X-Press Magazine #1315

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

One Direction

WHICH DIRECTION?

They’re the biggest thing in music right now and they’ve made a date with Perth... for September 2013. In what may be the longest wait between a tour announcement and the tour itself in the history of popular music, boy band sensation One Direction are due to hit an as-yet-unnamed venue in Perth on Saturday, September 28, and Sunday, September 29, 2013. We repeat, 2013. Where are they playing? The venue hasn’t been announced yet, but many are assuming that One Direction will be the first act to be announced at the Perth Arena. But maybe their popularity will dwindle and instead we’ll see them at a smaller venue. Who knows? According to the press release, tickets go on sale in late May or early June. Parents, prepare your credit cards.

CORPSE AND ROBBERS

Cannibal Corpse

Speaking of One Direction, after three long torturous years, death metal’s titanic kings Cannibal Corpse return to Australia for a sarcophagic frenzy of sordid and demented proportions! The Florida-based death metallers will showcase tunes from their new record Torture, as well as fan favourites from 2006’s Kill and 2009’s Evisceration Plague, when they explode on to the stage at Capitol on Tuesday, October 9. Tickets go on sale from Tuesday, May 1, from Moshtix and 78 Records.

TEA FOR THREE

The Novocaines The Tea Party

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Reactions/ Comp

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Flesh

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Music: Pond

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Music: Husky/ The Mountain Goats

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Music: DevilDriver/ Six60

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Music: August Burns Red/Bleeding Knees Club

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New Noise

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Eye4 Cover: German Film Festival

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Eye4 News/ Movies: Ecstasy

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Eye4 Movies: German Film Festival

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Eye4 Arts List/ Lifestyle

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Eye4 Arts Stories

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Salt Cover: Above & Beyond

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Salt: Cover Story/ Galapagoose/ News/

Epic Canadian rockers The Tea Party will reunite for an Australian tour in July. It’s no surprise that Australia is so high up on the band’s to do list, as they toured here 12 times in their 15 years together.

Since their split in 2005, frontman Jeff Martin has based himself in WA with new projects The Armada and 777. Bassist and keyboardist Stuart Chatwood composed video game soundtracks, working on the 10 million-selling Prince Of Persia, and drummer/percussionist Jeff Burrows continued to perform with Crash Karma and worked on radio. But now they’re back together to recreate the monolithic, spiritual rock of classic albums like The Edges Of Twilight and Transmission. The Tea Party Reformation Tour hits Metro City on Thursday, July 26. Tickets go on sale next Monday, April 30, from Oztix.

Hilltop Hoods

HILLS HAVE EYES Known in many circles for being the best thing to come out of Adelaide (besides Coopers), Hilltop Hoods have just revealed details for their Speaking In Tongues national tour. Celebrating the release of their chart topping new album Drinking From The Sun, they’ll be in town on Friday, August 17, for a massive licensed/ all-ages show at Challenge Stadium. Tickets go on same from Ticketmaster at noon on Monday, April 30. The following day, Saturday, August 18, they headline WA’s newest festival. The North West Festival takes place at McGregor Street Reserve in Port Hedland and comes from the people that bring you Southbound every year, so expect good things. More acts will be announced in coming weeks and tickets go on sale May 10.

MISSY MISDEMEANOR

Missy Higgins

We haven’t heard much from miss Missy Higgins over the last few years, but that’s about that change. Having sold over a million copies of her first two albums, she’s about to show us album #3 in The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle. But first, get ready for new single Unashamed Desire and a tour.

The tour stops for one night in Perth, at Astor Theatre on Saturday, June 2. Tickets will be available from bocsticketing.com. au on Wednesday, 2 May, for the general public or Monday, April 30, for members on Higgins’ database. Support for the tour comes from songstress Butterfly Boucher, who co-wrote Unashamed Desire with Higgins.

Ash Grunwald

KNOCK KNOCK

With his forthcoming album Trouble’s Door all about change, Ash Grunwald claims his new stuff is more reflective, more internal than his previous work. The result is a zesty mix of blues, hip hop and dancefloor rhythms, and you can unwrap the plastic seal on May 11. His tour commences in WA a couple of weeks later. See him at the Indi Bar on Wednesday, May 30; Redcliffe On The Murray on Thursday, May 31; Prince Of Wales on Friday, June 1; Karratha Tavern on Saturday, June 2; and Fly by Night on Sunday, June 3. Tickets from the venues.

Head to pledgemusic.com/projects/troublesdoor to throw your support behind Trouble’s Door.

Derrick May 27

Salt: Kid Kenobi/ Ben UFO

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Salt: Kasper Bjorke/ Club Manual/ Scenery

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Scene: Live

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Scene: Pub Blurbs/ Pub Scene

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Scene: Local Scene

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Tour Trails

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Gig Guide

Cover: Pond launch their record Beard, Wives, Denim this Saturday, April 28, at The Bakery

Salt Cover: Above & Beyond play Creamfields on Saturday, May 5, at the Supreme Court Gardens www.xpressmag.com.au

Ed Sheeran

FROM THE SHEERAN SHED

21-year-old Ed Sheeran’s popularity has spiralled since the 2011 release of his debut album + and you’d be hard pushed not to recall at least one his catchy songs that have dominated the charts worldwide in You Need Me I Don’t Need You, Lego House and The A Team. The flame-haired singer will visit Perth in his first tour to the Southern Hemisphere. Sheeran will be at the Riverside Theatre on Monday, August 6. Expect heartfelt acoustic numbers mixed with a lively onstage performance from this young musician. Tickets are available from Ticketek from 9am Monday, April 30 or for pre-sale between 12 noon on Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27.

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with Melissa Erpen... Send your name, address and daytime phone number to win@xpressmag.com.au with the name of the competition in the subject line or enter online at www.xpressmag.com.au. Snail mail entries can be sent to Locked Bag 31, West Perth 6872. Entries close 4pm Monday.

By entering you agree to X-Press Magazine’s Terms & Conditions which can be found online. All competition entries will automatically enable you to become an X-Press subscriber! No details will be given to a third party.

