Inpress Issue #1180 by TheMusic.com.au

MIAMI HORROR

BIAS B

FRIENDLY FIRES

THE BLACK ANGELS

I EXIST MICAH P HINSON JAYTECH THE GENIE

VICTORIA’S HIGHEST CIRCUL ATING STREETPRESS

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

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WEDNESDAY 29TH JUNE

JUBAL + MY MUSICAL COLLECTIVE (SOLO), JARED CATCHPOOLE

8.30pm $7

THURSDAY 30TH JUNE

SUSY BLUE DUCK IN THE MUD + LUCY WISE AND MANDY CONNELL

6pm

8:30 pm $15/10

FRIDAY 1ST JULY

BRETT FRANKE TAYLOR PROJECT +DEARLY WISH + GREY STARLINGS

6pm

8:30pm $5

SATURDAY 2ND JULY

LA MAUVAISE REPUTATION FREE MUSIC IN THE FRONT BAR

5pm 8pm

SUNDAY 3RD JULY

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

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TUESDAY 5TH JULY

WESLEY ANNE OPEN MIC NIGHT

7.30pm

Winter Special

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ISSUE 1180

WEDNESDAY 29 JUNE 2011

I EXIST

INPRESS 14 The week’s best and worst in Backlash/Frontlash 16 The Frontline brings you the hottest industry news 16 In The Studio keeps you turned on to your fave band’s movements 18 Foreword Line brings you all the latest tour announcements 22 Wagons are taking on new frontiers 24 Miami Horror’s Benjamin Plant is uprooting 26 Austin Psych merchants Black Angels have started their own festival 28 Don’t just stand there filming the Friendly Fires 28 Why Bias B is giving it away 30 Find out why Micah P. Hinson is on the publishing blacklist 30 Thievery Corporation’s Rob Garza on getting out of DC 32 On The Record rates new releases from Neil Young and Black Lips 34 Japanese Popstars bring in the vocal ring-ins 34 The Leafs are keeping it brief 34 ‘Super’ outfit The Genie enjoy some creative freedom

No.109

FRONTROW

BRUNSWICK

Thursday 30th June

Das Musik Mann

36 This Week In Arts plots your upcoming days 36 Hugely successful lo-fi music-filmmaker Vincent Moon talks his All Tomorrow’s Parties project 37 The Menstruum returns to the ballet for The Merry Widow 37 Fragmented Fish swoons over a new book dedicated to Ween’s Chocolate & Cheese 38 Tales of drunken nights and shenanigans are on the cards for Simon Keck’s Tales From My Liver 38 Film Carew looks at Mundane History, In The Realms Of The Unreal, and the Arab Film Festival 39 Australian author Julia Leigh discusses her debut film, Sleeping Beauty

Solo singer-songwriter with a pop sensibility 7.30pm

The Native Plants 5pm

Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast Acting Editor Samson McDougall music@inpress.com.au Front Row Editor Daniel Crichton-Rouse frontrow@inpress.com.au Contributing Editor Bryget Chrisfield Staff Writer Michael Smith

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BACK TO INPRESS 42 Apollo Pathway are pushing forward 42 Heaving it out with Mercy Beat 42 Wizards, weed and Kerry King with I Exist frontman Jake Willoughby 42 Jaytech on cross-pollination 43 Gig Of The Week 43 LIVE:Reviews rates the Harmony launch and Helmet 51 Sarah Petchell will Wake The Dead with her punk and hardcore talk 51 Andrew Haug takes us to the dark side in The Racket 51 Dan Condon blues and roots in Roots Down 52 Richie Meldrum stalks the clubs in Bare Bass 52 Clem Bastow talks mash-ups in Greatest Hit 52 Kendal Coombs leads the under-18s boardroom in the Department Of Youth 52 The freshest urban news with OG Flavas 56 If you haven’t appeared in Fred Negro’s Pub, your mother probably still speaks to you 57 Jeff Jenkins gets down and local in Howzat! 58 Our Gig Guide fills your diary for the weekend 62 Fill your dance card with our Club Guide 64 Gear and studio reviews in BTL 66 Find your new band and just about anything else in our classy Classifieds

CREDITS EDITORIAL

Sat arvos in July

39 Cultural Cringe looks at the controversy surrounding Arts Victoria and too much ink 40 Kung Fu Panda 2 director Jennifer Yuh Nelson looks for darker themes 40 Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, and Paul Feig discuss Bridesmaids 40 The Burlesque Hour’s Moira Finucane describes why she loves Melbourne

Senior Contributors Clem Bastow, Jeff Jenkins Overseas Contributors Tom Hawking (US), James McGalliard (UK), Sasha Perera (UK). Writers Nick Argyriou, The Boomeister, Atticus Bastow, Steve Bell, Alice Body, Tim Burke, Luke Carter, Dan Condon, Anthony Carew, Chris Chinchilla, Jake Cleland, 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, Stu Harvey, Andrew Haug, Andy Hazel, 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, Adam Psarras, Josh

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Ramselaar, 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. ©

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GIVEAWAYS

Austin-based psych-rockers The Black Angels are bringing their unique sound to the Hi-Fi this Saturday for the Melbourne leg of their headlining tour in support of their latest studio album, Phosphene Dream. Phosphene Dream marks a giant leap forward for the band, showing off a fresh take on the neo-psychedelic movement they’ve been at the forefront of for years. To celebrate, we have three copies of the brand new album to give away.

Sam Simmons, one of our most daring and unconventional comics, is back at his absurd best in award-winning live show Fail, about break-ups, game shows, cabbage and failure. According to Simmons himself, he wrote the show while spending seven weeks in a cave with only one change of tracksuit pants and the only source of light being the screen of a Nokia 3600. He survived, apparently, by sucking condensation off the walls and toasting moths over his phone. Fail is now on DVD and we have three signed (!) copies to give away.

Launching their highly anticipated EP Dress For Success and new single/video clip of the same name, Melbourne’s Apollo Pathway will be taking over the Evelyn this Friday, along with special guests Starting Sunday and King City Seven. Featuring their previous hit single Never Ending Story, Apollo Pathway’s brand new EP will be available through iTunes from Friday onwards. We have three double passes to the launch to give away, and each double pass comes with a copy of Dress For Success.

HEAD TO THE INPRESS FACEBOOK PAGE TO ENTER

FRONTLASH Stereo Sequences

CAVE ZOMBIES True Blood producers have added Zombies to season four; that is, Nick Cave and Neko Case’s cover of The Zombies’ She’s Not There. We are hoping it accompanies a scene where Bill realises Sookie’s ditched him for Eric.

TWO TEAMS AND A CUP

BACKLASH Go back (Raquel on the left)

MYSTERIOUS PAYS Nice of those protesters at Glastonbury to bring U2’s alleged tax-dodging ways to global attention. Reminds us of that other U2 scandal involving Negativland... will this get swept under the carpet in a similar manner?

GO BACK TO SYDNEY

Rockdogs creamed Megahertz at another entertaining Community Cup; $200,000 was raised for Recklink on the day.

Just have to get this off our chest. Go Back To Where You Came From’s Raquel seemed to think she was in Big Brother and we declare ourselves as proudly Raquelist.

SEEING... FEELING DOUBLE

OVER-HANGING

Love that disoriented feeling? Check out Shaun Gladwell’s Stereo Sequences exhibition at ACMI and somewhere between the giant HD video installations, smoke screen and Oren Ambarchi music we guarantee you’ll be tripping (over).

News of a third film in The Hangover series can’t be good unless they make it as The Wolfpack Vs The Bridesmaids. The climax could involve a nude gross-off between Ken Jeong and Melissa McCarthy.

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THE

FRONTLINE

IN THE STUDIO WITH SAMSON MCDOUGALL STEPHEN MALKMUS The fifth post-Pavement album from Stephen Malkmus, and the third or fourth to bear the Jicks name, will be released on 23 August by Matador. Mirror Traffic, produced by Beck Hansen, makes a compelling case that after some 22 years in the public eye, Stephen Malkmus’s full range of musical and lyrical capabilities had yet to be previously explored. The casual virtuosity won’t necessarily come as a shock, nor will the wit of one of contemporary rock’s brightest minds. Mirror Traffic is the final Jicks album to feature the drumming of Janet Weiss. Jake Morris, best known to many of us as the drummer for The Joggers, will assume the same position in the Jicks for upcoming shows, which will be announced very soon. SOUNDGARDEN RECORDING AGAIN Soundgarden are getting set for a month-long North American summer tour, which kicks off in Toronto. The live dates give the band a break from the studio, as the reunited unit continues work on new music. “We want to write songs and record them,” guitarist Kim Thayil told Stereogum. “We’re still like kids in a candy shop when it comes to writing songs and hearing them recorded. It’s funny; once again [drummer] Matt [Cameron] is really the person who seems to be driving us forward with all this. He’s very enthusiastic and eager, which really motivates all of us. We’re all really excited. Being creative is far more satisfying than just playing the old songs. It’s been very natural. We just started jamming and it very gradually and naturally progressed.” Thayil reports that the recording sessions are going well: “We have about 14 songs in various stages of completion. Previously, we’d just block out a bunch of time and go and track everything at once, but we can’t really do that right now. Matt has commitments to Pearl Jam, Chris [Cornell] has a solo tour happening and Soundgarden is touring in July. We’ve always tried to explore how to make this really heavy, aggressive music without sounding like a bunch of knuckle-dragging meatheads. I think these songs are kind of exploring that idea. Ways of emoting aggression and anger and hostility in ways that feel new.” THOROUGHLY GOOD Ultimate Guitar has reported that on their 17th studio album, George Thorogood & The Destroyers pay tribute to their Chess Records heroes, including many of Thorogood’s legendary mentors who helped to launch his career in rock & roll. Titled 2120 South Michigan Avenue, the 13-track album will be released by Capitol/EMI on 12 July on CD, vinyl LP, and digital download. 2120... features Thorogood’s raw, rocking turn-on classics by a who’s-who of the blues, including Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and other Chess greats, as well as new original songs written by Thorogood, also the album’s producer. Named for the address of Chess Records’ Chicago headquarters, 2120 South Michigan Avenue is produced by musician, songwriter and producer Tom Hambridge, a fourtime Grammy Award nominee and 2010 Grammy winner for Best Contemporary Blues Album (Buddy Guy’s Living Proof ) and Ascap Songwriter of the Year Award winner. LOVE IT OR HATE IT Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta has revealed details of his upcoming solo album Jasta. The debut solo release from the hardcore frontman features guest appearances from members of Lamb Of God, All That Remains, As I Lay Dying and Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society as well as pro skater Mike Vallely. The album will be released 25 July through eOne Music. The first single from the album Mourn The Illusion is out now. NEW HOWLING BELLS ALBUM Shock Records have announced they have just finalised a deal with long time partner Cooking Vinyl to release the new Howling Bells album The Loudest Engine, set for release on 9 September. The Loudest Engine was recorded in Las Vegas with The Killers’ Mark Stoermer producing. A raw, psychedelic third studio album, and the sequel to 2009’s Radio Wars, the recording of The Loudest Engine saw Howling Bells, the Australian-formed, London-based four-piece comprising singer/ guitarist Juanita Stein and her brother Joel (lead guitarist), drummer Glenn Moule, and bassist Brendan Picchio, forge a sonic union with Nevada’s expansive surroundings and Las Vegas’s streetsoiled vibe.

INDUSTRY NEWS BY SCOTT FITZSIMONS

BERESFORD OPENS, ANNOUNCED FULL DETAILS

Angus & Julia Stone

Full details of the Beresford Hotel have been revealed after it was announced through music newsletter Your Daily SPA that the venue would become a music venue, essentially replacing the Excelsior Hotel in the process. With the venue – called Upstairs Beresford – modelled on “iconic New York City venues” and opening this Thursday (despite reports of flooding from the sprinkler systems last week), Urthboy is set to perform Friday, Olsen Vs LC Friday 8 July and Katalyst Saturday 9. Judging by these first bands it’s a step up in capacity, and shift toward dance/hip hop. With a capacity of 600 for live bands and 750 for a club or DJ night, Jam Music’s Director Jane English commented to The Front Line, “There will always be a mix of events available to us, the mix will change during the course of each year, but our focus is to establish Upstairs Beresford as a stomping ground in Sydney’s live music scene.” Jam Music are part of the Merivale group who, alongside this venture, have music interests in the form of the Good Vibrations festival and Ivy. The venue will be used for functions and clubs as well as live music, but English says the latter is the focus. “This is a new live music venue in Sydney and the calendar will be filled with live bands. As with any similar venue, other types of events will be held but essentially the focus is on live music. Every characteristic of the venue supports this from the state of the art audio and lighting, to the stage and room set out, which is perfect for watching live performance, and, of course, the artists’ dressing rooms offer creature comforts and ambience that outclass any comparable venue.” Much has been made of the venue’s sound system, stemming from Your Daily SPA’s interview with Merivale’s owner Justin Hemmes, who purchased the venue for $14 million last year. The system uses products sourced from “the most reputable and professional production manufacturers including D&B and Digidesign. The installation and tuning is overseen by Bruce Johnson, Oasis’s FOH audio operator among others… It’s the most important component of any live music venue. Sonically, bands need to feel good on stage and be confident that their fans are hearing them exactly how they intended.” The quality of amenities has been a big selling point for the room, with Hemmes stressing the improvement compared to the Excelsior. The initial press releases for the venue also follow this line, claiming: “Tiered booths overlooking a large stage and a dance floor designed for up-close viewing of artists. A den-like lounge at the rear features a stunning green onyx bar, a DJ booth and large sofas.” As far at the New York design goes, Beresford Upstairs claims: “Oversized herringbone timber panelling, black terrazzo stone floors and a striking colour palette.” Also in Surry Hills, the 150-capacity Excelsior Hotel, which Hemmes purchased earlier this year (after the Beresford’s development was underway), had become a staple mostnights-of-the-week venue in Sydney, picking up a lot of the trade (in)famous local live haunt Hopetoun left behind upon closure. Moving live music up the street to the Beresford, the room is quite obviously more state-of-the art with better amenities, but artists that may have headlined the 50/100 punter shows at the Excelsior will have to settle for support slots. “We want to support these bands as much as possible,” said English, “and the venue will provide a broader audience for these bands to be exposed to as supports on a larger bill so yes, we will be looking for bands that can pull 50-100 people as well as the headline acts.”

COLD CHISEL IN MASS RELEASE OF ARCHIVED MATERIAL Cold Chisel are claiming the “biggest archival release in Australian music history,” which will see 56 new and rare recordings and three hours of previously unreleased video footage available to fans 22 July. Deluxe remastered editions of all their albums are also included in the release. In a statement Jimmy Barnes said, “Listening to all of this music and watching all of this footage from the past has been amazing. There are songs and performances we’d completely forgotten about; there were times we said, ‘Did we really play that?’ Some tracks here we only ever played once or twice and there are demos of songs that turned into something else. It’s been a real trip through our past and reminded us that we were OK for a rock and roll band.” The unreleased material includes live tracks, B-sides and outtakes and will be released digitally only. The deluxe editions of the albums (studio and live) will be available physically.

POLITICIAN DIES AT GLASTONBURY A man found dead in a VIP toilet at British festival Glastonbury has been identified as Christopher Shale, the chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association and friend of current Prime Minister David Cameron. Commenting on behalf of himself and his wife Samantha, Cameron said, “Sam and I were devastated to hear the news about Christopher. He was a great friend and has been a huge support over the last decade in West Oxfordshire. A big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away. Christopher was one of the most truly generous people I’ve ever met – he was always giving to others, his time, his help, his enthusiasm and above all his love of life.” Police were investigating the cause of death but at time of deadline it not had been revealed. Festival chief Michael Eavis originally told media it was a “suicide situation”, but police later downplayed that.

STONE SIBLINGS DO IT AGAIN AT APRAS

The APRA Awards were held last week, with Angus & Julia Stone completing the trifecta of acknowledgement alongside the industry-voted ARIA Awards and fan-voted Hottest 100. The sibling duo took out Song Of The Year and Songwriters Of The Year in a night which saw the standing ovation reserved for Paul Kelly after he received the Ted Albert Award for outstanding achievement. Performances were of emerging (usually) artists covering Song Of The Year, with highlights being Papa vs Pretty’s Big Jet Plane and Clare Bowditch’s Little Bird. The full list of winners: Song Of The Year: Big Jet Plane, Angus & Julia Stone (Angus Stone/Julia Stone) Songwriter(s) Of The Year: Angus & Julia Stone Breakthrough Songwriter: Megan Washington Most Played Australian Work: Seventeen, Jet (Chris Cester/Nic Cester/Cameron Muncey) International Work Of The Year: Hey, Soul Sister, Train (Patrick Monahan/Amund Bjorklund/Espen Lind) Country Work Of The Year: Little Bird, Kasey Chambers (Kasey Chambers) Blues & Roots Work Of The Year: Close To You, John Butler Trio (John Butler) Urban Work Of The Year: Who’s That Girl, Guy Sebastian feat. Eve (Guy Sebastian/Eve Jeffers) Dance Work Of The Year: Free Fallin, Zoe Badwi (Amy Pearson/Cameron Denny/Paul Zala) Rock Work Of The Year: Seventeen, Jet (Chris Cester/Nic Cester/Cameron Muncey) Most Played Australian Work Overseas: Highway To Hell, AC/DC (Angus Young/Malcolm Young/Ronald Scott) Ted Albert Award: Paul Kelly

SUTBHUB LOOKING TO LAUNCH IN AUSTRALIA Senior director of eBay-owned ticket on-selling website StubHub, Glenn Lehrman, has told music newsletter Your Daily SPA that they see Australia as an “attractive” market and will look to launch a presence here in the future. After the American company (which allows ticket holders to sporting and concert events to list their tickets for sale on the website) opened up their purchases to international buyers, he said that Australian customers were the biggest purchasers of tickets to American events. Saying, “Australia is something we’re looking at,” they hope to have a presence here in the next two or three years. He said, “Australia is very attractive because like the States it is sport heavy and has a good concert base… and it has less regulation than other countries.” StubHub has had its fair share of disputes with Ticketmaster in the United States, but a secondary ticket market seems to have solidified its space. “I think they understand now that the secondary market will be there and have even purchased secondary sites themselves… it was a long process to get there,” said Lehrman. “Primary sellers have the right to sell tickets at whatever price… and we think you have the right to sell it at whatever price too.” He is likely to face competition in Australia, Moshtix CEO has already commented to this column in regards to ticket on-selling websites, “Officially it’s not illegal, but in a lot of cases it contravenes the terms of sale.” That is: tickets are not allowed to be resold. “What we’re trying to stop is ticket buyers getting illegitimate tickets… what these sites can do is sell tickets that aren’t valid.” Lehrman admitted that invalid tickets are sometimes circulated, but according to their statistics it was .02 percent of cases. They also have systems to compensate fans for this.

FRESKLY INKED Metalcore favourites, who seem to grow in stature with every release, The Devil Wears Prada have signed a new worldwide deal (bar North America) with Roadrunner Records. Their fourth full length record will also be released 9 September. Ball Park Music have signed to Stop Start Records (who’ve distribution through EMI) and also finished their album last week. The band’s management told The Front Line that the band has received offers from a number of labels, including majors. Tim Finn has signed with ABC for his new album The View Is Worth The Climb, ending a long partnership with EMI. Due 26 August, the record features a collaboration with Megan Washington for the title track. Brisbane four piece Holland, who have a deal with Sony have released their debut single No Control currently with media. Originally catching the label’s attention under the guise Fatis Valour, the band spent recorded their debut album with Nick DiDia in America. Recoil v.o.r have signed a sponsorship deal with Peavey Amplifiers and Sennheiser in a worldwide deal. On the back of their 2010 album Will To Sin the band have dates planned throughout August/September.

FINAL JAZZ ENTRIES Final entries for 2011 National Jazz Awards are being sought before Thursday. After judging, the ten highest ranked entrants will perform at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival at the end of October with a house band, where the winner will be decided.

“We know that it takes times for the consumer mindset to change,” he said. “Prices here are high initially because of the low inventory… [but] when more people got interested there was more inventory and it means that tickets dropped… [it’s] what we call choice and access, at least you have that option.”

$8,000 and recording time goes to the winner, $5,000 to second and $2,000 to third. Entry forms are available from wangarattajazz.com.

SULTAN LEADS INDIGENOUS AWARDS

Brisbane garage rock outfit Millions have won the Triple J Unearthed competition to perform at this year’s Splendour In The Grass. They’ll open the main stage on the opening day.

Dan Sultan has been announced as the headliner for this year’s inaugural National Indigenous Music Awards, while performances from Warumpi, Coloured Stone and No Fixed Address will also perform. 2011 is the first year that the Darwin-based awards have taken a national focus under the guidance of MusicNT. MusicNT’s manager Mark Smith said in a statement: “MusicNT is excited to begin the transition to a national Indigenous music awards. It’s the opportunity to make this amazing event open and accessible to Indigenous musicians from across the country and we are grateful to have the support of the NT government behind us.” Nominations, open only to the industry, are open until 22 July through nima.musicnt.com. au. The awards will take place at Darwin Botanic Gardens’ Amphitheatre, Friday 19 August.

VIDEO CLIP AWARD Nominations for the IF Award for Best Music video are now open, with entries being accepted until 17 September. The winner of the category in the People’s Choice film awards last year was Kiku Ohe, who directed Angus & Julia Stones’ Big Jet Plane. Videos from Paul Kelly and Short Stack have also won. This year the category is presented by SAE Institute and you can email musicvideo@if.com.au for further details on how to submit a video.

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GRASS FOR THE LOCALS

ADELE DOMINATES, LEADS INDIE CHARGE Not even the hype of Bon Iver’s self-titled second record (which debuted second and predecessor For Emma, Forever Ago re-entered at 48) could topple the high selling Adele this week, whose album 21 went triple platinum in the process. She took a clean sweep of the charts this week with her second single Someone Like You knocking LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem off the number one spot after their ten week run there. Adele’s also leading the independent charge into the top ten albums, with Inertia distributing three of the titles. They distribute Remote Control (Adele first with 21 and ninth with 19) and Jagjaguwar (Bon Iver, second). City & Colour (Dine Alone through Shock) also held onto a top ten spot this week in sixth.

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

THE

YOUTH MOVEMENT

FRONTLINE

KILLAQUEENZ MC and host of 3THINGS’ HIP HOP APPROACH, KWEEN G, and oxfam youth engagement coordinator JESSICA BOYDEN show CYCLONE how little things can make a big difference.

Kween G

Oxfam Australia has recognised hip hop’s potential to empower and galvanise the young and marginalised globally. KillaQueenz’ Kween G (AKA Gladys Namokoyi), herself a hip hop activist, will be hosting 3things’ Hip Hop Approach for Oxfam when it makes its Melbourne debut. And it was hip hop that showed the Ugandan refugee that she could facilitate positive social change. “When I came to a certain age I realised, ‘Hang on a second – who knows what would have happened if my family never came here [to Australia], if we never had an opportunity to leave Uganda at the time?’” Namokoyi recalls. “So I said, ‘I want to do something with this opportunity’. I don’t wanna just sit here and be like, ‘Thanks,’ and forget about Africa, forget about Uganda, and where I came from.” Oxfam’s 3things campaign – touted as “a youth movement for global goodness” – encourages young people to join a wider dialogue on how to tackle global poverty, social justice and sustainability matters. The core message? Individuals can contribute to global change by committing to three things. Jessica Boyden, Oxfam Australia’s Youth Engagement

Oxfam’s Jessica Boyden Youth Engagement Coordinator

Coordinator explains, “We’re trying to create this space for young people who wouldn’t really traditionally engage in global development issues.” For its hip hop event, Oxfam has reached out to MCs, beatboxers, DJs, VJs and visual artists, who’ll all explore the 3things theme. Punters are able to participate by sharing their three things on a live mural or handycam. “At the event we’ll be asking everyone to think about the three things they can do to help change the world,” Boyden says. “It’s just getting them to think about the small actions that they can take that can collectively make the world a better place.” Oxfam was overwhelmed by the response to the inaugural 3things’ Hip Hop Approach last year. “We reached capacity in the first hour or so that the doors were even open,” Boyden affirms. The 3things philosophy clearly resonated with the crowd, in addition to performer/ambassadors such as The Tongue. “I think it’s a community that are already quite vocal on social justice issues so, from their perspective, it’s providing another outlet – and audience – for them. It’s been win-win,” Boyden says.

Namokoyi, whose community work saw her named 2010’s Young Citizen of the Year by Marrickville Council, regards 3things’ Hip Hop Approach as a means for “conscious” acts like hers to redress the materialism of mainstream urban music. “It’s really good to see hip hop being used in a useful form, for a change,” she suggests. “It’s a great way to raise awareness among young people. I myself am very sensitive to social issues around the world – also it deals with poverty and stuff like that. Being a part of this event, I can share my own views and use it as a platform to engage people who wouldn’t normally think twice about the more serious issues that are happening in the world.” Namokoyi lists her three things in a blog on the campaign’s website – the wryest being to “abolish money”. Namokoyi arrived in Australia at four, her father having been granted political asylum. Since the ‘60s Uganda has struggled with its colonial legacy, political turmoil, civil war and economic collapse. (Westerners often associate the country with the Lord’s Resistance Army and their abducted child soldiers.) Still, Australia meant huge cultural adjustments for little Namokoyi. “I remember I had issues with the food. I only wanted African food. I didn’t want the McDonalds or anything like that!” She later discovered hip hop through her three older brothers – and began MCing. In 2000 Namokoyi befriended Desiree Lambey (Belizean Bombshell) while both were rehearsing as dancers for the Sydney Olympic Games. KillaQueenz was born. They’d bring an exciting female presence to Aussie hip hop. The duo’s acclaimed debut, Sistahood, a melting pot of hip hop, dancehall and electro, dropped two years ago with production from Katalyst, M-Phazes and Canada’s South Rakkas Crew. In the interim, Namokoyi pursued a broadcasting career gaining employment at SBS Radio as well as temporarily presenting FBi’s Stolen Records. KillaQueenz are currently on hiatus – or, rather, in Lambey’s case, maternity leave – and so Namokoyi is gigging solo alongside DJ Bad Ezzy. She raps on Katalyst’s single Ready To Drop, and is plotting a project with DCUP of We No Speak Americano renown. More significantly, Namokoyi recently became the first in her family to visit Uganda. She was amazed, not only by the country’s relative stability, but also its burgeoning music

scene. “Things are great!” she enthuses. “I was able to record some tracks with some of the big artists who are there. There’s peace, there’s no roadblocks, no soldiers running the town... There’s still always political issues in any African country, but it’s very civil. I had a great time. I even plan on moving back there and building some kind of foundation, just with what I’ve been able to do here as well.” In Uganda Namokoyi learnt of The Bavubuka Foundation, established by Canadian hip hopper Babaluku (Silas Balabyekkubo). It runs music and arts programs for youth, with an emphasis on peacemaking. Then an orphanage worker she encountered was arranging for KRS-One to come over to conduct hip hop workshops. “I was just really shocked. I went, ‘What? KRS-One is coming here?’” The rap legend, who refuses to fly, intended to travel by sea, she explains with a laugh. Namokoyi attended some local concerts, too. “I was just surprised. I was like, this is the kind of music I love – maybe this is why I like hip hop so much, ‘cause I’m coming back to my country after 20 years and I’m in tune with the same thing. Nothing’s foreign here to me.” Hip hop has a socially-conscious heritage, dating back to classics like Melle Mel’s The Message. Nevertheless, in the mid-‘90s, bling-bling rap came to the fore. Younger listeners now equate hip hop with party music. “I find in Australia that people like commercial hip hop, [and] commercial R&B music, that doesn’t really have much to say but talk about sex and violence and stuff,” Namokoyi rues. Hip hop needs to rise to the challenges of today’s world. She admires Dead Prez, Nas and Damian Marley, who all instil their music with a message – substance. “It’s not about preaching,” she stresses. The much-hyped Odd Future are merely another “distraction”. “Let’s just stop listening to the bullshit and actually get to the real message now.” That’s 1thing.

WHAT: 3Things’ Hip Hop Approach WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 7 July, Prince Bandroom

FOREWORD LINE T EN S E PR

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

PANEL VAN While the heritage of Panel Of Judges is stooped in the understated, though often cult-followed Australian and NZ pop underground of the ‘80s and ‘90s (see The Go Betweens, The Clean, The Moles); their tunes just as easily align with the new breed of sun-washed guitar pop currently emerging from humble beginnings across the globe. Audiences leaning towards honest, bright, chilled and thoughtful sounds will find their perfect indulgence in Moods On The Move, the latest LP from the Melbourne institution affectionately referred to as Panel. Like all great bands, Panel have created their own universe – a world in which the everyday transforms into beautifully layered, levitating pop songs, written by some of Australia’s truly idiosyncratic musical personalities. Catch the launch on Saturday 23 July at the Tote w/ Peak Twins, Woollen Kits, Parading & Beaches DJs.

WEDNESDAY 29 JUNE

GROOVE IS IN THE HEART RESIDENCY

KKS PROJECT

DJENGA FEAT. CHANTAL MITVALSKY HIATUS KAIYOTE DJ EDD FISHER ENTRY $10 FULL, $8 CONCESSION, 8.30PM

THURSDAY 30 JUNE

WAITING ROOM

TEHACHAPI SLIGHT OF BUILD THE MAGIC BONES SID AIR CORDYCEPS ENTRY $8, 8PM

STALWART

FRIDAY 1 JULY

APOLLO PATHWAY STARTING SUNDAY THE KING CITY SEVEN

ENTRY $15 DOOR, $12 PRESALE THRU MOSHTIX, 9PM

SATURDAY 2 JULY

EVELYN MARKETS FREE ENTRY, 12PM

EVENING

HATCHET DAWN BUGDUST DREAD MURDER RATS

ENTRY $12 DOOR, $8 CONCESSION THRU MOSHTIX, 8.30PM

SUNDAY 3 JULY

MATINEE

THE TIERS THE BURNISH BUSH ENTRY $5, 3PM

EVENING

SUNDAY CHAIRS SMILES.RIFLES OFFICER PARROT ENTRY $5, 8.30PM

MONDAY 4 JULY

RESIDENCY

ANIMAUX THE WANDERER WOODY PITNEY ENTRY $7, 8PM $10 JUGS!

TUESDAY 5 JULY

RESIDENCY

JMC MUSIC ACADEMY ENTRY 7PM $10 JUGS!

COMING UP: ANIMAUX (MON IN JULY) POCO LA PAX (TUES IN JULY) KINGSWOOD (WED IN JULY) LOREN ALBUM LAUNCH (7 JULY) MANIC PISTOLEROS ALBUM LAUNCH (8 JULY) SYNDICATE ALBUM LAUNCH (9 JULY)

MOVING FOR WARD Jim Ward of the monstrously influential At The Drive-In along with Sparta and Sleepercar is hitting Australia to promote his latest release (and mouthful) Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins. With support from Jamie Hay, Ward will play the East Brunswick Club on Friday 12 August. Tickets are on sale and available from the venue or The Corner box office.

STREET PUNKS

SOUNDS DARK

Forming in New York City around 1990, The Casualties started out with an idea to return to the Golden Age of street punk, which was something they felt had been on sharp decline since the mid-1980’s. Having racked up eight full-length albums, three EP’s, three live albums and countless miles in the tour van, The Casualties continue to enjoy success more than 20 years after their inception. The Casualties now bring their 20+ years of punk rock material to Australia and will play the East Brunswick Club on Saturday 10 September. Tickets from the venue, on sale now.

Buying a Coopers Dark Ale in selected Melbourne pubs is the only way to get in to an exclusive gig featuring Tumbleweed, My Disco and now, Boomgates (featuring members of Dick Diver, Trial Kennedy, Teen Archer, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and The Twerps). Punters need to purchase a Coopers Dark Ale in one of the ten participating pubs around Melbourne before 7 July. They’ll then be given a scratch ticket, along with a guitar pick to scratch it with. This ticket contains a unique code which, when sent via SMS, could win one of the 200 double tickets to the exclusive Sounds After Dark gig at the Thornbury Theatre on Thursday 21 July.

BAREFOOT & PREGNANT

DEEP, SEXY GROWLER

A few months after forming, Melbourne five-piece Kitchen Knife Wife were invited to tour Europe with marsupial pop giants The Wombats before returning home to play the hometown leg of the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival. But such has been their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it existence that, surprisingly, this band has flown largely under the radar. In support of their new single Happy, Kitchen Knife Wife play Friday 15 July at the Espy, Thursday 21 at the Retreat, and Thursday 11 August at the Toff.

After making an impression on the east coast during their recent Cleaver Lever tour, Perth’s grimiest garage band The Growl are set to accompany Scottish indie rockers Dananananakroyd at their Melbourne Splendour In The Grass sideshow. The Growl’s deep, dark and sexy new clip for Smoke It Down from their debut EP Cleaver Lever has been released online. You can see them in support of Dananananakroyd on Monday 1 August at the East Brunswick Club.

SULTAN/GOW Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow literally bumped into each other on a busy Sydney street. The two Melbourne musicians chatted about football and music, and concluded that one day they should tour together. And so, they are. Their one-time-only tour will see Alexander and Dan perform tracks from their stunning songwriting catalogues, solo and stripped right back to their true essence. The July tour will hit only small theatres and bandrooms across the country. Tickets are on sale now for their Thursday 7, Performing Arts Centre (Geelong); Friday 8, National Theatre (All Ages); and Saturday 9 July, Theatre Royal (Castlemaine) shows.

NEW CHEF NEW MENU NEW GRUB SATURDAY 2ND JULY

BELLES WILL RING

FRI 1ST JULY

THURSDAY 30TH JUNE

BELLES WILL RING ALBUM LAUNCH

JOHNNY ROCK & THE LIMITS SINGLE LAUNCH

+ RED ROCKETS OF BORNEO + RICH DAVIES & THE DEVILS UNION

+ FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS + CUBA IS JAPAN

FRONT BAR DJS: DAN BLOK

THURSDAY 7TH JULY

FRONT BAR DJS: TWO BRIGHT LAKES

JAMES BLAKE & LEIF PODHAJSKY

SUN 3RD JULY

TRANSCRIPTION OF ORGAN MUSIC & SASKIA SANSOM DOUBLE LAUNCH TOUR + EMMA RUSACK + SEAGULL

MONDAY 4TH JULY

WEDNESDAY 6TH JULY

TEHACHAPI MONDAY RESIDENCY + BOARDERS + DJ JAMIE WHITESIDE

FLRL (FEAT. MEMBERS OF MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS, KIRIN J. CALLINAN, JONTI/DANIMALS + MORE)

AS A RIVAL SINGLE LAUNCH + FOLLOWING THE SEA + STRATHMORE +THE TRIALS OF RESONANCE

THE RELEASED SERIES: SIBERIA RECORDS PRESENTS. + FORCES + NO ART (SYD)

FRIDAY 8TH JULY

SATURDAY 9TH JULY

HIT THE JACKPOT TAPE LAUNCH + GEOFF O’CONNOR

FRONT BAR

FRONT BAR DJS: TWO BRIGHT LAKES

NAOMY@GETNOTORIOUS.COM NICCI@GETNOTORIOUS.COM

The charismatic Ross Wilson returns to the Palais Hepburn Springs stage on Saturday. Ross Wilson is probably the only person in Australian rock music who can’t make a comeback simply because he’s never been away. In a career that spans over 40 years Ross remains one of this country’s most respected artists. From Daddy Cool to Mondo Rock, as a solo artist, or as songwriter of classics such as Eagle Rock, Cool World and A Touch of Paradise; or producer of the legendary Skyhooks, Jo Jo Zep, The Johnnys, and more recently The Screaming Jets, Ross’s involvement with success has continued unabated. Catch Ross Wilson at the Palais, Hepburn Springs for a night of fun and much dancing. Group bookings and dinner/show packages available now. $30 show only, $60 dinner and show.

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DJ PRINCESS BUGMEAT (PETS WITH PETS) CATE@GETNOTORIOUS.COM

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FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

HOME COOKING

Homebake Music, Film & Arts Festival 2011 - The Classic Edition – is inviting punters to join them to celebrate the sixteenth anniversary of the festival. This year’s event will take place on Saturday 3 December at The Domain in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. In addition to the usual great mix of local music there will be a cinema pavilion, a new comedy stage, roving performers, international food fair, market stalls, artist signing tent, youth & community information stalls and more. Tickets are on sale 9am Monday 15 August. Stay tuned for all details coming late July.

MCLEOD’S BACK

After touring extensively with The Superjesus for so long Sarah McLeod decided she wanted to try some different projects. She has been all round the world five times over writing songs for lots of different artists but has now decided to come home and bring her acoustic guitar with her for some very intimate stripped-back shows. She has not performed like this in many years and is very excited about showcasing her back catalogue in its rawest form. Performing songs from her early days with The Superjesus up until her latest solo work, it’s her voice that really shines in this environment, the tender side of a rock ‘n’ roll powerhouse performer, a show not to be missed. Sarah McLeod performs at the Palais (Hepburn Springs) on Friday 22 July. Tickets $20+BF pre-sale (show only), $50 for dinner & show.

MUSTER UP The Herd announce Signs Of Life, the second single from their upcoming album, Future Shade (out 26 August). Signs of Life is inspired by the human spirit, amongst the upheaval of natural disaster. Known for their boisterous live shows, The Herd will flaunt their new songs on the Future Shade tour this August/September, starting at Splendour In The Grass. The Herd hit Melbourne on Friday 16 September to play the Prince Bandroom. Tickets are on sale now via Oztix.

CITY MUSIC

City Riots certainly have an impressive resume behind them. 2010 saw the band head to the US on three separate occasions: firstly, to showcase at SXSW during a 25-date tour around the US which included Aussie BBQ’s in LA, NYC and Austin; secondly, as the only Australian band to play FILTER Magazine’s Culture Collide festival alongside The Black Lips and Klaxons; and finally, to showcase at the renowned CMJ Music Marathon. City Riots kept up appearances in Australia last year, managing to squeeze in tours with indie-rockers British India, WA’s The Chemist and most notably, the national support for the Smashing Pumpkins tour. City Riots will support Ball Park Music on their first Australian headline tour. Catch them both at Northcote Social Club, Saturday 16 July.

DUTCH OVEN

Hailing from Brisbane, Holland is led by Jarryd Klapper (lead singer) and Shane Graham (lead guitarist). The band’s co-founders are well supported by a rhythm section which comprises James Taylor (bass) and Javed Sterritt (drums). Now, with a major label album release and a debut single in the works, the group is riding on the crest of a wave. Catch Holland as they bring their songs to the Espy Front Bar, Thursday 18 and the Barwon Club (Geelong) Friday 19 August.

BUMMER

Due to illness it is with much regret that Chocolate Starfish announce their Thursday 14 July (National Hotel Geelong), and Saturday 16 (Corner Hotel) shows have been postponed. Guitarist Zoran Romic will undergo further treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma beginning immediately. The band wishes Zoran a speedy recovery and look forward to him returning to full health in the coming months. Chocolate Starfish will reschedule these shows later in 2011.

PYKE OUT

After a year long sabbatical, Josh Pyke will be back on the road in September to celebrate the release of his eagerly awaited third album, Only Sparrows. With his intimate, solo “fans first” shows selling out in a matter of days earlier this year, the Only Sparrows tour will provide those who missed out on tickets the opportunity to hear the new material performed in full band mode for the first time. Featuring the infectiously upbeat first single, Only Sparrows will be released on 19 August. Josh’s most assured record to date, it follows on from his Gold-selling ARIA award winning albums Memories & Dust (2007) and Chimney’s Afire (2008). Don’t miss your chance to see Josh and band on Friday 16 September at the Corner Hotel and Saturday 17 at the Bended Elbow (Geelong). Fan club pre-sale Thursday 30 June, 9am; general public tickets on sale Thursday 7 July, 9am.

DUTCH COURAGE

SUPER HAPPY FUNTIMES In attempt to “echo the way music is potentially engaged with more and more through the decentralised broadchaos of the net”, Regurgitator have produced an album’s worth of material all to be released over the next month or so on digital, vinyl, cassette, CD and even Playbutton, all pieced together under the title SUPERHAPPYFUNTIMEFRIENDS. The first single One Day leaves the dock now... and the rest of the material will emerge in time to be available under, over and beyond their extended August tour. Playing with guests Disasteradio (NZ), you can catch them on 25 August at the Bended Elbow (Ballarat), 26 at the Hi-Fi, and 27 at the Bended Elbow (Geelong). Tickets on sale now.

Dem Slackers from Holland – you know the Netherlands – makes electro-house of the banging persuasion. You’ll like him if you’re into: Crookers, Mightyfools, Jack Beats and/or Fake Blood. Dem Slackers is hitting Australia for the first time in order to showcase numbers from his most recent EP Global Grind – featuring the singles Swagger and Are You Ready? Catch him shredding on Saturday 30 July at Roxanne Parlour.

FREEZA ACTS ADDED

To add more weight to an already heavy line-up, FReeZACENTRAL have announced the inclusion of local act Brooklyn to the Croydon leg of the upcoming All-Ages Tour and We, The Dreams to play the Bendigo show. Along with heavyweights Closure In Moscow, Dream On Dreamer and Awaken I Am, the bills keep getting stronger and stronger across the board. Catch the action on Friday 8 July at the Potato Shed (Drysdale), Saturday 9 at EV’s (Croydon, afternoon) & Sunbury Youth Centre (evening), Friday 15 at McGillivray Hall (Bendigo), and Saturday 16 July at Wyndham Youth Resource Centre (Hoppers Crossing). For full details of all the shows, head to freezacentral.vic.gov.au.

