were careful not to overproduce it,” he says. WHO: Parades WHAT: Foreign Tapes (Dot Dash/Remote Control) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Karova Lounge (Ballarat); Friday, East Brunswick Club

HONOUR ROLL Aussie power metal band BLACK MAJESTY have made the album they’ve always threatened, STEVE JANEVSKI tells SAMUEL J FELL. balanced effort. For example, Tomorrowland was a faster record, Silent Company more of an old-school power metal record, whereas In Your Honour has a mixture of a few things, a few different styles. It’s the record we’ve been fortunate enough to spend the most time with, too. We had an extra seven or eight months to put this one together, so it’s so far, so good.

ack in the dark, early days of the decade just gone, a time when nu-metal bands walked the earth (chests thrust out and sideburns groomed just so) acting like they were actually contributing something worthwhile, something else was happening. Something which by its very definition redefined the roots of a genre gone sour and staked its claim to the metal throne. Black Majesty, forged no doubt, deep within the bowels of the earth around the time nu-metal was at its peak, were destined, it seems now, to overthrow the unjust and return metal to its rightful place – mired deep within the power and the thrash, the dark and the underground. Since 2001, those dark days now thankfully long gone, Black Majesty have indeed risen and stayed just so, always on the up and up, recreating and taking from old, leaving their mark in blistering fashion. The progressive thrash of Sands Of Time in 2003, the soaring power metal of 2005’s Silent Company and the intensity of Tomorrowland (’07) make up a trilogy worthy of any metal band on the planet, a group putting Australian melodic power metal well and truly on the map. Today we see Black Majesty no less kingly, no less endowed with great insight and vision, no less blistering in the mark they’ve left most recent; In Your Honour stands as the band’s fourth release, and to say this sees them assail yet another plane in metal barely does these four masters justice. “With each album, it’s as simple as us just trying to write good songs,” muses Majesty guitarist Steve Janevski. “And with this new one, it just seems like more of a

“And in this instance, it’s the songwriting, we can really step back and listen to the songs,” Janevski goes on. “We also thought a lot about the tempo of the record… like, it starts off pretty fast, moves into the middle with a slower tune or two, then it rises up towards the end. For us, that was important; it was important to have a good balance.” Being a power metal band, a brand of metal known for its incredibly quick drum tempos, Black Majesty have instilled within that framework a rise and fall – staying true to their musical roots, but digressing within them to create what is already a contender for record of the year. “We really wanted a big guitar sound too, Hanny [Mohammed] and I, so we were happy to be working with Roland Grapow [Helloween/Masterplan] as producer. He’s a real guitar head, so we were happy with the guitar sound,” Janevski expands. “And vocally, I know John [Cavaliere] was the happiest he’s been… in the past, sometimes you’re rushing the songs to get them finished, but in this instance we had time. We had the songs and we knew what we were going to do, whether it be big guitar-wise or vocal-wise. We could still change ideas, but mostly only for the better.” Black Majesty, it seems, couldn’t be happier with what they’ve produced here, almost a decade after emerging from the sludge created by the pretenders, recapturing the metal world for the real, honest fans of the genre. And they’re still doing that, adhering to an ethos met by so few, but enjoyed by so many – it’ll be a cold day in hell before they give that up. “With this record, we’re in a good place, it’s a good balance,” muses Janevski, and that’s the metal truth.

WHO: Black Majesty WHAT: In Your Honour (Limb Music) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, the Hi-Fi

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INSIDE:

WEDNESDAY 2ND JUNE 2010

THE REVENGE

SKOOL OF THOUGHT

CROOKERS

IN THE STUDIO CONTINUUM

2 Zebra Magazine

Zebra Magazine 3

TRITONAL

ESPIONAGE: KLUTE - Jun 5, Roxanne Parlour

CE M EN NO AN

WAX!: THE REVENGE - Jun 4, Revolver

JUNE

Chicaago’s house music legend Ron Carroll is coming out to help us celebrate the Queen’s birthday! A cracking singer/ songwriter/producer, Carroll has worked with the best including E-Smoove, Maurice Joshua and Bob Sinclar. This will be his only Melbourne show sho on Sunday 13 June S n Nightclub. Hit up at Seve Ticketmaster for tickets.

TOURING DATES

ROLLL OUT THE CARROLL

NADASTROM - Jun 5, The Espy A LA FU - Jun 5, Loop Bar DARKBEAT: CHRIS FORTIER, DUBFUNK, ALI B, SKOOL OF THOUGHT - Jun 11, Brown Alley

LOCO BAROCCO LO

Sel -described “Italian mofo” Self Luig Lui i Barone is the gent responsible for the electro/ res house project, Gigi Barocco. ho Baro Ba cco has officially remixed Steve Aoki & Will.I.Am, St Spencer & Hill, Gooseflesh, Sp Acid Jacks and The Wu-Tang Ac Clan’s Redman. Team these C with his original tracks and an w aarse-shaking time will be had bby all at Roxanne on Friday 225 June.

SHAPESHIFTER, ELECTRIC WIRE HUSTLE SOUND SYSTEM - Jun 11, The Palace SOUND PELLEGRINO THERMAL TEAM - Jun 11, The Espy JAMIE LEWIS - Jun 11, The Market COMMON, KID CAPRI - Jun 12, Prince Bandroom RAP CITY: DJ PREMIER, THE BEATNUTS, MASTA ACE & EDO G - Jun 12, The Espy HEAVY INNIT!!: STAGGA, BOOT - Jun 12, Mercat Cross

SHE’S A LADY S

CASSETTE KIDS - Jun 12, The Toff In Town WINTER SOUND SYSTEM: UNDERWORLD, CROOKERS, MARKUS SCHULZ, ZOMBIE NATION, TIGA, ROGER SHAH, THE PROXY, MANDY, STEVE AOKI & MORE - Jun 13, Melbourne Park GIFT OF GAB - Jun 13, Corner Hotel NADASTROM - Jun 13, Royal Melbourne Hotel LONDON ELEKTRICITY - Jun 13, Prince Bandroom LEE MORTIMER - Jun 13, Revolver RON CARROLL - Jun 13, Seven RENAISSANCE MAN - Jun 18, The Espy JOHN PHANTASM, ULTRAVOICE, FAREBI JALEBI - Jun 18, Brown Alley SHWAYZE & CISCO ADLER - Jun 19, The Espy INTERVIEW: ANTIX - Jun 19, Miss Libertine RENAISSANCE MAN - Jun 19, LaDiDa GIGI BAROCCO, ACT YO AGE - Jun 25, Roxanne Parlour

JULY

OO-FINE Matt Sean Tyas, M included Eddie Halliwell, star-studded line-up that y presented by Street a udl d Pro ture ! fea how t’s and 0 tha , 201 il ing Apr ’ Flem ur set Liberate was launched in y top that? With John ‘00 massive, extended four-ho Signum. So how could the ust at Brown Alley with a trance Aug of r 13 ay tou Hardwick, Solarstone and Frid ian on tral e Aus urn r lbo eve will take in Me k City Lights and the first Yor New m Press Australia, the event albu ing om E launching his upc nment.com. from Fleming as well as MIK Wow! Tickets through Inthemix and onsideentertai ured. pict l, ona Trit ers, com new

T UK’s number one The dancehall queen Chanelle Williams (AKA Lady Chann), has been part of North West London’s vibrant Suncycle crew since it’s conception and now she’s branching out alone and bringing her unique talent our way. Lady Chann hits the Espy on Friday 23 July with support from Sydney duo Killa Queenz, Motley (UK) and locals Fraksha, Mat Cant, Affiks and Mamasita Bonnita. Tickets available now from espy.com.au and all Oztix outlets.

BIG BOI

THE LIKES OF YOU: STEPHAN BODZIN, ROBERT HOOD, HUGO - Jul 2, Brown Alley AIRPORT: SIMON PATTERSON, SIED VAN RIEL - Jul 2, Billboard ELEKTRIK TATTOO: DYNO - Jul 9, Billboard SUPER DISCO: DROP THE LIME - Jul 10, Prince Bandroom KEVIN RUDOLF, SHONTELLE - Jul 16, Palace Theatre SPIT SYNDICATE - Jul 16, The Evelyn LOWRIDER - Jul 17, Sandbar LADY CHANN, KILLAQUEENZ - Jul 23, The Espy LOWRIDER - Jul 23, Westernport Hotel LOWRIDER - Jul 24, Corner Hotel THE LIKES OF YOU: JAMES HOLDEN - Jul 25, Royal Melbourne Hotel LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, HOT CHIP - Jul 29, Festival Hall WINTERBEATZ 2010: BIG BOI, FATMAN SCOOP, NE-YO, T-PAIN - Jul 29, Rod Laver Arena

AUGUST GOLDFRAPP - Aug 3, Palace Theatre K-OS - Aug 3, Prince Bandroom LIBERATE: JOHN 00 FLEMING, MIKE, TRITONAL - Aug 13, Brown Alley

SEPTEMBER SUNNY: LEE BURRIDGE - Sep 17, Billboard CYPRESS HILL - Sep 23, Palace Theatre

OCTOBER PARKLIFE - Oct 2, Venue TBCNOVEMBER JASON DERULO - Nov 6, Festival Hall

6 Zebra Magazine

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Laver Arena. Tickets from Ticketek. General public on sale today (2 June).

THIS WEEK WAX! FEAT THE REVENGE @ REVOLVER Possibly the brightest shining star of the disco re-edit revival Glasgow’s Graeme Clark (AKA The Revenge, one-half of 6th Borough Project and Harri & The Revenge) returns to Melbourne to launch Revolver’s new Friday back room session: WAX! Revolver also welcomes its newest back room residents on rotation: Otologic, Ooh-ee, Lewie Day, Andras Fox, Jnett, El-Sea, Mr George, Roman Bruce, Aram Chapers, Andee Frost and friends. Some things always stay the same with Sunshine taking over from 7am until midday Saturday. This Friday. Tickets $20 on the door (email wax@revolverupstairs.com.au to get your name on the list for hassle free entry).

ESPIONAGE FEAT KLUTE @ ROXANNE PARLOUR Devoted disciples of drum’n’bass and, well, all kinds of music, will be pleased to hear Klute focusing on the kind of classic sound he does best and making an album with broad appeal, beyond the confines of just the club and kitchen. Music For Prophet is his sixth full-length album and when he’s not busy smashing the shit out of audiences worldwide with his extreme hardcore punk band The Stupids, Klute will be travelling the globe for an album tour that lands at Roxanne Parlour this Saturday. Tickets are $25+BF (early bird), $28+BF through Moshtix or more on door.

THE KOJO EP LAUNCH @ MISS LIBERTINE Featuring West Africa’s critically acclaimed Asanti Dance Theatre, Haiti’s MC/Producer/DJ Voodoo Dred, Australia’s premier Afro-DJ Mr Fish and Culture Connect’s Kojo solo EP launch. Expect dope percussion workouts with driving Afro rhythms, heavy world beats and future Aus hip hop. This Saturday.

A LA FU @ LOOP Special guest A La Fu (Ninja Tune, Big Dada) from the UK has played alongside such artists as Roots Manuva, The Scratch Perverts, DJ Kool Herc and many more. DJs Lickweed, Zanda and Mr Nice will also return to play all your favourite party tunes from funk and hip hop to breaks and drum’n’bass. This Saturday. 10pm-late. Free entry.

NADASTROM @ THE ESPY Nadastrom comprises Dave Nada and Matt Nordstrom from Washington DC and their debut Pussy release sold out on vinyl and became a digital store annual bestseller. According to the back-to-back DJ team, “you gotta see it to believe it.” Nadastrom hit the Espy this Saturday with support from the Scattermusic home stable with Slap n’ Dash, Scattermish, Mu-Gen, Mat Cant and Lewis CanCut. Nadastrom also hits Royal Melbourne Hotel on Sunday 13 June (day party) as part of their Lezgoz Australian tour.

UPCOMING SHAPESHIFTER @ THE PALACE Street Press Australia presents Shapeshifter. The New Zealand facemelters are all set to launch their new album The System Is A Vampire at the Palace on Friday 11 June and will be doing so by playing the longplayer live. This is cranking drum’n’bass that will rumble through your nether regions. Support from Electric Wire Hustle Soundsystem and DJ JPS.

JAMIE LEWIS @ THE MARKET In 1997, Swiss DJ/producer Jamie Lewis created his own record label Purple Music Inc, recognised today as one of the most impressive house music labels worldwide. Catch him at the Market on Friday 11 June when he launches his Flashback CD, a celebration of two decades of outstanding productions, with a three-hour set from 1-4am that is guaranteed to make you groove.

SOUND PELLEGRINO THERMAL TEAM @ THE ESPY Orgasmic and Teki Latex are the two public faces of Paris-based label Sound Pellegrino and they’re getting ready to unite and form the Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team. Prepare to experience sounds flowing between tribal rhythms, pumping tech house, Baltimore and warped funky with a slice of club rap thrown in for good measure. Support comes courtesy of the Scattermusic home stable with Slap n’ Dash, Scattermish, Mu-Gen, Mat Cant and Lewis CanCut. Admission is free. Friday 11 June.

DARKBEAT PRES CHRIS FORTIER, DUBFUNK, ALI B, & SKOOL OF THOUGHT @ BROWN ALLEY Darkbeat presents Chris Fortier (USA), Dubfunk (SWZ), Ali B (UK) and Skool Of Thought (UK). Friday 11 June.

MUPH & PLUTONIC @ HI-FI BIRTHDAY BASH Iconic live music venue Hi-Fi Bar are celebrating their birthday in June and have lined up Muph & Plutonic to headline shows at both their Melbourne and Brisbane locations. Labelmates Chasm and Vida-Sunshyne will also feature with Jess Harlen supporting. More acts to be announced shortly. Tickets $18+BF on sale now. Friday 11 June.

RAP CITY @ THE ESPY A must see event for any hip hop fan, Rap City will feature over five hours of international and local artist performances, purpose built stage design, audiovisual displays, merchandise stall all backed by high impact graphic design and an interactive website. Featuring DJ Premier, The Beatnuts, Masta Ace & Edo G with local supports to be announced soon. Rap City takes over the Espy on Saturday 12 June. Tickets through theespy. oztix.com.au.

COMMON & KID CAPRI @ THE PRINCE Common and Kid Capri are heading to Australia and New Zealand this June for a five-city tour. This will be Common’s first appearance in Australia since 2006. Common rose to prominence as one of hip hop’s most poetic and respected lyricists and has even written two hip hop children’s books called The Mirror And Me and I Like You, But I Love Me. As for Kid Capri, hip hp heads will have noted that his name has appeared on the tour posters of heavyweight artists such as P Diddy, LL Cool J, Nas, Lil Kim, Jay-Z, Usher, R. Kelly, Mary J Blige, and Trey Songz. Catch them both on Saturday 12 June. Tickets on sale though Moshtix.

DRUM‘N’BASS CLUB ANTHEMS FEAT LONDON ELEKRICITY @ THE PRINCE Hospital Records is back in town! The next instalment – created especially for drum’n’bass lovers Down Under – is expertly mixed by award-winning Hospital Records head honcho London Elektricity, and, Hospital artist, Agent Alvin. Catch the former when he tours off the back of Drum‘n’Bass Club Anthems and hits the Prince on Sunday 13 June (Queen’s Birthday Eve) with guests Patch, Finna, Safire and many more. Doors 10pm. Tickets $35+BF through Polyester Records, DMC Records, Alley Tunes, Ministry Of Style, Collectors Corner, Inthemix, the Prince Public Bar (12-10pm, seven days) or through princebandroom. com.au.

HEAVY INNIT!! FEAT STAGGA @ MERCAT CROSS A big winter party will team special guests Stagga (Chrome Kids, UK) and Boot together with residents Affiks & A13 plus a quality local line-up including Riz-

One and Heavy Innit!! virgin, Stack. Seven hours of devastating bass weight with a beefed-up Funktion-1 rig and killer outdoor balcony. Another wicked dubstep party coming right up upstairs at Mercat Cross and a long weekend to make it unmissable. $20 on the door, $15 VIPs before midnight. Saturday 12 June. 10pm-5am.

LEE MORTIMER @ REVOLVER Lee Mortimer will join the Revolver Sunday residents for a public holiday eve you won’t forget. The wonkiest man in house music returns to the Revolver back bar for the second time and sources at his Wearhouse imprint have revealed Mortimer has been locked in the studio for the last few weeks working on some exclusives just for his Australian tour. Child (live), Steve Ward (live), Continuum (live), Jamie Stevens and U-One in the front room from 1am. Doors from 9pm on Sunday 13 June (Queen’s Birthday Eve) until midday or so the following day. First round pre-sales $17+BF through Moshtix.com.au.

WINTER SOUND SYSTEM @ ROD LAVER & SURROUNDS Winter Sound System is fast approaching and the local line-up is in and will be sharing decks with ridiculously exciting headliners such as Underworld, Crookers, Steve Aoki, Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery, Laidback Luke Tiga and Thomas Von Party. Nick Foley, Papa Smurf, Steve Strangis, Kris Baha, Ando, 1928 & Sleeves, Gavin Keitel, Aram Chapers, Andy Murphy, Chardy and many more have scored the honour and give you more reasons to part with your hard-earned and dance your cares away. Just added to the Dim Mak Main Arena line-up, Autoerotique (Keith Robertson & David Henderson). The action takes place on Sunday 13 June at Melbourne Park – Rod Laver and Hisense arenas and surrounds – from 10pm-7am. First release tickets have sold out and second release tickets are now on sale for $99+BF and service charges through Ticketek.

GIFT OF GAB @ THE CORNER American MC/hip hop mastermind Gift Of Gab is heading our way in support of his new album Escape 2 Mars. The Oakland rapper is the skilful MC from Blackalicious (check out Alphabet Aerobics, people) and part of the group of hip hop eccentrics known as Quannum (which includes DJ Shadow and Lyrics Born). Gab was also a member of The Mighty Underdogs, a collaborative project including Lateef (Latyrx) and Headnodic (Crown City Rockers). Support from Curse Ov Dialect & Class A. $35 presales (cornerhotel.com)/$40 on the door. Sunday 13 June.

NOCTURNAL DELUSIONS LAUNCH FEAT JOHN PHANTASM @ BROWN ALLEY

returning to Australia after their brief, sold out east coast tour in February. And this time New Orleans hip hop duo The Knux and DJ Jason Smith will be coming along. Support from Red Ink, Mafia, Dublin Aunts, 360, Deadly Booty and Streetparty Vs Swick. Saturday 19 June at the Espy. Tickets through espy.com.au and all Oztix outlets. ANTIX

INTERVIEW FEAT ANTIX @ MISS LIBERTINE The Interview crew are back with New Zealand’s Antix launching their brand new fourth studio album Cavalier. Antix, two fresh faced brothers with a love of electronic music, formed in the late ‘90s and were quickly snapped up by Iboga Records in Denmark. Support from Ben Evans, Blinky, Tony Loucas Vs Andy Simpson (B:R:B), Punkz On Junk, Motek (live), Deutronium, Loki, Simon Murphy and Nathan Canis. Saturday 19 June at Miss Libertine.

SOUND JUNKIES PRES GIGI BAROCCO & ACT YO AGE @ ROXANNE PARLOUR If you ain’t acting your age then you ain’t made for this gig. Act Yo Age are ready as anything to send decibels through our heads. AYA will headline alongside Gigi Barocco (Italy) to bring you their very own house/electro music. As resident to the Sweat It Out crew, be prepared for an impressive show. Eli B, Distrakt, Kris Baha, Mu-Gen, Kraymer, Trumpdisco, Swick, Airwolf, MYM, Pop A Cap, Zayler, daftwho?, J Heasy, Death By Disco, Swerve, Marco Polo, Luke Wellsteed, Dom Dolla and Paul Coverdale are also on the agenda. Friday 25 June, 10pm-5am. Tickets are $25+BF (early bird) through Moshtix or more on door.

DIAFRIX & THE PUBLIC OPINION AFRO ORCHESTRA @ THE CORNER Diafrix team up with The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra for a huge double bill. Diafrix debut album Concrete Jungle has taken their iconic concoction of hip hop, funk and African roots and developed it into a truly world-class sound. Plus special guests Motley (UK), DJ Surrender and Manchild. Saturday 26 June. Doors 8.30pm. Pre-sale tickets $15+BF through the Corner Box Office (12-8pm, MondaySaturday) or online (cornerhotel. com). SIMON PATTERSON

Soundkraft Records second CD (Nocturnal Delusions) launch party with John Phantasm (UK), Ultravoice (ISR), Farebi Jalebi (Ind) and Rubal (Au) will be held on Friday 18 June at Brown Alley from 10pm. Tickets through greentix. com.au.

RENAISSANCE MAN @ THE ESPY & LA DI DA Renaissance Man hail from Finland and both halves of the outfit met while working in an architecture office in Helsinki. Taking their inspiration from 3,000 years of art and science, Renaissance Man prove that you can think out of the box, but that it’s even better to think outside the walls. Or make that borders. Catch Renaissance on Friday 18 June joined by Mu-Gen, Scattermish, Lewis CanCut and Mat Cant. Tickets available now through espy.com.au and Oztix. A second show has been announced for Saturday 19 June at La Di Da.

SHWAYZE & CISCO ADLER @ THE ESPY LA trendsetters and rulers of indie hip-hop, Shwayze (AKA Aaron Smith) and Cisco Adler, are

AIRPORT FEAT SIMON PATTERSON & SIED VAN RIEL @ BILLBOARD THE VENUE Back for another wild air race, the Airport artisans invite you to join their mile high club. Strap yourselves in for the ride of your life with trance heavyweights Simon Patterson and the flying Dutchman – Sied van Riel. Also featuring an impressive support line-up from around Australia including Nathan Cryptic (NSW), DJ Frost (SA) and local star Trent McDermott. First release costs $29+BF (strictly limited to 50), earlybirds are $39+BF (limited to 50), pre-sales will set you back $49+BF or first

class flights cost $69 (available only through promoters). Friday 2 July. 9pm-5am.

BLAK ROOTS ALBUM LAUNCH @ THE TOFF African act Blak Roots have taken the reggae genre in Melbourne to new heights with an exciting musical brew of driving reggae rhythms, refreshingly sweet vocals and African-inspired harmonies. Led by African vocal extraordinaire William Kadima, Blak Roots formed in early 2008 bringing together an eclectic mix of talented jazz, world and reggae artists from some of the planet’s most exotic locations. The band releases its debut album with the support of amazing local act Vox Congo performing a unique mix of Congolese gospel, rumba, soukous, zouk, reggae, aguaya and pende folk rhythms. Doors 7.30pm. $12 entry. Sunday 27 June.

Thursday 29 July. Doors 8pm. Tickets $45+BF through handsometours.com, Polyester Records, Greville Records, the Prince Public Bar or through princebandroom.com.au.

JAMES HOLDEN @ ROYAL MELBOURNE HOTEL James Holden may not be a household name, but to fans of adventurous, progressive electronic sounds, the British techno sorcerer is a renowned genius. Head of the Border Community imprint, Holden can count himself amongst that very modern breed of DJ with a special knack for layering the most surprising of records with an unparalleled musical ear. Check Holden out on Sunday 25 July at Royal Melbourne Hotel when he launches his contribution to the DJ-Kicks mix CD series. PURPLE SNEAKERS

THE LIKES OF YOU FEAT STEPHAN BODZIN, ROBIN HOOD & HUGO @ BROWN ALLEY The Likes Of You brings you a dose of techno with Stephan Bodzin (live), Robert Hood and Hugo. Bodzin is the son of an experimental musician who cut his teeth composing music for European theatres before his talent was discovered and he went on to worldwide domination as a DJ and live artist. Hood is a founding member of Underground Resistance and makes minimal Detroit techno with an emphasis on soul. Rounding out the international delicacies is Hugo from Turin, Italy. A classically trained jazz musician, Hugo fell in love with electronic music in the ‘90s. Friday 2 July at Brown Alley. SPIT SYNDICATE

PURPLE SNEAKERS @ MISS LIBERTINE Sydney’s Purple Sneakers DJs have unveiled the all-star tracklist for their forthcoming debut compilation, We Mix You Dance, and have also announced national tour dates to promote the 29-track, two-disc release. Born from the womb of Sydney’s most popular indie club night, Purple Sneakers, this compilation is expertly mixed by PhDJ (founder Martin Novosel), MIT and Ben Lucid. Friday 30 July.

K-OS @ THE PRINCE

SPIT SYNDICATE @ THE EVELYN Spit Syndicate bring the Starry-Eyed national tour through Melbourne on Friday 16 July. The Sydney duo recently released their sophomore album Exile to widespread acclaim and will be joined by special local guests at each stop. Accompanied on stage by musical mercenary DJ Joyride, Spit Syndicate have built a monster reputation on the back of their unique, high-energy live shows.

ELEKTRIK TATTOO @ BILLBOARD THE VENUE Elektrik Tattoo debuts with Italy’s techno wizard Dyno plus support performances from other artists featured on Bush Music’s latest EP (also called Elektrik Tattoo): Heath Renata, Steve Ward, Joel Fletcher, Mike Metro, Momo & Trav, Yoshi, Lucca Tan, Viking, Eric Powell, Chardy and many more on the night. Some of Australia’s best tattooists – Devils Ink’s Justin Acca, Steve Aidone and Dan Powe – will rotate their artistry across three canvasses while tattooed models roam the venue featuring their designs. Friday 9 July at Billboard The Venue. 10pm-late. Early bird tickets are $25 through Billboard online, Moshtix and Ticketek.

DROP THE LIME @ THE PRINCE After setting the stage ablaze at the Stereosonic Festival 2009, Drop The Lime (DTL) is heading back to tour Australia in July. Drop the Lime (Luca Venezia) is an electro DJ/ producer hailing from New York who has remixed Moby, Blaqstarr, Rex The Dog, Armand Van Helden and Midnight Juggernauts as well as co-writing songs with Diplo and Herve. Catch DTL at the Prince on Saturday 10 July.

YEASAYER @ THE PRINCE Yeasayer with special guests.

Trinidad-born, Toronto-raised musician/MC/producer k-os (also known as Kheaven Brereton) has enjoyed much acclaim from his fourth studio album Yes!, featuring guest appearances from Emily Haines of Metric and Murray Lightburn of The Dears. If you missed out on Splendour tickets, you can catch the k-os sideshow at the Prince on Tuesday 3 August. Tickets through Ticketek or through princebandroom.com.au.

PASSION PIT @ THE PRINCE Passion Pit with The Joy Formidable (UK) and Rat Vs Possum. Wednesday 4 August. Doors 8pm. Tickets $66+BF from Ticketmaster, the Prince Public Bar (12-10pm, seven days) or through princebandroom.com.au.

SUNNY FEAT LEE BURRIDGE @ BILLBOARD THE VENUE It’s been two long years since dance music renegade Lee Burridge last gave Australia a work over, but this September we’ll get our fix again. The DJ has been locked in by Melbourne institution Sunny for a five-plus hour set alongside Phil K, Gavin Keitel, Rollin Connection, Ozzie La plus more on Friday 17 September at Billboard The Venue. 10pm-7am. Tickets: $25 through Inthemix.

PARADISE @ GWK, BALI Brought to you by Jungle Box, Paradise In Bali is a two-day drum’n’bass festival designed to give junglists a chance to come together and see some of the world’s finest artists under the sun. Sunday 14 and Monday 15 November sees the first inaugural Paradise launch its way into festival history with artists such as Makoto, Matrix & Futurebound, Utah Jazz, Ragga Twins, Squire and Bungle (live). Australasian heavyweight support comes from WA boys Shock One & Q-Bik, Kim Dela Hay (QLD) and DJ Low is representing Malaysia. Also featured will be Ragga Twins’ 20th Anniversary special, Utah Jazz’s new album tour and Bungle’s instrumental live show never before seen out of Brazil. Paradise will be held in the idyllic surroundings of Bali, enclosed by enormous limestone pillars with the Garuda figure as a backdrop and the dramatic lotus pond area has a capacity of 7,500. Tickets on sale through Moshtix or directly through paradisefestival.com.au from 7 June with pre-release industry tickets now available. Holiday packages also available.

Zebra Magazine 7

KR IS

SW AL

DUMMIES’ GUIDE TO

SHAPESHIFTER

BLOOD BROTHERS THE STEADY DECADE-LONG EVOLUTION OF KIWI DRUM’N’BASS OUTFIT SHAPESHIFTER HAS BEEN CAPTURED PERFECTLY ON THEIR SUPERB FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM. NOW DEVIN ABRAMS AND HIS COMRADES ARE FACING LIFE AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF THE MAN WHO HAS LONG BEEN THE BACKBONE OF THEIR UPLIFTING LIVE SHOWS. SHAPESHIFTER PLAY THE PALACE FRIDAY 11 JUNE. THE SYSTEM IS A VAMPIRE IS OUT THROUGH TRUETONE/INERTIA. Life in the land of New Zealand-bred drum’n’bass mainstays Shapeshifter couldn’t have been rosier circa September 2009. With work on their fourth studio album The System Is A Vampire complete, Devin Abrams, Nick Robinson, Sam Trevethick, PDigsss and Redford Grenell set out on their annual jaunt through the venues of Australia to preview tracks like triumphant lead single Dutchies alongside anthems like One and Bring Change that had made their late-2006 predecessor Soulstice such a slow-burning success. But the trip was soured when drummer Redford Grenell perforated his eardrum and the September Sydney show was cancelled, and when the band returned for a make-up show for Sydney fans in November, Grenell’s stool was occupied by Melbourne resident Johnny Hooves in a move that is now permanent. It’s a big change for fans who had watched Grenell blossom in the Shapeshifter engine room, and a no doubt crushing blow for Grenell himself given The System Is A Vampire makes such an impact due to the power and precision of his live drum takes. And the band’s synth and saxophone man Devin Abrams still exhales sharply when asked about the split some six months later. “I think it brought a lot of personal reasons to the forefront,” a clearly emotional Abrams explains. “The ear thing was kind of like, ‘I can’t jeopardise my career for the rest of my life touring,’ and you can’t really blame the dude – how are you going to give up music for the rest of your life if you’re going to keep touring for the next couple of years, you know? I think it brought up some issues that he needed to address, and it was a really mutual decision, really. It was like, ‘You’ve got to go and do what’s best for you, and the door is always open if you want to come back’.

8 Zebra Magazine

“But it came out of nowhere; it was so leftfield. Obviously the ear thing, it was really obvious that ‘Fuck, he’s going to have to take time out, it’ll be a while before we plays gigs again, we’re all aware of that’. But, fuck, it was like breaking up with your girlfriend, man, ‘cause we’ve done ten years together. He’s my brother, man, and he will always be family to me. I just hope he finds what he’s looking for and he’s happy; it’s just something he’s got to go through.” Fortunately Hooves, who attended jazz school with Shapeshifter’s foundation line-up a decade earlier in Christchurch and has also enjoyed d’n’b releases of his own on Obsessions and State Of Mind’s SOM Music, has slotted into the band dynamic nicely. “We didn’t want someone who could just play drum’n’bass, we wanted someone who could play reggae, hip hop, all the feels,” Abrams says. “We were shitting our pants because Redford is the best drummer I’ve ever played with and I was really nervous going into this summer tour we did in New Zealand, worried that it would be the end of our band, [but Hooves is] blowing all of our expectations out of the water.” It helps that the upheaval has occurred on the back of perhaps the band’s best studio representation of their breathtaking live shows to date. Whereas the evolution from the taut, machine-like rhythms of 2004’s largely instrumental Riddim Wise to the more soulful song structures of Soulstice required something of a leap of faith for the band’s fans, The System Is

A Vampire sounds like a logical extension of its predecessor – only with the band set up directly in front of you to leap between dub, downtempo, dancehall and rinse-out, sometimes within a single bound. The uniform sound and structure of the record belies the fact that it’s the first project they haven’t tackled while living and working in the same space together (Abrams admitting that last time round “we all moved to a little beach town called Kaikoura in the south island [of New Zealand] and lived there together for six months and we almost killed each other”), with Robinson and Trevethick setting up camp in the northern New South Wales beach village of Kingscliff to complete the bulk of the work. “Obviously the base was that we had the whole studio set up at Sam and Nick’s house in Kingscliff, but me, Digsss and Redford all lived in separate cities. We all kind of wrote the music together, and then Sam and Nick would work away at it and work away at it, then I’d come back and record all my synth lines and sax stuff, then I’d come back a month later and check out the mixes, it was just kind of coming and going as we needed to.” While the work of Grenell drives the record, the more personal lyrical approach of vocalist Digsss is also a key factor. “I know he definitely went a lot deeper on this one with his personal experiences,” Abrams confirms. “I can’t really speak on behalf of him, but I know with Twin Galaxies it has a very personal meaning for him with his father, who passed

MEMBERS: Nick Robinson, Sam Trevethick, Devin Abrams, Johnny Hooves, Paora ‘PDigsss’ Apera. SINCE: 1999 FROM: Christchurch, New Zealand LABEL: Truetone Recordings ACCOMPLICES: Ladi6, KP, Joe Dukie, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. ALIASES: Nicky Research, Verse 2 (Nick Robinson), Sambora (Sam Trevethick), The Sunshine Soundsystem (PDigsss), Pacific Heights and DJ Reno (Devin Abrams). MYSPACED INFLUENCES: Al Green, Bill Evans, Nina Simone, Archie Whitewater, Sa Ra Creative, PPP, Tactile, Aphex Twin, Massive Attack, Calibre, The Roots, Total Science, Sizzla, Deftones, Digital, Kanye West, Ella Fitzgerald, The Neptunes, John Coltrane, Prince, and way too many more to list. FUN FACTS: * Their third studio album Soulstice entered the New Zealand national charts at number four and spent over two months in the top twenty after its August 2006 release; it also reached number one on the independent charts. It obtained gold sales status within three weeks of release and went platinum some time later. * Furthermore, it earned the band three New Zealand bnet music awards for Best Live Act, Song Of The Year (Bring Change) and Album Of The Year. QUOTABLE QUOTE: “It’s still the same set-up – I read somewhere a description of us; three pasty geeks on keyboards, a metal drummer and a charismatic singer. That’s still the same ol’ recipe. Pick a sound, turn it up as loud as possible, away you go; that’s Shapeshifter.” Nick Robinson to amplifier.co.nz MEDIA HYPE: “Shapeshifter has woven its musical roots ever so deeply into the genres of soul and hip hop, and while there are definitely elements of Shapeshifter’s work that are predominately of the drum’n’bass staple, they’ve quite literally succeeded in orchestrating their greater vision into the fold.” Musicfeeds.com.au SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY ALBUMS Real Time (Low Profile, 2001) Soulstice (Truetone Recordings, 2006) Live (Truetone Recordings, 2007) SINGLES DNA EP (Curious Recordings, 2001) Been Missing/Relocator (Salmonella Dub, 2003) Bring Change (Truetone Recordings, 2006) One (BrandNu:X, 2008)

away quite a while ago. He has definitely put a lot of that emotion into the songs, definitely more than on Soulstice for sure.” And even with the deep, spiritual core of The System Is A Vampire seeming to share a common spirit with the more considered offerings of producers like dBridge (who remixed One in 2008 and is currently so-hot-right-now thanks to his Autonomic podcasts with Instra:mental), Abrams says that this time round the band looked even further inward for inspiration than they had before. “Whereas Soulstice was kind of the last gridlocked album where we wanted to make a drum’n’bass album that we could play live, this album obviously you can tell there’s no click tracks, you couldn’t DJ it really – it’s not meant for that. Obviously all of us are very aware of what’s going on in the drum’n’bass scene, and we get a lot of tunes and definitely appreciate what’s going on, but with this album we definitely focused on our own sound.” Though it’s nearing midnight at Abrams’ Wellington base, he’s more than happy to share a joke on discovering that Australia and New Zealand own the two greatest land claims on Antarctica after a recent trip there with his partner (when Zebra suggests that more New Zealanders live in the Australian section he quips, “They’re getting all of the jobs at the research base!”), continuing to make music into old age (“I want to be in the musician’s senior home still making beats, the nurses bringing me cocaine to get me going in the morning…”) and subbing in for his vocalist for this interview slot at the last minute. “I got a text saying he was having his wisdom teeth pulled out. So Sam broke his arm playing tennis, and Digsss is having his teeth pulled out. It’s a fucking circus mate – it’s not very rock’n’roll, is it?” But Abrams himself admits the band’s rock’n’roll days are long behind them. With Robinson now a father and the band making a comfortable living from Shapeshifter and other creative outlets, a three week jaunt through Europe, North America and Asia is as close as they’ll will get to launching a full-scale assault for international glory on the back of album number four – and the band couldn’t be happier with their lot. “I hate to sound ‘old’, but I think we’re all settling down and enjoying having partners and having kids,” self-confessed “senior rocker” Abrams says. “We love it, it’s the best job in the world, don’t get me wrong – we’re always going to enjoy the gigs, no matter what the financial situation is we’re going to love playing music. But for us to go all that way it has to be justified to our families, to the bank [laughs], that we can go away and come back and not be away for too long.”

BY BE CA AT RL TI IN E

FRIENDLY FIRE THE DEBUT ALBUM RELEASE FROM CROOKERS HAS GENERATED ALL KINDS OF SUCCESS FOR THE DJ DUO. JUST AS LONG AS FUN IS IN THE MIX, THE PAIR ARE HAPPY. CROOKERS PLAY WINTER SOUND SYSTEM SUNDAY 13 JUNE. TONS OF FRIENDS IS OUT THROUGH LIBERATOR.

rom his London apartment, an approximate four-hour train trek separates Crookers’ Bot (aka Francesco Barbaglia) from his musical offsider’s (Phra, or Andrea Fratangelo) Swiss residence. The geographical partition between them is something the Italian duo has confronted with apparent ease, embracing the challenge to maintain a creative partnership with open arms. “We pass a lot of our tracks back and forth online,” Barbaglia says. “We’ll take turns making changes and adding bits and pieces to a mix.” The success the pair has discovered within their technologically dependent, long distance working environment is an impressive feat, especially given the reception that’s followed the release of this year’s debut album Tons Of Friends. A handful of pals, both old

and new scatter the 20 album tracks, however as Barbaglia’s comments reveal, it’s likely that the Crookers matchup itself is the vital ingredient. “It may sound stupid, but I think the thing that characterises us is that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re always making crazy decisions and not thinking about things too much. Sometimes [tracks] turn out crap, but it can also take us to places that other people may not have thought of.” The abandon that the outfit appears to operate amidst has delivered them attention from names such as Will.i.am, Roisin Murphy, Kanye West and The Chemical Brothers, yet while Bot admits he’s delighted with the artists he’s collaborated with thus far, he agrees that this high profile recognition has in turn, brought new hurdles. “The success is really weird. I’m

not used to it when someone says they heard our song on the radio, or they like or don’t like our music. I’m still really surprised that the whole thing has happened. I try not to think about it. Once you start to think too much, it begins to distract you. You just have to go with it... our music is all about the way we approach it – we make sure we’re always having fun.” Their process has indeed churned out a mass of unique dance sounds, sometimes coming as unexpected to the pair. “We’re horrible singers, so we usually ask people we’re fans of to come on our tracks. It’s super random. Most of the time we’ll let people choose what they do. We send a lot of beats, maybe ten to fifteen: slow, crazy, deep… more slow and more crazy. We try to get them to feel close to the beat themselves. When they’re done they’ll send something back with their parts on top. Kelis sent us back something and we didn’t know what it was. We don’t know how she got the beat she chose – I don’t think we sent it. We were like, ‘Woah! How’d she get that?’ We probably slipped it in by accident. “We’re really happy with the album now. There’s always going to be things that you have to work around – we just make sure we’re enjoying ourselves when they come up. Now that it’s finished it means we can have fun travelling and touring with our friends.” Living apart, the duo’s time together on the road is obviously held somewhat sacred. As Barbaglia explains, it’s all about combining the right ingredients. “Just as long as you’re around good friends and quality food, everything else falls into place. You have to go at it from the right place, from the beginning: we make sure we have a good time. It’s great that we’ll be able to party with mates like Laidback Luke and Steve Aoki, because otherwise moving around so much mightn’t be too fun.”

B FA Y G RN UID EL O L

BEST SERVED COLD GRAEME CLARK TALKS ZEBRA THROUGH HOW HIS RE-EDITING CAREER AS THE REVENGE BEGAN AND HIS UPCOMING COLLAB WITH JOEY NEGRO. xxx

THE REVENGE PLAYS WAX! AT REVOLVER THIS FRIDAY.

s discotheque dancefloors are burning up to spaced out cosmic sounds and dreamy slow motion house, DJ and producer Graeme Clark shakes things up a little with deep darkly hypnotic grooves that sit somewhere between house and techno yet subtly reference soul, funk, boogie and disco influences. Operating under his The Revenge moniker Clark is emerging as a rapidly rising star thanks to the plethora or remixes, edits and original productions he has released in the past couple of years. Talking influences in a thick Scottish brogue from his home in Glasgow, it becomes clear that Clark’s music reflects the sounds he loved when growing up. “When I was in my teens I loved all the first wave of all that French touch stuff like Daft Punk and Cassius and of course all the Chicago house records. It seemed to me that a lot of this older music could be re-presented in a different context to a new generation. This was the catalyst that got me onto edits. Often there are tracks that you want to play in a bar or a club that wouldn’t really work because of the bridges or because it was too long or too short or whatever. I was always a producer and understood that you could adjust these things with the technology that’s available. Generally I only do edits so that they can be played out. It’s really about doing something for a club environment that will work the dancefloor. Clark’s music could all too easily be filed away under nu disco, but like most artists filed away under anything, he is not entirely accepting of the tag. “I can’t deny that disco is definitely in the music I play, it is after all the

foundation of house and techno anyway. I never really collected disco music and as a DJ have always just played whatever switched me on at the time. My sets feature a wide variety of stuff. I am glad that this disco revival thing is happening. I thing that in this time of recession and all these pressures that are coming to bear on us collectively and individually people generally just want to escape on the weekends and have some fun. Disco music gives them that uplifting good time they are after.” Whilst appearing especially prolific in the past 12 months, Clark bemoans the fact that he works very slowly on his tracks in the studio. “I have missed so many deadlines and have things here that are weeks and months past deadline at the moment. To be honest I think I just took on too much work last year but I really find it hard to turn down projects for artists whose work I really love. I have a couple of really big album projects with 6th Borough Project and Joey Negro both of which are really exciting.” Working with Joey Negro, who is rumored to own almost every disco record ever released, is about as disco as it gets, and as Clark drops his name Zebra wonders what the two are cooking up for us. “We got together after his label got me to do a couple of remixes for him. We started by listening to a whole lot of old boogie soul funk and disco and just in the last week we have agreed upon a final track listing. I have been a fan of his for a while so it really is a dream come true.” Interestingly, though, Clark has not yet had the opportunity to rifle through Negro’s record collection. “He did invite me one time to visit him and go though his record collection. I didn’t take him up on the offer but I guess if I am ever short on anything to sample I can just pop around to his house and go through his records.”

Zebra Magazine 9

CY CL ON

FLICK THE SWITCH WHEN DAVE NADA CALLED MATT NORDSTROM TO LET HIM KNOW DAVE ‘SWITCH’ TAYLOR WANTED TO SIGN THE DEBUT NADASTROM RELEASE, HE THOUGHT IT WAS A PRANK – BUT THE DUO’S SUCCESS IS NOW NO JOKE. NADASTROM PLAY THE ESPY THIS SATURDAY, AND MERCAT CROSS HOTEL SUNDAY 13 JUNE.

ashington DC’s hardcore scene has bred two of dance music’s most unlikely combos. First, there’s the influential Thievery Corporation, those merchants of chill. Now we have Nadastrom, purveyors of B’more (Baltimore) club. Dave Nada (real name: Orlando Villegas) and Matt Nordstrom united three years ago and are this month touring Australia as a unit. “This is my fourth time coming to Australia,” Villegas says, “but this is my first time coming with my boy Matt as Nadastrom, so this is a Nadastrom debut.” Villegas is Nadastrom’s more experienced DJ but, at one stage, he was a member of the hardcore outfit De Nada. They yielded an eponymous album with song titles such as I Don’t Fuck I Kill, Your Naked Mom and Peeing Is Fundamental. However, Villegas was soon over ‘peeing’ and more into DJing electro punk. Still, his “nickname” from the band stuck.

As for Nordstrom, he’d served as an engineer for DC’s Deep Dish. The Nadastrom dudes – who’ve also issued solo material – met through a mutual acquaintance. Nordstrom had himself long DJed – but not on Villegas’ level. “I actually started DJing before I started learning how to produce, but it was just always a side thing – like a little hobby. I got really interested in dance music – and particularly drum ‘n’ bass – when I was around 18-years-old. I bought a pair of decks and just messed around with it, but then I started to shift a lot more towards trying to learn how to engineer and produce records and things like that.” Nordstrom’s DJing was rudimentary. He has learnt much from Villegas – and vice-versa. And their different experiences in music are what makes Nadastrom, Nordstrom reckons. “The dynamic of Nadastrom comes with the chaos and the organisation

B BE Y N RT IN OK A

YOU’VE GOTTA HAVE FAITH

MAXI JAZZ REVEALS THE LATEST FAITHLESS ALBUM TOOK SHAPE AT SUCH FAR-FLUNG LOCALES AS JAMAICA AND A NORFOLK PIG FARM – BUT AN URBAN NIGHTCLUB HEART PULSES AT THE CENTRE OF THE DANCE. THE DANCE IS OUT THROUGH NATE’S TUNES/LIBERATOR MUSIC.

t’s often at 3am, when the rest of the world is fast asleep, that genius strikes Faithless rapper Maxi Jazz and future classics are born. It’s precisely how hits like Insomnia and God Is A DJ came about over a decade ago, and it’s the same way Faithless’ sixth studio album The Dance has come to be in 2010. Far from people and technology, somewhere in Jamaica, Max Fraser put pen to paper and set in motion the most introspective and lyrically-contemplative album of the British collective’s career. “I do stay up all night when I am working because there is something special about the night time, when everyone else is asleep,” says Fraser. “When it’s daytime, the atmosphere is thick and full of everybody else’s vibes, whereas at night when people are asleep, there is a lot more space to be creative. There is a lot more energy available to soak up. I was in Ibiza on the beach recently, by myself in a quiet area, just doing bugger-all, when all of a sudden I realised that I just had basslines frantically running through my head. It was crazy, just one after another, and really good basslines. If there had been a studio ten minutes away from this beach, I would have quickly ran over and put them down immediately. That’s when it struck me that in order to be creative, I have to be in a situation where there is no stress. Other artists talk about working under pressure and how it’s good for them – that could never work, it’s just impossible. I have to be in a space where energy is not being depleted.” The ideal getaway, therefore, was Fraser’s mother’s private home on the island of Jamaica – a location where the rapper knew peace and scenery would both be in abundance. And so began the makings of The Dance. “It was the only place I could think of where I knew every time the phone rang, it definitely wouldn’t be for me,” he states. “It really is one of those things 10 Zebra Magazine

put together.” The engineer is accustomed to having an idea of how things should sound, yet the “DIY” Villegas, who’s wholly self-taught in the studio, records on the fly. Nadastrom have so far disseminated only three EPs. In 2008 they premiered with the Pussy EP on Dave “Switch” Taylor’s Dubsided – it was a Beatport top seller. “I’ll still never forget getting the phone call from him asking to put out the first EP,” Nordstrom laughs of Taylor. “I thought it was Dave with a British accent!” They’ve most recently released The Saved EP on Dubsided. Nadastrom love liaising with Taylor, who’s currently based in Los Angeles. Nadastrom’s bio takes a few liberties. The duo claim to have worked with Kanye West but, in fact, they remixed a track featuring him, Villegas bashfully confesses. “We got hollered at by Fool’s Gold Records to do a remix for Kid Cudi’s single Make Her Say, which samples Lady Gaga, and features Kanye West and Common. Basically, they approached us and wanted us to have a shot at doing a club remix, since the track itself is more of a pop song or a hip hop-structured song. I guess that was a pretty extended way of working with Kanye West – they sent us his vocals!… [But] we do know that he’s a fan.” Nadastrom have likewise remixed acts as varied as Aussie indie singer Lenka, rockers Shiny Toy Guns and, lately, Benny Benassi. Their next move is to complete an album, Nordstrom confirms. “We’ve been working on an album now for the past few months. I’d like to say we’re about halfway done, but you never really know until you’re actually there. So we could be almost done, we could be only 10% of the way – who knows? But, yeah, it’s definitely something that’s in the works right now.”

where the environment you’re in influences your output. I don’t see how musicians who live in the city can have that kind of clarity any more. The hustle and bustle of meetings, people coming in and out, running errands in the meantime, being able to just pop out for a quick lunch, or this or that – how can anybody focus on creativity?” With isolation being key, Fraser claims the rest of the album was recorded and mixed outside of London too – on a pig farm, of all places, also known as the location of Faithless producer Rollo’s studio in the Norfolk countryside. “It takes, like, three and a half hours to drive out there!” Fraser laughs. “It’s a real pig farm. We were joking that he should sell up his farm and come back to London, at least that way maybe we won’t take as long between albums! And, really, that’s something that we never planned to happen, we’re not big on procrastination by any means.” While still quintessentially Faithless in sound and propelling the DIY ethic of the early dance scene, album number six sees producers/remixers Rollo and Sister Bliss up the ante in the studio, getting their hands on plenty of new technology and generally modernising the group’s sound. “I know how Rollo and Bliss operate,” states Fraser. “They look for an authentic voice that has a tone and a sound of sincerity. The X factor is somebody singing from the heart, that’s what makes a great song. When we did Insomnia and God Is A DJ, they were big hits and a whole bunch of unscrupulous DJs and producers jumped onto that sound straight away. Suddenly there were all these sound-alikes all over the place using the sound that Sister Bliss created. We can’t really go back to that sound because it’s dated now anyway.”