Print and Digital Editions Publisher/Manager Joe Cipriani Editorial

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Music Editor Matthew Hogan: musiceditor@xpressmag.com.au Arts & Fashion Editor Emma Bergmeier: artsfashion@xpressmag.com.au Dance Music & Features Editor Annabel Maclean: danceeditor@xpressmag.com.au Staff Writer Jennifer Peterson-Ward: localmusic@xpressmag.com.au Gig & Event Guides Co-ordinator Melissa Erpen - guide@xpressmag.com.au Entertainment Services Co-ordinator / Competitions Melissa Erpen - win@xpressmag.com.au Photography Callum Ponton, Stefan Caramia, David Chong, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Denis Radacic, Mike Wylie Contributing Writers Henry Andersen, Ashleigh Whyte, Nina Bertok, Shaun Cowe, Derek Cromb, Chris Gibbs, Alfred Gorman, George Green, Chris Havercroft, Joshua Hayes, Brendan Holben, Travis Johnson, Rezo Kezerashvili, Joanna Lettenmaier,Tara Lloyd,Adam Morris,Andrew Nelson,Chloe Papas, Daniel Parkinson, Ben Swan, Conan Troutman, Tom Varian, Ben Watson, Chela Williams, Jessica Willoughby For band gigs and launches - plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au

Advertising

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Sales and Marketing Manager Paul Morgan - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Online Marketing Paul Morgan - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Music Services / Musical Equipment / Bands / Record Labels Des Richardson - musicservices@xpressmag.com.au Entertainment Venues / Live and Dance Music Promoters Luke Andrioff - entertainment@xpressmag.com.au Agency / Movies / Education / Sponsorship Paul Morgan - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Arts / Fashion / Lifestyle Alia Bannani - eye4@xpressmag.com.au Classifieds Linage Melissa Erpen - classifieds@xpressmag.com.au

Production

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Production Co-ordinator Bryony Crowe

production@xpressmag.com.au

Art Director Dwight O’Neil

Design + Production

art@xpressmag.com.au Brooke Gerrick, Andy Quilty, Anthony Jackson

Printing Rural Press Printing Mandurah

Administration

reception@xpressmag.com.au

Accounts Lillian Buckley

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Distribution Distribution

BAD TASTE

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CAB AUDITED CIRCULATION: 38,000 APRIL 2011 – SEPTEMBER 2011

Deadlines EDITORIAL General: Friday 5pm,, Eye4 Arts: Thursday 10am, Comp’ Thing: Monday Noon,, Salt Clubs: Monday 5pm , Local Scene: Monday Noon,, Gig Guide: Monday 5pm ADVERTISING Cancellations: Monday 5pm, Ads to be set: Monday Noon Supplied Bookings / Copy: Tuesday 12 Noon, Classifieds: Monday 4pm Published by: Columbia Press Pty.Ltd. A.C.N. 066 570 803 Registered by Australia Post. Publication No PP600110.00006 Suite 73/102 Railway Parade, City West Business Centre, West Perth, WA 6005 Locked Bag 31, West Perth, WA 6872 Phone: (08) 9213 2888 Fax: (08) 9213 2882 Website: http://www.xpressmag.com.au

CAFÉ DE FLORE

The year is 1969 and cash-strapped single mother Jacqueline is doing her utmost to raise her seven year-old Down Syndrome son by herself in Paris, following her husband’s inability to confront the realities of having a disabled child. Across the decades, discarded wife and mother Carole is experiencing visions of Jacqueline’s life and feels a connection to the stranger in her dreams. Want to win tickets to this gripping film? Get in now as we have a bunch of double passes up for grabs.

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AUDI FESTIVAL OF GERMAN FILMS 2012

TRANCE ANTHEMS

To celebrate the release of some killer trance albums from Central Station Records we have five CD prize packs up for grabs. Each pack includes a copy of Trance Anthems Top 100, Chicane’s Thousand Mile Stare and the deluxe edition of Paul Van Dyk’s Evolution.

All these albums are sure to get your blood pumping so enter now for your chance to win.

Lanie Lane

ROAD TRIP FREO & LANIE LANE

Chicane: Thousand Mile Stare

CHUCKLES COMEDY

On Monday, April 30, see the best gong with the rest at the Elephant & Wheelbarrow’s Chuckles Comedy Gong night. April’s lineup of more than 16 comedians features some Perth International Comedy Festival performers trying out their best five minute before they take it to the stage for their expanded shows during the May festival. We have a double pass to the show, get in now to be in the running.

‘90s pop band East 17 have announced a gig at Metro Freo on Thursday, June 7. We asked our Facebook fans what they thought of this and here’s what they had to say…

Candice I would rather vomit in my pants.........just saying.

WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY

Advertisers and/or their agents by lodging an advertisment shall indemnify the publisher, and its agents, against all liability claims or proceedings whatsoever arising from the publication. Advertisers and/or their representatives indemnify the publisher in relation to defamation, slander, breach of copyright, infringement of trademarks of name of publication titles, unfair competition or trade practices, royalties or violation of rights or privacy and warrant that the material complies with revelant laws and regulations and that its publication will not give rise to any rights against or liabilities in the publisher, its servants or agents. Any material supplied to X-Press is at the contributor’s risk.

Bad Taste Recordings is known and respected as a pioneer of the wilder energy charged side of drum’n’bass and Loaded Dice is bringing you the opportunity to experience this energy in June! The lineup boasts highly impressive artists - Blokhe4d, Prolix, Neonlight and Aeph will all be bringing the beats. The tour will hit Metro City on Friday, June 1, and we have a double pass to giveaway. Enter now and prepare yourself for the invasion of one of the hottest drum’n’bass labels on the scene.

Café De Flore

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Receptionist Melissa Erpen

Blokhe4d

Don They’re entitled to a comeback performance like every other group. They only had 1-2 hits but they were decent back then.

Our RoadTrip Freo competition will give four mates the chance to hit the streets of Freo with their pockets full of complimentary bar cards and bellies full of tasty treats, making the most of Freo’s wide array of pubs, clubs and music venues. This awesome prize consists of an $80 food and drink voucher for both Xwray café and the Norfolk hotel, free entry and a $80 bar card to the Newport and Metro Freo and four tickets to Lanie Lane’s show at The Fly By Night Club on Saturday, May 12. This is seriously one of the best giveaways we’ve had in a long time so get on board and enter now for your chance to win!

