Inpress Issue #1171 by TheMusic.com.au

VICTORIA’S HIGHEST QUALITY STREETPRESS

HOUSE OF PAIN MELBOURNE SYDNEY BRISBANE

WASHINGTON

DARWIN DEEZ

THE DRUMS CHRIS HEMSWORTH JESSE HUGHES UNKLE

W E D N E S D AY 2 7 T H A P R I L 2 0 11 ~ I S S U E 1171 ~ F R E E

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

32,903

twitter.com/inpressmag

WED 27 APRIL

LEON THOMAS + CLAIRY BROWNE, MILES O’NEIL 8.30pm, $5 & ALEXI KAYE THU 28 APRIL

THE BOYS MARIANNE DISSARD (FRANCE) + EWAH LADY

6pm

8.30pm, $10

FRI 29 APRIL

VELVET CAKE GYPSIES 6pm SPINIFEX ROSE + ANTHONY ATKINSON 8.30pm, $5 SAT 30 APRIL

QUARRY MOUNTAIN DEAD RATS JIMMY DANIEL + BURNING BUSH

4.30pm 8.30pm, $10

SUN 1 MAY

CELESTE POLSON + DAVID TURPIE 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

NEW MENU

8.30pm, $10

TUES 3 MAY

WESLEY ANNE OPEN MIC NIGHT

7.30pm

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

bookings: 9482 1333

twitter.com/inpressmag

ISSUE 1171

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2011

UNKLE

INPRESS 10 Who’s playing what with Charts; the week’s best and worst in Backlash/Frontlash 12 The Frontline brings you the hottest industry news 12 In The Studio keeps you turned on to your fave band’s movements 14 Foreword Line brings you all the latest tour announcements 18 Cut Copy’s latest was inspired by Bowie’s Young Americans 20 House Of Pain still feel great about Jump Around 20 You won’t forget a Darwin Deez live show in a hurry 22 Aa want to make genuine 21st century music 24 On The Record rates new releases from Beastie Boys and Snowman 26 Jesse Hughes has a lot of love for Cherry Bar 26 The Drums aren’t interested in reinventing the wheel 28 Washington’s new tour is a funeral for her debut album 28 UNKLE are looking for new concepts for making music 28 Sampology’s audiovisual extravaganzas take more work to prepare than they look 29 It took a supergroup to get Joseph Arthur to Australia 29 There are no gimmicks at a Bobby Long show 29 It’s been a massive 12 months for Escape The Fate 29 Gruff Rhys sees his solo albums as a chance to slack off

FRONTROW 32 This Week In Arts plans your week ahead 32 We take a look at the Sugar Mountain visual arts program 32 The Menstruum links Davids Foster Wallace and Lynch to Keats and back again 33 Legendary children’s entertainer Peter Combe returns to the stage 33 Film Carew discusses Carlos, Mrs Carey’s Concert, and Force Of Nature

EDITORIAL

ADVERTISING sales@inpress.com.au National Sales & Marketing Director Leigh Treweek Victorian Sales Manager Katie Owen Senior Account Executive Nick Lynagh Bands &Local Advertising Dean Noble Sales Assistant Kobi Simpson

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

ACCOUNTS & ADMINISTRATION accounts@streetpress.com.au Reception Holly Engelhardt Accounts Receivable Anita D’Angelo Accounts Payable Francessca Martin

CONTRIBUTORS Senior Contributors Clem Bastow, Jeff Jenkins International Contributors Tom Hawking (US), James McGalliard (UK), Sasha Perera (UK). Writers Nick Argyriou, The Boomeister, Atticus Bastow, Steve Bell, Alice Body, Tim Burke, Anthony Carew, Luke Carter, Jake Cleland, Dan Condon, Rebecca Cook, Kendal Coombs, Adam Curley, Cyclone, Guy Davis, Carolyn Dempsey, Liza Dezfouli, Lizzie Dynon, John Eagle, Guido Farnell, Sam Fell, Bob Baker Fish, Robert Gascoigne, Cameron Grace, Andrew Haug, Andy Hazel, Andrew Hickey, Kate Kingsmill, Joey Lightbulb, Michael Magnusson, Baz McAlister, Sam McDougall, Tony McMahon, Count Monbulge, Luke Monks, Fred Negro, Mark Neilsen, Roger Nelson, Danielle O’Donohue, Matt O’Neill, James Parker, Adele Psarras, Josh Ramselaar,

twitter.com/inpressmag

BACK TO INPRESS 36 Babymachine blame Iron Maiden for their delayed second album 36 Coolies hate the recording process 36 Tall Buildings are in it for the fun 36 The Barons Of Tang are heading to the States 37 Gig Of The Week checks out Sugar Mountain 37 LIVE:Reviews gets down to ZZ Top 39 Plan your day at Groovin’ The Moo with full playing times 46 Sarah Petchell will Wake The Dead with her punk and hardcore talk 46 Andrew Haug takes us to the dark side in The Racket 46 Kendal Coombs leads the under-18s boardroom in the Department Of Youth 47 Pop culture happenings in The Breakdown 47 Dan Condon blues and roots in Roots Down 49 If you haven’t appeared in Fred Negro’s Pub, your mother probably still speaks to you 49 Jeff Jenkins gets down and local in Howzat! 50 Our Gig Guide fills your diary for the weekend 55 Gear and studio reviews in BTL 58 Find your new band and just about anything else in our classy Classifieds

CREDITS

Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast Editor Shane O’Donohue music@inpress.com.au Front Row Editor Daniel Crichton-Rouse frontrow@inpress.com.au Contributing Editors Adam Curley, Bryget Chrisfield Staff Writer Michael Smith

33 My Darling Patricia’s Africa brings puppetry back to the theatre 34 Cultural Cringe previews the Emerging Writers’ Festival 34 Australian actor Chris Hemsworth talks playing Marvel’s Thor 35 Christy Sullivan gets musical in Next To Normal

Paul Ransom, Leonie Richman, Symon JJ Rock, Antonios Sarhanis, Ingrid Sjolund, Dylan Stewart, Nic Toupee, Rob Townsend, Danielle Trabsky, Dominique Wall, Doug Wallen, Jeremy Williams.

PHOTOGRAPHERS Senior Contributor Kane Hibberd Jesse Booher, Chrissie Francis, Andrew Glover, Kate Griffin, Andrew Gyopar, Lou Lou Nutt, Gina Maher, James Morgan, Heidi Takla, Nathan Uren.

INTERNS Lana Goldstone, Stephanie Liew

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

PUBLISHER Street Press Australia Pty Ltd 2-4 Bond Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 PO Box 1079, Richmond North VIC 3121 Phone: (03) 9421 4499 Fax: (03) 9421 1011

PRINTED BY Rural Press Victoria

twitter.com/inpressmag

ON THE STEREO Absence SNOWMAN This Modern Glitch THE WOMBATS Light The Shallows TALL BUILDINGS Garden Of Youth PHIA Softly Harboured UNDERLAPPER Love Songs ROBERTA FLACK The Royal Wedding Tribute THE BAND OF THE WELSH GUARDS Music For A Royal Wedding VARIOUS ARTISTS Mighty Big Light STEVE PARKIN I Done A Album BEARDYMAN

BILLBOARD TOP CHRISTIAN SONGS Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me) CASTING CROWNS You Are More TENTH AVENUE NORTH Stronger MANDISA I Refuse JOSH WILSON Children Of God THIRD DAY This Is The Stuff FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI I Will Follow CHRIS TOMLIN Your Love BRANDON HEATH Beautiful MERCYME Light Up The Sky THE AFTERS

FRONTLASH

Soon-to-be-superstar Jack Ladder

BOOGIE OOGIE OOGIE Our favourite festival outdid itself again this year, with a wedding, some amazing performances and top weather. Let’s hope organisers don’t take it too much bigger next year.

ROCKIN’ THE BOAT

We can’t wait to see new SBS doco Go Back To Where You’re From, following six Aussies as they trace, in reverse, the journey undertaken by refugees to Australia. We just hope there are a couple of Herald Sun readers making the trip.

CLIMBING THE LADDER

Jack Ladder’s new single, Cold Feet, is an absolute cracker. We’re tipping new album Hurtsville will make him a superstar.

BACKLASH

LAST FM TOP TRACKS Rolling In The Deep ADELE Judas LADY GAGA Rope FOO FIGHTERS Born This Way LADY GAGA Bridge Burning FOO FIGHTERS Till The World Ends BRITNEY SPEARS Under Cover Of Darkness THE STROKES S&M RIHANNA Dear Rosemary FOO FIGHTERS Someone Like You ADELE

SYN TOP 10 Id COLLARBONES My Love To Be DANIEL LEE KENDALL Alien Observer GROUPER Dog & The House FRIENDS OF BEN Marianne feat. Lisa Mitchell and Boy & Bear GEORGIA FAIR Dead Folk Dance GRAVEYARD TRAIN Hiccups JINJA SAFARI Young Man, You Will Die Of This Company SOLKYRI Crime Pays BEAR HANDS The Lonely Doll CASS MCCOMBS

GIVEAWAYS

Dutch - RIP

THE WRONG CAMP While overseas newspapers were reporting on 750 leaked files detailing the inner workings of Guantanamo Bay, our own Age was strangely silent on the story, instead giving space to Melburnians hosting their own royal wedding parties.

BAD WEEK Cancer has claimed some greats this week, with TV On The Radio bassist Gerard Smith and Australian blues master Dutch Tilders both succumbing to the disease.

2D OR NOT 2D? News that the world’s first “soft porn 3D movie” has topped the box office upon its release in Hong Kong is disturbing to say the least. Some things really don’t need to be seen coming at you in 3D to be enjoyed, and a lot of those things are found in porn flicks (purportedly)…

With the new Beastie Boys album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, hitting stores this Friday (led by ace first single Make Some Noise), Inpress has joined forces with EMI for a killer giveaway of some amazing Beasties gear to celebrate its release. The cover of the Inpress you’re reading right now features a unique QR code (you know, those weird-lookin’ squares of black-andwhite blocks) which, as soon as you scan it with your phone, will let you know whether you’re one of the 50 lucky winners to score some Beasties merch. Prizes include copies of the new album on delicious double vinyl (with bonus 7”), t-shirts, CDs, and selections from the Beastie Boys’ back catalogue. If you’re a winner make sure you hang on to your mag, as you’ll need to bring it in to us to prove you’re a winner. Get scanning!

show to give away. To enter head to facebook.com/ inpressmag, like us and check out the giveaways tab.

House Of Pain – the rowdy Irish-American hip hop group from Boston, Massachusetts – are bringing their fiery live show to Australia as a part of their 20th anniversary world tour. It was the turn of a new decade when House Of Pain changed the face of hip hop with the release of their multi-platinum-selling, self-titled debut album which featured one of the most memorable songs in the genre’s history, Jump Around. They’re playing the Prince Bandroom this Friday, and we’ve got three double passes to the

The delightfully bohemian Darwin Deez are returning to our shores after entertaining audiences with their deliriously fun tunes at Parklife last year. The Brooklyn indie popsters’ live shows are legendary, and we have a Darwin Deez prize pack to give away that includes a double pass to the Darwin Deez show at the Hi-Fi this Friday, a copy of their album Radar Detector, and a double pass to the Darwin Deez aftershow DJ set at Miss Libertine. To enter head to facebook.com/ inpressmag, like us and check out the giveaways tab.

Taking place over multiple locations in Melbourne’s city centre this Saturday, the Sugar Mountain Festival will celebrate the diverse creative forms of music and visual art, with a focus on the natural meeting points between. A few of the great musical acts on the Sugar Mountain line-up include No Kids, Virgo Four, Aa, Yellowfever, Canyons, Qua, Collarbones, Oscar & Martin, Rat vs Possum, Otouto, No Zu and Twerps. We have a sweet prize pack to give away, consisting of a double pass to the event, a Qua T-shirt and CDs from YellowFever, Collarbones, Oscar & Martin, No Zu and Qua. To enter head to facebook. com/inpressmag, like us and check out the giveaways tab.

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.

twitter.com/inpressmag

THE

FRONTLINE

IN THE STUDIO WITH BRYGET CHRISFIELD

ROCK ROYALTY

The wedding is just around the corner. Whose wedding? Ten points if you don’t know the answer. One good thing to come out of all the anticipation surrounding Prince William and Kate Middleton’s upcoming nuptials is the opportunity to remember the concert that was put on at Melbourne’s State Theatre for his mum and dad, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, during their royal visit back in 1985. The concert featured a collection of the best bands Australia had to offer at the time including INXS, The Models and Kids In The Kitchen and took place during INXS’s Listen Like Thieves album period. Those who weren’t able to secure tickets inside the theatre were encouraged to watch the concert live on a massive screen that was erected outside and the Alexander Avenue underpass was closed off for spectators. Inclement weather conditions couldn’t keep people away and a drenched collection of fans assembled at the theatre’s stage door for golden photo opportunities and the possibility of filling up their autograph books in one hit. After satisfying snap-happy urges, said music fans were then admitted into the auditorium by one Molly Meldrum. Thanks, Molly, we treasure the memories of dripping on the State Theatre’s lush carpet and watching INXS deliver a truly incredible performance. INXS’s set included a string of hits such as Burn For You, Dancing On The Jetty, The One Thing, What You Need and Don’t Change. An 11-track album, plus a bonus track titled The Farriss Bros Remember, has now been released via iTunes to commemorate this auspicious occasion. Rocking The Royals (Live 1985) can now be yours, 26 years on and in all its digitally remastered glory. There’s also a bunch of live footage from Rocking The Royals up on YouTube. Bring on the DVD release!

PICTURES OF YOU

With the release of their Future Primitive set creeping up, The Vines have put a call out to their fans for photos that will end up in a pictorial history of the band as part of a limited edition version of the record. Their Facebook page specified that submissions should capture “anything that represents you and a favourite memory or moment with The Vines”. Email images to thevines@ parkerandmrfrench.com and someone will be in touch if they dig ‘em. Do make sure you own the image and will be happy to give the band “gratis license of the rights to include the image and reproduce it in the book”. The band’s fifth album, hits record store shelves on 3 June.

BUSY BEES

They’ve been announced on this year’s Splendour In The Grass line-up and it’s pretty definite that Sweden’s most awesome The Hives will have some new tracks to treat our ears with. Back in October last year, guitarist/keyboardist Nicholaus Arson (real name Niklas Almqvist) felt inspired to post, “Watch the rock’n’roll gods weep with pride!” on the band’s official website after listening to the demos. Early this year a post revealed the use of “live horns” during recording and then drummer Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn) confirmed further recording sessions were underway in late February. If we all pray really hard, their fifth album – the follow up to 2007’s The Black And White Album – may just hit our stereos with enough time to learn the lyrics before Splendour. Otherwise we’ll surely be berated by the frontman who has it all (especially shiny rockstar hair), Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist.

IN DREAMS

If you’re yet to view the video for Cold Feet by Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders, it needs to be done. Not only is the video incredible, with convincing performances by the frontman and a chick who resembles a crack head, the song is all shades of atmospheric awesome with Ladder’s voice channelling Roy Orbison at times. It’s also pleasing to note that Ladder’s backing band comprises the ridiculously talented Kirin J Callinan (formerly of Mercy Arms), PVT’s drummer Laurence Pike and Donny Benét from Triosk. According to Rotting Corpse magazine, the forthcoming longplayer by Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders, Hurstville, “was recorded over a six-month period between a castle in Yass and small wooden shack on a farm in Windsor”. If the first single is anything to go by, this promises great things for the 2009 Australian Music Prize Red Bull Award recipient. Release date 2011. Bring it.

WEATHER WITH YOU

Melbourne hip hoppers Diafrix invited Australian soul sensation Daniel Merriweather into the studio to ‘feat’ on their catchy new track Simple Man. The instrumentation and beats are certainly unconventional and piano parts alternate with riffs. Bound to be a hit with the young’uns: “I guess I’m a simple man/I got no money, no dental plan, baby/And I don’t really care/I got my weed and I got my lady.” What more could you possibly strive for in this life?

INDUSTRY NEWS BY SCOTT FITZSIMONS

VALE GERARD SMITH Shortly after the release of their fourth album Nine Types Of Light, TV On The Radio have announced the death of multi-instrumentalist member Gerard Smith. The band delivered the news via its website saying, “We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly.” They also cancelled their next five American dates. Smith, who joined the band in 2005 before the release of the album Return To Cookie Mountain, had recently announced that he was taking time off from the band to return to treatment for lung cancer and back in March the band wrote on their website, “Upon the completion of Nine Types Of Light, Gerard was diagnosed with lung cancer. As a result, he has been undergoing treatment and will be unable to participate in the upcoming tour… Gerard is fortunate enough to have health insurance and is receiving excellent medical care. Already we have seen dramatic results. Combine that with Gerard’s legendarily wilful disposition and it might just be cancer that has the problem. We appreciate your concern and support for Gerard and his family.”

Gurrumul

AUSSIE ATTACK HALTED BY TOP TWO The Foo Fighters have held top spot for the second week running in the ARIA album charts as local debuts storm the top ten. The Foos’ album Wasting Light (Sony) holds off Adele’s 21 (Remote Control) for the second week running, 21 now into its 13th week and certified gold. The three highest debuts on Easter Monday were all locals, with Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunipingu’s follow-up Rrakala (MGM) scoring third spot. That release is likely to be a slow burn that we’ll see in or around the top ten right up until Christmas. Ex-Idol Damien Leith took fifth with his tribute to Roy Orbison, Roy (Sony) and Jebediah were one off the top five just behind Leith with their new album Kosciuszko (Dew Process). They all beat out Snoop Dogg’s latest, Doggumentary (EMI) which slotted into 12th position, one behind recent number one Drapht’s The Life Of Riley (Sony) in its third week of charting. The DVD charts are topped by André Rieu and his favourite Australian vocalist Mirusia, which the label, Universal, and ARIA are therefore passing off as a local release. André Rieu Presents Mirusia: Always & Forever took the top spot after four weeks in the chart, while Triple J Hottest 100 Vol 18 managed sixth on debut.

KANYE’S CHARITY CLOSES “MYSTERIOUSLY” As music fans watched Kanye West’s set at Coachella streamed live, especially those with ambitions to score a ticket to Splendour In The Grass where he will be performing, the New York Times revealed that West’s charity organisation, the Kanye West Foundation, had “mysteriously” closed. The foundation, which hoped to encourage kids to stay in school longer, was founder by West’s mother Donda West who, according to the website, was “committed to developing the dreams that she and her son shared: to give back, to help others, to inspire and to make a difference. Dr West, a dedicated English professor, was passionate about student success. She believed in educating the whole child”. The New York Times reported, however, that the charity had experienced a steep decline since Ms West’s death in 2007 from plastic surgery complications. Not funded by Kanye but rather donated to by organisations he worked closely with, news of the Foundation’s close has been kept quiet. It was discovered through an email from the now ex-executive director Joseph Collins. “I am reaching out to let you know that the Kanye West Foundation (kanyewestfoundation.org) has officially closed its doors after a successful 4+ years of programming and events,” it read. Collins declined to comment further to the paper and representatives from West’s agency, label and the foundation’s chairwomen also declined to comment.

TICKET PRICES CAN CHANGE ACCORDING TO DEMAND Ticketmaster has announced that they will be phasing in a new ‘dynamic’ ticket pricing system in America, which will see ticket prices fluctuate after they’ve gone on sale according to demand. The leading ticket company claimed the move would combat scalping by pushing up prices for priority seating while reducing that for less-desirable positions. Already on trial with some sporting teams, the company hope to roll it out further this year. The Australian Ticketmaster’s Australian CEO was unable to comment on whether this model would be applied to Australia eventually and how it would be effective against scalping.

NOVOCAINES MAKE FILM IMPACT Punters who have seen Scream 4 may have recognised a track from Perth locals The Novocaines, whose song One More Cup Of Coffee features in the opening sequence. The track was a hit on Triple J early last year, the station also championing the band by Unearthing them.

WEIRD AL STRUGGLED TO GET GAGA PERMISSION Ahead of the release of his new album, music parodist Weird Al Yankovic posted a blog on his website that claimed that Lady Gaga had blocked him from releasing Born This Way parody Perform This Way, which was to be the first single from his record. Summarising the lengthy post he said, “I wrote and recorded what I thought was going to be the first single off of my new album: a parody of Born This Way by Lady Gaga called Perform This Way. But after hearing it, Lady Gaga decided not to give me permission to release the song, so… it won’t be

WOODFORD MOVE FORWARD WITH DEBT CLEARED

After the struggle encountered last year by torrential rain, the Woodford Folk Festival have launched their ticket sales for next year with a number of changes implemented to offset the $2.6 million downturn the floods caused. Tickets will only be available online this year, through the festival’s official website. In this way organisers hope to retain control of the number of people attending the festival. In a statement, festival founder and director Bill Hauritz said, “If we are going to succeed in the long term we must take out the ups and downs in our revenues caused by rain… [online tickets are] the only way we can control the numbers and create a sustainable comfort level for our patrons. Over the years growth has placed a lot of pressure on the festival and the squeeze in our recent drenched festival site, particularly in the camping areas, exposed our vulnerabilities.” He said, “We will allow future growth of the event but only if we can match the infrastructure with comfort levels.” The Woodfordia site, the venue for Woodford Folk and Splendour In The Grass, was recently purchased by Moreton Bay Regional Council from the Queensland Folk Federation (organisers of the festival) with an agreement that will see it leased back for the next 50 years to help secure the event. Hauritz described it as “a remarkable and creative solution which not only protects Council’s investment but ensures a continuity of events which will leave millions of new dollars in our community every year.” A press release confirmed that repair work on the grounds has commenced.

coming out commercially anytime in the near future. Sorry.” He then leaked the song himself to YouTube. Following the post, TMZ reported that a Gaga sources said it must have been “a misunderstanding because [Gaga] is in no way trying to block the release of the parody”. Yankovic’s manager has revealed that permission has now been granted.

REMEMBERED THROUGH SHOTS Running until Saturday, the Arthouse and photographer Anna Brown will be documenting the last days of the venue in a series of mug shots called Parting Shots. Made up of musicians and fans alike, it is intended to provide a lasting memory of the live venue.

LIVE ROOM RE-OPENS The Commercial Hotel, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, has announced that they will be bringing live music back to the venue, with Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson and The Wolverines two of the first acts to return. The South Morang venue has recently undergone a change in management and they hope to attract touring artists to the 400-capacity live room. For tickets to upcoming shows, head to thecommercialhotellounge.com.au.

PUNK KIDS TO REISSUE FORMER GLORIES Cult loved hardcore band I Killed The Prom Queen have announced that they’ll be making the most of their comeback tour – the Destroy Music tour alongside The Amity Affliction – by re-issuing two of their titles. In an example of UNFD’s (ex-Boomtown) recent deal with Warner, Music For The Recently Deceased and DVD/CD pack Sleepless Nights And City Lights will hit stores Friday 20 May.

TWO DAYS THE TICKET FOR PERTH FESTIVAL Perth’s Southbound Festival has revealed to the Daily SPA newsletter that the event will be reverting to the two-day model for 2012. The event, which attracts a lot of the artists in Australia for the Falls Festival, sold out the event three years running in 2007 through 2009 before trying its hand at three days. Sunset Events’ managing director Dave Chitty told Daily SPA that is was a “multitude” of reasons that they were returning to the two-day model. “We were keen to trial doing a three-day format, but found that punters were fatigued after New Year’s and Christmas,” he said. The event takes place the first full weekend of the new year, which falls on 7 and 8 January in 2012. “Most of the feedback we got was the festival was too long, punters were knackered after three days… [It will be] the same

twitter.com/inpressmag

experience, just in a shorter time frame.” He also said that the same ratio of local and international artists will remain and that the ticket price will be adjusted to reflect one less day.

U2’S SPIDER-MAN TAKES HIATUS TO SAVE ITSELF U2’s Bono has flown to New York to try and help rescue the flailing Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark Broadway production, which he, alongside U2 bandmate The Edge, is scoring, which is threatening to ruin the reputation of everyone attached to it. The show, which has cost $US70 million so far, making it the most expensive show in history, has gone from disaster to disaster. Starting with injuries to cast and crew – some left and signed confidentiality agreements – and then a record-breaking run of preview shows (more than 100), the initial reviews were scathing. The Washington Post wrote, “I haven’t seen every stinker ever produced, so I can’t categorically confirm that Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark belongs in the dankest subbasement of the American musical theater. But its application certainly seems to be in order.” More recently, the show’s original director, widely respected Julie Taymor, was relieved of her duties and a new creative team is being put together. The show, which still hasn’t officially opened yet after the date has been pushed back multiple times, is taking a three-week hiatus until June to get its act straight. The overhaul is believed to involve new staging, re-writing of songs and further choreography. Reeve Carney, who plays the lead role said, “Julie is one of my closest friends, she’s the one who made me pretty much – I wouldn’t be here without Julie Taymor. But you know, this new version, while there are going to be changes it’s still true to the heart of her vision. It’s just having a little bit of extra help, that’s all it is.” In an interview with Rolling Stone for the release of their latest album No Line On The Horizon, Bono revealed the news that he was looking at doing the project. At the time, The Edge had expressed his hesitance to make his Broadway debut for Spider-Man. Another group that may be regretting their move is Disney as they’ve no control over the production given the Spider-Man brand is licensed to Sony for the production.

Got news? Announcements? Gossip? Unsubstantiated but hilarious rumours? Send them all to frontline@streetpress.com.au.

THE

ART BEAT

FRONTLINE

The inaugural SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL features an eclectic line-up of cutting-edge musical acts and visual artists. TONY MCMAHON gets the lowdown from event organiser BRETT LOUIS.

Virgo Four

art were under the same roof. We were very conscious about how the festival market is relatively saturated at the moment and we really wanted to develop something that was of Melbourne now and that people would enjoy. I suppose that’s why we put together some very visual art-heavy content as well as some very interesting and exciting music from both locally and abroad.” What about the subject of music and visual art going so well together? Louis’s enthusiasm for their amalgamation borders on the zealous, bless him.

Given the glut of festivals around these days, it’s not often one comes across an event as genuinely exciting and why-the-hell-didn’t-I-think-of-that as Sugar Mountain. Combining the somewhat natural but under-explored bedfellows of music and visual art, Sugar Mountain takes place over what is sure to be a hectic and excitingly small time frame, and utilises amazing venues such as the Forum and Fed Square. Just as thrillingly, the festival also boasts a superb line-up of national and international artists and musicians. On the music side there’s Virgo Four, Aa, No Kids, Yellowfever and Rat Vs Possum, representing only a very small number of the total acts. In the visual arts field, there’s world-renowned practitioners such as Ainslie Fletcher, Beci Orpin and Alex Kopps, again indicative of only a fraction of what is arguably the greatest line-up of its type ever assembled in this country. Festival organiser Brett Louis explains the philosophy behind the event and, as it turns out, just like most good ideas, Sugar Mountain came from simple origins. “We wanted to make sure that visual art and musical

“We feel like the creative process all comes from the same place. We feel really strongly that visual art and music art can co-exist, that it would be something of a mistake not to display them together. We really didn’t want to have either the art or the music away in some corner in a separate tent or something. We really wanted to make sure that people got to see it all together as one. And the Forum is such a great place to showcase that. In essence, we want to make it like an amazing party that has everything.”

favourite, but is at pains to point out that the main thing is working collectively for a shared goal.

PLAYING TIMES

“I think the highlight for me is just to see something like this coming together and how we’re going to transform a place like the Forum to make it feel like a festival. As for me, yeah, it’s going to be great to see Young Magic, but everyone involved has their own little highlights. In short, though, the highlight is definitely just seeing it all come together. It’s been our baby for quite a while.”

2.30pm – Oscar + Martin

And it seems that this work continues unabated. Plans for Sugar Mountain 2012 are already well underway – testament to what Louis sees as the festival’s value, even in as art rich an environment as Melbourne. “We’re actually already planning the next one. I would have liked a week off in-between, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. We really want it to be something that everyone can come in and enjoy because we think that it does reflect Melbourne culture, which is one of the reasons we made it so affordable, too. A ticket for the whole day only costs $65.”

FORUM MAIN STAGE

3.30pm – Otouto and the No Lights, No Lyrca Dancers 4.30pm – Collarbones 5.30pm – YellowFever 6.30pm – Rat Vs Possum 7.30pm – No Kids 8.30pm – Young Magic 9pm – Galapagoose 9.30pm – Qua & The Ritmo Giallo Ensemble 10.30pm – Virgo Four 11.30pm – Aa 12.15am – Canyons

On the question of how one even begins to curate a festival as wide-ranging and ambitious as Sugar Mountain, Louis says it’s all about wish fulfilment.

Louis seems well aware that he and his co-organisers are onto a decidedly good thing, and he says that this has only made everyone involved even more keen to keep working.

FORUM UPSTAIRS

“We developed a wish list of everything we loved from overseas that we wanted to bring to Australia. Then there was a showcase of local talent that we really wanted in our line-up that doesn’t usually get seen on a standard kind of Triple J line-up. We think bands like Rat Vs Possum and Yellowfever and Aa really fit the bill in terms of how they broach the art as well as music market. Then there’s a band like Young Magic who are friends of ours. They recently moved to America and they’ve had a fantastic response at places like South By Southwest, so it was fantastic to be able to bring them back here and have them be a part of it all.”

“That point was really driven home for us in the last few days while we’ve been talking to the media. Everyone is telling us that they’re so excited about it. And even as soon as we pitched the idea and talked about it openly, everyone was very excited about it and that instilled a lot of confidence. It made us even more passionate because it made us feel like we were on the right track. It’s really exciting for us.”

5pm – film screening: The Creative Lives

Having been asked the difficult – maybe even impossible – question of highlights, Louis nominates a personal

4pm – No Zu

6pm – film screening: Gaudy Romp, featuring a live score by Footy and Lochie Bradfield 7pm – film screening: The Creative Lives 8pm – Every Shape Has A Secret, featuring Jane Badler 9pm – Brous 10pm – Coolies

WHAT: Sugar Mountain Festival

11pm Twerps

WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Forum, No Vacancy Galley, Fracture Gallery

FOREWORD LINE T EN S E PR

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

HUNGRY FOR MORE?

WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL

The touring circuit carved out by Hungry Kids Of Hungary during the Escapades journey has proved fruitful with festival slots, sold-out rooms nationwide and an ever-growing fanbase flocking to every set to catch a glimpse of what the lads will do next. However, the band are now happy to announce The Final Escapade, the last tour off the back of their debut album and, with this one, they’ve certainly saved the best for last. As if they weren’t busy enough with this tour, they’re also demoing album number two. Joining the lads on their tour are friends The Chemist, Andy Bull and Daniel Lee Kendall. Catch them all at the Hi-Fi this Saturday.

RUB-A-DUB-CLUB LIVE ROOTS REGGAE & DJS ENTRY $5, 9PM

THURSDAY 28 APRIL

WAITING ROOM

POWERFUCK SHIPS PIANO DIXON CIDER ESC DJ KOSTA

ENTRY $8, 8PM

ROGUE ACTOR

FRIDAY 29 APRIL

Actor Tim Robbins, known for his roles in films such as The Shawshank Redemption, also counts making music as one of his many hobbies – and he ain’t bad at it, either. He fronts a band called Tim Robbins & The Rogues Gallery Band; though he’s actually been making tunes for many years, it’s just that now’s finally the right time for him to show his musical side to the world. He plays the East Brunswick Club this Friday (sold out) and Sunday.

NO SURRENDER TOUR

OH SLEEPER (USA) THE CHARIOT (USA) I AM VILLAIN IN TRENCHES OF WHISPER

ENTRY $35 DOOR, $30 PRESALE THRU MOSHTIX, 8PM

SATURDAY 30 APRIL

FAREWELL TOUR

AS TALL AS LIONS ELLIOT THE BULL LOVE AT THIS VOLUME SIGNET MAE

ENTRY $35 DOOR, $30 PRESALE THRU MOSHTIX, 8.30PM

SUNDAY 1 MAY

MATINEE

THE TIERS THE BURNING BUSH FREE ENTRY, 3PM

EP LAUNCH

GOODBYE ZOE VERONA LIGHTS NO LOVE FOR LEXI THE FURY’S

ENTRY $12 DOOR, $10 PRESALE THRU MOSHTIX, 8PM

MONDAY 2 MAY

RESIDENCY

8 BIT LOVE UNIQUE GIFT

DONATION ENTRY, 9PM $10 JUGS!

TUESDAY 3 MAY

RESIDENCY

ROSIE & GEORGE

WHAT A HOOT Local singer/songwriter Brooke Addamo, better known under her alias Owl Eyes, has a new EP coming out. It’s called Raiders, the follow-up to her debut EP Faces, and the first single, also called Raiders, is floating around the airwaves – if you haven’t heard it, you soon will. As well as winning airplay with her own music, the songstress has also recently been all over radios as guest vocalist on Illy’s It Can Wait. Owl Eyes supports Darwin Deez at the Hi-Fi this Friday, appears at the Big British Sound at the Corner Hotel on Wednesday 11 May (alongside the likes of Strange Talk, Boy In A Box and Ball Park Music), and headlines Can’t Say at Miss Libertines on Friday 27 May and the Espy on Friday 10 June.

HOW ABOUT THIS?

The side project of Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, About Group, have a new album out. It’s called Start And Complete and it’s streaming on themusic.com.au this week. The band also features members of This Heat and Spiritualized and the album was recorded in one day at Abbey Road Studios. Taylor penned the songs over the last few years and the rest of About Group only heard most of the piano/vocal demos a few days before recording, so what you hear is very much of the moment. Head to themusic. com.au to check out the 13 tracks on the record.

CART YOURSELF THERE

Double bass jazz legend Ron Carter comes to Australia for the first time ever mid-year with bandmates Russell Malone and Mulgrew Miller as Ron Carter Trio. Carter has more than 2,500 recording credits to his name and is one of America’s jazz heroes, with a career spanning more than 45 years that’s seen him work with people such as Miles Davis and James Brown. The trio appear as part of the Melbourne Jazz Festival at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Friday 10 June with Elixir – featuring Katie Noonan – in support. Elixir have recently returned to the studio to make a second album, so you can expect to hear some new tunes from them too. Tickets are on sale now.

ALL’S WELL

Former Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell has a wealth of tunes to play, both from his time with the band and his solo career spanning the last two decades. He’s actually heading to Australia to play the 1977 Stranglers album Rattus Norvegicus IV in its entirety, for the first time, but there’s a lot more for him to borrow from, especially considering the recent release of his newest album, Hooverdam. He brings those tunes and more to the Hi-Fi on Saturday 7 May.

LEND US SOME SUGAR

The Sugar Mountain Festival launch takes place at Fracture Gallery at the Atrium, Federation Square, from 6-9pm this Thursday. Featuring live painting from acclaimed US artist Thomas Campbell and NZ-born, Sydney-based artist Brett Chan, as well as DJ sets from Young Magic and artist Leif Podhajsky, the official event launch will act as a sneak preview of what you can expect at the Sugar Mountain Festival this Saturday. Campbell’s artworks combine scribbles and scriptures, taking positive affirmations from his unique vocabulary and juxtaposing them with a profound look at human nature. Chan is a skateboarder, photographer, painter and fashion designer whose fine art paintings are free fl owing and intricate at the same time, focusing on colour and thought. Entry to the event is free.

BROTHERS, WHERE ART THOU? Thirty-six shows in 40 days across six countries will take its toll on any old rock’n’roll band, but the tequila-swilling triple-one-man-band gringos Puta Madre Brothers are not just any old rock’n’roll band! Returning to Australia from an enormous tour of Europe with a few missing teeth, bruised all over and greasier than ever before, they celebrate death, sex and nachos with a special show at the Tote on Friday 10 June, previewing material from their soon-to-be-released second album. Special guests on the night are the soulful sass’n’twang of The Level Spirits and hot as hell surf noise kids Chook Race. Pick up a copy of the latest Puta Madre Brothers’ 7” Three Men No Mission at the door. Tickets are on sale through Moshtix now.

$2 CARLTON POTS EVERY MONDAY

SECRETIVE GEORGE THE CHURCH RATS

FRIDAY 29TH APRIL

ENTRY $7, 8.30PM

COMING UP: TASH PARKER (5 MAY) VINCENT (EP LAUNCH) (6 MAY) SOCIETY OF BEGGARS (7 MAY) SEX ON TOAST (12 MAY) SUBJEKTIVE (13 MAY) MISTA SAVONA (SINGLE LAUNCH) (14 MAY)

BIG A LITTLE A (USA)

FRIDAY 6TH MAY JACK LADDER (SYD)

FRIDAY 29TH APRIL

WEDNESDAY 27TH APRIL

THURSDAY 28TH APRIL

THE RELEASED SERIES: CHAPTER MUSIC + THE TWERPS + GEOFFREY O’CONNOR + GUY BLACKMAN & YUKO ONO

KNOCK YR SOCKS OFF PRESENTS: SOCK BIG A LITTLE A (USA) + PARKING LOT HOP #2 + THE EMERGENCY + CAUGHT SHIP EXPERIMENTS + BUM CREEK + BARRAGE

FRONT BAR: DJ BECAUSE GOODBYE

FRONT BAR: DJ DAN BLOCK

SATURDAY 30TH APRIL

FRONT BAR: TWO BRIGHT LAKES DJS: SIMON WINKLER & LAUREN TAYLOR

MONDAY 2ND MAY

POPBOOMERANG RARE CD LAUNCH + CELADORE THE WHITEGOODS MONDAY RESIDENCY + THE BON SCOTTS + UNDERMINERS + SPLURGE + ADRIAN WHITEHEAD

FRONT BAR: PIKELET DJS

$2 POTS & FREE ENTRY BEFORE 8PM! BANDROOM: DJ WHITESIDE

WEDNESDAY 4TH MAY

FRIDAY 6TH MAY

SUNDAY 8TH MAY

THE RELEASED SERIES PRESENTS: SENSORY PROJECTS + PETS WITH PETS + TIME SHIELD

JACK LADDER (SYD) COLD FEET LAUNCH + KINS

GARAGE JOE (GROUND + COMPONENTS/LITTLE RED)

DJ MARKED CHILD WAVING

NICCI@GETNOTORIOUS.COM

twitter.com/inpressmag

+ LUNARS + I DREAM IN TRANSIT CATE@GETNOTORIOUS.COM

twitter.com/inpressmag

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

TURN ON, TUNE IN, COUGH UP

The PBS Radio Festival 2011 is just around the corner. From Monday 16 May to Sunday 29 May, this year’s membership drive will not only give you the opportunity to support the local station and get involved in your community, but you could also pick up a little somethingsomething from the $70,000-plus prize pool. All you have to do is tune in to PBS and cough up in support of the one of best and most diverse music stations in Melbourne. A basic membership is only $75 and as well as giving you a sense of self-satisfaction you will also be helping to keep local artists on the air. This year, every new member will be in the running to win more than $70,000 worth of prizes including a car, sound system, a year’s worth of records, rehearsal package, a VIP package with AFL Premiership Club and loads more. There’s also daily prizes available for everyone who joins up between Monday 16 and Sunday 29 May. As a PBS member, you receive a copy of the PBS Easey Magazine twice a year, exclusive ticket and CD giveaways, as well as a PBS pack with member card, bumper sticker and exclusive compilation of live recordings from the Easey Street Sessions! Phew!

A POISONOUS CITY IN WINTER Pull on the beanie, dust off the flanno and get cracking on that winter beard! Poison City Records have announced details of the Poison City Winter Tour 2011. Headlining a monster show at the East Brunswick Club on Saturday 9 July are Melbourne’s sonic-rock foursome A Death In The Family, supported by favourite DIY folk punks The Smith Street Band, launching their debut full length No One Gets Lost Anymore, and UK whiskey-rockers Former Cell Mates (ex-Leatherface) who are making their first ever visit to Australia. Having already released two brilliant records and played alongside the likes of The Gaslight Anthem and Lucero over the past few years, Former Cell Mates are currently touring through Europe in support of their new album, Presented As A Work Of Fiction. The Smith Street Band and Former Cell Mates then play an all-ages show at Catfood Press on Sunday 10 July. More bands will be announced soon.

THE LATEST NEWS

Bringing the soul back to this side of the millennium, Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed is a revivalist of the best sort – his newest album Come And Get It! is all the bright, colourful proof you need. He’s heavily influenced by music from the ‘60s and ‘70s, and considering that those years were long before he was even born we’d say he’s a good one to bring home to your mum if she doesn’t like “those” young people and “their” new and heavy and loud music. What a winner. He’s at the East Brunswick Club tonight (Wednesday).

HAY THERE

Born in Scotland, raised in Australia and based in Los Angeles since 1989, Colin Hay is one of our most beloved expats, both as a member of Men At Work and due to his own 11-album body of work. His new album, Gathering Mercury – his first since 2009, inspired by the passing of his father – is out next Friday 6 May, and he returns to his second motherland to launch it after his current American tour that’s seen sell-out shows in various cities. He plays the Corner Hotel on Sunday 22 May.

HIGH UP

Australian songbird Ali McGregor, who spent five years as a soprano with Opera Australia, is now deep in the world of cabaret and launches her debut album, Jazz Cigarette, which features trumpeter James Morrison and other famous Melbourne musicians and includes covers ranging from Cole Porter’s So In Love to Britney Spears’ Oops, I Did It Again. She takes the tunes on the road when she plays the Arts Centre’s Fairfax Studio on Monday 2 May, Geelong Grammar School on Thursday 12 May, Bright Art Gallery on Thursday 2 June and Tallarook Mechanics Hall on Friday 3 June.

