Issue 1395

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BOYS ARE BACK

British India

Lee Fields

SOUL SIDES

Soul legend Lee Fields and his band The Expressions are heading to WA for the first time. With a catalogue ranging from James Brown-style funk to lo-fi blues and contemporary Southern soul, plus collaborations with French house DJ/producer Martin Solveig, catch them at Clancys Dunsborough on Sunday, December 29, and at Billion’s 6th Annual New Years Day Concert at Fremantle Arts Centre on Wednesday, January 1.

Joining Lee Fields on that line-up is Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Sunshine Brothers, Grace Barbe and Blind Tiger Blues Box. Get your tickets from Oztix, Heatseeker and the usuals.

Sara Winfield, 140

UNTOLD TALES

Local radio station, RTRFM is presenting Australia’s first music documentary festival - Gimme Some Truth, comprised of 10 films including four Australian premieres, one world premiere, and a live score.

To kick things off on Friday, November 29, at Luna Outdoor, there’s the Australian premiere of Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton about LA-based record label, Stones Throw Records, plus an opening party with DJs Rok Riley and Ben M. The festival runs from Friday, November 29 to Sunday, December 1. Check out the full program of events at: rtrfm.com.au/ gimmesometruth.

JUST FOR LAUGHS

Southbound Festival happening on Friday, January 3, and Saturday, January 4, at Sir Stewart Bovell Park, Busselton, has added a comedy program to its already massive music line-up. Just for laughs Amos Gill, Dave Callan, David Quirk, Michael Hing, Nath Valvo and Ronny Chieng will all be making a guest appearance. Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement soon about the triple j Unearthed and Stagebound competition winners.

Karnivool

GOOD THINGS COME IN PAIRS

Two artists that toured together years ago and had “a shitload of fun” are Karnivool and Dead Letter Circus - so they’re doing it all over again, this time on the Polymorphism Tour. Since debuting at #1 on the ARIA Chart in July with their third album, Asymmetry, Karnivool have been touring the world playing festivals and are currently on their second European tour. Dead Letter Circus is doing pretty much the same - touring Europe on the back of their successful second album, The Catalyst Fire. Catch them both on Thursday, January 23, at Red Hill Auditorium with special guests, sleepmakeswaves. Tickets on sale now via karnivool.com.au/tour.

Melbourne pop-rock four-piece, British India have a new single out called Blinded and they’re heading to WA to promote it. The track is from their fourth album, Controller, which debuted at #10 in the ARIA Chart. Following the tour, the band will take three months off to start writing album number five. Catch them on Thursday, November 28, at the Prince Of Wales, Bunbury; Friday, November 29, at Settlers Tavern, Margaret River; and Saturday, November 20, at Capitol. All shows supported by Unbroken Expanse from Tenant Creek. Tickets on sale through Oztix.

‘ARTY’ SHOPFRONTS

Twelve artists are using the 140 retail building as a canvas from now until Friday, January 31. See art displayed on the windows of The Aviary, Iku Sushi, Nando’s, Perth Central Dental, iWorkshop, Ali Baba Hairdressing, Tartine Café and many more, by artists such as Sara Winfield, Andy Quilty, Anya Brock, Amok and Pip McManus. Head to 140.com.au for more info; and Instagram your favourite shopfront with the hashtag #140ART to go in the running to win a print.

The Ghost Hotel

CYRENIAN HOUSE SUE HAMMERSELY BENEFIT CONCERT

Sue Hammersley was a huge figure in the Perth music scene and her loss is still strongly felt by many. It’s only fitting, then, she gets an annual event in her name and that now comes to us in the form of a concert to benefit Cyrenian House, the alcohol and drug treatment centre founded by Sue’s father, Rick, three decades ago.

The inaugural gig, featuring The Volcanics, The Ghost Hotel, Tenderhooks, The Coalminer’s Sect and special guests, takes place on Saturday, November 30, at The Mt Lawley Bowling Club from 4pm. Tickets are $25 plus booking fee and are on sale today through OzTix and Heatseeker, as well as at Planet video and Mills Records.

Sophie and Joel

THE SHORE THING

Sophie and Joel of the smash MTV series Geordie Shore will be getting their party on at Metropolis Fremantle this Friday, November 8. The devilish duo will be partying it up in classic style, with Joel taking a spin on the decks for good measure. Tickets are only available on the door from 8pm, so get down early!

BACK OFF MAN, I’M A SCIENTIST

One of the most influential Australian bands of all time, Perth’s own The Scientists are getting back together for one night only at The Bakery. The original line-up of Kim Salmon, James Baker, Boris Sujdovic and Rod Radalj will be marking the band’s 35th anniversary on Saturday, November 30. Tickets are available now from nowbaking.com.au.

Nick Allbrook

SUPER ANTICS

Antics - happening at The Claremont Hotel every Saturday between November 9 and 23 will feature a whole ton of local musical talent. This week catch New Animal, Red Mexico and Sprawl. On Saturday, November 16, the line-up is Hideous Sun Demon, Gloria Ironbox and Spilt Cities and then on Saturday, November 23, there’s a massive ‘super’ billing that includes Abbe May (DJ set), Rainy Day Women, Peter Bibby and Nick Allbrook to name just a few. It runs from 7pm to 1am and entry is free.

The Scientists

LIGHT UP RedX

HOMEWARD BOUND

Perth via Melbourne blues-rockers, RedX are coming home to WA for a tour. RedX are Phill Leggett on guitar and Eddie Narain on drums, both previously part of The Joe Kings. Catch them on Thursday, November 7, at the Mustang Bar; Friday, November 8, at the White Star Hotel, Albany; Saturday, November 9, at J.B. O’Reilly’s, Perth; and Sunday, November 10, at The Newport with The Long March.

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Cover: WAM nominees. WAM Festival runs from Thursday, November 7 to Saturday, November 9.

Salt Cover: Will Sparks plays Future Music Festival on Sunday, March 2. www.xpressmag.com.au

Leederville Connect and the City Of Vincent are gearing up for the 2013 Light Up Leederville Carnival on Sunday, December 1, from 12pm. This free event will take over the Leederville town centre with entertainment for all ages as well as turning on the new Christmas lights. There’s a launch party to kick festivities off on Thursday, November 28, at Luna Leederville with the film, How I Live Now, which includes a pre-movie party with food, wines, beer and cider from sponsors and Leederville traders. Get your tickets from lunapalace.com.au and for more info head to leedervillecarnival.com.au.

The Potbelleez

HOMEWARD BOUND BANKING ON A RAVE

Sydney electro-house trio, The Potbelleez are playing a show at The Left Bank on Xmas Eve - Tuesday, December 24. The Potbelleez recently released an electro drum’n’bass anthem, Magic Number featuring B.o.B, which is out now through Ministry Of Sound.

Over the past years, they’ve been DJing beach parties and clubs around Sydney with things taking off for them in a big way via DJ mix CDs and remixes for Pacha and Ministry Of Sound. Support on the night comes from Black and Blunt, DJ Reuben, Jimi J, DJ Zelimer, DJ Tone, DJ Lok, Paul Malone, Pegasus and The Kid. Tickets on sale from Monday, November 12 via Moshtix.

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The Counselor

FILM: THE COUNSELOR

Legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott and Pulitzer Prizewinning author Cormac McCarthy (No Country For Old Men) have joined forces in the motion picture thriller, The Counselor. Starring Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Penélope Cruz and Cameron Diaz, it tells the story of a respected lawyer’s dalliance with an illegal business deal spiralling out of control. The film kicks off in cinemas this week and to win one of ten season passes, email win@xpressmag.com.au.

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In the film Blood Of Redemption, Quinn Forte (Billy Zane) is the head of notorious crime organisation who hides behind the facade of a financial investment firm run by his father. In the course of one night he’s betrayed by his inner circle, arrested and loses everything. Upon his return he comes back to tackle his enemies head on. It’s being released today on DVD and Blu-ray and to win a copy of your very own, email win@xpressmag.com.au.

For the first time ever, action sports fans can attend the Australian premiers of the biggest surf, skate and snow films at the TILT Action Sports Film Festival. Mick Fanning, Tony Hawk, Danny Way, filmmaker Taylor Steele, and many more feature in the documentaries, which run in selected cinemas from November 11-15, with different films airing on each of the five sports themed nights. To win one of three double passes to the screening of Fanning The Fire and Missing at Event Cinema, Innaloo at 7pm on Friday, November 15, email win@xpressmag.com.au.

The first rule of Beer Skool Fight Club is you don’t talk about non-craft beer! Witness ten brewers at the peak of their game, pitted against each other in ruthless, relentless taste-offs to find a champion. It’s happening on Thursday, November 14 at The Quarie as part of WA Beer Week. Tickets are $49 per head, which includes ten beer tasters, beer bites, custom tasting notes and a chance to win some brewer merch.

Head to wabeerweek.com. au for more info or to win a double pass, email us at win@xpressmag.com.au and you might get lucky.

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From the weird and wonderful to the strange but true, Perth is about to experience the best in Mexican cinema by way of the 8th Annual Hola Mexico Film Festival. Running from November 14-20, the Festival is screening ten feature films, four documentaries and a special opening night celebration, which includes the comedy blockbuster and #1 box office hit in Mexican cinema history - Nosotros Los Nobles. To win one of five season passes, email win@xpressmag.com.au.

BEER SKOOL: FIGHT CLUB EDITION

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HOLA MEXICO FILM FESTIVAL

Pugsley Buzzard

PUGSLEY BUZZARD

Singer and piano player, Pugsley Buzzard is releasing his new album Chasin` Aces, this Friday, November 8 at the Ellington Jazz Club; on Saturday, November 9 at Rottnest Lodge; Sunday, November 10 at Blues At Bridgetown Festival; and on Tuesday, November 12 at Perth Blues Club, Charles Hotel. Recorded in New Orleans, Melbourne and the Blue Mountains, the record contains ten new original tunes by Buzzard and some of New Orleans top jazz, blues and funk players. To win yourself a double pass to the show at the Ellington, email win@xpressmag.com.au.

FILM: FORESHADOW

Foreshadow is a supernatural thriller telling the story of Jesse Milton (played by End Of Fashion’s Justin Burford) who is living the high life - money, surf and a never-ending supply of hot dates, until he discovers his latest bombshell is dead. Shot in Perth, the film also stars Logie nominee Myles Pollard and a barrage of local beauties including Andrea Addison, Tawni Bryant and Clara Helms. To win one of 10 double passes to a screening at Hoyts Millennium, Fremantle on November 15 at 6.45pm - email win@ xpressmag.com.au.

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Sugar Army, Sons Of Rico, Emperors and big-screen VJs previewing the X-Press of the future and all sorts of other things besides.

The Saturday Spectacular happens all across the Urban Orchard, the Emerging Artists Wetlands stage, plus The Bird, YaYa’s, Mustang Bar, Universal Bar, The Bakery, Beat Nightclub and The Be sure to head down to Northbridge for this year’s Brass Monkey.

WAM Saturday Spectacular this weekend and while Get out there and love it. More details at you’re there check out the X-Press Launch Stage at wam.org.au. the PICA Bar & Amphitheatre.

Here at the ol’ X-P we’ve recently celebrated our 28th birthday, so we’ve gone to the salon and had a restyle, adding some sparkle in our online and digital realm, as well as waving a bit of brush across our print publications.

So, as part of the WAM Festival’s Saturday Spectacular there’ll be bands down at PICA from noon, with Cow Parade Cow, Apache, Tired Lion, Antelope, Foam, Husband, 44th Sunset and Sugarpuss givin’ it good.

From around 8pm our official digital launch kicks off, with industry friends and public pals, plus Sugar Army

LET’S DO LAUNCH

Emperors

Sons Of Rico

THE BREEDERS

LISA MITCHELL Process And Proceed

The City of Wanneroo presents Lisa Mitchell who will be performing with Josh Pyke at the Wanneroo Showgrounds this Saturday, November 9. CHRIS HAVERCROFT reports.

Lisa Mitchell is an ever-evolving artist.

The songs that she released on her debut EP, 2007’s Said One To The Other - which featured sparse arrangements and an acoustic guitar at the forefront - are very different to what she is constructing now. Instead of shying away from the tunes she penned as a 16 year-old, Mitchell would rather think of the songs of that era as an interesting record of someone’s psyche as they are changing and growing up and expanding.

“It is a brilliant diary really,” Mitchell says of her early recordings. “I have this conversation with friends and other singers and talk about being so sick of their old songs. I used to be like that and be sick of the old ones and not want to sing them again, but now I think I have a lot of compassion for my younger self and I almost enjoy putting on the character of my younger self.

“It is like a walk down memory lane and I think it is really important in terms of connecting with my audience. I always want to involve my old songs in my shows even though it can be a bit weird at times.”

The shift in focus for Mitchell has seen her wanting to approach her art from a really pure place and try to take ego out of it. This involves the

Lisa Mitchell diminutive singer channelling whatever comes and then going back to make it more accessible in terms of arrangements.

“I guess the creative process evolves for every person as well as the outcome. For me it is ever changing and I am trying to find a better relationship with that place. Also the relationship with that part of yourself that wants to censor things and won’t quite let you express what you really want to express so there are always these inner dialogues going on. I hope to keep that evolving and to write more purely.”

Astor Theatre Thursday, October 31, 2013 While The Breeders were originally formed by Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses fame, this tour featured the classic Last Splash era line-up, including Kim’s identical twin Kelley and the brilliant Josephine Wiggs on bass.

It was mostly an older crowd re-living their ‘90s glory days, but a solid, younger contingent was testament to the enduring popularity of The Breeders. After Perth power-pop kings Emperors rocked the early crowd, people slowly gathered to the front and an air of anticipation swept across the room as it past 9pm. Without much fanfare, the lights dropped and cheers went up. With original members Jim MacPherson on drums and Carrie Bradley on keys and violin, the band were packing a complete sound.

‘We’re gonna start with a cover’, Kim announced and The Breeders launched into Guided

By Voices’ Shocker In Gloomtown, an old B-side, as somewhat of a soundcheck. Then it was into Last Splash with the explosive intro of New Year. The fuzzed out ‘Ahooh’ and classic bassline proclaimed Cannonball, their biggest hit. No Aloha was a crowd favourite. Kim’s unique, husky voice was in great form, and the room exploded as the drums kicked in.

The shoegazey sounds of Roi saw MacPherson and Wiggs swap places, and the dual vocals from the coolest sisters in rock were in full effect as they harmonised, ‘Raw, where the, shot leaves me gagging for the arrow’.

Deal’s between song banter was amusing, making jokes as she flashed her infectious smile, confessing they nearly didn’t make the show as they were ‘almost eaten by a 12 foot tiger shark!’ A perfect intro as Kelley stepped up to the mic for the short, sharp belter I Just Wanna Get Along.

Divine Hammer still sounds as sweet and catchy a pop song about heroin as you’ll ever hear, and SOS featured the incredible drumming of MacPherson, whose beat, along with the screechy guitar was famously sampled by The Prodigy on Firestarter. Live it is evident what an important part of the band Wiggs is, the Brit positioned centre stage, holding it all together with her solid basslines.

JANE SAYS

Last here in April, Aurora Jane has released her fourth album, Holding Pattern, a release very much influenced by the surroundings it was conceived in.

“It was written, recorded and mixed over a few months,” she says. “So it’s spontaneous, fresh, and carries a lot of vibe from the live tracking of the bed tracks in a house in the Byron hinterland.”

Jane revels in music, loving it for what it is and how it resonates in her life.

“It nurtures me,” she says. “It helps me to enjoy life more deeply, and when I’m in a state of flow, allows me to transcend the boundaries of space and time.”

Jane has launched a new project, Mojojunction.com, a “creative intersection” featuring music, food, travel and culture stories from independent artists across the globe in the form of www.xpressmag.com.au

Kelley Deal, The Breeders Photo: Daniel Grant The Siren Tower, single launch this Saturday at Amplifier The country tinged Drivin’ On 9 was always a great outro, before the brief reprise of Roi, and the band left stage to huge applause. After a short break they returned, Kim announcing ‘We’re gonna play some Pod songs’, as the band then proceeded to play the entire Donelly-era album in two more sections!

Hellbound and Fortunately Gone sounded great, as well as their famous cover of Happiness Is A Warm Gun. The female-fronted outfit are still such a tight band, and this was a superbly faithful rendition of a classic album of the era, with a surprise treat for the aficionados. Whether it’s their last splash is yet to be seen.

SIREN SOUNDS

The Siren Tower have received plaudits from all over the country since the release of last year’s A History Of Houses LP. The good word has continued for their fresh new single, King River, which they launch this Saturday, November 9, at Amplifier.

“Inspiration is a funny thing,” singer/ songwriter, Grant McCulloch says. “It can be an esoteric and fleeting spark, or it can be finite and fixed, literal and right in front of your face. King River was a little of both, I guess.

“The song was shaped while I was back home visiting my parents on the little property I _ ALFRED GORMAN grew up on in Victoria. I just remember thinking how

short films, podcasts, photo stories and reviews. She also produces music and videos for other artists.

“I love it,” she says. “Working with great writers is a joy. I feel I have so much room to move creatively when breathing life and ideas into other peoples work. Collaboration is always the most rewarding artform.”

AJ says you can expect “sweet sounds, phat sounds, deep pockety groove, adventure stories, laughter and dancing” at her Perth shows this week.

Catch her on Wednesday, November 6, at Mojo’s; Thursday, November 7 at the Indi Bar; Friday, November 8, at Settler’s Tavern, Margaret River; Saturday, November 9, at the White Star Tavern, Albany, and Sunday, November 10, at Redcliffe On The Murray.

the place was the same, but how my relationship with it had changed, and how it could no longer offer me the things it had done when I was a child.

So the song is about these places from our past and how they change, just the way we do.”

Looking ahead to 2014, McCulloch is conscious of album number two, but the call of the road may take precedence.

“Next year we’ll be really keen to start the writing process again but at the same time we’ll look to do a some more touring to keep the momentum we’ve achieved,” he says. “Once you take your foot off the gas, it’s hard to get it back… so keep it firmly planted on the floor!”

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shoestring budget, especially with WAM looking at What are you looking most forward to during the ways to keep the festival improving and growing. conference?

The program is really diverse, definitely a Problem-solving is the best part of every job, right? lot of panels I will be sitting in on, but the main one I You’ve moved the festival to November from May am really looking forward to is the opening keynote to coincide with Ausmusic Month. As the festival with Adalita and Cath Haridy, for sure! approaches what are emerging as the advantages in the shift?

One of the advantages is the weather! I The awards this year head to the Astor Theatre. know it has been a bit hit and miss lately - where Describe their evolution...

The WA Music Awards is now in its 20th is the sunshine? - but with the addition of extra outdoor stages, the beautiful spring weather is year and has acted as the launch pad for many artists over the years and it has continued to grow with local going to be a huge plus for the Saturday Spectacular support, thus leading us to a larger venue. This is the event. Other advantages include WAM staff making event where our music community can acknowledge great connections at Bigsound in September and and celebrate the musical achievements of West encouraging people to come over from the East Australian musicians.

Coast, and also the greater exposure the West Australian music scene receives on the radio as part “It is imperative that the of Ausmusic Month.

How’s it felt going into the festival this year with the new branding?

It feels WAMtastic! And that is all I can say about that.

BROOKE KELLY, WAM FESTIVAL DIRECTOR That Festive Feeling Brooke Kelly has helmed the WAM Festival for a few years now, but 2013 marks the start of a new era.

BOB GORDON chats with Kelly in the lead-up to the WAM Festival taking place from this Thursday-Saturday, November 7-9. Head to wam.org.au for full details.

The WAM(i) Festival, going back to the ‘90s, has garnered good industry and media attention. Is that still on the up and up?

It certainly is, and more so on a national basis than ever before. WAM has received so much good feedback on the new WAM look and the new festival format from people in WA as well as on the East Coast so we feel confident we are reaching our target audience.

As we noted last week, WAM’s CEO Dr Wendy Were is moving on shortly. What do you feel she has brought to WAM and what she has gifted for Brooke Kelly its future?

The WAM office was very sad when we How manic is this week?

This is the week where you have to have were told the news of Wendy leaving but, of course your game face on! It does get busy in the lead up to the Australia Council want her! Wendy has been the events, but we have a great team at WAM and we wonderful for WAM and for us as staff to work with. are all supporting each other during this crazy time. I know how hard Wendy has worked to prepare WAM’s business plan for the next three years and Describe what it is to be the WAM Festival Director? the fortunate thing is that the work she has done To be completely honest, at times I feel will continue to unfold through the implementation like I am herding cats. But most of the time I just love of this business plan. working in a role where I can offer local musicians opportunities to be seen and heard by the public and The conference looks strong this year. How important is this element for you? by the music industry.