BY BE CA AT RL TI IN E

SUITING UP FOR WINTER SOUND PELLEGRINO OFFERS ITSELF AS HOME TO A NICHE STRAND OF DANCE SOUNDS. HOWEVER, CO-FOUNDER CÉDRIC CAILLOL, AKA DJ ORGASMIC, STRUGGLES TO DEFINE THEM AS HIS SOUND PELLEGRINO THERMAL TEAM PREPARES TO HEAD DOWN UNDER. SOUND PELLEGRINO THERMAL TEAM PLAY THE ESPY FRIDAY 11 JUNE.

“L

ast time I toured, the crowds didn’t get it,” Cédric Caillol admits. The musician is one-half of the label’s touring Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team outfit, which features fellow Frenchman Teki Latex (Julien Pradeyrol) in equal measure. “Everyone was thinking I was going to be playing the hard stuff, but I wasn’t into it. Even the DJs that were there to support us… they were all dropping things like Bloody Beetroots. It makes it easier for us and the show if people know what we’ll be doing.” It’s easy to see how the group’s in vogue sound at a given point might be misconstrued or incorrectly labeled. Both Caillol and Pradeyrol make it their direct objective to chase a specific style or image; one that’s in a constant state of flux and progression, growing with every turn. “Right now is just another evolution. We don’t plan our sets, so I can’t really say what our upcoming shows will be like,” admits the DJ. “It’s a free thing and comes from the unconscious. We’re improving it and making changes all the time. It depends on the party. Expect a lot of new stuff – it’s not going to be a Sound Pellegrino ‘best of’. “Everything comes down to the moment. If it’s rainy, we’ll play sunny music… and if it’s sunny, well I don’t know,” he laughs. “When we started out, we didn’t sit down and try to build a sound. There’s definitely something in common with everything we do and the people we collaborate with, but I think it’s all in the approach. We want to go further and always progress.” Prompted on whether their methods towards sustaining an up to the minute sound might limit the label’s identity and accessibility, Caillol answers honestly. “People can decide to do what they want. They can call sounds

TO U

THINKING MAN’S BREAKS

WITH HIS NEW FREE DJ MIX UNDER THE SKOOL OF THOUGHT MONIKER, LLOYD SEYMOUR SAYS HE’S TRYING TO LEAD A ONE-MAN BATTLE AGAINST A GROWING “ANTHEM CULTURE”. XXX OF THOUGHT PLAYS QUEENS BIRTHDAY SKOOL EXTRAVAGANZA 2 AT BROWN ALLEY FRIDAY 11 JUNE. NATURAL SELECTION IS OUT THROUGH AGAINST THE GRAIN.

reaks DJ/Producer Lloyd Seymour, AKA Skool Of Thought, is not so much running a group of record labels as steering a movement. Seymour has just released a new – free – DJ mix called Natural Selection through the website of his Against The Grain Records imprint. The name implies a certain survivalist attitude and certainly it seems the implication is deliberate. With dubstep faddism, download culture and a club scene built around one dimensional anthem jocks dominating the scene, Seymour and his swag of high profile acts on Against The Grain (including Freestylers and Krafty Kuts) are fighting fire with innovation and underground tunes. Relocating to Australia as Seymour did a couple of years ago seems like a strange choice for one of the UK’s most reputed label-runners – to come from

Breaks Central to the other side of the world where the scene was nearly toe-tagged. Yet he sees it in a very positive light. “Australia is a nice country to live in, people really appreciate our music,” Seymour offers. “Really what brought us here was the appreciation for breaks. In some respects it has been good to be detached from the UK scene, less caught up perhaps in passing trends and politics. Breaks has taken a downturn in the last couple of years and people have been more focused on dubstep over there. Being detached from that has focused me to push breaks.” He has put effort into establishing events and nights around Australia when breaks seemed about to fade into obscurity, and has seen the scene begin to grow again. “Breaks were slowing down when I got here but now we do regular nights in most major cities. For me,

whatever they think of. This is something we have to do. Basically it’s a passion. I’ve been making mixtapes since I was 13 years old, recording tracks off the radio and cutting two tapes together. With music, it’s a drug or something. Or it’s our food, our lunch… we’ve got to eat it up. We have to – it’s natural. “Everything has to happen at the right time,” he continues. “People will get bored of the same hard stuff and go looking for something else. Someone has to change the game… if it’s the right time. In the ‘90s the dance scene was very electronica, with little differences in the music mixing it up. Since 2000, all the music has been merging together, with all the labels looking to each other and doing the same thing. I just don’t get it. The attitude that you have to go for a market makes sense – I get that, but you have to really go for it. Make people move. Make real bodies move. Recently there’ve been a few genres that have come out of exciting places, a lot from the UK, like the grime house. It’s cool that something else is coming back. I don’t really know what it is, but it’s better… different. It’s not like everything else, where you discover something and suddenly it’s all over the place and everyone has it. The sounds we’re after are for people to be with and live inside. I’m really enjoying the stuff coming out of Mexico right now too, the Guarachero music. It’s the next big thing, kind of very ghetto. It’s a lot of dumb stuff – really cool and cheesy.” Having just marked one year as a company, Sound Pellegrino (Institubes’ latest offshoot) has certainly hit the ground at a fast and forthright pace, perhaps, as Caillol reveals, forgetting to celebrate the moment. “I don’t even know if we did anything special. I can’t remember. We go to a lot of restaurants, maybe we did that, around some nice food. We’ll have to have a proper birthday next year!”

it’s a passion, breakbeat music is in my blood. I have a real fighting spirit to see breaks through to being a successful genre again. I think it’s like supporting your favourite football team: you get behind it and believe in it with a passion and it becomes your way of life… “It has been difficult over the past year,” he acknowledges. “The rules have become tighter around what is or isn’t breaks. For example if Cockney Thug by Rusko had come out four years ago, it would have been called a breakbeat record but because it came out more recently it’s labelled dubstep. There is an amazing fragmentation of subgenres and that is possibly why breaks has become less popular.” In order to resuscitate a genre you need fresh ideas and new blood – Natural Selection profiles some new names amongst the familiar, to do just that. “Natural Selection profiles underdog styles – like the track by Stenchman Computer Expert, and some of the Superstar Deluxe tunes. They are the kind of tracks that should fall into the breaks category but you listen and you’re not not sure what it is. You find yourself listening to it and struggling if you had to pigeonhole it.” With his track selection, Seymour is also throwing down the gauntlet to what he sees as an increasingly shallow “anthem culture” in clubs. “I think ‘heads’ are going to be into it more – there aren’t many huge obvious tracks. You need the big tunes, but it becomes tiring and less effective when there’s a whole set of them – and that’s where we are at the moment. At the start of breaks it wasn’t like that: the tunes were very deep and sets were more of a ‘journey’ kind of vibe. Now anthems are the only records that are selling. Ultimately I’d like to see it go back to a more educated approach and I think most DJs would, too.“

SINGLES

WITH TIM FINNEY

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

TRENTEMØLLER Sycamore Feeling

(In My Room/Stomp) I remember being a bit dubious about the post-rocky electronica on the first Trentemøller album, coming as it did off the back of some of the finest slices of mid-’00s electro-house-into-minimal hyper-insectile anthemism (Physical Fraction! The Röyksopp remix!), but several years on it hardly seems like it matters any more. And the sturm und drang Lynch/Badalamenti creep and drawl and slither and drone of Sycamore Feeling really is incredibly pretty and lush and foreboding, rather like old Australian band The Paradise Motel really (complete with sleepy methadone female vox), only with a vaguely ridiculous number of ideas per track. Trentemøller’s own remix isn’t really a dance effort, but a “mood music” combination of ringing guitar and echoey post-punk snares. For actual techno, like, head for the depressive and involved but not terribly memorable Gui Boratto and Thomas Schumacher remixes.

LUCID

The Calling

(Scattermusic) I must admit to always being a bit leery of techno tracks with generically menacing names like The Calling – it always seems to mean a rather grim time to be had by all. In fact Lucid seem to trade in a kind of mindlessly muscular sound somewhere between late ‘90s Euro techno and, um, late ‘90s hard house – up to and including the vocal samples vaguely redolent of hip hop. It’s all very late ‘90s really. And while it’s enthusiastic rather than grim, this kind of drum-roll festooned, squealing thumper always used to go over my head somewhat at raves and nothing has really changed in ten-plus years. Much better is B-side Run It, whose syncopated stuttery pseudo-Caribbean rhythms and cut-up vocal samples, while peddling the same basic sound, reveal just how much of a debt recent club hits like Pon De Floor and Riverside owe to this sound.

PENDULUM Immersion (Warner)

KRIS SWALES

From the moment In Silico screamed its way to life longtime Pendulum fans and drum’n’bass purists alike were looking for an escape hatch. Immersion makes its intensions clear when the proto-classical march of opener Genesis merges with its Slam-esque successor Salt In The Wounds and slaps the foot on the accelerator. Yep, Pendulum are back in clubland, kids, and the Perth expats are now so important their third record requires its own intro music just to ram the point home. If you’re willing to leave all chinstroking cynicism aside (Does Rob Swire only have one synth lead patch? Can we get an Amen break?), there is much to like about Immersion – Swire, Gareth McGrillen and their band cohorts (most notably revered skinsman newcomer KJ Sawka) have their particular brand of melodic, metalflavoured d’n’b mayhem perfected right down to the last 20hz bassline, but they’re not afraid to throw some ideas at the wall to see what sticks either. Take Exhibit A: The Island, a two-parter flexing a 4/4 electro stomp, sidechained bass undercurrent, big synth lead, hookheavy vocal and a touch of fidget which comes off like some sort of bastard lovechild of MGMT’s Kids and Deadmau5 and Kaskade’s I Remember – albeit a decent one. Liam Howlett even teams up with his anointed successors to lend a touch of industrial rave to Immunize, before Swire’s signature synth patch pokes its nose through again. Because this is a Pendulum record after all – and while they’re not quite an important band yet, on the back of Immersion they’re destined to be a huge one.

VARIOUS/GRANT SMILLIE, BINGO PLAYERS & TOMMIE SUNSHINE Onelove Sound Machine (Onelove/Sony)

STUART EVANS

The cats at Onelove have had their fingers on the electronic music button for so long no one knows if they can ever be removed. Right on cue here comes the first Onelove compilation of 2010. This time around Grant Smillie kicks off with a grimy selection of tracks that’ll make most Onelove regulars damp. Of course there are a couple of TV Rock workings, including Technero’s One World, alongside their own Elevated. And there are plenty of good, tribal moments coming from Dirty South and Mark Knight’s Stopover and Riva Starr’s I Was Drunk. Naturally Smillie’s selection is quite listener-friendly, but the disappointing portion of Sound Machine arrives quickly. And the blame sits with the Bingo Players’ mix. It starts badly with their sparse remix of Tom’s Diner and only really picks up towards the end of the disc with Armand Van Helden and friends’ Anyway – just avoid the first seven or so songs and you’ll be right. Finally up pops Tommie Sunshine to ram home the mix in style. Highlights include Bart B More’s Roman, DJ Zinc’s Killa Sound and UDACHI’s P-Funk Skank. The New Yorker also includes some exquisite a capellas, particularly Sharam Jey and his own The Things. So there you have it – Onelove Sound Machine is a pretty freaking good mix CD that’s only let down by the Bingo Players contribution.

VARIOUS/ ARMIN VAN BUUREN A State of Trance 2010 (405 Recordings/Stomp)

JC ESTELLER

One can only wonder at what point Armin van Buuren was kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a super sophisticated robot sent back in time to destroy the world with beige flavoured trance music. This latest iteration of his A State Of Trance series proves there is no turning back for the once legendary trance DJ who now seems content to coast along on autopilot. The worst thing about the type of cookie cutter trance music that the Armin machine has been pushing for the last few years is that on face value it seems like what trance music should sound like. All the big pumped up synth sounds are there, along with the arpeggio breakdowns and cheesy vocals that have somehow become synonymous with the trance genre, despite it being nothing of the sort. But really, it isn’t intelligent dance music at all and runs on the same formula over and over and over with little variation on that theme. What is even more bizarre is how van Buuren has labeled disc one as On The Beach and disc two as In The Club as if they portray a different vibe, when really both discs sound pretty much the same as one another. ASOT 2010 is pleasant enough to listen to but once again Armin fails to want to explore any new territory or in the least even regress back to something more underground in nature, seeming content to play the same non-abrasive lemming trance over the whole compilation.

Zebra Magazine 15

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Continuum

WHERE AND WHEN WAS YOUR FIRST SET? rownn ro “My High School Social at 15 – but as Smile On Impact at Brown Alley in March 2007.” WHAT’S YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE 12”? “When I was two, I asked mum for the Crowded House self-titled for my third birthday. That was pretty much the end of my fascination with vinyl. I play mad edits, original tunes, strange a cappellas, loops, tricks and iTunes hits .” ss.” cs. – all off Digital Audio Compact Discs.” O? DO? UD OU YOU AT Y WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF WHAT y, g y, ugb rrugby, out rugb bout bou a k aabout ttalk As long as I can still afford to phone my Dad and tal “As s, s, llaws, la ugg law drug nnd ddr and rss an the environment, science, food, music, cars oolli ppolitics, pol po g.” vinng.” vin I don’t think he’d mind what I do for a living.” MOST? NEED SCENE CLUB NE WHAT DOES THE MELBOUR “A bit of a ‘wind down’. Some people take the scene so seriously. At the end of the day we’re here to make cool parties so that people have somewhere safe and fun to go and drink, dance. We need less respect for the hierarchy and more rebellion!” FAVOURITE CLUB TO PLAY? “For fear of upsetting any venues or booking agents, I’m going to wuss out of this one.”

Masta Ace & Edo G

WHAT’S YOUR BEST ALL TIME GIG? “Pr “Probably P oba b bl bly ly Magazine Magaz Ma gaaazine ggaz i att a cl ine club clu l b call ccalled al edd MYS all MYYST iinn KKuala MYST uala ual a a LLumpur. umpur ump ur.r.. Gr Great Great eeaa to play to p y ttoo a re pl pla rreceptive ecep ceeptiv ivee inte iv iinternational nt rna nte rnatio natio ional io n ccr na crowd. owd wd. A hha handful ndddfful nndf ul of of fo folk fol o k llost os th ost ttheir heir eeiir shi shit sh hit ssoo bbad, a I thi ad, think hinkk th the they hey w went ent en nnt pe ppermanently rma maanently mane nently nen lyy insan insane. in nsa san ane. e. Pity.” Pitty. Pit yy.”” WHAT GIGS HAVE YOU GOT COMING UP? “Every Wednesday night for Speaker Chic at First Floor, 393 Brunswick St, Fitzroy.” PIC BY KANE HIBBERD

What got you excited enough to team up u as brothers in the first place and what if aanything nything has changed in the creative partnershipp since that point? Scott: “Growing up as brothers we have always shared a passion for music, I originally played drums in high school bands and started DJing arount 2000, whilst Brent became interested in the technical aspect of production and started using various audio production programs. We then shared a focus in producing original electronic dance music together.” Apart from some obvious electronic genres you cite jazz, orchestral, reggae and dub as influences on your music but what representative artists, composers or labels got you interested in each? “We gather inspiration from all genres or different types of music, specifically world music and things like film scores and soundtracks. We also are inspired by a lot of friends also producing some fantastic Steve Ward, U-one, Oblique Industries and music like Stev Jamie Stevens and some of the European techno Supdub and Highgrade who really are at labels like Sup the forefront of the sound.” H much of an impact do these disparate How musical m usical styles have on your creative process they manifest themselves in the end aand nd how do th rresults? esults? “When we are producing music we like to incorporate in inc ncorpora orrpora orp raatee a ‘‘live’ sound, as we come from a music aacoustic aco coust co ust us sticc mu mus uusic us s background, so things like flutes and hornn ssections hor ection ect tion onnnss tto give our music a less rigid electronic sound more ssou o ndd and a m an mo or of a contrast between electronic and organic organi org aani an n c iinstruments.” nstru nst r m ru When the Continuum project was Whe Wh W hhen you started staa particular there a partic cu modus operandi that you sstamped tamped out bbeforehand or have you established oone ne along thee way? ““We We originallyy began writing music in home studios aand nd was just bbecause we were interested in eelectronic lectronic music muss and really just wanted to explore fun. iitt and have fu n After concentrating on this for ssome ome time wee began to realise that we could start our pperforming erforming ou ur music at clubs and festivals and over we decided to focus more on our live th last year w the performance. IIn future we would like to combine our travelling love for travell li with our music, to connect with a international audience.” wider internat ti A few of yourr releases have cropped up on labels, some great la ab did it take a while to foster

a rela relationship working latio tionsh nshi hip ip wit with ith eeach achh bef bbefore efore fore w orki ork king ing with them or did you take the time honored option ption of sending demos whenever possible? “We We did send a lot of demos to labels and promoters, which didn’t’ really hi h did ll ddo too muchh for us, but after immersing ourselves in the scene we have made a lot of valuable contacts who have really done amazing things for us in regards to releases and networking and they also happen to be great friends of ours. It’s great to work with people that are so genuine, creative and supportive of young artists.” Is it a general rule that you write everything first and foremost for inclusion into your live show or are there still plenty of tracks you feel are best consumed in a different fashion? “We don’t write everything for our live show, we try and just write what is inspiring us at the time and if it works out to be something we are pleased with we will find a way to incorporate it in somewhere… unless we have just banged out a 200 bpm hardcore gabber tune we may rethink its use to a live audience, not that that happens much these days, ha ha!” What, if anything, would you say is missing from a lot of other live electronic performances from other musicians that you’ve perhaps applied to your own? “Everyone has their own approach to things, which is great, whatever works for you is the best, but a sense of fun and not taking it too seriously is something we have applied to our urr shows. We also try and make it interesting visually by just having a good time, and at the hee end of the day we just want to [make] killerr beats, have a good time and maybe a slight hangover.” Continuum play Cheeky Beats at Miss Libertine this Friday, and Revolver Sunday 13 June.

“

CAN SOMEBODY EXPLAIN THE FUS SS O OVE VER BANKSY TO ME.....SMASHING THEE SYSTEM BY SELLING T-SHIRTS ON 8BALL AT 20 QUID A B POP. FIGHT THE POWER!”( P ) C’MON SHADOW DANCER, DON’T YOU KNOW IT’S ALL ABOUT FIGHTING THE SYSTEM FROM THE INSIDE? JUST ASK RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE.

1. The Future Will Come (Canyons Remix) THE JUAN MACLEAN 2. Camino Blue Recorings & Scientific present Terra Mission Misssion VARIOUS ARTISTS 3. Robotic Hypnotic Adventure (Runaway Remix) NEUROTIC DRUM BAND 4. Forever And Ever Amen (Saint Etienne Mix) THE DRUMS 5. Broken Man (Brennan Green Version) RUNAWAY 6. DJ-Kicks VARIOUS/KODE 9 7. Discoursive Diversions VARIOUS/BOTTIN 8. Blood Like Lemonade MORCHEEBA 9. I’m Gonna Love You (Club Mix) JESTOFUNK 10. Immer 3 VARIOUS/MICHAEL MAYER

WITH STEVE DUCK

IN GOOD CO COM COMPANY MPANY

Whisper, W Whi Wh h sp hi spe p r,, Syntax Syn Syntax, ntax, tax tax ax, B Boltz o z & Br olt B Breach eac ea ach hhave ave ve cco ve come ome tog tto together oggeth eth ether et ther er ffor fo o a new neew re rrelease elle lea eeasee Inn Goo G oood Comp CCompany. om omp mpany anny. nyy. A is tthe he cas he ca ase as Good Ass is case wi wit th a lo ot ooff rrecent ece ec ece cenntt re rrel el eleas ease ea eas asses, es, th his is is is not noot a m mix ixtta ix tap ape,, with lot releases, this mixtape, but is es eessentially sse sen eenntia ttiiallyy a pre ree-r -rreelea -re eaase forr al aalll tthree hre reee aartists rtists rti rt tiist sts t as pre-release each eac acch ooff tthem hem em m ha have vvee an an alb album bum um duee ou out ut tthis hi yye hi his year. eaar.r IInn Goo ear. G Good oood Com mppanny co om mppprrise mpr ris iise ses 4455 m se innnuuutes iinu ttes te eess of of bbr rand and an nd nne ew w,, 100 1100% 10 0000% Company comprises minutes brand new, oori or r gin innal al mu mus usic sicc with wiith prod wit pproduction rodduuct ction ioon fr room m M-P M M--Pha haaz azes, zes, e , Mu M ules es, original music from M-Phazes, Mules, W Wh Whi hhiisp spe per,r Jsquar Jsq quuar ared ed, d, Le ewis wiss On One, e, Cie e, C ieccma m tee aand ma anndd mo m ore. re Whisper, Jsquared, Lewis Ciecmate more. IInn Goo Good od CCompany omp mppany anyy will willl bbee av wi aavailable ava availa v ila laabl bble l fo le forr ffree ree eee ddo download ownl wn ooad wn aadd Th Thu h rsd rrsdaayy 3 JJune, unee, aand une nd phy nd ph hyysical sic ical co cop pie ies ess of o th tthee C Dw i l be ill b Thursday physical copies CD will ava availa v ilabl va ila l bble la blle sh hortly ort or r llyy af aafter. aft er. Ke er Keep ep ann ey ep eye ye on fa ffacebook.com/ ceeebboo oook o .co ok ccoom m// available shortly ingoodcompanymusic ing nggood ngood ooooddccom coo ppan anymu an m sic fo mu forr m more ore in info. nfo. fo. Looki LLo Looking oooki okk nng aatt the thhe lin inne-up e-u -up ooff both bot ooth thh ly yyric riricist ric icis ists ist stts aand ndd pro pr rodu duuceers duc rsss,, I ca ccan an ttell ell th ell tthis i is line-up lyricists producers, onee is i go ggonna onn nnnaa be be of ooffifificcial. cial a. al.

360 MIXTAPE LAUNCH

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BELGRAVE HIP HOP

Regional R Re Reg eeggion ioonnaall hip hipp hop ho hop is is in in effect efffe fecctt this tthi h s week, w week ee , w eek ee with ith th two th tw wo sshows how ws in in B Belg Belgrave! e grrav elg av ave! ave! e! Th Tha hhaat’s t’t’s… … two tw woo m mor o e hhip or iipp hop opp sh sshows hows ow ws tth ws han han an usu usual usual al inn B Be Bel ellgra rave! v An A nd to to make make kkee itit That’s… more than Belgrave! And easy ea eas aassy ffor oorr everyo eve everyone, vvery ryo yyoonne, e, th tthey they’re hey’ ey’’ree bbot ey’re bo both ootth aatt tthe oth hhee ssam sa same aame vvenue: enu nuue: e R Rub Ruby’s. ubby’s y’s ’s.. TThey hhey ey ssh ey should houl oul ou uld doo this thi h s every eve ver eryy yyear er ear eea a and ar and m an ake ak kkee itit th tthe he aannual n ual Bel nnu Be e gra rraavee hi hhip ipp hop hoopp festival. fest fest estiva iva iv vvaal.l The TThhhe make Belgrave fes esstiv tivviti itttiieess kkic ki ck ooff ff Sat SSaturday Sa aturd urr ay ay 5 JJune unne w une wh en H en Hil iillss C Cre r w pre re rew ppresents res re eesseent ennnts H illllz H ipp H Ho op, op festivities kick when Hills Crew Hillz Hip Hop, featuring fea eaatur turing urin ing ngg a big big liline-up nnee-up of o art aartists rtists rt isst ist sts ffrom rrom om Hi H Hills illlls ills llls Crew Crew ew aand ndd be bbeyond. yon yyo oonndd.. You YYou’ll u’’ll ’lll se see ee Los os Th os TTheory, eor eo oorryy,, Pri PPrimary maarry SSource, mar m ourrce, cee, e, Ba B Bastian stitiaann Kil KKi Killjoy, illjo ljjoy, oyy,, MC M Epi EEpik, k,, The The Creep Cr Creep e Te ee TTeam eaam m and and DJ DJ’ J’s R eellllliik, ikk, k, B Bl laz azi zin M arty, art ar y, G-W -Whiz -W hizzz aand nndd KKod diak akk Ki KKid. id. d PPlu Pl lus tthere her he her ere w illlll be iill be oop pen en DJ’s Rellik, Blazin Marty, G-Whizz Kodiak Plus will open miix mix ix freestyles frree e sty ees tyl yylless and andd live an lilive vee graff. gra raff ff.f. A big bigg ni nnight ght htt of of Be elg lgr grav gr ave ve bbo ve omb om mbi m bbinn’’ for foorr on fo nlyy $12 $1122 $1 Belgrave bombin’ only eentry. ent en ntry. nt rryy. y. IIff th haatt ain’t ain inn’tt enough eno noouughh, yyou ouu cann ge et bback ackk ttoo R ack Ru uby’ byyy’’s on on TTuesday ueeessda uues dday ay 8 Jun ne that enough, get Ruby’s June ffor or Fu Fubex, Fubex beexx, PPrimary bex bex, rriiim rim mary a y So ar SSource uurc rc rcee aand nndd Sub Su Suburban uubbburb urrrbban uurb an TTri Tr Tribe. rriibe ibbe. bee. Tuesd TTuesday’s Tu uees esd ssdda day ayy’s show ay’ sho how how w is is fr ffree ree ee entry. ent try. ry. Ruby’s ry Ruby’ Ru by’s is by is aatt 11648 644488 B 6648 Bu Burwood urwo rw w odd Highway, Hig H igghw hw hwa waayy,, Be Bel B Belgrave. eellgra lgra gra rave ve. ve

COMING UP: RAP CITY

I ccan’t an t bbelieve an’ elieeve el eli evve ve th this his is is only onl on nlly two two wo weeks week wee eks ks away aw awa waay nnow. ow R ow. Ra Rap ap CCity itttyy 20 ity 22010, 110, 10 0 th the the show sho hw how ccom omprisin om ompri ppriririssin pr ing in ng nnothing oth thhin ing nngg bu bbut ut hhip ip hop hopp le ho llegends, ege gen ends, en ds, iss al ds aalmost almos lm mos ost hhere. eere ree. TThe he lin he lilineup neeup euupp off D DJJ comprising Premier, PPre reemie mier,r, Bea Be Beatnuts, eaatnu tnutts, ts, Total Tota To ttal aall Ec EEclipse clip lip lipse ippssee and ndd Ma M Masta asta sstttaa Ac A Ace ce & Ed EEdo do G iiss mon mo monstrous. nst nst s rou roou ous. s Onn to ttop o off th tthat, haat, att, tth houg uuggh,, th tthe hhee lo ocal caa su uppp ppo pports rtts ar aare re ccrazy raazy ttoo: raz oo: o:: De D elta elta ltta & SSta taen en though, local supports Delta Staen 1, O 1, Onnne SSi One Sixth, ixth thh, M M-Phazes, -Phaze -Ph Phhaz aze zzees, s, Dia D Dialect iaalec ect & De ec D Despa Despair, espa paair, ir, So SSocial ocia c al C Change, hannge han gee, Ne ge, Neeq, eeq eq, q, Sh q, SSheriff Sheri her eriff eri Roscoe, R Ros Ro oosscoe coee, PPre Prequel, req eqque uel el, PPhat el hat hha aatt C Ch Chance han anncce anc ce aand nd Cop nd C Coptic optic icc Soldi SSo Soldier. oldi ldier. ld er. D er er. Da Damn amnn tthi th this his iiss oone hi ne bi big ig-as ig -aass sshow. -ass how how. how w. SSatu atttuurday aatu rd y 1122 JJune rd rda uunne aatt Th une TThe he EEspy. s . TTickets sp spy icckket ick eetss oon nlyy $$47 $4 4 , aavailable vaiilab ablee able big-ass Saturday only $47, nooow nnow w fr rom m th the hheeesp esppy.o y.ozti zt x.c zt zti x.ccom x. oom. m.aau m. au. uu. II’I’d ’d gget e mo et mov m movin ovin inng on tth ing hiss iff yyou ou ha ou hhaven’t avven enn’tt from theespy.oztix.com.au. moving this got ggo ot ttitickets ick ccke kets ts yye yet e , I ca et ccan an see seee thi tthis hhiis oone nnee sellin sel sse e lin l ng oout. uutt ut. yet, selling

L UNGE SATURDAYS LO MONTHLY MASK PARTY WHERE IS IT? Lounge, 243 Swansto n St, CBD. WHEN IS IT? Saturday 5 June and the First Saturday of every month. WHAT CAN YOU HEAR? The soun ds of Smash Bang – the label, the band, the music. Fresh and origi nal music and a little bit different. Plus Nick Coleman from Suck Music. Deep and smooth techy housey awesome. WHO PLAYS? This week Eshan Gels i is launching Spacewalk out now on Smash Bang . Plus DJs Luke McD, Nick Comena, Moose and Darren Coburn. WHO’S GOING? Anyone wants to escape themselves. Lose your face in the mask and find yourself in the music. WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNO W? You get FREE entry if you bring a mask of your own.

OTHER TONGUES PRESENTS... DIRECT FROM THE USA: Corner Brunswick Street & Rose Street Fitzroy VIC

(BLACKALICI US/QUANNUM)

AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2010

NEW ALBUM UT N W N THER T NGUES

Featuring DEL’ THE FUNKY H M SAPIEN, BR THER ALI and LATEEF. Production by DNAEBEATS and HEADN DIC.

8/10 “This album rolls like the best of Blackalicious... Like hip hop used to sound” – CLASH ★★★★ “Dizzying rhymes, cadences and subject matter... Gab’s gift remains strong” – URB

SATURDAYS AT LUCKY COQ TAHL

GREYSKULL

MOONSHINE JEAN PAUL ASH-LEE

KODIAK KID

PACMAN

SAM MCEWIN

CRN CHAPEL & HIGH ST WINDSOR WWW.LUCKYCOQ.COM.AU

Zebra Magazine 17

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ BLUE BAR STUN!D AY

BLUE BAR STUN!DAY

EUROTRASH

MANIA PARTY

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE LOFT

BLUE BAR STUN!DAY

HELLFIRE - THE MEGALOMANIA PARTY HELLFIRE - THE MEGALO

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ THE LOFT

THE LOFT

EUROTRASH

EUROT OTR TRASH

HELLFIRE - THE MEGALOMANIA PARTY

BILLBOARD SATURDAYS

RHYTHMALISM @ FUSION

BILLBOARD SATURDAYS

UNDER SUSPICION

SINTHETIC @ ABODE

274 JOHN JOHNSON HNSON ST, ABBOTSFORD ABBOTS TSFORD PH: 9417 9 122 21 1221

UNDER SUSPICION

SINTHETIC @ ABODE

DAN & THEORY

MIDNITE SLEAZE & BASS KLEPH

MJ & P MONEY

UNDER SUSPICION

NABOO & HUW

Zebra Magazine 19

Urban News With Cyclone

Keeping It In The Family

tryy, rreggae egggaee iss a ggenre eg egg enre that enr en enre that yo yyou ouu Like country, ’t FFortunately, t t l Di D it t either gett or ddon’t. Distant Relatives is not straight-up ‘reggae’. In fact, Nas has suggested that he felt an affinity with Marley’s youngest son as “a rap guy”. Damian is more ‘urban’ than his musical siblings, who’re beholden to following their father’s legacy. Damian was the first reggae artist to win a Grammy outside Collaborative albums are hit or miss in the genre with the single Welcome To urban music. Mighty egos can easily Jamrock (it scooped ‘best urban/alternative negate each other. Jay-Z teamed up performance’). Surprisingly, Distant Relatives with R Kelly for 2002’s The Best Of Both is Marley’s first endeavour in five years. The Worlds – and distanced himself from the buddies have something else in common: whole enterprise soon after. (Kelly’s sex both are the progenies of legendary scandal didn’t help.) Then there have been musicians, Nas’ father being Olu Dara. forgettable alliances like Bow Wow and Distant Relatives is produced by Damian in Omarion. So what of Nas’s partnership conjunction with his brother Stephen. The with Damian Marley, AKA Junior Gong, on Distant Relatives? Can the duo recreate Marley offspring are not exactly the synergy of their earlier Road To Zion from Marley’s 2005 Welcome To Jamrock? innovators – or risktakers – so Nas has already released a much-hyped don’t expect collab album with The Firm. At the time, anything cuttinghip hop heads questioned the conscious MC’s involvement in a gratuitous Mafioso edge. Major Lazer, this ain’t. However, rap project, but Nas has always been as elativ ela tives tiv es iss es Distant RRelatives contradictory as he is brilliant.

(ON TOUR) WITH NICK CONNELLAN In the past month or so, I’ve been cruising around Bolivia and Peru. Besides a bit of psy here and there,, it’s been mostly pop rubbish at clubs. Decent dance is pretty scarce. My own listening has been restricted too, usually just to bus trips. At first, this scarcity was troubling. However, I soon came to realise something I’ve actually known for break. a long time: I’ve been needing a break In the age of the internet and mp3 players, we’re positively saturated with tunes. Us music lovers are like junkies chasing the dragon: we listen in the car, on the train, at work, at home, at clubs and anywhere else we’re able to. We surf Beatport incessantly, download live sets and read blogs. Too much is never enough; it’s always about that next track. While the beauty of the internet is that it’s bought music to our fingertips, it’s also made it too available. In reality, the medium has probably done as much bad as it has good. can begin to lose When music is a constant presence, it ca that which made it so special in the first place. jocks used masking In the late ‘80s, all the major jock their bigger vinyl hits. tape to cover the titles of thei Going out actually meant something, simply couldn’t get their fix because punters could elsewhere. were ignorant of elsew where. People w they were hearing at which tunes the w DJs drew crowds clubs and DJ

NAS & Damien Marely

e ful er fully lyy ex xppans xpans n ive ve.. TThe h alb he lbum buum m iss als aalso lsso inhe iinherently nheerently rently wonderfully expansive. album al w ith a str ith trong ong lillive ve ori oorientation rient ient e taat atitiionn – nnirvana iirv rvan ana naa ffo musical with strong forr ffeeling feeli eeli eling ng the thh sy ssynthetic ynth ntheti nth eticc ssounds eti ounds oun dss cur ccurrently cu rently ren tly those nott fe dominating urban – plus symbolic samples. (That live element is apt given that Nas has toured with a rockin’ band.) Ultimately, the most important aspect of Distant Relatives is the concept. The album explores the geopolitical – and cultural – nexus between reggae and hip hop, tracing black music’s journey from Africa to the Caribbean to the US, while centring on the plight of postcolonial Africa. (Monies raised from Distant Relatives will reportedly be used to fund a school in the Congo.) Marley proclaims the pair to be “street int in ntell ellect el eect ctual ualss , ua intellectuals”, buu itit’s but t’s rea re lly lyy really oonly onl nnly N Nas as w qu wh who quali a fie ali fies es qualifi fo tth for hat that des de scriiptition. ion. n. description. Thee M Ma rleey Marley ccla laan hhave ave lo nngg clan long pri privil rivili ege egedd privileged

Ra taf Ras taafaa Rastafarian spirituality and positi po pos itit vi (cue: One Love) over positivity crr tiq cri iqquee but here Damian’s critique, hum human umann balances Nas’ humanism sttree str eeet etw cynicism. The lead streetwise sin ingle nglee is i the uptempo As We single Entteerr, which w Enter, samples Mulatu Asstatk Astat Ast As atk at tke the godfather of Astatke, EEth thiop opii jazz. Nas and Damian Ethiopian might mig h have h secured Senegal’s might Akon as Ako a a guest, but instead it’s Akon Som o alii Somalian-Canadian MC K’naan whhho blazes w b bl who on two cuts, including he pertinent per peer the Tribes At War – and ttha hatt’s ’s a good thing since Akon that’s a disputed dis di has the existence of blood o diamonds. d blood Nah Mean is the haarde hhar ddess hardest-hitting hip hop joint with Nas on form. Triumphant, too, is the dancehall Land Of Promise, on which the late Dennis Brown can be heard in an old interview. RZA’s Gravediggaz aired the most poetic song ever about the African Diaspora, The Night The Earth Cried, and Patience is nearly as spectral, borrowing from Amadou And Mariam’s Malian blues, Sabali. Overall, Distant Relatives is a success. It could have been moralising, or laden with platitudes, but the dynamic between Nas and Damian is such that they lead each other away from any pitfalls. Perhaps Distant Relatives lacks the intellectual vigour (and controversy!) of

Nas’ recent solo forays, but that would have undermined Marley’s contribution. Alas, Nas veers offtopic in Strong Will Continue with a spiteful dig at his ex, Kelis – not in the spirit of this project. And, indeed, there’s no black female voice on Distant Relatives. The sole girl is (the uncredited) Joss Stone, who warbles on the overblown gospel My Generation, which also features Lil Wayne, repping for New Orleans. (Nas appeared on Stone’s Colour Me Free!.) It’s a pity that Damian didn’t convince his not-soauuurryn yn Hi H Hil coome mee ou oout ut ooff the thhee distant relative Lauryn Hillll ttoo come shadows…

Kiss FM Chart

Protoculture because peers mostly becau use they had music their pe eers didn’t. downloadd last night’s These days, itit’s t’s all too easy to downloa listen illustrated tracks and lis sten at home. This is illustra ated perfectly by my situation. I’m backpacking around South S America, and perfectly Protoculture’s yet I’m perfec ctly aware that Protocultur re’s new album is released today. Hell Hell, I’ll proba probably due to be rele eased today ably download it off Beatport ttoo. I can’t help myself. When h you’re ’ really, ll music, it can be hard to just let go. I admit it: really into mu I’m a FOMO (fear of missing out). Thus I propose the following, if you can bear it. Take a break from scouring Beatport. This is a good start because pretty soon they’ll be emailing you and offering 25% off your next purchase. It’s standard procedure when any customer stops buying. Then, stop listening to background music. Turn off the tunes when you’re working or otherwise distracted. Save your listening for when it’s got your full attention. Things might seem shitty at first, but you’ll reap the benefits when you next fire up the stereo. The shivers down your spine will return and the beats will once again seem enticing. You’ll wonder how exactly you enjoyed music when it was so common before. Perhaps it’s just me, but a break from the electronic is the best thing that’s happened since I first discovered it. nickconnellan@gmail.com

WHAT AT YOU TAL TALKIN’ LKIN’ BOUT WILLI WILLIS? IS? SSo So, oo, aan anyways, nyw yw ywa waayyss, I ccou co ould ou ld be be as as offensive offf ooff fffen eennnssiive ivvvee as as possible ppoosss ssi ssiibble lee an aand nd ttalk aallk alk lk about abou ab out uutt hho ow could how hiiillari hhil aarrriioous us itit was us was that wa tha hhat aatt Ga G ary ry Co Col C oolema em em maan w ork oor rrkked ed as as a secu ssecurity eccuurrit ecu ec riitity hilarious Gary Coleman worked gguua gua uard ard rd for for fo or a while, whhhiiile whi w le sued le ssuued ed his hiiiss ppa arren reen ents ts go ggot ot iinn a fifight gghhhtt with witthh wi guard parents, ght a woman who asked for his autograph, etc, etc. But, of course, all that shit is immensely tragic and shouldn’t be wished upon anyone, let alone the star of a show (ie. Diff’rent Strokes) that was, despite the fondness that some people may have for it, immensely shit. Not only was it not particularly funny, it perpetuated the patronising attitudes of whites towards the black community in the United States that were actually a hang-up from predominantly white attitudes from the 1960s, when an enormous number of black kids were abandoned by their parents and joined gangs, committed crimes and then, later, started making hip hop. Of course, Arnold Drummond thought it necessary to save these children from what was generally an awful fate by shacking them up in his Park Avenue Apartment. This is despite the fact that some of the more talented ones eventually made it to said apartments, generally based on musical, sporting and comedic prowess. And, of course, some of those new Park Avenue residents were very good drug dealers. So, anyways, RIP Gary, who was probably a nice guy, led quite an unhappy life and proved once again tthha tha hat being beein iinng famous can in fact be very, very shit. that DENNIS HOPPER: What the fuck was it with dead H celebrities cel cce eelleeb ebr briti itttiies es on the weekend? Anyways, there were actually some sooom ssom me very veery rryy good things that my father did for me before he

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1. All About The Money AGENT 86 2. I Can Change LCD SOUNDSYSTEM 3. Superstition (Uncle Swerve Fantasy Mix) UNKLE SWERVE 4. Shades of Marble TRENTEMØLLER 5. Hypocrisy (John Digweed & Nick Muir Remix) ABE DUQUE 6. Down By The River BLISS N ESO 7. Fire SHAPESHIFTER 8. Glow CIREZ D 9. A Place They Call The Heart FUNKERMAN 10. What Do We Do BACK BACK FORWARD PUNCH

decided ddeec dec eciide idded ddeed that tha hhat aatt having hhaavin vviing ing sex in seexx with witiitth men wi w men en in in Elwood EElw El lwoo lw ooodd toilets ood to toile iillleets ts was waaass more w pleasurable One pple pl lleeasu eas assuurraaabbllee than asu thhhaan living ttha livi iviing iv nngg with wiitith a stripper wit w ssttrrip riip ippe pper eerr and aannd her heerr kid. kiiidd. O kkid ne of ne these the th hheessee was waaass in w in Grade Grraade G adddee Five, FFiive, ve, ve e, when, whhen, w hen en, en, n, ill ilill at at home, hoome om me, he me he brought brou rou ro ouggh ght hhtt home three (yes, videos, not DVDs): Easy Rider, Deliverance thhhrree tthr ee videos vvii and Cabaret. The first was my first exposure to Dennis Hopper. The second and third should have given me some fairly straightforward clues about where he was heading with his life. MASTURBATION HAS PURPOSE ONCE AGAIN: Kelis is finally single once more. Apparently her divorce from Nas got finalised on the weekend. Woo. LINDSAY BLOWHAN: About two years ago I completed my Lindsay Lohan alphabet, which was prompted by my general obsession with teenage stars with boob jobs, massive drug habits and a penchant for lesbian sex. Not much has changed. However, the fact that she is now playing Linda Lovelace in a biopic has made me realise that I was actually born in the wrong era (ie. I should have been a teenager in the 1970s, when apparently teenage porn stars were de rigeur), and, despite the almost omnipresence of xxx semi-naked women on television, we are employed in fact living in an for the era of crazy moral creation of rectitude. Those sound is the women should be dull glow of an fully fully ful fu ly naked. naakked na nak eed. dd. apple logo – the only recognisable thing that can be seen from the crowd, except for six static LED lights on sp peake pe ake keer cabi ccabinets abiinet netss which have for some reason have not speaker beenn m bbee askked. d O masked. Occasionally a photograph is taken of the duo,, and duo and the theyy aar r bathed in a microsecond of blinding are lilight, lig i ht ht,t no nott nnearly eearrly l enough time to make them appear like any anything ythi th ng mor more o e th tthan h ghosts. Thh au The aaudience dience dience ce iis made up of music nerds and leftover ravers rav vers off the t e more th mor eccentric variety. They try to bliss mor music outt to to the thhe musi m usiic in their semi-awareness, desperately shreds of danceable beats as they rise cclinging cli n ng ngi n to the th sh annd fa and fallllll from ffro rom tthe he melange of twisted bleeping chaos and he wobbling bbowel bow el wob o bli bling ngg bass growls. The hour-plus set builds demented ffrom fro room a de rom emen meented te bastard offspring of drum’n’bass, eventually eventu eve ntuall allyy ecli eeclipsed clips ps by some pounding techno kick drums which w wh whi ch thee danci ch ddancing da anc nci c n pockets lap up with gusto. Sounds whales either of wha ales ei eithe ther dying or mating start to fill the upper the reaches of the room as the backbeats warble to a less abrasive state, with the familiar glitch-out of an epileptic 8-bit computer present throughout. Eventually the music ends, the crowd who have been inexplicably staring at a stage which cannot be seen peel away and the futuristic spell of mind control through rad beats is broken. CHRIS YATES

Zebra Magazine 21

WEDNESDAY

SPEAKER CHIC @ FIRST FLOOR

A tribute to the sophisticated musical tastes of Melbourne’s north side combining indie grooves and electro with the occasional vintage reference or post-disco classic. Free entry.

COQ ROQ @ LUCKY COQ DJs Lady Noir, Agent 86, Kiti, Mr Thom and Joybot give you nothing but the best new wave, punk, Brit pop, bong rap and hair metal this side of Seattle from 9pm.

WEDNESDAYS @ MOSQ Aside from the stunning Moroccan decor and exotic food, Mosq is now featuring free tarot readings with the very insightful and intriguing Miss Andrea. Readings from 6-8pm.

COSMIC PIZZA @ BIMBO DELUXE For those of you not content on mere earthly pleasures, join NHJ and friends for a taste of space. Playing freaked-out bass jams, depressed disco, tropi-jazz, soundtracks to the female body and shit you won’t hear on the other nights.

FIVE ELEMENTS & B WIV DEECE @ MISS LIBERTINE Representing the true old school mindset, weekly selectors MzRizk, DJ Sizzle, Takaco, Ayna, Duchesz and special guests walk you through all eras of hip hop. On top of that, killer local spitters B Wiv Deece are hosting Wednesdays in June. Throughout the month B Wiv Deece will be teaming up with some of Melbourne’s finest hip hop acts. Free entry.

REVOLVER ROCK @ REVOLVER Revolver Rock is Melbourne’s longest running rock/retro/electro/ cheese night. For the last three years, Revolver Rock has been the place to go for a dose of your fave rock and old school tracks. Join our DJs Spidey, Mary M, Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Whitt (Spiderbait) for a night you won’t forget... Or remember.

THURSDAY

MS FUNDRAISER @ ST KILDA PIER Join funk and soul fans to help raise $2,000 to donate to the MS Foundation from 7-10pm. There will be a fantastic night of funk and soul from Andrew De Silva, Mark John featuring Sean Declase and Samira along with Emerson Grubb and Grand Bizarre. There will also be a raffle for a $400 L’oreal package and a $250 salon voucher for Ibiza hair. $10 donation at the door and all proceeds go to the MS Foundation.

RING THE ALARM @ FIRST FLOOR A night of deadly dancehall and killer reggae. Join Cat Sweeney from Burn City Queens beforehand as she hosts dancehall classes. Then residents Jesse I and Major Krazy are joined by weekly guest selectors. This week’s guests are Nightnurse and Kilow. From 9pm3am. Free entry.

LOVE STORY @ THE TOFF Featuring 1928 supported by rotating guests Tranter, Rad Pitt, Megawuoti and Sleeves (Strobe) playing everything you love in electro, techno, indie and disco. From 11.30pm-5am. Free entry every week. International and interstate guests monthly.

TROPPO LOCO & MISK @ MISS LIBERTINE A mix of global street sounds and tropical sub-sonic kookiness featuring Paz, Mr Fish, BP555, Wankel Rotary Engine, Yoink! and more. From 9pm-3am in the back room. Also on is Misk, where the music floats between deep melodic tech house, groovy jazz-spaced stabs, crunchy minimal techno and smooth cocktail house. Featuring resident DJs U-one and Dave Pham plus this week’s guests Bryce Lawrence and Scott Continuum. Free entry for both.

HANGTIME @ EUROTRASH Hangtime continues to rock the 22 Zebra Magazine

shit out of Eurotrash. Featuring a rad line-up of rotating DJs to keep you boozed and buried on the dancefloor.

FREE RANGE FUNK @ LUCKY COQ Free Range Funk DJs Who, Agent 86, Lewis CanCut and special guests tempt you into the night with their eclectic bag of treats. Expect to be charmed with delightful jazz, deep soul and funk early. Stick around after dessert and it’s fruity disco, choice house and hipster dance drops. Free entry.

VARSITY @ BIMBO DELUXE School’s out for the week and we’ve cleared out the lounge room. Teaching you a lesson in hip hop, soul and funk after school are Matt Radovich, Mr Moonshine, Just Lindsay, Tahl and Rowie.

RHYTHM-AL-ISM @ FUSION The Rhythm-al-ism team bring you the best urban jams and house grooves every week. Featuring special guest DJ Kay Z along with Damion De Silva, FMR, A-Style, K Dee and Simon Sez. From 9.30pm4am. $15/$12 guestlist (guest@ restless.com.au).

THURSDAYS @ NEW GUERNICA Turns out those dudes in high school who were into music like The Smiths, The Cure and Manson learnt how to mix, typed the name Derrick Carter into Wikipedia and got themselves a residency at New Guernica. Conductors from 9pm include Negativ Magick, Post-Percy, Leslie Salvador and Bromance. Free entry.