CONS KNOW HOW TO THROW A PARTY

Converse Australia are throwing the free Converse Block Party in Prahran on Saturday 14 May. For one day, they’re bringing together skate, basketball, music, street art, dance, food and other types of creativity. There will be the VIVA Prahran Skate Comp with the Converse ‘King Of Prahran’, local ballers knocking heads in a three-onthree comp (do you dribble? Send an email to editor@ converse.com.au to enter a team), food from iconic local vendors, flea markets and freebies, and live international and local music acts that will be announced very shortly.

THINK I WANNA TRANCE NOW

In the last year alone, Above & Beyond have soundtracked the unveiling of a new spaceship, performed an acoustic show in a hot air balloon, and entranced a crowd of 8,000 in Beirut with their first full live show. For the world’s most famous trance trio, there are no limits. Their music has grandeur and melody, but it’s edged with steel too. Their first Australian headlining tour will take place in September, with venues and dates announced soon.

UNKLE HAVE TANTRUMS

Unkle will be joined at their Melbourne show this Friday by the layered weaving loops of Tantrums. The band sound like abstract symphonies sound-tracking an art school thriller. Bridging the gap between the organic and electronic, their heavy-hearted percussive electronica features industrial drumming, reverb-soaked vocals and eerie synthesisers woven together with hooky melodies.

BAMBOO YAH!

The Bamboos are one of Australia’s greatest modern funk and soul bands. Emerging from the deep funk scene of the early 2000s, The Bamboos have since forged a unique sound of their own, combining elements of old-school funk, hip hop, mod rock, psychedelic and northern soul. The eight-piece line-up led by guitarist Lance Ferguson and featuring the powerhouse vocals of Kylie Auldist are renowned for their blistering, highenergy live sets, which have kept people dancing all the way from Byron Bay to Bratislava. Their four studio albums and one live album have earned them a place in the very upper echelon of the worldwide contemporary funk and soul scene. Check out The Bamboos in the Espy front bar on Saturday 6 May. Entry is free.

A BARRAGE OF BUM EXPERIMENTS The support acts for Brooklyn’s poly-rhythmic postpost-electro-punk collective Aa’s first Australian tour have been announced. Electronic pop wunderkids The Parking Lot Experiments, free-formists Bum Creek and one-man dance-party Barrage join the line-up at the Workers Club this Friday.

FREDDIE SINGS A LULLABY

Since releasing her debut self-titled album in October 2010, indie-pop songstress Georgia Fields has toured nationally, had her musical knowledge tested on RocKwiz, and performed a set on the main stage at the Apollo Bay Music Festival with her nine-piece mini indie orchestra. Fields plays the Toff In Town on Thursday 12 May, where she’ll perform tracks from her debut album as well as some brand new material.

Freddie White has long been synonymous with music of the highest quality. Whether interpreting songs by his favourite writers, such as Randy Newman, Tom Waits, John Hiatt and Guy Clark, or performing his own classy compositions, White’s live performances are nothing short of legendary. He has been part of the fabric of the live music scene in Ireland since the 1970s and his albums continue to sell well. His most recent album, Stormy Lullaby, released in 2008, showcases what White does best – that is, deliver heartrending, troubled love songs in a manner guaranteed to stop you in your tracks. White performs at the East Brunswick Club on Sunday 29 May.

POP! GOES THE BOOMERANG

KINGS PLAY BEFORE JEFF MARTIN

FIELDS OF GOLD

Popboomerang Records have announced the release of Electric & Eclectic Rarities Volume 1: a compilation of covers, unavailable B-sides and unreleased material from the bands on their roster. The CD will be launched this Saturday at the Workers Club and features labelmates Celadore, The Bon Scotts, Underminers, Splurge and Adrian Whitehead. Doors are at 8pm, tickets are $10 on the door and entry includes a copy of the 20-track compilation.

Perth band The Joe Kings are supporting the Jeff Martin 777 band on their national tour of Australia. The Joe Kings won the 2010 Western Australian Music Industry Award for Favourite Newcomer. Check them out at the Prince Bandroom on Friday 6 May.

DRINK TRIPLES WITH LOTEK

HIGH ROLLERS IN THE DERBY The dust has barely settled from their thrilling, nail-biting season opener back in March, but the rollergirls of the Victorian Roller Derby League are up and ready for round two. Saturday 7 May sees 2009 Grand Champions the Dead Ringer Rosies take on their old rivals and 2010 champs, the Toxic Avengers. This is a bout not to be missed by any die-hard derby fan, as these two teams have serious history and a lot of scores to settle. This is preceded by the Dolls Au-Go-Go going toestop to toestop with some of the best skaters from leagues around Victoria, the Regional All-Stars. It’s set to be a great night with lots of great derby entertainment, heaps of food and drinks available plus all the love, thrills and spills you can expect from the 100% skaterowned-and-operated derby league. Grab your tickets from Moshtix now so you don’t miss the action.

Lotek’s latest release, Drink Triples, See Double, Act Single, features a blend of Tarantino-esque guitar hooks, hip hop, reggae and ska sounds. After a whirl of hype over his recent single Rudest Dude and a rip-roaring cover of Little Red’s Rock It on Triple J’s Like a Version, Lotek sets out to tour Australia’s East Coast before returning to his old stomping ground to promote his debut release in the UK. His shows will feature horn sections and live dubs in an animated performance. Lotek hits the Espy front bar Saturday 7 May. Entry is free!

DEREB’S BACK IN TOWN

After the success of his first-ever Melbourne show last month, Dereb The Ambassador returns to headline the Corner Hotel on Friday 17 June. Backed by a hand-picked seven-piece band of Sydney’s finest musicians, Dereb mixes his own originals and traditional interpretations with covers of vintage African soul masterpieces, given wide exposure through the Ethiopiques compilation series and the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch’s film Broken Flowers.

WEAR YOUR HOUSE SHOES

Detroit hip hop ambassador DJ HouseShoes is back in Australia early May, bringing that Motor City music to the Espy front bar on Thursday 5 May with a free show. Michael ‘HouseShoes’ Buchanan has had personal influence over a full generation of MC, producers, and DJs. As a DJ, Shoes has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe with acts such as Percee P, Guilty Simpson, Illa J, Exile, Aloe Blacc, Phat Kat, Slum Village and Elzhi, as well as on his own.

twitter.com/inpressmag

ONE COOL CAT Brisbane singer/songwriter Ben Salter, known as the frontman of The Gin Club, is gearing up to release his debut solo album, warming up by playing a few East Coast dates and re-releasing his self-funded EP, Perceived Slights. The upcoming album is called The Cat and was produced by The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard, and Salter will be showcasing tracks from it when he plays on Thursday 5 May at the Gem (free), Friday 6 May at the Tote ($15), Saturday 7 May at Pure Pop Records (afternoon show, free) and Sunday 8 May at the Post Office Hotel (aftrenoon show, free). Limited copies of the EP will also be available for purchase at the shows.

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

DREAMS AND LADDERS THAT’S BIG After brief promotional appearances last year that were met with rave reviews, Big Boi has announced that he’ll be flying back down our way for some proper headline shows later in the year. Big Boi rose to fame as a member of OutKast but last year released his solo debut, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty, which saw further acclaim thrown his way from all manner of music media outlets and fans around the world. He will bring his full live band with him this time, and is joined by support Theophilus London from New York City. London has just released his first EP, Lovers Holiday, and has collaborated with the likes of Mark Ronson and The Daptones. Padded out by local hip hoppers Thundamentals, the Melbourne show of the tour happens on Friday 2 September at the Palace. Tickets are available to the general public tomorrow through Ticketek.

PAPERBOY MEETS BOOM! BAP! POW! Boom! Bap! Pow! back in Melbourne to support Boston soul, blues, and gospel wunderkind Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed at the East Brunswick Club tonight. The in-demand Perth quintet were chosen on the strength of their acclaimed recent support slots for swing revivalists Royal Crown Revue when they toured Australia in January. BBP’s new single, His Mind Is Gone, is a sad tale of unrequited love. Introduced with a thumping bassline and the on-the-edge vocal delivery of Novac Bull, it serves as the perfect hors d’oeuvres to the album main course which is due out late in 2011.

WROK IT OUT

This Saturday at Oakleigh’s Caravan Music Club, Ronnie Charles, Barry Smith, Bobby Bright and Jack McGrath – all backed by the Wrokdown house band – are joinging forces to raise funds to put Wrokdown back on air. Wrokdown is a community-based television show that has been working hard to get our Aussie rock legends a forum to air their new music and their fans an opportunity to see them perform it. Wrokdown now needs your help to continue their work. Doors open at 7.30pm, entertainment starts at 8pm and tickets are $30-35.

GRANEY HIDES IN ROCK’N’ROLL

Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist are set to launch their new CD, Rock’N’Roll Is Where I Hide, on Saturday 7 May at the Northcote Social Club with special guests Go Go Sapien. Rock’N’Roll Is Where I Hide is a celebratory rock’n’roll set, a re-recording of vintage Graney classics from his ‘90s back catalogue, an update and a reworking of a dozen golden tunes. Dave Graney also has his highly-acclaimed book, 1001 Australian Nights, out on Affirm Press and maybe if you’re lucky, he’ll give a reading at his show. As a short run up to the Northcote Social Club show, Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist play at the Bended Elbow in Geelong on Thursday 5 May and the Bended Elbow in Ballarat on Friday 6 May.

GANGA GIRI’S GOOD VOODOO

To celebrate the release of his new album Good Voodoo, didgeridoo player and percussionist Ganga Giri has announced that he will be heading out around the country to launch it. Having performed everywhere from Glastonbury, Woetsjtock Festival (Netherlands) and Evolve Festival (Canada), through to multiple tours of Canada, USA, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, and all throughout Europe, Ganga Giri is a multi-layered experience of

Jack Ladder’s third album, Hurtsville – his first featuring The Dreamlanders – will be released Friday 10 June. It’s Ladder’s first album in close to three years and follows 2008’s Australian Music Prize-nominated and Red Bull-awarded Love Is Gone. The overall mood and sonic feel of Hurtsville is distinctly different from his previous releases. The good-time Motown rattle and shake is replaced by a sparse cinematic sound that describes the tortured Australian landscape as much as it does the failings of the human heart. First single Cold Feet arrives with chiming guitars and droning synths, thick with memories of ‘80s Australiana. Experience it live at Ladder’s show at the Workers Club on Friday 6 May. complex grooves and raw, deep natural sound. His music blends an array of tribal percussion with congas, djembe, bougarabou, Nigerian talking drum and mbira with authentic indigenous moves and Aboriginal dancers. Ganga Giri performs on Friday 13 May at the Corner Hotel and Saturday 14 May at Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal.

WE’RE HALFWAY THERE

Singer/songwriters John Busby and Chris Dale from Brisbane-based band Halfway will be playing a handful of acoustic shows as main support for the upcoming tour by Mark Olson. The 2008 Grant McLennan Memorial Fellowship winners will be opening for the legendary Jayhawks founder on Saturday 14 May at the Northcote Social Club. as he launches his critically acclaimed album Many Colored Kite. Halfway’s latest album An Outpost Of Promise has received acclaim across Australia and overseas.

GO! BOWLING TEAM

Boisterous British act The Go! Team will jump, crash and strum on stage later this month as they support Puma Social in celebrating the After Hours Athlete. Embracing the idea that life is meant to be played, the event at Strike Bowling continues the Puma Social season that kicked off in Australia last year with artist curated mini-golf nights. Eschewing the blood, sweat and tears competitive sports, Puma Social events instead shine a light on games that are a joyful marriage of sport and lifestyle, embracing ping pong, pool, darts, and of course, ten pin bowling. Join in the fun this Friday at Strike Bowling QV.

MOTORING ALONG SHAKING IN YOUR DREAMS Melbourne four-piece Redcoats are set to release their debut single Dreamshaker. After solid gigging around Melbourne, the band have emerged with a big desert-rock sound fused with vintage blues and ethereal vocals. After touring nationally with grunge heroes Stone Temple Pilots, Redcoats are hosting their much anticipated single launch at the Tote this Friday. Dreamshaker is the first single off their forthcoming EP, which has already earned high rotation Triple J play. Tickets are on sale now from Oztix. Doors open at 9pm.

twitter.com/inpressmag

Local rockers Calling All Cars have a new single out this week. It’s called Reptiles and is lifted from their second album, which they’re hard at work making with producer Tom Larkin, the dude who beats the drums for Shihad. The guys in Calling All Cars need a bit of fresh air as they’ve been holed up in the studio for a while now, working on the album, so they’re heading out on a headlining tour to launch the new single. With Strangers and The Cairos hopping in the van and coming along for the ride, the band play the Northcote Social Club on Friday 3 June. Tickets are available now from northcotesocialclub.com.

MAKING THE CUT pieces, and new synthesisers and things like that. With this new record, there were a lot of vocal things that I hadn’t really tried before either live or in the context of a record – it just ended up being a bit more developed on that side of things. For me, performing the first track on the record Need You Now has been a bit of a daunting thing, because it builds from this really small thing to like this crazy, big voice booming out, you know? Like, sort of Pavarotti almost.” Whitford channelling Pavarotti? Hmmm… Would Bryan Ferry suffice? “Yeah, well maybe Pavarotti was going a bit too far,” Whitford chuckles. “I was trying to get the biggest voice I could come up with and Pavarotti was it. But, yeah, maybe Bryan Ferry is a fair example.”

Another change to the Cutters camp is the permanent recruitment of Ben Browning, with the bassist/multiinstrumentalist even appearing in the band’s press shots these days. “He seamlessly integrated into the whole group,” Whitford shares of the former Damn Arms guitarist, who swapped to bass when he joined Cut Copy. “It’s almost been an unnoticeable addition. He’s someone that’s really strong on a whole number of instruments, and also vocally as well, so he’s really aided a lot of the new songs – on the last couple of records – just because there’s a lot more vocal content and also different instruments as well… He was there through the whole recording of this record, Zonoscope. It’s nice having him as a different viewpoint when we’re working on a track, because he comes from a slightly more knowledgeable musical background having studied as a kid. It’s interesting having a different angle on some of those facts. He knows crazy things like chords and whatever and we’re always just like [laughs] where do you put your fingers, you know?” Browning could probably abuse this position. “Oh, he probably does,” Whitford chuckles. “We wouldn’t know…”

You may have noticed Cut Copy’s recent image overhaul with the quartet sporting matching onstage ensembles of crisp collared shirts under well-cut suits these days. “We just felt like it was time to step it up and go to work basically, you know?” Whitford offers. “Or go to work in as much as playing in a band is going to work. I think it just seemed like being a bit more dapper or having a

After a long search for the perfect studio space, Cut Copy holed up in “the biggest, the most isolated” warehouse they could find to record Zonoscope. “It was a bit of a no-brainer picking this one,” Whitford says. “It had a beautiful view of Melbourne, from a bit of a distance, and it acoustically sounded good. Even the guy that has a lease on the whole space had all these other instruments

Inspired by Bowie’s Young Americans album, CUT COPY worked with a mini gospel choir in Atlanta while mixing their latest set, Zonoscope. “It’s the sort of experience I’ll probably remember forever,” bandleader DAN WHITFORD tells BRYGET CHRISFIELD. Photos by KANE HIBBERD.

“I

t’s kinda exciting, because we spent so long performing all the songs and touring around the world with the last record – and we’ve probably done it a thousand times by now – so to get the opportunity to play something different is almost like a breath of fresh air,” Cut Copy’s debonair frontman Dan Whitford explains of how it feels to be able to inject new material into their live set. “And having a whole new record to draw upon is even more so – an awesome sort of luxury for us.” Already established headliners at homeland festivals such as Parklife and Laneway, Cut Copy recently played California’s Coachella festival. Their band name appeared in impressively large font on Coachella’s line-up announcement, between Cee-Lo Green and Cold War Kids. On what sort of challenges performing the new material live has presented, Whitford confesses, “There’s a host of things… I think probably because we’ve added a whole bunch of new instruments to our live set – we’ve got an extra percussion rig with a whole bunch of new bits and

bit more of a refined look might be a good way to go.” Previously, Cutters set a high precedent, owning the skinny jeans look, but Whitford reckons the suits are a more user-friendly choice. “If you rock out in skinny jeans for an hour or so, you’re pretty much covered in sweat,” he laughs, “whereas suits sorta breathe a bit more, so, yeah! It’s almost like maybe all bands should adopt that. I dunno, we’re just puttin’ it out there.”

in the next room, so he was like, ‘Yeah, if you wanna use any of these, go for it!’ So we struck gold, I think.” Did the band members move into the warehouse for uninterrupted recording purposes? “No,” Whitford laughs. “We didn’t move in there. That would’ve been a bit insane. It really was actually in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t really have any amenities – so there was no showers, maybe one toilet that worked kinda half the time – and I think it wouldn’t have been wise to move in there. There was no central heating. It was basically just in amongst all these car yards and it was very industrial, so we almost did working days there. We’d sort of rock up about 10[am] and leave whenever we finished what we were doing, but usually eight o’clock or afterwards. We were in there to do that for a few weeks at a time and then [we’d] take all the recordings home and work on them some more, you know, put it all together and then go back in and record more – do it in stints. But I think if we were actually in there the whole time, and living in there as well, we probably would’ve gone insane [pause] or more insane, haha. We’d still be there probably! Banging on the ladders and whatever.” Some unconventional percussion made its way on to Cut Copy’s previous, Tim Goldsworthy-produced album In Ghost Colours and this is a theme that continued into their latest sessions. “At one stage we were mucking ‘round with these cowbells, and sounds like that, and then Mitchell [Scott, drummer] started playing – he had this ladder set up ‘cause we had to build an enclosure for Mitchell’s drum kit, to record in, just so it sounded right acoustically. And then Mitchell just started tapping on the ladder, like, playing all these different notes on the different rungs of the ladder, basically. This metal ladder somehow made it onto the record. We mucked around with wine bottles as well, with different amounts of water in there [we] would get different pitches. “There’s a lot of things to experiment with even

CUT IT UP ONE TIME Half of CUT COPY, DAN WHITFORD and Tim Hoey, moonlight as Cutters DJs. BRYGET CHRISFIELD digs through Whitford’s crates to discover his treasured gems. Whitford’s emotional vocal performances throughout Zonoscope definitely call to mind Icehouse frontman Iva Davies. So are there any Icehouse albums in the Cut Copy frontman’s record collection? “I’ve got a few,” he concedes. “I’ve got the Flowers record, I think that was their first one.” (Fun fact: the debut longplayer by Davies’ first band, Flowers, is titled Icehouse and they changed their band name to Icehouse immediately after the album’s release.) “That’s actually a big favourite of mine,” Whitford extols. “Yeah, I think We Can Get Together – we actually, back in day, tried to cover that song as Cut Copy, I think. When our first album was out we sort of worked on a cover of that, which never saw the light of day. But, yeah! We’re fans of Icehouse from way back in the day.”

beyond the objects that you use,” he continues. “The way that you record things can also really change things. I guess mic-ing things a certain way it can sound like absolute rubbish, or you can mic it up the right way and it’ll just sound incredible.”

up the vocal talent: “He’s like, ‘Yeah, cool, I can hook up a bunch of people to sing on your record. Yeah, that’s no problem.’ And basically [he] just pulled out a bunch of names and then, when they went into the studio, they just killed it basically. It was incredible.”

Speaking of incredible, the mini gospel choir who loaned their pipes to Need You Now could definitely be described as such. On how these lush vocal textures came to be included on the track, Whitford reveals, “It was sort of an idea I’d had. When we finished doing initial demos for the album, I was talking to our manager about the fact that I was a big fan of Young Americans, the Bowie record. And then we just got talking, ‘cause on Young Americans – I think [Bowie] went to Philadelphia or somewhere like that and just recorded with all these awesome Motown artists and [had] soul singers backing up for his record. He had Luther Vandross. And I guess it was like, ‘Well, why don’t we do that?’ So that was sort of where the idea came from. It was almost something – for some reason it seemed so unobvious to me that that would be something that we’d try, but then it was just like, ‘Well, that could be kinda cool’.” Cut Copy mixed their Zonoscope set in Atlanta with Ben Allen, who Whitford says was instrumental in rounding

Although Whitford was originally expecting to have to “sit there and tell each person what to sing”, the reality of the situation was altogether different. “They turned up and listened to the track a couple of times and just sang it, and even improved bits – you know, ‘And we can do this, and we can try this’ – and everything sounded incredible. So it was pretty amazing. These people, I guess they’ve probably grown up singing in church choirs and stuff and [they] just had amazing voices. So it’s the sort of experience I’ll probably remember forever.” When asked whether he feels a particular affinity with one of the songs on Zonoscope, Whitford struggles. “Well, I mean, I feel an affinity with all of them, but as far as one being more so than the others – um, I guess Need You Now. I always read about artists writing songs that I think are classics, and it’s just one of those things where it’s almost something that happens so quickly, almost incidentally, and then all of a sudden it becomes

a big song for them. And for me that’s almost what Need You Now feels like. Even though it’s not, like, a classic song or a big song. But it’s just something that happened so easily and quickly, ‘cause it was actually one morning – I was waiting for Tim [Hoey, guitar/keys/ samples] and Ben to come up to my house. I think we were meeting up to do something or rather and I was just sort of tinkering around at home and flipped up this little idea, which more or less turned into what the song is. But it was something that was so incidental and basic and quick that it just seemed to kind of click and work. I guess, for me, that song feels like something special amongst the ones on the new record. I think there’s a timeless quality to it or something.”

WHO: Cut Copy WHAT: Zonoscope (Modular) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Groovin’ The Moo, Prince Of Wales Showground, Bendigo; Thursday 5 May, Palace

So how many records are currently in Whitford’s collection? “Jesus, ah, quite a lot,” he downplays. “If I was to guess – I dunno, it would have to be, like, maybe 15,000 records? It’s a lot [laughs]. [By] counting a couple of crates I could probably estimate [the number], but I haven’t actually done it. I probably would be too scared to count ‘em! I almost don’t wanna know how many I’ve got or I’ll stop buying them.” On whether he’s ever culled his collection, the vinyl junkie confesses: “I’ve actually never sold any, but I probably should at some point. I should just get down to the Camberwell markets and get rid of them, but I’ve never actually gotten around to doing it. I guess it’s one of those things, you sort of think, ‘Oh, maybe one day I’ll listen to this’, you know?” As soon as he sold one on, the need to spin it would probably arise. “Yeah, exactly, that’d be the one that you would wanna play a couple of months later. And because vinyl’s just not worth that much these days, there’s not much point in trying to sell stuff.” With the current fascination for experiencing albums performed live and in their entirety, does Whitford hanker for such an experience with a treasured title? “Wow,” he ponders. “Um, I’m gonna just pick one, somewhat randomly, but theses guys are one of my favourite artists of all time. So, I’m gonna say, if I could hear The KLF performing their album The White Room, from start to finish, that would be a dream come true for me. That’s my choice.”

SHAMROCKIN’ THE MIC They’re currently working on new material, but Irish-American hip hoppers HOUSE OF PAIN – you know, Jump Around – are all about celebrating the past on their current Australian tour, DANNY BOY tells TONY MCMAHON. good. So we were all just sitting around together and so we thought, ‘Why not get the band back together?’ The record we’d been working on we all felt that whatever we used to have together was still there.” Interestingly, Danny Boy, Everlast and DJ Lethal have been friends since high school, so it’s easy to imagine that there may have been a sense of no time having passed at all once they were together again, a real sense of comfort. But Danny Boy says it’s actually about moving forward. “It feels like a whole new experience, really. There’s a full band. We’re playing all the tracks with live backing and a DJ and there’ll be a few new tunes you haven’t heard before, so it’s a whole new experience for everybody involved.” And talking of new material, there is word of a new House Of Pain album by the end of 2011. Inpress has severe trouble hiding our excitement, and Danny Boy is not much different, even though he isn’t fully up to speed on exactly what’s happening. And as with the rest of the band’s oeuvre, collaboration will again play an important role.

lthough only active as a group from 1991 to 1996, Irish-American hip hop outfit House Of Pain left an indelible legacy on the genre. Beginning with their self-titled debut album in 1992 and its subsequent smash hit single, Jump Around – one of the most popular hip hop songs of all time – founding members Danny Boy, Everlast and DJ Lethal have and continue to contribute with unswerving dignity and worth to this most quintessential and exciting of American music styles. Now, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, House Of Pain are back together again and heading this way. But if what Danny Boy tells us about the band’s last Australia tour is any indication, pedestrians should perhaps be slightly worried.

ago. Now we’re coming back and we’re really excited to be bringing our music to the people of Australia.”

“It is a long trip, but it’s well worth it. Last time we were out there we had a blast, so thanks for having us. Last time we came out – I think we did, like, 12 dates – we hired these scooters and went crazy and just had a good time. But that was, like, 12, 15 years

“The 20 year thing was a good reason [for getting back together]. But also we’d worked together again recently and just found it really pleasurable. You know, we’d worked on records together again and all been on the same tour bus and we all got along together really

When it comes to the significance of having been involved in music for two decades now, no one is more surprised about it than Danny Boy himself, but it seems that the motivation for getting back together again wasn’t simply to do with timing. “It really is a significant milestone. Who would have thought it, hey? It hasn’t been 20 continuous years, but it has been 20 years. We’ve been continuously putting out product, whether that be solo records or other projects or just generally working in the field of hip hop. It’s been really awesome.

“Lethal’s just finishing up production on an album and then we get to work on the new House Of Pain record. Apart from that I don’t really know much more about it. I mean, hopefully we’ll get some tracks from Ill Bill and anyone else who’s around that immediate circle and we’ll go forward. Right now, though, we’re just focussing on the tour and then we’ll figure out how it’s all going to sound.” Are House Of Pain the kind of band where things such as the upcoming tour will inform how a future record will sound? Danny Boy says that they are, although this time around, they’re approaching the matter slightly differently. “We are like that, we do work things out on the road and on the stage, but not so much on this show, you know? This show’s going to be more about celebrating the 20 years and celebrating the records that we’ve put out in the past. We won’t worry so much about the new stuff until we get done with this tour.” Since it has been such a long time since they’ve played here, there would be a lot of Australian punters who are familiar with House Of Pain’s recorded work but might not have necessarily have had the opportunity to see them live. What can they expect to see? If it’s a carbon copy of a 1990s show they’re hoping for, chances are they’ll be disappointed.

DARWINIAN EVOLUTION In between listening to John Mayer and brushing up on Anthony Kiedis’s drug-taking and sex life, New York-based bohemian indie pop wunderkind DARWIN SMITH, AKA DARWIN DEEZ, explains to MITCH KNOX why we’ll remember his live show for a long time. tour and we’ve all passed it around and we got kind of obsessed with it. It made us want to listen to this music that they’re talking about in the book, so that’s where the Chili Peppers thing came from. I don’t know about John Mayer. He’s just a musical guy; I can’t resist.” Strange though it may seem that Deez could find not only enjoyment but relevance in anything Anthony Kiedis has to say, he admits that he has something of an ongoing fixation with the lives of music royalty that compels him to hear their tales, however (probably) exaggerated they may be. “Well, I’ll tell you, I like to see the films,” he explains. “I like to see the documentaries about musicians’ lives because it’s relevant. It’s just fascinating and it’s fun and exciting. And now more than ever it’s relevant to me because it’s like, well, this is how it could be if I keep going down the path I’m going down. Whereas for most jobs and lifestyles it’s kind of evident how things are going to turn out and what they could be like and I think for a musician – just for me – it kind of gives me a picture of what that’s like. I love to watch those documentaries.”

ometimes, you think you’ve got a person all figured out and then, out of nowhere, they throw curveballs at you which straight up blindside you and leave you wondering how you had them so horribly misperceived. Such is the case with the enigmatic Darwin Deez. At first glance, he seems like any other earthy waif of a hipster, but it’s not until he admits he’s been filling his days between “shows and shows and lots of shows” doing “a little bit of rapping, listening to the Chili Peppers and listening to a lot of John Mayer” that it’s apparent that Deez is a truly unique specimen indeed. The rapping refers to his recently released “high concept” rap mixtape

made up of samples from the original Willy Wonka film, but the Chili Peppers? John Mayer? Really? “I’m just following the muse, I guess,” Deez laughingly justifies. “I don’t know why. I guess the Chili Peppers fascination kind of started because a bunch of us… well, first I started reading his [Anthony Kiedis’] biography – his really racy and maybe, probably, exaggerated biography, which is just continuous sex and drugs – Scar Tissue. It started because I bought it for Michelle [Dorrance, AKA Mash Deez], our bass player, and she never really read it, but I did, before I gave it to her – parts of it – then I finished it more recently on

When he has the time, that is. Although the band’s eponymous debut album was released in the UK around a year ago, it only dropped in his home country in late February this year. It’s not the most usual of approaches, but a lack of “label-love this side of the pond”, among other reasons, led to the arrangement and so only now is Deez blessed with the opportunity to make a dent on the US psyche. Not that he really seems to mind the way things panned out. “It’s boding well, yeah,” he says of the album’s early reception at home. “We’ve done a few shows at colleges and those have been good, so I think that’s a pretty good place to start. Certainly a goal I’ve had for a long time is to play those college gigs that pay well and are a lot of fun and you’re getting in front of people that you want to play for, so it’s definitely progress. “It was kind of like a goal and a fantasy and a dream for it to happen in England first,” he continues. “I always

twitter.com/inpressmag

“Our show has become a lot more mature. There’s a definite development in the level of experience. If you weren’t around in the early ‘90s, then you missed it, that’s just the way it is. It’s the same vibe as on the record and it stays true to the sound of House Of Pain, but we’ve grown as people and as musicians. We just do the show that we do, you know? It’s all about the show.” It’s tough to let Danny Boy go without asking him about Jump Around. It was such a huge hit for such a young band – by all conventional wisdom a decidedly bad thing, in a where-to-next kind of way. “I still feel great about that song. It keeps us in the public eye, it never stops getting airplay, the kids love it, they jump around just as much as they used to the first day we put it out. Every time we play it we get a great reaction. Did it come out too early? Who knows? You don’t really want your first album to sell the most but that’s what House Of Pain did. Expectations for sales numbers were double and triple that down the line. Did it hurt us? I don’t know. But I wouldn’t change a thing about it now. It was what it was. We did what we did. We went our separate ways and now we’re back together celebrating the work that we’ve done in the past. There’s no point losing any sleep over the past.” Given his experience at the musical coalface over such a long period of time, Danny Boy is perhaps the perfect person to ask about how hip hop has changed during his involvement. Not surprisingly for anyone familiar with the band’s dangerous yet intrinsically positive output, his answer reflects both the negatives of what has become something of a sanitised genre and the optimism of the healthy anarchy inherent to an industry in the process of reinventing itself. “The landscape has significantly changed. It’s all watered down radio-friendly, you know, shit. The shit we were doing back then, we had to cut half the song out to get on the radio. It’s changed so significantly, but the good news is that because the record industry is falling apart, it’s also thrown out the rules and musicians are now their own bosses, nobody’s being told how to make a record or how to shape it so that it can fit into some kind of corporate mould. Bands can just make the record they wanna make.”

WHO: House Of Pain WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Prince Bandroom; Saturday, Groovin’ The Moo, Prince Of Wales Showground, Bendigo

thought it was, like, the best way to break in to the music business because England is kind of the mother of all music press and there’s a lot of really reputable acts that were famous in England first, like The Strokes and The Killers and Jimi Hendrix… and they have this way of talking about music in England, I swear, that’s, like, way more exaggerated. There’s a word for that – hyperbole – and I think that gets people excited and it contributes to the spread. So I’m really happy for us too and, again, I think it’s a good sign. I’m happy.” The positive vibes now irrevocably flowing, Deez is similarly optimistic about his impending performances in Australia. “I think you can expect to like it,” he affirms. “I think you can expect to remember it for a while and if you don’t love the songs already, you probably will, so… That’s pretty boastful I guess, but I think that’s just the truth about this group of songs and about our live show so, y’know, who’s to say whether we’ll be able to keep it up? We probably won’t – sophomore albums usually suck, so at least I’ve got it now. Get it while you’re hot, right?” Well, yes. Besides, at least if the expectation is there that the second album could “probably” tank, there surely can’t be all that much pressure to perform. “No, no, it’s definitely, like, super-mega-pressure,” Deez frets. “I put a lot of pressure on myself anyway to make stuff good. So with this one, I think people are going to notice if it’s not good, so it’s probably about the same amount of pressure, but just more time pressure. I hate that, because I really don’t want anyone to be bothering me with, ‘Oh, this sounds done to me,’ for me to say, ‘No, I want three more months with it so I can change one word.’ But it’s like that’s how I prefer to write and work, so I’m a little anxious about that. But it’s gonna be a new challenge and I like new challenges. That’s my thing. I’m Aries so I’m a pioneer – first sign of the Zodiac. So it’s like anything that I’ve never done before, I want to see if I can be good at it and that’s how I sort of stay interested in life.”

WHO: Darwin Deez WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Hi-Fi; Saturday, Groovin’ The Moo, Prince Of Wales Showground, Bendigo

twitter.com/inpressmag

THE NEW SHIT From triggering their own lights on stage to making sure every song they write sounds unlike any they’ve previously recorded, Aa – pronounced ‘big A little A’ – are one of the most forward-thinking and uncategorisable bands working today. “We’re trying to explore that territory of making genuinely 21st century music,” singer/electronics wrangler JOHN ATKINSON tells DOUG WALLEN.

“B

ig A little A” is the correct way one to pronounce Brooklyn’s Aa. From there, you’re on your own. The trio are impossible to pin down, leaping from maximalist drone and abused electronics to street-fight shouts and feverish rhythms. And the live show borders on performance art, as Aussies will soon discover firsthand. Freshly signed to Melbourne label Sensory Projects, the band are making their maiden voyage here on the back of an Australia-specific release called mAate. It takes the 2007 album gAame and adds two live tracks from that same year alongside two epic songs from a 2009 EP. It’s one hell of an introduction. Kindred spirit to the boundary-pushing likes of Boredoms and Holy Fuck, Aa excel in sensory overload and unpredictability. The songs flirt with but ultimately transcend rock, psych, noise, and even punk, at once throttling and hypnotic. Sprung

from the DIY warehouse and loft gigs that swept Brooklyn at the start of last decade, the band have never lost that initial sense of close-contact insanity, right down to triggering their own light show while playing live. “It was purpose-built to be the most exciting band you could possibly see in that environment,” says vocalist and electronics wrangler John Atkinson, who began as simply a fan and friend of the band before being asked to join. “I really, really vividly remember the first couple of times I saw Aa. It was the total package: music, light, performance. They were crawling up over the bar.” For all their erratic qualities, though, Aa songs aren’t improvisational. “We spend a lot of time on the structure,” counters Atkinson, “and especially the sounds we use. We’re definitely not just spazzing out.” Even live, he adds, “A lot of sections are really tightly scripted, and then other sections are free-flowing and we can jam out. But those sections always have a set signal to end and move on to the next thing.” Usually touring as a four-piece, Aa will come to Australia as the core recording trio of Atkinson, Aron Wahl (drums, beats, samples) and Josh Bonati (drums, samples). You’ll notice there are no guitars or bass in that line-up: just percussion, electronics, and decidedly un-melodic vocals. Atkinson used to play keyboards as well, but it proved too normal for the band’s exploded palette. These days more electronics come into play, where in the past Aa’s extended drum jams would include up to four drummers at a time. Rhythm is still key: Atkinson currently plays shakers, auxiliary percussion and electronic drums live, in addition to singing and triggering samples. Besides the one full album, gAame, Aa have released EPs on cult US labels Narnack and Deathbomb Arc as well as in Europe. That’s not a huge discography for an outfit that have been around nearly ten years, but Atkinson confirms there’s a new album almost finished being recorded. That said, he admits that the demands of day jobs keep Aa recording and releasing songs at a relatively slow pace. And, beyond that, there’s a strict qualitycontrol process that would make your average slacker indie band balk. “We hold ourselves to a much higher standard than most bands,” he explains. “For every song we release, we probably write and discard two or three. At this point, every new song needs to be totally uncategorisable and new-sounding, not like anything we’ve done before or anyone else has done before. We’ve set ourselves a very difficult task. Also, the new songs are a lot more complicated and dense in terms of the production and structure. These songs are a fucking bitch to get together.” Frankly, it’s difficult to imagine material that’s denser than what’s heard on mAate. But if anyone can pull off such an extreme sound while remaining somehow listenable, it’s Aa. Still, do the band ever go so far with a song that it needs to be pulled back again in order restore some shred of logic and sanity? Not bloody often, it turns out. “When we’re writing, we’re always thinking about live,” Atkinson begins. “Most bands’ shows are so boring. You see half a song and you understand everything that’s gonna happen in the rest of the set. We try to just totally overload you. It’s this constant, overwhelming surplus of musical excitement and interest. There’s absolutely no time to go to the bathroom, get a drink, hit on girls. There’s always something happening.” That includes the aforementioned light show – think strobes and other disorienting devices – which Atkinson describes as “going the extra mile to create a more vivid experience.” Between that and the increasing role of electronics in Aa’s music, it’s easy to picture the band as mad scientists using and abusing technology just as soon as it’s made available. On the mAate track Glow Wreath, for example, the recently ubiquitous AutoTune is wielded not to perfect Atkinson’s voice, but to distort and fracture it. He’s surprised more noise bands haven’t adopted the instrument for that reason. “I’m using a ton of AutoTune on some of the new recordings and live,” he reveals. “I feel like people got sick of it maybe a year ago, but it’s totally just beginning. If you sing into it in a fucked up way or through a shitty mic, you get really cool sounds. People think AutoTune is this plastic thing, but there’s so much you can do by misusing that. You can really torture that software. The computer is trying to contain this screaming in this really rigid grid. It’s a good man-versus-machine vibe.” That’s what Aa ultimately do so well. Preconceptions about instruments, whether they’re drums or computers, are just shattered as the band push these seemingly familiar elements into abrasive, altogether alien territory. “At the end of the day, we’re basically a punk band,” Atkinson agrees. “We don’t know how to be a normal band, and we’re not really interested in it. We’re trying to make our own version of world music and global bass and rhythm music. But it’s not like we’re Diplo. In a way, we’re shooting for something like that, but we’re not doing it the right way [on purpose].” In fact, echoing his earlier thoughts on AutoTune, he finds it hard to believe that more bands aren’t out there using the very same guerrilla tactics as Aa. When he first saw the band as just a fan, he predicted a wave of likeminded acts that has yet to emerge. “What we’re doing to me seems totally obvious,” he continues. “I thought every band would start doing this. But actually, the past few years in America have been super conservative [for music]. We’re not doing close to all the possibilities that are out there, but at least we’re trying to explore that territory of making genuinely 21st century music. And that involves technology.” So this is one band you won’t hear bragging about vintage synths or recording to tape. Rather, the way forward is just that: forward. “We don’t want to be a throwback band using all analogue equipment, “concludes Atkinson. “We want to use the newest shit… in a stupid way.” Now there’s a mission statement you don’t hear every day.

WHO: Aa WHAT: mAate (Sensory Projects) WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Workers Club; Saturday, Sugar Mountain, Forum

twitter.com/inpressmag

SINGLED OUT BY CLEM BASTOW

ON THE RECORD

LATEST CD REVIEWS

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

BEASTIE BOYS HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART TWO Capitol/EMI

MILEY CYRUS EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN Walt Disney Do I really need to explain to you why/how Miley Cyrus covering Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn, complete with soaring harmonised guitar solos, is the greatest party for my ears? Cyrus’s odd voice – an uneasy mix of youthful vigour and smoky, middle-aged growl – works perfectly for this massive, Michael Bay-flavoured (More solos! Syndrums!!) version of the classic power ballad. It makes me think of a funeral sequence in a histrionic teen movie, or something to do with rain falling in slow motion on Liv Tyler. Also, I’m sure this will leave Cyrus’s target audience utterly bewildered, which makes it all the more brilliant.

OH LAND SON OF A GUN Sony I wanted to get excited about Oh Land, but in reality there’s not an awful lot separating Nanna Øland Fabricius from the rest of the dinky post-Lily Allen chanteuses currently flooding the charts. Son Of A Gun is quirky and melodic and all that, but ultimately, is it too much to ask for a little more guts or verve than all these knock-kneed “alternative” pop starlets seem to be capable of offering? I just want to hear someone sing like a woman.

JENNIFER HUDSON I REMEMBER ME Sony The career ascendency of Jennifer Hudson has been nothing short of remarkable – from Idol loser to Oscar-winner – so it’s always something of a surprise to me that her music isn’t more incredible; I mean, when you’re kicking goals on so many other levels, surely someone could supply you with a power ballad a bit more impressive than this kind of Honeyzlite slow-jam? Surely she could get Gregg Alexander or Diane Warren or Dr Luke on speed-dial these days?