FARNSEY SMASHES IT

Overwhelming demand for tickets for John Farnham’s Whispering Jack tour is not surprising as new generations discover The Voice – which together with John’s massive loyal fan base means he’s added shows to the tour. John Farnham and his band will perform the first half of the show unplugged, featuring very special versions of some of his biggest hits as never heard before. The second half of the show will feature Farnham and his band performing for the first time on stage, the entire Whispering Jack album. In addition to the already announced 9 & 11 November shows at the Palais, Farnham has added shows on Saturday 12, Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 November at the same venue.

GLAD I’M NOT A KENNEDY

No one could ever accuse Trial Kennedy of idly passing the time away. Straight off the back of their national album tour, which finished up in Tasmania just last weekend, the band have announced that they will once again hit the road in September, this time to celebrate the release of the third single, Exology, from their sophomore album Living Undesigned. The band will play a very special one-off show in at the Espy in their home town on Saturday 16 July. Tickets $15+BF, available now from www.espy.com.au.

TEEN WEAVER

A DELIGHT After recently playing for the Dalai Lama in Perth, Adalita has announced she’ll be heading out again for some special headline shows this August. After wowing audiences on her sold-out national album tour in April, these shows will be her last headliners of the year. Adalita’s self-titled debut album was released in March to critical acclaim earning Album Of The Week from Triple R, Drum Media and Melbourne Magazine. Don’t miss this rare talent when she plays Saturday 13 August at the Northcote Social Club. On sale now.

Teenager Straalen McCallum will embark on his first national tour as Irish sweetheart Mary Duff’s Australian tour special guest. As the youngest artist ever signed as a solo recording artist to Sony Music Australia at age 12 years, now 13-year-old Straalen McCallum is about to begin his musical journey that critics say “the sky is the limit”. Catch them on Wednesday 10 August at Griffith Arts Centre; Friday 12 at Geelong Playhouse Theatre; Sunday 14 at Bendigo Capital Theatre; Monday 15 at Shepparton Eastbank Centre; Wednesday 17 at Burnie Arts Centre; Sunday 21 at West Gippsland Arts Centre; Monday 22 at Ballarat’s Her Majesty’s Theatre; Tuesday 23 at Frankston Arts Centre; and Wednesday 24 August at Warrnambool Kings College.

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BLACK & WHITE Fresh off the back of the WAMis festival and a brief east coast run, Perth’s The Panda Band brace themselves for their national Charisma Weapon album tour. Since the success of their debut single Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town and subsequent album release of This Vital Chapter (We’re Almost Not Even Here), The Panda Band have been busy touring America, writing and building their own home studio to record their heavily anticipated sophomore album. The new release is more of a collective effort than ever before, with the band members sharing the writing process equally as well as taking on production endeavours. The Panda Band’s Charisma Weapon is set for release 15 July, on their own label Bam*Boo Records through MGM. You can see them play Northcote Social Club on Thursday 18 August and the Barwon Club (Geelong) on Friday 19.

FOREWORD LINE

NEWS FROM THE FRONT

T EN S E PR

GETTING PERSONAL In 2005, shortly after the release of their second album Never Take Friendship Personal, we saw Anberlin hit our shores for the first time playing modest rooms and not knowing quite what to expect. That initial connection has not waned in all the years since and with each album and tour bigger and stronger than the last, Anberlin’s loyal fan base has continued to grow. This August, Australian audiences will be treated to, for the first time anywhere in the world, An Evening With Anberlin – a must see for any Anberlin fan. Catch them on Sunday 28 August at the Palace Theatre (18+). Tickets on sale Friday, 9am through Ticketek and Oztix.

JUST GRATE

Fabulously cocky curators of that perfectly balanced black and white colour scheme, The Hives have been away far too long. With their classic swagger, The Hives are a raucous bunch of well-dressed, hyperactive men. Fronted by Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, this quintet are one of the most in-demand acts in the international music scene. And with indie dance floors staple Walk Idiot Walk, Hate To Say I Told You So and Main Offender, these dapper gentlemen need no introduction. Supporting will be Australia’s beloved Brisbane band The Grates as tour pals. Having relocated to Brooklyn for the past eighteen months, The Grates return home revitalised and renewed. With two ARIA top ten albums under their belt, and a massive live following, The Grates return with a fresh palette of rugged new tunes. The Grates hit the road with The Hives to pull out the dance moves and bring the noise. Catch them both at the Palace, Tuesday 26 July. Tickets on sale now.

CABBIES

Black Cab’s sound can be described as a blend of rock and electronics with shades of Europe and America in the ‘70s. The band’s debut album Altamont Diary (2004) received rave reviews for its take on the fateful free concert at Altamont Speedway in 1969. The band toured their second album Jesus East, internationally in 2007 and their last full length album, Call Signs (2009) was inspired by 1970s East Germany and was shortlisted for the 2009 Australian Music Prize. Black Cab features live and recorded performances from a number of well-known Australian musicians. You can catch them launch new single Combat Boots this Friday at the East Brunswick Club.

PARTY STARTERS Maybe you’ve heard of Eagle & The Worm before? They’re the up-tempo party starters that delivered Futureman, All I Know and more recently, Too Young. Eagle & The Worm are being heralded for their debut album release Good Times and are set to launch the album at a Corner show on Saturday 20 August. Coming along in support of The Worm are the moody and soulful sounds of The Frowning Clouds. Their energetic ‘60s garage, freakbeat and R&B warm-up show is sure to please. Tickets on sale now.

MOSAIC

These Patterns, Melbourne’s minimalist post-punk trio are finally releasing their debut EP after two years of writing and recording. The band’s independant EP, titled Species, features experimental electronics, thumping beats, haunting vocals and grungy No Wave riffs. To celebrate These Patterns long-awaited work, the band are throwing a big party at the Tote on 15 July. Joining them on stage are their good friends Tomaki Jets, the exciting two-piece A Dead Forest Index, and the fucking amazing Night Terrors with The Emergency Djs creating the ambience. Expect unsuccessful stage dives, intense visuals and of course chocolate crackles. $10 entry, $15 with an EP.

JO JO ZEP TURN 35

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the formation of one of Australia’s most loved live bands from the ‘70s, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and to celebrate they’re getting the band back together for one very special performance in Melbourne. The classic Falcons line up of Joe Camilleri, Wilbur Wilde, Jeff Burstin, Gary Young, John Power and Tony Faehse are back together to do it all again for one very special show in their hometown at the Forum Theatre on Friday 2 September. Tickets go on sale at 9am, Monday 4 July and are available through Ticketmaster.

HEY TEACHER!

Roger Waters will perform his masterpiece The Wall to Australia in 2012, continuing the sell-out success of his extensive tour of North America and Europe. The Wall, written and produced by Roger Waters, was first performed live by Pink Floyd in 1980. Originally released in November 1979, The Wall was America’s top-selling album of 1980 and is still in the US Top 5 best-selling albums of all time. With state of the art surround sound coming at the audience from all corners of the venue, the hi-tech computer visuals will be simply mind-blowing. Witness history at Rod Laver Arena, Tuesday 7 February. Pre-sales via Ticketek from 3pm Thursday 7 July.

MEATY GOODNESS

Some people think big. Some people think huge. Then there’s Meat Loaf. While other artists may have tried to match his scale and sound, so far none have come close. He burst onto the world music stage in 1977 with his landmark release Bat Out Of Hell, which transformed him from a stage actor into a rock ‘n’ roll icon. This album has sold more than 43 million copies worldwide and is the third biggest selling record of all time, selling in excess of 200,000 copies a year. Meat Loaf’s Guilty Pleasure tour promises to feature a stellar array of Meat Loaf hits, both past and present. It will be big! It will be dramatic! It will ROCK! Sweat along on Friday 14 October at Rod Laver Arena, or Saturday 15 October at A Day On The Green, Rochford Wines (Yarra Valley).

DANCING FEET

Jacques Renault was voted NYC’s Best DJ by Paper Magazine, his remixes are loved by DJs such as A-trak, Aeroplane, Busy P and Tim Sweeney and his remix of Midnight Magic’s Beam Me Up was one of the biggest dance floor tunes of 2010. Jacques returns to Australia this August to play a run of club shows. Catch him on Friday 19 August for Animals Dancing at Mercat Basement.

THEY ARE THE ARCHITECTS In the midst of a massive tour encompassing the USA, Russia, Europe and the UK, modernist pop quintet Architecture In Helsinki are thrilled to announce their most extensive Australian tour in years. The band’s second single Escapee has just been released from their pop opus Moment Bends, accompanied by a beautiful video directed by Marcus Soderlund (The XX, Miike Snow) in Belgium. Don’t miss this chance to see why the world’s falling in love with Moment Bends and Architecture in Helsinki’s transcendently joyous live shows on Saturday 10 September at the Forum. Tickets on sale now through Ticketmaster.

PUSHING BUTTONS

Enigmatic Germany-based Irishman Chymera has been pushing our buttons ever so nicely since coming to international attention in the mid ‘00s on the back of his Everybody Dies… Even Horses LP and now he’s giving us another taste of why he’s so well loved with a visit to Australian clubs going down next month. You can see what all the talk is about at his Friday 29 July, Word Bar show.

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THE DOWN LOW H

enry Wagons exudes a natural charm, a gregarious larrikinism; on stage or in person he is instantly likeable, a born performer. His band, Wagons, operates as an extension of this personality. Somehow he’s managed to surround himself with the right mix of mates and musicians to deliver this little piece of himself, and themselves, through the media of country music. The sum of it all is a heaving meat party. Their shows are famously wild, unhinged and unbridled affairs. You can’t help but be swept into the open sweat-soaked arms of this band; drawn into the panting bosom of the beast. All they ask in return is that you love them like they love you... and they most undoubtedly do. You can tell. Having been forced into guitar lessons at an early age, Wagons didn’t practice and claims in those early years he “never really took it up”. The instrument gathered dust through his adolescence and was not revisited until he started university. Looking back on the past ten years – which have included five album releases, numerous national and (recent) international tours, awards, and ultimately resulted in his existence now as a full-time professional musician – it’s frightening to think that all of this stemmed from what was realistically a happy accident. With an instrument gathering cobwebs for all those years, it was only a matter of time before it was going to be played, or discarded. “I did an arts degree because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” he says. “A philosophy degree only has 12 contact hours so there’s plenty of time to do other things in between. I had to do something, so I picked the guitar up again. I never stopped.”

There is very little about Wagons, bar his fortuitous nomenclature, which rings of country. To describe him, you’d lean towards words like “urbane” or “cultured” – he hosts an arts segment on the ABC for God’s sake – you could take it as far as “sophisticated”. That’s not to say that country folk can’t or don’t express such qualities, but Wagons exists and seems to belong in an urban setting – his fingernails are clean, so to speak. It’s not surprising then that his initial forays into creating music came in the form of rock bands (a hard-rock outfit called Breaking The Law of particular comic value).

Witness Wagons play and you’ll understand he was destined for a life in the limelight. His profile leaking off stages and into the wider cultural consciousness through his recent forays into media reinforces this. Armed with a solid base knowledge of music handed down by parents he describes as “open-minded and supportive” of his pursuits, there is no question in his mind that he’s following the good path. “My Nan always talks to me about how she wants me to give up music and get a real job,” he says. “I go and visit her every week when I’m in town. She says, ‘Doing music makes you tired.’ I think doing five gigs in five days is nothing like working in a television factory like she did five days a week. I get the feeling she would’ve had to’ve coped with more industrial strength noise and more hard labour than I do, so five gigs in five days doesn’t bother me. It’s a pretty cruisy job. “Being in front of the camera, I get a very similar creative rush as I do on stage. It sort of stretches the same muscles, having to do stuff on the fly and play with words, it’s all exciting stuff. But music is my passion and my number one go-to for stretching the creative muscles. When it comes down to it I’m just an attention-seeking only child, so by any means [if] I can get people looking at me and giving me their attention, I’m happy for it.” Equal to the providence that saw Señor Wagons return to his instrument, his entry into the realm of the pastoral stemmed from circumstance rather than design: “Wagons [the band] came along at a pivotal moment,” he continues. “I only knew about five or six guitar chords and my drummer gave me an American Recordings Johnny Cash record. I was reading a Cormac McCarthy novel at the time and had just seen Dead Man, the Johnny Depp/Jim Jarmusch film at the cinema. That combination, that triad is what made me make some fucked-up country music.

“I never really thought about it, at the time it was just a fun thing to do, but ever since it’s had this weird kind of momentum which has accelerated over the last couple of years. It’s always had enough of a gathering snowball effect to keep going for the ten years I’ve been playing in the band.”

This snowballing has forced the Wagons machine from the comfort of their inner-city environs and thrust them into the countryside – forcing them to front up with their selfdeprecating brand of alternative country in the beating heart of the scene. It brings about some interesting questions in terms of audience: who is it that listens to Wagons? On what levels are listeners engaging with the earnestness of some of the songs, while rolling with the relative comedy of others? And, most importantly, how can they be sure when the joking’s done and the “real” country’s begun?

“In the early days of Wagons, the most country we’d get would be a suburban barbeque – we didn’t swing too far from a foccacia and a latte,” he concedes. “Because we were so Melbourne-centric, there were concerns that what we did wouldn’t really translate. But I found that with each new frontier there’s more similarities than differences. There’s an odd similarity in playing in the country and playing in town. Sure, after 2am differences start to emerge but ultimately what it comes down to is a bunch of people getting together on a Saturday night that like watching live music and getting pissed, who are in for a good time and if there’s a band there that can deliver it, then they will have a good time. “The further out of the capital cities we go, there’s a higher likelihood of having an amazing night. In the capital cities, whether in Australia or in the US, you pretty much know how it’s going to go: you’ll be playing in a civilised bar, sure there’ll be a couple of shit-faced people but you pretty much know how they’re gonna behave. When you get out into the sticks, there’s always a bit of an edge to it, you never know quite how it’s going to go. It can be really fun and an amazing time or it can be an absolute heartbreaking nightmare where everyone is just crumbled and cruel. Either way it leads to an amazing evening.” This attitude in conjunction with the self-assuredness of the show plays no small part in winning listeners over from urban clubs to festival stages and country halls. To have the balls to remove yourself from your comforts and “put out” in strange environments agrees with the universal concept of fortune befriending the bold. There’s something very human about testing yourself, pushing the bounds of

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According to HENRY WAGONS, country folk and their citydwelling cousins are but one and the same. SAMSON MCDOUGALL gets the low down. Photos by Kane Hibberd. what’s attainable for those brazen enough to dare; Wagons encapsulates and translates these concepts with precision. “Everyone in the band likes, as Dave Graney calls it, ‘rude music,’” he continues. “It doesn’t mean swearing or violence, but music that isn’t timid or mild-mannered. Whether it’s Si [‘the Philanthropist’ Francis]’s passion for brutal hip hop or Mark [Dawson]’s love of Otis Redding, everyone in the band likes big and brash music, so we like to put on a big show. It can be a surprise when people turn up to their corner bar and get a bunch a dickheads pretending like they’re headlining Woodstock, [but] it’s entertaining and it more or less works.” These non-elitist beliefs that anyone can have a crack; that if you love it, you should chase it; and that the reward should be weighed in the connection with audience and the energy that brings, play a large part in what sets Wagons apart. Their appeal is broad: making everyman music with a sense of humour and self-derision. It’s a very Australian concept, and it seems the further they stray from the capital cities, the further they are prepared, and expected, to push the envelope into the “rude.” “There’s some kind of parallel universe between Bunbury, Western Australia, and some shitty bar in New York or London,” he continues. “It’s the same guy with long curly hair and a trench coat that doesn’t really say much but comes up and talks to you in a quiet voice after the show and you think, ‘I talked to that guy eight years ago at a bar in Brunswick.’ It’s a parallel existence that these creative people and music lovers have, and I’m coming up against it and enjoying the company of these people wherever I go. I was originally worried about when I’d tease the crowd or berate someone or make fun of some things, but the further out you go, the more people love to hang shit on their friends. I don’t think I can control what I do enough to change it from place to place. I can’t help but be a smart-arse.”

WHO: Wagons WHAT: Rumble, Shake & Tumble (Spunk) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 16 July, Forum

MOPPING IT UP BY SAMSON MCDOUGALL The first time I met Henry Wagons was during a messy afternoon at Bluesfest last year. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never remember, just another drunk bloke getting his tea towel signed (me, not him), but it was my 33rd birthday and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d made my entire cohort of festival-goers get there early for Wagonsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; first-up performance. Anyway, once Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d selected my towel from the merch stand, I staggered up to the signing table, somehow communicated that it was in fact my special day and had my signings penned accordingly. I told Mr Wagons this story after interviewing him a couple of weeks ago and he bid me follow him back to his inner-northern address where he did present me a brand new Wagons tea towel â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this one sporting a bearded lady on the front. It got me to thinking as to the origins of the tea towel and their - fairly recent - arrival on the scene as band merch. While admitting theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d pretty much stolen the idea from The Drones (another merch towel I have in my third drawer), Wagons have certainly embraced the concept whole-heartedly with three designs already in circulation. I jogged home to find out more. The three merch towels I found in the kitchen were of the aforementioned Wagons and Drones varietals, with a third sporting The Dirty Threeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s moniker and Mick Turnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artwork. All three are strikingly working class bands so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not surprising really that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d avail the merch consumer with a variation on a usable household item. The history of the tea towel is similarly working class, with servants in the 1700s being charged with the creation and maintenance of the things to aid in the serving of fine Chinese drinking products. Of particular interest to this story was the formation in Ireland of the

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at this point we return to Mr Wagons (Elvis-lover) and the gift with which he bestowed me. At the very least the incorporation of the usable item as merch (as opposed to the usual dust collectors and ill-fitting tees) is worthy of praise in itself. Hoorah! But more than this, innovative bands like those listed above can be at least partially credited with the elevation of the tea towel to thing of beauty again. For this reason, the new one will not enter the regular cycle of spill mopping and similar such abuse at my house. This one goes straight on the wall.

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A fellow Briton, Roisin McCourt, recently found a tea stain resembling the face of Christ on a humble towel in her home. Though she was delighted to bring a little zest back to the common tea towel (and presumably some pizazz to her life), McCourtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neighbours were not so enthused â&#x20AC;&#x201C; some suggesting the stain looked more like Elvis Presley than the Son of God.

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SHOCK HORROR JEREMY WILLIAMS catches up with MIAMI HORROR’s BENJAMIN PLANT before he ups roots (boom boom).

t could be argued that Melbourne’s psychedelic foursome Miami Horror have in essence already started to say farewell to their home country, with their success overseas ensuring that instead of a face-to-face chat, I am communicating with the electro-popstrels via email. Though as we “speak” they are plying their trade in London, their visit to Europe is brief in comparison to what lies ahead. Rather than suffering a Southern Hemisphere winter, the boys have wisely opted to spend the next few months basking in the summer sunshine of LA. But, before you get too green-eyed, the boys insist that far from the trip being an extended holiday, they will be using their time wisely, both performing and writing new material. Synth God and Miami Horror founder Benjamin Plant explains, “I’m probably excited about the ‘so long’, purely because we’ve toured Australia so much that now it’s time to go and work on some new stuff. I’m always very excited about writing and producing. “We’ve been doing a lot in US and EU, but it still requires some more shows to really start building a

solid fan base.” While he concedes that their success overseas - which has so far seen them wow at South By South West as well as capture the imagination of H&M (who regularly play material from the group’s debut album Illumination across its numerous European stores) - has meant that they have had to say hello and wave goodbye to their homes several times over the past year, this extended break seems far more momentous than past escapades. Rather than fleeting visits, or a life on the road, they have determined a new base and in doing so, they feel like they should be “saying farewell because we’re leaving to LA for both the iconic Californian experience and also some inspiration for writing.” With their impending tour taking in five states, Miami Horror intend to whisper au revoir in style. Though fairly tight-lipped about what tricks they have up their sleeves, Plant is willing to give a few pointers. Promising “it will also be the first time we play nearly every song off the album,” the show is a must for anyone who has been left intoxicated by their hypnotic beats. Conceding that “these shows will mean a lot to us. In a way this is really the ‘Album Tour’ for us,” Plant is clearly aware of the double-edged sword of success when he adds: “And probably our final Australian shows for a long time.” Though he would be foolish to not embrace the exciting times that lie ahead, he is intent on ensuring that his home fans feel far from forgotten. Suddenly seeming far more open in his approach to details (or as open as an email conversation allows for distinction in tone), he reveals, “We are hoping to have a surprise guest at the Melbourne and Sydney shows. We plan to have an exciting light show also,” before closing with the summary that it will all be, “just more elaborate than usual.” With all the acclaim surrounding what in essence started as just another boy with big dreams, it seems that Plant is getting far from carried with the success of his creation. Having started his musical journey as just another music blogger unleashing his remarkable remixes to an unsuspecting public, Plant was determined that his musical potential would not be realised solely as a faceless remixer. Instead, he started his own compositions, with his 2008 EP Bravado garnering positive attention and praise. Noting that there was further promise from his project, Plant ultimately enlisted the helping hands of current bandmates Josh Moriarty, Aaron Shanahan and Daniel Whitechurch and hit the road. Far from wanting success solely as a producer, Plant relished the opportunity to rework his material for the live forum.

“

...this is really the “Album Tour” for us.”

With the new line-up proving a success, the next step was an obvious one, but one that Plant is undeniably proud of having achieved. Clearly still digesting his own accomplishments, he is concise when it comes to detailing his proudest achievement to date: “Finally finishing and releasing an album. After years of dreaming about the possibility, to finally have an album that we’re proud of is the biggest step I definitely imagined and hoped for it, we just never knew how far it would actually go.” Though many musicians feign nonchalance about their hopes for commercial and critical acclaim, Plant is refreshingly honest in his approach to detailing his own dreams. Though unable to fully explain the secret to the group’s international appeal, he is able to make the following suggestion, “Most of my personal influences were European, so in my mind I was making more European-influenced music than Australian and figured that it was more likely to be liked there than somewhere like America.” Though he may have dreamed often of this success, that does not mean he is about to take it all for granted. Noting his privileged position, he points out, “We are extremely lucky to have this chance.” Success never comes without a cost. Miami Horror are currently riding the wave, but Illumination would have been far from a success without the hard work put in by Plant and his pals. “I put so much work into the first album to make sure it was the best it could possibly be at that point.” While many may have high expectations of the material that is to be written on their winter/summer jaunt, Plant is far from worried about external anticipation. Plant reveals that post-Illumination, “I feel a sense of relief and actually a little less pressure, I also think new work will come together a lot quicker and less pressure might actually make the process faster. It’s really interesting though, how once you reach a certain level you are immediately looking to the next. I think we’ll take the next album slow and won’t release anything unless we really feel it’s good.” But before taking Illumination overseas, the album will also get its turn to say so long. With four hit singles (Sometimes, Moon Theory, I Look To You and Holidays) having already been spawned from their debut album, the boys will unleash a fifth single to be lifted from the record before heading overseas. While not trying to rub their impending trip too harshly in the faces of their woolly warmer-clad home fans, Summersun is aptly titled given their home base for the next few months. However, Plant insists that the title was not the sole reason for its selection as single number five. He notes, “Well, that was the track we agreed had the most single potential out of the rest of the album. We’d already done four singles so far and the label was looking for a fifth. Since we wanted to push something before our final farewell it made perfect sense.”

WHO: Miami Horror WHAT: Summersun Tour WHEN & WHERE: Wednesday (tonight), Karova Lounge (Ballarat); Saturday 9 July, Forum

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STATES OF MIND CHRISTIAN BLAND of Austin psych merchants THE BLACK ANGELS tells SAMSON MCDOUGALL about reteaching Roky Erikson his own songs.

hristian Bland of psychedelic rockers The Black Angels is not one to complain about the pressures and drags of being a touring musician. As we speak he’s excited to be gearing up for a flight to Spain, which will see his band playing Primavera Sound festival for the first time. Though strangers to Spain, The Black Angels are no strangers to festivals. Hailing from Austin, Texas – home of the annual industry showcase South By Southwest – The Black Angels have played, amongst others, no less than two All Tomorrow’s Parties festivals, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and SXSW. It’s unsurprising really, given the natural association of the festival psyche and psychedelic music in general, but Bland puts the band’s natural leanings to festival stages down to a commonality of mind between musicians and audience. “It’s great because they’re big gatherings,” he says. “When you have a big gathering of like-minded people it makes it all the more powerful. All Tomorrow’s Parties, they’re really awesome, something we’re really into. We played at the one in Camber Sands England, which is like a beach holiday place that’s abandoned the rest

of the year, and we played the one in Kutsher’s in upper-state New York, which is an old country club and straight out of The Twilight Zone.” In moving from Florida to Austin in 2002, Bland set himself the task of finding the right people, in what he believed to be the right place, to form a band. Initially hooking up with childhood friend Alex Maas, the pair experimented with upwards of thirty local musicians over two years before discovering Stephanie Bailey. With the benefits of hindsight the process obviously paid dividends, but Bland maintains that he had faith in the quality of the town to relinquish the players he was looking for, eventually. “After living here for about two months I got in touch with Alex,” Bland continues. “We’d grown up together since I was about 11, so we’d done all sorts of creative stuff but never played music together. It was two years before we finally found Stephanie and once she joined it really started to take off. “There’s a band playing every night of the week here so when we’re home we’re always goin’ downtown and checking out friends’ bands. There’s a real good thing happening here right now. There’s a lot of music that’s up my alley right here in Austin. SXSW has a major influence. When our friends’ bands come down for SXSW they always say, ‘Man, we’re movin’ to Austin’. They get the bug.” With access to a huge range of local and international artists in Austin every March, Bland decided it would make sense to hold a celebration of the psychedelic acts that were visiting. Thus a new festival, Psych Fest Austin, was spawned and, as Bland explains, what started as an excuse to hang out with their touring friends and other like-minded musicians rapidly grew into a three-day extravaganza of all things psychedelic. “It’s continually grown,” he says. “We started Psych Fest the weekend before SXSW in March 2008. The idea was first to see which of our friend’s bands were coming for SXSW and ask them if they could come a couple of days early and play at our festival. The first one was just a Saturday then the next year it grew into three days. We’ve started to fly bands in who are leaving before SXSW. This last year we did it at this old abandoned power plant here in Austin and it was really awesome. It was maybe double the capacity of the last year. It’s just been a gathering of all of our friends and is really one of my favourite times of year these days.” Bland credits his initial interest in psychedelic music with his first experience of hearing the space-age ‘60s-inspired jams of Brian Jonestown Massacre. “Once I discovered them,” he continues, “it opened doors to discovering bands like The Warlocks or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – they were the centre point for where it started for me. I started playing guitar when I was like, 21 or something and they just inspired me. My Mum and Dad listened to the oldies’ stations when I was young and that’s the music I fell in love with. So when I heard Brian Jonestown Massacre, they sounded like that old stuff in the modern day and I just thought, ‘Man, I wanna be a part of that.’”

“

the oldies’ stations... that’s the music I fell in love with.”

Sharing a stage with BJM’s Anton Newcombe in 2006 was an obvious highlight for a band that have, through extensive touring and festival appearances, been allowed to rub shoulders with many of their heroes and contemporaries. In playing as the backing band in 2008 for legendary psych God Roky Erikson though, The Black Angels were to not only able to fulfil a dream of supporting one of the band’s biggest influences, but also play an integral role in Erikson revisiting a painful yet incredibly productive and influential period of his life. “One of the reasons I wanted to move to Austin was [Erikson’s former band] 13th Floor Elevators,” Bland continues. “Getting to play with him was surreal, it was crazy. Alex and I had seen him play a couple of times around Austin and after we saw him we’d say, ‘Man, I wish he’d just played a couple more 13th Floor Elevators’ songs.’ So when we got to back him as a band our goal was to get him to do the first five songs off their first album.” Bland explains that though Erikson would regularly perform some of these songs, they figured the others were too painful for him to revisit. What they discovered when practising with Erikson prior to their shows, were far more pragmatic reasons for him avoiding the material. “I didn’t know if he’d like to revisit that time of his life because it was rough,” Bland continues. “That was when they were taking all the LSD and he got caught with one marijuana joint and they were gonna throw him in jail for a long time, like five years, or he could go to the mental institute for like two years. So he went to the metal institute and they gave him electro-shock therapy. It really screwed him up. It’s crazy: for one joint - what a waste. “We realised that the reason he didn’t do [the songs] was that he didn’t remember how to play them. So we invited him over to our house and Nate Ryan and I would sit down with an acoustic guitar, a music stand and the words in front of him and reteach him his songs. It was pretty challenging at first because he was so frustrated that he couldn’t remember the songs but he just kept plugging away at it. We knew that in the recesses of his mind he must’ve known them because he’s sung them hundreds of times. Eventually it just started to click and he was playing them, and lo and behold we got to do the first five songs of the album while we were playing with him in his backing band.”

WHO: The Black Angels WHAT: Phosphene Dream (Blue Horizon/Warner) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Hi-Fi

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CIRCLE OF FRIENDS Guitarist EDD GIBSON tells BRYGET CHRISFIELD that the FRIENDLY FIRES live show has been known to coax crowd members out of their wheelchairs. He also pitches a “global ban on filming gigs.” Back To Earth.” Does this mean Friendly Fires “acquired” this instrument so that the track can be re-created faithfully live? “I couldn’t possibly comment,” Gibson teases. We’ll just have to look out for it during their forthcoming Australian tour then. “Yeah, yeah,” he encourages. “We’ve filed off the serial number. They’ll never trace it... We used lots of wind-up toys in Pala as well, so we could get a really clicky sort of wind-up sound and also a camera as a percussion thing as well.” Was there a monkey with a miniature cymbal? “Um, I don’t think so, no. Hot Chip cornered that one.”

On his band’s recent activities, Friendly Fires guitarist Edd Gibson shares, “We nipped over to Spain to do a video for our single Hawaiian Air – to try and catch some sunshine and recreate Hawaii without the actual cost of the plane ticket. It’s been a bit of a heatwave for us over in the UK and Spain is pretty grey, so it was pretty disheartening to be honest.” After waiting the appropriate length of time for the sun to break through the stubborn clouds, Gibson says the crew decided, “We’re just gonna have to play along with it and hope that people are like, ‘Oh maybe Hawaii is quite cloudy, I s’pose.’” Surely the lads are sporting Hawaiian shirts in the clip. “I think Ed [Macfarlane, frontman] has a particularly lovely Hawaiian shirt that he’s busted out,” Gibson admits. Macfarlane modelled a rather fetching Hawaiian shirt at a recent NME covershoot. Is this the garment of which Gibson speaks? “Um, I reckon. Sort of red?” Is it fairly fitted, like a bodyshirt? Gibson proceeds cautiously, “I dunno, I dunno about the barbed comments.” But, once reassured this was meant as a compliment, he concedes, “Oh, okay.” But while we’re on Macfarlane, the singer/keyboardist would be undefeated in any dance-off with onstage gyrations that make him an honorary member of the invertebrate family. Which raises the question: Do Gibson and drummer Jack Savidge have any nicknames for specific Macfarlane

moves, like Axl Rose’s famous snake dance? “No we don’t, actually,” Gibson chuckles. “I think at first we wanted to shy away from really slandering him in case he stopped doing it, you know. It would be a shame for it to go away. But I think as it becomes more and more a staple part of the set, we need to start putting it under the microscope and making him feel quite conscious about it all.” During Friendly Fires’ recent Good Vibrations appearances, this scribe reported Macfarlane’s trademark moves thus: “He sways from side to side like a bored caged galah on its perch and appears simultaneously horny and spastic.” We wouldn’t want to curb his enthusiasm, that’s for sure. “Exactly, that’s the problem,” the guitarist agrees goodnaturedly. “So maybe we’ll just do it behind his back.” When Friendly Fires began recording their second album, Pala, it was in a “grotty studio” in East London. “The one good thing about it,” Gibson recalls, “[was] it had this little box of toys and percussion instruments and stuff, and there was a little drum that I’m gonna have to try and describe now: it’s very small and you just kind of roll it between your hands and it’s got these beaters on strings that spin around and make a really fast, beating sound – sort of like a kid’s version of an African instrument, I don’t know what the actual name is.” This fab find was “used all over Pull Me

Friendly Fires have definitely challenged themselves on Pala and explored different compositional tools. Gibson explains that a couple of tracks saw the trio employing a technique he muses is “a little bit maybe how a hip hop producer would go about making an instrumental”. “[Hurting] was one of the few tracks where we experimented with cutting up whole sections of other songs and, like, sampling basically the whole band sound – rather than just one instrument playing – and then [we] cut that up to make an actual phrase or hook. And that was our first foray into MPC [Media Player Classic]... It’s that Tom Tom Clubstyle synth lead line and then, once we had this backing track that sounded grand in itself, we just had fun putting the icing on the cake. Blue Cassette has a total sample sound to it as well, but I think that’s about it, really.” Gibson is amused by the prospect of submitting beats to hip hop artists before identifying a Friendly Fires-approved producer. “I guess we always found Timbaland pretty intriguing as a producer, because he made fantastic songs from bizarre sounds – taking a few more leftfield audio bits to make them up rather than just your standard synthesisers that everyone would go to before. He kind of slows down and also picks some very odd rhythms that you wouldn’t expect from pop music.” Sounds like the Friendly Fires ethos of incorporating exotic rhythms such as samba, bossa nova and calypso. When this parallel is pointed out to Gibson, he agrees wholeheartedly, “Yeah, yeah, totally, yeah! But then he went a bit rubbish as well [laughs].” As firm festival favourites, Friendly Fires must have seen some wacky shit from the stage. “I saw a wheelchair – someone who had their leg in plaster in Japan, in the audience, get up and hop along to Paris. That was pretty cool. It just felt like being a faith healer or something.” Perhaps Gibson was hallucinating. “It did happen,” he assures. “You just sort of think, ‘Oh fuck, what’s

A MAN IN FULL and a bong and then do all these covers that I did. They’d say, ‘Why don’t you do your own thing?’ So, I just started doing my own raps, and it all eventuated from there.” As for the moniker Bias B, Stevens is quick to explain that its roots won’t be found in politics or commentary – more in self-promotion. “They were the graffiti days, when everyone was trying to tag to get up,” he explains. The idea of writing one’s name everywhere in order to get noticed struck a chord with Stevens, who saw an even better opportunity in the favoured audio media of the era. “Back in about ’87, ’86, all the cassette tapes would have ‘High Bias’ or ‘Low Bias’ written on them,” he says, adding that it gave him the idea for the name. “I thought that if every time someone picks up a cassette, they’d see my name,” he laughs, adding, “I thought of getting up and getting famous without doing anything. Then, because my initials are AS, that fitted as well. And everyone called me B. It just became Bias B.”

It’s no surprise, then, that his recent decision to announce his retirement from hip hop has sent shock waves throughout the scene, especially coming in the wake of Biaslife, his highly accomplished fifth solo album. While the news has come as something of a shock to many, the man the bank calls Adam Stevens is happy with the idea that Biaslife will be his final solo record. “I think I’ve done all I needed to do and all I needed to say, and I’m sort of

For aspiring Friendly Fires stage invaders, Gibson specifies “it can be good if there’s loadsa people. We’ve been invaded by one person, which is appalling. It’s really sad, one person pogoing onstage with you, it just looks miserable. ‘Either everyone else get up here or we’re gonna have to give you five seconds and then you’ll be chucked off’,” he warns. The guitarist also encourages FF fans to leave their videoing devices at home. “I hate people that are just sticking a camera up for an entire show,” he bemoans. “I’m just thinking, ‘Why are you here? What are you doing buying a ticket? Get involved!’ It’s a pain in the arse. We did a show in Buenos Aires and we were really hyped to be in Argentina actually, playing down there, and so many people were filming it that halfway through I think Ed did say, ‘Right, hold on, let’s just actually have a good show together. You can enjoy it right now rather than watch it back on YouTube later.’” We’ve all been there. Watching an entire show through someone else’s viewfinder and witnessing the crappy footage as it’s being recorded. “Yeah, but thank God the sound quality’s gonna be second to none,” Gibson jokes. Does the fact that the first experience fans have of hearing new material is often via amateur recordings on YouTube bother Gibson? “I dunno,” he ponders. “It is annoying, but you can’t be too precious about it ‘cause it’s gonna happen either way. I think when we started playing these new songs we were over in America and someone filmed the entire set the second time we were playing these new songs out, they were on YouTube and people were watching them, but thankfully we’d sort of found our stride and were doing them fairly well by then. It’s quite nerve-wracking, yeah – that being everyone’s introduction to your record when you’re still finding your feet with it and still writing it as well. “We played a show in Tokyo and they have quite a strict ‘no camera’ policy, or ‘no video’ policy. So perhaps if that was introduced across the world as a global ban on filming gigs?” Amen to that.

WHO: Friendly Fires WHAT: Pala (XL Recordings) WHEN & WHERE: Friday 29 July, Billboard; Sunday 31 July, Splendour In The Grass, Woodfordia

boring if I have the same concept for every track.”

For over twenty years BIAS B has been a driving force of the Australian hip hop industry – now he’s calling it a day. He Speaks to ALEKSIA BARRON.

ias B is a pillar of the Australian hip hop scene. It’s a statement that few would be brave enough to dispute. He carved out a place for the Aussie accent in rap; he presented the infamous Wordburner on RRR FM; almost everyone will have bought a hip hop CD from him over the counter at Obese Records. Even Urthboy recently took to Facebook to wax lyrical about the impact that the release of Bias B’s debut album Beezwax, arguably the first notable Australian hip hop album released on CD, had on him and on the hip hop community.

happening? He might go down in a minute and the other [leg]’ll be in plaster as well!’ But he pulled it off for the entire song. It was impressive.” Well don’t they make casts out of ‘plaster of Paris’, geddit? “Ahaha-HEY!” Gibson is a good sport and laughs heartily at this dad joke.

happy with where I am,” he explains, on the phone from the Queensland leg of his final tour. “I was happy with the last album – I think it’d be a good one to go out on. “Hip hop’s been the main thing for thirteen years – that’s all I’ve done,” Stevens says, and he certainly has a point. It’s an obsession that started in the mid-‘80s, where the young Stevens became entranced by graffiti. “My brother had done a graffiti outline that said ‘hot’, and so I wanted to do one too, so I did one that said, ‘cool’.” It was an introduction to an entire subculture. “Guys around my neighbourhood were doing the same thing, and I started listening to the music they were listening to, and one thing led to another.” At first, Stevens didn’t take his own musical efforts too seriously. “I used to make up covers of other people’s songs, sort of a joke,” he says. While he wasn’t particularly invested in his own talents, the people he was hanging out with certainly recognised his potential. “Every time we went to the park and stuff, I’d do a hundred cones

Beezwax was released in 1998; the infamous Boney & Stoney collaboration emerged the following year. Over the dozen years that followed, Stevens was on the front line of Australian hip hop as it grew from a niche underground scene to the commercial force it’s becoming now. However, when asked about the best memories of his hip hop career, it’s not winning the 2000 Big Day Out MC competition or the Revolver MC Championship that come to his mind. It’s something much simpler. “It’s the live performing when you’re doing a show,” he says, a little wistfully. “I’d say it’s maybe one out of every ten or twenty shows where you’re actually up there on stage, the sound’s perfect, the crowd’s feeding off you, everything just going right, and you’re just standing there going, ‘This is what it’s all for’. When I think of the highlights, that’s always the first thing that comes to mind.” It’s this sort of passion for music that formed the backbone of Biaslife, an album that contains a lot of positivity and no small dose of reflection. “The original concept was that the entire [album] was going to be that I’m talking about hip hop, but I’m talking about it as if it’s my girlfriend, or my relationship with the world,” explains Stevens. “That’s sort of how In Love With The Music and Melbourne City came out. Then I thought, it’s going to end up a bit

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While he may have traded in the original concept for the album, Stevens retained the positivity that inspired his latest tracks. “I’m not angry enough to be making angry music,” he says frankly. “At the time when I wrote In Love with the Music, it was September and the sun was coming out.” Contented with life, he focussed on creating tracks that celebrated hip hop. “Just something that’s nice, something my kids could listen to. I’m not really angry anymore, I don’t hang out with angry people.” However, while much of the experience of putting Biaslife together was positive, Stevens was also acutely aware of the downside. “It was definitely a hard album to make, this one,” he admits. “While I was making it, I was thinking that I’ve spent so much time away from my family doing it.” With youngsters at home, he questioned whether he was right to be putting so much of himself into an album, instead of being with his family – and the fact that the recording process wasn’t going smoothly wasn’t helping. “So many things just stressed me out. There wasn’t one facet of the thing that didn’t go wrong – the recording, the artwork, the mixing. I just felt like I’m getting too old for it.” So, Bias B is retiring. “A couple of days ago, there was another stressful thing, and I just thought, ‘I don’t want to go through this anymore’. It’s time for me to bite the bullet and just cut that off and move on, to whatever that may be.” He willingly admits that it’s the people he’s met along the way that have made it all worthwhile. “The main thing I’ve got from it is the family I’ve got from it. That’s the most important thing I’ve got from this music – the people I have with me for life,” he says. Stevens also leaves behind a legacy – after all, he’s been instrumental in the growth of Australian hip hop, and he’s proud of the scene he’s ready to leave. “Last year, I was watching Mantra on stage,” he recalls. “I was watching this guy going, ‘this guy is incredible.’ I feel like it’s a part of me, that I’ve helped lead this path to where he is now. I had tears in my eyes. It was incredible. I feel like I had some sort of hand in that happening.”