INDIE ANTHEMS

Want the most definitive collection of all those brilliant indie anthems you’ve rocked out to in years gone by? Look no further because here is 101 Indie Anthems, and you won’t find a collection of tracks better than this. Franz Ferdinand, The Kooks, Phoenix, Kasabian, Placebo, The Prodigy, Empire Of The Sun, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Gomez and a bunch more feature on this compilation. We have five copies up for grabs so get in now as these are sure to fly out the door.

Christie I am not embarrassed to say I thought they R-OC-K-E-D because the world I live in is nice and I would love to see them have the opportunity to give it up for their audience.

Jason Alright alright everybody’s gonna be alright!?

Dean Blurgh!!!!!!!

The Audi Festival Of German Films is back with a bang in 2012 with a premium crop of feature films screening over four days this May. Relevant, moving and inspiring, the 11th edition of this highly anticipated festival will showcase the very best of contemporary German cinema. Screening from next Thursday, May 3-6 at Cinema Paradiso, get in now as we have a bunch of double passes to give away.

CHECK OUT WWW.XPRESSMAG.COM.AU AND SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER ONLINE FOR LOADS MORE EXCLUSIVE COMPS!

Dear X-Press, I am disgusted by Biggie’s letter (Letter Of The Week #1314) about the Tupac hologram that made an appearance at Coachella. I don’t know about you Biggie but sometimes I get a little sick and tired of today’s so called ‘artists’. Firstly you’ve got Justin Bieber striking seductive poses in perfume ads then you’ve got Katy Perry cutting her hair off to join the marines. And let’s not forget Lady Gaga peddling facial dermal implants to her ‘Little Monsters’ who hate the way they look. It’s about time we dug up the dead and went back to a simpler time when music was pure.

When he was alive the first time around, Tupac stood for guns, drugs and hoes. Amen to that, biatch.

Regards, Calvin

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

HAPPY THOUGHTS

A band that needs no introduction, LA/Richmond, Virginia hardcore five-piece Terror play playing 300 shows a year and they’ve got Perth on their things to do list. In Australia for the massive Hardcore 2012 fest in Sydney, Perth fans can see them at Amplifier on Thursday, July 12. Tickets from Moshtix.

GOLDEN GIRL

Resist The Thought

THINKING CAPS

Sydney metal upstarts Resist The Thought have been laying waste to the Australian countryside through relentless touring with the likes of Suicide Silence, The Acacia Strain and All Shall Perish. Having recently returned from a trip to the US where they recorded their upcoming debut LP Sovereignty, the boys will hit the road with special guests Hallower this winter, spreading good cheer and brutal breakdowns to cities across the country. Witness the mayhem on June 8, at the Rosemount Hotel and June 9, at YMCA HQ.

Few artists are as important to the history of Australian music like The Seekers, and the voice behind the iconic band, Judith Durham, is embarking on a nationwide tour this winter.

Durham’s Colours Of My Life tour celebrates her 50 years as a musician and sports a five-piece band to make it extra special. You can expect music spanning her entire career when she checks into the Riverside Theatre on Saturday, June 30. Tickets from Ticketek, pre-sale opens Friday, April 24 and general sales Thursday, May 3.

SPLIT CHEMIST

Two of our biggest musical Perthonalities are teaming up for a couple of intimate solo shows this weekend. Split Seconds’ vigilante Sean Pollard and The Chemist’s Ben Witt will take to the stage at The Ellington on Friday, April 27; and The Newport on Sunday, April 29. Tickets to The Ellington show will be available on the door and entry to The Newport is 100 per cent free!

THE SMYTHS

Australian troubadour Steve Smyth is back from London to explore the country on a three month tour. The versatile musician will serenade his audiences with his versatile voice, which reaches angelic highs and gravelly lows in the space of a song. Smyth joins Lanie Lane at the Fly By Night on Saturday, May 12; and Amplifier on Sunday, May 13. And he does his own headline shows at Mojos on Tuesday, May 15; and the Indi Bar on Wednesday, May 16.

FOLKIN’ FANTASTIC

Hot on the heals of serving us up a good dose of local musical goodness at last weekend’s In The Pines, RTR FM have announced an epic two stage rockin’ blues and folk spectacular for Friday, May 25. In the Norfolk Basement, get your blues fix with the Murder Mouse Blues Band, Hootenanny, The Hips, and Mick Parker, while rollicking artists of hoedown The Seals will be joined by the silky harmonies of The Lammas Tide and Junior Bowles as well as the distinctive Australian storytelling of The Justin Walshe Folk Machine at the Fly By Night. Presale tickets are available from rtrfm.com.au. They’re only $10 for RTR FM subscribers and $15 for the general public, but grab yours now as they’ll be more expensive on the night.

Texan blues master Eugene ‘Hideaway’ Bridges returns to Perth to pay tribute to his hero: soul singer Sam Cooke. Hideaway not only plays a mean blues guitar, his gospel singing style is uplifting and inspiring too. Eugene will be performing with an eight-piece band including Perth Blues Club all-stars Bob Patient, Roy Daniels and Ace Follington, plus a horn section and backing singers. This special occasion takes place at the Perth Blues Club at the Charles Hotel on Tuesday, May 1. Secure your tickets to Hideaway’s only WA show for 2012 from Ticketmaster.

THE KARNIVOOL AIN’T OVER

Just when you thought Karnivool’s upcoming Perth shows had sold out, they add a new one.

For those unlucky enough to get tickets to the band’s two gigs from their Melodias Frescas tour, here’s your chance to see the Perth boys in action.

The new show will be at the Rosemount Hotel on Sunday, July 29. Tickets are available now from Heatseeker, Planet, 78’s, Mills, and Star.

Bustamento

MOVES LIKE JAGGER

BOMBA’S AWAY

TEENAGE KICKS

SOW YOUR SEED

He helped his brother Mick out on the Rolling Stones’ ‘90s albums Dirty Work and Steel Wheels before deciding to then concentrate on his own material, resulting in the critically acclaimed album Atcha! in 1994, and now roots troubadour Chris Jagger is heading our way, band it tow, to showcase his unique Cajun style and individual brand of songwriting. Catch him at the Fly By Night on Friday, May 18. Tickets are available from flybynight.org.