3181 THURSDAYS @ REVOLVER Revolver keeps it laidback and local from 6pm. There are tunes from Hans DC and guests plus vintage video games, foosball, free wi-fi internet and half price meals every week from Colonel Tan’s all-new kitchen for local residents and traders. The second Thursday of each month features the designer market.

FRIDAY GIRL BAR @ THE PRINCE Featuring Rebecca Lockhart, DJs Bobby Vena and Little Shan in the main room. Tunes by R&B bad girl MAFIA in the Tunnel Of Love (rooftop, level three). From 10pm-5am. $20/$15 for members (members enter free before 11pm but medallions must be shown).

CHEEKY BEATS @ MISS LIBERTINE Headlined by Opiuo, catch the man’s diverse, glitchy beats before he heads overseas for his North American tour. The night blends multiple styles, from fresh live techno (Continuum) to deep funky progressive (Shadow Fx). Also expect fresh local street art and other cheeky goodness on the night. $15 on the door.

MEZZANINE & T-BIRD CLUB @ ABODE Alternative, sophisticated and opulent. DJ Count X takes you through a unique mix of dirty electro fusion from 10pm-late. Dress neat smart or alternative. No blue jeans. Also on is T-Bird club, a social gathering for cross dressers, transgender, transsexual and intersex that identify as female-form all or part of the time. A safe and private environment to network, socialise, be informed, entertained and, most of all, enjoy the experience of being in your own bar/space.

CONGO TARDIS @ FIRST FLOOR Ms Butt, Lewis CanCut and Paz come together to form Melbourne’s most energetic tropical soundsystem. Having devastated dancefloors, radio waves, cassette decks and club conventions, the Tardis transports to a nightclub, hell bent on nothing less than a total tropical meltdown. Expect the freshest blend of Caribbean rhythms and dancehall. Joined by special guests DJ Bonnita and Mr Fish. $10 on the door. From 9pm-5am.

LIKE DISCO @ LA DI DA What is Like Disco? Motown and funk led us to disco and now original disco classics have been re-edited, remixed and reinvented. Disco continues to be a constant source of basslines, riffs and vocals for house and techno. So put your hands up and let your hair down as you dance to everything that’s like disco. From 7pm-dawn. $15/$10 guestlist.

SCRIBBLE @ Q Start your weekend with Scribble. Featuring a line-up of super-producer M-Phazes, Jase (Beathedz), Flagrant, MAFIA and Derek {K}. You can expect to hear party jams, hip hop, R&B classics, soul anthems and pickings of the freshest new releases.

FRIDAYS @ EUROTRASH Mu-gen and NXR playing party through to electro. Free entry. Open until 3am.

FRIDAYS @ NEW GUERNICA You know it’s going to be a good night when you’re at a club and the DJs work the same part-time jobs during the week as you; it means they’re probably up for getting loose just the same. At New Guernica we’ve got more Nudie Jeans folding clerks and fixie part importers than you can poke a stick at. Oh, and the kitchen may burn down as Herbie and Post-Percy are the evening’s master chefs.

SOUNDS OF FUSION @ FUSION Commercial progressive house to get the place jammin’. Special guest Midnite Sleaze with support from Dean T and Johnny M. From 9.30pm-4am. $15/$10 guestlist (fusion@crownmelbourne. com.au).

DYSFUNKTIONAL @ LOFT Damion De Silva, Ken Walker, K-Dee, Suga and Durmy are the funkin’ five in audio control. Playing R&B, grooves and whatever funk keeps you movin’. From 9pm-late. $15/$12 guestlist (guestlist@ restless.com.au).

FRIDAYS @ NEVERLAND Melbourne’s newest superclub has arrived. Neverland has been laced with state of the art sound, lighting and visual equipment to take your nightclub experience to a whole new dimension. $15/$10 guestlist until 11pm.

POPROCKS @ THE TOFF Join the crew at the Toff with Dr Phil Smith playing no-brainers and guilty pleasures from the ‘60s/’70s/’80s/’90s/today and tomorrow. The sounds of pop, disco, rock, R&B, funk, soul and oddball covers. The party starts at 9pm and entry is always free.

SATURDAY

YGAP CELEBRATION @ THE PRINCE To celebrate the return of the cyclists who by this stage would have completed the 4,100km ride down the east coast of Australia over 25 days in support of YGAP’s initiative in Ghana, a number of DJs have taken time out of their busy schedules to play some tunes for the occasion. Featuring Nick Foley, China, Mic Newman, Jasper & Nat, Joel Alpha, Quinn Masters, Arlen De Silva, Ooh-ee and Chris Buchanan. All proceeds go to the YGAP Ghana project.

GLOW STICK RAVE #5 @ EUROTRASH Our favourite bass-heavy hooligans are back for the next Glow Stick Rave. Acid Jacks have been amassing a rather impressive list of international production credits working with MSTRKRFT, Boy 8-Bit, Goose, Peaches and Crookers. Support from 1928 & Sleeves, Mu-gen, Megawuoti and D Ceed. Hundreds of glow sticks included.

THE SHOCK OF THE NEW @ ORDER OF MELBOURNE A monthly excursion into the dark depths of dystopian synth and indie music. Join Kapitolina and Kiti as they take you on a trip though synthpop, new beat, EBM, kosmische, Italo, Dutch electro, new wave and synthgaze. Free entry. From 9pm-3am.

BASEMENT SESSIONS FEAT HEARTICAL HIFI @ NIGHT OWL Calling all reggae music lovers, dub heads and bass fanatics. Heartical Hifi returns to the Night Owl for episode two of Basement Sessions. Get ready for foundation-shaking reggae, rootical dubwise and ultra heavyweight basslines from Melbourne’s own custom built sound machine, crew and friends. Doors 10pm.

N-TICE @ ABODE A night of sophisticated, erotic play for open-minded or curious couples. Electro beat and progressive house provided by Jon-E and Steve Punch. Entry strictly from 9-10pm.

MAMA SAID @ CIRCUS Nestle in as the Mama Said crew bring the very best of deep, tech and house that Melbourne has to offer over two levels. Doors open at 10pm each and every Saturday.

THE LATE SHOW @ REVOLVER Featuring breaks, dubstep, grime and funky in the front room while the back room samples disco, boogie, cut-ups, house and the rest. With residents Ransom and Matt Cant along with guests Paz, Rex, Danielsan, Tamas Jones and Junji Masayama. Plus Boogs and Spacey in the morning and primo rotating guests to boot.

UNDER SUSPICION @ BROWN ALLEY Under Suspicion is Brown Alley’s new resident Saturday night. It’s a party that represents the best of underground culture and music. Under Suspicion aims to create a new underground culture that breaks down the walls of industry trends and ignites a party experience like no other.

HYSTERIA @ LOVE MACHINE Time to lose control on the dancefloor and groove like no one’s watching. Uplifting house beats from Sebastian Morxx, Mike Evans and Justin Ng Vs David V. Live MC battles as well featuring Matthew Charles and Dalton Junior. Doors open at 9pm, $20/$15 guestlist (info@lovemachine. net.au). All girls who mention Zebra magazine at the door get complimentary entry 9-11pm.

THE TECH REPUBLIC @ POISON APPLE In the main room Boogs, T-Rek, Jen Tutty, Phil K, Ross Horkings, Tyrone and Bianca White supply the soundtrack to your evening while in the basement Gavin Keitel, Mike Callander, Lister Cooray, Bart Bara, Clint Morgan and Jamie Coyle bring you some of the finest house and techno to get your arse groovin’. $15 guestlist (inpresslist@live.com).

DISCO SOCIALE @ FIRST FLOOR Enter Studio 393 as the disco bandits, Kano and Mr Moonshine, play all that is disco, boogie and funk.

PLAYGROUND @ SEVEN Spread over six rooms, Playground has been showcasing R&B and hip hop for five years. Complimented by regular live acts, come and celebrate the best in urban culture that Melbourne has to offer.

SWEAT SATURDAYS @ ONESIXONE The new undisputed jump-off for lovers of sophisticated grooves, Sweat continues bringing the goodness. Featuring DJ Who, Anthony Larr, Ant J Steep and MJ. Doors open at 10pm. $15/$10 (mention Sweat).

SATURDAYS @ LUCKY COQ Spread over two levels with DJs downstairs including Pacman, Jean Paul, Sam McEwin and Greyskull playing tech house and electro. Upstairs you’ll find Kodiak Kid, Moonshine, Ash-Lee and guests playing funk. From 9pm-late. Free entry.

SATURDAYS @ THE LOFT Featuring DJs Scotty Erdos, Phil Ross, Nick James and Ontime dropping top 40 dance and house tunes in the main room and DJs Achos, G-Funk, DJ Ryza, Shaggz, Az, Dylisco and Julez in the R&B room.

SUNDAY

SUNDAYS @ REVOLVER Revolver’s all-day electric disco party

is one of the world’s most unique clubbing experiences – tight like family and welcoming like long lost friends. Featuring Boogs, Spacey Space, Matt Kovic, Yoshie, Steve Mink, Kizzam and Hez. $15 in the morning, free entry apart from Summer Series events.

SUNDAYS @ NEW GUERNICA A mix of Little Richard slamming a piano with a pair of blue suede shoes to John Lydon pissing off his Sex Pistols fans with his new band that was just as important, along with all the good new wave, death disco, punk funk, post punk and Liverpool pop you can hear in a good night out. Free entry.

GOSSIP SUNDAYS @ LOVE MACHINE Spectacular stage shows, podiums and MCs freestyling live. Sexy, uplifting vocal house beats by Peter McNamara, Mr Stoj and Sebastian Morxx. Doors open 9pm, $15 guestlist (Gossip Sundays Facebook Group). Plus complimentary entry if you mention Zebra magazine at the door 9-11pm.

PARLOUR TRICKS @ RED VIOLIN Each and every Sunday, the luscious ladies of Trife Parlour Crew host a party night of hip hop, crunk and booty-shaking madness. Featuring TPC along with weekly guests on the decks, Parlour Tricks is the ultimate place to get loud, loose and boozy before the Monday morning grind. From 8pm-3am. Free Entry.

STUN!DAYS @ BLUE BAR How many DJs does it take to change a lightbulb? Come down to Blue Bar and find out. Featuring Rowie and Kate Niall mixing it up. From 6pm-1am. Free entry.

SOUTH SIDE HUSTLE @ LUCKY COQ Pilgram Light Circus kick the night off from 5-7pm playing live jazz and funk. Following them is Askew, Booshank, Paz, Ms Butt, Jumbo, Junji & Harry, Pete Baker and guests laying down slick Sunday tunes until 3am.

SUNDAE SHAKE @ BIMBO DELUXE Slide into your favourite comfy couch or across the dancefloor as masters of entertainment PhatoA-Mano, Agent 86 and Tigerfunk hit you between the ears every Sunday.

MONDAY STREET POETICS @ FIRST FLOOR Featuring an open mic with house band Mr Savona, Tom Tom (True Live), Bop Choi (Cookin’ On Three Burners/The Optics) and rotating guests. Hosted by Mantra (Illzilla) and DJ Wasabi. If you like huge beats, scratchin’, beatbox, freestyle, breakin’ and everything hip hop then get your arse down to Street Poetics.

DIAMOND DOGS @ BIMBO DELUXE Inspired by David Bowie, Lady Noir and Kiti span the ages of rock, glam and indie. If you’re after something a little different, then look no further.

DEEP @ NEW GUERNICA An mp3 player on shuffle isn’t as entertaining as listening to someone who actually loves playing good music getting loose with you from behind the decks. Hence New Guernica’s new take on Monday evenings. Every Monday on rotation from 9pm music lovers grace our organ and play sounds from the deep to keep the weekend wrongness flowing.

THE OMGS @ LUCKY COQ Self-proclaimed hipsters The OMGs play live. The six-piece band bash out original tracks over two sets from 9.30pm. Free entry.

TUESDAY

NEVER CHEER BEFORE YOU KNOW WHO’S WINNING @ REVOLVER Join hosts Mikey Cahill (Rock City/ Joey Lightbulb) and Kerrie Loveless (K-Lo) and tackle Revolver’s ultimate trivia contest. Win CDs, DVDs, movie passes and meal

tickets. Register at nevercheer@ revolverupstairs.com.au to book (eight people per team) and get bonus questions. Kicks off at 7.30pm. Free entry.

PERCY’S PLAYHOUSE @ NEW GUERNICA Hosted by the delightful young chap who thinks high tea means margaritas on a Monday morning. Special appearances by Percy’s colourful friends and a rabidly fun, five-hour-odd set of party dance with one of Melbourne’s most eloquently wasted madmen.

COSMIC PIZZA @ LUCKY COQ Uneasy listening, freaked-out bass jams, romantic comedy disco, tropijazz and shit you won’t hear on the other nights courtesy of NHJ and friends. From 8.30pm-3am.

CURIOUS TALES OF A VIVID LUSCIOUS @ BIMBO DELUXE DJ Who delivers surreal sass and cunning in the forms of sly, charming music and sumptuous live art. Be entertained and amazed in a world existing between couches and canvas.

UPCOMING

DREWFUNK & HANS DC @ REVOLVER Malaysian born illustrator/ artist Drewfunk now resides in Melbourne after deciding to quit his job as a designer to live out his passion. His latest project pairs him with DJ Hans DC in a live painting/ DJing collaboration, where the two parties perform together. Drewfunk and Hans DC will be creating a visual and aural masterpiece in the back bar from 8pm on Wednesday 9 June. Free Entry.

BACK BACK FORWARD PUNCH @ REVOLVER Hot off the back of their debut EP release, Back Back Forward Punch are hitting Revolver. With brilliant production skills and a groove-laden front lady, this game-changing electro trio will pull you off the wall and on to the dancefloor. Featuring very special guests Paqman and Winterplan. Entry $10. Friday 11 June.

MAFIA, FLAGRANT, BONNITA & CARGO @ FIRST FLOOR Featuring hip hop heavyweight Flagrant, bonified party starter MAFIA, sassy rude girl Bonnita, and Cargo to bring it home until dawn. With an emphasis on the old school, hip hop and R&B. $10 entry. Friday 11 June.

MORE FIRE # 111 @ DEEP 11 (MERCAT CROSS HOTEL BASEMENT) Australia’s longest running reggae and dancehall night keeps the fire burning as winter sets in. Resident sound Chant Down (Ras Crucial and Jesse I) will be joined in June by special guest selectors Nukc, Kavinda, and Ali MC; plus live vocals from Damajah. All styles of reggae and dancehall until the early morning, delivered with proper vibes on a deadly Funktion 1 soundsystem. Saturday 12 June. Doors open 10pm. $10/$8 (concession/PBS FM members).

DETENTION CENTRE @ BILLBOARD THE VENUE The Detention Centre made headlines only a few years ago when it became Melbourne’s largest urban correctional facility. Responsible for rehabilitating thousands of offenders that fail to groove, the Detention Centre employed a range of hardline treatments from R&B and hip hop to dancehall and reggae. Featuring Damion De Silva, Ken Walker, K Dee, Brandon and Suga. $30/$20 guestlist before 10pm/$25 after on list (guestlist closes at midnight). No free list and no pre-sales, so get there early. Doors 9pm. Sunday 13 June.

INFUSION @ THE ESPY A three-piece jam in the Gershwin room from one of Australia’s favourite live dance acts. The best part is that it’s completely free. Support from Kids Of 88, Ebony and Ivory. Doors 9pm. Sunday 13 June.

Zebra Venue Guide

ABODE 374 St Kilda Rd, St Kilda 9525 5552 ALIA Level 1, 83-87 Smith St, (corner of Smith St, and Gertrude St), Fitzroy 9486 0999 ALUMBRA Shed 9, Central Pier, Docklands 9690 0883 THE APARTMENT 401-405 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 9670 4020 ATTICUS FINCH 129 Lygon St, East, Brunswick 9387 0188 THE BALCONY 422 Little Collins St, Melbourne 9642 8917 BAR 362 362 St Kilda Rd, St Kilda 9534 4666 BARAKI UPO MEZETHES 168 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9663 1002 BARBARA Level 1, 203 Swan St, Richmond 9429 3146 BAR OPEN 317 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9415 9601 BERTHA BROWN 562 Flinders St, Melbourne 9629 1207 BIGMOUTH 168 Acland St, St Kilda 9534 4611 BILLBOARD 162 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 9639 4000 BIMBO DELUXE 376 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9419 8600 BLUE BAR 330 Chapel St, Prahran 9529 6499 BLUE TILE LOUNGE 95 Smith St, Fitzroy 9417 7186 BOUTIQUE 134 Greville St, Prahran 9525 2322 BROWN ALLEY Corner of King St, and Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9670 8599 CABINET BAR & BALCONY 11 Rainbow Alley, Melbourne 9654 0915 CANARY CLUB 6 Melbourne Pl, Melbourne 9663 1983 CANVAS Level 1, 302-320 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn 9819 2200 CHAISE LOUNGE Basement, 105 Queen St, Melbourne 9670 6120 CHASERS 386 Chapel St, South Yarra 9827 7379 CIRCUS 199 Commercial Rd, South Yarra 9804 8605 CO. NIGHTCLUB Level 3, Crown Entertainment Complex, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank 9682 1888 THE CONTINENTAL HOTEL 1-21 Ocean Rd, Sorrento 5984 2201 COOKIE Level 1, Curtin House, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne 9663 7660 THE CORNISH ARMS 163A Sydney Rd, Brunswick 9380 8383 CROFT INSTITUTE 21 Croft Alley (off Little Bourke St), Melbourne 9671 4399 CUSHION LOUNGE 99 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9534 7575 DECCA BAR 95 Queen St, Melbourne 9600 0900 DING DONG LOUNGE Level 1, 18 Market lane, Melbourne 9662 1020 THE DROWNING OLIVE 407-409 Swanston St, Melbourne 9650 5486 ELECTRIC LADYLAND Level 1, 265 Chapel St, Prahran 9521 5757 EMPRESS 714 Nicholson St, North Fitzroy 9489 8605 ESCOBAR 189 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 0407 845 278 ESPLANADE HOTEL 11 The Esplanade, St Kilda 9534 0211 EUROTRASH 18 Corrs Lane, Melbourne 9564 4411 EVE BAR/LOUNGE 334 City Rd, Southbank 9696 7388 E-55 55 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 9620 3899

FIRST FLOOR 393 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 9419 6380 THE FOX 351 Wellington St, Collingwood 9416 4917 FUSION Level 3, Crown Entertainment Complex, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank 9292 5750 GEORGE LANE BAR 1 George lane (off Grey St,), St Kilda 9593 8884 THE GERTRUDE HOTEL 148 Gertrude St, Fitzroy 9419 2823 GERTRUDES BROWN COUCH 30-32 Gertrude St, Fitzroy 9417 6420 GOLDEN MONKEY 389 Lonsdale St, (enter via Hardware Lane), Melbourne 9602 2055 THE GOOSE & VINYL 91-93 Flinders Lane (entrance via Duckboard Pl), Melbourne 1300 843 466 GRACE DARLING HOTEL 114 Smith St, Collingwood 9416 0055 THE GREAT BRITAIN HOTEL 447 Church St, Richmond 9429 5066 THE HAIRY CANARY 226 Little Collins St, Melbourne 9654 2471 HORSE BAZAAR 397 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9670 2329 HOTEL BARKLY 109 Barkly St, St Kilda 9525 3332 INFLATION 60 King St, Melbourne 9614 6122 KATUK 517a Chapel St, South Yarra 9827 9004 KHOKOLAT BAR 43 Hardware Lane, Melbourne 9642 1442 LA DI DA 577 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 9670 7680 LA LA LAND 134 Chapel St, Windsor 9533 8972 LAIKA 9 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9534 0002 THE LOFT Level 2, 117 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9650 3388 LONG BAR 60 Lygon St, Carlton 9380 4004 LOOP 19-23 Meyers Pl, Melbourne 9654 0500 LOUNGE 243 Swanston St, Melbourne 9663 2916 LOVE MACHINE Little Chapel St (Corner Malvern Rd), Sth Yarra 9533 8837 LUCKY COQ 179 Chapel St, Prahran 9525 1288 MADAME BRUSSELS 63 Bourke St, Melbourne 9662 2775 MAEVE FOX 472 Church St, Richmond 9427 1233 THE MARKET 143 Commercial Rd, South Yarra 9826 0933 MATCH BAR & GRILL 249 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9654 6522 MANCHURIA 7 Waratah Pl, Melbourne 9663 1997 MERCAT CROSS HOTEL 456 Queen St, Melbourne 9348 9998 METROPOL 60 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9534 5999 MISS LIBERTINE 34 Franklin St, Melbourne 9663 6855 MISTY PLACE 3-5 Hosier lane, Melbourne 9663 9202 MOTHER’S MILK (BRIGHTON) 287 Bay St, Brighton 9596 9470 MOTHER’S MILK (WINDSOR) 17 Chapel St, Windsor 9521 4119 NASH HOTEL 344 Victoria St, Richmond 9428 3418 NEVERMIND 336 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn NEVERWHERE BAR 185 Smith St, Fitzroy 0422 560 890 NEW GUERNICA Level 2, Hub Arcade, 318 Little Collins St, Melbourne 9650 4464 THE NIGHT CAT 141 JohnSt,on St, Fitzroy 9417 0900 THE NIGHT OWL Basement, 33 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 9614 2777 NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB 301 High St, Northcote 9489 3917

ONESIXONE 161 High St, Prahran 9533 8433 THE ORDER OF MELBOURNE Level 2, 401 Swanston St, Melbourne 9663 6707 PALACE THEATRE 20 Bourke St, Melbourne 9663 4288 PLATFORM ONE ne Vault 7/8 Banana Alley, Melbourne 9620 7080 THE POST OFFICE HOTEL 90 Swan St, Richmond 9428 6674 PRINCE OF WALES 29 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9536 1166 PUBLIC BAR 238 Victoria St, North Melbourne 9329 6522 THE PURPLE EMERALD 191 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 9650 7753 Q BAR 257 Toorak Rd, South Yarra 9804 7800 RANDY DRAGON Basement, 313a Flinders Lane, Melbourne 9629 9141 RED HUMMINGBIRD 246 Russell St, Melbourne 9654 2192 RED BENNIES Level 1, 371-373 Chapel St, South Yarra RED LOVE MUSICROOM Level 1, 401 Swanston St, Melbourne 9639 3722 RED VIOLIN 1/231 Bourke St, Melbourne 0411 423 245 REVOLVER 229 Chapel St, Prahran 9521 5985 ROBARTA 109 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9534 9041 ROBOT 12 Bligh Pl, Melbourne 9620 3646 ROOFTOP BAR Level 7, Curtin House, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne 9663 3596 ROOM 680 Level 1, 680 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn 9818 0680 ROXANNE PARLOUR 2/3 Coverlid Pl, Melbourne 9663 1018 RUBY’S LOUNGE 1648 Burwood Highway, Belgrave 9754 7445 SAGI BAR 57 High St, Northcote 9489 9983 THE SAINT 54 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9593 8333 SECTION 8 27-29 Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne 0422 972 656 SEVEN 52 Albert Rd, South Melbourne 9690 7877 SOFTBELLY BAR 367 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 0410 329 129 SORRY GRANDMA! 590 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 9670 7493 STAR BAR 160 Clarendon St, South Melbourne 9810 9954 SYN BAR Level 1, 163 Russell St, Melbourne 9663 8990 TERMINUS HOTEL 605 Victoria St, Abbotsford 9427 0615 TOFF IN TOWN Level 2, Curtin House, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne 9639 8770 TRAMP 14 King St, Melbourne TRANSIT Federation Square, Princes Bridge (corner Northbank), Melbourne 9654 8808 TRANSPORT PUBLIC BAR Federation Square, corner Flinders St and Swanston St, Melbourne 9654 8808 TRYST 3 Wilson St, South Yarra 9827 5533 TYRANNY OF DISTANCE 147 Union St, Windsor 9525 1005 VELOUR 121 Flinders lane, Melbourne 9663 5589 VIOLET TEARS 192 Barkly St, St Kilda 9534 4445 WAH WAH LOUNGE 185 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 9654 5793 WHITE BAR 129 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 9593 9077 WINDSOR CASTLE 89 Albert St, Windsor 9525 0239 WORKSHOP Level 1, 413 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 9326 4365 YAK 150 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 9654 6699

THE ARSE END HEADS UP Lena Me

yer-Lan d

Nick Galea

Vivian Goldman

HEY HEY IT’S A H HO OU US SE D DA AY

How freakin’ good are Vivian Goldman’s vocals on Dennis Ferrer’s Hey Heyy hit? With an imma culate punk pediggree ((and some me help on production from one off Th The Gl Glass) she’s helped create the edgiest house cut since those pre-electro days.

NOT-SO-SECRET-AGENT

rut

D-Bridge

SATELLITE SATELL LITE OF TA TASTE ASTE Germany’s Le Lena Meyer-Landrutt did what seemed an impossibilty and won Eurovision w Nash-esque esque with a decent tune. Satellite Satellite,, her Lily Allen/Kate Nash swing pop stood out amongst the usual mix of power balladry and Eurobeat. She also avoided the overworked ked wind machine and Chris Klein eyebrow s. abuse favoured by most others.

With Ferrer number one on the ARIA Club Charts, it’s the first week in 2010 without a local on top. So Nick Galea’s I Believe is representing in the number two spot. Other locals are doing well around the world with Agent 86 becoming a best-seller on Juno and Jamie Stevens getting one of his remixes dropped in Digweed’s Essential Mix on the weekend.

ARSE LICKS

Dennis ‘Frank Booth

’ Hopper

DENNIS HOPPER’S DEATH

The man who directed seminal gang film Colors has gone. And while most remember him best in Easy Rider, he’ll always be Frank Booth to us… “Mmmmot herrrrr…”

SMELLS LIKE TWEEN EXPLOITATION

Greyson Chance should have been

locked up

An X-pop star

First there was Beiber Fever then came Coby Simpson and now Ellen Degeneres has started a label just to release music by Greyson Michael Chance. Parents, save us… lock up your kids and ban them from YouTube.

TORN IT You know you’re career is over… when you sign on as a judge to Australian X Factor. Hi, Natalie!

Zebra Magazine 23

BAUHAUS FORUM AT ACCA

SHOT SNAP-

The Bauhaus school of design had a profound influence on the world of art, design, architecture, and typography. One of the most recognisable strands of modern art, its combination of a clean aesthetic and functionalism left nothing to be desired for lovers of a good serif and frilly bits. Names such as Kandinsky and Mies van der Rohe are associated with the movement. The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art is hosting a forum at 2pm, Saturday 24 July, with speakers Suzie Attwill, Norbert Loeffler, Warren Taylor, and Shane Murray addressing minimalism in contemporary design, with specific reference to the Bauhaus school. Book via accaonline.org.au.

THIS WEEK IN WEDNESDAY 2 Something Natural But Very Childish - a new play from Gary Abrahams (Acts Of Deceit (Between Strangers In A Room)), made up of a collection of short stories by Katherine Mansfield, a writer Virginia Woolf was admittedly jealous of, exploring the fantasy of love. La Mama until 20 June.

THURSDAY 3 45365 - Grand Jury Prize winning film by Bill and Turner Ross; a dreamlike journey through the American midwest. ACMI until 6 June. A Little Bird Told Me - group exhibition celebrating our feathered friends. (A percentage of all sales made during the exhibition go to Birds Australia.) Artists include Jo Bertini, Alexis Beckett, Priscilla Bracks, Neil Evans, Christian Froelich, and more. Mars Gallery, Port Melbourne until 30 June. Charmwood - photographic exhibition of works by Todd Anderson-Kunert, Warwick Baker, Linsey Gosper, and Michelle Tran. The Colour Factory Gallery until 26 June. City Of The Damned - photogaphic exhibition looking at the upcoming film of the same name. eFiftyFive until 3 July. Exit Through The Gift Shop - debut film from reknowned stencil artist Banksy about a man trying to hunt down art’s most illusive character. Limited run at ACMI until 18 June. Shimmy Shakedown Variety Revue - variety and vaudeville as part of the Australian Burlesque Festival, starring British Heart, Sarina Del Fuego, Kelly An Dool, and more. Blue Diamond. The Return - TaDaa presents Reg Cribb’s The Return, inspired by witnessing an incident on a suburban train where two men psychologically tortured a young female. Directed by Andrew Gray. Trades Hall until 19 June. Tropical Glasshouse - exhibition of photography by Jessica Brent - founding editor of Condiment: Adventures In Food And Form taken on 35mm and emphasising understatement and simplicity. No No Gallery until 19 June.

FRIDAY 4 Boston Marriage - MTC tackles David Mamet’s play about the relationship between two women. Fairfax Studio until 24 July. Byte<n> - mixed reality installation from Melbourne artist Georgie Roxby Smith, streaming live through Second Life. RearView Gallery, Collingwood until 25 June. Sexy Circus SIdeshow - aerial artists, acrobats for thrills and spills, hoola hoopers and sideshow antics as part of the Australian Burlesque

SOMETIMES A DOG’S BITE IS BIGGER THAN ITS BARK, 2010 DOMINIC HOOGHUIS Displaying as part of From The Womb To The Tomb at Cheeky Monkey in Richmond from Saturday 19 to Saturday 26 June.

ARTS Festival. Stars Boylesque Boywonder, Rocco D’Amore, Foxy La Femme, Sheena Miss Demeanour, and more. The Order Of Melbourne.

SATURDAY 5 The Big Tease - glamorous, classic burlesque, as part of the Australian Burlesque Festival, with Mia Vixen, Lola LaBelle, Lola The Vamp, Dolores Daiquiri, Kitty Van Horne, Sarah Lea Cheesecake, and more. Red Bennies. The Last Emporer - Bernado Bertolucci’s masterpiece about China’s last emperor, which won 10 Academy Awards. World Movies Channel (Foxtel) as part of their 25 Filmmakers You Must See Before You Die series. Scary Comedy Play - interactive theatre out of town as you wander through the Werribee Mansion as part of the performance. Werribee Park Mansion. Underground Cinema - Mid-Year Party: Backstage. Surprise film screening in a surprise location at one of Melbourne’s most fun nights, Underground Cinema. (More info at undergroundcinema.com.au.)

SUNDAY 6 Baby Bombshells - Australia’s freshest faces to burlesque, as part of the Australian Burlesque Festival. Miss Libertines. Chromatic Mysteries By Arthur And Corinne Cantrill - programme detailing the compositions and soundtracks by these two experimental filmmakers, with live music accompanying their films. ACMI (5pm). Mary And Max: The Exhibition - last day to see this fantastic exhibition dedicated to Australian claymation filmmaker Adam Elliot. ACMI. Rock The Ballet - final day of this fusion of ballet, hip hop, contemporary dance, gymnastics, and more, featuring the music of U2, Prince, and Coldplay. The Arts Centre. Romantic Symphony - the Australian Chamber Orchestra performs the music of Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood (as featured in the film There Will Be Blood), Schubert, and Brahms. Hamer Hall until 7 June.

MONDAY 7 Jimeoin - live stand-up from Australia’s funniest Irishman. The Comics Lounge.

TUESDAY 8 Off To Never Never Land - exhibition of new contemporary works by Marryn J Trevethan (painting), Sharon Billinge (repeated figures), Bianca Durrant (paper, string, and graphite), and Kristin McIver (sculpture, painting, installation). 27 Gipps St Gallery, Richmond until 26 June.

ART FAIR 2010 ANNOUNCED The talk of the town at the moment is the upcoming Melbourne Art Fair 2010, a biennial event now in its 12th year. Held in the Royal Exhibition Building Wednesday 4 August to Sunday 8, Art Fair will feature thousands of works across photography, sculpture, painting, installation, and multimedia representing 78 national and international galleries from as far as Beijing, Calgary, Osaka, and Wellington. Offering forums, lectures, dinners, as well as general exhibition, Art Fair is something for casual art lovers and serious enthusiasts alike. Their 2010 commission is yet to be announced, but we’ll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, bookmark melbourneartfair.com.

ART AND SECOND LIFE COME TOGETHER This Friday Melbourne artist Georgie Roxby Smith will perform a mixed reality installation at RearView Gallery, streaming live through Second Life. Titled Byte<n>, this is the second piece developed by Roxby Smith during her residency at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Centre, New York City, and features her Second Life avatar brought into the physical world. For more information head to georgieroxbysmith.ning.com.

FRAGMENTED

FILMS

WEIRD HOME VIDEO WITH BOB BAKER FISH The Ed D. Wood Jr. Collection (Rocket) is a four-disc opus from the most hilariously inept filmmaker ever. His stilted cyclical dialogue is confused and inane, a contorted poetic abuse of the English language. Yet somehow it’s compelling. He was an auteur of incompetence and unintentionally avant garde, conjuring up a new form of genius steeped in ineptitude. Bride Of The Monster is totally insane. Bela Lugosi abducts people and experiments on them to create a master race. It’s filled with these golden Woodian moments like a police chief who sits at his desk with a bird on his shoulder like he’s a pirate, the monster is a giant inanimate plastic octopus that requires the victims to thrash around wildly to give the pretext it’s moving, and the stilted climax is near incomprehensible. 1954’s Jailbait is a little disappointing, not only is it not about statutory rape, but it’s not as nuts as his other films. It is however brimming with golden quotes like “this afternoon we had a long conversation earlier in the day” and “Carrying a gun can be dangerous business” to the reply “so can building a skyscraper”. It’s film noir Wood style, with glaring plot holes and peculiar inappropriate guitar music. Then there’s the blackface comedy routine that’s spliced midway into the film for no apparent reason. Glen Or Glenda is Wood at his best, a clunky ham fisted plea for tolerance for transvestism masquerading as an

educational film with Wood himself playing both Glen and Glenda. Bela Lugosi pops up saying ridiculous things like “bevare of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep”, which if you’re feeling generous may be a metaphor for homosexuality, or if you’re not, a cynical attempt to cash in on Lugosi’s fame. Midway through he splices in some half naked chicks cavorting burlesque style. Again for no apparent reason. But genius has never needed a reason, as demonstrated in his 1959 alien invasion masterpiece Plan 9 From Outer Space. Lugosi died prior to filming so Wood reused the same footage of Lugosi over and over and then got his chiropractor to play Lugosi’s role with his arm shielding his face, hoping the audience wouldn’t clue in. Voted the worst film of all time, it’s unintentionally hilarious, a bizarre Z-grade howler borne out of continuity errors, stilted acting, and effects that are very, very not special. Both Jam and Tim And Eric Awesome Show could never have existed without Mr Mike’s Mondo Video (Beyond). Made in 1979 by Michael O’ Donoghue and featuring a murder of fellow Saturday Night Live alumni like Bill Murray, it was a spoof of the sleazy exotic shocksploitation of Mondo Cane. Yet it was too dark and surreal for TV, apparently images of a bunch of cats thrown into swimming pools or beautiful women discussing how men who smell their fingers get them hot didn’t fly with the network. Genius.

DRUMMING TO A DIFFERENT BEAT BETTER KNOWN AS THE DRUMMER IN ALT. ROCK BAND CHASING GRAVITY, DOMINIC HOOGHUIS IS ACTUALLY AN EMERGING VISUAL ARTIST IN HIS OWN RIGHT. HE TALKS TO TONY MCMAHON ABOUT HIS EXHIBITION.

ever without a sketchbook while his band is touring, both here and overseas, Dominic Hooghuis has gathered together a collection of his powerful, thoughtprovoking work and teamed up with young artist Eddy Sara for a joint exhibition titled From The Womb To The Tomb at Cheeky Monkey in Richmond. According to Hooghuis, the impetus for the show came from some D&Ms on life, the universe, and everything with Sara. “Eddy’s a really close friend of mine,” says Hooghuis. “And he’s a more established artist than I am. I’d liken it to a band show where he’s the headliner and I’m the support act. We have a lot of conversations about life and death. Eddy’s just had a scare with cancer, so he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to having a brush with death. We’d already planned to do an exhibition together and I showed him one of my works and we talked about what it was about: life, death and spirituality and that’s kind of how it all came about.” One look at Hooghuis’ work and it’s obvious that From The Womb To The

Tomb is not an attempt to cash in on his role in a well-known rock band, but a serious and worthwhile artistic venture in and of itself. Having said that, it must be asked whether he sees the two endeavours as separate or complementary. Interestingly, he likens the selection process with his painting to that of editing a final cut for a record. “I think about this a lot, actually. Obviously, they’re both creative. I don’t think one influences the other so much. It’s more like the same things influence both. I think they overlay a lot. I drew a painting the other day that I didn’t want to put into the exhibition because I wasn’t happy with it. I think that’s like writing 20 songs for an album and only the best 12 get on.” As far as Hooghuis’ time drawing on the road with the band is concerned, he admits that this was probably influential in the shaping of the images in From The Womb To The Tomb, but he gives more credit to a recent change in his relationship status. “The pictures I was drawing on the road were similar to the ones in the exhibition but a little bit darker. But

some of the ideas here definitely stem from that time on the road, for sure. Maybe some of the experiences I had on tour kind of helped with some of this new art work. But when I met my wife and got married, things brightened up in my life. My art is a lot brighter now than it used to be, that’s for sure.” Inpress is not sure how to put this delicately, but we don’t usually associate drummers with artists sensitive to life’s bigger issues such as the ones discussed above. Is

Hooghuis sure he’s Chasing Gravity’s drummer? It’s not a misprint in the press release? “No, I pretty sure I’m the drummer. I am learning to play guitar, so that might have something to do with it, but no, I’m definitely the drummer.” WHAT: From The Womb To The Tomb WHERE & WHEN: Cheeky Monkey Saturday 19 to Saturday 26 June

he named herself after the lead singer of The Cramps, has been travelling the world for seven years, bases her routines on the stuff that’ll get you into hell, has sleeve tattoos, and excuses herself politely to take a second to sneak out of class when I call her. One of the Baby Bombshells in the upcoming Australian Burlesque Festival, Lux St Sin is a design student and freelancer who got into the Melbourne burlesque scene through an interest in costume “and because this was the only place I stayed long enough”. You can hear that Lux, who is Frankie (for Francesca) by day, is originally from Sweden not so much from the way she says her words but the up-and-down rhythm of how she talks, which makes nearly all her sentences sound like she’s on the verge of giggling. And she often is, usually as though she’s getting away with something. Like pulling off a separate persona? “Well, you know,” she says, somehow in about four pitches, “it’s really easy to do, I mean, it’s not like I do anything on stage that’s not really me, except I don’t walk down the street taking my clothes off.” But there are some boundaries: even though she makes her ’30s-’50s rockabilly/cheesecake costumes herself, and favours these influences in her day-to-day dress, when asked if Frankie and Lux share clothes a very definite, “No, she gets her separate wardrobe,” is the response. As I open my mouth to tactically backpedal, she’s giggling again. “But that’s really an excuse… got a little something to the side, have some money to spare for Lux’s clothes. She gets her something.” “Her something” is something Lux St Sin definitely has, in her act and her look. Talking about the girls she rehearses and performs with – who are basically the group she met when she started out – each is described as bringing some special talent to her act, and contributing from that background on what the others are doing. Among them are a magician, a ballerina, a comedian and the costume designer. Having discovered a love for a certain kind of Americana and a certain kind of femininity, Lux styles herself as that kind of pin-up, mixed with the harder-edged influences she brings in musically. With a namesake who pioneered a genre that includes the word ‘psycho’, it probably isn’t a surprise that her act has a bit of a darker side. “I started out with the Seven Deadly Sins in my first act. I’d play them out, and I still do that now, only I try not to be so obvious, you know?” Essentially, the St Sin theology goes as far as temptation but not into damnation, but it teases out ideas about sexuality as well as audience response. Lux skips over the politics, the gender-theory, performance studies, the all-too-often ‘we want an excuse to talk about sex with our serious faces on’ of burlesque pretty lightly. Her take on projecting a very gendered role is as a sort of self-directed play (recreational, not so much theatrical) that is “like dress-ups”.

FILM

CAREW

WITH ANTHONY CAREW

WITH THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN BURLESQUE FESTIVAL KICKING OFF THIS WEEK, BETHANY SMALL TALKS TO BABY BOMBSHELL LUX ST SIN.

AND ALL THAT

BURLESQUE “You get to take all these things you like, and make that who you are, how you want to use those things and be that character.” Although she’s very aware of the fantasy element of her act, becoming Lux isn’t an embodiment of an observer’s gaze so much as a game with her own ideas of what’s sexy. Burlesque, it’s worth remembering, is not actually French for corset and fishnets, but derives from the Latin for a joke, or send-up. Burlesques have been around forever (since at least The Canterbury Tales in English) and while they’ve often had elements of what’s inevitably called “bawdy humour” that emerges from peasantly down-to-earth qualities that favour broad social critique as well as, well, broads. It’s 20th Century America that came up with the idea that burlesques were at the sequinned, tasselled end of music hall, and it’s 20th Century America

that Lux exploits in her goodnaturedly satirical poses. “It is really quite funny, you know, sort of silly,” she says of the sweet and innocent demeanour of her thoroughly made-up and primarily soap-suds clad self in her Festival act. The “you know” that punctuates her speech is more than a way of making sure you understand each other, it’s almost an assumption that you do. There’s a lot of confidence here, the kind that would help you get up on stage but I’m willing to bet – the chicken or the egg? style – that it also comes from doing just that. As a newish performer and recent Melbournian, a big part of Lux’s development as a burlesque artist has been the social aspect of the community: “my girls” and the people in the clubs. She agrees that there’s “definitely, absolutely” a scene and that burlesque is spreading as a culture.

“I see so much of it now, and in fashion, and now when I look at travelling back to Sweden I see so many nights and think ‘I wanna go to that’ where a few years ago there was nothing.” And does she like it being a fashion? “Well, it’s good for me, if there’s more interest there’s more opportunities. And yeah it might mean the girls want to look this way or that way but they’re choosing what they like.” So burlesque in summary? You focus on things you think are great, make friends, be simultaneously funny and socially aware and super-hot and you get to wear hilarious accessories. WHAT: Inaugural Australian Burlesque Festival WHERE & WHEN: Blue Diamond, Order Of Melbourne, Red Bennies, Miss Libertine this Thursday to Sunday

I feel like coming out and saying ‘I hate short films’ should engender some sort of controversy. After all, no one would dare say ‘I hate short stories’; would even dream of dismissing the astonishing work of, oh, say, Poe or Flannery O’Connor or Mary Gaitskill with a statement so moronically broad. But, like, short films? Does anyone ever regard them for greatness unto themselves; suggest that they’re ever anything more than a proving ground, a gateway to bigger and/or more meaningful things? If I asked you to name a favourite film, you’d spout off dozens of titles; I can pretty much guarantee none of them would be short in length. Which leads me back to my initial confession: I hate short films. They’re almost always heinously awful. Especially of recent. It feels like every second short film I see these days – and, though I try to avoid them, it’s still a lot – goes like this: set-up, twist as punchline. Which leads me to the utterly, utterly awful New York, I Love You, one of those dreaded ‘omnibus’ movies where a bunch of different directors contribute to a ‘greater’ (and I use the word with full irony) whole. There’s numerous reasons to hate these noxious cinematic hodgepodges – the wild unevenness, the preponderance of celebrity cameos, the feeling that you’re getting every contributor’s lesser work – but, here, there’s none moreso than the fact that literally every second story plays the twist-as-punchline game: a guy tries desperately to pick up a girl… only she’s really a whore! A man and woman engage in sexy, adulterous banter… except they’re actually husband and wife! A teenager gets a foxy date for the prom… only she’s in a wheelchair… only she’s not really! On and on it goes, with wretched celebrity cameo (Shia LaBeouf! Orlando Bloom! Hayden Christensen!) after wretched celebrity cameo, corny coincidence, wild unevenness, and web-ofinterrelated-characters clichés all in abundance. It even ends with a ‘best of’ finale showing hazy flashbacks to bits in the film we just watched; like a thrown-together sitcom clip show or a One Shining Moment montage at the end of a championship game. I hated everything about New York, I Love You. Even if it isn’t, technically, a short film. End Of The Line takes plum place in that very recent, very galling line of films-about-how-completely-andutterly-fucked-the-world-is. Whilst

mainstream media shows complete disinterest in cataloguing anything beyond the moronic, documentarians have chronicled the imminent end of oil supplies, the inherent evil of corporations, the destructiveness of agribusiness, the blight of the fast-food industry, the scourge of GMOs, and, of course, the inescapable realities of global warming. Every one of these films brings with it the same sickening feeling, one that even the obligatory, optimistic you-can-make-a-difference endings can’t really assuage. And each has its money moment; a revelation that lets you peer directly into the black heart of man, lets you be blinded by the sheer avarice, the rapacious greed, that is raping the Earth we stand on. In End Of The Line – Rupert Murray’s chronicle of the fishing industry, declining fish stocks the world over, and, in turn, the death of nearly all oceanlife – it comes with the following revelation: Mitsubishi, the giant Japanese conglomerate who’s responsible for buying over 50% of the world’s Bluefin Tuna catch, isn’t concerned that the species is nearing extinction; instead, they’re eagerly awaiting the day, stockpiling their frozen Bluefin reserves in anticipation of a market in which they’ll be able to name their price for the then-vanished fish. The solemn talking-heads on parade take things a step further: prognosticating that by 2048, roughly, no fish will exist in the oceans at all. How’s your sushi taste now, fuckface? Food Inc. comes in the same tradition: effectively turning Michael Pollan’s journalistic investigations into the industrialised American food racket, and turning it into a not-particularlycinematic documentary. Robert Kenner’s picture takes a broad look at the considerable evils perpetrated en masse by the industrialisation of food production and the vested corporate interests it serves: corn bankrolling, Monsanto crop copyrighting, the cruelty/environmental-degradation of mass-confinement animal rearing, the scourge of high fructose corn syrup, the grotesquerie of supermarket produce, the death of seasonality in fruit/vegetable consumption, the sure-to-come failure of this oil-powered system. They’re revelations that shouldn’t be too revelatory to an even-moderately-informed citizen, but, still, it’s always enjoyable – or, y’know, gallingly awful – to see the disgustingness of human greed laid out for you in cold pie charts, talking-heads, and ominous (Ted Danson!) voice-overs.

GIVEAWAY! Thank god for the indie comedy. These days every second film that comes out stars That Guy Who Used To Do Action Films But Now Is The Face Of Men’s Perfume and Woman Who Was In A Really Good TV Show But Never Made It In The Film World… Really in some botched attempt at comedy. So it’s refreshing when a little less money is spent on the catering and fed into the script. The latest indie-tastic comedy to come out of the US is City Island, revolving around a dysfunctional family headed by Andy Garcia (yes!) and Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) and also featuring the always reliable Emily Mortimer. Thanks to Anchor Bay Films we’ve got five double in-season passes to the film to giveaway, so for your chance to win one email giveaways@inpress.com.au with ‘CITY ISLAND’ in the subject line.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FINE ART OF CRIME WRITING

OK COMPOSER WHEN NOT FULFILLING HIS COMMITMENTS BEING IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST BANDS, RADIOHEAD GUITARIST JONNY GREENWOOD IS MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF IN THE ORCHESTRAL WORLD. INTERVIEW BY DANIEL CRICHTON-ROUSE.

iscordant strings swell and ease, sounding like the mournful cries of lost souls; like a swarm of angry wasps bursting through a dust storm; of melancholia and chaos. You can hear echoes of Penderecki’s Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima, of Barber’s Adagio For Strings, of the many scores by Bernard Herrmann. You may even be able to visualise the hardened face of Daniel Day-Lewis. Radiohead lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s score to the brilliant 2007 epic post-western film There Will Be Blood redefined the modern film score. With motion picture music having largely fallen into various stock clichés, Greenwood’s work evokes early-to-mid 20th century composition as much as classic Hollywood film scores. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact the music that would become There Will Be Blood started out life as a one movement composition for the BBC. “I was honoured to get time with them. I’m used to recording orchestras for Radiohead songs and there’s usually no time for experimenting at all. With the BBC, there’s room to try out things,” Greenwood says of his position as

FILM

REVIEW

ANIMAL KINGDOM

ANIMAL KINGDOM David Michôd’s feature debut is a visceral, character-driven journey into the dark heart of a Melbourne crime family. From its pitch-black comedic opening, Animal Kingdom is a slow burn of epic proportions, with fans of The Wire or Michael Mann’s classic Heat sure to find resonance in the incisive writing and palpable atmosphere throughout. When J’s (James Frenchville) mother overdoses, the lanky 17-year-old is rescued by his sunny maternal grandmother, Smurf (Jackie Weaver), and reunited with his uncles Craig (Sullivan Stapleton), Darren (Luke Ford), and the patriarch, Pope (Ben Mendelsohn). This is a family once fuelled by armed robbery, now Craig has turned to the more lucrative drug trade and when police detective Leckie (Guy Pierce) starts circling J, it comes time for him to chose which pack he’s with. Though the metaphor may be pushed a tad too far at times, Animal Kingdom is nonetheless a stunning debut. Unfolding at a studied pace, with the disquieting leadership of a pathological Pope intercut with bursts of jarring violence, this is no action flick. Instead it’s almost Shakespearean in scope, and Mendelsohn and Weaver each etch themselves into your nightmares. WHEN: Screening from 3 June ALICE TYNAN

the British TV/radio broadcaster’s composer in residence. “[I’m supposed to write] one piece of music a year for three years. I think they’ve had two in five years… so I need to pick up the pace.” The Oxford born and bred multiinstrumentalist released his first solo work in 2003, a soundtrack to an experimental film called Bodysong, which led to the London Sinfonietta asking Greenwood to write a piece for them to perform at a festival. (The resulting work, smear, has been recorded and released by the Sinfonietta.) Following this, the BBC came knocking. Greenwood’s next piece, Popcorn Superhet Receiver – which the Australian Chamber Orchestra will perform at the end of May – debuted in the UK in 2005 and the New York Times gushed over it in 2008, stating, “even at its most densely atonal, [it] has a consistently alluring shimmer” before comparing parts of it to Tchaikovsky “on steroids, or acid, or both”. A 20-minute piece in one movement, Popcorn Superhet Receiver is light years from the work of Radiohead, an at times deeply unsettling orchestral

behemoth as beautiful as anything from OK Computer. And while Thom Yorke has dabbled further into experimental electronica with his solo projects (see The Eraser), Greenwood’s been indulging in his childhood interest in “classical” music. “I played in some fairly bad school orchestras, then got into the local youth orchestra,” he says of his first interest in the orchestral music. “I remember being astonished when I first heard all these string players that could play in tune.”