WHO: Bias B WHAT: Biaslife (Wordburner) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Corner Hotel

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FREEDOM OF SPEECH Texan provocateur MICAH P. HINSON chats with NICK ARGYRIOU about the American Dream, blacklisting and a debilitating back condition. laden recordings and bold production will shine through via a metaphysical guise. “Sometimes when I play it might be me or a four-piece or it might be a string section, it all depends on finances. Like, I had some friends in [UK band] The Earlies, which was an 11-piece band, and they completely failed and crumbled because they came to America just to play SXSW and it cost them $40,000!” he exclaims. “You can’t do that! You’re not Mariah fucking Carey or fucking Katy Perry and shit [laughs] so the key rule for me is that if I can play one instrument like the guitar or piano and sing and embody the recordings, everything will work out all right, so for this Australian tour it’s just me and my songs,” he beams. Hinson is already working on his sixth original record in the space of seven years. Add to this a novella written some eight years ago that has been recently published in Spain, Hinson is also fighting to clear his name in the US after being, he feels, severely taken out of context in the press about his political stance. But that’s the risk he runs for being so forthright. “The novella is called You Can Dress Me Up But You Can’t Take Me Out, written when I was livin’ in Denton, Texas. It’s 180 pages or something with very short chapters and the story is about a man who you slowly watch disintegrate and turn into a boy as you read the book – and not a boy who becomes like smaller and younger but more in the spiritual sense... The Spanish are publishing it but not in the States because this bullshit came out in interviews about my apparent politics,” claims Hinson.

“I’m livin’ the American Dream, man, because although I don’t make a fuckload of money I’m able to make the records I want and that I love to do... I don’t bend down to record labels and so everything I do lays directly on my shoulders,” opens US musician Micah P. Hinson, dragging back on a cigarette at his place in Austin, Texas. Never an artist to pull back on opinion - any opinion that is, whether it concerns politics, religion or whatever - Hinson is a 30-year-old who sings like a gruff 75-year-old and one who, without constant medication for a severe back ailment, would move about like a 90-year-old. But you couldn’t meet a more upbeat, outspoken and confident captain who just adores a good natter. “I don’t think my back problem is ever gonna be fixed because the doctors really have no idea what the actual

problem is other than the fact that I don’t have a disc in the lower part,” Hinson explains. “So they just load me up on massive quantities of drugs and I have a patch of a drug called fentanyl which is approximately 100 times stronger than fucking morphine – it’s so strong man, it makes me sick – it gives me the sickness quite a bit man, and I’m also on muscle relaxants and also Xanax so I’ve been medicated consistently for a long time now, but to be honest I don’t think it will ever get fixed and you know what? I don’t particularly mind drugs as long as there’s a reason,” he laughs. Touring Australia on the back (no pun intended) of the 2010 slow burn spectacular that is Micah P. Hinson And The Pioneer Saboteurs, Hinson will fly solo due to rising touring costs, but assures Inpress that the essence of his string-

The bullshit he refers to is a pair of mid-2010 articles in The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit where, among other things, Hinson was quoted referring to President Obama as “the murderer of the American Dream”, and that he and his wife were pro-Bush, while another interview had him a referring to the President as a “fucking fascist motherfucker”. Ouch. “This fucking swamp-crawler threw me under the fucking bus and from that the people in Spain – around that time they were going around America through LA, New York and San Francisco trying to push the book – and Lawrence Ferlinghetti who started City Lights (Publishing House) in San Francisco, who published Bukowski, Kerouac and Ginsberg, refused to read my manuscript based off my apparent political views. So the way I figure it is that if Lawrence fucking Ferlinghetti won’t read it I don’t think anybody will!” he claims. While he stands by many of the quotes, Hinson still feels as though his political views were not documented word-

THE FRESHEST THIEVES A move to San Francisco from Washington DC is giving THIEVERY CORPORATION’s ROB GARZA a fresh outlook, discovers GUIDO FARNELL. and the National Security agency. We feel it is becoming a very fear-based society when it comes to news in terms of what people are focused on. It’s a fear of websites you visit and how much information is collected about you when you visit Facebook and Google. Ultimately, it is about being afraid of terrorism and watching this propel us into wars where people don’t really know exactly why they are necessary. It’s also about the loss of civil liberties and privacy and of course ultimately it is about control. It seems that a lot of it is about conditioning people to relinquish some of their personal freedom. I mean how important is it for people to throw their toothpaste out at LAX? It seems kind of ridiculous but it is more about getting people used to answering to authority,” suggests Garza as I start to contemplate toothpaste bombs. Thievery Corporation’s political state of mind can be attributed to the fact that they hail from Washington DC and have the opportunity to observe the machinations around them. “Being from DC we are very frustrated by what we see going around us,” he continues. “People outside DC don’t really see or know what’s happening and why it has to happen. If you are talking the World Bank and loans or the Pentagon and war, just being here gives you a window into what’s going on even though we are not really a part of it all. You can go to different parts of the States and see that people are focused on different things. If you go to Los Angeles people are thinking about the media and the entertainment. DC offers a whole other universe and being there we have been able to look into that universe.”

Since the mid-nineties Thievery Corporation, comprised of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, have been throwing down some of the some of the smoothest slow motion grooves designed to anesthetize and get listeners deep into a comfortably numb state of mind. Later this month the duo will unleash their sixth studio album Culture Of Fear ahead of an appearance at Splendour in the Grass and the usual round of sideshows. Despite the ominous title that suggests a nineties-styled downward spiralling freak-out into paranoia, set to riot starting Prodigy-esque breaks, Culture Of Fear represents no change of direction

for the lads who again work the chilled bossa, dub and cinematic atmospherics while slipping world influences into the mix. As ever, the lounge on Eighteenth Street has to be the most relaxed place on the face of the planet. On the phone from his home in the States, Rob Garza reflects on this ‘culture of fear’, which he feels has become more visible since 9/11. “Living in the States it is something which has become noticeably in your face every day,” asserts Garza. “More and more we hear stories about the Transport Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security

Garza agrees that the mood has become more optimistic in the States since a new President was installed into the White House but he isn’t convinced that the President is necessarily capable of effecting change. “It is great to see the mood of the country become more optimistic since he got elected,” he says. “As a society people can at least see that you are not prevented from becoming the President because of your race and culture. However, it is very difficult to be the President of the United States without having to bow down to all the people who put you there and gave you all the money needed to campaign. There is no way you can really be a person that can transcend all those other interests. I’m not really convinced that the President is in a position of power in the way that people might think of it.” These days Garza resides in San Francisco with his partner

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for-word and thus he has been tainted as an American traitor. It’s obviously not the place to be in these tense social and political times. The man understands the quandary he’s found himself in and is attempting to rectify the issue, but concedes that it is a losing battle. “It’s very strange nowadays because for years it seems like in America that ‘artists’ are supposed to be generally against the man or against the machine and all this stuff, but nowadays if you speak up against the machine, people think you are crazy. So, sadly, if you want to keep your head, man, you can’t really have an opinion, and I feel like that is a really sad state of affairs,” he laments. You have to admire the artist for giving his insights, and at the end of the day Hinson is as patriotic as the next American, but the performer just wants change and a better life for his fellow countrymen. He’s chasing down a new direction based on the brave new world that his idol poet, the illustrious Walt Whitman, documented in 1865 about the great Westward expansion. The opening verses of Whitman’s Pioneers! O Pioneers! present like a call to arms on the inner sleeve of Hinson’s latest record, the aptly titled Micah P. Hinson And The Pioneer Saboteurs. He’s putting himself out there and is prepared to cop the fallout, just as long as you quote him in the right light and context. Part of the Whitman ode concludes this piece and sums up Hinson’s attitude to a tee: Come my tan-faced children, / Follow well in order, get your weapons ready, / Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes? / Pioneers! O pioneers! / For we cannot tarry here, / We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, / We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, / Pioneers! O pioneers! / O you youths, Western youths, / So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship, / Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost, / Pioneers! O pioneers! / Have the elder races halted? Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas? / We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson, / Pioneers! O pioneers! / All the past we leave behind, / We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world, / Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march, / Pioneers! O pioneers!

WHO: Micah P. Hinson WHAT: Micah P. Hinson And The Pioneer Saboteurs (Other Tongues/Full Time Hobby) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Toff in Town

and child and on all accounts is enjoying the move to the bayside. “Being here is a nice change of pace. People here are focused on a lot of different things than they are in DC. I find everyone so open-minded in terms of their thinking about a broad range of things from tech to health and art. I am enjoying soaking up all of it up.” The conversation starts to swing to their new album which was inspired by the title track that sees Mr Lif’s raps and rhymes talking up all this politics. “It is kind of strange because we were not really intending to make this album. It is something that just happened. We are actually in the process of making another album that will come out early next year. The title track Culture of Fear didn’t really fit with the rest of the material on this album which is sounding very slow, feminine and cinematic. It has a kind of has a sixties soundtrack bossa vibe. So we thought that Culture of Fear should be featured on an EP to be released ahead of the album. It’s strange, but as we worked on the EP it quickly evolved into a full-length album in its own right,” says Garza who is a little shy about talking about the downtempo treats in store for us next year. As Garza prepares to bring Thievery Corporation down to Australia as a big band experience, I am surprised to see that his musical partner in crime Eric Hilton won’t be touring with him this time. “Eric has a lot going on and I have a lot going on at the moment. Lately we have been trading off on who does what. It’s also gotten to the point where each of us can direct the show and both of us don’t particularly have to be there,” explains Garza. Although Hilton’s activities have been diversifying with a restaurant called Marvin that sounds like a shrine to his hero Marvin Gaye and a gallery called Montserrat House, Garza is quick to remind me that in essence Thievery Corporation is still largely about the two of them messing about in the studio, “It’s usually always about just me and Eric in the studio cutting up beats and sampling bits and pieces, so there is still a very electronic component to our music. As we have progressed we have definitely recruited a lot more instrumentalists to play on our records but it’s only when we hit the road and are surrounded by all the musicians that we travel with that it feels that we have become something of a band.” WHO: Thievery Corporation WHAT: Culture Of Fear WHEN & WHERE: Friday 29 to Sunday 31 July, Splendour In The Grass, Woodfordia; Tuesday 2 August, Palace Theatre

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SINGLED OUT BY CLEM BASTOW

ON THE RECORD

LATEST CD REVIEWS

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

MONA MONA Island/Universal

THE LADYBUG TRANSISTOR CLUTCHING STEMS Lost & Lonesome

SINGLE TWIN MARCUS TEAGUE Remote Control

THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS FOR YOU AND ME Independent

Nashville, Tennessee has the ability to surprise most when it comes to music offerings. The Country Music Hall of Fame, the honkytonk bars of Broadway and the Grand Ol’ Opry give visitors, and generalists in general, the appearance that unless you rock a flannel shirt and cowboy boots, and sing about your baby, your pick-up truck and your whiskey, then you’re not gonna cut it in the town they call Music City.

Some bands are easy to take for granted. Brooklyn’s The Ladybug Transistor has been releasing solid albums of textured, timeless pop since the mid-1990s. They’ve long been associated with both Merge Records and the Elephant 6 collective, and yet still they’re primarily a cult concern. That’s true in their native US as well as here in Australia, where singer/mainstay Gary Olson is a frequent visitor and collaborator.

Local lad Marcus Teague has been around for a little while now, fronting the late Deloris since the 1990s. After forging an honest living with that band, he is finally releasing his debut solo album under the guise of Single Twin. It is a thoughtful record, sparse and haunting, and has that distinctive “Melbourne” sound, reflecting the mood of our city’s winter months.

In terms of presser jargon, I’m not sure exactly what “rollicking surfabilly blues” is, but if it’s whatever The Fearless Vampire Killers serve up for For You And Me, then I, for one, welcome our new rollicking surfabilly blues overlords. Yes, you could say it’s selfconsciously in thrall to that whole Toerag Studios thing that was big in 2004 or so, but there’s nothing wrong with a ‘60s garage (sorry, surfabilly blues) rave-up when it’s as intoxicating as this.

But you’d be wrong. At various times Kings Of Leon, Jack White and, umm, Ke$ha, all called Nashville home, and now please welcome to the stage Mona. Bred of the same stadium rock brand as their Nashvillian brethren Kings of Leon, they have delivered a debut record full of massive rock anthems, and, God bless ‘em, they’ve got their eyes on the big time.

Clutching Stems is the band’s seventh album, and as immaculate and melancholy as expected. These songs sound wintry even without glancing at the album cover, sinking deeply into introverted, 1960s-inspired songwriting. Classic ‘60s bands like The Zombies and The Left Banke remain a key influence, from the cosy orchestral arrangements to the frosty guitar twang to Olson’s soft singing. But there’s also something of The Go-Betweens in tunes like Breaking Up On The Beat and the unrushed closer Life Less True. Caught Don’t Walk is a bit more Burt Bacharach, while the reverbed Fallen & Falling sounds like something Jeremy Jay – or even Lost & Lonesome label mate Fred Astereo – would muster.

DARREN HAYES TALK TALK TALK Mercury/Universal Even though the bulk of his output tends to be slightly chintzy inspirational dance pop – like this – I’ll always have a soft spot for Darren Hayes. Pop!ular (irrita!ting punct!uation asi!de) was quite simply one of the greatest dissertations on fame from within the fame machine, so it serves as a sort of amnesty for whenever he releases something like Talk Talk Talk, which sounds like it was tailor-made for on-hold music.

GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS LET IT ROCK EMI Look, let’s face it: Bad To The Bone was fun, but most of the rest of Thorogood’s back catalogue was the sort of relentless boogie rock that makes you grit your teeth and cry quietly for deliverance. Well SURPRISE, his cover of Let It Rock is pretty much exactly that! Even the guitar solo is a bit shit – it sounds like I used to sound when I’d convince my guitar teacher to let me try the My Sharona solo on my Squier – isn’t this guy supposed to be a noted axeslinger? What gives, music?

Led by singer/songwriter Nick Brown, three of the fourpiece cut their chops through their churches, growing up in households where secular music was frowned against. Now, unrestrained from the confines of the church, Brown’s lyrics are designed for an audience wider than his congregation. In fact, it is the album’s weakness, in that in revelling in the massive sound that the band puts together, the lyrical content often leaves a bit to be desired – “Come on now won’t you listen to your lover” times five (Listen To Your Lover). Nick Brown is clearly a visionary – he produced the album, the band created their own record label, and his drip-feeding of tunes to the band’s MySpace site ensures a sense of mystique. For fans of KoL, Stereophonics and U2, Mona (named after Brown’s grandmother, FYI) are sure to impress. They’ve been kicking goals all over the world, and the next couple of months see them hit our shores, playing Splendour In The Grass and a bunch of sideshows.

You can probably tell from those influences whether or not you’ll like this record. It’s pop through and through, spanning the bookish lyrics of Hey Jack I’m On Fire to the light-stepping organ of Into The Strait. The standout is Oh Cristina, which neatly references both Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart and Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart as part of its story. This kind of well-studied pop has been done plenty before, and yet here it’s still so sad and sweet, affecting and effective. Doug Wallen

Recorded in his home over the course of a number of years, the acoustic arrangements that make up Marcus Teague showcase a talented lyricist, and a competent musician. Teague has, after all, been honing his talent for the best part of two decades. For newcomers, the perfect opportunity to discover one of Melbourne’s – and Australia’s – undervalued artists is here in this album. If there is a detraction from the album, it’s that for the most part, it lacks a great deal of variation. Wandering seems a tragic tale set against a backdrop of skyscrapers – “As the mushroom cloud rolled on down/ Through the tall buildings/Got on my bike and rode/But then got blown with the wind” – could very well be an ode to the Black Saturday fires, and there are also a couple of instrumental tracks thrown in for good measure, but it is probably a good thing that the album winds up when it does, to avoid becoming too repetitive. The flip side is that the album’s construction allows for focus on Teague’s lyrics. To fully appreciate Single Twin, Teague and this album (yes I realise that the title of the album is confusing, just go with it), put on your headphones. Walk outside your door, hear the tram rattle past and watch the people hurry off to work. Marcus Teague is the soundtrack to the scene, a reflective record for our city by the Yarra River. Dylan Stewart

Not bad for a few boys who call Nashville home. Dylan Stewart

SHEA FISHER WHAT HE DID TO ME ABC Music There’s good country, and then there’s the sort of “YOU GO GIRL!” country that sends me into a deep depression; this is the latter. Yes, unfortunately for our country music cowgirl, and even despite the presence of a key change, there’s nothing much about Shea Fisher’s latest effort (“Gonna show the wo-hurled, what he di-id to meeee-heee!”) that distracts from the fact that this would have felt a bit stale if Faith Hill had released it in 2002.

ED SHEERAN THE A-TEAM Warner I really wish people would retire the phrase “buckets of soul”; go on, just put it in the box with “fiercely independent”, to the left, to the left. Ed Sheeran’s apparently got it (i.e. aforementioned buckets), but as far as I can tell, he’s one of those new young serious insects, singing about young women ruined by drugs – “It’s too cold outside/For angels to fly” – and other hopelessly privileged male singer/songwriter hallmarks. Guys, it is possible to be taken seriously without coming up with this sort of tripe.

FELIX RIEBL WIDE OPEN RIVERS Independent So evidently Felix “Chello Chello” Riebl leaves the irritating accent behind when he’s not detailing the fascinating exploits of his band of merry men in The Cat Empire; Wide Open Rivers is damn near understated. Which is to say that it’s still pretty bland-o, but there are some occasionally nice America/The Wallflowers-esque slide guitar solos, and it’s all pretty inoffensive, and probably the sort of thing your mum might like for Christmas (if you don’t particularly like your mum).

AVENGED SEVENFOLD SO FAR AWAY Warner This is the worst. It’s a tribute song (about their late drummer), which is fine, but god, THE MUSIC. Who listens to this? What genre even is it? Aren’t these guys supposed to be heavy or something? The drums are tinny, the guitars are lame, the song is so boring it makes me long for the glory days of the Goo Goo Dolls. Even the cover artwork for So Far Away looks like the sort of deep masterpiece that Darryn in Year 11 would come up with while listening to Metallica at lunchtime.

NEIL YOUNG A TREASURE Reprise RICK MORANIS OVERDRIVE HONEY, I ATE THE KIDS 2 Week Punks If you think the band and album names constitute a piss take, wait until you hear the music. Ballarat singer/ guitarist George Hollick and drummer Gareth Harrison – the latter half of Ballarat’s breakout Yacht Club DJs – erupt with no-budget, blown-out, electro-lashed garagepunk that’s part joke, part shock tactics, and all party. Songs like Hey Bitch, Sup and Let’s Fight aren’t misogynist anthems but brash parodies of Australia’s violencebrewing nightlife, although good portions of the people being parodied probably won’t get the joke. But that’s always a risk for humour in music. Some reference points here would be The Death Set, early Beastie Boys, and Guitar Wolf. The songs are short, fast, loud, screamed, and quite happily headed for ruin. For variety’s sake there’s the surf-tinged Dog Steak, the falsetto-spiked Dancin’ To Cheap Trick, and the rockabilly interlude Reverse Cowboy. Budget electronics pin down Get Wasted, while Cuts & Bruises packs a bit more guitar chops in its first 30 seconds. That said, the likes of Relentless and Brain Damage are one-note and proud of it. The best song is Satan’s Bride, stronger and even catchier than the rest. Its refrain “Grit your teeth but it won’t help” makes a handy rallying cry. Other tunes are less successful. The sex-celebrating Fuck You To Fugazi is sure to send the band’s young audience Googling, whereas Let’s Fight starts as a mellow ballad with an exaggerated Aussie accent before piling on crude exchanges and too predictably launching into the same blown-out mode as every other song. It’s full of pub violence and dodgy come-ons, seeming to straddle the line between mocking and celebrating those things as if it can have it both ways. And maybe it can. Such pesky issues aside, this is brutally catchy stuff that’s very much of its time and place.

When David Geffen signed Neil Young in 1982 he bit off a little more than he could chew. Young’s Geffen years demonstrate an artist changing with the breeze. You have the awful, horribly misguided rockabilly of Everybody’s Rockin’, the ‘80s tainted Landing On Water, or the exceptional Trans – that sounds nothing like traditional Neil Young. By the time he got to Old Ways you’d think they would’ve breathed a sigh of relief. Nup, they ultimately sued him, and to be honest Old Ways was no Harvest. Yet in ‘84-’85, deep in legal disputes, he headed on the road with the International Harvesters, a grab bag of legendary country music artists including Spooner Oldham, Karl Himmel, Joe Allen and of course Ben Keith. Most of these tunes would end up on Old Ways, yet there are six that have never been released before, which is of course why we’re so breathless about these archives releases. There’s looseness to the playing here; it feels raw, fun, a contrast to the overly laboured Old Ways. So even the songs we already know feel lighter, freer than on album. It’s actually probably the most accomplished band that Neil has ever played with; all of them are Nashville alumni. The problem is that whilst the band makes most of the tunes sound passable, there are few Neil Young classics here. Southern Pacific from Re-ac-tor at eight odd minutes is like a train coming and sounds incredible with a banjo solo, whilst another run at Buffalo Springfield’s Flying On The Ground Is Wrong with the country folk sounds more lush, somehow more poignant with pedal steel. The best song on this set is a new one, Grey Riders, an almost six-minute dirge of squalling guitars that somehow makes sense with fiddle and organ, particularly when you consider Young’s pained wail while he throttles his guitar, suggesting more Crazy Horse than International Harvesters. It all sounds pretty great though; if you like your bluegrass, your honky tonk, and your Neil Young this is his 12 months’ escape from the hippies, from Geffen and probably from his former misguided 1980s infused selves, playing state fairs, rodeo arenas and loving it. Bob Baker Fish

Doug Wallen

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BLACK LIPS ARABIA MOUNTAIN V2/Shock Black Lips have always struggled to turn their incendiary live performances into a stellar recording. There have been near misses, most notably 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil, and the majority of their output has hinted at the energetic maelstrom at their core. However many thought that any effort made to harness their inner demon and put it to tape was like catching lightning in a bottle. But Arabia Mountain may have achieved this monumental feat, and in the weirdest fashion possible – by cleaning themselves up, courtesy of the savvy stylings of producer Mark Ronson (with the aid of Deerhunter’s Locket Pundt). Sure, the album is fairly lo-fi, and the standard Black Lips garage stereotypes remain, but the strained efforts to rip the roof off the tracks on display has disappeared, replaced here with confidence and verve that helps preserve the inner energy that coalesces within. There are silly, bizarre tracks – You Keep On Running, which sounds like it’s been written in a haunted playground, and Peter Parker’s lament in Spidey’s Curse, ending in a bizarre stoner backchat radio conversation, are the pick of these – but it’s the crunchier tracks that impress. The added accoutrements heighten rather than hinder the results – the fat saxophone on the dark, sexy Mad Dog, the slack-jawed delivery of Mr Driver, and most notably the harmonised whistling on Raw Meat helping to raise the Ramones’ easy structure into another, altogether euphoric realm. With the garage rock movement coming along in massive waves, with the bands at the height of the zeitgeist realising the strength in creating tracks with longevity and muscle over throwaway grit and bluster, Arabia Mountain has raised Black Lips to the summit as the first full formed stars of the genre. And I never thought I’d say this – but thank you, Mr Ronson... thank you. Brendan Telford

ON THE RECORD

LATEST CD REVIEWS

THE ELLIS COLLECTIVE MEANS WHAT IT MEANS Longhaul Records

TES LA ROK THEM Noppa Records

Set Your Goals BURNING AT BOTH ENDS Epitaph

MEMORY TAPES PLAYER PIANO Pod/Inertia

For every Art Vs Science abomination that has been made a household name through triple j Unearthed, there is an utter find dug up from the thousands of bands who have thrown their songs into the ether ring. The Ellis Collective is one of those diamonds. The Canberra group’s debut album sounds dug up directly from the earth around us, seemingly encapsulating the Australian landscape through their provoking sonics.

Them, the first full-length album release from Helsinki dubstep DJ/producer Tes La Rok, takes on a very different feel to anything we’ve heard from this man before, with a much darker vibe underscoring the heavy dubstep beats this time around. Album opener Invasion intros the new direction, with a very minimalist sound leading into a faster, deeper sound in the second half of the track. The other-wordly vibe is sustained throughout all 13 tracks of the album, even if the techno feel of the title track ruptures the flow three tunes in.

This is the album the punk scene was crying out for. Whilst their peers were raging on the government or wallowing in self important melodrama, Set Your Goals bucked the trend and wrote an album filled with praise, poise and, above all, positivity.

When Dayve Hawk started posting jams via his blog under the alternating handles Weird Tapes, Memory Cassette and Memory Tapes (names essentially surmising his musical past, present, and future), he did so anonymously: no bio, no photo, no name. Where Hawk was, actually, a stay-athome-dad from rural New Jersey with notable musical history in Philadelphia slick-pop bros Hail Social, the public absence of this narrative allowed unalloyed interpretation of his jams; and, in turn, these mysterious MP3s of Memory were perceived as exemplars of a brand new, blog-born movement that, sadly, we’re now stuck calling ‘chillwave’. Though beachy jams like Memory Cassette’s Surfin’ will forever be seeds of budding-genre genesis, in reality Hawk didn’t share the same cultural touch-stones – Panda Bear, Ariel Pink, degraded cassettes, ‘80s fetishism, faded instamatic photos – as the other chillwavers. You can hear it, with crystal clarity, on the second Memory Tapes LP, Player Piano, which plays less like some tape-wobbling work of deadbeat summer, more like some eerie, cold, creepy, intensely-trebly ‘10s approximation of blue-eyed soul. Sure, Humming is a piece of fluttering process music (influenced, note, by Aphex Twin, not Ariel Pink), but for the most part Player Piano plays it straight. Its guitars glimmer and glide, its armies of keyboard instruments – synth and organ and optigan – are shiny and bright, its drums – both programmed and played – are kept 4/4 tight. And its tunes are built around verse/chorus structures that routinely build to crescendos: Hawk’s high, high voice carolling in multi-tracked delight on Worries and Wait In The Dark and This Is Our Life. Here, Hawk’s history is inescapable; the proud pop-songs recalling less the nostalgia of chillwavia, more the neon-coloured synth mania of Hail Social’s all-offour-years-ago 2007 LP, Modern Love & Death; the seeming disconnect between prior project and new no occurring phenomena for anyone with their own memory.

A big part of this is because of Sam King. Lyrically, he leaves nothing in his heart, pouring his blood and emotion all over Means What It Means. The bruised, reflective and patriotically poetic storytelling of the frontman is constantly cutting, fragile yet completely relatable. Lines like, “Nothing says ‘hey girl, I’m thinking of you’, like when I’m going through your phone” (Overblown), or “Just like the shit in these cigarettes that won’t let me stop” (Don’t Go) are delivered with the heart of a struggler and the charm of a millionaire. It’s certainly not a pretty voice. But like Gareth Liddiard or Nick Cave, it’s attractive in the ugliest of ways, like an arrogant prick of a man the pretty girls all seem to fawn over. However there are more than enough rich, heartwarming moments within the textured roots and riverbank country to make this release a real tender record with a personality unto its own. The banjo and mandolin seem to be plucked with just the right amount of pressure, the violins and cellos sweeping in to lift you off your feet at the perfect plateau within the songs. It’s doubtful a band as talented as The Ellis Collective would remain a stranger for too long. But already on their first introductions, this group seems like the oldest of friends. Benny Doyle

Fortunately the section that follows is the highlight of the Them experience. You And I is satisfyingly fast and heavy, exhibiting a maturity of sound that speaks of experience beyond the realms of a debut release. The standout comes a few tracks later with Malfunction, which incorporates a distinct hip hop sound that really draws you in to the story Tes La Rok is telling. The final three tracks return to a pure dubstep feel, full of heavy basslines and reverberating drum patterns. Closing track From The Shadows is not as heavy as any of the others, leaving the album fading to a close – a slight disappointment after the careful build-up of the preceding tracks, but finishing with a distinctly dark, foreboding feel certainly works. Despite finishing with a whimper and not a bang, the well-considered structure of Them and infectious beats it contains make it a satisfying listen – and one which is noticeably difficult to turn off. Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Cure For Apathy starts the album with an affirmation of the band’s ambitions and the luxuries afforded to them as touring musicians. Continuing the standard of 2009’s This Will Be The Death Of Us, the song not only sets the standard for what is to come, but raises the bar on the pseudo pop/punk revival. Product Of The 80’s, as the name alludes, is filled with youthful nostalgia and a song that so many will relate to. Sounding like The Cars meets Green Day, it’s audacious and cheeky, and an exclamation mark on a jubilant record. Closing number Not As Bad is about throwing caution to the wind. Musically it does the same. As an epilogue and the slowest song on the record it’s also the most dynamic and reveals another dimension to the band. Be it playing live or recording, this six-piece from San Francisco loves what they do and it certainly shows. A constant energy saturates the album and as a listener, you can’t help but get caught up in it. Their pop sensibilities rival any band rising the charts and the use of two stand alone singers compound choruses to colossal proportions, making them the act to watch at the Soundwave Revolution festival later in the year A band with nothing to prove, Set Your Goals have done so anyway. Commercial success can be fickle and fruitless but Burning At Both Ends could very well be this decade’s answer to Dude Ranch. Brendan Hitchens

Anthony Carew

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the studio and used his vocals. We wrote another track a few weeks ago called Without Sound, which we added to the album. Essentially the album went from 11 tracks to 12 tracks with the extra vocalist being added. It was difficult second album but we are very proud of this album.

JEREMY WILLIAMS discovers DECLAN MCLAUGHLIN’s secrets to JAPANESE POPSTARS’ continuing success – including bringing in the vocal ring-ins. daytime jobs and focus on their music careers instead. While the move may have seen their childhood dreams come true, it nonetheless means that McLaughlin has more than a little work laid out in front of him to ensure long-term success. With a series of shows in the pipeline to promote album number two, Controlling Your Allegiance, he admits he has a bit of a busy day ahead, but also many a reason to be pleased to get up and get on with it. “I have a few DJ mixes to sort out,” he continues, “then I have to pop to Gower Studios in Belfast, which is about 80 miles away. We are organising our live show for the weekend.” As our conversation soon drifts from their ability in the live forum, we switch focus to the trials and tribulations of expectations, both internal and external, of a follow-up album. Having struggled, McLaughlin is clearly pleased to have reached the light at the end of this long tunnel. “They always say difficult album number two,” he says. “And yes, it was a difficult album number two.” Rather strangely, given the runaway success of We Just Are, the band found that the lack of non-musical distractions made the task of writing an album of which they could be intensely proud far more challenging. Of the distinction he states, “Once we did start doing the music full time, we’d know there was nothing to hold us up. We spent two years writing the album and last year we signed to Virgin Records. We had about eleven tracks sitting there that we were confident that we wanted to put onto the record. When we signed with Virgin they wanted to build a profile and get a bit of a roll to what we were doing. We had another year between the album, so we put a bit more sparkle into the album and polished it all up. We had time to make sure we were happy with the tracks.

“I

am only just out of bed and having breakfast. It is still very early. I am sitting in the studio, I have everything switched on here and am ready for the day at least. My mind might not be but my body is.” The nine-hour time difference between Derry, Northern Ireland and Melbourne, Australia means that while I may be busying myself in the kitchen making a chickpea curry, Japanese Popstars’ Declan McLaughlin is tucking into his toast and contemplating the day that has only just dawned. However, far from being a moody morning person, the cheery chap is already multi-tasking ahead of a busy day. “Essentially we wrote our first album whilst we were

in full-time employment,” he says. “I worked in a callcentre, Gary was helping young kids with problems and Gareth was a trainer for British Telecom. We were basically bouncing from a weekend, Thursday, Friday and Saturday doing shows, back late Sunday night and into work Monday morning. We had to try write an album in between all of that. We always said to ourselves, if we ever get the opportunity to leave work, if we were successful enough, we’d start doing the music full time.” With Japanese Popstars having made more than a few waves with their 2008 multi-award winning debut album We Just Are, McLaughlin and his bandmates (Gary Curran and Gareth Donoghue) have been able to give up their

THREE WISHES

“It was difficult, it was one of these things. We had so many different deadlines. We thought that the album was coming out last year, so we crammed a lot into it. When the first album was written, a lot of the tracks were done within a few days. With the second album it was four or five months, especially as we’re working with vocalists and sending ideas back and forth.” With a lot of time on their hands to play around with their material, the boys found that they suddenly started tweaking in a manner they had never had the time to previously. In essence, without external pressures, they found that though their creativity was far from stilted, they suddenly had time on their hands to play in any way they wished. “We had Tom Smith,” McLaughlin continues, “from The Editors, come down in

Having said that – the fun thing – this is not to suggest that Here Come the Scissors is not a beautifully crafted set of songs. Even the loosest sounding and most jazz-inspired music on the record, track three Chop, for example, have serious thought put into them. “All of our tunes are really meticulously written and we know exactly what we’re going to play. These are usually the ones written by Ollie where he comes in and says ‘here guys, play this; it’s going to be hard but it’s going to be awesome’. It’s either that or we sort of jam out for twenty minutes and then go in and edit out the good bits, which I guess Chop was.” Given that The Cat Empire is, at minimum, a six-piece, recording as a three-piece must have been an extraordinarily different experience. Monro agrees

WHO: Japanese Popstars WHAT: Controlling Your Allegiance (Virgin)

that needs to be said in a pop song can usually be achieved in a very short time: an intriguing philosophy, to say the least, and one Inpress finds rings decidedly true in listening to Space Elevator. In discussing his short-songed worldview, Pulsford isn’t afraid to dwell on the things that don’t work, particularly in a live setting, and said contemplation results in positive outcomes.

“With The Cat Empire, there’s always pressure to make something that sounds like The Cat Empire. With The Genie, we didn’t really have any idea of what we were going to do and we just sort of did what we did and went from there. Yeah, every idea was a good one, pretty much, and we just let it go from there. If anyone had an idea we went with it. Either we didn’t have many ideas or we didn’t have any bad ones, I’m not sure.”

“It is way too much fun,” he says, “That might’ve been the problem with us not finishing it until now: we’d just been having too much fun adding more bits and dropping tracks and then trying again with ones we’d dropped. Yeah, we just kept going. We never really knew when to call it off. That’s one of the advantages of having deadlines, of having a record company telling you something has to be finished by a certain date. We didn’t have that here.”

Having contributed all the vocals themselves to their debut outing, did the boys ever get green eyed when they realised that their new material would not have their vocal signatures? Laughing, McLaughlin concedes, “We do feel left out. When you hear all these vocals you think I could do this, but you can’t. We loved working with these guys.”

THE LEAF’s MIKE PULSFORD talks to TONY MCMAHON about brevity and the art of reeling it back.

in hindsight, but says that it wasn’t really something the band was thinking all that much about.

“We had lots of ideas for tracks and as we developed them, we sort of guessed people we would want to sing on them.” With their album featuring everyone from The Cure’s Robert Smith to Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neal, it is clear that the boys were not backwards when it came to moving forwards. However, McLaughlin says their motivation couldn’t have been further than pretentious stars in the eyes. “We were pretty naïve, we looked at it as why not just ask. We are three Irish guys who have been brought up in a nice mannerly way of you don’t get anything if you don’t ask. We basically just reached out and hoped someone would come back. Everyone came back but David Bowie, but we don’t even know if he got the email. Our manager managed to get his personal details, but we don’t know if it was correct. We just didn’t hear anything back. Maybe next album we will have David Bowie on there, you never know.”

SHORT STUFF

Though comprising three members of the hugely popular The Cat Empire, THE GENIE gave themselves room to create their own thing. RYAN MONRO chats with TONY MCMAHON.

ore than five years in the making, Here Come the Scissors, the debut album from local outfit The Genie has been decidedly worth the wait. Made up of Ollie McGill, Ryan Monro and Will Hull-Brown, better known as members of The Cat Empire, this group makes infectious, important music variously billed as electronica (by iTunes), jazz (some schmo online) and dub/fusion/ seggae soup (by the band themselves). Inpress would call it simply way too much fun, and Monro agrees wholeheartedly.

“On the first album we did any vocals ourselves. We are not the best singers and we have awful Irish voices.” While album number one saw the trio skyrocket, between albums they had time to think about how they could raise their game. Also already noted, the trio turned a stream of external vocalists to add the extra layer to their compositions. With a clear awareness of their own vocal limitations, presented with a chance to raise their game, they knew immediately which element of their sound needed attention. “We knew if there was one thing we could change, we would ask somebody who was professional if they would like to sing. The first person we approached was Morgan Kibby from M83. We had the bones of Fight The Night, she sent back these amazing vocals that captured the essence. As soon as we’d heard what she had done, we knew this was the next level. These were the sort of people we wanted to work with.

When it comes to the difference between performing these songs live and in the studio, Monro offers some interesting insight into the factors that go into determining a song’s length. “We don’t really try to do everything that’s on the album live. We just don’t have enough hands. But all the tunes turn out slightly differently every time. Except Here Come the Scissors, that’s one we try to get pretty close to how it sounds on the record. We stretch it out a bit with a bit more of a keyboard solo. At the time we were recording it, we were sort of thinking ‘okay, cool, this is the radio song’, so we had to get it under three and a half minutes, but when we play it at a gig we don’t really have to do that.” Given this is the launch of The Genie’s debut album, and that this only ever occurs once in a band’s career, Monro says he and his bandmates thought long and hard about how to make it a truly special night. “Well, I’m not sure how serious this was, but we had this one idea of not actually playing anything off the album. That would have been a kind of interesting approach for an album launch. This is a pretty rare gig, just because it’s a lot harder to get everyone together to do a show. I don’t know, we haven’t figured it all out yet, we’ll probably play most of the album.”

WHO: The Genie WHAT: Here Come The Scissors (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: Thursday, Northcote Social Club

t’s not every day that one hears a debut EP as exhilarating or as refreshingly fun as local duo The Leafs’ Space Elevator. Positively sparkling with clever little riffs and terrifically accomplished songwriting, this writer is put in mind of the first time he heard legendary New Zealand band The Clean. There’s also more than a touch of The Pixies here, as well as shades of some of Syd Barrett or maybe Nick Drake’s more disturbing music, but always couched in a delicious pop aesthetic. Clocking in at just over 13 minutes and eight songs, Space Elevator hardly represents a big investment time-wise. On the other hand, though, it actually does, because this is a record one wants to hear over and over again. Vocalist and guitarist Mike Pulsford says that the short song thing was neither a conscious decision nor an organic process. “Something in between, I guess. It was more that we didn’t want to have anything unnecessary in there. We were especially impressed by some of The Pixies records or some My Bloody Valentine records where they’re playing stuff where things change a lot of the time in the riffs and the structure of the songs. You get this sense that they’re making their own decisions and that they have their own relationship with the music. It’s not, you know, ‘we need four bars of this and then we need four bars of that, then we need a chorus’. Sometimes a song can just be a first verse and that’s enough. Our longest song at the moment is about four, four and a half minutes. To us, that feels like Stairway To Heaven.” And the band are on record as stating that everything

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“One thing you can’t do, I suppose, is that you can’t get absorbed in something that short. You can’t loose yourself in it. You can’t do that thing where you just leave the last riff going for ages. One thing about us, I guess, is that because we’re so used to playing such short songs, it’s really easy for us to feel like we’re starting to bore people. So we do try to counter that by doing about half the set on an acoustic guitar and then the other half on an electric guitar with all the strings tuned to the same note. We also chop and change a little bit. We kind of start of slow and then build up to the more shouty songs, and then when we switch to the electric guitar, we start off slow again. That seems to work. It seems to make people feel it’s not just a bunch of disconnected moments.” For the very special occasion of a band’s debut record launch, Pulsford takes the delightful position that punters who like his band’s music are simply friends he hasn’t met yet, thus speaking volumes about him personally and the music that he makes. “It’s just about gathering all our friends together in one place, and I suppose there are probably friends of our music that we haven’t met yet. That’s the main thing about it for us, especially since you only ever get to do one debut record, so there’s something extra special about that. It’s like a 21st birthday party. And we’re really lucky to have Darren Sylvester come out of hiding. He’s been locked away writing his new album, but he agreed to come out and play with us. That’s really special for us because we really love his stuff.”

WHO: The Leafs WHAT: Space Elevator (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Empress

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THIS WEEK IN

ARTS

KING OF THE PARTIES WEDNESDAY 29

SUNDAY 3

Inside Job / The Social Network — interesting pairing, Astor! We see what you did there. Double feature about the 2008 financial crisis, and then about Facebook. Astor Theatre, 7:30pm.

Charlie Chaplin double — back-toback screenings of Chaplin classics, The Gold Rush and Modern Times. Astor Theatre, 7pm. The More-Bang-For-Your-Buck Burlesque Show! — weekly free show of burlesque to help end your weekend. Red Bennies, 7pm.

THURSDAY 30 Blak Side Story — a multi-media exhibition exploring contemporary Aboriginal identity and traditional stories from the communities to Melbourne’s West. Opening night, 6pm. Footscray Arts Centre until 28 August. The Burlesque Hour Loves Melbourne — the global smash hit, legendary burlesque-eats-its-young salon that has set critics raving and 60,000 audience members around the world in raptures comes home at last, with a nine-week love letter to its home town; The Burlesque Hour Loves Melbourne. Melbourne icons unzipped, unveiled and unleashed! Tonight’s featured act: Pamela Rabe. 7pm. (Repeats tomorrow night.) Fortyfivedownstairs until 7 August. Howl / Certified Copy — perfect datenight double bill with James Franco as Allen Ginsberg and Tuscany sharing the screen with Juliette Binoche. Swoon x2. Astor Theatre, 7:30pm. Storm Large: Crazy Enough — a love song to the missteps and horrendous mistakes we all make in life and how sometimes, your deepest darkest fears can be where you find your greatest gifts. Get deep and dangerous with cabaret’s punk pin-up girl. Red Bennies, 8pm.

FRIDAY 1 Shimmy Shake — co-producers Dolores Daiquiri and Sapphira of the Australian Burlesque Festival have joined forces with a monthly night of Burly-Q. Featuring sassy chorus line showgirls, opulent classic tease, burlesque, sultry showtunes, and old world glamour. Red Bennies, 8pm. Cinema Fiasco — really, really bad sci–fi “horror” (in this case, The Green Slime) made even worse (better?) by the Dynamic Duo’s live–in–the–theatre commentary. Astor Theatre, 8pm.