Remember that song Teenage Dirtbag from that movie Loser, you know that movie that had those people from American Pie in it? Well that song was a massive hit for the band Wheatus in 2000, and it’s even found itself back on the charts in some countries in recent times. The band is coming to town and are playing at Metropolis Fremantle on Thursday, September 20. The question is not ‘Will they play Teenage Dirtbag’, but ‘How many times will they play it’. Support comes from Nova & The Experience. Tickets are on-sale from BigTix from Monday, April 23.

HERE COME THE BASTARDS

The self-proclaimed ‘ugliest’ music festival in Australia, Bastardfest, is returning this October and November with a run of eight-dates all over the country, featuring a massive full day of all things metal! This year the festival hits town on Saturday, October 27 at the Civic Hotel and will be headlined and supported by the biggest bastards in Australian music. Details on line-ups, ticketing and prizes will be announced shortly via bastardfest.com.

HEART & SOUL

Best known for his work with local roots man John Butler, Nicky Bomba has jumped on his musical boat again to deliver a party filled island adventure with his new band Bustamento. Their first single – a cover of Peggy Lee’s 1948 hit Mañana – is a jitterbuggin, upbeat ska infused expedition that ticks all the right tropical boxes.

Catch this tune and a slew of other toe-tappingly fun tunes when they hit The Fly By Night on Saturday, June 23. Pre sale tickets are $25 from flybynight.org.

Established by local music icon John Butler with wife Danielle Caruana (aka Mama Kin) in 2005, The Seed is a music funding body that supports Australian artists, offering a range of grants, mentoring initiatives and music industry conferences, with the idea of sharing finances and knowledge with the next generation of emerging artists. Applications for this year’s three grant categories and five strategic initiatives have recently opened and include up to 25 management workshops and grants of up to $5000 for publicists and visual artists. Click on over to theseedfund.org for further details.

East 17

HOUSE OF LOVE

Metropolis Fremantle is 2012’s leader in bringing ‘90s acts to town, and they ain’t about ready to stop! Having already hosted Aqua and Vengaboys, they can now add the UK’s favourite boy band East 17 to that list. The pop trio comprises of Tony Mortimer, John Hendy and Terry Coldwell, with Mortimer now on lead vocals. The group are showcasing their new single, Can’t Get You Off My Mind, which is a rock song albeit with their original dance energy. Expect their past triumphs like It’s Alright, House Of Love and Thunder to make an appearance. Fans can see them on Thursday, June 7. Tickets available from oztix.com.au.

TWINS SET

As far as big years go, it will be hard for the Voltaire Twins to top 2011, but they are giving it a red hot go. They’ve just returned from South

By Southwest and Canadian Music Week, and released brand new single Young Adult. Voltaire Twins will be officially launching the single across the country as main support on the upcoming national San Cisco tour which kicks off at Mojos Bar this Friday, April 27. Pre-sale tickets have already sold out, however there will be a small allocation of door sales available from 8pm sharp.

FLAVA OF THE MONTH

Bubsy Marou

DON’T STOP BELIEVING

Rockhampton band Busby Marou have been busy of late in the USA and Canada, but they’ve managed to squeeze in a few Australian gigs between their trips there. With a new single I Still Don’t Believe under their belts, the group will perform over a July weekend in WA. Perhaps they’ll even include their smashing cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Busby Marou play Prince Of Wales on Friday, July 6; Rosemount Hotel on Saturday, July 7; and The Newport on Sunday, July 8. Tickets are available from heatseeker.com.au. www.xpressmag.com.au

Friday, May 4, will see rising reggae star Papa Flav hit Higher Fyah – The Reggae Club in Fremantle to showcase some of his sweet tunes all the way from Ghana! Support comes from club regulars Paul Gamblin, DJ Calvin and The Empressions. Entry will be 100 per cent free and doors open at 8pm.

NEW BREW

Melbourne punk band Half Pints are returning to WA for three gigs on their Taste Test tour, following on from their successful Poor On Payday tour last year. The band promise boozy good times for patrons at their free Bunbury appearance at Prince Of Wales on Wednesday, May 16 with The Nighthawker, Cockfight and Silver Lizard.

Next up is Ya Ya’s on Thursday, May 17, with The Bob Gordons and Fatal Intentions; then Swan Basement on Friday, May 18, with SSA, The Bob Gordons, The Nighthawker and Kettle Fingers.

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POND Paralytic Hobos No longer known as just a Tame Impala side project, Perth rock kings Pond are in the midst of touring the world with their extremely well-received fourth album Beard, Wives, Denim in tow. Ahead of their brief return home for their album launch show at The Bakery this Saturday, April 28, Nick Allbrook chats to MATTHEW HOGAN. Nick Allbrook started winning fans on Perth stages in his teenage years as frontman of Mink Mussel Creek, and now audiences across the US and Europe are getting to know him as a wildeyed flamboyant frontman in his own right, in addition to being the fourth member of Tame Impala.

2012 has been a breakthrough year for Pond. After their first two records (Psychedelic Mango and Corridors Of Blissterday - both released in 2009) became something of Perth cult hits, 2010’s Frond was released to wider acclaim through Sydney indie label Hole In The Sky. But few would have predicted the roaring critical success of their newly released fourth album, Beard, Wives, Denim, out now through

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Modular, as the album was greeted with near perfect scores from international tyastemakers NME and Pitchfork, among others. “Man, I couldn’t really believe it,” says Allbrook of the reviews. “You never think your own album is particularly good compared to some of the other fucking talents that get put out.”

These top shelf reviews were perfectly timed for the bands first international jaunt - to buzz band mecca South By Southwest to kick off a grueling five week North American tour. Allbrook says the Lone Star State was the ideal place to start their tour. “We landed in Dallas, which was rad,” he says. “That whole shit-kicking Texas attitude appreciates rock so I dunno if that’s insulting to

Pond us or to Texas, but I think they just appreciated it more than discerning musically hip places would...

Actually, LA and New York actually liked it as well, so I guess that kinda blows my theory.”

Playing eight shows over the SXSW weekend, the man also known as Paisley Adams says the vibe in Austin is pretty darn strange. “Every

single gig is pretty much sponsored by some kind of clothing or electronics or musical wares company,” he says.“Most of the shows have some big backdrop or something like that. It was a bit tricky. It’s kind of the centre of the commercial world for a few weeks there. The whole thing’s weird, really.”