Throughout a career remarkably spanning more than 30 years, Beastie Boys have largely maintained dependability, but often been unconventional: eschewing the frat boy rap/rock of 1986’s Licensed To Ill for the sample-heavy masterpiece Paul’s Boutique; recalling their hardcore/punk roots; releasing instrumental albums; and recording prank calls and creating country music alter-egos. They’ve done the unexpected again on Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, albeit unintentionally. Following Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch’s cancer scare, the album’s initial release was delayed. It’s been re-jigged as Part Two and is an enjoyable set, only really affected by a few by-thenumbers cuts and skits contributing nothing. Irrespective, the hefty grooves of funk-laden opener Make Some Noise are instantly likeable. Selected rhymes on the previously released version of Too Many Rappers were tighter (though understandable that MCA now avoids lines like “I never die because death is the cousin of sleep” ), and although Nas’ guesting doesn’t truly excite, his presence encourages the trio to up their game. Lee Majors Come Again is a reminder of the group’s punk origins, while Funky Donkey is appropriately titled. Much of their appeal lies in charismatic delivery and idiosyncratic humour and this comes to the fore on Long Burn The Fire, amusingly referencing Kenny Rogers’ pets and Mike D dubbing himself “the Jewish Brad Pitt”. The cowbell-laced Nonstop Disco Powerpack is a throwback to 1992’s Check Your Head, synth-driven, robotic Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament satisfies and Santigold brings a dub-ska authenticity to Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win. It’s unlikely this will resonate as a landmark Beastie Boys album, but it proves they’ve still got the skills to pay the bills. Brendan Crabb

SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR AFRICAN GRACE ABC/Universal Music

SNOWMAN ABSENCE Remote Control/Inertia

African Grace is hard to judge on the same scale as a regular album. While it has consistency and pacing, it’s more like a long hymn, a spiritual pool to draw from. As music continues its road of excess, there’s something very old school about an acapella vocal group, who achieve their success through emotion and faith.

The posthumous third and final full-length album from one of Australia’s best unknown exports is their most lavish and experimental affair yet, an unsettling caress of noise that’s disturbing, sensual and surreal, both separately and all at once. Having officially called it a day shortly before the scheduled release, the four band members from Perth, who departed for the UK following the release of their second album The Horse, The Rat And The Swan, present their final act. Both ambient noise and quiet brooding, it’s an arthouse movie score flittering between the Doctor Who theme of the title track, tribal jams (Snowman style) such as Hyena and vampire lullabies like Snakes And Ladders. The approach has emphasised the vocal layering – a combination of chants and almost incomprehensible phrasing, with the instruments even less distinguishable. Absence also plays longer than the eight tracks would suggest, thanks to the average song clocking in at around five minutes.

The 30-plus-member Soweto Gospel Choir, formed in 2002, draw from not only traditional African spirituals but also pop music, a range they explore over 19 tracks. There ain’t no Glee-style studio magic here, just the purity and power of the human voice, accompanied by light percussion. On the track Emarabini/Nkomo Ka Baba, the depth of melody and tone within the ensemble is explored as the voices of members young and old bind together as a cohesive movement. Ndikhokhele finds some soulful flavour weaving its way into the sound, as the members form a wall of sound around the cutting vibrato of Buti Mosia and some heavier percussion. The desire to appeal to a wider western audience hurts African Grace at times, as renditions of Voices On The Wind and Bridge Over Troubled Water sound schmaltzy and choreographed, like something out of a heart-warming Disney movie. The classical standard Ave Maria, which has been performed by everyone from Pavarotti to Bobby McFerrin, also feels out of place on this collection. The money spent on paying the rights to use such songs could have been saved. Calvary fares better as a synthesis between choral and pop elements, sounding like Graceland-era Paul Simon. As a mission, the supremely talented outfi t achieve what they set out do. Those looking for the trashy elegance of dance are probably in the wrong place. If you’re looking for something uplifting and don’t mind spirituality thrown into the mix African Grace could be your ticket to musical salvation.

Sometimes feeling like the stuff of an unsettling dream as far as listening goes, it requires some preparation and prior thought – that is, avoid putting this on during a family dinner (unless your last name is Addams) or at a funeral (unless you plan on attempting to resurrect the deceased). That said, it’s utterly captivating and displays a further evolution and unpredictable direction and sound which is undoubtedly some of their best work. If we’re talking about retiring at the top of the game, then this is how I’d want it to end. Adam Wilding

Andrew ‘Hazard’ Hickey

IMOGEN HEAP LIFELINE Sony To say that Imogen Heap is an acquired taste would be an understatement – she’s particularly popular among the contemporary dance choreographers of So You Think You Can Dance, which should ring alarm bells in some books – but there’s something about her vaguely hyperbolic, teenaged songs that is rather compelling. So it is with Lifeline, which isn’t a song as much as it is a collision of intense emotions and sound effects including weather sounds and a harp. “Compelling”, though, doesn’t necessarily translate to “listenable”; I guess it’s good to dance to?

WINTER STREET THERE WE STAND Independent Who comes up with lines like “agents of devastatingly concise indie rock”? Because it’s certainly not the first phrase that popped into my head when I heard There We Stand, which is a workmanlike if not particularly memorable update on the indie/guitar/serious young insects template originally laid down by Joy Division and co: a bit dour, and a bit dull.

LADY GAGA JUDAS Universal After the giddy heights of Born This Way (look, I liked it), any follow-up was going to be up against it. Fortunately, the stomping, skronking Judas is so bewilderingly, bracingly stupid that it more or less erases any memory of Gaga’s preceding singles. Although, with each successive single, I hope more and more that she will bring The Vengaboys back to life and then create a Euro-house singularity in which all the world will be covered in glitter and Polyester body-shirts.

YOAV FEAT EMILY BROWNING WHERE IS MY MIND Sony And so the onslaught of aural torture from the Sucker Punch soundtrack continues with this wan, idiotic cover of the Pixies’ classic (because, hurr, you know, the film’s set in a mental institution, durr), a – relative – highlight among the rest of the vaguely thematically relevant covers dotting the film. Didn’t we get over this sort of thing back in the Spawn and Godzilla soundtrack days? The most disappointing thing about it is that Emily Browning actually has a terrific voice, and deserves better than this dross.

CARO EMERALD DELETED SCENES FROM THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR Dramatico/Shock

THE WOMBATS THIS MODERN GLITCH Warner It’s never an easy task following up a platinum debut album, but Liverpudlian indie pop trio The Wombats have more than ably lived up to the task of matching their 2007 effort with an even stronger second showing in This Modern Glitch. From the opening creeping electro-pulse of Our Perfect Disease, it’s evident the threesome have expanded their array of aural weaponry – most notably in the form of a heavy focus on the use of synthesisers. The classic, guitardriven abandon of The Wombats of old is still present, though, with both the opener and succeeding track Tokyo (Vampires And Wolves) reminding the listener that the band have definitely not forgotten where they came from while forging their new path. Even in their singles, like the aforementioned Tokyo, the relaxed ethereal amble of Jump Into The Fog, the delicate strings of Anti-D or the straight-up party of the impending Techno Fan, they have successfully managed to achieve the difficult balance of creating a set of very different songs all linked by a sonic commonality that makes them distinctly ‘Wombats’.

DEREB THE AMBASSADOR DEREB THE AMBASSADOR Other Tongues Whilst the iconic 27-volume Ethiopiques series first brought the amazing sounds of the golden period of Ethiopian music from the ‘60s and ‘70s to western ears, recent Australian tours from Ethiopiques stars Mulatu Astatke and Mahmoud Ahmed have further cemented an appreciation of Ethio jazz in this country. One of the many positives that the wave of immigration from the Horn Of Africa has brought us in Australia is an abundance of amazing musicians and traditions. One such Ethiopian import is vocalist and masenko (Ethiopian violin) player Dereb Desalegn, who regularly performed in the bars of Addis Ababa before moving to Melbourne and releasing an album with Nicky Bomba a few years back. He’s since moved to Sydney where he’s hooked up with a curious mix of local musicians, many of whom in other lives stray more into improv and experimental realms.

The pleasantly surprising thing about This Modern Glitch is that it defies the trappings in which so many other bands of the genre get caught – The Wombats at no time mistake ‘pop’ for ‘laziness’. Yes, on the surface, the melodies are catchy, the lyrics easily remembered, the rhythms fundamentally primal: all good cornerstones of run-of-the-mill pop. Yet, beneath that, right through to darkly plodding closer Schumacher The Champagne the band have obviously spent considerable effort on actually exploring their new sound, filling their songs with nuances and second-listen treats – and indeed, filling the album with enough diversity to keep the gimmick engaging, which makes the whole thing transcend to intelligently constructed and thoughtful, which is a rare accomplishment.

This album is an ode to his homeland, and those familiar with Ethiopiques and the aforementioned artists will immediately recognise some of the tunes in this joyous blend of funk, soul and jazz music. It’s tight and punchy, Desalegn’s idiosyncratic vocals weaving in and out this strange, slinky, funky music. The best known tune here is Astatke’s Yegale Tizeta and Desalegn’s version is upbeat and funky. Then again, it’s a great tune – you’d expect it to be this good. Yet Desalegn also contributes two of his own tunes here, heavy on the brass and keys, and they really stand up shoulder to shoulder to some of these iconic covers. In keeping with homage to the golden period of Ethiopian music the album was recorded in Sydney using only 1960s mics and preamps. And it sounds great – beautiful soulful joyous music that isn’t afraid to groove. You can’t go wrong.

Mitch Knox

Bob Baker Fish

twitter.com/inpressmag

Caro Emerald rose to overnight success in Holland with Back It Up, which became the single for an album that wasn’t even considered at the time. From the unexpected success of her only song, Emerald worked with her producers – David Shreur, Jan Van Wieringen and Vince Degiorgio – on creating her debut record. With that, Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor was born. Emerald’s love of film and music from the ‘40s and ‘50s is obviously the main inspiration for this record. Opener That Man immediately transports you to a gentleman’s club with a jazz band on stage and the sultry Caro Emerald capturing the men’s hearts, beyond the cigar smoke permeating the air. The backbone of Deleted Scenes is Emerald’s jazz style, however, the addition of contemporary pop melodies and record scratching makes Deleted Scenes the most individual pop record of 2011. Absolutely Me highlights Emerald’s skill at combining foot-tapping jazz with the effects of cutting voices back and forth, and cross-fading melodies with a hidden needle. While sultry jazz and record scratching aren’t obvious to combine, Emerald marries them perfectly. Emerald is fun and sexy with the strength of a classic femme fatale, unleashed on The Other Woman, a lethal ballad with velvety smooth band swings. Her cheeky side is let loose in Dr. Wanna Do, where an upbeat jazz saxophone is partnered with her playful lyrics – “my eyes went ooh, my voice just cooed”. Deleted Scenes can be appreciated by anyone – from music enthusiasts to casual listeners to dancefloor lovers. Deleted Scenes is a unique take on jazz that sweeps you in, keeping you captivated ‘til the very end. If the single Back It Up astounded a country overnight, this debut will amaze a worldwide audience in no time. Christine Caruana

LATEST CD REVIEWS

ON THE RECORD

TIMES NEW VIKING DANCER EQUIRED Wichita/Popfrenzy

DANE RUMBLE THE EXPERIMENT Rumble Music

The fifth album from prolific Ohioan trio Times New Viking finds them moving on from the impenetrable ‘no-fi’ aesthetic which characterised their previous work into the field of ‘lo-fi’ – they even recorded in a studio for the first time – with intoxicating results. The familiar sounds are still there – spider-thin guitar lines and distorted synths, plus the entwined male/female vocals of Jared Phillips and Beth Murphy – but now allowed a bit more space the results are instantly more accessible.

Just a quick glance at the brightly coloured, Photoshopheaven album artwork for former Fast Crew member Dane Rumble (if the name doesn’t ring a bell, he used to be known as Kid Deft), makes it clear that Rumble has ditched the hip hop world and opted instead for the sugary realms of pop music. Having left his former crew back in 2009, Rumble didn’t wait long to unleash his debut solo single, Always Be Here, in his home country of New Zealand. The response was phenomenal and Rumble went on to unleash the aptly titled The Experiment to his hungry fans. Having more than impressed his home audience, Rumble is ready to experiment away from home.

The trio have always ridden astride a gloriously ramshackle aesthetic – one that seems totally natural and in no way contrived – and this hasn’t been sullied one iota by this new approach. They profess to have listened to a lot of Fleetwood Mac in the lead-up to this record, but the guitar line from opener It’s A Culture sounds like it’s lifted straight from The Clean, and you’d hardly hear album highlights like the bubblegum pop punk of California Roll or the thrashy, fuzzimbued Fuck Her Tears on commercial radio. Murphy’s keys wind glorious webs throughout the captivating Ways To Go, while Don’t Go To Liverpool contains more hooks than the proverbial fisherman’s basket. In fact such hooks and melodies are abundant throughout Dancer Equired, albeit often enmeshed or buried so as to require numerous listens to unleash their full grandeur – a lot like fellow Ohioans (and recent touring partners) Guided By Voices. There will be some inevitable backlash from the ‘cooler’ indie quarters for their sonic evolution but that’s just because some people fear change (and covet the ‘uniqueness’ of their tastes) – Dancer Equired is a fantastic record and if there’s any justice it will introduce Times New Viking to a whole new world of fans eager to devour the tantalising, pop-ridden contents hidden within. Steve Bell

While his album’s artwork may fill you with fearful anticipation, Always Be Here goes a long way to settle the stomach. Somewhat unexpectedly, Rumble sounds a lot like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, even down to his raw Anthony Kiedis-esque rap. It is clear why the song won so many hearts and launched Rumble as a credible contender. However, once Always Be Here closes and What Are You Waiting For? opens, it becomes clear that Rumble may have the potential but not necessarily the material to become a global superstar. As an artist, Rumble tends to play it safe and ensure that his songs never veer from the radio-friendly mainstream. Though artists like the Red Hot Chili Peppers have their fair share of radio hits, they ensure that each track is musically credible and interesting. Rumble doesn’t. His sing-along appeal soon grows stale and The Experiment disappears into the background. Rumble easily has to vocal dexterity to take his career to astounding heights, it is just a shame that The Experiment only proved worthwhile in its earliest stages. Even Human Nature in their hey day would have said no to half these songs. Jeremy Williams

COMP PILE

VARIOUS ALBUM REVIEWS

As far as compilations go, Electric & Eclectic: Rarities Volume One from ultra adventurous local label Popboomerang just about has it all. The Bon Scotts, besides having the coolest name in music, have also achieved something like Next Big Thing status, and Drape Those Caring Arms Around Me explains why. The Aerial Maps are that rarest of all rare things, a band to get truly excited about. The Beautiful Few’s The Frankston Line Singalong sounds exactly like its title: way too much fun. And Underminers’ alternate version of Trouble Man, from their album of the year-ish Heart Part Of Your Mind, re-imagined as a duet, is quite simply superb.

Seriously, is there a rule that Angus & Julia Stone have to be on every compilation released these days? At least this one deviates from Big Jet Plane to include And The Boys. Gripes aside, Womadelaide 2011 (Cartell Music) is, as you’d expect, only a small fraction of what the festival was about, but a fine fraction nonetheless. Always worth it is Bob Brozman (the indescribable but well listenable N’oubliez pas La Reunion), as is Luka Bloom (Black Is The Colour) and Afro Celt Sound System (Urban Aire & Big Cat). But, for a lovely gear change, make sure you get into the Creole Choir Of Cuba (Edem Chante) – it’s the type of mastery that makes our Stoners look, um, very mainstream indeed.

Tony McMahon

Liz Giuffre

Ah, the compilation. Like my personal favourite, the homemade mixtape, it’s a concept that has been rendered old-fashioned, thanks to filesharing and the like. This two-disc set, The Best Of Blues & Roots 2011 (ABC/Universal), is definitely a throwback (to drop an overused word). You hear the passing of the blues torch from legends (BB King, Eric Bibb) to new jacks (Ash Grunwald, Ben Harper), while the vague blanket of roots allows the inclusion of Angus & Julia Stone and The Cat Empire. In the tradition of other such comps, this here is a mixed bag. Among the overcrowdedness though is nourishment to be found.

Kicking off with John Lennon’s Imagine, U2’s Walk On and Bob Dylan’s Shelter From The Storm, Songs For Japan’s (Sony) tracks have come from two super-catalogues of half of the most powerful record industries on the planet. Staying, like many charity albums, as broad as possible so as to net the widest proceeds, pop biggies like Cee Lo, Pink and Justin Bieber are featured with tracks other than their big hits, while there’s classics from the older artists for the parents who no doubt succumbed to pester power to buy the CD (Foo Fighters’ My Hero, Elton John’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Bruce Spingsteen’s Human Touch).

Andrew ‘Hazard’ Hickey

Liz Giuffre

twitter.com/inpressmag

CHERRY POPPIN’ DADDY “If Robert Palmer’s Addicted To Love video was Pinocchio, it would be like when Pinocchio becomes a real boy.” BRYGET CHRISFIELD guesses it won’t be JESSE HUGHES’s nose that’s growing when he headlines Cherry Rock with his pornstar/“bad-ass metal genius of rock’n’roll” girlfriend, Tuesday Cross. Hughes also admires the way an AC/DC concert can attract multiple generations of fans. “That’s one thing that, really, I’m about,” he divulges. “I don’t see the barrier in age there. I mean, rock’n’roll’s for kids in a way, but with Eagles Of Death Metal especially, I like the idea of kids bringing their parents or parents bringing their kids. Besides, if it’s a mum and daughter combo, it’s even double better!” Those lucky enough to be in one of AC/DC’s audiences during their most recent Black Ice tour probably would’ve noticed kids copping an eyeful of exposed breasts (that didn’t belong to their mum) for the first time. “Yeah, that’s the kinda weird blurring of the line,” Hughes considers. “Baby, we’re hitting on a great point now: rock’n’roll has lost – like, it’s so scary it’s not even scary any more. Then we’ve also forgotten that actually some things just aren’t for kids.”

“I

’ll never forget the exact scenario, because I love music and I love to dance and I love to have fun,” Jesse Hughes, Eagles Of Death Metal’s frontman and the only choice for international ambassador for Movember, shares of the first time his boots squelched down Cherry Bar’s sticky carpet. Hughes guesses his love affair with the rockin’ laneway establishment kicked off “a few years back, the first time the Eagles came to town”. “At that point I’d been around the world, so I had some concept of things, and I’m coming ‘round and walking down AC/ DC Lane and as I get about halfway down, I can already hear what sounds like Bob & Earl’s Harlem Shuffle – real bad-ass soul music. And I’m like, ‘Wow!’ And then I get up to the door and – I think his name was Slug at the door – this bad-ass dude lets me in, and when I get in I see nothing but beautiful white kids dancing to soul, sincerely having a good time. I mean real dancin’, like, boys and girls, romance… When you’re in Hollywood everyone’s too cool to dance, you know what I mean? So

the first time I ever set foot in Cherry Bar, I was blown away by the rock. Cherry Bar and I are really very close.” The rock’n’roll exports that have been immortalised in the bar’s street address are also close to Hughes’s heart. The moustachioed rocker first heard AC/DC “when the wave really hit America”, which Hughes estimates happened when he was “about, let’s see – shit, eight? “The first time I ever had to sneak away from my mom and really go hide with my cousins and listen to Dirty Deeds was one of the first moments of being bad and ‘rock’n’roll’, but in a way that was cool. So from the outset, AC/DC has kind of like set a tone for me, there is no denying that everything that’s great about rock’n’roll is AC/DC. So I once saw an interview with Malcolm [Young, guitarist], and he said, ‘All we’ve ever wanted to do is just be in a really good rock band,’ and that kind of about sums up my whole concept. And then I got to see them when they were in Australia, when they played Australia about a year ago – they fuckin’ blew me away! They kicked ass!”

But Hughes has a kid, right? “My son’s 11 and he’s a kick-ass rock’n’roller,” he confirms proudly. “I love being a dad, I really do. And I’ve actually been able to jam with my 11-year-old, and it’s like, ‘Oh, whoa, this is cool! How can I exploit this? I’ll make a million dollars!’” Well, how old was Justin Bieber when he was discovered? “Yo, Micah! How old was Justin Bieber when he got his start?” A little voice pipes up in the background: “Uh, something like 13?” “Twelve or 13, he says,” Hughes interprets. So should we stay tuned for YouTube footage of Hughes Junior kicking out some devastating riffs in the near future? “Well, Micah’s already got attitude. For example, last night Lemmy was at the Rainbow Room, and Micah comes over and he goes, ‘Dad, Lemmy’s next door at the Rainbow Room!’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ And he goes, ‘Dude, what are you talking about! Motörhead!’ He was, like, incensed. His sense of moral compunction was being affronted, he was like, ‘Wha’ WHAT?! He’s from Motörhead!’ It was hilarious, but he was sincere and he gets it. He’s even started DJing – Josh [Homme] and I will let him DJ every now and again at parties. Because of the effect of seeing a kid’s first song into the game being Black Flag’s Wasted. That’s my kid. I mean, I’ve only raised him around good music and kinda let him gravitate towards it. “I’ve had this kid with me on tour before, you know. Just last night, my 11-year-old was holding his own, with ease, at the Roxy kicking it watching Tuesday

CHANGING THE BEAT Over the past two years, THE DRUMS have grown into one of the most celebrated acts in indie pop. Ahead of their appearance at this year’s Groovin’ The Moo festival, MATT O’NEILL speaks to the Brooklyn outfit’s one-time drummer (now guitarist) CONNOR HANWICK about how such a rapid ascent has affected the band. people who are really cool, listen to good music and who really hate our band,” the former drummer elaborates, laughing. “I’m pretty conflicted about it all. It’s pretty hard for me to be objective about it all. I’m not really sure what kind of comment I could make about the whole thing.” The band have also been transformed on a more practical level. In addition to the departure of guitarist Adam Kessler late last year, their entire line-up has been re-shuffled. Hanwick has segued from drums to guitar, guitarist Jacob Graham has shifted to synthesisers and the band have enlisted a series of friends to expand their line-up to a five-piece in live environments. Since Kessler’s departure, they’ve operated exclusively as a trio in the studio setting.

he Drums are not the band they were a year ago. In a number of ways, they are quite a different ensemble. Career-wise, their lives have been significantly overhauled. Less than a year ago, they were merely a little-known band of great promise riding the wave of a critically-acclaimed EP (2009’s Summertime! ). This time last year, The Drums were dealing with the knowledge that Clash, NME, BBC Music and Pitchfork had all described them as a potential success story for the year 2010. “At this point, I think that sort of thing is good for bands – but for no one else,” drummer-cum-guitarist Connor Hanwick reflects of the hype and accolades which surrounded his band at the time. “I would never renounce those titles or sidestep those accomplishments but hype will always kind of suck. It puts you up on a pedestal and you will never be able to live up to that position. Inevitably, you will fail in someone’s eyes – most probably your own.” Since that point, The Drums have become one of indie

pop’s most popular new acts. Their eponymous debut album – released June last year – managed to secure high chart positions in the UK, US and Australia while subsequent tours would see the band take their music to Australia, Europe and Japan. Throughout these various accomplishments, critical estimation of the band’s work has remained consistently complimentary. “Well, actually – I don’t want to sound oblivious or anything like that – but all I really know is that we did well in the UK and that we’ve gone to Europe, Australia and Japan,” Hanwick admits sheepishly of the band’s success. “The reaction we’ve gotten seems good, but it seems good in comparison to bands I’ve been in previously who got no reaction whatsoever. I don’t know. It just seems so huge and unreal to me. I kind of have a hard time making sense of it all. “You know, I meet people who like our band that are cool, I meet people who I’m grateful like our band but I don’t really understand why they like our band and I meet

“It’s a pretty drastic rotation but we felt pretty confident about it. Pretty excited about it, too,” Hanwick explains. “It wasn’t really about wanting to do something else. It was about needing to do something else. We had this idea about our live show when we started but an idea gets tired. It especially gets tired after two years. You know, after Adam left, we toured like we used to for about five months but, when it came to writing our next album, we realised we had a lot of different ideas. “We didn’t really feel like we had to prove ourselves or really stick to what we were doing as a band,” the guitarist elaborates. “When you go through what we did in the last two years, you kind of realise that a lot of people are going to like you, a lot people aren’t going to like you and a lot of people are going to like you and you won’t know why. I think we felt a lot more confident in ourselves. Actually, that sounds really lame – but we did feel a lot more confident as a band.” The irony being that, throughout all of these changes and transformations, the band’s music has remained largely unchanged. The Drums – strange as it may sound – emerged effectively fully-formed with Summertime! and have made scant alterations to their sound in subsequent years. Their work still consists largely of the breezy pop classicism of the ‘50s and ‘60s filtered through the melancholic textures and structures of ‘80s and ‘90s indie rock.

twitter.com/inpressmag

Cross’s band Hear Kitty Kitty play – it was bad-ass. And I had these moments of like, ‘My god, I’m so proud,’ because he’s such a sweet little angel, he’s still got his innocence, but at the same time he’s only been around older people who’ve never baby-talked to him, you know what I mean?” Tuesday Cross is “playing about half of the set” with Hughes when he performs his only Australian gig at Cherry Rock. “She’s an erotic film star on one hand and then she’s this bad-ass metal genius of rock’n’roll,” Hughes gushes. “It’s like a special event,” he says of the street festival slot. “For me, I’m looking at it as an absolute vacation. I just finished recording a solo record. It’s done. It’s called Honky Kong. We’re looking for a September release and I’m probably not gonna play many songs from that, but when I come down – I’ve taken drum tracks from Eagles songs from all kinds of friends and I’ve built basically an entire setlist of bad-ass music, which is kind of like what I call acceptable karaoke. Or ‘The Britney Spears Machine’ is what we’ve tentatively entitled this. And then basically I can run all the rhythm from my iPod in full, 5.1 stereo… I’ll be playing Eagles heavy [at Cherry Rock] and I play a lot of covers. I’m a simple man. When somebody wants meat and potatoes, I’ll give them a great steak and a juicy potato.” There were rumours that Hughes intended to change his solo moniker from Boots Electric to the equally appropriate The Tickler Of Fancy, but Hughes dispels these: “I’m gonna stay Boots Electric, I like it. And I like that the album title will be Honky Kong, you know what I mean? It’s like a larger-than-life white dude. “When I’m on stage, I think there’s nothing cooler than being a big, macho sex-hound but being backed up by amazing, beautiful, talented women. It’s like – if Robert Palmer’s Addicted To Love video was Pinocchio, it would be like when Pinocchio becomes a real boy.” And when does his nose grow? Or is it not his nose? “No, in this one it’s not the nose, it’s a different place,” Hughes guffaws. Keeping the tone of the conversation firmly in the gutter, is Hughes aware of the ticket price for Cherry Rock 011? “How much?” One guess. It’s everyone’s favourite number. “Sixty-nine? Wow, hahaha, that’s awesome!”

WHO: Jesse Hughes WHEN & WHERE: Sunday, Cherry Rock, AC/DC Lane

“When we first came together, we had a lot of the same influences. There was a really specific vision but I don’t feel we really got there,” Hanwick reflects. “I don’t know. We’ve always had similar references. We’ve never called ourselves original or artists or anything like that. We just like a certain type of song and a certain type of band and, even now, those are still the bands we go to when we think about our music.” The Drums’ next album, for example, will apparently see the band only refine their indie-pop formula. Currently in the process of writing and recording the album with the intention of releasing it by the end of the year, Hanwick is confident that the record is a sufficient evolution of The Drums’ existing sound but is also quick to emphasise that the band are still happy to sit within the pop format – intent on prioritising craftsmanship over innovation. “It is pretty similar. We still follow the same sort of structure. The same fundamental references. There are some new references brought in and there was definitely some stuff we wanted to try on this record that we haven’t tried before but it’s still all very much within those pop structures,” the guitarist explains. “You know, that’s basically what we’ve been about since we formed as a band. We’re always going to try ‘stay true’ to that or whatever. “I’m happy with the first album, for what it was, and when it came out I was really proud of it. But I feel like we’re capable of more. For the most part, I’m quite satisfied with this record. I feel like this record is more of a shared vision. I think it’s just more interesting without being too self-indulgent. I don’t think it’s a pretentious record, I think it’s still a pop record. It still has that pop structure we have always relied on as a band. I don’t know. Maybe a year from now I’ll turn around and say the same things about this album that I’m already saying about the first,” the guitarist laughs. “The whole thing is about three-quarters done. We have eight or nine songs pretty much finished. Once we get back from Australia, we’re going to hopefully wrap it all up and have it out by the end of the year.”

WHO: The Drums WHERE & WHEN: Thursday and Friday, Corner Hotel; Saturday, Groovin’ The Moo, Bendigo Showground

twitter.com/inpressmag

DEATH BECOMES HER MEGAN WASHINGTON’s current tour is acting as a funeral for her platinum-selling debut album, she tells BEN PREECE.

OUT OF CONTEXT Working with a “perfumerist” is just one example of how UNKLE’s JAMES LAVELLE is looking for new outlets for his music, he tells CYCLONE. home – the strongest of his career? “The British press – I dunno,” he laughs. “It’s so bizarre how it works here. It goes in sort of weird ways. With this record, I’ve gotta be honest, I haven’t really paid too much attention – I’ve just tried to get on with [promoting] the record and then we’ve just been touring… All the interviews and the people who I’ve spoken to, it’s all been great dialogue, but it tends to be very scattered across the various different continents. It tends to be a lot more review-based here than interview-based, especially the more established music press. I think we still exist in our own place here, it’s quite strange – it’s a strange one, England!”

rit psych-hoppers UNKLE are nothing if not industrious. Following last year’s Where Did The Night Fall, their most compelling record yet, James Lavelle and Pablo Clements are back with a mini album, Only The Lonely. Their friend – and fan – Nick Cave is singing the key track, Money And Run. Already Cave has declared it “a fucking hit”. And Lavelle is equally effusive about the collaboration – and Cave. “The experience was brilliant. He is just one of those really unique and incredibly inspiring individuals. It was just brilliant to be able to work with him. It kind of came from Pablo, actually, because he’s had a relationship with Nick for a while through family stuff. They’ve got kids the same age and their partners are both friends.” Lavelle is a music industry progeny. The Oxford native was just a teenager when he launched the iconic label Mo’ Wax in the early ‘90s – he didn’t want the grind of a regular job. He signed California’s DJ Shadow (Josh Davis), auteur of the landmark Endtroducing…

t’s been a swift ride since I Believe You Liar, the epically successful and equally exceptional debut album from Megan Washington, first dropped. Of course, this followed a rapid career climb that well and truly predates the late-2009 release of her debut EP Clementine. The point is not that Washington has the awards, record sales, frequent flyer points and accolades simply coming out of her ears, it’s more that, by now, you’d think that the hardworking songstress would simply slow down and bask in some of the glory that has come her way. Jumping off a plane fresh from West Coast Blues & Roots, the everhumble Washington plays down her successes to date. “For me, nothing really changed,” she says, almost embarrassed by the mere notion of success. “That world is so far away from the actual day-to-day life of the person who made that record. The one thing that did change, that I didn’t anticipate, was that I really started to feel part of a team or a gang or something, like my manager and my band. There was reason for us to keep touring and keep going and I found myself with this little patchwork family. Those people stopped being my manager or my band or my label reps or whatever and started being the people that I saw every day and we got to know each other. They got to know my terrible foibles and my flaws or the things that I do well – the intimacy of the relationships that were built over that extreme time when the record came out were very strong and that was quite a surprise. You don’t really envision that. “It’s just really abstract. That’s great, I have a platinum record,” she says, adopting a sarcastic tone. “I still need to get the zip fixed on my boots, I’m growing a little moustache that needs to go, I have to shave my armpits – you know, that’s how I live. I don’t wake up in the morning and go, ‘Mmm… platinum record!’ It’s very abstract but it’s exciting and it’s great to know that, as anyone in the world who makes anything or you do anything or you meet anyone, you want them to like you and want to be liked, unless I was some anarchistic punk which I don’t think I am.” It’s an understatement to say I Believe You Liar has completed something of a journey of putting the 25-year-old Washington on the map. It scored her a couple of ARIA Awards, relentless airplay and is now up for an international release, but as George Harrison once sang, all things must pass and as she embarks on yet another national tour – The Tour Of Laughter And Forgetting – Washington explains this is the end of the line for the record. “I don’t know how everyone else in the world is looking at it, or if they’re looking at it at all but, for me personally, I really see it as a bit of a funeral for the record and that time in my life. I’ve undergone some personal changes in the last year and, conceptually, it’s very much a farewell which is good, healthy and cathartic. I went to Rufus Wainwright’s last tour and he proved funerals can be entertaining,” she laughs. “Also, having the shows in theatres gives you a lot more scope for aesthetic or the framework, I suppose. The musical set itself is very different to the last tour – there’s a whole bunch of new songs and even songs from the record we didn’t really ever work out how to play… the band has learnt the record for this tour. “I think it’s healthy,” Washington reveals. “I don’t think it’s macabre, it’s healthy and I called it that because I picked up that Milan Kundera book [The Book Of Laughter And Forgetting ] thinking it would be a bit of a light read and it was sort of bleak as shit and I felt that it was an interesting name for the tour and the right thing to do. I love that album, I don’t listen to it but

I’m proud of it. I guess as it’s coming out overseas, I’m not going to be able to escape it in a while.” Along with Sydney band Deep Sea Arcade, joining Washington on this national jaunt will be American folk rock artist Lissie. “You know what, I didn’t expect her to say yes because her music is really… swampy,” she confesses. “It’s really bad arse and I’m, you know… glockenspiel prolific. Her music belongs in, like, True Blood and the vampire films. I was really quite excited when she said yes to the tour because she’s a lot of fun and she’s proper – a proper swampy, proper American, proper… she’s the real shit, you know? I guess, as I said, the tour is essentially a funeral for the record. It’s been put together that way and I thought it was quite fitting for her to bring her muddy darkness along.” As she lays I Believe You Liar down to rest, Washington reveals time in the studio has been indulged of late to work on material that may or may not eventually end up on album number two. Something new has emerged lately, a beautiful, low-key acoustic ballad by the name of Lightwell that appears on the new When I First Met Your Ma compilation.

Lavelle, himself a DJ, devised UNKLE as his own production outlet, initially teaming with Tim Goldsworthy. When Goldsworthy split, eventually co-founding DFA Records in New York, Davis replaced him. The British media backlash to UNKLE’s 1998 debut, Psyence Fiction, was such that the vehicle might not have lasted but for Lavelle’s stamina. It was cynically assumed that Davis was the mastermind – UNKLE Lavelle’s vanity project. Nevertheless, Psyence Fiction had a profound influence, introducing, as it did, a radical template: a modern hybrid of indie, hip hop and electronica. UNKLE emerged as an urban Radiohead – or a rock Massive Attack. Thom Yorke, among the elite vocalists, elevated Rabbit In Your Headlights. Today UNKLE functions as a sound system, Lavelle providing continuity.

More adventures are in store for Megan Washington and band following The Tour Of Laughter And Forgetting. There are some overseas duties to attend to but, as she tells it, getting back into the studio is definitely atop the to-do list. “After the tour finishes in mid-May, I’m going to go back into the studio for a bit and then back overseas really briefly to do some UK festivals and some other stuff. It’s definitely a priority at the moment to find time to get back into the studio, if only so that I don’t forget how. Even if the songs are shit, at least I’ll know how to do it.”

WHO: Washington WHAT: When I First Met Your Ma (Universal) WHERE & WHEN: Thursday, Ormond Hall (all ages); Friday, Forum; Saturday, Groovin’ The Moo, Bendigo Showground

With Lavelle a b-boy of old, Psyence Fiction featured hip hoppers like Kool G Rap, not just indie types. UNKLE have a fan in Lupe Fiasco, who sampled Chemistry on The Cool (plus the MC namechecked Lavelle on Superstar). Lavelle has raised the possibility of an UNKLE hip hop album – and now says they may commence it next year. But, before then, UNKLE are returning to Australia as a five-piece to perform live for the first time since 2008’s Big Day Out. Though Lavelle is singing these days, UNKLE will be accompanied by guest vocalists like ex-South frontman Joel Cadbury. Lavelle touts the show as “an extension” of that staged at BDO – bigger and better. Funnily enough, UNKLE’s Melbourne gig is on the same night as the royal wedding telecast and Lavelle encourages republicans to come. “It’s fine by me – the more the merrier,” he quips. “A royal wedding revolt!”

WHO: UNKLE WHAT: Only The Lonely and Where Did The Night Fall – Another Night Out (Inertia) WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Billboard; Saturday, Groovin’ The Moo, Bendigo Showground

Does Lavelle feel vindicated by the reviews of Where... at

MONSTER MOSH SAMPOLOGY’s dazzling audiovisual shows are a lot harder to create than they look, he tells AMBER MCCORMICK. “The whole Odd Future kind of hype kind of happened leading up to South By Southwest. They did a few shows leading up and it was crazy just the hype around the show. About 100 people rushed the gate and someone got their nose broken in the mosh pit by Tyler The Creator – he was up on the roof and stuff. My gigs were not exactly like that but hey, maybe next year I will be jumping up on the roof. Fingers crossed for that!”

“That was weird actually,” she confesses. “I didn’t really know quite how much of a big deal that compilation was but anyway, there you go. I didn’t know who else was doing it, I just really liked the idea of doing something that would kind of get me out of buying any presents for Mother’s Day. Lightwell is one of mine – I had that song for a while, it just was one of those ones, you know, I’ve got songs coming out of my fucking ears… I open my sock drawer, there’s a couple in there. That one is about travel, love, having somewhere to come home to which is my parents to me. “But otherwise, we’ve been in the studio and we recorded a new song. I wrote most of a record in December that we kind of demoed – some of the songs I liked and some of them need work. There is one in particular that we’ve been doing live, it’s called Plastic Bag. Because Liar is coming out overseas, I wanted there to be some kind of point of difference – like a new thing, new art or just something different. So yeah, we’re having a look at a couple of new tunes to spruce it up a bit.”

As well as Only The Lonely, UNKLE have assembled a “part two” (in fact a repackage) of Where… But even the EP isn’t Lavelle’s first project since the album. In August he was involved in the “avant-garde” multi-media exhibition Daydreaming… With James Lavelle at London’s Haunch Of Venison gallery. Lavelle revelled in the challenge. “I worked with a perfumerist – with a ‘nose’, basically – and we created a scent for the environment,” he says intriguingly. Lavelle is seeking new “contexts” for his work – particularly at a time when, with the digital revolution, music is “disposable” and listeners’ attention spans are short. “It was just a less stressful process creating music where you didn’t have to make an album.”

Jokes aside, the 23-year-old artist speaks passionately about how much time he has put into evolving his innovative series. “There is heaps and heaps and heaps of work that goes into it,” he explains. “It’s really important that there is flow, that it’s not just a big random mosh of stuff. It all comes together in a weird and time consuming way but it’s definitely a fun process.

risbane’s Sam Poggioli, AKA Sampology, is nothing short of a creative visionary. As the mastermind of one of the world’s most imaginative audiovisual shows – the Super Visual series – the enigmatic AVDJ and producer is undeniably one of Australia’s most forward-thinking artists. This year Sampology delivers the third instalment of this AVDJ series, the Super Visual Monster Mash, which draws inspiration from classic horror themes – zombies, ghouls and monsters montaged with film clips, TV shows and vintage footage collected during his travels over the past year. All visuals and sounds are mixed live from turntables, ‘magic’ vinyl, a mixer and drum machine, all projected onto a massive widescreen. It is a complicated set-up that very few artists in the world have been able to master and tour successfully. Poggioli recently showcased his new set at the infamous South By Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas. “It was my first year there and such a crazy experience,” he reflects. “Like a town just shuts down, puts live music stages everywhere and anywhere they can and it’s just absolutely crazy for five days. I played a couple of shows with the visual set and both of them went really well. And I got to check out some pretty crazy shows from up-and-coming artists.”

twitter.com/inpressmag

“It’s such a complex thing mixing audio and visuals live and it takes a lot of preparation. The best way of thinking about it is that it’s like a big jigsaw puzzle that I put together then I break up and put it together again live. It’s not just me standing on stage with my laptop and pressing play at all. It’s me manipulating all the sounds live.” Joining him on his tour will be another Brisbane talent, beatbox extraordinaire Tom Thum. Having worked together on numerous projects over the past few years, Poggioli is quick to espouse his admiration for Thum. “He is one of the most talented people of what he does in the world for me. He comes from a b-boy background and just has so many talents. He actually has this one trick where he can do a head spin and beatbox at the same time.” Poggioli will also be asking audiences at the Super Visual Monster Mash to play their role in the show, requesting that all attending dress up in a monster theme. “It’s not so much just a standard defined thing where you go and see a band or see a DJ,” he explains. “It sounds corny but it really is more of an experience – there is a theme and it’s a unique performance which isn’t being done anywhere else.”

WHO: Sampology WHEN & WHERE: Saturday (1.50pm), Groovin’ The Moo, Prince Of Wales Showground, Bendigo; Saturday (8.30pm), East Brunswick Club

twitter.com/inpressmag

RENAISSANCE MAN

NORTHERN LIGHT

It took a supergroup to get him here, but singer/songwriter JOSEPH ARTHUR is finally introducing himself to Australia, writes MICHAEL SMITH.

Though he first broke in the US, and now lives in New York, folkie BOBBY LONG still feels very connected to his Northern English birthplace, he tells CYCLONE.

just do that, melodic, beautiful songs, really simple.

this feeling of escapism – and trying to escape to a new place away from your own familiar surroundings,” Long ponders. “It’s that youthful feeling of wanting to explore – and I very much have that. I like travelling a lot and getting around and trying new things and stuff.” He’s blogged whimsically about his adventures on the road.