MONDAY 4 Scott Pilgrim vs The World / Kick-Ass — the double feature that was asking to happen. Astor Theatre, 7:30pm.

ONGOING The Gift — a witty examination of our modern moral confusions. Sadie and Ed meet Martin and Chloë at a holiday resort and instantly hit it off, despite coming from completely different worlds. When Martin saves Ed’s life, everyone knows the debt can never be properly repaid. But Ed is rich and Chloë and Martin have a need so great it seems divine providence when Ed, wanting to show his gratitude, gives the young couple a year to decide on an appropriate gift. Yet when the year is up, surely Chloë and Martin’s wish is something no-one could possibly grant? Sumner Theatre, MTC until 9 July. The Joy Of Text — literary theory may seem harmless, but mix it with the impish personality of Danny, a precocious high school student, and the result is not deconstruction but sheer devastation. When a certain controversial book falls into his hands, it’s time to create his own provocative meta-narrative. As his actions send the school into chaos, he learns that, although the author is dead and meaning lacks foundation, the real world has no time for irony. Set against a backdrop of staffroom politics, The Joy Of Text is a bitingly intelligent comedy on the nature of satire, the subjectivity of truth and the knife edge of studentteacher relations. Fairfax Studio, MTC until 23 July. Reg Mombassa: Coloured In — exhibition of landscape paintings in the artist’s imitable style. Fortyfivedownstairs until 9 July.

VINCENT MOON HAS MADE A NAME FOR HIMSELF WITH HIS TAKE AWAY SHOWS, CAPTURING BANDS IN INTIMATE ENVIRONMENTS. AND THEN HE MADE A FILM FOR ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES. ANTHONY CAREW TALKS TO THE FILMMAKER. “The idea of watching a movie where a band perform on stage just didn’t make sense; what a fucked-up society we live in that would even do that!” If you’ve ever wasted — or, moreso, spent treasured — hours at French internet hub La Blogothèque, watching their widely-imitated Take Away Shows, music-video mastermind Vincent Moon is exactly as you’d expect. Full of enthusiasm and excitement, bristling with a kind of contagious energy; the kind of dude who could convince Grizzly Bear to play in a toilet, Phoenix to busk for tourists by the Eiffel Tower, and the Arcade Fire to cram into an elevator and re-interpret their stadium-sized bombast with experimental, ad-hoc percussion. Thirty one-year-old Mathieu Saura is the Frenchman who, in many ways, started a revolution: his ‘one shot’ takes of bands singing on streets going against the expensive visual-porn of music videos and the utter artistic inertia of the carefully-choreographed ‘live in concert’ video. Under his influence, the internet is now alive

with thousands of videos of artists performing in natural environs — or even radio studios — shot in single takes; the upshot being, finally, that after years of flailing at Budokan, videos of music have now found a state where they actually tap into the spirit of making, creating, and being amongst sound. “For me, just the very idea of the ‘concert movie’ was so wrong,” says Saura, via Skype from Brazil. “I remember five or six years ago trying really hard to find good movies about music. And I found a few things, but mostly there was just nothing. Just truly, truly boring stuff: here is what happened at this show. I didn’t want that in a movie, a representation of a show, I wanted something that for me could capture that feeling of being there in a different way, not so literal. To do that would need to develop its own specific language, something beyond just explaining what happened. That’s the whole problem: at the best shows, you don’t even know what happened; you’re just there, in the middle of the crowd, engulfed in the noise. You

TALE OF SINBAD COMES TO PENINSULA CINEMAS TV director Karl Zwicky (Cops LAC, City Homicide, McLeod’s Daughters) takes an irrerevent look at the tale of Sinbad the sailor in Sinbad & The Minotaur, which, yes, also boasts the mythical beast. With Spartacus: Blood And Sand star Manu Bennett as the titular Sinbad in search of the long lost gold of the gods. (There is no mention of the Minotaur in the official plost synopsis, but it is present on the poster.) Madefor-TV, the film is getting a limited theatrical release, screening for a week at Rosebud Cinema and Sorrento Cinemas. Head to peninsulacinemas. com.au for more information.

don’t take a close-up look at how the guitarist plays that chord. So, I had all those ideas in my mind five years ago, when I started filming music.” Inspired in part by the experimental Fred Frith road-movie Step Across The Border and, well, thousands of years of musical performance in natural environments, sans stages and amplification, Saura set out go “back to a more pure place” in the outdoors. And, in rebellion against the frenetic barrages of MTV and blockbuster cinema, there was to be not a single edit. “I remember being obsessed with the idea of having one camera, no cuts,” Saura explains. “Because when you watch music — just like when you do anything in life — you don’t cut. There are no edits in your life! It’s all one, long, continuous view. When you’re at a show, if you want to get a better view, you don’t cut, you have to move; and that moment is beautiful, when you’re moving through the crowd, changing the perspective. So, if you want to shoot films like you were there, you can’t cut. Even if there’s just one cut, the magic of ‘I’m watching something as it’s actually happening, I’m really there’ just instantly disappears.” Moon’s revolution meant that he was soon conscripted to work in more ‘traditional’ forms; making concert movies for REM, Arcade Fire, Mogwai, and Health. Each found him having to hedge on his own aesthetic preferences; for a guy who once had pledged to never film someone on stage, doing so wasn’t joyous. “I didn’t really love doing it that much,” he says. “The only film like that I really liked was the one I did with Health, which was me just running around on stage, with one camera. I certainly wasn’t trying to move towards making more traditional concert movies, I was doing all my own things on the side.”

The latest ‘thing’ for Saura is less simple project than whole artistic existence. Since January 2009, the filmmaker has been essentially homeless; a ‘nomad’ wandering the world, making videos as he’s gone. He’s still doing odd Take Away Shows and more long-form projects with bands like The Luyas and Efterklang, but his main focus is Pétites Planetes, attempts to understand whole cultures through performances of traditional folk-songs. Thus, he’s travelled through Iceland, Spain, Egypt, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil making videos, working with one camera and a laptop. “Six years ago,” Saura recalls, “when we started having really small and powerful computers and cameras, I remember thinking: ‘wow, this is amazing, in a few years you may have a guy living on the road and making films’. I was waiting to see what this guy would do, and, in the end, I ended up being that guy.” Saura’s work seems ripe for some kind of local cinematic season or festival retrospective; his first-ever arrival on Melbourne cinema screens is via some footage hatcheted up in the mosaic motion-picture portrait of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival. Amidst the more standard musical mayhem, you can see his quiet genius at work: shooting Grizzly Moon walking along the beach, A Hawk & A Hacksaw amidst poker-machines, and interviewing musicians as they walk through crowds. True to his ambition, he has greater plans than just being in this ATP movie. “At the end of the day I was handing over all my footage to [Warp films], when I wanted to make my own films,” Saura says. “We’re still going to do that; we’re going to go on Kickstarter and ask for money to make these separate 50-minute films on, like, four or five ATPs. It’s the story of each festival though the eyes of one musician, following them through the whole festival. I’m really excited about doing those.” Long may that excitement live. WHAT: All Tomorrow’s Parties (Warp/Inertia) WHERE & WHEN: Screening at Cinema Nova now

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THE MENSTRUUM

34: THE MERRY WIDOWER BY ROBERT LUKINS A certain hideous freedom comes with being the subject of tragedy. The house lights have gone, the conductor has waived his arms high from the pit to a cascade of applause, and that mythical royal purple curtain of velvet is rising like a shot to the roof. It is the 371st occasion of this, of the Australian Ballet’s production of The Merry Widow, and by the state of the gorgeously anachronistic Chaplinesque chap returning slow and late to his seat in front, I’m figuring he’s borne dozy-witness to at least a couple of hundred of them. This performance will be everything that is right about this group of

FRAGMENTED FISH

dancers; the near-Classical form: sincerity, precision, sexless voyeurism, and false moustaches. Principle Robert Curran saunters out to sung praise and wooed-cheers, and I think of The Fonz stepping through the front door to the Cunningham’s living room in Happy Days. It was strange, the catcalling Henry Winkler could elicit from that faceless crowd — stranger still the similar ovation regularly granted to each Flintstones episode’s first sighting of our boy, Fred. How, exactly, did that live studio audience work? Snapping back, I realise: that I’ve missed a scene, that abruptly ditching coffee from my diet has left me in a remarkable waking sleep, and that Curran is a true marvel. He is the centre of this ballet company, and if he were to grande cabriole under a tram tomorrow, a great and unconquerable vacuum would appear centre of stage.

Ahead, the story unfolds. We are in the Pontevedrian Embassy, Paris, 1905, and I am slipping in and out. Baron Zeta and his much younger French wife Valencienne are blowing up at the news of our eponymous widow and her hunt for a new bloke. The acts roll on and the costumes and grandeur are amazing. Flash — something like Cossack dancers — tall kicks and knickers of can-can girls — an unfortunate snog in a backyard shed. The caffeine I haven’t imbibed over the last seven days suddenly rises above and around me in a galactic swirl. I am the supermassive black hole, I am the centre of a brown and sparkling Milky Way. I see stars and think awful thoughts. Who hasn’t fantasised about the freedom that would play widow to a great loss? If a proper, real catastrophe were to befall me, I could finally give up and rest. If my mind or my world crashed to pieces, I would have all the glare of expectation removed. Part of me craves so much the Universal Excuse. We could submit, and perfectly sleep. An ecstatic roar! And back; our star lady is now truly merry, the curtain dropped, our troupe bowing and accepting flowers, the room now standing in gratitude, a wind made from clapped hands. The fact that we simply continue is a human and miraculous thing. We could all resign, right now, but mostly, we do not. We choose to expect things of ourselves — to persist, we choose to bloody well dance.

butchers there was silky smooth white boy soul, tripped out boogies, and wacky songs about diseases. Genres were putty in their hands, but they came from a very wrong place. It’s a point taken up by Hank Shteamer in his 33 1/3 book on the album.

XXX

WITH BOB BAKER FISH These days there’s a cottage industry resurrecting not just the glories but also the social and technical inspirations behind your favourite albums. Whether it’s Ashley Kahn’s exhaustive book on the creation of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, or the overly technical Recording The Beatles, which details the knobs on the faders on the panel that they used at Abbey Road, it seems like we’re desperately trying to get in touch with the magic behind the music. But what if this analysis wasn’t about such elusive long past icons? What if it was about the band that signed your bong the first time they played at the Evelyn? What if it was about a band who inhaled copious amounts

of Scotch Guard to record one of their albums that they named after the fly infected shack they were living in at the time? And what if it was about an album that totally turned your understanding of music on its head? My first contact with Ween’s 1994 Chocolate And Cheese album was via the clip to the track I Can’t Put My Finger On It which features a couple of Lebanese butchers angrily waving their machetes. At the time my ears were still tainted by their one bona fide hit from their previous album, Push The Little Daisies, so needless to say I was more than a little wary. When I brought the album home the musical dexterity, the humour, the sheer inventiveness of the music was a revelation. More than faux Lebanese

He charts their development from an obnoxious band that most hated, through the four-track stoner antics that landed them a major label deal, and finally Chocolate And Cheese, an album he views as a transition record, a link to their later more lush work, a move away from a drum machine and a duo to a live band and a force to be reckoned with. He goes into detail about each song, listing where it comes from through interviews with the band and assorted randoms like Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age). It’s also not afraid to stretch; producer Andrew Weiss equates The HIV Song with Neil Young’s Rockin’ In The Free World, which is pretty amazing for a song with just two words, ‘Aids’ and ‘HIV’. It was also their first digitally recorded album, in a rented space in an industrial estate; filled with stinking rubbish, empty beer bottles, and noise wars with their dentist neighbour. He tells the story behind the infamous cover and the booze filled binge that produced the screams you can hear in the background to Candi. He talks of Ween folklore, the Boognish, being brown and ponies. In short he provides this album the kind of respect and analysis that a great and lasting album like Chocolate And Cheese richly deserves.

ST MARTINS YOUTH ARTS CENTRE PRESENTS

“I’m on a boat in the middle of a dark ocean. There are thousands of people on this boat. But none of them speak the same language as me.” St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Irene Mitchell Studio 44 St Martins Lane, South Yarra, 3141

7, 8 and 9 July 7.30pm ( Matinee 3pm July 9) 9 July 7.30 PM Auslan Interpreted / Audio Described performance TICKETS: $20 Adults, $12 Concession and $10 for St Martins member. Group and Education Discounts Apply

BOOK ONLINE AT www.stmartinsyouth.com.au 37

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FILM

CAREW

WITH ANTHONY CAREW

SMASHING GOOD YARNS THE IRRESPONSIBLE SERVICE OF COMEDY IS ABOUT TO PLUMB NEW DEPTHS AS CHIEF PISSHEAD SIMON KECK MISLEADS A BUNCH OF HIS FELLOW COMICS ON A NIGHT OF DRUNKEN STORYTELLING. PAUL RANSOM CATCHES UP FOR A PRE-SHOW DRINK AND A FEW TALES FROM MY LIVER. Some things are obvious; even when you’re pissed. Just ask comedian Simon Keck, whose alcohol themed night of stand-up, Tales From My Liver makes its tottering debut this week at Madame Brussel’s. An evening of ‘pissed’ yarns seems like a great comedy idea waiting to happen. It makes you wonder why it hasn’t already been done to death. “I just love those really obvious things,” Keck says. “It’s like, why hasn’t anybody done this before?” Fortunately, Simon Keck is sober enough to promptly answer his own question. “I think it’s because in Australia now we’re trying to project this idea that we’re not a very boozy society and that there’s no drug taking or anything like that; and we’re all quite level headed. But if you look just a little bit under the surface, that’s bullshit.” Indeed there are probably very few of us over the age of fourteen who don’t have a collection of inebriated misadventure tales to tell. Alcohol and the comedy of humiliation quite clearly go hand in hand. “It’s kinda the perfect fit really because most comedy starts out in bars,” Keck notes with raised eyebrows. “I mean, all of the comedians in this show basically live in bars. Every night we’re in one bar or another; maybe not drinking solidly but y’know, that’s just the kinda culture comedy springs from.” Tales From My Liver is obviously an idea with legs (as opposed to being just plain legless). For Simon Keck this week’s show is just the start. “This is kinda like the pilot episode,” he admits. “Everyone has a good drunken story so you can see it really growing. The first one is just a few comics I know

personally but I’ve lined up a bunch of journalists who are very excited to have a go.” Regaling others with your drunken folly taps directly into the grand comic tradition of self-deprecation. We all love to hear reassuring tales of other people’s mistakes. That is, provided they can remember them. As Keck wryly reveals, “The funny thing is I’ve actually had real trouble remembering stuff for the event. I had to put a shout out on Facebook saying, ‘do you remember a drunken time you had with me?’ That created a whole string of responses; it’s about thirty or so strong now, so I’m really gathering some good material.” Of course, tales of bladdered bravado are often overstated. So, will Simon Keck be leading from the front with a commitment to comic truth? He smirks at the idea before saying, “My girlfriend always tells me that one of the most annoying things about me is my need to tell the truth, particularly in comedy. I always seem to go for these really honest, cringy stories. That’s probably what attracted me to this idea.” Joining him in the trashed confessional will be an intoxicated rabble of Melbourne comics including David Quirk, Tommy Dassalo and Tegan Marie Higginbotham. With the refined but avowedly decadent surrounds of Madame Brussel’s as the backdrop, Tales From My Liver aims to make light of drunken disaster and take the piss (so to speak) out of the responsible drinking clique. It should be a night to remember – and then promptly forget. WHAT: Tales From My Liver WHERE & WHEN: Madame Brussels Wednesday 29 June

For Western cinephiles, the best-known name in Thai cinema is Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which gives a distorted sense of the national cinema of Thailand: where every arthouse export is seen through the prism of one the most strange and singular new millennial filmmakers. Mundane History enables this notion: Anocha Suwichakornpong’s debut feature bringing out connections tangible, and intangible: Weerasethakul’s editor Lee Chatametikool is at work here, making his presence felt as he creates the rhythms and brings the shuffled chronology of the story into life; the film featuring the kind of non-generic plotting and leaps of logic (if not the definitive genius) that populate Weerasethakul’s work. For the most part, Mundane History is a dry, realist, rural drama about a new carer coming to work for a wealthy family, looking after their depressed paraplegic son. There’s mutual coldness between the two, but slowly it thaws; most of this is fairly unspoken, and only gently implied. Through this narrative, Suwichakornpong scatters in moments of washed-out memory, pseudo ‘flashbacks’, pointed critiques of Thai society (as symbolised through the family/servant divide), and fantastical flourishes bordering on psychedelic; as cresting post-rock hits feverish crescendos and the wheelchair-bound boy pirouettes through imagined hallucinations of the cosmos. His love of astronomy brings with it a more profound appreciation of the cycle of life — the birth and death of stars as relating to the birth and death of

REVIEW

THIS IS MY PICTURE WHEN I WAS DEAD

humans — and that, in turn, brings hope he can rise above his own bitterness, his own anger, his own selfloathing. It all culminates with a real video footage of a birth by caesarian and more post-rock: this, now, the cycle of life made big and dramatic at incongruous tenor to the still, slow drama that’s preceded it. In The Realms Of The Unreal: The Mystery Of Henry Darger arrives on local screens, at ACMI, next week, a full seven years after it was made. It seems strange, but, then again, strange is Darger’s metier: the celebrated outsider artist a janitor whose 15,000 page novel The Story Of The Vivian Girls, In What Is Known As The Realms Of The Unreal, Of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused By The Child Slave Rebellion and library of related artworks were

discovered after his 1972 death. Darger’s been a popular hipster figure for years — Sufjan Stevens and Animal Collective have both mounted explicit homages — but Jessica Yu’s documentary tries to take him to a mass audience; bringing personal journals and Vivian Girls narrative to life with voice-over recitations and loving looks at his tiny paintings. And, thankfully, there’s not a celebrity fan in sight. The Arab Film Festival is weirdly tiny (three features!) and one-weekendlong fleeting; yet another minor festival in a cinema schedule already loaded with them. Its insignificance is due, one suspects, almost entirely to the Melbourne International Film Festival’s long-running embrace and exploration of Middle Eastern cinema; every MIFF housing its own Arab Film Festival

within. The programme is built around a pair of soap operas that don’t meet the quality-control of the big festival; The Cry Of An Ant a folksy, witless picaresque that, cynically, cuts in footage of the Egyptian Revolution to give it added cultural credence (or, moreso, to help it shift tickets locally); Stray Bullet a one-day-in-’76 mood-piece melodrama in which a would-be bride, two weeks prior to her loveless wedding, walks through the suburbs and woodlands of Northern Beirut, her every emotion loaded with double meaning, the nascent Civil War looming in every artful shot, explosion of hysterical drama, and comicallyobvious piece of symbolism (runaway dogs being shot!). If there’s a saving moment from the AFF’s few films, something to justify its existence, there’s Mahmoud al Massad’s This Is My Picture When I Was Dead, the political poignantly personal as the cinematic memoir of political cartoonist Bashir Mraish becomes an ad-hoc history of the PLO and a lament for the lost dreams of an independent Palestinian state. Mraish was in a car with his father, a PLO soldier, when a veritable mob hit took them out; both were corpses on their way to a morgue when doctors twigged that the kid’s heart was still beating. Thus the title, and thus a film in which an adult digs into the memories of a halfremembered father, sifting through old photos and the recollections of others. Al Massad’s portraits makes individual grief societal; Mraish not just eulogising his father, but grieving childhood innocence, the independence movement, Arafat, hope.

SET

WITH ANDREW MAST It began as a hokey cash-in on the success of the renewed Doctor Who franchise in 2006, but now Torchwood is a big budget multi-national co-production that is being aggressively marketed as a flagship series for its American and Australian broadcasters. And yes, this is another TV Set dedicated to Who-related programming. The BBC-originated science fantasy monster-of-the-week show Torchwood was closer to ’80s Who than the revamped ratings hit it spun-off from (Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who). The Cardiff-based team of alien hunters tracked down shonky-looking CGI’d visitors from outer space, led by the pantomime camp of Captain Jack Harkness — a recurring Who regular played by musical theatre entertainer John Barrowman. As with those years the Doctor spent hanging with the likes of Adric and Ace, Torchwood had heart. Its most suspenseful episode being the first season’s Countrycide, where the writers eschewed aliens in preference of human cannibals as the story’s Big Bad. Something clicked around this time and Torchwood began to develop a serial story arc based around their very human relationships. A work affair, a gay romance, and complicated back stories moved to the fore with the galactic crime-fighting becoming a mere backdrop. But it all came too late for the costcutting BBC and Torchwood teetered on the brink of axing after two seasons. In an attempt to save the show, a third season was commissioned as a fiveepisode ‘event’ that screened across consecutive nights as Torchwood: Children Of Earth. With most of the original cast killed-off (and another to bow before season’s end), storylines were tightened to create a tense alien armegeddon plot that featured The

Thick Of It’s Peter Capaldi in a role as tensely understated as Barrowman was overstated. This also meant a meatier role for Harkness’s partner in alien-buttkicking Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) and more time given to her relatable family dramas (hubby doesn’t like her playing martyr for humankind and he may even be a tad jealous of her bi-furious boss). The season was a runaway hit. But BBC budgetary restraints meant producers would struggle to top the action-packed climax to their pedicidal spin on Children Of The Corn. In stepped US cable network Starz looking to build upon its new found success producing original material in Party Down and Spartacus. And so, BBC/ Starz co-production Torchwood: Miracle Day (Saturday 9 July, 8.30pm, fasttracked to UKTV) was conceived. The pimp’d-up Woody splits its action between Wales and LA, and within the first hour we are treated to a helicopter chase, a gruesome road accident, lots of explosions, leaps out of windows, and dateline criss-crossing. All this while Cooper nurses a newborn, an ailing father, and nagging husband (in a nod to John Woo, she even brandishes heavy artillery in one hand and baby in the other). Reunited with Harkness, the pair are ready to figure out what the fuck has caused the world’s population to stop dying. So confident are the BBC with the amped-up action that the first episode was previewed in cinemas — sure beats sitting through another Transformers. [Ianto, we’re not in Cardiff anymore.] Who re-animator Russell T Davies is still at the helm with longtime Torchwood writer John Fay and UK director Bharat Nalluri (Life On Mars, Spooks) on-side. His US team features sci-fi heavyweight Jane Espenson (Buffy, BSG) and writer/producers John Shiban (X-Files, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Breaking

TORCHWOOD

Bad) and Doris Egan (Smallville). The cast is also pumped up with US talent including Bill Pullman, Lauren Ambrose, and Diaries vamp Dillon Casey (he was Noah in S1) — along with a trio of once-big-in-the-’80sactors Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), C Thomas Howell (The Hitcher), and Mare Winningham (St Elmo’s Fire). Of course, there’s a token Aussie — Dichen Lachman (Neighbours, Dollhouse).

Best news of all is that Barrowman no longer acts as if he’s trying to distract from the cheap FX and tones it even further down than he did for his stint in Desperate Housewives. He’s brought it in at a Jerry Bruckheimer-level, that’s almost Wire-like naturalism by his standards. If he, and the show, sustain this for a ten-ep run then you can believe in Miracle.

CORNER HOTEL HOSTS MUSIC PHOTO EXHIBITION The rooftop bar of the Corner Hotel will play host to Close-Up & Personal, a joint exhibition of music photography by Mary Boukouvalas and Ros O’Gorman, featuring works from the past two decades. Featuring the artist’s favourites across live and portrait photography, subjects include The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, Prince, Rage Against The Machine, Nick Cave, Joe Strummer, and more. Many of the framed prints will be available for purchase. Close-Up & Personal will be held Tuesday 12 July from 4pm. More info at cornerhotel.com.

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C U LT U R A L

EYES WIDE OPEN THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF ANTICIPATION FOR NOVELIST JULIA LEIGH’S DEBUT FILM WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED IN COMPETITION AT CANNES THIS YEAR. NOW IT’S IN LOCAL CINEMAS, JOSH WHEALTEY TALKS TO THE FIRST-TIME DIRECTOR. Julia Leigh’s directorial debut Sleeping Beauty is the kind of film that raises eyebrows. A provocative and complex story laden with eroticism and doom, its boldness immediately declares Leigh as a filmmaking talent to watch. Lucy (Emily Browning) is a doe-eyed and beautiful university student who gets cash through odd jobs, participating in medical trials, and menial office admin. Unsatisfied and seemingly numb, she applies to be a hostess in a sexual parlour for the social elite, run by the icy Clara (Rachel Blake). Marked with the new name of ‘Sara’, she loses her sense of self as she burrows deeper into the oppressive unknown. For Leigh, the transition from literature to cinema seemed like a natural progression. “They are both dealing with the flow of time, dealing with detailed small worlds. Both they’re setting out to explore something worth exploring, so the foundations are similar but the process is completely different,” says Leigh. Her novels The Hunter (1999) and Disquiet (2008) are character studies explored through

sparse, haunting imagery. For Sleeping Beauty, Leigh creates a similar tone through a highly controlled sense of pace and striking visuals. “The interesting thing about the pacing of this film is that because we shot long takes instead of shooting traditional coverage, we had to, more or less, create the pace of the scene on the day of the shoot,” she says. “We didn’t create the pace of the film in the edit.” Adopting a Bressonian approach to filmmaking, with a defined style and lengthy master shots, meant that Leigh was working without a safety net. “I think a lot of the style came through, I guess, the ignorant bravery of the beginner. You don’t really know better, you don’t really know otherwise,” she says, laughing. “I’m just grateful it all worked out.” Refusing to reveal her filmmaking influences (“I’ll forever be labelled with them”), Sleeping Beauty has echoes of Belle du Jour and Kubrick, but Leigh’s mesmeric style is entirely her own. “I had a very clear idea of the shot and very specific planning of the mise-enscène, about the composition, before

we began. We had to plan very careful how we would achieve the shot, but... There were several takes to get it right, because you had to get the camera right and the performance right from everybody.” Browning has been hailed for her performance, which required her to bare her soul and her body. “I find her very beautiful, but I think it is a strange beauty. It isn’t a cookie cutter kind of beauty,” says Leigh. “I love that she brings a tip of the iceberg feeling, something latent, something going on under the surface with her character. She had some very challenging scenes, but she had read the script, she understood the script, and she knew everything that she had to do to embody that character was in keeping with the script.” Leigh is hesitant to offer interpretations for her perplexing film, which polarised audiences when it premiered in the Cannes official selection. “I think there’s a real danger to what the novelist or the author or the creator says about a work,” she says. “It sort of gets written in stone in a way, I don’t think it’s helpful. People will all take different things from the film.” Though divisive, the filmmaker says that she tells her stories in the only way she knows how. “People talk about the ‘comfort zone’, like I’m more comfortable in the risk zone. I mean I’m happy that people are talking about the work, and I’m happy that it’s a memorable film. Thing is, I couldn’t really do otherwise, you know.” She laughs. “That was what I did. It wasn’t that I was strategically setting out to divide people, that’s just how it is.” WHAT: Sleeping Beauty WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now

CRINGE

WITH REBECCA COOK “Calling for submissions for a new work to be commissioned by Arts Victoria — work can be visual arts, sculpture, film, performance but must involve the use of photocopier toner cartridges.” Cringe reckons it won’t be too long before this call goes out as Arts Victoria attempts to deal with ‘toner-gate’ — a massive fraud scandal revealed by the Victorian Ombudsman’s report into corrupt conduct by public officers a couple of weeks ago. Arts Victoria was the only organisation named as part of the inquiry that found that procurement officers in government departments were buying up big on overpriced toner cartridges in return for gift vouchers. In the case of Arts Victoria, the officer bought up so big

they now have enough toner for the next 40 years, unfortunately toner only has a shelf life of two years. The officer also scored herself a cool $8,000 in gifts. The scam cost Arts Victoria around $80,000, so if you didn’t get your usual funding from the organisation this year, you now know why. Cringe envisages that this scandal may open new opportunities for artists when submitting funding applications and for the body when selecting grant recipients: “My project involves an excessive amount of ink; at four or five intervals during the performance, powdered ink falls from the ceiling to cover the performers in a statement about the gravity of bureaucracy.” “Thanks for your application, we would like to fund your project to the value

of $5,000. Please note, however, that this year funding will be in the form of stationery. We have been reliably informed you may be able to redeem some of your funding at Officeworks.” The Ombudsman’s report also highlighted the practice of staff accepting free tickets to arts events such as the ballet, theatre, and opera. Initially Cringe thought this was a bit rough — surely it’s part and parcel of working in the arts that you need to attend cultural events so you are both well informed in terms of what’s going on and educated on new and emerging art-forms? Then I read the Ombudsman’s rationale: “I consider this rationale to be naïve, given that providers of these gifts are bodies which exist and survive on the basis of grants, many of which are supplied by the State Government. The amounts and beneficiaries of those grants are influenced by the advice of public officers and in particular public officers at Arts Victoria.” He does make a good point; however, Cringe does wonder if he’s ever had to sit through a threehour interpretation of King Lear or the like, as then he’d know that not all tickets are gifts. In brief, Chunky Move has announced Anouk van Dijk will take over the reins as artistic director of Chunky Move when Gideon Obarzanek departs at the end of the year. The internationally acclaimed Dutch choreographer has toured her work throughout Europe, America, Asia, and Australia. She was most recently in Perth for the International Arts Festival in February this year. With Chunky Move being such an integral part of the Melbourne dance scene, Melburnians will be eager to sample Van Dijk’s work.

LIVE REVIEW PAUL GRABOWSKY: THE EYE OF THE STORM The Forum, 12/06/2011 It’s such a rare occurrence, to have the score to a film like Fred Schepsi’s upcoming The Eye Of The Storm performed live in its entirety, and it’s a testament to the Melbourne International Jazz Festival that they’d programme something so unique. Unfortunately Branford Marsalas couldn’t be with us, however stepping into his shoes was saxophonist Julien Wilson. Given this music was never meant to

stand on its own and we don’t know the context within the film, it places some barriers to our understanding, however for just pure musical appreciation it was amazing how the music tied together as a series of suites. The integration of the jazz elements with the orchestra too was nothing short of majestic. Here was music about subtlety, about smooth lines and the strings of the orchestra sent the music cascading through the large room. There was even a harp. There’s a real beauty and melancholy in Grabowsky’s work. Orchestrally you can tell he’s been listening to the likes of Michael Nyman, hell maybe even Bernard Herrmann, but when he breaks down to solo piano or in his jazz trio he embellishes the music with

a light swing. This is where the music gets interesting, these transitions are fascinating and before long we’re back with the orchestral accompaniment. It’s probably a bit easy to call the music cinematic, but you can hear the history of cinema in his sounds. Grabowsky though is almost beside himself with joy writhing around on the piano, grinning exuberantly as a soloist steps forward. The music has power, beauty and grace, but most of all there was the feeling that we were privy to study and experience something out of context, something that is meant to pass beneath our consciousness and we normally just feel. A beautiful, classy and affecting work.

BOB BAKER FISH

frontrow@inpress.com.au

THE FAT FIST WAY JOSH WHEATLEY TALKS CHILDREN’S MOVIES AND DARK THEMES WITH KUNG FU PANDA 2 DIRECTOR JENNIFER YUH NELSON.

GOT IT MAID BRIDESMAIDS LOOKS SET TO BE THE COMEDY OF 2011. GUY DAVIS SITS DOWN WITH DIRECTOR PAUL FEIG AND THE FILM’S STARS ROSE BYRNE AND KRISTEN WIIG. Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that a superhero movie like... oh, I don’t know, the upcoming Green Lantern, proves underwhelming at the box office. Do you think for an instant that the studio behind it, or Hollywood in general, is going to pull the plug on the new Batman sequel or the latest Superman reboot? Probably not, right? But up until the release of his movie Bridesmaids, a comedy with a predominantly female cast, director Paul Feig was, well, shit-scared. “I went into this incredibly nervous that if I fucked it up, I’m going to fuck it up for so many funny women,” says the multi-talented screenwriter, director,

author and actor. “There was this weird holding pattern prior to Bridesmaids coming out — female friends had female-themed movie projects in the works that weren’t going ahead until the studios saw how Bridesmaids was going to do.” Fortunately for Feig, and for funny women, Bridesmaids has done well, garnering glowing reviews (including the backhanded compliment ‘Chick Flicks Don’t Have to Suck!’) and raking in quite a bit of cash. “It was like ‘Oh, thank God!’” laughs Feig, who earned his place in pop-culture heaven for creating the magnificent highschool series Freaks And Geeks and

Jack Black’s high-kicking, lard arsed panda Po is back on screens with Kung Fu Panda 2, the latest effort from DreamWorks Animation Studios. Packed with the physical comedy, oriental mysticism, and eye-slapping action sequences that made the first film a critical darling, this sequel ambitiously plumbs the emotional depths of its cartoon characters. The story gets significantly darker for the title character, equal parts obnoxious and flatulent. Not only does Jack Black’s panda struggle with the realisation that he was adopted, he struggles with the knowledge that his parents have been slaughtered at the hand of a genocidal peacock, Shen. This is dark terrain for a school holiday movie, but the film’s director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, feels it was a necessary step. “The story requires what it does,” says the filmmaker. “In order to have any emotional impact in finding out about Po and his past we had to go to some dark places. If you look at a lot of the classic animated films, they go to some dark places. But that’s why they stay with us, that’s why they affect us the way they do. I would rather have a film go to some dark places and hit us really hard, than to shy away and do the safe thing, and never go there. Then it’d be like cotton candy — it goes through and then you’re done. I just wanted to make sure it had an emotional impact.” Yuh Nelson cites Bambi as one of the childhood films that has left a lasting impression on her. We have a good laugh over the tragic horse drowning sequence in The Neverending Story. Ah, childhood. It must be challenging to find the right amount of ‘darkness’ in a children’s movie. “I actually find that the adults were a little more worried than the kids were. Kids totally

got it, they completely understood. It’s important that even if you go to dark places that you come out. You see something that Po’s going through. You feel the pain that he’s going through, but you come back out of it having had this cathartic experience. It’s why the ending is satisfying. If we never went there, you wouldn’t root for him as hard. The kids respond to that.”

consolidated his spot in the firmament by directing episodes of Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Mad Men, and Bored To Death among others. Still, it indicates a disparity in how the entertainment industry views men and women that so much was riding on Bridesmaids, the latest production by comedy juggernaut Judd Apatow and the first star vehicle (of sorts) for Kristen Wiig, the Saturday Night Live cast member who has hitherto been stealing scenes left and right in the likes of Knocked Up, Adventureland, Whip It, and Paul. Co-written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Bridesmaids follows Wiig’s character Annie, who’s at something of a low point personally and professionally, as she struggles with her duties as maid of honour for her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph). From a dress fitting at a swanky salon that goes messily wrong thanks to a nasty case of food poisoning to a constant run of passive-aggressive competition with Lillian’s new BFF, the picture-perfect Helen (Rose Byrne), Annie’s maid of honour experience proves demoralising and depressing. For Annie, that is. For everyone else, it’s flat-out hilarious when it’s not unexpectedly moving. The seemingly effortless dovetailing of discomfort, humour, and pathos is something Feig feels characterises his collaborations with Apatow. “I always feel it’s one of the strengths of Judd and I working together, the way we balance each other out,” he says. “And then you add what Kristen brings to it, so you have all of us pushing each other to strengthen the areas that each of us is strongest in. I really like ensuring the heart and the comedy are balanced — it’s something that worked well on Freaks And Geeks. Judd is great at it, and so is Kristen. So we’d push each other.” Joining Feig in Australia to promote Bridesmaids were Wiig and Byrne, and the Australian star of Troy, Damages, and X-Men: First Class demonstrates

with her dryly funny performance as Helen that her marvellous comic work as saucy pop tart Jackie Q in the Apatow production Get Him To The Greek was no fluke. In fact, Feig went so far as to compare Byrne to Steve Carell. “What they’re both able to do is create a character that’s so real they’re able to completely inhabit them and then be naturally funny in it,” he says. “I gave Paul some money,” mockwhispers Byrne in response. “The thing is, Helen was so clear when I first read the script that I knew exactly who that woman was. Whether or not I could play her was something else entirely but I knew her, I’ve met her and I think we’ve all had someone like Helen in our lives, so to me she was delicious. And every time she came on the page I was like ‘What’s she going to do now?’ The good thing is that she’s the ‘villain’ but she’s not this toxic bitchy character – that’s so boring.” “Helen had soft, well-manicured claws,” says Wiig, laughing. “It’s more interesting if you’re intrigued by Helen, and it’s testament to Kristen and Judd and Paul getting the tone so right,” claims Byrne. “She’s just dysfunctional, just as much as Annie if not more so. For a person to be that uptight, you have to wonder just what is going on!” For Wiig, bringing Bridesmaids to the screen was the culmination of four years of work, beginning when Apatow approached her after her supporting role in Knocked Up to suggest she develop a starring role of her own. And she’s quick to praise Apatow and Feig for their input into the script. “Because of Judd and Paul, two of the greatest additions were the idea for the plane scene [where a medicated Annie runs amok while the bridesmaids are flying to Las Vegas] and the food-poisoning in the dress shop,” she says. “Initially in the dress shop my dress made me feel so beautiful that I went into some black-and-white fantasy like a perfume — I ran into a forest where Christian

This is the filmmaker’s directorial debut, asked by DreamWorks head honco Jeffrey Katzenberg to take the helm after her Annie award winning work on the first film. Katzenberg, a notoriously hands on producer, was responsible for the resurgence of Disney animation in the early ’90s. “Jeffrey has left us completely free to make the movie we want. I think that’s a very commendable thing. If it was just Jeffrey saying, ‘I’ll make the movie I want’ then a lot of the movies would be very similar to each other, but they’re not. You have [How To Train Your] Dragon, which is totally different from Shrek, which is totally different from [Kung Fu] Panda. It’s a very creatively driven process.” It is this creative freedom and sense of authorship that has led to what Yuh Nelson believes is a golden age of animation. For the filmmaker, emotional connection is the key. “I want to interact with audiences emotionally. My personal preference when I’m watching a film is in that moment, do you feel something here. It’s one thing if I’m having a good time and I’m laughing, it’s great, it’s wonderful. But if there’s one moment that will just hit you, that you can carry away with you... that’s what I love.” WHAT: Kung Fu Panda 2 WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now

MELBOURNE, WE LOVE YOU THE BURLESQUE HOUR’S LATEST SEASON IS A LOVE LETTER TO THE TOWN WHERE IT ALL BEGAN. CREATOR MOIRA FINUCANE AND PERFORMER KAMAHI DJORDAN KING SPEAK TO ALEKSIA BARRON ABOUT THEIR PASSION FOR BURLESQUE, CABARET, AND MELBOURNE. “We were told that it wouldn’t work, that audiences weren’t ready for it, that it was too full-on.” Moira Finucane is sitting in a North Fitzroy café, recounting the opening night of The Burlesque Hour. Now a Melbourne institution, the opening night of this beloved cabaret salon was fraught with worry for Finucane. Finucane, a performance artist, formed Finucane & Smith with theatre director Jackie Smith with the aim of bringing exciting, subversive burlesque to the stage. When launching The Burlesque Hour in Melbourne, Finucane had already enjoyed a performance career spanning the globe, but the Perth girl was eager to see her adopted hometown of Melbourne embrace the artistry she loves. “We sold out the night we opened,” Finucane says, smiling at the memory of Melbourne natives lapping up the velvet, champagne and, above all, performances. “We won six theatre awards, we’ve been acclaimed in ten languages. And it all started in Melbourne.” Hence The Burlesque Hour’s new season, The Burlesque Hour Loves Melbourne. “This season, after seven years of wild, seductive subversion, we want to write a love letter to Melbourne,” says Finucane, in her gloriously theatrical manner. “This is the city that took us up, and came in their floods. What we want to do is, we want to show Melbourne itself — Melbounre icons, unzipped, unveiled, unleashed.” While The Burlesque Hour has featured some of the greatest cabaret talents from around the globe in seasons past, this year will focus on performers who still call Melbourne home, even if they’re no longer living here. Jazz diva Holly Durrant will be heading back to Melbourne from her current base in Paris; contemporary dancer Harriet Ritchie will find time in her hectic schedule to put on a show for the hometown crowds. Even local icon Rhonda Burchmore is on board, spinning tales of the perils of showgirl stardom. “I met Rhonda at the Helpmann awards,” says Finucane. “She said to me, ‘Oh, I got my start

in burlesque. I did a Greek goddess dance of the seven veils, where my veils fell off and were replaced by 25 fan-tailed pigeons, strategically placed, including one perching on a wire on my crotch, which was called Fanny Fantail.’”

Bale was chopping wood. People were chasing me and he said, ‘Quick, jump into my muscles’ — that was my favourite line!” Loving references to the Bale musculature aside, everyone involved in the film was keen to ensure that it would prove appealing to both genders, and Feig says that “the touchstone for this was always The Devil Wears Prada”. “At face value, most men were likely

to not want to deal with it, this story about fashion,” he adds. “See it, though, and it’s a great workplace comedy that could be about anyone, men or women. And the word went out among men that it was okay to check it out. That’s what we were always hoping for with Bridesmaids.”