As a teenager Greenwood discovered his major inspiration – French composer Olivier Messiaen – and his instrument of choice, the ondes Martenot. “The way he uses modes (ie. musical scales that aren’t major or minor) for his melodies gives his music a very magical, unearthly quality,” he says, “and principally, it’s beautiful.” Whilst Radiohead are currently in the studio working on their new album – “We have to finish this record before we can plan any touring,

so the plan is that there is no plan for any touring anywhere yet,” he answers, somewhat elusively, when asked about a Radiohead tour down under – Greenwood has been busy writing a new score for a Japanese film adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel Norwegian Wood (“I’ve just finished: lots of quite romantic music, but in a faltering, uncertain way,” he says. “Like the book, or so I hope.”), which is once again based on a preexisting piece of music Greenwood was written – this time Doghouse, which switches between a sweet serenade and sombre string attacks over the course of 20-or-so minutes. Greenwood explains his writing process from Doghouse to Norwegian Wood as such: “The themes were written with the film in mind, then arranged and developed into a piece for the BBC, then edited down for some of the film score: though only about a quarter of the final soundtrack is from Doghouse. The rest is new string sextets and guitar music. “I based some of the musical ideas on scenes from the book that aren’t in the film,” he continues. “Reiko’s piano lessons and her approach to playing a guitar. But I probably got more from seeing how [Anh Hung Tran] has filmed the story.” WHAT: Australian Chamber Orchestra performs Romantic Symphony: the music of Jonny Greenwood, Schubert and Brahms WHERE & WHEN: Hamer Hall this Sunday and Monday

BERSERK IS THIS CIRCUS LIZA DEZFOULI TALKS TO SARAH WARD, SINGER, SONGWRITER, CABARET PERFORMER, AND NOW AERIALIST WHO HAS RUN AWAY WITH CIRCUS OZ.

ow do you get to run away to the circus if you’re not actually a circus performer? According to Sarah Ward, it’s what she does outside circus that brought her to the attention of Circus Oz. “I don’t have any circus skills. I can juggle three balls – that’s it,” she says. The singer/songwriter and cabaret artist came to the attention of Circus Oz’s artistic director Mike Finch when she was rehearsing her show in the Circus Oz workspace. “He saw the evolution of that show and that character and adored the song I’m Not The Woman For You, so I just did what I did for the Circus Oz audition,” Ward recalls. “They film it and show that to the other performers and they decide who fits in with them artistically.” A vocalist noted for her ‘clownish performance style’ as urban diva Yana Alana (of Yana Alana and tha Piranhas) and Sheila from Sister She, Ward has developed a character who sings with a live band in Circus Oz’s latest extravanga. “I am the Ring Mistress – I do the hello and welcome,” says Ward. “I use my personality; sing and float around. I am bringing my personality and voice to the show.” But her circus persona isn’t too far removed from Ward herself. “I find the best thing to do is a heightened version of myself,” she says. The material she sings is all original, as is the live music from the band. Along with the aforementioned number there are several other songs, all penned by Ward. According to Ward her mere presence in circus is political: “Just that I am a woman and a big woman … The traditional ringmaster role is male. There are few women on stage over size 12. It doesn’t happen so it’s really nice to be there - politically

representing a group.” Circus Oz takes a proactive stance in making sure that half their performers are women, Ward notes. The show, although comical and physical and family friendly circus comes with a significant ‘value added’ message, Ward reckons. “The concept of growing into yourself … Being a powerful person – not just physically but on the inside; big and powerful inside yourself. It’s empowering women and men to understand how powerful women are. As one of Ward’s song goes, “The show’s not over til the fat lady sings.” Ward is finding her work with Circus Oz “a really challenging and inspiring process”. Even with a strong background in gymnastics she has taken acrobatic workshops in preparation for the show and is having to do some things she’s not done before. “Going up in the air – swinging myself back and forth: I find that challenging. Going up that high!” What strikes her particularly about the world of circus? “Seeing a whole world above my head,” she answers. “There’s a rigger, a truss – a whole bunch of people above you making it all happen – circus is very different from anything I’ve done.” There is a particular aesthetic to this new show. “It’s in the steampunk genre,” continues Ward. “The set designer and the costume designer decided to explore that genre. It fits in with circus perfectly.” On that note we can be reassured that nothing will be predictable from the legendary 30-odd-years-old Circus Oz. WHAT: Circus Oz WHERE & WHEN: Birrarung Marr Wednesday 16 June to Sunday 11 July

For all of you that enjoy a good crime thriller – and let’s face it that’s the vast majority – the Crime And Justice Festival will take over the restored Abbotsford Convent Friday 16 July to Sunday 18. Featuring a program of talks and debates about Australian and international crime fiction, guests will include Brit David Hewson (the Nic Costa series) and documentary filmmaker James Brabazon (My Friend The Mercenary), with locals Kerry Greenwood, Garry Disher, Robert Gott, Adrian Hyland, Shane Maloney, PD Martin, Angela Savage, Felicity Young, Simon Caterson, Maria Tumarkin, Arnold Zable, Shaun Berg, and Catherine Deveny. Crime And Justice is the sister event to Writers At The Convent. Head to crimeandjusticefestival.com for more info.

FILM

REVIEW

SEX AND THE CITY 2

SEX AND THE CITY 2 If you take Sex out of the City, then what have you got? Sex And The City 2. If you take once-loved characters and transform them into whiney, entitled, out of touch jerks, then what have you got? Sex And The City 2. And if you take one minute and stretch it into two and a half damn hours, then what have you got? Boom. Yes. Sex And The City 2. But this last point might be forgivable if the two and a half damn hours were sustained by more than half a damn idea. There’s exactly 0.002 units of thought to sustain every minute of film and – guess what – that just isn’t enough. As a result, the sum total of what SATC2 manages to achieve is approximately “zero”; or “nothing” if you’re using the old imperial units of measurement. To emphasise this point, allow me to summarise the “plot”: Carrie is happy and married. Miranda is unhappily employed. Charlotte is a sometimes unhappy parent. Samantha never changes and that is part of her appeal. Some things happen – a gay wedding, Miranda’s boss is mean to her, Charlotte gets paint on her vintage Valentino and (horror, horror) Mr Big buys the worst thing imaginable in the entire world ever for Carrie and their apartment: a flat-screen TV. On the verge of a total epic meltdown, they all decide to ditch town and go to Abu Dhabi, which is where most of the film unfolds. Then there’s some contrived drama. And some really superficial attempts at engaging with the sexual politics of the Middle East. At one point Samantha dry humps the air and shrieks, “I HAVE SEX!” while surrounded by a circle of conservative Muslim men. Before that, our dynamic foursome took to a karaoke stage to sing I Am Woman, because, you know, that’s what Germaine Greer would do. This is all as embarrassing as it sounds. And it only gets worse. Stay the hell away. WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now Rowena Grant-Frost

ONCE WERE ANIMALS ON-SET FIGHTING, CIGARETTES, AND SUNDANCE: WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF ANIMAL KINGDOM, THE AUSTRALIAN FILM EVERYONE OVERSEAS IS TALKING ABOUT. ALICE TYNAN SPEAKS TO ACTOR BEN MENDELSOHN AND THE FILM’S WRITER/ DIRECTOR DAVID MICHÔD. he poster for Animal Kingdom may simply declare the film as ‘A Crime Story’, when it is in fact a searing portrait of family loyalties, love and dysfunction, brutally tethered to the nihilism that comes with so virulently living outside the law. With an impressive ensemble cast including Guy Pierce, Jackie Weaver, and Joel Edgerton, the film also makes the most of its titular metaphor; one that is too meaty not to wonder if it can apply to writerdirector David Michôd’s debut feature production, particularly when it stars a lion of an actor in Ben Mendelsohn. The film’s ambition, precision as well as the win at Sundance clearly marks Michôd as the new player in town. And Meldelsohn, for one, has noticed.

“Fuck, I mean can you imagine coming out of the blocks any stronger?” he declares. “David’s got a beautiful brain [and] he’s very connected in, he’s got a lot going on concerning human dynamics. He’s the kind of person who’s got a feel for uptown and downtown, [and] he’s a man that’s shown a significant

7 UP

mastery of the medium. I think there’s plenty for people that like films to be a bit hopeful and excited about with David.” For Michôd, Animal Kingdom has been a ten-year labour of love, and one that developed from the merits of his short film work. “You spend all those years writing something of that size, but not actually being able to imagine ever being in a position where you can make the thing,” the filmmaker says. “And what felt at the time like a relatively sudden shift in the whole landscape, where it didn’t feel just makeable, it felt inevitable.” This paradigm shift brought Michôd to his first feature film set, alongside Mendelsohn, who admits, “I was essentially raised on set, I’m probably more comfortable on a set at work than anywhere really.” And together they brought to life in Pope Cody what will surely come to be one of Australian cinema’s most malevolent and coolly nightmarish antagonists. On the page, Michôd reveals, “I had an idea of a particular kind of

damage, a particular kind of man who had never been fully functional, but had managed to survive within a certain kind of network of people and within a certain kind of social framework. When that framework starts to unravel, as it does for him in the movie – we’re in a particular era where his main field of criminal expertise is becoming ever increasingly unviable – such that when that framework in which he has just managed to be functional starts to unravel, so does he. There’s a particular kind of damaged child in there that, when lost and confused, lashes out.” Mendelsohn came to Pope during a frenetic period of working backto-back (and overlapping) films, Knowing, Beautiful Kate, and Prime Mover, as well as TV shows Tangle and Who Do You Think You Are. “It ended up being kind of perfect, because I think working that hard is actually really good for me,” he says. “It’s kind of full on, but I actually do very well [to] peddle to the metal. And I just didn’t care anymore; I didn’t care how full on it got inside. “I have no idea how the people in the world of the events are – never seen ’em, never heard ’em, can’t feel ’em. So I took one or two things from people that I’d run into, impressions that you get. The most important of which is that people who are actually dangerous don’t need to pretend they’re dangerous.” However Meldelsohn also admits, “It

wasn’t a fun film to make. They don’t have to be. I had a lot of fun while I was there, but it was a difficult shoot at times.” This, it seems was in part the byproduct of Michôd’s incisive psychological characterisation. “You’re dealing with something that is particularly up close and well more than personal, it’s hyper personal,” Meldelsohn says, “and when you’re doing that you need your full range of dysfunctional kind of feeling set to be able to be on display and accessed. So in order to do that you just want to do it. And that’s just kind of an unspoken agreement or a pact or the film taking over, or all those sort of things, that ‘we’re doing this.’ “But it really got ugly for a while. There were fights on this set, there were punch-ups. We were able to do stuff with each other and still come back from there [because] we all kind of adore each other. We’re not like the Codys but we got a family rapport going.” For Michôd, however, the tension took its toll. “I starting smoking almost two packs a day,” he says. But then again with rave reviews across the board, perhaps the ends justified the means. In this nigh saturated market of crime-time TV, Animal Kingdom comes as a refreshingly weighty and beautifully constructed piece of cinema. “I didn’t want to make a film that was a glorification of criminal endeavours,” Michôd says, “I didn’t want to make

G A L L E RY

PROFILE

RED GALLERY 157 St. Georges Rd, Fitzroy redgallery.com.au

TOWNS WITH ZOMBIE PROBLEMS By Cam Grace 1. Pittsburgh - Night Of The Living Dead (1968) 2. Vermont - Zombie Town (2008) 3. London - Shaun Of The Dead (2004) 4. Macon - The Crazies (2010) 5. Utah - Carnival Of Souls (1962) 6. Port au Prince - White Zombie (1937) 7. Pennsylvania - Wicked Little Things (2007)

BAUHAUS FORUM AT ACCA The Bauhaus school of design had a profound influence on the world of art, design, architecture, and typography. One of the most recognisable strands of modern art, its combination of a clean aesthetic and functionalism left nothing to be desired for lovers of a good serif and frilly bits. Names such as Kandinsky and Mies van der Rohe are associated with the movement. The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art is hosting a forum at 2pm, Saturday 24 July, with speakers Suzie Attwill, Norbert Loeffler, Warren Taylor, and Shane Murray addressing minimalism in contemporary design, with specific reference to the Bauhaus school. Book via accaonline. org.au.

Tell us about the gallery. Red gallery has been around for a surprisingly long time (in gallery years at least!). It was opened in 2002 and was designed to bring together artists at different stages of their career in the same space. One of the special things about red gallery is that it’s halfway between a commercial gallery and an ARI – we don’t represent artists, but we do actively sell work and have a solid client base. The artists don’t have to sit the gallery, and the program is flexible enough for us to do completely non-commercial exhibitions every now and then too. Having three large, separate galleries also encourages some great crossovers. We try to organise the program so artists who wouldn’t otherwise exhibit together have the opportunity to share the space, hopefully encouraging some dialogue between the many different art scenes and circles in Melbourne.

What are some of your past highlights? Loved the pirate/bordello party that Marc Wasiak and Gerard O’Connor threw last year for the opening of their big photography exhibition – we had wenches in corsets serving mulled wine in huge tankards, with a pirate band and lots of props and costumes hired from the Opera House. Chelle Macnaughtan’s PhD exhibition on architecture and sound was also amazing – she put a grand piano in the gallery and there was a live performance on the opening night. What’s currently exhibiting? Currently we’re showing Sarah Gully’s latest collection of her new miniature curiosities (tiny paintings and drawings of hybrid creatures from imaginary Renaissance gardens), then Amelia Lackmann’s extraordinarily meticulous geometric paintings (her first solo exhibition), and in the back gallery a

group show called Strange Nature, featuring new work by Dena Kahan, Peter Lambropoulos, and Jan Parker that looks at the interplay between nature and artifice. Who are some local artists you admire? Can’t play favourites! There are many great young artists in Melbourne though. Looking to the immediate future – what’s on the cards? The gallery is co-presenting a sound art exhibition called Constellation: A Durational Chamber Work in July as part of Liquid Architecture Festival in July. It’s a three week exhibition with performance interruptions, and features new, commissioned work by some renowned Australian sound artists and composers. The show is curated by Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey, and there will be free live performances every day, so come on down!

a film in which these characters were really cool. I have a deep, strange, if not love...empathy for these characters, but I didn’t want to make a kind of cool, rock’n’roll crime film, I wanted to make something more substantial than that.” While Michôd remains quietly anxious for his film to strike a chord with Australian audiences, Meldelsohn is droll.

C U LT U R A L

“I think this film is such a palpable experience that it’s going to be fine,” he says. “And if we don’t catch you buggers here in Australia, don’t worry, we’ll catch a lot of the rest of the world anyway.” WHAT: Animal Kingdom WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas from 3 June

CRINGE

WITH REBECCA COOK Cringe has a confession to make; she’s never read King Lear nor seen it before Friday night. Lauded as one of Shakespeare’s finest works, there’s a sense of shame in admitting this. A bit like your doctor admitting they skipped first year Medicine. I could blame it on an inadequate education system, but in truth, it just never took my fancy. So when I fronted up to Bell Shakespeare’s opening night of King Lear last week, I went in as cold as one of those pressurised fish that live at the bottom of the ocean. I suspect I wasn’t alone in the star-studded crowd that included Adam Elliot, Sigrid Thornton, John Safran, an entourage from Neighbours, and Deal Or No Deal’s Andrew O’Keefe. Interval proved a telling time with those unfamiliar with the plot attempting to discretely read the programme notes in-between sipping bubbles in the foyer. How would have old Billy felt about this cultural superiority? No one feels guilty because they haven’t read the latest Stephenie Meyer or Dan Brown, do they? But who’s to say that in 400 years, when language has evolved twice as fast as it did in the past, that there won’t be a performance of The Da Vinci Code in which half the audience will knowingly nod at the clues while the other half pretend to understand it and discuss intelligently at the break. Lear does have it all over the Dan Brown blockbuster because at the moment Melburnians seem to be entranced by violent family tragedies. Over the years I have enjoyed many of the company’s productions including Measure For Measure, Romeo And Juliet, The Tempest, and The Government Inspector, but (and undoubtedly it was the lack of cramming on the storyline) Lear seemed like comparatively hard work. Usually I feel lucky if I score a seat near the big wall heaters

in Theatre Works or away from the door at La Mama, so I’m no prima donna when it comes to the audience experience but when you’re expecting all the bells and whistles that are usually part and parcel of a Bell Shakespeare production, a simple set (albeit with a revolving bit) was mildly underwhelming. The costumes too were less opulent, mind you it’s a tough week to premiere against SJP and the Sex And The City gals. A notable absence on the night was Leah Purcell who had been much publicised in the role of Regan, one of Lear’s scheming daughters. She was replaced at the last minute by the extremely courageous Rachel Gordon, who script in hand, took to the stage. It seems she will get a chance to learn her lines as she’s been updated on the cast list on the company’s website. Directed by Marion Potts, John Bell captured the sense of an ageing old tiger as Lear and Tim Walter as Edmund, a duplicitous and murdering son was an unexpected delight. In brief, the Emerging Writers’ Festival closed its notebook on the weekend for another year but not without its annual tribute performance night: Wordstock. This year local writers, poets, comedians, and singers created new work inspired by the boys that proved you can rock out in your school uniform, AC/DC. Host Clem Bastow was stunned by the talent on display: “Everyone was brilliant but in particular Vachel Spirason [from Vigilantelope] blew everyone’s minds with a performance/dance piece to Back In Black that included flamenco, breakdance and, well, flashdance. I’d like to think Bon Scott would have been proud. Slightly perplexed, maybe, but proud nonetheless,” she said.

BOY MADE GOOD Young Sydney group BOY & BEAR sound old beyond their years. Singer/ guitarist DAVE HOSKING tells TONY MCMAHON about their rapid rise.

DEEPER WATERS Country singer BARB WATERS drew on her experiences growing up in country Victoria for her latest album, she tells TONY MCMAHON.

virtually impossible not to allude to it. Hosking is at a bit of a loss to explain exactly why his band sounds so together.

As mentioned above, the strings on Buffalo Mountain Girl, although not featured on every track, have an emotional strength that is one of the many highlights of the record. As far as this is concerned, Waters sings the praises of her distinguished producer.

“I’m not really sure. We were all playing for two or three years before we got together. I’m not sure, that might have something to do with it. I think we just got lucky as far as getting a really good team. Everyone in the band really wants to push. There’s a lot of thought that goes into our music. We really love to layer the songs.”

“They were always going to be part of this album. On my last album, it felt like strings might have been overkill, but I was dying to use them again. My producer, Craig Pilkington, is a great arranger, so it seemed obvious that I should make use of that strength. It actually took a surprisingly short time to capture in the end.”

There are also three songwriters and ex-frontmen of their own outfits in the band, and Hosking says this might well contribute to this strong notion of a well-developed sound.

month-long engagement in the UK in support of Laura Marling followed by a national headlining tour of your home country in support of your debut EP is not the way most bands would necessarily go about things. But it speaks volumes of the musical sophistication of Sydneysiders Boy & Bear that this is in fact what they’re doing, and the EP, With Emperor Antarctica, is as considered and developed a debut release as you will hear this year. Vocalist/guitarist Dave Hosking fills Inpress in on how the band got on in dear old Blighty. “It went really well, actually,” he says, with just the slightest hint of surprise in his voice. “We were playing to these theatres with, you know, sit down, pin-drop silence. Two thousand people in a room. You can’t get away with much when it’s that quiet. But the reception was really, really good. They really got into it. We couldn’t have asked for much more.” Boy & Bear’s debut single, Mexican Mavis, not only delighted Laura Marling so much it resulted in her asking the band to join her on tour and was voted single of the week by iTunes, it also won them the prestigious Triple J spot at Homebake. Not surprisingly, Hosking says this was a somewhat different deal to their English shows. “Yeah, a slightly different experience. We sort of had to change the set around a little bit and jump around on stage a little more. I think we were pretending to be a little more of a rock’n’roll band than we actually are.” The trope of young bands sounding like they’ve been playing together for ever, mature beyond their years, so to speak, is so well used as to be bordering on cliché. With Boy & Bear, however, this sensibility rings so true it’s

“Yeah, I think that helps the songwriting a lot, coming from three different perspectives. You sit down to write a track and it’s not just this singular vision. That helps a lot.” For the upcoming launch of the EP, Hosking says that the band would like to make it a special night, but time has been a bit of an issue. “We haven’t had much of a chance to get together and plan anything as far as a point of difference for these shows is concerned. We’re going to get together just before the show and try and come up with something a little different.” And in describing the experience of a Boy & Bear live show for the uninitiated, Hosking talks vocals, dynamics and harmony, harmony, harmony. Picking up on his earlier point that a lot of thought goes into his band’s music, it’s obvious that this is something not only confined to the recording studio. “Lots of vocals. Lots of singing. I really love the idea of dynamics in a set: biding our time then trying to get some point of difference. The set does vary from driving, big drums and big vocals to more balladstyle tracks. Hopefully, if it’s done well, it will pull people in. I mean, we love harmony. I don’t know if every band loves harmony, but we love it.”

WHO: Boy & Bear WHAT: With Emperor Antarctica (Universal) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Northcote Social Club

CELLO SONG

here is no country but childhood, according to the radical French literary theorist Roland Barthes. Listening to local diva Barb Waters and her band The Mothers Of Pearl on their exquisite new album, Buffalo Mountain Girl, it’s tough to disagree. Waters paints gorgeous, heart-felt word pictures of life growing up in north east Victoria and sets them eloquently against an alt.country backdrop of twanging guitars, piano accordions and, most notably of all, delicious string parts. Despite a career stretching back 25 years, numerous accolades and tours both here and overseas, Waters says that the material she mined for this record was by far the richest. “I’ve written other songs on the subject, but when I made the decision that this would be the focus on this album, the songs pretty much wrote themselves. The imagery was really powerful, and I found, too, that people who’ve heard this record have identified really strongly with it. It was then that I realised I was really onto something.” This writer is unswervingly a city boy – frightened of cows and crickets, oddly dismayed by the silence and darkness of the country – yet opening track, My Brother’s First Girlfriend, struck a chord so strong it seemed Waters was talking directly to me, and this was not the only example. The universality of Buffalo Mountain Girl is staggering at times. “It was a little bit of an organic decision. But those decisions are made for you sometimes, know what I mean?” she offers “I have this expanse to look back over now, and I probably feel like I’m in a mature place with my songwriting that means I can afford to go back there. You can distance yourself from it.”

But for a man who sounds so assured on record, particularly on his genre-bending solo releases Eternal Nowhere (2006) and 2009’s Looking For Vertical, Skinner live on stage in solo guise cuts a very nervous figure. More than just your average muso’s pre-gig nerves, Skinner finds it almost unbearable, hence he has laid claim to being committed to performing “a maximum of three or four solo gigs a decade”. He explains why. “Well, when you’re with a band, like when I play with a group called The Holy Sea at the moment, you’re a side person, and the attention is not necessarily focused on you, but when I go solo I’m just so crippled with nerves before it because all the attention is on me.” The sheer fright and panic is too much for Skinner,

Considering the sheer number of musicians who contributed to Buffalo Mountain Girl, the live show for the launch should really be something to see and hear. Waters agrees, but also says that these are songs that can stand by themselves in any setting. “For the launch, I’ve got most of the people that helped me out there on the night. I’ll have the strings on the night. Again, luckily for me, it looks like everyone will be available. But when I’ve played these songs without strings in the past, I’ve been able to get around it; the songs seem to have a life without the strings. I think that’s down to the wonderful musicians I was able to play with and the kind of incredibly supportive nature of the Melbourne music community.”

WHO: Barb Waters & The Mothers Of Pearl WHAT: Buffalo Mountain Girl (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Thornbury Theatre

Expat Aussie TOBY BURKE wrote the new HORSE STORIES album in a windowless, underground garage in LA. He tells NICK ARGYRIOU about it.

who openly confirms that he can only really endure live solo shows on the most rare of occasions.

“I was incredibly lucky,” she says. “I really landed on my feet. The combination of guest musicians and the musicians who play in the Mothers Of Pearl band, I called all those people and told them I was in the studio finishing off the record, could they come in that week, and they all said yes.”

GOING UNDERGROUND

Avant-garde cellist GARETH SKINNER explains to NICK ARGYRIOU that nerves are the reason he only plays a handful of solo gigs per decade.

f Warren Ellis is king of the violin, then Melbourne musician Gareth Skinner is lord of the cello. Both artists wield their string instruments in weird and wonderful ways, always testing musical boundaries, constantly chasing sonic soundscapes that conjure dark, emotive and menacing imagery – yet are littered with moments of zen. Both players have made a name for themselves over the past few decades for being visceral, experimental mad genius types. Go-to-men. Guns for hire. Ellis with Nick Cave and co and Skinner with a plethora of Australian bands, including The Ergot Derivative, Bzark and Disaster Plan. He’s also played on records by everyone from Theredsunband to Hunters & Collectors, Powderfinger to Something For Kate. Skinner’s operatic and grating use of the cello adds shades of colour and an element of danger to all aforementioned records, as it does on his extensive film and television soundtrack work.

Another feature of this album is what can only be described as a menagerie of guest musicians, adding rather than subtracting, as can sometimes be the case, to the overall aesthetic. Surprisingly, perhaps, Waters says that organisational problems were never a factor.

Having written and re-written this weekend’s Northcote Social Club matinee event setlist over the last two months, Skinner admits that he’s only now starting to settle on its flow. “Because there’s no real template for the sort of thing I’m doing, I didn’t know whether it totally sucked or if it was going to be reasonably interesting… it’s just a case of having a stab in the dark really,” he informs. Expect the unexpected is what Skinner wants to express to the punters who are heading to the NSC for his 2pm show this Sunday. “Well, it won’t be like a Ramones gig that’s for sure,” he explains, in reference to the US punks’ fiery yet formulaic live delivery. “It will certainly be quite a disparate mix of things. I just want to make it as entertaining for the audience – assuming that there is one – as possible,” he laughs. Skinner admits that fans should also expect the Sunday gig to be quite a menacing, ambiguous and surprising set, littered with old and new material. He’ll also pull out some covers of one of his favourite blues players, Skip James, whom Skinner admits to being extremely fond of. “I also tried getting some of the girls who sang on the record to play with me as well but Kirsty [Stegwazi from The Bites] is ensconced in far north New South Wales and Laura [MacFarlane from Ninetynine] is in WA, so I had thought of getting a band together, but decided to keep it simple, so it’s just going to be me and a loop pedal basically,” he says. Skinner continues to keep up live appearances with Melbourne’s The Holy Sea – he’s recorded with the band on their forthcoming album Ghosts Of The Horizon, and tells of a very productive next 12 months. “I have the band stuff and solo work and am back in the shadows of TV and film land with an Aussie arthouse film waiting for the green light to click over so we can begin… but if I can get three of four things bubbling away concurrently then certainly things are never dull,” he confirms. WHO: Gareth Skinner WHAT: Looking For Vertical (Rubber Records) WHEN & WHERE: Sunday 2pm, Northcote Social Club

having more of it,” Burke tells. “Singing is a lot about feeling, it’s such a physical thing that I just wanted to try something different to feel a different way.”

oby Burke is 33 years of age. Born in Melbourne. Collingwood supporter. Lakers fan. Musician, scriptwriter and short story scribe, who during collaborations with fellow creative partner Warwick Baker on the pair’s music, photography and fiction project entitled Perfect Black Swan, goes under the nom de plume of TB Hemingway (his mother’s surname). Having moved away from Melbourne in 1999, Burke has lived in Los Angeles and London and has been settled back in LA since 2007, this time in its Silverlake neighbourhood. Following Burke’s textured and dusty country stylings heard on 2004’s Winsome Lonesome and the sprawling folk pop of 2005’s Everyone’s A Photographer, Burke’s latest record (as Horse Stories), November, November is the talented artist’s first to be recorded in his adopted country. Burke utilises a lower register in his vocal, moving away from the falsetto range displayed throughout previous records. “By the end of the last set of shows I did while on the Everyone’s A Photographer tour a few years ago, I was just not enjoying the way I was singing for the first time in my life,” he candidly admits. With a more sombre tone reflected through November, November, there’s also plenty of nuance in the instrumentation with some inspired post-A Ghost Is Born Wilco guitar spark spitting out of the record during unexpected moments. The Burke vocal rests easily somewhere between the poetic, conversationalinspired delivery of Ron Peno and Joe Pernice. “My vocal just wasn’t engaging me, and I wasn’t enjoying singing live with it, so I decided to try other things with my voice. The main thing was working on range and

Making this call after singing the same way for a decade now is something to be admired. It’s a brave move he’s made to distance himself from the familiar, but that’s exactly what artists should do in order to unscrew the creative valve and push on into unchartered waters. It keeps things interesting for both them and us. The air of predictability diminished, and along comes the element of the unknown. “It did occur to me what other people would think of the new vocal, but in reality I didn’t stand to piss off that many people,” he laughs. With recent positive reviews for November, November filtering through from the scribes at Mojo, Uncut, Q, The Age and NME, things are about to change. Writing and demoing November, November over the period of the last two years in his underground Silverlake garage space, Burke holed himself up in a windowless, claustrophobic room. So how much has this impacted the narrative and aesthetic of the more forlorn record? “I think that everything effects everything when you’re writing, but I certainly think that at the time it really got to me, because I like light, and it was ironic that the thing I didn’t like about living in London was the darkness and the thing I enjoyed about LA was how bright it was… so it did bum me out, but it was also a secure feeling being underground and honing the writing,” he explains. With November, November produced and mixed by friends and collaborators including multi-instrumentalist Luther Russell, bass player/engineer Jason Hiller and long-time backing vocalist Beth Balmer, Burke wanted the recording to encapsulate the feel of ‘70s sounds, with tape and vintage instruments taking precedence over anything tech-heavy. “I just wanted the record to be honest. I’m not a very flamboyant person, I tend to just let the song be itself and be in charge, and give it a little expression here and there – I’m definitely not one for grand gestures.”

WHO: Horse Stories WHAT: November, November (Gaga Digi) WHEN & WHERE: Tonight, Toff In Town

FROM BOTH SIDES NOW TITLE TRACKS The latest album from long-time partners DEBORAH CONWAY and WILLY ZYGIER is concerned with ordinary life, they tell MICHAEL SMITH.

SCOTT MAC, fight fan and frontman of TOE TO TOE, tells TONY MCMAHON why the Sydney hardcore group named their new album after a late Canadian boxer.

as the critically acclaimed series of all-female singer/ songwriter national showcase concerts called Broad.

I’m going to call it Arturo Gatti’. If you don’t know the name it’s still a really cool-sounding thing as well.”

In the case of the song Take Pity On The Beast, from Half Man Half Woman, to suggest that things get very cataclysmic for some of the characters is something of an understatement.

Throughout their career, a notable aspect of Toe To Toe’s overall aesthetic has been the stunning artwork adorning their records, and Arturo Gatti is no exception. “Every album I just zero in on a certain artist and just start working with a concept,” Mac says. “I don’t usually like to use the same person two times in a row. I like to change it up. With this one it was Glen Smith, who’s very active in the band art scene. We just started talking about the concept of good and evil and worked it and that’s what we came up with.”

“The verse about the Holocaust is about my father,” Zygier explains, “so it was very ordinary for me [he laughs] and my family, growing up with that and seeing him get old and go through Alzheimer’s at the end. Being a man who was obsessed with those experiences that completely formed the rest of his life, not remembering them anymore was an amazing thing to go through for him.”

“W

hat’s become clearer and clearer to me as I’ve been speaking to people about it,” Conway explains, as she ponders the ideas that came together in Half Man Half Woman, the couple’s ninth album together, “is that this is a record about small things, about ordinary life, about unexceptionalism, and about the bookends of life too, about being young and getting older and being old, and then shuffling off, and we all do it and that’s why it’s unexceptional. “But of course within that there are incredibly cataclysmic things that go on that don’t necessarily make any headlines at all but are affecting. I think what we wanted to do was write a record that emotionally connected for us and with our audiences. We’ve done that in a really simple way and tried to say these things as simply as possible both in English and in the musical language that we’ve used as well. We as songwriters wanted to be able to set these songs in a very simple setting and let the songs do the work, as opposed to the instrumentation or the arrangements, so to keep it just really simple and unadorned was the best way to let the song shine through.” Conway, who rose to national prominence in the late ‘80s in the band Do Re Mi (“If I was a pop star,” Conway dismisses, “it was [for] a very brief moment and most people have forgotten anyway – we’re musicians”), met Zygier when he became part of the band touring her 1991 debut solo album, String Of Pearls, and they’ve been together ever since, a collaboration that has resulted so far in eight albums and three children, as well

Of course, the other side of forgetting is that people living with Alzheimer’s in a sense find themselves in a state of grace, back in a childhood place of innocence. “Absolutely, and it’s true, the lyric in there, ‘And all he says is alright, alright, alright,’ he actually was saying that, like this affirmation.” To some extent, that simple phrase is the message of the record as a whole, since as catastrophic as things may appear, we all get through. “It’s also about imagining childhoods that may not have in fact occurred,” Conway continues, “in Cul De Sac, and the coming of age kind of song, Into The Blue, that feeling of being on the edge of something incredible, which of course we all are. In every generation we get to that point where we flee from what we know and have complete confidence, to another place where we know nothing. You raise your children to be independent and when they are, you’re kind of horrified, but of course you’re so thrilled as well. So it’s all of those things and I hope people get a very layered experience from the record and they take it as they want to, that they’re not looking for a single prescriptive meaning from it.” WHO: Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier WHAT: Half Man Half Woman (Intercorps/MGM) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Toff In Town; Friday, Thornbury Theatre; Saturday, the Palais (Hepburn Springs)

LATER RON

issed off Sydney hardcore punks Toe To Toe have travelled a long and varied road to achieve their undeniable status as one of this country’s, perhaps even the world’s, finest exponents of the genre. Over three studio albums, numerous EPs and multiple tours both here and overseas, the band have lost none of their vigour or energy. Their latest release, Arturo Gatti, sees this tradition continue with an in-your-face album refusing to be anything other than what it is, not something encountered every day in the fickle, fashion-conscious music business. Toe To Toe’s last full album was 1999’s Consolidated, and frontman Scott Mac gives a lot of the usual reasons for the break in output, as well as some not so usual. “Jail, death, marriage, kids. You know how it is,” he says. “All these things got in-between the music. An album’s a big thing, too. You have to get a certain amount of money together, all that energy, all that momentum. It doesn’t seem like ten years, but people give me the dates and there you go, it was ten years.” Arturo Gatti was a champion boxer who was discovered dead in a Brazilian hotel room last year, allegedly strangled by his wife. Mac says that the reasons for naming the record after him were manyfold.

Listening to Ron Rude Loves Ya, notably opener Josephine Magdalene, Rude’s roots in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s Melbourne post punk scene are apparent, but the majority of the record comes across as simply wonderful songwriting and arrangement, worthy of any era, with a timelessness rather than any real sense of nostalgia. “We had to find a way to make it sound like it had some heritage from that era. At the same time I wanted to make it very accessible and listenable. The funny thing is that, to be honest with you, people from that era have been less likely to like my work than conservative people

“Mate, our special thing is just to put everything we have into the show. We’re pretty disappointed if we come off and we’re not exhausted. It’s quite a physical thing. It’s always about that for us: just pouring as much energy out as possible, you know? I really like to wear crowds out. That’s what we’re totally about. That’s what the music is about. You can’t be standing there looking at your shoe. We’re going to put a good show on. It’s going to be hardcore how it’s meant to be.” WHO: Toe To Toe WHAT: Arturo Gatti (Resist Records/Shock) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Arthouse

AVI BUFFALO mainstay AVIGDOR ZAHNER-ISENBERG tells TYLER MCLOUGHLAN about being a teenager. that and cares little for ageism. “It’s just a song title,” he muses. “It was just a silly one we made up in practice. I wouldn’t want to get too intense with explaining it, it’s all very personal stuff, but it’s fun.” With supportive parents who carted their son around to mentoring jams with old Californian blues luminaries, it was for different reasons that he didn’t wish to let them in on his latest project. “I kind of said, ‘I don’t want you guys to come to the shows because I’m too embarrassed’,” Zahner-Isenberg admits. “Not because they’re dirty songs, but just because they’re my own songs and they’re personal so I felt weird. But now it doesn’t bother me.”

Excitingly, Rude’s entire back catalogue, including the seminal 1978 DIY album The Borders Of Disgrace and his 1980 follow-up, The Vorpal Blade, as well as an album of rarities, is being re-released this week on online label Missing Link Digital Media. Rather than seeing it as in any way ironic, Rude thinks it is entirely fitting that his lo-fi masterpieces are now in cyberspace.

“There’s been so much alternative music over the years that went mainstream,” says Rude. “Although I’ve never been much of a Nirvana fan, I really loved it when they knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the charts. In the days of the wonderful [Crystal] Ballroom scene, there was no chance of that.”

When Inpress asks if the band have anything special planned for the upcoming album launch, Mac’s answer, eschewing balloons and party tricks for good old-fashioned energy, is again straightforward, not to mention downright refreshing.

“I’m a big boxing fan. When they found him dead, I was, like ‘what’? He just had some of the most amazing fights. And I was watching this tribute to him on YouTube. It was really stirring. I was looking for a name for the album and I just thought, ‘You know what?

who listen to mainstream music. I felt I was an outsider back then: I was too drug-free for the purists yet people back then found my music quite inaccessible. I nearly went on Countdown, but the producers told me my stuff was too weird. I was in a musical no-man’s land.”

“I think we’re respected. I think that people know we’re real. As opposed to anything else, whatever’s gone on, whoever’s bigger or whoever’s sold more records, people know we’re an honest band. It is what it is, sort of thing.”

BUFFALO BOY

With a brand new album out, post punk legend RON RUDE is stoked his earlier albums are being re-released, he tells TONY MCMAHON.

kay, let’s get this out of the way right up front: it’s true, Melbourne post punk icon Ron Rude did once stage a hunger strike in the window of Missing Link Records so that then commercial radio station 3XY would play his music. Yes, it was the subject of a play by Kieran Carroll, 3XY Or Die. No, he won’t be doing it again for the release of his stunning new album, Ron Rude Loves Ya. Why? If he’s anything like this roughly contemporaneous writer he could afford to lose a few pounds. Putting aside for a moment the fact that this is an epic, swirling, miscellaneously beautiful and at the same time discordant record, the fact of the matter is that times have changed. He no longer needs to.

Mac has been quoted as saying that he is happy with the place his band has made for itself in the industry. Again, this is not something you hear every day as a music journalist. It begs the question, naturally, of where exactly he sees that place as being. More than this, though, his answer points to Toe To Toe’s undeniable and forthright credibility.

“I see it as exactly the same thing I was doing back then. I’m told I invented home recording, but now that everyone can record and there’s an outlet like Missing Link Digital, it means that more music can get out there. I feel like it’s the breaking down of barriers, just like then. They’re just different barriers. Some people say it means that there’s too much music out there. You can’t have too much music. It’s great that people here in Australia are making choices rather than having the marketeers from other countries doing it for them.” Besides Rude and his band, The Ron Rude Renaissance, the album launch will also feature support from The Harry Howard Band and The Frightening Lights. “The Frightening Lights don’t date back to The Ballroom era, yet they fit nicely into the scheme of things where there’s a kind of timeless post punk-icity that exists in all three groups. And Harry Howard is a real keeper of the flame, as well as an amazing guitarist. I don’t mind being a keeper of the flame, as opposed to a fossil. We’re all survivors from that Ballroom scene. None of us, I might add, are taking the position of playing music from that era. We’re all making new music for a new generation. There’ll be a few people from the old scene that come along, but it wouldn’t be gratifying if it was only that, if there were only older, grey-haired people.”

WHO: The Ron Rude Renaissance WHAT: Ron Rude Loves Ya (Missing Link Digital Media) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Old Bar

he conversation with Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg (AKA Avi Buffalo) begins in giggles as the operator very seriously announces that Mr Buffalo is on the line.

“Yeah I know, it’s funny huh?” the Californian says from a tour van somewhere en route to San Francisco. “It is kind of my last name, but it’s not really my last name. My friend Isaac Cruise made it up in eighth grade. He just said, ‘What if I was lsaac Lightning and you were Avi Buffalo?’ He’s kind of an old quirky friend.” And so it stuck, even though Avi Buffalo is now a band of four. “I write all the songs and the music, so it’s called that.” Coincidentally, the band’s self-titled debut album is being released on the very day Inpress catches up with the 19-year-old. “We recorded it with Aaron Embry who’s just a phenomenal producer, engineer, guitar player, piano player, awesome friend – just totally like a soul brother – and we recorded this record together and had a great time,” Buffalo explains of the man who has worked alongside Emmylou Harris, Scott Weiland and Elliott Smith, to mention but a few. “It was me and him tracking a song called Summer Cum, and we just kept going and did What’s In It For? and put that on MySpace. Then Sub Pop Records called Aaron up, ‘cause they knew him from back in the day, and said, ‘Hey, like what are you doing with this?’ And that’s how it all started happening.” With suggestive titles like Five Little Sluts, the Avi Buffalo style of sensual folk wrapped in jangly guitars and coming-of-age words may be difficult to introduce your parents to, though Buffalo is having none of

As an 18-year-old (at the time) with a deal on the table from one of world’s most respected labels, Buffalo was adamant in making sure Sub Pop was exactly where his music should be. “We weighed up the options, absolutely,” he says. “At the end it just comes down to feeling comfortable with the label and they’ve always been the best people. “And it’s really nice to have met bands like Happy Birthday. Hanging out with them in Seattle at the Sub Pop birthday party we played at the other day – they’re 22 now which is wild – it was just really warm and nice. We’re making really special friends and having a lot of fun with them.” Zahner-Isenberg cannot contain his enthusiasm for everyone and everything right now, although his easy banter belies the serious thinking artist he really is. “I’m at a different place now,” he concedes. “I’m searching for new stuff but now I’m trying to change it up a bunch and refine and simplify and colour [the songs] properly – extract new things and make some new sounds happen.” So are there any plans to visit Australia for the wide-eyed music adventurer and his cohorts? “We’re not sure what’s confirmed yet, but we’re figuring it out ‘cause it seems like we should definitely get over there.” And just in case the level of enthusiasm has not been duly noted, he adds: “We’re really excited to come see you!”

WHO: Avi Buffalo WHAT: Avi Buffalo (Sub Pop/Stomp)

ISSUE 1125 - WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE, 2010

TOURS

Beaches

PRESENTS

THIS WEEK INTERNATIONAL

KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW: Tonight Corner Hotel RICKI LEE JONES: Thursday, Friday Forum UNEARTH, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER: Friday, Saturday (under-18) Hi-Fi Bar BOBBY RYDELL: Saturday Palms At Crown HOLLY MIRANDA: Saturday Toff In Town NICK WILLETT: Sunday East Brunswick Club

NATIONAL

HORSE STORIES: Tonight the Toff In Town WAGONS: Tonight Ruby’s; Thursday Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); Friday National Hotel (Geelong); Saturday Corner Hotel LAST DINOSAURS: Thursday Espy; Friday Ding Dong; Saturday Colonial Hotel MICHAEL PAYNTER: Thursday Corner Hotel COG: Friday Billboard ZULYA: Friday Corner Hotel AINSLIE WILLS: Friday Newmarket Hotel (Bendigo) BIRDS OF TOKYO, MIDNIGHT YOUTH (NZ): Friday Palace Theatre KATY STEELE: Friday Northcote Social Club PARADES: Friday East Brunswick Club REBECCA BARNARD: Saturday Pure Pop Records MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AIR with PAUL KELLY and PAUL Holly Miranda Saturday Toff In Town

GIG OF THE WEEK 3CR RADIOTHON BENEFIT SHOW SATURDAY, JOHN CURTIN Enjoying Melbourne’s excellent range of community stations doesn’t come without some responsibility. While an absence of commercial advertising on said stations means we can tune in without fear of stumbling upon zany (read: douchebag) DJs named Gazza and Jonno playing back-to-back Bieber, it also means broadcasters are forced to rely upon listener subscriptions to keep afloat. PBS FM has just wrapped up its 2010 Radio Festival, RRR’s is coming up, but right now it’s 3CR’s turn to put the hand out with its annual Radiothon. The station makes roughly one-third of its annual income during this time, with its target this year $210,000. Local rockers Beaches are doing their bit to help as they headline a benefit gig at the John Curtin Bandroom on Saturday, with support from space-junkers Rubbish Throwers and Interzone, a new monster combo featuring members of Fabulous Diamonds, Chrome Dome and Repairs. It’s no surprise Beaches have stepped up – guitarist Alison Bolger hosts Two To The Valley, a program showcasing underground music and top local tunes, on the station every Sunday night at 11pm.

KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW: June 2 Corner Hotel WAGONS: June 2 Ruby’s; 3 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 4 National Hotel (Geelong); 5 Corner Hotel CLOSURE IN MOSCOW: June 5 East Brunswick Club; 6 Phoenix Youth Centre MUPH & PLUTONIC: June 11 Hi-Fi Bar PURPLE SNEAKERS: June 11 Miss Libertine CHILDREN COLLIDE: June 13 Hi-Fi Bar KATIE NOONAN & THE CAPTAINS: June 18 Hi-Fi Bar THE MEANIES: June 19 Hi-Fi Bar TUMBLEWEED: June 25 Hi-Fi Bar OPERATOR PLEASE: June 25 Corner Hotel DEEZ NUTS: June 26, 27 (under 18) Hi-Fi Bar KARNIVOOL: Jauly 6 Hi-Fi Bar THE SOFT PACK: July 8 East Brunswick Club SALLY SELTMANN: July 10 Corner Hotel KASABIAN: July 23 Festival Hall GRIZZLY BEAR: July 27 Palais ALBERTA CROSS: July 27 Corner Hotel; 28, 29 Palace THE MAGIC NUMBERS: July 28 Corner Hotel YEASAYER: July 29 Prince Bandroom SURFER BLOOD: July 30 Corner Hotel MIDLAKE: August 1, 2 Prince Bandroom ASH, WE ARE SCIENTISTS, LAST DINOSAURS: August 4 Billboard The Venue LAURA MARLING: August 4, 5 Hi-Fi Bar SLASH: August 11 Festival Hall CORDRAZINE: August 28 East Brunswick Hotel SARAH BLASKO: October 7 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 8 Palais; 9 Meeniyan Town Hall

Lisa Mitchell pic by Kelli Morris

haunting tones, Mitchell’s husky whisper and the cleverness of her choice of first-large-showstarter are all but lost under an uninterrupted layer of grating chatter and beer gurgling.