It is imperative that the conference offers Does it get easier by the year, or are there always strong opportunities for WA musicians to connect new scenarios to dream and new problems to with the East Coast and network with people who are not regularly visiting WA. It can be difficult for solve?

Yes, each year we have new and bigger musicians to jump the isolation hurdle so the WAM dreams, and then comes the problem-solving on how Conference offers knowledge and the networking to make those WAM Festival dreams come true on a opportunities to make things a little easier.

CRAFTY CUTS

DYLAN OLIVIERRE (Rainy Day Women)

LUKE DUX

(The Floors, Timothy Nelson & The Infidels, The Wishers, Davey Craddock & The Spectacles, Dux n Downtown)

Ken ‘Squasha’ Knight is this year’s Hall Of Fame Inductee. Why was he chosen?

Based on feedback from the WA Music Council and the knowledge of WAM staff, WAM chose to induct Squasha into this year’s WAM Hall Of Fame to recognise the long time he has committed to the music community in Western Australia. Squasha’s been working hard since the ‘80s as a band promoter, venue manager, festival promoter and always ensured there was plenty of room on the bills for West Australian musicians.

What are your hopes for this year’s WAM Festival?

That local musicians utilise the opportunities being offered to them and that we all celebrate masses of talent there is in WA by supporting the live music showcases.

And plans for the next?

You’ll have to wait and see. Wink!

When did you first realise you wanted to be a guitarist?

1997.

Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style?

As a guitar player? Marc Ribot, probably.

On the eve of the 2013 WAM Awards, we once again take a moment to touch base with some of the hugely talented Craft Award Nominees, whose skill in their chosen field has been noted and lauded by their fellow musicians.

The craft awards will be presented this Saturday, November 9, during the RTR FM Live Broadcast at Northbridge Piazza between noon-8pm.

MCDONALD GUITARIST OF THE YEAR MITCH (The Love Junkies)

conference offers strong opportunities for WA musicians to connect with the east coast and network with people who are not regularly visiting WA. It can be difficult for musicians to jump the isolation hurdle so the WAM Conference offers knowledge and the networking opportunities to make things a little easier.”

Rainy Day Women Photo: Michael Wylie How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

I was really grateful that I’d been recognised for the nomination but I think it’s pretty funny, really.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a guitarist?

I wanted to be Slash when I was about 10 or 11.

What single song do you think best demonstrates what you do?

As a guitar player ? Heaven’s Dresscode or Spraypaint probably.

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a guitarist, I’d be a...” ...diligent and tattooed aquatic creature, sweeping the ocean floors, collecting plankton for the boys, staying focussed and putting in a good effort for the rest of the season.

BASSIST OF THE YEAR IAN BERNEY (Birds Of Tokyo)

Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style?

John Frusciante.

What single song do you think best demonstrates what you do?

Well in Rainy Day Women I mostly just play chords live but I write the majority of the lines.

Strangers shows off the more creative side of my guitar playing

Luke Dux How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

I quit my job.

The Love Junkies

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How did you feel when you heard you’d been Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a guitarist, I’d be a...” nominated? ...whole lot richer.

Frightened and horny.

BEN WITT

When did you first realise you wanted to be a guitarist?

When I realised bands like Muse, Tool and Death From Above 1979 could sound massive because of bass distortion.

How did you feel when you heard you’d been (The Chemist) nominated?

Pretty stoked. It’s a pretty big compliment.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a When did you first realise you wanted to be a guitarist? guitarist?

When I was young ‘un. I started when I was I was told guitarists get chauffeured six. around and don’t pay for beer.

Which artist is the single biggest influence on Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style? your style?

At the moment, maybe Roland S. Howard.

Link Wray.

What single song do you think best demonstrates What single song do you think best demonstrates what you do? what you do?

Maybelene.

Anything by Yngwie Malmsteen.

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a guitarist, I’d be a...”

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a guitarist, I’d be a...” ... Japanese Spider Crab. ...bass player.

Birds Of Tokyo

Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style?

Carlos Dengler - Interpol.

The Chemist Photo: Daniel Grant

What single song do you think best demonstrates what you do?

My style has changed a lot since joining Birds Of Tokyo it’s more about the gift of giving in this band. Filling the bottom end and supporting the vocals, keys and guitars has become more of a prerogative. I think Sigur Ros’ Olsen Olsen is a good example of the work I did on March Fires.

How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

It felt pretty good but I had to stay focussed for the boys and make sure I put in a good Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a guitarist, I’d be a...” effort for the rest of the season. ... Gourmet Burger Artist.

#youshouldreadxpress

www.xpressmag.com.au

13

DRUMMER OF THE YEAR JAMES WILLS (Drowning Horse)

...continued from page 12.

RYAN DUX

(The Floors, The Kill Devil Hills, Will Stoker & The Embers)

ALWYN NIXON-LLOYD

in school to get out of doing English and they made us form a band. I got drums. I was just sitting there playing away and I thought it was kinda fun. So I got (Boys Boys Boys) some lessons and then my parents bought me a drum kit. From then I got obsessed. I was already obsessed with bands and music but realising that I could jam along to my CDs was really awesome. I think it took me another two years before I decided I wanted to be in a band and tour and all that. You can see in my grades when I decided that’s what I wanted to do. 60%-80% turned into 0%-20%. I think my parents regretted buying me the drum kit for a while.

Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style?

Drowning Horse Early on I was all about the Dave Grohl.

How did you feel when you heard you’d been I think if you watch me play that’s pretty obvious.

But when I got into it more I really got into guys nominated? like Thomas Prigden and those gospel chops guys.

Surprised. I’m average at best.

But really anyone who has an interesting take on Ryan Dux When did you first realise you wanted to be a something, I’ll just steal it and try and turn it into my How did you feel when you heard you’d been drummer? own thing. I also got right into Buddy Rich for a while nominated?

When I was eight I watched The Peanut but guys that good just make you want to quit.

Started recording my solo album titled Butter Solution, and there’s a scene where this pissed 4Heart Strings. off kid takes it out on the drums. It looked like a great What single song do you think best demonstrates what you do?

When did you first realise you wanted to be a time.

There’s a new one we’ve been playing live bassist?

My brother Luke needed some help Which artist is the single biggest influence on called Blowing On The Devils Strumpet which we are also hoping to release soon. It’s just three minutes of your style? sounding good.

Here are two: Jason Roeder (Neurosis) and playing as hard as you can with some of my favourite fills and then it just ends in a big mess. I like it ‘cause Which artist is the single biggest influence on Dave Turncrantz (Russian Circles). it’s just chaos and we’re right into chaos in our music. your style?

Willie Dixon.

What single song do you think best demonstrates It’s always the song we play last and afterwards I’m always on the verge of throwing up ‘cause I go too what you do?

What single song do you think best demonstrates Anything heavy, slow and minimal. Not hard at the beginning and then run out of steam, and what you do? then I end up not playing it properly... drumming so every second needs to be filled with drums.

Lucy On All Fours by the Kill Devil Hills. poor it makes me sick.

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a drummer, I’d be a...”

5. Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a bassist, I’d be a...”

I’d take up pottery, learn a new language, Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a drummer, I’d be a...” ...shit guitarist.

A female Tanzanian professional mud and quote more lines from It’s Always Sunny In wrestler.

Philadelphia.

ANTHONY JACKSON

STEVE JUDD

(Casino Sunrise, The Siren Tower)

(Karnivool)

Alwyn Nixon-Lloyd How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

I was pretty stoked. It’s pretty awesome to have people say, ‘Hey, we think you’re kinda okay’.

When did you first realise you wanted to play keys?

My mum made me start learning piano when I was about seven or eight. When I got to about 13 I realised that I liked playing blues and ‘50-’60s rock’n’roll stuff and at that point it stopped being about something I had to do and something that I wanted to do.

Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style?

Such a hard question. Maybe Jerry Lee Lewis?

What single song do you think best demonstrates what you do?

Cut The Roof Off Your Car! Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a keyboardist, I’d be a...”

Astronaut. Fo’ sure.

RON POLLARD

(Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving, The Ron Pollard Quartet).

SCARLETT STEVENS (San Cisco)

Anthony Jackson Karnivool How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

How did you feel when you heard you’d been Surprised and confused! There are so many nominated? great young players coming up through the ranks It’s flattering to be mentioned but to be that deserve nominations more than myself! But honest, I’m not doing this for any sort of validation flattered of course. or for the accolades.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a When did you first realise you wanted to be a bassist?

I first started playing guitar in high school drummer?

When, as a small child, I realised how much and I loved it. I was at my high school friend Barney’s (Fourth Floor Collapse/Little Birdy) house one day after fun banging on things could be! school and he let me play his five-string Ibanez bass guitar. The sound, it was so huge and fat! I was hooked Which artist is the single biggest influence on immediately. your style?

I definitely can’t pick a single biggest Which artist is the single biggest influence on influence. There are far too many to name! I never had your style? a specific moment - that I can recall - when I heard When I first seriously got into bass guitar something and thought, ‘I want to be a drummer’.

I played a lot of Jane’s Addiction, so Eric Avery These days there is so much music at our fingertips, influenced my style significantly. I’m inspired by a most of which you can draw influence from. Music lot of local musicians, I’m always intrigued by players different styles, pretty much every player I see I think, keeps evolving and with that change comes a new wave of artists experimenting with sounds and styles ‘Cool, how did they do that? I’m going to try that!’ of playing that keep inspiring us to try new things, to What single song do you think best demonstrates evolve and improve our own style. what you do?

Options And Enemies by Casino Sunrise I What single song do you think best demonstrates guess? It a good contrast of my playing style, crunchy what you do?

I really don’t think one song can ever be all moving chorus with a dotted funky verse. Typical overplaying! encompassing of what you do as a musician. But if we are being literal, I guess Little Drummer Boy would hit Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a bassist, I’d be...” the nail on the head. ...working with Lego.

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a drummer, I’d be a...”

Person doing something.

JOHN STOCKMAN (Karnivool)

Ron Pollard How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

Pleasantly surprised. I’m always encouraged How did you feel when you heard you’d been by the scope of artists that WAM covers. It’s never easy nominated?

I was stoked. I’m honoured that people like getting recognition with long instrumental pieces, so I’m more than happy to be nominated. my drumming.

Scarlett Stevens

When did you first realise you wanted to be a drummer?

When I was nine I saw the movie Josie And The Pussycats. That was the catalyst.

Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style?

There hasn’t been one artist in particular and my influences always change. I’m still figuring out what my style is!

When did you first realise you wanted to play keys?

When I was about 11-years-old I started hearing various heavier bands that were utilising keys in a way that weren’t just in a supporting role. Bands like Nine Inch Nails, etc.

Which artist is the single biggest influence on your style?

Philip Glass.

What single song do you think best demonstrates What single song do you think best demonstrates what you do? what you do?

They Found My Skull In The Nest Of A Bird.

Hate to say it, but probably Awkward - a simple groove with an attempt at vocals.

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a keyboardist, I’d be Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a drummer, I’d be...” a...”

Drummer/unprofessional dancer.

Working with the good people at Mills Records.

KEYS/SYNTH ARTIST OF THE YEAR

JAMES IRELAND

JACK DOEPEL

(MmHmmm, Jack Doepel Quartet, Bastian’s Happy Flight)

LEWIS WALSH (The Love Junkies)

James Ireland Photo: Lily May Karnivool How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

I was pretty humbled actually, very happy to be considered for the award.

The Love Junkies When did you first realise you wanted to be a Photo: Michael Wylie bassist?

After I’d been playing bass for about six years, How did you feel when you heard you’d been when I realised that bass was much more about nominated? drums than the guitar. Took a while.

It was really nice. It’s always a good feeling to get a pat on the back or a thumbs up for your Which artist is the single biggest influence on music. What I was really happy about was getting my your style? name next to people like Steve Judd. It’s kinda odd Jonny Greenwood. seeing as he’s someone I’ve really looked up to for What single song do you think best demonstrates years. So yeah all in all it’s good that someone thinks I’m doing a good job! what you do?

Probably Goliath - Sound Awake.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a drummer?

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a bassist, I’d be...” ...Chuck Norris.

It was kind of an accident. I took music class 14

Jack Doepel

How did you feel when you heard you’d been nominated?

Felt great. Thanks WAM.

How did you feel when you heard you’d been When did you first realise you wanted to play keys? nominated?

No idea. I was young. Grade 4 or something.

Great! It is always an honour to be Started learning for something to do. Back then I nominated for a WAM award. didn’t realise I’d still be doing it now.

When did you first realise you wanted to play keys? Which artist is the biggest influence on your style?

I started playing piano after listening to my Too hard to say. Whoever I’m listening at the mum play classical piano at our house, I was around time. At the moment I’ve been getting into Arca and 14 years-old. the stuff he did with FKA Twigs.

Which artist is the single biggest influence on What single song do you think best demonstrates your style? what you do?

There is no one single artist, I am more Hunger. I made this track years ago, but it’s influenced by styles; jazz music has played a big part the most recent track I’ve uploaded to Soundcloud. in my musical learning.

Fill in the blank: “If I weren’t a keyboardist, I’d be Fill in the blank:“If I weren’t a keyboardist, I’d be a...” a...”

Saxophone player. ... #youshouldreadxpress

www.xpressmag.com.au

15

A rare photo of Squasha (and friend) circa early ‘80s

SQUASHA Deck The Hall

Your favourite Perth bands over the years...

We had a great passion for The Bamboos, who were an absolutely fantastic band. I remember putting them on an Eastern States tour and the drummer’s girlfriend had a premonition that he was falling to the ground from an aeroplane so he hightailed it and left them stranded. There were bands like The Jackals and The Love Pump. Anything that Kim Salmon and Boris Sudjovic used to do, whether it was The Dubrovniks or The Scientists, etc.

Promoter Ken ‘Squasha’ Knight (Altered State/Big Day Out) has been named as the 2013 Inductee to the Most memorable acts you’ve brought to town? of my personal favourites would have WAM Hall Of Fame, to be presented to be The One Ramones. I never thought that I’d get to at the awards night this Friday, touch a Ramone (laughs). That was pretty fantastic. I remember doing New Order at Canterbury Court November 8, at the Astor Theatre. “In can on their Blue Monday tour when they basically wouldn’t a lot of cases,” he tells BOB GORDON, play Blue Monday, so that was pretty amusing. We had REM at the Concert Hall and the PA had half the “isolation breeds creativity.” speakers blow up an catch fire. So we had to cancel that It’s a volatile industry, what’s it like to receive this pat on the back?

It’s definitely very humbling. I’m feeling very honoured to actually receive that pat on the back. I never thought it would actually happen. It’s all good.

night and they played the next. I remember old Michael Chugg not being too happy that day. I never thought I’d get to see Iggy Pop and we put him on as the first ever live show at Challenge Stadium. Faith No More at the Charles Hotel was a pretty rocky gig.

Were you always going to be in the music industry or did it start - as it does for many - by accident?

Well I always had a passion for music, but I was never very good at playing it. I actually had a set of drums and tried banging them, but I gave them to good old Russell Hopkinson who actually became a musician.

I still had the passion for music, it was still a big part of my life, so I had to find somewhere else and promotion was the next way to go.

You handled The Birthday Party and early Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds tours as well?

Yes, all of those. I remember doing The Birthday Party at the Red Parrot and one of them had missed the plane and other certain misdemeanours were on and lucky they were playing in a nightclub because they were allowed to go on a couple hours late.

If it was a pub it would have been all over (laughs). That would have been into the early-mid ‘80s.

Tell us about Mob Vengeance...

(Laughs) The legendary Mob Vengeance?

That was a band we played in, there was Matt Snashall, myself, Russell Hopkinson and a couple of different guitarists. We were one of the early Perth punk bands; there wasn’t too many places we were actually able to play at the time. The West Australian public was a bit terrified of people with green and pink hair. We had a residency for a while with The Quick And The Dead, the big skinhead band at the time. We used to have to play in the daylight hours at the City Hotel, which is now the Belgian Beer Cafe, on the corner of King Street.

Then we played at other salubrious bars, such as the Bega Tavern, I believe it was called, out in Gosnells.

We were allowed to play there at night (laughs). Then we became the first ever punk band to do a North West tour. I think the arduous journey of us being stuck in that bus together for so long was the end of us (laughs).

Is it easier or harder to put a, shall we say, ‘party’ on in Perth these days?

A party in Perth? I don’t know how to party (laughs).

The Wizbah was a great ‘80s venue. What are your memories?

I started working there back in the early ‘80s with a guy called Reg Mifflin. Reg moved on and we took on the lease ourselves and took on the legendary Croc-A-Dog lager. At the time, with Perth licensing laws, we were only allowed to sell cider. We were allowed to sell Swan Special Light, and if you wanted a Mexican Croc-A-Dog you’d put tequila in it. If you’d wanted a Russian Croc-A-Dog, you’d pout vodka in it. If it was a Greek one, it was ouzo, etc, etc. So we ran the gamut of the world by putting a shot of alcohol into a Swan Special Light (laughs).

How has the local industry changed during your time in it?

It’s like anything, it tends to go in cycles.

When I started in the ‘80s there’s was always a big artistic movement toward music that came out of Perth.

Like I mentioned, there was members of The Johnnys, Hoodoo Gurus and The Scientists who then played in the Beasts Of Bourbon, etc. So for that level of - for want of a better word - alternative stuff, a lot of that was actually happening in Perth. Then on the other hand there was the Farriss Brothers who went on to become INXS. So there was always stuff bubbling, there was stuff happening in Perth. In a lot of cases, isolation breeds creativity. The only difference now, probably since Jebediah and John Butler, you can actually stay in Perth.

And live in Perth.

In the old days you actually had to get out, go to the Eastern States and do it from there.

With the advent of the technology era it doesn’t mater where you are - you don’t have to go to the industry; the industry goes to you.

There’s not that tyranny of stance that used to enclose Perth. And over the time Perth bats way out of its league on the national scene, in terms of the amount of acts that have actually taken over. Especially in the last 10 years at the top level of the Australian music scene.

What about putting on gigs? It was more conservative back then but things were also looser...

It depends on what kind of gig you’re talking about. I remember putting on the first Big Day Out (1993) I walked in and said, ‘I wanna do this’, they went, yeah fine’.

I said, ‘there’s my $20,000, see you later’. Then I went out and thought, ‘oh shit. There’s no punter barrier in Perth!’ I said to a guy, ‘if I give you the money now, can you build a punter barrier?’

In the pub scenario, back in those days, there were so many more places to play. I’d have, say, Paul Kelly come into town, and they’d do Friday/ Saturday/Sunday then Monday at the legendary Herdsman Hotel. Then they’d do Wednesday/ Thursday/ Friday/Saturday/Sunday again. I used to do This is around ‘81-’82?

Probably about ‘82-’83. It’s all a bit hazy going that with Painters & Dockers, The Johnnys, Weddings Parties Anything and they’d be playing eight or back then. nine shows over the two-week period. Plus a lot of times - which was really good for music at the time You were still drumming?

I started off as the drummer, then I gave the there was the regulation show at Curtin Uni or UWA lunchtimes in the Guild Halls. At one stage we had sticks to Russell and I became the singer. bands playing at schools. So putting on gigs at that time was a lot easier, there was such a plethora of Like Phil Collins?

(Laughs) Well it was a much better move venues. Putting on a festival the was easier because because Russell actually did something with the drums. no one knew what the hell was going on; we just kind of invented it from there.

Rather than me, who just sat behind them.

You’ve picked up various bits of knowledge and experience over the years haven’t you?

Yes (laughs). And obviously places like the Wizbah and the Old Melbourne is where we got to know a lot of Perth bands. The Kryptonics and that crew.

We used to bring over the Hoodoo Gurus, The Scientists and a lot of those were West Australian raised people.

Rodney Radalj, who was in The Johnnys as well. There was the Beasts Of Bourbon, who would have had Tony Pola and Brian Hooper in it at the time. They all played at those haunts as well as the Shenton Park Hotel, which was another big haunt back in those days.

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#youshouldreadxpress

SEABELLIES Fever Belle

BODYJAR Rate Model

Permanent Records

UNFD

Fo l l o w - u p a l b u m s a r e notoriously difficult territory for bands – with the exception of immortally relevant acts such as Right Said Fred and Lou Bega.

For Seabellies, whose 2010 debut with electronic indie rock LP, By Limbo Lake, saw them go from virtually unknown skinny-leg wearing rockers, to sort-of known skinny-leg wearing rockers, the journey from one album to the next was not just about survival, but expansion.

Working with ridiculously talented and starkly contrasting producers, Tim Whitten and Berkfinger, Fever Belle has achieved that rare state of slick studio production without sounding sterile.

Though there isn’t a lot of new ground explored by the band since By Limbo Lake, the album is more mature and more complex.