“That was kind of the idea and then I thought about certain songs I had that I hadn’t recorded yet, added some new ones, then I just went in and I cut ‘em, playing guitar and singing, no click track. Jim Keltner was playing drums on one of the songs for the Boogie Christ album and I played him one of these acoustic songs and he wanted to play on it and I was like, ‘Great,’ and he ended up playing on the whole record. I was going to leave it like that but then I gave it to [co-producer] John Alagia, who goes, ‘Let’s fills this out a little bit.’ So, sure enough, we ended up producing it anyway, but I think we did good by it.”

oseph Arthur – singer, songwriter, painter and poet – certainly isn’t restricting himself when it comes to artistic expression. His artwork adorns his releases, his website features a painting of the month (for sale on a first-come, first-served basis), while his blog includes his ongoing and prolific poetry output. Born in Akron, Ohio, he released his debut album Big City Secrets in 1997. He’s released four more solo albums as well as 11 EPs and two further albums with his band, The Lonely Astronauts, plus, last year, the collaborative Fistful Of Mercy, which is also the name of the supergroup that has brought him to Australia for the first time. They’re a supergroup because the line-up also features Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison, son of Beatle George. When he takes Inpress’s call, Arthur has just finished his new album, The Graduation Ceremony, which will be released locally towards the end of May. “Well, I was working on this album called The Ballad Of Boogie Christ the last couple of years,” Arthur explains, “and it had quite a lot of production on it, like horns and singers… It was kind of a big record and kind of a concept record. Really I just wrote this song I liked and I was in LA and I went into my friend’s studio and cut it and thought, ‘Man, I think this sounds like an all-acoustic-songs type of record,’ just something that’s really based around pretty songs you know,

For Arthur, the art came first, then the music and, through music, the poetry. He sees no reason to put partitions between them, allowing them to feed each other organically. It was a demo of his first EP, Cut And Blind, which got him an introduction to that other very visual musician, Peter Gabriel. “Even though that happened to me 15 years ago or whatever, it’s still mindblowing. Literally a month before I was working for minimum wages at a music store, so to have the experience of working at Real World Studios with some of those people that he attracted and seeing the way they made records gave me a great education.” Now here he is 15 years on and Arthur has just spent a year collaborating with Harper and Harrison, which has included Eddie Vedder joining the trio for a song at a Voices For Justice rally in Little Rock. “I continue to have these highs of strange fortune,” he admits. “Fistful Of Mercy came about because I was in LA playing a couple of shows at the Troubadour and felt I had to make them different, so I invited Ben to sit in on one of the nights and he ended up doing both nights and suggested we record something – we’d talked about doing something together for years – and asked if I knew Dhani, who I didn’t, so he said ‘Let’s invite him and see what happens’.”

WHO: Joseph Arthur WHEN & WHERE Tonight (Wednesday), Northcote Social Club

FATE ACCOMPLI

ritish singer/songwriter Bobby Long may be enamoured of Americana, yet his music retains an English edge.

Unusually, Long’s initial success was in North America, where he’s intrigued audiences with his smoky Northern blues – and charm. Indeed, Long’s big break came when his song Let Me Sign, co-written with buddy Marcus Foster, was recorded by one Robert Pattinson. Even then, he didn’t relocate Stateside until finishing uni. Long was born in Wigan, outside Manchester, but his family moved to England’s South West soon after. Nevertheless, this lad still has a Northern sensibility. “I think somewhere there’s an underlying thing – I hope so, anyway,” Long laughs. “My dad would kill me if I wasn’t representing that in a certain way. All that stuff has been very much drummed into me, so it’s never quite left my system. I come from a very Northern family. It’s hard to escape that!” Long only took up acoustic guitar in his late teens, following his father, and honed a fingerpicking style. He’d study music (and sound) for film at London Metropolitan University, his thesis on American folk’s social imprint. Long, who describes himself as “shy”, and a “nervous” performer, also hit the open-mic circuit. Post-Let Me Sign, he began touring internationally. Long harnessed social media, sold an acoustic ‘bootleg’ (Dirty Pond Songs) at gigs, and aired songs on iTunes – all very DIY. Now aligned with Dave Matthews’ credible ATO Records, not a major, he’s released the poetic A Winter Tale, produced by Liam Watson at London’s analogue ToeRag Studios. (Watson notably engineered The White Stripes’ Grammy-winning Elephant.)

“That moment right there just symbolised everything about Escape The Fate. We can continue to grow, when we do our best, and when we come together everything is right with the

WHO: Bobby Long WHAT: A Winter Tale (Fuse) WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Northcote Social Club

Super Furry Animals frontman GRUFF RHYS sees his solo albums as a chance to “do things by half measures”, he tells DOUG WALLEN. should make an album of piano ballads, since I was going to be 40. I embarked on that a little bit, but I got slightly bored of the idea. When I’m making records on my own, I find it’s a chance to do things by half measures.”

Just how has life changed for the band since the major label move? How do the label’s approaches differ? “Epitaph just kind of do whatever they feel at that moment, and they go with it and it’s cool. They don’t really have too much at stake,” he says like it’s a matter of fact. “They’re basically giving bands chances, you know?

Since forming in 2004 the band have released three full-lengths and gone through just as many ex-members, amid all sorts of sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll-style controversy. Previously signed to punk label Epitaph Records for 2006’s Dying Is Your Latest Fashion and 2008’s This War Is Ours, the group now call major label Interscope their home. Last year’s self-titled album is the first fruit of said relationship, and has brought the band to dizzying heights of success. “I’ll never forget playing in New York City when Max [Green, bass] fucking collapsed on stage on our biggest headlining show to date,” he says of their most recent headlining tour. “There was so many people there, it was incredible, and Max just collapsed in the last song for reasons we’ll never for sure know – but it happened.

Having supported Rodrigo y Gabriela last week, and played Bluesfest, Long is back in town Friday. “It’s just me with a guitar and harmonica,” he enthuses of the show. “It’s gonna be fun. I like playing on my own ‘cause it gives me slightly more freedom to muck around and try different things, so it’s just an honest show… There’s no gimmicks or lights or fireworks or anything like that – it’s just me and a guitar.”

Many of the 20-something’s music heroes – Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Black Sabbath (!) – belong to another era. What is the attraction for him? “I guess it’s all just

music and our lives. Everything is incredible and it props us up with everything that goes on.”

“I

Long has been connected to the UK’s nu-folk movement (Foster has signed to Communion Records, the label Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett launched), but he remains an outsider. Is Long a rebel? “Nah, not really,” he says. “I don’t think I’m a troublemaker, but I’ve always had this fairly independent streak. I kind of do what I wanna do. People have always found it hard to tell me to do something else that’s not in the forefront of my mind. So I’m fairly independent and stubborn, but that doesn’t make me a rebel… I hope not!” Today he’s settled in New York – anti-folk heartland – with his band.

SLACKER POP

From onstage collapses to adjusting to life on a major label, it’s been an epic past year for metal-meets-post-hardcore act ESCAPE THE FATE. By LOCHLAN WATT.

f it’s not us being completely, wondrously successful and dominating everything, or at least trying to, then it’s us falling apart at the seams, or shooting ourselves in the foot and not getting along,” says Escape The Fate drummer Robert Oritz of the band’s year thus far. “There’s never a dull moment, but overall it’s looking to be the biggest year for us right now. We haven’t gone backwards – I can say that at least. We haven’t shrunken in popularity, which is a good thing and shows that our album is doing pretty well.”

Long’s music toys with context – temporal and geographic – and, while his musical values are old school, his lyrics often sublimate modern (relationship) dilemmas. Long writes about “displacement and being in situations that I shouldn’t be in and unfamiliar surroundings and seeing new things.” On A Winter Tale, it’s the poignant Two Years Old, about wartime sacrifice, that resonates most with him, Long grateful for his liberty. Surprisingly, the pioneering female rocker Nona Hendryx guests on the Stonesy Penance Fire Blues, Long befriending her through a manager. “I think I paid for a taxi and that was it. She was the only artist who I didn’t pay on the record. She was just so happy to do it and so happy to help me out. She’s just the most unselfish person you can ever meet. She was such a joy to have. It was incredible. She’s just a lovely woman.”

“But with a label like Interscope, there’s a lot to lose with them, and they definitely know that this shit can hit, and it can be great, but they can lose a lot of money if it doesn’t. They want to make sure that their hands are on everything we do, but we don’t want them to. We told them from the get-go that our music, that’s the one thing that they don’t touch, ever. Whatever songs we create, they don’t touch that. That’s what we’re going to do, whatever we’re feeling.” However, it appears things aren’t always peachy, and Oritz has his qualms with how things work. “They just want us to do all this shit. It’s how we present the music that becomes a difficult part. They don’t want us to do certain things, like maybe do remixes or do all this weird kind of shit, and like release this, or do this weird tour, and we’re like, ‘No, that doesn’t fit right, it’s not what we’re about, or it’s not enough.’ We’re trying to make a music video right now for our next single, but they don’t want to just yet, but it’s like, ‘Dude, come on, let’s roll with it,’ and they want to sit back and wait for it to kind of simmer. “So you get these little things that ultimately slow down the process. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain, man. There’s, like, weird shit. There’s ins and outs in the business that are just not fun to talk about. They’re just weird and sometimes you disagree. But they do care a lot – they really care.”

WHO: Escape The Fate WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday and Thursday (under-18), Billboard

That’s not to say Hotel Shampoo is shoddily conceived. Quite the opposite: it’s an intimate, breezily majestic pop record, with contributions from folks like past SFA producer Gorwel Owen and The High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan. The songs are short, catchy, and resiliently melodic. Despite the absurdity of Rhys’ wit, it also has what feels like several love songs, though he’s careful not to backpedal into the sappy.

ruff Rhys is one of rock’s great eccentrics. As frontman of Super Furry Animals for the past 15 years, the visionary Welsh songwriter has been responsible for his fair share of modern cult classics. On the side, meanwhile, he has spearheaded the electro pop project Neon Neon and sung on tunes by Mogwai, Gorillaz and Simian Mobile Disco. Rhys has also squeezed in a modest solo career, from the Welsh-language Yr Atal Genhedlaeth to the folky Candylion to the lush and loungey new Hotel Shampoo. The latter exudes both a timeless pop purity and Rhys’s characteristic humour, as heard on songs like If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme). The album kicks off with Shark Ridden Waters, built around samples of ’60s bubblegum band The Cyrkle performing a Burt Bacharach number. From there, it’s no huge stretch to imagine that Bacharach’s gorgeously arranged pop might have influenced on Hotel Shampoo as a whole, especially when the strings and horns come in. “I suppose,” concedes Rhys, on the line from his home in Wales. “The record’s quite simple. It’s a coincidence we sampled [that] song by The Cyrkle. I wasn’t even aware it was a Burt Bacharach song until I went to clear the sample. But songs like Take A Sentence and At The Heart Of Love definitely have some Burt trumpets going on.” Rhys has also become a father in recent years. At one point he interrupts the interview because there’s a “baby freaking out”. While it’s possible that being around children informed the new album’s simplicity, he explains, “There’s quite a lot of different things going on. I recorded it when I was 39, so I thought, almost as a joke, that I

twitter.com/inpressmag

“I try and steer away from sentimentality,” he confirms. “It’s always a scary thought that I’m going to release a sentimental record. Because I mostly deal in very melodic music, it can easily go the wrong way. There’s that fine line.” Rhys needn’t worry about losing his subversive edge. Not only has Hotel Shampoo spawned a hotel lounge-set film clip for lead single Sensations In The Dark, but also merchandise for fictional businesses named after specific songs: Honey All Over, for example, led to a mug for the made-up Honey All Over Bar & Grill. And that’s nothing: the album was launched at an overnight hotel stay in England, and Rhys recently toured a chain of carbon-neutral budget hotels. Oh, and the album takes its name from a doghouse-sized hotel he built out of shampoo bottles and soap packets from hotels. “I instinctively started to keep souvenirs from everywhere,” he recalls of his early touring with SFA. “I was shocked by the amount of disposable stuff given away, and the waste of it.” Some 15 years later, he constructed a hotel from all that collected detritus in a Cardiff art gallery. Then he slept in it overnight. So yeah, no danger of Rhys becoming some bland, MOR songwriter now that he’s in his 40s. “The album is quite reflective,” he concludes. “It’s looking back at the same era when I collected all the shampoo. The album is a good soundtrack for the hotel. It’s a piano bar sort of record.”

WHO: Gruff Rhys WHAT: Hotel Shampoo (Popfrenzy) WHEN & WHERE: Monday, Northcote Social Club

twitter.com/inpressmag

THIS WEEK IN WEDNESDAY 27

ARTS

Africa – exploring the resilient powers of imagination, fantasy and escape in the lives of children, Africa is a work for adults told from a child’s perspective, and is a rich continuation of the company’s juxtaposition of the domestic with the fantastic in suburban Australian contexts. New work by My Darling Patricia. Opening night. Arts House, Meat Market until Saturday 30.

THURSDAY 28

Next To Normal – one of the most talked about new shows on Broadway makes its much anticipated Australian premiere, featuring a stellar young cast and a musical score that surges from soul-soaring rock to heart-warming ballads. As this ordinary family try to navigate through a storm of fractured psyches and feelings, Next To Normal will move you with its graceful honesty and powerful spirit. Following in the footsteps of hit contemporary musicals Rent and Spring Awakening, this electrifying production will captivate audiences. Opening night. Playhouse, Melbourne Theatre Company until 28 May.

SATURDAY 30

American Graffiti & Two-Lane Blacktop double feature – back-toback nostalgia fest with the original road trip film Two-Lane Blacktop and George Lucas’s throwback to 1950s, American Graffiti. Last day. Exclusive run at Astor Theatre. Sugar Mountain – festival of music and art, featuring (on the art side of things) Ainslie Fletcher, Alex Kopps, Beci Orpin, Ben Barretto, Brett Chan, Charlie Callahan, Clark Goolsby, Cody Hudson, Cornelius Brown, David Potes, Ferris Plock, Georg, Jay Howell, Julian Hocking, Katrine Hildebrandt, live painting, installations, and more. Head to sugarmountainfestival.com for full information. Forum Theatre.

MONDAY 2

Pink Floyd: The Wall – classic film starring Bob Geldof as a musician who descends into madness, featuring iconic visuals and music. Astor Theatre, 7.30pm.

TUESDAY 3

Encrusted – exhibition of artworks by Christine Larsen exploring the sea. The ocean depths, and the giants and microflora and fauna which are its inhabitants, are the reference for these artworks. Looking below the surface of the ocean, and of the mind, we are met with the unexpected; the marvellous. These works address environmental concerns, with references to self portraiture, illustrating the artist’s enduring connection with all things marine and long fascination with the places where the disciplines of science and art meet. Opening night. Fortyfivedownstairs until 14 May.

ONGOING

In The Next Room, or the vibrator play – Sarah Ruhl’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize nominated play transports its audience to the time of the invention of electricity, where one doctor is using a particular vibrating device to alleviate women of hysteria – for purely medicinal reasons, of course – and his wife’s sudden interest in the method. Sumner Theatre, MTC until 21 May. Sarah Beetson: I Dream In Celluloid – Sarah Beetson’s fourth solo exhibition, this time exploring the link between an obsession with film and how this affects her dreams and memories. I Dream In Celluloid will culminate in a visual record of these dreams, a series of larger works, a short animation and a giant digitally printed, hand painted embellished quilt cover. For Walls Gallery at Miss Libertine.

THE MENSTRUUM

25: KNIGHTSAT-ARMS BY ROBERT LUKINS There are a series of objects and events, and they seem to want to make sense of each other. David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King is sitting on an upturned box in my living room – a bone white block

KELSEY BROOKES (PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM HARDY)

looking like the telephone directory of a small but perfectly-Protestant Alabamian town. I have yet to collect the nerve to open the thing. In 1996, Wallace spent three days on the set of Lost Highway, to watch David Lynch work and to furnish an article for Premiere magazine. When Wallace arrived he was met by the sight of Lynch taking a piss on a stunted pine tree – it turned out D Lynch was a chain coffee drinker and the production couldn’t afford the time it would take for Mr Lynch to trudge back to the toilet trailer every time his bladder maxed out. Lynch made his film and he watered the plants. Wallace wrote his piece and about the pace that David Lynch worked, “exponentially busier than everybody else”, and in his three days on set Wallace never once spoke to his subject. Two weeks ago I stepped into a small depression in the road while trying to get into the passenger side of my car; it was dark, I rolled my ankle and put my weight on the wrong side of left foot. Cursing, holding the bones

SWEET PEAK A FESTIVAL HAS SPRUNG FROM THE WIDE, BLURRED SEAM THAT JOINS THE AURAL AND VISUAL PURSUITS. CREATIVE DIRECTOR PETE KEEN WALKS ROBERT LUKINS OVER SUGAR MOUNTAIN AS IT PREPARES TO TAKE THE FORM OF A CULTURAL AND PHYSICAL MEETING PLACE IN THE CITY’S CENTRE. This genrephobic circus is setting up its tent poles in multiple locations in the heart of Melbourne, namely the Forum Theatre, No Vacancy Gallery, Federation Square and its Atrium. As well as its line-up of musical acts, Sugar Mountain Festival is a showcase for visual artists, with a goal of highlighting the common ground inhabited by the two camps. Speaking less than a fortnight away from curtains and drop sheets raising, Pete Keen describes Sugar Mountain’s genesis and the state of his nerves at this late hour. “For the last two weeks I’ve been working from about 7pm to four or five in the morning, just trying to escape a stressful work environment. It has had its rough points, where I’ve been losing my mind. The festival started about a year ago – people around me were not so happy with the summer

like a busted Easter egg, I fell inside the car to the sound of the driver’s roaring laughter. Looking back to the road I saw the shadow of something I must have dropped, and picking it up and into the weak interior light, I saw it was an enormous pair of dirty blue underpants, certainly not mine. This made the laughter louder. On 21 April, 1819, John Keats wrote the first version of La Belle Dame Sans Merci in a letter to his brother George. “Oh what can ail thee, knightat-arms / Alone and palely loitering?” An editor would later, amongst other defendable changes, switch “knightat-arms” to “wretched wight”, and so watered-down the unfashionable gothic image. Keats wrote of a dream, of being visited by a lover and by “pale kings and princes”. The pale here was death-pale.

that had just past, and they were like, ‘There’s not that much to do any more.’ People were just complaining all the time. I don’t want to complain. If there’s nothing to do, just do it.” Consisting of close to 50 individual artists and collaborative groups, the festival’s visual component is a snapshot of young, vital art-making from Australia and the wider world. Keen recalls starting at the top of his long wishlist and working down. “I contacted my favourite artist, the biggest inspiration on my art, Thomas Campbell, and he was really keen. And from there I thought, if I can get him then why can’t I get anyone else. That injected this stoke in me – I was just really excited.” This excitement grew into a rollcall of artists that must be the envy of the country’s long-heeled galleries: Charlie Callahan (USA), Julian

Returning home on 12 September, 2008, Karen Green found David Foster Wallace, her husband, dead, having hung himself. A long while later she made a Forgiveness Machine. It was seven feet long and made of plastic, and worked by feeding a piece of paper into a vacuum pipe at one of its ends. You wrote what needed forgiveness on the paper. Karen never used the contraption herself. On 21 April, 2011, Jamie Hutchings’ new record, Avalon Cassettes, is in my letterbox when I arrive home. I put it on and he sings to me – so perfectly he sings, “I get sick of lighting candles to look impressive in the dark.” I’m going to carry my broken foot to the living room and begin to read The Pale King: simply, a book.

Hocking, Mike Perry (USA), Ryan Heywood, Ryan Jacob Smith (USA), and Kelsey Brookes (USA) amongst so many other names. “I come from a design background,” Keen says, “and in that kind of area you get a brief and they want something from you, and even though they say they want you for your talents, but at the end of the day the work probably doesn’t have any of you or your soul in it. I chose these artists because I feel they fit together in a certain way. I just asked them to be free with it and I’m really confident and happy with what they’re presenting.” A shining example, the show will see Kit Webster teamed with James Wright and conducting a live visual and light piece. Webster’s work will be known to many who in any recent time crawled between the city’s galleries and bars, where his projections and light constructions have graced so many high profile walls and windows, and at one time cut colours across the Melbourne Town Hall grand organ. Pete Keen gives an insight into some other work for the festival that is close to his heart, and some which he has placed in the hands of faith: “I live in a warehouse with a Melbourne street artist called Two One, Hiroyasu Tsuri. I’ve given him some materials, with an artist called Brett Chan from Sydney, and they’re making these giant scroll art works, two each. Then there’s Beci Orpin who, I believe, is doing some sort of 3D mobile sculpture. There are a few things from locals that haven’t come in yet, but they’re going to be finished!” A far cry from local, stateside artisan Mark Warren Jacques (USA) creates from within a close-knit and blooming scene of artists, song-makers,

board-cruisers and drop-ins. His work comes from a place warm and deep, as his manifesto in miniature describes: “As an artist I believe that by rearranging my life experience visually, by creating with my hands what is inspired by my heart, I am living a fulfilling life. Love is the base upon which my creative practice is built.” It is an ethos that runs in strict parallel with Sugar Mountain’s. “There are a lot of low-brow artists, and a lot of artists that come with a DIY method of art-making,” Keen says. They’re inspired by urban bohemian street culture. All of them have really positive content. The whole vibe behind the festival is really positive – we’re trying to push, well... goodness. All of these people have a base around positive affirmation in their art.” As for Keen’s champion, Thomas Campbell (USA), his work is a perfect illustration of the show’s wonderfully transitive nature. “He’s going to be starting a structure that’s going to be eleven feet wide by seven feet tall and he’s going to start that at the opening, that’s going to be at Federation Square – and he’s going to be painting there during the day on the Friday. And then we’re moving to the Forum where all the art is going to be shown; we’re trying to bridge everything together as a creativebased festival rather than a music festival with dribs and drabs of art.” Asked to pick the work that brought him the most surprise, Pete describes an object that could well serve as a flag sunk into Sugar Mountain’s summit. “There is a single piece by Ben Barretto, he’s a Perth artist in France at the moment who has done this amazing, colourful weave. Like an old tribal weave, but it’s made out of bits that tradies would use. That’s a work that I was really stoked with. I’ve shown it to a few people and they said, ‘I like it, but I wouldn’t buy it.’” WHAT: Sugar Mountain Festival WHERE & WHEN: Forum Theatre, No Vacancy Gallery, Federation Square Saturday 30 April

frontrow@inpress.com.au

FILM

CAREW

WITH ANTHONY CAREW

THE KNIGHT OF NOSTALGIA ALEKSIA BARRON TALKS TO LEGENDARY CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINER PETER COMBE, WHO’S MANAGED TO KEEP HIS FANS AS THEY’VE GOTTEN OLDER. Every twenty-something who grew up in Australia knows the songs. Newspaper Mama, Toffee Apple, Juicy Juicy Green Grass, Mr Clicketty Cane... the songs of Peter Combe are synonymous with the childhood of an entire generation. So, when Combe started playing the pub circuit in 2006, it seemed at once odd and inspired. Generation Y coming out to listen to kids’ songs over beers and vodka cranberries? As Combe explains, it didn’t happen by design. “Sometimes these ideas happen by accident,” he says, explaining that it all started when he was booked to play a German beer festival in Adelaide, as entertainment for the families outside. “I remember thinking at the time, ‘Why on earth would you ask a children’s songwriter to sing a German beer festival?’” Because of the tremendous heat, Combe was asked to play indoors in the beer tent. The punters went wild: “They were all fairly drunk, and they started moshing and crowd-surfing to Toffee Apple.” At the time, he was less than impressed. “I thought, ‘They’re winding me up’. But what I discovered was that they weren’t taking the piss – they were just loving hearing the songs again.” A spate of sold-out national tours followed, with no shortage of bornin-the-‘80s youngsters queuing up for tickets. Perhaps best of all, it’s led to Combe playing to a new generation – he’s started adding matinee family shows to his tours. “In the last eighteen months or so, I’m now finding my matinees getting

bigger as well. You get people who are slightly older – late twenties, early thirties – who also grew up on all my songs, but they’ve now got a three-year-old or a four-year-old.” Indeed, it looks like a new generation of kids will be washing their face with orange juice.

For those who wear cinematic nerddom like a badge of pride, the edited-down version is the province of weak, pitiable, dilettantish viewers in search of entertainments. After all, why sit through three brutal, bleak, soul-crushing hours of Scenes From A Marriage when you can do the whole five? Thus, for anyone who suffered through the virtuous crusade of Olivier Assayas’s full fiveand-a-half hour Carlos, the idea of a 150-minute, regular-cinema cut will seem like some kind of cliffsnotes; so much of its meaning, and its detail, lost in the incised version. Whilst the pared-down version avoids a sense of fatigue that can pile up in the whole, its briskly-edited nature means that the single-flick version plays more like an actionmovie; losing the studied stasis and essentially un-entertaining nature of the mini-series. Most biopics reduce whole lives into neat clichés, and look at their subjects with a rosy reverence that rarely makes for insightful writing. But Assayas’ tale of the legendary dissident portrays him in a less-than-flattering light. Never revelling in the tired cinematic ‘cool’ of a career killer, Assayas sees Ilich Ramírez, the titular Carlos, as a grotesque celebrity; a womanising, cash-obsessed, hyper-masculine egotist whose ideologies fall by the wayside in the face of fame and power; the snarling ‘Jackal’ of his counter-revolutionary youth becoming a fat, middle-aged, luxurylifestyle-loving bourgeoisie; his efforts at insurrection, in the end, just gestures hollow and empty. Assayas never makes this a political picture,

REVIEW

never applies the ironic “rock’n’roll” treatment that made recent terroristnostalgia pictures like The Baader Meinhof Complex and Mesrine/Public Enemy No 1 essentially disposable. This isn’t an ideological youth against the man, but an essential mercenary playing opposing powers against each other for cash and clout; the backroom politicking and regimecrossing details that Assayas digs up from history’s darkened vaults happily showing how governments casually pay criminals to further their causes and weaken their enemies. That theme is evergreen; Assayas barely needing to hint at that most infamous example, of the CIA’s bankrolling of Osama bin Laden, to make a poignant point about the dirty money and dirty wars that built the infrastructures of globalisation. Standing in the middle of what is, often, a dry and depressing picture, is one singular 90 movement; a gripping recitation of a failed raid on conference of OPEC representatives that left Carlos and his cronies in

WHAT: Peter Combe: Wash Your Face In Orange Juice WHERE & WHEN: Ding Dong Saturday 30 April

DOWN IN AFRICA THE SECOND PRODUCTION FROM FLEDGLING THEATRE COMPANY MY DARLING PATRICIA IS AFRICA. CREATOR SAM ROUTLEDGE SPEAKS TO ALEKSIA BARRON ABOUT PUPPETS, MUSIC AND THE FANTASTICAL IN THEATRE.

Sam Routledge loves the power of theatre. A member of the innovative theatre company My Darling Patricia, he’s hard at work rehearsing for the company’s second production, Africa, which credits him as the “creator”. “I’ve always been attracted to the visual aspects of the stage,” he explains. “I’m not a great fan of naturalism on stage – I think television does it better, and I think the stage is better suited for

charge of a hijacked plane with no place to land. It’s both a fantastic piece of tense filmmaking and a moment of glorious symbolism. In the original, it’s 90 minutes unto itself; holding viewers hostage the entire while. Here, in cinemas, those in the audience will get let off sooner; but, in the end, the result remains the same. Like Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson’s previous picture, Facing The Music, their latest documentary, Mrs Carey’s Concert, dresses itself in a cloak of ‘inspirationalism’, of actual humans banding together under the common banner of music. But, really, its true colours lurk underneath. At face-value, its titular music teacher could be the latest in the ranks of those teachers who touched the lives of wayward kids, but there’s little inspirational in her teachings. Instead, she stands as a symbol of the culture their patient camera captures: the casual privilege, culture of spectacle, adolescent institutionalisation, and

forced teachings of the private school. Bunking down with at a Sydney Girls Grammar, Connolly and Anderson are drawn to the black sheep —to, perhaps, the rats in the ranks— who don’t just blindly follow lesson plans. And, here, neither the spoilt/torturous teenagers nor the lording teachers come across well. Force Of Nature: David Suzuki tempers its familiar the-world-isfucked template by recalling the life story of its subject; the Canadian scientist/broadcaster/activist looking back at a personal history entwined with the nationalised racism of World War II (the forced internment of Japanese-Americans and Canadians) and the nuclear blast of Hiroshima. Such a planetary calamity still resounds throughout Suzuki’s enlightened conception of the world; standing on a bridge over Hiroshima’s Motoyasu River, as memorial lanterns float away, he speaks of how the vaporised citizens caught in the atomic furnace were reduced to atoms and, thus, absorbed into the environment; still present, there, in every rainfall, every intake of oxygen. With footage from a ‘Legacy Lecture’ Suzuki gave, at 78 years of age, as a passionate crystallisation of a life-time of thought/deed, the natural inclination will be to compare his power-point slides to Al Gore’s; Force Of Nature to An Inconvenient Truth. But, where that film seemed like a dull ‘Introduction To’ aimed at dipshit Americans, Sturla Gunnarsson’s picture seems like it’s out to inspire individual thinkers and social radicals. It’s no great work of art, unto itself, but it’s philosophically rich and casually persuasive.

story of Mika and Anna-Bell, two young children who tried to make it to Africa in order to “get married”. The other is the recent cases of child neglect reported in Canberra and Adelaide. Routledge says, “I was in Denmark in the winter of 2008, and I was reading about these cases of child neglect back in Australia that came out of Canberra and Adelaide.” In the midst of his shock at the events, he was stunned by the imagery that came with them. “I was very taken with the spaces that were being described – rooms covered in garbage.” He developed the concept for the set of Africa as a result. “I had an idea for a space that was a floor that was covered with rubbish and toys, with no walls – the rooms in the house would be given to us by what was on the floor, and these three children characters lived in this space.” It was then only natural for Routledge that puppets be incorporated into the production. The previous My Darling Patrica production, Politely Savage, featured a puppet character called Snatch, made by Briony Anderson. “It was as good mechanically as it was aesthetically, says Routledge. “I had a desire to work with those puppets again.” He discussed the initial concept

with his fellow My Darling Patricia members, who helped develop the narrative. “Someone mentioned the idea of these children trying to get to Africa, which is a true story, of course, and we came up with the play,” says Routledge. What has followed has been an extensive creative process focusing on using the uniqueness of theatre to tell the story. In particular, Routledge is thrilled to have wellregarded Melbourne DJ Declan Kelly on board as sound designer and composer. “The music is so important in this play.” Dealing with such heavy subject matter, it would be easy to assume that Routledge is looking to preach from atop a soapbox, although nothing could be further from the truth. “The idea of giving a message is sort of problematic,” he says. “Opinions within the company vary about whether theatre should should teach us something. What appeals to us about this story is that we do believe that this story is relevant to Australians today… Australia does have problems with children who are neglected, and that’s a problem that we, as a society, have to face up to.” WHAT: Africa WHERE & WHEN: Arts House, Meat Market tonight (Wednesday 27 April) to Saturday 30

CARLOS

things beyond naturalism: fantasy, surrealism, and narratives of power.” It’s his scope for visual creativity that has led to the creation of Africa – a production inspired by true events, featuring bunkaru-style puppets. (Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that this is a kids’ production, through – it’s very much a play about children, for adults.) The narrative, Routledge explains, draws inspiration from two main sources. One is the

REVIEWS UPDATED DAILY AND IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE, ‘LIKE’ WHAT YOU SEE!” HEAD TO FACEBOOK.COM/INPRESSMAG AND CHECK OUT OUR EXTENSIVE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL NTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL REVIEWS 33

frontrow@inpress.com.au

C U LT U R A L

CRINGE

WITH REBECCA COOK While one festival closes, another opens – no truer comment can be made in our fair Melbourne town, where comedians of all creeds, breeds, and pedigrees are cooling their heels and starting a liver cleanse after Comedy Festival closed on Easter Sunday. You barely have time for a colonic irrigation before the Emerging Writers’ Festival rolls into town for 11 days of provoking, purging, posturing and playing with words and wordsmiths. New events this year include Tram Tracks, an event taking place on the 86 tram that will not only deliver you to Bundoora but also ply you with comedy, reading and theatre from performers such as Steven Armstrong, Josh Earl, Allison Browning, Maya Ward, Xavier Michelades, Danny Walsh, and tram conductor Veronica Cybulski. The 86 tram has developed something of profile oxaf late with performer Justin Heazelwood (AKA the Bedroom Philosopher) naming his show and ensuing ARIA nominated album Songs From The 86 Tram. Watch out

or that tram line will get its own pair of skinny jeans and sunglasses and start diverging to Preston because it’s cooler than Northcote. Another new event Cringe likes the sound of is Dirty Words; a sex writing and erotica revue featuring cocktails, burlesque, and debate by Linda Jaivan, Sisters Grimm, and Lou Sanz. Anyone who has ever attempted to write a sex scene will probably be keen to find out how you avoid Mills & Boon analogy and craft scenes that teenagers will run highlighters over and pass onto their friends without feeling embarrassed in front of your own laptop. Slide Night also sounds like a hoot – writers such as Olso Davis, Tom Doig, and Leanne Hall have 20 slides and a time limit of 20 seconds per slide to regale audiences with ribald and wild travel stories. There are also many old favourites that will return to this year’s festival such as the 48 Hour Play Generator, First Word (opening night), and the indie press and zine fair. One event that should be considered for next year’s program is surely the ‘Great Procrastinate-Off’. Three or four

GOD ALMIGHTY GUY DAVIS SITS DOWN WITH THOR HIMSELF, AUSTRALIAN ACTOR CHRIS HEMSWORTH. It’s a fairly sizeable suite in a swanky Melbourne hotel, but when Chris Hemsworth walks in my first impression is that this room ain’t big enough for the both of us. Sure, the Australian actor has stripped away some of the ten or so kilos of muscle he strapped on to play Thor, the Norse god of thunder, in the big-budget comic-book adaptation of the same name, but he remains a tall, broad, and kinda intimidating presence nevertheless. Happily, that presence is offset by a friendly manner and easygoing charm that is just as apparent offscreen as it is in his performance as Thor, the charismatic, headstrong prince of Asgard whose hot temper and flair for warfare sees him reignite an old feud with an ancient enemy and subsequently banished to Earth by his imperious father, Odin (played by the imperious Anthony Hopkins). Stripped of his powers – and his

weapon of choice, the badass hammer Mjolnir – Thor must learn humility if he is to become the ruler Asgard needs. And the stakes are raised even higher when his cunning brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) makes a play for the mythical kingdom’s throne. Best known for his role as Kim Hyde on the long-running Seven soapie Home And Away prior to taking a crack at Hollywood, Hemsworth slowly rose through the ranks with supporting roles (such as his brief but memorable turn as Captain Kirk’s doomed dad in the opening scene of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek) before getting a shot at playing the Marvel Comics superhero for director Kenneth Branagh. But the role of Thor was a much sought-after one, and Hemsworth admits that he nearly stymied his chances in the early stages. “I’d always loved Viking mythology and its sense of adventure, and early

writers could be locked into glass cubicles in Fed Square with nothing but a chair, table and computer. The audience could watch as, seemingly as if by magic, the writers manage to procure cups of tea, discover new ways to adjust an office chair or start a course in French polishing. The first writer to complete a paragraph or not go mad (whichever occurs first), wins! The prize of course could be to a writer’s retreat somewhere in the country where there’s absolutely no distractions, absolutely nothing to do but write. Festival Director Lisa Dempster seems only too aware of the pain/ joy of writing describing the festival as “…an opportunity to counter the often solitary existence of being a writer…” Dempster is particularly excited by the digital component of 2011 Emerging Writers Festival. “EWF-digital is back and it’s going to go off with a bang! We’ll be featuring 30-odd events on our website and Twitter so there are more ways than ever for our audience of writers to engage with the Festival and each other.” Emerging Writers’ Fest runs from 26 May to 5 June, visit emergingwritersfestival.org.au for the full programme.

SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES PROGRAMME The Spanish Film Festival is gearing up for its 2011 season, showcasing the latest hits from Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America. This year will mark the long-running Festival’s 14th instalment, which will also extend its national Australian tour to play on New Zealand screens. The festival looks to expand audiences’ horizons, and introduce them to the passionate cinema of Argentina, Bolivia, Chilie, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Playing over 36 films, it kicks off with the Australian Premiere of The Last Circus, a darkly comic tale of two clowns competing for a beautiful woman’s love. The Cine Contemporaneo strand showcases the best in contemporary Spanish cinema, with Life Starts Today, a social satire about old people going to sex education classes; and For 80 Days, where two women reunite after 50 years to rediscover love. Provocative documentary Fake Orgasm follows an erotic performance artist seeking to untwist the riddle of the lady climax, while To Hell With The Ugly sees an unattractive farmer looking for love. The Guillermo Del Toro produced thriller Rage will also screen at the fest, along with Kidnapped, a terrifying home invasion film that won Best Film at Fantastic Fest. Closing night film is Julia’s Eyes, an edge of your seat mystery about blindness and murder. Along with countless guests and many more films, the Spanish Film Festival 2011 tours nationally throughout May and hits Melbourne to play Palace Como Thursday 12 to Sunday 22.

SPICKS AND SPECKS RETURNS, WITH COMEDY SPECIAL Spicks And Specks is set to return to the tube with a comedy special that will have you and your pet cat rolling in the floor with laughter. Returning Wednesday 4 May at 8:30pm on ABC1, it will be an hour-long Comedy Special, jam-packed with the musical silliness and witty retorts you’ve come to love. Special guest panelists include Stephen K Amos, king of the miniature keyboard David O’Doherty, along with comedians Kitty Flanagan and Doc Brown. As if that wasn’t enough, the fun and games continue with the heavy hitters of the music trivia/comedy scene, including Dave O’Neil, Pete Helliar, Dave Callan, Felicity Ward, Tom Ballard, Greg Fleet, Sammy J, Denise Drysdale, Adam Rozenbachs, and a snake.

confrontation between two brothers’, so you find your motivation and you make it real.” It was made easier, he says, by the presence of collaborators like Branagh, Hopkins and Natalie Portman, who plays Jane Foster, the astrophysicist who discovers Thor when he literally falls to Earth in the New Mexico desert.

on I had that feeling of, ‘Yeah, I understand this,’” he says. “But I actually had a few bad auditions at the beginning, so I guess I was wrong! By the time I came back in for the final audition, I’d read some of the comics and discussed things with Ken. But it wasn’t until I got on the set for that audition and put the costume on that it really felt like, ‘Yeah, this is good. Now I feel like it, now I can do it.’” The process of landing the role actually became a bit of a family affair for Hemsworth. His younger brother Liam was vying for the part early on but was ruled out, and the two brothers would discuss what Branagh might be looking for in a portrayal of Thor. “When Liam was no longer in the mix, I got another phone call for an audition,” says Hemsworth. “And my mum was actually visiting me at the time, so she held the camera for my audition and read Anthony Hopkins’ lines!” Working with Branagh, the actor and filmmaker best known for robust Shakespeare adaptations like Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing, Hemsworth was given a crash course in the history of Thor – both from the Marvel Comics adventures released since the early ‘60s and the

Norse mythology from considerably before that – as well as an unofficial curriculum that the director might offer some insight into the character. “Ken gave me The Art Of War, the Hermann Hesse book Siddhartha and various others,” Hemsworth recalls. “He said it wasn’t a test or anything but if I wanted to read them, well, great. And I did find them useful, even just on a personal level. I mean, Siddhartha is a very philosophical journey, a man asking big questions and trying to find his place in the world and the meaning of it all. And while it’s under different circumstances, Thor undertakes a similar journey, one that teaches him humility and shapes who he is.”