Naturally, Finucane tried to resurrect the act, although with the pigeons having been deceased for many years since, it wasn’t to be. There’s a happy ending of sorts, luckily. “Nonetheless, Rhonda came on board, and she’s going to tell that story about what happens when pigeons are feeling a little bit feisty during the mating season. They don’t fly to where they’re meant to fly to, that’s all I’m telling you.” One performer who is particularly excited is Kamahi Djordan King, an Indigenous artist who will be performing under the alter ego, Constantina Bush. “She comes from a little cattle station in the Northern Territory, and she falls in love with an intervention solider,” King says, explaining his character. “He breaks her heart, and she leaves, searching for the bright lights of the city.” King has enjoyed his induction into the hub of Melbourne burlesque. While he didn’t necessarily expect a drag show to appeal to that market, he’s warmed to the idea. “Constantina’s a bit… I’d say, free and loose,” he muses. “There’s a sexiness to it.” It’s Melbourne, though, that will really shine through during the Burlesque Hour’s latest season. “Melbourne’s like a really, really, really beautiful, complex black dress,” explains Finucane, when asked to comment on her passion for her adopted hometown. “You’re looking at it and you’re thinking, ‘That’s just a black dress’, but the more you’re looking at it, the more you see the layers and what’s hidden, and the peep of skin through it.” WHAT: The Burlesque Hour Loves Melbourne WHERE & WHEN: Fortyfivedownstairs until 14 August. This week’s performer: Pamela Rabe

WHAT: Bridesmaids WHERE & WHEN: Screening in cinemas now

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BASHIN’ IT OUT

FAST TRACKIN’ PAT CARRICK of APOLLO PATHWAY explains to NIC TOUPEE that they’re not shy about pushing themselves out there.

THE MERCY BEAT’s ADAM REILLY has found the heavy outlet he’s been looking for. He chats with SAMUEL J. FELL.

After hearing about their pop-punk-rock potential, Larkin approached the band with an offer to polish their raw ideas into something shiny and ultimately – and the band are honest about this – more radio friendly.

an audience, as the Mercy beat have done, thanks in no small part to their raucous sound, this stoner rock/ Rollins hybrid (with more than a smattering of Mark Of Cain in there too, in my opinion), a sound which came together pretty easily, as Reilly attests.

“Tom came to a show and pulled us aside” Carrick recalls, “he was working with upcoming bands at the time, and had screened us. He thought he could get something great out of us, and wanted to work with us. I guess this was right after we had success with our first single Crème De La Cranka. We got a lot of love from Video Hits and were playing a big show at the Espy – it was the perfect show for him to come to.”

ith song names like Never Ending Story and Dress For Success, Apollo Pathway should be the newest in Melbourne’s retro cover bands. But they’re not. In fact, any relationship between the band and hits of the ‘80s is a mere coincidence, explains drummer Pat Carrick. “Tex (Irwin, vocalist/guitarist) names the songs. That song is about some hard times he was having in his personal life – he seemed to be going over and over the same things, things to do with his upbringing. It’s nothing to do with the movie – there are no floppy dogs, no drowning horses.’ Their new single is also replete with personal meaning. “Dress For Success is about stepping up to the plate and making something of ourselves. We want to follow our dreams and this song is making an appeal for that.” Given the octane-fueled propulsion toward success Apollo Pathway seem to be riding, it’s no surprise they’re feeling some pressure. The band are currently in the studio writing for a potential album, and are putting to good use everything they learned from the producer of Dress for Success, Tom Larkin of Shihad. “When we worked with Tom from Shihad on this EP, he taught us a lot about how to structure songs and what beats translate best to make a song work. He gave us a lot of suggestions and we took that all on: we’re following everything he gave us and taking it into the new tracks. We’ll be using a different producer because we’ve still got a lot to learn, we’re open minded like sponges.”

When asked to consider just what it is that Apollo Pathway have that appealed to Larkin and obviously has attracted music channels and a few hundred thousand punters, Carrick harks back to the studio conversation about pop-rock and rock-pop. “We’re definitely middle of the road I’ve come to realise,” Carrick admits, “there’s nothing too in your face, but we’re not soft either. We’re still trying to figure out what that makes us, to be honest with you. Tom mentioned when we were in the studio that we fit into the category of rock-pop not pop-rock. We’ve got more balls than pop but pop structures, and who doesn’t like pop? We’re really trying to fit all of that into a radio-playable structure. Carrick gives the clear impression that the band are very deliberate about attempting to fast-track their music careers. It’s something he believes all bands do if they’re at all serious, and it’s just a less glamorous part of the package. “When we started, I thought all you need to do is play a few songs, get a CD out, go on the road and away you go, but being an independent band you have to treat it as business in a way. We don’t have a problem talking about it being hard work even though it may come across as corporate. We don’t sit around a table and nut out how we can be more massive but we want to do this as a career, and to do that you have to step up and run the extra mile to get your name out there without the help of a major label.”

here’s a lot to be said about rock bands from Brisbane, perhaps not all of them polite, but you can’t deny them the heart and the tenacity they’ll wear on their sleeve when it comes to pushing further south, through Sydney and Melbourne, spreading the word they’ve spent years building up in Vegas. Of course, sometimes things get in the way, like huge clouds of floating volcanic ash, but in the grand scheme of rock ‘n’ roll, this really does mean little. “Yeah, we’re a bit stressed about that cloud,” mused Mercy Beat guitarist, Adam Reilly around this time last week, but it’s meant little indeed and The Mercy Beat will indeed play Melbourne for the first time this weekend. Around three years ago was when this quartet officially came to be, four mates in various bands who’d write songs for fun whilst knocking back cold ones on summer evenings, eventually deciding they’d have more of a chance if they banded together. Hitting the Brisbane scene hard, the accolades began coming, one scribe noting how The Mercy Beat sound was a “deliciously fun racket that veers effortlessly from loud, rattling stoner rock to the nasty precision of Rollins Band”. Not a bad comparison. “Yeah, that was a good compliment, a lot of the time we get likened to bands we really like,” notes Reilly.

WHO: Apollo Pathway WHEN & WHERE: Friday, Evelyn

The “quest ahead” to which Willoughby refers is that undertaken by the album’s protagonist. “It continues on from the last album, where we went with a sort of apocalyptic, end of the world sort of theme as a bit of a step aside from writing what used to be atheist, brutal songs. We wanted to write something a little different. “This time, The Broken Passage, we went with a postapocalyptic theme. What the world would be like after the end. The last one finished off with blasting into space and the prospect of starting new life out there. This time is returning to earth and having a look around,” says Willoughby.

Cue the shift from subsidiary label Common Bond to parent company Resist Records (home of scene heavyweights Parkway Drive) for the release of album number two, supports for the likes of Propagandhi and Doomriders and the well-earned hype that now sees Willoughby on the other end of the line. Despite it all, little has changed for the band. They returned to the same studio to record II: The Broken Passage, at Jason PC’s (Blood Duster) Goatsound in north Melbourne, though this time they were afforded Billy Anderson (Eyehategod, Sleep) as producer. They’re progressing the somewhat loose but thoroughly metal conceptual story of the first record. They still don’t take themselves too seriously. And they still love Kerry King, founding member and guitarist of Slayer. “The second song on the album, Ghost Of The King, was a bit of a double entendre – it’s about Kerry King being the king of the undead and he lays out the quest

WHO: The Mercy Beat WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, the Espy’s Gershwin Room

JAYTECH is bringing his house knowledge to his new-found trance passion. He talks inter-genre relations with CYCLONE.

ahead,” Willoughby says, “There’s a song about battling a dragon, a song about a wizard and a sword in a stone.”

A 7” titled Three Nails And A Book Of Flaws put them on the map before their debut LP I: A Turn For The Worse and a split 7” with Sydney buddies Phantoms (whose guitarist Adrian Kelly also moonlights as one of I Exist’s four axemen) cemented their position as one of Australia’s most intriguing hardcore acts.

“It’s probably a little more focused whereas the first album was really eclectic and we were trying a lot of themes,” he continues. “With this new one, we’re still not putting ourselves in a box per se, but we’re trying to focus it a bit more; write more songs and choose a more cohesive sense. But it’s coming along well, we’ve got about five or six tracks that we’re pretty much sold on plus a few others that we’re umming and ah-ing about. So the plan is to start getting some stuff down in late September… that’s the plan.” The plan indeed – nothing is likely to stop these cats, volcanic clouds or no.

TECHING OUT

I EXIST frontman JAKE WILLOUGHBY talks wizards, weed and Kerry King with DAVE DRAYTON.

It has made sense, not only because of the praise that’s been heaped upon them, but also because it’s led them to their debut recording, the exquisitely titled, How To Shampoo A Yak, released around a year ago. This is a record which garnered some local attention indeed, landing two tracks in the 4ZZZ Top 100 for last year, as well as Triple J attention. A solid beginning, and a base on which to build from, as the group are already doing. “Yeah, we’re demoing new stuff for our next album now,” confirms Reilly.

“I mean, our live show is very much rock ‘n’ roll, we’re not perfect singers or anything, but we enjoy it and I think everyone can see we enjoy it.” Going on reports out of the northern city, it’s apparent the group do enjoy it, which is of course a key element to engaging

POST-APOCALYPTIC

n the phone from Canberra, I Exist frontman Jake Willoughby is audibly nervous: “I haven’t done many of these, I’m all new to this.” The nervousness is understandable, as in the last year the band of mates from the country’s capital has experienced a rather impressive rise through the ranks of heavy music in Australia.

“Yeah, we did find that sound together quickly actually, it was kinda just natural,” he says. “I guess the first riffs we came up with came out of frustration at just wanting to write something hard and it just went from there, that kinda set the tone from the beginning.” It should be noted here that the four members of The Mercy Beat originally came from bands playing rockabilly, indie rock and “really soft, sweet indie”, but they all shared a love of the heavier side of the coin, hence The Mercy Beat. “Yeah, all of us liked heavier music and none of us really had that (in our other bands), so this just kinda made sense,” Reilly reasons.

So he’s looking around at a post-apocalyptic world ruled by Kerry King and scored with sludgy stoner blues metal. What does he see? “White Girl Black Unicorn,” Willoughby offers. “They were literally just stupid lines that I was singing over the top ‘cause I had nothing else and was just trying to figure out the sort of phrasing I wanted. While being stupid, ridiculous lines they ended up sticking, so I ended up writing the entire song around those two lines.” More impressive still is that despite having seven members, the band has been able to reach a consensus on the lyrics and titles without too much hassle. “The song names we gave them all I’m still happy with and everyone is still happy with. We all make compromises and we don’t see conflict. We’re chilled dudes, we just go with the flow,” says Willoughby. And for those wondering about the band’s non-musical influences, you can be pointed, once again, in the direction of Ghost Of The King, where the protagonist tells Kerry: “But my liege, I’m not a noble man / I like to drink and smoke and fight. It’s true of all of us,” says Willoughby. “We’re all good dudes but we’ve got our vices.”

WHO: I Exist WHAT: II: The Broken Passage (Resist) WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 17 September, Bastardfest, Corner Hotel

erlin is a long way from Canberra, but it’s now home for Jaytech, aka James Cayzer. In 2008 the DJ/producer followed Anthony Pappa, Australia’s first bona fide superstar DJ, by heading to London, initially shacking up with a sister. British stadium trancers Above & Beyond had discovered Cayzer on licensing his track Starbright for a compilation. He soon strategically aligned himself with their Anjunabeats label empire. Today, when not forging his own career, Cayzer is Above & Beyond’s regular warm-up DJ. “I just finished up an absolutely massive tour of North America with those guys – I actually got back yesterday,” he announces. The US is in the midst of a dance music “boom” with even the hip hop contingent trance-crazy, but the underground is also surging. Nevertheless, Cayzer is based in subcultural Berlin, which, being less “hectic” than London, allows him to record in downtime. “I was in London – I relocated here about a year ago. It’s like a little halfway house that I have here because I’m away most of the time. This is where I come to sleep about one week of every month.” Cayzer is touring Australia this winter – and he’ll be here again in September with Above & Beyond. To ward off homesickness, he engineers return visits every six months, connecting with family and friends – capitalising on frequent flyer rewards if necessary. “The kind of nomad way of life is definitely for me, it’s the way I prefer to live, but I do try to get back to Australia as much as I can. I can see myself living there on a more permanent basis eventually.”

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In fact, Cayzer, who has formal training in piano, began producing in his teens, releasing his first tune at 16. He likewise collaborated with Sydney’s Mark Dynamix. The same year he departed for London, Cayzer presented his debut ‘artist’ album, Everything Is OK, through the Anjunabeats’ offshoot Anjunadeep, devoted to “melodic house music”. Indeed, Cayzer belongs to a new generation of electronic shapeshifters, effortlessly negotiating the once tribal (and adversarial) realms of trance, progressive and techno. “My roots have always been fairly planted in house music – and then [I’ve] obviously been very heavily influenced by trance music, seeing as I’ve been surrounded by so much trance over the last few years. Especially this month I’ve been at trance parties pretty much five nights a week [laughs], so it’s hard not to be influenced by that sound when you’re exposed to so much of it. But, like people always say, the best artists are the ones who can’t really be classified by one particular [genre]. I think it’s good to branch out and do a few different things.” Cayzer, a ready Anjunabeats ambassador, lately teamed with James Grant for the comp Anjunadeep:03, mixing in his own tune Djembe. Anjunadeep:03 is primarily “a showcase” for the label, but in his DJ sets, too, Cayzer champions music by labelmates. Next, he’ll wrap a second studio album. Some in dance circles maintain that the LP is redundant, but not Cayzer (or his bosses Above & Beyond, who’ve just dropped Group Therapy, a trance counterpart to the Massive Attack opus). “I think it definitely is [relevant]. For me, as an artist, what I like to hear most from people is just new tracks, no matter what sort of format they come out in. But the thing about an ‘artist’ album is that it’s kind of like a landmark event in an artist’s career where they can build a really big tour out of it. It’s the best way to progress to the next level as an artist and break new ground... I’m doing my second ‘artist’ album at the moment and the aim is to get that out this year. Actually, while I’m back in Australia, I’m gonna be putting the finishing touches on that in between all the gigs. So that’s coming along pretty well.”

WHO: Jaytech WHAT: Anjunadeep Rooftop Party WHEN & WHERE: Friday 8 July, Pool Deck

ISSUE 1180 - WEDNESDAY 29, 2011

TOURS

PRESENTS

THIS WEEK INTERNATIONAL MICAH P HINSON: June 30 Toff In Town THE BLACK ANGELS: July 2 Hi-Fi JIMMY WEBB: July 1 Melbourne Recital Centre; 2 Meeniyan Town Hall; 3 Palais

NATIONAL MIAMI HORROR: June 29 Karova Lounge (Ballarat) THE GENIE: June 30 Northcote Social Club BOBBY FLYNN: June 30 Empress GREENTHIEF: June 30 Brunswick Hotel; July 1 Pony; 2 the Saloon (Traralgon) BELLES WILL RING: July 1 Workers Club SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM: July 1 Corner BLACK CAB: July 1 East Brunswick Club KATCHAFIRE: July 1 Prince SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM: July 1 Corner ART VS SCIENCE, STRANGE TALK: July 2 Forum BIAS B: July 2 Corner SHORT STACK: July 2 Festival Hall SURECUT KIDS: July 2 Zoolandtrash DAVE GRANEY & THE LURID YELLOW MIST: July 2 Caravan Music Club; 3 Williamstown RSL NATALIE GAUCI: July 3 Bennetts Lane SASKIA SANSOM, TRANSCRIPTION OF ORGAN MUSIC: July 3 Workers Club GANGA GIRI: July 4 Northcote Social Club

GIG OF THE WEEK BELLES WILL RING FRIDAY, WORKERS CLUB

Sydney outfit Belles Will Ring are back with their hazy, sun-drenched songs laced with their signature psychedelic style and a deep, dark tones. With their second album Crystal Theatre just out, Belles Will Ring have expanded their sound, adding a wilder and weirder texture by experimenting with vintage keyboards, trumpets, flutes, character voices and found sounds. Recorded throughout 2010 in the tiny town of Portland in central western NSW, the band left the city behind and escaped to the country to record the album. Belles Will Ring will launch Crystal Theatre on Friday at the Workers Club. Supporting on the night will be the fabulous Fearless Vampire Killers and conceptual giants Cuba Is Japan. Get down there early for this all-killer bill.

MIAMI HORROR: June 29 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); July 9 Forum BELLES WILL RING: July 1 Workers Club ART VS SCIENCE: July 2 Forum THE BLACK ANGELS: July 2 Hi-Fi HIP HOP APPROACH: July 7 Prince Bandroom CATHERINE TRAICOS: July 16 Evelyn SEEKER LOVER KEEPER: July 21 Stones Of The Yarra Valley; 22 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 23 Meeniyan Town Hall; 24, 25 Thornbury Theatre MONA: July 26 East Brunswick Club FOSTER THE PEOPLE: July 27 Hi-Fi THE HIVES: July 27 Festival Hall KELE: August 2 Billboard THE VACCINES: August 3 Hi-Fi WU-TANG CLAN: August 6 Festival Hall JIM WARD: August 12 East Brunswick Club EAGLE & THE WORM: August 18 Nash (Geelong); 19 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 20 Corner THE PANDA BAND: August 18 Northcote Social Club; 19 Barwon Club (Geelong) JESUS JONES, THE WONDERSTUFF, CLOUDS: August 19 Palace CALLING ALL CARS: August 24 Loft (Warrnambool); 25 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 26 Corner Hotel; 27 Ferntree Gully Hotel BONJAH: August 25 Bended Elbow (Ballarat); 27 Corner Hotel SEBADOH: September 18 Corner Hotel

FESTIVALS

EMERGE FESTIVAL: Until July 30

Tom Lyngcoln by Ricky Dowlan

Jon Chapple by Ricky Dowlan

Black Cab Friday East Brunswick Club

can get to the concept in this town) at one of those rare Tote shows that gifts you three or four new favourite bands in one sitting, you wouldn’t expect this show to be any different. We catch the end of Bitch Prefect, and from the brief encounter I fi le them as pretty standard Melbourne garage. I’ve heard big things though, so won’t write them off just yet. New War are the best band without a record in Melbourne right now. Their pulsing auralstrobe-like take on new romantic-y grooves need be experienced to be understood. They’re the kind of outfit that bring the bar fl ies to the front of stage. They channel a kind of Gang Of Four-ish heartbeat and knock you out with dynamite drums. Ah, the drums... So vital, so infectious that you can track the rhythms throbbing through your bloodstream and into your heart and brain. I’m fuckin’ serious man! This shit is real. A little birdie told me there’s a record in the works too. Thanks birdie.

UPCOMING

INTERNATIONAL DJ EMALKAY: July 8 Roxanne Parlour TY SEGALL: July 9 Tote DON RIMINI: July 9 Roxanne Parlour ROGER SHAH: July 16 Amber Lounge LEO SAYER: July 20 Playhouse Theatre (Geelong); 21 Regent Multiplex (Ballarat); 22 West Gippsland Arts Centre (Warragul); 23 Wellington Entertainment Centre (Sale); December 1 the Bairnsdale RSL Club RISE AGAINST: July 21 Festival Hall MODEST MOUSE: July 21, 27 Prince Bandroom DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN: July 21 Espy JASON HERD: July 23 Prince GLASVEGAS: July 25 Hi-Fi JAMES BLAKE: July 25, 26 Prince Bandroom MONA: July 26 East Brunswick Club WARPAINT: July 26 Corner ENRIQUE IGLESIAS, PITBULL: July 27 Rod Laver Arena FOSTER THE PEOPLE: July 27 Hi-Fi ELBOW: July 27, 28 Palace Theatre THE HIVES: July 27 Festival Hall BRITISH SEA POWER: July 27 East Brunswick Club

LIVE: REVIEWS

HARMONY, NEW WAR, BITCH PREFECT TOTE

My Harmony vinyl arrived on the front doorstep this morning as I dashed out the door. I can’t get the sucker out of my head now, I’m thinking, “Shit man, hurry up day, I wanna get home and spin that thing.” Having stumbled across this little local “supergroup” (you have to say that with members of Remake Remodel, McLusky, The Nation Blue et al, they come about as close as you

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Speaking of real, Harmony seize the room by the toenails and deliver, deliver, deliver. Tom Lyngcoln draws his screams from some dark place inside himself. It doesn’t make sense; the dude should be happy, man. He’s playing in a band with his wife (Alex) bashing out drums, the motherfucking dude from McLusky on bass and three hot, sweet-singing females lightening up the joint with sugary three-way harmonies at the front. What gives Lyngcoln? I mean, I’m happy that you’re miserable and everything because otherwise your fucking band wouldn’t exist; or maybe they would but they’d suck. But that’s pretty unlikely really, because Harmony totally don’t suck. So now I’m back to thinking, “Come on day, fi nish already, so I can get the fuck home, make dumplings and listen to my brand new Harmony record, God damn it!” Samson McDougall

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THE KILLS: July 28 Prince Bandroom REVEREND BEAT MAN, DELANEY DAVIDSON: July 28 Northcote Social Club FRIENDLY FIRES: July 29 Billboard PULP: July 29 Festival Hall FITZ & THE TANTRUMS: July 29 Red Bennies DOOMRIDERS: July 29 East Brunswick Club JOHN 00 FLEMING: July 29 Roxanne Parlour DEVENDRA BANHART: July 29 Prince SALMONELLA DUB DJ SOUND SYSTEM: July 29 Espy DON MCGLASHAN: July 29 Caravan Club (Oakleigh); 30 Northcote Social Club FORBIDDEN: July 30 Prague DJ SHADOW: July 31 Palace Theatre PERIPHERY: July 31 Hi-Fi NO USE FOR A NAME: July 31 Corner; August 2 National Hotel ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN: August 1 National Theatre DANANANANAYKROYD: August 1 East Brunswick Club AVENGED SEVENFOLD, SEVENDUST: August 2 Festival Hall THIEVERY CORPORATION: August 2 Palace Theatre GROUPLOVE, YOUNG THE GIANT: August 2 Corner KELE: August 2 Billboard NOAH & THE WHALE: August 3 Corner THE VACCINES: August 3 Hi-Fi GOMEZ: August 4 Palace Theatre DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH? August 5 Prince Bandroom WU-TANG CLAN: August 6 Festival Hall THE GET UP KIDS: August 7 Billboard OWL CITY: August 17 (18+), 18 (U18) Billboard JACQUES RENAULT: August 19 Mercat Basement JUSTIN DERRICO: August 19 Bended Elbow (Geelong); August 20 Espy PINBACK: August 21 Corner THE AMAZING RHYTHM ACES: August 23 Corner BALANCE & COMPOSURE: August 25 Poison City Records (all-ages), Colonial Hotel (18+) YOU ME AT SIX, WE THE KINGS: August 30 (18+), 31 (all-ages) Hi-Fi BIG BOI: September 2 Palace NICK WARREN: September 2 Billboard TITLE FIGHT, TOUCHE AMORE: Emalkay Friday 8 July Roxanne Parlour

September 10 Billboard SUICIDE SILENCE: September 11 Billboard (U18 afternoon; 18+ evening) RYAN ADAMS: September 15 Palais ABOVE & BEYOND: September 17 Festival Hall SUZI QUATRO: October 2 Schweppes Entertainment Centre (Bendigo); October 3 Palais POUR HABIT, SMOKE OR FIRE: October 15 East Brunswick Club CHRIS CORNELL: October 19 & 20 Palais STEELY DAN, STEVE WINWOOD: October 27 Rod Laver Arena LONDON ELEKTRICITY: October 31 Prince MAD SIN: November 11 Hi-Fi KD LANG: November 12 Sidney Myer Music Bowl KINGS OF LEON: November 13, 14 Rod Laver Arena RUSSELL WATSON: November 14 Plenary Hall DOLLY PARTON: November 22, 23 Rod Laver Arena ELTON JOHN: December 6 Rod Laver Arena

NATIONAL

ALEKS & THE RAMPS: July 7 Toff MIAMI HORROR: July 9 Forum KARNIVOOL: July 6 Corner ALPINE: July 7, 8 Northcote Social Club DAN SULTAN, ALEXANDER GOW: July 7 Performing Arts Centre (Geelong); 8 National Theatre; 9 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine) WAGONS: July 8 Karova Lounge

(Ballarat); 9 National Hotel (Geelong); 16 Forum Theatre CLOSURE IN MOSCOW: July 8 Potato Shed (Drysdale); 9 EV’s (Croydon); 9 Sunbury Youth Centre (6pm); 15 McGillivray Hall (Bendigo) DAMIEN LEITH: July 8 Palms At Crown BOOM CRASH OPERA, SEAN KELLY: July 9 Crown Casino CHARLES JENKINS & THE ZHIVAGOS WINTER BALL: July 9 Corner THE SMITH STREET BAND, FORMER CELL MATE: July 9 East Brunswick Club; 10 Catfood Press (all ages) CLARE BOWDITCH, LANIE LANE: July 13 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 14 Wellers Restaurant (Kangaroo Ground); 15 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 16 Thornbury Theatre DAMN DOGS: July 14 Toff SINGLE TWIN: July 14 Grace Darling Hotel OLD MAN RIVER: July 14 East Brunswick Club; 15 Caravan Music Club (Oakleigh) TIJUANA CARTEL: 15 July East Brunswick Club GENERATION SWINE: July 15 Prague SPLIT SECONDS: July 15 Corner BUSBY MAROU: July 15 Northcote Social Club; 16 the National (Geelong) CHOCOLATE STARFISH: July 16 Corner BALL PARK MUSIC: July 16 Northcote Social Club THOUSAND NEEDLES IN RED, FLOATING ME: July 16 Hi-Fi RENEE GEYER: July 16 Palais Hepburn Springs SEEKER, LOVER, KEEPER: July 21 Stones of the Yarra Valley; 22 Theatre Royal (Castlemaine); 23 Meeniyan Town Hall; 24, 25 Thornbury Theatre HANDS LIKE HOUSES: July 22 Pint &Pickle Tavern (Frankston); 23 Fist2Face (Ringwood); 24 Phoenix Youth Centre (Footscray) DIESEL: July 22 Regent Theatre (Ballarat); 23 Palms At Crown; 24 Gateway Hotel (Geelong) DAVE GRANEY & THE LURID YELLOW MIST: July 22-24 South Melbourne Cabaret Festival JINJA SAFARI: July 23 Corner ZULYA & THE CHILDREN OF THE UNDERGROUND: July 24 Bennetts Lane TINY RUINS: July 24 Toff PNAU: July 26 Billboard MOVING PICTURES: July 29 Palais THE IMMIGRANT: July 30 Prince JAMES BLUNDELL, CATHERINE BRITT: August 3 Hallam Hotel; 4 Gateway Hotel (Corio); 5 Moe RSL club CHILDREN COLLIDE: August 3 Pelly Bar (Frankston); 4 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 5 Bended Elbow (Geelong); 13 Corner JORDIE LANE: August 12 Corner EAGLE & THE WORM: August 18 Nash (Geelong); 19 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 20 Corner DEAD LETTER CIRCUS: August 22 Bended Elbow (Geelong); 23 Uni Bar (Gippsland); 24 Hi-Fi; 30 Flying Horse Bar (Warnambool); and September 1 the Sand Bar (Mildura) CALLING ALL CARS: August 24 Loft (Warrnambool); 25 Karova Lounge (Ballarat); 26 Corner Hotel; 27 Ferntree Gully Hotel REGURGITATOR: August 25 Bended Elbow (Ballarat); 26 Hi-Fi; 27 Bended Elbow (Geelong) BONJAH: August 25 Bended Elbow (Ballarat); 27 Corner SKIPPING GIRL VINEGAR: August 26 West Gippsland Arts Centre SEEKAE: August 26 East Brunswick Club FANTINE: September 1 Evelyn BASTARDFEST: September 17 Corner JOHN WATERS: October 27 Playhouse (Geelong); 28, 29 Palms At Crown; 30 Frankston Performing Arts Centre; November 12 Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre JOHN FARNHAM: November 9, 11 Palais

FESTIVALS HIGH VOLTAGE FESTIVAL: August 6 Corner PARKLIFE: September 24 SOUNDWAVE REVOLUTION: September 30 Tabcorp Park (Melton)

THE GRATES, BIG SCARY

CORNER HOTEL

Big Scary are a two-piece who, from song to song, can go from tender piano pop to brazen garage rock. When vocalist/guitarist/pianist Tom Iansek has his telecaster strapped on for songs such as the rhythmically complex blues-punk of Tuesday Is Rent Day, and the thumping This Weight, they are a raucous little unit. Drummer/vocalist Jo Syme, in a tie-dye t-shirt, kills off tom-toms and cymbals with her red drum sticks, and her backing vocals are spot on – the fi rst of a couple of bonafide rock babes to grace the stage tonight. Falling Away, the gorgeous piano based track that demanded radio attention, dazzles rightly, and they fi nish with Autumn, a yearning piece of pop about falling leaves and fading green that they sing out together over marching drums and bobbing piano chords. The contrasting sides of their sound are almost polar, and though it’s a little unusual, they do pull it off. They’re a likeable duo write strong, feel-it-in-your-belly type songs, and it’s big love for Big Scary. The crowd at the Corner is bubbly now, or at least full of bubbles, and so we should be – we’re here to party with The Grates. After the departure of drummer Alana Skyring, and a lengthy stint in New York, the pop band have returned to the homeland to launch their new album Secret Rituals. Rapturous frontbabe Patience Hodgkins and guitarist John Patterson are here with two new members, one on drums and the other on, bass/keys. Haircuts have been cropped, and while they still jump around a lot, the button-cute aesthetic has been dropped; they’ve got some chicness going on. The set features both old and new material. Tracks off their debut such as Science Is Golden and Rock Boys incite the biggest reactions, with many audience members mimic the emphatic head-swings and rope-climb style dance moves that Hodgkins pulls. She is truly fun to watch; during 19-20-20, after wildly spinning off her cardigan, she jumps into the crowd and surfs over the arms for a good forty seconds. New tracks showcase the different approach to their sound and songwriting: the bass grooves and choruses in Like You Could Have It All and Change feel good. Hodgkins oozes bratty sassiness, at one stage bewilders us with the statement: “Now we’re gonna sort the chicks from the babes”. But she hits her notes, and Patterson backs her up with gravelly growls over his fuzzy guitar. The new band members are not introduced until the last song, the catchy new single and album opener Turn Me On, as if to indicate that this is a beginning. For an encore Hodgkins comes out in a fluffy animal suit – a sort of sad-eyed monkey – and they finish with their cheekily unchaste hit Trampoline. The Grates have been welcomed back with open arms tonight. Warwick Goodman

CASH SAVAGE W/ SWEET JEAN

THE GEM BAR & DINING ROOM

One of this town’s more salubrious country, blues and rockabilly music haunts slides into its 5th birthday celebrations by way of a sly wink, twang and a whiskey neat. With Sime Nugent opening up the showcase minus musical partner Alice Keath who is AWOL for most of the relatively passive set, the man must deal with the general stir of the room, chatter and clank of cutlery from the dinner crowd, but Nugent rides through the squall with lone guitar strum and velvet vocal like the hardened troubadour he is. No fuss business, as always. The addition of Keath on banjo and co-vocal in the latter stages of the set does insert additional verve to the tunes, and now Sweet Jean are rollin’. Abbotsford Appalachia, this is. Hiccups and disappearing acts simply add to the charm of this pastoral and winsome duo’s musical Gem entrée. Cash Savage strolls into the corner of the room where the stage is set. Her revolving ensemble of Last Drinks reprobates swarm around her and jingle, jangle. Savage is in the mood – strident be thy name. 19 Years, from the band’s 2010 record Wolf starts us up with its warped violin, shuffle drum and notoriously rough-as-guts, sledgehammer Cash vocal. Dancing On Graves, Loveless Marriage Blues, One Key, She’s Gonna Love Me… Savage and band rock and roll the room like few can, and it’s Cash with her delectably gruff bandleader approach who is king again this eve. Savage is all heart; powerful and playfully drunk, she commands attention whenever the red light is on. While her songs envisage vitriol and vengeance, her onstage demeanour is one of bold, bullish magnetism. The lure of the animal. The Kavorka. Rickety, sea-shanty narratives,

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blues, honkytonk and country sweep through a Cash Savage and the Last Drinks show like syphilis. Running commentary all the way this eve. Drinks all round. Whiskey in my whiskey type stuff. Channelling Janis Joplin and Shane MacGowan, much of the Savage storyline cuts in and out of a leisurely backbeat that roars into a hellish sonic tunnel. From a whisper to a scream. Another husky, grating and grinding production tonight – like giving oneself sutures after ingesting psychedelics. Kudos, Cash. Happy Birthday, Gem. Nick Argyriou

HELMET

THE HI-FI

The Hi-Fi, as the website rightly proclaims, is defi nitely one of Melbourne’s premier live entertainment venues. It’s big enough to fit a decent crowd, yet still small enough not to jeopardize its magnificent acoustics, which is perfect for die-hard fans of seminal New York hard-rockers Helmet, who like to listen to their music loud. You can tell that people are serious about their rock when they forego trips to the bar in order to maintain their viewing positions. Already wearing “Seeing Eye Dog” tour t-shirts purchased from the merch stand and probably discussing the best head-banging techniques, there is a sense of both anticipation and agitation among the crowd, who are clearly desperate for Helmet to start. One of the fi rst things you notice about the quartet is that they look remarkably normal. They don’t have long hair or dreadlocks and they don’t have crazy onstage antics. They’re just four dudes who play heavy music. And boy, do they play it well. Among the wider public of people who don’t listen to rock (yes, I have heard such people exist), there is a gross misconception that it’s just a bunch of noise with no real structure or depth. If you wanted to prove them wrong, Helmet would be the band to help you. Their music is intense not because it is bold, but because the guitar riffs are intricate and sublimely executed, and you would be hard-pressed to fi nd a better rhythm section. Taking to the stage and thrashing out three amazing songs before addressing the crowd, frontman Page Hamilton sets the mood for the night by calling one of the audience members a dickhead and telling him to grow up because they won’t tolerate violence. It’s a breath of fresh air to see a heavy band endorse hugs. Taking suggestions from the crowd, Hamilton is happy to stray from the normally-regarded-as-gospel set-list and play a few impromptu tunes to really whet the audience’s appetite. Considering they are touring to promote their 2010 release Seeing Eye Dog, they play minimal tracks from the album, which the audience appreciate because the couple they do play are received with much less enthusiasm than favourites like Unsung and Milque Toast. Helmet put on a tight performance and the show just makes you re-question why there was so much hype around Nirvana in the ‘80s, when clearly Helmet’s talent far surpasses them. Tianna Nadalin Helmet by Chrissie Francis

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LONDON FIELDS THE VIEW FROM EC4 WITH JAMES MCGALLIARD My first thought upon seeing that Jesus Jones and The Wonder Stuff (or Miles Hunt and friends play the songs of the Stuffies) were embarking on a joint Australian tour was of the great bands of that era that have never played in Australia, particularly James and The Blue Aeroplanes. Following a six year hiatus, James reformed in 2007 (with the classic line-up that had recorded their career’s best album Laid) and while most attention was focused on the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm over the last weekend, in London James played a giant show in Hyde Park supporting The Killers. It was at Glastonbury in 1992 that I saw artrockers The Blue Aeroplanes amass a dozen guitarists on stage for their traditional closing cover of Breaking In My Heart. There’s been two constants throughout The Blue Aeroplanes’ history: frontman Gerard Langley and a multitude of guitars. Like The Fall, the non-playing vocalist has been the constant in myriad line-ups, and over 40 musicians have been members of the band at some point. But unlike the tyranny Mark E. Smith exerts, The ‘planes are more like a collective, a team where members come on and off the bench according to need and availability. To celebrate the release of their new album Anti-Gravity, they played a one-off show at the Borderline in central London the other week. Here the football analogy was even stronger as around eleven players went off and off stage according to the demands of the songs. Gerard hardly seems to have changed over the years; although his hair is now dyed and he carries a book of lyrics as an aide-mémoire, under stage lights in his ever-present dark glasses he looks almost identical to 21 years ago. It’s hard to explain how joyous it all is, but much like how dancer Wojtek Dmochowski weaves around the small stage, trying not to trip on guitar leads in the process, so the different melody lines of each guitar intertwine as they ring true and clear. Tonight sees Angelo Bruschini (now usually in Massive Attack) return for a rare appearance, and while I miss the Rickenbacker chime of Rodney Allen, when all these guitars mesh, as on Warhol’s 15 tonight, it truly is a thing of beauty. Before the show, I spotted Marty Willson-Piper of The Church in the audience, and troubled him to ask if there was any chance of seeing the 30th anniversary show that recently toured Australia. At The Church’s last London show a few years back, Steve Kilbey said it was likely to be the last time we’d see them play in London. Marty was kind enough to give me a long and detailed description of just what the costs and difficulties are in organising a tour, and then talked in refreshingly candid terms about the size of crowd the band can expect to pull in London these days. All in all it painted a fairly bleak picture for bands playing medium-sized venues. Last Thursday I ventured into the wilds of South Wimbledon to see Colchester veterans Modern English playing in London for the first time since the eighties, in an expanded line-up with all but one of the original members. These days they’re now mostly known for that song – Melt With You – which was kept back to the end of their set. What is best about this show is that there’s no feeling as though it’s to prove anything, but they’re playing merely just because they want to do it. The music is both naïve and organic, as one intro explains, “this was before we knew about bridges and choruses – we just called them sections”. But these sections slot together in a way that current acts trying to recreate this period miss altogether. In their heyday they were a key act on 4AD and were an essential part of the This Mortal Coil project. For me, the highlight comes in the encore with 16 Days, one of their songs that was also on the first TMC album. Having spent this weekend doing an ‘Armchair Glastonbury‘ via the BBC‘s coverage, I kept thinking what a poor reflection the televised version was of the music being played on smaller stages throughout the UK. I also recalled how every time I’ve chatted to David Gedge he’s asked if I know an Australian promoter who might want to bring The Wedding Present out. You see, some English bands from the late eighties and early nineties are still making music worth hearing; perhaps one day you’ll get to discover this live in your town. http://londonfieldscolumn.blogspot.com/

A JOLLY GOOD FALLOE

ANGELIK SOUNDS

Hard-hitting, female-fronted Adelaide rock stalwarts Angelik return to Melbourne for their first shows in Victoria in four years! They play two shows this Saturday at Brunswick’s Victoria Hotel with hot newcomers Lilly’s Radio and garage punk rockers The Subsequents, and the infamous Pony Bar 2am survivor spot/late show! Both shows are free entry and given the strong response to Angelik’s previous east coast tours, expect rock’n’roll shenanigans galore! Angelik’s current single Dirty Lover/Cut Myself From You will also be available at the Melbourne shows so get up to make sure you check out why this band has survived for over a decade and is still kicking strong into the future.

GET CARTY

Critically acclaimed indie folk man Jack Carty is hitting the road in July with a string of shows to celebrate the unprecedented reception his debut album One Thousand Origami Birds and single Hope have been receiving on the home front, as well as the launch of a brand new single and film clip – the foot stomping crowd favourite Them There Hills. Fellow folk ramblers Jordan Millar, with his EP Everything, and Leroy Lee touting his loved by radio single, Drawing Smoke will be also be making the journey, completing a lineup you’ll want to write home about. Catch them all at the Grace Darling Sunday 7pm. $15 on the door.

LOVELY

Formerly known as Goodnight Owl, Love Migrate is ready to be unleashed into the world with new members, a new name, a new set, and a new direction. Combining the epic dynamics and soaring vocals of Sigur Ros with the contagious rhythm and boldness of The Strokes, Love Migrate do dark pop ballads in a way you’ve never seen or heard before. Their set will be divided into two; the first, featuring old Goodnight Owl songs; and the second being a full band set filled with new songs that will be released later in the year under the name Love Migrate. So come down and help them celebrate the end of an old band and the start of a new one at the Grace Darling Hotel on Saturday 2 July.

SOUL POLE

The Cherry Bar is preparing for its biggest and best Thursday night of the year, as its worldfamous Soul In The Basement regular Thursday night celebrates its 11th Birthday on Thursday 7 July from 8pm to 5am. With original DJs and PBS radio icons Vince “The Prince” Peach and Pierre “Soul Groove ‘66” Baroni playing the best original 45-rpm, 7-inch vinyl all night, as they have done for over a decade. Who would have thought that a Thursday night soul night at a rock bar in Melbourne would become the world’s longest-running weekly soul night? Join the party on Thursday 7 July at Cherry, 8pm.

Falloe is five members and 15 instruments. They’re a myriad of genres fi lled with fivepart harmonies, sparkling guitars, exotic instruments and lyrics telling stories about murder, lust, love and betrayal. Catch them in the band room of the Builders Arms tonight for their last residency show. Support comes from Alexis Nicole & The Missing Pieces. Entry is only $5 and doors open at 8pm.

IT’S ONLY NATURAL

D. Rogers follows up the release of the criticallyacclaimed Natural Disasters with a residency at the Builders Arms. Rogers and his band, The Blackline Masters, have been delving into their four-album back catalogue over Thursdays in June, and their fi nal show of the residency is this Thursday. Special guest Duke Batavia is supporting, entry is $10 and doors are at 8pm.

BOOGALOO FOR YOU

The Karate Boogaloo is a dance that previously only the wisest and most disciplined of Sensei masters could undertake successfully. But now, thanks to the four-piece teenage funk sensation that have named themselves after the much-coveted oriental boogaloo craze, anyone can try! With wailing organ, clanging guitar, bubbling bass and ghetto-thumpin’ drums, Karate Boogaloo are tearing up dance floors in a fashion not dissimilar to that of Bruce Lee or The Meters. Get down to the Builders Arms front bar from 6-8pm this Friday to catch their last residency show. Free entry!

A WHITE NIGHT

White Minus Red are pleased to present a night featuring three of this town’s fi nest collaborations of female vocalists and beat-makers. Audego is the freshly launched new collaborative project between Shahab Tariq (Paso Bionic/Curse Ov Dialect/Tzu) and Carolyn Parry (Defend The Melody). Their powers combine to create a hypnotic blend of silky layered vocals and fat beats with massive head nod factor. Also performing is soul singer Ella Thompson. Check them out in the Builders Arms band room this Friday from 8.30pm in the band room. Entry is $7.