Some songs, such as ASCE, come across as generically derivative of indie rock and uninspired.

However, most songs are engaging and thoughtful, drawing from world, R&B and motown rhythms that propel lush vocals, hammering out easily digestible choruses.

For the Seabellies, Fever Belle is a success, consolidating and expanding on their previous release.

K i c k i n g o f f w i t h Pett y Problems, an over-produced abor tion that lacks the emotion of its ‘90s punk contemporaries, Bodyjar’s new album Role Model gives the listener the foreboding sense of a flop.

Thankfully, this grim canary down the mineshaft is quickly gassed and makes way for the far more honest, better-written title track. From then on the album interchanges between successful and believably angsty anthems and unimpressive, uninspired filler tracks.

Role Model is a fairly atypical example of pop punk. The songs are bright, energetic and a little naïve. There are no great leaps forward for the genre here, but some of the songs, such as Hope Was Leaving are memorable, and the guitar riffs are nearly always satisfying and well-written.

Ultimately, this group of middle-aged Melbournites have done an okay job. The album won’t gain them many new fans but will probably please their existing ones. The music still sounds youthful and largely genuine, and there are true moments of excellent songwriting scattered through the banality. And hey, if you don’t like it, at least it’s short.

_ SHAUN COWE _ SHAUN COWE

VIDA CAIN The Rule Of Gravity

MACHINE TRANSLATIONS The Bright Door

Independent

Spunk

The story has long been told that there is ‘something in the water’ that makes Western Australia such an incredibly fruitful hotbed of musical creativity, and if so, then Vida Cain have been drinking deeply at the well.

Rule Of Gravity is a rare beast indeed – a completely mature, self assured debut album chock full of choruses that demand singing along to and irresistible hooks that will get feet moving, heads nodding and butts shaking.

One thing you won’t get from The Rule Of Gravity is bored with the sameyness of the 12 songs on offer.

Pitching their catchy rock tunes at the FM radio friendly end of the spectrum leaves them plenty of muscle room, from Van Hagaresque anthemic rock to post grunge pop n’ roll, whilst taking in the horn-laden Stooges-Stax collision of Only Love Things, the ‘90s-heavy post funk groove of Cocaine Psycorella, but it’s near-perfect Cheap Tricklike power pop that steals the show through Cupid Dart (featuring additional vocals from Ngaire Pigram), Miss Communique and Lost & Found.

The Rule Of Gravity captures Vida Cain (named after singer Josh Johnstone’s grandmother) in scorching form and if this is what they can pull out of the hat after only 18 months together, then the future looks pretty bright – just keep drinking the water and there’ll be no stopping them.

From the late ‘90s Machine Translations were a steady voice in the Australian music industry. Since 2007, though, J Walker has been more involved in making records for other people than in his own project that started as a solo venture and grew into a fully fledged band.

According to Walker it is the big things that got in the way of making The Bright Door like ‘being’ and ‘death’ (not his own obviously). The passing of a close friend affected Walker and derailed the making of the album. Instead he focussed on fixing the house and raising children. When he did get back around to his music, old approaches were discarded and new ways were forged.

The Bright Door is built around pianos and more pianos! Machine Translations have a history of playing with melodies and delivering the rousing chorus or two, yet opener Perfect Crime is intense, layered, frenetic and sinister and not quite what you would expect from Walker. When he returns to the more familiar acoustic guitar and modest vocal charms that he is best known for, You Can’t Give It Back pales in comparison to the rhythmic Broken Arrows with its use of Gamelan instruments.

While life was going on around them, Machine Translations reinvented themselves with a record that is more concerned with rhythm than melody. Just don’t let that stop you from singing along.

_ CHRIS HAVERCROFT

_ SHANE PINNEGAR

FALL OUT BOY Save Rock And Roll (PAX-AM Edition)

TUMBLEWEED Sounds From The Other Side

Island Records

Shock Records

After a four-year hiatus, Fall Out Boy have returned, bringing with them their ironically-titled fifth LP, Save Rock And Roll which is about as close to rock’n’roll as AC/DC is to pop. The album feels like a 41-minute roller coaster, leaving one wondering how did the band that brought us the pop punk revolutionary Take This To Your Grave end up here?

Credit where it’s due now, the album itself does feature some catchy tunes, with The Phoenix, Alone Together, Just One Yesterday or Young Volcanoes being good additions to Fall Out Boy’s greatest hits compilation; however, it’s songs like The Mighty Fall and Rat A Tat that kill any momentum the album was gaining with their Big Sean and Courtney Love collaborations adding nothing useful to the record.

The latest edition of the LP comes with Fall Out Boy’s new EP, PAX-AM Days, which features eight tracks, seven of which fail to run longer than two minutes. Designed to be a contrast to Save Rock And Roll, the EP epitomises punk, but ultimately feels random and is only interesting when listening to in one sitting.

_ AARON BRYANS www.xpressmag.com.au

The product of a hectic 12 days of solid recording at Sydney’s Rancom Studio, Tumbleweed’s latest offering covers a vast range of tempo’s and emotions over its 13 tracks.

Possessing a beautifully warm, organic analogue sound and stemming from the minds of obviously well experienced song writers, it is perhaps this extended time in the game that leaves their sound a little bit tired.

This is not to say that there aren’t moments of powerful headbanging awesomeness, or that the thoughtful lyrics aren’t well placed, but there is something about this record that just didn’t pop.

Additionally, had this been a live listening experience the story would be quite a different one, as there is clearly some amazing technical work at play by these talented musicians.

Perhaps the most tasty offering is the final track ESP, a six-minute opus of effects and evolving, progressive chords. For fans of heavy, riff driven music, this album is definitely not one to be missed.

_ JAMES HANLON 17

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#youshouldreadxpress

Takin’ It To The Green The Hoodoo Gurus are joined by You Am I, The Whitlams, Dave Graney & The Mistly and Rainy Day Women for an Evening On The Green on Saturday, November 16, at Kings Park & Botanic Garden. BOB GORDON reports.

It’s amazing to consider that the Hoodoo Gurus, in what is their second life, have been back together for 10 years.

But even when they did break up in 1998, one of their old friends, The Fleshtones, who would go on to join the Gurus on 2012’s inaugural Dig It Up invitational, seemed to be having a glimpse of the future.

“When we did break up,” Dave Faulkner once recalled to this writer, “I saw the guys from The Fleshtones and they were like, ‘Dave, bands don’t break up these days. They just don’t’. They just didn’t believe me (laughs).

“They said, ‘You don’t break up a band anymore. That’s old. That’s how things used to be. Just keep making music. Something will happen and you might want to do something’.”

That they did, with 2004’s Mach Schau LP, loads of touring and then another album in 2010, Purity Of Essence. The band have now staged two Dig It Up invitationals, this year’s devoted to 1985’s Mars

Needs Guitars. 2012 also saw the compilation LP, Gold Watch, which also included new material.

The man responsible for writing such memorable, bona fide classics as I Want You Back, Bittersweet, Like Wow – Wipeout!, What’s My Scene, Miss Freelove ’69 and 1000 Miles Away, has a proven strike rate. Not that he’s focussed on writing pre-destined ‘hits’ - Faulkner simply writes songs that sound good to his ear.

“You don’t know when you are writing a song as to where it is going to end up,” he told X-Press last year. “It is not until you play them live that you start to get feedback from observers that can give you some sort of measure.

“Like Wow – Wipeout! we recorded thinking that we could make a bit of a racket and have some studio fun. It was back before B-sides were something that was never heard again, they were real collectors items so we didn’t just put on any throwaway rubbish.

We were happy to have it as a B-side but we didn’t think it was a bad song. We didn’t have any ambitions

for it, other than that. It wasn’t until the producer was at us to put it on the album Mars Needs Guitars, that we had our biggest hit.”

As for radio airplay, it’s always been up and down for the Gurus. Faulkner’s given up trying to work that little mystery out.

“It is funny because in 1996 we had a song called Waking Up Tired which is a pretty good power pop song and when the record company went to one of the radio stations, the station director said ‘Have the Hoodoo Gurus decided to come in from the cold yet?’ All through our career, all of our albums have had hits, and yet radio is still deciding if we are the kind of band that they should be playing, so what can you say to that?”

When the WA Museum staged the Spin: WA Music From Underground To On The Air exhibition in 2004, some of Faulkner’s possessions were a highlight, including an old exercise book from the early ‘80s with lyrics and illustrations. A technically excellent black pen drawing of a ghost ship docked next to the

lyrics of Deathship (co-written by Rodney Radalj, who co-founded the band along with James Baker in 1981).

The hand-written words to My Girl appeared also, a song, as it turns out, that was written for a scene in an imagined (and unrealised) film.

“I love films and I’m kind of known for having an appreciation of trash culture and also ‘60s culture,” Faulkner says. “I was a kid in the ‘60s and I remember it. I saw the repeats of the Gidget films a lot. I kind of liked this idea of Gidget being an innocent beach girl being corrupted by some evil hippies and basically having her mind expanded. My Girl was the song you’d hear on the radio before she had her mind expanded.”

It certainly gives another dimension to the notion of songwriter and song and perhaps a glimpse into why Faulkner’s songs have lasted across decades.

“You use different tools to write and different things to inspire you,” he says. “You always hope that songs do that and have their own life beyond what the writer imagines for them.”

WA BEER WEEK SPECIAL PAGES 23-26

www.xpressmag.com.au

19

The Silent City

CRIME AND THE CITY SOLUTION

THE COUNSELOR Ante Meridian

Directed by Ridley Scott Starring Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, Bruno Ganz, Ruben Blades The central metaphor of The Counselor is the bolito, a kind of mechanical garrotte that, one activated, slowly and inexorably tightens until the victim’s head is messily lopped off. That’s pretty much exactly what happens when our unnamed lawyer protagonist, played by Michael Fassbender, decides to go in on a one time drug deal with his client, Reiner (Javier Bardem) to finance his life with his dream girl, Laura (Penelope Cruz). Once that choice is made, the fates of all concerned are decided - any action to the contrary is just the doomed struggling of an animal in a trap.

That kind of fatalism is par for the course for screenwriter and acclaimed Cormac McCarthy, whose No Country For Old Men explored similar territory. It’s a bit of a change of gears for Ridley Scott, though; while the film is visually as striking as any of Scott’s work, replete with beautiful border country vistas, the gleaming trappings of excess and the director’s trademark dense visual style, under the hood it’s easily the ugliest and most nihilistic film of his career. In The Counselor, horrible violence rains down on the just and the unjust alike, with the unseen Mexican drug cartel acting as a wholly terrifying Old Testament God.

The Silent City is an independently produced, Perthshot noir homage put together with blood, sweat and sheer passion by producer Nate Strider-Knight, executive producer Marcelle Weber and writerThe Counselor director Matt Soutar. To help defray the costs of production, they’re holding a fundraising screening The story is shackled by McCarthy’s literary of the film’s trailer and Roman Polanski’s classic roots, as evidenced by our eponymous protagonist’s Chinatown at Event Cinemas Innaloo this Thursday, almost complete lack of agency and the propensity November 7. It kicks off at 5pm, and there’ll be a silent for any given pair of characters to drop what auction preceding the screening, not to mention a they’re doing and have a conversation about the cash bar. Head to thesilentcitymovie.com to book film’s themes. That, coupled with its bleak tone and your tickets. prohibitive rating, means that The Counselor will have a hard time finding an audience.

It’s a shame. Despite its many problems - including poor Cameron Diaz trying desperately A combined exhibition featuring the work of to punch above her weight as the duplicitous, three different artists, Illuminate plunges the predatory Malkina, girlfriend and business partner audience into darkness and then invites them to to the flamboyant Reiner - there’s a lot to admire consider Jennie Feyen’s film installation, My Core, here. In the current commercial filmmaking and Christopher Redfern’s digital paintings while landscape such a wilfully obtuse and opaque effort listening to musician Eduardo Cossio’s guitar, is downright remarkable, simply for the fact that accordion, bass and charango soundtrack. The it exists at all. Complaining that it doesn’t follow exhibition runs at Spectrum Project Space from the contours of a conventional narrative film is like Monday, November 11 until Friday, November complaining that a shark can’t fly; this beast is built 15, with a special opening event on Thursday, for leaner, meaner things.

November 14 featuring a live performance. Head And make no mistake, it is a very mean to ecu.edu.au for more info. film, unwilling to gift its audience with even the meagre comforts of closure. Hell, we’re barely allowed to empathise with our main character, who remains nameless and largely aimless for the length of the ‘Fantasy’ is the theme for the 2014 Revelation Perth proceedings. While it’s nowhere near as good as International Film Festival’s Revel-8 program. The the Coen brothers’ excellent No Country For Old Men call for entries into the annual Super 8 competition adaptation, The Counselor is a fascinating but flawed has gone out, and your entry fee also scores you work. Don’t be surprised if it gets re-evaluated a few a cartridge of Super 8 film and processing, which years down the track; it won’t be the first time that’s means all prospective auteurs need to do is nut out happened to ether Scott or McCarthy. For now, go an idea and shoot it. Registrations close on Friday, and see it for yourself.

April 4, 2014, with the deadline for film submission being Tuesday, April 22, 2014. Go to revelationfilmfest. _ TRAVIS JOHNSON org for further details.

HOW ILLUMINATING

EIGHT IS ENOUGH

Insidious Chapter 2

Directed by James Wan Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Steve Coulter , Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson Writer Leigh Whannell and director James Wan the Australians responsible for the Saw franchise, may we never forget - follow up their surprise 2011 hit, Insidious, to decidedly mixed effect. Picking up almost immediately after the events of the first film, Chapter 2 sees the pair cheerfully strip-mining their own no-doubt impressive film collections for inspiration, the result being a film that is probably a lot of fun for those who have never seen a horror movie that’s over 15 years old.

Once again, hapless suburbanites Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) Lambert and their trio of kids are menaced by supernatural entities, and once again they must turn to the psychic Elise (Lin Shaye) and her comic relief parapsychologist off-siders, Specs and Tucker (Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson, who acquit themselves relatively well). Of course, Elise died at the climax of the previous episode, but that doesn’t mean much in the fictional world of Insidious, where dead folks both helpful and hateful are always a quick channelling away.

The first act is an interminable slog through rote window-rattling and atmospherics, 20

twigged to: that one of the major characters is possessed. It’s hard to discuss without drifting into spoiler territory, so instead let’s focus on the core of the film: Horror Movies That James And Leigh Like.

Poltergeist (again - the first film is almost a remake of the Hooper/Spielberg suburban spook classic). The Shining. Carnival Of Souls. Psycho. The Exorcist. All these and more are gleefully thrown into the Insidious blender, with very little done to disguise the fact. Whether that counts as homage or theft is pretty much down to whether you like the result or not and the thing is, there are times when Insidious Chapter 2 hits a high, sustained note of camp that fans of American Horror Story will recognise immediately. It’s so theatrical and over the top and straight faced that it’s hard not to cackle with glee.

The problem is that it’s hard to tell whether that’s the result Wan and Whannell were shooting for. If they are, then the result - a deliciously dorky and overcooked hodgepodge of hoary horror standards - is a nothing-but-net slam dunk. Having said that, if they actually take this tosh seriously and the film represents an attempt at a serious, sober and, above all else, scary horror movie... hoo boy.

Insidious Chapter 2 is a film where a ghost beats another ghost to death with a rocking horse.

That says more than any number of words of critical analysis ever could. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

Renowned actor Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart) is bringing her one woman show, Green Porno, to Perth. Originally conceived as a series of short film’s for Robert Redford’s Sundance TV and subsequently re-imagined as a book, the show sees Rossellino don a series of creative and striking costumes in order to discuss the sex lives of different animals. Green Porno is on for one night only at the Perth Concert Hall on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. Tickets are available through Ticketek.

LORD OF ILLUSIONS

The Illusionists are coming to Crown Theatre Perth!

A showcase of mega-scale magic of the kind usually confined to the glittering stages of Las Vegas, the show features such international magic stars as Dan Sperry, Kevin James, Philip Escoffey, Mark Kalin, Andrew Basso, David Williamson and Jinger Leigh.

The show runs from Saturday, January 18. Tickets are available through Ticketek.

DON’T FENCE ME IN

Get down to Luna On SX in Fremantle this weekend for the final screenings of The 16th Over The Fence Comedy Film Festival. This year the touring festival’s theme is ‘Death, Love, Desire,’ a triumvirate of tropes that is sure to bring out the best in the contributing filmmakers, who hail from across Australia and around the world.

The festival runs from Friday, November 8 until Sunday, November 10. Head for lunapalace.com.au for info, session times and ticket sales.

Fruitvale Station

things pick up once the filmmakers decide to INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2 but acknowledge what most of the audience has already FRUITVALE STATION

Ghosts Of the Past

Green Porno

Shot To The Heart

Directed by Ryan Coogler Starring Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand, Ariana Neal Even without knowing what horrible event looms, as inevitable as a full stop on the end of sentence, in the future of its protagonists, a palpable sense of dread hangs over director Ryan Coogler’s feature length debut.

Essentially a day-in-the-life story, the film centres on Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan). Young, black and living in Oakland, California, Oscar is a felon who has served jail time, a casual drug user, a drug dealer, and an unemployed father. But he is also a loving son who dotes on his mother (Octavia Spencer), a helpful soul who goes out of his way to help others, a doting dad, an attentive boyfriend and a man who understands that the lure of the gangsta lifestyle is a dead end. The day we meet Oscar is the last one he’ll ever have; returning home from New Year’s celebrations with his friends, Oscar Grant is shot dead by Transit Police.

Though based on a true story - the real Grant died on January 1, 2009 - Coogler’s film is, by necessity, based on a lot of conjecture. Though the essential facts of the case are dramatised, so too are scenes where Grant is by himself, ruminating on his life and worrying about its direction. Rather

than detract from the verisimilitude, these scenes are the heart of the film. We, as an audience, get to know Grant - albeit the fictionalised Grant - as a human being, as a man, rather than as a statistic, which makes our inexorable march towards his death almost unbearable.

Coogler has assembled an excellent cast, most of them unknown - Jordan might be familiar to fans of The Wire or Chronicle, while Melonie Diaz appeared in Be Kind, Rewind and Kevin Durand is a nigh-on ubiquitous character actor. The dearth of familiar faces helps reinforce the notion that we’re peering into someone’s actual life, rather than a reconstruction thereof. To put it simply, it feels real.

What really impresses is the film’s refusal to judge anyone, playing on the notion that to understand another person is to be incapable of hating them. Spending time with these characters puts the lie to class and race stereotypes that we might take for granted. Even the cop played by Durand, initially portrayed as racist and reactionary, reveals layers of feeling and dimensions of character in the brief scene he inhabits.

Fruitvale Station is a remarkably assured first feature film. At times angering, at others uplifting, at still others deeply and unavoidably affecting, it functions as both a celebration of life and a sober condemnation of state-sanctioned death. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, this is one of the finest film’s we’ve seen released in 2012 make sure you don’t miss it. _ TRAVIS JOHNSON #youshouldreadxpress

Actors Brendan Hanson and Georgina Gayler, Musical Director Ben Collins and guitarist Andrew Weir.

Photo by Daniel Grant

MIDSUMMER (A PLAY WITH SONGS) Addled Odyssey

A WAAPA trained saxophonist, Collins has been with the Black Swan State Theatre Company since cutting his teeth on The Hot Bed Ensemble (“ an umbrella project for emerging artists”) back in 2009. With Midsummer (A Play With Songs) he takes up the role of Music Director and Sound Designer. “It’s not a musical, it’s definitely a play with songs, which is fantastic from my perspective. I’m not a huge fan of musicals, but I really enjoy theatre and I love the journey a song can take you on. So it’s a beautiful melding of the two things.” Collins proclaimed. “The songs don’t reflect necessarily on the play, but make a nice moment here and there, a bit of a comment. They are not a big transition like a musical is, they’re not the turning round of an idea.”

Originally written with the actors also providing the musical interludes, this version has a four piece band on stage to provide a more natural transition to the music. “It was very, very disruptive to suddenly have two people pick up guitars and play them. We’ve got a band on stage that is sort of a reflection of a pub band, but they are also under a street light, so it is not necessarily determined what it is.”

However, this change has allowed Collins to rework pieces from their more simplistic origin. He has “...pulled them apart, played around with them a bit and tried to re-harmonise them, add base movement and create a different feel. The treatment has been working out how to get more colour in the music, rather than the aesthetic of relying on just two guitars and two voices.”

Covering a wild weekend by two very flawed individuals, Midsummer (A Play With Songs) plays at the Heath Ledger Theatre from Saturday, November 9 to Sunday, November 24. We caught up Music Director Ben Collins to talk about a show with pub rock, a bag of cash and Japanese rope bondage.

