The Music (Brisbane) Issue #16

# 1 6 • 2 7. 11 . 1 3 • B R I S BA N E • F R E E • I N C O R P O R AT I N G

RDGLDGRN AN D T H E M AN Y C O L O U R S O F VA N S WA R P E D

film

THE BOY CASTAWAYS

eat

STREET FOOD

festival

WILL SPARKS

music

TUMBLEWEED

the music | the lifestyle | the fashion | the art | the culture | you

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 3

themusic 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

“SURF DURING THE DAY AND PLAY MUSIC AT NIGHT IS KIND OF THE PERFECT DAY FOR US.”

#016

INSIDE FEATURES RDGLDGRN

- WE CHAT WITH JACK JOHNSON (P26)

Reel Big Fish Millencolin Machine Translations Jack Johnson Twin Forks Cave Paul Capsis James Frecheville Will Sparks

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Tumbleweed Darren Middleton The John Steel Singers YesYou Clowns Day Ravies Forever The Optimist

REVIEWS Album: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Live: Jill Scott Arts Matthew Gray Mastering

THE GUIDE Cover: Faleepo Francisco Eat/Drink Local News Gig Guide The End: Wanky Summer Reads

HEAR THE BRAND NEW RECORD FROM CANBERRA HARDCORE TITANS I EXIST

- CULTURAL CRINGE WITH MANDY MCALISTER (P61)

STREAMING ALL WEEK LONG ON THEMUSIC.COM.AU

ANOTHER UNRELEASED TRACK FROM THE SUNNYBOYS ARCHIVE STREAMING EXCLUSIVELY THIS WEEK AT THEMUSIC.COM.AU

WE’RE COVERING ALL THE ACTION FROM ARIA WEEK – AND THE ARIAS THEMSELVES – AS IT HAPPENS ON THEMUSIC.COM.AU ALL WEEK LONG.

feature “IF ‘SHIRTLESS’ IS ONE OF THE SUBHEADINGS THAT GOOGLE SUGGESTS, THAT’S NOT A BAD THING.” - STAR OF ADORE, JAMES FRECHEVILLE (P30)

review 6 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

“WHAT IS MORE BAFFLING ABOUT THIS STORY IS THAT PEOPLE WHO CAN AFFORD COCAINE WON’T SHELL OUT FOR THEIR OWN $10 PAPERBACK.”

“THERE’S NO CLUB BANGER, NO STAND-OUT MOMENT, JUST A CONSTANT, INSISTENT FLOW OF INIMITABLE DANCE MUSIC.”

- DYLAN STEWART REVIEWS THE LATEST BALANCE MIX DISC FROM DANNY HOWELLS (P42)

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 7

CREDITS PUBLISHER

Street Press Australia Pty Ltd

GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Andrew Mast

EDITOR Steve Bell

ASSISTANT EDITOR Benny Doyle

ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR Cassandra Fumi

MUSO EDITOR Michael Smith

GIG GUIDE EDITOR Justine Lynch gigs@themusic.com.au

CONTRIBUTORS Adam Curley, Amorina Fitzgerald-Hood, Anthony Carew, Baz McAlister, Ben Preece, Benny Doyle, Bradley Armstrong, Brendan Telford, Carley Hall, Chris Yates, Cyclone, Dan Condon, Daniel Johnson, Dave Drayton, Guy Davis, Helen Stringer, Jake Sun, Jazmine O’Sullivan, Lochlan Watt, Madeleine Laing, Mandy McAlister, Matt O’Neill, Mitch Knox, Sam Hobson, Sky Kirkham, Tom Hersey, Tony McMahon, Tyler McLoughlan

THIS WEEK THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK • 27 NOVEMBER - 3 DECEMBER 2013

witness

PHOTOGRAPHERS Freya Lamont, John Stubbs, John Taylor, Kane Hibberd, Rick Clifford, Sky Kirkham, Stephen Booth, Terry Soo

laugh

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Brett Dayman

QLD SALES Zac Gould sales@themusic.com.au

ART DIRECTOR Nicholas Hopkins

ART DEPT Brendon Wellwood, Eamon Stewart, Julian DeBono

ADMIN AND ACCOUNTS Jarrod Kendall, Leanne Simpson, Loretta Zoppolone, Shelley Neergaard accounts@themusic.com.au

DISTRO Anita D’Angelo

A few years back in 2009 when legendary singersongwriter Leonard Cohen visited Australia for the first time in decades people were enraptured, stunned as much by the fact that the iconic wordsmith was even in our presence, let alone how amazing his performance was.

Then he returned in 2010 to confirm his greatness, and now he’s hammering it home yet again this Saturday night at BEC – with his incredible band in tow once more – to reiterate just why he’s considered one of the best and most important songwriters of all time. As old as your grandpa and cooler than you are…

Everyone loves a funnyman, and in this day and age they don’t come much funnier than US comedian Arj Barker.

He’s in these parts tickling our funny bones almost enough to qualify as an Aussie, which is why it’s no real surprise that his new show Go Time – which opens at the Brisbane Powerhouse next Tuesday (3 Dec) – is running for nearly three weeks in Brisbane alone! He holds a mirror up to our society so that the only reaction is to laugh – can you handle the (hilarious) truth?

distro@themusic.com.au

SUBSCRIPTIONS store.themusic.com.au

CONTACT US Phone: (07) 3252 9666 info@themusic.com.au www.themusic.com.au Street: Suite 11/354 Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 Postal: Locked Bag 4300 Fortitude Valley QLD 4006

BRISBANE

The intersection between sport and music isn’t always that prominent, but this Saturday the inaugural Beach Day Out bash at QSAC in Nathan opens up the sporting complex to the public and piles on the entertainment in the form of YesYou, Thelma Plum, Major Leagues, Tourism and a handful more equally fine acts, plus markets, food, drinks and all of the myriad pleasures of the great outdoors. It runs from midday to 11pm, get amongst the fun in the sun!

play

watch

The goddamn ARIAs. Surely there’ll be a cock-up or two to make Sunday night’s award ceremony worth watching, and y’know, we’re supporting live music.

There will be performances from Flume and Tame Impala, pictured, and probably someone who won a reality TV show this year – that’s covering all bases, right? Plus, you can turn the event into a drinking game; it will really liven up the festivities and get you belted.

design

listen

If you’re looking for an audio fix of ego, then Bret Easton Ellis has just started a podcast – because Twitter wasn’t a decent enough platform for the author to be heard, obviously. But he’s set the bar ludicrously high, bringing in born quote machine Kanye West as his first interview subject. Yeezus talks about being a man child, starting fashion trends with Jay Z and how he has trouble spelling the word ‘genius’. We presume they were both wearing diamond covered masks during the conversation.

Channel your inner festive dag and get busy designing your most gag-worthy winter sweater using Coke Zero’s sweater generator.

You’ve still got another five days to put together a piece that even your grandad would sidestep, so head to cokezero. com/sweatergenerator and create your custom one-off print; every design goes on the website and if yours is voted in the top 100 you get your knit made, just in time for... summer. Eh.

smut

Starting Sunday with the Swedish Kiss Me (With Every Heartbeat), World Movies are at it again with their Summer Of Sin. Every night from 9.30pm AEST they’ll be airing a different sexy film, combining premieres with adult cinema classics. Trust us though, this will be good.

After all, this is on World Movies, which means risqué content plus sexy accents/other languages. Nothing beats an adult film that happens to be entirely in French.

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 9

national news news@themusic.com.au

KODALINE

NOTHING BUT EMOTION

JAKE BUGG

HIS OWN PERSONAL PARADISE

Named after the studio where he recorded with the world’s most rocking Buddhist, Rick Rubin, Shangri La is the brand new sophomore record from British sensation Jake Bugg.

An album that showcases storytelling that belies Bugg’s 19 years of age, it’s a mature second step in what will surely be a formidable back catalogue in the future. Hear the new music performed in Australia for the very first time when Bugg plays headline dates while in town for Bluesfest. He performs 17 Apr, Palace Theatre, Melbourne; 20 Apr, Enmore Theatre, Sydney; and 23 Apr, The Hi-Fi, Brisbane, with the full tour proudly presented by The Music.

EYE FOR AN EYE

They destroyed shit earlier this year, and now Eyehategod must have a taste for it as the Southern sludge lords return to celebrate 25 years of getting it done, the right way.

With new drummer Aaron Hill in tow, following the tragic passing of Joey LaCaze earlier this year from respiratory failure, the New Orleans five-piece will pay tribute to their friend in suitable fashion, playing 16 Jan, Rosemount Hotel, Perth; 17 Jan, The Hi-Fi, Brisbane; 18 Jan, The Hi-Fi, Sydney; and 19 Jan, The Hi-Fi, Melbourne.

TAKE YOUR TIME

If Oliver Tank is good enough for Lorde then he’s good enough for you. The sonic mastermind from Sydney received glowing praise for his support slots during the Kiwi world -eaters recent run of shows, but can’t wait to take the main spotlight for a series of headline dates in support of new EP Slow Motion Music. Tank will show off his songs like never before at The Zoo, Brisbane, 8 Feb; Metro Theatre, Sydney, 15 Feb; Corner Hotel, Melbourne, 20 Feb; and The Bakery, Perth, 28 Feb.

THE WAY HARDCORE SHOULD BE

Committed to reaching as many new ears as possible, In Hearts Wake will return to their natural habitat to play a host of regional shows, with a few capital city slots thrown in for the hell of it. The Skydancer Tour – tying in with their most recent single – will also feature Hands Of Mercy and Hellions, with the metalcore militia rolling into Sands Tavern, Maroochydore, 10 Jan; YAC, Byron Bay, 11 Jan (all ages); Wyong District Youth & Community Centre, 17 Jan (all ages); Blacktown Masonic Hall, Sydney, 18 Jan (all ages); Rhythm Boat Cruise, Sydney, 19 Jan; Towradgi Surf Club, Wollongong, 22 Jan (all ages); The Basement, Canberra, 23 Jan; TLC Bayswater, 25 Jan (all ages); Plastic, Melbourne, 26 Jan; and Mechanics Institute, Ballarat, 29 Jan (all ages).

“THE MOVIE TAKEN IS JUST THE ADULT VERSION OF FINDING NEMO!” SHANE WARNE [@WARNE888], SUCH INSIGHT...

10 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

Following on from a string of successful EPs and a cheeky name change, Kodaline have enjoyed a pretty monumental year in 2013, with their debut full-length In A Perfect World going to number one in their native Ireland. Now, the tearjerkers from Dublin will visit Australia for the very first time, so if you like your harmonies unabashed and your heartstrings pulled then get familiar with the band when they perform 1 Apr, The Hi-Fi, Brisbane; 2 Apr, Metro Theatre, Sydney (all ages); 5 Apr, Prince Bandroom, Melbourne; and 10 Apr, Astor Theatre, Perth.

JUST A LITTLE LEFT OF CENTRE

Wanting to cap off a stellar year in full-blown party mode, Clubfeet will be releasing a remix package of their lush second release and heading out on the road for some special DJ dates. Left in the hands of Ta-ku, Panama, Joyce Muniz and Guerre, among many others, Heirs And Graces, has been turned upside down, and you can shake your rump to the reworked jams when Clubfeet DJs take their Wet And Mild Tour to Bowler Bar, Brisbane, 30 Nov; Rats, Brown Alley, Melbourne, 7 Dec; Villa Nightclub, Perth, 23 Dec; and Cakes, World Bar, Sydney, 28 Dec.

MUDHONEY

KICK OUT THE JAMS

Age isn’t an issue for Mudhoney. The Seattle scuzz legends keep coming back for more, and hey, we’ll have them any day of the week. Having this year celebrated 25 years in the game, Mark Arm and the gang will looking to celebrate – and maybe thrown some hotel managers in pools – as part of the Big Day Out, but they want to make their time here really count, announcing the following headline dates to go with the festival fun: 18 Jan, The Zoo, Brisbane; 22 Jan, Corner Hotel, Melbourne; and 29 Jan, Oxford Art Factory, Sydney.

national news news@themusic.com.au ABSU

THE LUMINEERS

RADIATING GLOW

Enjoy a big warm folk hug from US sweethearts The Lumineers, who will be summonsing one hell of a hoedown when they perform Big Day Out sideshows along the east coast. Find out why the young Colorado five-piece have graced big stages all around the world and get lost in the magic when they perform 18 Jan, The Tivoli, Brisbane; 23 Jan, Palace Theatre, Melbourne; and 28 Jan, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

TOP OF THE TROPS

Sixteen finalists have been announced for the Tropfest Short Film Festival, which means the awards night is almost here! With films about bikes, charades teams and cab drivers, with a good dose of romance, it looks like the usual mixed bag. The main screening is at Centennial Parklands, Sydney, 8 Dec, with other events happening across the country.

Head to the Tropfest website for full info.

SARAH BLASKO

DARK CLOUDS APPROACHING

Transfixing, furious and continually influential, even after more than two decades in the black metal game, Texan powerhouse Absu are genre pushers of the highest order and look set to bring capital city venues to their knees once again in 2014. The trio team up with Aussie extremists Portal and Denouncement Pyre for a triple bill to remember, so march along to the madness when the three bands perform 20 Mar, Amplifier Bar, Perth; 21 Mar, The Hi-Fi, Melbourne; 22 Mar, Factory Theatre, Sydney; and 23 Mar, Crowbar, Brisbane. All shows are proudly presented by The Music.

“SNL HAS TAUGHT US THAT GAGA IS A FRAN DRESCHER LEVEL COMIQUE GENIUS” THERE’S PROBABLY SOME OVERLAP IN THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT TOO, @LENADUNHAM.

BLUR AND DOG BLOOD CANCEL OZ DATES HOUSED IN THE HOLY

After launching the much-loved Heavenly Sounds sessions back in 2011 as one-third of Seeker Lover Keeper, Sarah Blasko will once again perform in some holy houses, kicking her new year off with a trio of east coast church and cathedral dates. The Sydney songstress will play all ages shows on 15 Jan, St Stephen’s Uniting Church, Sydney; 16 Jan, St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane; and 22 Jan, St Michael’s Uniting Church, Melbourne.

These will be Blasko’s final performances behind her fourth album I Awake.

Big Day Out and Stereosonic have both endured far more drama than they would have liked in the past week with a headline act for each festival pulling the plug on their scheduled appearance. Britpop legends Blur took to their Facebook page on Sunday morning to announce that they wouldn’t be playing BDO next year, with event organisers – blamed by the band as causing the cancellation – only learning of the group’s decision via social media.

Meanwhile, Dog Blood – the collaborative electronic project featuring Skrillex and Boys Noize – will not be playing Stereosonic, with Skrillex unable to make the shows due to reasons outside of his control. Boys Noize, however, will still perform at all dates.

NIGHTMARES ON WAX

Already announced as part of Perth Festival (playing 15 Feb, Chevron Festival Gardens), formidable turntablist DJ Shadow has just announced additional headline shows for the east coast. One of the most legendary beat names going, Shadow will be presenting his All Bases Covered shows, performing intimate sets featuring unreleased productions and live reinterpretations. Nights for the die-hard supporters, catch the Californian native as he messes with the needle and wax 7 Feb, Family, Brisbane; 8 Feb, Ivy, Sydney; and 13 Feb, The Prince Bandroom, Melbourne.

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 11

local news qld.news@themusic.com.au BUDDY GUY

WILL SPARKS

GET SET FOR LIFTOFF

BLUESFEST KEEPS IT REAL

It’s all in the title people – Bluesfest is giving it up for the blues with their fourth artist announcement for 2014. After presenting plenty of headliners, legends and contemporary artists, the event is now proud to present a bunch of traditionalists in the way of Buddy Guy, who’ll play two sets during his time in Byron, young upstart Jake Bugg, The James Cotton Blues Band, Booker T. Jones, Charlie Musselwhite, Eric Bibb, Beth Hart, North Mississippi Allstars, Devon Allman, Walter Trout, Candye Kane Band ft Laura Chavez and Saidah Baba Talibah. It’s one hell of a line-up already, but the best bit is there’s still plenty more acts to come. The Bluesfest 25th anniversary special edition will take place at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay from 17 to 21 April, with tickets still available via the event website.

FRIENDS FOR OUR BENEFIT

There’s been word of a rather mysterious Turkey Breakfast Festival, and although we’ve seen no official bill it looks set to take place at the New Globe Theatre, 21 Dec, with Angie (Circle Pit, Straight Arrows) and Nathan Roche (Camperdown & Out) – long-time friends and collaborators who’ve both released solid indie albums of late – announcing their spot at the event. And while they’ve visiting, they’ll also play a Sunny Coast show at The Time Machine, Nambour, 22 Dec.

BRED FOR ATTACK

New Globe Theatre is going to get loud on 17 Jan with mighty Gold Coast heavyweights Helm bringing their altrock fury to the venue. Still showcasing their grand third release Vaolume 3: Panthalassa, the band will headline a bill that also includes Trinatyde, Guards Of May and Stellar Green – tickets on sale now through Ticketbooth.

SALT OF THE EARTH

Cited as “one of the world’s great singers”,

by Tim Rogers no less, Ben Salter continues to live up to the hype, be it with The Gin Club, The Wilson Pickers, Giants Of Science or his own solo work. With this in mind, it should be a no-brainer to get down to the Brisbane Powerhouse, Livespark on 15 Dec for a free set from 3.30pm. The Bowls Club will also appear.

OUT OF THE NEST

This Friday treat yourself to some stumbling indie rock from Melbourne scamps Bitch Prefect at Black Bear Lodge. They’ve got a second record, Bird Nerds, to show off and the slacker vibes are still impossibly lovable, so climb the stairs and get in early as Primitive Motion support. Tickets $12 through Oztix.

KEEP THE FEELING ALIVE

The response to Pete Murray’s Feeler tour has been fantastic, with the songwriter adding more dates to mark the record’s tenth anniversary. Now GC fans can hear all their favourites in their own backyard, with Murray performing at Twin Towns, 21 Feb. Head to Oztix for ticketing info.

BEATS AND PERFECTION Head along to Shady Palms on Friday and bliss out to the production class of Capre.

Fusing guitar riffs with electronica and hip hop beats, the duo will create the perfect soundtrack for the Stones Corner venue, with Renz in tow as support on the night.

THE FLAME STILL BURNS Currently based over in the US, Rick Price makes his way back home for a select run of shows, with new songs to be shared from upcoming album Damascus Road and new places to explore. After a transformative few years, the former pop idol has embraced the blues and roots sound that he held so dear as a young man, and continues to tell the tales of a seasoned traveller. Catch Price at Brisbane Jazz Club, 14 Feb and Gold Coast Arts Centre with Casey Barnes, 15 Feb.

“OLD LADY KEEPS GOING ON ABOUT MOVEMBER – TASH HAG – ANNOYING” IT’S FUTILE RESISTING THE MO [@THEMILTONJONES].

12 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

Melbourne EDM wunderkind Will Sparks will headline a raucous Christmas Eve party down at The Brewery, Byron Bay, the event also featuring the likes of Stickybuds, Crazy Daylight, G-Funk, Grimez, Understand and Sweaty Buddha DJs, with plenty more to be announced. Sparks is set to explode overseas in 2014 so jump on what could be a final chance to see him play a set so intimate. It kicks off from 5pm, 24 Dec, with tickets on sale now via Oztix.

SCOTT & CHARLENE’S WEDDING

SUMMER OF LOVE

A record that touches on homesickness, basketball, alienation, love and probably some drugs, Any Port In A Storm marks the fantastic return of Scott & Charlene’s Wedding. Lead man Craig Dermody is back in the country next month and, along with his domestic troops will show off the new tunes in what’s shaping up to be the perfect Christmas present for Brisbane indie fans.

Catch S&CW at Black Bear Lodge, 20 Dec.

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LIVE

MUSIC 7 NIGHTS A WEEK WEDNESDAY 27

TH

LOCKY 8PM

THURSDAY 28TH

388 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley.

18+ ID Required.

Management reserve the right to refuse entry.

SAT 30 NOV

A LITTLE PROVINCE, ARGONAUTS, CLOUD LADDER THU 5 DEC

THE NERVE, KING OF THE NORTH, HAMMERS FRI 6 DEC

WAXHEAD, HOUSE OF LAURENCE, THE SINGLE FINS

MON 9 DEC

THE MELVINS & HELMET

B-RAD 5PM 9PM MOTION DJS UPSTAIRS 9PM

SATURDAY 30TH

LOCKY 3PM 9PM MOTION DJS UPSTAIRS 9PM ST

TRAD SESSION MICK MCHUGH 12PM RAG DOLL 4PM 8PM

MONDAY 2ND

ROB HACKWOOD 8PM RD

WOODY LIVES HERE 8PM

SAT 14 DEC

ELEGENT SHIVA & THE DARK HAWKS SUN 15 DEC

AFENDS XMAS W/ POND WED 18 DEC

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE SAT 21 DEC

MY XMAS RIOT THUR 26 DEC

TSUN

FIR 27 DEC

VERNAS KEEP SAT 28 DEC

STICKYFINGERS SUN 29 DEC

BONJAH

TUE 31 DEC Cnr George and Elizabeth Streets, Brisbane Ph 3221 4377 irishmurphys.com.au

Live music 7 nights a week THE TEMPO HOTEL

FRI 29 NOV

THE BADLANDS

DEAD BEAT BAND

FRIDAY 29TH

TUESDAY 3

JONSON STREET BYRON BAY

SAT 7 DEC

RAG DOLL 4PM JABBA 9PM

CRAIC’N SUNDAY 1

www.thenorthern.com.au

NYE ‘FROTH & ROLL’ W PILOTS, WAXHEAD, THE LOVELY & THE SINGLE FINS

TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 13

local news qld.news@themusic.com.au SNOOP DOGG

TIGER BEAMS

DARK SIDE OF THE TREE

Catch a myriad of local and interstate talent at Grand Central Hotel 19 Dec, when Trainspotters hosts their Black Christmas Party. The loud, dirty and deranged. Tiger Beams head up a bill which also features Quest for Glory, The Clits and Police Force, who will all dominate the Platform lounge for the first time ever. Stuff that in your sack.