FALLOW MUSIC LOVERS

Husband-and-wife duo Fallow Fields is alt-country at its fi nest, featuring sweet harmonies, lyrical storytelling, and a warmth that will make you feel like you’re listening to old friends. Danna and Rach Simmons have always written in (and listened to) a number of genres to keep things fresh and interesting. Fallow Fields is a project that grew organically out of this process, and before too long they realised they had an album worth of alt/country tunes that they wanted to share with you all. They spent their honeymoon refi ning the set (such is their dedication to their craft), and are currently in the process of recording their debut album. Find out more about them this Sunday at their fi rst July residency show at Builders Arms. 4-6pm in the front bar.

RETURN OF THE T-REK Tarek Smallman has made a name for himself over the past 10 years with a diverse output of electronic and club music, initially as one half of duo Bionikworld, and since 2005 by himself as T-Rek. Long before this, however, T-Rek was a drummer and songwriter for Melbourne artists, and it’s to these musical roots he returns on his Broken Lines EP. Covering most of the instrumentation and vocal duties on the EP, T-Rek presents a different musical side, with none of the electronic instrumentation or dance-floor dynamics he is generally known for. T-Rek will be celebrating the release of the EP with a launch party at Revolver Upstairs this Friday, with live performances from two bands for whom he performs drums and vocals (We Are Gamma! and Volatile Ram) plus DJ sets from Luke McD, Silversix, Nick Coleman, T-Rek himself and the usual back bar hijinks courtesy of Mike Callander, Sunshine and friends.

CATCH A BLACK CAB

Black Cab return for their fi rst Melbourne show since October of last year at the East Brunswick Club this Friday with special guests Pony Face. The band have been busy writing and recording new songs over the past year and will give a few newies their fi rst run, including a new single which will be out early June. Black Cab’s last show at the East and both recent shows at the Northcote Social Club sold out so get in early – and all pre-sale ticket buyers will get the new single free!

GEEZ, EMMA LOUISE!

After recently returning from a national sold-out tour with Boy & Bear, songstress Emma Louise has been announced as the main support for Josh Pyke’s Only Sparrows album tour. Following radio favourite Jungle, her second single Bugs will be released nationally to mark the occasion. Her debut EP Full Hearts & Empty Rooms was released in April and entered the AIR Independent Distro charts at #1 and graced the #1 spot of the iTunes singer/songwriter charts. It looks as though the rave reviews that surfaced throughout Boy & Bear’s tour are set to continue, with her live show as captivating as ever. Catch her on tour with Josh Pyke on Friday 16 at the Corner and Saturday 17 September at Geelong’s Bended Elbow.

I CHOO, CHOO, CHOOSE YOU

A FRIEND AND ALI

After a monster of an album launch in May and a killer surprise gig with The Meanies, the girls from Valentiine are ready for another night of pure mayhem at Revolver. They are bringing their raw energy, dirty guitars and screaming vocals and have whipped up some mighty fi ne bands along with them to share with you. To warm up the night and prepare you for the chaos to come, Brisbane-based punk girls Gunk come down and bash out with their high-energy tunes. Followed by a new fuzzy garage grunge band on the scene: Woolhouse. Baptism Of Uzi are playing main support and will be sure to take you on a journey and excite your senses with some psychedelic rock. So be sure to get down to Revolver early on Saturday to catch all bands. Doors 8.30pm, $10 on the door.

Saturdays in July, the Builders Arms will host the evocative and compelling music of Ali E. A band member of Ferry Tails and Damn Terran, Ali E’s solo music breathes tales of dark desire and constructs metaphors of emotive and weathered landscapes, while her guitardriven melodies have the ability to haunt and engulf. Throughout the residency, Ali E will be joined by special guests from Little John, Howl At The Moon and The Once Overs. Catch Ali E’s fi rst residency show this Saturday from 4-6pm in the front bar. Free entry.

HALL OF BLUES & SOUL

Dan Hall has put together a rockin’ blues/ soul trio that will be tipping their hats to Clapton, King, Beck and Hendrix every Friday night at the Exchange Hotel in Footscray. Doors are at 9pm, and entry is free!

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CLASS A AND ISHU Following the success of her 2010 full-length debut Me, Me, Me & Him: The Secret Life Of A Receptionist, and subsequent Wildside Tour, Class A took a few months off work in favour of some (Fitzroy) poolside reflection, to take stock and recapture inspiration before fi nally getting back to the business of writing. Ishu has been captivating local ears and minds since 2008 with his culturemashing blend of boom-bap, electronic beats and organic soft-pedal funk. His 2010 album A World In Progress features some of Australia’s most accomplished lyricists, such as Mantra, Koolism’s Hau and Lotek. This record also marked the fi rst collaboration between Ishu and Class A, with the ambling, low-key rumination The Unknown. The fi rst single lifted from the forthcoming EP is Never, and will be released on Thursday, at 9pm at Section 8.

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TASTE TEST Pat O’Shea – Anchors Alkaline Trio, From Here To Infirmary LP – I thought I was going to become a sick vinyl collector at 14, but didn’t buy another one until adult life... This was probably the last good record they put out anyway. Record you put on when you’re really miserable? Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA – Mostly just for Downbound Train because that song perfectly captures utter hopelessness.

GET RIFFED

Record you put on when you bring someone home? Probably some crucial hardcore to make myself seem cool. Most surprising record in your collection? Van McCoy, Do The Hustle single. I found this in an op shop and played it for weeks straight, what a cracking song! Best record you stole from your folks’ collection?

Last thing you bought/downloaded?

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo’s Factory – I still listen to it to this day, classic record.

New Title Fight album. It’s completely different to the last album but growing on me.

First record you bought?

Anchors play Friday 1 July At The Tote.

4TRESS OF ROCK’N’BLUES

On Thursday 7 July, the Prague are holding a rock’n’blues night featuring high energy rock/ pop punk band 4tress and blues/rock four-piece Ebony Stryder. Opening the night will be acoustic trio The Maudins and The Sam Owen Blues Band. Enjoy a night of rock and blues music and have a drink with the bands after the show.

LATIN THURSDAYS

BUCKETS OF GRUNT With their heady mix of psychedelia, electric dirge and freewheelin’ rock ‘n’ roll, Gruntbucket, are a band going back to the old school of hard rockin’ sounds. You know the modesty and simplicity of a three piece band where musical talent is the very source of their strength and focus? Yeah: talent; like we said: old school! Joining them on the Yah Yah’s stage will be Essay Edwards and James McCann with new band and new songs, same quality live show. Doors 9pm.

Rocksteady Entertainment (Melbourne’s most experienced and biggest club & bar events team) have joined forces with Melbourne Salsa (the most established Latin dance crew around town) to bring you the city’s most unique Thursday night Latin experience at Silk Road! It starts on Thursday 7 July, and there will be live Latin percussionists and musicians, beginner and intermediate bachata (7.30pm) and salsa (8.30pm) lessons, and Latin party and house music (9.30pm onwards). DJs include: Mark Pelligrini, Andreas, Nick van Wilder, Danny Merx and Henrique Santos. Dance classes are $15 for one or $20 for two on the same night. Dress code is smart casual. Visit melbournesalsa.com.au for more info.

NOTE THIS DOWN

Usually found lurking behind a keyboard for such seminal bands such as The Cruel Sea, James Cruickshank now swaggers out of the dimly lit corners of the stage into the spotlight to launch his new solo album Note To Self at the East Brunswick Club on Thursday 7 July. He’ll be presenting an eclectic mix of songs that include grave bluegrass, sideways swamp, dark moody

Dive Into Ruin play Riffage at the Prague this Friday night. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Craig Fryers, Bass/vocals: “We were all in a band called iO about ten years ago now, there were a few too many chefs in the kitchen, so to speak, with too many different styles of songwriting. So we split into two bands, Dive Into Ruin – our rock three-piece – and Mushroom Giant, which is a lot more atmospheric.” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “We release our Shark Infested Water album in 2009 and it is distributed both here and in Europe. We’ve been writing a bunch of new stuff for a new release by the end of the year.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “Tsunami Rock. It’s a fair bit bigger than your ordinary Surf Rock.” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “Them Crooked Vultures, we’re big fans of Led Zeppelin, QOTSA and Foo Fighters, and it’d be mad to tour with those guys. I was so obsessed with Led Zeppelin, I first picked up a guitar just so I could get closer to their music. Once I’d learnt the guitar parts I borrowed a mate’s bass to learn John Paul Jones’s parts, and have played bass ever since.” IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Albums are replaceable, it’d be my basses that get my full attention.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I’m Melbourne’s biggest skeptic. Superstitions and lucky charms don’t interest me.” IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Kangaroo satay seems to work well for the carnivorous types.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? “The Prague Hotel.”

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This Friday, the Prague presents Riffage: a night of riffs and licks courtesy of some of Melbourne’s fi nest hard rock bands. Riffage will be a monthly event aiming to satisfy the tastes of the heavy music fan. Rock, stoner, doom, metal, thrash and punk are all on the menu, and you are the guest in this delectable feast of honest to goodness music! The fi rst instalment features six rip-snorting acts: Dive Into Ruin, Dread, Wicked City, Dead, The Blister Transistor and Sexy Heavy. $10 Entry, doors at 7pm.

piano riffs, electronic driven beats, eerie percussion clicks to melancholy melodies. Special guests include fellow-traveller Matt Walker, duke of the no-bar blues, and Melbourne singer/songwriter Liz Stringer, who is consolidating her growing reputation as a respected songwriter and musician.

IMPROVE YOUR POETRY

Two of Melbourne’s best performance poets, Luka Lesson and Joel McKerrow, have teamed up to create an exciting new organisation called The Centre of Poetics and Justice. The organisation works to help young or inexperienced writers gain the tools they need to articulate themselves well enough to jump on a stage and pronounce their points of view to the word with award-winning precision. Luka — the reigning Melbourne slam champion and the current highest-ranked Australian slam poet — and his enigmatic codirector Joel McKerrow are running a weekend of performance poetry and hip-hop based workshops from 10am-4pm on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 July. There will also be a showcase of performances from the workshops participants and special guests at 7pm on Sunday evening. For more info/to register, visit cpj.org.au.

PIANO’N’BASS

This Saturday from 8.30pm in the Builders Arms band room, Sam Lawrence sings songs accompanied by bassist James Gilligan. Lawrence is at once a little boy, naïve and reckless in voice, and like an old man, bellowing. Under the voice is a striking piano, sometimes soft and mourning, then in urgency like a sex organ or fathomless ocean. Bassist Gilligan is set apart by his profound understanding and sensitivity to his instrument. He lets the sounds of the world through him gently, in love with ebb and flow. Witness them playing together live.

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S/HE BOPS, S/HE BOPS!

He Bops/She Bops is a basement party happening at the Espy on Saturday 9 July! It features part drama-fuelled, part funfuelled Melbourne rockers the Blow Waves lathering up in harmonies and seductive beats, Brisbane’s wickedly retrograde Bertie Page Clinic pumping out an unholy union of burlesque and glam rock and plenty of glitter, glamour, trash and truth from Baby Lemonade Lamaar. Doors open at 9pm and entry is free!

SINGLE FOCUS Natalie Gauci – Best Of Me “The song took me two days to write. five days to record in the studio with my band and a few months to mix and master. I got it mixed in LA and mastered in the UK. I was surprised at how much cheaper it is overseas to mix and master records! I got to produce this EP myself which was a huge learning curve for me also.”

FEEL ALIVE TONIGHT

Sydney pop punkers Tonight Alive have been very busy since their inception in 2008, having played alongside artists such as Mest, 3OH!3, Flatliners, Fireworks, Valenica, Lost Prophets, The Blackout and The Wonder Years and selling in excess of 20,000 copies of their debut and self-funded EP All Shapes And Disguises, which reached #1 after only six hours on the worldwide alternative iTunes charts. The band was

Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making?

GROOVE AN ORDER What’s the song about?

Head uptown after work on Friday to the Order Of Melbourne, where this weekend the beats are being defined by Inkswel, Butch Le Butch and Agent 86. The tearaway team drop tunes from knock-off and carry them into the early hours of Saturday morning. Wash ‘em down with a cocktail or let the city’s ambience seep into your pores on the rooftop bar (winter-dodgers take note: the heaters will be on and the umbrellas will be up). Fridays at the Order are always free entry, but that doesn’t mean the company is cheap.

“The song is about being broken-hearted. I wrote it when I was seeing a guy who I opened my heart to, who wasn’t taking it all, maybe he was but I wanted more. I really didn’t want a relationship either at the time but I wanted someone to be there so I wouldn’t feel lonely. I felt like I was giving him something special but it was a one-way street.”

A HANDSOME ACT

It’s country time again at the Prague! This Sunday sees the Prague’s favourite sons, Very Handsome Men, return with a new and invigorated line-up. It’s a Sunday afternoon shakedown as the blues/country/rockabilly band bring their old sparring partners Middleton Road along for the journey, as well as a special surprise act! Doors at 3pm, $10 entry.

SHOTS FIRED IN MELB

Five hard-rock-loving, party-hard blokes from Western Australia met in their early teens, and have been gigging the southwest region of Western Australia ever since. Shots Fired have performed a string of sold-out shows and delight in wowing their audiences with their elaborate rock’n’roll choreography, blistering guitar solos, hard and heavy rhythm section and high-pitched grinding vocals. In 2010, Shots Fired decided to re-locate to Melbourne and tear up some venues, with the rest of Australia and the world in their sights. Having produced two independently-released albums, Shots Fired are riding the rock tidal wave with both albums to be commercially re-released shortly. Check them out at this Thursday at Ferntree Gully Hotel from 10.45pm, Wednesday 6, 13, 20 and 27 at Cherry Bar from 9pm, and Thursday 14 July at the Vineyard at 12am.

HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER? Tessa: “Four of us met in the schoolyard. It was probably out of practicality rather than chemistry at first. Musicians were the minority, so we got forced to play together. We have learnt to love each other. So much love...” HAVE YOU RECORDED ANYTHING OR DO YOU PREFER TO TOOL AROUND IN YOUR BEDROOM? “We have recorded a number of times, most recently at a studio in Altona called Coloursound with the boys (fro & mo) who cameo frequently on That 70’s Show... We don’t really ‘tool’ around in our collective bedroom. But those bunk beds would be incredible.” CAN YOU SUM UP YOUR BAND’S SOUND IN FOUR WORDS? “‘Ultimate’, ‘Morning’, ‘Vegetable’, ‘Juice.’” IF YOU COULD SUPPORT ANY BAND IN THE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? “This question I always take too seriously. I mean, the options are endless. If we can choose those who have passed, The Travelling Wilburys would be a smart choice. So many birds with just one stone. IF A HIGHER POWER SMITES YOUR HOUSE AND YOU CAN ONLY SAVE ONE RECORD FROM THE FIRE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? “Only one! The White Album – The Beatles. I maybe have a special, limited copy on vinyl. And no, I won’t give my address.” DO YOU HAVE A LUCKY ITEM OF CLOTHING YOU WEAR FOR GIGS AND WHAT IS IT? “I don’t have a lucky colour. I don’t really have a lucky anything. Perhaps I’ll look into that... I feel unlucky if I am not wearing colour.”

HARD CASE Ex-Geelong musician and music video director Adam Harding (Warpaint, Adalita) will make a rare live appearance at the Old Bar on Saturday 2 July to launch a new 7” called Between You And Me There Is A Great Gulf Fixed which features members of Dinosaur Jr and Magic Dirt. Adam’s backing band for the night will feature Dane Certificate and Steve Patrick from Useless Children. Support from Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Bodies, and a solo performance by Bonnie Mercer.

IF YOU INVITED SOMEONE AWESOME ROUND FOR DINNER WHAT WOULD YOU COOK? “Well, if I had a lot of warning on this someone awesome’s arrival, I would cook the family recipe vegetable and lentil pie. Winter-time delight. It’s such a cosy meal. If little warning, they would get poached eggs on toast. Staple food at its best.” WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRINK IN MELBOURNE? I like to go to the Grace Darling on Smith Street, and then work my way around those parts. We are lucky in Melbourne that so many of these nice pubs always have great live music on also, and there are many venues similar. I am easily swayed when lured by a beverage, so I generally go anywhere (close-by).”

We’ll like this song if we like…

Is this track from a forthcoming/ existing release?

“Adele, Duffy, Norah Jones.”

“This track Best Of Me is from an existing release. I popped this on iTunes in July 2010 and decided to give it more of a commercial release when the timing felt right. I’m a true believer in timing of things, it happens when it happens.”

“Yup, I have shows coming up at Bennetts Lane on Sunday 3 July. I will be selling copies of the EP and giving away free samples of my new upcoming album.”

How long did it take to write/record?

Tessa & The Typecast launch their new single, Straight On ‘Til Morning at The Toff on Saturday, with friends Crooked Saint and Yeo.

“There were so many things inspiring me at the time. The feature film Big Mamma’s Boy was a huge inspiration, without them, the EP wouldn’t have seen the light of day. The band were also a massive inspiration. I was listening to Rolling Stones (Brown Sugar), Aretha Franklin and Daniel Merriweather a lot at the time of recording. The song is the perfect soundtrack to, well I have to say Big Mamma’s Boy because two of my songs from the EP are literally in the movie and on the soundtrack. I’d also say it was the perfect soundtrack to my life in 2009. I wrote it about four different relationships, three about boys and one about my mum.”

in Los Angeles earlier this year recording their debut album with Mark Trombino (Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, The Starting Line) and have now returned to Australia! Catch them at the East Brunswick Club this Saturday with guests Skyway, Masketta Fall and My Favourite Accident. Tickets are $15+BF and doors are at 8.30pm.

CARLTON CLUB ALL NIGHT

Get ready for a bit of an all-nighter this Saturday at the Carlton Club. Playing from 8pm-12am is Constance, providing a moody journey through the ‘80s and ‘90s. Next up, from 12-3am is Nikki Sarafian & Jake Judd, who play good music for bad people. Expect sci-fi synths, strings of strife, expensive jazz, Hindi indie, gelati western, Hitchcock rock, commie pop, sonic truth, psychotic candy and nothing in between. This is all followed by Otologic from 3-6am. Yep, it’s gonna be a messy one.

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

New Dub City Sound are set to release their debut album Home, which they’ll be launching on Friday 8 July at Bar Open. Also playing will be Voodoo Dred — the Haitian, Mexican-born and only practising witch doctor in Melbourne — who will brew your insides with good vibes, and DJ Ms Butt will work her magic to get your butts a-shakin’ to the polyrhythmic grooves! New Dub City Sound’s Home is a fresh mash-up of dub, reggae and hip/trip pop. Ali MC (frontman and producer) rounds the record nicely by adding a passionate vocal delivery reminiscent of Joe Strummer. Live, they rock an energetic and bassheavy show combining percussion, vocals and onthe-fly dubs! Doors are at 10pm and entry is free.

TWO RIVERS RETREAT

Saturday night at the Retreat, country rockers Dirt River Radio bring the hoe-down to you in the front bar from 7:30pm. Dead River Deeps are an country rock outfit with uplifting choruses and searing emotional power. They make their return to the Retreat on Saturday alongside Dirt River Radio and are bringing The Publican Band along for the ride. The show gets started from 10pm and as always it’s free so it won’t cost you a dime! Plus, DJ Adalita plays the night out.

ZING!

In a world of Meta tags this gig description would go something like: Repairs drone industrial synth Melbourne punk Zingers shit-stirrers punk Tax awesome Bad Aches garage goofiness. Get down to Yah Yah’s Friday for Repairs, The Zingers, Tax, Bad Aches. All play different takes on punk. All are rad! Doors 9pm.

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Will you be launching it?

For further information, visit: www.nataliegauci.com.au

WINNING WINTER BEATS

From the people that brought you Earthcore, St Kilda Festival and Brunswick St Festival dance music stages, comes the event spectacular Winter Beats Soundsystem. Combining legendary worldclass production, an elite collection of artists, mind-bending visuals and fabulous music, they’ll have you eating the furniture and dancing like it’s summer all over again. Featuring international maestros Astrix, Gemini, Inspector Dubplate, DJ Hal, Vengeance Suntribe and Nort, you can leave your thermals at home for this one. It’s all happening this Friday at the Royal Melbourne Hotel from 11pm.

HAVE A HEART

Post-hardcore Melbourne/Wangaratta band Once Were Heartless mix heavy vocals with clean, memorable breakdowns and melodic choruses. Proving popular amongst the young hardcore scene, catch them diving in head first at the Prague this Thursday night with Cult Of The Rocket, ODD and Shadow Thief. Doors at 8pm, $6 entry.

NEXT Next turns 6 on Thursday and it’s going to be a massive night. Kisschasy play a very special club performance with support from favourites Built On Secrets, Viking Frontier and We Rob Banks. There will be roving circus performers, carnival showgirls, free popcorn and fairy floss and free photobooth photos all night. Also a tonne of giveaways from Mistake Clothing, Trial & Error Records, Ezekiel clothing, Epitaph Records and Off Ya Tree! All that plus the cheapest drinks anywhere on a Thursday night, $2 Pots, $4 basics & $5 Jagers all night. Only at Next.

AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE

STREAMING

NOW!

PLAYER PIANO MEMORY TAPES The hyphenate sometimes known as Weird Tapes, Memory Cassette, AdyHawke or plain old Dayve Hawke is set to release his second long-player as Memory Tapes. The former Hail Social leader, and current resident of New Jersey, Hawke follows up his blog-adored Seek Magic debut with the soon-to-be-adored-beyond-the-blogosphere Player Piano. Recorded at home, as always, Player Piano finds Hawke largely eschewing modern beats in favour of influences as far flung as The Kinks, modern R&B, ‘50s doo wop, kosmische and Aphex Twin.

PLAYER PIANO IS OUT JULY 1 THROUGH INERTIA

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live@inpress.com.au are bringing you some of the new tracks of their forthcoming EP (due later this year) to Revolver on Thursday with Foxtrot and special guests.

TASTE TEST

FASTRACK YOUR NIGHT

VJ Spook

The best record I stole from my folks’ collection was… My Mum’s first pressing of INXS’s Kick. The first record I bought with

OH MOTHER

Teenage Mothers release their debut single Orlando & Miranda. It’s about beautiful celebrities living in luxury, while ordinary people become junkies, prostitutes and homeless bums. This June, Teenage Mothers play a Thursday night residency at Yah Yah’s, This Thursday is the last night of the residency and what a month it’s been! Come celebrate. Plus Australia’s gnarliest and nuttiest skate crew, POON, will DJ everything from Morrissey to Motorhead to Mozart. Doors 9pm.

FUNKY COQ

Spread over two levels, Lucky Coq on Saturdays provide it all. DJs Pacman, Jean Paul, Sam McEwin and Samari play the tastiest tech house and electro from 9pm in the downstairs bar. Upstairs you can find Kodiak Kid, Moonshine, AshLee and guests stinking it up with funk and hip hop from 9pm. Two levels, all free, at Lucky Coq.

GET DOWN TO EARTH

Earth have been a staple of the Melbourne metal scene for long, long time. 17 years, in fact. To celebrate this milestone, they will be bringing their neck-breaking live show to the Prague for the very first time this Saturday. Drawing comparisons to classic Swedish death metal bands like Dismember and Entombed, Earth have always managed to stay afloat with their catchy song-writing and awesome live show. Come and help Earth celebrate in style with some of Melbourne’s best metal acts in support: Desecrator, Maniaxe, Odius Embowel and Moth. Doors at 8pm, $12 entry.

my own money was… Beastie Boys – License to Ill… and I remember coming straight home to copy it over to tape so I could listen to it on my bright yellow Sony Walkman on the way to school the next day. The record I put on when I’m really miserable is… Ed Solo & Skool of Thought’s Life Gets Better. The record I put on when I bring someone home is… Depends on what I wanna show off at the time. Right now it’s Action Bronson’s album Dr Lecter though – very impressive. The most surprising record in my collection is… The Gipsy Kings’ self-titled record. The last thing I bought/downloaded was… Mind Over Matter’s Just Like Fireworks. VJ Spook plays the Prince Bandroom as part of the 3Things Hip Hop Approach, Thursday 7 July.

BLAC IS BACK

Blac Mail are mixing it up this week inviting Strathmore to come and join the party. Following the demise of Melbourne stalwarts Tiltmeter, Fast Times and Responder, former members joined forces to create fresh tracks with a punk rock feel. The result was a bunch of killer tracks with strong melodies, catchy riffs and well thought out structures. These guys are no strangers to the stage as well as the road and

Explosive blues/rock duo Jackson Firebird plays at the Retreat Hotel this Thursday. Their sound consists of fat guitar, distorted vocals, hard-hitting drums and the unconventional sounds of a miked-up, upside-down “bottle bin.” Providing support on the night is The Joe Kings, who won a WAMi last year for Favourite Newcomer. They plan to release an album later on in the year. If you’re a rock and blues fan, you might want to check this one out.

COQ WEDNESDAYS

Still rocking hard is Wednesdays at Lucky Coq. DJs Agent 86, Bladerunner, Mr Thom, Joybot and guests give you nothing but the best new wave, punk, Britpop, bong rap and hair metal this side of Seattle every Wednesday night from 9pm. Free pool downstairs from 10pm as well as $10 Coopers Pale longnecks. Roq out!

JUDGE’S RULES

Moving and stirring audiences everywhere they go, Judge Pino & The Ruling Motions are a living tribute to the greats of 1970s Jamaican reggae. While covering classic 1970s lovers’ rock, early dancehall and rockers reggae tunes in a genuine style, they create a retro-phonic space filled with sounds and harmony that will move everybody into dancing joy. They play at the Retreat this Friday with support from alt-country singer Nigel Wearne before their set and DJ Dave The Scot spinning tunes after the set. The music starts from 7pm.

LUCKY COQ FRIDAYS

Start your weekend on the good foot with Panorama, Fridays at Lucky Coq. DJs Matt Rad, Mr George, Tom Meagher and Phato A Mano transform the upstairs area into what can only be described as one hell of a house party! Hip hop, funk, R&B, disco and house is cranked and spanked, whilst downstairs gives you a secluded end-of-week wind-down atmosphere with cult films as background visuals and quality Coqtails.

Sorted for E&Ps THE LEAFS SPACE ELEVATOR Independent With eight songs in 13.5 minutes, this is a short, fast, fun affair. Describing themselves as a mix of The Magnetic Fields, Springsteen, Syd Barrett and early Pixies, The Leafs are raucous and ridiculous. Opener Space Elevator is the longest song on the EP at 2.40 minutes and is a repetitive, simple, jump-up-and-down ditty with semi-melodic scratchy shouts. They show a calmer, softer side with the reverb-heavy Forget All You Know and Bogart-inspired Petrified Forest, which are both finger-picked pop gems. 55-second long Figs is a swagger-filled song about monkeys that could be the theme song of a cartoon, but shortest song What Are You, What Are You Made Of? at 35 seconds could have gone on for at least another minute. Check them out at the Empress this Saturday. SPLIT SECONDS SPLIT SECONDS Shock Entertainment

FIREBIRDS AND KINGS

Seriously rockin’ bad boys Fastrack – with their in-your-face, high energy, fist-pumping, footstomping, head-banging, out-of-control brand of rock ‘n’ roll – are young, hungry and ready to kick your arse! Hailing from Melbourne and all in their early twenties, these four like-minded mates got together simply to make some high energy rock‘n’roll the way it should be! It’s loud and it’s fast and you better be ready. Prepare yourself and get down to the East Brunswick Club on Friday 8 July. Doors at 8.30pm.

Having recently won a bunch of WAMi awards, Split Seconds have a bit of hype about them. It’s not hard to see why; they’re six singing dudes and who doesn’t love harmonies? EP opener Bed Down is a sunny, poppy anecdote with an uplifting addition of violin and cello. Its many parts come together effortlessly and subtly without making the song cluttered. With the “dangerous adventure” feel of Paper Boy, the melancholic yet hopeful With All Yr Might, the slow-moving yet majestic Compasses and slightly out-of-place cabaret-pop song What A Week, Split Seconds prove that they are write interesting, varied music with lots of potential. They play the Corner on Friday 15 July.

TRANSVAAL FIREBIRDS If you were at Byron Bay Bluesfest earlier this year and loved it you may have bore witness to Brisbane’s Transvaal Diamond Syndicate trademark train line, or a fourlegged four-armed dirt machine known as Jackson Firebird. They’re teaming up with the psychedelic Apache Medicine Man for a string of intimate shows across Melbourne and Geelong. 9 July sees them playing a double header at the Public Bar in North Melbourne for only $7. 10 July they then hit up the Brunswick Hotel for its birthday bash. Before they hit Melbourne they start it all in Geelong on the 8 July at the Barwon Club, and with entry only $10, they’ve paid you to go back to Bluesfest.

BUZZING

Geelong locals The Human Electric will showcase their latest material at The Bended Elbow, Geelong on Saturday 2 July, including new track Chase It. Supporting them will be Ikarii, The Dead Love and Perfect Fit. The Human Electric recently played at the inaugural Festivus for the Rest of Us festival in Geelong, alongside Little Red, Children Collide and Red Ink. Doors 8pm, $10. Tickets from Oztix.

EP Reviews with Stephanie Liew

MAT MCHUGH GO DON’T STOP MGM

VINCENT COLLIDER Independent

Mat McHugh of The Beautiful Girls has stripped everything back to the bare essentials. Consequently, this EP is chilled, laidback and easygoing. While there are catchy guitar licks throughout and McHugh’s natural, earthy vocals are great, nothing stands out in particular. However, Under The Dancehall Lights, with its muted strumming, creative percussion, memorable chorus and excellent guitar solo is the obvious highlight. Closing with a wonderful acoustic version of The Beautiful Girls’ My Mind Is An Echo Chamber, this EP is pleasant to listen to but is unlikely to leave any lasting impressions.

Vincent blends rock, prog and punk into often overly-busy songs that could probably be cut short by at least a minute. Maybe my ears are just untrained in the ways of prog. Atlas combines crunchy guitars, an almost ballad-like melody, intricate rhythms, time signature changes and ends with a great piano solo, but it seems completely out of place and does not make a smooth segue into the next track. In fact, most of the EP plays out in this manner. Vincent’s music is challenging, creative and interesting (Alice and its pop undertones in particular), but needs to be refined.

CROOKED SAINT EVERY ANGRY INCH Independent

GREENTHIEF RETRIBUTION Independent

Under the moniker Crooked Saint, Tim Wheatley has released this collection of alt-country rock songs that all seem personal and reflective. There’s the rollicking, snarky banjo diatribe Every Angry Inch and The Big Easy, a reflective story about trying to get by that features great slide guitar playing underneath the melody. Kick The Habit amps up the country, Overcrowded Bar brings some foot-stomping dynamic rock to the table and closer The Company (That We Keep) is a sombre self-examination with howling harmonica and slightly forlorn, slightly angry guitar string bends. Every Angry Inch is an EP will appeal to dark alt-country sung in an Australian accent. Catch Crooked Saint at the Toff this Saturday.

Greenthief play hard-hitting, edgy, guitar-driven rock, with some falsetto squeaks, wailing and throaty shrieking thrown in. While Sanity begins as a hard rock track, it evolves into an atmospheric middle section; in contrast, Retribution starts out soft and psychedelic, with a creeping guitar riff and sharp drums, before becoming heavy in the second half. The entire EP is very dramatic, whether its songs are punchy and urgent with a pop chorus (Salad Days) or showing plenty of light and shade as with eight-minute experimental rock epic Mayan Dawn. Despite creative songwriting and interesting parts, a few songs drag on. Greenthief play the Espy on Friday 15 July.

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WAKE THE

ROOTS

Hardcore and punk with SARAH PETCHELL

Blues ‘n’ roots with DAN CONDON rootsdown@inpress.com.au

When I was 16, At The Drive In’s Relationship Of Command was released and for about six months it was all I listened to. Since then, I have followed what the members have done with keen interest (well, with The Mars Volta I did for the first couple of albums before I got bored) - especially the work that Jim Ward went on to do with Sparta, Sleepercar and his own solo, acoustic projects. Now, Ward is releasing his debut solo record, Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begin through Stop Start on 22 July. And to coincide with the album’s release he will be heading to Australia to play a showcase in three intimate shows, including one in Melbourne. So mark in your diary that Jim Ward will be playing at the East Brunswick Club on Friday 12 August, supported by the wonderful Jamie Hay. Tickets are on sale now. Shock Records have inked a deal with No Sleep Records to distribute their releases in Australia and New Zealand. No Sleep Records have made their name with their diverse roster of releases from across a variety of genres, and apparently Australia comes in at number two in the most visited territories on their webstore. With a roster of acts that includes the likes of La Dispute and Balance & Composure, this is no surprise. In fact, the first release under this new deal will be a local release for Balance & Composure’s amazing Separation on 22 July. This release will include bonus acoustic tracks that are exclusive to the Australian release. And keep an eye out, as in coming months No Sleep’s release schedule include new albums from La Dispute, Into It. Over It. And No Trigger. Anberlin are heading back to Australia this August and September, and this time they are bringing with them a world first for the tour. Since their first tour out here in 2005, the band have had an affinity with Australian audiences. Now they have decided to treat them with a show titled “An Evening With Anberlin”, which will showcase the band in a way no one has seen before. Vocalist Stephen Christian: “Each of the shows we will be doing different things, different feels than we have ever done in any one show. We might be doing some special covers, different variations on our own songs, telling stories behind the recordings and writing, maybe a Q&A with the audience, never before played B-sides, an intimate acoustic portion, and perhaps some special guest vocalists on stage, as well as all the passion and energy that we try and give Australia each time we come back.” Tickets go on sale for this show on Friday through Ticketek. Anberlin play Sunday 28 August at the Palace Theatre. Sounds like a genuinely intriguing event that I can’t wait to check out. The Casualties have been around for over 20 years now. Through eight full-length albums, three EP’s, three live albums and countless miles in the tour van, the band have cemented themselves as one of the staple and most revered street punk bands. 20-plus years on, they are still churning out the same abrasive, high-energy shout-alongs that have helped to forge them the respect that they command. Now, The Casualties bring their brand of punk to Australia for an East Coast tour this September. Tickets are on sale now, and you can catch the guys at the East Brunswick Club on Saturday 10 September for an 18+ show. Roadrunner Records will take over the release of The Devil Wears Prada’s fourth full-length album, which will be released 9 September here in Australia. The band recently finished recording its latest album with Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage, Times Of Grace) who has an extensive production history including the likes of Parkway Drive and Underoath. The Alternative Press website exclusively premiered the first track from the album, called ‘Born To Lose’ last week, with vocaist Mike Hranica describing the song as capturing some of the elements of the album and serving as a comprehensive preview to it.

I feel like a dick for not talking about this earlier, so forgive my tardiness, but one of Europe’s most vital, grimy, fucked up garage blues rockers is heading out our way very soon! Reverend Beat Man has done a hell of a lot for this style of rough and raw blues music; he founded the incredibly influential Voodoo Rhythm Records back in 1992, a label that has released an enormous amount of super high quality punk rock, garage rock, blues, psych and rockabilly style music. Bands like King Khan & the Shrines, John Schooley, CW Stoneking, King Automatic, Bob Log III, Rocket Science and Reverend Beat Man himself have called the label home over the years, and he has been credited with fostering this scene in his native Switzerland just about more than anyone else. The Reverend was also the frontman for the awesome trashy gore rock’n’rollers The Monsters, who are still going (fairly) strong, but he’ll be out here in solo mode at the end of next month, playing the Northcote Social Club on Thursday 28 July with support from New Zealand’s Delaney Davidson, locals The Town Bikes and Sydney’s Gooch Palms. Tickets are available from the venue’s box office for $16+BF right now and the venue recommends you get in now as tickets are selling fast! There’s a veritable shit-tonne of buzz circulating about Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes at the moment, which, being the cynic I am, meant that I approached the band with trepidation. But I got a copy of their new single, She Plays Up To You (though I prefer the B-side Frankie to be honest) last week and it’s a blinder; the recording is sparse and tasteful and both tunes are killer. The band are playing the Northcote Social Club on the weekend in what is bound to be a massive night of sassy hip swingin’ frivolity, featuring support from SiB and The ReChords. Tickets are available from the venue now for $12+BF

DEAD

DOWN

THE

RACKET Metal, heavy rock and dark alternative with ANDREW HAUG theracket@inpress.com.au Brann Dailor, drummer of Atlanta progressive metallers Mastodon, spoke to Metal Hammer Germany about the sound of their forthcoming album, The Hunter. Dailor said, “When you listen to the songs, they don’t sound as ‘fun’ as we perceive them to be, I guess; it’s still pretty extremely heavy material.” He added, “We had a few songs that were kind of, not left over from Crack The Skye but just stuff that we wanted to be on that album. But that album kind of took on a whole different thing of its own and there were a few stragglers that were super-heavy and crazy that didn’t make it, and we finally got to put them on this record. Then we wrote a whole bunch of brand new stuff. There’s, like, 14 songs that we recorded, it’s sort of all over the place, a lot of different sounds. Some straight-up classic-rock-sounding songs, straight-up death metal-sounding songs and some completely bizarre, weirdo rock songs that we’re not really sure what they are, but we love them.” Still on the subject of Mastodon, guitarist Brent Hinds is working on an as-yet-unnamed new project with The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman, former The Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen and ex-Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery. “We tried to get together and do an album, but there’s been no time,” Hinds recently told AOL Noisecreep. “We want to record crazy stuff and Ben is working on that, but it’s been hard to get together.” Adrenaline Mob has been revealed as the new band featuring former Dream Theater drummer

Reverend Beat Man

and they reckon it’s definitely gonna sell out, so hop to it! If you do miss out on this one, you can also catch the band at The Tote on Sunday 31 July; details of this show are below... The seventh instalment of the Wash Winter Willies Away With Whiskey mini-festival is once again happening at the Tote Hotel, this year the date set for Sunday 31 July. There are shitloads of awesome bands playing all day long; the first announced being the mysterious Cash Savage & The Last Drinks (a special band put together for this show only), the aforementioned Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes, and of course, Clinkerfield. Add to that plenty of whiskey, soup, and a whole heap of other acts still to be announced and you’ll be dreading the return of warm weather, guaranteed. There’ll be further announcements over the coming weeks, including news about pre-sale tickets, so keep your eyes peeled. I’m a big fan of Washington DC psych exponents Dead Meadow - their equal parts droning, blazing

and squalling brand of fucked up classic rock is some of the best going around in the modern day. So it was with great interest that I saw frontman Jason Simon had released his debut solo album in September of last year. The press material that accompanied it said that he fits somewhere around the Bert Jansch, Leonard Cohen, Sandy Bull, and Townes Van Zandt school of troubadours, and while there are surely small elements of each of them in there, Simon’s style really does not sound all that dissimilar to the work of his regular band. It’s quieter, of course, but that sense of drone is there, as is the melody that could be classic if it weren’t so stoned. By the looks of some online videos it translates pretty fantastically live, so I’m excited to say that Simon will be out in Australia in a couple of months. He plays The Toff Wednesday 24 August and Northcote Social Club Thursday 25.

Mike Portnoy, Symphony X frontman Russell Allen and Stuck Mojo/Fozzy axeman Rich Ward. In a recent interview, Russell described Adrenaline Mob as “a straight-up rock band with just rock songs – kind of like an edgy, modern kind of sound. It’s not progressive or trying to be too metal or anything – it’s just good old crunchy rock stuff.” He added, “I think it will be really well received by people who like to hear that kind of stuff. This is a new thing for Portnoy and myself too. It’s all this kind of craziness. So it’s definitely different and it’s cool.

directions that the band has never done before We are really excited to put this record out. We are really trying to raise the bar with this one.”

Niklas Kvarforth, front man of Swedish extreme metallers Shining, has issued the following statement regarding the recent announcement by King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque that he will be working with the band on the recording of its eighth album at his Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden: “It’s an album I’m particularly looking forward to recording because it will give me the chance to work with Andy La Rocque. I am a huge King Diamond fan and working with Andy was an opportunity I wasn’t going to pass up.”

Former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach has set Kicking & Screaming as the title of his new solo album, due 27 September via Frontiers Records. Commented Bach: “I could not be happier with my new album Kicking & Screaming. The songs, performances and sound quality are beyond what I could have ever imagined. This is my best record yet and I can’t wait for all of you to crank it!” Liechtenstein-based gothic metallers Elis have announced the addition of singer Simone Christinat from Schaffhausen, Switzerland to the group’s ranks. Commented Simone: “I am really happy to be announced as the new singer of Elis. I feel honoured to be a part of this great band and I’m looking forward to a lot of good moments with Elis. It feels like the beginning of a new chapter in my life and I am excited to get many new experiences as the new Elis singer.”

Los Angeles thrashers Warbringer have completed work on their third album Worlds Torn Asunder for a September release via Century Media Records. The CD was produced by Steve Evetts (Hatebreed) and marks the recording debut of the band’s new drummer, Carlos Cruz, who has “had a lot of input into the new material,” according to a press release. Commented frontman John Kevill: “With this record, we were trying to do two things – to make something that progressed in new directions from our previous work, but also to keep all the speed and intensity at the forefront. I really think we’ve pulled that off with this record.

LOCAL GIG GUIDE

“We have a great and diverse batch of songs. Musically I think we have songs on this record that move forward from the styles of both our previous records, and some that go in completely new

Andrew Haug hosts Triple J’s The Racket every Tuesday from 10pm –

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FRIDAY Elm Street, Winterstorm at the Central Club Hotel TOURS, TOURS, TOURS Periphery, Tesseract – Sunday 31 July at Northcote Social Club Suicide Silence – Sunday 11 September at Billboard, U18 (arvo) - 18+ (night).