Midsummer is something a little different for the Black Swan Theatre Company, presenting a more fringe-like show than their standard fare. Originally written by David Grieg with music by George McIntyre (of Scottish indie band, Ballboy), it covers a lost weekend in Edinburgh between two mismatched lovers.

“Because it is a fringe show, there is a lot of swearing and sexual reference, and a bit of sexual shadow play.

It’s a huge amount of fun.” states Collins.

Directed by Damien Lockwood, Midsummer tells the tale of Helena (Georgina Gayler), a divorce lawyer having an affair with a married man, and Bob (Brendan Hanson), a “complete dropkick” of a criminal that has 15 grand in cash and the desire to have a good time, as they meet “haphazardly in a bar.” What follows is a weekend involving hangovers, ruined weddings, Japanese rope bondage, and a penis puppet.“The characters are very virtuosic and elastic in For tickets and session times for the way they have to represent a number of different Midsummer (A Play With Songs) go to bsstc.com.au. characters and tell the story. So it’s not just.. from their _ DAVID O’CONNELL perspective, they become other characters as well.”

PUGSLEY BUZZARD Aces High

Maybe it’s because he’s from Perth, but Pugsley Buzzard certainly tours our way a whole lot. Even so, there’s always room for a first, no matter how many times he hits his old home town “I was last there in April,” he recalls.

“That was fun. It was the first time I’ve played the Fairbridge Festival. I liked it. There was a good vibe, and good response from the audiences.”

The WA visit featured some of Buzzard’s last shows before he travelled to Carrollton in uptown New Orleans to record his new album, Chasin’ Aces. “ The desk was apparently rescued from another studio after Hurricane Katrina,” he says. “It was the desk the early Dr John and Meters recordings were made with. The studio is in a split level house on Oak Street just down the street from the Maple Leaf Bar. It was well appointed and comfortable place to record and Lu, the owner/producer/engineer, is easy to work with and knows his shit.”

Buzzard was well prepared with tunes for the recording sessions, but was happy for the album to also include more recently ripened fruits.

“I had most of the songs prepared before the first sessions in May,” he notes. “I had some residencies in a few venues in the French Quarter over the month and wrote a bunch while I was there which I recorded when I went back in September.”

Chasin’ Aces features some of New Orleans top jazz, blues and funk players, veterans of backing bands for the likes of Dr John, Allen Toussaint, Bonerama, Walter Wolfman Washington, Eric Lindell and the Mardi Gras Indian Funk Ensemble. Naturally, they brought much to the parade.

“They brought group improvisation and the stylistic awareness I was going for on different tracks,” Buzzard says. “There is also an intensity in their playing and a harder, more aggressive edge. There’s also an earnestness and respect for the style I was going for, rather than a parody.”

Now’s that it’s done and out there in the world, Buzzard will be working hard to support Chasin’ Aces on the road. www.xpressmag.com.au

Pugsley Buzzard “I’ll continue to promote the new album,” he says of the year ahead. “More touring in the US and Europe.

“It’s good to be at the end of the process.

I’m happy with the final product and curious to know how folks will receive it.”

Pugsley Buzzard performs on Friday, November 8, at Ellington Jazz Club; Saturday, November 9, at Rottnest Lodge; Sunday, November 10, as part of the Blues At Bridgetown Festival at Blue Owls Nest (4pm) and Tuesday, November 12, at the Perth Blues Club, Charles Hotel. _ BOB GORDON 21

Printmakers Landscape: Heathcote Museum & Gallery An investigation into landscape and environment through the medium of print from Robyn Collins, Emily Douglas, Kay Gibson, Jane Hardy and MaryLynne Stratton. The exhibition runs from November 16 - December 22. Head over to melville.wa.gov.au for further info.

FESTIVALS Fremantle Festival: Various Locations, Fremantle Over 100 events across two weeks, encompassing a staggering variety of forms and media. Runs until November 10. Go to fremantle.wa.gov.au for details.

The Beaufort Street Festival: Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley 2013 Bankwest Art Prize: Bankwest Place The exhibition of all the finalist pieces for this On Saturday, November 16, Beaufort Street is prestigious annual award, including works by transformed into a Mecca of music, art, culture, Rachel Coad, Penny Bovell, Susanna Castleden, shopping and food in a celebration of the inner city spirit. Go to beaufortstreetfestival.com.au for details.

Thea Constantino, Penny Coss, Jo Darbyshire and more, runs from November 27 - March 3. Go to bankwest.com.au for more.

THEATRE/DANCE/ PERFORMANCE When The Lights Go Down: Phoenix Theatre The latest effort from Dark Psychic Productions is a backstage drama set in a Las Vegas cabaret club. It runs until November 9. Tickets are available through TAZTix.com.au.

The Hardest Way To Make An Omelette: Spare Parts Puppet Theatre Jessica Harond-Kenny and a few dozen eggs star in this metaphorical, metaphysical and downright Lab Partners Showcase: Outré Gallery Original paintings and prints by San Francisco- hilarious play. It runs until November 10. Go to sppt. based husband and wife team, Lab Partners. Until asn.au for sessions times and tickets.

November 30. Go to outregallery.com for more.

Midsummer (A Play With Songs): The State 140 ART: 140 Theatre Centre Nationally recognised artists and local emerging The last production of the Black Swan State Theatre talent both contribute to this temporary gallery Company’s 2013 season is uproarious romp project that runs until January 31. Andy Quilty, Phibs, through an unstable landscape of love, intoxication Amok, Anya Brock, Pip McManus and more will use and chaos. It runs from November 9 - 24. Go to bsstc. shopfronts and walls along Wellington, William and com.au for session times and tickets.

Murray Street as a canvas for an ambitious urban art project. Head to 140.com.au for further information. Bruce: The Blue Room Theatre A new two man, one puppet show by Tim Watts and The Collective Focus: Fremantle PCYC Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd that runs from November 19 Presented as part of the Fremantle Festival, this December 7. Go to blueroom.org.au for more. photographic exhibition presents works from young women aged between 11 and 19, all of whom were mentored by professional WA photographers Peter Pan: His Majesty’s Theatre an encouraged to find their own creative voice. It West Australian Ballet presents a delightful adaptation of L.M. Barrie’s beloved children’s story. runs until November 16. Entry is free.

The season runs from November 22 - December 15.

Go to waballet.com.au for more information.

Exploring Arcadia: Linton & Kay Galleries Having sworn to never again paint negative images following the September 11 attacks, artist Donald Cavalia: The White Big Top Waters has instead dedicated himself to producing This magnificent equestrian event combines uplifting and idyllic works. His latest exhibition is a spectacle and acrobatic skill reminiscent of further exploration of his constant themes of peace, Cirque Du Soleil with jaw-dropping displays of joy and simplicity. It runs from November 7 - 21. Go horsemanship and derring-do. From December 4 29. Head for cavalia.net for more. to lintonandkay.com.au for more.

Peter Pan - Photo by Jon Green

VISUAL ARTS Van Gogh, Dali And Beyond - The World Reimagined: Art Gallery of WA The third exhibition in AGWA’s MoMA Series encompasses works from Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Richard Long, Frida Kahlo and more. The exhibition runs until December 2. Go to artgallery. wa.gov.au for further information.

Little Paintings, Big Stories: Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery Runs until December 14.

City Of Fremantle Arts Collection - Pristine: The Fremantle Arts Centre A collection of printed artworks consisting of abstract interpretations of shapes and forms found in the natural world. It runs until November 17. Go to fac.org for details.

Momentum: The Perth Centre Of Photography A free exhibition curated by Paulo Anselmi that celebrates the 21st birthday of PCP. Featured artists include Max Pam, Toni Wilkinson, Juha Tolonen, Flavia Schuster, Perdita Phillips, Graham Miller and Chris Young. It runs from until December 8. Go to pcp.org.au for more details.

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The Precocious And Brief Life Of Sabina Rivas, Hola Mexican Film Festival Hola Mexican Film Festival: Cinema Paradiso This celebration of south of the border cinema runs from November 14 - 24. Go to holamexicoff.com for more.

To have your performance, exhibition or cultural event listed, get in touch via

localmusicarts@xpressmag.com.au New Dawn by Donald Waters

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PRIDEFEST PARADE 2013

THE GRADUATES 2013

Northbridge Saturday, November 2, 2013

Perth Institute Of Contemporary Arts Monday, November 4, 2013

Stepping out into the bright noontime sun for the first time, the 24th Pride Parade was a resounding success, drawing huge crowds and generating a joyous and inclusive atmosphere.

Some of Perth’s finest emerging designers showed off their achievements this week at the Central Institute Of Technology’s Fashion And Textile Design Parade.

Photos by Stefan Caramia

Photos by Bohdan Warchomij

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Melissa, Jess, Isabelle

Casey, Cara, Natalie, Nikki, Jessica

Anna, Luke

Laura, Sarah, Natasha

Moricha, Liza #youshouldreadxpress

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30 FLOWER CROWNS IN 30 DAYS Beauty In Bloom The 30 Flower Crowns In 30 Days project will run for the month of November. To keep up to date with the project, search for the #30flowercrownsin30days hashtag, or follow @ foxandrabbit_ , @dropstitch or @stilllovecomau on Instagram.

I t ’s been touted as the must-have accessory this summer, but Fox & Rabbit florist Rebecca Const says the flower crown is more than just a fleeting fashion trend.

Known as in local fashion circles as ‘Perth’s queen of flower crowns,’ Const has been crafting her unique headpieces since 2010 and says the popularity of the adornment has only grown with time, so much so that it has become the new trend du jour in the bridal world.

“It ’s interesting - I’ve noticed that because they are so on trend at the moment everyone has been to a wedding where a bride has worn one,” she says. “So a lot of people have said to me ‘I’d love to wear one but my cousin or my friend has worn one,’ so instead a lot of people are opting to have it as an extra accessory to wear at their reception or something like that.”

In a bid to open people’s minds to the versatility of flower crowns, Const has embarked on an ambitious new project - 30 Flower Crowns In 30 Days - which will see her release a unique styled image to social media (using the #30flowercrownsin30days hashtag) every day during the month of November.

“I just wanted to show people the possibilities of having your crown up in various hairstyles and also just to show some different ideas and different colours, to show people they can do pretty much whatever they want with it,” she says. “You can have any combinations of colours, you can have a thick all-round band, or you can do a side feature or something around the back. You’re not limited; it’s not like shopping from a catalogue.”

www.xpressmag.com.au

In order to showcase her own floral arrangements, Const enlisted the skills of some of Western Australia’s brightest creatives, including Glenn and Lauren at Still Love Photography, Emma from Dropstitch, Em and Lisa from Milla, Karen from Hair Creative and Narelle from I Do Wedding Hair and Makeup, to help her craft 30 unique looks.

The photos Const will upload to her social media networks also feature some of the best bridal fashions Western Australia has to offer, including gorgeous gowns designed by the likes of Aurelio Costarella, Loui Col, Elvi Design, One Fell Swoop, Monster Alphabets, Butcher & The Crow, On A Whim and vintage offerings from MoMo’s.

“I started off with my own little idea but once I decided that I wanted to have a different dress in every photo I soon realised it was actually going to be a much larger project than what I could do on my own, so I thought I better enlist the help of a stylist and other creative people,” Const says. “I am very fortunate that I have lots of creative friends who were super interested in being part of the project. Everyone was very excited about it and happy to jump on board, and I soon realised it wasn’t a crazy idea.”

All 30 images for the project were styled and photographed over the course of one 12-hour session, an experience Const says was exhausting but thoroughly rewarding.

“From every perspective - from hair and makeup to styling and accessories - it was a ‘let’s buckle down and do this in one night’ situation,” she says. “We did it all in one sitting, but it meant that from that everyone got an opportunity to bring their ideas to the table and be as creative as they wanted to be, and do something a bit different - from the relaxed, more casual bridal looks to the more high fashion-inspired looks.”

While Const admits that many people still associate flower crowns with music festivals and the swinging ‘60s, she says she hopes that the project will prove the headpieces to be chic, stylish and fashion-forward.

“A flower crown certainly can fit into a formal occasion,” Const says. “It’s not just something to be worn with short-shorts, running around in a field of daises. Even though there is this allusion of the flower child, it can have a structured vibe to it.”

Hannah wears vintage dress from MoMo’s for the 30 Flower Crowns in 30 Days project.

Whether it be an oversized avant-garde creation or a more traditional ethereal style, Const says she expects the floral crown to be a mainstay, in one form or another, in both bridal and high fashion looks for some time to come.

“It’s definitely very in vogue right now and I think there will always be someone who

wants to use a flower crown - whether it be as part of a bridal look or just a fashion look,” she says.

“The beauty about weddings these days is that there is so much out there and you can afford to be different and put your personality into your day.” _ JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

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FROCK STARS Frock Of Ages Last week saw the opening of Frock Stars: Inside Australian Fashion Week at the WA Museum. The exhibition, created by the Powerhouse Museum, takes you behind the scenes of Australia’s most prestigious annual fashion event, Australian Fashion Week. X-Press sent LUCAS BOWERS, designer for AFW regulars ericaamerica, to get an in depth tour of the show with Glynis Jones, Curator of Fashion and Dress at the Powerhouse and the brains behind the exhibition.

Everyone involved in Australian Fashion Week knows who Glynis Jones is. The glossy magazines may hold the trends of the moment in the spotlight, but she holds the history. Jones is definitively Australia’s foremost expert on fashion.

We’d spoken several times but never actually met in person so, as curious as I was to see the Frock Stars exhibition, I was even more excited by the opportunity to get a private tour by the eminent curator.

“Australian Fashion Week approached us and asked if we would like to put together an exhibition celebrating 15 years of AFW,” Jones explains. “As they felt they had matured to a point of being well established, and wanted to bring the industry together and celebrate where we’ve got to.”

The exhibition opens with an enormous photograph of AFW founder Simon Lock seated amongst the crowd at a runway show. Lock has since sold AFW to IMG Fashion, but he was the spiritual heart of Fashion Week from its inception. Jones is glowing in her praise: “There was this guy who decided that Australia should have a fashion week and that we were ready for it in the ‘90s, against all the people who were going ‘Hey wait a minute, we haven’t got much of an industry here, import tariffs are being removed, there’s lots of competition, we tend to copy other people’s designs...’ You know? He had a real negativity that he had to put up with at the time, but he’s a pretty determined guy.

“He’s a really smart worker as well. He was doing it a time when he saw it as a rebranding of Australia. A ready to wear fashion industry is a demonstration that you’re a sophisticated country, and we had the Olympics coming up so that sort of synergy was appealing to the government.

After getting Mercedes Benz on board, getting the government on board he headed overseas to see

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if any buyers would come to Australia. At the time most responded ‘Oh that’s really quaint - we didn’t know you had fashion designers in Australia!’ Simon had to come up with the ideas to get them here. He truly believed that once they came here and saw Australian designers they’d be interested and they’d be back. The success of Fashion Week 15 years later is a great testament to his determination and his belief in the industry.”

I spot a showcase of media clippings, provocatively curated to show off the negative press reactions. I remember all too well the level of press animosity in those early years and I ask Jones about the decision to display these clippings over more pleasant reviews. “ There was much positivity and encouragement but there was also always this negativity, this anxiety - this aspect of cultural cringe going on. I think it was there in the first ten years, but it’s not really there anymore. We wanted to show that growth not only of the event but of the place the event holds both in Australia and internationally.”

I ’m i m p re s s e d by t h e h o n e s t y o f the curation. How were the individual dresses representing each year chosen?

“There’s a fascinatingly diverse range of approaches from the designers at AFW. I think the exhibition expresses that diversity. The designers have all got quite distinctive signatures. We were trying to grab all these different approaches that designers would take and the different stories that would come out of their experience of Fashion Week and represent that.”

“Likewise we’ve put this showcase of different kinds of invitations designers would send out that represent these different approaches.” I spot an ericaamerica invitation in the showcase and point to it with a proud chuckle. Jones laughs her schoolgirl giggle and says “You don’t get things like that anymore! You get an email these days. That was part of that creative process of indicating what the theme of your collection would be and getting that graphically represented was important. They’re also quite beautiful in themselves.”

The next cabinet is a collection of delegate passes from throughout the years. “At all the other international fashion weeks you simply lined up and awaited your seating allocation. Here you got your delegates pass at the beginning of the week, with all your seating. If you were lucky you got ‘A’ allocations!”

(There’s that giggle again) “That was a first for Australia and indicative of the innovation of those first ten years.”

Jones explains the importance of displaying

Glynis Jones the passes: “AFW is a closed event - you have to be invited. So the importance of the delegates pass is somewhat symbolic in demonstrating to the public what separates AFW from other Fashion Festivals around Australia.”

The next cabinet is full of “goodie” bags.

“We had to show the importance of the goodie bags, because the designers have to pay for the show so they link up with an appropriate sponsor and use the goodie bags to get product to some of the big influencers around the industry.”

We discuss the etiquette of goodie bags and the highs and lows over the years. I’m having so much fun by now I have to remind myself that this is supposed to be an interview and shuffle us along to next part of the room.

This is where things get really fascinating for anyone interested in how AFW really works. It’s an in depth look and it’s a very accurate one. From the

stage and seating plans, the backstage make up area and the elusive VIP room to a recreation of famed designer Nicola Finetti’s studio. For Jones this is a crucial aspect of the exhibition: “It’s really interesting to see the extent of the reach of the industries who are all working on this one event. The focus of the week is on the designers but by employing this huge network of people that lend professionalism and credibility to the week, so it was really important to show people that there’s a lot more than just the designers involved in making this happen.”

Frock Stars does exactly that and it does it well. To me that makes it a must see for anyone interested in how AFW really works.

Frock Stars is on at the WA Museum until January 27, 2014.

#youshouldreadxpress

To find out more about WA Beer Week, head to wabeerweek.com

BANDS AND BEERS

JOE KAPITEYN

RACHAEL DEASE

MATTYTWALL

JORDAN MCROBBIE

REECE WHEADON

In honour of WA Beer Week, which runs from Friday, November 8 until Sunday, November 17, we gathered some of our favourite local musicians at Mt Lawley’s Five Bar to sample some fine craft beers under the guidance of beer connoisseur Reece Wheadon.

COWARAMUP PILSNER A German-style Pilsner brewed using noble German hops giving moderate levels of bitterness and a crisp clean finish.

OLD COAST ACRES OF WHEAT

A great, very drinkable lager. Easy drinking, fresh, nice and Very refreshing with a pleasant distinctive, sweet. bitter aftertaste. A good summer evening beer.

8/10 Felt like I was being assaulted with fruit - banana in particular.

A German style wheat beer full of flavours of fresh spice and banana.

CHEEKY MONKEY DOUBLE IPA A strong and bold IPA with twice the punch. Tropical fruit and fresh hop nose, bitter finish and deep colour.

COLONIAL SMALL ALE A mid-strength IPA, stonefruit and passionfruit abound with a tropical fruit nose and clean finish.

CLOUT STOUT 10.8% Russian Imperial Stout, cellared since 2011 this high alcohol beer exhibits rich warming characteristics. Sweet and full bodied the beers complexity develops through the glass.

www.xpressmag.com.au

9/10 Massive flavour, very strong, very hoppy. Love it but probably couldn’t manage more than two glasses... yeah, right.

8/10

8/10

Balanced, easy to drink, smooth. Grassy, malty, easy drinking.

Great for a big Sunday.

8/10

9/10

Nice floral top notes. So much Fruity, makes you wanna get Aromatic, lingering fruity taste, fruit - cold, fizzy Germanic fruit. naked. I don’t usually like wheat strong hop flavour.

Also meaty. beer - this has changed my mind.

7/10

8.5/10

Kinda brutally awesome. Could Smells big, tastes big. I couldn’t bathe in it - heady and coooolll... drink too much of this, but it tastes really nice.

9/10

Hallelujah! another mid-strength Excellent nose, lingering wheaty other than Rogers that’s drinkable. aftertaste, slightly fruity. Really a great mid-strength.

9/10

Could drink all day long on a hot summer day!

7.5/10

10/10

9/10

Tasty, balanced, slightly flat.

7/10

7/10

6.5/10 Big.

Awesome beer!!!

9/10

8/10

Smells very big ,like a punch in Jordan: Dense, good taste, easy to Awesome.

10/10 the face from Mr T, but tastes drink - would go well with food. pretty mild. Not a favourite.

6/10

7/10

11/10

10/10 Nice. Sweet as, bro.

Brilliant beer. Goddamn it. Would Wow! Entree, main course and Fucking amazing! lead to some good party times. dessert all in one! The best beer I Excellent winter beer. will ever taste in my lifetime!

I am in love. That is all.