GRABOWSKY: Saturday Hamer Hall BARB WATERS & THE MOTHERS OF PEARL: Saturday Thornbury Theatre CLOSURE IN MOSCOW: Saturday East Brunswick Club BOY & BEAR: Saturday Northcote Social Club TOE TO TOE: Saturday Arthouse DAN BRODIE Y GRIEVING WIDOWS: Saturday Penny Black

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL STRUNG OUT, THE LOVED ONES: June 9 Barwon Club (Geelong), June 10, Hi-Fi Bar STORY OF THE YEAR: June 11 Billboard The Venue THE VIBRATORS: June 13 Arthouse YUSUF: June 16, 18 Rod Laver WANDA JACKSON: June 18 Corner Hotel HERE WE GO MAGIC: June 18 East Brunswick Club ALESTORM: June 19 Corner Hotel MILES AWAY, BREAK EVEN: June 19 Arthouse, 20 Phoenix Youth Centre (all ages) PAUL DI’ANNO: June 24 Espy TRAIN: June 25 Forum MARK LANEGAN: July 7 Corner Hotel; 9 Espy Gershwin Room

LIVE: REVIEWS LISA MITCHELL FORUM

t’s often a cruel inevitability that the timing of a gig affects how it’s perceived and received, for the audience as much as the artist. It’s Friday night and Lisa Mitchell is playing to a full house following the gradual embracing of her impressive debut album, Wonder, by a wide audience since her last shows here. Add to that her Australian Music Prize win in March and that this is her first headline show at the Forum, selling the theatre out well before the show date, and the white cloth draping from all corners of the stage is dressing tonight up as a royal homecoming (Mitchell’s based in Carlton, so she’s been officially adopted). However, it’s Friday and the crowd is restless. When Mitchell makes an almost sneaky entrance to open with Oh Nostalgia, her small frame barely visible behind the piano to side of stage, the song’s

Mitchell does move into a setlist that attempts to capture a weekend audience, bringing out the songs that have had the most radio play early – we get the dippy upbeat folk pop of Red Wine Lips, Oh Hark! and Coin Laundry. Before the latter, Mitchell playfully requests that no one in that audience throw dollar coins at her when she sings the chorus line, “Do you have a dollar?” and it’s pretty safe to assume, looking around, that if such behaviour isn’t an odd occurrence at her gigs (and WTF?), it would be taking place in approximately 30 seconds. Even so, the seven people on the stage aren’t making enough of a racket to really reign us in; the continual trading of guitars, the appearance of a ukulele, a double bass and a harmonica and what sounds occasionally like the doubling of electronic beats with live drums are used with nuance to suit Mitchell’s warm songs. It’s gorgeous and well performed, but it’s also just not loud enough for this big, packed, noisy place. The more lush recordings on the album, like the rolling glory of Pirouette and the troubadour stomp of Stevie, have the capacity to own any crowd and space they like if played with enough weight. Tonight they’re played with the kind of care that wins over mid-sized bandrooms. Perhaps it’s that Mitchell has such a fine voice that anything bolder would drown her out. Maybe it’s just Friday. Once Mitchell starts pulling out the guests, things perk up. Oh Mercy’s Alexander Gow joins for a charming and chemistry-loaded (ahem) tribute to The Beatles, and Brisbane’s Jessie Warren, who performs as Carry Nation, does plenty to promote her own (excellent) folk work with her spot on a quirked-up cover of Madonna’s Like A Prayer. It’s a cover choice that gets the crowd, finally, cheering and singing wildly, and, though it isn’t her own, it gives Mitchell the royal reception she deserves. Adam Curley

live@inpress.com.au

Dan Brodie y Grieving Widows Saturday Penny Black

THE SOFT PACK: July 8 East Brunswick Club BOYS LIKE GIRLS: July 14 (U18), 15 (18+) Hi-Fi Bar SNFU: July 15 Arthouse KEVIN RUDOLF: July 16 Palace STRIKE ANYWHERE: July 16, 17 Evelyn KASABIAN: July 23 Festival Hall SCISSOR SISTERS: July 26 Festival Hall THE TING TINGS: July 26 Palace GRIZZLY BEAR: July 27 Palais ALBERTA CROSS: July 27 Corner Hotel FOALS: July 27 Hi-Fi Bar BAND OF HORSES: July 27 Palace MUMFORD & SONS: July 28 Palace Theatre 30 SECONDS TO MARS: July 28 Festival Hall BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB: July 28 Billboard THE MAGIC NUMBERS: July 28 Corner Hotel LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, HOT CHIP: July 29 Festival Hall YEASAYER: July 29 Prince Bandroom THE STROKES: July 30 Festival Hall HELLYEAH: July 30 Billboard The Venue RICHARD ASHCROFT & THE UNITED NATIONS OF SOUND: July 30 Palace SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS: August 1 Northcote Social Club MIDLAKE: August 1, 2 Prince Bandroom FRIGHTENED RABBITS: August 2 Hi-Fi Bar THE DRUMS, THE MOTIFS: August 2 East Brunswick Club FLORENCE & THE MACHINE: August 2, 3 Festival Hall GOLDFRAPP: August 3 Palace Theatre MIIKE SNOW: August 3 Hi-Fi Bar BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: August 3 Corner Hotel TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB: August 2, 3 Billboards The Venue ASH, WE ARE SCIENTISTS: August 4 Billboards The Venue KATE NASH: August 4 Corner Hotel LAURA MARLING: August 4, 5 Hi-Fi Bar BAND OF SKULLS: August 4 East Brunswick Club JONSI: August 4 Palace FANFARLO: August 5 Northcote Social Club PASSION PIT: August 5 Prince Bandroom NICK WILLETT: June 6 East Brunswick Club SLASH: August 11 Festival Hall EELS: August 15 Palace SENSES FAIL: August 21 day (under-18), evening (18+) Hi-Fi Bar NAPALM DEATH: September 5 Hi-Fi Bar MAYHEM: September 23 Hi-Fi Bar CYPRESS HILL: September 23 Palace ASLAN: September 30, October 1 Clifton Hill Hotel PAUL WELLER: October 26, 27 Forum CELTIC WOMAN: October 30, 31 Palais Theatre ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK: November 5 State Theatre LEONARD COHEN: November 12 Rod Laver Arena METALLICA: November 18, 20 Rod Laver Arena JACK JOHNSON: December 8 Sidney Myer Music Bowl MUSE: December 14, Rod Laver Arena MICHAEL BUBLÉ: Feb 22, 23 Rod Laver Arena

NATIONAL

PAUL GREENE: June 11 Sand Bar (Mildura) MUPH & PLUTONIC: June 11 Hi-Fi Bar GYROSCOPE: June 11 Forum DAPPLED CITIES: June 11 Prince Bandroom FIRE! SANTA ROSA, FIRE!: June 11 Worker’s Club THE PARADISE MOTEL: June 11 Thornbury Theatre

IAN MOSS: June 11 Bennett’s Lane; 12 Brighton Beach Hotel; Hepburn Springs Palais THE BREAK: June 11 The Studio (Geelong); 12 East Brunswick Club; 13 Espy DEAD LETTER CHORUS: June 12 Northcote Social Club CASSETTE KIDS: June 12 Toff In Town DARYL BRAITHWAITE: June 13 Espy GOSTELERADIO: June 13 Toff In Town CHILDREN COLLIDE: June 13 Hi-Fi Bar ROCKWIZ TOUR: June 15 Palais MACHINE TRANSLATIONS: June 16 Northcote Social Club ROSS WILSON: July 16 Sandbelt Live KATIE NOONAN & THE CAPTAINS: June 18 Hi-Fi Bar DAN SULTAN: June 18 Forum COLA WARS: June 18 Northcote Social Club DAN PARSONS: June 19 Wesley Ann; 20 Builder’s Arms GUY SEBASTIAN: June 18 Palms At Crown 1927: June 19 Forum THE MEANIES: June 19 Hi-Fi Bar AINSLIE WILLS: June 25 Palais (Hepburn Springs) REBECCA BARNARD: June 25 Thornbury Theatre; 29 Palais; July 3 Bennetts Lane THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS: June 25 Palace TUMBLEWEED: June 25 Hi-Fi Bar JONESEZ: June 25 Birmingham OPERATOR PLEASE: June 25 Corner Hotel 50 LIONS: June 25 Arthouse DEEZ NUTS: June 26, 27 (under 18) Hi-Fi Bar Inferno (Traralgon); 25 Palace Theatre COMMUNITY CUP with THE LIVING END, NICK BARKER & THE REPTILES, THE BLACKEYED SUSANS and LITTLE FREDDY & THE POPS: June 27 Elsternwick Park THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT: June 30 Ferntree Gully Hotel, July 1 Bended Elbow (Geelong), 2 Inferno (Traralgon), 3 Pier Live, 4 Commercial Hotel (South Morang) ASH GRUNWALD: July 3 Corner Hotel; 4 Ruby’s Lounge; 18 The Loft (Warrnambool) THE AMITY AFFLICTION: July 3 Hi-Fi Bar (under-18s arvo, over-18s evening); 5 Karova Lounge (Ballarat - all-ages); 6 Kangaroo Flats Leisure Centre (Bendigo all-ages) GANGA GIRI: July 3 East Brunswick Club REGURGITATOR: July 4 East Brunswick Club KARNIVOOL: July 6 Hi-Fi Bar THIRSTY MERC: July 7 Karova Lounge; 8 Bended Elbow; 9 Corner Hotel; 23 Westernport Hotel. RICHARD IN YOUR MIND: July 9 Northcote Social Club THE LITTLE STEVIES, BEN WELLS & THE MIDDLE NAMES: July 9 East Brunswick Club THE DEAD SALESMEN: July 10 East Brunswick Club SALLY SELTMANN: July 10 Corner Hotel MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE: July 10, 17, 23 Spenserlive THE PEACENIX: July 16 Sandbelt Live FABULOUS DIAMONDS: July 17 the Toff In Town THE NATION BLUE, A DEATH IN THE FAMILY: July 17 East Brunswick Club DARREN HANLON: August 20 Thornbury Theatre VIOLENT SOHO: July 22 Northcote Social Club RICK PRICE: July 22 Wellers (Kangaroo Ground), 23 Thornbury Theatre, 24 Palais (Hepburn Springs) HARD-ONS: July 23 East Brunswick Club LOWRIDER: July 23 Westernport Hotel (Phillip Island); 24 Corner Hotel THE TEMPER TRAP: July 24 Festival Hall YOUNG HERETICS: July 24 Northcote Social Club DUTCH TILDERS BENEFIT CONCERT with DUTCH TILDERS, CHAIN, KEVIN BORICH EXPRESS, CHRIS FINNEN, STEVE RUSSELL, GEOFF ACHISON, LLOYD SPIEGEL, STEVE PAGE and JEANNIE LUSHES: July 29 Thornbury Theatre

FESTIVALS

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS: July 30August 1, Woodford

Cloud Control pics by Lou Lou Nutt

CLOUD CONTROL, RICHARD IN YOUR MIND, LOVE CONNECTION EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB The term ‘buzz band’ had been thrown about in reference to Cloud Control for some time, but up to this point my appreciation for the Blue Mountains darlings had been limited to an instant obsession with their addictive Triple J hit Gold Canary. Thankfully I found plenty more to love at their sold-out show at the East Brunswick Club. First support Love Connection had the room captivated from the word go with their psychedelic, synth-pop sounds from their self-titled debut. The adorably lovable three-piece wasted no time getting everyone moving with a bubbly, infectious set that no doubt won them a fair few new fans, myself included. There was a definite change of pace with the second support, Richard In Your Mind, doling out a unique mix of psychedelic pop and acoustic-led folk rock. Lead singer Richard Cartwright was quirky but endearing, and there was a kind of Brian Jonestown Massacre vibe to the set that made this eccentric bunch of oddballs all the more interesting to watch. Cloud Control took to the stage next without fuss or fanfare. From the moment they struck the first chord of There’s Nothing In The Water We Can’t Fight, the entire room was moving in rhythmic unison, something they managed to maintain for most of the night. While lead vocalist Alister Wright showed off his impressive falsetto stylings, Heidi Lenffer provided the most delectable backing vocals, with the two combining effortlessly to produce some seriously stunning harmonies. This Is What I Said brought with it such a great energy and soon had the crowd singing along, while Beast Of Love saw Lenffer moving into the lead to provide some beautifully haunting vocals, which temporarily calmed the sea of nodding heads. Picking up the pace again, Ghost Story was all thumping drum beats and heavy reverbs, with Wright simultaneously holding down lead vocals and guitar while pelting a snare drum. Predictably, Gold Canary got a rousing response and you could feel the whole room lighten and lift as it erupted into one massive sing-along, leaving Wright looking genuinely chuffed, if a little bashful. Plenty of handclapping and arm-waving ensued but all too soon the band was graciously thanking the crowd for coming before breaking into a thrilling rendition of Buffalo Country. While Melbourne suffered through the coldest May evening on record, this gorgeous quartet left me feeling all warm and fuzzy and definitely eager to hear more. Elke Braithwaite

JOEY CAPE & TONY SLY CORNER HOTEL “It’s a bipolar show,” Joey Cape claimed as he booted Tony Sly off the stage somewhere around the third song. He was referring to the constant changeover between his own manic performance to Sly’s more sombre approach to the stage, but it’s an accurate description of a punk gig gone acoustic. The hollow tones of the guitar had a calming effect on the music and the lyrics weren’t always the cheeriest reflections, but played to a room full of punks who were bursting with anticipation after waiting six years for this tour… well, it was like an orchestra sitting in silence, a daredevil playing it safe or Jason Akermanis keeping his mouth shut. And when you add Joey Cape into the mix, a man who mentally resembles a four-year-old boy with ADD, then a little bit of chaos is unavoidable. Before tonight I’d never been to an acoustic show where the singer stage-dived, crowd-surfed and wrote his name on a fan’s foot to be tattooed at a later date. The boys must have been a little apprehensive playing solo in Australia for the first time but considering they’d booked nine shows around the country they must have also been expecting a decent crowd. Knowing

each other’s music so well meant they could take some of the pressure off by casually joining in the performance with a homemade shaker (a bottle filled with rice), back-up vocals or just to taunt Cape with lyrics from The Eagles. And Brian, a talented pianist and singer, was also on hand to bring the show a little musical credibility, which he more than succeeded at when he played his own song, The Sky Is Falling. The set drew heavily from the 2004 split album that started it all, Acoustic, but also featured some of their later work including a few songs from Cape’s semi-released album, Doesn’t Play Well With Others. But the setlist was never going to be enough for this crowd. Instead they called out requests from the moment the stage lights were on and generally they were ignored. And who could blame them when their fans asked for Bon Jovi’s Bad Medicine? But as the whiskey flowed, lyrics were forgotten, songs were paused and eventually everyone onstage admitted to being too drunk they started to cave in to the crowd. This was when things turned really informal, when Cape rolled around the stage shredding his acoustic and Sly posed for photos in the front row. Yep, more acoustic gigs should be like this. Lizzie Dynon

POND, EV & SHAGS, ZSA ZSA WORKERS CLUB It’s all blazers, coiffed ‘dos and elegantly wasted stances in the designated smoking area as in-theknow punters get their fi x (nicotine or otherwise) before the commencement of this school nightfriendly gig. Doors open at 7pm. The Zsa Zsa trio’s debut (one member each from Kes Band, Fabulous Diamonds and Songs) is spellbinding. Two chicks with identical haircuts and matching outfits – Nisa Venerosa of Fabulous Diamonds and Ela Stiles from Songs – call to mind the twins from The Shining all grown up but the atmospherics at play here have the crowd mesmerised. A successful unveiling. Kevin Parker and Nick Allbrook of Pond/Tame Impala sit unassumingly on a step as part of the crowd watching Ev (Evelyn Morris, AKA Pikelet) & Shags (Chamberlain). Morris and Chamberlain kneel on the stage, hunched over keyboards and their attentive playing is a joy to behold. Chamberlain particularly is a meticulous wizard and Morris’s reflexes are put to the test in keeping with his extended freak-outs. Just prior to their set, Allbrook, Pond’s frontman, warns us he needs to test out a glitter canon because “it didn’t work last time”. His success clicks our fun switches and we buckle up for the magical mystery ride. The enchanted forest mural on the back wall of the Workers Club’s stage is the ultimate setting for Pond’s sounds. Even though this Perth quintet seem to excel on every instrument placed in front of them, they are impossible to hate. Allbrook bounds among the punters for a pogo and then propels himself back to the mic just in time for the next verse. If Allbrook were animated he would be Tinkerbell’s twin brother and his flute solo during a song that references “the thunder and the rain” teleports us to la-la land. “Thanks for the lei!” Allbrook acknowledges when adorned with a flowery garland. Cloud City can’t be real. Who wouldn’t want to be transported somewhere “where all the girls are so pretty and all the boys are so hi-igh-igh-igh!”? Pass the dutchie. It’s all smiles on dials on stage and off and a joyous performance such as this reminds us that merrymaking plus mad skills equals a potent elixir. Kevin Parker is a full-on triple threat whose drumming is the backbone that reins this shambolic crew back into focus when necessary. Tame Impala’s drummer Jay Watson conquers guitar, keys and vocals as he swaps instruments and playing stations with Joe Ryan and Jamie Terry (also of The Silents). Instrumental solos take flight and you’d think these dudes were each playing their sole chosen instrument. Instead of junk in their trunks, these guys pack every inch with funk. Immerse yourself in the mercurial wonderment that is Pond. Bryget Chrisfield

live@inpress.com.au

STAR FARKING Melbourne indie rockers Radio Star are taking their latest offering, Goodbye, Goodnight, on the road throughout June. The boys are jumping in their two-door Celica and cruising up the highway, followed by (after some sincere apologies to a female security guard and some very upset hostel owners) a return visit to Adelaide. The Goodbye, Goodnight tour kicks off this Thursday at the Espy with Brisbane’s Last Dinosaurs and the very excellent Neon Love. Radio Star’s album is available now through Byrneside Records or thosedirtyboys.com.

ONE-MAN EARTHQUAKE Great Earthquake launches Drawings, the Sensory Projects label debut for one-man-band Noah Symons, on Saturday 12 June at the Workers Club. In musical performance and recordings, Symons utilises a beltful of instruments to create pop soundscapes; organically built up over time with a strong emphasis on rhythm and flailing limbs. Joining him on the night will be very cosmic dirge band Love Connection and grapeflavoured popsters Milk Teddy, plus DJ Sloth Comet between and around ‘em. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm.

BOSCH’S NEW TOOLS Taking a break from his band Woodcutter, Lloyd Bosch is unveiling his new musical style at Bar Nancy in Northcote this Sunday. The debut presentation of a new way to play using ghosts that were found inside a wardrobe. Storytelling in the night time has convinced those spirits to form a choir. Denis Phelan, the ghosts and Lloyd Bosch will be performing all together, supported on the evening by the wondrous Mating Season. It all starts at 5.30pm.

RAINBIRD FEEDER Melbourne rockers Rainbird headline their last show for 2010 at the Evelyn Hotel this Saturday before taking time off to write their much awaited debut EP. This year has already been a massive one for Rainbird, performing immense headlining shows and explosive sets at the Rock The Bay and Electric Church festivals. With support from Chasing Gravity, Crash Arcadia and Black Aces, their final show promises to be Rainbird’s biggest performance of the year! Doors open at 8.30pm.

A JONES FOR GROUSE It’s all in the family at the next Grouse Party, Friday 11 June at the Bendigo Hotel. In a very special “Family Edition”, all of Grouse Party’s DJ pairs are blood relatives and will be unleashing their sibling rivalry in a musical fashion. Music industry honchos and hearththrobs The Larnach-Jones Brothers head the bill, along with Her Manos (Grouse regular Melodee Maker and her younger brother), The Tuckers (Beaches/Spidervomit) and representing the sisterhood, The Dodkins Sisters make their DJ debut. Get down early to avoid a queue and ‘cause the Bendigo Hotel is shouting the first round, with free beer or wine on arrival from 9-10pm.

RESIGNATORS RAGER Get ready to be blown away, to dance your arses off and be rocked to the core as The Resignators, Melbourne’s finest psycho ska outfit, hit the Evelyn this Friday to promote their new EP, How You Could Rage. The EP is a three-track horn-infused CD featuring previously unreleased material including the track I Farken Love You (A Frankston Love Song) and is a prelude to their sophomore album to be recorded in Montreal, Canada, in mid-June with producer Alex Giguere. Tickets are $12+BF from Moshtix.

Sorted for E&Ps ERROL J M & THE TRADE SECRETS FOOLING AROUND Rack Off Records Frontman Errol J Moyle began his musical life with Triple J Unearthed winners Muzzy Pep in the late ‘90s (remember I Haven’t Got Time To Spell It Out?). What sounds like a revving motorbike heralds the title track, which is consistent with the Evel Knievel-style artwork. Space Girl With Bionic Breasts is a weird notion for the wank bank and sounds like a Flight Of The Conchords song title but packs a punch musically with some debilitating guitar solos. It’s on the second half of this EP that these four Novocastrians find their rocking feet.

THE CHEMIST THE WOLVES’ HOWLS SHATTER THE OLD GLASS MOON Dirt Diamond/Warner From the opening eeriness of “What good are you now?” as if spoken by the ghost of conquests past, The Chemist’s debut EP demands your ears. Ghoulish background vocals and unconventional sounds wrung out of various instruments weave consistency throughout and there’s a simultaneous sense of wonder and impending doom in Ben Witt’s vocal. James Ireland’s piano playing at the tail end of Things Have Changed (this reviewer’s EP highlight) transports you to a saloon from yonderyear – perfect for any pity party. Don’t Look Down is the aural equivalent of a house arrest ankle bracelet – it locks you to the spot. Write me out a repeat prescription. The Chemist support Boy & Bear this Saturday at Northcote Social Club. See you at the bar.

Ducks In The Mud want to be your friend. Neopirate folk anthems, postmodern buddhist prose poetry, musings on lost love, worlds on the brink of total destruction and other such trivialities are the daily staples of these scruffy peace-punks. They play the Builders Arms this Friday night with the Daylesford-based Dirtbird, who have a new album under their wing and are spreading their dark alt. country sounds. Ude-weilding Mladen will open the evening with tunes from faraway places and vibrations that know no borders. You’ve probably never heard of the ude, and it’s probably never heard of you. It’s about time. Entry is $5 from 8.30pm.

THE BASICS WAIT FOR YOU

There’s sax appeal on New Love, wah-wah guitar and backbone-slipping bass on Time To Get Down and Black Cloud On The Sun sounds like the chorus of another hippie anthem I can’t put my finger on. If lead vocalist James Sidebottom’s name sounds familiar, that’ll be because Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson cracked the shits at him for saying that winning Australian Idol “wasn’t the be all and end all” during the audition process in 2008. Irrespective of what he cares to do with it, Sidebottom’s voice is sublime. Their band name may sound like a fictitious airline but these cats make you wanna bust a move (Born A Sinner) or pash a nearby drug smuggler at the stroke of 12 (Midnight Mule) – “The Skylines crew is gonna take you high.” Get your funk on when The Skylines take over Red Bennies on Friday 11 June.

The opening vocal melody – “I’m gonna wait for you” – borrows so heavily from Wilson Pickett’s Midnight Hour that it deserves a mention in the liner notes. Wally De Backer’s voice is an effortless, soaring instrument (heard again on two of the live tracks included here, Rattle My Chain and Second Best, which he sure ain’t!) and the production here balances each instrument pleasingly within the song. Kris Shroeder supplies vocals for the second track I Could Be Happy, giving himself a near-impossible task and his pipes lack De Backer’s tonality. There’s an element of in-jokery in The Basics (Get Me Down) that probably makes sense to hardcore fans but can alienate fresh ears. Tuesday 1 and 8 June at Northcote Social Club.

ARCANE SAINTS IGNITE Independent This quartet’s bio points out that singer/guitarist Michael John is “a relative of Iron Maiden founding member Steve Harris” so you kinda figure hard rock is on the menu. John has an accomplished set of lungs capable of abrupt octave climbs but occasionally veering away from rhyming lyrics may open up song structure possibilities. Day In The Sun features intervals of rollicking guitar and some doubled-up melodies where the vocal echoes the riff and, for this scribe, is the EP’s finest cut. The guitar chase that closes I’m Gonna Leave You creates sudden impact. To see whether these dudes have the live props, head to the Espy’s Gershwin Room this Saturday.

CLOWNS ARE WRONG The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Clowns’ as “a group of comical performers, categorised by their grotesque appearance and behaviour”. Nuff said? This group of four 18-year-olds couldn’t be any closer to that. Their music is fast, thrashy, yet catchy punk rock, with enough energy and buzz to get any legs dancing and any head banging. Their live shows follow in the footsteps of some their local punk rock heroes in Link Meanie, Ezekiel Ox and Fred Negro and usually consist of sex dolls, monstrous behaviour, tangles of limbs and microphone leads by the end of their set. Clowns are performing at the Royal Derby this Thursday with Wil Wagner and The Smith Street Band.

THE DELTA RIGGS THE DELTA RIGGS

Independent

The intro for kickoff track Soul Train, complete with Hammond organ stabs ably supplied by Alexander Edwards, sounds a dead ringer for James Brown’s I’m A Soul Man and fortunately changes tack when the drums appear. Nicholas Fultcher’s diction is superlative but when lyrics such as “I’m smoking reefer like it’s gasoline” are clocked it makes you wish to call upon the author to explain. An undeniably accomplished septet who present these tunes with conviction. See for yourself this Sunday (and the following two) at Workers Club or Saturday 12 June at the Vineyard.

Broozer are gonna blow ya fuckin’ pants off at the Arthouse in their debut live show this Thursday. Broozer are a skull-crushing, riff-destroying progressive stoner band from Melbourne. Doom jazzers Agonhymn, psych stoners Satori and grinders Ross are filling out a night of pure rawk. Be there and witness the carnage – doors open at 8pm.

BIRMO DOES NUMBER TWO

MAD AS AN AVENUE

Beaches are bringing a night of pysch boogie freakouts to the John Curtin this Saturday. Headlining Two To The Valley’s 3CR’s Radiothon benefit show, they’ll joined by space-junkers Rubbish Throwers and the brand new Interzone, a monster combo featuring members of Fabulous Diamonds, Chrome Dome and Repairs! Doors open at 8pm. Front up early and lose your shit for 3CR!

Independent

HEAD BROOZER

Get down to the Arthouse tonight, Wednesday 2 June, for some progressive metal! Kicking off the night is progressive death metal’ers Okera, who pull influences from Katatonia and Opeth, followed by The Symbiosist, bringing their unique, experimental metal to the stage. Rainshadow will be headlining the night, combining some good ol’ rock with progressive metal and a gothic edge. With the addition of keys, Rainshadow’s music will inflict emotion onto its listeners. Entry is $5 from 8pm.

LIKE 3CR, BEACHES

DUCKS WANT PEACE

THE SKYLINES RIGHT TRACK Independent

PROG SHADOWS

This Sunday sees The Spinset, Orchestrate The Sky and Summerset Avenue take to the Arthouse for a show. Expect a fun night of pop punk and posthardcore, with edgy and lively new bands ready to play one of Melbourne’s truest venues. The Spinset, inspired by the late-‘90s scene, bring their own lively and humorous version of pop punk. Orchestrate The Sky, post-hardcore new schoolers, are busting onto the scene in a big way. Summerset Avenue’s style captures the vibe of the night – true party animals, this band are all about action and hype. So get down and enjoy the pop, punk, post and hardcore at the Arthouse!

EP Reviews with Bryget Chrisfield

PUTA RING IT ON We’re in for a bit of fun this Sunday at the Retreat with those crazy kids Go Go Sapien and their jalapeno hot compadres, Puta Madre Brothers. The show kicks of at 7.30pm, the open fires will be cranking, the beer will be cold, the chilli will be hot. Thursday night at the Retreat Hotel sees the lovely Leena headline with support from Steve Clifford from The Hello Morning. Friday night rocks with Russian Roulette and Jape Squad, and Saturday at the Retreat welcomes local lads The Idle Hoes to warm up the front bar from 7.30pm with Daughterboy Jao and Royston Vasie out the back from 10pm. Open ‘til 3am and it’s all free. See you there!

UNICORNS WANT BALLS This Friday it’s your chance to show some support for the greatest worst team in sporting history: The Old Bar Unicorns! The Renegade Pub Footy league is back in action and The Unicorns finally won a game! But now they need to keep on training and instead of kicking empty stubbies at each other they wanna try to raise some cash that will go towards buying a footy. The raised cash also goes towards ground hire, insurance and other costs involved in being a Unicorn. A fundraiser will be held at the Old Bar this Friday with Mikelangelo & The Tin Star and The Litchfield Hallstars on what promises to be a magical night with wonder in the air and drunken unicorns on the ground. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm.

It’s nearly two years since the Birmingham Hotel became not-shit-anymore! Last year’s first birthday was massive and this year is going to be even bigger. On Saturday 26 June the venue is kicking off a free show from midday with 20 of the best bands around. After recently launching their debut LP at the Birmy, Sydney’s Dead Farmers are back to Melbourne, joining them are The Stabs, Dick Diver, Teen Archer, Ships Piano and so many more! Entry will be free from midday!

SAN FRAN DONG As everyone starts coming down with colds, Ding Dong Lounge is serving up rock’n’roll chicken soup and a dose of winter warmth every Thursday in June. Playing a very special residency will be En Tout Cas, a young Melbourne band who are turning heads with their new Dengue Fever EP and their harmony-drenched vocals as they turn out perfect pop songs that defy their age. They’ll be joined each week by San Fran Disco, who carry an air of mystery about them with only two songs on MySpace, redolent of Arcade Fire and The Panics, and who sold out their first ever gig at Ding Dong! Entry is just $5 to check out two hot new bands.

live@inpress.com.au

GET VENUS UP YA Get your party hats on and buy some streamers ‘cause the Builders Arms hosts an amazing lineup this Saturday. Firstly, The Ravenous explode on to the stage with their awesome take on ‘70sinspired garage disco. Next, The Cape Cod Affair promises to arouse through erotic electro, underthe-sheets beats and promiscuous lyrics. Vultures Of Venus continue their onslaught of Melbourne’s rock venues with their brand of glam punk electro. After a round of awesome gigs at the Espy, Bang and Geelong’s National Hotel, they have some new tunes to play, as well as the old favourites.

WASTE HAZZARDS After two years in Europe noise rock agitators Scul Hazzards have recently returned to Australia, now calling Melbourne home. They will be performing songs from their sophomore album Landlord, along with a bunch of new material at Pony this Friday. Landlord has been likened to a postcard document of burgeoning disgust from their time away. Joining them on the night will be avant post-everything calamities Breaker Morant, and up-beat DIY popsters Baryshnikov. Doors open at 9.30pm.

SCARLETT MEOW MEOW It’s back! Gasp! Shock! Horror! Scarlett Queer Girls Night is on again at the Bendigo Hotel this Saturday with a stellar line-up of DJ starlets! First is the infamous C:1 on the decks with her sassy mix of high-tek funk, hip hop and break beats. Next up, the one and only Ms Butt, renowned for bringing global party styles to dancefloors with reggae, dancehall, hip hop, Afrobeat and more! And finally, bringin’ it all on home is Chairman Meow and her mixed bag of ‘60s, ‘80s, garage and new wave sounds. Get ready to trash it up, sweat it out and cause a scandal! Doors at 9pm.

ON THE

STEREO Li(f)e SAGE FRANCIS Disconnect From Desire SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS The Storyteller CLUTCHY HOPKINS Bigger And Blackerer DAVID CROSS Heartbeats GRUM Next Stop... Soweto VARIOUS ARTISTS Live CHAIN The Warm Side NIKKO Vigilante Neck Tie Party THE SCOTCH OF SAINT JAMES Cosmology ROLO TOMASSI

CLAVIANS SHOOT After a packed out debut EP launch at Revolver, national radio play and rave reviews, electrifying jungle punk duo Clavians are psyched to announce they will be bringing the party back to Revolver every Wednesday night in June, starting tonight. Each residency will see Revolver’s stage become an eclectic melting pot for Melbourne’s finest underground bands and DJs. Kicking off the five-week stint will be the emphatic pop rock symmetry of The No Real Need, anthemic alt.rock twangers Big Smoke and the indie disco that is Left Feels Right. Doors open at 8pm and at the cost of a gold coin donation, you would be crazy bananas to miss out.

STRIP SHOW Punters are just as likely to strip as pack a picnic at a FLAP! gig, JESS GUILLE and EAMON MCNELIS tell ALICE BODY. like “much-loved” and “inimitable” when they appear in the press, which – if my internettrawling is anything to go by – isn’t all that often. It’s like those in the know want to keep Flap! all to themselves. Well, if you’re reading this, you’ve got one more chance to go and frolic in the nuddy at Flap!’s last gig until later in the year.

first heard Flap! at the last Woodford Folk Festival, and I particularly remember the frantic speed with which they played their jazzy, slappery, good-timey, Trinidadian calypso-y music. So I’m surprised when ukeleleplayer and songstress Jess Guille recounts their regional Victorian adventures and tells me of the local folk who turned up with picnic baskets and sat themselves down to enjoy the show. No dancing? It’s hardly sit-down music. “We do sometimes play as fast as we can; sometimes we play faster than we can,” trumpeter and fellow vocalist Eamon McNelis comments. Turns out Flap!’s audience consists of a wide demographic, from older, traditional jazz enthusiasts to younger, more liberal fans. Guille elaborates: “To give you a bit of an idea of what our last two gigs were like, we played a show for the Melbourne International Jazz festival at Bennetts Lane on a Wednesday night… it was a full sit-down vibe and people had just finished work. And then last week at Bar Open, everyone got naked.” “Yeah, it was kind of lucky that that was on a Sunday night because there was only one security guard at the door,” McNelis adds. He didn’t get in amongst it? “No, he remained fully clothed.” For those Melburnians who haven’t heard of Flap!, shame on you. Guille and McNelis are one half of the band, bassist Mark Elton and drummer Ben Hendry complete the line-up (although there’s often an occasional guest as well). Forming about three years ago during the Port Fairy Folk Festival, and releasing their debut album approximately a year after that, the band exhibit a halo of adjectives

Flap! are a recent discovery within the burgeoning music scene of jazz, gypsy and cabaret. There has been a definite renaissance of this genre over the last few years, with Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants, The Barons Of Tang and Rapskallion drawing rowdy crowds locally, and Juke Baritone & The Swamp Dogs and the Crooked Fiddle Band doing the same in Sydney. I ask Guille and McNelis what they think of the revival. “Well, we really come more from the line of The Band Who Knew Too Much,” McNelis answers. The Band Who Knew Too Much are a “pub-jazz” troupe (boasting awesome-sounding songs like Beer O’Clock) who have been strong on the local scene for more than ten years. “They’re one of our main influences, and they have nothing to do with that scene. Those other bands seem to like what we do, and we like what they do as well, but it’s more of the case that we’ve been drinking at the same bars… But yeah, you can see [the gypsy/jazz genre] poking its head into mainstream culture. I mean The Wiggles have a show called The Wiggles Circus.” “Britney Spears’ Circus,” Guille interjects, “Yeah, Britney Spears, too. It’s really up to some clever recording company to push a genre into the mainstream.” We begin to wind up the interview, still talking genre. McNelis thinks you could describe Flap!’s music as not quite being real jazz, but being played with jazz gestures. “Just call it jazz,” says Guille. “No, but what do you think, I’ve been thinking maybe we could call our style of music ‘dash’,” McNelis continues, “We could even just put a real dash in parenthesis when we’re writing about it,” he draws a line in the air with his finger. “No,” Guille replies. The banter complements the music, which is inventive and above all, fun.

tuesday 29 June Palais Theatre Rock out and roll with laughter with a stellar line up including... Archie Roach Clare Bowditch Ella & jesse Hooper ethel chop Even Kutcha Edwards Mick Thomas Paris Wells Rebecca Barnard

Stephen Cummings Tex Perkins The Frowning Clouds Dave Hughes Des Dowling Greg Fleet Ian Bland Hannah Gadsby Judith Lucy

All proceeds go to Sacred Heart Mission

To book tickets go to: www.ticketmaster.com.au or phone 136 100 Thanks to our event partners:

WHO: Flap! WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, East Brunswick Club

live@inpress.com.au

TOBY ON THE HORSE Although it’s been five years now since the last Horse Stories record, it’s hard to say that Toby Burke hasn’t been busy, with two offerings of experimental instrumental music, two collections of short stories, score work, record producing and a major gallery installation, all to his name in that time. In 2007, Burke relocated to his adopted home of Los Angeles. It was there, holed up in a windowless garage under his house in the Silverlake neighbourhood, that the material for November, November was arduously crafted. He launches the record at the Toff In Town tonight, Wednesday 2 June, with special guest Oliver Mann. Tickets are $12+BF from Moshtix or $15 on the door from 8pm.

YOUNG AND ANGULAR Young Raptors are packing heat at Pony this Thursday. They like long walks along the beach and candlelit dinners before ripping your guts out with their angular guitars and short, punchy tracks that will surly explode a few heads. The Ravenous, with their much-loved single Hurricanes And Fireworks, have been kicking arse and taking names around Melbourne town with their energetic live sets. Also joining the night will be The Jeraboms with their melodic jaunty rock, while Sydney expats The Greenroom will be opening the night by belting out their brand of psych rock. Doors at 9pm.

A HOLLIAVA GIG

GRAVITY IS ACE

Melbourne lads Holliava are ready to burst. After two years of the typical heights and lulls that envelop young artists, something special was inevitable. That something happened to be their first full-length LP, Stay Where We Lay. With the final mixes just being polished, Holliava are bringing their balls-out pop rock to the stage to play from the album at Ruby’s Lounge this Friday. If you like catchy melody, driven by emotional harmony and distortion, Holliava will not leave you disappointed. Support comes from The Government, Fortnight Jumbo and Sounds Of Sirus.

Melbourne’s own rock outfit Chasing Gravity have taken on a massive work load in 2010. With the introduction of new singles to their setlist, an upcoming video launch and a farewell show before their big European tour, these guys have definitely had their work cut out for them. They hit the Evelyn Hotel this Saturday, launching their new video clip and farewell their fans before they jet overseas. They’ll be supporting Rainbird with special guests Crash Arcadia and Black Aces.

TIGER RAPS

After a short break, Melbourne alt.country blues singer/songwriter Kurt Jackson plays a double setter at the intimate Bebida on Smith Street in Fitzroy this Saturday. He takes the luscious Chloe Tully with him as support all the way from the sunny state of Queensland. The show is free and starts around 6.30pm.

With a treasure chest of instruments and lyrics Dali would be proud of, Rapskallion weave tales of the open road into vaudeville dance tunes reminiscent of 1920s Parisian bohemia. The Tiger & Me create indie-pop music as seen through the looking glass of European folk songs and gentle folk melodies through to riotous frenzied waltzes. Now, The Tiger & Me must take on Rapskallion at their own game, crossing swords and violins in what will surely prove to be an old-fashioned gypsy battle to the death. All of this will be happening before your eyes at the Grace Darling this Friday. Who will survive?

RUBY SUNDAY Ruby’s Lounge is kicking it old school and bringing back the much-loved Sunday night open stage! For those who remember the early days of Ruby’s, Sundays jam night, led by the legendary Heath King, was the night of nights across all the lands. So from 6pm each Sunday evening the crew are bringing the open stage back to Ruby’s. Take your instruments, take your songs and take your friends and reignite the vibrant energy that the hills music scene has long been praised for.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

LOVE IN FITZROY As the warmest little band room in North Fitzroy, the Empress is home to some very special gigs. The small-form songwriter’s night Round Robin is hosted by Michael and Kobi of microscene superstars Love Connection tonight, Wednesday 2 June, featuring rising unknowns and local favourites. Previous evenings have featured members of the enlightening and uplifting Parking Lot Experiments, Milk Teddy and The Lucksmiths playing unheard material in its barest form. You never know when you’ll discover your next favourite local.

HABITUAL PSUCHE Bad Habits brings you an incredible bunch of inspiring acts at the Empress this Saturday! Witness the electronic genius of Yama Boy, the hypnotic stylings of Space Cactus, the brilliant voice of Owl + Moth, the driving rhythms and shimmering synths of Silver Magic White (Mountains In The Sky side project) and the joyful profundity that is Psuche. This is a night that’s not to be missed! Entry is only $7 and early arrivals will receive a free mix CD of the artists favourite music!

FANGS BITE IT This Saturday, Fangs will be trashing through Revolver with good friends The Sophisticants, Foreign Objects and The Statics! After testing the water with a few new tracks late last year, Fangs are fresh out of the studio and ready to make this Revolver show the start of their rock’n’roll tsunami! Their debut album, recorded by Finn Keane and produced by Patrick Robertson, is set to be released later this year, but anyone who attends the Revolver show will get a sneak peak and be able to purchase a hand-numbered soft release in advance! Entry is $12 from 8pm.

SEWER BAPTISM They crawled from the primordial ooze bearing guitars and drums. Lightning struck at the 21st hour and the West Gate Bridge collapsed. Unharmed by the poisonous air, our heroes sought to pay homage to a mysterious god which came to them in the shape of a small axe. The head was big and a tribal urge passed through their eyes. Electrified by the seasoned hammers, galvanised by the Roman current, waves of sonic bullets passed over the mirrored ruin. Baptism Of Uzi are one of the hottest bands in Melbourne right now, so head to the Birmingham Hotel this Friday to see them with Sid O’Neal from The Vasco Era, She’s The Driver and Chevolet Rise. Entry is $5 from 8pm.

PISSBOLT TO BIRMO This Saturday sees one of the biggest local lineups in recent times at the Birmingham Hotel. Pissbolt play their last ever show as John is moving back to Japan. Collapsed Toilet Vietnam play their first show of the year and possibly their only one. True Radical Miracle, Pathetic Human and Super Fun Happy Slide will all do their thing from 8pm. Entry is a cool $10.

GIRL’S GOT IT Girl Vs Ghost have just lived through what they hope will be the worst year of their career, after guitarist Tristan Waight was diagnosed at age 20 with an advanced stage of cancer and slim chances of survival. Fast-forward a year, Waight is cancer free, and Girl Vs Ghost are here to prove that what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger. Their new record Eye For An Eye is full of powerful tracks of catchy punk melodies and features special guest bass player Ryan Kienle from American punk band Matchbook Romance. They play an all-ages at the Phoenix Youth Centre, Footscray, on Friday 11 June; an all-ages at Allan’s Music, Ballarat, on Friday 18 June; Bang at the Royal Melbourne Hotel on Saturday 19; and an all-ages at Fist2Face in Ringwood on Saturday 31 July.

FIVE CURES FOR SAD If you’ve got a broken heart and wish you weren’t alive, or times are tough, you’ve had enough, and doubt that you’ll survive, just break out of the shackles, tell the clouds to go away and go and see The Black Hill Five. The band are playing the Birmingham Hotel every Wednesday this month to rock the sadness out of your life! Tonight, Wednesday 2 June, they’re joined by Grizzly Jim Lawrie and his band, plus The Alcorettes and more! A night of laughs and tunes, and entry is just five bucks!

YOUNG GUNS

IKARII’S FANCY PANTS This Friday at Revolver brings together a kickarse lineup of true rock’n’roll, featuring Ikarii, indulging their guilty pleasure of rock-blended pop and delivering a driving live show in support of the anticipated new EP Fancy Names For Messed Up People. Sharing the stage are My Echo who sharing a heart for loud rock’n’roll. Completing the line-up are the boys from Geelong, awesome rock outfit The Human Electric and Dear Ale bringing you something uniquely between a rock band and acoustic performance, throwing everything at you from ukulele ballads to balls-out acoustic rock. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm.

KURT INVITATION

Mechanical Pterodactyl play the Public Bar on Saturday.

Sick of their old songs, determined Kiwi quintet MIDNIGHT YOUTH have trimmed the fat to make a lean debut, JEREMY REDMORE tells LIZ GIUFFRE. repeat it, then said, ‘No, we don’t have that word at home’. But Flight Of The Conchords just sold out the Hollywood Bowl. They’re the biggest New Zealand band sort of ever and it’s great.”

HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Yen Nguyen, vocals/guitar: “After playing alongside Kane [bass] and Munro [keys] for five years in local hip hop act Casual Projects, I thought I should probably introduce myself. Turned out we had a lot in common, so we added Ben [drums] and Jenny [backing vocals, flugelhorn] and formed a band.” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “Our album has been recorded in about five different locations, some in studios, some in my bedroom. I’ve actually recorded a few acts in my bedroom, it’s gaining quite a reputation.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Really, really, really good.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “Part of me wants to try impress the scenesters and come up with some underground band from the late ‘80s. However, I’m going to have to say Radiohead, and let the scenesters scoff at me through their thin moustaches.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “I heard that John Petrucci from Dream Theater can shred on his guitar so fast it actually enables you to travel back in time and stop the fire from happening.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I don’t wear any clothing at gigs.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “I don’t know anyone awesome, so a microwaved meat pie would suffice.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “My local holes are all good; the East Brunswick Club, the Brunswick Green and my lounge room.”

Midnight Youth have an indie rock sensibility and work ethic, having grabbed the attention of a major after doing the hard yards of writing, playing and recording under their own steam. They were expecting an uphill battle, but are thrilled that their efforts are now paying off. “We’d recorded a few singles and the advice we got was to record an album. We didn’t have a label or grant or anything like that, so we decided to do a deal with a producer in New York that our producer knew. The idea came up and three weeks later we were in New York and then we recorded the thing... We believe that you do have to work really hard, particularly when you’re from a small country and working against the grain. And even how we put it all together, a friend did the artwork, so it’s been hard work but we’re really proud of it,” lead singer Jeremy Redmore explains. Arguably Kiwi bands are no longer as struck by the distance they once were thanks, perhaps, to Flight Of The Conchords. While this writer is aware bringing up such a thing may be as culturally insensitive as asking a Scot to sing 500 Miles, Redmore is far from offended. “It’s great because I went to the States a few years ago and they didn’t even know where we were. At least now they know New Zealand’s a country. And Justin Bieber just came to New Zealand and had never heard the word ‘Germany’. A kid asked him about it in an interview and he asked them to

While lots of groups throw everything they’ve ever written onto a debut album, another reason Midnight Youth have made such a solid start is because they’ve taken their time and shed a little baby fat on first longplayer The Brave Don’t Run. In particular, an early single or two that they released, maybe, a little prematurely. “One of our first singles, A New Day, was a song that we released as a single and to be honest, we played it twice live and then never wanted to play again. We hated it,” Redmore laughs. “Our other one Supernatural, we were thinking about including on there, but when we had the songs down we felt like it didn’t fit. And I guess it just felt a bit old. The album is a representation of three years as a band and I suppose most first albums are like that and that’s why it’s so dynamic, but I guess when it came down to it those songs were just older and I suppose we were sick of them.” About to tour with Birds Of Tokyo, Midnight Youth have travelled around Australia a few times before on various festivals. While they like Australia’s size (“you go around New Zealand and it’s all over in five days”), they also love the opportunity to pick up tips from other bands on the road. “I think you definitely learn off every single band you play with, either in a good way or a bad way. So you might play with someone who you didn’t like and say, ‘Wow, I’m never doing that’. But then we played with Trial Kennedy and Dukes Of Windsor last year; we had 16 guys on tour and 16 of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. It was really bizarre.”

WHO: Midnight Youth WHAT: The Brave Don’t Run (Warner) WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Palace

live@inpress.com.au

LIKE A HOTBOX

MUK RAKING

GOIN’ BERSERK

Hotbox are a three-piece band whose music is best described as alternative blues rock and pop. They have an EP out called Hotbox – like it, lick it. They perform their own original songs and also take covers such as songs by Depeche Mode, Dead Or Alive, Nirvana and Chris Isaac and give them their own original signature style. They’re led by Michelle McCormick, a talented singer songwriter who plays a 12-string guitar which is then mixed with electric drums and bass. Hotbox play the Fox Hotel this Sunday from 5-7pm, and entry is free!

Madly fundraising to get to a Cairns Festival gig, legendary quirky bunch Muk will sing, strum, pluck and pulsate their mighty multicoloured ukuleles through every musical genre known to man at the Edinburgh Castle this Sunday. The band’s 8-10pm performance will be preceded by an on-site garage sale from 4pm. The sale will deliver the weird, the wonderful and the wearable – someone else’s trash could be your treasure! Entry to the show is $5 in the dining room.

Locals Berserkerfox will be launching their debut album, History.Altar.Ashes, when they support heavy rock champions Dreadnaught at the Arthouse on Friday 11 June. Recently unleashed to the world via Norwegian label Ovis Records, the band has received praise for the release, with 666metal.com in the US calling their songs “a fiery masala of raucous and catchy melodic death metal licks”. Also playing on the night will be metallers Demonhead, also launching their debut EP at the show, and local melodic thrash metal outfit Ayera. Entry is $12 from 8pm.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

TASSIE NATIVES Hobart’s Native Cats return to Melbourne for a special one-off gig with buddies UV Race and Super Wild Horses as they launch the vinyl version of their awesome album, Always On, at the Birmingham Hotel on Saturday 3 July. With a crunchin’ drum machine and bass guitar and the genius lyrics of Peter Escott, Native Cats have made friends in Australia and beyond with their hypnotic and awkward electronic pub rock. Having left an impression last time they were in town for the 2008 Flip Out Festival the guys will be back with new songs from their upcomng second album which will be realeased real soon. Entry is $10 from 8pm.

MCALPINE MENTHOL McAlpine’s Fusiliers are a six-piece band that combine traditional folk instruments of fiddle, accordion and banjo with a punk rhythm to produce high-energy and passionate music that is committed to continuing the burning social relevance of folk music. Drawing on Irish and Scottish traditional music, the Fusiliers spin their influences into something loud and raucous and very Aussie indeed. They play the Edinburgh Castle this Friday night with The Weathermen. Entry is $5 from 8.30pm.

ROOM FOR IMBIBEMENT Tara Simmons plays the Empress on Wednesday 9 June. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Tara Simmons, keys/cello/synth: “I am a soloist who works with a variety of musicians in different formats, but most of the people who play with me I met through studying.” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “I pretty much have a mini studio set up at home now but all my major production happens in the recording studio. I’ve now released three EPs and one album.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Indie/folk/pop/electronica.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “Bjork. She is most definitely my all-time favourite artist and I still haven’t seen her play a show.”

Japanese pop group Tailor Made For A Small Room are currently calling Melbourne home, and fortunately for us have been taking their colourful musical journeys around town with a string of performances. At the Builders Arms tonight, Wednesday 2 June, Tailor Made For A Small Room will be joined by Maudita, whose little bedroom melodies paint big worlds, as well as Far Concern, presenting their collagic pop concrète.