The Pond boys even ventured to a showcase sponsored by Guarana-infused Doritos to watch a non-hologram legend of hip hop. “That was so strange - we went there upon hearing the rumour that Snoop Dogg was going to be playing there,” says Allbrook. “The label cronies got us in, and it was just the most messed up scene. Like, this gigantic Doritos vending machine was the stage. I don’t know, man, it was just so odd. All these dolled up tarts carrying around various Doritos based snacks, and I didn’t even stay ‘cause Snoop Dogg was being too much of a superstar and he was 45 minutes late so I left.”

The five-piece then left Texas and headed to the east coast followed by a three-show stop in Canada. Pond are not down with Canada. “Everyone just let their anger at not being able to get money out of ATMs just convert into this all pervading view that Canada’s the shittest place in the world,” informs Allbrook. “But I don’t think it is; I think it’s quite nice.

They’ve got crap beer, whereas all through America is the most mind-boggling micro-breweries ever.

Then you get to Canada and they’re just packing peppered dishwater. But I like it enough. We had a very fun time in Montreal with all the froggies. It actually looks ridiculously European.”

They then closed out their tour with a dream run down west coast including stops in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, a city which Allbrook had a particular affinity with. “You still get kids rocking up 40 years late to Haight-Ashbury looking for the beautiful people, and the dreamers, for the free spirit and free love,” says Allbrook of the birthplace of the Summer Of Love. “And instead there’s a paralytic hobo on the side of the road with neo-goth hippy friends and shit like that. It’s a pretty strange crowd. Then you get those sugar daddies walking around with tiny dogs and a toned Thai boy.

I guess the stereotype still flies!”

The band closed out their tour with a dream support gig at The Echo in LA, opening for Japanese psych rock gods Acid Mothers Temple.

“That completely blew my mind, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen,” says Allbrook. “They were fucking awesome. Then we went and visited our kooky friend Farmer Dave in Venice Beach, ‘cause Jamie wanted to see some girls in bikinis on rollerblades. But we didn’t see any. We did go into his friend’s surf shop and that was pretty stereotypical – like, sitting around surfboards cracking cans. It was great.”

Pond also took the opportunity to take advantage of California’s liberal laws. “Just before the flight back to Australia, Farmer Dave who’s line of business is, um, he’s a really respected musician and his other line of business is almonds. Yeah, he really stepped up before we got on the plane.”

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THE MOUNTAIN GOATS An Eternal Fan

To mark the 10th year bassist Peter Hughes has been an “official” member of iconic indie folk outfit The Mountain Goats he’s set himself the task of revisiting each of their records on the long haul flight to Australia for their upcoming tour, which includes a show at The Bakery next Tuesday, May 1. He talks to JENNIFER PETERSONWARD. In the very beginning The Mountain Goats was founded as an outlet for vocalist John Darnielle to disseminate his lo-fi bedroom recordings, but in 2002 the makeup of the band changed when sometime live bassist Peter Hughes was invited into the studio to participate in the recording of Tallahassee.

10 years later, Hughes says The Mountain Goats are “more like family than a band” although he admits that with the passing of time he has grown to take their much-loved tunes for granted.“I don’t think I’ve listened to a Mountain Goats record for pleasure in a long time – at least five years,” he begins. “I don’t normally listen to our albums other than to rehearse before a tour, but I’m at a point where I really want to sit down and listen to it all retrospectively and I think the perfect time to do it will be when I fly to Australia.”

With 13 studio albums and 23 EPs, not to mention a slew of collaborative releases, covers and live recordings, to wade through, Hughes admits he has his work cut out for him, but he knows exactly which albums he’s going to listen to first.

“My sentimental favourite is Get Lonely.

That album came out just after The Sunset Tree – which was, arguably, our album most embraced by the mainstream – and it didn’t make a huge splash. What I especially like about it is that it’s not an album that comes to you – it sits there and waits for you to come to it,” he says. “I’m also proud of We Shall All Be Healed – it represents an intense period in my life.”

The Mountain Goats As for a preferred tune, Hughes cites fan favourite No Children. “I never get sick of playing it, which is probably a very good thing because it’s a song we’re kinda obliged to play every night,” he laughs.

Hughes says he is “99 per cent sure” this tune will pop up on the set lists they draw up when they return to our shores this May for a six-date tour to promote 2011’s All Eternals Deck.

“We’re really lucky that we have such an extensive back catalogue of tunes to choose,” he says, divulging their formula for picking tunes to play during live performances: “We usually sit down together a few hours before and show and just say to each other ‘what do you feel like playing tonight?’

“Usually we end up with an eclectic mix of new songs, old songs, new new songs and obscure songs, but sometimes it works out a little differently – for example the last show we played a set of songs, and after the show we realised we had literally played half of We Shall All Be Healed completely by accident,” he concludes. “You can come to a Mountain Goats show expecting a good time and good music, but don’t expect us to play any particular songs. Luckily for us, people that come to see The Mountain Goats tend to be really big fans of them which is completely awesome because they’ll be singing along to the most obscure b-sides along with the hits.”

Husky

HUSKY

In History’s Page Melbourne quartet Husky have been unstoppable since releasing their debut in October, and CHLOE PAPAS spoke to the man himself, Husky Gawenda, ahead of the band’s gig at The Bakery on Friday, May 4.

Folk upstarts Husky have just returned home from a slew of tour dates in Europe, the US, and a slot at the revered South By Southwest, and are about to embark on their Australian headline tour.

Band namesake Husky Gawenda explains that though the jetlag is setting in, the band loved supporting German band Boy and found a new affinity with the country famous for its bratwurst.

“In Germany we found audiences across the board to be gracious, and kind, and very attentive and so on time! We were playing shows that ranged from one to two thousand capacity, and normally in most parts of Australia you find that for the support acts the place is half full, and sort of filling up as the support act plays. But literally almost every show – if not every show – we’d walk out onto the stage as the opening act and a 2000 capacity venue would be entirely full,” Gawenda states.

Germany, and Berlin in particular, has a reputation for being extremely music-centric, and 12

Gawenda confirms that the crowds definitely differ from those in Australia. “Art is such a high priority to German people, so when they come to a show, they don’t come to drink and talk and get drunk – although don’t get me wrong, they love beer! But they come to really listen and have an experience.