In the end, however, Hemsworth’s biggest task was making the story seem real, even when it involves a hammer-wielding Norse thunder god cast out of his magical kingdom. “There’s this fatalistic attitude in Norse mythology – everything was pre-ordained for them so there was no fear about doing anything,” he says. “That influenced a lot of my performance as Thor but really I was just looking for the truth in the scenes and making it relatable. The costumes tell us something, the sets tell us another thing, the attitudes displayed by the other actors tell us something more – from there, it became a matter of ‘Well, it’s a scene between a father and son’ or ‘It’s a

“From Ken, it was all about learning the truth of things, not just playing a role,” he says. “You’re simplifying things, really, humanising this god and making him relatable. And also challenging your own interpretations and sending your performance in different directions. I picked up on Hopkins’ enthusiasm and appreciation for the whole process. One hundred and twelve films on and he’s still saying ‘How much fun is this? Isn’t Ken wonderful?’ And Natalie is as sweet and wonderful as you’d imagine – very collaborative, very funny and plenty of integrity about what she wanted to do with the character. It just elevated the whole process.” Having signed a six-picture deal, Hemsworth is well and truly in the Thor business now – he’ll reprise his role opposite Robert Downey, Jr (as Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (as the Hulk) and Chris Evans (as Captain America) in the upcoming superhero-ensemble adventure The Avengers, which begins filming in a few weeks under director Joss Whedon. “Working with those guys is just hugely exciting,” he says. WHAT: Thor WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now

frontrow@inpress.com.au

ALL HAIL THE MUSICAL PAUL ANDREW DIGS DEEPER INTO THE WORLD OF MUSICAL THEATRE, THROUGH CHRISTY SULLIVAN – CURRENTLY IN NEXT TO NORMAL – AND NANCYE HAYES, IN THE UPCOMING TURNS. Characterised by a hard-hitting narrative about a modern family living with mental illness, set to a slew of infectious song and dance routines, Next To Normal is another in a long line of social commentary

laden musicals. This currently popular genre continues to floor the critics, particularly those who were quick to pronounce musical theatre dead. Last year the show won the Pulitzer

Prize for Drama, one of only eight musicals to have ever received the Award (the last was Rent in 1996). Next To Normal won over judges with its insight on how intimate relationships are affected by bipolar disorder, and how easily medical ethics can be compromised by psychiatry and psychopharmacology. Christy Sullivan stars as Natalie Goodman, the daughter of the bipolar affected Di (played by Kate Kendall). Throughout the story, Di’s condition worsens, her condition affecting her perception of reality along with the well-being of her loved ones. “On the outside they’re a typical American family. But the mother is suffering from bipolar, a mood disorder of extreme ups and downs, a mother who is completely obsessed with her son, while the father puts all his energy into getting his wife better and then.” Sullivan pauses momentarily. “Then, there’s the daughter Nat; forgotten child craving attention and love.” Of the character Natalie, Kendall observes, “She’s a typical teenager living in the shadow of her older brother, yet not afraid to push the boundaries of her relationship with her parents while dealing with the pressures of keeping up with school, piano, first love, sibling rivalry, parents who don’t understand her or even notice her. Her route of escape leaves her life in even more of a mess.” Sullivan expresses utter admiration for the show’s New York based playwright, Brian Yorkey, who penned a ten-minute version of the play, Feeling Electric, at a writing performance workshop in 2008. The

actor relays a story about how Yorkey was mindful of just how jaded some musical theatre audiences have become, whereas some audiences are tend to see the best in even the most grim narratives. Sullivan reveals, “He was inspired by the possibilities and drawbacks of shock therapy, electroconvulsive therapy for people with mental illness. “Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt are t ruly incredible writers – Yorkey of lyrics and book and Kitt of music. The music weaves so perfectly through each scene, setting the tone and then driving directly into the action. The show is almost entirely sung through from beginning to end and the amazing band never really gets a break. What challenges me the most with this show is bringing together the different formal elements – song, music, emotion, movement – and making them truthful.” The role is a challenging and confronting one for a young actress like Sullivan, but she is excited by the opportunity such a meaty role provides. “Musicals today have become more than just a few show tunes strung together with a loose plot line to make the audience feel good. The subject matter of musicals has become much darker and so have the roles – male and female included, especially the female roles.” One of the key plot elements involves school girls using heavy drugs, with Sullivan expressing her character’s spirial in the song Superboy And The Invisible Girl. The track plays against the worsening health of the matriarch, vocalising a feeling that

everything in her life is somehow “next to normal”. Sullivan cites actress and theatre directors Pamela Rabe, Robyn Nevin, and Nancye Hayes as guiding lights, women who have become mentors for actresses looking to play complex female characters who are adaptive, empowered and funny in equal measure. “Women dancing and singing who endure. For me Nancye Hayes is an awesome all round performer, I cant wait to see her perform again.” Hayes is currently touring the country in the much anticipated work written by Reg Livermore, Turns. It is a musical theatre “reflection” on family, pantomime, friendship, and identity. Like Next To Now, Turns is also something of a troubled mother-child tale, with similar theme of emotional highs and lows, or as Hayes describes it graciously; “Yes, there is definitely a theme about loosing one’s marbles.” Hayes is no stranger to interesting, dark, and wild roles for women. She began acting at the age of 16 as a chorus girl in My Fair Lady with JC Williamson Theatre, and it was her leading lady role as Charity

Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity in 1966 which garnered her widespread celebrity. This role lead to a lifetime of memorable stage roles including Cabaret, with Hayes ultimately receiving a series of commendations including an OBE in 1981 and a Green Room Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Says Hayes, “The thing I adored most about that wonderful woman, Charity, was doing the number I’m a Brass Band. The quality I adored most about her character was her astounding resilience.” Hayes agrees with her young protégé Sullivan, “Times have changed, musicals have changed too. Women’s roles have changed, and more and more people are going to musical theatre. There was a time where audiences backed away, but the younger generations are now embracing musical theatre, and that’s great.” WHAT: Next To Normal WHERE & WHEN: Playhouse, Melbourne Theatre Company Thursday 28 April to Saturday 28 May

MISS BURLESQUE COMP OPENS Miss Burlesque Australia 2010 is currently having a fabulous time in Paris, enjoying part of her title prize. Very soon her crown will be up for grabs, with the finest dancers will be battling it out to steal her crown. Last year over 300 performers applied for the chance, with 60 state finalists donning the feather and sequins to showcase their buxom bodies and their sultry moves. Miss Burlesque International was the first competition in Australia to combine all feature elements of burlesque, and is open to season professionals and amateurs. For more information about how to enter your good-looking sister, or where to purchase tickets, please head to missburlesqueinternational.com.

RIME AND REASON

FASTER, LOUDER

Wollongong rockers BABYMACHINE are blaming Iron Maiden and Virginia Woolf for the long gestation of their second album, JACQUI MACHINE tells NIC TOUPEE.

New Zealand’s racket-making COOLIES hate the recording process, TINA PIHEMA tells ANTHONY CAREW.

Not just rock’n’roll – but sometimes epic rock’n’roll. A highly ambitious adaptation, inspired by heavy metal icons Iron Maiden, can be blamed for at least some small delay in making their new album “We all went to see Iron Maiden and got inspired,” Machine remembers excitedly, “and decided to rewrite Virginia Woolf’s novel A Room Of One’s Own after the style of Maiden’s Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. It was our nerd rock moment. We loved the idea of telling a story through song and bringing something that was pretty unmatched to rock’n’roll alive in that forum. It is a book that has had a big impact on all of us.”

or Babymachine, it has been a long time between getting up the duff – creatively speaking of course. Although they’ve been hatching L7-esque riot grrrl rock since the ‘90s, they’re only just finished gestating their second album, Appetite For Reproduction. Jacqui Machine – the vox/guitar department for the band – admits they have been a bit lax about making their sonic progeny. “We formed in 1999, so we’ve been around quite a while now, and there have been quite a few delays in making a new album,” Machine explains. “We’re all really busy – we work full-time and had to take a year off recently as our bass player had tendonitis. We’re now committed to having the next one out within three years. I think we’re not a particularly motivated band,” she concludes ruefully. Just because they haven’t committed themselves to a release schedule any faster than the reproductive pattern of an elephant, doesn’t mean the grrrls haven’t been busy. What they’ve lacked in wax-making they’ve made up for in live shows. “We’ve played steadily this whole time – apart from the year off for tendonitis of course. So we’ve still stayed pretty active as a band.” With a name like Babymachine, an all-girl band couldn’t help but garner some kind of reputation for gender politics. The name came to them so quickly it almost chose the band rather than vice versa… “Some bands take forever to get a name – ours was dreamt up the day we got together! We’re strong women and not baby machines – feminist ideas are a typical undertone to our songs – but every album is essentially about rock’n’roll in some form or another.”

A deep and philosophical work, it’s no wonder it took the band a while to distil the concepts into a Maidenstyle epic. Not just to distil them for palatability, but also for rockability, and therefore pertinence, it seems. “The point of the book is that in order to write, a woman needs a space of one’s own. We think that in order to rock, women need a band room of their own! Rebecca, our drummer, is a teacher and sees the response women have to rock music: a lot of women are not encouraged to play, and their parents are not keen to have women playing drums, for example. It’s not even a thought that crosses some women’s minds that they could rock. We’ve all been involved in workshops for women, the chance to give them a go, and from courses we’ve run a lot of women played and loved it.” Babymachine are touring Appetite For Reproduction, and some might find the melodies on it strangely familiar: the album contains their final form but vocalist Rebecca has been making up random lyrics for the same songs for years. “We wrote all these songs over the last seven years, slowly putting them all together. The lyrics, on other hand, were all written in the last two weeks! Our drummer has a unique gift for singing things that sound like words but aren’t. Hopefully she’ll sing the real lyrics now that she knows them, but she often makes up lyrics on the spot.”

boredom, and a way of connecting with other outsiders. After recording a self-titled, self-released record in 2002, the band connected with K Records/Kill Rock Stars types, landing the group a place on a KRS label compile, and countless shows, both in their homeland and on US tours, with a slew of name acts (Deerhoof, Erase Errata, Ariel Pink, etc,etc). The Coolies toured Australia three times, through 2003-2005. But, tellingly, each tour involved a different drummer (their most permanent being Fiona Campbell, who’s since graduated, years later, to Vivian Girls).

arnest students of the studio: the Coolies don’t share your enthusiasm. Since recording their first-ever cassette by playing live directly into a ghetto-blaster, the Auckland trio have had a casual attitude towards audio fidelity, something still heard on latest – and, in some ways, first ‘proper’ – LP, 2010’s Master, a work giddy with saturated, in-the-red sound. The Coolies’ embrace of such lo-fi tropes doesn’t come from aesthetic crutch, but their personalities. “The recording process is just such a drag,” sighs guitarist/singer type Tina Pihema. “It’s a nightmare. The next album we’re about to record, we’re going to get it out of the way in, like, two days.” Why so swift? “We just don’t have the patience,” Pihema says. “We just want to get out of there. After listening to ourselves for three hours, we’re over it. Listening to your own songs over and over, that just gets boring real quick.” “It’s always been a real bitch,” Pihema continues, on the recording process. “Sometimes it’s been horrible. We recorded an album years ago in a studio, and we just didn’t use it. The whole thing. It was just fucking shit. We thought it was disgusting. We sounded stupid. It was really clean and well-recorded. It just didn’t work from the get-go. It was a really bad idea. After that, we pledged we’d never again even spend, like, $20 on recording.” That scrapped album came back in a past Coolies era, when the Auckland outfit were, like countrymen the Mint Chicks and Die! Die! Die!, seen as having upward rock’n’roll mobility. The band began in 1997, formed by Pihema and keyboardist/bassist Sjionel Timu as 14-year-old girls in Manurewa in South Auckland. Their heroes were riot-grrrl types like Huggy Bear and Bikini Kill, and the band were built to fulfil those familiar twin hopes: a counter to adolescent

WHO: Babymachine WHAT: Appetite For Reproduction (Toxic Shock Records) WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Old Bar

LIGHT AND EASY

Light The Shallows was recorded in a single day. This shows in the music, but not in a home-recorded kind of way. More in a manner where the listener can admire the musicality of the album, yet still marvel at

“Stefan totally understood the sound we wanted,” Pihema enthuses. “We want this combination of noisy and loud, these raw and rough live recordings, yet still poppy. To other people, that’s a confusing thing to want. We’d never been entirely happy with anything we’d recorded before, most of the time we’d hated what we’d done.” WHO: Coolies WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Sugar Mountain, Forum

of America’s most famous cities. So is there anywhere in particular that Cue can’t wait to see?

“That was a purely fiscal decision,” Bradie says, laughing. “We didn’t have much coin. But we also decided that the songs were pretty immediate. We didn’t want to over-produce them. We wanted to do two, maybe three takes and then move on. I was really very happy with the way it worked out. It was a big day’s work, but we knocked it off. The whole project has a mindset, not just the recording: obviously, we’re very serious about it, but if we stop getting enjoyment out of it, if it becomes too much of a business or a chore, then we’re not interested. We weren’t too precious about sound, we just wanted to bash it out with some good energy.”

“After the last Gersey album – I think that was 2006 – we just decided to have a bit of a holiday and we started this knock-around band, just a bit of a garagey, threepiece thing. The idea being that these songs would be a bit more immediate, a bit more fun. So it was just a different change of focus for us. After about six months, we decided that we were writing some decent songs. We played some shows. They went reasonably well. Again, they were quite a step back in terms of what we’d done previously. We were a bit more towards the Dinosaur Jr end of the three-piece spectrum, I suppose, and then we got [bassist] Julie [Baynes] on board and she brought a whole new dynamic to the band. Then we decided to get a little bit more serious about things and that’s where it took off for us really.”

Keeping with their non-careerist ways, even rolling tape on Master was a matter of happenstance; Neville just happening to be house-sitting for experimental ex-pat Rosy Parlane and finding a houseful of gear. “We went around and played some parts, he put it together, and that was the album,” Pihema recounts, comically. “We didn’t have any real ‘recording sessions’, like proper ones.”

Gypsy deathcore act THE BARONS OF TANG are about to embark on a lengthy US tour, but are throwing one last knees-up before they go. By JEREMY WILLIAMS.

its honesty and something like its easygoing nature.

“I

They started again, in 2009, essentially at the impetus of Stefan Neville, the scuzzed-out lo-fi stylist who’s issued roughly a billion cassettes/lathe-pressings/etc as Pumice. Neville not only could be their new drummer, but their in-house producer. Or at least, y’know, tape-recorder.

AMERICAN EXPRESS

Started as a “knock-around band” by some members of Gersey, TALL BUILDINGS are all about keeping things fun, DARYL BRADIE tells TONY MCMAHON.

t’s all very small-time compared to stuff we’ve done in the past, but no less rewarding.” This is Tall Buildings frontman Daryl Bradie talking about his band’s debut album, Light The Shallows, a gorgeous collection of straight-ahead, ‘90s-inspired indie pop tunes whose closest relative is probably The Go-Betweens. The reason Bradie says it’s small-time is that he and his Tall Buildings bandmates are former and current members of the much more established act Gersey, and knowing this somehow makes the music on this album all the more precious.

Not long after their last jaunt, the Coolies, for all intents and purposes, broke up. “In our minds, we didn’t think we were ever going to play together again,” Pihema offers. “I think we were over that era of the band. The music was getting boring. It wasn’t really that fun to us, anymore. We found that, as a band, if we made even the tiniest compromise – like, just doing shows that you don’t really want to do – it just quickly became not as enjoyable. It felt like we needed to break that whole thing up, which we did. And, from that, we could start again.”

Given what Bradie has been saying about the music, this would mean a faithful translation to a live setting would be reasonably simple, wouldn’t it? He agrees wholeheartedly. “In terms of sound, it is what it is. We would hope that we could faithfully reproduce what’s on the album on stage. We’re not too bogged down by that either. If there’s a sample or a small keyboard part we can’t do on stage then we’re not too fussed about that. As a new band, we had to learn how to play as a band again, but I think we do it reasonably well.” At the album launch, Tall Buildings will be supported by a rare solo set from Youth Group singer Toby Martin, and it seems that there’s another rock superstar who will also be in attendance, albeit in spirit only. “Toby doesn’t play too many solo shows, and he’s got a solo album coming out, so that should be really good for both of us. We might throw a cover or two in and some other songs that didn’t quite make it onto the album. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. It’s got a bit of a different spread. I mean, you’ve only got to go and see someone like Tim Rogers to figure out how ordinary you are in comparison, but that’s the kind of thing we’ve been looking at and we’re hoping we can step up.”

WHO: Tall Buildings WHAT: Light The Shallows (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Grace Darling

he Barons Of Tang are about to say farewell to their Melbourne home. But worry not, vocalist and double bassist Julian Cue says that although they will back on home turf before too long, they are using their impending departure as the perfect excuse to throw a farewell bash at the Northcote Social Club. Given that the septet have just returned from a fruitful tour of New Zealand, The Barons Of Tang have decided to head across the great ocean and try their luck in the big ole US of A. So are Cue and his companions looking forward to the big trip? “Very much so. It is pretty exciting. We are doing five or six shows a week for nine weeks almost. It will be non-stop. I am pretty excited as we have a bunch of festival dates, some DIY shows and we will be getting down and dirty.” While the prospect of visiting the States is something to be excited about in itself, Cue assures that he has been there, though not fully experienced the country. “I was over there when I was five, but I don’t think that really counts. All we did was Disneyworld. So I wasn’t living the dream back then! “I haven’t been as an adult nor I have been with the band. It is pretty exciting to be able to tour around and see what the American take on our strange brand of music is.” With nearly nine weeks worth of touring, The Barons Of Tang will be having more than a whistlestop tour of some

twitter.com/inpressmag

Somewhat reticently, Cue arrives at the inevitable answer. “Well, you know, New York of course.” Clearly feeling that his choice may have veered towards the stereotypical, Cue feels compelled to justify his reasons. “It is such a cultural mecca, so much stuff comes out of there. Everyone says you are going to love New York, so that will be interesting.” Wanting to make it clear that his trip is not all about the Big Apple, Cue is able to reel off a list of cities that also need to be ticked off the list. “I am really looking forward to going to Seattle, Portland and I am really disappointed we won’t be able to make it to San Diego.” With San Diego recently ranked America’s fifth most liveable city, it is far from being one of the big markers on a map for prospective tourists, so why so sad to miss San Diego? “We are touring with a band from San Diego – I would have liked to see their home town and experience what their life around music is there, but unfortunately we won’t be able to make it there. We were going to, but we scored a festival on the other side, so we are going to do that instead in Tampa, Florida, which will also be interesting. It is hard to say though as cities are so similar in some respects and so different in others.” With their summers already dominated by the Australian festival circuit, Cue admits a liking for a life on the road. Thrilled to be able to tick America off the to do list, he is insistent that any band can only succeed if they have a set of goals. With Europe high on the priority list alongside the recording of the group’s debut album, the septet plan to make the most of their last show in Melbourne for a month or two. “We are in fine form at the moment. We have done about 30 shows in the last six weeks, so we are sonically tight. We are excited about this show. It is going to be very much a party atmosphere and I am sure there will be dancing all night.”

WHO: The Barons Of Tang WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Northcote Social Club

ISSUE 1171 - WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL, 2011

TOURS

Yellowfever

PRESENTS

THIS WEEK INTERNATIONAL ELI ‘PAPERBOY’ REED: April 27 East Brunswick Club JOSEPH ARTHUR: April 27 Northcote Social Club ESCAPE THE FATE, PIERCE THE VEIL: April 27, 28 Billboard SKRILLEX, MUMBAI SCIENCE: April 28 Prince Bandroom THE DRUMS: April 28, 29 Corner Hotel KATY PERRY: April 28, 29 Road Laver Arena DARWIN DEEZ: April 29 Hi-Fi BOBBY LONG: April 29 Northcote Social Club INDIGO GIRLS: April 29 Palais HOUSE OF PAIN: April 29 Prince Bandroom WARRANT, LA GUNS: April 29 Palace UNKLE: April 29 Billboard Aa: April 29 Workers Club; 30 Forum AC SLATER: April 29 Roxanne HERBIE HANCOCK: April 30 Palais MICHELLE SHOCKED: April 30 Substation TRINITYROOTS: April 30 Corner YELLOWFEVER: May 1 Nash (Geelong) DEREK WARFIELD & THE YOUNG WOLFE TONES: May 1 Prince Bandroom JUSTIN BIEBER: May 2 Rod Laver Arena GRUFF RHYS: May 2 Northcote Social Club

NATIONAL WASHINGTON, LISSIE: April 28 Ormond Hall; 29 Hi-Fi REDCOATS: April 29 Tote SAMPOLOGY: April 30 East Brunswick Club RENEE GEYER: April 30 Thornbury

GIG OF THE WEEK SUGAR MOUNTAIN

SATURDAY, THE FORUM, NO VACANCY GALLERY, FRACTURE GALLERY Celebrating “the diverse creative forms of music and visual art, with a focus on the natural meeting points between” is the stated aim of the inaugural Sugar Mountain Festival, a one-day event curated by local indie label Two Bright Lakes and touring company Egadamia. With the Forum hosting a killer line-up of forward-thinking musical acts from here and abroad, a huge visual art component will take over Federation Square galleries. Musical highlights include Chicago house duo Virgo Four; the unclassifiable Aa; Texan art-poppers Yellowfever; the always entertaining Rat Vs Possum; local Qua, performing with the Ritmo Giallo Ensemble, a fleet of drummers composed of some of Melbourne’s finest percussionists; and the charming Otouto, joined by the No Lights, No Lycra Dancers. Elsewhere, Californian Thomas Campbell will be painting live, Kit Webster and James Wright will be creating a live, band-responsive visual and light show, and Jane Badler will be recreating the Dream Operator scene from David Byrne’s 1986 feature film, True Stories.

ZZ Top pic by Kane Hibbard

hubcaps, fast-motion wrestling and the vibrating inner workings of sub woofers punctuate the beats on the cyclorama. There’s nothing little about the way That Little Ol’ Band From Texas sound, although they are certainly ‘Ol’’, having played together for 40 years. Dusty Hill’s speaking voice sounds as gritty as his bass sound. Unison guitar chorey has been perfected over the years and Billy Gibbons and Hill make love their instruments, which emit the sweetest of sounds in acquiescence. Their music makes you wanna pop your head back and forth like a chook, please believe.

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed Tonight (Wednesday) East Brunswick Club

Theatre H-BLOCK 101: April 30 Arthouse HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY: April 30 Hi-Fi ALI MCGREGOR: May 2 Fairfax Studio

FESTIVALS GROOVIN’ THE MOO: April 30 Bendigo Showground SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL: April 30

UPCOMING

INTERNATIONAL MAROON 5, SARA BAREILLES: May 5 Rod Laver Arena PASSENGER: May 5 East Brunswick Club

ELI ‘PAPERBOY’ REED: April 27 East Brunswick Club OH, SLEEPER, THE CHARIOT: April 27 Bended Nightclub (Bendigo); 28 National Hotel (Geelong); 29 Evelyn HOUSE OF PAIN: April 29 Prince Bandroom UNKLE: April 29 Billboard DARWIN DEEZ: April 29 Hi-Fi Aa: April 29 Workers Club SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL: April 30 Forum, No Vacancy Gallery, Atrium PASSENGER: May 5 East Brunswick Club KYUSS LIVES: May 8 Billboard BEN SHERMAN BIG BRITISH SOUND: May 11 Corner GYPSY & THE CAT: May 13 Palace PEGZ: May 13 Westernport Hotel (San Remo); May 14 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); May 19 Kay St (Traralgon); May 20 Hi-Fi TRIAL KENNEDY: May 13 Ding Domg; 14 Pelly Bar (Frankston) BLUE KING BROWN: May 20 Forum RED INK: May 20 Corner; June 4 Loft (Warrnambool) MONSTER SESSION: May 21 Espy OWL EYES: May 27 Miss Libertine; June 10 Espy BOY & BEAR: May 25, 26, 27 Corner Hotel; 28 Bended Elbow (Geelong) THE MIDDLE EAST: June 11, 12 Corner Hotel; 13 Karova Lounge (Ballarat) MIAMI HORROR: June 29 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); July 9 Forum ART VS SCIENCE: July 2 Forum

LIVE: REVIEWS ZZ TOP, ROSE TATTOO FESTIVAL HALL

Some serious motorbikes are parked outside the venue. We avoid eye contact with the serious bikers that go with them on our way in, fearing we’re not tough enough. Angry Anderson “didn’t come here to fuck around” and Rose Tattoo’s music makes you wanna dance like a stripper. Our ears prick up during Juice On The Loose. What’d Anderson just sing about a goose? “Oh mama, c’mon stroke my goose.” As you were. Taking a swig from a bottle of sky juice, Anderson reminds us that drinking water is dubious “because fish fuck in it”. He then sculls from a bottle of dark spirits. After a powerful, riff-wrestling rendition of Texas, Anderson assures us “the Texas kings of rock’n’roll boogie” (AKA tonight’s headliners) will soon grace the stage. Rock ’N’ Roll Outlaw paralyses us with its libidinous energy and then We Cant Be Beaten medleys into Bad Boy For Love. The crowd is proud of our heritage and perfectly primed for the bearded ones. All collectively think, “Woah! Those beards are AWESOME (but also a bit manky)!” as ZZ Top take the stage. Just add hats, sunnies and glorious axes and you’re just about there. Frank Beard(his real name)’s drum kit is a thing of beauty: translucent skins reveal rotating spokes that probably send out some aircon flow. Visuals of swivelling

twitter.com/inpressmag

A cheesy collage of Australian postcards flashes up on the screen. “YEEEEeeeeeeeaah!” (Not us.) Why do punters fall for this sentimental bullshit every time at gigs? ZZ Top call for their “blues technicians” to deliver their “blues hats”. And these are not your conventional stagehands. Red corseted wenches with matching fishnets, black fluffy hats and hooker heels deliver the required headwear, much to the delight of the crowd. They go back to 1932 for a Muddy Waters tune selection and joke, “we wrote this”. A tribute to Jimmy Hendrix is included and “FINE” flashes up onscreen at the same time as it comes up in lyrics, which causes mucho mayhem in the audience. What we’re all really waiting for, though, is the closing, killer trifecta: Sharp Dressed Man, Gimme All Your Lovin’ and Legs. Axes are swapped for the white furry counterparts used in the latter music video, which is simultaneously synced on the cyc. The only disappointment of the night is that said guitars don’t spin! A well-earned encore takes us one louder when we wouldn’t have thought this were possible. A costume change introduces spangled appliqué jackets to the stage and La Grange drives us into the ground (“A-how-how-how-how-how”). The giant screen is utilised for a vintage slideshow and an actual stagehand rushes onstage to light Gibbons’s smoke. They may have forgotten what they look like under those beards, but ZZ Top will never be forgotten – especially now that we are proud owners of official ZZ keychains. Bryget Chrisfield

live@inpress.com.au

DJ HOUSE SHOES: May 5 Espy JEFF MARTIN 777: May 6 Prince Bandroom HUGH CORNWELL: May 7 Hi-Fi LOTEK: May 7 Espy KYUSS LIVES: May 8 Palace THE GO! TEAM: May 10 Corner THE WOMBATS: May 11 Palais DATAROCK: May 12 East Brunswick Club TONY JOE WHITE: May 12 Thornbury Theatre; 13 Meeniyan Town Hall AGAINST ME!: May 13 Hi-Fi YELLOWFEVER: May 14 Tote GARY NUMAN: May 14 Forum MARK OLSON: May 14 Northcote Social Club LULO REINHARDT: May 14 Oakleigh Bowling Club; 15 Substation (Newport); 17, 18 Bennetts Jazz Club; 19 Memo. JANE BADLER: May 14 Toff In Town SUICIDAL TENDENCIES: May 15 Billboard JOHN GRANT: May 18, 19 Toff In Town PROPAGANDHI: May 18, 19 Corner Hotel LISSIE: May 19 Northcote Social Club BEN FOLDS: May 20 Palais OF MICE AND MEN: May 20, 21 Billboard JAMES BLUNT: May 21 Plenary Hall PIGEON JOHN: May 21 East Brunswick Club COLIN HAY: May 22 Corner JOE BONAMASSA: May 26 Palais TIKI TAANE: May 28 Corner FREDDIE WHITE: May 29 East Brunswick Club AFROJACK: June 4 Prince Bandroom JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN: June 8 Athenaeum Theatre NEVERMORE: June 10 Billboard RON CARTER TRIO: June 10 Melbourne Recital Centre YO GABBA GABBA!: June 11 Palais KINKY FRIEDMAN, VAN DYKE PARKS: June 16, 18 Toff In Town; 17 Prince Bandroom STEVE IGNORANT: June 17 Toff DEREB THE AMBASSADOR: June 17 Corner EMMURE, SHINTO KATANA: June 18 Corner JOSHUA RADIN: June 23 Forum MILEY CYRUS: June 23, 24 Rod Laver Arena KATCHAFIRE: June 23 Pier Live (Frankston); July 1 Prince Bandroom HELMET: June 25 Hi-Fi RISE AGAINST: July 21 Festival Hall THE GET UP KIDS: August 7 Billboard BIG BOI: September 2 Palace MAD SIN: November 11 Hi-Fi KD LANG: November 12 Sidney Myer Music Bowl KINGS OF LEON: November 13, 14 Rod Laver Arena

NATIONAL THE CAT EMPIRE: May 4 Bennetts Lane; 5 Night Cat; 6 Palace; 7 Corner; 8 Prince Bandroom FLOATINGME: May 5 Northcote Social Club TASH PARKER, SCOTT SPARK, THE RESCUE SHIPS: May 5 Evelyn Hotel BEN SALTER: May 5 Gem; 6 Tote; 7 Pure Pop Records; 8 Post Office Hotel DAVE GRANEY & THE LURID YELLOW MIST: May 5 Bended Elbow (Geelong); 6 Bended Ebow (Ballarat); 7 Northcote Social Club JEBEDIAH: May 5, 6 Corner; 7 Bended Elbow (Geelong) CUT COPY, THE HOLIDAYS: May 5 Palace GUINEAFOWL, BALL PARK MUSIC: May 5 Toff In Town; 6 Karova Lounge (Ballarat) JACK LADDER AND THE DREAMLANDERS: May 6 Workers Club THE BAMBOOS: May 6 Espy THE MISSION IN MOTION: May 6 East Brunswick Club STRANGE TALK: May 6 Northcote Social Club; 7 Karova Lounge (Ballarat) MIKE NOGA: May 7 Toff FRONT END LOADER: May 7 Tote; 8 National (Geelong) TORTOISESHELL: May 11 Palais OWL EYES: May 11 Corner; 27 Miss Libertines; June 10 Espy AMY MEREDITH: May 11, 12 Bended Elbow (Geelong); 14 (18+), 15 (U18) Hi-Fi GEORGIA FIELDS: May 12 Toff In Town KATIE NOONAN, KARIN SCHAUPP: May 12-14 Melbourne Recital Centre ALI MCGREGOR: May 12 Geelong

Grammar School; June 2 Bright Art Gallery; 3 Tallarook Mechanics Hall SEGRESSION: May 13 Espy THE KILLJOYS: May 13 Northcote Social Club GYPSY & THE CAT: May 13 Palace PIKELET: May 13 East Brunswick Club TRIAL KENNEDY: May 13 Ding Dong Lounge; 14 Pelly Bar (Frankston) GANGA GIRI: May 13 Corner; 14 Theatre Royal SIR: May 14 Toff In Town MOTHER & SON: May 14 Retreat GAY PARIS: May 14 Old Bar; 15 Cherry Bar PEZ, MAYA JUPITER: May 19 Bended Elbow (Geelong); 20 Westernport Hotel (San Remo); 21 Hi-Fi; 26 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 27 Loft (Warrnambool) AMITY AFFLICTION, I KILLED THE PROM QUEEN, DEEZ NUTS: May 20 (18+), 21 (U18), 22 (18+) Billboard LOWRIDER: May 20 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 21 Corner BLUE KING BROWN: May 20 Forum BOTANICS: May 21 Revolver THE MAD BASTARDS TRIO: May 25 Northcote Social Club ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI: May 26 Hi-Fi BOY & BEAR: May 26, 27 Corner; 28 Bended Elbow (Geelong) Mike Noga Saturday 7 May Toff In Town

KASEY CHAMBERS, SHANE NICHOLSON: May 27 York (Lilydale); 28 Palms at Crown; June 1 Regent Theatre (Ballarat); 3 Gateway Hotel (Geelong) BACHELOR GIRL: May 28 Forum AIRBOURNE: June 2 Inferno (Traralgon); 3 Palace MARK SEYMOUR: June 2 Northcote Social Club; 3 Trak Lounge; 4 Caravan Music Club CALLING ALL CARS: June 3 Northcote Social Club BLISS N ESO: June 3, 4 Festival Hall AN HORSE: June 4 Northcote Social Club SKIPPING GIRL VINEGAR: June 4 Fairfax Studio; August 26 West Gippsland Arts Centre NATHAN LEIGH JONES: June 7 Toff In Town KARNIVOOL: June 8 The Pier (Frankston); June 9, 10 The Corner SUNWRAE STRING QUARTET: June 9 ABC Centre PUTA MADRE BROTHERS: June 10 Tote THE MIDDLE EAST: June 11, 12 Corner; 13 Karova Lounge (Ballarat) KYLIE MINOGUE: June 14, 15 Rod Laver Arena MIAMI HORROR: June 29 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); July 9 Forum ART VS SCIENCE, STRANGE TALK: July 2 Forum SHORT STACK: July 2 Festival Hall WAGONS: July 8 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); July 9 National Hotel (Geelong); July 16 Forum Theatre DAMIEN LEITH: July 8 Palms At Crown THE SMITH STREET BAND, FORMER CELL MATE: July 9 East Brunswick Club; 10 Catfood Press (all ages) JOHN WATERS: October 27 Playhouse (Geelong); 28, 29 Palms At Crown; 30 Frankston Performing Arts Centre; November 12 Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre

FESTIVALS MELBOURNE JAZZ FESTIVAL: June 4-13 EMERGE FESTIVAL: June 15-July 30

Dead Kennedys pic by Andrew Glover

DEAD KENNEDYS BILLBOARD Billboard is looking decidedly empty during the support acts’ sets. There are a couple of people sauntering about all up in their punk gear – earlobes stretched out to here, hair egg-whited out to there – making for interesting people-watching, but that’s about it. In this pre-Kennedys lull, I wonder whether Kennedys’ fans have rejected the gig because of Jello Biafra’s absence. “50 bucks is too much for what is essentially a cover band,” was the sentiment espoused by more than a couple of people in the gig’s preceding days. I also realise while it’s quiet that I never see punks around. Do they disguise their punkness by the light of day, going with a sort of ‘punk casual’ aesthetic (which expresses itself innocuously as a sort of gritty hipster), before punking the hell out at night time? Or are they just nocturnal and/or disused sewer-bound creatures? Because there are some pretty punky punks trickling through the doorway as Dead Kennedys time looms closer, the kind of punky punks I’d definitely notice on the street. Anyway. Dead Kennedys take the stage pretty much at the time they are scheduled, and the uncertainty of just how this is all going to pan out is not resolved. Klaus Fluoride and East Bay Ray are wearing clean shirts, rocking trim haircuts and basically just look like they could be my friends’ dads. DH Peligro still looks pretty rock’n’roll with his deathto-yer-eyeballs pigtails but when Ron ‘Skip’ Greer bounds onstage, at least one audience member who found out too late that Biafra wasn’t here expresses his disappointment by throwing his beer into the crowd. Then Dead Kennedys kick off. Oh do they. All the indecision about whether this is going to be good or not evaporates as soon as they start playing. It’s good. Skip is no Biafra, it’s true, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The crowd loves him. And he gets right in there with them, proffering the mic, mixing spit and sweat and probably blood with the seething mass of moshers up front. Meanwhile, the rest of the band punch out each track with the expertise of surgeons – the music is clean and sharp. Their awesomeness is exemplified by their rendition of Too Drunk To Fuck, and particularly its spine-shivering instrumental teaser. To those who opted out of this one: it’s been very much your loss. Alice Body

THE MOXIE, THE YOUNG FAITHFUL, PONYBOY, TASH PARKER EVELYN The Evelyn is the perfect setting for a relaxed evening. With its comfy sofas and dangling chandeliers oozing a certain je ne sais quoi, it is hard not to just want to sit back and enjoy. It is with luck then that the terribly talented Tash Parker kicks the night’s performances off with a stunningly simple set, her shy demeanour shining through her compositions. The audience grows through her stint and Parker is talkative to all, even offering gift vouchers to those who come say ‘hello’ to her afterwards. After an impressive start, the evening continues with the playful Ponyboy. While the folky sextet may not have immediate impact, their confidence builds through an interesting repertoire and proves that there is far more to them than first meets the eye. Where Parker and Ponyboy shone with the understated, The Young Faithful show that a bit of raw bite can be equally enticing. With the Evelyn starting to feel crowded, the band commands attention and draws people to their feet. A sudden flock of girls rush forward as The Moxie take to the stage. Clearly unaware of their appeal to the opposite sex, they launch straight into their set, which is met by piercing screams at every turn.

twitter.com/inpressmag

Tom Snowdon is easily one of the most compelling frontmen out there. With a vocal that fuses Morrissey, Jeff Buckley, Antony Hegarty and Alison Moyet, he stands static but effortlessly commands attention. Supported by Brent Monaghan, Bill Guerin and Jack Talbot, The Moxie mix The Pixies with The Smiths and come up trumps with every track. An onstage nonchalance defines the troupe and they make for an effortlessly charming live experience. With new material superseding their earlier works, The Moxie have the audience eating out of their hands and the close of their encore is met with screams for more. Jeremy Williams

THE HOLIDAYS, GOLD FIELDS EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB When Ballarat boys Gold Fields take the stage they’re all keen to start playing. That is, except for their singer, who can’t be found. Eventually he makes his way from the bar to the stage and then the band can get started. They launch into their set, capturing the crowd’s attention with their energy and powerful sound. Treehouse gets the best reaction from the crowd because it’s become a Triple J favourite (and because it’s a great song). Their set is short but sweet. It’s a rainy, Saturday night in Melbourne and it’s as far away from a tropical summer as you can get. But the East Brunswick Club is sold out – everyone’s keen for The Holidays and their tropical indie pop. They appear soon enough, pick up their instruments and begin to play, slowly build up from ambient noises. Eventually the intro turns into Heavy Feathers, the opening track from their impressive debut album, Post Paradise. As soon as the capacity crowd realises which song it is, they immediately start to sing along. The band mustn’t have been expecting such a positive reaction – frontman Simon Jones seems to be surprised at how many people know the words. The Holidays happily takes on the crowd’s good vibes and their songs feel light and effortless as a result. They play all of Post Paradise, with the order of a few songs swapped around. Moonlight Hours follows Heavy Feathers and then gives way to the lush opening of 6AM (complete with old school alarm clock). The songs are full of groove and by now the front half of the room is taken up by dancers. Broken Bones slows things down a bit, but no one’s arguing with the chance to take a breather. Things pick up again with the bouncy 2 Days – it’s as if the crowd has taken the line “don’t sit there staring at your feet” as an order (one that they’re willing to obey). The next three songs are the last three of the album, in the same order, culminating with A Million Eyes, a song that Jones says the band have only just started playing live. It’s different from the rest of the album and has more of an Animal Collective feel, with layers of dreamy vocals and tribal rhythms. This isn’t the end of the set. As soon as A Million Eyes finishes, Golden Sky (arguably the best song from Post Paradise) starts. It’s a fantastically chaotic and cathartic end to the set as it peaks with the drummer giving his kit everything he’s got. The band leaves the stage and the crowd immediately beg for more – even though they’ve played the entire album. Not wanting to disappoint on their first headlining tour, the band comes back out to play Monday Morning Bermuda Triangle, a B-side. Late in the song, four girls from the crowd get up to dance along and play tambourines, drumsticks and anything else they can find. Eventually the band finishes up, thanking the crowd profusely and just enjoying the rapturous response from an ecstatic crowd. Josh Ramselaar

live@inpress.com.au

mmmm.... DROP.

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE COVER OF INPRESS MAGAZINE THIS WEEK FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF 50 BEASTIE BOYS PRIZE PACKS EXCLUSIVE TO STREET PRESS AUSTRALIA. SIMPLY SCAN THE QR CODE ON THE COVER TO SEE IF IT’S YOUR LUCKY DAY!

live@inpress.com.au

BACK TO HIS ROOTS The successful reunion of legendary Kiwi roots reggae rockers TRINITYROOTS has convinced the group to record new material, WARREN MAXWELL tells JEREMY WILLIAMS. The release of the DVD and live album, which was a collation of footage of the years when we were together. There was a recording of the last concert that we did, the very last tour of New Zealand. So it was the release of the DVD and live album, along with a festival organiser ringing us up and asking if we would ever consider getting back together. I rang [bandmates] Riki [Gooch] and Rio [Hemopo] and they were keen as mustard. We all were. So it was those two things really. They were the main catalysts.”

“I am really looking forward to it. In the five or six years that TrinityRoots were together, we never ventured over the Tasman. Can you believe it?” Though they were better known for their live sets than their records, New Zealand’s world renowned reggae/jazz/soul fusionists TrinityRoots never made it across to share the good vibrations with their friendly neighbours. Having reunited last year for a series of gigs on their home turf, lead vocalist Warren Maxwell says simply of their impending Australian mini-tour, “it has been a long time coming”. While Maxwell may now have a family to feed and new band to promote (his other project, Little Bushman, also appeared at Bluesfest as well as playing few dates around Australia in the lead-up), there is a clear enthusiasm for a return to the group that helped him find his feet. “We did a few gigs around New Zealand over the summer and they were great. It was just so much fun. There is a lot of love out there for TrinityRoots, which I guess, when you are busy with it, it is difficult to have an appreciation for it. It is not until you distance yourself from something that you get your own appreciation of it. It is like when you go overseas, you start to appreciate things you had never noticed about back home before. Being away for a while was really beneficial for us.” Having only pursued a career in music at the age of 28, Maxwell credits his well-spent youth with his level-headed approach to the industry. With TrinityRoots having disbanded due to family commitments, what was it that tempted the trio to give it another go? “There were a couple of things.

With their initial dates having proved more successful than even their wildest dreams could have forecast, the trio have been tempted to breathe more life into TrinityRoots. This time, with families to consider, it becomes apparent that although they will continue to keep on touring, they are equally focused on ensuring that their third album should supersede their earlier output. “We have been enjoying each others’ company and enjoying the gigs so much, that we have pretty much made the decision to get back in the studio and write some new material.” Clearly proud of their successful reformation, Maxwell looks at his musical output in a fresh light. Able to remove himself from the equation, he can finally see what everyone else saw all along. “TrinityRoots does have a unique sound. Even though we are reggae roots influenced, we have all been through various different musical institutes studying jazz, so we incorporate that kind of freedom into the songs.”