8/10

10/10

9.5/10

25

WA BEER WEEK Beer For Thought Gerrard Mitchell runs Beersine - providers of quality ‘beery’ products that are made from ethically-raised produce, use no preservatives or colours and show respect to both the farmer and the brewer. Mitchell informs us about the complementary relationship between beer and food.

“The next time you’re buying a beer, pick up something different, maybe not the cheapest or the same as last time, maybe something local. Go home pour it in a glass. Look at it, smell it and enjoy it. Serve with a nice meal!” says Mitchell, wisely. And we’re not talking about Emu Export here but rather the craft brews being championed by WA Beer Week over the coming weeks.

The concept for Beersine came to fruition when Mitchell was head chef at the The Monk Brewery & Kitchen in Fremantle. Working with head brewer, Justin Fox they attempted to use everything that’s in the beer on their menu.

“We wanted to show that there is more to beer food than a bucket of prawns and a generic lager,” Mitchell explains, “Now with the help of the brewing community we’re able to do that to a broad audience.”

Whilst the uneducated amongst us always thought wine and food had more synergy than beer and food, well, we’re about to learn otherwise.

“Wine has a great deal of nuances that work with food, however there are some foods that only a beer will work with,” informs Mitchell.

“Matching a wine with an authentic Thai red curry is tough. Finding enough acidity to contrast or body to complement makes your choices limited; yet everything from a crisp German style lager to a hopped-up pale ale or a rich English amber ale will work. It’s not just about spicy dishes though, cheese and beer work so well that the fortified part of our cellar has almost fallen by the wayside.”

But Mitchell says there’s no right or wrong - it’s about contrast or complement.

“The more you taste different styles of beer the more you’ll discover the different elements of each style - a great excuse to head to a beer focused bottle shop,” he says. “In saying that, there are some rules that nearly always shouldn’t be broken. Dark beers such as stout or porter will really complement rich desserts, or a big IPA (India Pale Ale) will match

Beersine’s Gerrard Mitchell perfectly with spicy or fatty food.”

You can check out Beersine’s range of products on their web site (beersine.com) which includes goat jamon, beef bacon, hop honey, BBQ sauce and berky - made from Blackwood Valley Beef, malt, salt, sugar and beer, which is then marinated and dried. Plus there’s a whole stack of cheeses on offer.

“In our seasonal cheeses we use different brews depending on the season; lighter styles in the summer and dark in the winter, except for our yearround pale ale cheddar which uses Feral Hop Hog. Our new seasonal is a Saison washed from Last Drop Brewery in The Elizabethan Village. It’s West Australia’s oldest brewery run by Jan Bruckner and he makes amazing beers.”

Beersine will be exhibiting at the Fremantle Beerfest on Saturday, November 9 and Sunday, November 10 at Fremantle Esplanade and also representing WA at the East Vs West Beer Gustation Lunch II on Sunday, November 10 @ Five Bar. _RACHEL DAVISON

WA BEER WEEK Best Beer For Your Buck

With over 40 events to go to at WA Beer Week, it’s hard to know which events you should go to. Thankfully, we’re here to point you in the right direction. Here are some of the highlights of the festival.

NOV

NIGHT OF THE BARRELS, SAIL & ANCHOR

NOV

FREMANTLE BEER FEST ESPLANADE

NOV

9-10

NOV

EAST VS. WEST FIVE BAR

NOV

8

NOV

10

13

14

10

NOV

12

RIGGSY CURATES, NORTH PERTH

NOV 15

SENSORY TRAINING, THE QUARIE FERAL BEER BANDS AND BBQ, THE BIRD BEER SKOOL - FIGHT CLUB EDITION, THE QUARIE NIGHT OF THE BARRELS, SAIL & ANCHOR

For tickets and info on all WA Beer Week Events, head to wabeerweek.com.

26

#youshouldreadxpress

BOUNCING HIGH When superstar DJ, David Guetta spins a track in his set a whole swag of DJs and clubbers worldwide take note. The track he dropped was the catchy Ah Yeah from an unknown name outside of Australia - Will Sparks - all round nice bloke and key player in pushing the Melbourne Sound. He chats to RACHEL DAVISON in the spare 38 hours he has between his US and European tours.

The bouncy take on electro house that began in Melbourne many years ago has over the past 12 months been creating quite a stir worldwide and Will Sparks happened to be in the right place at the right time.

“Ah Yeah was a track that charted really highly out of nowhere and I was not expecting it at all,” Sparks says from his home in Melbourne.“I don’t know how it happened but the social networks these days are just incredibly powerful and I think, because I was making track after track and putting it up on Soundcloud, the more people that like it, the more people see it, and it just kept progressing. When all those followers see that a track’s out, they buy it (well some do) and it charts, and that’s how it got up there.

“The big guys around the world like Laidback Luke are supporting it now and Djuro... I’ve heard Calvin Harris and even A-Trak - guys you would never think would play anything like that, especially A-Trak, he’s more hip hop, isn’t he? I don’t even know, because I haven’t been around that long. It’s incredible to see their support and I couldn’t ask for anything more to be honest,” he says, genuinely.

Sparks didn’t really want to get into a discussion about the musical characteristics that define the Melbourne Sound or Bounce.“You know, I’ve tried to explain it that many times but every time I try to, I get bagged, well not bagged, but pulled up on certain things that I say about what it compares to, so what I usually say is, ‘just go listen to it and that’s what it is’. Do you know what I mean?” he laughs.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

www.xpressmag.com.au

27

Marten Hørger Rob Hunter and his son, Marley

German bleeps and bass DJ, Marten Hørger is hitting Ambar for New Year’s Eve on Tuesday, December 31.

In support of Hunter’s final album, Bring It All Powerhouse producer, skilled DJ and brains behind Back, there’s a launch show happening this Friday, the infamous Stamina Club, he played last year’s November 8 at The Rosemount to commemorate Breakfest and since then has been remixing for the Hunter who passed away two years ago. The night likes of Stanton Warriors, Plump DJs and Krafty Kuts, will feature a whole bunch of local hip hop artists plus he’s been in the studio working on an album including Bitter Belief, Rob Shaker, Flewnt and with The Prodigy’s Leeroy Thornill. Get your tickets Optamus, plus a Hunter (RIP) tribute set by DJ for this one through Moshtix.

Armee. The release comes after a culmination of two years of work by friends and family and is distributed through Obese Records.Tickets on sale via Heatseeker/Oztix.

CONTINUING THE LEGACY

CONTINUED FROM COVER.

Will Sparks So if you’re not totally au fait with this take on electro house, you can listen to Sparks’ DJ mix on the new OneLove release, Sound Machine 2013 (which also includes a mix from Bingo Players) and on the compilation, Melbourne Bounce. But Sparks continues to elaborate, regardless.

“I’ve got a metal background, I played guitar my whole life, like hard metal or death metal and so I think it compares to it in a way because it’s really hard, head banging. My brain switched one night when I heard that sound and so there are certain attributes that compares to that, but in a totally different way.

It started off to be more minimal like kick bass-y and now it’s kind of progressed to a big room style of minimal. So the big progressive chords and then the drop (and as people call it a ‘Melbourne drop’) it’s progressed a lot in the last four/five years and it’s just going to keep on progressing I think.”

Sparks talks about his first time playing shows in the US. “It was amazing. I had no idea what to expect and the reaction from the Americans with my new sound, I was pretty worried on it, because it’s something brand new to them and yeah, it was just awesome every time, they went crazy so it was great.

“It’s really similar (to Australia) but there’s the whole PLUR thing in America that stands for ‘Peace, Love Unity, Respect’ and in some states they make candy bracelets and wear out-of-this-world clothes… it’s like a religion over there and that’s one difference in the scene in America. Americans talk differently though,” he laughs “and there is a lot of bottle service and there’s hardly any in Australia and that was another big difference. It was pretty daunting at the start because I didn’t know whether to play a

SLAMMING IT HOME

more lounge-y kind of style, but I still banged it out and didn’t care and they got amongst it.”

Even though we’re all over Miley Cyrus and her publicity antics a conversation ensues, given Sparks did a remix of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines (yep, the dude in the stripey suit in that VMA performance).

“I’m getting co-managed by someone from Interscope (Records – the label Thicke’s signed to) that’s how I got the remix,” he explains. “I know the people that know Robin and so yeah, it’s obviously all planned, like even for him up there with her. The public don’t realise (well, most of the public) that it’s a way to get your name out and she got 60 million views in a day because of the way she’s acting. I don’t think she’s really like that, it’s just her management and marketing team behind her that have gone ‘that’s how you do it ‘cause Britney’s done it, Gaga’s done it and look where they are’… but I’m not really into the whole celebrity thing.

“I’ve had to say no to a few other big things, like multiple,” he reveals. “It’s just because it’s not where I wanna go yet. I really don’t want to commercialise myself, I just wanna keep my style going and do my thing because it seems to be working so far and yeah, just tour around and keep working on music because I’ve got lots to come out.”

» WILL SPARKS » SOUND MACHINE 2013 (MIXED BY BINGO PLAYERS & WILL SPARKS) OUT THROUGH ONELOVE » SUNDAY, MARCH 2 @ FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL, ARENA JOONDALUP

Dieselboy Kilter

ON-KILTER

Having just dropped the catchy single, Hold Me, Sydney producer Ned East aka Kilter will be playing a show at Family at Flyrite on Saturday, December 7. Flume is giving him praise as one of the top 10 producers in Australia right now and on the live front, he’ll be using an MPC, microKorg and drum pad to deliver his tropical beats and R&B inspired jams.

Tickets on sale at the door on the night.

BEHIND THE DECKS

TRIPLE ‘BASS’ HEADER

The Inhibit crew are bringing you their final Villa show for 2013 with a triple-header on Saturday, December 14. There’ll be the freshest sounds from US drum’n’bass (and dubstep) ambassador, Dieselboy; plus some sharply tweaked drum beats and melodic basslines from the UK’s xKore; and Russian/Ukranioan trio, Teddy Killerz (formally known as Place 2B & Paimon together with Garud) will be invading Perth with a twist of drum’n’bass, dubstep, glitch hop and trap. Get your tickets to this massive night from Moshtix.

Most exciting moment behind the decks?

A definite highlight was playing a recent house party organised by some good friends that ended up in a four and a half hour set in a packed out, nearly pitch black room.

Raddest DJ trick?

Letting the songs be played how they’re meant to.

I think the wackiest DJ trick we’ll use is filter every now and then.

HAVANA BROWN

HUNTER

Australian DJ Havana Brown has released her first studio album, Flashing Lights, which includes previously released original tracks, We Run The Night and Big Banana that propelled her to international acclaim.

The jungley, grungy Ba*Bing is killer, with Brown channelling her ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe in a fierce (yeah I used it) track both lyrically and musically - just delightful. Naughty is a fun club track we’re likely to be hearing on dancefloors soon. Brown’s collaboration tracks are also quality - Last Night is an absolute banger and much preferred over her more sentimental, pop songs like You’ll Be Mine and Someone To Love.

But it’s Brown’s (slash Angelique Meunier’s) hot damn, sweet-as-hell DJ mix of the album plus a few of her other tracks (Havana Brown Overdose Mix) that makes this worthwhile. More so than listening to her songs in isolation, the mix showcases her serious skills doing what she does best.

The album’s strength is in its diversity. At times it sounds Rhianna-esque with a bit of Kylie Minogue thrown in; then at others, it features vibes as far apart as dancehall to soul-disco (see the beginning of single, Flashing Lights).

It’s a long album though with some tiring, lacklustre tracks. What’s missed in the first instance (as opposed to on the DJ mix) is how clean and polished it all is. The mix is far more raw in the way its put together. Strange tip - Flashing Lights sounds way better in the morning - possibly a new workout mix?

The Australian hip hop world lost one of its most iconic characters in October 2011, when Hunter lost his battle with neuroendocrine cancer. Now, almost two years to the day, we’re blessed with a collection of songs he was working on right up until the end. It will be a tough record to listen to for a lot of people, let alone review, but it’s somewhat comforting at the same time. However not something that can be rated on a scale of one to five.

It kicks off with the feel good track, Party Fresh, but from the second track, You And Me, the mood turns down a notch. Reflective and melancholic, Hunter explores some of the mistakes of his past, segueing into Withdrawing where he declares he’s ‘withdrawing from humanity.’ This track showcases some of his most technically well-crafted lyrics, as his voice effortlessly rides the Matty Fresh beat.

In true Hunter form though, the positivity returns in the form of Relax featuring Crixus. It’s almost like he’s admonishing himself for being too maudlin earlier on and it paves the way for some Slick Rick-esque storytelling in 2 Little Boys and I Asked God. The title track and album closer is an SBX posse cut, which in this context is especially powerful, particularly during an extremely moving verse from Layla.

Like all of Hunter’s output, this record is filled with earnest lyricism, making it a fitting epilogue to the life of a prolific and inspirational MC.

FLASHING LIGHTS ISLAND RECORDS/UNIVERSAL

» HAYLEY DAVIS

BRING IT ALL BACK INDEPENDENT/OBESE RECORDS DISTRIBUTION

» NICK SWEEPAH

UNRATED OUT OF RESPECT 28

» SENATE » FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8 @ EAST END BAR (SUPPORTING XHIN) » SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 @ WAM FESTIVAL’S NIGHT VISIONS #2, GEISHA & THE VELVET LOUNGE (SUPPORTING CONTAINER)

SALT NIGHTS OUT Senate (Emerald Cabal & Reece Walker)

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH SENATE Describe your genre?

Techno/house (not tech-house).

How long have you been working together?

Since January this year. We recently changed our name to Senate.

Best track to open and close a set with?

Reece Walker: Really enjoyed opening a set recently with Elma (Ruff Rub) by Huerco S. It’s a great tune by a great artist. It’s at a speed that suits us, is dirty but emotional and unlike any track on his album has a straight 4x4 beat.

Alex Campbell (aka Emerald Cabal): Capping a set off with Acid Trax by Phuture seems fitting.

Thom Omfom (as part of Mondo Super Best Friends)

MONDO FRIDAYS When: Every Friday, 10pm to 4am at Ginger Nightclub, Northbridge.

Ethos: Feeeel good dance party.

Expect to hear: Everything from James Brown to James Blake.

Tools of your trade?

Playing live we use Ableton and a couple of controllers. For DJing, it’s wax and the occasional CD.

Next lineup: Mondo Super Best Friends and DJ Plugger.

Favourite new track?

We’re a bit behind with new releases at the moment, but Boner M’s Fakmii from January is still getting spun hard. And an older favourite for good measure: Dillinja - Armoured D.

Attend if...: You want somewhere to party every Friday night with out-of-this-world feel good vibes and great tropical, dance party music.

Weirdest tune you’ve ever played?

Popol Vuh - Aguirre 1.

Cool stuff: Mondo Juice from $5.

» MONDO FRIDAYS » FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8 @ GINGER NIGHTCLUB` #youshouldreadxpress

DANNY BROWN NEVER GROW OLD

2011 saw the breakthrough release of XXX, a free concept album by Detroit rapper, Danny Brown. Not only was it a star-making record, but its distinct and druggy style went on to reverberate as an influential force throughout broader pop music.

LACHLAN KANONIUK reports.

Following on from his long-time-coming ascendency to fame, Brown has stepped things up with the release of his third studio album, Old, a sprawling and dichotomous insight into the psyche of one of modern rap’s most compelling minds.

You might expect him to be in the midst of a whirlwind of activity in the wake of Old’s release, but that isn’t the case as he answers the phone.“I’m in my home man, in Michigan. Just chillin’, haven’t been doing too much.”

Brown’s emergence onto the world stage happened as he entered his 30’s, sparking some literature about whether rap is no longer just a young person’s game. Whether or not that’s the case, Brown doesn’t feel like the title Old is a self-descriptor.

“I don’t feel old at all. The name of my album has nothing to do with age or anything like that. Rap music gave me the chance to never grow up. I knew what I wanted to do from a young age, so I just stuck to that.”

After the phenomenal response of XXX, Brown’s next move was a hotly anticipated one. The two sides of Old could make for satisfying standalone releases, an indication of Brown’s resolve to provide a comprehensive package. “I just took my time to be honest. Everyone was like, ‘Are you gonna do some tapes?’ so I made it with that in mind - like a tape or a vinyl.”

Brown recently welcomed Siren - a Bengal cat into his family.“I got her from Ohio, they drove her up. She’s crazy. I had a cat before her that died, so I was missing a cat. I went online to try to find a nice cool cat. She cool, she just bad man,” he says with his distinct laugh. “She likes to get in trouble.”

In spite of his recent international success,

Danny Brown he’s managed to find a comfortable work life balance.

“Like I said, I just rap about living my life. So I have to live my life to have something to rap about. I’m in the living stage right now. I just want to hang out,” he offers with a relaxed air. “But sometimes I’ll be bored at home; then start to miss the road. We all like making money, and money take care of me and pay my bills, so if I have to go somewhere to make money, I’m gonna go,” he reasons.

After a series of Australian club shows in mid-2012 - “I remember having a good time, but I don’t remember much else” - Brown returns for a run of Laneway Festival dates in 2014. The festival environment, as Brown explains, is the most conducive one for the Danny Brown live show. “I didn’t make (the songs) for the club, I made them to perform at festivals...” As for what the future holds, he’s philosophical. “I’ve been doing this since I was in kindergarten, so as long as I’m able to breathe and talk I’ll be rapping. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.”

» DANNY BROWN » OLD OUT NOW THROUGH WARNER » SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8 @ LANEWAY FESTIVAL, ESPLANADE PARK & WEST END, FREMANTLE

CONTAINER BRING THE NOISE

US noise merchant, Container has carved a new niche in the evergrowing electronic landscape.

ANDREW NELSON gets the lowdown on mutant techno and the brave new world it’s created for our protagonist.

Noise as a musical genre has its origins in Luigi Russolo’s 1913 manifesto, The Art Of Noises, but typically, today, it’s a style where conventional use of melody, harmony and rhythm is often dispensed, replaced by cacophony, feedback, distortion, volume and well, noise.

Ren Schofield aka Container is perhaps the most prominent of a number of (mainly American) noise artists who, since around 2010, have been incorporating structured beats and elements of techno into their productions, exposing themselves to a whole new audience and introducing a new sub-genre of mutant (or weird) techno.

The success of 2011’s Overflow and the follow-up simply titled, LP has led to the self-effacing Schofield being thrust into an alien environment where clued-up clubbers from around the globe have been stomping feet and pumping fists to his low-tech industrial flavoured beats.

“It’s been a wild ride!” he exclaims from his Rhode Island home, shortly before embarking on a tour that takes in the UK, Russia, Spain, France and Switzerland as well as Australia. “Playing for ten minutes to maybe 20 people in someone’s basement for 30 dollars and then spending half of that on beer before falling asleep under the kitchen table was normal for me at one point. Coming from that background into a professionally run techno club is absolutely insane. They want you to play for an hour, they know exactly what time you’re going to play at, if you stop playing before the DJ after you is ready and there’s even just a minute of silence the promoter gets really upset, but hundreds of people come, you get paid decently and there’s free beer, so basically I can’t complain.

But it’s definitely been a humorous transition!”

The switch hasn’t always sat comfortably and Schofield isn’t going to be reaching for the glow-sticks and whistle just yet. “Club and DJ www.xpressmag.com.au

Container culture is totally foreign to me,” he says. “When I play in a proper dance club I have no idea what to do with myself after I’m done playing. It’s kind of weird to just stand there and stare at the DJ, I’m not really one for dancing, and there’s not usually anywhere to sit. Generally I find the club experience to be pretty awkward.”

But his success isn’t the equivalent of a five-year-old selling a crayoned scribbling as modern art for millions of dollars. His productions are composed on vintage analogue equipment and listening to the likes of recent releases, Interior and Treatment or his remix of Fourtet’s latest, Kool FM, it’s evident they add something different from the formulaic computer generated blandness sometimes on offer.

It seems this lack of a past with the genre has allowed for something different to be created, without being weighed down by historical baggage. “I knew basically nothing about techno when I started Container,” he explains. “A lot I hear doesn’t really do anything for me, and I feel that most of my inspiration is drawn from other types of music and then applied to techno.”

» CONTAINER » SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 @ THE VELVET LOUNGE 29

Deadline Monday 5pm. The Club Manual is a service to advertisers listing all DJs & Dance Music.

All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press. Email guide@xpressmag.com.au

CAPITOL

THE COURT

WEDNESDAY 06/11

Club Bay View - DJ Matty S & DJ Ben Renna A m p l i f i e r / C a p i t o l – H a r l e m Club Red Sea – Candyshop The Craftsman – Jordan Scott Wednesdays Eve Nightclub - Retro Thursdays ft.