BOB DOWN WITH JAZZ RMIT students present an evening of contemporary jazz at its best, with a two-and-a-half-hour show at the John Curtin Hotel tonight, Wednesday 2 June. Head down and indulge your musical senses with a night of modern jazz featuring three of the most highly coveted jazz ensembles in the scene today, consisting of Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes, Xani Kolac & Zoe Frater and six-piece jazz masters notoriously known as BoB. This twilight event will provide a modern yet casual vibe and promises to enthuse and excite. Entry is $6 from 7.30pm.

DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I used to have a lucky pair of undies, but that was about five years ago. I can’t even fathom how disgusting it would be if I wore one piece of clothing for every gig I do now.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME AROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Lentil bake. Sounds boring, but it’s a recipe my friend made up and it is bloody amazing. It’s like shepherd’s pie, but better.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “My favourite place has now shut down, which is totally shithouse. I’ll have to find a new one.”

VOODOO PEEPS Following the release of their new album Slow Poison, you can now download Voodoo Economic’s recent single Glory Days for free from their website – voodooeconomic.com. Catch Voodoo Economic playing an extended set at the Edinburgh Castle this Saturday night with very special guests The Trumpet Marine. This will be their only June show so don’t miss them! Entry is $7 in the dining room from 8.30pm.

“If it’s me and yer granny on bongos it’s The Fall.” So said Mark E Smith, founder and only consistent member of the Manchester post-punk legends he’s fronted since the late ‘70s. While lacking both Smith and your granny, the Workers Club has in true Fall fashion assembled a motley group of whoever was available for a night of tribute to music’s most idiosyncratic alcoholic genius/loony. This Saturday featuring Fell Over (members of Witch Hats, Pets With Pets and Parading), Breaker Morant and YIS. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm.

YES YOU CAM Having just released his debut solo album, Here Comes The Blood, Cam Ewart will be teaming up with Adrian Stoyles (The Gin Club, The Spoils) and Belinda Ashe to play an arvo show at the Empress Hotel this Sunday at 4pm, which coincidently was recently voted the “best time of the week to have a Sunday drink and enjoy some fine live music”. Amazing coincidence, huh?

On the Sunday Sets menu this week at the Bendigo Hotel are gypsy klezmer duo Goyim, followed by the nefarious scallywag trio, Shazam (of Rapskallion fame). Straight out of Brunswick’s bohemia, singing songs of the open road, blue stone alleyways, fruit falling from the trees and the seven seas, Shazam, reminiscent of ‘20s Parisian bohemia transported to a Romanian tavern and then set adrift on the high seas. The Shazam trio defy explanation with a glint in their eye and a dagger in their teeth! Entry is free from 3pm, with $5 pizzas to keep the amber down!

JOSH GOES LONG

THE FALL OVER

IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Stuff the records. I’ll be making sure my chickens are safe.”

SHAZAM, YER FRENCH!

RADOSAURUS AND YOU This Friday night, I Oh You is leaving the living room and will be taking over Ding Dong Lounge, and it’s going to be all sorts of fun. Word on the street is that approximately one in every two babes are going to be there. Taking the stage will be indie sweethearts Last Dinosaurs, who are fresh from a national tour with Yves Klein Blue and Cloud Control. They’ll be joined by favourite party-starters Neon Love and Melbourne tastemakers Rat Vs Possum on DJ duties. Tickets are just $5 from oztix.com.au, but you’d better grab one fast!

Three years in the making, Josh Owen Band’s stunning debut album, The Long Way, is set to be launched at the East Brunswick Club on Sunday 13 June, the Queen’s birthday holiday eve. With a dynamic personality, impressive stage presence and an endless soul stream within, Owen and his prodigious band have created a masterpiece of Owen’s trademark slow-burn soul; a compelling musical experience blurring the boundaries of reggae, jazz and soul. The Josh Owen Band’s album launch will feature two sets; an acoustic set with percussion and a traditional rockin’ reggae and soul set from the band in full electric flight.

STATE OF THE UNION For a fine display of raucous joviality, Union Radio encourage you, the reader, to participate in one of their many rock’n’roll services at the Grace Darling Hotel on Saturday 12 June. Also in attendance will be those counts of charm Kretch and the dukes of debonair Ryan Sterling & The Sister City. Simple as that. Doors open at 9pm.

3RRR SOUNDSCAPE Before Today ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI The Mayfair Set THE MAYFAIR SET Destroyer Of The Void BLITZEN TRAPPER Crystal Castles CRYSTAL CASTLES Made The Harbor MOUNTAIN MAN Forever MURS & 9th WONDER Loveless Unbeliever THE SCHOOL Deathwish THE GIN CLUB Underbelly: The Golden Mile VARIOUS ARTISTS Radiolarians MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD

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CHINA TAKES OVER

ORIGINAL SIN

Join The Good China in a farewell celebration at the Workers Club on Thursday 17 June before they scatter to far parts of the globe for winter. With various band members headed to Europe and Japan, it’s your last chance to catch the eight-piece and their handclapping, toe-tapping tunes for many months. After releasing a popular three-track demo and headlining shows at the Tote and Empress, this will be a show you want to get involved in. The very excellent Bon Scotts and the always brilliant Institut Polaire will be sharing the stage for what should be a huge night of indie pop! Entry is $8 from 8pm.

After eight solid years of gigging, Sydney metal band RECOIL are finally releasing their debut album. “I get pissed off a lot,” singer WADE MCKAY tells NIC TOUPEE. By the time we finished recording, we wanted to change some things and cut [others], and that’s how it took a year,” recounts McKay. “We wanted to put out something worth it and not halfarsed, so we took a big bunch of tracks into the studio and then changed things around a lot.”

HAPPY JOPPY

McKay brought the lyrics in, and he leaves us in no doubt about the main theme within the album: being peeved.

ecoil have been pumping out metal for eight years now, and their energetic live shows have gained them a huge following on the Sydney metal circuit. According to singer/ lyricist Wade McKay, their sound isn’t black metal or power metal, speed metal or death metal. It’s heavy metal: pure, simple and straight down the line.

“I do all the lyrics. A lot of my lyrics are aggressive but they’re not pinpointed at one thing: everyday occurrences, life, experiences, that kind of thing. They’re telling stories. I get pissed off a lot and that’s the way I vent it,” he states candidly. “Writing and playing music does get rid of my anger – I’ve been playing in bands since I was 16 [and] this is my best outlet.” Taking The Will To Sin on the road will put Recoil back on stage. McKay admits that the love of live performance has been the magic ingredient to the band’s longevity.

“We class our music as straightforward metal. You can find individual influences from each of us if you listen closely, because we all have different backgrounds. But basically we like to write metal and we like to play metal. Straightforward heavy metal,” he says emphatically.

“To be honest, I don’t know how we kept the band together,” he says. “I think it is our love of playing on stage together and our chemistry as friends. We’re from the same area and we all like to play music, drink and carry on so we all get on really well,” McKay explains.

After nearly a decade of ferocious live licks the time has come for them to release their first album, The Will To Sin. It seems surprising that they haven’t committed any of their tracks to CD before now, but essentially McKay sees Recoil as a live band first and foremost. However, fan demand led them to conclude it was time to capture their sound for posterity.

“We all love the interaction between us and the crowd, we feed off each other and off the crowd. We put in a lot of energy and we just live off [seeing] people get into it. I personally think that when you see a good metal concert it leaves a lasting impression, because I’ve seen all types of bands, but metal has a certain energy and atmosphere: you walk away thinking ‘fucking awesome’,” he enthuses.

“Fans would say to us, ‘You’re really loud and put on a great show – where can I get your CD?’. We’ve put demos and stuff out in the past, but people don’t take you seriously unless you have an album. This is our eighth year: it is time to put something out to show what we can do live and that we’re taking it seriously. However, we decided that we’d do it at our leisure, on our terms, and not put out something rushed. It needed to be something we want to back 100%.” A quest for quality kept the band in the studio for a remarkable 12 months… but wait, that’s not all! “We wrote for about eight months, and then were in the studio for a year. Then it took six months to get everything out, find a label and that sort of thing.

“I’d like to think I give 100% – most of the time I feel that. Everyone says to us we’re a very tight band, and that’s coming from bands that use click tracks. We don’t. We like to put on a good show – that’s our aim and that’s what we do best.”

WHO: Recoil WHAT: The Will To Sin (out Friday through New Justice Records) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, the Espy Basement

TEALEAVES TAKE OFF Melbourne new wave indie folk outfit The Tealeaves have been receiving rave reviews for their recently released self-titled debut album (out now on Vitamin Records) and are hitting the road to showcase their musical wares during their national tour. Traversing a wide range of musical styles, their songs range from harmony-filled, wall-of-sound band tracks to intimate, melancholic indie pop. Don’t miss them during their album launch tour this Friday at Reveller’s North (formerly Laundry) with Eleanor Angel.

KIRSTEN RIDES IN

LAID AT BANG This week at Bang the crew are giving away copies of the new Against Me and Anarbor records. Playing live are Our Best Laid Plans, Fist Fights Vs Fences, Good Til Sunrise and Like Wizards! At 12.30am they’ve got members from Melbourne progressive hardcore outfit House Vs Hurricane performing a live DJ set in the main room! As always there will also be killer specials and DJs playing your favourite punk, hardcore, emo, alternative, metal, indie, retro, party tracks until the early morning! For more info and club pics head to destroyalllines.com or myspace/bangclub. Entry is $15 from 9pm.

Have you ever heard the sound of a siren drowning in her own song, the call of a broken bird or the crack of a heavy heart break? That’s the sound of Kirsten Verwoord & The All Night Riders, which features members of SubAudible Hum, Silvercity Highway and The Night Terrors. The honesty and vulnerability in Verwoord’s songs are surprising given the strength, volume and sheer grit they are sung with. A mixture of love songs and murder ballads to heal and break the heart. Enjoy one of their stripped-back sets every Thursday night in June at the Gem in Collingwood. This Thursday they’ll be supported by Lindsay Phillips.

KESHIE SHAKE IT Reminiscent of the streets of Ghana, West Africa, Keshie is a unique combination of songwriters from Melbourne who are giving Afro grooves their own little Aussie twist. Meeting in 2007, three of Keshie’s members were thrown together to perform a Zimbabwean-inspired pop song by founding member Alena Schneider. After this performance, the spark was ignited and the band emerged. They launch their new EP at the East Brunswick Club on Thursday 10 June with special guests. Entry is $10 from 8pm.

HOUL AT KIDS Enjoy a night of trip hop, French pop and folk while raising funds for Familia Moja Children’s Centre, a charity-run orphanage that is helping to shape the future of Kenya. Miso, Houlette, Owl + Moth and Sheahan Drive will take to the stage at the Workers Club in Fitzroy this Friday, with all proceeds from ticket sales going directly to Familia Moja Children’s Centre. That’s a pretty sweet deal and a pretty sweet line-up! Tickets are just $15 from Moshtix and on the door.

STABS SHOW WOOD The Stabs have been called “music disguised as mayhem”, “extraordinary and potent” and they “sound like a swaggering jerk”. Leaving a trail of broken gear in their wake and delighting audiences since 2003, they’ve played festivals, opened for headliners such as Sonic Youth, and toured the world over. Their most recent release, Dead Wood, is available through Spooky Records and they’ll be headlining a pretty freakin’ sweet gig at Bar Open this Sunday from 7.30pm. Joining them will be 22-piece all-girl rock orchestra Panic, Bum Creek and Drunk Dial.

BELLES GO DING This Saturday, Tonedeaf.com.au presents a night of debauchery with the much-hyped and much-loved New South Welshmen Belles Will Ring at Ding Dong Lounge. The band exploded onto the scene a few years ago and their hard work is starting to pay massive dividends. They’ll be supported on the night by one of the biggest line-ups this side of the Mississippi, featuring The Sand Pebbles, The Bowers, Strangers From Now On, The Kremlin Succession and The Mohan Veena. Grab tickets now from oztix.com.au.

BIG NIPS It took NASA a 286 the size of a church to navigate man to the moon, but the Chromenips don’t need no computer to guide the weary bones of every ape and dog to whatever delicious part of the galaxy they wanna go. It’s no parody either – Joel ‘Siblo’sher, Davey ‘Kronos’ Lane, Mikey ‘Monsterous’ Madden, Gus ‘Guts’ Agars, and Phil ‘Tasty Cakes’ Gionfriddo ride every bump of a map they didn’t chart like they were Cook himself. And who said Chromenips didn’t discover Tahiti? Run to paradise and they’ll be waiting. Chromenips play Yah Yah’s this Friday, supported by Money For Rope and The Beat Disease. Doors at 9pm.

Joppy is the project of talented singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Josh Johnstone. Hailing from Fremantle, Joppy now calls Melbourne and Broome home when touring commitments permit. Joppy has recently played shows in UK, USA and Europe, both on his own and also fronting rock band The Happy Endings. His debut solo release, Plastic Disease For The Lonely, is the culmination of songwriting dating back to when he was 15, and seamlessly moves between moments of rock, pop and country. He plays a huge string of gigs around Melbourne this month, including the Evelyn tonight, Wednesday 2 June; and Reveller’s (formerly the Laundry) this Saturday. The album is out on 14 June.

GRUMPY GARDNER Simon Gardner is in the midst of a resurgence, of sorts, which coincides perfectly with his loss of faith in Melbourne the city and his aspirations to leave the country of Australia. He can now only hope that this resurgence will not impact upon his decision to seek refuge in the faraway land of Parisian princesses and lowly peasants. Gardner will be at the Great Britain Hotel on Sunday though, and although it sounds as though it’s located in a faraway land, it is actually in Richmond. Perhaps you might like to join him and talk him around to Melbourne’s glorious ways. He’s on early at 6.30pm.

CANOS FIDDLE YA Straight from selling out their EP launch at the Northcote Social Club a few weeks ago, Canos are going to kick out the resident rock pigs at Ding Dong Lounge on Friday 11 June. As Melbourne’s finest exponents of the nu-folk movement that wafted out of West London last year and took the world by storm, it’s time to don your finest shirts and waistcoats and strap on those braces for a night of Canos’ banjo and fiddle-drenched folk rock. Joining them for a night bursting with dobros, banjos and double bass are the bluegrass folk of John Flanagan & The Begin Agains and the wistful beguiling tones of folk songstress Sibhan. Doors open at 8pm.

YOUR NAME’S NEXT This Thursday at Next they’re giving away copies of the new Deez Nuts record This One’s For You. Playing live in the main room are In Name And Blood in a once off reunion show supported by The Gun Runners, Risk And Reason and Surprise Wasp. Playing acoustic in the upstairs beer garden are Hayden Moloney and The Devyls. There are also amazing specials all night as well as DJs playing your favourite punk, hardcore, emo, metal, alternative, party, indie and retro across multiple rooms and three levels! Make sure you don’t miss it! For more info and weekly club pics check destroyalllines.com or myspace.com/nextalternative. Entry is $12 from 9pm.

RSVP LETS YOU WATCH Ron S Peno requests your attendance at Yah Yah’s this Sunday for at an intimate sneak preview show of his new band RSVP (his initials). Cam Butler (guitars), Brett Poliness (drums), Andy Papp (bass) and Tim Deane (keyboards, guitars) expertly accompany him on this musical sojourn as The Return To Senders. Peno and Butler have been furiously busy during the past year writing those bittersweet left-of-centre songs that sparkle when they need to and break your heart when you don’t expect them to. They’ll be joined by Andrew McCubbin & The Hope Addicts and Monty Sparrow. Entry is free from 5pm.

CUPPLES NIGHT Former Stylus frontman Peter Cupples returns to Spenserslive in West Melbourne this Saturday for a very special one-off performance with special guest Steve Romig. Cupples has been delighting Australian audiences for three decades, originally with Stylus in the late ‘70s then through the ‘80s with the Peter Cupples Band featuring the likes of David Hirschfelder, Virgil Donati, Ross Ingles and Rob Little. Cupples is known as the singer’s singer; he is widely respected by his peers and some of his biggest fans come from far and wide, including Bill Schnee producer of Boz Scaggs, Amy Grant and Huey Lewis & The News’ legendary horn arranger Gerry Hay to name a few. Tickets are $20+BF from Moshtix and doors open at 7.30pm.

MIKELANGELO BENEFITS BALLS Returning from their Through Hell And Highwater East Coast tour, Mikelangelo & The Tin Star headline a benefit gig for the Old Bar Unicorns football team at the Old Bar this Friday. It’s hard to think of a more worthy cause, bringing together art and sport in a way that rivals the grandeur of the 2000 Olympics closing ceremony. Support comes from Saint Clare, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks and the Danny Walsh band.

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SHORT FAST

REPORT

The Wonder Years

English hardcore lads Your Demise are currently in the studio working on a followup to their awesome debut album, Ignorance Never Dies. Guitarist Stu Paice notes: “The new songs are a very big progression, the best stuff the band has ever written by far. It’s a big step up in sound – I think the most important thing is that the band is 100% proud for the first time for the album we have produced!” You talk a good game, Jay Bentley… The bassist knows exactly what to say to get Bad Religion fans excited about their forthcoming album: “I’ve heard Greg and Brett both saying that if our last three records were the Suffer, No Control and Against The Grain of the 2000s, then this would be Recipe For Hate. I said, ‘You’re leaving Generator out,’ and Brett said, ‘Yeah, but that’s intentional’. Then, listening to the material, it sort of is Generator mixed in with Recipe For Hate. There’s gonna be a lot of stuff that’s gonna surprise people on this record.” Congratulations to Showbread who have used KickStarter.com to appeal to their fans to donate money to fund the recording of the Georgia band’s next album. The group that were formerly signed to Tooth And Nail took just eight days to raise the $13,000 they required for the recording process. Fans who donated $4 received a signed thankyou postcard, while a $1,000 donation (which only one person took out) will see Showbread write, record and release a song personally for the generous fan on a subject matter they decide. Check out the KickStarter website when you get a chance; it’s a pretty cool concept and an interesting way for artists to fund projects in a more independent way, while giving fans an opportunity to contribute on a new level. Remember a few months ago the Fat Mike/ Cokie The Clown incident from the SXSW music festival in Texas where it was reported that the NOFX frontman decided to top up a bottle of Patron with his own urine before he then went and handed out shots to the waiting crowd? This week he revealed that it was all a

THE

RACKET Metal, heavy rock and dark alternative with ANDREW HAUG theracket@inpress.com.au Are we cursed in this metal community of late or what? Another metal brother has sadly succumbed to the clutches of the damn reaper! This week’s column is dedicated to the sad passing of bassist Paul Gray AKA #2 from Slipknot. He was found dead last week in a hotel in his home town of Iowa. There was no evidence of foul play but the investigation is ongoing and an autopsy is scheduled shortly to determine any contributing factors to his death. The eight surviving members of Slipknot recently held a news conference to address this tragic circumstance. “He was everything that was wonderful about this band and about this group of people,” frontman Corey Taylor said. “The only way I can sum up Paul Gray is ‘love.’ Everything he did, he did for everyone around him whether he knew you or not... and that’s what he’s left behind for us: absolute love. I will miss him with every fibre of my heart, as will everybody at this table and everyone who knew him. He was the best of us.” Looks like you don’t have to travel all the way around the world to catch the ‘big four’ – check out this news from Metallica themselves: “Can’t make it to Europe this June for one of the seven Sonisphere Big Four shows featuring the ‘Tallica along with Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax? No problem... we’ve got the next best thing through the magic of satellite technology with a special HD simulcast from Sofia, Bulgaria on June 22! Here’s how it works: the live show will be transmitted via satellite to over 450 movie theatres in the US and over 350 theatres across Europe, Canada and

OF YOUTH All things under 18 with KENDAL COOMBS accessallages@inpress.com.au

Hardcore and punk with STU HARVEY shortfast@inpress.com.au In the lead up to the release of their massively anticipated new album Deep Blue, Parkway Drive have announced a tour of the same name. True to form the band have put together a quality line-up to join them on the trip around the country. Supporting will be American acts The Devil Wears Prada and The Ghost Inside, with local lads 50 Lions rounding out the massive bill. Tickets go on sale Friday 11 June for Wednesday 29 September at Festival Hall.

DEPARTMENT

swindle, when a video was posted showing the veteran punker switching bottles before he went on stage. A video of the switch on the Fat Wreck Chords website ends with the word “suckers” appearing on the screen. Funny stuff Mike. Congratulations to Philly pop punkers The Wonder Years who just inked a deal with Hopeless Records. The band said: “Hopeless was the right choice for us. We’ve never been concerned with sounding like the other bands on a label. I mean, when we signed with No Sleep there were two other bands on the label. One sounded like Botch and the other sounded like Modest Mouse. For us, it’s more important that a label gets us and what we want to do and after a ton of meetings with Hopeless, we know that it’s the right home for us.” You can check out The Wonder Years for yourself when they tour in September with Heroes For Hire. They play two shows on Saturday 18 at the Evelyn – under-18s in the arvo and 18+ at night.

SHORT FAST REPORT TOP 5

Toe To Toe. Sydney hardcore kings Toe To Toe have returned with their brand new album, Arturo Gatti, out in stores now. Tonight on Short.Fast. Loud I’ll be chatting to the band about the record. Trash Talk. New album Eyes & Nines is a step up for the Sacramento hardcore crew. I don’t think I’ve listened to any album more so far this year. The Decline. Young Perth punks The Decline have recently released their debut album, I’m Not Gonna Lie To You, and I chat to them about it tonight on Short.Fast.Loud. Samiam. Old blokes will be stoked to hear that Samiam are soon releasing a rarities collection. Titled Orphan Works, the 18-song set will be made up of rare tracks from the You Are Freaking Me Out and Clumsy eras. An August release is expected through No Idea Records. Off With Their Heads. One of the latest signings to the Epitaph label is one of the first punk bands they’ve signed in a number of years. If you’re a Bouncing Souls or Dillinger Four fan you should check these dudes out. Their album In Desolation is out this Friday. Don’t forget to tune into Short.Fast.Loud every Wednesday at 10pm on Triple J. Tonight Stu chats to Toe To Toe and young Perth act The Decline.

Latin America. Within hours of all of us walking off the stage, depending on what time zone you live in, you’ll be able to rock out to each set in the cozy confines of your local movie theatre that same night. For our friends in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, delayed screenings will be coming your way.” Again, keep watching here and theBigFourLive.com for updates. Finnish hard rock monsters Lordi will release their highly anticipated fifth studio album on 14 September in the US on The End Records. The new album is titled Babez For Breakfast. The first single, This Is Heavy Metal, will be released on 6 August. Finally, it’s been revealed! Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson told Chordstruck Magazine that he has begun work on material for his collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth and Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater. “I started writing with Mikael last month, finally,” he said. “It’s still in the very early days. We wrote about 15 minutes of music last month in my studio near London and we’re very excited about it. I think people are going to be very surprised by the direction. If they’re expecting some kind of deathmetal-progressive rock, they’re going to be surprised because it’s not like that. If you put the two of us together, the last thing we’re going to do is something similar to what people already know from our most high-profile project. It’s very arty, very ambitious; it’s going to be epic. We’re still writing. It’s going to be very dark, very twisted, very experimental. It’s still rock music, but we’re trying to do something really, really special and really different with this.” Tasmania’s technical death metallers Psycroptic are hard at work on material for the follow-up to their Nuclear Blast Records debut Ob(Servant). The band will continue to write songs right up until they embark on a US tour in October with Nile. Commented guitarist Joe Haley: “We’re halfway through the writing process for the new Psycroptic album and everything is going great. The songs are coming together really naturally – nothing sounds forced, and we’re really excited

Firstly I’d just like to congratulate everyone who turned up to Fed Square dressed to the nines in their best comic book superhero outfits on Saturday. Being the dork that I am you have no idea how good it feels to have helped Melbourne secure this world record and get into the history books. And despite one angry, over-sized 50year-old Wonder Woman criticising my lack of blue fishnets as that’s what Black Canary really wore (well, actually it depends who’s drawn her as to what colour they are) the day was a huge success, and very fun. So thankyou again for braving the cold and attending. The first of the FReeZA Push Summits for the year have been announced so get your application form and pens out and get ready. This year the summit’s focus is event management training, and you can access these summits on three days in three locations across Victoria at the end of the month. GOTAFE in Wangaratta hosts the summit on Tuesday 29 June, it’s the turn of Children’s Services Hub in Torquay on Thursday 1 July and the Brunswick Town Hall hosts the last on Friday 2 July. On the day a range of industry professionals will share their event management advice and information; attendees will also enjoy a special guest live performance and a free lunch. The summits are free but bookings are essential so head to thepush.asn.au, download a registration form and send it to push@thepush. com.au or mail to PO Box 220, Brunswick, 3056. Bookings can also be made by phoning 9380 1277. Remember to indicate which of the three summits you wish to attend.

FRIDAY

Friday Night Line featuring Interstellar7 and Indian Skies is on at the Masonic Lodge in Hamilton from 6pm. $10 on the door. Young Heretics, Girl Vs Ghost, Oh Pacific, Tristan Sinclair and Hex Ibex play EV’s Youth Centre from 6pm. Tickets are $15. The same line-up heads to Musicman Megastore in Bendigo on Saturday. Doors 6pm, $15.

SATURDAY

Unearth and The Black Dahlia Murder play an underage show at the Hi-Fi from noon. Tickets are $45 through Oztix.

SUNDAY

Closure In Moscow play the Phoenix Youth Centre in Footscray. Tickets on the door.

to start recording this one. The material is the strongest and most memorable we have written. I know every band says this, but if it wasn’t true, there wouldn’t be a point in us recording it! The demoing process will begin in the next few weeks.”

LOCAL GIG GUIDE Black Majesty, Eyefear, Orpheus – Saturday, the Hi-Fi Medusa, WonroweVision, Demolition, Toe Cutter – Saturday 19 June, Metal Heaven (1422 Lauderdale St, Narre Warren) Internal Nightmare (EP launch), Contrive, Humonic, Scar The Surface, Meticulous Despoilment and Deliverance We Prey – Friday 25 June, East Brunswick Club

TOURS, TOURS, TOURS Unearth, The Black Dahlia Murder – Friday (18+) and Saturday (U-18), the Hi-Fi Alestorm – Friday 18 June, Corner Hotel Paul Di’Anno – Thursday 24 June, the Espy Om – Friday 16 July, Hi-Fi Bar Slash – Wednesday 11 August – Festival Hall Napalm Death – Sunday 5 September – the Hi-Fi Mayhem – Thursday 23 September – the Hi-Fi Overkill – Friday 24 September, the Hi-Fi Metallica – Thursday 18, 20 and 21 November, Rod Laver Arena Andrew Haug hosts Triple J’s The Racket every Tuesday from 10pm – triplej.abc.net.au/ racket. Email theracket@inpress.com.au

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Male Bonding

BREAKDOWN Pop culture therapy with ADAM CURLEY If you’ve been able to pull yourself away from watching Janelle Monáe’s pop-history homage on Letterman, performing her track Tightrope from the best of recent attempts at clepto-futuristic R&B, The ArchAndroid, out on Warner; or off the floor from the news that LA ‘deathpunk pioneers’ Christian Death are touring Australia for the first time since forming in 1979, then there’s been a tonne of new music to seek out and take in over the past four weeks. Sydney’s Naked On The Vague released their latest album, Heaps Of Nothing, on the Dual Plover label and though they’re often shrugged off here as being inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t enjoy contemptuous, discordant noise, the record is a fantastically bright and coherent push of cosmic guitars and late-‘80s New York punk grindings into bold, melodic rock songs. It can still be a challenging listen at times, but so is some of the most widely appreciated ‘rock’ music. They’re on tour in July. Also in Sydney, seemingly polarising band Circle Pit released their first album, Bruise Constellation, through Timberyard Records – a lot has been said already; I think they find the perfect balance between song-form, meaningful lyric and guttural noise, others think dressing interestingly or being thin is a crime. As self-help guru Arnold Patent and the Kaiser Chiefs once said, you can have it all. Speaking of the grind, Brooklyn’s Sleigh Bells have been causing a fair fuss with their Treats album Stateside – huge, distorted beats, wiry guitars and ‘cheerleader’ vocals. From what I’ve heard so far it’s an incredible and incredibly fun combination. It’s out mid-June through Liberator. Back home again, a few new Melbourne-based bands have caught my attention in recent weeks. The first is for a pretty obvious reason: Zsa Zsa is made up of Nisa Venerosa of Fabulous Diamonds, Ela Stiles of Songs and Karl Scullin of Kes Band. They played their first gig with Perth’s Pond last week and sound every bit as nostalgic for the army as you’d expect, which is a very good thing assuming you’ve never been in the army. Silver Bits, meanwhile, have played less than a handful of gigs but make an impressively dense and cathartic live noise, like psychedelic songs scoured with a wire brush, with sad, atonal vocals and guitar lines calling underneath. Damn excellent. Then there’s

ROOTS DOWN

Blues ‘n’ roots with DAN CONDON rootsdown@inpress.com.au Dutch Tilders has been a vital part of Melbourne’s blues community for close to 40 years now – if you’re familiar with even just a little bit of our city’s blues music scene, then there is absolutely no doubt that you have seen and heard him play. It was with great sadness that we heard earlier this week that Tilders has been diagnosed with cancer, but as is the way with such a tight community, a benefit concert has already been organised for him in order to help raise some much-needed funds. The bill is an absolute corker too, with Chain, Kevin Borich Express, Chris Finnen, Steve Russell, Geoff Achison, Lloyd Spiegel, Stevie Page and Jeannie Lushes as well as Tilders himself announced with more expected to be added. But heck, if that’s not already a who’s who of Australian blues then goodness knows what is. The benefit show will take place at the Thornbury Theatre on Thursday 29 July; tickets are available now – and we’re told they are selling very fast – at thornburytheatre. webtickets.com.au for just $35. In the meantime, if you’d like to make a donation to Tilders’ ongoing treatment costs, you can deposit any amount in Westpac Bank BSB: 033349, ACC: 385020. One band we really, really want to see tour Australia again is the Derek Trucks Band. If you’re into blues guitar then you undoubtedly are well familiar with Trucks’ work, this guy is so good that a large number of people believe he stole the show when touring Australia as a part of Eric Clapton’s band back in 2007. Unfortunately for us the band have taken a year off the road in 2010, but thankfully there’s a new double live CD coming out to tide us over until they decide to get their arses out here. Roadsongs was recorded over two nights in Chicago last year and will be released in Australia on Friday 18 June.

Iowa, who recorded their debut 7”, Green Swirl, with engineer Jack Farley, who’s given the lushlo-fi treatment to Beaches and St Helens. The trio kind of sound like something that would be coming out of the stereo as Jordan Catalano tries to grope Angela Chase in a My So Called-Life episode. You can decide for yourself if that’s your thing. The glut of NYC-meets-West Coast harmonic surf garage (or variations thereon) bands being ‘hyped’ by “cool bloggers” (as quoted from a press release from one such album, and surely an oxymoron) in the past month suggests it’s reaching tipping point, with few fully baked melodies or distinguishing sounds to be found. Far better are the UK’s Male Bonding, softer and poppier than a lot of garage punk the US has thrown up in recent times. Their Year’s Not Long clip was made by Vice Cooler and reflects their preppy take on Black Lips, down to the clean-cut ‘dudes’ kissing. Their album, Nothing Hurts, is out on Stomp. (As an aside, too, some Facebook stalking revealed Thurston Moore telling Cooler that Sonic Youth were originally called Male Bonding before a name change. Privacy: who needs it?) Over in ‘atmospheric dance’, Spain’s Delorean have dished up what could be this year’s Friendly Fires if given the chance with their Subiza album, out on True Panther/Remote Control. Like FF, their strong hooks are well hidden under airy production and across-the-board tropical, rabid beats, but they’re most definitely there. Perhaps, like FF, it will take a tour to lure many to them. Finally, Brooklyn’s Small Black continue their excellent journey into wistfully dark and wonderfully emotive DIY synth sounds with the US release of a new 12” through Jagjaguwar (mp3 and CD versions can be ordered on the label’s site) and are currently on tour with Georgia, US, band Washed Out, who themselves make some pretty blissed-out beach-bum electronica. But that’s not for now; we’d best wait for summer.

The masterful Leonard Cohen had not been to Australia in 24 years prior to his visit to our shores at the start of last year, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would say that it wasn’t absolutely worth the wait. Cohen’s shows were truly magical events and were held in such high regard that the tour was awarded the prestigious Helpmann Award For Best International Concert in 2009. Well, Mr Cohen must have enjoyed his time here, because this November he will be back in the country for more shows. You can catch him at Rod Laver Arena on Friday 12 November; tickets are available from Ticketek as of Thursday 3 June. Just in case anyone was planning on showing up this weekend to see Murfreesboro, Tennessee ladies (and gentleman) Those Darlins alongside local favourites Wagons, you should know that their tour has been cancelled. One of the visiting band’s members, Nikki Darlin, had a rough fall a couple of weeks ago and broke both bones in her left forearm thus preventing her from being able to play. Wagons are still going ahead with the shows though and you can catch them at the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine on Thursday, Geelong’s National Hotel on Friday and the Corner on Saturday night. Sunday night’s show has been cancelled; all tickets are now valid for Saturday’s performance. The man with that massive voice and the finest rollicking piano boogie around, Mr Pugsley Buzzard, has just released his brand new, all-original CD entitled Wooden Kimono and he launches it in Melbourne in July. To celebrate the release, Buzz has booked out the Northcote Social Club and will bring his seven-piece band along to provide what is bound to be one hell of a night for fans of his powerful and completely infectious brand of blues. If you like the grit of Tom Waits, the boogie of Dr John and the sophisticated hard bop of Thelonius Monk and you haven’t seen Pugsley Buzzard play live yet, you’ve wasted a lot of time. Buzz and his band will be playing a swag of material from the new CD of course, but also promise to deliver a bunch of old favourites as well. See ‘em Sunday 4 July at the Northcote Social Club from 2pm; tickets are $15+BF if you buy them now or $20 if you grab one at the door.

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TOASTED GRASS The Marquis Of Lorne has a beautiful open fire. Even more beautiful than the open fire, though, are the yesterday tunes of those shaggy angels who make music for Little John’s Bluegrass Sessions. Sit by the flames and let them warm your heart tonight, Wednesday 2 June, from 9-11pm. Seriously, it’s really nice.

DAN IN REAL LIFE Dan Brodie writes pop songs, country songs, rock songs, sing-along songs and ragged noirish songs of hate and redemption. You might want to see him playing the full gamut with his fantastic new band, The Grieving Widows. Then again, you’d probably really like to see him playing solo, fresh and unadorned, at the Marquis Of Lorne this Sunday from 5-7pm. Oh, he’s also very handsome.

REID HIS LIPS Local pop/folk enigma Tim Reid finally emerges from his studio where he has been patiently crafting the his long awaited second album. Reid will showcase his new songs for his label bosses at the Popboomerang Records as he opens proceedings at the Saturday 19 June Pop Boom #2 at the Birmingham Hotel. Go tell ‘em what you think…

THE BETTER LEAGUE Led by former Lucksmiths lead mouth Tali White, local supergroup The Guild League are back for one of their rare live shows, playing the East Brunswick Club on Friday 11 June. The band have been cranking out their indie rock folk since 2001, and have produced three fine albums including the most recent, Speak Up. With members drawing from all quarters of the indie mafia, they remain, as once quoted, “the favourite band you may not have known you had”. Entry is $14/$12 concession from 8.30pm and support comes from Tessa & The Typecast and Oh Pep.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

3PBS TIPSHEET Trans-Continental Hustle GOGOL BORDELLO Cosmogramma FLYING LOTUS Mondo Cane MIKE PATTON Two Headed Demon URBAN JUNIOR Here ROB BURKE & TONY GOULD In Desolation OFF WITH THEIR HEADS Next Stop Soweto Volume 3 VARIOUS ARTISTS Destroyer Of The Void BLITZEN TRAPPER Zebu Nation RAZIA Loose Change LOOSE CHANGE

HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Fingal Capaldi, vocals/guitar/mandolin/piano accordion: “If you’ve seen The Magnificent Seven or indeed, Seven Samurai, it was a bit like that.” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “We’ve got an album out called One Up For Tha Little Man, which was the culmination of seven people tooling around in Gregorious Craske’s bedroom.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Rustic, romantic, riotous and rollicking.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “I’m almost embarrassed to say Tom Waits, being so obvious, but yes, as he’s become the patron saint of carnies and freaks.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “The Incredible String Band’s The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion, for its psychedelic folk musings.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I wear the flintlock from a 17th-century pistol I acquired in Spain.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “A large salad of wild-growing weeds, washed down with Bison Grass Vodka.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “Without doubt, Open Studio in Northcote, one of the finest establishments in the universe.”

CRASH AND GRIND

Every Wednesday at the Workers Club, resident DJs Andy(stroyer) Lane and Tomtom – AKA Lazerferrari of True Live – settle in for the long haul with the finest soul, blues, rocksteady and rare grooves the known world has to offer from 6pm ‘til close. But as if the records weren’t enough, Agwa drink specials are also on the menu all night along with some sweet-ass giveaways, including a bottle of the delicious stuff. Combine all that with the new autumn menu and suddenly Wednesdays seem like the best day of the week. And best of all, entry is free!

The Black Night Crash dancefloor is once again the place to be and be seen at this Saturday night at the Rochester Castle in Fitzroy. DJs ClefB and Knackered Converse offer their usual onslaught of past, present and future indie zingers. Free entry all night long from 8pm. Be sure to get in early to cure that insatiable thirst and set yourself up for a big night of dancing and schmoozing. FRESH STARTS

JANE AUSTEN IS HOT Diana is still dead, Prince Charles is still (somehow) getting laid, Fergie’s taking bribes and Melbourne indie cabaret duo The Jane Austen Argument are throwing a most royally riotous bash at the Brunswick Hotel to honour our dear Queen Lizzie’s birthday. Starting at 9pm on Saturday 12 June, the Brunswick Hotel will be transformed into a palace of scandals and trashy glamour. Featuring FLASHfry, Mikki Ross, Brendan Maclean and The Jane Austen Argument, the night promises to be a gorgeously chaotic mix of cabaret, pop, indie, folk and scandal. So dig out that dusty tiara, get your sleaze on, and in truly royal style, be prepared to brave the gauntlet of vicious paparazzi who will be awarding prizes for best (and worst) dressed at this evening of cabaret, celebration and scandal. Entry is free!

THAT FRESH The Melbourne Fresh Industry Showcases at Revolver Upstairs showcase unsigned Melbourne bands, singer/songwriters, MCs, composers and any other forms of musical expression that demand showcasing! Huge prizes to be won including a world class EP recording, cash prizes and much more. After seven strong years it is still the best midweek showcase in town. Melbourne Fresh happens at Revolver every Tuesday.

EAT YER GREENS

Rapskallion play the Grace Darling on Friday.

‘STROYED ON WEDNESDAY

With both State and Federal polls on the horizon, this year is a big one for the Greens, who stand a great chance of winning marginal seats in Brunswick, Richmond, Fitzroy and Northcote. With the whole live music and violence issue still very much up in the air, the only way to sort this and many other problems is to get more Greens into parliament. They’re up against the big cash of big business, but with this benefit gig we can give a big boost to the local campaign for sanity in the houses of parliament, and for a fair dinkum fair go for local live music. So get along to the East Brunswick Club on Thursday 17 June and fling the Greens a lobster to help them on their way (if you’re so inclined). LO2’s Fleet, Mista Savona and MC EZB say jahbless. Be there in time for the welcome to country at 8pm and come do your bit for the upcoming elections. Oh, and remember to dance your ass off while you’re at it! Entry is $20 from 7.30pm.

REVELS GO AGAIN The Revels play only their second show since they launched their debut EP, World On Time, to a stellar crowd. They will well and truly be primed to deliver their volatile cocktail of psych-blues and garage pop to the highest degree come show time. Joined by local supergroup Ancient Slate (The Exploders/The Brutals/Ravines) and The Bowers’ own Liam Linley, it all happens this Sunday at the Empress Hotel from 7.30pm.

BARNARD FOREVS The long wait is over – Melbourne singer/songwriter Rebecca Barnard is releasing the difficult second solo album, Everlasting. Few things inspire achingly beautiful songwriting like loss, heartbreak and transformation. And it is a gifted, generous and courageous musician who can turn something profoundly personal into the universal language of song. Everlasting is Rebecca Barnard’s first album without her longtime collaborator Shane O’Mara. Recorded at Tony Bennett’s famed studios in New Jersey, New York, Barnard’s trademark soulful pop embraces the jazz heritage she inherited from her renowned father, Len, and references the jazz greats she grew up with on the stereo; Pinetop Smith, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and opera legend Gladys Moncrieff, ‘our Glad’. She launches the album at the Thornbury Theatre on Friday 25 June – tickets are $15+BF from thethornburytheatre.com.

FEEL LIKE DEATH Strap yourself in, ‘cause the Death Valley Mustangs are smashing into the Melbourne Fresh industry showcase at Revolver Upstairs on Tuesday 8 June! After battling it out against some smokin’ opposition in the heats, the Death Valley Mustangs will be gunning for another ‘hot tunes’ shoot-out against other musical acts and stage performances trying to impress judges for a second time in the semi-finals. Preview new material prior to release of their new EP Death By Mustangs. Belting out their own brand of hard blues rock psychodelia, these legends-to-be are sure to turn heads. Entry is $12 from 7pm.

WED AND WILD CRAIG and CAMILLA JACKSON – hubby and wife duo THE SIRENS OF VENICE – don’t do things in a hurry, they tell SAMUEL J FELL. songs so we thought we should do something with them… that would have been in about 2007.” These songs grew and morphed as the couple went about adding more to their repertoire, and finally came to rest on The Sirens Of Venice, a record which has been some time in the making. “I think the recording actually finished in late 2008/early 2009, and I think it’s been mastered for about a year now,” explains Craig before Camilla adds with a laugh, “We take a while to get things done. I mean, it was one of those processes [that takes a while], but we’re not those people who are super organised. Both Craig and I are pretty laid back.” I for one see no problem with this, as what they’ve managed to capture on their debut effort is worthy of any wait. With its sparse arrangements, its lilting tones and warm embrace, The Sirens Of Venice is a fine example of two people working together toward a common musical goal.

DONKEY PUNCHED Hot off the back of the debut EP release Punching Air In The Nyah, Back Back Forward Punch are hitting Revolver on Friday 11 June. With pants-shaking production skills and a groove-laden front lady, this game changing electro trio will pull you off the wall and onto the dancefloor. With very special guests Paqman and Winterplan. A Paqman live show is two young men, hidden behind a mountain of electronics, drum machines, synthesisers and noise generators, a nonstop, sweaty interaction between man and machine. The super-elusive Winterplan showcase their talent for mixing electro soundscapes with brooding melodies, stark repetition and a shoegazing charm that actually makes you want to do just the opposite and dance. Doors open at 9pm and entry is $10.

RUDE HEADS The Ron Rude Renaissance are launching their new album, Ron Rude Loves Ya, at the Old Bar this Saturday, with Harry Howard and his star-studded NDE (featuring a Graney/Moore rhythm section) and the Frightening Lights, a mesmerising act in their own right. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm. Artists such as Rude and Harry Howard have a long history dating back to St Kilda’s halcyon Crystal Ballroom scene, whilst the Frightening Lights are a relatively new phenomenon. Traces of post-punk heritage may be evident in the work of all three bands, but the songs are new, aimed at a fresh audience. Ron Rude Loves Ya is available through the all-new Australian e-store, Missing Link Digital Media, on high fidelity download or traditional compact disc.

iving and working with your spouse, I imagine, would have its pitfalls. For a start, I’d wager it’d be hard not to bring your work home and have it consume both your lives, but then again, if your work is music, then pitfalls be damned, as is demonstrated by husband and wife duo Craig and Camilla Jackson. Craig, perhaps best known for his work with Melbourne band Gersey, has joined forces with his better half here in a project entitled The Sirens Of Venice, and as one listen to their eponymous debut will attest, there aren’t many pitfalls to be had here at all.

Of course, these days, post-record, it isn’t just Craig and Camilla on board, the couple have roped in musical friends and acquaintances to flesh the group out to eight, a move which adds a certain richness and texture to the songs these two penned originally for a duo. “The band didn’t actually come until after the record,” explains Mr Jackson, although as Camilla adds, the groundwork was already done. “The demos were done on GarageBand, and they had layering and layering with different instrumentation done by Craig and myself.”

“It started to happen around four years ago,” explains Camilla on the origins of this musical tryst. “I was always writing music and was playing some of it to Craig and showing him some ideas. And so he came in and stomped all over my ideas and hurt my feelings,” she adds with a laugh. “No, we just found that we worked really well together and had the same opinion on music, the same vision.”

“They were kinda band songs,” expands Craig. “But we didn’t know how we were going to play them live… the eight-piece just grew. We asked Camilla’s brother and his wife, Camilla’s best friend and her partner and we filled in the gaps and all of a sudden there were 25 of us.” Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but a family affair it is and one which lays bare for all to see the musical connection these two have, their vision finally being realised. So, given Gersey are soon to record once more, what will become of The Sirens Of Venice. Will it continue to grow or will it begin to take more of a centre stage role?

“We didn’t really have a plan to make records or have a band or anything like that,” Craig adds. “We just loved writing these songs together. And after about eight months or so, we had about 12 or 15

“I think we’ll continue to play shows, we’ve been writing some new stuff, I’d say there’ll be another record,” muses Craig. “It’s just like the whole process so far, we’ll just play it by ear.”

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Howzat!’s friend John Cain, who’s seen countless Died Pretty gigs, is surprised by how small Ronnie is in real life. “He’s tiny,” John remarks, “but on stage, he’s ten-foot tall.” On the way out of the Retreat gig, we bump into Ronnie’s publicist, Karen Conrad. “I think one of the reasons I love him is because I come from a Pentecostal background in the US,” Karen explains, “and Ronnie is a little like a snake oil salesman. I’m not sure what he’s selling, but I’m buying.” He’s got one more sneak preview gig before he enters the studio: Yah Yah’s at 8pm on Sunday. No need to RSVP – tell ’em Ronnie sent ya!

Ronnie Peno

LONG LOST, LAZY SUSAN SLINGSHOT BACK

HOWZAT! Local music news by JEFF JENKINS

PENO VISION “If I was a music journalist, how would I describe that gig?” ponders Penny Ikinger as she takes the Retreat stage after Ronnie Peno has debuted his new band, RSVP & The Return To Senders. “Cinematic, classic, a bit retro, hip,” Penny states, reeling off the words that come to mind. Then she asks the crowd for help. “Psychedelic,” suggests one woman. “3D,” proffers another. “Peno vision,” cries one voice, which might belong to the man himself. “Peno envy!” Penny smiles. “I think ‘Peno vision’ might win the competition.” A friend sees me writing down the descriptions. “Add one to the list,” he demands, “national treasure.” More than 25 years after Died Pretty’s debut disc, Ronnie Peno is working on his first solo album. It’s a case of “Where’s Ronnie?” as the Retreat night starts, with The Return To Senders – producer Cam Butler on guitar, Andy Papp on bass, Tim Deane

on keys and Brett Poliness on drums – opening with an instrumental. As the door at the side of the stage swings open, the anticipation builds. Several people stream in from the beer garden before Ronnie makes his entrance. As he finally hits the stage, the crowd starts to applaud. He’s back – the redoubtable Ronnie Peno. In a music world where originality is in short supply, Ronnie is a one-off. He commands the stage. The tongue is out as he swaggers from side to side. But these aren’t rehearsed rock moves; Ronnie gets lost in the music. He feels it. And then there’s that voice, such a wonderful pop voice. Ronnie glides effortlessly from mournful to celebratory. He’s capable of swinging from beauty to brutal (I recall seeing Died Pretty featured in the hard rock section in Cash Box magazine), and tonight also has moments of true tenderness and seduction. I’m not sure what the new songs are called (Ronnie debuts nine) but they’re good. This is going to be a great album. Ronnie’s firmly focused on the future – the closest the preview gigs come to the past is when Brisbane band The Good Ship does a cover of Died Pretty’s biggest chart hit, Harness Up, at the Old Bar show.

Sydney’s finest pop band Lazy Susan returned to Melbourne last week to preview their fourth album, Places That Made Us. It was their first visit in nearly four years. At Pure Pop, singer Paul Andrews spoke of seeing Liam Finn support Wilco in Sydney. “He said, ‘I’ve got my slingshot here tonight’, and we all laughed,” Paul recalled. But Liam did actually have a slingshot and he proceeded to shoot tomatoes at the crowd. Paul reckons “slingshots and tomatoes is the new banter – you heard it here first. But I’m sure if we did it, we’d hit someone in the eye and end up with a lawsuit. Or we’d be pummelled by someone’s boyfriend after splattering tomato juice on his girlfriend’s blouse.” Paul and keyboards player Tim Byron were in fine form playing their bittersweet pop, though Paul was thrown by the appearance of King Of Pop Dave Graney, forgetting some of the lyrics of new song Jailbird Sings. Paul and Tim did a few bars of Short People, as a tribute to Gary Coleman, as well as a cover of Steve Forbert’s Romeo’s Tune. Places That Made Us is out on 2 July.