LET THERE BE MUSIC

Featuring an enticing selection of hip hop and electronic artists, past and present, Fortitude From The Valley is a rather awesome not-forprofit event happening 20 Dec at Coniston Lane. Featuring performances from Zephyr Timbre, MC Shureshock, DJ Shredlock, Vinyl Slingers, Kieron C, Jason Rouse, Danny Rhodes vs Onioncak, Brad Death, Miro and visuals from VJ Monkwhy, the night has been put together to help raise funds for the students of Bundaberg North State High School, who are still trying to replenish their musical resources after the devastating floods from earlier this year. Do your part to help and get your dance on in the process; tickets are on sale now through Oztix for $26.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Considering they’ve released one of the highest selling albums in Australian history, the Baby Animals could have been excused for complacency. But with their latest record This Is Not The End, the Sydney four-piece have shown themselves to be anything but, the band still hungry to rock with the best of them. Check out Suze DeMarchi and the troops at Eatons Hill Hotel, 14 Mar; Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast, 15 Mar; Racehorse Hotel, Ipswich, 4 Apr; and Alexandra Hills Hotel, 5 Apr.

VIEWING IN SESSION

Currently supporting Billy Bragg across Europe, 23-year-old singer-songwriter Kim Churchill arrives back home soon to play a run of shows in support of new single, Window To The Sky. Catch him 16 Jan, Solbar, Maroochydore; 17 Jan, SoundLounge, Gold Coast; 18 Jan, Bon Amici Cafe, Toowoomba; and 19 Jan, Black Bear Lodge.

14 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

SIZZLE DIZZLE

Whether he’s flowing through the classics, adding guest verses for any artist with a decent chequebook or holding his own in Hollywood, Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Lion, aka Snoopzilla) does it with swagger. The ultimate D-O-Double-G always brings the party – those who saw him in 2012 can attest to that – but his Big Day Out sideshow is going to be something else, with Major Lazer and Flosstradamus also on a twerkworthy bill of the highest order. Get your gin and juice on at Marquee, Brisbane, 18 Jan – the three acts play a licensed/all ages show, with tickets through Oztix for $78.

SUPPORT CAVE SUPPORTS

Get to the upcoming Cave show early and you’ll be able to catch an additional pair of sweet sets from Cobwebbs and Ghost Notes. Much like the Chicago headliners, both the locals on board know how to hypnotise an audience with suitably lush walls of sound, and considering this is Cave’s first visit to the country you might as well make it a memorable one. Happening 4 Dec at The Zoo, you can still pick tickets up for $44 via Oztix.

“A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE A CRACK AT THE AUSTRALIAN, BUT YOU HAVE TO ADMIT IT’S ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PIECES OF FAN FICTION AROUND...”

DON’T LET THE TRUTH STAND IN THE WAY OF A STORY @WIL_ANDERSON.

CREATE CONTROL

Lost Movements is back for its eighth instalment, with Ashley Town, Hazards Of Swimming Naked, Jeremiah Hunter and the Preachermen, D.P.O.O.A, Kira Crees, Illma Gore, Slightly Bruised Fruit, Jessie Hughes, Scott Wings, Lucy Fox, Pent Upglamour, Jonathon Sri and many more all taking part in what’s shaping up to be the biggest warehouse event the notfor-profit organisation have held. $10 entry at Holloway Studios, 7 Dec from 5pm.

IS IT HITS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR?

We can see it in your eyes – you’re the voice, try and understand it, okay? So make a noise and make it clear when Lionel Richie and The Voice, John Farnham, co-headline – all the hits, all night long. With both men performing in front of full backing bands, it’s sure to get overwhelming in the best possible way when Richie and Farnham play Brisbane Entertainment Centre, 10 Mar. Tickets on sale from this Friday through Ticketek.

MONDAY 2 DECEMBER

MIC’S TRIVIA 7PM

TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER

DEEP STACK POKER 6PM

WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER JORDAN AND BRYAN

SHOWCASE NIGHT 7PM

O’MALLEYS OPEN MIC NIGHT THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER JORDAN & BRYAN

OPEN MIC NIGHT 7PM

O’MALLEYS OPEN MIC NIGHT

PLAY AT OPEN MIC NIGHT TO SCORE A PAID GIG AT OUR SHOWCASE NIGHT O’MALLEY’S OPEN MIC NIGHT

FRIDAY 29 NOVEMBER

LOCKY 5PM

STRINGS FOR AMMO 9PM

DJ BRIAN MENKENS 12AM

SATURDAY 30 NOVEMBER

GER FENNELLY 3PM

RAMJET 9.30AM

SUNDAY 1 DECEMBER

GER FENNELLY 3PM

STRINGS FOR AMMO 7PM

Basement Level - Wintergarden Centre Queen Street Mall - Brisbane City PH 07 3211 9881 FAX 07 3211 9890 Email admin@mickomalleys.com.au

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 15

16 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

music

IT’S EASY BEING GREEN

Words Danielle O’Donohue. Feature pics supplied by Vans Warped Tour.

Original cover pic Phil DiFiore.

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 17

RDGLDGRN frontman Pierre “Green” Desrosiers tells Danielle O’Donohue why he’s bringing a touch of hip hop to Warped Tour.

A

s you’re wandering around taking in the sights and sounds of this year’s Warped Tour, don’t be surprised when the high-energy hip hop sounds of RDGLDGRN capture your attention and draw your over to the front of their stage.

Hip hop isn’t the usual fare for Warped, but this Washington DC trio are just as well versed in the sounds of Minor Threat and Bad Brains as they are Bob Marley. Besides, as frontman Pierre Desrosiers aka Green explains, hip hop has never been about one type of music.

“I come from a hip hop perspective where musically there is no sound that is hip hop,” Desrosiers says. “Hip hop derives from so many things. That’s why the music we make I still think of as mostly hip hop more than anything else. Just instead of using a regular soul sample breakbeat we’re going to actually use a go-go beat or instead of completely looping that beat we’re going to have someone play it. We’re going to put guitars on it so that it sounds like any of the music we like or it

Europe before landing in Australia, RDGLDGRN have been preparing for their first visit Down Under by making friends with the locals. “We have friends in bands like Hands Like Houses and Tonight Alive and The City Shake Up, and they’ve told us a lot about Australia and we’re really excited.”

Desrosiers knows his band isn’t exactly like most of the other bands on Warped, but believes they share the same punk spirit of his festival mates. “We definitely have a punky vibe to it and we have a perspective of playing our own instruments.

We definitely have those little things in our

day.” “It’s just what you know you like, and what you know you are. You ask a child at five years old what his favourite colour is and he won’t hesitate. There is no metaphor or cool meaning to why exactly the colour is picked other than the fact that you know what the colour is. The focus is I knew what I liked, it’s embedded in you. That’s the idea we’re going with, instead of like, green is the colour of earth or things people say like, ‘When someone wears green it makes other people horny’. When you’re a colour you hear so many things about your colour. But those other things don’t define what your colour is. I actually define what the colour is but I’m the only person that is Green, the only living, breathing person that is Green.”

Already the trio are making famous friends. It’s not often a young band can boast a production credit from Pharrell Williams on their album, and a cameo on drums from fellow DC native Dave Grohl. “It doesn’t really make any sense,” Desrosiers says when asked how the famous cameos came about. “They did it solely on the sound of the music and how they enjoyed it. There was no reason for them to do that at all. And that’s the purest form of anything I think.”

As a kid growing up writing raps, Desrosiers still sounds shell-shocked that his band was able to spend

“I ACTUALLY DEFINE WHAT THE COLOUR IS BUT I’M THE ONLY PERSON THAT IS GREEN, THE ONLY LIVING, BREATHING PERSON THAT IS GREEN.”

sounds like Caribbean music ‘cause I like that. It’s just basically sampling. All three of us are really just hip hop producers who enjoy taking it too far.”

Joining Desrosiers are also Gold (Andrei Busuioceanu) and Red (Marcus Parham), with the live band adding drums and bass to the mix. It’s a thrilling dynamic.

The band’s debut album RDGLDGRN blends hip hop, rock and pop-punk elements to make something highly charged and fun. When he was a kid, Desrosiers spent time living in France before his parents settled in DC when he was around the age of 12, so growing up there was a lot of French pop being played at home alongside the Marley and Michael Jackson records.

It’s given Desrosiers an appreciation for world music that is evident in the spirit of the music his band plays, that melting pot of influences that make up a glorious, lively whole. It also made him a musical sponge so when he started watching documentaries about the local DC music scene when he was 18-19, it was inevitable that he’d fall in love with punk music.

“That musical discovery time when you’re first getting into playing music yourself, going from that, you just go on a binge, going through all the history.

You just start listening to all these things in the past and it’s like you’re discovering your own shit.”

A part of the Warped juggernaut that this year has traversed the US and is currently making its way across 18 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

show that makes us try to win over a crowd.

We converse with the crowd a lot and try to get the crowd to do a lot of things and the music’s fun. You’ve got to be a jackarse to not want to have fun y’know, but there’s a lot of jackarses out there.”

time with Williams in the studio. “Pharrell gives you advice. You don’t need to try and get it out of him.

He’s like the Dalai Lama or something. He’s this way cool, humble guy that lets you know stuff and he leads by example in how he makes the work. He’s a genius, just a genius. Even our producer [Kevin Augunas] who’s a producer himself saw him work and was just amazed by it, at how he works. He just doesn’t second guess himself at all. He just goes with the flow. It was like there was another one of us in the room that was just smarter and cooler and more experienced.”

Each adopting the name of the colour they wear constantly, the band makes for a striking looking trio on stage and off. Half ode to one of their heroes Bob Marley and half sesame street sketch. Desrosiers says the decision to each turn themselves into a colour has a lot less hidden meaning than most people think. “I think it’s been like eightten years of wearing the same colour every

Though the Williams credit was exciting and unexpected, it was notorious nice guy Grohl who stuck around long enough to record drums on every track on the album, even though he was only asked to record one. In a lucky twist of fate, the group can thank Grohl’s movie Sound City for the chance to work with the rock music legend. When RDGLDGRN album producer Kevin Augunus bought Sound City studio in 2011, he sold Grohl the rare Neve console that he was replacing, and which fuelled Grohl’s inspiration to make a documentary about all the famous albums and artists to pass through the legendary studio. It was that connection that led Grohl back to Sound City to record drums for these three guys from DC. “Our producer sent him an email with our song and CCed us and asked him, ‘Hey, these guys don’t

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE There’s a lot going on at Warped, so we thought we’d highlight some other bands you should see at the festival.

HANDS LIKE HOUSES This Canberra sixpiece will be looking for some love after spending the last couple of months on the US Warped Tour. With the intricate guitar lines and singer Trenton Woodley’s soaring vocals, they’ll be at peak match fitness after their gruelling trip Stateside.

NEW FOUND GLORY Punk-pop legends New Found Glory are the benchmark for everyone else in their genre. Live, this well-travelled five-piece know exactly how to get the party started.

MILLENCOLIN

have a drummer in their band and we wanted to know if you’d drum on this song?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, the song sounds great and because they’re from DC, let’s do this’. Two months later we go into the studio and we meet him and he takes some shots for his Sound City movie and plays that one song, and [then] he asked for another one and another one and he did the whole half of the album in that one day, like five hours, six-seven songs. Then he left because he had to go – ‘cause Dave Grohl has things to do – and he tells us, ‘I wanna come back and finish your album. I want to play the rest of the songs on the album’, which was great.”

Desrosiers is happy to confirm Grohl is the nicest guy in rock music and it’s a seal of approval that the young artist says his band are going to commemorate in their latest video. “We’re going to do a video for our song Doing The Most, the one we wrote with Pharell that’s basically going to answer all questions about how, when and what Dave Grohl said. It’s maybe going to be a tiny little documentary on who we are and what we are so the whole world can see us, so it will be there out there so everyone will know and remember forever and we ourselves can remember forever.”

Millencolin have been playing festivals almost as long as most kids in the crowd at Warped Tour have been alive.

With the average length of their skate punk songs standing at around 2.45, theirs is the perfect catalogue to build a festival set out of.

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES It’s not just that each new Kids In Glass Houses album is a great leap forward, let’s be honest.

The main reason this band is a must see at Warped is because frontman Aled Phillips has a gorgeous Welsh accent for all that between song banter.

WHEN & WHERE: 29 Nov, Vans Warped Tour, RNA Showgrounds THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 19

festival

SKARRED FOR LIFE Johnny Christmas got into the music game to become a jazz great, but then he got tangled up with those Reel Big Fish boys. The rest is ska history, write Benny Doyle.

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or close to a decade, Johnny ‘Christmas’ Christianson has been the trumpet troublemaker in Reel Big Fish. But before he jumped on board with the Californian ska legends in 2004, the 38-year-old was shining towards a different musical path entirely.

“I was going to university when this band was really blowing up in the late ‘90s,” remembers Christmas, “but I was studying to become the next Wynton Marsalis, I wanted to play jazz. And so that was really my focus. I knew Reel Big Fish, but I was so buried in music school that it was kind of oblivious to me, aside from going and watching our bass player, Derek Gibbs, watching his band Jeffries Fan Club play. I went away to school [then would] come home and go and watch Derek’s gigs, so that was really my introduction to ska bands, Jeffries Fan Club.”

As fate would have it, jazz fancier Christmas would end up scoring his position in Reel Big Fish through Gibbs, a long-time friend who he first met aged 13 when they held together the brass section in their high school marching band. Gibbs eventually joined Reel Big Fish also in 2007, and it’s those strong core relationships, built around sole founding member Aaron Barrett, that have helped maintained the sextet’s worldwide popularity long after the third wave of ska was over.

However, this made it even tougher when Dan Regan announced he was recently leaving the group after 19 years of trombone service to focus on his young family.

“Oh man,” Christmas sighs, “the last show was at Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare, and we had Dan over at my house, we had a little party with the band and the crew, and it was a sad farewell, it finally sunk in that he’s not going to be here hanging out and playing trombone and saying silly shit. And just being a real professional. We’re really lucky to have such a professional crew and such a professional bunch of performers in the band who are really good at this, not only making music but being on the road, everybody is really, really great, and to see somebody who’s like

that [leave], who really takes pride in what he does, it hurts.”

Currently touring America with Five Iron Frenzy before heading to Australia for Warped Tour, Reel Big Fish didn’t have a great deal of time to mourn the loss, so Billy Kottage from Boston’s Big D & The Kids Table stepped into Regan’s former role

have such a great group of fans. And it’s not like a set of fans that are aging with us – there are people like that – but our fan base is constantly regenerating.

We’re like one of those bands that the older brother gives our CDs to their younger brother or sister and it just keeps getting handed down like this, so there’s all these new people every time we play a show. I can’t stress enough how lucky we are.”

To keep those ardent supporters entertained, Reel Big Fish are currently hard at work on a follow-up to 2012’s Candy Coated Fury. “We’re writing songs as you and I speak,” Christmas says, “they are percolating in our very small brains.” But unfortunately, Aussie fans heading to Warped will have to wait a little longer to get their skank on to the new stuff.

“Aaron won’t play any songs before [they’ve] been released on a record, which I kinda understand because people want to sing along with our music,” says Christmas, “and after releasing Candy Coated Fury, that record was one of the fastest accepted by our fans. As soon as it got released, as soon as we started to play those songs, people were

“OH, YOU GUYS ARE A CHALLENGE.” after sporadically filling in for him during the past 12 months. Such a quick turnaround was a necessity for the band though, who even after two decades still continue to tour solidly for eight months of the year, every year.

“How lucky are we man?” Christmas gushes.

“Making it in the music business, it’s almost like being hit by lightning, and we are so lucky we

singing them in the front row – it was really special.

So hopefully we can have another release like that, that gets taken up by everybody and really loved.

So we will do our best to write only hit songs.”

Christmas assures us, however, that the band will make their upcoming performances count. All that he asks from us is that we move, sing, drink and bring dessert . “Oh, pavlova is one of my favourite things,” he smiles. “And you guys can drink! Oh, you guys are a challenge, [but] we accept that challenge and we will drink right along with you.”

WHEN & WHERE: 29 Nov, Vans Warped Tour, RNA Showgrounds

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festival

BROTHERS FROM OTHER MOTHERS

was a long time since the last full-length studio album – but we needed that time, and as you can see maybe we need more and more a longer time period between the albums. In a way it can be a bit stressful because you realise, ‘Shit, it’s been a long time’, but you have to have patience and wait because you need to live your life away from the band, to get decent input into yourself to be able to come up with actual output of songs. We’ll see.

I’m looking at the future in a positive way with the band.”

Ride culture is at the heart of the love affair between Australia and Millencolin. Yet as Nikola Sarcevic tells Benny Doyle, he can’t wait to get Down Under and play some chess.

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fter looking back at their most successful career stretch last year via the The Melancholy Connection, an album of far from B-sides that revisited a whole bunch of passed-over gems that have been recorded since their landmark 2000 release, Pennybridge Pioneers, Millencolin are once again focused on the future. No surprise then that their first stop is Australia, the quartet signing up as one of the headline acts at Warped Tour 2014.

“I think it’s some kind of culture thing,” explains frontman Nikola Sarcevic, discussing the mutual affection that Millencolin and Australia have shared for two decades. “We come from some kind of skateboard/ snowboard culture that goes pretty much hand in hand with the Californian and Australian lifestyle. That’s how we started out playing music was listening to music that was on all the skateboard videos in the late-‘80s and ‘90s, so for us I think we’re quite close in culture.”

Millencolin first appeared on our radar with their 1995 second album, Life On A Plate. Although they put a debut out before that in their native Sweden, this was the first record that saw a worldwide release, their musical mixture of punk speed, rock muscle and whimsical, relatable lyrics generating the band a global audience following their signing to iconic Cali imprint Epitaph.

“I was surprised [that people were listening],” Sarcevic remarks, “especially famous names within the genre like Fat Mike [NOFX] and Mr Brett [Gurewitz – Bad Religion] y’know, people like that were actually liking our music, I was a bit sceptical, like, ‘No, are they really?’, because we thought they were on a completely different level, gods or whatever. But step by step our confidence and awareness of actually having people liking our stuff has grown, and now it’s something natural for us. We don’t take it for granted but now we’re used to it.”

The Örebro foursome’s popularity in Oz peaked between 2000 and 2002. During that time Millencolin received solid national airplay via triple j, played the main stages

of both Livid and Big Day Out, and their two albums released within that period – Pennybridge Pioneers and 2002’s Home From Home – both went on to be certified gold.

Since then things have slowed down considerably on the recording front,

When The Music gets on Skype with the bassist and vocalist, Warped Tour has just announced the skateboard and BMX names that will also be on the road for the tour, legends like Steve Caballero, Renton Millar and Neal Hendrix. Knowing the Millencolin guys are pretty handy on the double-kick deck – they’re named after a skate trick after all – this info is passed on to Sarcevic.

“Is Cab doing the tour?” Sarcevic questions, jumping into the conversation like an excited kid when he hears Caballero’s name mentioned. When the response is affirmative, he’s audibly stoked. But as far as joining the pros on the bowl, the frontman is only a maybe; the board he’s more eager to play is covered in black and white squares.

“I’M LOOKING AT THE FUTURE IN A POSITIVE WAY WITH THE BAND.” with only two more studio full-lengths, but now after taking time out for family and solo endeavours, it feels right that the next thing to come will be an eighth record.

“We’re at an interesting point where we have good ideas so let’s just see what they will turn into,” Sarcevic says, not giving too much away. “There’s a plan for something in the future. We’ve taken a good time now off – it

“Me and Cab will play chess,” Sarcevic admits. “That’s what we usually do when we meet. On the Warped Tour we are playing chess every night, both in ’97 and 2000, like every day, every night.” And who had the upper hand Nikola? “Well, I actually did,” he says with a humble chuckle. “But we were very even so it was really good games, but I think I won more games, but maybe this year – it’s been a long time since we’ve played – he might have the upper hand, maybe he’s a lot better than me now. So another great reason why it’s going to be good to go [to Australia] – ahh! I didn’t know this; I’m happy to hear.”

WHEN & WHERE: 29 Nov, Vans Warped Tour, RNA Showgrounds

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 23

music

GUSHING SUPERLATIVES With the release of his eighth album The Bright Door, J Walker explains to Tyler McLoughlan why the music of Machine Translations will never be easy.

J

Walker is a musician’s musician capable of rendering those in the know a gushing mess of superlatives that almost always include something about creative integrity. He’s a darling of the critics too, a producer, a member of Paul Kelly’s touring band and a well known composer for film and television; it’s no wonder his eighth Machine Translations record has been six years in the making.

“It took a lot longer than I thought it would but look, it’s nice to have something out of mine again because I’ve sort of become more and more of an agent of people’s creativity…” says Walker from his Gippsland studio on producing records for artists as varied as C.W. Stoneking, Tiny Ruins and Paul Kelly.

In between raising a family, illness, renovations and his many varied musical roles, Walker noodled away at The Bright Door over the years, whittling the final cut down to a tracklist of ten songs that share a thread of heavy themes.

“It’s a cliché, but great art is always either about sex or death, so they say… During the time that I was making this record I lost a really dear friend and we had our second child, and those two things were actually pretty close together so there’s definitely a period of time when that sort of stuff is happening where you become very aware of what it’s all about really…” he chuckles quietly.

It’s amusing to hear the word cliché coming from Walker considering The Bright Door – and indeed the entire Machine Translations back catalogue – cannot be tidily filed under folk, rock, pop nor any other genre.

Accompanied by instruments old, broken, modified, detuned, delayed and sustained, an often imperfect but always thought-provoking vocal is delivered across rhythms both languid and purposeful on his latest effort.

It’s a challenging listen that stimulates both intrigue and unease, a point that Walker is all too happy to make.

“It’s kind of a little niche that I’ve carved out for myself; there’s plenty of people making easy music out there and some of it’s great and some of it’s shit,” he says matterof-factly. “But my thing’s always been to try and find new ways of articulating the sort of ideas that I get. To

24 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

satisfy myself I have to at least make a pretty big effort to go beyond a set of basic ingredients of songwriting. I like my lyrics to have a bit of depth in ‘em, and musically I dunno, it’s just my thing; I’ve always loved the more experimental side of pop music and that’s

books or literature, some of the literature that I’ve enjoyed most in my life over the years it’s taken me a fair while to get into it, and sometimes it’s taken me ages to read the book and it’s dense and complex and makes you feel stuff, and you’re not sure if you really want to go there, but that’s really rewarding – that’s stretching your mind a little bit. I mean, you don’t want it to be like a chore to have to go through that process but there’s definitely a place for that stuff as well as – like I was saying – the dumb rock ‘n roll that makes you smile, that’s good too.