The Bird – A L B A & DJ Ben Fester DJ Crazy Craig The Brass Monkey – Victor Captain Stirling – Lokie Shaw/ Jason Kalamunda - Grizzly Leisure Inn - DJ Peta Dewey Malt – Collective Club Red Sea – Cheek Mustang Bar - DJ James MacArthur Gold Bar - Famous Wednesdays Newport Hotel - Tiki Bar Open The Grand Central – Fiveo Groove Bar (Crown) – DJ Crazy Craig Mic Night Ocean One – Lokie Shaw The Llama Bar – Akuna Club Mustang Bar - DJ James MacArthur Players Bar - Why Wait Wednesday? ft. DJ Ambadextrus Sovereign Arms – Jordan Scott Air Nightclub - VIP Platinum Fridays The Village Bar - Village People Ambar – Get Weird ft Motorik Vibe Wednesdays Council Amplifier - Fridays Are Back The Avenue - DJ Lokie Shaw The Beat (downstairs) – PLAY The Beat (downstairs) - Fantasy The Bird – ‘Teeth’ Cassette Launch ft Methyl Ethel/ Spirit Level/ Thursdays The Bird – The Community (WAM Eleventeen Eston Showcase) ft Ylem/ Boost Hero Man/ The Brass Monkey – James Ess & Vicktor Lowaski / Empty/ Arms In Motion C5 – Residence ft. Bass Attics The Brass Monkey – Vicktor & James Capitol - Capitol Fridays Ess Capitol (upstairs) - I Love 80’s & 90’s The Causeway - Xport Thursdays Club Red Sea - Awol

Daily Planet - Sundowner Sessions The Carine – Jimmy Beats The Causeway – Acoustic Sundowner The Como – Funky Bottoms The Craftsman – Jordan Scott The Deen - Student Night Flawless - Monarch Fridays The Generous Squire – Jon Ee Ginger Nightclub - Mondos “Feel Good” Dance Party Gold Bar – Friday Vanity The Good Shepherd – Throwback!

The Grand Central – Jay Mackay Groove Bar (Crown) - DJ Crazy Craig Lakers Tavern – Grizzly Library – Dorcia Mustang Bar - Swing DJ/ Cheeky Monkeys/ DJ James MacArthur My Place - Karaoke Newport - Gravity Paramount – Flyte/ Dj John/Jordan Players Bar - Hooch The Queens - Reuben Rocket Room - Howlers ft DJ Frank N Bean The Saint – inx Project Shape Bar - Getter / Killafoe/ JD4D/ Maker/ Casuel Sovereign Arms – ANG3L The Whale & Ale – DJ Spinback Villa - Amon Vision: Black & Red Party YaYa’s - ACE ft DJ Pup

Smrts/ Usurper Of Modern Medicine/ Pex The Balmoral - Back To The 80’s Bar 120 – Little Nicky/ Jordan Scott Beat Nightclub (Upstairs) – CANVAS The Bird - WAM Saturday Spectacular ft Rok Riley/ Pumba/ Rabbit Island/ Flighflow/ Coin Banks/ Lo and Behold/ Wisdom2th/ Lilt/ Ylem & Dease/ Sid Pattni/ Sable/ Ekko & Sidetrack Brass Monkey – DJ Peta & Grizzly The Brighton – Squinty C5 Metro Freo - I Love 80s & 90s Capitol - Death Disco ft. Death Disco DJs Capitol (Upstairs) - Cream of the 80s The Causeway - House Party Alex Smoke - Saturday, November 9 @ Geisha Club Red Sea – Fresh Saturdays The Como – Jay Lee Lloyd Groove Bar (Crown) - DJ Crazy East End Bar – Home Craig Empire Bar – James Shipstone/ Mustang Bar - Triple Shots Lakers Tavern - DJ Hages Miggy The Rosemount Hotel - Bada Bingo!

Mustang Bar - DJ Rockin’ Rhys Flawless – LQ Saturdays Flyrite - FΔMILY Newport - DJ Tom Drummond Flawless – Cube Rosemount Hotel – The Get Down Geisha Bar – Flux ft Elektic/ Pimp The Saint - DJ Jon Ee/ Az-T Mustang Bar - Danza Loca Salsa Scrub/ DazzK The Queens – Fiveo & Sam Spencer Night Generous Squire – Jon Ee Gold Bar – Saturday Pure Gold The Good Shepherd - Chocolate Jesus The Grand – Jay Mackay Groove Bar (Crown) - DJ Dan Leederville Hotel (downstairs) – Under The Arena Party The Library - DJ Victor / DJ Riki Lost Society - Chalk (indie/ hip hop) Metro Freo – Metropolis Saturdays Parker - Parker Saturdays ft Kastel/ Jackness/ ACEBASIK/ Axen/ Paul Scott Paramount – Felix/DJ John/Jordan Players Bar – LUXE The Queens – Kenny L The Saint – Az-T Sovereign Arms – Michael Brittliff Tiger Lil’s – Dj Bojan/Benjamin Bastian’s Happy Flight Sebastian/Alex Koresis The Whale & Ale – DJ Spinback The Wembley Hotel – Lokie Shaw Wolf Lane – Soulville Villa - Optiv & BTK YaYa’s – Arcadia All Nighter

SATURDAY 09/11

SUNDAY 10/11

Ambar - Japan 4 ft. Mo’Fly/ Oli/ Wish/ DNGRFLD/ Blend Amplifier - Pure Pop The Aviary – Just For The Night The Bakery -Night Visions ft Lewis McKirdy (triple j)/ Gilded/ Masonik/ Craig McElhinney/ Adam Trainer/

The Aviary (Rooftop) – Rooftop Sessions Troy Division/Ben Sebastian The Bird - Chela / Nora Zion/ Leon Osborn (Live) , Djs Jack Doepel/ Roulade The Realest/ Pilerats Djs Empire Bar - DJ Victor/ DJ Riki Eve Nighclub – DJ Slick

FRIDAY 08/11

THURSDAY 07/11

Suburban Dark - Thursday, November 7 @ Flyrite

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AMPLIFIER

Jneiro Jarel - Friday, November 8 @ The Velvet Lounge

MONDAY 11/11 TUESDAY 12/11

WAM FESTIVAL’S SATURDAY SPECTACULAR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 @ VENUES IN NORTHBRIDGE

#youshouldreadxpress

See yourself? Tag yourself! Head to facebook.com/XPressMagazine

FRIDAY NIGHTS

BAR DE HALCYON

MUSTANG BAR

THE SWITCH

SHAPE BAR

IN THE THIS WEEK

Wednesday, December 18 @ Shed Stereosonic Thursday, November 14 @ S a t u rd ay, N ove m b e r 3 0 Villa and Sunday, December 1 @ Ambar Suburban Dark Claremont Showgrounds Waka Flocka Flame Thursday, November 7 @ Flyrite Tama Sumo & Heatsick Thursday, December 19 @ The Bamboos Fr i d a y, N o v e m b e r 1 5 @ Metropolis Fremantle Jneiro Jarel Thursday, December 5 @ Friday, November 8 @ The Velvet Connections Capitol Botnek Lounge Fresh Produce Friday, December 20 @ Ambar SCNDL Friday, November 15 @ Ambar Xhin Friday, December 6 @ Parker B r e a k f e s t f t . S t a n t o n Friday, November 8 @ East End Back 2 The Old Skool Anthems Warriors/LTJ Bukem/Plump Bar NAPT Night ft. Ian M DJs & Friday, December 6 @ Ambar Saturday, November 16 @ more Motorik Vibe Council.

Gilkisons Friday, November 8 @ Ambar Thursday, December 26 @ Kilter Belvoir Amphitheatre Hunter’s Bring It All Back The Beaufort Street Festival Saturday, December 7 @ album launch ft. Bitter Belief/ ft. Lilt, Bastian’s Happy Flight, Flyrite Marten Hørger Anton Franc & more Optamus & more Tuesday, December 31 @ Todd Terry Saturday, November 16 @ Friday, November 8 @ The Saturday, December 7 @ Ambar Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley Rosemount Geisha Bar Salt On The Beach ft. De La Allday Getter Slanted & Enchanted ft. Jon Soul Saturday, November 16 @ The Friday, November 8 @ Shape Hopkins/Le1f/Kelpe/Lower Tuesday, December 31 @ Bakery North Fremantle Spectrum & more Amon Vision: Black & Red Finnebassen Saturday, December 7 @ The Party Origin ft. Wiz Khalifa/A$AP Saturday, November 16 @ Bakery Friday, November 8 @ Villa Rocky Geisha Natural NZ Music Festival Tuesday, December 31 @ Big Ape ft. SPL ft. Kora, Nesian Mystik, Ozone Reserve Big Sean Saturday, November 9 @ Shape Sunday, November 17 @ Optimus Gryme & more Saturday, December 7 @ Red Cuban Club ft. De La Soul/ Capitol Optiv & BTK DJ Yoda Hill Auditorium Saturday, November 9 @ Villa Wednesday, January 1 @ The Mix Master Mike 15th Annual Perth Dance Flying Squadron Yacht Club Friday, November 22 @ Villa Container Music Awards Saturday, November 9 @ The Andy Stott Sunday, December 8 @ The Club Paradiso ft. Bag Raiders Velvet Lounge Fr i d a y, N o v e m b e r 2 2 @ Court & Yacht Club DJs Gilkisons Wednesday, January 1 @ Salt Alex Smoke Chic & Nile Rodgers On The Beach Saturday, November 9 @ Geisha District Sunday, December 8 @ The Friday, November 22 @ Ambar Astor Theatre Cyril Hahn WAM Festival’s S aturday Saturday, January 4 @ The Spec tacular f t. Bastian’s Mr Grevis Sets On The Beach ft. Miami Bakery Happy Flight, Ylem & Dease, Friday, November 22 @ The Horror/DJ Snake/Alison The Weapon Is Sound & more Rosemount Wonderland/Fort Knox Five AVICII Saturday, November 9 @ venues Saturday, November 23 @ & more Monday, January 27 @ Perth in Northbridge S u n d a y , D e c e m b e r 8 Arena Prince Of Wales, Bunbury @ Scarborough Beach WAM Festival’s Night Visions Bombs Away & Ivan Gough Amphitheatre St Jerome’s Laneway Festival Saturday, November 9 @ Geisha Saturday, November 23 @ and The Bakery Ministry of Sound: The f t . C a s h m e r e C a t / E a r l Metro City Annual 2014 ft. Uberjak’d Sweatshirt/ Four Tet/ Jamie XX Chela Skarlett Saramore, Adam & Chardy Sunday, November 10 @ The Love & Nino Brown Friday, December 13 @ Villa S a t u r d a y, Fe b r u a r y 8 @ Esplanade Park & West End, Bird Saturday, November 23 @ The Alex Metric ft. Philly Blunt, Fremantle Court Axen & Paradise Paul Art Department and Jacques Friday, December 13 @ Parker Future Music ft. Deadmau5/ Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/ Lu Cont ft. Shadow Brothers Phoenix/ Hardwell Kid Mac Sunday, November 24 @ Parker Tube & Berger Wednesday, November 13 @ Friday, December 13 @ Geisha Sunday, March 2 @ Arena Joondalup Mojos Bar D u s t i n Te b u t t & G r a c e Dieselboy, xKore & Thursday, November 14 @ Woodroofe Good Life ft. Deadmau5/ Teddy Killerz Prince Of Wales, Bunbury Sunday, November 24 @ The Saturday, December 14 @ Villa Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/ Friday, November 15 @ YaYa’s Aviary Hardwell & more Saturday, November 16 @ Looptroop Rockets/Sage Monday, March 3 @ Arena Settlers Tavern, Margaret River Kid Kenobi Francis Joondalup Sunday, November 17 @ Indi Bar Friday, November 29 @ Parker

COMING UP

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THE GET DOWN WELCOME TO SUMMER

Raaghe/Diger Rokwell/14KT/Charlie Bucket @ The Rosemount Hotel Sunday, November 3, 2013 Perhaps it’s bold to say. Others might argue they’ve appreciated Perth for years. But let’s go ahead and call it anyway - this city’s cultural scene is really coming into its own. From spoken word, speakeasies, comedy and hip hop karaoke, mixed in with visual arts, good food and cocktails in jam jars, it feels like we’re beginning to know who we are and we’re not afraid to show it.

A fresh addition to the schedule is The Rosemount Hotel’s Sunday Sessions in the backyard, otherwise known as The Get Down. If it regularly dishes out the kind of talent it showcased last Sunday, the only concern would be whether the garden is big enough to host a growing following.

It was one of Perth’s first balmy summer nights for 2013 and from 3-10pm punters were treated to a lineup of mainly local talent.

Raaghe Ismail kicked things off with some mellow funk, easing people gently into the afternoon. Close your eyes and you could’ve been in any hip bar from New York to Melbourne - all class.

He was followed by beat master, Diger Rokwell. Rokwell has been a game-changer for independent, electronic music in Perth, landing last year’s WAM ‘Electronic Producer Of The Year’ award and co-founding artists and musicians collective, The Community. On this particularly occasion he showcased some smooth house and electronica, as well as the signature worldly sounds he’s become known for. Working masterfully between two laptops and decks, he added that Middle Eastern spice courtesy of an electric guitar.

Folks were then treated to the man from Michigan - 14KT. He upped the groove and threw out some soulful beats, even kicking it for a while with Raaghe on the decks. He delivered a mix of soul and hip hop, relaxing the vibe but keeping it purely instrumental. It was lovely to listen to, clean, professional, seasoned…and we wanted to give him our best props, but it just so happened that Charlie Bucket took to the stage, turning people’s heads from their meals as he got serious about the funk.

The clicking of fingers, tapping of toes and snapping of heads from side-to-side was almost involuntary responses to Bucket’s choice

14KT. Photo by Michael Caves mix of tracks. The boy’s got soul. Perhaps it’s fitting that proper recognition be given, seeing as though Bucket is one half of Think Twice, the guys behind this weekly night. Much thanks to those passionate artists, musicians and event-makers like Bucket who believed in Perth’s potential and stuck around to make it happen.

» HAYLEY DAVIS

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GRACE BARBE

DJ Charlie Bucket/Beleza / Boom! Bap! Pow! Fly By Night Musician’s Club Saturday, November 2, 2013

SHEPPARD Timothy Nelson And The Infidels Amplifier Bar Saturday, November 2, 2013 Fantastic vibes were on offer at Amplifier Bar courtesy of the feel good outfit Sheppard. On the final stretch of a tour that has taken them across the globe, and having only arrived from Amsterdam a few days earlier, this collectively sexy group injected some sorely needed summer time vibes into the Perth atmosphere with their outrageously fun brand of catchy yet versatile pop. Sheppard consists of three charismatic and intensely musical siblings, George, Amy and Emma Sheppard, and are joined by the additional talents of two equally skilled guitarists and a precise and powerful drummer.

Before this colourful collaboration rocked the stage, Perth’s very own insanely talented masters of rock n’ roll, Timothy Nelson And The Infidels, warmed up the crowd with their well honed and attention-demanding style. Timothy Nelson, the front man and envy inducing multi-instrumentalist, endeared the crowed to him with a relaxed and entertaining demeanour. Possessing amazing vocal range, from meaty mids to a startlingly well controlled falsettos along with a truly amping musicality behind the keys, the band moved from high point to high point over a well selected and balanced set. Each band member performed with great precision, and the lead guitarist’s precise use of effects added some great sonic textures to the mix. For the final song, Let Her Go, Mr Nelson brought the mic stand down with him to crowd level, enticing the punters to get intimate with a sing-a-long that was truly uplifting.

THE BIRD

On Thursday, November 7, check out The Community WAM Showcase. Coinciding with The Community Records’ nomination for Best WA Based Label in the WAM Awards, the lineup features Ylem, Boost Hero Man, Lowaski and Empty along with DJ Arms In Motion. Entry is $5 from 8pm. On Friday, Methyl Ethyl launch their new cassette, Teeth, with support from Spirit Level and Eleventeen Eston. Again, entry is $5 from 8pm. Then on Saturday, The Bird’s contingent of the WAM Saturday Spectacular will include performances from Rok Riley, Puymba, Rabbit Island, Flighflow, Coin Banks, Lo And Behold, Wisdom2th, Lilt, Ylem + Dease, Sid Pattni, Sable, Ekko and Sidetrack. Free entry from noon.

Sheppard - Photo by Jason Culverwell It was Sheppard’s time to shine and they sauntered onto the stage in outfits reflecting their energetic and modern style; a combination of sequins and Hawaiian shirts alongside more traditional rock band garb. While their sound is certainly friendly to the radio, this is not to say that there wasn’t significant depth and thought in their compositions. Occasionally sexualised lyrics from blue haired bombshell and lead singer Amy Sheppard were presented without smut and were instead indicative of a bold confidence, telling a story of coming into one’s own power. The lyrics of lead man George Sheppard played on slightly more bitter-sweet topics which were a perfect match for his strong bluesy vocal lines. In line with this often bluesy aesthetic, some surprise harmonica from Amy added a wonderful rustic feel and was offset brilliantly by equally well constructed dance tunes which managed to shake even the most winterfrigid Perth music lover. The youngest sister Emma Sheppard was proficient and eye-catching in her role as bassist, and came together with her sister for some wonderful vocal harmonies that were almost reminiscent of the Motown era.

Sheppard’s sound seems to really represent their origins on the sunshine coast with its almost tropical energy and you could swear the humidity started to rise when they started to get pumping.

Clearly possessing an immense amount of combined song writing talent, it was obvious why their prolific output has seen them gain fans across the globe.

While you may have to wait until their next time around to catch all their fine selves back on a Perth stages, after experiencing one of their shows you’ll want them to lead you home too. _ JAMES HANLON

YAYA’S

Kicking things off: King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard return to YaYa’s on Friday, November 8 as part of their Fill Your Lungs Tour. Then it’s time for the annual WAM Festival Saturday Spectacular! With 100-plus acts over 12 locations, all with free entry; it’s going to be huge. YaYa’s are proud to present a massive lineup with The Coalminers Sect, Dux & Downtown, Valdaway, Vida Cain, The Flying Embers, Sludge Bucket, Leeches!, Scalphunter, Axe Girl and FAIM. Check them all out from midday on Saturday.

THE BEAT NIGHTCLUB

Wednesday, Nov 6, catch Aurora Jane celebrating the release of Holding Pattern. Inspired by the intricate inner world of dream imagery and our unconscious desires, Aurora Jane’s new album reveals a colourful and surreal soundscape.

Blending psychedelic ‘70s analogue warmth with upbeat funk, soaring rock and intuitive song-craft, Aurora Jane’s fourth album unveils an expansive creative evolution. Supports include The New Beast and Ellie Schoen. Entry is $15. Doors at 8pm.

Still riding the high from performing at renowned Australian music festivals including Bluesfest, Woodford Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival and St Kilda Festival in the past 12 months, alongside heavyweights such as Robert Plant, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt and The Cat Empire, blues multiinstrumentalist Shaun Kirk continues his musical ascent with the release of his brand new EP, Giving.

Catch him at the Indi Bar this Sunday, November 10.

This Friday, November 8, from 8pm, Melbourne hardcore band Declaration, in WA for Blood Rock Fest 2013, will play a sideshow at Beat Nightclub.

Joining the lineup is Break, Alex The Kid, Truth Seeker and Idle Eyes. Then on Saturday, Winterfold launch their EP at Runaways with support from NSW melodic hardcore darlings Abel Tasman - doors are open at 10pm.

CLAREMONT HOTEL

Saturday, November 9, sees Antics - live indie bands and DJs. These shows feature the best in happening bands from the WA scene. This week catch New Animal, Red Mexico and Sprawl. Antics DJs featuring Lukas Wimmler will keep the room moving in between and after the bands. Free entry from 7pm - 11pm!

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Grace Barbe - Photo by JF Foto technical quality of Grace Barbe’s set is rather good - the vocals are loud, clean and not clashing with the riffs, and three different percussion instruments (hand drums, drum kit, and triangle) conjure a really rich beat. Even though the lyrics are in French and Creole, it didn’t matter at all- the percussions and the guitar riffs reminiscent of the good old days of rock carried the night.

The crowd, which is normally a passive, appreciative being, radically mutated into a different beast for the night, actively dancing away with absolute abandon - all of them just there to listen to the music, without holding any pretentions. _ CLAYTON LIN

ANTON FRANC

MOJO’S

INDI BAR

Ylem

It is said that talent can come from any corner in the world. Hailing from the archipelagos of the Seychelles, Grace Barbe, delivers a fusion of rock, African beats, Latin rhythms and Seychellois alchemy that resulted in a night of thumping beats, rich percussions, melodiously poetic lyrics, that could, and did, drive crowds into a frenzy of dancing.