RESIGNATORS MAINTAIN THEIR RAGE

The Resignators’ new single, How You Could Rage, includes “a Frankston love song”, I Farken Love You. The Resignators are taking their psycho-ska to Canada, where they’re making their second album. Their farewell show is this Friday at the Evelyn.

CHART WATCH

Yolanda Be Cool leap into the Top 5.

SUMMERFESTIVALGUIDE.COM.AU

We Speak No Americano YOLANDA BE COOL (number five) Mr Mysterious VANESSA AMOROSI (16) Unbroken STAN WALKER (24) Seventeen JET (31) Love Lost THE TEMPER TRAP (33) Dinosaur KISSCHASY (38) Huge debut for Brisbane band Dead Letter Circus. And Dan Sultan’s Get Out While You Can finally enters the Top 100, at number 90 – six months after it was released. This Is The Warning DEAD LETTER CIRCUS (number two, debut) Iron Man 2 AC/DC (three) Down The Way ANGUS & JULIA STONE (nine) Golden Rule POWDERFINGER (15) Bliss Release CLOUD CONTROL (20, debut) April Uprising THE JOHN BUTLER TRIO (21) Conditions THE TEMPER TRAP (23) Calling Me Home SARA STORER (28) Compass MARK VINCENT (31) Hazardous VANESSA AMOROSI (35) Wonder LISA MITCHELL (37) Avalanche BRITISH INDIA (38) Enchanted Way DAVID HOBSON (39) Koonyum Sun XAVIER RUDD (40)

HOWZAT! PLAYLIST Easy Targets LAZY SUSAN Closer To You REBECCA BARNARD The Gambler WAGONS Rage THE RESIGNATORS Ashes JASON WALKER

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Akasa Wesley Anne Ben Carr Trio, Heather Stuart Group 303 Bene Gesserit House Nurseries Loop Bittersweet Kicks Cherry Bar Bob, Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes, Xani Kolac, Zoe Frater John Curtin Hotel Clavians, The No Real Need, Big Smoke, Left Feels Right, Revolver Rock in the Backroom Revolver Daryl Roberts The Spanish Club Emma Wall The Standard Hotel Horse Stories, Oliver Mann The Toff In Town King Khan, BBQ Show, Royal Headache, Woollen Kits Corner Hotel Little John’s Bluegrass Sessions Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Midnight Heavies, JK Ruff, SHERIFF, Goodbye Motel Esplanade Lounge Nick Lovell, Susannah Coleman-Brown Edinburgh Castle Hotel Niko Niko, The Baka People, Ape Is Ape Bar Open Open Mic Bender Bar Open Mic Elwood Lounge Open Mic Grind ‘n’ Groove Bar Plague Doctor, Monty Sparrow, Glavobones The Old Bar Preston Perche, Red Ruby Blue The Drunken Poet Rainshadow, The Symbiosist, Okera The Arthouse Robin Fox, Bruce Russell, Jon Hunter, Francis Plagne, DJ Thembi Soddell Stutter Round Robin, The Lucksmiths, PSUCHE, Surly Mermaids, Owl + Moth, Milk Teddy, Denim Owl Empress Hotel songwriter’s Collective, Jessica Paige, The Happy Endings, Ducks in the Mud, Jess Hieser Evelyn Hotel Tailor Made For A Small Room, Far Concern, Maudita Builders Arms Hotel

EASY AS SARITAH Saritah headlines a night of some of Melbourne’s tastiest conscious lyrical flows, from roots to bangin’ beats, at the Evelyn Hotel on Thursday 10 June. Launching her latest single Tears Come Easy – The Nomad Remix, the songstress will perform a full band set before joining The Nomad on stage to perform the remix live. This will be her last show in Australia before heading over to the USA, Canada, London and Africa for performances and collaborations. Support comes from DJ Damon AKA The Nomad featuring Rayjah 45, Hugo & The Light Brigade, Untitled (Zulu Flow and Duvz) plus a live dancehall performance from Bam Bam Assassins. Grab tickets from Moshtix. The Black Hill Five, Tessa & The Typecast, The Alcorettes Birmingham Hotel The Brunswick Open Mic with host Matt McFarlane Brunswick Hotel Ungas The Horn

THU 03

3181 Thursdays, Hans DC, WHO Revolver Agonhymn, Satori, Broozer, Ross The Arthouse Bayside Band Scene Esplanade Basement Bodies, Elizabeth Pistol Club, Little Killing Bar Open Cacophony Society, Manny Fox’s Hangman Club, Yoshitoro Evelyn Hotel Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier, Love Story with 1928, Tranter, Rad Pitt, Megawuoti The Toff In Town Emergenza, Envy, State Of Silence, Severed Oath, The Mill, A Lesser Ego, The Blue Swimmers Esplanade Gershwin Room En Tout Cas, San Fran Disco Ding Dong Lounge

FLAP!, The Band Who Knew Too Much East Brunswick Club In Name & Blood, The Gun Runners, Risk and Reason, Surprise Wasp, Hayden Moloney, The Devyls Next Last Dinosaurs, Neon Love, Wilfred Jackal Esplanade Lounge Leena, Steve Clifford Retreat Hotel Local Dj Grind ‘n’ Groove Bar Lucy’s Crown, Little Freddie & The Pops, Twelve Inch Clocks, The Golden Tappers Northcote Social Club Mal Webb, Scott Edgar & The Universe 303 Matt Wilco, B-Boogie Transport Hotel (Fed Sq) Michael Paynter, Coby Grant, Ben Abraham Corner Hotel Monthly Overload Poetry Night The Drunken Poet Mr Black & Blues, The Boy Who Spoke Clouds, Bianca Poitevin, Genevieve and Jezebel Wesley Anne Pretty Strangers, These Patterns, Seb Hammond Empress Hotel Princess One Point Five, Sophie Koh, Tash Parker Builders Arms Hotel

FRI 04

Ainslie Wills Newmarket Hotel, Bendigo Baptism of Uzi, Sid O’Neil, She’s The Driver, Chevrolet Rise Birmingham Hotel BURLY-FRIDAY! LIVE BURLESQUE Burlesque Bar Chromenips, Money For Rope, The Beat Disease, Richie 1250 Yah Yah’s Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier Thornbury Theatre DJ Funky The Spanish Club Dreamboogie, Peavine Special IdGAFF Ducks in the Mud, Dirtbird, Mladen Builders Arms Hotel Familia Moja Fundraiser, Miso, Houlette, Owl + Moth, Sheahan Drive Workers Club

Holliava, The Government, Fortnight Jumbo, Sounds of Sirus Rubys Lounge Huggy Per Sound System Marquis Of Lorne Hotel I Oh You Party, Last Dinosaurs, Neon Love Ding Dong Lounge Ikarii, My Echo, The Human Electric, Dear Ale, The Revenge, Loud Invasion Revolver Jaguar Spring, Rich Davies, Alysia Manceau, The Buegs Bendigo Hotel Katy Steele, Mike Noga, Owl Eyes Northcote Social Club Laneous & The Family Yah Bar Open Lo-Res, Bikeboy 303 McAlpine Fusiliers, The Weathermen Edinburgh Castle Hotel Mezzanine, DJ Count X Abode Music Appreciation Society Loop Old Bar Unicorns Benefit, Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, St Claire, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, The Litchfield Hallstars The Old Bar Parades, Belles Will Ring, Geoffrey O’Connor, Great Earthquake East Brunswick Club Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith The Toff In Town Rapskallion, The Tiger And Me Grace Darling Hotel

Rock For Relief, Hell City Glamours, The Casanovas, The Melodics, Illy, Bewilderbeast, Forgiven Rival, Dead Actors Club, Mojo Rising Esplanade (Whole Venue) Russian Roulettes, Jape Squad, DJ Trevor Travis Retreat Hotel Scul Hazzards, Breaker Morant, Baryshnikov, Diesel Witch, Xing!!! Pony Sin City, Red Devotchkin, The Working Horse Irons Cherry Bar Son Of A Gun Wesley Anne Talk Show Boy Lyrebird Lounge The Hawaiian Islands, Cult Minds, Party Vibez, Surprise Wasp The Arthouse The Mixture, Johari Window, Midnight Heavies Brunswick Hotel The Promises Elwood Lounge The Resignators, Strangely Attraktive, Calico Jacks, Kujo Kings Evelyn Hotel The Stavros Brothers, Ninety Nine, Wet Young Dolphin Empress Hotel The T-Bird Club Level One The Tealeaves Reveller’s North (upstairs) The Velvet Cake Gypsies, Alysia Manceau Bender Bar The Wildes Builders Arms, early show Tom Kline Reveller’s North (downstairs)

SPRING AWAKENING Noise making scallywags. That’s what Jaguar Spring are! And they’re playing the Bendigo Hotel this Friday after an impressive performance at the Workers Club supporting In Tongues at their EP launch. A real buzz is building around the traps so catch them live in full flight with support from Rich Davis (of Spun Rivals fame), Alysia Manceau and The Buegs. Should be a cracker indie rock affair and a great way to check out the new look Bendigo Hotel. Entry is $5 from 8.30pm. Cheaper than a pint!

What are you doing AFTER DARK on July 17? Visit coopers.com.au for all details. 84

Traditional Irish Music Session, Dan Bourke & Friends The Drunken Poet Unearth & the Black Dahlia Murder, The Abandonment, Storm Picturesque HiFi Bar Vitruvian Man, Lethal Binge, Declamation The Public Bar Zulya, Julian Chapple’s Mystery Shadow Show, Mischa Herman Corner Hotel

SAT 05

4 Arm, Recoil, Teramaze, Decreipt Esplanade Basement A La Fu, Zanda, Mr Nice, Lickweed Loop Ainslie Wills The Palais, Daylesford Barb Waters & The Mother’s Of Pearl Thornbury Theatre Belles Will Ring, Sandpebbles, The Bowers, Strangers From Now On, The Kremlin Succession, The Mohan Veena Ding Dong Lounge Ben Carr Trio, Lydia Phillips, Alanna & Alicia Egan Band Wesley Anne Ben Smith, Billy Abbott The Drunken Poet Bin Man, From Op-Shop to Lap-Top Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Boy & Bear, Oh Ye Denver Birds, The Chemist Northcote Social Club Bronson, Kcaveman, Headkase, Errata, Kretch, Pink Fitt Pony Cirque De Femmes Burlesque Bar Clagg, Agonhymn, Mother Mars, Staedler & Waldorf Yah Yah’s Closure in Moscow, Secrets in Scale, Qlayface East Brunswick Club Dan Brodie, The Grieving Widows Penny Black Daughterboy Jao, Royston Vasie, The Idle Hoes, DJ Geoff Leppard Retreat Hotel David Anderson & the Wine Merchants, Larissa Agosti, Juan Alban 303 Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier The Palais, Hepburn Springs Deep Street Soul Bar Open

Duck Duck Chop, & Special Guests Grace Darling Hotel Duck Musique Builders Arms, early show El Moth & The Turbo Rads The Horn Fangs, The Sophisticants, Foreign Objects, The Statics, Ransom, Matt Cant, Paz Revolver Fell Over, Breaker Morant, Yis Workers Club Hip Hop Night Rubys Lounge Holly Miranda, The House deFROST, Andee Frost The Toff In Town Louis Rowe, The Happy Endings, Nacional Reveller’s North (upstairs) Lowdown Street Orchestra, Fall Of The Union, Mushroom Horse, The Hondas, Cads Of Yore, The Swiftones Brunswick Hotel Majoring in Minors, Vendetta Fields, While The City Sleeps, Admit One Chandelier Room Manny Fox’s Hangman Club Great Britain Hotel Marissa Quigley, The Boogaloos, Highway 41 St Andrews Hotel Mark Phillips, Simon Bruce Reveller’s North (downstairs) Matador Stage, Carmen Hendrix, Dj Ryan Katzan The Spanish Club Mechanical Pterodactyl, Dan Banks Band, Asami The Public Bar Monique Brumby Pure Pop Records Moonee Valley Drifters Lomond Hotel Nadastrom, Slap N Dash, Mu Gen, Scattermish, Matt Cant, Lewis cancut, Phil Para Esplanade Lounge N-Tice - Intimate, Jon-E, Steve Punch Abode Our Best Laid Plans, Fist Fights vs Fences, Good Til Sunrise, Like Wizards, House Vs Hurricane Bang Peter Cupples, Steve Romig Spenserlive Piss Bolt, Collapsed Toilet Vietnam, True Radical Miracle, Pathetic Human, Super Fun Happy Slide Birmingham Hotel

kwp!CPR10778

WED 02

reAMPD, Glass Empire, Willowan Lights, Junk & Jill, A Brokers Night Sleep, Goodbye Sky Harbor Rubys Lounge Riverside Travellers The Spanish Club Rock Aerobics, Deserters, Bravado, The Solomons, Pauli Douglas Yah Yah’s Saskwatch Cherry Bar Sime Nugent Union Hotel Brunswick Space Ghost, Roman Holiday IdGAFF Swidgen, Dead City Ruins, Indian Mynah, DJ Drawfour The Old Bar The Bonniwells, The Frowning Clouds, The Galaxy Folk Grace Darling Hotel The Brunny Karaoke! Brunswick Hotel The Gallant Trees, Prairie Bender Bar The Get Go Great Britain Hotel The Promises Edinburgh Castle Hotel The Sandpit, Photography Night Walks Screening Loop The Vulpine Elwood Lounge Uncle Bill Lomond Hotel Young Raptors, The Ravenous, Jeraboms, The Greenroom, Slow Dance Pony

Wed. 2nd (Wine, Whiskey, Women) 8pm: Preston Perche 9pm: Red Ruby Blue Thurs. 3rd 8pm: Monthly ‘Overload’ Poetry Night Fri. 4th 6pm: Traditional Irish Music session with Dan Bourke & friends Sat. 5th 9pm: Ben Smith & Billy Abbott Sun. 6th 4pm: The Stetson Family 6.30pm: David Cosma Duo Tues. 8th 8pm: Weekly Trivia

All Shows Always Free! The Drunken Poet, 65 Peel Street (Directly opposite Queen Vic Market). Phone: 03 9348 9797 www.myspace.com/drunkenpoets 85

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FAMILY PLANNING Brisbane’s ratbag indie soul wierdos, Laneous & The Family Yah take time from the making of their second LP to return to Melbourne for their Sonic Goo From The Heavens tour. Like a Staffordshire Terrier rolls, L&TFY deliver grunty rudeboy soul and croon punk for ya earholes. Featuring the all singing, all dancing, all romancing Bird Fire Choir, they drop Sonic Goo From The Heavens like pigeons from a telephone wire. L&TFY play Bar Open this Friday. Pixie Jones, Eleanor Angel, Rich Davies Empress Hotel, Arvo Show Port Night Bender Bar Pro Rata, White Cell, Arcane Saints, Short Fall, Auburn Lies Esplanade Gershwin Room PSUCHE, Magic Super White, Owl + Moth, Space Cactus, Yama Boy Empress Hotel Rainbird, Chasing Gravity, Crash Arcadia, The Black Aces Evelyn Hotel

Rock City Riff Raff, DJ Paul Miles Cherry Bar Ron Rude Renaissance, Harry Howard Band, Frightening Lights The Old Bar Sam McEwin, Matt Wilco Transport Hotel (Fed Sq) Scarlett, Queer Girls Night, Ms Butt, Chairman Meow Bendigo Hotel Spoonful, Paul Winstanley, Kit Warhurst, Andre Warhurst, David Lord Union Hotel Brunswick The Glorious Bastards The Post Office Hotel

The Messengers, Ancient Slate, John Chamberlain IdGAFF The Mojo Corner Grind ‘n’ Groove Bar Tobias Cummings Edinburgh Castle, early show Toe To Toe, Tenth Dan, Break Out, At War With Gods The Arthouse Unearth & the Black Dahlia Murder, State Of East London, Black Majesty, Eyefear, Orpheus HiFi Bar Voodoo Economic, Trumpet Marine Edinburgh Castle Hotel Vultures Of Venus, Cape Cod Affair, The Ravenous Builders Arms Hotel Wagons, The Beards, Super Wild Horses, DJ Woody McDonald Corner Hotel

SUN 06

Andrew McCubbin & The Hope Addicts, RSVP, Monty Sparrow Yah Yah’s Ben Ford Davies Elwood Lounge Cam Ewart, Adrian Stoyles, Belinda Ashe Empress Hotel, Arvo Show

Carly Van, Brad Cox Van, James McDonald, The Cactus Chanel, Powerfuck, 3 Bags Full, Coconut Rebellion Brunswick Hotel Cazi, Andy Jans Brown Builders Arms, early show Chevrolet Rise Lord Newry Hotel Chiara Browne, Soul Deep Transport Hotel (Fed Sq) Chris Wilson Manhattan Hotel Dan Brodie Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Darebin Songwriters Award Lunch, Galactic Cabaret, Hugo & Treats, Rachel By The Stream, MC Tray, Big Milk, The Kinship 303 Ewan Cloonan Union Union Hotel Brunswick Fats Wah Wah, Veranda Band Williamstown RSL Fred Negro’s Kooky Karaoke, Billy Pommer Jr and Friends Lyrebird Lounge Gareth Skinner Northcote Social Club Gerry Hale’s Uncle Bill, Atrocity Burlesque Burlesque Bar Go Go Sapien, Puta Madre Bros Retreat Hotel

Haynestown, Andre Camilleri & The Broken Hearts, Susan Lily, The Taylor Project IdGAFF Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Esplanade Lounge Hugh McGinlay, Victor Stranges Chandelier Room Ida Fox Edinburgh Castle, early show James Hazelden Great Britain Hotel Joe Mandica, Matador Stage The Spanish Club Loukia, First Chorus: Band Of Singers, Earl Grey Policy, The Stillsons Wesley Anne Maddy Serong Carringbush Hotel Moonee Valley Drifters Yorkshire Stingo Hotel Muk Fundraiser Edinburgh Castle Hotel Nick Willett, The Starliners, DJ Mohair Slim East Brunswick Club Open Decks Bender Bar Phil Para Band Sandbelt Hotel Revolver Sundays, Boogs, Spacey Space, Matt Kovic, Yoshi Revolver

Shannon Lee, The Life, John Smith Quintet, Lights On at Heathrow, Sunset Circus, Twin Lizzy Esplanade Gershwin Room Shannon Lee The Espy Spectrum St Andrews Hotel Spinset, Summerset Avenue, Summerset The Arthouse Sunday Sets, Goyim, Shazam Bendigo Hotel Sundayz Open Stage Rubys Lounge The Blowup Grandview Hotel The Revels, Ancient Slate, Liam Lindley Empress Hotel The Rosehands Union Club Hotel The Stabs, Panic, Bum Creek, Drunk Dial, Crouching Tiger DJs Bar Open The Stetson Family, David Cosma Duo The Drunken Poet The Toot Toot Toots, The Velocettes, Diesel Witch The Old Bar Tinpan Orange, Husky, The Sunday Set, Andyblack, Haggis The Toff In Town Van & Cal Walker The Standard Hotel

Zombirds, High Seas Deep Seas, Franco Cozzo Builders Arms Hotel

MON 07

Adam Afif & Fergus McAlpin and friends Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Bogan Bingo Retreat Hotel ‘Crotchety Knitwits’ The Old Bar El Moth & The Turbo Rads Evelyn Hotel Josh Owen Band Esplanade Lounge Karaoke The Spanish Club Larry/James Carter 303 Open Mic, Jam Night St Andrews Hotel Passionate Tongues - Poetry and Spoken Word Brunswick Hotel Splodge, 16mm Cult Films, ‘From The Earth To The Moon (1958)’ Empress Hotel Swing Classes The Toff In Town

TUE 08

A Country Practice, The Sleepless Nights The Old Bar Adalita Retreat Hotel Anna’s Go Go Dance Classes Bendigo Hotel Dan Musil, Phia, David Grant Wesley Anne Declamation, Zyncarla, Lethal Binge The Arthouse Karaoke Bender Bar ‘Melbourne Fresh Industry Showcases’, Trivia Revolver Michael Mehan, Jarek, Mike Elrington, Glenn Benny, Simon Phillips Esplanade Lounge NMIT Recitals 303 Open Mic Empress Hotel The Basics, John Flanagan & The Begin Agains Northcote Social Club The Brunswick Discovery, Lucky Hunter Brunswick Hotel Trivia The Drunken Poet

What does opening a COOPERS DARK ALE sound like?

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DARYL ROBERTS THURSDAY 3RD

RIVERSIDE TRAVELLERS FRIDAY 4TH

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CARMEN HENDRIX

FEATURING DJ RYAN KATZAN (ALUMBRA) SUNDAY 6TH

JOE MANDICA DUO 4PM MONDAY 7TH

KARAOKE

FRIDAY 11TH DARK REALM PRESENTS

DEATH OF ART + CLOUD CITY + SUPPORTS SAT 12TH JUNE

UMULAT + DR EL SUAVO

Visit coopers.com.au for all details.

140 Sydney Rd

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59-61 Johnston St, Fitzroy P: 03 9417 2505

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NO COVER CHARGE

WED JUNE 2 - 8:30 PM

THE BRUNSWICK OPEN MIC

WITH HOST MATT MCFARLANE. $10 JUGS! REGISTER AT 8PM ON THE NIGHT! (FREE BEER PER PERFORMER!)

THURS JUNE 3

THE BRUNNY KARAOKE!

1ST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH 9PM

FRI JUNE 4

THE MIXTURE JOHARI WINDOW MIDNIGHT HEAVIES

SAT JUNE 5 - 5PM

LOWDOWN ST ORCHESTRA X 3 SETS!

9PM - FALL OF THE UNION MUSHROOM HORSE THE HONDAS CADS OF YORE THE SWIFTONES

SUN JUNE 6 - 9PM

THE CACTUS CHANEL POWERFUCK 3 BAGS FULL COCONUT REBELLION 5PM - CARLY VAN

MON JUNE 7

PASSIONATE TONGUES

POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD FEATURING A CONSTANTLY CHANGING LINE-UP OF SOME OF MELBOURNES FINEST POETS. KICK OFF AT 8PM. HOSTED BY MICHAEL REYNOLDS

TUES JUNE 8

THE BRUNSWICK DISCOVERY

GIVING CHANCES TO NEW UP AND COMING ARTISTS (ENQUIRIES TO BRUNNYGIGS@GMAIL.COM) THIS WEEK:

LUCKY HUNTER

gigguide@inpress.com.au

303 Wednesday Ben Carr Trio, Heather Stuart Group Thursday Mal Webb, Scott Edgar & The Universe Friday Lo-Res, Bikeboy Saturday David Anderson & the Wine Merchants, Larissa Agosti, Juan Alban Sunday Darebin Songwriters Award Lunch, Galactic Cabaret, Hugo & Treats, Rachel By The Stream, MC Tray, Big Milk, The Kinship Monday Larry/James Carter Tuesday NMIT Recitals

BANG Saturday Our Best Laid Plans, Fist Fights vs Fences, Good Til Sunrise, Like Wizards, House Vs Hurricane

BAR OPEN Wednesday Niko Niko, The Baka People, Ape Is Ape Thursday Bodies, Elizabeth Pistol Club, Little Killing Friday Laneous & The Family Yah Saturday Deep Street Soul Sunday The Stabs, Panic, Bum Creek, Drunk Dial, Crouching Tiger DJs

BENDER BAR Wednesday Open Mic Thursday The Gallant Trees, Prairie Friday The Velvet Cake Gypsies, Alysia Manceau Saturday Port Night Sunday Open Decks Tuesday Karaoke

BENDIGO HOTEL Friday Jaguar Spring, Rich Davies, Alysia Manceau, The Buegs Saturday Scarlett, Queer Girls Night, Ms Butt, Chairman Meow Sunday Sunday Sets, Goyim, Shazam Tuesday Anna’s Go Go Dance Classes

BIRMINGHAM HOTEL Wednesday The Black Hill Five, Tessa & The Typecast, The Alcorettes Friday Baptism of Uzi, Sid O’Neil, She’s The Driver, Chevrolet Rise

Saturday Piss Bolt, Collapsed Toilet Vietnam, True Radical Miracle, Pathetic Human, Super Fun Happy Slide

ESPLANADE LOUNGE Wednesday Midnight Heavies, JK Ruff, SHERIFF, Goodbye Motel Thursday Last Dinosaurs, Neon Love, Wilfred Jackal Saturday Nadastrom, Slap N Dash, Mu Gen, Scattermish, Matt Cant, Lewis cancut, Phil Para Sunday Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Monday Josh Owen Band Tuesday Michael Mehan, Jarek, Mike Elrington, Glenn Benny, Simon Phillips

BRUNSWICK HOTEL Wednesday The Brunswick Open Mic with host Matt McFarlane Thursday The Brunny Karaoke! Friday The Mixture, Johari Window, Midnight Heavies Saturday Lowdown Street Orchestra, Fall Of The Union, Mushroom Horse, The Hondas, Cads Of Yore, The Swiftones Sunday Carly Van, Brad Cox Van, James McDonald, The Cactus Chanel, Powerfuck, 3 Bags Full, Coconut Rebellion Monday Passionate Tongues - Poetry and Spoken Word Tuesday The Brunswick Discovery, Lucky Hunter

BUILDERS ARMS HOTEL Wednesday Tailor Made For A Small Room, Far Concern, Maudita Thursday Princess One Point Five, Sophie Koh, Tash Parker Friday Ducks in the Mud, Dirtbird, Mladen Saturday Vultures Of Venus, Cape Cod Affair, The Ravenous Sunday Zombirds, High Seas Deep Seas, Franco Cozzo

BURLESQUE BAR Friday BURLY-FRIDAY! LIVE BURLESQUE Saturday Cirque De Femmes Sunday Gerry Hale’s Uncle Bill, Atrocity Burlesque

CHERRY BAR Wednesday Bittersweet Kicks Thursday Saskwatch Friday Sin City, Red Devotchkin, The Working Horse Irons Saturday Rock City Riff Raff, DJ Paul Miles

CORNER HOTEL Wednesday King Khan, BBQ Show, Royal Headache, Woollen Kits Thursday Michael Paynter, Coby Grant, Ben Abraham

GLAMOUR CATS Hell City Glamours are hitting the Espy’s Gershwin Room this Friday as part of the Rock For Relief benefit show! That’s one rollicking, good-time rock’n’roll band for one bloody good reason (though really, do you even need a reason to head out and see the Glamours?). The band will then return to Melbourne in their own right later in June for shows at Next on Thursday 17 June and Cherry Bar on Saturday 19, so keep an eye out for further details of those gigs. Friday Zulya, Julian Chapple’s Mystery Shadow Show, Mischa Herman Saturday Wagons, The Beards, Super Wild Horses, DJ Woody McDonald

DING DONG LOUNGE Thursday En Tout Cas, San Fran Disco Friday I Oh You Party, Last Dinosaurs, Neon Love Saturday Belles Will Ring, Sandpebbles, The Bowers, Strangers From Now On, The Kremlin Succession, The Mohan Veena

EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB Thursday FLAP!, The Band Who Knew Too Much Friday Parades, Belles Will Ring, Geoffrey O’Connor, Great Earthquake Saturday Closure in Moscow, Secrets in Scale, Qlayface Sunday Nick Willett, The Starliners, DJ Mohair Slim

EDINBURGH CASTLE HOTEL Wednesday Nick Lovell, Susannah Coleman-Brown Thursday The Promises Friday McAlpine Fusiliers, The Weathermen Saturday Voodoo Economic, Trumpet Marine Sunday Muk Fundraiser

EMPRESS HOTEL Wednesday Round Robin, The Lucksmiths, PSUCHE, Surly Mermaids, Owl + Moth, Milk Teddy, Denim Owl

Thursday Pretty Strangers, These Patterns, Seb Hammond Friday The Stavros Brothers, Ninety Nine, Wet Young Dolphin Saturday PSUCHE, Magic Super White, Owl + Moth, Space Cactus, Yama Boy Sunday The Revels, Ancient Slate, Liam Lindley Monday Splodge, 16mm Cult Films, ‘From The Earth To The Moon (1958)’ Tuesday Open Mic

EMPRESS HOTEL, ARVO SHOW Saturday Pixie Jones, Eleanor Angel, Rich Davies Sunday Cam Ewart, Adrian Stoyles, Belinda Ashe

ESPLANADE (WHOLE VENUE) Friday Rock For Relief, Hell City Glamours, The Casanovas, The Melodics, Illy, Bewilderbeast, Forgiven Rival, Dead Actors Club, Mojo Rising

ESPLANADE BASEMENT Thursday Bayside Band Scene Saturday 4 Arm, Recoil, Teramaze, Decreipt

ESPLANADE GERSHWIN ROOM Thursday Emergenza, Envy, State Of Silence, Severed Oath, The Mill, A Lesser Ego, The Blue Swimmers Saturday Pro Rata, White Cell, Arcane Saints, Short Fall, Auburn Lies Sunday Shannon Lee, The Life, John Smith Quintet, Lights On at Heathrow, Sunset Circus, Twin Lizzy

EVELYN HOTEL Wednesday songwriter’s Collective, Jessica Paige, The Happy Endings, Ducks in the Mud, Jess Hieser Thursday Cacophony Society, Manny Fox’s Hangman Club, Yoshitoro Friday The Resignators, Strangely Attraktive, Calico Jacks, Kujo Kings Saturday Rainbird, Chasing Gravity, Crash Arcadia, The Black Aces Monday El Moth & The Turbo Rads

GRACE DARLING HOTEL Thursday The Bonniwells, The Frowning Clouds, The Galaxy Folk Friday Rapskallion, The Tiger And Me Saturday Duck Duck Chop, & Special Guests

HIFI BAR Friday Unearth & the Black Dahlia Murder, The Abandonment, Storm Picturesque Saturday Unearth & the Black Dahlia Murder, State Of East London, Black Majesty, Eyefear, Orpheus

JOHN CURTIN HOTEL Wednesday Bob, Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes, Xani Kolac, Zoe Frater

LYREBIRD LOUNGE Friday Talk Show Boy Sunday Fred Negro’s Kooky Karaoke, Billy Pommer Jr and Friends

MARQUIS OF LORNE HOTEL Wednesday Little John’s Bluegrass Sessions Friday Huggy Per Sound System Saturday Bin Man, From Op-Shop to Lap-Top Sunday Dan Brodie Monday Adam Afif & Fergus McAlpin and friends

NEXT Thursday In Name & Blood, The Gun Runners, Risk and Reason, Surprise Wasp, Hayden Moloney, The Devyls

NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB Thursday Lucy’s Crown, Little Freddie & The Pops, Twelve Inch Clocks, The Golden Tappers Friday Katy Steele, Mike Noga, Owl Eyes Saturday Boy & Bear, Oh Ye Denver Birds, The Chemist Sunday Gareth Skinner Tuesday The Basics, John Flanagan & The Begin Agains

PONY Thursday Young Raptors, The Ravenous, Jeraboms, The Greenroom, Slow Dance Friday Scul Hazzards, Breaker Morant, Baryshnikov, Diesel Witch, Xing!!! Saturday Bronson, Kcaveman, Headkase, Errata, Kretch, Pink Fitt

RETREAT HOTEL Thursday Leena, Steve Clifford Friday Russian Roulettes, Jape Squad, DJ Trevor Travis Saturday Daughterboy Jao, Royston Vasie, The Idle Hoes, DJ Geoff Leppard Sunday Go Go Sapien, Puta Madre Bros Monday Bogan Bingo Tuesday Adalita

REVELLER’S NORTH (DOWNSTAIRS) Friday Tom Kline Saturday Mark Phillips, Simon Bruce

REVELLER’S NORTH (UPSTAIRS) Friday The Tealeaves Saturday Louis Rowe, The Happy Endings, Nacional

REVOLVER Wednesday Clavians, The No Real Need, Big Smoke, Left Feels Right, Revolver Rock in the Backroom Thursday 3181 Thursdays, Hans DC, WHO Friday Ikarii, My Echo, The Human Electric, Dear Ale, The Revenge, Loud Invasion Saturday Fangs, The Sophisticants, Foreign Objects, The Statics, Ransom, Matt Cant, Paz Sunday Revolver Sundays, Boogs, Spacey Space, Matt Kovic, Yoshi Tuesday ’Melbourne Fresh Industry Showcases’, Trivia

THE ARTHOUSE

THE TOFF IN TOWN

Wednesday Rainshadow, The Symbiosist, Okera Thursday Agonhymn, Satori, Broozer, Ross Friday The Hawaiian Islands, Cult Minds, Party Vibez, Surprise Wasp Saturday Toe To Toe, Tenth Dan, Break Out, At War With Gods Sunday Spinset, Summerset Avenue, Summerset Tuesday Declamation, Zyncarla, Lethal Binge

Wednesday Horse Stories, Oliver Mann Thursday Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier, Love Story with 1928, Tranter, Rad Pitt, Megawuoti Friday Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith Saturday Holly Miranda, The House deFROST, Andee Frost Sunday Tinpan Orange, Husky, The Sunday Set, Andyblack, Haggis Monday Swing Classes

THE DRUNKEN POET Wednesday Preston Perche, Red Ruby Blue Thursday Monthly Overload Poetry Night Friday Traditional Irish Music Session, Dan Bourke & Friends Saturday Ben Smith, Billy Abbott Sunday The Stetson Family, David Cosma Duo Tuesday Trivia

THE OLD BAR Wednesday Plague Doctor, Monty Sparrow, Glavobones Thursday Swidgen, Dead City Ruins, Indian Mynah, DJ Drawfour Friday Old Bar Unicorns Benefit, Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, St Claire, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, The Litchfield Hallstars Saturday Ron Rude Renaissance, Harry Howard Band, Frightening Lights Sunday The Toot Toot Toots, The Velocettes, Diesel Witch Monday ’Crotchety Knitwits’ Tuesday A Country Practice, The Sleepless Nights

THE PUBLIC BAR Friday Vitruvian Man, Lethal Binge, Declamation Saturday Mechanical Pterodactyl, Dan Banks Band, Asami

THE SPANISH CLUB Wednesday Daryl Roberts Thursday Riverside Travellers Friday DJ Funky Saturday Matador Stage, Carmen Hendrix, Dj Ryan Katzan Sunday Joe Mandica, Matador Stage Monday Karaoke

THE STANDARD HOTEL Wednesday Emma Wall Sunday Van & Cal Walker

THORNBURY THEATRE Friday Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier Saturday Barb Waters & The Mother’s Of Pearl

TRANSPORT HOTEL (FED SQ) Thursday Matt Wilco, B-Boogie Saturday Sam McEwin, Matt Wilco Sunday Chiara Browne, Soul Deep

UNION HOTEL BRUNSWICK Thursday Sime Nugent Saturday Spoonful, Paul Winstanley, Kit Warhurst, Andre Warhurst, David Lord Sunday Ewan Cloonan Union

WESLEY ANNE Wednesday Akasa Thursday Mr Black & Blues, The Boy Who Spoke Clouds, Bianca Poitevin, Genevieve and Jezebel Friday Son Of A Gun Saturday Ben Carr Trio, Lydia Phillips, Alanna & Alicia Egan Band Sunday Loukia, First Chorus: Band Of Singers, Earl Grey Policy, The Stillsons Tuesday Dan Musil, Phia, David Grant

WORKERS CLUB Friday Familia Moja Fundraiser, Miso, Houlette, Owl + Moth, Sheahan Drive Saturday Fell Over, Breaker Morant, Yis

YAH YAH’S Thursday Rock Aerobics, Deserters, Bravado, The Solomons, Pauli Douglas Friday Chromenips, Money For Rope, The Beat Disease, Richie 1250 Saturday Clagg, Agonhymn, Mother Mars, Staedler & Waldorf Sunday Andrew McCubbin & The Hope Addicts, RSVP, Monty Sparrow

EMPLOYMENT ADMINISTRATION HEADROOM SOUND AUSTRALIA Using; P Audio, B & C, JBL and E.V. Top quality drivers in all our custom built bins. Top boxes, mids, subs, wedges to spec. This online pic is our new folded horn with one 18inch challenger, putting out 137db – 140+ when coupled. Call us for a free quote. 0414355763 iFlogID: 3100

EDUCATION & TRAINING VIOLIN TEACHER NEEDED! Position available in Busy music school in Beverly Hills, Kogarah and at various government schools. Teaching mainly beginners to intermediate level. Enthusiasm, patience and ability to inspire will be looked at more than your qualifications and experience. Email resume jobs@jumbonote. com.au iFlogID: 3615

VOCAL TEACHER NEEDED!

ROCK/METAL BAND SEEK MANAGER Original hard rock/metal band Silent Rose based in Melbourne, is currently seeking a dedicated manager. Visit www.myspace.com/silentrosemusic or email silentrosemusic@hotmail. com for more details.

chorus/lead boost. all footswitchable. very grunty. great fat sound! PERFECT CONDITION! $400.00 Ph Jimbo on 0428744963

12-24 MONTHS INTEREST FREE, NO INTEREST EVER, TAKE HOME YOUR GUITAR,AMP,P.A,KEYBOARD,ETC TODAY... CALL US FOR MORE DETAILS 07 54743033 MUSIC @ NOOSA

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IBANEZ LIMITED ED H.R.GIGER RG

MARSHALL TSL 602

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SELF-EMPLOYMENT LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY Would you like to be able to offer everyone you know and everyone they know and so on, the BEST PRICES GUARANTEED in the world for all their new brand name shopping? Well take a look at this. This is most certainly a lifetime opportunity to launch ongoing income well into the future. www.hotglobalbusiness.com/fortunate iFlogID: 2992

FOR SALE AMPS IBANEZ THERMION GUITAR HEAD

Mesa boogie 4x10 bass cabinet. Custom touring case with removable wheels and front grill protection. Perfect for the touring bass player or someone who wants a very durable and loud cab. $700 Brisbane 0449 166 129 perfect condition, custom grill cloth, amp cover, great amp. reluctant sale. 0408 385 476 Richmond iFlogID: 4758

iFlogID: 4923

iFlogID: 4027

FENDER 1965 TREMOLUX STACK EXCELLENT CONDITION. FOOTSWITCH INCLUDED. ONLY $1050! PH TOM ON 0433 744 065

PIANO TEACHER NEEDED! Position available in Busy music school in Beverly Hills, Kogarah and at various government schools. Teaching mainly beginners to intermediate level. Enthusiasm, patience and ability to inspire will be looked at more than your qualifications and experience. Email resume jobs@jumbonote. com.au iFlogID: 3619

ENTERTAINMENT ROCK BAND SEEKS MANAGER

iFlogID: 5191

BASS MIJ SQUIRE JAZZ BASS

FENDER PINK PAISLEY STRAT.

The Directory is a sourcebook for all the contacts in the Australian music market. There are over 5,000 listed companies & individuals in 70 sections covering all business sectors from Artists cross referenced by Booking Agents, Managers & Record Labels, Promoters, Music Media, Venues, Lawyers, Publishers & much more! We have 3 versions of the Directory available in Print $55 (GST & Postage included)--6 Month Online Subscription $40--iPhone App $19.95 (from Apple iTunes Store). To purchase your print or online version go to www.immedia.com.au/amid or call the IMMEDIA! Office (02) 9557 7766

CD / DVD METAL CD’S FOR SALE

FENDER TREMOLUX HEAD AND 2X12 CAB.made in 1965 IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. ONLY $3499 CALL US 07 54743033 - MUSIC@NOOSA

Over 500 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal CD’s for sale.Dozens of different bands.70’s to current.All in excellent condition.Many hard to find.Expand your collection overnight. $3400 the Lot or will sep.at $8 each.

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VIPER GUITAR AMP.ALL VALVE

Pearl EXR (2005 model) drum kit with the following: - 14” snare - 8” tom 10” tom - 12” tom - 13” tom - 16” floor tom - 22” bass - double kick pedal - single kick pedal - Pearl drum rack - numerous clamps for additional drums and/or cymbals - brand new skins for all 5 toms - Drum City cymbal bag (leather) - clamp arm - 3x boom cymbal stands - 2x straight cymbal stands - stool - additional tom arms Cymbals: - Zildjian A Custom 14” hi-hats - 10” splash - 17” crash - 18” crash - 16” fast crash - Zildjian A - 21” sweet ride All in perfect condition, reluctant sale. Call Kieran on 0410691616. Pickup from Sydney.

Japanese made Squier Jazz Bass L Series 91-92 Very good condition, great sound, all original

WANT TO WORK IN THE MUSIC BIZ?

iFlogID: 4269

MUSICMAN SUB ACTIVE 5 STRING 100 watt head and matching 4/12 angled quadbox.2 fully seperate channels with reverb/crunch/mean/filth. effects send/return.all footswithable. very versatile.Australian designed quality.MINT CONDITION.$850 ono.

*NEW* N.I MASCHINE

KORG TRITON EXTREME88 Authentic Rock Memorabilia and reprints from around the globe. www. rockgodsandlegends.com iFlogID: 3847

SHOP FOR BAND MERCH ONLINE!

BOSS DISTORTION PEDAL

YAMAHA NP30 DIGITIAL PIANO

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May Madness sale only $349 Power adapter an extra $29 Call 02 9520 3044 or email shop@engadinemusic. com

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YAMAHA PSRE413 USB KEYBOARD At the special price of $399 Power adapter to suit this keyboard $29

iFlogID: 4416

Boss MT-2 Metal Zone. Good condition, brutal distortion. These things never break- $90 iFlogID: 4029

GIBSON 1960 RI GOLDTOP

CASIO WORKSTATION WK200 Special price of $399 Power adapter $29 iFlogID: 4418

KORG X50 SYNTHESIZER KEYBOARD

iFlogID: 4664

For Sale! Fantastic Sounding AKG K701 Headphones, Brand New with original packaging, manual and warranty card. Bought $900, will let go for $700. You don’t wanna miss this occasion, don’t you!? Email me on vangelis2133@yahoo.com or just phone: 0449672435. First Come, First Serve! iFlogID: 5059

VINYL COLLECTION 1992 TO 2005 If you are wanting a solid piece of electronic music history, than this is the collection for you. Music Genre is as follows; Sound Tracks, Donna Summer, Yello, 1998 to 1990, 1991 to 1993 Rave & Italian Hi Energy, Hard House 1994 to 1997, Energy & Hard Trance 1993 to 1996, House & Atmospheric 1997 to 2000, Techno, Tech House & Acid 1996 to 2000, Progressive Trance 1996 to 1998, Eye Q & Harthouse Label, Goa Trance 1995 to 1997, Dark Progressive & Tribal House 2000 to 2003, Progressive House, Tech & Breaks 1998 to 2003, Ambience, Electro, Trip Hop, Big Beat, Breaks: Acid, Trancy & Tech 1995 to 1998, American Breaks 1995 to 1997. Total Records = 1350. $5k for the Lot. Vinyl in mint condition, you will not be disappointed. Call Max 0448551646. iFlogID: 5107

KEYBOARDS

A rarely used example of this classic and much sought-after synthesizer in excellent condition. Price includes delivery to any destination on mainland Australia.

iFlogID: 5112

DJ EQUIPMENT

iFlogID: 4711

Maton M225 Solid Sitka Spruce soundboard Queensland Maple Back, sides & neck Rosewood with dot inlays fingerboard Australian Made Original Elixir strings Natural Finish $750 *pick up in Sydney area

SECOND NATION - delinquent E.P. AVAILABLE NOW for $4.99 at www. myspace.com/secondnation

Using; P Audio, B & C, JBL and E.V. Top quality drivers in all our custom built bins. Top boxes, mids, subs, wedges to spec. This online pic is our new folded horn with one 18inch challenger, putting out 137db – 140+ when coupled. Call us for a free quote. 0414355763

Genuine 1980’s Pete Townshend jap model. all original. in case. plays great. nice patina. very rare. suit collector. EXCELLENT CONDITION! $2500.00 Ph Jimbo on 0428744963.

ACOUSTIC GUITAR MATON M225

SECOND NATION DELINQUENT E.P

OTHER HEADROOM SOUND

ROCK MEMORABILIA

GUITARS

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Shop online 24/7 at www.tsp.net.au for Australia’s biggest and best range of official licensed band merchandise. Hundreds of bands, thousands of products! AC/DC, Blink 182, David Bowie, Dead Kennedys, Escape The Fate, Iron Maiden, Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division, Megadeth, Metallica, MGMT, Minor Threat, Misfits, Nirvana, Opeth, Parkway Drive, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Ramones, Slayer, Sonic Youth, Tool, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more! T-shirts, fleecy hoodies, caps, beanies, bags and loads of other cool stuff. Shop now at www.tsp.net.au.

PA EQUIPMENT HEADROOM SOUND Using; P Audio, B & C, JBL and E.V. Top quality drivers in all our custom built bins. Top boxes, mids, subs, wedges to spec. This online pic is our new folded horn with one 18inch challenger, putting out 137db – 140+ when coupled. Call us for a free quote. 0414355763 iFlogID: 3098

MUSIC SERVICES BAND MERCHANDISE ON LINE BOOKING AGENCY

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ROCK MEMORABILIA Authentic Signed Rock Memorabilia and reprints from around the globe. www.rockgodsandlegends.com iFlogID: 4954

ROCK MEMORABILIA

Australia’s first online booking agency with a difference!!!! For Artists & Promoters iFlogID: 3466

GUITAR GODS AND MASTERPIECES

MARSHALL VS100 VALVESTATE AMP. MUSICMAN S.U.B. X04 ACTIVE 5 STRING, BRIDGE HUMBUCKER, POPLAR BODY, ROSEWOOD FINGERBOARD, TEXTURED WHITE COLOUR, MADE IN USA, BRAND NEW, RRP $1795, ASKING $1295 ONO, CALL (07) 3812 1880 iFlogID: 4610

iFlogID: 4839

PROMOTER

BRAND NEW LIMITED EDITION H.R.GIGER RG + CASE. RRP $2995, SELLING FOR $2295, ONE ONLY, CALL (07) 3812 1880 iFlogID: 4697

iFlogID: 5078

Gigging rock band with EP seeks manager. Solid originals act, lots of potential. Call Michael on 0402 112 557.

Valleyarm are a global digital music supplier and are seeking sales contractors Australia wide to sign bands and artists. On target earnings of $37800 PA, flexible hours and awesome incentives! A passion and an ear for good music is essential, if you like checking out bands and have good people skills then this might be the job for you! A real chance to make huge dollars within the music industry! Training provided. Email interest and resumes to info@valleyarm. com or call 03 9525 5589 for more information.

PEARL EXR CYMBALS RACK STANDS

MUSIC INDUSTRY BIBLE

Marshall JCM2000 DSL100 head and 1960a 4x12. GREAT CONDITION apart from cosmetic wear. Genuine Marshall footswitch provided. ONLY $1600. PH TOM on 0433744065.

Ibanez Thermion TN120 All Tube Guitar Head. Good Condition, great amp. $600

100watt rms. 4 channell with EQ/ REVERB. stereo CD input. CUBE STYLE. Very good condition. $300.00 Ph Jimbo on 0428744963.

iFlogID: 4925

MARSHALL JCM2000+1960A QUADBOX

MARSHALL JCM2000 DSL 100

iFlogID: 3617

Quality MEINL Djembe stands 60cm tall w/ 30cm head diameter. Deep sounds - quality drum - moving overseas so regretful sale $200 Brisbane 0449 166129

BUSINESSES

iFlogID: 5061

Prefer female: Position available in Busy music school in Beverly Hills, Kogarah and at various government schools. Teaching mainly beginners to intermediate level. Enthusiasm, patience and ability to inspire will be looked at more than your qualifications and experience. Email resume jobs@jumbonote.com.au

MIXERS ROSS PC110 POWERED MIXER

English made reliability. 100watts in 2 fully seperate channels with reverb/

MESA BOOGIE 4X10 W/ CUSTOM CASE

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS MASCHINE SAMPLING PAD - HUGE SPECIAL - ONLY $899 IN BOX ONLY ONE AVAILABLE - CALL US 07 54743033 MUSIC@NOOSA

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DRUMS MEINL DJEMBE NEAR NEW!

SECONDHAND 1960 RI LES PAUL GOLDTOP IN EXCELLENT CONDITION W/CASE ONLY $3395 CALL US 07 54743033 - MUSIC@NOOSA iFlogID: 4384

MUSIC@NOOSA - INTEREST FREE

Beautiful sounding keyboard/synth, pretty much new, have only played a couple of times at home. Selling due to lack of money:) $500 o.b.o 0414944722 iFlogID: 5099

Authentic Signed & Reprint Rock Memorabilia from across the globe www.rockgodsandlegends.com iFlogID: 4956

ABSOLUTE VALUE!