It’s an interesting time. I think of it in terms of where we’re at culturally when you watch Channel Ten and

“I’VE ALWAYS LOVED THE MORE EXPERIMENTAL SIDE OF POP MUSIC AND THAT’S SORT OF WHERE I LIKE TO GO NATURALLY.” sort of where I like to go naturally. I contradict myself because I love simple rock ‘n roll as well, but for the sort of places I like to go musically, it’s gotta feel different and in some way it’s gotta feel new…”

Walker suggests it’s also gotta speak to the mind.

“Music can have so many different roles; you wouldn’t put my record on if you wanted to have a boogie, that’s for sure…” he laughs. “But if you compare it to say

you see how dumbed down everything is and you see how cheap everything’s becoming just in terms of shiny, shiny [content] with no substance and short attention spans and all that shit. I ‘spose part of me on this record is just like, ‘Well fuck that, I want this to take time’.

The songs are long but they take their sweet time to go where they’ve got to go, so that’s almost a reaction to that whole cheapening thing that’s happening in our culture.”

Walker’s not bitter though; he’ll just keep on doing his thing using neither fame nor fortune but something far simpler as the impetus for the next chapter of the Machine Translations’ story.

“You need just enough encouragement that you can move onto the next part.”

WHAT: The Bright Door (Spunk) WHEN & WHERE: 30 Nov, The Hi-Fi

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 25

music

PORCH SONGS Songs have always been Jack Johnson’s “version of writing love letters” to his wife, but now, Kate Kingsmill discovers, the doting dad also garners inspiration from the ‘darndest things’ his kids say.

“S

orry about these roosters, I’ve got these roosters outside that are going crazy,” begins Jack Johnson from the porch of his home in Hawaii, the same spot where he wrote his latest album, From Here To Now To You. It’s been three years since his last record and Johnson says in that time he’s, “Just been around, just being a dad mostly. All the fun stuff dads get to do.” Along with all the Lego and sandcastles, Johnson also surfs a lot, does a lot of charity work, and a bit of film work too. “I get to mess around with movie stuff a little bit here and there, helping friends make surf movies and things like that.”

Johnson is laidback with a capital ‘L’. His latest record, all written on acoustic guitar, spilled out almost accidentally, coming together “pretty natural”.

“It wouldn’t feel very natural to be writing if I knew there was a deadline. I think a lot of times I just sort of wait ‘til there’s enough songs again.”

Living in domestic bliss surrounded by animals, the sea and bushland, Johnson’s most recent songs are mostly inspired by his family. There are the love songs to his wife, which, “Always just come along, [they’re] part of our relationship. It’s my version of writing love letters. I’m always writing new ones.” Then there are the songs inspired by his three children.

On how Shot Reverse Shot came about, Johnson says, “My son told me one day that he wanted to get an edible watch and I asked him what he meant, and he said, ‘You know, the ones that don’t have the hands on it but just the numbers,’ and I said, ‘Oh, I think you mean a digital watch’. He said, ‘Yeah, I want an edible digital watch.’ And I just loved the way it sounded, edible digital watch. And it was right about the same time I was playing with this song using the lyric ‘shot reverse shot’, which is a film term that refers to where you see a conversation happening and the shot goes back and forth over one shoulder. So the song was kind of like an exercise on empathy, or seeing from a different angle, and the metaphor of the shot reverse shot. And then I’d read a book called Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? recently and one of the main 26 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

themes was empathy and about how androids can’t feel empathy and humans can. So a lot of the imagery sort of plays into empathy and technology.”

Washing Dishes also came from a domestic experience that linked to something bigger in Johnson’s mind.

refers to the cinders, and so just that kind of a feeling – starting from that point. And then remembering an old job I had where I was a dishwasher at this pizza place, and you could see the sink where you had to wash dishes from the counter you’d order food from and so sometimes you’d see a girl from school or something and you’d be sitting there washing dishes.

And that kind of mixed emotion of: you’re embarrassed that you’re there washing dishes but at the same time feeling like a hard worker and wanting them to see that in you, or imagining what you’ll become one

“MY SON TOLD ME ONE DAY THAT HE WANTED TO GET AN EDIBLE WATCH AND I ASKED HIM WHAT HE MEANT, AND HE SAID, ‘YOU KNOW, THE ONES THAT DON’T HAVE THE HANDS ON IT BUT JUST THE NUMBERS’.”

“One night I was just thinking about washing dishes, about how I like that process. And I was thinking about, in mythology, how a lot of the important work for a hero to have to do, whether it’s a fall from being a young prince or somebody starting from the bottom: there’s different things that get referred to in the old folk tales, like, either kitchen work or garden work or cleaning the chimney, like, Cinderella, which

day other than a dish washer. And that’s kind of where that song came from, like, a young person who meets somebody else and they want that person to see more than they are at that moment – what they’ll become.”

Johnson wrote the entire album on acoustic guitar and it was all recorded at his solar powered, eco-friendly Mango Tree Studio in Oahu’s North Island, which is right next to the beach, allowing him regular surfing breaks. “Both New Zealand and Australia were two of the places that our music took off in the beginning and were places where we felt really at home... because I get a chance to surf almost every day. Surf during the day and play music at night is kind of the perfect day for us.”

WHEN & WHERE: 14 Dec, QPAC; 18 Apr, Bluesfest, Byron Bay

FORKS IN THE ROAD

Chris Carrabba has spent more than a decade building up a dedicated following under the banner of Dashboard Confessional. He explains to Chris Yates exactly why he is keeping things low-key for his new outfit Twin Forks.

O

riginally starting as side project itself from Carrabba’s first band Further Seems Forever, it didn’t take long for Dashboard to go from being a solo indulgence to a fully fledged band in its own right, seeing Carrabba take the project from small clubs and cameos on heartbroken mixtapes to an unlikely mainstream audience.

“There’s this school of thought that you should go out there and trade on any advantage you might have,” Carrabba says after a pause to consider his thought.

“When you have a new band, you really want people to hear it. So obviously for us the easiest thing to do is to go to that fanbase that I took a long, long time to build, and they helped me build up, and say ‘here’s my new thing’ and hammer it to them with social media and ads.”

So why is he happy to let things for Twin Forks unfold at a much more organic rate? “I really gave some thought to how important to me it is, this band,” he says.

“What it boils down to is the difference between a side project, where I go out and it would be just like a one-time thing, and

a real band. We believe in this band because of the music and the camaraderie and the joy in it so we made a decision to do the hard way – and it has been the hard way, I’m not gonna lie to you!”

music

The bluegrass, roots style of Twin Forks is a long way away from Dashboard, but it’s also distinctly Carrabba’s songwriting, and his strong voice is immediately identifiable despite the change in sonic accompaniment. He says that he had to find new skills to produce the kind of music that has always been his biggest influence, and that playing chords on the guitar in the same old way wouldn’t cut it. He spent three years honing a style of finger-picking on guitar that allowed him to present his new songs in the way he intended, and says it would have been impossible for him to truly express these songs without doing that.

The interesting thing is, once you’re informed with the knowledge that acoustic songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Cat Stevens influenced his desire to start playing music to begin with, the evidence in his past recordings is well and truly there. “When I began writing on an acoustic guitar, coming out of hardcore bands and punk rock bands, I was very conscious of not paying homage to those musical influences,” he says.

“It was so ingrained I thought it would just come out sounding like that – and that’s why I used all those open tunings, trying to use the guitar like a drum and all those things I learnt in hardcore. It was reactionary – feeling like I couldn’t do justice to all those songs that influenced me. If you look back with a decoder ring now, I think you can see it was always there.”

WHAT: Twin Forks (Dine Alone) WHEN & WHERE: 30 Nov, Riverstage

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 27

music

KOSMICHE DWELLERS The acrobatic rhythms that Cave dwell in are as bemusing as they are beguiling.

Cooper Crain assures Brendan Telford there is someone always at the controls.

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hicago act Cave has been held up as a template when it comes to championing the motorik drone elements of the psych rock world. They have continually played with form, relishing hypnotic rhythms and oscillating ephemera, eschewing vocals to all but their most base state, becoming an instrument of noise rather than a lyrical focal point. With fourth album, Threace, though, they’ve done away with vocals altogether, a decision of circumstance rather than anything particularly overt.

“It’s how things came to be, really,” keyboardist/guitarist Cooper Crain explains. “There were a couple of tracks that didn’t make the record that included vocals, but the songs on Threace sat really well as a group so we left them as is. For me I’m rather happy that there is an absence of vocals. We could have added some, but when we finished off these songs they felt strong enough as is.”

The cyclical, metronomic nature of the band’s Krautrock-heavy music seems to indicate that there is a great deal of improvisation to the way they play, but Crain asserts that it is quite the opposite.

“There are times when we play a set of songs where we play them exactly the same as they are on the albums, and we’ll get someone come up to us after the show saying, ‘That’s amazing that you guys can just improvise like that,’ and we have to explain that there is not a moment that has been played that way. There are parts of songs on our albums where they are borne out of a heavily improvised process, but that is because what you are hearing is the first time that we as a band have actually played that part of the song. When it comes to a show, though, everyone has more or less an idea of what they are doing on that song or with that riff; nothing is left to chance anymore. We make parts go longer or shorten them, and it’s up to the night, the audience, the energy in the room, as to what we decide to stretch out or pare back. But at any time, with any change, everyone knows what is happening, or about to happen. We are attuned to that. There’s no surprises for us, only for the audience.”

It begs the question then how Cave go about moulding these coalescing, hypnotic meanderings and experiments of sound and rhythm into palatable songs, holistic 28 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

elements that can then be so expertly controlled in the live arena. Crain maintains that regardless of what Cave do, their processes rarely differ from those of other bands.

this together for so long now that we just know when that time comes; we choose songs that we know inside out and can play with, not some ancient song from the back catalogue that we haven’t dusted off for four years. It’s been years since anyone has gotten lost in a song; everyone’s locked in, building tension, taking things as far as they possibly can or how far the audience can go with it – it’s really fun.”

“Every song is different, sure, but in the recorded sense you have the privilege of hearing back

Crain’s assertions indicate how difficult it is to maintain a rhythmic groove over a sustained period of time, and Cave’s dexterity with the process is something that is continually honed. Crain’s other major musical

“I’M RATHER HAPPY THAT THERE IS AN ABSENCE OF VOCALS” what is happening before finalising a take, and reacting to that. It’s up to us to cut the fat that needs to be trimmed, and most of the time it’s glaringly obvious to us almost straightaway when something should change or something should end. When we play live, though, it really can come down to the audience and how much they are caught up in this repetitive, rhythmic part or not. Based on the vibe, everything can drop, just like that.

We have been doing

outlet is Bitchin Bajas, who also have a new release out this year, Bitchitronics. One constant of these two sonic avenues is the prevalence of the organ, yet Crain states each act isn’t trying to craft a particular thing.

“There is no fixed form for anything that I do. There was a time where you could say there was more guitar in one piece and more organ in the other, but this year I feel that the guitar has become more of a focus over the organ in both bands. I don’t know; I’m not trying to do things in a certain way anymore, I’m trying to give the song what it needs. On Threace I used a Wurlitzer a lot, which I don’t own, but live with those songs we had to change things a little and guitar became the obvious choice. And that change was fun, because it opened up a lot of space, and created something new once more.”

WHAT: Threace (Twelve Suns) WHEN & WHERE: 4 Dec, The Zoo

CAST YOUR NET WIDE

film

In Michael Kantor’s new film about dark desires and dreams, Paul Capsis plays a male character who explores femininity. Simon Eales chats to them both about some of the film’s motivations.

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x-Malthouse Theatre Creative Director Michael Kantor premieres his first feature film, The Boy Castaways, at the upcoming Melbourne Festival. Shot in three weeks at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide and featuring an all-star cast of actors, musicians and performance artists, the film promises to be a unique and electrifying piece of metaphysical Australian cinema. Accompanying the film’s release at the Festival will be the one night only performance at the Forum Theatre, Songs Of Wreck And Ruin, consisting of songs from the movie performed by its leading players, Tim Rogers, Megan Washington and Paul Capsis.

As director and co-writer (with Raimondo Cortese) Kantor explains that The Boy Castaways follows the mental journey of four men who play out their deepest fantasies in a theatre under the watchful eye of their leading lady, Sarina (played by Washington). “Quite extreme hidden fears and strong death-wishes are revealed through their desires and dreams. The end of the film kind of realises their ultimate desires. It’s quite dark.”

It’s essentially an abstract Peter Pan story of recalled and reverberated childhood memories, playing on the characters’ efforts to negotiate a perilous adult psychological world. Indeed, the film takes its title from one of JM Barrie’s more obscure stories.

Drawing on his vast experience as a live performance maker, Kantor aims to bring corporeal rawness to the film. “I’m intrigued by the kind of hot house that’s generated inside a theatre and I wanted to get some of that heat into the film,” he says.

“I find film quite a cold medium, and one thing that’s great about theatre is that it’s about the heat exchanged between the actor onstage under the spotlight and the audience. It’s tactile in that way.”

As with much of Kantor’s work, The Boy Castaways is driven by music, featuring live performance of songs from Buzzcocks, Fleetwood Mac, The Psychedelic Furs and The Waterboys, all arranged by Peter Farnan.

“It’s about how songs sort of sit in our collective subconscious. Not everyone knows every song there is, but there are reference points for so many people in

any song. They tend to re-trigger their memories.

We can use them as a narrative device.”

“I think music is this fantastic field of sex and death. Particularly pop music,” Kantor says.

“Those things drive away through most powerful music. It’s just haunted

a fantastic collection of diverse musical geniuses,” he says. “Tim’s got such a hard music background, Megan’s quite melodic, and Paul’s got one of the most unique voices in Australia. It’s quite a dynamic combination.” Locked away together on one location, Kantor says his cast, which also includes Mark Winter and Marco Chiappi, thrived on the improvisational and constantly evolving nature of the film’s development.

It was a remarkable experience for Capsis, who is one of Australia’s most revered cabaret artists and made his film debut in 1998’s Head On opposite Alex

“NOT EVERYONE KNOWS EVERY SONG THERE IS, BUT THERE ARE REFERENCE POINTS FOR SO MANY PEOPLE IN ANY SONG. THEY TEND TO RE-TRIGGER THEIR MEMORIES.” by the desire to have sex and the desire to die.

I’m also really attracted to the whole pathology and hagiography of the rockstar and the modern day hero and anti-hero.

I love watching those people perform.”

This, no doubt, goes some way towards explaining the casting of Rogers, Washington and Capsis. “They’re

Dimitriades. Playing a chameleon-like, gender-bending performer, the film, for him, involved embodying the spirit of some of his music idols. “That’s kind of what I do nowadays, not so much replicating the person as getting into where the song’s coming from.”

His character is “not really a drag queen, as such,” Capsis says, “but, rather, a character that explores femininity, not just the surface experience. It’s a deeper layered, more ambiguous thing.”

WHAT: The Boy Castaways WHEN & WHERE: 4 Dec, Palace Barracks THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 29

film

FEELIN’ FRECHE

really smart, really funny, really sweet guy, but he had a darkness in him, and a complexity to him, which was what made him such a great actor.”

James Frecheville went from tomato sauce commercials to playing the lead role in Animal Kingdom. He chats to Anthony Carew about buffing up for shirtless scenes and getting chummy with James Gandolfini.

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ames Frecheville is in a familiar spot for actors: living in Los Angeles, going for audition after audition, not sure where his career’s taking him. But the 22-yearold Melburnian is hardly struggling. With his debut role in 2010’s Animal Kingdom as his calling-card, he “came over with a suitcase” in January to stay in his agent’s guest-house, and fresh off the plane he landed a role in Michaël R Roskam’s English language debut, Animal

Rescue. It’s headlined by Tom Hardy and Roskam’s old Bullhead bull Matthias Schoenaerts, but upon its 2014 release it’ll be known as the final film James Gandolfini ever made.

“It’s weird for me because I know I’m the last actor to do a scene with him,” says Frecheville. “On the last night of shooting we did a bunch of scenes driving around in a car, and by that time I’d got somewhat chummy with him. He had a wicked sense-of-humour. He was offering a cash prize to anyone who could come up with a sex position that could be called The Bearded Chechen. He was a

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The role marked the rapid acceleration of a career that only began three years ago; when Frecheville, a youth theatre vet with only failed tomato sauce commercial auditions under his belt, made his way from an open casting to being Animal Kingdom’s AFInominated, break-out young talent. “It fundamentally changed my life, because it instantly realised a lot of ambitions I’d had since I was little,” he admits.

His second major role came with Adoration, an Australian-French co-production that find Anne Fontaine directing Robin Wright and Naomi Watts as best friends who carry on affairs with each other’s sons. Though shot on NSW’s Central Coast, Frecheville sees the influence of its director: “To me, it feels very, very French in its nature and its content – the way it presents provocative behaviour without moralising or judging its characters.”

The film soap-opera-cum-Greek drama that is beautiful to look at, both cinematically, and, well, bodily. Start typing in Frecheville’s name on a web browser, and one of the first auto-complete suggestions is ‘shirtless’.

Frecheville admits he spent six months working out daily and learning to surf, losing 11 kilos. “I did theatre as a kid, then when I got older I drank and went to parties. I never really played sport. But I worked really hard, and I was really proud of what I accomplished. So if ‘shirtless’ is one of the subheadings that Google suggests, that’s not a bad thing at all.”

WHAT: Adoration In cinemas

READY FOR BATTLE Ditching the guitar after discovering dance music as a teen, Will Sparks is now the ‘It’ boy of Australian EDM, writes Cyclone.

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pearheading the Melbourne bounce takeover of the world’s festivals and clubs, DJ/producer Will Sparks has recently made a fan of Robin Thicke, remixing the soulster’s mega-hit Blurred Lines with T.I. and Pharrell Williams and has just wrapped up a two-month North American tour that saw him play a decadent Night Swim pool party at XS Nightclub in Las Vegas – and now he’s preparing to conquer Europe. “I think I’ve got, like, 38 hours in Melbourne.” Sparks has so many dates booked in the US next year that he may relocate to LA, joining an ‘Aussie invasion’ led by Tommy Trash. Still, he will be DJing at Stereosonic 2013 and, in March, Future Music Festival 2014. There’s a downside to success. Sparks is too busy for love. “It’s hard, man – when you’re always on the road,” he sighs. “I mean, you want a girlfriend, but it’s so hard being distant. It just doesn’t work.”

The 20-something struggled to get any gigs until late last year. He’d originally been into heavy metal, playing guitar, then discovered dance music as an underage clubber, catching local DJ Joel Fletcher (who, incidentally, compiled the recent This Is… Melbourne Bangers for Ministry Of Sound). He began to produce, sharing his efforts online. Sparks’ viral break-out, Ah Yeah, 30 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

was championed by the likes of David Guetta.

In 2013 he debuted at second place in the inthemix50 DJ poll after the Stafford Brothers.

Sparks owes this astonishing ascendance to his association with ravey Melbourne electro – which the vet Mobin Master has described as a bouncier version of ‘90s hard house. “In a way, it’s got similar things within the sound that’s like hardstyle. It’s got that trancey feel, but it’s slower and it’s bouncy – like a minimal bassline.”

Sparks showcases Melbourne bounce on a new OneLove

compilation, Sound Machine 2013, the DJ’s mix opening with his banger The Viking. As with Sparks’ live DJ sets, most of the tracks are his own productions (such as Chemical Energy, featuring Flea) or remixes (the Staffords’ Hello with Lil Wayne and Christina Milan).

Indeed, the copious Sparks reveals that he has six months’ of material yet to be released. “I think I’ve got an album coming up – because I’ve got so much music that is just sitting there doing nothing,” he says. “So I’m getting into deals and we’re trying to work something out, and then we’ll probably bring out a Will Sparks album!”

WHAT: OneLove Sound Machine 2013 (OneLove) WHEN & WHERE: 7 Dec, Stereosonic, RNA Showgrounds; 1 Mar, Future Music Festival, RNA Showgrounds

music

SMOKIN’ ‘WEED Tumbleweed’s classic line-up first reunited a few years back, and now they’ve finally gone the whole hog and released a new album. Frontman Richie Lewis talks to Steve Bell about turning their back on nostalgia to remain relevant.

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or a while in the ‘90s, Wollongong rockers Tumbleweed were one of the hottest bands in the country, dominating the airwaves with a stream of fuzz-laden singles, EPs and albums, and taking their powerhouse live show all around the globe both on their own and alongside a slew of high-profile bands such as Nirvana, Mudhoney and The Lemonheads. The original (essentially “classic”) Tumbleweed line-up split in 1995 and it wasn’t until a 2009 offer from Homebake to reform that they played together in anger once more.

That initial foray went well enough to prompt more ecstatically received shows and now the five-piece have taken matters to their logical next step with the release of new album Sounds From The Other Side, following a realisation that they needed some new tunes if they were going to be more than a mere nostalgia act. “That’s exactly the catalyst for deciding to record again in the first place,” frontman Richie Lewis recalls. “A few years ago we thought, ‘Well, what are we? Are we a nostalgia act or are we a band?’ Bands write stuff and bands record stuff and bands are creatively vibrant and relevant, not only for the musical landscape out there but personally, you know, to challenge yourself creatively. That’s what we wanted – we wanted that outlet in our personal lives.

“With our previous releases there were things that we didn’t like about them: we didn’t like the cleanliness of [1992’s self-titled debut], but we thought that Galactaphonic (1995) sounded pretty cool. There were some songwriting issues; what we wanted to do was write the record that

The new album sounds defiantly Tumbleweed – they were often pigeonholed as ‘stoner’ or ‘grunge’

“‘WELL, WHAT ARE WE? ARE WE A NOSTALGIA ACT OR ARE WE A BAND?’”

“But at the same time, as far as the band goes and the legacy of whatever Tumbleweed is from our years of being together, we’re not an RSL act, we’re not a nostalgia act – we can’t do that, it’s not we’re about as people or as a band. We’re totally against that sort of shit. We did it for a little while and it was fun – we didn’t think that was going to happen – and when we realised that we still had chemistry as a band and as people we were left at that crossroads, and it was either, ‘Okay, let’s stop now because we’re not going to do that anymore, or we write stuff’. It’s very exciting to be at the tail-end of that decision and have the record in the can.”

we’d always wanted to make but we didn’t feel that we’d made. We were always a little bit disappointed with our albums back in the day because we just didn’t think that it sounded like what we thought we sounded like when we played live.