The mood for the night was set by DJ Charlie Bucket, laying down records from West Africa and the Caribbean, doling out the humid, tropical vibes. Forty-five minutes of non-stop music heavy with drumbeats that made the venue feel like a scene straight out of Live And Let Die. Beleza, a group of Brazilian percussion enthusiasts, snaked their way into the middle of the room, and delivered a rousing performance, gradually picking up in tempo.

After them came Boom! Bap! Pow! This five piece band delivered tunes that are best described as a hybrid between country and jazz, with their sound harking back to the rock ‘n’ roll of the ‘50s - the sultry, country-accented vocals evoked a vibe that wouldn’t be out of place in the saloons of the American Mid-West. They lived up to the name of their band with such a flashy, expressive, and most importantly, loud, performance, with a dash of vintage flair.

Beleza came in a second time, now with additional Samba dancers.

At around thirty past ten, the headline act emerged. Grace Barbe, with her band AfroKreol, played songs from her new album Welele!

Her set was downright amazing- the crowd responded in agreement with vigorous, sensuous dancing. Throughout an hour and fifteen minutes of non-stop vibrant rhythms flowing between high and low tempo, yet a maintaining smooth transmission from song to song. Despite a genre more known for its low fidelity aesthetics, the

Shaun Kirk

Anton Franc - Photo by Rachael Barrett for its various members, which include Louis & The Honkytonk/Daniel opportunity alumni from Rainy Day Women, The Arsonist and The Brow Horn Orchestra, to stretch themselves a Champagne/PUMBA/Ruby bit and experiment a bit, but not at the expense of Boots audience engagement.

The Bakery Saturday, November 2, 2013 Five acts for an EP launch - with the EP in question being four piece Anton Franc’s latest, All This Talk - is pretty good bang for your buck, but is it too much of a good thing? Maybe so if you’re not a hundred per cent on board with the current country-tinged, wistfully nostalgic thing which is dominating indie pop of late. Maybe Mumford has too many sons.

Which is not to say the night was a wash.

Louis & The Honkytonk are good value, with a little more rock in their jocks than is normally found at this end of the street. Indeed, the only weak link in their lineup is vocalist Leigh Gardner, who tends to try to reach for levels outside his comfortable range. When he works within his capabilities, though, they’re the business - grungy and crunchy and fun.

New South Wales’ Daniel Champagne is an unassuming presence, and the large - and at the time largely empty - venue did him few favours.

Champagne has quite the rep as a live hand, but it was hard to see why that night - his time on stage was dour, downbeat, dreary and - here’s the kicker - pretty much ignored. PUMBA fared better, with a thankfully more upbeat set. Clearly, PUMBA is an

Ruby Boots is always worth a listen in whatever form she/they take. In this case it was a solo showing by Bex Chilcott, a woman who knows how to make her chosen genre work for her.

Chilcott offered up a typically excellent performance, her sheer presence drawing punters away from the outdoor smoking area and into the Bakery’s cavernous main stage room.

Finally, Anton Franc took to the stage and they were... well, they were fine. Whether they were worth the time and money and effort to see them live is another thing entirely. There is no doubt that Joshua Bowyer, Jamie Kuzich and company are perfectly serviceable musicians and they’ve certainly carved out a place for themselves in the Perth music scene in a remarkably short period of time, but frankly this current folk-pop thing has just about run its course. Even if it hasn’t, what might fly in a more intimate setting doesn’t necessarily translate to a larger venue. Anton Franc began as a bedroom project and that’s pretty much where their stuff should be heard. This is low key, lo-fi and ultimately low-interest stuff; it’s right on the money for what’s hip at the moment, but that moment is surely going to pass soon. _ TRAVIS JOHNSON #youshouldreadxpress

Edited by T RAV I S JO H N S O N

CHAINSAW HOOKERS Before they play at the very festival they founded, Blood Rock Fest, at The Rosemount Hotel this Saturday, November 9, we thought it might be an idea to catch with Chainsaw Hookers’ Jon Russo to get the lowdown on the loudest little festival in town.

DUX FOR COVER

The structural issues that have plagued Mt Lawley’s iconic Flying Scotsman of late have seen a lot of gigs get quashed, but at least one was saved by the simple expedient of moving it from the upstairs Defector’s Bar to the Velvet Lounge in the back room. Thus, this Sunday, November 10, you can still catch Luke Dux, Hayley Beth, Joe Bludge, Blackswan and Anton Kuret doing their thing from 6.30pm.

Back in 2009, the boys of Chainsaw Hookers saw a gap in the local music scene and quickly set about filling it. Although the live landscape was as healthy as it had ever been, there was always room for the kind of music they were into - louder, heavier, nastier - to get an airing. “ We started Blood Rock Fest to showcase the local bands and sub genres we are into,” Jon Russo explains. “With a focus on giving new bands the opportunity to play on a lineup of some of Perth’s stronger acts.”

It was a gamble but it worked. Since then, the event has gone from strength to strength, with this year seeing some 17 different acts performing under the Blood Rock banner. “Every year the event has got bigger and better. Last year we added the most interstate acts we’ve had and this year, we have our first international band in Useless ID from Israel.” Other acts on the bill include Melbourne’s Clowns, local favourites the Decline, Legs Electric and The Order Of The Black Werewolf, plus a new - in a manner of speaking - outfit, Silver Foxes.

As Russo explains, Silver Foxes is an all-star supergroup that features “...members of Chainsaw Hookers, Kerb, Billings Method and The Decline.” They’ll be popping their live cherry at the festival.

It hasn’t been an easy journey, though. “It’s always very hard to organise bands and an event like this,” Russo tells us. “But we have a good unit of crew working together to lessen the load.

Blood Rock Fest has reassured us of the talent and variety of heavy flavours we have here in Perth.”

Indeed, future plans for Blood Rock Fest are nothing if not ambitious. “We see it locking down as Perth’s most coveted annual heavy music showcase with as many badass bands as we can get on a bill.”

EMERGING FROM THE SWAMP

With so much going on this Saturday as part of the WAM Festival Saturday Spectacular it’s hard to know where to go and what to do.

However, if you’re especially keen to check out the newest sounds our state has to offer, then point yourself towards the Emerging Artists Wetlands Stage in the Cultural Centre. Presented by the Central Institute Of Technology’s Music Department, this particular arena will play host to the musical stylings of Mentok Commandz Yu, Kat Wilson, Elkwood, Enav and The Insatiables, along with WAM Song Of The Year nominee Riley Pearce and National Campus Bands This Saturday, November 9, celebrate the music of Fremantle at Competition winner Edie Green. Kick off is at 12.30pm with the show the Norfolk Lanes Youth Festival, presented as part of the Fremantle wrapping up at 7.30pm - putting you in direct proximity to the X-Press Festival. Two stages - one in Norfolk Lane, one on Essex Street - will Digital Launch at PICA... be graced by the likes of Chela, Bass Reflex, Tashi, Moana, Grrl Pal, Water Graves, Villain, Mad Rabbit, Everybody And The Stuff, The Liarbirds, Connor Minervini, Claudia And Ebony Tero, Dylan McCoy and Aborted Tortoise. The music happens from noon until 7pm, and entry is free!

NORTHFOLK NOISE

Edie Green

A DEVILISHLY GOOD TIME Chela

Scalphunter 07/11/2013 15/11/2013 15/11/2013 22/11/2013 23/11/2013 28/11/2013 30/11/2013 06/12/2013 07/12/2013 20/12/2013

Get down to The Rosemount Hotel tonight, Wednesday November 6, to catch alt-rockers The Devil In Miss Jones along with Stargazer, The Crossbars and The Right Way Up. Doors open at 8pm, entry is $8.

Mezzanine

Scalphunter 10” Vinyl EP Launch @ C5 Leeches Lords Of Dullsville Album Launch @ 459 Bar Mezzanine Strange Paradise Album Launch @ Amplifier Rag N’ Bone Single Launch @ PICA Bar Our Man In Berlin Airhead Single Launch @ Flyrite Richmond Street Records Blender Album Launch @ Rosemount Black Birds Falling In Waves EP Launch @ PICA Bar Penny King Quartet Journey Album Launch @ The Ellington Jazz Club The Littlest Fox In A Big City Album Launch @ Rockingham Bowls Club Kristie Smith The Bunny Boiler Album Launch @ The Fly Trap

www.xpressmag.com.au

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Eskimo Joe

ESKIMO JOE Circle Work

Our own Eskimo Joe are taking their new album, Wastelands, around the country, hitting the Astor Theatre this Saturday, November 9. CAMERON JAMES reports.

After 16 years, eight ARIAs, six albums and countless shows around the world, Eskimo Joe are still having fun. And you can hear it on their new album, Wastelands, which takes the Eskies into an unfamiliar territory – electronica.

But this isn’t a cash in, this is the sound of three guys – who have been doing one thing for a long time – playing around with some new (and old) gear, new beats per minute and a newfound energy. “ We j u s t g o t to t h e p o i n t w h e re we’d pushed a certain sound as far as we could push it,” explains guitarist/studio drummer, Joel Quartermain.

“By the time we’d finished Ghosts Of The Past, it was almost too easy to make an Eskimo Joe record. We could churn it out. And we didn’t wanna do that again.”

That “certain sound” can best be described as the dark stadium pop of the three-album cycle beginning with Black Fingernails, Red Wine and ending with the aforementioned Ghosts. But if you can remember back to 2006, the phrase ‘brand new sound’ was being used to describe Black Fingernails, and previously on 2004’s A Song Is A City – and even before that their debut album was being contrasted to earlier pop-punk singles.

The Eskies, it seems, are a band as well known for their chameleon-like changes as for their hits. “Yeah, we’ve changed direction a few times,” Quartermain laughs. “In our very early days we were producing music that felt like a comedy act or something.” At this point, it’s difficult not to break out into a verse of their 1998 debut effort, Sweater.

That one was a tongue-in-cheek bubblegum punk mockery of hipsterism that still holds relevance with the consciously cool Gen Y. Quartermain continues, “Eventually we sat down and said, ‘Alright, if we’re going to make albums now, we might wanna play music that we actually enjoy’.” And there has been much for the band to enjoy. They’ve gone from the smirking punks on ABC’s Recovery in the late ’90s to one of the country’s most solid live acts, with the triple-platinum albums to back it up. But despite their history, you can hear the enjoyment on this new album more than ever.

And it’s taken a lot of work to have this much fun. With this their first independent record,

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Quartermain cautiously discusses the ‘machine’ that drives any major label recordings: “You feel like if you don’t get it right, innocent people might lose their jobs.” And how does it feel to be out on their own? “I think a pressure valve was released,” he says. “We felt that we could do whatever we want, have a laugh, and make a record that sounds like the albums we love. You know, LCD Soundsystem, Frank Ocean… music that grooves.”

Did you ever think the Black Fingernails guys would reference dance-punk DJs or polysexual R&B crooners? But a few tracks into the Burke Reid-produced record, you’ll be surprised you never saw it coming.

They slip into mirror ball disco surprisingly smoothly, and if their last run of shows in WA is anything to go by, audiences are getting into it just as easily.

“We weren’t sure how crowds would react to the new songs, but then the girls started busting out the dance moves. It was very cool,” Quartermain says.

It’s this close relationship with the fanbase that Quartermain says has been the most rewarding part of going independent. Since parting ways with their major label, Warner, Eskimo Joe have consciously kept it all about the music and the fans. The most obvious example of this is the highly successful, and highly publicised crowd-funding campaign that made the new record possible.

“I hope more bands do it. It’s very positive.

Taking the power back. We had ‘experiences’ as part of the pledge. They’ve been great; having people over at our studios, us playing live for eight to 10 people, playing the new songs to them, face to face. They were great nights.”

So, a lot has changed for the three-piece from Fremantle. At 16 years into their relationship, they’ve worked their way through the pubs, they’ve topped charts, and have now found themselves as role models to indie bands across the country. How has the Eskimo Joe mission changed?

“I think it changed in the mid-2000s when everything got more serious – planning world domination, hatching evil plans,” Quartermain laughs. “And now I think it’s back to where we started, trying to make music that we enjoy, and playing heaps of shows and having a laugh. I think we’ve come full circle.”

#youshouldreadxpress

Dance Gavin Dance, November 13

Tex Perkins, November 19

MARTHA DAVIS & THE MOTELS 4 Astor Theatre ALICIA KEYS 5 Perth Arena THE BAMBOOS 5 Capitol DYSON, STRINGER & CLOHER 5 Fremantle Arts Centre 7 Ye Olde Quindanning Inne THE MELVINS & HELMET 6 Metro Freo KYLESA 7 Rosemount Hotel METRIC 7 Metro City NATURAL NZ MUSIC FESTIVAL 7 Red Hill Auditorium CAVE 7 Astor Theatre JACK JOHNSON 7 Kings Park INSANE CLOWN POSSE 7 Metro Freo CITY AND COLOUR 7 Belvoir Amphitheatre SLANTED AND ENCHANTED 7 Astor Theatre/The Bakery METRIC 7 Metro City HITS & PITS 2.0 NOVEMBER WHITELY Black Flag, LEONARD COHEN 7 Amplifier Boysetsfire, Bad 13 Perth Arena 8 Mojos Bar Astronaut, Snuff, No AIR SUPPLY DANCE GAVIN Fun At All, Good For DANCE 8 Perth Concert Hall You, Off With Their 13 Amplifier JUSTIN BIEBER Heads, Jughead’s BLACK REBEL 8 Perth Arena Revenge MOTORCYCLE CLUB CHIC & NILE 24 Amplifier & Capitol 13 Metro Freo RODGERS MOONSORROW KID MAC 8 Astor Theatre 24 Rosemount Hotel KATAKLYSM 13 Mojos Bar EROS RAMAZZOTTI 8 Rosemount Hotel 14 Prince Of Wales, 23 Challenge Stadium SETS ON THE BEACH Bunbury I KILLED THE PROM 8 Scarborough Beach 15 YaYa’s QUEEN 16 Settlers Tavern, Amphitheatre 27 Prince Of Wales, Margaret River THE BRIAN Bunbury 17 Indi Bar JONESTOWN 28 Players Bar SINCERELY, GRIZZLY MASSACRE 29 YMCA HQ 14 Newport Hotel 10 Astor Theatre 30 Amplifier 15 Amplifier TAYLOR SWIFT 1 Newport BODYJAR 11 Perth NIB Stadium THE ATARIS 15 Rosemount Hotel STEEL PANTHER 29 Amplifier 16 Prince Of Wales, 12 Metro City THE SEABELLIES Bunbury ARCHIE ROACH 29 Flyrite THE MEMBERS 12 Fremantle Arts STEREOSONIC 16 Rosemount Hotel Centre Courtyard 30 Claremont BEAUFORT STREET 13 Quarry Showgrounds FESTIVAL Amphitheatre BIRDS OF TOKYO 16 Beaufort Street POND 29 Metro Freo DAN SULTAN 12 Metro Freo MUSE 16 Fly By Night BON JOVI 30 Perth Arena 17 Ellington Jazz Club SCREAMING JETS 12 Perth Arena THE RED JUMPSUIT 30 Astor Theatre ABBE MAY APPARATUS 13 Bakery 17 Villa Nightclub 19 Prince Of Wales, DECEMBER BIG SEAN I KILLED THE PROM Bunbury 17 Capitol CLAIRY BROWNE QUEEN JILL SCOTT & THE BANGIN’ 1 Newport Hotel 17 Riverside Theatre RACKETTES THE SEABELLIES AN EVENING ON THE 1 Mojos Bar 14 Rosemount Hotel GREEN THE PRESETS SCREAMING JETS Hoodoo Gurus, You 15 Hotel Rottnest 1 Wintersun Hotel, Am I, The Whitlams, Geraldton THE NERVE Dave Graney & The 19 Mojos Bar SIMPLE PLAN Mistly, Rainy Day 3 Challenge Stadium WAKA FLOCKA Women THIS WEEK 16 Kings Park & AURORA JANE Botanic Garden 6 Mojos Bar AN EVENING ON THE GREEN 7 Indi Bar 9 White Star Tavern Bernard Fanning, The Cruel Sea, Sarah BEYONCE Blasko, Bob Evans 8 & 9 Perth Arena 17 Kings Park & Botanic Garden USELESS ID NILE 8 Prince Of Wales, 17 Amplifier Bunbury SARAH BLASKO 9 Rosemount Hotel 18 Fremantle Arts PUGSLEY BUZZARD Centre Courtyard IAN BALL(GOMEZ) 8 Ellington Jazz 18 Mojos Bar Club 19 PICA Bar 9 Rottnest Lodge TEX PERKINS 19 Fremantle Arts 10 Blues at Bridgetown Festival Centre Courtyard BELINDA CARLISE 12 Perth Blues Club & 1927 LISA MITCHELL/ 20 Astor Theatre JOSH PYKE THE CAIROS 21 Mojos Bar 9 Wanneroo 22 YaYa’s Showgrounds THE BELLRAYS ONEREPUBLIC 21 Fly By Night 9 Metro City BOY & BEAR 22 Metro Freo DREAM ON 23 Astor Theatre DREAMER JEDWARD 10 Amplifier 23 Regal Theatre 11 YMCA HQ FLEETWOOD MAC 22 & 23 Perth Arena SCOTT KELLY AND CANCELLED THE ROAD HOME BAM BAM 10 Rosemount Hotel 23 YaYa’s

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Moonsorrow, November 24

FLAME 19 Metro Freo HUMAN NATURE 20 Perth Zoo CATHERINE TRAICOS 21 Rosemount Hotel THE GIN CLUB 21 Mojos Bar SMOKE MY TOUR FlipTrix, Dirty Dike, Jam Baxter, Ed Scissortounge and DJ Sammy B-Side 24 Metro Freo BREAKFEST 2013 26 Belvoir Amphitheatre DE LA SOUL 31 Salt On The Beach

BRUNO MARS 28 Perth Arena

MARCH

KERSER 1 Metro City FUTURE MUSIC Deadmau5, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Phoenix, Hardwell, Knife Party, Eric Prydz, Rudimental, Tinie Tempah, Chase & Status 2 Arena Joondalup THE WONDER STUFF 2 Rosemount Hotel SOUNDWAVE Green Day, Stone JANUARY Temple Pilots, Alice DE LA SOUL/DJ In Chains, Rob YODA Zombie, Megadeth, 1 Cuban Club (Flying Placebo and more!

Squadron Yacht 3 Claremont Club, The Esplanade, Showgrounds Dalkeith) GOODLIFE FESTIVAL SOUTHBOUND Deadmau5, !!!, Bonobo, Crystal Macklemore & Ryan Fighters, Grizzly Lewis, Hardwell, Bear, Horrorshow, Rudimental, Knife Johnny Marr, London Party, Kaskade, Grammar, MGMT, Porter Robinson Neil Finn, The Roots, 3 Arena Joondalup Vampire Weekend BRIAN MCKNIGHT and more!

7 Riverside Theatre 3-4 Sir Stewart Bovell BILLY BRAGG Park, Busselton, WA 8 Perth Concert Hall WATAIN GOLD PANDA 9 Amplifier 9 The Bakery DEAFHAVEN QUEENS OF THE 11 Rosemount Hotel STONE AGE & NINE DAUGHTERS INCH NAILS 14 Amplifier 11 Perth Arena PARAMORE JOSH PYKE 16 Perth Arena 12 Quarry HALF MOON RUN Amphitheatre 16 Fly By Night KATE MILLER-HEIDKE MISFITS 21 - 22 Quarry 19 Amplifier Amphitheatre KARNIVOOL & DEAD SEBADOH LETTER CIRCUS 25 Rosemount Hotel 23 Red Hill DARK TRANQUILLITY Auditorium & ORPHEUS OMEGA CELTIC WOMAN 25 Capitol 24 Riverside Theatre 30 SECONDS TO WE ARE SCIENTISTS MARS 26 Amplifier 25 Challenge Stadium AVICII HUNTER & 27 Perth Arena COLLECTORS 29 (sold-out) & 30 FEBRUARY Kings Park & Botanical BIG DAY OUT Garden Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire, Blur, Snoop APRIL Lion, Major Lazer, Tame Impala, Flume WEST COAST BLUES N ROOTS & more!