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BARE BASS with Richie Meldrum He may be short of a few vowels but South London producer SBTRKT (pronounced “subtract”) has got plenty other assets as a means of compensation. Born Aaron Jones, this somewhat illusive artist (he likes to wear a DayGlo tribal-inspired face mask when performing) saw his debut self-titled LP released last week on XL Recordings. The album paints a pretty accurate picture of where the UK is at the moment in terms of underground electronic dance music. The unravelling of dubstep and its subsequent tangled amalgamation with other, more established genres including house, soul and R&B has been perfectly captured by Jones and tamed into 13 examples of sophisticated electronic arrangement. A number of tracks feature the velvety tones of guest vocalist Sampha (who, it has to be said, sounds more than a little bit like James Blake). Aaron Jones has certainly set out to make a dance record that can be enjoyed in more places than just the dance floor. However, there’s also enough in there to get your head nodding, especially when the particularly badass bass line from breezy 2-step number Right Thing To Do drops in. Not as obvious as Falty DL, warmer than Shakleton, and more fun than Jamie Woon, SBTRKT is certainly an album of the times.

DEPARTMENT

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

Are you completely driven toward a media career? If you’re interested in a career in film, social networking, gaming, DJing or digital music production then Screen Futures is probably for you. Screen Futures Youth Fest will feature a panel of professionals working in these areas talking about what they do and how they do it. The event will be hosted by Paul Verhoeven from Triple J and The Vine and will feature award-winning video game composer and sound designer Stephan Schütze, the State Library’s programmer Adele Walsh, freelance animator and creative Darcy Prendergast (also a native of my home town Bacchus Marsh), and author of the hugely successful Nim’s Island Wendy Orr. The discussion will focus on how adults are making media content for young people and how that will affect the new generation of media makers. Head to metromagazine.com.au to book your tickets only $30 to kick start your career, how could your parents refuse? You may also like to tell them that this event is being advertised with intent to help support VCE media students. Mark Monday 11 July all day from 9.30am at Federation Square in your diary. FRIDAY The fi rst Grampians FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands Heat is on at Karova Lounge from 4pm. Check out all the action by visiting youthservicesballarat.com.au. Mooroolbark Seniors Club will get an injection of youth when For All Eternity hit the hall on their Victorian Tour, playing with Of Whispers, Hallower, To Our Forefathers, Delinquance and Brooklyn from 5.30pm. Entry is $12. Deliverance We Prey, Mind My Hostage, Increments and Prymeval play the Kulcha Shift in Warnambool from 6pm. Tickets are $10, available through Noise Music Store, Kulcha Shift and Dale Cleves.

x52

A fi rm favourite of Bare Bass, and one of the stand-out acts of last year, Koreless, is back with a nifty little number to show off his multiple talents in bass once again. It’s a remix of a track called The Balance by a band called New Look and if you’re not lifted away to another cosmos by the enchanting calls of this angelic sonic experience then we’d recommend some form of meditation to loosen up your grounded foundations! The decent folks at Parklife have done us all a favour by announcing a line-up that proves that some promoters still know how to program a festival of fresh, new and (most importantly) previously unseen artists. Top of the wish list for many Australian dubstep fans for a long, long time has been Magnetic Man, who will fi nally make it out here in September thanks to Parklife. It must be strange for Skream, Benga and Artwork (the three producers that form Magnetic Man) to look out at the huge global presence that dubstep now is. As pioneers of the sound in its earliest form, perhaps they view some of today’s dubstep with a bit of a Frankenstein outlook, in terms of the monster that they’ve created. However, with a few top ten hit tracks, including the massive I Need Air and Perfect Stranger featuring Katy B (another one on the Parklife line-up), they’ve done all right for themselves and don’t seem too bothered about sticking too close to their underground roots.

Bay, Which Way Is North, Allegiance and Skripture at the Pint and Pickle Tavern in Frankston from 6pm. Tickets are $15. Southern Metro FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands Heat number one featuring headliners Oh Mercy and The Little Stevies is on at the Malvern Town Hall from 6pm. Tickets are $15 on the door. Southern Metro FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands Heat number two is on at the Cranbourne Public Hall from 6pm Tickets are $10.

GREATEST HIT WITH CLEM BASTOW PARTY BEN WHAT’S MY NAME JACK No matter how many times we thrill to a Girl Talk live set, taken out of context, there’s something about mash-ups – in the traditional sense – that can’t help but feel ever so slightly daggy these days. It’s a little bit like Tencel jeans or handkerchiefhemmed boob tubes: they remind us of a simpler time (“simpler” in every sense of the word) when we were happy to be wowed by the mere idea of running one song’s vocals over another’s music. You could argue that George Harrison was the original mash-up artist (singing his own lyrics over He’s So Fine’s tune, hee hee, ho ho), but the true mastery of the form didn’t happen until just after the turn of the century (hee hee, ho ho x 2). I still remember sitting in front of my monster of a PC, dial-up modem growling as it downloaded the 30-second file someone had sent me. It was a Freelance Hellraiser mash-up (or “bootleg”, as we called them back when we had to walk uphill barefoot in the snow to go to work down t’ pit) of the intro to Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ Come On Eileen and Public Enemy’s Bring The Noise. Aware that the joke would be over fast, it ground to a halt as soon as Chuck D first barked, “Bring the noise!”, leaving it short, sweet, and one of (un)popular music’s most hysterical gags. I was hooked, and scrambled to assemble all the bootlegs I could. Favourites included Eminem’s Without Me laid over Led Zeppelin’s rollicking The Wanton Song, and a megamix of The Beastie Boys’ Intergalactic over – in order – Herbie Hancock’s Rock It, INXS’ Need You Tonight and AC/DC’s Back In Black. Gradually, though, the plain oldfashioned bootleg/mash-up was superseded by the far more frenetic antics of Girl Talk, where ten or twenty songs are jammed together to make one, and each moment of, “Hey, isn’t that...” recognition is quickly shoved aside by the next show-offy sample. That’s why when I recently stumbled across Party Ben’s What’s My Name Jack, a shining

– but contemporary – example of what made the original bootleg movement so exciting, I listened to it non-stop for a day straight. It shoves Rihanna’s What’s My Name over the top of John Cougar Mellencamp’s Jack & Dianne, but it works on a level that is somehow bittersweet and beautiful rather than just going for the gee-whiz value of inserting R&B into classic rock. Over Mellencamp’s acoustic verse, Drake’s suggestive rap intro (“I heard you good with them soft lips / Yeah you know, word of mouth”) becomes romantic instead of salacious; it reminded me a bit of Mark Kozelek’s sweet folk cover of AC/DC’s Love At First Feel in the way that the softening of the music allowed the lyrical single-entendres to take on a different mood. It also reminded me of how nuts we all went for 2 Many DJs. When we relaunched Stylus Magazine for one brief, shining moment last year, it fell to me to assess the enduring impact of 2 Many DJs’s mash-up funfest As Heard On Radio Soulwax, Pt. 2. Girl Talk has become the go-to reference point for any bootleg/mash-up discussion, but once upon a time it was all about Push It Vs No Fun. Here’s what I came up with at the time: “Pity poor Girls On Top and Freelance Hellraiser: as far as everybody else was concerned, it was the Dewaele brothers’ cut-’n’-paste compilation that birthed the bootleg. Well, if they didn’t invent it (and they didn’t), they certainly rode the crest of the bootleg/ mash-up wave into the public consciousness, and we have this disc to thank (perhaps) for late-decade party jackdaws like Girl Talk.” Not just that, but in a way, they minted a genre. Mash-ups were once just a DJ stunt, but when they’re done well – like Party Ben’s – they can take both parts and turn it into a much greater sum. I’ve never particularly liked Jack & Dianne’s hokey smalltown tale, but there’s no denying the power of its riff. Likewise, Rihanna’s What’s My Name always felt oddly cold considering the raptures of her lyrics. Together, both bits create the whole that neither of them could individually have become. And what’s daggy about that? THE CALLING with LUKE MCKINNON will not be running this week due to unforseen circumstances and will return next week.

SATURDAY The For All Eternity tour hits The Musicman Megastore in Bendigo with special guests To Our Forefathers.

OG FLAVAS

Antagonist A.D, Lovers Grave, Thanatosis, Ocean Grove and I, Valiance play Bandbooth Dandenong from 1.30pm. Tickets are $15. Swearcorp Metal Tour with Bogan Nation, Nocturnal Ashes, Mind My Hostage, Elemental Burn, Moustache Ant, Abreact and Welcome To Rapture play Temperance Hall in Warrnambool from 2pm. Tickets are $15. Burundian Independence Day Celebrations are on at The Castle in Dandenong from 2pm. Head along and experience traditional songs and dances from Burundi. Gold coin donation for entry. The Metal On A Mission Fundraising event featuring For All Eternity, To Our Forefathers, Glorified, Judge Our Hearts, Brooklyn, Broken Chains and Like Royalty is on at Ballarat Secondary College East Campus Assembly Hall from 3.30pm. Tickets are $20+BF through oztix.com. The Eastern Metropolitan FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands Heats continue at the Mt Evelyn Town Hall from 6pm. The first Gippsland FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands Heat is on at the Warragul Exhibition Hall from 6pm. Entry is $5. Belle Haven are celebrating the release of their Chapter 0 EP with The Lesson, Delawarewolves and We, The Rationalists at Irene’s Warehouse in Brunswick from 7pm. Entry is $10. SUNDAY

The fi rst Hume FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands Heat is on at Galvin Hall at Wodonga Senior Secondary College from 6pm.

The For All Eternity Victorian Tour hits the Nash in Geelong with To Our Forefathers, Through The Eleventh Hour, I Seek Existance and Athena’s Wake & Gold.

The latest Meltdown event features The Last Virtue, Divisions, We, The Forsaken, Whaler

Tonight Alive and Skyway hit Ding Dong Lounge from 1pm. Tickets are $18.40 through oztix.

Urban news with CYCLONE Duet albums are all the rage again in urban music, with Kanye West and Jay-Z hyping up Watch The Throne. The duo has already aired HAM, but apparently that was just a “street” single. Another song is Lift Off, featuring Hova’s missus Beyonce Knowles and the R&beige Bruno Mars. Among the more exciting names attached to the project? Frank Ocean. He’s actually generating a greater buzz in urban than his crew Odd Future. In the meantime, Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers) has teamed with Royce Da 5’9” (Ryan Montgomery) for the first Bad Meets Evil EP, Hell: The Sequel. In fact, this is really an album with 11 taut tracks (including the single Fastlane and two bonuses). The renegades have a history, of course. Mathers befriended fellow Detroiter Montgomery in the late ‘90s. They introduced the cult Bad Meets Evil concept on The Slim Shady LP with the track of the same name, Mathers portraying ‘Evil’ and Montgomery ‘Bad’. Yet the partnership amounted to little more than “a rap legend of unfulfilled promise,” to quote their press release. Montgomery, sometime ghostwriter to Dr Dre, was soon beefing with D12. He eventually reconciled with the posse – and Mathers – following Proof’s 2006 nightclub death. Inevitably, Mathers and Montgomery found themselves in the studio. Last year Mathers, who’s battled (prescription) drug abuse, made a huge commercial comeback with Recovery, apologising for the disappointing Relapse the year prior. It spawned the crossover R&B hit Love The Way You Lie, about the dynamics of domestic violence, with Rihanna. By contrast, the mixtape-like Hell... is closer to D12’s output – and ‘old’ Eminem. It’s

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hardcore rap. The wordplay, not the music, is most important. Mr Porter (D12’s Kon Artis) is joined by Havoc and Bangladesh, who craft beats that are alternately gothic and grungy. (Presumably, Dre was still Detox-ing.) Typically, Mathers eclipses other superstar MCs on collabs, but the underdog Montgomery (well, ‘evil’ is worse than ‘bad’) is a decent match. There’s grim – and sick – humour in abundance on Hell... After the soul-baring Recovery, and considering Mathers’ addiction issues, the contradictory I’m On Everything comes as a shock. Nevertheless, Mathers’ modus operandi is to assert his “white trash” origins, as much as to defy the politically correct lobby - conservatives and liberals. The rapper’s misogyny has long been a manifestation of toxic relationships with his mother and childhood sweetheart Kim. But Love... indicated that Mathers, who counts feminist Germaine Greer as a fan (!), had turned a corner in how he relates to women. He’s obviously relapsed. Lady GaGa’s Little Monsters are fuming about his dig on A Kiss (“Tell Lady GaGa she can quit her job at the post office / She’s still a male lady…”). Admittedly, they might be overreacting – the line is an ironic comment on the absurd speculation about her gender – but, then again, given hip hop’s rampant homophobia, perhaps not. Mathers, for his part, has since told Fuse TV that he admires GaGa, his rap “a joke”, hip hop style. But it’s notable on Hell..., too, that Claret Jai, who sings Rihanna-ish hooks on Above The Law and the anti-piracy Take From Me, is relegated to a credit, not a “feature”, Mathers buckling to older fans’ criticism of his “selling-out” with girly (pop) choruses on Recovery – ridiculous when Stan (subversively) sampled Dido. The bigger irony? Bad Meets Evil does offer an incongruous “radio” track here that makes Love... seem hardcore: Lighters, produced by The Smeezingtons, features Bruno himself – the dude Tyler, the Creator wants to stab in the (cough) oesophagus on Yonkers.

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live@inpress.com.au Saskia Sansom

WONDEROUS

Singer/songwriter Trav Wonders (The Blue Swimmers) puts aside his big muff and little phallus to take his merry band of trash country troubadours in what is set to be an outlandish July residency at Richmond’s Great Britain Hotel on Sundays. Rustic country themes of shoplifting, vandalism and drug use weave their way through traditional instrumentation to paint a technicolor yawn on a flannel canvas. Families welcome. 7pm.

EGGS

TRANSCRIPTION MUSIC Transcription Of Organ Music is the solo project for electric folk/ambient country musician Damon Bird, of Hobart. Bird’s music, which has been described as “haunting and atmospheric” and at times been referred to as Tasmanian Gothic by nature, is a mixture of spacious, softly-strummed and plucked guitar, and stark, fragile idiosyncratic vocals. His songs have a strong storytelling element often concerned with Tasmanian history and place. Sometimes with a band, sometimes just one guy, always echoing forth from the subterranean murk of the Vandemonian bone bed devil-tumour soilscape. A song might break your heart. Saskia Sansom, a now Melbourne-based songstress has self-recorded and released two albums of eerie, fragile and intensely personal material and will co-headline this incredible bill. Catch it all at the Workers this Sunday evening. Doors 5pm, $10.

WILD DOGS

Jackals are a new Melbourne band getting a lot of attention for their own venomous brand of rattlesnake rock’n’roll. Formed by Alex Burt (Galaxy Folk, Cordyceps), Tom Sheldon (Sun Dogs), M Lillis (Sun Dogs) and Duncan Ewington (The No No’s, Bloody Murders), the Jackals will pull you out of the swamp and drag you screaming and kickin’ across the gravel to the dusty desert. Jackals draw on a number of influences, but deliver a unique sound that needs to be witnessed first-hand. Jackals play tonight at Old Bar.

F’N GREAT

If you like Hot Water Music, Grade, Alkaline Trio, Jawbreaker, H-Block 101 etc, then you will probably love Foxtrot. All that should be said is “they are fucking great” and that you should give them a go. On Friday at The Victoria Hotel out Brunswick way, they’ll be playing all the songs from The Bottom Line EP, which is also “fucking great” and you should give that a whirl too.

Projecting their phosphorescence upon Melbourne audiences once again, Yolke are back after a year long break with a weekly ritual at the Tote. With the cosmic warmth of their Poppy Wash EP still emanating, their foggy yet sun-kissed psychedelic tunes will have the follicles on your skin twitched and flexing as they lick the wax off you. This geometric puzzle for the inner ear will be delivering all kinds of fractured electronics, mind-boggling melodies and next-level beats weekly with Yolke and friends set to play tonight at the Tote.

TOOT TOOT

The Old Bar are damn proud of the lads from Graveyard Train. All grown up and headlining festivals, touring overseas and generally getting kicked out and cut off from other bars, but now they return to their spiritual home for three very special shows. Tuesday 5, Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 July at 7pm. $15 on the door, no pre-sales so get there early.

FREE RANGE

Funk up your Thursday nights with Free Range Funk at Windsor favorite, Lucky Coq! Grab a couch early and enjoy one (or more) of our famous $4 pizzas from 7 – 11pm. Meanwhile DJs Who, Agent 86, Lewis CanCut, Tiger Funk, Jumbo and special guests tempt you into the night with their eclectic bag of treats. Setting the mood early, expect to be charmed with delightful jazz, deep soul & funk... stick ‘round after dessert and its fruity disco, choice house and hipster dance drops. Free, every Thursday at Lucky Coq.

DIRTY DIRTY

Due to circumstances that haven’t been properly explained, Saturday will be the last time Dirty F is permitted to play the Public Bar. This isn’t some bullshit publicity stunt or false statement. They’ll be playing in support of The Thrusts who actually went out of their way to make sure they could still be on the bill. The band have no hard feelings towards the venue or its management. They’re gonna make the most of the evening and reckon that you all should do it with them. Entry $10, doors 8:30pm.

GET THAT SINKING FEELING

A pleasant Sunday afternoon gig at Yah Yah’s, all interested parties seeking harmonisation – vocal, spiritual or otherwise – featuring: The Sinking Tins, who are currently seeking legal advice about comments made in a leading Melbourne newspaper about their favourite brand of beer. The Gold Coats, who are at the family courts right now trying to sort out which sister hit the bum note in the final chorus of their second encore. Sweet Jean, who are trying to secure patent rights on the amazingly tasteful use of auto-harp in contemporary music. Free entry, doors 6pm.

GRINDERS

In an ol’ Irish convent, reborn as an international dormitory, two guys from Melbourne ended up across the corridor from each other. In the midst of all the foreign languages, Spanish fiestas and Irish weather they started hitting boxes and plucking stings. The Grinders’ cut their teeth getting drunk on cheap whiskey and playing to anyone who’d listen. They’ve added a few mates but not too much has changed. A bit blues, a bit country, they are a rock’n’roll band with an acerbic twist. Come down and see them launch their new EP, Francesca, at the Great Britain this Saturday. Joined by the newly formed Master Gunfighters, bringing a hard worn country sound, it should be a cracker. And it’s free. 9pm.

Sarah McLeod has been one busy woman over the last few years. After touring extensively with The Superjesus for so long she decided she wanted to try some different projects. She has been around the world five times over writing songs for lots of different artists, but has now decided to come home and bring her acoustic guitar with her for some very intimate stripped-back shows. She has not performed like this in many years and is very excited about showcasing her back catalogue in its most raw form. Performing songs from her early days with The Superjesus up until her latest solo work, it’s her voice that really shines in this environment; the tender side of a rock’n’roll powerhouse performer. Don’t miss Sarah McLeod at the Palais Hepburn Springs on Friday 22 July. Tickets are $20+BF pre-sale (show only) and $50 for dinner and show, available now through Moshtix.

ROCKET PACKS

Johnny Rock & The Limits are playing their fi rst hometown show launching their single Shoeshine at The Workers Club this Thursday. Bursting out of your stereo like a freight train with it’s non-stop, energy-driven pop, Shoeshine is rough around the edges but powerful in its conviction. Catchy as it can get and, if local fans are anything to go by, it’s the hit of the year. Produced by ARIA-nominated Steven Schram (Ground Components, Little Red), he’s captured the raw energy of the live shows and distilled it. See why people have been raving about the band as a full set of horns and Motownesque backing singers join them on stage and expand their already explosive live set. Support on the night comes from the incredible Red Rockets of Borneo and other special guests.

SMASH IT!

REACTION IV

After five successful nights of talented up-andcomers the Great Britain Hotel again plays host to MWT Institute’s Reaction showcase. Reaction VI serves as a launching pad for the Institute’s students to deliver their compositions following a semester’s worth of theoretical sweat and musical tears. This Thursday at the Great Britain, doors at 8pm with a mass of performers. Free entry.

A SOFTER SIDE OF MCLEOD

WILSON WILL ROCK The charismatic Ross Wilson is probably the only person in Australian rock music who can’t make a comeback simply because he’s never been away. In a career that spans over 40 years, he remains one of this country’s most respected artists. From Daddy Cool to Mondo Rock, as a solo artist, or as songwriter of A-grade classics such as Eagle Rock, Cool World and A Touch of Paradise, or producer of the legendary Skyhooks, Jo Jo Zep, The Johnnys and more recently The Screaming Jets, Wilson’s involvement with success has continued unabated. Catch Ross Wilson at the Palais, Hepburn Springs, for a night of fun and much dancing this Saturday. Tickets are $30 for show only and $60 for dinner and show, available now from Moshtix.

The Vaudeville Smash wrap up a frenzied two months of gigs and touring with a fi nal show at the Northcote Social Club, for their EP Launch Tour Finale. The last two months have seen them play a slew of shows all over Australia and, with their current meteoric rise, this one promises to eclipse them all. Catch them this Saturday 2 July at the with Melbourne darlings The Box Rockets, and indie newcomers Rosie & George. Tickets $12 at the door or pre-sale through the Corner box office.

VICTORIA SUNDAY

This Sunday catch Darren Gibson and Rowan Blackmore at the Victoria Hotel. In 2010 Darren’s second release came in the form of a split with US songwriter Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music fame. Through intimate shows Darren is fast attracting a loyal following and has been recognised as a consistent performer. He has shared the stage with the likes of Tom Gabel, Tim Barry, Chuck Ragan, Ben Nichols, Frank Turner and Dave Hause. Rowan Blackmore is a highly skilled multi-instrumentalist blending frantic button accordion with the magical sounds of glockenspiels and toy-pianos. Catch him at the Victoria Hotel, free from 4pm.

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NEW WILD THINGS This Friday sees the launch of Wild Things, a new Friday night club at Inflation. The special guest for this exciting fi rst week is Croatian-born, New Zealand-raised DJ duo Maya+Vanya. They’ve taken out the world’s most prestigious DJ competitions set up by the likes of Beatport, Pioneer and DJ Mag. They’ve toured all over the world, playing at the world’s largest electronic music festival, Ultra, Creamfields in the UK, Ibiza and tons of other cool spots. They have also received tons of praise, including from the likes of Mad Decent (Diplo), Swedish House Mafia (Seb Ingrosso), Three Six Zero (Deadmau5) and most recently from our very own Triple J. Now, they’re bringing the party to Wild Things.

LO-CAL

Sideman to many, beard-wearing guitarist of the Swedish Magazines and former nominee for the best new talent Logie, Cal Walker steps out from behind the mystique this Thursday to share an hour of wisdom accompanied by ethereal instrumentation. Something like that anyway. What is guaranteed to occur is that the songs will be great, the vibe high and the attitudes right, goddammit. Get on down to the Drunken Poet from 8pm this Thursday and get involved, it’s what Clarence Clemons would have wanted.

WAZZA!

From the seminal grunge pop of Brokenhead through to his current guise as guitar-wielding country troubadour, Waz E. James has been recording and touring for over ten years. Dives and dusty festivals, juke joints and ballrooms, whatever the occasion calls for: Waz and his gang of merry men have it covered. When checking out Waz and band you can expect real pub country and rock and roll. The real deal. Catch Waz with band in tow this Sunday from 4pm at The Drunken Poet.

BAN BANG

All the way from New Zealand, Antagonist AD make Bang their CBD stop on a small run of shows through Melbourne with support from Our Mindset & Widower. There’s also an End Of Exams party! Wear school uniform to score cheaper entry. We’ve emptied out a small room and filled it with plastic balls too - old school ball pit fun - and we’re hosting the official Tonight Alive afterparty. Show your stamp from the show to score cheap entry at Bang too. Don’t forget to score some $2.50 pots & $5 Basic spirits ‘til 11pm. Saturday at Bang.

JUSTICE FOR ALL

Luka Lesson and Joel McKerrow have teamed up to create an exciting new organisation The Centre of Poetics & Justice this year. The organisation works to help young or inexperienced writers gain the tools they need to articulate themselves well enough to jump on a stage and pronounce their points of view to the world with award winning precision. The Centre for Poetics & Justice workshops run from 10am to 4pm, Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 July at the Footscray Community Arts Centre and will include a showcase of performances from the workshops’ participants and special guests at 7pm on Sunday evening. Cost: $80 waged and $60 concession. More info at: cpj.org.au.

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Builders Arms and the Sporting Club. The crowds are just fantastic – we even have a dedicated bunch of swing dancers who come to the shows and carve it up. It’s messy and noisy and sweaty. It feels like a riot could break out at any time – a swing dancing riot!”

The Tiger & Me

The Tiger & Me are like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, insomuch as they have three lead singers – Jane, Ade Vincent and Tobias Selkirk. “I’m a big lover of harmonies and we’re very conscious that with three lead singers and three great backing vocalists we’ve got a lot of scope for a full vocal sound.” What’s Jane’s all-time favourite duet? “Simon & Garfunkel. I also like David Bowie and Freddie Mercury’s Under Pressure, and Ade insists that I mention Aerosmith and Run DMC (Walk This Way).” BRIGHT EYES, BIG CITY

HOWZAT! Local music news by JEFF JENKINS TIGER AIRWAVES The Tiger & Me’s debut album, From A Liar To A Thief, was one of Howzat!’s 2010 faves. A thrilling adventure, we called it “circus folk”. For their next hat-trick The Tiger & Me are unleashing three EPs, “exploring a descent into madness, the ensuing struggle and ultimate embrace of insanity”. Heavy concept. Singer Jane Hendry, aka “The Tiger”, explains that the songs are about delusion, realisation and acceptance: “Some songs explore the minds and actions of characters who are, slightly or otherwise, unhinged and blissfully unaware; other songs reflect their emotional response to realising that things aren’t what they thought, and others tell the story of acceptance and moving forward, imperfect but self-aware.” So, it’s a concept series of EPs. What’s

Jane’s favourite concept album? “Easy – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” You’re a young band, what do you do: an album or an EP? “Interesting question. I think it really depends on your circumstances. It’s important to get your stuff out there and EPs allow you to release material more regularly. Having said that, an album is often seen as a more serious endeavour and I think it enables a band to show more depth than an EP. After releasing and touring From A Liar To A Thief, we were really keen to get back into the studio and we definitely wanted to keep the momentum going. The EP series enables us to generate more momentum than if we went back to the studio to do a second album. However, by early next year, the series will be complete and will be an album in three parts.” The Tiger & Me – who launch The Howling Fire EP at the Toff on Saturday 9 July – have done a mix of pub gigs and festivals; what do they prefer? “I don’t think we have a preference. Getting on the festival scene was a goal of ours and we’ve revelled in the opportunity. But we love doing the Melbourne pub gigs, particularly the residencies we’ve had at the

After the stunning success of last week’s cover of Elton John and Kiki Dee’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, D. Rogers and Emma Heeney might be doing another duet this Thursday as their Builders Arms residency climaxes. Last week’s winning “cover me” suggestion came from Sophie Koh’s manager, Tom Collins, who proposed Bright Eyes’ Lua. Fans are hoping that Dave and Emma do the Conor Oberst/Gillian Welch version. This week’s support act is Duke Batavia, the new project for Dave’s old Klinger buddy Ben Birchall. OUT OF SIGHT, BUT NOT OUT OF MIND

A total of 13 Australian singles have reached the Top 40. The only chart years to have a worse start are 1956, ’57, ’58 and ’59. Eight songs have topped the 2011 charts; just one of them is a homegrown hit. Who’s That Girl is the only local charttopper for the past 20 months. Ten albums have topped the Australian charts this year; just one of them is a local release (Drapht’s The Life of Riley, which spent one week on top). A total of 12 Australian albums have made the Top 10. Howzat knows that a lot of fine Australian music has been released this year, so why isn’t it charting? CHART WATCH Wes Carr’s new single parks itself at 33. We Run The Night HAVANA BROWN (number eight) Loud STAN WALKER (10) From The Music THE POTBELLEEZ (25) Been A Long Time WES CARR (33, debut) Seeker Lover Keeper SEEKER LOVER KEEPER (number seven)

James Freud was a genuine rock star. The industry needs more personalities like him. Sadly, James died last November. He would have been 52 today (June 29).

Secret Rituals THE GRATES (11, debut)

MID-SEASON BLUES

Down The Way ANGUS & JULIA STONE (36)

Just like the Bombers, the Australian music industry is having a mid-season slump. Howzat! has compiled a mid-year report and the chart results make for sad reading:

HOWZAT! PLAYLIST

Just three Australian singles have reached the Top 10 in 2011 (Guy Sebastian’s Who’s That Girl, Havana Brown’s We Run The Night and Stan Walker’s Loud).

Baby Don’t Cry CATHERINE TRAICOS

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Roy DAMIEN LEITH (16) Aphrodite KYLIE MINOGUE (35)

So, Let It Go THE TIGER & ME Buyer’s Remorse D. ROGERS My Little Tokyo MYLES MAYO

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WED 29

3JJJacks Cabaret & Burlesque show 24 Moons Agent 86, Bladerunner, Mr Thom, Joybot Lucky Coq Ben Smith Veludo Bohjass, Diego Villalta Band, Edel Plastik 303 Bopstretch Uptown Jazz Café Dizzy’s Big Band Dizzy’s Jazz Club Falloe, Alexis Nicole and the Missing Pieces Builders Arms Hotel Hit the Turf Turf Bar Jackals, Stranger From Now On, Emily Hobbrook The Old Bar Jubal, My Musical Collective, Jared Catchpoole Wesley Anne KKS Project, Djenga, Chantel Mitvalsky, Haitus Kaiyote, Edd Fisher Evelyn Hotel Le Belle, Gretchen Lewis, Cotton Sidewalk, Tim Woods & The Dirty Shoes Esplanade Lounge Little John The Standard Hotel Matt Radovich, PCP Lounge Bar Miami Horror, Gold Fields Karova Lounge Open Mic, Heaven the Axe Bendigo Hotel Open Mic Brunswick Hotel Open Mic Elwood Lounge Open Mic The Bender Bar Quiz Night Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Rezzalp Edinburgh Castle Hotel Shannon Barnett Quartet Bennetts Lane Sizzle Miss Libertine Spidey, Jordan Barzak, Adalita Revolver Stand & Deliver, Petar Tolich Co., Crown Straw King Eye, Krakatoa, Kidney 3 Bar Open The Butterfly Glee Club The Butterfly Club The McMenamins, Amy Vee Northcote Social Club The Milton Grey, Dirt Farmer, Artist Proof The Toff In Town Timothy & Wilderness, Lehmann B Smith, Gwyn Edwards Empress Hotel Tom O’Halloran Trio Paris Cat Jazz Club

Vice Grip Pussies, Mercy Kills Cherry Bar Victoriana Gaye Retreat Hotel Vince Peach, Miss Goldie, Prequel, Black Diamond Kicks Bimbo Deluxe Wine, Whiskey, Women, Jules Hutcheson, Emma Wall The Drunken Poet Yolke, The Ovals, Jorge Ramirez The Tote

THU 30

Aleks Sans Ramps, Seth Rees Edinburgh Castle Hotel Alysia Manceau The Sporting Club Belinda Allchin Beetet Paris Cat Jazz Club Ben Grayson Trio 303 Bent Cabaret, Miss Deviant, Trixie Venom, Lucinda Lou, Miss Juliet Bendigo Hotel Bobby Flynn, Van Meyer, Kathy Hinch Band Empress Hotel Cal Walker Duo, Cat & Clint The Drunken Poet Charles Hertzog Elwood Lounge Citizen.com, JD Lounge Bar Class A, Ishu Section 8 Cold Harbour Pure Pop Records D Rogers, Duke Batavia Builders Arms Hotel Dan Sheehan Quartet Bennetts Lane Dancing Heals, Hey Fever, The Run Run, The Raffaellas Esplanade Lounge Dark Bells The Night Cat Das Musik Mann Union Hotel Brunswick Diminished Reason, Like Royalty, Liberate the Grave Karova Lounge DJ NuBody, Photography Night Walks Loop ESC, Star Caps on Will, The Blushing Pilgrims The Highlander Extreme Wheeze, Kel Day, James Kenyon Bar Open Finlo White, Kitty Kat Co., Crown Get Freaky The Fox Hotel Collingwood Goodtime Medicine Band Lomond Hotel Greenthief Brunswick Hotel I A Man, Mary Of the Moon Vineyard

Johnny Rock & The Limits, Red Rockets Of Borneo, Rich Davies & The Devils Union, Dan Blok Workers Club Jouissance, The Sunday Reeds, Wizard Oz, Love/ Hate Pony Katchafi re, Maisey Rika, T-Rhythm Band Pier Hotel Kirin J Callinan, High Tea, Cam Potts, Ben Butcher Grace Darling Hotel Kisschasy, Built On Secrets, Viking Frontier, We Rob banks Next Kluke, Gould, Patrucci Dizzy’s Jazz Club Lama Rama, Dani Marie, Winton Central, The Skampz The Tote LeBelle, The Twoks Veludo Madame Natalias Burlesque Underground 24 Moons Matty Grant, Matt Dean, Phil Ross Billboard Micah P Hinson, Myles Mayo, Major Chord The Toff In Town Night Skool DJs Eurotrashbar Nth Wheel, Mad Nanna, Satanic Rockers, Abortion Eve The Old Bar Obsession DJs First Floor Once Were Heartless, Cult of the Rocket, ODD, Shadow Thief The Prague Open Mic Plough Hotel Proletarian Riot, Poolside Fiasco, Master Gun Fighters John Curtin Hotel REACTION VI Great Britain Hotel Sam Bates Trio Uptown Jazz Café Saskwatch Cherry Bar Speak Digital Water Ruby’s Lounge Spencer P Jones Tago Mago Storm Large Red Bennies Strathmore, Foxtrot, Blac Mail DJs Revolver Susy Blue, Duck in the Mud, Lucy Wise, Mandy Connell Wesley Anne Teenage Mothers, Poon Dj’s Yah Yah’s Tehachapi, Slight Of Build, The Magic Bones, Sid Air, Cordyceps Evelyn Hotel The Genie, DJ Jumps Northcote Social Club The Graveyard Train The Bended Elbow The Great Pub Quiz Challenge Cornish Arms Hotel The Joe Kings, Jackson Firebird Retreat Hotel The Light Rail Grumpys Green

Tiger Funk Bimbo Deluxe Tim Rogers, Leena Wellers of Kangaroo Ground Unlucky DJs Seven Nightclub Waterline, Jude St Jude, Brendan James Idgaff Bar and Venue WHO, Agent 86, Lewis Can Cut, Tiger Funk, Jumbo Lucky Coq

FRI 01

10 Dollar Souls Bar 362 ANCHORS, The Outsiders, Strickland, Outright The Tote Andrew Reid, Tatu Rei Dizzy’s Jazz Club Belles Will Ring, Fearless Vampire Killers, Cuba is Japan Workers Club Black Cab, Pony Face, Ruben Montane East Brunswick Club Blackout Bimbo Deluxe Brett Franke, Taylor Project, Dearly Wish, Grey Starlings Wesley Anne Burlesque, Shimmy Shake Red Bennies Burn In Hell, Bittersweet Kicks, Vice Grip Pussies Cherry Bar Camila & James Builders Arms, early show Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes, The ReChords, SiB Northcote Social Club Continental DJs Continental Hotel Darrin Archer Paris Cat Jazz Club Dive Into Ruin, Dread, Wicked City, Dead, The Blister Transistor, Sexy/ Heavy The Prague Doug Colwell, Carly Milroy, Emma Caldwell, Sam Ellis, Kate Tucker Vibe on Smith Earl, Sandor Blonde, The Morning After, Dirty Elvis Brunswick Hotel Eyes Wide Open, Left For Wolves, Rise From Ruin Karova Lounge Fait Accompli, Sambrose Automobile, Krakatoa, Smoke Signals, Fergus The Old Bar First Floor DJs First Floor Foxtrot The Vic Friday Night Live Hallam Hotel Gabriel Lynch Australian Centre of Performing Arts Ghostwood Miss Libertine

Goody Two Shoes, Silence Wedge, Bitch Prease, I’m a Cat Full of Ghosts, Lone Zero, Post Percy The Glasshouse Jimmy Webb Melbourne Recital Centre Josh Pyke Grace Darling Hotel Juan Alban National Hotel Kalix, Tavares Veludo Katchafi re, Maisey Rika, Sista Itations Prince Bandroom Kim Salmon Tago Mago Left Feels Right, Les Garcons, Wheres Nick?, Greenthief Pony Like Fridays DJs Ladida Little Sisters The Sporting Club Mark Fitzgibbon Quartet feat. Trent White Uptown Jazz Café Matt Rad, Mr George, Tom Meagher, Phato A Mano Lucky Coq Matthew Kea Bluestone Lounge MAYA, VANYA, Wild Things Inflation Mezzanine, T-Bird Club, Count X Abode Level One Michelle Hosking, Vincent Stanley The Bender Bar Mondo Freaks The Night Cat Music Appreciation Society, Esty, Augustus Loop Neon Georgie Esplanade Basement New State, The Hunting Club, Aleks & The Ramps Public Bar Nigel Wearne, Judge Pino & the Ruling Motions, DJ Dave The Scot Retreat Hotel Nikkos, Joe Sofo, Kitty Kat Co., Crown Pets With Pets Polyester Records Phil Ross, Dean T, Chris Mac, DJ Atomik, Johnny M Fusion, Crown Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith The Toff In Town Pumba Mr Pockets Repairs, The Zingers, Tax, Bad Aches, Myles Gallagher Yah Yah’s Road Ratz, Graft Vs Host Cornish Arms Hotel Saskwatch, Deep St Soul, Cactus Channel, Ultravibralux, Charlies, Chris Gill Esplanade Gershwin Room Simmer Bar Open Sneaky Sound System, Beni, Knightlife Corner Hotel Snuff, Jaffa, Pgram, Chris X CBD Club

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Sounds of Sirus Rubys Lounge Speed Orange, Slabotomy John Curtin Hotel Store Bought Cool, Sweet Something, Hello Its Dave, Jayel Edinburgh Castle Hotel T-Bones Lomond Hotel The Bonniwells, The Fish, The Hierophants 303 the F100’s The Gem The Scarletts, The Dead Love, I Am Duckeye, Rusty Esplanade Lounge Traditional Irish Music Session, Dan Bourke & Friends The Drunken Poet T-Rek, We Are Gamma, Volatile Ram, Luke McD, Silversix, Nick Coleman, Mike Callander, Sunshine Revolver Velvet DJs Seven Nightclub Vive La Difference Roule Gallet Volytion, Red Sky Divide, Tzolkin Bendigo Hotel White Minus Red, Audego, Abe, Ella Thompson Builders Arms Hotel WHO, Snowie, Tahl, Citizen.com, Moonshine Lounge Bar Yvette Johannson, Joe Ruberto Trio Bennetts Lane

SAT 02

AC/Dshe, 77 Sandman, Home to Kate Cherry Bar Adam Harding, Bonnie Mercer, Bodies, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, DJ Eljay The Old Bar Alex Burns Trio The Drunken Poet Ali E Builders Arms, early show Andrew Reid, Royal Swazi Spa Dizzy’s Jazz Club Anna Paddick, Natalie Carolan Edinburgh Castle, early show Annemarie Sharry, Bob Sedergreen, Trent White Paris Cat Jazz Club Antagonist AD, Our Mindset, Widower Bang Art Vs Science Forum Theatre Baron Sunday, Green Skies Edinburgh Castle Hotel Beach Chromers Tago Mago Bias B, Brad Strut, Maundz, Dcider, Bigfoot, Ciecmate, Fluent Form, ELOQUOR, Doc Felix Corner Hotel

Big Mouth, VULGARGRAD, The Bedroom Philosopher, Men In Suits, The Hosies Thornbury Theatre Bits of Shit, The Murdered Birds, Brat Farrar, Midnight Woolf, Ocean Party, Bad Aches The Tote Blackchords, The Broadside Push, Ben Smith Penny Black Blu, Jon Montes, Syme Tollens Abode Chardy, Jamie Vlahos, Frazer Adnam, Scott McMahon, Mr Magoo, Ziggy Billboard Coconut Rebellion, Eyal & The Skeleton Crew, Velvet Cake Gypsies, Mittagundi Crew, Tully Sumner, Andy Umbers Collingwood Childrens Farm Conscious Control Ruby’s Lounge Continental DJs Continental Hotel Darren Coburn, Luke McD, Jason D’Costa, Nick Coleman, Tahl Lounge Bar Dirt River Radio, The Publican Band, Dead River Deeps, Adalita Retreat Hotel DJ Sabby G Mr Pockets Dylan Martorell & Friends, Jorge Ramirez, Slow Hog Empress Hotel, Arvo Show Earth, Desecrator, Maniaxe, Odiusembowel, Moth The Prague Evelyn Markets, Hatchet Dawn, Bugdust, Dread, Murder Rats Evelyn Hotel Finlo White, Joe Sofo Co., Crown Geoff Achison, Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers St Andrews Hotel Ghostwood, Dark Arts, The Indian Skies Karova Lounge Good Scissors, The Feel Goods, Polar Disco John Curtin Hotel Greenthief Kay Street Saloon Bar Gruntbucket, Essay Edwards, James McCann & Band, Shaky Memorial Yah Yah’s Gunn Music Competition Esplanade Gershwin Room Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Esplanade Lounge Hemymusic, Joi Murugavell Royal Hotel Hot Step Bimbo Deluxe House Party Eurotrashbar HOY Marquis Of Lorne Hotel

Jack Carty, Jordan Millar, Leeroy Lee The Studio Jacket Off Veludo Jeremy Rose Quartet Uptown Jazz Café Jimmy Webb Meeniyan Hall JJ Symon & The Monochromes The Sporting Club Julia Messenger, Tony Gould, Shannon Birchall, James Sherlock, Darryn Farrugia Bennetts Lane La Mauvaise Reputation Wesley Anne Liquid Funk Orchestra Horse Bazaar Love Migrate, Tom Milek Grace Darling Hotel Lowrider, Joelistics Sand Bar, Mildura Mr Nice, Nice & Ego Loop Nowra, Jessie Sparks, Tobasco Tom & Doc White, Karl Woodbury Chandelier Room N-Tice, Scruffy, Steve Punch Abode Pacman, Jean Paul, Sam McEwin, Samari, Kodiak Kid, Moonshine, Ash-Lee Lucky Coq Relax With Max The Night Cat Ross Wilson The Palais, Hepburn Springs Ross Wilson & the Peacenicks Palais Theatre Saca la Mois DJ, DJ Discotecadeliador, Lewis Can Cut, Sonidero Esperanza, Phaic VJ Bar Open Sam Lawrence Builders Arms Hotel Samara Williams The Bender Bar San Fran Disco, Snakadaktal, Sons Of Messengers, Tone Deaf DJ’s Ding Dong Lounge Short Stack, Heroes For Hire, Because They Can Festival Hall Ska Vendors, Gator Queen, Mohair Slim Bendigo Hotel Stillsons Lomond Hotel Stomp Dog, The Jimmy Deadman Communion Cornish Arms Hotel Strike The Blonde, Falloe, The Cashmere Revolution, Strange Horizon, Kirp, Rhys Crimmin Brunswick Hotel Tessa & The Typecast, Crooked Saint, Yeo, The House deFROST, Andee Frost The Toff In Town The Deer Republic Brown Alley The Grinders, Master Gun Fighters Great Britain Hotel The Human Electric, Perfect Fit, Ikarii, The Dead Love The Bended Elbow

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

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WEDNESDAY 29TH JUNE

12PM - 3AM

JACKALS

STRANGERS FROM NOW ON EMILY HOBBROOK

8.30PM FREE

THURSDAY 30TH JUNE

12PM - 3AM

NTH WHEEL

MAD NANNA SATANIC ROCKERS (NZ) DJ ABORTION EVE

8:30PM $7

FRIDAY 1ST JULY

FAIT ACCOMPLI (SYD) SAMBROSE AUTOMOBILE KRAKATOA SMOKE SIGNALS DJ FERGUS (ROLLER ONE)

12PM - 3AM

8.30PM $10 1AM FREE

SATURDAY 2ND JULY

12PM - 3AM

ADAM HARDING - LAUNCH

BONNIE MERCER (GREY DATURAS) BODIES HOTEL WRECKING CITY TRADERS 8:30PM $10 DJ EL JAY 1AM FREE

SUNDAY 3RD JULY

12PM - 3AM

MIKELANGELO & THE TIN STAR 2XSETS ANGE STELLA

8PM $7

MONDAY 27TH JUNE CROTCHETY KNITWITS KNITTING, SEWING, BOOZING.