Once they’d decided that new music was required to remain relevant, Tumbleweed roped some old colleagues back in and basically just waited to see what happened next. “Well one thing that we’ve always done is just try to be ourselves, and just try to be natural and organic and leave a certain amount of what comes out up to the spirits or the synchronicity of life, and I suppose just the synchronicity of the five members,” Lewis reflects.

“We thought that the person that had gotten closest to that ever was [producer] Paul McKercher, so he was one of the definite things – we thought, ‘Okay, if we’re going

32 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

to do this we’re going to do it with Paul, because the sound that he got on Galactaphonic was the most definitive Tumbleweed sound’. Also we wanted to record it that same way, which was to two-inch tape, and to try and keep those elements the same as in the original days. We wanted to keep almost the blueprint for what we did back in ’92, however bring [in] the musical knowledge we’ve acquired since then – just growing up and playing lots of different music with different people – and write better songs.”

back in the day, but where does Lewis see them sitting in the overall scheme of things? “I’ve never seen ourselves as a stoner rock band,” he tells. “I do like stoner rock – I like the sound of it – but we don’t write those sort of songs. And as far as grunge, well, not really – what is that anyway? I sorta think that we’re just a rock’n’roll band – back in the day we were inspired by a lot of great rock’n’roll from The Stooges to local bands like The Celibate Rifles and The Stems and early Hoodoo Gurus, whatever.

There was so much stuff that contributed to our sound, and before Nirvana came along we were making very similar music but it just didn’t have a name – it was just Australian alternative music, or Australian independent music. Rock’n’roll.”

WHAT: Sounds From The Other Side (Shock) WHEN & WHERE: 5 Dec, The Tempo Hotel

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 33

music

STEPPING UP Darren Middleton shakes off the Powderfinger years on his new solo album. He talks Danielle O’Donohue through the process.

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t took almost a year of travelling through Europe with his family before Darren Middleton’s passion for music kicked back in. The guitarist had said goodbye to his bandmates in the newly broken up Powderfinger and needed to put some distance between himself and that band’s musical legacy in Australia.

“What I was doing, even unconsciously, was postponing the untangling of the threads that needs to happen with a long-term anything,” Middleton says of his almost 20-year career with Powderfinger. “I didn’t really anticipate or expect to find myself lost. Who am I? I had to really discover that again because I’ve only ever really been Darren from Powderfinger. It was a bit of a surprise. But it was good to go through it. I fell in love with music again, which I had fallen out of.”

Once Middleton’s passion had been restored and a move to Melbourne had introduced him to electronica producer Simon Walbrook, songs that he had been writing and was originally inclined to overlook or move on from began to put their case forward to be completed.

“At the end of a period of frustration I looked back and thought, ‘They’re actually good. I just need to finish them’. It’s the first time I’ve ever had a record where I know where it came from.”

While Middleton’s new solo album Translations isn’t his first foray outside of Powderfinger – he also led the band Drag – the singer-songwriter says that these songs had a more personal resonance and that was the reason he started contemplating the idea of a solo album.

“I needed the songs to have a reason to exist, or for the album to exist. At this point in my life I wanted to be singing about something that was just me, really, wherever I am in life at the moment. I was going through quite an up and down period of my life, battling a bit of depression. Searching to find myself again. So that’s all great source material.

“You don’t make every record like that because you can’t. But having that sort of album allows you to slip back into the memory of that really easily when you’re performing it.”

34 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

Middleton’s new friendship with Walbrook made for an unlikely musical partnership, but he says Walbrook’s electronic way of working has added a new dimension to his knowledge of songwriting and broadened the scope of his own work as a producer. “I would always write a song, the chords would move the melody – a very traditional way of songwriting – but because

Bernard Fanning. Though Middleton didn’t write any songs with particular guests in mind, he was hoping his famous friends could each take their turn at the main microphone. But in the end they were more of a supporting cast than the main attraction. “It was phone calls of me going, ‘I don’t really think I can be a lead singer. Can I get a hand?’ and they all said yes because they’re all my friends,” Middleton says.

“I had Nic Cester sing the lead vocal on a song and we both walked in and went, ‘That’s not right, is it?’

It sounded rock’n’rolly but it just wasn’t right, so Pete Murray sang the vocal but then it was a Pete Murray song and I thought, ‘How can I put that on the record?’

“So those guys and myself all came on the same page pretty quickly. I thought, ‘Look, I just need to step up

“I FELL IN LOVE WITH MUSIC AGAIN, WHICH I HAD FALLEN OUT OF.” he comes from a different school of songwriting he’d take this on the computer and chop it and loop it. Just trying things and piecing a song together on the screen and then going, ‘Okay, let’s learn how to play it’.”

The album also features a cast of backing players and singers that reads like a who’s who of Australian music over the last decade or so, from Paul Dempsey and Pete Murray to Nic Cester ( Jet), Davey Lane, (You Am I) Clare Bowditch and not surprisingly

and do it’, so I did it. I had Paul Dempsey come in and he was going to sing lead vocal but we didn’t even try. It was just backing vocals. I did write a bridge for him to sing on which I slaved over because it’s Paul Dempsey.

He’s quite the wordsmith. You don’t want to hand him any sort of drivel. I tried to hand him something he would sing proudly and it went really well.”

Now Middleton has overcome his hesitation to be the main voice at the microphone he’s relishing the role and looking forward to getting out in front of his band for the live shows at the end of this month. Though Middleton doesn’t really see himself as an elder statesmen of Australian rock, there’s no denying his legacy as guitarist with Powderfinger or his future as a solo artist.

WHAT: Translations (MGM) WHEN & WHERE: 29 Nov, The Old Museum

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IN THEIR OWN VOICE

title - a gift from Tangalooma producer and living legend of Australian music Robert Forster when he called just as the lads were stuck for a song name.

“I think that was good for a number of reasons, mostly because we found out that Scott [Bromiley] is an excellent bass player and there’s a pretty strong focus on this album around the bass lines as well.

Rather than Scott or someone else telling another bass player how the bass should go, obviously he’s just getting a feel for it straight away.... A lot of the jams came after him starting to play bass lines, so it was pretty integral to the album. It’s just a bit more concise having only the five people as well.”

With a new appreciation for the studio and a trimmed-back lineup, The John Steel Singers have emerged with Everything’s A Thread. Guitarist and vocalist Tim Morrissey explains to Tyler McLoughlan why the Brisbane outfit are far prouder of their self-produced second album.

“W

e sort of started just tinkering on our own,” The John Steel Singers’ frontman Tim Morrissey says of beginning work on Everything’s A Thread. Already known as a band with a great love of experimentation and musical adventure in the key of pop rock from a swag of EPs and their 2010 debut album, Tangalooma, this time it was about dissecting what truly lay at the crux of the sound their label Dew Process has deemed “a beautiful mess”.

“I bought some pretty basic recording gear and we’d go up to [guitarist] Luke [McDonald]’s parents’ house in Coolum – up the coast, down in their basement – and demoed song things and we just kind of really enjoyed the sounds that we were getting… I don’t think the label was ready to send us to a studio or anything yet so we were like, ‘Stuff it, let’s get some bits of recording gear and we’ll go up to the coast for a few weeks and give it a crack at doing it ourselves.’ We got a lot of it done in the first six weeks and over the next six months we added a bunch of stuff to it in our rehearsal space.”

As accomplished musicians that have always drawn from the vast palette accessible to multiinstrumentalists, a factor that has certainly added a joyful spontaneity to their shows.

Morrissey and co. took great pleasure in building a cache of studio gear for the record.

“I didn’t want to buy boring new stuff that people record with so I would just look at any old photo in the studio – Motown and Stax or like Sly & The Family Stone in the studio was a big one – sort of any older band studio pictures I could find. I’d go: ‘What’s that mic?’ And try and find out what it was, and to be honest even without knowing what that mic sounds like I would get it. I read a lot of stuff of how the Motown drummer might tune his kick drum or something like that and then we flimsily attempted to recreate it… It was really fun and I think it gave us all a huge appreciation of working in the studio and

that’s probably one of our most favourite things to do now…”

In idyllic surrounds overlooking the beach, the Singers cooked meals together, played Todd Rungren & The Wipers records and

Morrissey admits a feeling of agitation as he awaits the album’s release date, though feels strongly that Everything’s A Thread more accurately represents just what it means to be The John Steel Singers.

“I think with the first record it was, well for starters there was a few tracks on there that we were told to put on, that we had to put on, that we didn’t necessarily want to have on there, from earlier times.

Whereas after Tangalooma it was a completely fresh slate; all of the songs are on the album because we want them on the album. I think it’s definitely a

“STUFF IT, LET’S GET SOME BITS OF RECORDING GEAR AND WE’LL GO UP TO THE COAST.”

took full advantage of their engineer Miro Mackie’s other job as a wine rep as Everything’s A Thread was stitched together. Bringing the lineup back to the founding five members following a rotating cast of bass players added a further element of cohesion and an unexpected bonus that instrumentally reiterates the album’s

lot more groovier – it’s a lot more interesting. If I think of… one of those more geeky, nutty music lovers hearing just the singles off our last album, they might not necessarily get into it that much and so they might not ever get the album and listen to the tracks on there that we were really a lot more proud of, like Sleep and the weirder, groovier sort of numbers. I feel like this album has a lot more of just the sort of tracks that we’re interested in.”

WHAT: Everything’s A Thread (Dew Process/Universal) WHEN & WHERE: 28 Nov, Spotted Cow, Toowoomba; 29 Nov, The Zoo; 30 Nov, Sol Bar, Maroochydore

SONGS TO SING

something on that before the year’s over, and then release an official single just before the EP comes out.”

With the boys from YesYou gearing up to play their last show of the year, Jono Kirkham tells Jazmine O’Sullivan how they will be switching up their live format.

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risbane-based production duo YesYou took the Aussie dance scene by storm with the release of Half Of It back in 2011 and have kept the momentum rolling ever since. The recent release of their latest single, So Much To Give, saw the duo collaborate with local hip hop artist Jordan Rakei, which one half of the outfit, Jono Kirkham, believes led to some seriously smooth results. “[Gavin Parry and I] had this song lying around with a Marvin Gaye sample worked into it, but we couldn’t find

the right singer for it,” Kirkham explains. “We were doing a song a little while back with Georgia Potter so we asked her if she knew of anyone who would be good for it and she said, ‘I know a great guy, his name is Jordan’.

So we went and had a look at his Unearthed page and we thought ‘Oh my god, he’s the one’.

We knew straightaway.”

While both Parry and Kirkham are keen to release their second EP, Kirkham says they’re not rushing it. “It’ll be [out] early next year.

We want to get another song out first – not an official single, just one for the internet.

We love SoundCloud so we’d like to release

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Taking that extra bit of time to release more songs before they embark on any more serious tours could be a trick they picked up from their tour mates of earlier this year – Rufus. “People go to see a band for the songs,” says Kirkham, “and Rufus had heaps of songs that had been out for a while [when they went out on tour], so just watching the crowd sing every word to those songs was really amazing. At the moment we’ve got three big songs; well we’ve got a few songs, but it’s really once they hear those songs that have been played on the radio that you can see the reaction. They connect with a song they know – so we just need to get more songs out there and keep writing as much as we can.”

With Beach Day Out Festival acting as YesYou’s last performance of the year, Kirkham says they’re looking to switch up their dynamic. “We’ve gone through many different formats with the live show, but now I think we’ve nailed it. Now Gav and I play all the instruments and sit up the back and control everything, and we have two singers stand out the front, because audiences really respond to an amazing voice. The singers we are using are Noah Slee and Tara Simmons.

“At the moment we’re working on the set’s finale.

We’d love to end it with just Gav and I doing a DJ kind of thing, or a sampling thing. At the moment we’re working with [a sample of ] this guy speaking that we found on the internet. It might not work out, but we’re having some fun with it right now.”

WHEN & WHERE: 30 Nov, Beach Day Out, Sandstorm Beach Club

TAKIN’ IT EASY

music

The story of Melbourne punks Clowns is somewhat haphazard and non-traditional. Vocalist Stevie Williams and bassist James Ahren tell Lochlan Watt about how they played Borneo well before Brisbane.

A

lthough the band have existed for nearly three-and-a-half years, it’s only recently that Clowns have grabbed the nation’s attention with their rock‘n’roll vibing hardcore punk. Their debut I’m Not Right has just been released and the band is midway through a huge national tour.

Sat in a cafe across from Flinders Street Station, half of Clowns excitedly recall their very first proper tour in early 2012 with bewilderment.

“It was ridiculous, because we’d toured all through South East Asia before we’d even gone to Queensland,” chuckles Ahren. “We did one trip to Adelaide and one trip to Sydney beforehand, and then we tackled the jungles of Borneo, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.”

“We were like, ‘Well we’ve done a tour of Asia, now we can go ahead and do other things that we never thought we could do as well’,” adds Williams.

A year later, and Clowns were definitely on the rise locally, even gaining the attention of Poison City Records.

“People think that getting a record deal is all this big bullshit… press packs, bios, promo pics, sucking cocks and all that sort of stuff,” explains Williams. “We were dudes that just kept going in there and buying records,

and being pals with Andy the owner. Then one day he was just like, ‘I saw you guys were in the studio the other day... if you were to do an album, would you consider putting it out through Poison City?’ and we were like, ‘Ahh… yeah’.”

Of the album’s overall scope, Ahren clarifies, “There’s not really a story behind it – it’s just a collection of three years of shit that we’ve done.”

Williams confirms that releasing through Poison City has “definitely been a pickup for us.

It’s just been really fucking weird – our Facebook likes went up by like a thousand

in the last month which is stupid,” Ahren chiming in to suggest that “the reason you play in a band is to get Facebook likes, right?”

The group visited Brisbane earlier in the year to appear at the annual BIGSOUND conference, which the dudes’ thoughts appear to be mixed on. “Let’s just say that the 30 minutes we were on stage for was awesome,” laughs Ahren. “They gave us one of those $500 conference passes to learn about making yourself, and learning about putting your band out there and getting ahead in the music industry. I had it for an hour and I lost it, and I just said, ‘Eh, probably wasn’t going to use it anyway’.”

WHAT: I’m Not Right (Poison City) WHEN & WHERE: 29 Nov, Miami Tavern Shark Bar, Gold Coast; 30 Nov, Crowbar; 1 Dec, 4ZZZ Carpark (all ages) THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 37

music

IRONING OUT THE KINKS On the eve of launching Day Ravies debut long-player Tussle, keyboardist Lani Crooks tells Steve Bell about flirting with chaos in the quest for pop perfection.

S

ydney avant-pop protagonists Day Ravies have become something of an institution on the national live scene of late with their ambitiously dreamy aesthetic, and now the four-piece are preparing to take things to the logical next level with the release of their debut long-player, Tussle.

“We’re really happy with it,” tells keyboardist/vocalist Lani Crooks. “It was a bit of a drawn-out process, we recorded it about a year ago now – the thing that took the longest was mixing and mastering, mixing mostly, but

we wanted it to sound a certain way and hopefully it does. It’s hard to be objective at this point, but it’s definitely exciting.

“I think it’s got a pretty live feel – most of it was tracked live, there’s lots of guitar overdubs obviously but we tried to do it as live as possible.

Recording only really took a couple of days, so I think that’s how we ended up with that live energy even though we wanted it to sound really polished as well.”

Even within the clearly defined parameters of the Day Ravies sound there’s a thrilling diversity throughout Tussle, and Crooks proffers that this at least in part reflects their eclectic taste in music.

music

“I think it sure does – we definitely like a lot of different music,” she continues. “We all like similar sort of music, but it’s culled from a variety of genres. Each of us would sit down and write something quite different to what we’d written previously – we were worried slightly when we first started recording a year ago that it would be a bit of a chaotic mix, but I think now that that’s hopefully one of the nice things about it. “[We get it a lot] but I don’t think calling us a shoegaze band suits us that well, because some songs aren’t really in that category at all. I think what we always try to do is just write a pop song – that’s what we’ve always been interested in, and that’s why we started the band; we just wanted to write pop songs.”

Day Ravies are at the vanguard of the burgeoning Aussie underground scene and while they’ve been influenced by a lot of their contemporaries, it’s not always in a musical capacity.

“I think that a lot of our current favourite bands are probably Australian, but most of the current Australian bands don’t really influence our actual sound too much,” Crooks ponders. “It’s more the spirit of the Australian music scene and all of the different great bands who are around at the moment – they encourage us to do what we do.

We all play in at least one other band, and we’re all pretty connected with a lot of the other current Australian bands and don’t make a distinction between who sounds like what. I think the more indie pop side of our sound comes from a lot of the ‘80s UK bands and Flying Nun bands, and some of the current Australian bands too I suppose.”

WHAT: Tussle (Popfrenzy) WHEN & WHERE: 30 Nov, Trainspotters, Grand Central Hotel

ACCIDENTAL THEME

They didn’t set out to write a concept record, but Forever The Optimist may have done just that. Dan Page breaks mould to discuss the meaning behind it all for Benny Doyle.

D

an Page openly admits he doesn’t like to explain what music means to people. “I’d rather they listen to it and feel it,” he reasons. With this in mind, the guitarist is clearly proud of the new music Forever The Optimist have in store for us.

“Everyone has certain personalities, you see it all the time, especially with the music crowd where people have got their game face on – you’re hiding behind a mask,” Page says. “[Revolutions] actually used to be called Masquerade but we changed it. Everyone goes out and hides behind their mask and puts on this brave facade, and no one is quite willing to open up until it becomes a much more personal relationship. The song is about why people do that.”

A dark and introspective journey, Revolutions was two years in the making and during that time has taken on many different forms as far as sonics are concerned. The lyrical themes behind it, however, have always remained the same, the track talking about human psychology and the way people interact with themselves and others. Page explains that those topics are at the core of the entire album, and although Forever The Optimist didn’t set out to write a concept record, they may have done exactly that.

“Jamie [Page – frontman], his day job’s a nurse. He’s worked in palliative care recently – he works on the 38 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

surgery ward now – but he gets to see a lot of people in their darkest and most terrifying moments, and also some of the happiest, and he finds that sort of thing fascinating – we all do.

We’re all strange people I guess. And the music is very psychological, we like to throw in some very strange chord voicings and things which people don’t necessarily expect, get people thinking about what’s going on. We try to stay away from the political side of [things]; we want people to explore [themselves] more than the world they live in.”

You’ll be able to delve deep inside yourself with the music of Forever The Optimist, soon. The progressive rock four-

piece from Brisbane have completed work on their debut, and with the artwork currently being finalised and a few labels interested, an autumn release in 2014 is likely.

“The finished product, what we’ve got, we’re all so proud of it,” Page beams, “there really isn’t anything we could’ve done better and we’re really happy about that. Rather than getting it done in ten days and then sitting back and going, ‘Ehhh’, we spent a hell of a lot of time and a lot of anguish trying to get things right. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but we’re really happy with the way it’s turned out.”

WHAT: Revolutions (Independent) WHEN & WHERE: 29 Nov, Southern Cross Tavern, Coolangatta; 30 Nov, The Zoo

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 39

40 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

reviews

★★★★½

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS Live From KCRW Bad Seeds Ltd/Kobalt

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bring a considered and restrained delivery in their new live album, Danny Howells carries a constant, insistent flow to the latest instalment of Balance while familiar sounds are given profound context on the soundtrack to 12 Years A Slave.

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS. PIC: LINDA HELLER-SALVADOR

This is Cave and cohorts’ fourth live album, capturing them at an interesting junction in their career: Grinderman has run its course, and Push The Sky Away is the first Bad Seeds album to not include founding member Mick Harvey. Unlike some of its more varied predecessors, Push The Sky Away is for the most part considered and restrained in its delivery.

Live From KCRW continues that mood, even when it includes seminal Bad Seeds tracks like Mercy Seat, here stripped of its bombast and imbued with creeping dread. Remarkably the intensity remains gripping, with added ache courtesy primarily of Warren Ellis’ violin.

All four of the Push The Sky Away songs are the real highlights of the set. Higgs Boson Blues sets the scene with nine minutes of funereal, pulsing gothic blues, laced with line after line of Cave’s finest lyrics. Wide Lovely Eyes sticks closely to the album version with its gospel feel and rhythmic industrial chug while Mermaids is a warmer and improved rendition with the addition of a distortion-drenched guitar solo rumbling and groaning through the latter sections.

Not everything works as well; And No More Shall We Part sounds forced and not quite in the band’s grasp. The session winds up with a comical introduction to Jack The Ripper, the band hamming it up teaching pianist Cave the chords before he commands Jim Sclavunos to “hammer it, Jim” and the sonic bar brawl of a song kicks into life.

As live albums go, this sounds fantastic.

Chris Familton

TRACK LISTING 1. Higgs Boson Blues

6. Wide Lovely Eyes

2. Far From Me

7. Mermaids

3. Stranger Than Kindness

8. People Ain’t No Good

4. The Mercy Seat

9. Push The Sky Away

5. And No More Shall We Part

10. Jack The Ripper THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 41

album reviews

VARIOUS/ DANNY HOWELLS

CATHERINE TRAICOS & THE STARRY NIGHT

Balance 024: Danny Howells

The Earth, The Sea, The Moon, The Sky

Balance/EMI For fans of Melbourne’s Balance Music label, scoring Danny Howells to preside over the latest instalment of its flagship release series, Balance 024 is a real coup. The English DJ doesn’t disappoint either, drawing on all of his extensive skill to produce a compilation that, although it might not set a dancefloor alight, will keep cool heads swaying and limbs throbbing into the early morning.

Selecting the final 30 tracks that form the double album from a shortlist of somewhere over 500, it’s clear Howells is one of the most dedicated DJs on the scene, even if his name doesn’t adorn the tops of billboards like some of his contemporaries (think John Digweed, Jamie xx or his predecessor in the Balance Presents series, Guy J).

★★★½ Howells draws only from relatively contemporary music, as opposed to throwing back decades as he did on his 2006 Azuli release, Choice: A Collection of Classics. With Howells’ deft hand, the melting of one track to the next is seamless, sensual and goddamn seductive. There’s no club banger, no stand-out moment, just a constant, insistent flow of inimitable dance music.

Which is why Danny Howells is regarded as a living legend and what makes the Balance Presents series the dance music institution it is today.