That’s just the ultimate for a band or performer.”

Forever So has been received remarkably well for a debut so far, and Husky are reaping the benefits; in February the band were the first Australian group to be signed to Sub Pop records in the US, a label that boasts the likes of Nirvana, Soundgarden and lets not forget Flight Of The Conchords. So where does the inspiration come from to pen those stunning, effortlessly natural songs?

“I think that everyone works differently and draws information from places in different ways.

But I do think that it’s important that inspiration comes from, well, living. I think it’s important that the emotional core of the subject matter of songs needs to come from within you… People are moved by all sorts of things; whether it be an event in their life, or the songs they listen to, or the book they’re reading, or a story they’re told about somebody else. I think you can be inspired by all sorts of things.”

Gawenda explains that when the band went into the studio, he already had a record’s worth of almost-finished songs to work with – but most were discarded to make way for songs written during the process.

“The album we planned to record didn’t end up being the album we recorded. And I think that’s a good thing, you can’t plan exactly how they’re going to go, and I think you always have to be open to the things that sort of come from somewhere you can’t really explain. That’s the beautiful mystery of music and songs. It took on a life of it’s own, and we ended up with Forever So.” X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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Six60

DEVILDRIVER

Double Your Pleasure DevilDriver are one of the most formidable live acts around, and they return for a headlining show at Capitol on Wednesday, May 9.

Main man Dez Fafara chats to ADAM ROBERTSHAW. Dez Fafara is without doubt one of the most hard working men in heavy metal.

Recently in Australia for Soundwave with his first band Coal Chamber, Dez Fafara returns with DevilDriver.

Problems with hard drugs tore Coal Chamber apart nearly 10 years ago. So why would he suddenly do a reunion when DevilDriver are doing so well? “Over the course of the years the guys from Coal Chamber started coming out to DevilDriver shows and started hanging out,” Fefara says. “Once they got off the hard drugs it was something that I wanted to do, you know? The guitar player came and apologised to my wife, which I thought was really big of him, and when they did that sort of stuff I thought, ‘You know what, this will be really fun to do’. It’s good music, it holds up over time and if we do it right it’ll kind of show itself to be worthy.”

As if fronting two bands isn’t enough, Fafara also keeps himself busy working with other artists; appearing on Soulfly’s latest album Enslaved and releasing an album with Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton.

“Yeah, Born Of The Storm, it’s stuff we’ve been working on for about two or three years now.

It’s influenced by bands like Soundgarden, Circus Of

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DevilDriver

Power. Out of nowhere Mark said he was going to release this stuff and it’s a good thing we did, a lot of people like it.”

Like many artists, Fefara has embraced Twitter as a way to not only self-promote but also to keep in contact with his peers and fans.

“I use Twitter all the time,” he boasts.“I don’t have Facebook or any of that but I think it’s important to have a connection with the fans and it’s the perfect medium to do that. I love talking to fans at shows but it’s sometimes hard to do, but on Twitter you can ask me,‘Hey Dez what’s your favourite colour?’ and I’ll be like ‘purple’. I’m just a real dude but I happen to have a day job that puts me in front of a lot of people. I’ve also met a lot of really cool people as well, outside of music, painters and sculptors and people involved with the esoteric arts, who I’ve made lasting connections with.”

It’s only a few months since Fafara was over here, but he returns next month with DevilDriver.

While many musicians may struggle being constantly on the road, he proudly claims to have been on stage for 25 nights in a row at the time of our chat.

“I’ve run the numbers man, DevilDriver does more shows and tours more than any other band in the world,” he says. “We should be in the Guinness Book Of Records! I love being on the road with DevilDriver but I’m looking forward to taking some time off to re-assimilate myself into being just a normal guy with a family. Once this tour’s done we’re gonna take a year off. I’m careful not to burn myself out but I’m starting to feel it now. During that time we’ll write a record, record the record, find a new record label and all of that so it won’t be a quite year ‘off’, but I’ll be home with the wife and kids and dog and it’s gonna be fun.”

SIX60 Rising Up

says.“Through that process we met each other and we started playing and we moved into 660 Castle Street.”

The band attributes their name to their share house in Castle Street where they started playing New Zealand five-piece Six60 started backyard parties and friends’ 21st celebrations. After a couple of years they put together an EP following out as a cover band in Dunedin back pressure from family and friends. “We put it up on in 2008 but it wasn’t long before they Facebook then it went beyond our circle of friends and the rest is history, we just decided to start gigging and released an EP after pressure from it kind of took off from there,”Walters says.

The lads were lucky enough to have New family and friends. With their triple Zealand musician and former member of Salmonella platinum self titled debut record out Dub Tiki Taane co-produce their debut record and Fat Drop produce their second single from the now, ANNABEL MACLEAN chats with Freddy’s record Don’t Forget Your Roots. “We had a bit of trouble vocalist and guitarist Matiu Walters finding someone that was suitable to take us through album process,” he says. “We had quite a long and about working with Fat Freddy’s the strenuous trial and error period and then we had an Drop, their new record and their crazy opportunity to meet with him [Taane] and really hit off.” As for Fat Freddy’s Drop, the lads couldn’t be rise to stardom. Six60 play Capitol ithappier to have worked with Wellington band. “Their name and their style of music goes hand in hand this Saturday, April 28. with their character, that was really an incredible You may not have heard of Six60 but this genre- experience - being able to work with people who you defying Auckland five-piece are the hottest thing were inspired by and were aspired to be like or follow in the same footsteps as,” he says. in New Zealand.

Not wanting to confine themselves to a They recently took out the Foo Fighters to break the New Zealand iTunes record for the highest particular genre (“We just don’t want to be a band first week of sales with their self titled debut record. that plays the same shit all the time”), Six60 blend “It’s been a year long process and you still need to sit rock, soul and dubstep with percussive rhythms to back and pinch yourself sometimes about how far create infectious melodies. And, although Walters says it’s actually come,” Walters says down the line from they’re excited for their upcoming fourth Australian tour, they’re a little nervous about their first trip to Auckland in his thick New Zealand accent.