GERRY HALES BLUEGRASS SESSIONS DJ BROADBENT KATE SEABROOK EXHIBITION OPENING

;; '7>FB ;F0HB A44

TUESDAY 28TH JUNE

12PM - 3AM 6PM FREE

8PM FREE 10PM FREE 6PM FREE

12PM - 3AM

GRAVEYARD TRAIN

CHERRYWOOD SEAN SIMMONS (THE SPOILS)

(74 AD=:4= $>4C $44; 'CA44C 8A42C;H >??>B8C4 %D44= *82 !0A:4C $7>=4 FFF <HB?024 2></3AD=:4=?>4CB

7PM $15

TIX ON THE DOOR ONLY

BANDBOOKINGS@THEOLDBAR.COM.AU

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gigguide@inpress.com.au The Jupiters, The Artie Styles Quartet, Frank Grymes and the Phat Rhymes 303 The Leafs, Darren Sylvester, Lehman B Smith Band and Choir, Sunkissed Empress Hotel The Native Plants, Alex Aronsten & the Southern Lights Union Hotel Brunswick The Potbelleez, Tate Strauss, Phil Ross, Nova, Johnny M Fusion, Crown The South Side Show, Leilisha, Olivia Porter, Mike Gurrieri, Edd Fisher, Knave Knixx Red Bennies The Subsequents, Angelik, Lilly’s Radio The Vic The Thrusts, The Small Pictures, Dirty F Public Bar The Vaudeville Smash, The Box Rockets, Rosie & George Northcote Social Club The Working Horse Irons, The Flyin’ Saucers, Cherrywood, Angelik Pony Tonight Alive, skyway, Masketta Fall, My Favourite Accident East Brunswick Club

Tunes by Stickman The Gem Valentiine, Baptizm Of Uzi, Woolhouse, Gunk, Ransom, Paz, Mat Cant, WHO Revolver

SUN 03

Ash Naylor, Blood Red Bird, Angie The Post Office Hotel Askew, Booshank, Paz, Ms Butt, Jumbo, Junji Lucky Coq Ben Cameron, Sam Kindlen Chandelier Room Bits of Shit Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Boogs, Spacey Space, Radiator, T-Rek Revolver Burlesque, Madame Natalia Red Bennies Chris Wilson, Shane O’Mara Union Hotel Brunswick Dancing Heals Pure Pop Records Darren Gibson, Rowan Blackmore The Vic Dave Graney & The Lurid Yellow Mist Williamstown RSL

Dirty Bird, Drifter, Gunk, Have Hold The Tote Fallow Fields, Danna & Friends Builders Arms, early show Ganga Giri, The Nomad Northcote Social Club Goyim Edinburgh Castle, early show Hobsons Choice The Sporting Club Jack Carty, Jordan Millar, Leeroy Lee Grace Darling Hotel Jimmy Webb The Palais, Hepburn Springs Kitty K & the Jager Bombs Cherry Bar LeBlac Bros Cajun Aces, Woodward & Rough Lomond Hotel Letterbox Music, The Rescue Ships, Vic Farrel, Heidi Elva, The Boys Wesley Anne Liz Stringer Carringbush Hotel Mick Pealing Band St Andrews Hotel Mikelangelo & the Tin Star The Old Bar Mose & the Family, Jess Wilson, Sarah De Haan, The Lost Boys Veludo Music Trivia Empress Hotel

Open Decks The Bender Bar Open Mic Rose Hotel Phato A Mano, Tiger Funk Bimbo Deluxe Quarter Street Orchestra The Night Cat Rob Jones & the Melancoholics, Drew Harrison, Sunday Chairs Empress Hotel, Arvo Show Sex On Toast The Toff In Town Sexy/Heavy, Lashes to Lashes, Spermaids Bar Open Shanghai Times, ODD, Playing With fi re Barwon Club Sinking Tins, Sweet Jean, Gold Coats Yah Yah’s Spectrum trio Peacock Inn SPG, Crackwhore, Big Seal and the Slipper Few, Diktion One, Secondhand, Lost Theory Brunswick Hotel Sunday Chairs, Smiles.Rifles, Officer Parrot Evelyn Hotel Swamplands, Jody Galvin & The Tenderhearts Retreat Hotel The Decoys The Standard Hotel

The ReChords The Gem The Vampires (SYD), Natalie Gauci Bennetts Lane Transcript of Organ Music, Saskia Sansom, Emma Russack, Seagull Workers Club Trav Wonders Family Band Great Britain Hotel Very Handsome Men Tago Mago Very Handsome Men, Middleton Road The Prague Waterline, Brendan James, Jude St Jude, Juju 303 Waz E James Band, Frank Jones Little Big Folk The Drunken Poet

MON 04

Animaux, The Wanderer, Woody Pitney Evelyn Hotel Audrey Boyle Quintet, Kain Borlase Trio 303 Ben Abrahams, Linda Joy Veludo

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Bennetts Lane Big Band Bennetts Lane ‘Crotchety Knitwits’, Gerry Hales Bluegrass Sessions, DJ Broadbent The Old Bar FLRL, Forces, No Art Workers Club Hail Hail St Andrews Open Mic & Jamm Night St Andrews Hotel iBimbo Bimbo Deluxe Monday Night All Stars Marquis Of Lorne Hotel Monique Di Mattina Rice Queen Mr Speaker Great Britain Hotel Normie Rowe Hallam Hotel Open Mic Bertha Brown Parking Lot Experiments, Full Ugly, Isle Adore Northcote Social Club Passionate Tongues Poetry Brunswick Hotel Swing Patrol The Toff In Town TBA Esplanade Lounge The Master E55

TUE 05

Animation & Dance on Film Loop Bob Bertles Quintet, Paul Williamson Bennetts Lane Browne, Anning + Hannaford Trio Uptown Jazz Cafe Cosmic Pizza, NHJ Lucky Coq Dumplings DJs Eurotrashbar Graveyard Train, Cherrywood, Sean Simmons The Old Bar Irish Session Lomond Hotel Joshua Seymour, Les Thomas Retreat Hotel Klub M.U.K 303 Luke Ware, Brett Goldsmith, Curley Joe, Jon S Williams, Jack Gramski Esplanade Lounge Matt Radovich, Andras Fox, Henry Who Bimbo Deluxe Mojo Singers Night Dizzy’s Jazz Club Normie Rowe Village Green

Oasis, Indian Summer DJs Tramp Bar Open Mic Rubys Lounge Open Mic Wesley Anne The Brunswick Discovery, Ninth Legion Brunswick Hotel The Butterfly Glee Club The Butterfly Club Trivia The Drunken Poet

140 Sydney Rd

BRUNSWICKHOTEL.NET

9387 6637

NO COVER CHARGE

WEDNESDAY JUNE 29TH - 8PM

THE BRUNSWICK HOTEL OPEN MIC WITH HOST BRODIE

$10 JUGS

THURSDAY JUNE 30TH - 9PM

GREENTHIEF (QLD)

FROM 8PM TILL MIDNIGHT - $2 POTS AND $5 BASICS FRIDAY JULY 1ST - 9PM

EARL,

SANDOR BLONDE, THE MORNING AFTER, DIRTY ELVIS

SATURDAY JULY 2ND - 5PM

RHYS CRIMMIN X 3 SETS! 9PM

STRIKE THE BLONDE,

FALLOE, THE CASHMERE REVOLUTION, STRANGE HORIZON AND KIRP(NSW)

SUNDAY JULY 3RD - 5PM

SPG,

CRACKWHORE, BIG SEAL AND THE SLIPPER FEW

9PM

DIKTION ONE,

SECONDHAND, LOSTHEORY, CRITICAL AND GUESTS!

MONDAY JULY 4TH - 8PM

PASSIONATE TONGUES POETRY FEATURED ARTISTS AND OPEN STAGE. $10 JUGS HOSTED BY MICHAEL REYNOLDS. FOR MORE INFO CONTACT POETRYMG@HOTMAIL.COM

TUESDAY JULY 5TH - 8PM

TUESDAY NIGHT BRUNSWICK DISCOVERY THIS WEEK: NINTH LEGION

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

FRI 1ST Kitchen Specials

The F-100s

Mon - $12 Burger & Pot, $14 Porterhouse Tues - $6 Pizza Wed - $14 Porterhouse Fri - $6 Pizza Thu - Great Pub Quiz Challenge

SAT 2ND

LIVE MUSIC & EVENTS

Tunes by STICKMAN Sun 3RD

'3*%": +6-:

the rechords

Graft Vs Host

Road Ratz Free

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4"563%": +6-:

Stomp Dog The Jimmy Deadman Communion

289 WELLINGTON ST COLLINGWOOD 94195170

Free Function Room Available Kitchen Open Every Evening

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WED 29 Coq Roq with DJ Lady Noir, Agent 86, Kiti, Mr Thom, Joybot: Lucky Coq Groove Is In The Heart: KKS Project, Djenga, Chantal Mitvalsky, DJ Edd Fisher, Haitus Kaiyote: The Evelyn Hotel Le Belle, Gretchin Lewis, Cotton Sidewalk, Tim Woods & The Dirty Shoes: Esplanade Basement Matty Raovich, PCP: Lounge No Era Live Wednesdays: Miss Libertine The Milton Grey: The Toff in Town The Soul Army: Vince Peach, Prequel, Black Diamond Kicks: Bimbo Deluxe

THU 30 Bad Party Thursdays: Bronson, Solid Light: Match Bar & Grill

Billboard Thursdays: End of Exams Party: Billboard The Venue Citizen.com, Silversix, Code Luke: Lounge Crazy Enough: Red Bennies Discotheque: DJs Scott Thompson, Greg Sara: Match Bar & Grill Do Drop In! Thursdays: The Carlton Free Range Funk: DJ Who, Agent 86: Lucky Coq Funhouse Thursdays: Finlo White, MC Kitty Kat: Crown Co. Katchafi re: Pierlive Frankston Love Story Thursdays The Toff in Town Mood: Loop Night Skool Thursdays: DJs JD, Citizen.com, Snowie, Sadtraxx: Eurotrash No Future Thursdays: Highlander Rhythmalism: Fusion Strathmore, Foxtrot, Blac Mail DJs: Revolver Upstairs The Genie, DJ Jumps: Northcote Social Club Thirsty Thursdays: La Di Da Thursdays in the Front Bar: The Fox

Thursday Night Live: Tigerfunk, Lewis CanCut: Bimbo Deluxe Textbook Thursdays: Miss Libertine Unlucky: Seven Why Not: Pretty Please

FRI 1 Beyond The Drop: Brown Acid, Harry Blotter, Loki, Watasuni, DJ Ego: 3D Bimbo Fridays: Hey Sam, Silversix and more: Bimbo Deluxe Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Say: Common Trolls: Miss Libertine Cosmology: Loop Cushion Fridays: After Work Delights: Cushion Lounge DJ Nick Jones, DJ Nick Jameson: Hoo Haa Eighties Funk and Nineties Jams: First Floor 393 Favela Funk Fridays: DJ Kid Romantic: The Fox

Fridays at Rooftop: Residents: Geddes Lounge Japan Disaster Relief: Saskwatch, Deep Street Soul, The Cactus Chanel, Ultravibralux, The Charlies, DJ Chris Gill: Esplanade Gershwin Room Katchafi re: Prince Bandroom Lady Luck Fridays: Circus Bar Like Disco Fridays: DJ Reg-e, DJ Suga, DJ Rubz, DJ Sef and more: La Di Da Lounge Fridays: DJ Who, Mr Moonshine, Snowie, Tahl, Muska: Lounge Neon Georgie plus guests: Esplanade Basement Panorama: DJs Matt Rad, Mr George, Tom Meagher, Phato A Mano: Lucky Coq Photography Night Walks: Loop Poprocks: Dr Phil Smith: The Toff in Town Repairs, The Zingers, Tax, Bad Aches: Yah Yahs Replay: The Potbelleez (live): Fusion

Shimmy Shake: Red Bennies Sounds of Fusion: Phil Ross, Dean T, Chris Mac, DJ Atomik, Johnny M: Fusion Sorry Grandma Fridays: Kalusmike, Metro, Silversix and more: Sorry Grandma Sunny Rooftop Sessions: Ozzie La, Rollin Connection, Gavin Keitel, Phil K: Brown Alley T-Bird Club: Abode Level One The Essential BeXta Collection CD Launch: BeXta, Josh Jang, DJ Hellraiser, Soul-T vs DJ eM, Pgram Kemikalk Konjestion: 3D The Scarletts, The Dead Love, I Am Duckeye, Rusty From Electric Mary: Esplanade Lounge Bar T-Rek, We Are Gamma, Volatile Ram (live): Revolver Upstairs Twenty4 Release Party: Markojux, Thankyou City, Mike Buhl, Closer Apart and more: Brown Alley

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Winter Beats Soundsystem: Astrix, Gemini, Inspector Dubplate: RMH The Venue

SAT 2 All City Bass: 16 Bit: Brown Alley Alumbra Saturdays Studio 54 Theme Party: Mr Stoj, Steve Bleas, Evan Telia, Denn Francisco, APAP, Simon Digby, Baz Emera, Mirls and Sarlece: Alumbra Big Red Bus: Funktion-One: Ben Evans, Terrafractyl, Faff, Jewels, Damon: My Aeon Blu: Jon-E, Syme Tollens: Abode DJs Luke McD, Nick Coleman, Darren Coburn: Lounge Envy: DJs Finlo White and Joe Sofo: Crown Co. Hoss, Swedish Magazines, Fangs, The Mercy Beat (QLD): Esplanade Gershwin Room

Hot Step: Bimbo Deluxe House De Frost: Andee Frost: The Toff in Town N-Tice: Tiaras, Top Hats and Tails: Jon-E, Steve Punch: Abode Saturdays First Floor: Perplex, Agent 86, Simon Sez, Paz and more: First Floor 393 SINthetic: Lady J, SmuDJ, Syme Tollens: Abode Level One Sorry Grandma! Saturdays: SGT Slick, Andy J, Wei-Shen and more: Sorry Grandma Yarraville Jockey Club: Golden Fleece, Fromage Disco, Luke McD: Match Bar & Grill

SUN 3 Diktion One, Secondhand, Lostheory, Critical: The Brunswick Hotel South Side Hustle: Djs Askew, Peter Baker, Booshank, Paz, Miss Butt, Junji, Disco Harry: Lucky Coq

Revolver Sundays: DJs Boogs, Spacey Space, Radiator, T-Rek: Revolver Upstairs Sunday Soul Sessions: Afrodescia (live), DJ Bobby Love: Alumbra The Sundae Shake: Phato A Mano, Agent 86, Tigerfunk: Bimbo Deluxe The Sunday Set: DJs Andyblack and Haggis: The Toff in Town

TUES 5 Bimbo Tuesdays: Curious Tales Performers (live), Fantastic Mr Fox, DJ Coburg Market, DJ Who, Chairman Meow: Bimbo Deluxe Dumplings Tuesdays: Streetparty, Swick, Tranterco, Sweethearts, Naysayer & Gilsun: Eurotrash

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BANG Saturday Antagonist AD, Our Mindset, Widower

BAR OPEN Wednesday Straw King Eye, Krakatoa, Kidney 3 Thursday Extreme Wheeze, Kel Day, James Kenyon Friday Simmer Saturday Saca la Mois DJ, DJ Discotecadeliador, Lewis Can Cut, Sonidero Esperanza, Phaic VJ Sunday Sexy/Heavy, Lashes to Lashes, Spermaids

Wednesday Falloe, Alexis Nicole and the Missing Pieces Thursday D Rogers, Duke Batavia Friday White Minus Red, Audego, Abe, Ella Thompson Saturday Sam Lawrence

BUILDERS ARMS, EARLY SHOW Friday Camila & James Saturday Ali E Sunday Fallow Fields, Danna & Friends

BENDIGO HOTEL

CORNER HOTEL

Wednesday Open Mic, Heaven the Axe Thursday Bent Cabaret, Miss Deviant, Trixie Venom, Lucinda Lou, Miss Juliet Friday Volytion, Red Sky Divide, Tzolkin Saturday Ska Vendors, Gator Queen, Mohair Slim

Friday Sneaky Sound System, Beni, Knightlife Saturday Bias B, Brad Strut, Maundz, Dcider, Bigfoot, Ciecmate, Fluent Form, ELOQUOR, Doc Felix

BILLBOARD Thursday Matty Grant, Matt Dean, Phil Ross Saturday Chardy, Jamie Vlahos, Frazer Adnam, Scott McMahon, Mr Magoo, Ziggy

BIMBO DELUXE Wednesday Vince Peach, Miss Goldie, Prequel, Black Diamond Kicks Thursday Tiger Funk Friday Blackout Saturday Hot Step Sunday Phato A Mano, Tiger Funk Monday iBimbo Tuesday Matt Radovich, Andras Fox, Henry Who

BRUNSWICK HOTEL Wednesday Open Mic Thursday Greenthief Friday Earl, Sandor Blonde, The Morning After, Dirty Elvis Saturday Strike The Blonde, Falloe, The Cashmere Revolution, Strange Horizon, Kirp, Rhys Crimmin Sunday SPG, Crackwhore, Big Seal and the Slipper Few, Diktion One, Secondhand, Lost Theory Monday Passionate Tongues Poetry Tuesday The Brunswick Discovery, Ninth Legion

BUILDERS ARMS HOTEL

CORNISH ARMS HOTEL Thursday The Great Pub Quiz Challenge Friday Road Ratz, Graft Vs Host Saturday Stomp Dog, The Jimmy Deadman Communion

EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB Friday Black Cab, Pony Face, Ruben Montane Saturday Tonight Alive, skyway, Masketta Fall, My Favourite Accident

EDINBURGH CASTLE HOTEL Wednesday Rezzalp Thursday Aleks Sans Ramps, Seth Rees Friday Store Bought Cool, Sweet Something, Hello Its Dave, Jayel Saturday Baron Sunday, Green Skies

EMPRESS HOTEL Wednesday Timothy & Wilderness, Lehmann B Smith, Gwyn Edwards Thursday Bobby Flynn, Van Meyer, Kathy Hinch Band Saturday The Leafs, Darren Sylvester, Lehman B Smith Band and Choir, Sunkissed Sunday Music Trivia

EMPRESS HOTEL, ARVO SHOW Saturday Dylan Martorell & Friends, Jorge Ramirez, Slow Hog Sunday Rob Jones & the Melancoholics, Drew Harrison, Sunday Chairs

ESPLANADE BASEMENT Friday Neon Georgie

ESPLANADE GERSHWIN ROOM Friday Saskwatch, Deep St Soul, Cactus Channel, Ultravibralux, Charlies, Chris Gill Saturday Gunn Music Competition

ESPLANADE LOUNGE Wednesday Le Belle, Gretchen Lewis, Cotton Sidewalk, Tim Woods & The Dirty Shoes Thursday Dancing Heals, Hey Fever, The Run Run, The Raffaellas Friday The Scarletts, The Dead Love, I Am Duckeye, Rusty Saturday Headspace, Dale Ryder Band, Bad Boys Batucada Monday TBA Tuesday Luke Ware, Brett Goldsmith, Curley Joe, Jon S Williams, Jack Gramski

EVELYN HOTEL Wednesday KKS Project, Djenga, Chantel Mitvalsky, Haitus Kaiyote, Edd Fisher Thursday Tehachapi, Slight Of Build, The Magic Bones, Sid Air, Cordyceps Saturday Evelyn Markets, Hatchet Dawn, Bugdust, Dread, Murder Rats Sunday Sunday Chairs, Smiles.Rifles, Officer Parrot Monday Animaux, The Wanderer, Woody Pitney

GRACE DARLING HOTEL Thursday Kirin J Callinan, High Tea, Cam Potts, Ben Butcher Friday Josh Pyke Saturday Love Migrate, Tom Milek Sunday Jack Carty, Jordan Millar, Leeroy Lee

LOOP Thursday DJ NuBody, Photography Night Walks Friday Music Appreciation Society, Esty, Augustus Saturday Mr Nice, Nice & Ego Tuesday Animation & Dance on Film

LUCKY COQ Wednesday Agent 86, Bladerunner, Mr Thom, Joybot

Thursday WHO, Agent 86, Lewis Can Cut, Tiger Funk, Jumbo Friday Matt Rad, Mr George, Tom Meagher, Phato A Mano Saturday Pacman, Jean Paul, Sam McEwin, Samari, Kodiak Kid, Moonshine, Ash-Lee Sunday Askew, Booshank, Paz, Ms Butt, Jumbo, Junji Tuesday Cosmic Pizza, NHJ

NEXT Thursday Kisschasy, Built On Secrets, Viking Frontier, We Rob banks

NORTHCOTE SOCIAL CLUB Wednesday The McMenamins, Amy Vee Thursday The Genie, DJ Jumps Friday Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes, The ReChords, SiB Saturday The Vaudeville Smash, The Box Rockets, Rosie & George Sunday Ganga Giri, The Nomad Monday Parking Lot Experiments, Full Ugly, Isle Adore

PONY Thursday Jouissance, The Sunday Reeds, Wizard Oz, Love/Hate Friday Left Feels Right, Les Garcons, Wheres Nick?, Greenthief Saturday The Working Horse Irons, The Flyin’ Saucers, Cherrywood, Angelik

PRINCE BANDROOM Friday Katchafi re, Maisey Rika, Sista Itations

PUBLIC BAR Friday New State, The Hunting Club, Aleks & The Ramps Saturday The Thrusts, The Small Pictures, Dirty F

THE DRUNKEN POET Wednesday Wine, Whiskey, Women, Jules Hutcheson, Emma Wall Thursday Cal Walker Duo, Cat & Clint Friday Traditional Irish Music Session, Dan Bourke & Friends Saturday Alex Burns Trio Sunday Waz E James Band, Frank Jones Little Big Folk Tuesday Trivia

Saturday Tunes by Stickman Sunday The ReChords

ON THE STEREO

THE OLD BAR Wednesday Jackals, Stranger From Now On, Emily Hobbrook Thursday Nth Wheel, Mad Nanna, Satanic Rockers, Abortion Eve Friday Fait Accompli, Sambrose Automobile, Krakatoa, Smoke Signals, Fergus Saturday Adam Harding, Bonnie Mercer, Bodies, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, DJ Eljay Sunday Mikelangelo & the Tin Star Monday ’Crotchety Knitwits’, Gerry Hales Bluegrass Sessions, DJ Broadbent Tuesday Graveyard Train, Cherrywood, Sean Simmons

Harmony HARMONY Strange Birds In Paradise: A West Papuan Soundtrack DAVID BRIDIE & ARNOLD AP Smoking In Heaven KITTY, DAISY & LEWIS Piles Of Lies BATRIDER Timothy Nelson & The Infi dels I KNOW THIS NOW Blurry Blue Mountain GIANT SAND We Are The Champions JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD David Comes To Life FUCKED UP Phosphene Dream THE BLACK ANGELS Seeds HEY ROSETTA!

3RRR SOUNDSCAPE Phosphene Dream THE BLACK ANGELS Bon Iver BON IVER Unknown Mortal Orchestra UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Piles Of Lies BATRIDER Secret Rituals THE GRATES Within And Without WASHED OUT Feel It Break AUSTRA

THE STANDARD HOTEL

Strange Birds in Paradise: A West Papuan Soundtrack DAVID BRIDIE AND ARNOLD AP

Wednesday Little John Sunday The Decoys

Single Twin SINGLE TWIN

THE TOFF IN TOWN Wednesday The Milton Grey, Dirt Farmer, Artist Proof Thursday Micah P Hinson, Myles Mayo, Major Chord Friday Poprocks at the Toff, Dr Phil Smith Saturday Tessa & The Typecast, Crooked Saint, Yeo, The House deFROST, Andee Frost Sunday Sex On Toast Monday Swing Patrol

THE TOTE Wednesday Yolke, The Ovals, Jorge Ramirez Thursday Lama Rama, Dani Marie, Winton Central, The Skampz Friday ANCHORS, The Outsiders, Strickland, Outright Saturday Bits of Shit, The Murdered Birds, Brat Farrar, Midnight Woolf, Ocean Party, Bad Aches Sunday Dirty Bird, Drifter, Gunk, Have Hold

THE VIC Friday Foxtrot Saturday The Subsequents, Angelik, Lilly’s Radio Sunday Darren Gibson, Rowan Blackmore

UNION HOTEL BRUNSWICK Thursday Das Musik Mann

THE GEM Friday the F100’s

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Some Were Meant For Sea TINY RUINS

TRIPLE J HIT LIST Living On The Edge Of Time YUKSEK It’s Nice To Be Alive BALL PARK MUSIC Itchin’ On A Photograph GROUPLOVE Apart (Ft. Davey Lane) PHRASE No One Wants A Lover JOSH PYKE Infodome KIKUYU Summer Waiting THE NOVOCAINES Signs Of Life THE HERD Amor Fati WASHED OUT Go Go Chaos BONJAH

PBS TIPSHEET Queen Of The Minor Key EILEEN JEWELL Come Together: Black America Sings Lennon/ McCartney VARIOUS ARTISTS The Secret VIEUX FARKA TOURE Self Titled UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Some Were Meant For Sea TINY RUINS Sextet DANIEL GASSIN Culture Of Fear THIEVERY CORPORATION Starlight Hotel ZOE MUTH AND THE LAST HIGH ROLLERS Black Up SHABAZZ PALACES Highlife Time Vol. 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS

Saturday The Native Plants, Alex Aronsten & the Southern Lights Sunday Chris Wilson, Shane O’Mara

WESLEY ANNE Wednesday Jubal, My Musical Collective, Jared Catchpoole Thursday Susy Blue, Duck in the Mud, Lucy Wise, Mandy Connell Friday Brett Franke, Taylor Project, Dearly Wish, Grey Starlings

Saturday La Mauvaise Reputation Sunday Letterbox Music, The Rescue Ships, Vic Farrel, Heidi Elva, The Boys Tuesday Open Mic

WORKERS CLUB Thursday Johnny Rock & The Limits, Red Rockets Of Borneo, Rich Davies & The Devils Union, Dan Blok Friday Belles Will Ring, Fearless Vampire Killers, Cuba is Japan

Sunday Transcript of Organ Music, Saskia Sansom, Emma Russack, Seagull Monday FLRL, Forces, No Art

YAH YAH’S Thursday Teenage Mothers, Poon Dj’s Friday Repairs, The Zingers, Tax, Bad Aches, Myles Gallagher Saturday Gruntbucket, Essay Edwards, James McCann & Band, Shaky Memorial Sunday Sinking Tins, Sweet Jean, Gold Coats

BEHIND THE LINES Compiled by MICHAEL SMITH CONVOY PICKS UP MULTIMEDIA SPEAKER RANGE Harman International has appointed Australian consumer electronics and audio distributor Convoy International as the sole Australian supplier of JBL and Harman Kardon multimedia speaker ranges, effective as of this month. Encompassing a range of best-in-class desktop speakers, speaker solutions for iPod, iPad and other IOS devices and portable audio speakers, the Harman multimedia range will complement Convoy’s existing range of Harman Kardon and JBL audio products for the home, the car and digital music sources. Jands Australia of course continues to distribute JBL’s professional and studio audio range of products, and will be on hand at Stand B18 at ENTECH in the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour Tuesday 19 through Thursday 21 July to answer all your professional audio, lighting and software questions across the full range of products they make and distribute, from JBL through Shure, dbx and Lexicon to Stanton and BSS Audio.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

SOUND ADVICE GEAR REVIEWS WITH RYAN MORTIMER

CLASSIC NEW JBL STUDIO MONITORS Drawing on their classic professional studio high performance monitor speaker range of the ‘70s and ‘80s, JBL have introduced two new speaker models to their range of high performance speakers – the 4429 and 4319 Studio Monitors. Inspired by JBL’s 4425 studio monitor, introduced in 1985 as the company’s first compression driver system with a Bi-Radial horn and large format woofer, the new JBL 4429 incorporates a number of important improvements including a UHF transducer, an improved HF compression driver and horn design, a new crossover network and improved internal bracing, all combining to give the 4429 an advantage in the naturalness, clarity and detail of its sound comparative to previous models. The 4429 speaker features a 12” woofer with pure pulp-cone, cast frame and edge-wound voice coil, a 50mm pure titanium HF compression driver and 19mm pure titanium UHF compression drivers with a one-piece SonoGlass horn and comes in classic walnut veneer with polyurethane topcoat and dual bass ports in a distinctive blue front baffle and grille. The JBL Studio 4319 meanwhile is inspired by the JBL model 4310, once found in more professional recording studios than any other monitor. The JBL 4319 studio monitor, with its unmistakable blue baffle and grille, has been engineered to play loud and long with unequalled dynamics, sonic clarity and tonal accuracy, and once again features a 12” woofer driven by a Differential Drive dual voice-coil assembly, a large inverted-dome midrange driver and a fast magnesium/ aluminium dome tweeter. Die-cast transducer frames dissipate heat to minimise distortion caused by power compression, and a heavily braced enclosure virtually eliminates unwanted internal resonances. SOUND BYTES Last year, second generation Nigerian Afrobeat exponents Sean Kuti & Egypt 80 took themselves off to Cia Dos Tecnicos Studios in Rio de Janiero to record the second album, From Africa With Fury: Rise, with veteran producer/mixer Godwin Logie, before taking it over to London where Kuti then co-produced the record with Brian Eno and John Reynolds. Bay Area metal band Machine Head are currently recording their as-yet untitled next album, due September, at JingleTown Studios in Oakland. Their frontman Robb Flynn producing. Engineered by Christian Lauria, who co-produced with singer and guitarist Jordan Howe at Machine Men Studios in Sydney, the debut album, The New Messiah, by new all-star Australian metal band, Saint Lucifer, due for release August, was mixed by Adrian Grigorieff (Henry’s Anger, Cryogenic, Tumbleweed) and mastered in the US by Howie Weinberg (Slayer, Pantera, U2). Sydney four-piece FisherKing took themselves into Revolution Studios in Alexandria, owned and operated by Genevieve Maynard (ex-Bughouse, Stella One Eleven) who produced, engineered and mixed everything on their debut album, Circles, bar two tracks that were mixed by Cameron Potts at Sebastian Trios Studios in Yowie Bay, with William Bowden mastering it all. Co-produced and mixed by multi-Grammy Awardwinner Tim Biller (Beck, Kanye West, Karen O), the second album, Blood Thinner, due for release mid-July, from Melbourne’s Jordie Lane, was mastered by another Grammy winner, Reuben Cohen, at Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood. The album itself was recorded variously between, as Lane’s press release tells it, “a remote desert motel room, a basement and, finally, a bleeding hot garage in Eagle Rock, LA.” Sydney’s Sleepmakeswaves sent their debut album, … And So We Destroyed Everything, due for release late July, to Los Angeles to be mastered by Howie Weinberg (Muse, U2, Nirvana, Deftones, Smashing Pumpkins). Boy & Bear recorded their debut album, Moonfire, in Nashville with producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes, White Stripes, The Shins).

MOOG – SLIM PHATTY Moog, quite easily the most recognisable name in the deep, strange world of synthesisers, have been making quality products ever since the 1960s and have quite possibly been the sole initiator of every innovative bit of music due to its innovative nature. In modern times the synthesiser is becoming more and more popular, making its mark now more so than ever. In 2006, after slightly fading from the limelight for a few years, the company gave the public a look into Little Phatty, their way of once again tipping the scales and shaking the competition. The first limited run had only 1200 units and, coupling hand-built quality with the traditional Moog sound at a very low price, extreme demand was created. The Slim Phatty is nearly identical in every way to the acclaimed Little Phatty. It’s an analog to the bone, monophonic sound machine featuring two blending, four shaped oscillators, a filter envelope generator, a volume envelope generator, a four destination modulation bus, a classic Moog low-pass “ladder” filter, an inbuilt, multiple setting arpeggiator, glide control, a four shaped LFO and an overload central with a single control VCA.

In addition to the sound-creating components, the Phatty series also has an external audio input, two separate outputs (one for headphones), USB connectivity, MIDI inputs and outputs, a fine-tuning option which can be turned on and off and CV inputs for filter, volume and pitch control. In short this is one synthesiser that should make rivaling companies shiver in utter fear as if a giant tsunami was moments away from pulverising their factories… And still, the Phatty might have more power. The biggest selling point, besides the fact that it is so easily affordable and the unit’s history, is the incredibly innovative feature that will allow you to link multiple Slim Phatty units up via MIDI to create an out of this world Poly Chain, unlocking a hidden power within! If this wasn’t enough, it comes with 100 individual presets to get your brain melting faster than staring directly into split atoms flying at your face. The Slim Phatty’s connections are all located on the rear of the unit as it also has a rack mountable option to save space in the studio and save effort when transporting, making this the ultimate synthesiser for anybody who is starting out or very serious about their sounds. Supplied by Mortstar; available from awave.com.au.

TOYROOM EFFECTS – THE LOUDER A lot of guitarists are going to find the Louder from Toyroom Effects to be a kind of godsend. This is a completely understandable statement once having been in the presence of the holy grail that is the Louder. The first thing you will notice is that this pedal looks like it could withstand Armageddon singlehandedly. The casing is strong and stable and the footswitch seems as if it could withstand Andre The Giant jumping on it with a horse under each arm! The key points about this pedal are that it is completely hand-wired, features a true-bypass and is incredibly cleansounding, a rarity in any boost pedal. The perfect place for this pedal is in your solo passage and once it’s there, you will immediately see the inner beauty. The model that was reviewed may not have had an overthe-moon kind of cosmetic appeal, with its bare metal skin showing without any kind of flashy paint job or stylish graphics, but you will find that it really doesn’t matter because the Louder will catch your attention in its own little way. While Toyroom is currently working on graphics for the Louder, they do offer a full customisation of the aesthetics – after all, it is what they do – but in all honesty (in accordance to the reviewer’s personal preference), the pedal doesn’t need to be covered in glitter and be painted with a cute zebra in the top corner. It’s very easy to embrace the custom-shop look of this pedal, which will begin to look even cooler in old age. After all, it is a look that most indie artists or Jack White fans tend to seek. The “rough around the edges” look of this model really adds to the entire experience of using a Toyroom Pedal – they always tend to look as modified as they sound! So what, the Louder doesn’t have a thousand knobs or switches and a million flashing lights that will confuse you with the view from a skyscraper and there’s a very good reason why… The Louder doesn’t need any of that! It is a simple concept that has been turned into a great-sounding idea with an intelligent and logical approach. Supplied by Toyroom Effects; available from toyroomguitareffects.com.

WRAP IT UP When you’re jamming with a member of The Beatles, all the collaborations in the world won’t stop the goosebumps. BEN HARPER talks to DAVE DRAYTON about being in the studio with a drumming legend. Since releasing his debut album Pleasure & Pain in 2002, Ben Harper has amassed an impressive resume of collaborations, working alongside gospel gods The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Brazilian singer Vanessa da Mata, surf music golden boy Jack Johnson and in the recent collaboration and Blues Fest performers Fistful Of Mercy, alongside Dhani Harrison (son of George) and Ohio-based signer songwriter Joseph Arthur. Though when Inpress meets Harper, in his 22nd floor hotel room overlooking the Sydney Opera House, there is one particular collaboration at the forefront of his mind – that with Ringo Starr on Harper’s latest album Give Till It’s Gone. “Ringo and I met about four years ago and became friendly. That was in LA. That friendship, communication, dialogue, translated into me guesting on his last solo record Why Not and that resulted in him inviting myself and my band R7 to be his back-up band for some things,” Harper recalls. He stops mid-sentence and looks out the window – he often seems to get lost in some rumination – and remarks, “Oh a rainbow. And we’re talking about Ringo. There’s a big old rainbow out the window,” he says with a smile before continuing. “He said, ‘I know you’re going in to make your record, I’d love to return the favour. With you guesting on my record, just so you know, I don’t say this often, but for you I’d do it.’ And my jaw hit the floor, but I held it together and next thing you know we’re in the studio writing a song.” That song quickly became two: the optimistic, pianodriven Spilling Faith and the sprawling, improvised Get There From Here. Listed back-to-back, they stand as the 11-track album’s centrepiece and are both duly credited to Starr as co-writer. “It came from us. It started with a 90-minute conversation in the studio when he got there and we just sat around laughing and talking. I am known in my circle of friends for jotting down notes and ideas that come from conversations. So we were talking and I was writing and I see Ringo watching me write and then we had nothing. Ringo came in but we were gonna just build out; we were gonna just throw up our antenna and see what we caught.

“I actually had something that I was hesitant about [showing Ringo] which I still have to this day, but what happened was, after the conversation Ringo said, ‘All right, let’s go.’ And the bass player, for whatever reason, sat down at the piano and started going on with this riff. Ringo jumped on with the drums and started backing him up, he says, ‘Yeah! I like that! Let’s do that.’ So next thing you know it’s piano and drums and Jordan [Richardson] came in – Jordan’s the drummer in R7 – and did some percussion stuff. Jason got his guitar, I got on my lap steel and lo and behold we fleshed out a song – you know, beginning, middle and end. Then we were ready and Ringo is like, ‘Okay, roll tape, we’re ready, we’ve got it down.’ So we play out the song,” Harper impatiently and excitedly recounts the structure: “Verse chorus verse chorus bridge verse chorus out. Then we were all like, ‘OK, we’ve done the song structure we’re looking to wrap it up,’ and we look at Ringo and Ringo just waves the stick like, ‘Come on! Let’s go!’ and he keeps playing,” Harper is positively beaming by this point, bursting with energy, chasing his own words like a puppy chases its tail. “You can hear us start to sort of wind the song down and so the song is kind of done and the he just picks back up and the next thing you know – I mean, it is the purest moment of improvisation I have ever experienced on record – and we just keep playing and we’re watching Ringo and, so help me God, man, if he was still playing I’d still be right there right this second, however many months, I’d never end it! We’re playing and we look up and we’re just jamming and he’s just got his head down and he’s playing and around, oh I dunno, the ten, eleven minute mark we look up and he looks up and he goes, ‘All right, wrap it up’. We just follow him right down. “And you can hear him lay his sticks on the snare drum like he has for so many years and goes, ‘Yeah boys, that’s how we used to do it – the song’s two minutes and the fade is an hour.’ It’s just awesome,” Harper recalls bursting into elated laughter. If you listen closely to the track you can hear Starr saying just that as the residual buzz of warm amps subsides.

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The one-take track was so unexpected that Harper felt it deserved to stand on its own. “That instrumental – that came out of nowhere man. That had to have its own autonomous name and voice and part of the record. Because it wasn’t part of the song, it came after, but we didn’t rehearse that for one second. That was the first and only time we played that so far. “I get high and get goosebumps; my palms even sweat a little bit talking about it, it was such an experience,” says Harper, going as far as to roll up his sleeve and reveal the blue and red tribal tattoo that covers his forearm. True to his word, the hairs stand on end. Give Till It’s Gone is out now through EMI

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New blues&roots/rock/folk/funk project requires experienced guitarist/ songwriter myspace.com/roarsugar Send weblinks/samples & experience to roarsugar@hotanddeliciousrecords. com Dan - Hot & Delicious Records

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