Dylan Stewart

A DAY TO REMEMBER

42 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

★★★★ gifts to weave gorgeous songs out of simple yet purposeful and poignant words. First single, Light In The Dark, is the unequivocal ‘rock’ ballad of the record, and the only track that will have you moving faster than a gentle sway.

Share Your Heart and Devil’s Lover, sprawled with clackers and halted, almost spoken word poetry, may be considered ‘jazz’. And whether intended or not, the ultra-wistful Carry Me Away maintains such a pleasant lullaby melody that one can’t help but feel heavy-lidded and soothed by Traicos’ ethereal voice. You can almost see Traicos draped in black satin, barely visible on a dimly lit jazz club stage as you listen to parts of this record.

Ash Goldberg

Live At The City Recital Hall Elefant Traks

3Wise/Sony

Jeremy McKinnon has a lot to answer for on Common Courtesy, but before you get on the front foot, don’t worry, it’s all good.

The frontman’s delivery is super dynamic, and acts as the driving force on Right Back At It Again and Violence (Enough Is Enough), but the album as a

Returning for her second stint with the The Starry Night following up the acclaimed Gloriosa in 2011, Catherine Traicos brings us another record of breathy vocals accompanied by superbly timed, intricate instrumental backings in The Earth, The Sea, The Moon, The Sky. Bluegrass, folk, indie, alternative, country – it’s become increasingly common to read an extensive list in the genre classification these days – and The Earth, The Sea, The Moon, The Sky is another record that has been consequently dubbed as ‘genre-defying’. The 11-track LP skirts the line between the tested and true, and original, more provocative material for Traicos. There is an absence of real lyrical complexity; however Traicos utilises her vocal

URTHBOY

Common Courtesy Long known for their genre shape-shifting, A Day To Remember have stepped up another gear with Common Courtesy, letting the breakdowns erupt with fury and might. They equal the sonic equation out with soft, whimsical pop moments that give fans the infectious hooks they’ve come to expect from the five-piece. Recent courtroom battles with Victory Records have turned this full-length into something of a statement from the Floridian group, and listening to the passion throughout you know what they’re saying – you can’t keep us down.

An Ocean Awaits Records

★★★½ whole seems to be overflowing with catchy elements – vocals, riffs or otherwise – creating a big, loud party soundtrack for punk lovers of any ilk.

With the addition of three bonus tracks, the updated edition of the album finishes a bit clunky, however, if you treat I Remember as the real climax – which it is – then Common Courtesy makes perfect sense. After all the recent shit they’ve been through A Day To Remember are grateful and humbled to find themselves in the position they’re in; this record is their thank you to all the fans that continue to stand behind them and have helped make all their dreams come true.

Benny Doyle

For those who first saw the bombastic, self-conscious frontman of rap crew Explanetary in 1998, the idea that he would one day become one of Australia’s most accomplished live performers might have seemed a bit of a stretch. In 2013 an Urthboy live show is an experience of a different kind. It’s at once immediate and immersive; familiar and otherworldly. Jane Tyrell’s calm, measured presence makes a neat counterpoint to Urthboy’s enthusiasm.

With a live album, the question always needs to be asked: why?

Rap music relies on hours upon hours of careful honing and refining. The fuzz, buzz, sound and fury of a live show works great for a guitar-bass-drums pop band, but when we hear a rapper live we tend to get the songs we like, just clumsier. With the live recording we get here  and on Orphan Rocker most notably

★★★½  Urthboy’s magic is certainly diluted a little. Why an Urthboy live album then? The chemistry with Tyrell at the end of Shruggin’ is one reason. Letters From Jamshed and the haunting Hey Dianne are two more. But this not a “best of ” setlist. Oddly, this record is taken from a support set, rather than an Urthboy headline show.

So, why? Well, in short, this is as close as we can get to capturing the majesty of our host playing live without actually being there. And even though most of your favourite songs are absent, carrying an Urthboy show around in your pocket is a pretty appealing proposition.

James d’Apice

album reviews

★★★★

★★★★½

I EXIST

From Darkness Resist LP number three’s brutal artwork signals an even more metallic direction for Canberra’s axe-heavy outfit, I Exist. Bridging sludge-laden guitars with blues overtones and hardcore ferocity, From Darkness benefits from affording a more accurate representation of their shows. It also boasts countless memorable riffs. Heal Me In Smoke crushes; Kvelertak-ian Sorrow On Hill 105’s southern rock licks meets classic doom vibe resonates. Epic title track is heavier than a bag of spanners on Jupiter, and also cranking up the aggression are Tear Down The Crucifix and Bloodlust’s blistering ‘core. The power of the riff compels thee.

Brendan Crabb

MUSE

Live At Rome Olympic Stadium Warner There is no such thing as a bad Muse gig. Their epic sound and production are equalled only by their extraordinary talent. Live At Rome Olympic Stadium gives you spine-tingling moments, thanks to vocalist Matt Bellamy’s pitch-perfect falsetto, but it’s almost matched by a 60,000 strong Italian crowd who perform the chorus to Starlight and even sing along to guitar solos. Highlights include Supremacy, Knights Of Cydonia, Follow Me and Supermassive Black Hole. Many fans may be disappointed the album focuses on their recent work, but the setlist for the accompanying DVD is much more extensive.

½

MO KENNEY

BOYZONE

Independent

Warner

Good gracious, what heavenly planet did this little lady with the big voice fall from? The sometimes brusque, often starkly gentle beauty of this pint-sized Canadian songstress’s vocal is disarming enough, but coupled with capricious and razor-edged lyrics in Sucker is almost too much. Scene Of The Crime slices an already buzzing atmosphere with a dancehall, moody waltz, and The Great Escape meanders playfully around her girlish piping before turning up the heavy notch. It’s a rare and delightful treat when something aligns to grant a treasure such as Kenney.

If Boyzone’s intention was to create a reunion record that is the ultimate Christmas gift for mums, they’ve done it. Nothing else could explain the mundane, totally uninspired mid-tempo snooze that is BZ20. Did anyone actually miss Boyzone? Who’s going to release something next, A1? The only beneficiaries of this record are the back-up singers who got paid to perform the standard ‘pop song uplifting climax’ backing that is on every single song – and even then you’d guess those artists didn’t plan on their years of intense training to eventuate in backing Ronan Keating’s dull-as-dishwater voice.

Mo Kenney

BZ20

Carley Hall

Sevana Ohandjanian

Monique Cowper

★★★★

RADICAL FACE

The Family Tree: The Branches Nettwerk/Inertia The alluring web of music that Ben Cooper aka Radical Face has weaved over the past decade is one that is always absorbing, unique and often otherworldly.

What Cooper instils into The Branches, the second instalment of The Family Tree trilogy, is touching, uplifting, sometimes bleak, but always mesmerising.

Holy Branches combines his airy vocal with a sublimely stark piano line and gentle strumming before the players move in. This is how much of the album plays out and is especially moving thanks to string embellishments on songs-like Summer Skeletons and sombre The Crooked Kind.

Carley Hall

★★★★

★★★★

★★★★

★★★★

CARAVÃNA SUN

VARIOUS

BEEDEEGEE

Independent

Sony

4AD/Remote Control

There’s an undeniable optimism to ska. The horns, the backbeat guitars, the snap of the snare, the music just seems to smile. And that’s exactly what you get with Caravãna Sun’s AYA. All That I Know eases you in with chilled out reggae before becoming a truly epic display of just how bombastic this band can be.

With Come Back To Earth, even being dumped sounds like a blast if the beat is jaunty enough.

Director Steve McQueen’s new film, 12 Years A Slave, is the story of a man struggling against the titanic might of racial oppression whilst also being the victim of monstrous irony. Much of the music we enjoy today was borne out of those troubled times from the mouths of the people in chains, and the film’s soundtrack is a moving collection of spirituals, blues numbers and period pieces that reflect the film’s tone. Familiar sounds are given profound context when played against the backdrop of African-American slavery, and some great contemporary artists make moving contributions.

Adopting the irksome-to-type project name of bEEdEEgEE, Brian DeGaw of Gang Gang Dance fame unveils his first solo album. DeGaw continues to work with the same kind of urban primitive psychedelics, experimental electronics and otherworldly influences that can be heard in Gang Gang Dance’s music but on this album it seems that he has swallowed a disco pill. At the centre is a mind-expanding extended disco jam that entangles guest vocalists CSS’ Lovefoxx and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor in a sweaty work-out. SUM/ONE brings an eclectic juxtaposition of styles and atmospherics together with a satisfying beat.

AYA

Just in time for summer, this is the perfect soundtrack for cold beers and hot nights. Chilled out but never laconic. Fun but never disposable. Infectious but never overbearing.

Pete Laurie

12 Years A Slave OST

Matt MacMaster

SUM/ONE

Guido Farnell THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 43

albums/singles/eps

★★★★

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS Lariat Spunk Malkmus reins in some of the proggier elements of The Jicks, letting his train of thought run loose over a simple melody with poptastic results.

PANAMA

Always EP Future Classic It’s all about Destroyer, inspired by the electro pop of the Drive soundtrack.

THE NOTWIST

Close The The Glass

★★★

★★★

JEREMY NEALE

THE KILLERS

SEAGULL

Create/Control

Universal

Two Bright Lakes

In an alternate reality where burgundy turtlenecks have never gone out of fashion, Jeremy Neale homages a record collection in which a consistent left-hand break comes up the Mersey while the surf guitars are played by a well-harmonied girl group. But as the reverb echoes across your ears you find what Neale does is beyond pastiche. Every ‘do-dodo’ in Do Do Do is in correct pop-proportion to the bubbly scribbles of guitar. And so it goes, through to the Cuban-heeled march of Swing Left, eminently suitable for a nightclub scene in an episode of Thunderbirds.

You have probably forgotten just how good a song The Killers could write. This reviewer had.

Tracks like Smile Like You Mean It and Read My Mind were electrifying when they landed last decade, and still remain stadiumworthy today. But from third record Day & Age onwards the Vegas band lost their mojo, and on this best of release you can clearly hear that quality divide.

Out of the few new tracks on Direct Hits, even the pick of the litter – the glam Shot At The Night – doesn’t hold a flame to Mr. Brightside, but at least it’s a whole lot better than Human.

Ross Clelland

Benny Doyle

Seagull’s third studio release is far from upbeat. It sits closer towards the introspective and melancholic end of the spectrum; numbing the senses amid swells of regret and longing. Anhedonia is particularly poignant as guitarist, vocalist and producer Chris Bolton describes an inability to feel pleasure. There are equally haunting undertones during It’s Spring, while Unclaimed Luggage is as close to a breath of fresh air as these guys get. The tracks’ lyrics and melody may not be individually memorable, but strip back the layers and there’s a vulnerability that transcends time and place.

In Stranger Times

Direct Hits

Ocean From Above

Grace Wilson

Spunk Germans The Notwist make it hard to get your head around this track, but a few listens reveal the effort to be worthwhile.

JA’MIE KING

Learning To Be Me

★★★★½

ABC Music Chris Lilley’s most excruciating character better get her comeuppance soon. Her self-centric universe is perfectly demonstrated in Learning To Be Me.

I’LLS

Mine’s Here or My End’s Here or Nineteen (Naysayer & Gilsun Remix) Yes Please N&G can still create cinematic atmospheres when they leave the visuals out, this remix is so minimal it relies on these elements.

TRUE VIBENATION Dressed To Chill (Feat Pukz) Big Village This is so chill it’s nearly frozen. The big old school beat is the only crunch in this.

Chris Yates 44 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

★★★★

★★★

VARIOUS

HEART OF A COWARD

New West

Century Media

Invivo[Exvivo]

When late-era Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap was hospitalised after a stroke a benefit was arranged whereby a slew of bands covered his solo songs and a run of 7” singles were auctioned to raise funds.

Songs For Slim collates those tracks (plus unreleased numbers), and features acts such as The Replacements (naturally), Steve Earle, Craig Finn, Jeff Tweedy, You Am I, Lucero, Frank Black, Joe Henry, Lucinda Williams, Deer Tick and Patterson Hood.

As good as you’d expect given the talent on offer, and fitting testament to a fine songwriter.

Though they present a blurred melting pot of modern metal influences, the djent sound is predominant within UK group Heart Of A Coward. Doing away with the flamboyancy, non-metal influences and superfluous progressiveness of many of their peers, Severance is to the point, brutal and straightforward without being at all dumb or mindless – save for one or two pit-engineered lyrical focal points. Clever songwriting and intricate riffs are disguised within engaging and relatable structures – it’s an album that provides a massive initial impact, with enough substance to leave one musing well after the moment’s over.

Density/Shock

Lochlan Watt

Lochlan Watt

Songs For Slim

Steve Bell

Severance

THE LAST TEN SECONDS OF LIFE The Last Ten Seconds Of Life is a clear product of the second – or perhaps even third – generation of deathcore. For a seasoned listener the influences are clear, but this American four-piece has honed in on unique sonic traits. Containing predominantly slow-mid-paced tunes broken up by sporadic bursts of intensity, the album’s stripped back and entirely realistic production sound somehow only assists in creating an extremely brooding and grippingly malevolent atmosphere. Though lyrically a largely depressive, selfcentred affair, it’s also cleverly selfaware enough to hit hard without so much of a ‘woe is me’ angle.

live reviews

JILL SCOTT, NOAH SLEE The Tivoli 21 Nov Decked out with a laptop, synth, live electronic drums, a guitarist and two female vocalists, Brisbane artist Noah Slee unobtrusively serenades the shuffling crowd of punters eager to find a good seat. Their sound is smooth and hypnotic, with the gorgeous vocals and soulful tunes finding a responsive audience. A rendition of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good segues into haunting closing track Escape, and murmurs of “Wow, who was that?” can be heard throughout the room.

The crowd cheers as the tenpiece band saunter on stage, and when Jill Scott enters, all

of being crowded, and while the performances can’t be faulted, the songs seem a little rushed at times.

It is then, with a cappella Quick, that we see a vulnerable side of Jill Scott. Even just her succinct introduction of “this is about having your feelings hurt” brings her almost to tears, and the pain she shows is so honest and lacking in the expected melodrama. The short jazzy poem shows her mastery of rhythm and performance, at once astounding in its complexity and heart-wrenching in its directness.

The show picks up pace once more, and we are treated to some confessional, sweetly salacious moments. In the hands of another performer, the sexual nature of her songs would seem cheap, but performed by a woman so confident and complex it is merely another flavour of the show. She

JILL SCOTT @ THE TIVOLI. PIC: TERRY SOO

pretence at this being a seated show is dropped and the audience jumps to their feet. From the first moment the power and sensuality Scott emanates is astounding.

The energy of the band is equally explosive, with the show being stolen in no small way by her three dancing male backing vocalists, The Pipes. We’re ready to dance and the first few songs are all funk-filled fist-pumpers.

She seems genuinely thrilled with the reaction, often pausing her vocals to hear the audience sing instead. When Scott finally addresses the audience between songs she is charming and teasing.

There is a great mix of uptempo and slower sexier numbers, from earlier albums and the most recent, jumping from duet spoken-word-infused The Way to newer duet, So In Love. The show is non-stop fire and light, with arrangements full to the point

house tonight, punters eager to reconnect with an old punk friend. But with booze things considered, The Sinking Teeth should be enjoying a far better response; their Brand New-esque post-hardcore strains are volatile, and each member of the trio plays their part creatively and with conviction. The only problem?

Their between-song banter.

It’s shithouse. Play your songs boys – they’re fantastic; leave the stand-up to someone else.

Luca Brasi don’t need any jokes to win the crowd over – the front rows are shouting every single lyric from the get-go and the Tassie group – playing as a three-piece tonight with one of their guitarists walkabout – are smashing it out with such conviction that you can’t help but cheer for the boys. Julian Doan from The Sinking Teeth comes

BODYJAR @ THE HI-FI. PIC: FREYA LAMONT

throws out the beautiful line, “all good music is a confession”, and Hate On Me and Golden close the show.

They’re fun numbers but they are both played so fast that the impact is somewhat lost. The expected encore is a treat, and ends with the crowd singing together, “do you understand what you feel inside?” What a fitting sentiment on which to end the night.

Amorina Fitzgerald-Hood

BODYJAR, LUCA BRASI, THE SINKING TEETH The Hi-Fi 22 Nov With stumps pulled at the Gabba many hours ago it’s a well lubricated crowd in the

Baines – who barely missed a vocal note all night – reel off riff after riff while harmonising choruses with effortless ease.

Is It A Lie still stands as one of the Melbourne quartet’s finest moments, while new track, Stranglehold, comes with a thick rock edge, showing that Bodyjar are never going to go quietly.

After a brief break for some tomfoolery involving bass bogan Relf and a serving of volcanic hot chicken wings, the foursome are delivering the goods once more, calling Luca Brasi frontman Tyler Richardson back to the stage to sing Joey Cape’s part on Hope Was Leaving before oldies Glossy Books and Sequel finish off the main set.

The guys then sign off the night the right way, showing Too Drunk To Drive doesn’t need Adalita to be amazing, before Hazy Shade Of Winter concludes one hell of

HOLY HOLY @ BLACK BEAR LODGE. PIC: RCSTILLS

out for a bit of a sing before the group finish with Southbound and Theme Song From HQ.

a punk-rock master class. You’re always welcome north of the border guys – visit again soon.

Bodyjar are probably the coolest old dudes going. Seriously, if one of these guys was your dad, you’d be king of the kids in the playground. Rocking shorts and Vans like the eternal groms they are, the forefathers of Aussie pop punk prove that age shall not weary them, playing a blistering set of new cuts and classics that leans towards both sides without spilling over completely.

Benny Doyle

Role Model opens, acting as a bit of an appetiser, before Remote Controller, Fairytales, One In A Million and You Say blaze by with force. Shane Wakker is the ultimate punk rock drummer, hammering his kit like he’s trying to nail it to the floor; meanwhile, the frontline axe wielders Grant Relf, Tom Read and Cam

HOLY HOLY, GOVS, EVES

Black Bear Lodge 21 Nov The storms have been kept at bay tonight, yet it’s still only a brave few who venture out to see Hannah Karydas open the night as Eves, with her backing band of two. The trio are tight, but the element that really captivates is Karydas’ stunning voice – she displays breathy fragility in opening track, Holiday, while Heavy showcases a more bold and commanding style. Her latest single, Zen, is slipped into the mix, along with a couple of THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 45

live reviews new songs to make for a truly beautiful set, performed with a maturity well beyond her years.

Govs are next to take the stage and get off to a late start because of technical issues. It’s difficult to pass judgement of any kind on a band struggling with problems out of their control, and your heart really goes out to frontman Josiah Birrell when he says the band are unable to perform all of their intended songs because of said difficulties.

What can be said however is they have truly tried to make the best of a sticky situation, and their final two songs showcase a great potential.

It’s only a minute or so into Holy Holy’s set that you start to understand their musical moniker, as this group, led by

within the track. It’s almost as though the energy in Dawson has now been awoken as from this point forward he really steals the show with his insane guitar-playing. Their latest single, Impossible Like You, is obviously one the crowd have been hanging out for, earning cheers of glee from all corners of the room, and standing out as a highlight of the night. As the set comes to a close, Carroll states that Black Bear Lodge is one of his favourite venues (wonder why?), but the truth is, these guys are destined for so much more than this – they play with a professionalism rarely seen on a local level, which is bound to steal the hearts of nation in no time.

Jazmine O’Sullivan

HOLY HOLY @ BLACK BEAR LODGE. PIC: RCSTILLS

Oscar Dawson and Timothy Carroll, seem to open up a whole new world. What’s first noticed is the gorgeous, soulful and effortless vocal ability of Carroll, which provokes comparisons to the likes of The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy in sound, style and conviction. Paired with the dramatic, echoing drumming contributions, you really start to feel like you’re not just witnessing something, you’re experiencing something.

It moves you. It’s not until about halfway through the set, when the group launch into an incredibly well received rendition of Neil Young’s Southern Man, that the talents of Dawson really start to shine – he is absolutely shredding his guitar on this one, and opts for not one, but three incredible solo moments 46 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

Sun and a raucous, noir-tinged rendition of Too Drunk To Fuck.

Given the Sunday night timeslot and inclement weather outside there’s a more than solid crowd gathered by the time Texan maverick Kinky Friedman takes the stage in his trademark black cowboy hat and chomping his obligatory cigar, unleashing his distinctive, gravelly voice for the opening gambit of Before All Hell Breaks Loose and Nashville Casualty And Life.

The Kinkster’s strange but captivating worldview seeps out not just through his music but also in the patters and anecdotes that he delights in between songs, spiels which sometimes threaten to overshadow even his strongest material like Sold American and Homo Erectus.

Even nearing 70 years of age he’s as bawdy and irrepressible

KINKY FRIEDMAN @ BLACK BEAR LODGE. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK

KINKY FRIEDMAN, DESERT BLUES CARTEL Black Bear Lodge 24 Nov The dusty and authentic tones of Desert Blues Cartel open proceedings tonight in fine style, the expressive voice of dapper frontman Dick Desert the main signifier but followed closely by the expressive, mournful violin of Ellen Earth and the subtle jazz inflections of drummer Vincent Bashford. They’re joined by a keys-man tonight and it fills their sound perfectly, originals such as 3 Days Til Payday augmented by an update on the Stagger Lee myth, a traditional take on The House Of The Rising

as ever, Earth from Desert Blues Cartel bringing a gypsy vibe via her violin to Panama Red while Ol’ Ben Lucas comes replete with an Eric Clapton cocaine yarn and Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed finds a proud writer explaining how it (unsurprisingly) won him the Male Chauvinist Pig Of The Year Award back in the mid-‘70s. Yet there’s a lot of heart behind the bluff and bravado and this comes shining through during his cover of The Ballad Of Ira Hayes and his spoken word reading of The Navigator, a passage about his father which is as moving as a song like They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore is overtly comical (although even this has serious racist undertones).

When Friedman fluffs a line in his encore take on Woody Guthrie’s Pretty Boy Floyd and

shrugs it off as the byproduct of being molested by a rodeo clown in his 20s that pretty much sums up the Friedman charm – deliciously off-colour but deceptively intellectual, even at his throwaway worst.