WHO: TrinityRoots WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Corner Hotel

HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Mikelangelo, vocals/guitar: “I’ve known our lead guitarist and drummer for many years. We used to have an occasional band called The Dalmatian Coast Surf Life Savers Association in the early noughties. It felt like we had unfinished business, and in late 2009 we got the Tin Star together, enlisting Gareth Hill on bass and Saint Clare on dreamy vocals and go-go moves!” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “We put out our debut EP Floodhouse in February and that has almost sold out of its pressing. Our debut album will be out in June through Laughing Outlaw Records. Just listened to the mastered disc cranked in the car while driving at night between Sydney and Newcastle and I had a big grin on my face the whole way.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Surf’n’western.”

GRUMPY SUZIE

Following on from their huge residency at the Old Bar, Suzie Stapleton and her band bring their chaotically captivating rock show to Grumpy’s Green (125 Smith Street, Fitzroy) every Sunday evening in May. A stunning list of support acts throughout the month include Spencer P Jones, Nick Batterham (Codrazine), Liam Linley (The Bowers), The Highwater Ballroom Band and starting proceedings this Sunday is Saskia Sansom. Entry is free and the music starts at around 5.30pm.

WOOLF MUTHA

The whirlwind cartoon garage-band that is Midnight Woolf brings you another night of raw rock’n’roll mayhem this Saturday at Yah Yah’s. Kicking off the night are the power beat combo Clavians followed by dark pop duo Ferry Tails (in their last show for a while) and the maelstrom that is Buried Horses. To cap this outrageous night off is Midnight Woolf, fresh from their East Coat tour and ready to bring another night of sweat, swearing and swaggering to Yah Yah’s. Head on down for some head-bangin’ hip-shakin’ madness! Entry is $10 from 8pm.

IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Al Caiola’s Solid Gold Guitar. It was my father’s record, given to him by a friend in the early ‘60s. I used to jump up and down on my parents’ bed listening to it when I was a pre-schooler, and it began my love for instrumental tremolo twanging guitar.”

ALT DRUNKEN

The Eliza Band is the new act from Gaslight Radio’s Rory Cooke. Their debut album, Firework Dogs, has been recorded and will be available on vinyl and download this winter. It has been described as Buddy Holly singing SE Hinton novels on the moon. The Eliza Band will be playing live at Yah Yah’s this Thursday, joined by New Zealand’s Tiny Spiders, Chook Race and Matt Bailey. Doors open at 9pm.

Mikelangelo & The Tin Star play Electric Shadow in the Espy’s Gershwin Room this Saturday.

IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “Link Wray & His Ray Men. Link was a rock’n’roll pioneer. As a kid he would connect a whole line of Sears amplifiers bought from the department store and poke holes in the speakers to create his distorted punk rock surf guitar sound – and that was in 1957!”

Born in the olden days, back before the banjo had become the coolest kid in class, the fine young gentlemen of The Bakersfield Glee Club established a firm plan. This plan was both outrageous and canny, a plan for the ages. That plan was to take musical instruments, and play them, often all at once! Featuring some familiar faces of the local country and roots scene, The Glee Club are heading into the Drunken Poet for an evening of traditional country, masterful musicianship and, well, glee this Saturday. They start at 9pm.

ELIZA DO SOMETHIN’

No hablo espanol! Mexican Mondays are happening at the Retreat. Every Monday evening from 6.30pm, go gorge yourself on authentic Mexican cuisine and enjoy the fine sounds of traditional and contemporary Spanish music. Ruckus country folk outfit The Shivering Timbers return to the Retreat front bar tonight (Wednesday) – the gents will be performing two sets from 8.30pm. Thursday night is the last instalment in Spencer Jones’s month-long residency and boy are we sad to see him go. Get along at 9pm to catch support group The Council. On Saturday night at the Retreat, see James McAnn & Peter Ewing in the front bar from 7.30pm followed by Sarach & The King Bees and Jungal in their last performance before heading overseas.

With outsiders showing a keen interest in their reformation, the boys didn’t hesitate in committing to an initial few performances. However, rather than getting carried away with new ambitions, they decided to keep their sensible heads screwed on and just see how it would all pan out. “There was nothing really set in concrete. We just said ‘Let’s release this live album and do a few gigs and see how it goes from there’. No expectations, no pressure. It all sort of just snowballed from there.”

GLEE CLUB ROOTS

That he is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, performer and band leader are all well-known facts about Chris Altmann. What is lesser known is that Altmann once defeated darts legend Phil Taylor in a game of snooker at the Kyabram RSL. True story. This Sunday will be one of your last chances for the foreseeable future to see Altmann as he is soon to relocate to North America to show them how it is supposed to be done – both in the world of country soul and on the snooker table. He plays the Drunken Poet from 4pm.

A JUNGAL RETREAT

DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I have a natty striped black suit that has a great sheen under stage lights and feels like it was tailored for me. I’ve been wearing it off and on for gigs since I bought it in 2003 at an op shop in Fairfield. The best $25 I ever spent.”

GO FIND AUDREY Audrey Auld is wrapping up her current Australian tour on Tuesday 3 May with a show at the Northcote Social Club. Bringing her country, folk and Americana-style music and showcasing tracks from new album, Come Find Me, the show is a must-see for fans of Auld and a chance to bid her farewell until her next trip home. Special guests for the night are Abbie Cardwell and Sam Lemann. Tickets are $20 from the venue and doors open at 8pm.

IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “I spend so much time on the road that my cooking has degraded badly over the years. I actually used to be a better cook than I am now, so I think I’d shout them dinner at the nice Thai place down the road.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “It’s got to be the Supper Club in Spring Street. There’s not many places that stay open all night where you can relax on comfy couches until the sun comes up in an environment free of pissed fuckwits. It has a faded glamour of yesteryear, like a clandestine WWII officers’ club.”

twitter.com/inpressmag

BUBBLING BROOKE Brooke Taylor is five feet, two inches of melodic, acoustic grunt. Delivering infectious, soulful blues pop with her smoky, sweet voice and poignant lyrics, she captivates her audience from the first strum. The Melbourne born and raised singer/songwriter returns after travelling the globe to tantalise every sense at the Chandelier Room this Sunday. Be warned not to judge ‘Brookes by covers’, as this little pocket rocket packs quite a punch. Doors open at 4pm and entry is free.

live@inpress.com.au

HOT BRUISE

BOWLING FOR NEW HERALDS Mixing energetic drum lines, smooth basslines, soaring guitars and soulful vocals, The New Heralds are an original Melbourne four-piece delivering an audacious and eclectic blend of pop and rock. Joined by young classic rockers Astral Flight on their debut gig and the three-guitar attack of alternative popsters Optical Screw, Melbourne Central’s new live music venue Rock Bar (contained within the Rockstar Bowling centre on Level 3) will be filled with rocking grooves and singalong anthems. Entry is free and doors open at 8pm.

Kira Puru & The Bruise are fierce, fiery and downright sexy. And don’t think you’re tough enough to walk away unscathed. A riot of guitar licks that will actually take your clothes off for you, there ain’t no point in trying to resist. A rhythm section that’s gonna get so far under your skin, you won’t be able to tell it from your own pulse. With a voice that’s like a vice, it’s gonna talk dirty to you and then whisper sweet nothings in your ear when they roll into Revolver tonight (Wednesday). With support from local punk pop lasses Chaos Kids and young rockers The Harlots, entry is free from 8pm.

DO IT MISSION STYLE

Fresh from playing the Sydney Big Day Out and a quick run of shows along the East Coast, The Mission In Motion are heading out on a national tour in support of their new single, What Do You Do. The track is the third single to be released from the band’s stellar debut

release, Somewhere Safe, which spawned high rotation Triple J for singles New Skin and Believer. The track is a detour from the band’s rockier stylings, weaving acoustic guitars, some stripped-back percussion and the stunning added vocals of Sydney singer/ songwriter Caitlin Harnett. They play the East Brunswick Club on Friday 6 May with support from The Playbook, Raise The Stakes and My Favourite Accident. Tickets are $14+BF from the venue and doors open at 8pm.

taking their music into the studio with legendary producer Tony Cohen (Nick Cave, Beasts Of Bourbon) this April. The Toff In Town will host their single launch on Wednesday 4 May, supported by recently Triple J Unearthed atmospheric pop quintet The Pretty Strangers with the drums versus keyboards, bass and violin explosion of mesmeric storytellers Cuba Is Japan. Tickets are $ 8+BF from Moshtix or $10 on the door from 8pm.

PANTERA IS HEAVEN

TEDDY DOES DAMAGE

Built on the idea of reversing the meaning of the lyrics to Pantera songs, Indians To Heaven (the name itself an antonym to Pantera’s common nickname, Cowboys From Hell) are a pop ensemble utilising four-part vocal harmonies, elaborate guitar orchestration and keyboards to create intricate, often sombre compositions. Indians To Heaven will be

This Thursday sees Dream Damage Records take over Bar Open, showcasing some of the finest acts currently residing in this fine country’s very own capital city. Featuring label favourites Teddy Trouble, Jonny Telafone and the self-proclaimed “tropical punk kings of Canberra” The Fighting League, there are some badass new sounds to be discovered. If that isn’t special enough,

STARTING SOMETHING

For a night of beaut Aussie pop rock, get down to the Espy’s front bar this Saturday to catch some of Melbourne’s fi nest emerging talent. Featuring Charlie Sheen’s new favourite band Starting Sunday (well, it could be true) rocking tunes from their recently released self-titled EP, you’ll also get one of Melbourne’s most talked about unsigned acts, Apollo Pathway, showcasing their new single Never Ending Story from their forthcoming album, which was produced by Shihad’s Tom Larkin. With even more amazingness from special guests Fangs and July Days, you won’t get a better value night out this weekend – entry is free!

ANTHONY’S YER MATE

Armed with a collection of new tunes, Anthony Atkinson & The Running Mates gently ease their way back into the pubs of the inner north with another show at the Old Bar in Fitzroy. They support Lee Memorial tonight (Wednesday). They’re on stage at 8.30pm.

ANDREA’S TEETER

Andrea Keeble, with friends and magnificent colleagues, has recorded her debut CD, Teeter, a musical memoir of Keeble’s original compositions for solo violin, voice, loop pedal, duet, trio and quartets. As a versatile violinist and improviser, Keeble’s compositions are influenced by a myriad of genres, from minimalism to folk to classical and to hints of pop. Keeble launches the CD at a one-of-a-kind event at Guildford Lane Gallery in the CBD this Sunday from 6pm. Also at the gallery will be Keeble’s Actuality exhibition, a collection of limited edition photographs inspired by a personal and collegial journey in her exploration of sound and resonance. She will be joined by the cream of Melbourne musicians and entry is $15/$10 or $25 with a CD.

OCEANICS GET FRIENDLY

Imprinting their own style on Britpop, Oceanics look to bring their debut EP – Get Friendly Mistress Maybe – tour back home as their big hollow guitars and clean, jangling tones plaster the walls of venues along the East Coast. The launch tour continues to see the enigmatic four-piece play with an assurance that they are on the right track having gained the admiration of recent headliners, US popsters The Like, and locals Deep Sea Arcade. Coupled with recent supports of The Seabellies, The Cairo’s, Ball Park Music and an appearance at Big Day Out, Oceanics continue to create ripples within the scene. They play the Espy on Wednesday 19, Revolver on Thursday 20, and the Grace Darling on Saturday 22 May with The Bon Scotts.

BEAUTIFUL KILLJOYS

Twenty years ago, The Killjoys won the ARIA Best Independent Release award for their debut album, Ruby. Now, the band are celebrating the anniversary by remastering Ruby and packaging it together with their new studio album, Pearl (soon to be released on Popboomerang Records). My Old Guitar is the fi rst single from Pearl. It is a story of lost love, from a guitar that once travelled the world playing to huge festival and TV audiences but now gathers dust in the hall. The song features the beautiful voice of Charles Jenkins in a guest duet. The Killjoys will be launching the single on Friday 13 May at the Northcote Social Club with supports from Charles Jenkins and The Orbweavers. Tickets are $15+BF from the NSC box office.

POPBOOM BASH!

Popboomerang Records is excited to announce the release of Electric & Eclectic Rarities Volume 1, a compilation of covers, unavailable B-sides and unreleased material from the bands on their roster. The CD will be launched this Saturday at the Workers Club with a gig featuring labelmates Celadore, The Bon Scotts, Underminers, Splurge and Adrian Whitehead. Doors open at 8pm and entry is just $10, including a copy of the 20-track compilation!

twitter.com/inpressmag

live@inpress.com.au

READY, SET, GO In the lead up to their Australian tour, Inpress asked THE GO! TEAM to keep a tour diary of their recent American run of shows. IAN PARTON informs us about frozen margaritas, getting parped by truckies and people who can communicate with aliens. Day 1 – Travel to NYC Okay, so The Go! Team are here again in North America working the East Coast and then hauling ass over for two dates in LA and San Fran. We dig playing over here. No show today, just flying to NYC. Our hotel’s across the river in Queens so we make a team excursion into da Big Apple. It’s a dreamy day in Greenwich Village. Me and bassist Jamie get frozen margaritas – so frozen you need a spoon to drink it. We get approached by this amazing scam artist doing his best impression of a jazz musician complete with a maroon velvet blazer, bombarding us with jazz speak and trying to flog his CDs. Day 2 – NYC Today me and Ninja head into Manhattan to do some press stuff – I wake up late and flustered and accidentally put on Sam’s jeans and don’t realise for a few minutes. We kick off with a TV interview then over to a radio station for one with a lady who I think used to be a man – a real good interviewer, really knows her stuff. The show tonight is in the Bowery Ballroom, the third time we’ve been here. It’s sold out. Skill. We go on at what to us is three in the morning but adrenalin kicks in and we thrash through it. Give it our all like we do every night. Ninja wears some “I Heart New York” pyjamas for the encore. Goodnight New York. Day 3 – Washington Hit the road early. We’re jamming econo on this tour – other times we’ve done the US we’ve had a big-ass tour bus but this time we’re taking a van with a trailer. I love looking out the window for old diners. Just two crew this time: Aaron our tour manager/guitar tech – he’s always got a toothpick in this mouth, must be a Texas thang, and our number one soundman Tommy. He’s riding up front. I give him the challenge

the night will also see the debut performance of new band Neighbourhood, featuring members of Assassins 88, TV Colours and Danger Beach. Righteous. Entry is free from 9pm.

SCREAM AT THE BOSS

On Saturday 7 May, Melbourne’s most awesome new venue the Prague will host a veritable feast of rock.

After the unfortunate demise of Mammal in late 2009, guitarist Pete and drummer Zane recruited bassist Michael ‘Big D’ Davids and formed Black Devil Yard Boss, and have since blown people’s minds the length and breadth of the nation with their high-voltage, blues-based rock. BDYB explode onto the Prague stage this night in support of their ripping new single Scream Out Mercy. Providing support will be the rawk

TASTE TEST TRENT GILL – GALAPAGOOSE The song I’m really digging at the moment is… Mono/Poly – Glow, from his new EP on Brainfeeder. The sub-bass will shake out all your demons on a big club system. This is the song you heard last weekend and said to your mates, “What is this?!” and no one knew… A song more people should know about is… Kloke – Maki. Another Melbournite making waves at the moment. The groove is a unique twist on UK garage and bass music with an undeniable swagger that’s bound to get your hips moving. The song that always gets me on the dancefloor at 3am is… Africa Hitech – Out In The Street. The last two times I’ve seen Harmonic 313 perform this track has totally melted the dancefloor. Everyone instantly becomes a liquid mass of limbs and can’t stop shaking! The song I most wish I’d written is… Bing Crosby – White Christmas, the highest selling single of all time. ‘Nuff said! The song I never want to hear again is… James Blake – Limit To Your Love. He’s such an amazing artist and I’m really enjoying the new record but every time this tune comes on I have to hit next. Galapagoose plays the Sugar Mountain Festival this Saturday at the Forum.

of trying to get truckers to parp their horns as we drive past em – $5 for each parp. First few truckers blank him and then ‘PARP!!’ Yeeha. Tonight we’re in a vast club called 9.30 and again it’s pretty rammed. Our number one fan who runs a Go! Team fansite (titanicfandalism. co.uk) amazingly has flown over from the UK for the East Coast leg. I don’t know how his missus puts up with him! Day 4 – Philly Hit the road early and stop off at a vast wholefood shop – someone hears our soundman Tommy speaking and asks him, “What language are you speaking? How did you like our beautiful country?” Yankees are nutters. Got a pleasant surprise today as the venue is one we’ve played before and loved. Amazing neighbourhood – last time it was Halloween and there were kids trick or treating everywhere. We played in fancy dress too – I wore an American Indian headdress, Jamie a racing car suit, Kaori was a cowboy, Chi a pilot and Ninja an angry dragonfly – a kinda lo-fi Village People. Day 5 – Boston Our fourth time in the Paradise Lounge today – cool venue. It has a record shop next door where I’ve scored loads of records on other visits that have been sampled on GT songs. So after sound check, I make the obligatory hunt. This is the last night with our support band called Dom. They gave us a Go Team car sticker and their guitar player stage dived in the middle of Huddle Formation. Right on! Some nights you know are gonna be good and this was one of ‘em. Definitely the best crowd of the tour. Day 6 – Brooklyn Today for the last date on the East Coast we’re playing in a bowling alley – that’s a first for us. Truly surreal to be rocking out on stage and seeing people making strikes on the left. There was a severe weather warning for NYC tonight. Pretty appropriately we kick off the show with a song called Tornado. There was more drama than we wanted though tonight. In the past we’ve been partial to doing pile-ons at the end of the gig. Well, after this show I think our pile on days are over. Everyone was in a bundle, I clearly jumped on top of the pile too enthusiastically and kinda body slammed our lead singer Ninja. She couldn’t get up. We had to lift her off stage. We’re talking paramedics, sirens and a night in hospital. It was seriously scary stuff but thankfully she was okay. But the show must go on… Day 7 and 8 – Los Angeles Early flight to Cali. Dreamy to be in the sun again.

of Mildura’s Jackson Firebird, the epic and emotive alt.prog rock of Man From The Meteor, and opening proceedings is Dana from Sydonia, playing a special set of his acoustic pieces. Entry is $12 from 8pm.

AFROBEAT HAPPENING

Inspired by the infectious Afrobeat music of Nigeria and its neighbours, The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra delivers contemporary African funk to Australian dancefloors. This mammoth ensemble comprises 17 musicians hand-picked from Melbourne’s music scene. The Afrobeat movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s is making a worldwide resurgence in live venues and clubs alike. The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra’s powerful MCs and tribal rhythms are the modern-day “musical weapon” that Fela Kuti conceived of. They play the Espy Gerswhin Room on Friday 6 May with DJ Manchild, NFA, 1/6 and Papa Chango. Entry is free.

Food in a Hawaiian restaurant where all the waiters greet you with “Aloha”. Next day, the team heads over to Santa Monica for our day off. I rented a bike and cycled along the sea. Couldn’t stop the Baywatch theme looping in my head… Day 9 – LA Today we do a live performance on a TV show called The Daily Grind at the Fox studios. We’ve been here before because some writers on The Simpsons who were fans of us invited us down to a Simpsons table read. Really amazing. There was a rented studio audience today who were hyped into dancing by a super lame warm-up man. As we’re loading our gear into the van I was chatting to a security guard who told me he could psychically communicate with aliens. He said, “Have you ever seen a five-mile-wide spaceship?” – he had apparently. Hurrah for Hollyweird. Tonight the Echoplex, LA. No sleep till Brighton…

WHO: The Go! Team WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Groovin’ The Moo, Bendigo Showground; Tuesday 10 May, Corner Hotel

A BIT O’ LOVE

After spending 2010 slogging stages, releasing their debut EP and picking up a few cool trophies, the 8 Bit Love boys are getting ready to drop their next release, Rock The Digressers. But before they unleash this double A-side of catchy, bass-heavy, dance-worthy goodness, they are hitting the Evelyn Hotel stage every Monday in May with some new friends and good buddies. Entry is by donation and there’ll be cheap jugs (ahoy!) plus some surprise themes to keep you guessing. Catch the first of five shows for 8 Bit Love on Monday 2 May with Unique Gift bringing their tropical electronic sounds. Doors at 9pm.

PRETTY ROCKIN’

Blac Mail continue to take over Thursday nights at Revolver and this week they bring a rockin’ line-up headlined by The Pretty Littles, who started their career in a paddock full of wombats and flying foxes. They’ve played shows with Dash & Will, The Go Set and have even played the Apollo Bay Music Festival. Go hear their catchy rock songs as they hit the stage after local Ben Wright Smith and Blonde On Blonde, who are making a trip all the way from Brisbane. To get the party started in the back room when the bands finish are Hey Sam, Nick Jones, Sam Young, Jesse Young and Sam Gudge, who take over at 11pm until very, very late. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm.

CARNI LAW

Melbourne industrial band Psych Carni assault audiences with confrontational gigs, combining cyberpunk technology with dark circus antics. Reforming in 2005 for the Teknikunst Festival at Ding Dong, the band have continued to evolve, touring for Under The Blue Moon Festival (Sydney), Dead Of Winter Festival (Brisbane), plus radio airplay in Los Angeles and a NME video award in the UK. Psych Carni play with Cold Divide and The Five Venoms at DV8 (12 McKilliop Street, city) this Saturday.

twitter.com/inpressmag

ONE BOARD ORGAN Souls On Board return from the wilderness (literally as half of the band now reside in the Wombat State Forest atop the Victorian Central Highlands) to launch double A-side CD-R single St Thomas’s Scent Organ/You Can Dance, both taken from the band’s first LP, Mirror Wood, out later in 2011. The single also features the droning synth romp of B-side, Wind Meals. SOB’s atmospheric soundscapes cut with rock and jazz can be heard at the Empress Hotel this Saturday, with the singles available on the night by donation. Support comes from warm folk adventurist Emily Ulman and the agile pop brightness of Actor Slash Duo. Entry is $10 from 8.30pm.

live@inpress.com.au

SALEN AWAY

Anna Salen are an instrumental, heavy, progressive rock three-piece who are taking their high-energy live show to Revolver this Saturday. Joining them will be Copse, Catfish Voodoo and Every Second Friday. Anna Salen have been gigging regularly at the Espy and also playing Trash nightclub, East Brunswick Club, Rock The Bay, Swarm Festival, Creepshow and Electric Church Festival sharing the stage with the likes of Sydonia, Mammal, Jericco, Bellusira, Engine Three Seven, MM9, The Beards, Mushroom Giant, Fading Hour, Rincon and Over Reactor. Their debut self-titled EP was launched in May 2010 and will be for sale at the gig. Entry is $12 from 8.30pm.

WOOHOO FOR DANCING

The past year has been a whirlwind for dancefloor juggernaut gypsies The Woohoo Revue, having undertaken numerous visits to every state of the country with festival highlights including Womadelaide and Woodford. The band is now bunkering down in Melbourne for the colder months, with a swag of new material from their upcoming album to inflict upon the lucky punters of Bar Open this Saturday. Entry is free from 10pm.

SLICE OF TECH LIFE

The Slice crew is a collective of visual and audio artists seeking to highlight the unique talent emerging from Melbourne’s electronic dance music subculture. The musicians they showcase produce such a diverse range of electronica that it can barely be summed up in words – techno, progressive, minimal and psychedelic trance are joined by our good friends breakcore, IDM, improvised noise, ambient and more as the Slice family continues to grow. The Slice crew present Slicin’ Through The Beat this Friday at My Aeon (791 Sydney Road, Brunswick) featuring Shifty Gypsies, Stickleback, Aerobiotic, Syncron, Garagee, Tøn, Entatic, Fate Æffect, Random Lamb and Kieran James. Entry is $10 or $15 with a CD from 10pm.

DANCE ‘TIL YER DEAD

All silence will die as the heart of Brunswick turns into the heart of darkness with blasted songs and echoes filled with the darkest of joy at the Victoria

Hotel this Saturday. Dead South will reinterpret and translate the themes of their masters Death In June, Coil, Bauhausa and Sisters Of Mercy and make them their own, joined by cosmic crashes Machine (the awesome new outfit for former members of Sailors & Swine). Entry is free.

FIDDLES FOR RECHORDS

It’s hard to believe that it’s been less than two years that The ReChords have been tearing up the Melbourne music scene. Playing on countless stages, to an ever-eager crowd, they’ve really won the hearts of Melbourne audiences with their brand of rockin’ hillbilly. Featuring solid two- and three-part harmonies, there aren’t many bands that can get by without a drummer like these cats. This Saturday, The ReChords will be taking the stage at the Bendigo Hotel and, for the fi rst time ever, fi lling out their line-up with a banjo and fiddle, taking us back to those golden days of original western swing. Joining them

will be Sydney rockabilly swing band Jordan & The Original Six – having shared stages with talents such as The Royal Crown Revue and Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, there’s good reason these guys are packing out Sydney’s large capacity venues. DJ Duke Tedesco spins tunes.

KIMBERLEY’S DREAM DAY

Kimberley Aviso’s residency at the Builders Arms through April has been filled with eclectic sounds. Part Camille, Ani DiFranco and Architecture In Helsinki, this is a dreamy fusion of intricate yet pared-back prettiness. Aviso’s current live work involves a series of fresh vocal loops, a glockenspiel, melodica, ukulele and a bag of tricks. This is daydream music, her voice sweet and lilting but sassy. Catch Aviso at her last residency show this Thursday with Josh Romig and Megan Kent. Entry is $5 from 8pm.

FUR REFRESHER

Space rockers Spearmint Fur unleash some brand new tunes this Sunday at the Prague. Spearmint Fur’s music has been compared to the likes of The Sundays, Cocteau Twins, Pixies and vintage Lush, just to name a few, with twinkling and sometimes raunchy guitars, with dreamy vocals on top. The band recently took a short break from performing as they have been busy recording new material for a follow-up to their debut album Immune, and making a new music video, to be released shortly. Support comes from Black Tea House, Lane Chaser and Circus Therapy, and entry is $10 from 6pm.

FROM SYDNEY, BO

Winter will soon arrive yet there is a shiny gap in the clouds with the arrival of Sydney’s delectable folk pop trio Bo Banta. Yes, Melbourne has the chance to engage in three hot dates with the three lovely and intriguing ladies on stage in the first week of May. The new jewel in the crown of Sydney’s indie folk scene, Bo Banta have won supporting slots with the legendary Mr Percival, The Little Stevies and Jess Harlen. Catch them at the Fox Hotel on Thursday 5, the Glasshouse on Saturday 7 with Girl With Cake, and the Evelyn Hotel on Sunday 8 May with Charlotte’s Web and Hayley Couper.

HYB HAVE YOU BEEN?

WAITING ROOM, THE EVELYN Powerfuck, Damn Terran, Ships Piano, Dixon Cider and Esc play Waiting Room at the Evelyn this Thursday. CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR EVENT IN FOUR WORDS? Jack Stavrakis, booker: “Cool music every month.” WHICH ACT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE T0 BOOK FOR THE WAITING ROOM AND WHY? “I would really like to get bands like The Parking Lot Experiments and Rat Vs Possum to play a night. But internationally I think Four Tet would be rather wonderful. Oh, and Fugazi. Yeah, that would rule.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Oh my! Couldn’t I just save my hard drive? I suppose if I could only save an album from my hard drive I would choose Seekae’s new album +Dome. Haven’t stopped playing it.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “I’d love to invite Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (Fugazi… thanks Wikipedia for his full name). He is a vegetarian so a nice soup and some non-alcoholic beer should go down a treat.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “Any alleyway with a goonsack and my friends.”

twitter.com/inpressmag

live@inpress.com.au

GOLD PLATER

FRAGMENTED FREQUENCIES

In anticipation of the release of his latest album in July, local indie rock singer/songwriter Michael Plater will be playing at Idgaff this Friday alongside Geelong country pop legends The Coves, Ballarat’s superb alt.folk duo Goldentone and recent arrivals from Sydney, The Quiet Contender. Doors open at 7pm and entry is $5.

OTHER MUSIC FROM THE OTHER SIDE WITH BOB BAKER FISH In 1971, a 28-year-old double bass player and freejazz enthusiast named Gavin was working on a documentary film about people sleeping rough in London. Trawling the streets, they came across a bunch of winos and bums. So they began filming. At one point they broke into a drunken song, which was duly recorded for the film. Another tramp who didn’t drink also started warbling. This song was never used in the film, though somehow Gavin ended up with the recordings. When he got home he quickly realised both the emotional depth of the music and more importantly that this particular song was in tune. So he decided to orchestrate it. The song is Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, and Gavin is, of course, Gavin Bryars. Repeatedly looping a couple of verses, he extended the tune to almost 26 minutes, slowly and subtly bringing in the orchestration, which actually added an additional (almost cinematic) gravity to the song, but really it served to highlight the fragility and damage of the singer. Yet despite the trials and tribulations there’s a real sense of hope and optimism here, and it’s made all the more poignant by the almost naive hopelessness of the singer. With material so raw, there was a real danger that Bryars could have overcooked it, sensationalising the material, yet as we cycle through the waves of the song, he builds density slowly, gracefully, highlighting the pathos of the singer and the song, without ever feeling like he is competing. Bryars of course had form – a couple of years earlier he produced The Sinking Of The Titanic, a modern classical piece that is based on accounts that the final tune the band played before they drowned was a hymn. The tune, at about 25 minutes, feels like it is sinking under water, descending into washed out drones and submerged strings. The effect is uncanny. Novelist Michael Ondaatje (The English Painter) speaks of Bryars’ ability to put “slapstick” and “primal emotion” alongside each other, his ability to make the listener approach sound from a completely new angle, with a “third ear”. And you would need one when listening to Portsmouth Sinfonia, an ensemble he founded that mixes professional musicians like Brian Eno playing unfamiliar instruments with complete novices. They have a few LPs out, murdering popular rock or well-known classical tunes. They’re both despairingly hilarious and very slapstick. On Sunday 1 May at Anytime Place in Brunswick, on the 40th anniversary of its premiere, Barnaby Oliver and Steph Brett, in association with Dreamland Recordings, present a live performance of Bryars’ Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet. While the original tune went for about 26 minutes, the organisers have elected to take some liberties, viewing their approach as something of a ‘bootleg’ performance.

SUMO WRESTLE-IN

SMASH YER FACE After a frenzied first part of the year, including a tour to the US and the SXSW conference, The Vaudeville Smash return to the Toff In Town for the launch of their second EP this Saturday. In the short time they’ve been together, The Smash have established themselves as one of the most exciting, unique and up-and-coming bands in the country – being named as one of the ‘Buzz Bands’ of SXSW in the Huffington Post and their recent slew of sold-out shows is testament to this. With their special brand of dancefloor-igniting ‘nouveau yacht rock’ and support from the golden tones of Brendan Maclean, this night promises to be quite spectacular. Tickets are $12.30+BF from Moshtix or $15 on the door from 7.30pm.

GOT THE BLINDNESS

Get to the Builders Arms this Friday as local spreaders of psychedelic joy and happiness The Sun Blindness play their first live show for the year. The lauded group will be supported by Time Shield, better known as Tim Shiel (and even better known as Faux Pas), presenting a set of live AV, just before he jets off on tour with Gotye. Second up is The Leafs, who will be launching their first music video, Space Elevator. And the pre-headline spot goes to Zeal, who jumps around pressing flashing buttons and singing electronic indie pop songs about robots while bathed in pixelated rainbow video feedback. Entry is $8 from 8.30pm.

Musically Oliver was attracted to the minimalist approach of the work, “combining very simple ideas to create something very complex,” though there’s clearly a lot more going on. He suggests it’s about “taking someone who’s ended up at the very bottom of society’s heap, and then placing him at the centre of a piece of ‘high art’, where the performers are obliged to follow his irregular and idiosyncratic beat.” “We all rely on something to get us through the tough times, be it alcohol, religion or whatever – in that way we’re all the same. The piece is perhaps about celebrating this common humanity – which is both strength and weakness – in an ambivalent and non-judegmental way. That realisation was what made me want to do something with the piece.”

CZECH FOR WOLVES

Prepare yourself for a night of beer-fuelled rock and punk mayhem at the Prague as Raised By Wolves, None The Wiser, Crying Sirens and Freedumb Nation prepare to blow the doors off the place this Friday. This is the last show None The Wiser are playing before they reinvent themselves under the new name Firefight, so get along to hear some classic NTW tunes that will not be played live again! Grab a Czech beer from the bar and settle in for the night. Doors open at 8pm and entry is $10.

LINES FOR ZOE

Following Fault Lines is the brand new EP from Melbourne via Ballarat five-piece Goodbye Zoe. The EP features standout rock songs with strong melodies, thick guitars and drums and comes with a social conscience amongst the catchy lyrics. After a tough recording process, the EP was mixed by John Mitchell at Outhouse (You Me At Six, Enter Shikari, Funeral For A Friend) and the band are launching it at the Evelyn Hotel this Sunday with help from Verona Lights, No Love For Lexi and The Furys. Tickets are $10+BF from Moshtix and doors open at 9pm.

VOLATILE FRONTIN’

The Volatiles continue their Deaths In The US tour at the Espy front bar this Thursday with friends Don Fernando, Indian Mynah and The Grand Rapids. There will be free giveaways of the new single on the night, so get on down and see The Volatiles’ last show until August. Radical!

THE LATEST CHAPTER THE RELEASED SERIES, an initiative of the Workers Club, sees the venue hosting a series of nights organised by local labels. We check in with tonight’s curator, GUY BLACKMAN from CHAPTER MUSIC.

“Bryars always stretched the duration of the piece to the limits of whatever recording medium was available [first vinyl, then cassette, then CD],” offers Barnaby Oliver, “and I’m taking it even further, to two hours-plus. I’ve always been interested in long-duration performances – impractical as they are, they can take you to places that are otherwise unreachable.” It will include more than 20 Melbourne musicians, such as Adam Simmons, Dave Brown (both of Bucketrider fame), Tim Pledger (Bohjass), Barnaby Oliver (Infinite Decimals), and numerous more. They’ve each been given a chart of the original accompaniment to the piece and are all working alone to create their interpretation. On the night it is expected that performers may duck in and out of the music while the loop plays throughout. In the main they will be unamplified and spread throughout the space with no clear delineation between performer and listener.

Upstairs at Yah Yah’s just got bigger and heavier and a lot more Japanese! Head to Yah Yah’s this Thursday to watch sumo bouts on the big screen and help raise money for the Japan Relief Fund. Entry is $15, which includes $5 donation per person and a burger of your choice with chips from Living The DreamBurgers – straight from the newly opened Yah Yah’s Kitchen. There are prizes to be won, including drink cards, burger vouchers, band merch and more! Doors at 6.45pm.

How long have you been running your label? “Since 1992!” What’s the philosophy behind your label? “Chapter Music’s philosophy is that good music is cool and that it’s cool to put out good music.” What was your first release? “First release was a compilation cassette of Perth bands called Bright Lights Small City.” And the most recent? “Most recent was the debut LP by Canberra/ Melbourne improvised noise idiots Bum Creek.” Which labels do you most admire? “Some inspirations over the years: Rough Trade, Flying Nun, Folkways, Toytown, From The Same Mother, M Squared, Sarah, Creation, Au Go Go, Waterfront, Teenbeat, Topic, Ze, Sleeping Bag, Prelude, Drag City, RIP Society.” Who are your three fave musical acts at the moment and why?

“Funnily enough they all happen to be Chapter Music artists: Twerps – they just killed in America on their recent US tour, and I was lucky enough to see a bunch of the shows; Pikelet – right now the Pikelet band are playing some of the most adventurous, expectation-confronting pop music I’ve ever seen; Laura Jean – this woman is a genius, and her new album is going to blow your mind.” What releases do you have coming up? “There are a bunch of albums coming out in the next few months. Geoffrey O’Connor of the Crayon Fields has a solo album that’s all sexy and synthy and amazing. Twerps and Dick Diver both have their debut albums ready to go, and Laura Jean is putting out her third album A Fool Who’ll through Chapter, which is really exciting, and a totally incredible record too.” Who have you chosen to play at your night at the Workers and why? “Twerps have just got back from the US so they’ll be match fit, and I wanted to nab their first show back so everyone will come down to see them. Geoffrey O’Connor is doing amazing stuff with his solo band. Very different to Crayon Fields, too – don’t assume you have him pegged. And then I’m playing with Yuko Kono from Tokyo band My Pal Foot Foot, who has been living in Melbourne for the last year. We’re going to do a combined set that’s half Yuko’s pure folk beauty, and half my dirty old man sleaze pop.”

Chapter Records showcases at the Workers Club tonight (Wednesday).

twitter.com/inpressmag

Celadore play the Popboomerang Records Electric & Eclectic CD launch at the Workers Club this Saturday. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Tom Armhead, bass guitar: “We were in the Jamaican bobsled team, finished last and decided to form a band instead!” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “We released our Distance Is A Gun EP last year and have a follow-up planned for the second half of 2011. Our track How Do You Feel is featured on the Popboomerang Records rarities CD which we’ll be helping to launch this month.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Meow, baa, woof, prrrr!” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “Crowded House, because they are good, eh!” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Betchadupa – The Alphabetchadupa, because I don’t think I could find it again!” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “Not personally, however Michael likes to wear black socks and Dave likes a new pair of undies!” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Eggs Benedict (Arnold).” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “My mouth!”

WHO’S HOUSE? ROARHOUSE Awe-inspiring vocal adventurer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mal Webb headlines an evening with Roarhouse Melbourne at the Edinburgh Castle on Wednesday 4 May. Roarhouse Melbourne is a non-profit supportive arts community providing performance, workshop and volunteering opportunities for all, inclusive of those with mental health issues or other disadvantages. The night also features 11 local artists of diverse backgrounds showcasing their music, spoken word and performance art. Doors open at 7pm and it’s free! Love the arts? Get along and get involved in Roarhouse Melbourne, proudly supported by the City Of Moreland and North West FM.

twitter.com/inpressmag

live@inpress.com.au

DEPARTMENT

WAKE THE

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

Hardcore and punk with SARAH PETCHELL

OF YOUTH

Term two of Push Songs is coming up fast so if you are interested in becoming a first-class songwriter then listen up – this may just be the opportunity you’ve been looking for. Push Songs is an innovative program open to all Victorian songwriters looking for that extra push from budding to established, from up-and-coming to ‘here’, from unknown to sensation! The best part of the program is that you get helped along by already established industry professionals. The Push recognise that there is a lack of support for the songwriting process and have tried to fill that void with Push Songs. The charts might not recognise the power and beauty of the songwriting process, but the classics songs that make ‘best of the best’ lists every year respected the process and that’s why they’ll be remembered and why I don’t even know what is on top of the charts at the moment. This whole process is supported by APRA, so you know you’re in good hands. The course is designed to help 12 young writers develop their skills and reach their full potential through three-and-a-half-hour workshops, receiving one-on-one song coaching from Melbourne songwriting heavyweight Charles Jenkins. The man has 20 years experience, so don’t miss this opportunity. The program is free, and there are four terms every year. Other songwriters involved include Even’s Ash Naylor, Lisa Miller, Mick Thomas, Rebecca Barnard, Monique Brumby, Jen Cloher, Wally De Backer of Gotye and The Basics, Mark Seymour and many others. To apply head to thepush.asn.au and send in your applications for term two. If you’ve been to the City Library or its sister libraries in East Melbourne and North Melbourne, you might have noticed that the silence has been broken with some lovely acoustic music from some of Melbourne’s best. This Thursday at the City Library you can catch Caitlin Harnett, a Sydney-based singer/songwriter with beautiful performances that reveal intimate stories behind some mesmerising original songs. In May you can catch Caitlin at the East Melbourne Library and Rezzalp and the Tungsten Duo at the City Library. You can also buy an Acoustica: Music In A Quiet Place CD, featuring a selection from the 2009 series, for only $15 from the various library branches. Check out melbournelibraryservice.com.au for more details.

TODAY (WEDNESDAY)

The No Surrender Australian tour featuring Oh Sleeper, The Chariot, I Am Villain and That’s What She Said hits the Music Man Megastore in Bendigo from 5.30pm. Tickets are available on the door.

THURSDAY

Washington and special guests Lissie and Deep Sea Arcade play Ormond Hall from 6.30pm. Tickets are $25 through Oztix. The Dead Masquerade tour, featuring Escape The Fate and Pierce The Veil, hits Billboard from 4pm. Tickets available through Ticketek.

FRIDAY

State Of East London play the Werribee Youth Centre from 8pm. Carpathian and special guests AYS, Warbrain, The Hollow, Thieves and Beggars play the Wyndham Youth Resource Centre from 6pm. Entry is $8.

SATURDAY

Quake Sounds, an under-18s charity event featuring a myriad of local acts, takes place at Martini Lounge from 12pm. Tickets are $25 on the door. As Tall As Lions play Pheonix Youth Centre in Footscray with Elliot The Bull from 1pm. Tickets are on sale now through Oztix. Naturally 7 are a New York-based gospel, Motown, hip hop, blues and roots, drum’n’bass outfit playing the Melbourne Recital Centre from 1.30pm. Tickets are available through the Recital Centre box office. A charity gig for the Black Dog Institute featuring At The End, Outlive, Glorified!, If It’s On I’m In and more hits the Sale Memorial Hall from 6pm. Entry is $10.

SUNDAY

The Melbourne qualifier for the I’m On A Rampage b-boy/fly-girl competition is on at the Passion Dance Studio from 12pm. Entry is $12 on the door.