Having met in Dunedin when university the UK and Europe in store later this year. “It’s really was on the cards, Walters says it was a comedy of frightening and daunting to go over there because errors and a “bit of a miracle” that they all happened we know what works over here - and to an extent in to meet.“It was strange because it was a combination Australia now - but taking it to countries that don’t of obviously meeting the right people and for myself even speak English, that’s going to be pretty strange and another – Ji [Fraser, guitarist] in the band who but exciting at the same time,” he says before quickly happened to be failing to get accepted to the music adding “Obviously we’re there to work but I’ve never school there – it is crazy to think about that now,” he been drunk in Berlin before…”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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AUGUST BURNS RED The Hottest Month

August Burns Red

Malevolent metalcore monsters August Burns Red bring their fury and their latest album to Amplifier Bar tonight, Wednesday, April 25, with support from Blessthefall and Northlane.TRAVIS JOHNSON talks to bass player Dustin Davidson about the travails of touring.

When we catch up with Dustin Davidson, it’s during a rare break in what he describes as a monumentally hectic touring schedule that has dragged the band from one side of North America to the other.

“This tour has been super-long,” he says wearily. “We started it on January 13th in New Jersey on the east coast, then worked away south and across to the west coast, went up to play some shows in Canada, and here we are, and we’re still touring? On the same tour? We play New York tonight, Allentown Pennsylvania tomorrow, and then Philly on Saturday, and that’s the last date of the tour.”

Having said that, the bassist wouldn’t want it any other way. “To this date this has been my

Bleeding Knees Club

favourite tour to do and be a part of. I love being able to play as long as we want. We play for an hour and 10 minutes every single night, and if you’re not headlining you’ll play for 30 to 45 minutes, especially if you’re not the main support act. I love being able to play an hour and ten to an hour and 15 minutes, and I love having friends on this tour. We’re friends with all of the bands. You know, I wasn’t sure what to expect; it’s the first time we’ve headlined in a long time, and we blew it out of the water.”

But although it’s been a long time between headlining tours, Davidson and co. are veterans of countless festival gigs, which is always a good opportunity to broaden the fanbase. “I think the biggest pro for playing at a festival setting is that

you’re getting in front of a lot of people, and potentially people who haven’t heard of your band, or at least haven’t heard music from your band. So when you’re doing something like the Warped Tour, you’re playing for a lot of new people and you’re potentially bringing in a lot of new fans. Whereas, in our headlining tour, we’re playing for our fans. The easiest thing to say about it is that if you’re playing a festival, you’re playing in front of new kids. If you’re headlining, you’re playing a longer set. So I love doing them both.”

It’s all a long way from the band’s hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a burg better known for its proximity to Amish country than its burgeoning metal scene. “I don’t think it really affects me or any of us in any sort of way,” Davidson explains. “It’s only when people are like, ‘Wait, you’re from Lancaster? Isn’t that like a n Amish country place? And you play metal? Heavy metal? Well, that’s weird.’ That’s about the only reaction I get to it. Growing up, I was actually just inspired by pop music at first, and then got into heavier music because that’s what all my friends liked. It was a small community, and we found people who were interested in it, started a band, and here I am today.”

BLEEDING KNEES CLUB Girl Crazy

Bleeding Knees Club spent the past few months trekking the world to spread the good word of surf pop, but the troublesome twosome have returned home for a headline tour this month.

CHLOE PAPAS speaks to Jordan Malane prior to their shows at Amplifier on Friday, April 27; and Mojos on Saturday, April 28.

Bleeding Knees Club’s brand of lo-fi surf pop isn’t entirely unique, though the way it’s presented is; messy but well produced, with a cheeky youthful quality to its sickeningly contagious lyrics.

“We recorded it in New York in June, while we were in Brooklyn. We did it in like five days,” Jordan Malane explains.“We’re pretty chilled out and we keep things pretty short and sweet, all our songs. We don’t ever over-think things or they just end up kind of bad.”

Since the release of their EP Virginity in October 2010, Bleeding Knees Club have been on the radar; touring with the likes of Wavves, The Drums and most recently, playing at South By Southwest. Malane explains that it ‘just kind of happened’:“We were really excited about it, and we really wanted to play it – it just was a natural progression when we got told we were going.”

Compared to the band’s EP, Nothing To Do features a few tracks that sound like they’ve come straight from a ‘60s dancefloor – if there was a lot more attitude in the ‘60s, that is. Lipstick is one of those, with an opening monologue that Danny Zuko would be proud of, and so many ‘shoo-wops’ in the lead up to the chorus (‘We’ll make out in our cars’) that the listener is lulled into a false sense of security. Malane says Lipstick and similar track Beach Slut are attributed to Wall.“Alex went through a really big ‘60s doo-wop stage about six months ago, and the songs are like an ode to that. It’s pretty cool.”

For anyone who hasn’t had a chance to listen yet, every single track on Nothing To Do has one theme: girls. From previously released Teenage Girls to Boy In Lust, plus a band name that is a reference to a sexual act that we won’t go into, it seems like Wall and Malane really don’t have much else on their minds.

“I guess we just like girls. Most people write about what they know, but I guess we just write about girls because we like girls,” Malane laughs. “I mean, we’re not going to write about guys!”

When questioned on any ‘mad crazy’ touring adventures, Malane laughs and states:“We just go to bed after our shows, we don’t do anything crazy,” laughing in the background insinuates that he may be fibbing a little, and Malane seems to forget the task at hand and begins a barely intelligible conversation with Wall and their mates about stories they could tell; mentions of apple bongs with Wavves, pretend ARIA Award after parties with Casey Donovan, and fictional sexcapades are thrown around, with Malane finally tuning back in to the conversation and ending with this:“Nah, no crazy touring stories, we’re just good Catholic boys.”

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

JULIA STONE

By The Horns

BLEEDING KNEES CLUB Nothing to Do

Picture Show Records

IAMSOUND / Columbia Records

You wouldn’t be wrong for thinking Julia Stone never really changes. Both her solo stuff and her duo with brother Angus Stone exudes her melancholic outlook on love and life.

But Stone’s solo stuff rids of the folksy feel you can find in Angus & Julia Stone, meaning the focus is squarely on the lyrical themes of longing, loss and heartache.