New TV show for Guitar players and Guitar Music Fans. Coming soon to C31 DIGITAL, Tune into 44 on your box Saturday nights at 10.30 starting June 12. info@guitargodsandmasterpieces.com iFlogID: 5162

wedges to spec. This online pic is our new folded horn with one 18inch challenger, putting out 137db – 140+ when coupled. Call us for a free quote. 0414355763

EP RELEASE WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ THEMHUMM www.myspace.com/themhumm

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PORTABLE RECORDING SERVICE

HIRE SERVICES PA/OPERATOR FOR HIRE For as low as $100, you get a PA system with a sound mixer, complete with a human operator as well to set it up for you for the evening. You can play your own music through it, sing, talk, do a disco, small function, etc, etc, etc. Contact Chris 0419 272 196. iFlogID: 3721

PA AND INSTRUMENT HIRE

Viking Lounge mastering provide the best in personalised service and attention to fine detail. Paul Stefanidis will take your project to the next level! Credits include a national number one by Shortstack and top producers Craig Porteils, Lee Groves and Trevor Steel! For more details see www.studioprojects.com.au and www.vikingloungemastering.com or call Andy om 0424 656 973

Perth Music News Your one stop for local Perth music news, gig guides, photogrpahy, reviews, bands, CD’s & more... Sign up to our weekly e-news & keep up to date! www.spaceshipnews.com.au iFlogID: 4790

MUSIC COMPOSITION: FILMTVRADIO

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Melbourne Pa and Instrument Hire Specialists. We have a large range of Pa equipment, large and small to suit any occasion. Dynacord,yamaha,mackie,cordless mics,etc etc. Instrument hire also available such as drumkits,keyboards,amps and much more. Call for 9689 4622 Just 10 min from cbd

PA Hire & Experienced operator, Pubs, Clubs, Corporate & Private Events plus more. Contact Matt 0412474551 iFlogID: 4089

ROCK MIXER WANTED FOR EP

Custom bass drum heads ensure your bands name gets remembered after the gig. The sickest, best quality custom bass drum heads, banners, backdrops, stickers, and full drum wraps! www.kustombassdrumgraphics.com.au sales@kustombassdrumgraphics.com.au iFlogID: 2883

WANT TO PERFORM OR TOUR? Do you want to perform or tour? Need help sourcing $ for? There are government grants closing soon. For help contact: speakeasywordsandmusic@ gmail.com or 0439 620 526. Professional, down to earth, affordable grant writing and music/tour booking

Music for Film, TV, Radio, Media & Other. Composition of songs, jingles, commercials, themes, scores and classical pieces. Most genres undertaken: classic pop-rock, easy listening, acoustic, country, folk, comedy, lyrical and classical. Accomplished and experienced composer/ writer/ vocalist/ musician. Contact Duncan on 0402 136 335 or duncan321sunrise@yahoo.com.au www.myspace. com/filmtvradio www.filmtvradio. webs.com www.loveinakingdom. webs.com myspace.com/duncansunrise www.adventuresofjack.webs. com myspace.com/duncansmusicsunrise

We have 5 days recording in late June. We need a great Rock producer/engineer to mix our 5 tracks. Must have plenty of experience in Rock/Metal/ Punk www.mypace.com/droptankband droptankband@gmail.com iFlogID: 4470

TOP US MIX ENGINEER PAUL LANI

Get one of the best mix engineers in the US to mix your single or album! It costs less than you may think! Credits include Beyonce, Robbie Williams, U2, Snoop Dogg and a cast of thousands! See www.studioprojects.com.au for details or ring Andy 0424 656 973.

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COOL PERTH NIGHTS

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LIVE AUDIO ENGINEER

MASTERING BY PAUL GOMERSALL

Cool Perth Nights weekly mailout features all the coolest live music, theatre, indie film screenings and art exhibition happenings in and around Perth Western Australia. Sign up via www.coolperthnights.com and receive this clean presented and very fun info each Wednesday lunchtime WST.

Unlike other DJs, Top Shelf DJs have a background in alternative and indie music. So if you want your party to have a distinctly indie/alternative feel,or just want a few alternative tunes in the mix, we are the perfect fit for your event! Find out more at www. topshelfdjs.com.au iFlogID: 5074

GET IN THE KNOW!

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LOVE IN A KINGDOM - FILM OPERA

Take your band to the next level with old school high end engineering form a veteran with 28 years experience! Credits include The Next, The Vandolls, The Art, Eskimo Joe, KIlling Heidi and many, many more! For more details see www.studioprojects.com.au or ring Andy on 0424 656 973. iFlogID: 4866

HEARTICAL SOUND SYSTEM HIRE

Coming soon to a movie theatre near you, this sensatonal new and original film opera / musical. A dramatic and compelling medieval adventure set to classical music and song. Contact Duncan on mob: 0402 136 335 or at duncan321sunrise@yahoo.com.au View associated website at: www. loveinakingdom.webs.com myspace. com/duncansmusicsunrise

From the people who brought you TheMusic.com.au comes two new free news resources, The Daily News Feed and Velvet Rope; the only source of music business and industry news you will ever need! Each morning the Daily News Feed posts crucial music business news, helping you stay current with Aussie and overseas breaking stories. Velvet Rope is brought to you via Door Bitch and is a weekly news column that keeps you up to date on the happenings of the music biz. From job opps, news, events & a bit of back room gossip, Door Bitch has it covered. It’s out every Friday at noon. Check out the new news at www.TheMusic.com.au

ADVENTURES OF JACK BARTHOLEMEW

PA / AUDIO / ENGINEERING

PHOTOGRAPHY

SPEAKER REPAIRS - ALL MODELS

Looking for a photographer for your band?Checkout theartofcapture. com to see examples and portfolio of work. Studio and location shots.All states. Contact Kane Hibberd Kane@theartofcapture.com or call 0419 570 660.

iFlogID: 2857

MATTHEW GRAY MASTERING - $99

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FORENSIC AUDIO MASTERING Professional high end analog and digital mastering. Online service available with highly competitive rates. www.forensicaudio.com.au mobile 0401 499 667

THE BEST IN MASTERING

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SINGING LESSONS THAT ROCK

RECORDING STUDIOS $$ ATTENTION ALL STUDIOS $$

Want to become an agent for Valleyarm? Valleyarm are a global digital music supplier and are seeking studios and producers Australia wide to be official agents, you’d be responsible for signing new bands and artists to add to our catalogue and getting paid to do so. If you ever have bands asking how they can get their songs on iTunes then this is the perfect chance to bring in extra revenue with excellent monthly bonuses available! Training and point of sale is available to get you started straight away. Email info@valleyarm.com or Call 03 9525 5589

Write, develop and record your material in a creative, positive environment. I am a producer, multi-instrumentalist and vocal coach with vast experience in helping artists polish their songs. Studio features Pro-Tools and vintage gear with three recording rooms. Extensive industry contacts. Phone Andrew Covell 9798 2665 or 0425 262 594 iFlogID: 5184

REHEARSAL ROOMS CAULFIELD MUSIC CENTRE **MENTION THIS ADVERTISEMENT TO RECEIVE A FULL 5 HOUR REHEARSAL STUDIO BOOKING ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY FOR $45** WELCOME TO CAULFIELD MUSIC REHEARSAL STUDIOS. WE HAVE FIVE LARGE, SOUNDPROOF ROOMS AVAILIBLE FOR HIRE. ALL OF THE ROOMS ARE THE SAME SIZE (APPROXIMATELY 7 X 6 METRES). EACH ROOM IS EQUIPPED WITH A 12 CHANNEL P.A. SYSTEM, 4 MICROPHONES, 4 MICROPHONE LEADS AND 4 MICROPHONE STANDS. OUR REHEARSAL ROOMS ARE ALL AIR CONDITIONED. THEY ARE ALWAYS KEPT CLEAN AND WELL MAINTAINED. WE HAVE TWO ROOMS WITH PIANOS AVAILABLE FOR SOLO, PRIVATE USE. THESE ROOMS ARE AVAILABLE FOR HIRE WHEN THEY ARE NOT BEING USED FOR TEACHING. PLEASE CALL FOR AVAILABILITY. THEY ARE HIRED AT $5.50 PER HOUR. EXTRA EQUIPMENT CAN BE HIRED WITH THE ROOMS. PLEASE TELL US WHAT YOU WILL BE NEEDING WHEN YOU BOOK SO THAT WE CAN HAVE IT READY FOR YOU. FOR ALL BOOKINGS PH: (03) 9532 9530. iFlogID: 4330

NEW REHEARSAL STUDIOS

SPACE SHIP NEWS.COM.AU

iFlogID: 4356

SINGING TEACHER NYC TRAINED CONTEMPORARY AND MUSIC THEATRE SINGING TUITION. TRAINED WITH LEADING NYC VOCAL TEACHER WORKED WITH ARTISTS IE. AVRIL LAVIGNE, KELLY CLARKESON AND BEYONCE. WORLD RENOWNED VOCAL EXCERSISES TO VASTLY IMPROVE VOCAL TECHIQUE BASED ON EXCSERCISES FROM MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC. LOCATED EASTERN SUBURBS. AVAILABLE TO TRAVEL. ORIGINALS WELCOME. AUDITION COACHING. 0435 426 012 iFlogID: 4452

NY TRAINED SONGWRITING TUITION

The Guitar is an easy instrument to play BUT it is an extremely difficult instrument to learn. Taking from 4 to 7 years to reach the competency level. The problem is the blank Fretboard. InteGuitar solves this problem by giving the Fretboard a temporary VISUAL INTERFACE to play the rudimentary OPEN and BAR chords of guitar in Weeks/Months not years. Play songs on guitar INSTANTLY For the price of $49.99 kit of 4 X Interfaces and Tutorial CD. The Interfaces DO NOT interfere with the playing of the guitar. Call us now on 0405 044 513 iFlogID: 2716

BLUES HARP LESSONS

PROFFESSIONAL ROYALTIES EARNING POP ROCK SONGWRITER AVAILABLE FOR TUITION AND GUIDANCE. TRAINED WITH LEADING NYC VOCAL TEACHER WHO HAS WORKED WITH ARTISTS IE. AVRIL LAVIGNE, KELLY CLARKESON AND BEYONCE. COMMERCIAL RADIO PLAY FOR ORIGINALS. LOCATED EASTERN SUBURBS. AVAILABLE TO TRAVEL. ORIGINALS WELCOME OR BEGINNING FROM AFRESH. K.I.S.S. = $$$$$. 0435 426 012

VIDEO / PRODUCTION 360 DEGREE INTERACTIVE VIDEO

Panoramic Video create interactive 360 degree online videos that are a unique addition to any website, putting your fans and web viewers virtually there with you. We can add in hotspots into the videos too so that you can direct users to other web sites for ticket or music purchasing, and with the ability to be embedded into other pages such as blogs etc, a Panoramic Video is a perfect choice for viral marketing.. Our videos keep the interest and by their nature keep users and fans on your website for longer than a standard video. It’s cool, and it’s unique, and a great option if you are looking for something different and innovative.. Costs will vary depending on where you are and what we do for you, but our rates are very reasonable.... We are a new innovative business in Melbourne and looking to help promote local bands and artists with our interactive videos.. so give us a call for a great deal. Check out some of our samples at www.panoramicvideo.com.au then give us a call on 03 9457 7600 today.. We would love to hear from you! iFlogID: 2774

MUSICIANS AVAILABLE BASS PLAYER BASS PLAYER AVAILABLE

iFlogID: 4454

PRODUCTION/MIXING TUITIONS I’m a professional Music Producer and Sound Mixer who has worked with internationally renowned artist such as Seal and De La Soul, and I’m offering private tuition in Mixing and Production. Bring your own session (Logic or Protools) or use one of mine, and I will show the tricks that they do not teach you at school, I work from my home setup (Surry Hills) only, $65 per hour. http://www.steevebody.com

Gary Soloman Bass player for Marie Wilson, Bo Diddley, Free zone etc is available for local/ touring gigs and recordings. Original acts or covers OK , any genre styles OK call Gary 0407505764 iFlogID: 5037

iFlogID: 4776

BASS/ GUITAR/VOCAL TUITION

Learn Blues Harmonica all styles from Ragtime, Country Blues , Chicago Blues styles. Private lessons in Sydney with Blue tongue & Workshops across Australia with Bluetongue, Ian Collard & Doc Span. web- http://www. bluetongueharmonica.com.au p-02 80037132 m-0412 668575 iFlogID: 3683

DRUMMER EXPERIENCED DRUMMER Experienced drummer available with pro-gear for working band or form a band.Have own transport in Melb. Dedicated and reliable.I am a all rounder drummer wanting to get back into giging. call Bing 0404576365 iFlogID: 4618

GUITARIST LEAD GUITARIST AVAILABLE Modern Life Music School offers professional performance based tuition for the dedicated beginner or established musician. A tailored program to achieve your goals utilizing a modern studio and live performance facility will ensure that you achieve your potential .

iFlogID: 5135

BAND PHOTOS

LOLA VOCAL TUITION

Smiley Mcslidey Records has a rehearsal room for hire. Situated directly opposite RRR in East Brunswick, you get the place to yourself, can make permanent bookings if you want, has a rad PA in a rad sounding room. Email us at smileymcslidey@ gmail.com for bookings or if you wanna come take a peep. iFlogID: 5105

TUITION GUITAR TUITION 100+ LOCATIONS

Ableton certified trainer and author of Ableton video training for Groove 3 (USA) Craig McCullough is available locally in SE Qld for private Ableton and music technology training. Video training is also availble from www. groove3.com. Mobile: 0431 556 746 email: abletontrainer@optusnet.com. au iFlogID: 4154

A1 HOME CALL GUITAR TUITION A1 very experienced guitar teacher available for home call tuition.we come to you! become a better musician soon!based in sydney’s inner west.I had the best teachers,now you can too.learn the fundamentals that make a great guitar player!many styles taught in a relaxed,fun manner that will get you happening fast.ph 0421727864.

Headroom Sound Australia. Re-cones to all models e.g. JBL, P Audio, B & C, E-Tone etc Custom built crossovers, all at budget prices. For quotes contact Ray on tallpoppies@iprimus.com. au or 04143 55763 iFlogID: 3094

HEADROOM SOUND AUSTRALIA Using; P Audio, B & C, JBL and E.V. Top quality drivers in all our custom built bins. Top boxes, mids, subs,

* where students become musicians * www.caulfieldmusic.com.au QUALIFIED TEACHERS AVAILABLE Monday - Friday: 4pm-9pm * Saturday: 10am4pm * Sunday: 11am-4pm * *Please call for lesson availability times. PRIVATE LESSONS - $28 PER HALF HOUR GUITAR BASS PIANO SINGING & VOICE PRODUCTION DRUMS PERCUSSION SAXOPHONE FLUTE RECORDER HARMONICA VIOLIN At Caulfield Music Centre - Music School, we offer private, one-on-one lessons. We believe this is the best way for students to learn their chosen instrument. All students receive special student DISCOUNTS on musical instruments and equipment. All lessons are payable weekly, one lesson in advance. A DISCOUNT applies when paying for 10 lessons in advance. Missed lessons incur the full fee unless a minimum of 24 hours notice is given. Exceptional circumstances will be considered. ALL ENQUIRIES AND BOOKINGS PHONE 9528 1162 OR EMAIL music@ caulfieldmusic.com.au

Lead guitarist looking to jam/form a heavy metal band, preferably on the central coast but willing to travel. Influences: Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Metallica, Iron maiden - Blake 0403138542 iFlogID: 4774

GUITARIST TO FORM/JOIN BAND

iFlogID: 5039

From small PA to large high powered rigs. Crystal clear custom built mids and tops cabs with heavy duty bass bins. Suitable for indoor and outdoor events. delivered, set up and operated. Call Derek for quotes on 0423979396

PHOTOGRAPHY

iFlogID: 4490

iFlogID: 2671

INTEGUITAR.COM

ABLETON CERTIFIED TRAINER

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Coming soon to a movie theatre near you, this dramatic fantasy musical adventure. From the trenches of the first world war to a new world beyond the mysterious Timeless Forest. All enquiries to Duncan on mobile: 0402 136 335 duncan321sunrise@yahoo. com.au View associated website at www.adventuresofjack.webs.com

Your voice has the ability to sing at the Audioslave/ Radiohead/ Aretha/ P.J.Harvey level because of Design. Extend your vocal range learn to sing the right technique the first time, career counseling how to start a band. For advanced students: • Microphone Techniques • Recording Techniques • Songwriting • Harmonising. Free performance nights for current and previous students. 10 + years teaching experience. Beginners to Advanced also guitar lessons 0405-044-513

SONGWRITERS/SINGERS

TOP SHELF DJS - MELB DJ HIRE

MASTERING

iFlogID: 4091

Professional illustrator available for any project. Book covers, children’s books, album art and much more. Based in Melbourne, drawing world wide! Excellent rates. www.paulikin. com -Phone: 0403 996 129 or email paul@paulikin.com

iFlogID: 4841

iFlogID: 4927

iFlogID: 5076

$99 per song +gst for online mastering via our secure servers. Analog chain, digital chain, mix evaluations, online mastering and attended sessions - we ensure your mastered product sounds amazing. www.matthewgraymastering.com.

POSTERS ILLUSTRATOR AVAILABLE NOW!

network of over 100 teachers across Australia using the latest learning techniques to ensure students the absolute best tuition available. Backed by the G4 GUITAR METHOD our teachers have the reputation to take you from beginner to pro. Please visit our website to find your closest teacher and grab a free download. www.g4guitar.com.au or Phone 0405-274456

PA HIRE

CUSTOM BASS DRUM HEADS

MUSICIANS FOR FUNCTIONS/ VENUES

Trust your next mastering project with Paul who’s been working with major international artists for over 25 years.. you’ll probably find his name on CDs you own.....For a limited time song transfers through the ATR100 - the worlds finest 1/2” tape machine - is absolutely FREE!! (Worth up to $100 a song)...So for only $88 per song you can get the results you want at the price you can afford..-..-Post Upload, or call in......For further details visit --- www.gomersall.com --- Call Paul 0407 488 697

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OTHER

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Are you thinking of hiring quality musicians that bring an audience ? Do you have a function/event and considering live entertainment ? For a limited period, we are offering a Venue Promotions Package featuring favourite entertainers. If it is about raising your venue profile or just great entertainment you want, contact us now. Chris 0419 272 196 http://infovisionproductions.yayabings.com.au

Assisting with CD releases, Live DVDs, Offering you professional audio which you can also upload to Myspace, YouTube, E.P.Ks etc. ANY GENRE 18 channels of Pro Tools, 16 channels of professional isolated stage splitters (Radial, JensenTransformers), Quality pre amps, Great microphones, Internationally experienced engineer Jeremy Conlon MOB: 0421 836 876 EMAIL: jeremy@cooperblack.net www.myspace.com/jeremythesoundengineer B. Music (Composition) , Cert IV Music Tech, Cert IV Work Place Skills and Assessment

first time at an affordable cost..Contact Mike 0447572106

iFlogID: 4240

Photography...Get the right shot the

Learn to play from some of Australia’s best guitar teachers. G4 GUITAR is a

CAULFIELD MUSIC CENTRE Caulfield Music Centre MUSIC SCHOOL

Lola Vocal Tuition is a team of two female music students, teaching beginner to intermediate students (of any age) in all styles of contemporary music. We work on technique, vocal confidence and overall on-stage performance. We do either single or group singing tuition. For prices email us at lola_vox@hotmail.com or call Laura on 0427763653 or Luise on 0419329896 .

i am looking to form a serious band, influences include Stone Roses, The Smiths, Beatles, Kinks, Suede. Preferably looking for vocalist to collaborate with, then add bass and drums later. songs ready, looking to be gigging asap. own transport preferable. email - thevilliers@hotmail.com iFlogID: 4990

OTHER

iFlogID: 5176

SAXOPHONIS AVAILABLE

GUITAT TUITION Experienced guitar teacher, all styles and skill levels welcome. Learn how to play like your heros. teaching in collingwood area. flexible hours, competative rates. 0439404403 gypsyjones11@gmail.com iFlogID: 5180

SINGING TUITION Tired of cracking on high notes? Not enough range or power? Learn to sing it right 1st time, every time. Dramatic improvement guaranteed. Beginners to professionals welcome. Creative, friendly environment. Also recording, songwriting, multi-instrumentalist. Phone Andrew Covell 9798 2665 or 0425 262 594 iFlogID: 5186

Experienced saxophonist is looking for bands and studio sessions. Jazz, funky, afro, reggae, latin, rock, folk. If interested contact me at 0410041979. Cheers. Lorenzo iFlogID: 2848

PRO TROMBONIST AVAILABLE

For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au 90

taylorkingmusic.com or calling on 0404 370 768 Check out the music at my Myspace: www.myspace.com/ taylorjking iFlogID: 3484

FUNKY RYTHYM SECTION WANTED! Professional Trombone player available for gigs, session and tours. Jazz, Funk, Latin, Pop, Rock and Classical. Can sight read, improvise and write parts. Contact Brendan 0409833827. iFlogID: 4101

funky rythym section wanted for dynamic sexy funk/rock/blues hip hop band.influences-the meters,early rhcp,sly stone,james brown,jimi hendrix,parliament/funkadelic.phone 0421727864. iFlogID: 4238

WANNA BE IN MY BAND??!!!

SINGER LOOKING FOR LIFE TIME BAND genuine music man searching life time members. iFlogID: 2424

MUSICIANS WANTED BASS PLAYER

Who wants to be in a all girls original pop rock band hav some fun and make some $$$?! Guitar/bass/ drummer needed. Must be able to sing passable back up vox and luv performing!Practice 1-2 times per week. Gig asap. All ages welcome. www.myspace.com/nicolesero 0435 426 012 iFlogID: 4394

DRUMMER WANTED

METALLICA SHOW

Drummer wanted for originals band in Melbourne. Have the basics of songs completed, just need to learn the songs to add the drums and get them gig ready. Looking for someone determined and eager to play. Influences are Sonic Youth, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, etc. COntact 0403929446. iFlogID: 4431

THE UNFORGIVEN METALLICA TRIBUTE SHOW & BIGWAYOUT rock cover band requires a professional bass player for immediate start!! Agency backed, 8-12 shows per month. Your own form of transport and good gear a must.. Call John on 0416144111

SONS OF GENGHIS NEED DRUMMER!

BASS PLAYER WANTED We are a rock covers band playing classics from the 70’s to current styles. AC/DC is a big influence along with Guns N’ Roses, Pearl Jam and Hendrix. We are easy going down to earth people looking for the same. We’re looking for someone who is committed and doesn’t take themselves too seriously. We have a view to play local gigs around Wollongong and eventually doing originals and touring. If you’re interested in rocking your way to the top then look no further. Call Dale on 0409 408 596

OTHER MUSO’S WANTED TO JAM/ FORM BAND muso’s wanted to jam form rock/ metal band, steve,0424487379

iFlogID: 2814

MUSICIANS AND AUDIENCE WANTED

Sydney Based “Sons Of Genghis” need versatile drummer, if you play like primus meets Chilli Peppers, Faith no more meets Pantera,this is the band for you and we want your chops!! Check the sounds at www. myspace.com/sonsofgenghis. Call Jono 0410 330 702 or Andy 0420 771 357. iFlogID: 4485

GUITARIST GUITARISTS WANTED TO TEACH

Details: http://hotelwilliam.yayabings. com.au This is the underground melting pot of music jam sessions, organised by the Yayabings Music Club with the JazzKatts romping the Fusion Bar. Musicians/singers, comedians and artists at all levels perform by coming in on that evening. Totally impromptu and musicians may improvise with other musicians/singers or perform their own set. Local/Backpackers/ Internationals all welcome. iFlogID: 2923

GET YOUR MUSIC ON RADIO! Want to get your music heard on radio? Australian Broadcasting Media(ABM) has over 30 radio stations so getting your music out there is no problem! Interested? email andy@zfmcountrywide.com

Valleyarm Digital are looking for bands to be included on compilation albums that will be featured on iTunes worldwide, you’ll still own 100% of your recordings & publishing plus make money from the sales!! All genres are welcome and we’ll also be offering a Worldwide Digital Deal to a band or artist that we think we can market on a global scale! This will include $5000 worth of online marketing and a worldwide release on all the major digital stores. Submit your tracks (1 per band/artist) along with bio and contact details to - info@valleyarm. com www.valleyarm.com iFlogID: 4843

SINGERS/MUSICIANS WANTED!

BASS PLAYER WANTED Female fronted originals band seeks musically open minded bass player. Rehearsing in inner west. We like PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, The Bellrays, MC5, Nick Cave, Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath. Call 0410 865 035 or email newtons4@aapt. net.au iFlogID: 4699

BASS PLAYER WANTED Influences Mark Lanegan, Nick Cave, Townes Van Zandt, Bright Eyes, Suicide, Soundgarden, Bruce Springsteen, Cat Power, Radiohead, Pixies, PJ, Rowland Howard etc. For more details email bass7000@gmail.com iFlogID: 4987

VOCALIST WANTED Professional band with clubwork and agent, looking for charismatic male vocalist.Ideal influences would be 80’s 90’s pop/soul.Must be true showperson. Age: 35 - 50years of age. For details call Cora on 0418 122 370. iFlogID: 4994

DRUMMER BASS PLAYER + DRUMMER WANTED I’m a Sydney based artist looking for a bass player and a drummer. I’d love to give everyone a go but we can only consider accomplished players. We are and will continue to be gigging regularly around Sydney. With the music getting regular airplay on FBI and attention from all the right people, we need musos that LOVE the music I do and believe 100% in it. Let Management know if you’re interested by emailing: management@

FEMALE SINGER WANTED We are looking for an open-minded and charismatic artist. Experience not necessary. Keyboardist optional. Preferred age: 16-26. We are a new band looking to jump into the live music scene. Located in Bondi, our influences include blues, punk, rock and funk. Jam and practice sessions twice a week. Call Bo on 0401365924 or Email on andrewakman2001@ gmail.com.

G4 Guitar is an Australia wide network of Guitar Teachers who teach from their own homes and studios. With over 100 teachers we are the No.1 name in guitar tuition. We welcome both inexperienced and experienced teachers and we provide online training and support. To apply to become a teacher please visit our website at www.g4guitar.com.au or phone 0430-426137 iFlogID: 2631

NOEL GALLAGHER-OASIS COV BAND

Talented Musicians, Singers/Songwriters Wanted for collaborative project. Im a Perth based Producer seeking friendly and talented singers and musicians in any style for serious yet fun musical projects leading to an album and gigs. Interested? feel free to contact me : recording_studio19@ y7mail.com iFlogID: 4931

SINGER NOEL GALLAGHER-OASIS COV BAND

OASIS cover band requires a NOEL GALLAGHER. That means good singing ability and tight rythm ability. Lead not essential. Please be a fan of the music, have your own transport and some good gear. Call Blake 0420 774 819

OASIS cover band needs a Noel Gallagher. That means a good singer with tight rythm guitar ability. Lead not essential. Good gear and transport required. Call Blake 0420 774 819

WANNA BE IN MY BAND??!!!

GOSPEL SINGERS WANTED

iFlogID: 3161

iFlogID: 3159

our myspace link upon application. http://www.myspace.com/psyecho Please note the myspace recordings are over 2 years old now and we have progressed in style and skill greatly since then.

SKA SINGER WANTED We are a new band called Low Gear. Have had about 16 practices together at home, and now about 10 in a studio. We’re not looking for anyone interested in making money as soon as they join a band as we are not gigging yet, but will be looking to just for fun to start, then who knows. Whilst we dont like to admit to being influenced directly by any particular bands, we all like a mix of, The Specials, Toots and the Maytals, Madniess, Reel Big Fish, Prince Buster, Sublime as far as ska goes, we also individually have many opposing influences such as, The Clash, The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers and thats just me! We have had a great time in the rehearsal rooms in Marrickville, Sydney for the past couple of months, doing 2 hours every fortnight until we get storage then looking to make it more regular. We are now finding that we are hitting a wall without a singer and are looking for someone to come along and give us some input and help us over this hurdle. We are looking for a singer who is decent, but doesnt feel the need to bash it out at 100% all the time, someone who can relax into a voice and also belt out some cheeky stuff every now and then too. If you feel you would have a good time practising with us, give us an email and see how you go. If you enjoy our company then I am sure you would be a welcome friend. iFlogID: 4579

VOICE OF AN ANGEL Have you been told you have the voice of an angel? Do you want to put it to good use? Come along and sing for a local Church and see your gift grow. Share what you know, let us share what we know. Call 95441144 for a chat about your gift and how we can help see it grow.

Established and agent backed Oz Red Hot Chili Peppers Show are looking for a experienced singer. Must be based in Sydney, with own transport. info@ ozredhotchilipeppersshow.com.au iFlogID: 4679

SINGER WANTED [METAL] Melodic/Trash Metal band aged early 20’s seeking a singer. We play covers but also working on originals, we plan to gig in the near future. Influences; Slayer, Pantera, Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Mudvayne & more. Practice at Newtown Zen-Studio [Contact me at Memo.oi@hotmail. com]

Inspire Design Studios provides meaningful, smart and economic design solutions that communicates clearly with a given market. From website design, to branding, we can take you through the entire process of creating an identity for your organization. Maybe you just need some business cards, or maybe you need a completely new look. From logo design, to website creation, to company apparel, and anything in between. To provide you with the most competitive pricing contact us to discuss your requirements without any obligation. Special prices Static website (within 5 pages) $495 CMS website (within 7 pages) $695 Online shopping site $795 No hidden charges or on-going monthly fees To find out more please visit www.lydiay.com iFlogID: 2762

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MULTI-GENRE KEYBOARD PLAYER SEEKING KEYBOARD PLAYER WITH A LIKING AND SKILL IN VARIOUS GENRES OF MUSIC FROM THE 60’S ONWARDS. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A LONG TERM PARTNERSHIP WITH A PROFESSIONAL LYRICIST, SINGER

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SINGER FOR GRUNGE/ROCK BAND Sydney Grunge/Rock band Samsara looking for a talented singer and front man to join a complete band looking to gig and record. An albums worth of music is already written but need vocal melodies and lyrics. Influences include Silverchair, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Black Sabbath etc etc. Contact Daniel: 0403 885 433,

PARTY & FUNCTION PHOTOGRAPHY

Want a logo to differentiate yourself from other bands? We can make you stand out from the rest! Boggleworks are currently offering a special price of $250 (RRP $349) for your very own custom designed logo. Visit www. boggleworks.com for more info. Be sure to enter the promotional code “IFLOG” for the special discount!

Trust the professionals to capture the fun and magic of your party or event! 21st parties, sports clubs, nightclubs, promoters, concerts, seminars plus corporate and social functions! We’ve been awarded “Best scene Photograph” PDMA in 2009, member of the AIPP and have extensive experience in photographing events from parties through to music events of 40,000 revellers, so you can be assured of affordable quality and professional photos for your party or event! Check us out or make a booking today at www.atomikarts.com

ILLUSTRATOR AVAILABLE!

100% devotion to music and the packaging it comes in. Pi (Paul Ikin) has a Complete Design Studio aimed at album cover design, packaging and Band Websites. Based in Melbourne Central Complex its easy to get to. Some of the services include * Art Layout design for CD’s/Digipack/ Gatefolds, * Vinyl Sleeves 12” & 7”, and professional Band Websites. Feel free to visit our site to find out more about our services www.paulikin.com

Do you need an affordable Illustrator? Freelance illustrator Paul Ikin has a 3 year Advance Diploma in Illustration and can create a range of styles for your project. No hidden cost at an affordable price. Album Covers - Book Sleeves - Children Books - Online Images - Fliers - Posters - Editorial Artwork. Visit www.paulikin.com - T: 0403 996 129 World Wide based in Melbourne

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TUITION SINGING & VOCAL PRODUCTION Whether you just want to sing for your own pleasure or dream of being a singer on stage, all aspects covered from diction, breathing, microphone technique, pitch, harmony,working with live bands and performing. Utilising the latest techniques from the US, sing without stress or fear. All lessons can be recorded and take place in a relaxed and fully equipped studio in Botany. All ages welcome - female teacher- children welcome. INTRODUCTORY OFFER: $30 per lesson for the first 3 months. Conditions apply. iFlogID: 4437

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ON-LINE SHOPPING & NEWS Discover tygarbright for your shopping needs http://tygarbright.com http://multimedia.tygarbright.com http://shopping.tygarbright.com http://unbeatablesales.tygarbright. com http://makemoney.tygarbright. com Enjoyable, quick, easy - links to Amazon, Yahoo Best Regards, Abra 0416013269

P&O/DJ BOOTCAMP CRUISE P&O have teamed up with DJ Bootcamp to bring u Australias first 8 day/3 island professional DJ Course Cruise.Learn DJing and enjoy, food,entertainmet,accommidation and 3 islands!Early booking discounts.Go www.djbootcamp.com.au to book 95472578 info. Sails August 29, 2010 iFlogID: 4498

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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SUPER CHEAP COLOUR PRINTING

With over 20 years experience, ACE Design & Print has gained an unequaled reputation as a reliable supplier of quality printing with exceptional service and competitive prices. Our print services are designed for fast production and fast delivery within your budget. Here are some prices for your consideration, let us know your specific requirements and we can quote & deliver! 100 A4 Posters printed in full colour onto 150gsm gloss = $40 250 A6 Leaflets printed in full colour onto 150gsm gloss = $50 250 Full Colour Digital Business cards onto 300gsm gloss = $50 100 A3 Posters printed in full colour onto 150gsm gloss = $80 1000 Business Cards in full colour 2 sides with plastic coating = $160 1000 A5 Flyers printed in full colour onto 150gsm gloss = $210 1000 A4 Letterheads printed in full colour onto 100gsm bond = $230 1000 A4 Flyers printed in full colour onto 150gsm gloss = $300 500 A2 Posters printed in full colour onto 150gsm gloss = $490 1000 A5 Booklets 8pp printed in full colour onto gloss = $735 500 Presentation Folders printed in full colour on white board = $795

Global Sanctuary Photography are currently running their yearly May, June and July specials. To name a few people we have shot: John Mayer, Jimmy Barnes, Iva Davies, Cruel Sea, Panic at the Disco, Human Nature, Killing Heidi and Delta Goodrem. We come to you on location or at your gig or come to our awesome warehouse studio at Botany. Studio style or grungy warehouse, the choice is yours. We are creative and easy going producing quality work using canon pro gear. Call us on 0416 144 277 or email us at globalsanctuary@mac. com. Visit www.globalsanctuary.biz

1100 FULL COLOUR POSTERS = $80 Visit our website for an extensive price list and other services!

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PRO TOOLS/LOGIC TRAINING UTS:Pro School offers high quality, professional short courses in Digidesign Pro Tools 8 designed to improve your music and audio postproduction skills. PT 101 12-13 July PT 110 14-16 July PT 201 19-20 July PT 210M 21-23 July Logic Pro 101 7- 9 July Ring 9514 9931 or go to http:// www.utsproschool.uts.edu.au to book your place

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WITCHES WINTER SOLSTICE Join us for the Winter Solstice around the midnight fires and turn the wheel of the year together. On the darkest night of the year we welcome the warmth and light of the Solstice fires! www.witchesworkshop.com iFlogID: 4933

WANTED OTHER CREATIVE PEOPLE Very Creative? Are you very creative? Love God or interested in the things of God? We are a church who is looking for likeminded individuals who want to be part of creating a dynamic community of love, friendship and creativity. Ph 9544 1144 for a chat. iFlogID: 4597

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BAND PHOTOS

OTHER NAIL DOWN YOUR NAME You got a great band. Your band is tight. you look great, your getting gigs your getting known but you haven’t protected your name. If you don’t lock it down some one can come along and steal it. That’s what we do. We can register your name and trade mark it so it will be yours, protecting your future money making ability and your creative talent. Call me today 31142123 or email ej@engelbert-

Troy Music School where Students become musicians. Tuition in Guita r,Vocals,Drums,Piano,Sax,Violin,Cl arinet,Trumpet,Bass Guitar,Ukulele and now offering Lessons In Recording,Protools, Cubase,Ableton live. Record your songs now. Ph. 9689 4622 184 Barkly st Footscray 10 min from city.

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MYSPACE - WEBSITES - ALBUM ART - POSTERS - LOGOS - PROMO - TSHIRT DESIGN - Graphic Design services for everything in the music industry. Website packages start at $449 Custom Myspace $899 WE KNOW YOUR BUSINESS Email for a free quote/consultation paul@cattanachdesign.com.au or vist the website www.cattanachdesign.com.au

TRUCK AND DRIVER FOR HIRE 4 Tonne Truck with Hydraulic Lift available for Hire for deliveries - private, commercial or contract (by negotiation) $65 p/hour for man and truck $85 p/hour for two men and truck. Call Derek 0423979396.

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GRAPHIC DESIGN SERVICES

Singer needed for hard rock band. We’re looking for a singer, male or female, for our all original hard rock band. The guitarist and I (bass) have been playing together for over 8 years now and over 3 years with our drummer. We have been writing new songs the last 2 years and continue to work on fresh original material. We have also been playing gigs all over Melbourne for the last year getting some stage experience up but we are really dying to get a frontperson with a voice that works with our music. We’re willing to give anyone a listen, we’re all easy going and in it for the fun above all else, but also been keen to take the next step and make it a serious commitment. Have a listen at

PI BAND ART AND DESIGN

GRAPHIC DESIGN

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ILLUSTRATOR AVAILABLE ALEY GREENBLO, A CURRENT FINALIST FOR MISS EARTH AUSTRALIA HAS RECENTLY BEEN CHOSEN TO BE THE FACE OF THE “BEAUTY FOR A CAUSE CAMPAIGN”. ALEY HOPES TO CREATE AWARENESS ABOUT CURRENT ENVIRO PROBLEMS AND HAS SET OUT ON A MISSION TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! THIS “DOWN TO EARTH” COMMERCE LAW STUDENT IS EXTREMELY PASSIONATE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT & IS DEDICATED TO ENSURING THAT OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET REMAINS CLEAN & LITTER FREE! ALEY HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY ACTIVE IN PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS & HAS TAKEN ON VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL INITATIVES. “IT IS SO EASY AND EVERYONE CAN HELP BY DOING THE SMALLEST THINGS!”

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RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS SINGER

SINGER NEEDED

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SINGER WANTED Alternative heavy rock band seeks professional singer. Album worth of material ready to but also willing to jam and write together. Samples available, SMS Tek 0425 729 690 for further details.

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BANDS WANTED FOR ITUNES ALBUMS

BASS PLAYER WANTED

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WITH AMBITION TO FROM A SONGWRITING DUO TO CREATE SONGS FOR ALBUMS, FILM AND OTHER MEDIA. PROFICIENCY IN APPLE, GARAGEBAND A DISTINCT ADVANTAGE. , PLEASE CONTACT ENRICO ON 0407 781156 FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

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INDUSTRY NEWS BY BRYGET CHRISFIELD MIA: love adore love her

FINISH LINE

CHART SALES GO WEST Two Perth bands battled it out to make the weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest debut in this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ARIA Albums Chart but both were pipped by the third in the series of Glee soundtracks (also atop the US chart and featuring expat Olivia NewtonJohn reworking her 1981 hit Physical). And, it was drumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;bass-turned-electrock outfit Pendulum who won the West Aussie sales war with their Immersion set entering at three just one notch above trip rockers Tame Impala, landing at four with InnerSpeaker. The East Coastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debuts came in lower, The Beautiful Girls at 18 with Spooks and Deez Nuts at 44 with This Oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s For You. In the Music DVD Chart, Sydneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cog became the only local in that top 40 with their The Sound Of Three â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12 Years With You debuting at number one.

MURPHYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LAW While completing a track by track of LCD Soundsystemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent This Is Happening set, James Murphy was particularly revealing when it came to Dance Yrself Clean. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had to sing it with a voice that was completely blown out, but then I took lots of steroids!â&#x20AC;? he told NME. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So I juiced for this record! Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cheating, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m cheating! I cheated to sing this song.â&#x20AC;?

DIRECT TO THE SUMMIT One lucky singer/songwriter from every Australian state will be flown to Sydney to attend the 2010 Song Summit and also participate in an exclusive songwriting workshop with APRA Songwriter Of The Year Julian Hamilton, Washington, and Kevin Mitchell (AKA Bob Evans) thanks to the pairing of Triple J Unearthed and Song Summit. Hit up songsummit.com.au/unearthed.htm for more details and get your entries in by Sunday 6 June.

GOING DIGITAL Missing Link Records is excited to announce plans for the launch of Missing Link Digital Media in June. The legal download service will include tracks from many of Missing Linkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favourite labels and bands and also aims to give independent artists an opportunity to share their music with a worldwide audience. Labels that have signed so far include MGM, Shock, Obese, Resist, Boomtown, Anchor Brain, Aberrant and Reactor. B-sides, live tracks and live video streaming and rarities will also be included on the site with all downloads available in the standard mp3 format as well as FLAC format for the true music fanatics.

JOB OPS MTV Networks Australia is in search of an experienced Production Manager. The successful applicant will be responsible for the management of all of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shoots and events. As a manager level-employee leading the Production Management team, this role will require mentorship and training for more junior members of the department. Contact Janelle McCarthy (janelle. mccarthy@mtvna.com.au) for more information. Also, a Chief Executive position has been created for Music Victoria to shape the agenda and direction of this non-profit organisation. The CEO will implement strategies, programs, systems and processes that enable Music Victoria to develop and promote the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contemporary music industry. To apply for this position, email applymel@shk.com.au.

HAVE YOUR SAY The Indigenous Music Awards will take place on Saturday 28 August in Darwin and Music NT calls upon anyone working in the national music industry to participate in the nomination process for the selection of Northern Territory talent.

MOVES & SHAKES Mark Callaghan has been appointed Managing Director of Music Sales Pty Ltd preceding Norm Lurieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retirement at the end of 2011. Got news? Announcements? Gossip? Unsubstantiated but hilarious rumours? Send them all to finishline@streetpress.com.au.

MIA TAKES ON COURTNEYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEMESIS After publishing journalist Lynn Hirschbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office phone number on Twitter last Thursday, a disgruntled MIA (Maya Arulpragasam on her passport) has now posted her version of â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Truffâ&#x20AC;? on her Neet Recordings homepage. Taking offence to the nine-page cover story penned by the NY Times Magazine journalist, the Sri Lankan artist tweeted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;CALL ME IF YOU WANNA TALK TO ME ABOUT THE N Y T TRUTH ISSUE, ill b taking calls all day bitches,â&#x20AC;? insinuating these were her own digits. The New York Observer contacted Hirschberg â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who painted a famously unflattering portrait of Courtney Love for Vanity Fair in 1992 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the scribe quipped, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I find it kind of interesting that she would cast the spotlight on the story in any way, shape or form,â&#x20AC;? considering the petite singer obviously wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a fan of the piece. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a fairly unethical thing to do, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surprising,â&#x20AC;? she continued. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a provocateur, and provocateurs want to be provocative.â&#x20AC;? MIA has now posted a song titled Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m A Singer on neetrecordings.com that includes lyrics such as, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why the hell would a journalist be thick as shit,â&#x20AC;? and, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can talk shit to me Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m used to it/ You make me hard with the wounds that I have to lick/You can pick on me and I can see it at a click.â&#x20AC;? The â&#x20AC;&#x153;unedited version of the interviewâ&#x20AC;? that MIA promised comes in the form of two short audio snippets from one of the interviews (the New York Times piece follows MIA over several months and sees Hirschberg interviewing her on numerous occasions). These have been uploaded to the Neet Recordings homepage. One recording captures Hirschberg bigging up and then ordering the truffle-flavoured French fries she claimed MIA consumed immediately after saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I kind of want to be an outsider.â&#x20AC;? The other snippet seems to allude to Hirschberg taking quotes about MIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s award show appearances out of context to make her political views seem as flippant as those held by other grandstanding artists that the singer herself takes aim at. On the weekend, Courtney Love tweeted her support of MIA in bringing Hirschberg down, adding â&#x20AC;&#x153;she killed my husband and she knows it. i hate loathe hate her.â&#x20AC;?

APRA NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

OUCH MY FACE

Hosted by rising Triple J personality Dom Alessio, the APRA Award nominations were held at the Australasian Performing Right Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offices on Tuesday 25 May. Brett Cottle, APRA CEO, stressed the importance for the songwriter to be the focus of the industry in a speech that preceded the announcement. Finalists for the peer-voted Song Of The Year category are as follows: All I Want (Sarah Blasko), Big Big Love (Troy CassarDaley), The Last Day On Earth (Kate Miller-Heidke/ Keir Nittal), We Are The People (Empire Of The Sun) and Sweet Disposition (The Temper Trap). Although The Temper Trapâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worldwide smash was released in late 2008, Sweet Disposition still falls into APRAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 18-month catchment period. Two Song Of The Year finalists â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Empire Of The Sun and The Temper Trap â&#x20AC;&#x201C; have also been shortlisted for Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year alongside Daniel Merriweather, Lisa Mitchell and Jessica Mauboy. Mauboy has the highest nomination tally with four in total. Artists up for a possible trifecta of awards are Empire Of The Sun and The Living End. The only other outfit to receive two noms in the one category (Dance Work Of The Year) is The Presets, for Talk Like That and If I Know You. The winners will be announced at the Sydney Convention Centre on Monday 21 June as part of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vivid festival.

While on tour in Lisbon, Californian duo No Age got into a fight with bouncers as they attempted to enter a nightclub. According to the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website, the fracas started when singer/drummer Dean Spunt was punched as he disputed a bouncerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s claim that the club didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want any â&#x20AC;&#x153;Englishâ&#x20AC;? inside. Keyboardist William Kai Strangeland Menchaca and sound tech Scott Cornish also sustained injuries and photographs of their war wounds were posted on noagela.blogspot.com.

ROCKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ROLL HIGH SCHOOL Six high school bands from around the country have been shortlisted for Triple Jâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Unearthed High competition: iotah (Gisborne Secondary College), The Harry Heart Chrysalis (St Lukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Bundaberg), Blud (Wesley College, Perth), The Glass Towers (Alstonville High, Byron Bay), Aurora & Daisy (St Andrews Lutheran College, Gold Coast) and The Living Eyes (St Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College, Geelong). Head to triplejunearthed.com to listen and rate this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finalists. The winning band will be flown to Sydney to record their song with the stationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s live music team, gets to play a gig at their school with British India headlining and scores guaranteed airplay on Triple J. Stay tuned to Breakfast With Tom & Alex on Friday 4 June for the winner announcement.

JUST A NEW YORK

CONVERSATION TALES FROM THE BIG APPLE WITH TOM HAWKING

CBGB closed three years ago, having sunk slowly into a mire of irrelevance years before that, but if you take a walk down Bowery, you can still get a glimpse of its famous awning. The instantly recognisable signage now rests in a gallery called Morrison Hotel, which promises â&#x20AC;&#x153;fine art music photographyâ&#x20AC;? and all sorts of chintzy punk-era memorabilia. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nestled between a designer menswear shop and a bank. As a metaphor for the gentrification of Manhattan, you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really do any better â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the primal danger of punk now housed safely behind glass, rearticulated into mainstream culture, neutered and absorbed into history. The ongoing yuppification and sanitisation of the island is the subject of plenty of cultural angst in New York, particularly from those for whom Manhattan constitutes the entirety of the city. The place just isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like it used to be, yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;see. But frankly, who gives a shit? Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the point of sitting and wishing everything was like it used to be? Part of the reason for all this angst comes from a deep unease about what place there is for art in this consumerist wonderland (beyond the Met and MoMA, of course). But art doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t die because of a lack of conveniently priced East Village loft spaces. It grows like flowers between cracks in the pavement, wherever those cracks may be. And in New York, there are still many, many cracks, baking in the heat of an unusually early start to the summer. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hot in the city, an oppressive humidity that brings people from their apartments onto the streets, shortens tempers for better or worse. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to sleep at night, but everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s out anyway; stereos reverberate from Brooklynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s endless tenements, the tentative trebly scratch of bands practicing and the thumping bass of parties on rooftops and in vast abandoned warehouses, a melange of genres and musicians blending into one limitless and unceasing sound. The city hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t changed: it remains the home to a thousand New Yorks, and the gleaming gentrification of Bowery is only one of them. There are many more yet to be discovered, from the inscrutable depths of The Bronx to the echoing expanses of Jamaica, many more than Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll ever see. Cities change and evolve and renew themselves endlessly. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what Patti Smith â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who recently spoke up to advise artists not to move to New York, bless her â&#x20AC;&#x201C; called â&#x20AC;&#x153;the sea of possibilitiesâ&#x20AC;?. That sea is as vast and unchartable as ever, and we stand forever on the pier, looking out. To lament whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passed is human, but to do so at the expense of embracing the future is the worst kind of intellectual laziness. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conservatism, plain and simple. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not confined to the punk generation by any means â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a neo-grunge three-piece I saw the other night called Pure Slacker had a song called These Condos Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Belong, lambasting the new apartments that have sprung up in Williamsburg, briefly the place where the music scene hopped across the river, now the home to a million ironically-moustachioed trust-fund hipsters. But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the condos that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t belong, slackers, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s you. And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fine. Who ever wanted to belong, anyway? The small-mindedness is made all the more unforgiveable by the fact that culture has never been more accessible. We get old, and we get tired, but you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even need to get off your arse these days â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an infinite amount of music is a mouse-click away. Or in New York, that most navigable of cities, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a subway ride away. If you hop the M train from Bowery to Myrtle-Wyckoff â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ten stops over the East river and into Bushwick â&#x20AC;&#x201C; you can wander down to Silent Barn, an endearingly shambolic venue in a converted brownstone, where the girl taking your money and checking your ID is smoking a Camberwell carrot and the band playing might be the mighty Teeth Mountain, or Prince Rama Of Ayodhya, or any number of other bands from a burgeoning psychedelic scene. Or they might be fucking dreadful. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part of the fun. The DIY spirit of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;75 is alive and well. Long may its flame burn on these hot, endless nights. nyconversation.wordpress.com

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