Thursday

DEAD

The Soundwave Revolution puzzle pieces are coming together with a few key pieces being put in place this week. Firstly, a number of excellent bands have been added to the bill including the INCREDIBLE Kvelertak. And if you missed my somewhat cryptic clue about the leak on Short.Fast.Loud the other week, it was in fact Geoff Rickley from Thursday who basically said, “Yes, we will be here for Soundwave Revolution.” So, there are three more reasons for everyone to be on the edge of their seat with anticipation. Especially now that we know when the official announcement is going to be. Soundwave’s AJ Maddah has also announced through his Twitter feed that the official announcement will be this Thursday. So there isn’t that long to wait before we’re fi nally all put out of our misery and can know what all the secrecy is about! Also last week, we were told that the Melbourne Soundwave Revolution will be held on Friday 30 September, and will not be held at the same venue as Soundwave. I’m not sure whether that means that it will not be at the same venue as Soundwave this year, so I guess we’ll just have to wait for Thursday to fi nd out where exactly it will be! Melbourne’s Confession are currently in the studio to record their follow-up full-length to 2009’s Cancer. The band are in Gothenburg, Sweden following a writing session in Byron Bay at the Parkway house, to record with Fredrik Nordstrom. For those who don’t know, Nordstrom’s production credits include the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, I Killed The Prom Queen and In Flames. No word on a date when the album will hit store shelves, except that it will be out in the coming months. I guess it is more metal, but with the bands they’re hanging out with there’s crossover into the punk and hardcore realms. Brisbane’s Ironhide have just released their debut album Create/Collapse/Repeat and it’s pretty damn good. Essentially this is technical metal, but it is done really well. If this sounds up your alley, then you can head to the band’s Bandcamp page (ironhide.bandcamp.com) and download the album either for free or with the option to make a donation to the band. The fi nal track on the album is especially great, featuring some amazing guest vocals from Nathan Wyner from A Secret Death, Mike Deslandes from Coerce, Cam Gillard of To The North,

THE

RACKET Metal, heavy rock and dark alternative with ANDREW HAUG theracket@inpress.com.au According to The Wrap, Tom Cruise is preparing for a role in the upcoming film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Rock Of Ages, which showcases popular rock songs from the ‘70s and ‘80s, by training with Axl Rose’s vocal coach. The actor will star as Stacee Jaxx, an aging musician whose glory days are long past. Among the tunes Cruise will perform are Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead Or Alive and Styx’s Renegade. “He’s been studying seriously with Axl Rose’s voice teacher like five hours a day,” director Adam Shankman tells The Wrap. “The prognosis is more than excellent.” San Francisco Bay Area metallers Machine Head will enter Green Day’s Jingletown Studios in Oakland, California this week to begin recording their as-yet-untitled seventh album for a late winter release via Roadrunner Records. Discussing the new album, Robb Flynn (guitar, vocals) says, “I wasn’t really raised with religion. And in a lot of ways, that’s what this record seems to be symbolising for me – music as religion, music as the thing that’s carried me through the darkest chapters in my life. It’s carried me through the brightest, highest highs of my life, and everything in between. It’s always been there for me.” Phil Demmel (guitar) adds, “Expectations? There’s always high expectations. I mean, we don’t just put a record out that often, so there’s a lot that goes into this. We expect a lot out of ourselves; we expect everything that we can possibly put into a record. So we’re reaching deep, but we’ve grown a lot in the past five years as well – as

Robert Allen of The Abandonment/In Trenches and Matt Cook from Marathon. You can head to the same Bandcamp page to hear that track. If you haven’t heard anything about them, Life & Limb are a veritable supergroup of previous Canberra bands, including (but in no way limited to) members of groups such as Hard Luck, Repoman, A Stab In The Dark, Brisk, Moments and I Exist. Last year, the group hit the studio to record songs that have made their way onto their debut 10” EP titled Four Islands. The EP will be available online and at shows when they hit the road next month. In the meantime, check them out online and give them a listen. There’s a strong Fugazi influence going on there, which isn’t a bad thing at all. You can catch the band when they hit Melbourne this weekend. This Friday they play Yah Yah’s with Bowcaster, Fourteen Nights At See and Tom Lyngcoln (who is from The Nation Blue and will be playing a solo set). Then on Saturday, Life & Limb hit the Gasometer with These Hands Could Separate The Sky and more to be announced. UNFD have announced that a couple of I Killed The Prom Queen’s titles will be re-released

musicians, as friends, as bandmates, and just as people in general. So I think there’s a lot of emotion getting poured into this, and a lot of creativity, too. So don’t expect The Blackening 2. It’s gonna be… We’re putting everything that we have into this one, but we do that on every record. ‘It’s gonna be heavy, but melodic, too; it’s gonna be the heaviest thing we’ve ever done’ – I’m gonna stay away from all the quotes you see all the time. It’s gonna be our best effort, though – for sure.” Seminal grindcore/extreme metal outfit Brutal Truth have completed work on their brand new full-length album End Time with Doug White at Watchmen Studios in Lockport, New York. The self-produced CD was mixed by Jason PC at Goatsound Studios and is currently being mastered by Scott Hull at Visceral Sound. A late July release via Relapse Records is expected. Another one gone! Drummer Andols Herrick has announced his departure from Cleveland metallers Chimaira. In a statement released to ThePRP. com, he said, “Since keyboardist/programmer Chris Spicuzza recently released his statement announcing his departure from the band, I suppose it’s time that I do so as well since I have been dodging questions and comments for almost as long. I am no longer a member of Chimaira. I share some of the same concerns that Chris mentioned in his statement, namely the current state of the music industry and concerns about my future. A major transition in life is much more manageable at 31 than it is in your late 30s or early 40s, so as a guy with literally zero experience in anything else, better now than later. Plus, it would be hard to go back without feeling constantly uneasy about the situation. Although I did not record the new album, I was around for the majority of the writing process, and I know you guys are going to love it. Despite the recent dramatic line-up changes, I’m quite confident the band will press on just fine. I will always love my brothers, both current and former, in Chimaira!”

twitter.com/inpressmag

to coincide with the band’s appearance on the Destroy Music tour. Sleepness Nights And City Lights is the band’s fi rst ever DVD and it captures the band in front of a rapturous hometown crowd at HQ in Adelaide, as they rip through a set of songs from their entire back catalogue. It also features in-depth interviews with each member as they discuss their rise, break-up and the future of the band. The second release will be IKTPQ’s fi nal album, Music For The Recently Deceased. There has been heated debate among fans about whether Michael Crafter’s vocals for this album were better than the released vocals of Ed Butcher. The re-release of the album will be a deluxe, two-disc version of the album, featuring both the Ed Butcher and Michael Crafter versions of the album. Both of these releases will hit record store shelves on 20 May, and you can catch the Destroy Music tour in Melbourne on Saturday 21 May at Billboard for an all-ages show and then Sunday 22 May at the same venue for an 18+ show. Tickets to both are on sale now. Get in quick, as the fi rst 18+ Melbourne show of this tour has already sold out.

Heavy-hitting British metal band Orange Goblin will enter the Animal Farm studio in London on Friday 12 August to begin recording their as-yet-untitled seventh album for a March 2012 release via Candlelight Records. Massachusetts metallers Unearth have set Darkness In The Light as the title of their new album, tentatively due this summer via Metal Blade Records. The CD was recorded at Zing Studios in Westfield, Massachusetts with producer and Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. Sitting in on drums during the sessions was Justin Foley, also of KE. The effort was mixed by Mark Lewis (Trivium). Regarding the band’s decision to work with Foley on the new CD, Unearth previously said in a statement, “Foley was an obvious choice for this album for many reasons, but mainly because of his abilities and knowledge of heavy music as well as his longtime friendship with the band. A decade-plus of friendship has made this an easy transition for the band, Foley and our producer/engineer Adam.”

TOURS, TOURS, TOURS Warrant, LA Guns – Friday, Palace Alestorm – Saturday 14 May, Corner Hotel Suicidal Tendencies – Sunday 15 May, Billboard Morbid Angel – Friday 27 May, Hi-Fi The Haunted – Saturday 28 May, Hi-Fi Nevermore – Friday 10 June, Billboard Emmure – Saturday 18 June (U18 arvo, 18+ evening), Corner Hotel Andrew Haug hosts Triple J’s The Racket every Tuesday from 10pm – triplej.abc.net.au/ racket. Email theracket@inpress.com.au

live@inpress.com.au

THE

He’s behind you!

BREAKDOWN Pop culture therapy with ADAM CURLEY Behind the diner window, above the field of sedans, Justin Bieber’s hair-helmeted head is the size of a small apartment block. Soon, on the giant drive-in screen, he’ll be making a group of teenage girls cry as they stare at him from the side of a stage on which he’s artfully gesticulating. Following that, he’ll board a steel rig shaped like a love heart, which will dangle him over his audience like a skatebrand-clad carrot with an acoustic guitar. Presumably, this is all being done to the sounds of Bieber’s mega-hits, but we can’t hear a thing. Even outside the diner, the only sounds that can be heard come from the occasional car with a window wound down or its boot open to facilitate reverse-parked lounge-viewing. Yet there he is in all his dimpled glory – smiling, making puppy-dog face and occasionally pulling a ‘wacky’ pose in front of his minders, the kind of ‘jokester’ device often included in pop-star documentaries to show their viewers that the famous millionaire on the screen is, in fact, just the same as you and me. The fi lm showing outside the window of the hyper-1950s-style booth we’re populating, grazing on pre-movie fish’n’chips (both of which taste appropriately like they’ve been on an activities-heavy tour of the world’s factories since packing up and departing the sea and the farm), is Never Say Never, the Justin Bieber ‘doco’ about his rise to celebrity status. The fi lm was in part produced by the star himself and, reportedly, he – or his ‘team’ – was given the final say in what did and didn’t appear in the end result, but that information only adds to the clarity of the scene before us. For all of Bieber’s connectedness to new social media technologies – his narrative of becoming a ‘YouTube sensation’; his army of Twitter followers who track his whereabouts and scheme concert-door campouts; his general, tiresome being-everywhere-allthe-time-ness – here, at the drive-in, he’s just the latest in a long line of teen pop stars to be swooned at on a big screen in a car park. Looking out at his huge creamy-faced mug and picturing the young families curled up with blankets and popcorn behind the rows of windscreens, heartthrobs from the golden era of the American drive-in come to mind: the delinquents and rebels and Gidget lookalikes. If anyone here had been old enough to go to

ROOTS DOWN

Blues ‘n’ roots with DAN CONDON rootsdown@inpress.com.au One of the real success stories of Australian blues music from last year was that of Blue Mountainsbased one-man band Claude Hay. While his touring schedule in Australia has been insanely hectic over the past couple of years, he has only recently started to make some serious inroads on the US blues scene. The end of 2010 saw him appear in the top ten of the Billboard blues charts and be ranked in the top five blues records on Amazon for his second record, Deep Fried Satisfied. Despite this enviable international success, Hay can’t see himself relocating any time soon. “As they say, there’s no place like home, although I have contemplated moving there, but when you do a tour up the East Coast of Oz you realise how good we have it here,” he says. “One of my favourite things to do is wake up by the beach in some coastal town that you’ve just played at in my motor home whipping up some bacon and eggs for brekky.” When coming home from tour means returning to somewhere like Hay’s idyllic Blue Mountains home, you can’t blame him for wanting to keep things essentially as they are. “It’s the best thing ever when you come back from a tour driving here, there and everywhere, just to get in the zone of recording or just chilling out. It’s the place for me,” he grins. “I feel so lucky to be where I am; I live on a block of land that is basically in the bush, I have this creek that runs right through it, I’ve built my recording studio that looks right out to it. It’s definitely a calm and chilled place with no distractions which is important when recording I think.” The constant touring provides plenty of inspiration

the drive-in in those times, there’d almost be a nostalgia at work, save for the fact that these kinds of pop-star personality/concert fi lms have only recently become box-office draws as cinemas and acts look for new revenue streams. If nostalgia is to be found anywhere tonight, it’s at our own table. We’ve come to see Scream 4, the ten-years-later sign that the age bracket that experienced its teen years directly prior to the Web 2.0 boom is going to rival the Boomers’ desire to look back on rose-tinted times. Yet it’s that divide that Scream 4 seeks to address. Like Never Say Never, the latest Scream film is about fame in the digital age. It’s also about updating horror-film devices to take new technologies into consideration. It might seem a misguided step to 2.0-ify a film franchise whose original audience is in no small part there to be reminded of its teen years, but Scream 4’s writing works on a few levels: it knows that ‘90s teens who are now adults live in a digitised world while addressing even marginal generational tech divides, but essentially it bypasses the consequences of new technologies to go back to a classic horror format. That, too, is why we’re at the drive-in. We were never part of the 1970s drive-in horror trend, but it’s that old, ever so slightly cheesy, out-in-the-dark thrill we’re after. And we do get it, though the film itself seems to forget that young people, while being down with the media and iPhones, would also be oldschool terrified when presented with a serial killer. (Instead, they kind of just raise their eyebrows before they get placed over the walls.) We get it in a more real sense: a look into the rear-view mirror on the way home reveals the word ‘HELP!’ freshly scrawled into the frost on the back windscreen, and no one in the car is owning up. It’s a reminder that fear will always be fear, teen longing will always be longing and drive-ins will always be fi lled with weirdos.

for his music and Hay is one of the few artists who does the majority of his writing while on tour. “I do love being on the road. It’s like everything in life, you have to find the balance, too long on the road and you go mad and vice versa when you’re at home,” he explains. “I do around 70,000 kilometres a year so I get to see a good chunk of this country, and being in a new place somewhere different from home is very inspirational. I probably do most of my writing on the road; [I] sing it in my mobile phone mostly to remember new ideas.” Recent jaunts down to our part of the country have seen Hay play a mixture of club and festival dates. Given how many of each of these types of shows he has played around the world, it’s interesting to get his perspective on the respective pros and cons of both. “When a festival is buzzing and you play to a pumped crowd, there’s nothing like it. Especially if it’s your first time at a fest at some new town you’ve never been before so you have to work it to win them over… when it goes off it does feel gratifying,” he begins. “But I do like playing small intimate venues as well – you can get a bit more personal with your audience.” Hay has always been the kind of guy who does everything himself, and we mean everything. He says there are so many pros to being living life in a DIY fashion.

FRIDAY 29 APRIL

BARRENCE WHIFIELD

Doors 8pm / Tix $28 + BF / $30 at door if available / limited seating

SATURDAY 30 APRIL

WROKDOWN FUNDRAISER

Doors 7.30 pm / Tix $30 + BF GA / $35 + BF Reserved seating

SUNDAY 01 MAY

MICHELLE SHOCKED

Doors 7.00pm / $43 Standing Seating Sold Out / Only Standing tix Available and selling fast!

SATURDAY 14 MAY

“My motor home is probably my favourite thing, I’ve put a shower, toilet, kitchen and recording studio in there,” he tells. “When I went to America one of the radio stations really talked about the van a lot and this radio had 14.5 million listeners… I have had people turn up to my gig and hung around to the end when I’m loading out so they can have a look at the van. I had quite a few after parties in there now. It’s a lot of fun…” Claude Hay plays the Palais Theatre on Thursday 26 May (supporting Joe Bonamassa), Grind N Groove in Healesville on Friday 27 May and the Blues Train in Queenscliff on Saturday 28 May.

twitter.com/inpressmag

LULO REINHARDT

Doors 8pm / Tix $41 / For Table bookings ring Pete 0411 569 180

SATURDAY 04 JUNE

MARK SEYMOUR

Doors 8pm (Dinner & Show 7.30) / Preshow Dinner available in Dining Room from 6 pm / Tix $28 + BF Standing Room Dinner & Show and reserved seating sold out

live@inpress.com.au

STATE I’M IN

MIGHTY APHRODITE

MUSIC VICTORIA UPDATES We are really looking forward to hitting the road in May and June for our On The Road With Music Victoria regional workshops, and getting to know the scenes and the passionate people who make them tick. We will be visiting regional centres, offering practical career advice and up-to-date tips on how to navigate your way through the ever-changing music industry landscape. This time around, we’ll be visiting Geelong, Hepburn Springs, Bendigo, Ballarat, Wangaratta, Wodonga, Tallangatta, Wonthaggi, Morwell and Mornington. Joining Music Victoria at the workshops will be ARIA-nominated and self-managed artist Jen Cloher, experienced band booker Neil Wedd, and savvy music publicist Karen Conrad, while passionate local industry representatives will have the opportunity to voice concerns and offer suggestions about ways to improve their music scenes. Entry is free and open to all ages and musical genres. Come and say hello and tell us about your local music community. For all the dates and details, check the Music Victoria website. Entry is free for all the sessions but to register your interest in attending any of the workshops, please RSVP to workshops@musicvictoria.com.au. Thanks also to everyone who responded to our Small Business Victoria skills survey. The results indicated that there is a clear demand for workshops catering for different stages of professional development, particularly in the areas of business development and planning, online marketing and social networking, tax and legal advice, funding and grant application assistance, networking tips and performance coaching. We’ll be working on some tailored music-oriented skills workshops based on your feedback – watch this space. Airbourne certainly didn’t need any performance coaching at the MCG for the last event in the first series of Live At The ‘G. Having played before up to 70,000 people at a slew of European festivals in the last few years, playing on the biggest stage in the land was no issue for them. They lapped up the occasion, as did the crowd. Some lucky Music Victoria members even scored themselves VIP tickets to the matches. The first Live At The ‘G series is now over. It’s a bit early to gauge the benefits for the bands involved in the project, which we initiated with the AFL and Cherry Rock consultants, but sales of Little Red’s album Midnight Remember soared that week after their performance and halved its chart position from 90-something to 50, and Airbourne ended up on the front page of their local newspaper. Add to this exposure to up to 80,000 footy fans, and another one million on Channel Seven watching the broadcast, APRA royalties and performance fees, and the benefits really start to stack up. The AFL are to be congratulated on supporting some of Melbourne’s best emerging bands, and we look forward to working with them again later this year or at the start of next season. We also commend the City Of Melbourne on its commonsense reform to busking. Music Victoria, representing Melbourne’s buskers, argued against plans to increase fees and introduce auditions for buskers. And the council agreed. Only the Bourke Street Mall will have auditions ‘’to try and find Melbourne’s best buskers’’, so we’re putting a call out for Victoria’s best buskers to apply. If you’re a musician, have you thought about exposing your music to a whole new audience outside of our traditional venues? Hit the streets! It was great to see such a big turn-out at Independent Record Store Day. Sadly, it was the Last Record Store in Collingwood’s final Record Store Day, as it is the latest casualty of dwindling CD sales and high rents. Make sure you support the existing independent stores which, along with community radio, provide essential support to our musicians. Musician and band booker Jody Galvin has put together a survey about musicians and money. The survey results may be used to help determine the interest in developing a no-interest loan scheme for musicians. The survey will run until June – please take a moment to give your feedback and pass it on to any musicians you know: surveymonkey.com/s/28PRYJK. We also need to be encouraging and supporting writers who are capturing our wonderful music history in books. Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan will be involved in this year’s Williamstown Literary Festival on Sunday 1 May, interviewing Dave Graney about his recently released book 1001 Australian Nights, from 1-2pm, then shooting the breeze from 4-5pm with Painters & Dockers legend and former Sunday Herald Sun music writer Paul Stewart in a session called It’s Only Rock’n’Roll But I Wrote It. Both sessions are in the Council Chambers at the Williamstown Town Hall in Ferguson Street. More program and ticketing info can be found at willylitfest.org.au

KYLIE MINOGUE’s latest live spectacular, the Aphrodite – Les Folies Tour, has just finished its European leg and is now on its way to Australia. JAMES MCGALLIARD checks out the show at London’s 02 Arena.

Chicks Who Love Guns play Travelling Rock Circus at the Central Club this Friday. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Jack Hambling, guitar: “We all knew each other from high school, really. We were all in a few different bands and one day someone suggested we should have a jam in [bassist] Mitch’s shed. It was all downhill from there.” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “Yep, we’ve recorded an EP already called Vomit On The Dance Floor and just on Friday night we did our Sydney single launch for a new song, God, Love And Satan, which we’re getting out there now.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Gentle, timid, introverted, subtle.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “OFWGKTA.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “Women’s underwear.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Fucking burritos.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “Carlton Club.”

FULL STEAMPUNK

Melbourne’s only regular steampunk club night, The Conservatory, takes place once again at Abode this Friday night. It’s a night of conversation, shenanigans and revelry in the exclusive neo-Victorian style barlounge-club featuring a traditional absinthe fountain in the den. DJs Omega, Josh and special guests will keep the old-new good times going. For all the info, head to bluafterglow.com. Doors at 10pm.

MY LEFT ROCK Get your rock on this Friday night at Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood when Melbourne’s finest rock’n’roll bands get together for a huge gig. My Left Boot will be bringing their fuzz rock grunge sound which is bound to raise your blood pressure. Joining them will be Ancient Man, known for their prog-inspired, razor-sharp rock. The Feelgoods will be opening this night of dirty stoner rock’n’roll. Doors open at 8pm and entry is $10.

There’s no doubt Kylie cares about her audience, her music and her craft, but when playing enormodomes facing a daunting 20,000:1 ratio, you have to make large sweeping statements, or be lost to the space. From the audacious opening reveal of Kylie rising up through the stage as Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth Of Venus, it’s clear this is going to be big on spectacle. And spectacular is the word that rightly sums up Aphrodite – Les Folies, a show which jumbles Roman and Greek elements but not the classicism of history, but that of Hollywood, or Vegas, never taking itself too seriously. Each time I think “this is the campest thing I’ve ever seen“ something even more outrageous tops it. I Believe In You sees Kylie led around in a chariot, her steeds a quartet of half-naked male slaves. Later we see Kylie mounted on a giant golden Pegasus, and further along she flies on the back of an angel (although this probably owes more to Barbarella than classicism). There are large projections of male figures cupping themselves, while the revolving motif patterns of animated soldiers during Wow resemble some giant potential daisy chain. Perhaps it’s an acknowledgment and a thank you from Kylie (and William Baker) to a core section of her adult fanbase? But a live music performance needs to be about more than the visuals; sadly the live sound and some of the arrangements aren’t on a par with the brilliant staging. As the setlist is heavily reliant on new, perhaps not so familiar material, it’s key that some crowd-pleasers are thrown in, yet it feels as if some of these songs are just thrown away. Spinning Around sees the house lights up, but the arrangement is stripped of its disco sheen and the illumination merely shows thousands standing still, seemingly unmoved. Worse still is Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, which has an added rock riff that just kills its momentum, leaving it stilted and flat. The live sound itself is not great and its low volume allows the murmur of distracting chitchat to be clearly audible for

much of the evening. If there are problems with the live sound, there are none with Kylie’s vocals. Her voice is the clearest part of the sound, and thankfully free of the effects which dragged it down on Showgirl Homecoming. Kylie’s never been afraid of her past, or trying new things. A high point is a radically reworked Slow, now a sultry jazz number, which sees Kylie on a rising disc surrounded by fan dancers. Aphrodite – Les Folies is more like a piece of theatre than a traditional concert, but that means a delicate balancing act between the intimate and the spectacular. There is a full hour before the audience seems to get involved with the show, unsure of their role as voyeur or participant, whether to passively watch or actively engage. There is no doubt that this is a stunning show visually but sometimes it seems that the artist is lost to the spectacle. Yet Kylie is the star, as she shows in the impromptu section. I marvel at the small figure standing in the centre of the large arena, engaging with the audience and taking requests. This is the naked Kylie, performing an a cappella rendition of Hand On Your Heart, and here sheer simplicity is its strength. But the ending is truly spectacular as On A Night Like This features ejaculating fountains, while a final coup de théâtre is delivered with the climatic All The Lovers, which sees the stage rise up in tiers like a wedding cake, leaving a living fountain as dancers above on wires and below in the water all look towards the golden goddess. Overall Les Folies is like a bright glittering object – one that might catch the eyes of a toddler but is lacking an emotional heart to allow it to truly take root as a treasured memory in the adult years to come.

Kylie Minogue plays Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday 14, Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 June.

SINS OF KINS

Kins play the Grace Darling Hotel this Friday night to celebrate the release of their new single, Mockasins. The single comes from their debut mini LP entitled Dancing Back And Forth Covered In Whipped Cream, due out in May. Kins have announced their plans to relocate to the UK in August, so make sure you don’t miss them before they go! They’re joined by Hello Satellites and Electric Sea Spider and entry is $8 from 9pm.

WIZARD SLEEVE NOTES This Sunday at the Grace Darling Hotel is the superfun launch party for Wizard Oz’s new cassette, Flower Days. It’s going to be a night of hallucinatory lo-fi noise pop including the hypnotic tape experiments of Wizard Oz, the transcendent sonics of Grand Prismatic, and the enduring charm of Popolice – all set against the backdrop of Wizard Oz’s new mystic lightshow. The fresh recording can be yours for the meager price of $5 on the night. Entry is $8 from 6.30pm.

PETER NICE AND STICKY Wash your face in orange juice with legendary kids performer Peter Combe & The Newspaper Mama Band this Saturday when they play their only Melbourne show of their current tour at the Ding Dong Lounge. Take your toffee apples, newspaper hats and sing along with Mr Clicketty Cane, Newspaper Mama, Toffee Apple, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Juicy Juicy Green Grass, Chopsticks, Tadpole Blues, Jack & The Beanstalk, Baghdad, Saturday Night… the list of childhood hits goes on and on. The songs that a million Australian kids grew up on in the pre-Wiggles days will get you cheersing to your youth! Grab tickets from dingdong.oztix.com.au.

CHICKS PLAY GOD Chicks Who Love Guns are coming to get you! God, Love & Satan is the newest release from the Sydney

twitter.com/inpressmag

boys. A track that is sure to gain attention and divide opinion for the title alone, it’s the perfect follow-up to the band’s debut EP, Vomit On The Dance Floor – loud, brash and irreverent. The Sydney launch went from mild to mayhem within seconds and now it is Melbourne’s turn to experience the signature debauchery of Chicks Who Love Guns this Friday at Travelling Rock Circus at the Central Club Hotel, Richmond. Also playing are Creo, Clowns and Scape. Get your party on!

BEER IS MAGIC Melbourne multi-instrumental quartet The Magic Bones produce a timeless groove of rock and psychedelia. The band are getting ready to release, but first will be playing the Public Bar this Friday with supports Brainsworth (Fearless Vampire Killers) and The Philistines. Entry is $7 from 9pm.

live@inpress.com.au

breakdowns occur in summer, so I start to look at the end of winter with a bit of anxiety. You know where you stand in winter in Ballarat. No one expects a lot from you because they just want to stay in and keep warm. It’s familiar and safe to me. I am a bit odd.”

Underminers

BACK TO BEING ME

The Fauves, the thinking man’s sex symbols and pop stars, are gearing up to release not one, but two new albums. And they’ve also updated thefauves. com. “Freedom of speech will not be denied and our website is back online,” the home page states. “A message to ‘The Man’: You will never silence the maverick voice that is The Fauves. Granted, the site hasn’t been updated in two years and these days visitors are measured in fractions, but the truth will not be denied.” The site also hints at upcoming gigs: “All shows will support Fauveaid and all proceeds derived therefrom will issue directly to our bank accounts.”

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO CHERRY ROCK Speaking of Howzat!’s favourite bands, don’t forget that Died Pretty are re-forming for one show only at Cherry Rock on Sunday. Ron Peno will then focus on the release of his debut solo album.

HOWZAT! Local music news by JEFF JENKINS

phase so I was listening to him a lot and my love has grown even stronger.” Meanwhile, Caitlin is launching her new EP, All In The Golden Afternoon, at the Edinburgh Castle on Thursday 5 May.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

POP GOES THE RARITIES Popboomerang is one of Howzat!’s favourite labels. How could you not love a label that’s home to Skipping Girl Vinegar, Underminers and D Rogers? The label has compiled a “rarities” compilation, Electric & Eclectic, which they’re launching at the Workers Club on Saturday, with Celadore, The Bon Scotts, Underminers, Splurge and Adrian Whitehead. The disc opens with Russell Crawford and Caitlin Harnett’s cover of Tom Petty’s Straight Into Darkness. “I love Tom Petty,” Caitlin says. “Over the last year my boyfriend went through a Tom Petty

The Popboomerang rarities disc also includes an alternate version of Trouble Man, a song that first appeared on the Underminers’ 2010 album, Heart Part Of Your Mind. As always, it’s a striking lyric from singer Justin ‘Hap’ Hayward: “Lost his wife and lost his kids and, oh well, that’s showbiz for Trouble Man.” “The person I wrote that about has no idea,” Hap says. “That one goes to the grave, I’m afraid. I think it’s a song that shows my great love and care for that person.” Underminers remain based in Ballarat. When Howzat! was a kid, we lived in a small town called Avoca and visited Ballarat for a day. It was freezing. That memory has stayed with me forever. Does the Ballarat weather drive Hap bananas? “Most of my nervous

TALL BUILDINGS, BIG LAUNCH

Howzat! asked Tall Buildings drummer Danny Tulen to nominate his three favourite Australian songwriters. “I would have to say Tim Rogers, Grant McLennan and [Knievel’s] Wayne Connolly. Hearing their music is comforting to me; sometimes they can be the drunk uncle at a distant relative’s wedding and sometimes they’re the best friend you never knew you had.” The Tall Buildings debut album, Light The Shallows – which they launch at the Grace Darling this Thursday – also sounds familiar and special. “The record is a small take on the little bits of our everyday lives,” Danny explains. “It’s about ‘shining a light’ on these things and realising how important they are, and, I guess, how easily they can be overshadowed.”

RIP MARGOT SMITH

The music business is filled with artists who don’t get the success they deserve. Howzat! has fond memories of interviewing Margot Smith in the early ’90s,

twitter.com/inpressmag

when EMI released her debut album, Sleeping With The Lion, which was produced by Steve Kilbey and Eddie Rayner, and saw her score a Best New Talent nomination at the 1994 ARIAs. Margot did many gigs at the Arcadia in South Yarra, before releasing a second Kilbeyproduced album, Taste, in 1998. Her MySpace page recently featured the message: “I am currently living in Sydney and fighting as hard as I can.” Sadly, Margot Smith died last week. Steve Kilbey has written a moving tribute at his blog, thetimebeing.com. “Fucking alcohol claims another victim,” Steve writes. “I hate alcohol, I hate what it does… sad, tragic, inevitable, useless, pointless waste of a rare and fabulous gift. I hope heaven treats ya better than earth.”

VALE ARTHOUSE

It’s last drinks at the Arthouse. It will be sorely missed. Howzat!’s buddy Julian Agius (from bands such as Colonel Buttfire, Hugo & The Red Room and The Mimps) provides these memories: “We must have done ten out of our first 20 gigs there… playing the pinball ‘til all hours, plastering the toilet wall with our stickers. The thing that sticks in my mind probably sums up the spirit of the place. It must have been one of those early-in-the-week 11pm gigs that nobody goes to. We literally played to the guy behind the bar, the band on before us and a backpacker and his old Labrador. We were expecting it to be our last gig there. Most pubs we played were only interested in re-booking you if you brought a crowd. But I got a call the next day from Adam the Arthouse booker. He said the bar guy had told him how much he liked us and he offered us a Friday support spot. It really was a pub that was all about the music.”

HOWZAT! PLAYLIST

Tenderness TALL BUILDINGS Trouble Man UNDERMINERS Glitter, Gold, Ruin BOY IN A BOX New Blood RON S PENO Adored MARGOT SMITH

gigguide@inpress.com.au

WED 27

Belinda Allchin Beetet, Miriam Crellin Band 303 Brothers Hand Mirror, Parking Lot Experiments, Two Square Bar Open Chris Altmann The Standard Hotel Courtney Barnett, Naomi Jones The Drunken Poet Dizzys Big Band Dizzy’s Jazz Club Eli Paperboy Reed, Boom! Bap! Pow!, Chris Gill East Brunswick Club Escape the Fate, Pierce the Veil Billboard Fromage Disco New Guernica Harmony, Tricks and Treats, Planet Love Sound, Jumpin’ Jack Williams Builders Arms Hotel James Hazelden, Man Bites God, Connor Farell, Floyd Thursby The Toff In Town JK Ruff, Little Black Dress, Vintage Cinema Esplanade Lounge Joseph Arthur, Nyssa Bradsworth Northcote Social Club Kizzy, Bradlee Jay Willow Bar Lee Memorial, Great Earthquake, The Running Mates The Old Bar Leon Thomas, Clairy Browne, Alexi Kaye Wesley Anne Mitchell Peter, PsyEcho Rubys Lounge Open Mic Brunswick Hotel Pioneers Of Good Science, Spider Goat Canyon, Little Killing, Onion Engines The Tote Rub A Dub Club Evelyn Hotel Sizzle, Backlash Brew, Project Puzzle Miss Libertine Stand & Deliver, Petar Tolich Co., Crown The Bonniwells, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Cherry Bar

The Nation Blue, A Death In The Family, Lungs, Paper Arms The Arthouse The Pretty Littles, Blonde on Blonde, Ben Wright Smith, Blac Mail DJs, Hans DC, Rashid Williams Revolver The Shivering Timbers Retreat Hotel The Twerps, Chapter Music Workers Club Wayward Breed, Sean M Whelan Marquis Of Lorne Hotel

THU 28

23 Angles of Attack, The Final Cut, Sadhana, A Day In The Life Esplanade Lounge Andre Camilleri Union Hotel Brunswick AYS, Warbrain, The Hollow, Colossus Next Bodyjar, Away From Now, Daysworth Fighting The Arthouse Chris Ostrom, TMC, Aniket Empire Nightclub Danny and The Fish (IRE), Benny Walker The Drunken Poet Dead, Onion, Dead Boomers The Old Bar Driven to the Verge, Emerson, My Own Enemy, Demiser Rubys Lounge Escape the Fate, Pierce the Veil, Matt Dean, Matty Grant, Phil Ross Billboard Finlo White, Kitty Kat Co., Crown Hungry Kids of Hungary, The Chemical Brothers, Andy Bull Karova Lounge Jethro Tull Palais Theatre Katy Perry Rod Laver Arena Kerryn Fields Elwood Lounge Kimberley Aviso, Josh Romig, Megan Kent Builders Arms Hotel Lanie Lane The Gem

Little Foot, Tone Deaf DJ’s, Mike Callander, Nick Jones, Katie Drover, Tom Lally Revolver Mathew Dooling, Matt Glass Esplanade Gershwin Room Michelle Shocked East Brunswick Club North Meets South Dizzy’s Jazz Club Redcoats The Bended Elbow Rollin Connection, Paul Beynon, Jon Bets, Lister Cooray Miss Libertine Scott Edgar & The Universe 303 Skrillex, Mumbai Science Prince Bandroom Son Tres Mi Corazon Soul Safari Cherry Bar Sunset Riot, Die Hard Dolls, Charm Brunswick Hotel Tall Building, Toby Martin, DJ Spiral Stairs of Pavement Grace Darling Hotel Tang, The Charlies, Ultravibralux, Ginger Van Es, A13, Throbulator Pony Teddy Trouble, The Fighting League, Neighbourhood, Jonny Telafone Bar Open The Boys, Marianne Dissard, Ewah Lady Wesley Anne The Council, Spencer Jones & The Escape Committee Retreat Hotel The Drums, Tiger Choir Corner Hotel The Eliza Band, Chook Race, Tiny Spiders, Matt Bailey Yah Yah’s The Ovals, Ride Into the Sun, Mushroom Horse, Galaxy Folk The Tote The Volatiles, Don Fernando, Indian Mynah, Grand Rapids Esplanade Basement Twelve Tone Diamonds, Spacecadet Lullabies, Moroccan Kings, Creatures of Karma Ding Dong Lounge Unlucky DJs Seven Nightclub

Vinal Riot, Red Hen, Lawrence Green, Death Valley Mustangs The Prague Virgo Four, 1928, Tranter, Sleeves, Megawuoti, Supremes, TDAH The Toff In Town Waiting Room, Powerfuck, Ships Piano, Dixon Cider, ESC, Kosta Evelyn Hotel Washington, Lissie, Deep Sea Arcade Ormond Hall Weened Northcote Social Club

FRI 29

Aa, Parking Lot Experiments, Bum Creek, Barrage Workers Club AC Slater Roxanne Parlour Ancient Man, The Feel Goods, My Left Boot Bendigo Hotel Andrew Reid, District 9 Dizzy’s Jazz Club Babymachine, Plast Her Ov Paris, Ana Nicole, Bonnie Mercer The Old Bar Barrence Whitfield Caravan Music Club Bobby Long, Nyssa Bradsworth Northcote Social Club Bowcaster, Life and Limb, Fourteen Nights At Sea, Tom Lyngcoln, Richie 1250 Yah Yah’s Chelsea Drugstore The Gem Chicks Who Love Guns Central Club Hotel Clowns, Stomp the Dog, The Latonas, Ride Into the Sun, Rusty (Electric Mary) Esplanade Lounge Colour Age, Blonde on Blonde, Stu Thomas Paradox Esplanade Gershwin Room Corsairs, Polo Club, Lunas Cherry Bar Darwin Deez The Hi-Fi David Campbell Frankston Arts Centre

Deadly Are The Naked, Seedy Jeezus, System of Venus, Bones Blackwood Esplanade Basement DJ Jimmywax Elwood Lounge Ennui Breathes Malice Karova Lounge Girls Girls Girls Shoppingtown Hotel Hobsons Choice The Sporting Club House of Pain, The HavKnots, Jungle Traffic Prince Bandroom In Malice’s Wake, Destruktor, Dawn Of Retribution Barwon Club Indigo Girls, Henry Wagons Palais Theatre Jeremy Woolhouse Trio, Melbournaires Chorus Surrey Music Café JJ Symon, The Knockouts, Little Freddie & The Pops, Shaky Memorial Retreat Hotel John Hoffman Quintet, Elly Hoyt Bennetts Lane Katy Perry Rod Laver Arena Kins, Hello Satelites, Electric Sea Spider Grace Darling Hotel Looney Tunes Ding Dong Lounge Madre Monte Bar Open Mama’s Rejects, Little Black Dress, Nightspank, Mannequins Brunswick Hotel Matt Radovich Miss Libertine Mindsnare, Samsara, Iron Mind, Phantoms The Arthouse Moonee Valley Drifters Pascoe Vale RSL Nikkos, Joe Sofo, Kitty Kat Co., Crown Oh Sleeper, The Chariot, I Am Villian, In Trenches, Of Whispers Evelyn Hotel Omega, Josh Abode Phil Ross, Dean T, Chris Mac, DJ Atomik, Johnny M Fusion, Crown Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith The Toff In Town Post Percy, Thomas Pollard, Pingu, Simon TK New Guernica

twitter.com/inpressmag

Raised By Wolves, None the Wiser, Crying Sirens, Freedumb Nation The Prague Red Coats, Red Berry Plum, Kingswood The Tote Southern Soho, Napolean In Rags, Bullets In Berlin, Andrew Brown 303 The Drums, Tiger Choir Corner Hotel The Go Team Strike Bowling Bar The Hired Guns The Vic The Magic Bones, Ride Into the Sun, The Philistines Public Bar The Mung, Odiousembowel, Lazerface, Cradle in the Crater, The Jackals, Touch It Pony The New Heralds Rock Bar The Ophidian Ascension, Blood Union, A Fate Worse Than Death, The Seige On Vienna, Dethrone the King! Rubys Lounge The Sun Blindness, Tim Shield, The Leafs, Zeal Builders Arms Hotel The Tiger & Me Builders Arms, early show Tim Neal, Mike Jordan Bernies Music Land Tim Robbins & the Rogue Gallery Band East Brunswick Club Traditional Irish Music Session The Drunken Poet Velvet Cake Gypsies, Eyal & The Skeleton Crew Wesley Anne Velvet DJs Seven Nightclub Washington, Lissie, Deep Sea Arcade Forum Theatre

SAT 30

180 Proof, Sunset Riot, Dead City Ruins, Rocket Queen Esplanade Basement Alysia Manceau Builders Arms, early show

Anna Salen, Copse, Catfish Voodoo, Every Second Friday, Ransom, Nick Thayer, Paz, Mat Cant Revolver As Tall As Lions, Elliot the Bull Evelyn Hotel Australian Kingswood Factory, Damn The Torpedoes, L.A. Park Public Bar Bakersfield Glee Club The Drunken Poet Bones Blackwood, Boyred Brunswick Hotel Coralea’s Red Pepper T’s Union Hotel Brunswick Daryl Roberts Rosstown Hotel Dave Callan, Bob Franklin, Tom Seigert Comic’s Lounge Diminished Reason, Mistaking Solitude Karova Lounge DJ Sweet Jelly Roll The Gem Edoardo Santoni Bennetts Lane Electric & Eclectic Rarities Workers Club Electric Shadow, Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, Saint Claire, Go Girl Gadget Go Go Esplanade Gershwin Room H Block 101, The Critics, The Tear Aways, The Hawaiian Islands, Fear Like Us The Arthouse Hello Sailor Vintage Fair, Midnight Woolf, Ferry Tails, Buried Horses, Clavians, Anto Mantooth Yah Yah’s House of Gaga, Matty G, Dean T Co., Crown Hungry Kids of Hungary, The Chemist, Andy Bull The Hi-Fi In Volume, Sons of Abraham, Fhate, Crash & Burn, Glass Empire Rubys Lounge Jacky Winter, Emily Ulman Marquis Of Lorne Hotel James McCann, Pete Ewing, Sarah & The King Bees, Jungal, Xander Retreat Hotel Lady J, SmuDJ, Syme Tollens Abode

LSBC Elwood Lounge Mark Smith, Alleygators St Andrews Hotel Michelle Shocked The Substation Naturally 7 Melbourne Recital Centre Nous, I Am Duckeye, SHERIFF, Wildeorness, Junkie Goat, Slugger Fontaine Pony Order Of Torment, Hackswhore, Cunt Butcher, Drongo, Sufferkunt The Prague Ouch My Face, Bits of Shit, Circuits, Brothers Hand Mirror The Old Bar Peter Combe, The Newspaper Mama Band Ding Dong Lounge Quarry Mountain Dead Rats, Spinifex Rose, Anthony Atkinson Wesley Anne Sampology, Tom Thum East Brunswick Club Starting Sunday, Apollo Pathway, Fangs, July Days, Phil Para Esplanade Lounge Tate Strauss, Marcus Knight, Nova, Johnny M Fusion, Crown The Barons Of Tang, The Toot Toot Toots, Mojo Juju Northcote Social Club The Broderick, Leeches, In Angst Bang The Dead South, Machine The Vic The Jaded Cats Old Colonial Hotel The Kremlin Succession, Dirt Farmer, Gun Ballads, New Brutalists, Barrence Whitfield Grace Darling Hotel The Lazys Cherry Bar The Madness Method, Scarlett Cook, Jessica Moussi & the Harmonettes, Kable the Contortionist, The Tabasco Junkies, The Sweaters 303 The ReChords, Jordan & The Original Six, DJ Duke Tedesco Bendigo Hotel

74 JOHNSTON ST FITZROY 9417 4155 WWW.THEOLDBAR.COM.AU OPEN EVERY NIGHT

Wed. 27th Apr 8pm: Courtney Barnett 9pm: Naomi Jones Thurs. 28th Apr 8pm: Danny and The Fish (IRE) 9pm: Benny Walker Fri. 29th Apr 6pm: Traditional Irish music session with Dan Bourke & friends Sat. 30th Apr 9pm: Bakersfield Glee Club Sun. 01 May 4pm: Chris Altmann 6.30pm: Steve Hoy Tues. 03 May 8pm: Weekly Trivia

WEDNESDAY 27TH APRIL

LEE MEMORIAL

12PM - 3AM

GREAT EARTHQUAKE THE RUNNING MATES

THURSDAY 28TH APRIL

DEAD

8.30PM FREE

12PM - 3AM

DEAD BOOMERS GUESTS

FRIDAY 29TH APRIL

8:30PM $8

12PM - 3AM

BABYMACHINE - LAUNCH PLAST HER OV PARIS ANA NICOLE BONNIE MERCER DJ SWEET STICKS

SATURDAY 30TH APRIL

8:30PM $10 1AM FREE

12PM - 3AM

OUCH MY FACE - 7" LAUNCH BITS OF SHIT BROTHERS HAND MIRROR CIRCUITS DJ BROADBENT

SUNDAY 1ST MAY

8:30PM $10 1AM FREE

12PM - 3AM

CASH SAVAGE & THE LAST DRINKS

MIKELANGELO & THE TIN STAR TEXAS TEA (BRIS) SHANNA WATSON (NSW) DJ SERIOUS JOE KOKOMO

MONDAY 2ND MAY

CROTCHETY KNITWITS

KNITTING, SEWING & BOOZING ALL WELCOME 6PM FREE GERRY HALE'S BLUEGRASS SESSIONS DJ STREET

All Shows Always Free!