A great entertainer from a bygone era, still with plenty to offer. God help us if he really makes headway in Texan politics though…

Blake Acres

MIKAL CRONIN, TINY MIGRANTS, LOVELY LEGS Black Bear Lodge 22 Nov Lovely Legs are hampered early in the set by singer Alex Dunlop breaking not one but

KINKY FRIEDMAN @ BLACK BEAR LODGE. PIC: MARKUS RAVIK

two guitar strings, which is not surprising considering the way he and guitarist Daniel Dunne have both been going at their guitars in this set of vicious earworm countrypunk. They get back on track after some dark extended jams from the rest of the band.

Broad Daylight is a highlight, introduced by a killer bass line in a set full of killer bass lines.

Tiny Migrants are a member down, so with Jacinta Walker taking up bass duties leaving Julien James as the lone guitarist. This is a more ragged, sharper set from them than we’re used to, but still packing the same snarly, garage punch. You might think being the only guitarist would stop James from going full tilt at the kind of manic, screeching guitar solos that are trademarks of a Tiny

live reviews Migrants show, but nah, not particularly; thankfully he still manages to go pretty nuts.

Mikal Cronin and his band arrive on stage all long hair and big smiles; exactly as charming and cool as you want San Francisco Bay Area melodic fuzz bands to be. The first couple of tracks bring older, heavier stuff, making it clear that no matter how pretty some of the songs on latest album, MCII, are, this is still gonna be a serious rock’n’’roll show.

Am I Wrong is the first of the pop hits, and goes over a treat with stomping drums and Cronin’s sweet vocals tinged with both confidence and naiveté.

Being without a keyboard, an instrument that featured pretty heavily on MCII’s quieter moments, takes some of the depth out of these songs, but the band keep pretty much to the rock stuff so it’s not much of an issue.

Plenty of bands do the loud/ quiet, pretty vocals/harsh

SONNY & THE SUNSETS

guitar thing, but few move between these dynamics as seamlessly as Cronin and his band, who are intuitive and impressively talented without ever being showy. By the time single, Weight, comes along halfway through the set the band have well and truly hit their stride, even inspiring terrible but well meaning singalongs from the audience. They follow up with Shout It Out, one of the angstier tracks on the record, a powerful doubleheader that creates some awesome momentum... For a couple of minutes, before the guitarist breaks a string and we all have to wait around for a replacement.

This cuts the energy a bit for the rest of the set, but not by much, and by the time the last track comes around (a surprising but pretty spot-on cover of Wreckless Eric’s Whole Wide World) both the band and the crowd are grinning again.

Queensland Art Gallery 22 Nov

Given his background loitering at the intersection of art and music it’s entirely appropriate that San Franciscan identity Sonny Smith is playing his first ever Brisbane show with his garage outfit Sonny & The Sunsets at QAG’s California Design Up Late exhibition, and a large and sartorially elegant crowd is on hand as he kicks off with the cruisy surf-tinged I See The Void. The unflappable Smith shrugs off early sound issues with a smile as part of playing “in a visual art space” and keeps plugging away, the sound soon rectified and sounding great as he leads his four-piece band through numbers like Palm Reader and the tender Girl Of The Streets (introduced as a “real Californian true story about the whole band falling in love

Madeleine Laing

with a prostitute and killing a pimp”). There’s a real Jonathan Richman-esque innocence to Smith’s demeanour and purity of expression seems paramount, especially endearing when he drops his guitar and dances barefoot into the crowd during Planet Of Women, returning to the stage without a hitch for the sultry Death Cream. At times even the band’s din can’t penetrate the chat from people who clearly have no respect for any aesthetic that they don’t deem highbrow, but that’s okay, The Sunsets carry on with little fuss and songs like the hook-ridden Too Young To Burn and the offbeat Mondrian save the day. They bring out the big guns for the finale, the storming Teen Age Thugs and the resigned but insistent Strange Love leading into an old school ‘50s-vibed instrumental stab which finished off a great set from this ragtag but delightfully enigmatic outfit.

Jack Billings

BIFF reviews

THE CONGRESS D. Ari Folman

THE ACT OF KILLING

THE ACT OF KILLING D. Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn

The Act Of Killing is such a surreal anomaly of a film. It documents a clan of killers, mass murderers – free in the civilian world, free to talk about their crimes – recreating their brutal acts of execution in film over which they control the acting and shaping. They add humour, drag, explicit

gore; it’s a rare, insane and truly sickening thing to behold.

And while there’s something very obviously repellent about it, it’s also fascinating. The documentary somehow shifts to become about cinema, about hubris, about murderous men, and about humanity in war and the relativism of guilt. These bizarre men, totally unaware of the deep horror they inform us of with every throwaway quip and boast, indict themselves terribly.

The film is one giant, screaming condemnation of the crimes these men will now spend eternity denying, excusing, taking pride in.

Sam Hobson

I hate that I didn’t enjoy Ari Folman’s latest film The Congress. Especially because I loved everything about it going in. There was the tantalising fact it was a blend of live-action and animation; then that it was directed by Ari Folman, whose last film Waltz With Bashir was something unlike I’d ever quite seen; then that it was written by Stanislaw ‘Solaris’ Lem – the list goes on.

But the film struggles with momentum and drive in its

live-action scenes, and, with the animation taking on an entirely different pacing and confidence to the latter parts, there results a dissonance in the film’s capacity for immersion and its ability to sustain its otherwise rich atmosphere.

But The Congress’ animation really does shine, and is a remarkable achievement in itself – it’s truly stunning both in its visual inventiveness and the lucidity with which it’s been transcribed from brain to screen.

Sam Hobson

THE CONGRESS THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 47

muso

NEWS READY TO RUMBLE WIRELESSLY JBL by Harman has extended its world-class offering in compact loudspeaker docks with its JBL OnBeat wireless range designed exclusively for smartphones and tablets – the JBL OnBeat Venue LT and OnBeat Rumble. The JBL OnBeat Rumble speaker dock brings out the best in audio devices, whether docked or streaming wirelessly. Bluetooth-enabled, its built-in 4.5” subwoofer delivers a massive JBL sound with roaring bass from portable players, whether the device is docked on its lightning connector or streaming wirelessly. The JBL OnBeat Venue LT, meanwhile, boasts a massive 30 watts of power, allowing for high quality wireless audio streaming using HARMAN-exclusive TrueStream Bluetooth technology. The OnBeat Rumble and JBL OnBeat Venue LT are available at selected Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Apple and David Jones stores, retailing at $499 and $279 respectively.

MIXWIZARD NEXT GENERATION Due for release in September, there are now three new MixWizards, each featuring EQ in/out switching and optional multichannel USB interface with high quality multichannel soundcard for easy recording and stereo playback. They all naturally retain the acclaimed transparent mic pre-amps, four-band EQ with two sweepable mids, high quality 100mm faders, six auxiliary sends, 12-segment bar graph metering and unique QCC connector system for easy desktop, rack or flightcase mounting of the original.

Allen & Heath products are, of course, distributed in Australia by Technical Audio Group.

48 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

THE FRONT-TO-BACK ROOM

Matthew Gray and Graham Headley, the engineers at Matthew Gray Mastering, are over the moon that they are now working from the first Front-To-Back mastering room in Australia. Gray talks to Michael Smith.

S

ince 2005, mastering engineer Matthew Gray has been running a high-end mastering studio in Brisbane, Matthew Gray Mastering, with fellow engineer Graham Headley, and as is his habit, keeping abreast of advances in the field through publications and online audio forums. It was on one of those that he first came across a studio in Amsterdam designed by French acoustic engineer and studio designer Thomas Jounjean, who specialises in what’s called Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF), described as, “A response that characterises how an ear receives a sound from a point in space”, based on the science of psychoacoustics.

“It just looked like something that could work very well,” Gray explains, “and I really like the idea of it being a natural space to actually listen in, where it’s not going to sound too dead. So I started looking into his designs more and talked to guys who had rooms built by him in Europe and the States.”

Jouanjean’s approach is to design spaces that provide optimum room response to create a highly accurate yet natural listening environment. A Front-To-Back room is designed from two points of view: that of the monitor speakers and that of the engineer.

For Gray, the first step was finding an appropriate space, relocating the studio from the acoustically treated and designed rumpus room of his house to Unit 21, 1147 South Pine Road, Arana Hills, complete with a sixand-a-half-metre ceiling.

“Thomas designs ‘two rooms in one’ – one ‘room’ is for the speakers and one ‘room’ is for the

engineer. For the engineer, for things to sound more lively, the front speaker wall is completely reflective, so we used basically just plasterboard but then we had a European polish applied to the plasterboard which makes it sort of high-gloss, and that’s all angled as well. When you talk, you’re hearing reflection back off that, and it sounds almost like it’s amplifying your voice.

“The other cues for the engineer are the diffusers, which are the ceiling ones above the desk, and then four behind the desk. They’re all custombuilt and Thomas’ design – they’re a pattern of different-sized blocks together in a bigger box. They’re designed to ‘scatter’ the sound but also to offer more reflection. Our floor is also a floating timber floor, which brings a little more liveliness into the room.

“THE MONITORS SOUNDED GREAT IN MY OLD ROOM BUT IN THIS NEW ROOM, THEY’RE JUST ON ANOTHER LEVEL.” “Then, as far as the speakers go, they’re right up against the ‘lively’ wall, but because they’re facing away from it they don’t actually interact. So the speakers are toed right into the listening position – the most accurate position in the room – and then the rest of the walls and the ceiling are covered in treatment, so the side walls are half-a-metre thick, the back walls a metre thick, and there are layers of treatment in those walls designed to treat lower frequencies or mid-to-lows.”

Matthew Gray Mastering’s monitoring set-up features Australian-made Duntech Marquis C4000 floor standing monitors with crossover mods, a Pass Labs X250 Class A/B power amplifier, Velodyne DD12 digitally controlled stereo sub-woofers and a Dangerous Music Monitor with latest Chris Muth-designed DAC. “The monitors sounded great in my old room but in this new room, they’re just on another level – a lot more detail and the low frequency response especially is very accurate. They were the two key things I was looking for in the new room – a better low frequency response that was very accurate and having the room not sounding too dead but very controlled. We’ve met both of those briefs with flying colours.”

For further details or to book a session at Matthew Gray Mastering, email info@matthewgraymastering.com or phone 0412 741 677.

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 49

FEATURING THIS WEEK AT THE BEARDED LADY

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PAPADUMS A DATE WITH CLOWNS THURSDAY 28TH

MELOTONINS

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50 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

AMA

ZING

CITY VIEW C S COOPOCKTAIL S E Dele RS ON T AP ctab le d ishe s

Live

Jazz

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the guide

Members/roles: Jack Dean – drums/vocals, Aaron Muscat – rhythm guitar/ vocals, Rhys Roberts – lead guitar/vocals How long have you been together? We have been together for just over a year now and time has flown.

How did you all meet? We were all really good mates going through our teens, and we were in separate bands playing shitty little gigs in Brisbane pubs and parties, then all came together one night and starting writing some wicked material and we haven’t looked back since.

You’re on tour in the van – which band or artist is going to keep the most people happy if we throw them on the stereo? One man who would keep us sane and loving life would be the smooth tracks of Jack Johnson. Nothing like our band but one of those artists that just give a good vibe.

Which Brisbane bands before you have been inspirations (musically or otherwise)?

Powderfinger is a band that we as a band idolise massively – their songwriting ability is amazing and performances and stage presence are just inspirational. We had the opportunity to record our first EP in Ian Haug’s Airlock Studios with Mr Konstantin Kersting. Such an amazing time.

What part do you think Brisbane plays in the music you make? The chilled out vibe Brisbane has helps with your songwriting a lot; the long summer days and few brews with mates can give you inspiration to write anything.

What’s in the pipeline for the band in the short term? We have our Movember Charity show on Saturday 30 Nov at The Tempo Hotel – all profits going to Movember charity, raising awareness and funds for men’s health. Hope to see you there.

Faleepo Francisco play The Tempo Hotel on 30 Nov. Photo by TERRY SOO.

FALEEPO FRANCISCO THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 51

eat/drink

STREET FOOD IN RESTAURANTS

TACOS Hard shell, soft shell, with minced beef, pulled pork, chicken, fish, beans, salsa, guacamole, cheese... look, you all know what a taco is. The traditional Mexican dish has spawned many variations (and bastardisations/ fusions) and it’s practically impossible to be sad while eating one. It’s the ultimate dish for gatherings.

PHO A Vietnamese noodle soup, traditionally comprising broth (made from beef/chicken bones, oxtails, flank steak, charred onion, charred ginger and spices), flat rice noodles and thinly sliced beef or chicken, and garnished with lemon, bean sprouts, Thai basil and chili. Eating it feels like a warm hug for your insides.

KOFTA These Middle Eastern/South Asian/Balkan meatballs come in so many variations and can be eaten baked, fried, steamed, grilled; with spiced gravy, curry, yoghurt; in a tagine or in kebab form. The Hare Krishna food van at festivals also do an amazing fried, vegetarian version with herbed tomato sauce.

GUMBO This southern Louisiana stew-like dish (it’s actually the official cuisine of the state of Louisiana) borrows from the culinary practices of several cultures and is stepped in historical ties.

Its fragrant aroma and comforting propensity can now be found at many a restaurant, stall or food van in Australia, along with po’boys and hush puppies.

BARBECUE PORK BUNS Sweet, red barbecue pork (char siu) inside a fluffy, bready case (steamed) or a flaky, glazed pastry (baked).

This Cantonese bun is a staple at yum cha, and an easy take-away snack at some restaurants that have them waiting to go in the steamer.

Illustrations Sophie Blackhall-Cain

FOOD TRIPPIN’ EATING AROUND THE USA WITH SOFIE MUCENIEKAS AND LLOYD HONEYBROOK

RICHMOND

52 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

Our first morning in Virginia Lloyd Honeybrook & I spent eating an absurdly delicious Cuban breakfast at Kuba Kuba. We feasted on the California Huevos (eggs, red beans, cheese, avocado, enchilado sauce, lime sour cream on Kuban bread) and a Kuban Roast Pork (slow-roasted pork marinated in Mojo sauce with black beans, rice and tostones). Such huge servings, and so rich in flavour I actually ate a meatless meal and thoroughly enjoyed it! Also, the dessert, Tres Leches, is out of control! #AlwaysKubaKuba

eat/drink BAR PROFILE

JOE’S WATERHOLE HOTEL 85 Memorial Dr, Eumundi

joeswaterhole.com Answered by: Sophie Eaton

overall old-fashioned country atmosphere.

What drink turns you off?

Tequila slammers and we don’t pour doubles.

Who will I meet at your bar? Heaps of locals.

Merv has his own corner fitted with a rear view mirror so he can sit and watch the big screen TV behind him. He has a music trivia board; he writes the songs and people put the artist up.

Bluey helps us girls out all the time collecting empty glasses on busy market days or running across to get us market food or anything else we need; we love him.

What makes your bar different? Our friendly and fast service. Great band nights. And the

What’s the design/ atmosphere of your bar?

Old-fashioned country style pub. But we do

What’s your bar’s specialty drink? We don’t do fancy cocktails, just good poured and cold beers and any other drink you’d like.

have a beautiful spacious gaming lounge, full TAB, accommodation and drive-through bottlo.

OUR PICKS

Who is pouring at your bar and what makes them special? I’ve been working at Joe’s for 31 years (part of the furniture) – that makes me special, haha.

Simone, Leanne, Di, Karen, Felicity, Jim, Max, Tracy and even Brett, the owner, does his fair share of bar work.

ALL these guys are special – that’s why we all like working here.

Best hangover cure? Hair of the dog, Bloody Mary, or the staff favourite, hydralyte, which we keep behind the bar.

ICE-CREAM FLAVOURS

BARISTA PROFILE

Strawberry And Balsamic Vinegar Gelato

LUKE SHILLING

Get some: Gelateria Cremona, Rosalie

LTD ESPRESSO + BREW BAR 362 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley ltdespresso.com Three words that describe the place?

All about coffee.

What’s the price of a regular coffee? $3.50.

What style of coffee should you start the day with? Filter or milky.

What music do you play at work? A variety of styles with artists such

Ginger Ice-Cream

as City & Colour, Alt-J, Freelance Whales, Foals, Midlake, Alexisonfire.

Get some: Redcliffe Ice Creamery, Redcliffe

What artist/band would you most like to make coffee for? The guys of Killswitch Engage would be pretty sweet.

What style would you serve them and why?

Ha. I’d serve them anything they like.

Probably everything.

Give them the whole experience.

Vanilla Semifreddo And Butterscotch Gelato You hate it when people ask for... Nothing specific. Just more so assuming they can ask for anything and expect to get it and if

they can’t get upset.

Just because it’s a coffee shop doesn’t mean it’s going to offer everything other coffee shops have.

Get some: Shlix, Fortitude Valley

mon-wed 6.30am-3pm thurs-fri 6.30am-6pm sat 7am-6pm sun 9am-6pm

café good food & coffee Mon-Sun 7am–3pm

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ALL D

BREAKFAASY T

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693 Brunswick St, New Farm p 3254 2883

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 53

the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au

FRONTLASH

TOURING THIS WEEK

PYTHON ALIVE!

Not only have the original Monty Python crew reunited for live shows in the UK, a local production of their affiliated stage production Spamalot has just been announced for 2014! My brain hurts!

STILL ROLLING

CRIMINAL INTENT

TRUE GRIT

Lock up your grandmas, The Rolling Stones are returning to Australia! They can’t keep going forever (you’d imagine), so get amongst it if you ain’t seen these legends in the flesh…

Get up to no good at Elsewhere on the GC this Friday and check out Von Villians when they bring their brooding indie sounds to the stage, with support from Waax and Yorke. $10 entry includes a copy of new EP Extended Play.

The guys from Gravel Samwidge are gonna butter their bread the only way they know how this Thursday at Trainspotters, Grand Central Hotel. Witness the raw energy of their live performance, and don’t bother trying to cut the crusts off.

TONGUE TIED

TAKE THE TICKET

Having built a solid following, The Mistaeks will keep the fun flowing at New Globe Theatre this Friday, launching new track Comprehensive Lisp.

They’ll then present their full sophomore EP, Tentatively Titled, at The Zoo, 25 Jan.

And enjoy The Rider. The Sydney band are visiting to launch debut EP Mount Echo, and after playing Psych Night in Albion on Saturday they’ll host an unwinding session at New Globe Theatre, Sunday from 2.30pm with Belltalk.

THEY DON’T PLAY GUITARS

THE TOWN DRUNKS

Sports Fan are holding the first annual Super Exciting Sports Fan Christmas, with Megalodon (ft members for The Medics and Art Of Sleeping) and Little Planes Land also on the bill. Get to The Hideaway early for bonbons this Saturday – $10 on the door.

To celebrate the release of Club Bistro on vinyl, Lords Of Wong will host a red light disco at Beetle Bar this Saturday, teaming up with New Jack Rubys, Woolpit and The Prehistorics, who are visiting from down south.

NEALE UP Congrats to local songwriting luminary Jeremy Neale for taking out the prestigious Billy Thorpe Scholarship last week. Couldn’t imagine a more appropriate recipient…

JEREMY NEALE

BACKLASH BLUR BAIL AND BAG

Bad enough that Blur aren’t coming to BDO, but taking pot shots as they cancel? A real shame, but would be fascinating to know what’s really going on there…

PIETERSEN FORGETS Hey KP, maybe you’ll remember Brisbane now… You know, the place where you choked severely in your 100th Test and the Poms got absolutely belted? You got owned!

POLICE STATE 3.2 So new legislation makes people in QLD liable for ‘out of control’ parties of 12 or more people if they ‘organised’ it. The definitions are so broad it’s ludicrous. Hey Joh, you’re getting stronger!

54 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

THIS WEEK’S RELEASES… NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS Live From KCRW Bad Seeds Ltd/Kobalt I EXIST From Darkness Resist A DAY TO REMEMBER Common Courtesy 3Wise/Sony BRITNEY SPEARS Britney Jane Sony

FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU

FOLLOW US AT THEMUSIC.COM.AU FOR ALL YOUR ARIA COVERAGE THIS SUNDAY RED CARPET INTERVIEWS WINNERS AS THEY’RE ANNOUNCED ….AND ALL THE GOSSIP

@THEMUSICCOMAU

FACEBOOK.COM/THEMUSIC.COM.AU

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 55

the guide qld.live@themusic.com.au

ALBUM FOCUS

PERSONAL BEST RECORDS

TOURING THIS WEEK

BITCH PREFECT

FIONA PEARS

SHARKNADO COMING

Album title? Bird Nerds

Best record you stole from your folks’ collection? Pictures At An Exhibition by Moussorgsky.

It’s going to be a pitting frenzy at Thriller, Coniston Lane this Saturday with Feed Her To The Sharks ready to light up Brissie with their brutal, quick metalcore. A Breach Of Silence, Dire Wolf and Bound For Ruin support.

Label: Bedroom Suck Records Where did the title of your new album come from? Knowledge.

How many releases do you have now? Four. A 7” on R.I.P. Society, live tape on Faux Friends, two LPs on BSR. How long did it take to write/record? Eight songs were done in one weekend, the other two were done in a different weekend.

Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Various incarnations of rock music and nature.

What’s your favourite song on it? End Of Time.

Will you do anything differently next time?

We do everything differently every time.

First record you bought?

Solid Gold Hits!

Record you put on when you’re really miserable? Pictures At An Exhibition by Moussorgsky.

Record you put on when you bring someone home? Over The Rhine – The Trumpet Child.

Most surprising record in your collection? The Ruts.

Last thing you bought/ downloaded? The Lark Ascending.

Fiona Pears plays Brisbane Jazz Club on Thursday 28 Nov.

WALK THE LINE

FULL CITY RACKET

Shelter from the suburban heat at Shady Palms on Sunday and enjoy classy songs from classier ladies. Megan Cooper, pictured, and Jane Cameron from The Whiskey Archive will both play sets, with folk, bluegrass, roots and plenty more on the menu.

Local guitar band Old New York play a headline show at Beetle Bar this Thursday, presenting new tracks from their eponymous second album which has just been released.

Dirty Hearts and Mitchell Smith round out the bill.

Bitch Prefect play Black Bear Lodge on Friday 29 Nov with Cured Pink and Primitive Motion.

MO’ BROS UNITE The Movember crew are hosting their annual Gala Parté to toast Movember money raisers, and have called on the help of Eskimo Joe to rock the party right. The celebrations take place at The Tivoli this Thursday; tickets $10+BF through the Movember website.

FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU 56 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

CAFÉ - BAR

321 BRUNSWICK STREET MALL, FORTITUDE VALLEY 27TH OF NOVEMBER

LMOUTHGUARD (10:30PM) + PROMISES (9:30PM) + DEAD LIFT (8:30PM) 28H OF NOVEMBER

NICK BALCOMBE (10:30PM) + CHARLIE KELLER (9:30PM) + DJ VALDIS (8:00PM - LATE) 29TH OF NOVEMBER

BLACK BIRD HUM (9:00PM) + GUESTS (8:00PM) + DJ VALDIS (8:00PM - LATE) 30TH OF NOVEMBER

TERRY CLARK (9:00PM) + GUESTS (8:00PM) + DJ VALDIS (9:00PM - LATE) 1ST OF DECEMBER

ARMS OF THE OCEANS (9:30) + RELEASE THE HOUNDS (8:30) 2ND OF DECEMBER

DANE AUSTIN (9:30) + GUEST (8:30) 3RD OF DECEMBER

ALEX MAIORANO (9:30) + WILLY MCELROY (8:30)

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music. thursday 28/11.

Hannah Macklin Quartet 8pm.

saturday 30/11.

Mojo Webb 8pm.

café & wine bar breakfast. lunch. dinner. drinks ‘til late. open 7am weekdays.

Lower Burnett Ln. Brisbane CBD. 07 3211 4242.

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 57

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ALBUM FOCUS

GIRLS PISSING ON GIRLS PISSING Name: Casey James Latimer Album title? Eeling Where did the title of your new album come from?

The album title seemed appropriate to the haunting rural NZ vibe of the tracks and concept artistically for the album. Lurks back to a childhood spent eeling.

How many releases do you have now? We have released two albums; Tangiwai and Eeling. Also we have just released a cassette single/ EP called Darwinning.

How long did it take to write/ record? Eeling was recorded over 2012 and released in February 2013. Since then we have been recording a new album and released the Darwinning single/EP. Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? Eeling, as most of our output, was inspired by our spiritual views, the political and social chaos we are surrounded by in our country, and reading into dreams. Mostly selfinvolved inspirations.

SINGLE FOCUS

FUTURE SOUNDS

HALFWAY

RELATABLE TALES

SWEET, SWEET MUSIC

Name: John Busby

Former Rocketsmiths player Dom Miller slings his guitar over his shoulder and strums a few songs for the gathered at The Scratch, 10 Dec. Tuesday is usually a bit of a nothing night; why not make it something this time around?

Following the release of latest single, Heartstrings, the angelic vocals of folk-pop duo The Phoncurves are set to make local Brisbane fans swoon when they visit Southside Tea Room, 7 Dec. Their harmonies will bring you to your knees, so surrender yourself!

NOT-SO-TERRIBLE TWOS

SUPERSTITIOUS MINDS

An exciting musical collaboration is afoot with the Phil Monsour Band joining forces with Sydney Oud Master Mohamed Youssef for a special benefit concert. Join them and lend your support to Union Aid Abroad, 14 Dec at Kurilpa Hall.

Join The Shakeouts and get freaky on Friday, 13 Dec when they perform at The Zoo. Their single Straight Edge has copped some serious praise recently, so get in the crowd when they perform with The Real Eyes and Horris.

X-MAS MARKS THE SPOT

ALL ABOARD

Cheated Hearts are putting on one last party for 2013, a Christmas themed riot on 13 Dec. Ruby Slippers, pictured, will perform alongside Dimestore Diamonds, The Gattling Gun, CVLT Teens and Virtual Illusion.

Consider Trainspotters at the Grand Central Hotel full steam ahead as they host Unity Floors, pictured, Screaming Match and Scrabble on 5 Dec. The night is one of many big ones planned next month, so sit back and enjoy the ride.

Single title? Honey I Like You What’s the song about? The whole album is based around a couple in the mid-70s in Barcaldine, Central Qld. How long did it take to write/ record? A day to write, a day to record and mix.

Is this track from a forthcoming release/existing release? It’s from our new record Any Old Love to be released Feb 7, 2014.

What was inspiring you during the songs writing and recording? 1970s regional towns and record sleeves.

We’ll like this song if we like... Halfway.

Do you play it differently live?

We try and play it properly When and where is your launch/next gig? We are launching the single at The Hi-Fi with Machine Translations, Jordan Ireland and Bandito Folk on 30 Nov. Halfway play The Hi-Fi on Saturday 30 Nov.

What’s your favourite song on it? The Dance of Salome.

Will you do anything differently next time?

Hopefully everything. We aim to not rewrite the same album and to challenge ourselves further each time we embark upon a new album.

Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing play The Waiting Room on Friday 29 Nov, Real Bad on 30 Nov and The Time Machine, Nambour on 1 Dec. 58 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

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FUTURE SOUNDS

ALBUM FOCUS

ALBUM FOCUS

JIMI BEAVIS Name: Jimi Beavis Album title? Gentleman Giant

QUICK BIOLOGY LESSON Continuing to evolve separately to the rest of the world, Brisbane death-pop band, Galapogos launch their album at The Zoo, 6 Dec with very special guests The Medics acting as main support. It’s enough to make Charles Darwin proud.

Where did the title of your new album come from? It is quite autobiographical. While not the tallest musician around I am 6 foot 3. I am known as a quiet, polite fella not given to crazy antic – thus the “gentleman”.

How many releases do you have now? Four. One EP with my old band The 385s in 2010, and I have released two more EPs since.

RAW AND WICKED

SKY’S THE LIMIT

Transcontinental Hotel is bringing hip hop to the fore, with Hell’s Kitchen featuring Doomzday Dreamerz, Def Men Walking, pictured, Toddy Darkz, MBezzel, Buer and DJ Keen, last year’s Queensland DMC champion. 7 Dec, $10 entry.

After selling out their first show on 8 Dec, delightful folk pair Amon and Audra will play a second EP launch show 15 Dec on a private penthouse rooftop in Toowong.

Head to amonandaudra. com for all the details.

How long did it take to write/ record? Various sessions over six months. Basically three days to put the basic tracks down with guitar, double bass, vocals, drums and harmonica and then various nights for percussion, horns, keyboards and other bits and pieces.

Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? I am always inspired by the electric blues bands from the 1950s and the bands that they have influenced over the years. People like Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howling Wolf.

Those are the main influences.

What’s your favourite song on it? Currently Easy Lovin’. It has a mighty horn punch and a chromatic harmonica solo and some great drumming.

Will you do anything differently next time? I am looking at centring the songs around characters and using a more diverse selection of roots music – soul, gospel, Cashcountry, rock’n’roll and folk.

LOUD NOISES

SPYGLASS GYPSIES Name: Richard Ashby Album title? Spyglass Gypsies Where did the title of your new album come from? Self-titled album.

How many releases do you have now? One. How long did it take to write/record? It took around 18 months from initial writing and rehearsing to the finished product.

Was anything in particular inspiring you during the making? The album features songs written by all members of the group.

I think we were inspired by a lot of traditional and contemporary gypsy jazz but also by each other’s contributions to the writing.

What’s your favourite song on it? My favourite is my song The Map Maker, however I can’t speak for all the members’ preferences.

Will you do anything differently next time?

Difficult to say. Most likely now that we have an album as a basis for a new project we’d take a different approach.

Spyglass Gypsies play the 2013 Oz Manouche Festival at Brisbane Jazz Club on Friday 29 Nov.

Jimi Beavis plays Black Bear Lodge on Saturday 1 Dec.

Surfers Paradise Beer Garden is hosting another Twisted lineup of heavy metal acts from 9pm, 12 Dec. Catch System Trashed, pictured, Blood Guts and Fire Trucks, December Nine and Kablammo as they tear the Glitter Strip a new one.

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opinion

OG FLAVAS

ADAMANTIUM WOLF

URBAN AND R’N’B NEWS BY CYCLONE

METAL, HARDCORE AND PUNK WITH LOCHLAN WATT

Reality television is for wannabes and the washed-up – urban types included. Talent shows like Idol have spawned R&B stars, but not necessarily enduring ones.

Poor Leona Lewis is marketing a Christmas album... Jessica Mauboy, an Aussie Jennifer Hudson, is our most credible graduate. Unfortunately, after The Sapphires, she’s again pushing sub-Rihanna urbanpop with third LP Beautiful.

Then signed to the US Jive Records, Perth’s Samantha Jade worked with Timbaland before her original debut was shelved. Once writing songs for Whitney Houston, the singer re-emerged from obscurity in 2012 to trump the local X Factor.

Today she’s promoting another commercial single, Soldier – and her edgy Diva jewellery line.

Brit X Factor runner-up Rebecca Ferguson – touted as Simon Cowell’s Adele – records the retro-soul you wish Mauboy would. Having enjoyed success here with 2011’s Heaven, she’ll drop Freedom next month. If reality TV ever generated a riveting neo-soulster, it’s James Arthur, a UK X Factor winner – and, like John Newman, from Yorkshire. Arthur’s cover of Shontelle’s ballad, Impossible was an Aussie smash. He’s released his debut with input from Emeli Sandé cohort Naughty Boy. Vocally, Arthur is a dead ringer for Daniel Merriweather – had Ryan Tedder produced him. Just listen to the soul epic Recovery. Amy Winehouse’s old associate Salaam Remi even handles the gritty New Tattoo. ogflavas@themusic.com.au

JAMES ARTHUR 60 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

BLACK FLAG LOGO

There’s certain ideas in alternative music that seem steadfast.

Hardcore punk especially seems to have an entire holy scripture of these unofficial laws.

Perhaps both fortunately and unfortunately, these rules all exist in the head of the individual.

One of the most glorious aspects of punk is the idea that rules were made to be broken. Though splintered into dozens of varieties, it stands as a tangible, cultural middle finger to the norm – and often, depressingly enough, to the other shards of punk that don’t get it. The topic I’m really trying to get to here is Black Flag. The other week I had made plans to go along to Brisbane venue Crowbar to see seminal US posthardcore group Boysetsfire, the band promoted to be headlining a little pre-party for Hits & Pits 2.0.

With the Boysetsfire set depressingly reduced to karaoke due to their vocalist having missed his flight, it was announced that their fellow festival headliners Black Flag had been added to the show as a deal sweetener. Black Flag! Playing their first ever Australian show on a Thursday night at my favourite local venue? My knowledge of the band’s history and exploits far outweighs my actual familiarity with their discography, but it was an exciting enough prospect. Like many others, I was curiously going to tick another legendary act off my list.

What the audience got after lacklustre Boysetsfire karaoke was not Black Flag. After about half an hour of asking tour managers and venue owners who were scratching their heads just as much as the rest of the crowd, I finally established that we were watching founding guitarist Greg

Ginn’s other band Good For You. Vaguely progressive post-punk, it was kind of sloppy, contained a theremin, and was fronted by some professional skater dude called Mike Vallely. It was boring, not what people came to see, and well before their hour-long set ended the venue started to empty.

None of the band members gave anyone any indication of what was going on. Given that it also contained their current bassist and drummer, many people in fact left thinking that they had just seen Black Flag. With their legacy in as much question as it already was (lawsuits, multiple versions of the group, etc.), wouldn’t you want your first Australian show in a 37-year history to just absolutely go off? Play the hits? Give the fans what they have always wanted?

Nope. People were pissed off.

On my way out I encountered a dozen or so punters who were hanging outside in the hope that vocalist Ron Reyes would jump out and bust into an actual Black Flag hit at any second. Turns out that finally did happen, at approximately 1.30am on a school night, reportedly leaving about 30 people in the room for Black Flag’s first ever Australian show.

Maybe Greg Ginn has embodied the most punk attitude of all time? Maybe the ultimate evolution of punk is just being so punk that all the punks are left feeling totally punked by their punk rock heroes? All I know for sure is that it felt rude, disrespectful and generally lame.

From most of the reports I heard from those who stuck around or caught a set on the rest of the tour, the actual band people paid to see wasn’t much better. Well done Black Flag, may your legacy remain at half mast in my books.

QMUSIC 2013 RELEASE PARTICIPANTS ANNOUNCED Successful applicants for the new professional development program Release: The Business of Music Management, were announced today. Fifteen independent label owners have been selected including Queensland’s Luke Dalton and Simon Homer.

SOUNDS AUSTRALIA MASTERCLASS: EXPORT YOUR MUSIC This Saturday, Sounds Australia Executive Producer Millie Millgate will present a one-hour masterclass on exporting your music overseas at the QMusic office, and will also be available for one-on-one meetings. The session will be held at 3pm and will be followed by a 30 minute Q&A. See qmusic.com. au for details and to book.

PLAY LANEWAY! For your chance to be added to the fantastic 2014 St Jerome’s Laneway festival bill, you just need to get your tracks up on triplejunearthed.com by this Sunday. One band from each mainland state will be selected to open the festival in their area. Details at triplejunearthed. com.au/competitions.

APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR CREATIVE SPARKS The Creative Sparks Program aims to invest in creative projects within a community context that deliver positive returns, support those creating new work, and foster entrepreneurial and commercial approaches and invest in new partnerships. Submissions close 13 Jan, 2014. For info, see www.brisbane.qld.gov.au.

WANT TO KNOW MORE OR BECOME A QMUSIC MEMBER? For these stories, memberships and more, go to qmusic.com.au.

opinion

THE LOOKING GLASS A JOURNEY THROUGH ARTS WITH HELEN STRINGER

THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN

We’ve said it once, we’ve said it twice. In fact we’ve said it daily for approximately six years, which makes this roughly the 2190th time we’ve said bon voyage to Kevin Rudd. Whether you love his pink cheeks and tiny dented chin, or loathe his preternatural ability to say really smart things but use so many big words he manages to sound stupid again, we can all agree that it’s a difficult day for Australians.

We’re on the verge of an identity crisis here, the likes of which we haven’t seen since our 2012 Olympic swimming team failed

to win three gold medals in every event, even the ones we weren’t competing in. Now Kevvy is gone. How will Australia cope?

Worse still is the plight of politicians, who now have to master the very dull task of actually being politicians. Public servants have been ordered to disseminate handy fact sheets for members of the houses. Key points include: Australia is a parliamentary democracy (and you are a member of parliament); it is not a good idea to use taxpayer money on sex workers (but strip clubs are fine); and

try to keep as few women in parliament as you can unless they’re so witlessly infatuated with the party leader that their unrequited obsession is visceral (see: Julie Bishop). In fact, the whole capital city is in a panic.

It’s imperceptible, because bureaucrats and politicians are incapable of showing human emotions, but those on the ground really are in fear for their lives. Countless reports are emerging outlining a shocking increase in the incidence of “accidental” hallway collision.

Tony Abbott is briefing his backline on what strategies they can use to look awake during parliament, with Ritalin coming out as the clear favourite over other choices like, “do your job”.

Cabinet Ministers are undergoing intensive training on making full sentences with verbs and nouns and everything. Although the ship has long since sailed, PM Rabbit is desperate to not look like a dickhead and has hired a crack team of life coaches to deal with the ramifications of his beloved Kruddy’s departure. It’s difficult: Bunny can no longer rely on the actions of a super-

star backbencher to obscure his own lunacy. Once, Rabbit PM could count on Tin Tin to divert attention by saying something so completely indecipherable that nobody could work out whether it was an eloquent elucidation of a pertinent policy point, a recitation of The Adventures Of Tin Tin, or “pull my finger” in Mandarin. Even though our twice 26th PM has ended his political career, breaking hearts with his final words: “it really is time for me to zip” he has no intention on leaving public life – at least not until he tires of making floor angels in the confetti made out of the caucus ballots that got him the second title of 26th PM. First Ruddy will release a book fittingly titled Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! And early next year we can expect Channel Nine’s Underbelly: The Ruddy Truth, a drama starring that guy who has played six different versions of Kerry Packer on four different channels in two years. So, fear not, the legacy of PM-exPM-Foreign Minister-Contender-Nerd Grande Supreme of the Universe will live on. And on. And on.

CULTURAL CRINGE WITH MANDY MCALISTER There’s nothing new under the sun, there’s only seven stories to be told, everyone steals from everyone else. In an age of adaptation there’s none so true as the last statement when it comes to fan fic folly 50 Shades Of Grey, the film adaptation for which has now been cast after the slight hurdle of Charlie Hunnam walking away from the project. No doubt the initial casting of Hunnam as antagonist Christian Grey intrigued those, myself included, who know him as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy.

However, not even the promise of Hunnam as a billionaire sex god could draw me to the project so when he jacked it in due to “scheduling conflicts” I breathed a sigh of relief and vowed to never pay the film any attention again.

However, the saga that is 50SOG is the gift that keeps on giving.

The role that Hunnam should never have touched with a ten-foot barge pole is now the book you should never touch

with a barge pole, and certainly not with your finger. The Guardian reported last week that researchers at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium carried out testing on popular titles from the Antwerp library, and found copies of 50 Shades Of Grey to contain traces of herpes. Yep, time to disinfect your diamante-encrusted gimp mask and break out the spray and wipe in your red room – reader, that shiz is gross. It’s called the MS Readathon, not the VD Readathon. That said, The Guardian report does not clarify the type of herpes the book tested positive for, and given that the ten most popular titles also tested positive for cocaine, it’s possible there’s a wide-reading Antwerpian snorter with a cold sore just getting down with some hard drugs and soft porn.

What is more baffling about this story is that people who can afford cocaine won’t shell out for their own $10 paperback.

Perhaps the whole thing is a

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

Catholic conspiracy to herd the masses away from whips and chains narratives of S&M and back to the whips and chains narratives of the Old Testament.

Either way, at the helm of the project, Nowhere Boy director Sam Taylor-Johnson has her work cut out for her making credible stars of leads Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.

It’s easy to despair at the lack of storytelling innovations when projects like 50 Shades Of Grey have a ready-made audience and Greek mythology is franchise fodder for the likes of Percy Jackson, but it’s less of a concern when the art of adaptation is being practiced so masterfully elsewhere. Even

with the exception of Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D, the Marvel universe keeps offering up gems, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire should please even the most puritan fan, Ender’s Game and Carrie both look promising and are performing well in the US box office, and Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing was one of the highlights of 2013.

While there are obviously still some sloppy adapters producing movies solely on the premise of ‘If you build it, they will come’, there’s been enough refreshing treatment of source material in the last couple of years to allay dismay about the number of adaptations in the charts. Let’s hope this trend continues, and may the force be with us.

THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 61

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THE MUSIC PRESENTS Patrick James: Black Bear Lodge 27 Nov The John Steel Singers: The Spotted Cow 28 Nov, The Zoo 29 Nov, Solbar 30 Nov Philadelphia Grand Jury vs Feelings: The Rev 5 Dec The Nerve: Northern Hotel 5 Dec, Tempo Hotel 6 Dec, Kings Beach tavern 7 Dec Festival Of The Sun: Port Macquarie 13-14 Dec Pond: The Zoo 14 Dec

Wire: The Zoo 19 Feb Future Music Festival: RNA Showgrounds 1 Mar Mikhael Paskalev: Alhambra 4 Mar A Festival Called Panama: Tasmania 8-9 Mar Billy Bragg: The Tivoli 20 Mar Steve Earle & The Dukes: The Tivoli 15 Apr Allen Stone: the Zoo 16 Apr

Bonjah: Solbar 28 Dec, The Northern 29 Dec

Byron Bay Bluesfest 2014: Tyagarah Tea tree Farm 27-21 Apr

Woodford Folk Festival: Woodfordia 27 Dec – 1 Jan

KC & The Sunshine Band: The Tivoli 19 Apr

Half Moon Run: Solbar 2 Jan, Old Museum 3 Jan, The Northern 4 Jan

Jake Bugg: The Hi-Fi 23 Apr

WED 27

The Upskirts: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley

Patrick James + The Starry Field + The Phoncurves: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Hip Hop/R&B feat. various DJs: Bourbon Bar, Surfers Paradise Justin Bieber + Cody Simpson: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall Jam Night feat. various: Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta Locky: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane The Casuarinas: Junk Bar, Ashgrove Air Supply + guests: Jupiters ( Jupiters Theatre), Broadbeach Mouthguard + The Promises + Dead Lift + DJ Redbeard: Ric’s (downstairs), Fortitude Valley Mark Sheils: Royal George, Fortitude Valley Captain Dreamboat: The Joynt, South Brisbane Open Mic Night feat. various: The Loft, Chevron Island Nathan Pursey: The Plough Inn, Southbank Acoustic Session with Josh Lovegrove + Friends: The Tempo Hotel, Fortitude Valley Lesyah: The Vault, Southport Street Pieces + Modern Strangers + War On Sarah: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley DJ Daniel De Niro + Brent Dee: Vanity Nightclub, Surfers Paradise

THU 28

Whitley + Seagull: Alhambra Lounge, Fortitude Valley

GIG OF THE WEEK THE BAMBOOS: 29 NOV, THE HI-FI The Music Kitchen feat. System Trashed + The Unofficials + Lopaka + Leaven + more: The Tempo Hotel, Fortitude Valley Movember Gala Party feat. Eskimo Joe: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

Old New York + Dirty Hearts + Mitchell Smith: Beetle Bar, Brisbane Dale Watson & His Lonestars: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Hip Hop/R&B feat. various DJs: Bourbon Bar, Surfers Paradise OzManouche Festival feat.