Matt Corby, Michael 2 Claremont Franti, John Mayer, Showgrounds BRUCE STRINGSTEEN Dave Matthews Band, Doobie & THE E STREET Brothers, Boy & Bear BAND 13 Fremantle Park 5,7,8 Perth Arena LANEWAY FESTIVAL BOZ SCAGGS 14 Crown Theatre 8 Fremantle MICHAEL BUBLÉ THE LOCUST 26 - 27 Perth Arena 10 Amplifier THE NATIONAL MAY 14 Belvoir JASON DERULO Amphitheatre 10 Perth Arena DOLLY PARTON JUNE 27 Perth Arena JAMES BLUNT NEKO CASE 27 Fly By Night 13 Riverside Theatre

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Grrl Pal, Wednesday at YaYa’s

WEDNESDAY 06.11 BAR 120 Felix BAR ORIENT Karaoke BIRD Alba Chris Wright MmHmmm Nik N Andy BRASS MONKEY Sugar Blue Burlesque CARINE Open Mic Night Chris Gibbs CLANCYS CANNING BRIDGE Mitch Becker Kate Gilbertson CLAREMONT HOTEL Acoustica GREENWOOD Bernardine ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB The Collboratory with Luke Sweeting Night Cap Sessions FLY TRAP (FLY BY NIGHT) Graphics Fiction Heroes Rob Walker Jordan McRobbie GROOVE BAR (CROWN) 5 Shots INDI BAR Minni Marks 19 Twenty LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan MOJOS BAR Aurora Jane The New Beast Ellie Schoen MOON CAFÉ Going Solo Rabbit Island Jake Webb Kucka MUSTANG BAR Almost Famous DJ James MacArthur PADDO Paul McCarthy Robert Hinton PS Music ROSEMOUNT The Devil In Miss Jones Stargazer The Crossbars The Right Way Up SWINGING PIG Open Mic Night Greg Carter UNIVERSAL Retriofit

Taylor Cutts, Thursday at YaYa’s

THE VIC Leighton Keepa VILLAGE BAR Village People - Open Mic YAYA’S Grrl Pal Indigo Tired Lion

THURSDAY 07.11 AMPLIFIER Common Bond Iconoclast This Existence Animistic AMANI WINE BAR Live Jazz Night BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) Fantasy Thursdays BAKERY WAM Festival WA Export Showcase Ku ka Rainy Day Women Simone & Girlfunkle Stillwater Giants Mathas, Warning Birds Scalphunter BALMORAL Howie Morgan BAR ORIENT Open Mic Night THE BIRD WAM Community Showcase Ylem Boost Hero Man Lowaski Empty Arms In Motion BOAT Jen de Ness Duo BRASS MONKEY Rhythm Bound Karaoke BRIGHTON Open Mic Night Rob Walker BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke THE CAUSEWAY BAR Xport Thursdays DEVILLES PAD Rock n’ Roll Karaoke DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Open Mic Night Pat Nicholson ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW Wax Lyrical Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Clarke and Milan Requests Show Night Cap Sessions

EXCHANGE HOTEL KALGOORLIE Ragdoll THE FLY BY NIGHT Song Club FLYRITE Suburban Dark Slumberjack Marksman THE GATE Greg Carter GRAND CENTRAL PARK Stella Donnelly GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Decoy INDI BAR Aurora Jane Jordan McRobbie Wanderlust LANEWAY LOUNGE Libby Hammer LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MARKET CITY TAVERN Original Night Luke Argall Mitchel Freind Bronston Kathryn McCarthy Tali Kau Dr Jeff Nathan Mayers Les Diament MOJOS BAR Minnie Marks 1920 Michael Triscari MUSTANG BAR Red X DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Tiki Bar Open Mic Night NORTH FREMANTLE BOWLS CLUB The String Beans PICA BAR WAM Singapore WA Music Showcase Charlie Zim Sezairi The Sam Willows ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Celebrator Moana Flyball Gov’nor Turin Robinson Hannah Rice SETTLERS TAVERN Acoustic Open Mic Night Claire Warnock UNIVERSAL Off The Record THE VIC Harry Moore YAYA’S Taylor Cutts Good Things Come Wallace

FRIDAY 08.11

Midnight Boulevard

MIDNIGHT BOULEVARD

LIGHTS OF BERLIN, GOMBO HOSTILE LITTLE FACE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8 THE CIVIC HOTEL

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AMPLIFIER Scalphunter Grim Fandango Clowns Firearms The Choke THE ALBION Jen De Ness Trio THE ASTOR WAM Awards BALMORAL Travis Caudle BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) Break Declaration Truth Seeker Alex the Kid Idle Eyes The Black Fridays BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) PLAY

Alex The Kid, Friday At Beat

BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Roger Roger BELMONT TAVERN Matt Angell BEST DROP TAVERN Carbon Taxi THE BIRD Methyl Ethel Spirit Level Eleventeen Eston THE BOAT Adrian Wilson THE BOAB TAVERN Frenzy BRASS MONKEY Jamie Powers THE BROOKLANDS TAVERN Cheek2Cheek THE CARINE Velvet CHASE BAR & BISTRO James Wilson CITRO BAR Jean Proude CIVIC BACKROOM Midnight Boulevard Lights Of Berlin Gombo Hostile Little Face CLANCYS CITY BEACH The Crux CLANCYS DUNSBOROUGH Minky G and Rosco CLANCYS FREMANTLE Steve Tallis & The Holy Ghosts CORNERSTONE ALE HOUSE Madam Montage CRUISING YACHT CLUB Rockin Ronnie DEVILLES PAD Red Parrot Events Claude Mono Nick Sheppard Atomic Stage Coach DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Rok DJ EAST 150 BAR Anthony Neives ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW Darren Reid & the Soul City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Pugsley Buzzard Odette Mercy and her Soul Atomics EMPIRE BAR Howie Morgan EXCHANGE HOTEL KALGOORLIE Ragdoll THE FLY BY NIGHT The Woohoo Revue THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels GOSNELLS HOTEL Chris Gibbs Trio THE GREENWOOD Greg Carter GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Tod Johnston & Peace Love HYDE PARK HOTEL Acoustic Aly INDI BAR Vdelli KALAMUNDA HOTEL Absolutely 80’s Show Brian Mannix Dale Ryder Scott Carne KULCHA Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse Desert Child LANEWAY LOUNGE Big Al & The Deacons M ON THE POINT Retriofit

MAHOGANY INN Harry Moore MOJOS BAR Hussle Hussle Suburban Dark Childs Play Chu Bax Davis MUSTANG Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys Swing DJ Cheeky Monkeys DJ James MacArthur NEWPORT HOTEL Karaoke Classic PADDO Easy Tigers PEEL ALE HOUSE Vanerty Brothers PERTH ARENA Beyonce PORT KENNEDY TAVERN One Trick Phonies PRINCE OF WALES Useless ID RENDEZVOUS HOTEL Andrew Winton ROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROLEYSTONE COUNTRY CLUB Dean Anderson ROSIE O’GRADYS PERTH Felix ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Hunter album launch DJ Armee Bitter Belief Optamus Shaker SAIL AND ANCHOR Howie Morgan Duo SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Die Hard Karaoke SWINGING PIG Big Steve Spouse Band Greg Carter UNIVERSAL Nightmoves WINSTERSUN HOTEL Kane Lemin YAYA’S King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Doctopus Mt Mountain YMCA HQ Surroundings Winterfold Abel Tasman Mindless Vultures

SATURDAY 09.11 AMPLIFIER The Siren Tower 44th Sunset The Scotch of Saint James Sparks Vertigo ASTOR THEATRE Eskimo Joe BALMORAL Retriofit THE BAKERY WAM Night Visions Lewis McKirdy Gilded Masonik Craig McElhinney Adam Trainer Smrts Usurper Of Modern Medicine Pex BEAT NIGHTCLUB (UPSTAIRS) CANVAS

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Deadline Monday 5pm. The Gig-Guide is a service to advertisers listing all LIVE MUSIC. All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press. Email guide@xpressmag.com.au

Red Mexico, Saturday at The Claremont Hotel BEAT NIGHTCLUB (DOWNSTAIRS) Runaways Winterfold Abel Tasman BIRD WAMI Spectacular Ekko & Sidetrack Sable Sid Pattni Ylem & Dease Lilt Wisdom2th Lo and Behold Coin Banks Flighflow Rabbit Island Pumba Rok Riley BOAB TAVERN James Wilson THE BROOKLANDS TAVERN Nitro Zeppelin THE CIVIC BACKROOM The Schoenberg Automaton AMDBL Reflections Of Ruin Animistic THE CLAREMONT HOTEL ANTICS New Animals Red Mexico Sprawl Lukas Wimmler CRAFTSMAN GrooVe CLANCYS CITY BEACH Vegas Jugglers CLANCYS CANNING BRIDGE The Johnny Nandez Hammond Explosion CLANCYS DUNSBOROUGH South West Vintage Festival CLANCYS FREMANTLE The Crux DEVILLES PAD Evil Elvis Johnny Law & The Pistol Packing Daddies Razor Jack Wrestling King Cobra DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Brett Donald EAST 150 BAR Adam James ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW Blue Hornet ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Laura Bernay Danny Susnjar and Friends EXCHANGE HOTEL KALGOORLIE Ragdoll FLY BY NIGHT Best Of Gals WA THE GATE Greg Carter GOSNELLS HOTEL Electrophobia GREENWOOD Cargo Beat HOTEL ROTTNEST Abbasalutely HYDE PARK HOTEL Howie Morgan Trio INDI BAR Zarm INDIAN OCEAN BREWING CO Shawne & Luc LAKERS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke LANEWAY LOUNGE Howie Morgan Soulchild

Winterfold, Saturday at Beat

KULCHA The Cambodian Space Project MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke METRO CITY OneRepublic M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MOJOS BAR Skeet Cambourghini Simmo T, Leon Osborn James Ireland Henry Kissinger MUSTANG WAM FESTIVAL 2013 The Ghost Hotel Ruby Boots Family Shoveller Band Graphic Fiction Heroes Stoney Joe Simon Kelly And The Big Bamboo Oz Land NEWPORT HOTEL Gravity NORFOLK BASEMENT Bastian’s Happy Flight Elli Schoen NORTH FREMANTLE BOWLING CLUB Electric Toad Dianas Mt Moutain Jordan McRobbie Childs Play Bryan Rice Dalton James & Time Sherry Galloping Foxleys PADDO Cheeky Monkeys PARAMOUNT NIGHTCLUB Felix PEEL ALE HOUSE Acoustic Nites PERTH ARENA Beyonce PORT KENNEDY TAVERN Kevin Curran QUARIE BAR & BISTRO Acoustic Flavour RAILWAY HOTEL Maximum Perversion The Uncreation Facegrinder Suffer in Rot ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Blood Rock Festival Useless ID Chainsaw Hookers The Decline Monuments The Hard Aches Clowns Declaration Firearms Legs Electric The Others Medicine The De Niros Troll The Order Of The Black Werewolf The Kuillotines Amidst The Broken Silver Foxes ROSIE O’GRADYS FREMANTLE Flava ROTTNEST LODGE Pugsley Buzzard SAIL & ANCHOR Better Days THE SHED Huge SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Die Hard Karaoke

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SWAN HOTEL (BASEMENT) Golden Slums Anti Kane Haystack Charm In Orbit SWINGING PIG Almost Famous Greg Carter UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WANNEROO TAVERN The Hollow Wood WANNEROO SHOWGROUNDS Lisa Mitchell Josh Pyke WHALE AND ALE Michael Jackson Tribute WHITE STAR TAVERN Aurora Jane YAYA’S WAM FESTIVAL 2013 The Coalminers Sect Dux & Downtown Valdaway Vida Cain The Flying Embers Sludge Bucket Leeches!

Scalphunter Axe Girl FAIM YMCA HQ Common Bond Xenobiotic Iconoclast Dropbears Ascension Hollow Ground This Existence

SUNDAY 10.11 AMPLIFIER Dream On Dreamer A Skylit Drive Still Water Claims Emberville BALMORAL Andrew Winton Adrian Wilson BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Belleville Quartet BELMONT TAVERN Dove BIRD Chela Nora Zion Leon Osborn DJs Jack Doepel Roulade the Realest Pilerats DJ THE BRIGHTON Nate Landsdell BROOKLANDS TAVERN Gerry Azor THE CARINE Jonny Dempsey THE CAUSEWAY Accoustic Sunday CIVIC HOTEL Anthony Buttaccio COMO HOTEL Velvet CLANCYS CANNING BRIDGE DJ Boogie CLANCYS CITY BEACH DJ Boogie The Salt Shaker Selectors CLANCYS DUNSBOROUGH Tom Fisher and The Layabouts CLANCYS FREMANTLE The Zydecats DUNSBOROUGH TAVERN Kris Buckle ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW Darren Reid & the Soul City Groove

Bastian’s Happy Flight, Saturday at The Norfolk Basement

ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Metro Big Band Tara Tiba’s A Persian Dream THE FLY BY NIGHT Herman & Rosie THE FLY TRAP (FLY BY NIGHT) Stage Fright Open Mic THE GATE Ryan Webb HYDE PARK HOTEL Bernardine INDI BAR Shaun Kirk INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Retriofit KALAMUNDA HOTEL Kizzy KULCHA Zukhuta with Mahamudo Selimane LAKERS TAVERN Wesley Goodlet Jamboree Scouts LAST DROP TAVERN Alan Stewart M ON THE POINT Nathan Gaunt MOJOS BAR King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard Doctopus Mt. Mountain Red Engine Caves MUSTANG Tailgate Sundays Chainsaw Hookers Declaration Them Sharks The Undistinguished Gentlemen’s Bluegrass Band DJ Holly Doll PADDY MALONES Gary Fowlie PEEL ALE HOUSE Sophie Jane QUARIE BAR & BISTRO One Trick Phonies ROSEMOUNT HOTEL Scott Kelly & the Road Home Jarboe THE SAINT Howie Morgan Project SEAVIEW TAVERN Jean Proude SOUTH ST ALEHOUSE Blackhart & Strangelove SWINGING PIG Matt Angell Steve Hepple UNIVERSAL Retrofit WANNEROO TAVERN Dean Anderson

WHISTLING KITE Electrophobia YMCA HQ The Schoenberg Automaton AMDBL Sensory Amusia Temporal Dawn of Leviathan

MONDAY 11.11 BRASS MONKEY Wire Birds XBOX Mondays MOJOS BAR Kelly Jo Phelps Daniel Champagne MUSTANG BAR Triple Shots THE SAINT Celebration Karaoke YAYA’S Big Tommo’s Open Mic Night YMCA HQ Dream On Dreamer A Skylit Drive Finders Illuminator

TUESDAY 12.11 BRASS MONKEY Open Mic Night Josh Terlick THE COURT Open Mic Night CHARLES HOTEL Pugsley Buzzard Charlie Parr THE CRAGIE TAVERN Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Steve Tallis & The Holy Ghosts GROOVE BAR (CROWN) Jack & Jill INDI BAR Paul Urbana Jones KALAMUNDA HOTEL Open Mic Anthony Kay LOBBY LOUNGE (CROWN) Hans Fiance MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOJOS BAR SicNote Aloi Kenta Omega is the Alpha MUSTANG BAR Danza Loca Salsa Night YAYA’S Lip Service 46 Brigade Blue Lucy Everybody and the Stuff

The Siren Tower

THE SIREN TOWER

44TH SUNSET,THE SCOTCH OF SAINT JAMES, SPARKS VERTIGO

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9 AMPLIFIER

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MUSIC GEAR & TECHNOLOGY FOR SALE HEADPHONES all brands & styles.23 Harrogate Street, West Leederville. Contact Headphonic 08 93886333 headphones.com.au MUSOS WANTED MALE VOCALIST REQUIRED to join female vocalist in top working corporate band. Exp with commercial pop hits from 70’s -80’s to 00’s essential - send details to russ@iinet.net.au or SMS details to 0408 915 571 OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Bex on 0404 917 632.

OPEN MIC NIGHT @ THE CRAIGIE TAVERN Tuesdays from 8pm. Solos, Duos, Trios, Originals and Covers. Contact Paula or Ceelay 0420375670 or openmiccraigie@hotmail.com PIANO/KEYBOARD/ORGAN WANTED Folky rockin’ band seeks keys player to complete quintet. New album has been mastered and printed and ready for a few gigs. If interested and keen please call Trey on 0420 514 195 PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGR APHY Pr o m o photography, studio, live, location.

Mike Wylie 0417 975 964 www.projec tphotography.com When its time to ice the cake...

PRODUCTION SERVICES CD & DVD MANUFACTURE Check out our latest CD & DVD specials online at www. procopy.com.au 9375 3902 DISK BANK Perth’s premier CD & DVD manufacturer, with options for all budgets. (08) 9388 0800. www.diskbank.com.au/specials.

MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, crowd barriers, video projectors. 9371 1551 RECORDING STUDIOS ALAN DAWSON’s WITZEND RECORDING STUDIO Prof quality albums or demos, large live room, experienced engineer, analog to digital transfers, mastering..Alan 0407 989 128 or Jeremy 0430638178 www.witzendstudios. com ANDY’S STUDIO International multi award winning songwriter / producer. No band required. Broadcast quality. A songwriter’s paradise. Ph 9364 3178 GOLDDUST Production Mixing, recording and composition. Leederville $80 p/h. 0408 097 407 POONS HEAD MASTERING Analog Master.

TAPE, TUBES & TRANSFORMERS. Clients include: Melody’s Echo Chamber, Pond, Gossling, Knife Party, Felicity Groom, The Floors, Jeff Martin & The Panics. World class facility. World class results. www.poonshead. com 9339 4791

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Edited by T R AV I S J O H N S O N

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R E CO R D I N G M I X I N G M A S T E R I N G PRODUCING Fremantle location. Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Records. Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 REVOLVER SOUND STUDIO Ph 9272 7505. www.revolverstudio.com.au SONGWRITERS AND BANDS! - 30TH ANNIVERSARY DISCOUNTS! UNLOCK YOUR SONG’S POTENTIAL! FREE APPRAISALS. UK Producer, 40,000+ hours studio experience, 20 yrs in London. Kicking arrangements. Great studio and the ability to really listen will give your material the edge you need. Call Jerry on 0405 653 338 or visit www.jerichomusic. com.au TONE CITY RECORDING STUDIO World class equip & production. Clients inc: Abbe May, Pond, Sugar Army. Contact 0409 297 362. tonecityrecording@gmail.com REHEARSAL STUDIOS AAA VHS REHEARSAL ROOMS Great facilities, great vibe & great price!!! Unit 5 /16 Peel Road, O’Connor. Phone 9418 5815 or 0413 732 885 BIGBEAT SOUND STUDIO Clean rooms, all new PA systems, air-con and good parking .

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041 444 8907 guitarworks@iinet.net.au To advertise in Classified call 9213 2888 or email musicservices@xpressmag.com.au

Tone City

SETTING THE TONE

recorded at Tone City was Taurus Chorus from Abbe May’s Design Desire record. It was the last song to be recorded on that album and I had just moved into Tone City.

Who are your favourite artists that you’ve worked with?

I’ve been very fortunate in that every Sam Ford of Tone City Recording artist I’ve had the opportunity to work with so far studio has produced recordings for has been extremely talented. They have all been Abbe May, Felicity Groom, Sugar fulfilling for me in different ways. I think Abbe May is the most naturally talented artist I’ve worked with Army, Pond and more - a veritably and I’ve been able to join her in the songwriting over the last year or so, which is great. Pond who’s who of Perth rock royalty. He process are another favorite of mine. I’ve done three albums, was good enough to take some time a 7 inch and an EP with them. Each recording with them has been different but always out of a hectic work schedule to experience a laugh and great fun music. One of my favorites is answer a few questions for us.

Felicity Groom’s The Deer - which ended up being put together with another album she recorded and What’s your background? How did you get into named Gossamer. producing?

I always had an interest into the What’s your equipment setup? production and evolution of a sound or song Here at Tone City I have quite an eclectic from a young age. I started by recording my own mix of equipment that I have bought and collected material and recording demos for bands that I over the years. I have a great balance between have played with and friends’ bands like The Silents, high end and boutique analog gear: various EQs, Snowman and Sugar Army. I think my real interest compressors and pre-amps, vintage microphones and commitment to the production side of things and the best of the digital world. I’m using Avid started with hearing the finished sound in my Protools HD for software. Its the industry standard head and not being able to achieve it unless I did it and the program I’m most familiar with. I’ve been myself. very selective in my microphone choices and analog I didn’t really do any formal training in hardware - this creates a unique texture that I find sound production, I would just hang out at Dave pleasing.

Parkin’s Blackbird Studio and take in as much as I could. I kind of just jumped into it and learned Any advice for artists making their first forays through sitting in front of the speakers. into recording?

The biggest thing I would say is to be Tell us about the founding and history of Tone prepared as much as possible and focus on the City. Was it a risk setting up? Who were your sound coming from the speakers, not the method of first clients? recording them. I think with the advances in home I started Tone City Recording Studio after recording, artists have the opportunity to dive into working at Blackbird for a couple of years. It never the recording and production side of things, which really felt like a risk. I just do my thing and hopefully is great but can be dangerous if it takes focus away my work speaks for itself. I think the first thing I from the most important thing, which is the song.

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