TUESDAY 3RD MAY

HAYLEY COUPER (SOLO) ALI E ALYSIA MANCEAU

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

7PM $5 12AM FREE

5PM - 3AM

8PM FREE 10PM FREE

5PM - 3AM 8PM FREE

BANDBOOKINGS@THEOLDBAR.COM.AU

twitter.com/inpressmag

gigguide@inpress.com.au The Senate Blue Diamond The Vaudeville Smash, Brendan Maclean, The House deFROST, Andee Frost The Toff In Town Trinity Roots, Bonjah Corner Hotel Virgo Four, Aa, No Kids, Yellow Fever, Coolies Forum Theatre White Tee Veludo Woohoo Revue Bar Open Wrokdown Fundraiser Caravan Music Club Young Wolf, Fat Gold Chain, Knight Builders Arms Hotel Zygoma The Loft

SUN 01

Alison Ferrier The Post Office Hotel Andy Cowan Williamstown RSL Boogs, Spacey Space, Radiator, T-Rek Revolver Captain Groove Bar Open

Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, Texas Tea The Old Bar Celeste Polson, David Turpie Wesley Anne Cilla Jane, D Rogers Northcote Social Club Collard, Greens & Gravy Union Hotel Brunswick Derek Warfield & The Young Wolfe Tones, John McCullagh, Between The Wars Prince Bandroom Died Pretty, Jesse Hughes & Tuesday Cross, Barrence Whitfield & the Savages, Six Ft Hick, Electric Mary, Stonefield, Spencer P Jones & The Escape Committee, Dave Larkin Band, Attack of the Mannequins Cherry Bar Goodbye Zoe, Verona Lights, No Love for Lexi, The Furys Evelyn Hotel Guantanamo Bay City Rollers The Vic

Gunn Music Competition Esplanade Gershwin Room Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Esplanade Lounge Hey Gringo Palace Hotel Hey Gringo Palace Hotel Hypno Kings St Andrews Hotel Jeremy Woolhouse Trio Open Studio Ju Ju, Opa 303 Leeches, Cabin Fever Yah Yah’s Margot Leighton, Tim Nikolsky Martini Bar MoHa, Horacio Pollard, Bum Creek, Haggis, Andyblack The Toff In Town Moonee Valley Drifters Davey’s Hotel Moonshine The Fox Hotel Collingwood Nick Barker Band Carringbush Hotel Seagull, Sleep Sound Builders Arms, early show Shivering Timbers The Sporting Club

Spearmint Fur, Black Tea House, Lane Chaser, Circus Therapy The Prague Texas Tea Marquis Of Lorne Hotel The Coves, Scale Models, Palomino, Atomic Bliss Brunswick Hotel The Davidson Brothers, Tom Woodward, Western Unions Retreat Hotel The Living Eyes, Underwood Mayne, Res Under the Bed, Reckless The Tote Tim Robbins & the Rogue Gallery Band East Brunswick Club Wizard Oz, Popolice, Grand Prismatic, The Clits Grace Darling Hotel Women of Letters, Christa Hughes, Robyn Nevin, Jess McGuire, Pip Lincolne, Courtney Hocking Thornbury Theatre Yellow Fever, Love Connection National Hotel

MON 02

8 Bit Love, Unique Gift Evelyn Hotel Gerry Hales Bluegrass Sessions, ‘Crotchety Knitwits’ The Old Bar Gruff Rhys, Dan Kelly Northcote Social Club

Story Tellers Night Brunswick Hotel Swing Patrol, Johnny T, Ramona Staffeld The Toff In Town Zoophyte, My Dynamite Esplanade Lounge

TUE 03

Adrian Stoyles Retreat Hotel Aiden Roberts, Daniel Holdsworth The Arts Centre Audrey Auld, Abbie Cardwell, Sam LeMann Northcote Social Club Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes, Gill Askey The Toff In Town Dumplings DJs Eurotrashbar

TASTE TEST NICOLAAS OOGJES – NO ZU guy, Aubrey De Grey, on YouTube telling me how I can live for a thousand years. I’m just wondering if the Workers Club will still be around and if they’ll give an old man a gig. What I’m reading right now is… The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes. Fact: convicts attempted to escape to China which they believed was just north of NSW, on the other side of a big river. The best fi lm of all-time is clearly… Kodak Ultra Max 400, but you know it’s all digital now? What I’m listening to right now is… A Nigerian disco funk song by Asiko Rock Group. The drums and bongos put sweat on your brow, the delayed brass breaks your heart and neck, then the wild synths kick you while you’re down! What I’m watching right now is… this

THUR 28TH

LANIE LANE

FRI 29TH

CHELSEA DRUGSTORE SAT 30TH

TUNES BY DJ SWEET JELLY ROLL gembookings@gmail.com

289 WELLINGTON ST COLLINGWOOD 94195170

KITCHEN OPEN 6 NIGHTS 52

Hail Hail St Andrews Open Mic & Jamm Night St Andrews Hotel JMC Academy Performance Workers Club Justin Bieber Rod Laver Arena Mexican Mondays Retreat Hotel Pinto, Monday Night All Stars Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Sam Bates Trio 303

twitter.com/inpressmag

The one song I wish I’d written is… Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag by Pigbag. A song that can transform any everyday situation into a brassy-percussion rave instantly. No Zu play the Sugar Mountain Festival at the Forum on Saturday 30 April.

THIS WEEK: Wednesday 27.4 FREE Trivia 7:30PM

Thursday 28.4 Anna’s Go Go Academy 6.30pm $12 Parma or Burger and pot

Friday 29.4 THE HIRED GUNS 9pm free

Saturday 30.4 THE DEAD SOUTH and MACHINE 9pm free

Sunday 1.5 GUANTANAMO BAY CITY ROLLERS 6pm free

Monday 2.5 FREE POOL Tuesday 3.5 CHEAP JUGS

Kitchen open everyday Lunch 12-2.30, Dinner 5.30-9.30 all day Sunday Function room available ACCOMMODATION AVAILABLE

COMING SOON: FRIDAYS IN MAY STREAMS OF WHISKEY, 7.5 Jules Sheldon & James McCann 14.5 Gruntbucket & Wrong Turn 19.5 The Optionals (nsw) 21.5 Wicked City 380 Victoria Street Brunswick Ph: 9388 0830 bands: andrew@bridgesounds.com.au

140 Sydney Rd

BRUNSWICKHOTEL.NET

9387 6637

NO COVER CHARGE

163A Sydney Road, Brunswick 3058 Bookings/Enquiries thecornish@bigpond.com www.cornisharms.com.au

WEDNESDAY APRIL 27TH - 8PM

THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL OPEN MIC $10 JUGS

Kitchen Specials

THURSDAY APRIL 28TH - 9PM

Mon - $12 burger & pot Tues - $6 pizza Wed - $14 porterhouse Fri - $6 pizza

SUNSET RIOT(NSW) DIEHARD DOLLS CHARM

FRIDAY APRIL 29TH - 9PM

MAMA’S REJECTS

LIVE MUSIC & EVENTS

LITTLE BLAK DRESS(NSW) NIGHTSPANK MANNEQUINS(NSW)

THURSDAYS

SATURDAY APRIL 30TH - 5PM

The Great Pub Quiz Challenge

BONES BLACKWOOD

FRIDAY APRIL 29

BOYRED

SATURDAY APRIL 30TH - 9PM

JORDAN & THE ORIGINAL SIX THE LEVEL SPIRITS SERI VIDA

HOME TO KELLY

THE HARLOTS THE FURROW VOLYTION AND RIDE INTO THE SUN(SA)

Free

SATURDAY APRIL 30

SUNDAY MAY 1ST - 5PM

THE COVES

SUNDAY MAY 1ST - 9PM

LITTLE MURDERS DECLINE OF THE REPTILES CHIGWELL SHARP

MONDAY MAY 2ND - 8PM

SUNDAY MAY 1

SCALE MODEL PALOMINO

Free

ATOMIC BLISS

TBC

ROUND AND ROUND STORY TELLERS NIGHT

COMING UP

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT ROGER ON ARTYSINGS@YAHOO.COM.AU

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Money For Rope, Sheriff, I Am Duckeye, Human, Milk Teddy, Montero Grouse Party and heaps more

TUESDAY MAY 3RD - 9PM

TUESDAY NIGHT BRUNSWICK DISCOVERY

Function Room Available Kitchen Open Every Evening

THIS WEEK - SLEEPY DREAMERS AND SEAN WATSON

twitter.com/inpressmag

gigguide@inpress.com.au

BANG Saturday The Broderick, Leeches, In Angst

BAR OPEN Wednesday Brothers Hand Mirror, Parking Lot Experiments, Two Square Thursday Teddy Trouble, The Fighting League, Neighbourhood, Jonny Telafone Friday Madre Monte Saturday Woohoo Revue Sunday Captain Groove

BENDIGO HOTEL Friday Ancient Man, The Feel Goods, My Left Boot Saturday The ReChords, Jordan & The Original Six, DJ Duke Tedesco

BRUNSWICK HOTEL

No.109

BRUNSWICK

Thu 28 April

Andre Camilleri Laidback, country-rich tunes 7.30pm

Sat 30 April

Coralea’s Red Pepper T’s Country, blues & funk 5pm

Stephen Cummings (duo) Honkytonk, blues & rockabilly 9pm

Sun 1 May

Collard, Greens & Gravy

BUILDERS ARMS HOTEL Wednesday Harmony, Tricks and Treats, Planet Love Sound, Jumpin’ Jack Williams Thursday Kimberley Aviso, Josh Romig, Megan Kent Friday The Sun Blindness, Tim Shield, The Leafs, Zeal Saturday Young Wolf, Fat Gold Chain, Knight

BUILDERS ARMS, EARLY SHOW Friday The Tiger & Me Saturday Alysia Manceau Sunday Seagull, Sleep Sound

CARAVAN MUSIC CLUB Friday Barrence Whitfield Saturday Wrokdown Fundraiser

Swampy Blues Trio 5pm

CHERRY BAR

THE UNION HOTEL

Wednesday The Bonniwells, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Thursday Soul Safari Friday Corsairs, Polo Club, Lunas

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

9388 2235

Wednesday Open Mic Thursday Sunset Riot, Die Hard Dolls, Charm Friday Mama’s Rejects, Little Black Dress, Nightspank, Mannequins Saturday Bones Blackwood, Boyred Sunday The Coves, Scale Models, Palomino, Atomic Bliss Monday Story Tellers Night Tuesday The Brunswick Discovery, Sleepy Dreamers, Sean Watson

Saturday The Lazys Sunday Died Pretty, Jesse Hughes & Tuesday Cross, Barrence Whitfield & the Savages, Six Ft Hick, Electric Mary, Stonefield, Spencer P Jones & The Escape Committee, Dave Larkin Band, Attack of the Mannequins

CORNER HOTEL Thursday The Drums, Tiger Choir Friday The Drums, Tiger Choir Saturday Trinity Roots, Bonjah

EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB Wednesday Eli Paperboy Reed, Boom! Bap! Pow!, Chris Gill Thursday Michelle Shocked Friday Tim Robbins & the Rogue Gallery Band Saturday Sampology, Tom Thum Sunday Tim Robbins & the Rogue Gallery Band

ESPLANADE BASEMENT Thursday The Volatiles, Don Fernando, Indian Mynah, Grand Rapids Friday Deadly Are The Naked, Seedy Jeezus, System of Venus, Bones Blackwood Saturday 180 Proof, Sunset Riot, Dead City Ruins, Rocket Queen

ESPLANADE GERSHWIN ROOM Thursday Mathew Dooling, Matt Glass Friday Colour Age, Blonde on Blonde, Stu Thomas Paradox Saturday Electric Shadow, Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, Saint Claire, Go Girl Gadget Go Go Sunday Gunn Music Competition

ESPLANADE LOUNGE Wednesday JK Ruff, Little Black Dress, Vintage Cinema Thursday 23 Angles of Attack, The Final Cut, Sadhana, A Day In The Life Friday Clowns, Stomp the Dog, The Latonas, Ride Into the Sun, Rusty (Electric Mary) Saturday Starting Sunday, Apollo Pathway, Fangs, July Days, Phil Para Sunday Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Monday Zoophyte, My Dynamite

Tuesday John Palen, Dom Cooley, Gallant Trees, Frankie Andrew

EVELYN HOTEL Wednesday Rub A Dub Club Thursday Waiting Room, Powerfuck, Ships Piano, Dixon Cider, ESC, Kosta Friday Oh Sleeper, The Chariot, I Am Villian, In Trenches, Of Whispers Saturday As Tall As Lions, Elliot the Bull Sunday Goodbye Zoe, Verona Lights, No Love for Lexi, The Furys Monday 8 Bit Love, Unique Gift Tuesday Rosie & George, Secretive George, The Church Rats

GRACE DARLING HOTEL Thursday Tall Building, Toby Martin, DJ Spiral Stairs of Pavement Friday Kins, Hello Satelites, Electric Sea Spider Saturday The Kremlin Succession, Dirt Farmer, Gun Ballads, New Brutalists, Barrence Whitfield Sunday Wizard Oz, Popolice, Grand Prismatic, The Clits Tuesday Flooding With Love For The Kid

MARQUIS OF LORNE HOTEL Wednesday Wayward Breed, Sean M Whelan Saturday Jacky Winter, Emily Ulman Sunday Texas Tea Monday Pinto, Monday Night All Stars

NEXT Thursday AYS, Warbrain, The Hollow, Colossus

NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB Wednesday Joseph Arthur, Nyssa Bradsworth Thursday Weened Friday Bobby Long, Nyssa Bradsworth Saturday The Barons Of Tang, The Toot Toot Toots, Mojo Juju Sunday Cilla Jane, D Rogers Monday Gruff Rhys, Dan Kelly Tuesday Audrey Auld, Abbie Cardwell, Sam LeMann

PONY Thursday Tang, The Charlies, Ultravibralux, Ginger Van Es, A13, Throbulator

twitter.com/inpressmag

Friday The Mung, Odiousembowel, Lazerface, Cradle in the Crater, The Jackals, Touch It Saturday Nous, I Am Duckeye, SHERIFF, Wildeorness, Junkie Goat, Slugger Fontaine

Friday Mindsnare, Samsara, Iron Mind, Phantoms Saturday H Block 101, The Critics, The Tear Aways, The Hawaiian Islands, Fear Like Us

PRINCE BANDROOM

Wednesday Courtney Barnett, Naomi Jones Thursday Danny and The Fish (IRE), Benny Walker Friday Traditional Irish Music Session Saturday Bakersfield Glee Club

Thursday Skrillex, Mumbai Science Friday House of Pain, The HavKnots, Jungle Traffic Sunday Derek Warfield & The Young Wolfe Tones, John McCullagh, Between The Wars

PUBLIC BAR Friday The Magic Bones, Ride Into the Sun, The Philistines Saturday Australian Kingswood Factory, Damn The Torpedoes, L.A. Park

RETREAT HOTEL Wednesday The Shivering Timbers Thursday The Council, Spencer Jones & The Escape Committee Friday JJ Symon, The Knockouts, Little Freddie & The Pops, Shaky Memorial Saturday James McCann, Pete Ewing, Sarah & The King Bees, Jungal, Xander Sunday The Davidson Brothers, Tom Woodward, Western Unions Monday Mexican Mondays Tuesday Adrian Stoyles

REVOLVER Wednesday The Pretty Littles, Blonde on Blonde, Ben Wright Smith, Blac Mail DJs, Hans DC, Rashid Williams Thursday Little Foot, Tone Deaf DJ’s, Mike Callander, Nick Jones, Katie Drover, Tom Lally Saturday Anna Salen, Copse, Catfish Voodoo, Every Second Friday, Ransom, Nick Thayer, Paz, Mat Cant Sunday Boogs, Spacey Space, Radiator, T-Rek Tuesday Never Cheer Before You Know Whos Winning

ROSSTOWN HOTEL Saturday Daryl Roberts

THE ARTHOUSE Wednesday The Nation Blue, A Death In The Family, Lungs, Paper Arms Thursday Bodyjar, Away From Now, Daysworth Fighting

THE DRUNKEN POET

THE FOX HOTEL COLLINGWOOD Sunday Moonshine

THE GEM Thursday Lanie Lane Friday Chelsea Drugstore Saturday DJ Sweet Jelly Roll

THE HI-FI Friday Darwin Deez Saturday Hungry Kids of Hungary, The Chemist, Andy Bull

THE OLD BAR Wednesday Lee Memorial, Great Earthquake, The Running Mates Thursday Dead, Onion, Dead Boomers Friday Babymachine, Plast Her Ov Paris, Ana Nicole, Bonnie Mercer Saturday Ouch My Face, Bits of Shit, Circuits, Brothers Hand Mirror Sunday Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Mikelangelo & the Tin Star, Texas Tea Monday Gerry Hales Bluegrass Sessions, ‘Crotchety Knitwits’ Tuesday Hayley Couper, Ali E, Alysia Manceau

THE STANDARD HOTEL Wednesday Chris Altmann

THE TOFF IN TOWN Wednesday James Hazelden, Man Bites God, Connor Farell, Floyd Thursby Thursday Virgo Four, 1928, Tranter, Sleeves, Megawuoti, Supremes, TDAH Friday Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith Saturday The Vaudeville Smash, Brendan Maclean, The House deFROST, Andee Frost Sunday MoHa, Horacio Pollard, Bum Creek, Haggis, Andyblack Monday Swing Patrol, Johnny T, Ramona Staffeld

Tuesday Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes, Gill Askey

THE TOTE Wednesday Pioneers Of Good Science, Spider Goat Canyon, Little Killing, Onion Engines Thursday The Ovals, Ride Into the Sun, Mushroom Horse, Galaxy Folk Friday Red Coats, Red Berry Plum, Kingswood Sunday The Living Eyes, Underwood Mayne, Res Under the Bed, Reckless

THE VIC Friday The Hired Guns Saturday The Dead South, Machine Sunday Guantanamo Bay City Rollers

THORNBURY THEATRE Sunday Women of Letters, Christa Hughes, Robyn Nevin, Jess McGuire, Pip Lincolne, Courtney Hocking

UNION HOTEL BRUNSWICK Thursday Andre Camilleri Saturday Coralea’s Red Pepper T’s Sunday Collard, Greens & Gravy

WESLEY ANNE Wednesday Leon Thomas, Clairy Browne, Alexi Kaye Thursday The Boys, Marianne Dissard, Ewah Lady Friday Velvet Cake Gypsies, Eyal & The Skeleton Crew Saturday Quarry Mountain Dead Rats, Spinifex Rose, Anthony Atkinson Sunday Celeste Polson, David Turpie Tuesday Open Mic

WORKERS CLUB Wednesday The Twerps, Chapter Music Friday Aa, Parking Lot Experiments, Bum Creek, Barrage Saturday Electric & Eclectic Rarities Monday JMC Academy Performance

YAH YAH’S Thursday The Eliza Band, Chook Race, Tiny Spiders, Matt Bailey Friday Bowcaster, Life and Limb, Fourteen Nights At Sea, Tom Lyngcoln, Richie 1250 Saturday Hello Sailor Vintage Fair, Midnight Woolf, Ferry Tails, Buried Horses, Clavians, Anto Mantooth Sunday Leeches, Cabin Fever

BEHIND THE LINES MAKING FOO MUSIC

The Foo Fighters documentary Foo Fighters: Back And Forth, directed by James Moll, was recently released to cinemas worldwide, before a DVD release in the middle of the year. It’s essentially a linear history of the band, from frontman Dave Grohl’s pre-Foo Fighters days in the likes of Scream and Nirvana through to the recording of the band’s most recent album, Wasting Light. The latter was recorded in Grohl’s garage, entirely on analogue tape. As the documentary is getting a screening in various Australian cinemas from Thursday to Sunday, Inpress revisits its chat with Foo Fighters rhythm section Taylor Hawkins and Nate Mendel. The way the film is edited shows a different approach by the two band members to recording – with varying levels of success. Mendel is shown to be really focused, continually practising his parts, so when producer Butch Vig hits ‘record’, he’s ready to go straight from the off. Hawkins meanwhile seems to take a while to warm up to things, missing cues and not quite hitting his straps initially. “James, thank you buddy. They didn’t show Dave doing wrong vocals in the booth. Or Nate getting really frustrated and telling everybody to leave. ‘Yeah, literally, that’s a good part. Let’s put that in – Taylor struggling with a drum part.’ Nobody else got that,” Hawkins laments. “You got the short straw with that one, my friend,” Mendel offers. Hawkins: “I fuckin’ did, man. Fuckin’ asshole. No, I think we all go through similar struggles. Maybe Dave less, partly because it’s Dave’s band so he’s sort of a boss, without it being properly ‘Dave’s our boss’. I think in a subconscious way we’re trying to please him, so we all have those insecurities. When I’m making a record by myself, like The Coattail Riders, I kinda don’t have those. I’m in charge so I don’t have those sort of insecurities that well up sometimes whenever we’re making a Foo Fighters record. “It’s kind of a process. I kind of go through this kind of arc where I start out and I’m recording a drum track and trying to get to the essence of what it should be and then make it tight and then, ‘Dave, do you like this where I’m going?’ Do I like what I’m doing? ‘Butch, do you like it?’ Then when we get to the end and it’s done after a couple of hours and I go, ‘Okay, we got there.’ None of the drum tracks took more than a couple of hours, which is not really that long by today’s standards. I didn’t really struggle that much more than I ever do, I just fucked up and James thought it would be really cute to show that. Thanks buddy! Fucking cocksucker. Just kidding [laughs].”

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

SOUND ADVICE GEAR REVIEWS what you’re looking for in terms of pitch then it’s safe to say that a stylus would be a wise investment. Simplicity is the key with the Monotron, but not all of its uses are “switch-on and touch” as you would expect from its appearance. Underneath its hard plastic skin lives the same analogue filter that featured in the classic MS-10 and MS-20 synthesisers from the late 1970s, which you can run an external audio source through. Within seconds your mind goes into tangents of what you can achieve with drum underlays, bass tracks, etc.

KORG MONOTRON At the best of times it’s hard to find an analogue synthesiser that won’t leave your wallet empty, so luckily for us not only is Korg producing one at a price similar to that of the average PlayStation game, they’ve also managed to squeeze it all into a pocket-sized, neat-looking casing in the Monotron. Sporting a VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator), a VCF (voltage-controlled filter) and a LFO (low frequency oscillator) with a LED visual indicator all controlled by an intuitive layout, this little synth is ready to inspire your creative mind. It’s important to know that the LFO can be switched to modulate both the filter cut-off and the pitch. Upon first use you may believe this is nothing but a toy, probably due to the inbuilt speaker – however, the line out gives you assurance that the Monotron sounds great. It also comes in handy for playing around in a busy place where you may not want to disturb those around you. The only possible downside, if you could even call it one, is that it is controlled by a ribbon controller, though many people actually find that to be the coolest part of all. If precision is

To all of our modding friends, you will be happy to know that the Monotron can be expanded beyond your wildest beliefs. The circuit board is clearly labelled and it will only take a single Google search to find something easy or incredibly technical. Despite the fact it runs on two AAA batteries and isn’t much bigger than an iPhone, in true Korg fashion the Monotron is versatile and above all rewarding. Keep an eye out for the bigger and more technical Monotribe coming soon. Ryan Mortimer Supplied by Mortstar; distributed by MusicLink Australia TAMA SPEED COBRA DOUBLE PEDALS The motto that Tama gave their new product, the Speed Cobra double pedal, really does say it all: “Extreme velocity, serious power.” The manufacturing of the Tama Speed Cobra did take a while but when you get your hands, or rather feet, onto these pedals you won’t hold anything against Tama for taking their time. These pedals are fantastic – they’re very consistent and visually appealing too.

They also feature new pyramid shaped-beaters that give much more attack, but you’re not stuck with them if you don’t like them for whatever reason as they are fully adjustable to offer you a wide striking surface on the flat side of the beater too. The ‘Cobra Coils’ are also now adjustable. They can be adjusted forwards and backwards, allowing you to finetune the pedals to exactly how you want them. Another noticeable difference is that the face of the boards are smooth – Tama says that it’s to reduce friction which in turn will improve control. The new recessed set-up of the chain drive really speeds things up with plenty of attack and really light action. You feel so in control of every action you take because they come with such deliberate power and force. The Speed Cobra Double Pedal reinforces Tama’s already strong reputation, further strengthening the foundations of a company known as one of the greats in the drumming industry. Eric Leishman Distributed by Australis Music Association

of those things, you just tried to write the best song at that particular time. You try to write what you think sounds good or maybe the 30 people who are going to see you at the Richmond Club. That is all we had back then,” he concedes. “It is a bit different now as we do know the band is on the map and we do play bigger shows and I like the idea of going, ‘What’s going to work? What is going to have the most impact when we play in front of an audience on a big stage?’” With their audience at the forefront of their mind, Cheney soon realised that the culling process would be nowhere near as daunting as they had first thought. Equally, the boys had previously spoken of their intention for the album, which in turn also made the selection slightly less harrowing. “There was a real sort of mentality with a lot of the songs on this record that it had to have that kind of dancey tempo – really heavy INXS. So the songs sound totally massive, with big riffs but groove orientated, but with the way that we play. There are still the big riffs and some fancy guitar parts, fast drum parts and that kind of part of the band that we get off on live and that the audience loves live, but with a heaviness that arrived because we were able to sit back in the groove a little bit. They just feel so good to play.”

Jane’s Addiction have been working on their first studio album in eight years, The Great Escape Artist, due in August, in Los Angeles with producer Rich Costey (Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol), with TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek contributing bass, programming and some writing as well. The band are giving away a free download of the track End To The Lies, featuring the Master Musicians Of Joujouka, whose part was recorded in their madrassa or school in the village that gives them their name near Morocco.

Brooklyn NYC psychedelic industrial pop fivepiece ArpLine coproduced their new album Travel Book, with Chris Coady (Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear), while they got Joe LaPorta (The Shins, Jeff Buckley) to master it.

The first thought that comes to mind upon using the Speed Cobras is, “Wow, I didn’t know my feet could do that!”

THE LIVING END’s upcoming sixth album sees the band really getting their groove on, with the emphasis still on vibe rather than perfection, frontman CHRIS CHENEY tells Inpress as we crash the recording sessions. Feature and pic by JEREMY WILLIAMS.

SOUND BYTES

Seattle six-piece The Head And The Heart, fronted by singer and violinist Charity Rose Thielen and signed to Sub Pop, for whom they were the closing act at this year’s SXSW, recorded their just released self-titled debut album at Bearhead Studio with Steven Aguilar and Studio Litho with Shawn Simmons (Audioslave, Sun O)))), both of whom coproduced the record with the band, Aguilar mixing it at Bearhead while it was mastered at RFI in Seattle by Ed Brooks.

The long board is designed to increase the speed of the response and at the same time require less effort to use. They are incredibly smooth due to the new kinds of bearings Tama has used inside them, the same ones used throughout the aerospace industry.

HAPPY ACCIDENTS

Meanwhile, Mendel explains that the constant practice is something he has to do. “I’m not a session guy so I can’t go in and go, ‘What’s the key of the song?’ and try to come up with something cool. I like to try and figure out something – a counterpoint that’s going to add another element to the song. And 99 times out of 100 that’s not going to work, but I like to go through that to make sure I don’t have that idea to contribute, you know?”

South African-born, Los Angeles-based postgrunge/alternative metal four-piece Seether took themselves into Blackbird Studios in Nashville to record their fourth album, Holding On To Strings Better Left To Fray, with producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine, AC/DC), though there was additional recording done for it in Atlanta and back in LA.

The Speed Cobra Double Pedal is not too much unlike its older sibling the Iron Cobra, but at the same time not too alike either. The first difference you notice between the Speed Cobras and the Iron Cobras is that the Speed Cobras feature ‘long boards’, even longer than the demon drive long boards.

“It’s been like a year and half of solid writing. I started writing at the end of touring White Noise as I find it very difficult to write on the road. The only thing we did different this time was that the demos we did for the record weren’t quite as comprehensive as they have been in the past.” The Living End’s Chris Cheney is a man of method. By his own admission he seeks perfection, which has often led to a condition he calls “demo-titis”. Having spent nearly two decades as the frontman of Melbourne rockers The Living End, with whom he has just completed recording their sixth album, Cheney reveals it took his bandmates, drummer Andy Strachan and double bass player Scott Owen, saying to him, “Don’t worry about making the demos perfect. Just put ideas down and work on it later,” for him to realise that maybe he should reassess his approach. In the past, the band would normally go into the studio and finish a complete song. “This time around we only did one session like that and the rest was us doing our own recordings in our rehearsal room. We put the basic track down, or the basic idea, then I would take it home and put a whole lot of stuff on top and sing something over it. We would leave it at 60 or 70%,” Cheney outlines. Their new approach proved in many ways fruitful. With less time spent perfecting one song, the trio found that their output multiplied. “Subsequently we ended up with 50 songs,

50 ideas, which ended up being a bit of a nightmare to be honest, because by the time we got to pre-production with our producer, we had so many songs. There were even songs he hadn’t heard that I hadn’t finished off.” Even though the prospect of sifting through an amassed collection of songs felt initially daunting, Cheney is pleased that he opened himself up to the new approach. He realises that on a level of output, by not restricting himself at such an early stage, songs that would have been shelved in the development stage have ended up as some of the strongest tracks of the new album. He defines his new process as not wanting to be as strict as the band were last time. “Leaving room for happy accidents, leaving room for improvement,” he says, which in essence means not making the demo sound like a record. But with so many songs to choose from, how did Cheney and his cohorts whittle down the selection? “Just personal opinion, really; whatever feels good to play. We definitely had a mindset on this record that we wanted to have songs that were more simplistic, that would work on a bigger stage.” Aware of the fact that the album is only the launch pad for a chain of events, he admits that over the years his approach to songwriting has altered. “It is a weird way to work because when we started the band, you never thought

twitter.com/inpressmag

As a band that get a kick out of playing live, their approach to laying down a record is unsurprisingly old school. “It was all tracked as a band. We just went in there. The thing is at the studio in Byron Bay it is not a very good sounding studio, so the drum room was used to put guitar amps in and the bass room was where the drums went. Then there were more amps in the kitchen area. So we just went with whatever worked that would enable us to be together, literally two or three metres from each other. That is the way that we play best. I couldn’t imagine being in an isolated booth looking at Andy through three panes of glass. It doesn’t work for us that way. We have tried it in the past. So it was really good – we tracked all the songs as a three-piece and got the foundations and the bed as a three-piece done and really rocking before laying anything else on top. “We definitely made sure that we didn’t choose perfection over vibe. There were some takes we did which were pretty bang on tempo, but there was something missing. So we would end up going with a track which had just a couple of flaws or mistakes in it, but had that thing. You can’t fabricate that.” Unlike many bands of the Pro Tools generation, The Living End believe that flaws provoke perfection, that it is the little things we do wrong that make us shine. “We of all bands have to be so careful not to make everything perfect and everything in tune as it kills what the band is about. Our live shows are a mess sometimes – they are a train wreck – but they are so exciting for that reason.” The Living End’s sixth album is due out later in the year.

8dbegZ]Zch^kZ E6 hnhiZbh YZa^kZgZY! hZi je VcY

deZgViZY l^i] XgZl#

8dbeVXi! ZVhn id jhZ hdjcY hnhiZbh ndj XVc e^X`je

VcY VhhZbWaZ ndjghZa[#

8dbedcZcih hjX] Vh b^Xgde]dcZh! heZV`Zgh VcY Z[[ZXih

VgZ Vahd VkV^aVWaZ hZeVgViZan# E]dcZ BVg` 7Vggn %( .--. &... dg %)&. ..( .++ lll#WhhdjcY#Xdb#Vj WhhdjcY5W^\edcY#Xdb

LMC GUITAR

TUITION - PERFORMANCE - SALES - REPAIR 330C SOUTH RD. HAMPTON EAST 3188 PH 9553 7262 WWW.LMCGUITAR.COM.AU

BAYSIDES PREMIER GUITAR SCHOOL

$30 $55 $50 $50

$40 $65 $60 $60 $15 $20

$80

RECORDING PROJECT ROOM FROM $100

need their own computer - payment is commission based via Paypal. Contact Bill on (02) 9807-3137 or eMail: nadipa1@yahoo.com.au

EMPLOYMENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

iFlogID: 12394

DRUM TEACHERS WANTED - VOX MUSIC ACADEMY, DANDENONG Vox Music Academy, a well established vocal and instrumental tuition provider is seeking Drum Teachers for our Dandenong studio. Please reply with a cover letter and your CV to: info@voxmusic.com.au iFlogID: 12908

SALES & MARKETING I need people to send eMails to Libraries around Australia offering a new music Book for sale. Applicants

FOR SALE GUITARS Gibson SG Standard 2005 with DiMarzio pickups installed. (X2N and Air Norton) Complete with lockable hardcase. Immaculate condition and plays like a dream. Looks deadly and has been a reliable asset over the years.$1800 ono call Andy 0422309971 iFlogID: 12387

OTHER Microphone! Rodes Classic 2,Top of the line studio Valve Mic,Custom spec 1” dual diaphragm, multy patterns,Custom Jensen output Transformer,was $2500 never used,half price now $1200, Phil 0410500334 iFlogID: 12938

Attention Musicians, Record Collectors, Universities, Libraries - new Book available (print/cdROM/direct download) compiling 100 years of popular music. GO TO www.plattersaurus.com for free web-site and information on how to buy. Enquiries: (02) 9807-3137 eMail: nadipa1@ yahoo.com.au iFlogID: 12392

MUSIC SERVICES HIRE SERVICES For as low as $100, you get a professional sound/pa mixer system with an operator for the evening. Suitable for weddings, pub/clubs band gigs, private parties etc. Infovision@ yayabings.com.au. Contact Chris 0419272196

We are a Freelance Production/Artist Management Business operating on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. We offer very competitive rates and high quality products. Check us out at www.jdproduction.com.au iFlogID: 12920

OTHER

play more chinese music - love, tenzenmen. www.tenzenmen.com

Do you want to hear your song fully produced before you hit the recording studio? Do you need a unique instrument but cant find a player? We specialise in MIDI instruments. First song is free!! For more information: llewellynstudios@live.com.au www. youtube.com/llewellynstudios

iFlogID: 12889

iFlogID: 12944

iFlogID: 12828

MANAGEMENT

MUSICIANS AVAILABLE SINGER Female singer looking to start/join band with influences similar to crue, g n r, maiden etc etc. Email cassie_ long@hotmail.com

iFlogID: 9350

TUITION Drummer who has performed with Lionel Richie, Rihanna, Vernon Reid (Living Colour) now taking limited number of students. All levels. call 0417164063 iFlogID: 12884

VIDEO / PRODUCTION D7 STUDIO MUSIC VID FROM $250 We produce your music video from $250 (4 hour shoot,4 edit cycles). Live gig edits, multiple angles, from $150 or 1 live track from $80. All shot in full HD. d7studio@iinet.net.au ph:0404716770 iFlogID: 12170

iFlogID: 12950

CALLING ALL MUSICIANS.

www.ozjam.com.au is free to join, and with over 5000 members its fast becoming the largest online music community in Australia! If your looking to join or form a band, find a band member, or get exposure check Ozjam out today! iFlogID: 12986

SINGER

iFlogID: 12990

Australian Katy Perry Tribute, Require a lead vocalist. Agent backed, gigs booked and waiting. Please email bio to rob4004@gmail.com

MUSICIANS WANTED BASS PLAYER

iFlogID: 12408

BASS PLAYER WANTED

REPAIRS ROCKIN REPAIRS - GUITAR TECH RESTRINGS-SETUPS-UPGRADESREPAIRS Do you live to play? Whether you’ve bought a new guitar or a favourite is feeling faded, we’ll rejuvenate it! We work hard to give you the feel/sound you want! 0405253417 tara@rockinrepairs.com www.rockinrepairs.com

through (and have a whole lot of fun on along the way). Don’t miss this great opportunity to live the dream!

We currently have a singer/guitarist and drummer and have been jamming on some fricken awesome songs for the last few months. All we need is a bass player and we are ready to get out there and try to crack the big time. We have uploaded some rough demos on YouTube for you to check out. You can find them here: http://www. youtube.com/user/thegoldenstrings I think we have established a unique and distinct sound, while having a bit of variety at the same time. I like to call it psychedelic folk rock, but that’s probably not accurate. Have a listen and see for yourself. We also have plenty more songs that haven’t been recorded yet. We are a serious and committed band that is keen to gig very regularly and record a proper studio album and make music videos and all the rest. We are looking for a bass player who shares our enthusiasm to give this everything we’ve got and really break

We’re going on tour. If you are an Australian musician, original artist or DJ we want to hear from you. We’re seeking musicians and performers to join us on a national tour along the east coast of Australia. With more exposure than you can imagine and performances cross major city’s this really is the opportunity of a life time. If you are interested please call Tennille on (02) 9557 6774 or email tennille@pieface.com.au.

Singer Wanted for hardcore band influences; spermbirds, guttermouth, gorilla biscuits. must be older than 35. Band located in Melbourne Eastern Suburbs.

iFlogID: 12963

Band Posters Want professional looking band posters? Contact 1200design and get great posters and/or cd covers for prices aimed at musicians. E-mail: nicole.a.reece@ gmail.com

GUITARIST Guitarist of the Nick Zinner persuasion wanted to join a rock/indie/ alternative band, to collaborate with singer songwriter who has heaps of original stuff...but needs some guitar magic to get things kicking. Practice Burwood & Petersham Call sarah if interested: 0450426717

iFlogID: 12940

SERVICES GRAPHIC DESIGN

iFlogID: 12926

OTHER Up & coming bands wanted for gigsget yourself some exposure in front of small/med size crowd-send band details & contacts to soundbar@bigpond.com iFlogID: 12365

For a limited time. Free online and print classifieds Book now, visit iflog.com.au 58

twitter.com/inpressmag

iFlogID: 12406