Fiona Pears: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point 1.1.1 + guests: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley Ulcerate + Vyrion + Kyzer Soze: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley Schoolies Closing Party 2013 feat. various DJs: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise Off The Rails feat. Gravel Samwidge + Go Genre Everything + Blue Ruins: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane Ragdoll + Jabba: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane Love Like Hate: Kerbside, Fortitude Valley Pete Hunt Quartet: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End Ballad Boy: Loving Hut, Mount Gravatt Open Mic Night feat. various: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane

Strings For Ammo + Locky: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane Dale Watson & His Lonestars: Morningside RSL, Morningside

Calais + Tundra + Chinatown Car Park: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

The Mistaeks + guests: New Globe Theatre, Fortitude Valley

Stevie Z + DJ Daniel De Niro + Jake Carmody + more: Vanity Nightclub, Surfers Paradise Snitch feat. Call The Shots + Judy Dench + What We’re Worth + New Orkid: X&Y Bar, Fortitude Valley

FRI 29

Bitch Prefect + Primitive Motion: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Darren Middleton + special guests: Old Museum, Bowen Hills Velociraptor + Bandito Folk: QAGOMA (QLD Art Gallery), South Bank Green Jam Sessions with Four: QPAC, Southbank Peace Train – The Cat Stevens Story feat. various: QPAC (Concert Hall), Southbank

Paul Greene & The Other Colours: Royal Mail Hotel, Goodna Greg Kew: Saltbar, South Kingscliff

X Factor Live feat. Dami Im + Taylor Henderson + Jai Waetford + Third D3gree + Jiordan Tolli: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall OzManouche Festival feat. +The Furbelows + Spyglass Gypsies: Brisbane Jazz Club, Kangaroo Point DJ Nato + DJ Jasti: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa The Prehistorics + Dr Bombay + Shrewms + The Bollocks: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley

Paul Greene & The Other Colours + Brodie Graham + Ashleigh Mannix: Solbar, Maroochydore

Von Villains + Yorke + Waax!: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise

DALE WATSON & HIS LONESTARS: 28 NOV, BLACK BEAR LODGE

Clowns: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Peter Cupples: Gazebo Restaurant, Hotel Urban, Brisbane Natalie de Jager: Glass Bar & Restaurant, Fortitude Valley Mojo Webb: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane

Ty Fader: The Plough Inn, Southbank

B-Rad + Jabba: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane

The John Steel Singers + Go Violets: The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba

Le Breeze: Lambert’s Restaurant, Kangaroo Point

Canta La Tumba: Queen Street Mall (Visitors Information Centre), Brisbane

Jordie Lane + Rose Cousins + Cole & Van Dijk: Sandgate Town Hall, Sandgate

Tamara O’Callaghan: Queen Street Mall (Milano /5pm), Brisbane

Capree + Renz: Shady Palms, Stones Corner

Black Bird Hum + guests + DJ Valdis: Ric’s (downstairs), Fortitude Valley DJ Simon: Ric’s (upstairs), Fortitude Valley

Pete Cullen + The Saltwater Cowboys: Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall, Brisbane

1000S OF GIGS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU 62 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

Warped Tour 2013 feat. The Offspring + Parkway Drive + Simple Plan + Millencolin + The Amity Affliction + New Found Glory + The Used + Reel Big Fish + Hatebreed + Tonight Alive + The Summer Set + Kids In Glass Houses + We Came As Romans + Man Overboard + Crown The Empire + Confession + The Dangerous Summer + For All Those Sleeping + Veara + Anarbor + Hands Like Houses + Mallory Knox + Buried In Verona + RDGLDGRN + Hand Of Mercy + Aversions Crown + Take Us To Vegas + D At Sea + Warped Tour: RNA Showgrounds, Bowen Hills

Hip Hop/R&B feat. various DJs: Bourbon Bar, Surfers Paradise

Espionage feat. Jonwayne: Coniston Lane, Fortitude Valley

The Vernons + The Upskirts + Frankie Friday: The Loft, Chevron Island

DJ Turhan: Love Nightlife, Broadbeach

Frazer Goodman + Friends: The Vault, Southport

Nick Balcombe + Charlie Keller + DJ Valdis: Ric’s (downstairs), Fortitude Valley

Aurora Jane + Li Li Kite: The Joynt, South Brisbane

Sounds Of The Footpath: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

Band of Frequencies + The Chocolate Strings: Solbar, Maroochydore Fyah Walk + Bullhorn: SoundLounge, Currumbin Forever The Optimist + Mass Sky Raid + Redstarborn + Stellar Green: Southern Cross Tavern, Coolangatta

the guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au Sacred Earth: Tallebudgera Valley Community Hall, Tallebudgera Valley The Bamboos: The Hi-Fi, West End Anarchist Duck: The Joynt, South Brisbane Lyon Apprentice + Calan Mai + Ella Fence: The Loft, Chevron Island Stereo Blonde: The Plough Inn, Southbank

Trainspotters feat. Day Ravies + Naked Maja + Nite Fields + Barbituates: Grand Central Hotel, Brisbane DJ Ono + DJ Bounce + Hitmen DJ Crew: Hot Gossip Nightclub, Fortitude Valley Berst + Locky: Irish Murphy’s, Brisbane Devils Kiosk: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

SUN 01

Clowns + more: 4ZZZ (Car Park), Fortitude Valley Rock n Roll BBQ feat. The Fred Band + The Pretty Fingers + Incoherant + Cowboy Bob & His World of Smut: 633 Ann (2pm), Fortitude Valley Ian Ball: Beetle Bar, Brisbane

DJ Turhan + DJ Luke Peters: Love Nightlife, Broadbeach

Jimi Beavis + Johnny & The Fembots + Sahara Beck: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley

Ramjet + Ger Fennelly: Mick O’Malley’s, Brisbane

Hip Hop/R&B feat. various DJs: Bourbon Bar, Surfers Paradise

Gabby: The Tempo Hotel (Bowler Bar), Fortitude Valley

Andrew Shaw Trio: Queen Street Mall (Milano), Brisbane

Belinda Carlisle + 1927: The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

Stormy Weather: Queen Street Mall (Main Stage /12pm), Brisbane

Big Bongin Baby + The Barmaids + Hanny J + Screamin Stevie: Club Greenslopes (2pm), Greenslopes

De La Cruz + Primal Evidence + Sudden State + more: The Tempo Hotel, Fortitude Valley

Jazz & Shriaz feat. various: The Vault (4pm), Southport Lesyah: The Vault, Southport Sonic Masala feat. Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing + more: The Waiting Room, West End The John Steel Singers + Go Violets + The Worriers: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Circles + Dawn Heist + Humality + We Live Forever: Transcontinental Hotel, Brisbane Brent Dee + Jake Carmody: Vanity Nightclub, Surfers Paradise Whitley + Seagull: Woombye Pub, Woombye

SAT 30

Terry Clark + DJ Valdis + guests: Ric’s (downstairs), Fortitude Valley DJ Cutts: Ric’s (upstairs), Fortitude Valley City And Colour + Twin Forks: Riverstage, Brisbane Caboose: Saltbar, South Kingscliff The John Steel Singers + Go Violets + The Worriers: Solbar, Maroochydore Jordan Leser + Seavera: Southside Tea Room, Morningside Machine Translations + Stolen Violin + Halfway + Bandito Folk: The Hi-Fi, West End

Signature Series + Black Bird Hum: The Joynt, South Brisbane

Foo Fighters Tribute Show: Albany Creek Tavern, Albany Creek

Paul Greene + Ashleigh Mannix + David Baker: The Loft, Chevron Island

Lords Of Wong + New Jack Rubys + The Prehistorics + Woolpit: Beetle Bar, Brisbane

Archie Rye: The Plough Inn (afternoon), Southbank

Leonard Cohen + special guests: Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall DJ Jahzen: Cafe Le Monde, Noosa Go Genre Everything + Gravel Samwidge + The Legent feat.

Everett True + Scrabbled Nana Vigilant + Bent: Chardons Corner Hotel, Annerley Skinwalkers: Commercial Hotel, Nambour Thriller feat. Feed Her To The Sharks + A Breach Of Silence + Dire Wolf + Bound For Ruin: Coniston Lane, Fortitude Valley Whitley + Seagull: Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta No Anchor + Clowns + Speedlab + Release The Hounds: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Royale ‘After Hours’ feat.

Jaxon + Stretch Paper Cranes: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise Jordie Lane + Rose Cousins + Cole & Van Dijk: Eudlo Hall, Eudlo

Katarina Rose Collective: Queen Street Mall (Visitors Information Centre), Brisbane Ewan Mackenzie + Miranda Duetsch: Queen Street Mall (11.30am), Brisbane Arms Of The Ocean + Release The Hounds: Ric’s (downstairs), Fortitude Valley Megan Cooper + Jane Cameron: Shady Palms, Stones Corner The Dawn Chorus: Solbar, Maroochydore

MON 02

The Seekers: Empire Theatre, Toowoomba

Rockaoke: The Tempo Hotel, Fortitude Valley

TUE 03

Barksdale Brass Band + The Melotonins + Kristin Beradi + Hannah Macklin + Dave McGuire + more: Black Bear Lodge, Fortitude Valley Hip Hop/R&B feat. various DJs: Bourbon Bar, Surfers Paradise

DJ Gavin Boyd: Stoke Bar, Southbank

The Bug feat. Sue Wighton + Ross Roache + Quatro: New Farm Bowls Club, New Farm

Starvation: Sun Distortion, Brisbane

Mark Sheils: Samford Valley Hotel, Samford Valley

Blue Steel: The Plough Inn (afternoon), Southbank

Gold Coast Comedy Club feat. various: The Loft, Chevron Island

Lucy Street: The Tempo Hotel, Fortitude Valley

Escalate feat. The Deep End + Barrellfish + Stone Evolution + Next Elected: The Tempo Hotel, Fortitude Valley

The Enterprise: Lock ‘n’ Load Bistro, West End

Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing: The Time Machine, Nambour

We All Want To + Some Jerks: Mowbray Park (Boat Cruise), East Brisbane

Brent Dee + DJ Daniel De Niro + Jake Carmody: Vanity Nightclub, Surfers Paradise

Lesyah: The Vault, Southport Jake Carmody: Vanity Nightclub, Surfers Paradise

Sports Fan + Megalodon + Little Planes Land: The Hideaway, Fortitude Valley

Cookie Jar feat. various: 633 Ann, Fortitude Valley

Hip Hop/R&B feat. various DJs: Bourbon Bar, Surfers Paradise

Kadavar + Blues Pills + Dreamtime + Still Mates: Crowbar, Fortitude Valley

Deena + Arundel + The Rider + Belltalk + Charlize Kristin: New Globe Theatre (2.30pm), Fortitude Valley

Big Boyz: The Plough Inn, Southbank Faleepo Francisco + Plateau Parade + Windrest + Invaders From The Infinite + Pyre & Ice + SIKNEsinsALVATION + The Archaic Revival + Jericho13: The Tempo Hotel, Fortitude Valley Clubfeet DJs + Cosmo’s Midnight: The Tempo Hotel (Bowler Bar), Fortitude Valley Starq: The Vault, Southport Helm + Forever The Optimist + Self Is A Seed + Guards Of May + Balloons Kill Babies: The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Psych Night feat. The Moses Gunn Collective + Lopaka + Magenta Voyeur + The Unofficials + The Rider + Praxis Axis: Tribal Theatre, Brisbane Jordie Lane + Rose Cousins + Cole & Van Dijk: Wolvi & District War Memorial Hall, Wolvi

Thomas Von Party + Audun + Giv + Tiafau: Elsewhere, Surfers Paradise X Factor Live feat. Dami Im + Taylor Henderson + Jai Waetford + Third D3gree + Jiordan Tolli: Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre, Broadbeach

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tour guide qld.gigguide@themusic.com.au

INTERNATIONAL

Closure In Moscow: The Spotted Cow Dec 5, Alhambra Lounge Dec 6

Dale Watson & His Lonestars: Black Bear Lodge Nov 28, Morningside Services Club Nov 29

Tumbleweed: The Tempo Hotel Dec 5

Justin Bieber: BEC Nov 27 (AA)

Colin Hay: The Tivoli Dec 5

Sarah Blasko: St John’s Cathedral Jan 16 Kim Churchill: Solbar Jan 16, SoundLounge Jan 17, Bon Amici Cafe Jan 18, Black Bear Lodge Jan 19

Philadelphia Grand Jury, Feelings: The Rev Dec 5

Icehouse, Models: Southport RSL Jan 17, Eatons Hill Hotel Jan 18

The Nerve: The Northern Dec 5, The Tempo Hotel Dec 6, Kings Beach Tavern Dec 7

Hunters & Collectors: Sirromet Wines Feb 2

Oliver Tank: The Zoo Feb 8

Kataklysm: Crowbar Dec 4

King Parrot, Gay Paris: Commercial Hotel Dec 6, Thriller Dec 7

Cave: The Zoo Dec 4

Courtney Barnett: QAG Dec 6

Insane Clown Posse: The Hi-Fi Dec 5

I Exist: Sun Distortion Dec 6 (AA)

Steel Panther: Riverstage Dec 6

The Screaming Jets: Eatons Hill Hotel Dec 6, Coolangatta Hotel Dec 7

The Angels: Harrigan’s Drift Inn Feb 15, Caloundra RSL Mar 28, Coolangatta Hotel Mar 29

Birds Of Tokyo: Coolangatta Hotel Dec 11

Pete Murray: Twin Towns Feb 21, The Tivoli Feb 22

Guineafowl: Alhambra Lounge Dec 12, Beach Hotel Dec 13

Kerser: The Hi-Fi Feb 22 (AA and 18+)

The Tiger & Me: Beach Hotel Dec 12, The Joynt Dec 13, Solbar Dec 14

Caravãna Sun: Beach Hotel Feb 28, Solbar Mar 1, Brunswick Heads Hotel Mar 2

The Gin Club: Cafe Le Monde Dec 12, Black Bear Lodge Dec 13, The Spotted Cow Dec 14

Christine Anu: Southport RSL Mar 7, Old Museum Mar 8

Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing: Waiting Room Nov 29, Real Bad Nov 30, Time Machine Dec 1 City and Colour, Twin Forks: Brisbane Riverstage Nov 30 Leonard Cohen: BEC Nov 30

Guitar Wolf: Beetle Bar Dec 6

YO LA TENGO: 11 MAR, THE ZOO

Passenger: The Tivoli Dec 6, Dec 7 (AA) Taylor Swift: Suncorp Stadium Dec 7 Joey Bada$$: The Hi-Fi Dec 7 Melvins, Helmet: The Hi-Fi Dec 8, The Northern Dec 9

Daughters: Crowbar Jan 9 The Crimson Projekct: The Hi-Fi Jan 11

Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails: BEC Mar 17 Sebadoh: The Zoo Mar 23

Miami Horror: Oh Hello! Feb 7 Rick Price: Brisbane Jazz Club Feb 14, Gold Coast Arts Centre Feb 15 Josh Pyke: Old Museum Feb 15

Mayhem: The Hi-Fi Jan 12

Absu: Crowbar Mar 23

Deerhunter: The Zoo Dec 9

Misfits: The Zoo Jan 16

Muse: BEC Dec 10 (AA)

Eyehategod: The Hi-Fi Jan 17

Peter Murphy: The Hi-Fi Dec 10

Thirty Seconds To Mars, White Lies: Brisbane Riverstage Mar 30 (AA)

Mudhoney: The Zoo Jan 18

Metric: The Tivoli Dec 11

Kodaline: The Hi-Fi Apr 1

Sage Francis: The Hi-Fi Dec 12

The Lumineers: The Tivoli Jan 18

3 Inches Of Blood: Crowbar Apr 10

Alicia Keys, John Legend: BEC Dec 13

We Are Scientists: The Zoo Jan 22

Steve Earle & The Dukes: The Tivoli Apr 15

Bob Log III: Alhambra Lounge Dec 13

Periphery: The Hi-Fi Jan 31

Allen Stone: The Zoo Apr 16

The Locust: Crowbar Feb 5

Katie Noonan, Abby Dobson: Old Museum Dec 14

Kylesa: The Hi-Fi Dec 13

Selena Gomez: BCEC Feb 6

KC & The Sunshine Band: The Tivoli Apr 19

Pond: The Zoo Dec 14, The Northern Dec 15

Hopsin: The Tempo Hotel Dec 13, Surfers Paradise Beer Garden Dec 16

DJ Shadow: Family Feb 7

Jake Bugg: The Hi-Fi Apr 23

Clairy Browne: The Hi-Fi Dec 19

Dash Berlin: Riverstage Feb 9

KT Tunstall: The Zoo Apr 30

Chris Lake: Family Dec 13, Platinum Dec 20

The National: Riverstage Feb 11

Jason Derulo: BEC May 5

Tkay Maidza: Alhambra Lounge Dec 19

Ed Kowalczyk: The Tivoli Feb 12

Michael Buble: BEC May 12

Joride: Bowler Bar Dec 19

Wire: The Zoo Feb 19

Fleshgod Apocalypse: The Hi-Fi May 14

Scott & Charlene’s Wedding: Black Bear Lodge Dec 20

James Blunt: BCEC Jun 2

Miami Horror: Oh Hello! Dec 21

Stereosonic: RNA Showgrounds Dec 7-8

Ellie Goulding: BCEC Jun 5 (AA)

Angie, Nathan Roche: New Globe Theatre Dec 21, The Time Machine Dec 22

Festival Of The Sun: Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park Dec 13-14

Jack Johnson: QPAC Dec 14 Chic featuring Nile Rodgers: The Tivoli Dec 15 Todd Terry: Cloudland Dec 15 The Brian Jonestown Massacre: The Hi-Fi Dec 15, The Northern Dec 18 Bon Jovi, Kid Rock: Suncorp Stadium Dec 17

Eminem: Suncorp Stadium Feb 20 Dolly Parton: BEC Feb 21 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: BEC Feb 26 The Wonder Stuff: The Zoo Feb 27

Dragon: Kedron Wavell Services Club Jun 20, Twin Towns Jun 21

NATIONAL

Mac DeMarco: The Zoo Dec 18

Mango Groove: Eatons Hill Hotel Mar 1

David Dallas: Alhambra Lounge Dec 19

Brian McKnight: QPAC Mar 2

Patrick James: Black Bear Lodge Nov 27

Charles Bradley: The Hi-Fi Mar 4

Air Supply: Jupiters Casino Nov 27

Mikhael Paskalev: Alhambra Lounge Mar 4

The John Steel Singers: The Spotted Cow Nov 28, The Zoo Nov 29, Solbar Nov 30

Waka Flocka Flame: The Hi-Fi Dec 21 Ben Caplan: Black Bear Lodge Jan 2 Half Moon Run: Solbar Jan 2, Old Museum Jan 3, The Northern Jan 4 Babylon Circus: Solbar Jan 3, The Brewery Jan 4, Alhambra Lounge Jan 5

Neko Case: The Hi-Fi Mar 5 Neil Finn: Nambour Civic Centre Mar 6, QPAC Mar 7 Bruno Mars: BEC Mar 7 Public Enemy: The Hi-Fi Mar 7

Earthless: Crowbar Jan 3

Lionel Ritchie: BEC Mar 10

Deafhaven: Crowbar Jan 8

Yo La Tengo: The Zoo Mar 11

Paramore, You Me At Six: BEC Jan 9

Iced Earth: The Hi-Fi Mar 14 Toby Keith: BEC Mar 14

Whitley: Alhambra Lounge Nov 28, Woombye Pub Nov 29, Coolangatta Hotel Nov 30 Circles: Transcontinental Hotel Nov 29 Bitch Prefect: Black Bear Lodge Nov 29 Clubfeet DJs: Bowler Bar Nov 30 Machine Translations: The Hi-Fi Nov 30

Gareth Liddiard: QAG Dec 13 Charlie Horse: The Spotted Cow Dec 13, Ric’s Bar Dec 14 Battleships: Solbar Dec 13, The Hideaway Dec 14

Darren Hanlon: Black Bear Lodge Dec 23 Bonjah: Solbar Dec 28, The Northern Dec 29, Surfers Paradise Beer Garden Dec 30 Joe Robinson: The Brewery Jan 3, New Globe Theatre Jan 4 Jessica Mauboy: Empire Theatre Jan 8; Lismore Workers Club Jan 10 Mi-Sex: Woombye Pub Jan 9, Eatons Hill Hotel Jan 10, Coolangatta Hotel Jan 11

Sunnyboys: The Northern Mar 14, 15, The Tivoli Mar 28 Baby Animals: Eatons Hill Hotel Mar 14, Coolangatta Hotel Mar 15, Racehorse Hotel Apr 4, Alexandra Hills Hotel Apr 5 Kate Miller-Heidke: The Tivoli Apr 5

FESTIVALS

OzManouche: Brisbane Jazz Club Nov 28-Dec 1 Warped Tour: RNA Showgrounds Nov 29, Coffs Harbour Showground Nov 30

Woodford Folk Festival: Woodfordia Dec 27-Jan 1 Falls Festival: Byron Bay Dec 31-Jan 3 Beachlife: Surfers Paradise Beach Jan 4-5 Boys Of Summer: The Rev Jan 8, Eagleby South School Hall Jan 9 (AA) Big Day Out: Metricon Stadium and Carrara Parklands Jan 19 Laneway Festival: RNA Showgrounds Jan 31

In Hearts Wake: Sands Tavern Jan 10, Byron Bay YAC Jan 11

Soundwave: RNA Showgrounds Feb 22

Kingswood, Calling All Cars: The Northern Jan 10, The Tempo Hotel Jan 11, Solbar Jan 12

Good Life: RNA Showgrounds Feb 28

Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus: Marquee Jan 11, Coolangatta Hotel Jan 12

1000S OF GIGS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. FOR MORE HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU 64 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013

John Farnham: BEC Mar 10

Bluesfest: Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm Apr 17-21 Groovin’ The Moo: Townsville Cricket Grounds May 4

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THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013 • 65

the end

WANKY SUMMER READS LOLITA SUMMER VIBE

All short shorts and being 12 years old eating ice-cream by the pool.

DISTURBING? God yes. Our Lolita is being stared at, and then is kidnapped by a pedophile/her stepfather, Humbert Humbert.

THE OBVIOUS Nabokov’s masterpiece is one of the greatest literary works of all time.

THE TWIST You’re meant to kinda sympathise with Humbert.

First person narration is a bitch sometimes.

PACE OF READ In snippets, across the whole summer

THE BOOK THIEF SUMMER VIBE

The exact opposite. It’s cold in Nazi Germany. It might make you forget the 40+ degree temps outside.

DISTURBING? Will make you cry/have all the feels.

THE OBVIOUS Marcus Zusak won all the awards for this one. Plus reading it ties in with the release of the film adaptation in January.

THE TWIST The narrator is Death.

PACE OF READ So much sobbing you will have to stop intermittently.

THE VIRGIN SUICIDES SUMMER VIBE Five singletted sisters in a leafy suburb, who at one point listen to rock‘n’roll records.

DISTURBING? Deeply. Depressing too, thanks to the somewhat macabre subject matter.

THE OBVIOUS It might be the most perfectly written book of all time. Also, remember Sofia Coppola’s movie and Air’s soundtrack? Sublime.

THE TWIST In the first line. The five sisters have all committed suicide. Read on to find out how.

PACE OF READ A day or two of full-time reading, probably around Boxing Day. 66 • THE MUSIC • 27TH NOVEMBER 2013