By The Horns, like her first solo album The Memory Machine, is dark and twisty. The echoey bass, electric guitar, and piano complement her lovelorn lyrics and girlish vocals.

The album features a fantastic cover of The National’s Bloodbuzz Ohio, where Stone’s vulnerability makes the song her own. Stone cites the band’s 2010 record High Violet as a major inspiration for this album and used drummer Bryan Devendorf on two tracks.

It’s All Okay, Stone’s latest Stevie Nicks-esque single, is definitely the highlight. It’s rippling piano start and low-key drum rhythm play against her poetic ballad about lost love letters and separation.

The album reaches a lull in the middle, where Stone’s vocals descend into repetitive whispers.

But this picks up with By The Horns, Stone’s reaction to a lover who cheated on her “while the bed was still warm”. Yes, she is still the same Julia Stone, but would we really want her any different?

Listen if you’re in a dark place.

Surf-pop is smashing through the music industry like a tidal wave right now, and Bleeding Knees Club are right at the heart of it. Alex Wall and Jordan Malane are the derelict duo behind it all, and Nothing To Do is their debut offering, recording in just five days.

Kicking off with last year’s single Teenage Girls, it isn’t difficult to tell that each song on the record was written by two lads with short attention spans and a one-track mind. Beach Slut and Lipstick are evident standouts, littered with shoo-wops and oo-wahs. Both sound unabashedly like songs that might feature on a more adult version of the Grease soundtrack – but in a really, really good way.

Let it Go is the darkest song, and it’s almost as if Wall and Malane were, er, influenced by illegal substances for the first portion of the album, and this was their comedown.

Each tune on Nothing To Do is no more than a couple of minutes long, and that’s the perfect length to ensure it doesn’t get repetitive. There’s nothing deep in terms of lyricism on this record, but there’s some seriously sharp production.

Nothing To Do is 26 minutes of fast, easy, dirty-pop that’ll make you want to simultaneously pop some bubble-gum and make out with a stranger. _CHLOE PAPAS

_CORAL HUCKSTEP

CHAINSAW HOOKERS Chainsaw Hookers

SINEAD O’CONNOR How About I Be Me (And You Be You)

Blood Rock Records/Firestarter

One Little Indian / Shock

It’s been a pretty good twelve months or so for local rock monsters Chainsaw Hookers, with a steady gigging schedule spiced up with some high profile support slots - Dropkick Murphys, anyone? - and now culminating with this, their debut LP. So how do the Hookers, a pretty damn great live act, translate to a recorded medium?

Remarkably well; the album has all the energy and fury of their live set. Lyrically, there’s not much in the way of subtext going on here - let’s be honest, there’s not even much in the way of text.

The Hookers know what they like, and that’s what they sing about: horror movies, girls, violence, drugs, booze, and more horror movies. Their self-titled album is a lightning fast - only one song clocks in at much more than three and a half minutes - paean to grindhouse, grindcore, and crotchgrind. With songs like Never Sleep Again (A Nightmare on Elm Street) Santanico Pandemonium (From Dusk Til Dawn) and Texas is Hell (The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre) it’s clear that these boys are the Video Nasty generation come home to roost.

Anyone complaining about the lack of complexity is missing the point; Chainsaw Hookers are peddling beats for the brainstem, appealing on a pure, primal, eat/fuck/kill level. As an anthem for anyone who rooted for the serial killer in horror movies, this album is damn near unbeatable.

Outspoken Irish singer Sinead O’Connor appears to make headlines more often than she makes music these days. O’Connor has a history of speaking out against the Catholic Church, being ambiguous about her sexuality and disclosing information regarding her mental health. With the past few years seeing her going through spouses at a more rapid rate than a Kardashian, it is comforting that she has found the resilience to make some more music.

When O’Connor bust on the scene with her shaven head, voice with the kick of a mule and outspoken ways she was an anomaly and a rule breaker. A few decades later her value is more as a curio than a trail blazer and her records are a reflection of this.

How About I Be Me (And You Be You) is light on for the anger that pervades the strongest of O’Connor’s works. The Wolf Is Getting Married is a mid-tempo number with its aim set firmly on radio, Old Lady is brooding pop and the most venom comes in the cover of John Grant’s Queen Of Denmark.

O’Connor tries to send a message with the title of her album How About I Be Me (And You Be You). How sad then that it is such a uniform and homogenised listen… albeit a pleasant enough one.

_TRAVIS JOHNSON

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT

VARIOUS ARTISTS Skitzmix 40

JAMES TEAGUE Lavender Prayers

LNG / Universal

Independent

While opinions of his mix series may vary, respect must be paid to rave veteran Nick Skitz for achieving an undoubted milestone in Australian dance music - reaching 40 in his legendary SkitzMix series. He’s released an average of more than two a year, and every one has hit the top 10. From his trademark logo to the recognisable graphic art on the cover, his CDs have been a fixture in the compilation rack since the early days.

Skitz has remained steadfast in his approach, churning out a relentless barrage of hardcore and pop remixes, or, pop-core. With Skitzmix, you know what you’re gonna get and for his rabid fans, the mighty kick drum is what they crave.

This anniversary special comprises three discs – the first is your usual Skitzmix mashup of the latest hardcore treats.

Disc two contains a fair selection of hardcore/ house classics, such as Ultra Sonic’s Annihilating Rhythm, Snap’s Rhythm Is A Dancer, Yakooza’s Cocaine and um.. the Skitz mix of Run To Paradise; though all tracks are given a hardcore makeover, rendering them less classic.

Disc three is a ludicrous concept whereby Skitz has mixed together 10 separate megamixes of 10 different artists, such as Brooklyn Bounce and Scooter.

The ultimate megamix-mix. Happy 40th Skitz, I’m happy for you but it might be time to call it a day mate.

Lavender Prayers is the long awaited debut album from Perth’s arch-troubadour, James Teague – a talented musician who has grown a loyal fan base in recent times.

The album is a raucous mash of genre tropes from folk, pop, psychedelic-rock, country and bluegrass, all pulled together with great playfulness and ingenuity.

Teague has gathered around him a fine crop of local musicians including members of Ruby Boots, Seams, The Big Old Bears and Hang On St. Christopher.

As such, throughout Lavender Prayers there is a fantastic sense of community.

The musicians sound like they are having fun, and every sudden genre departure, cheesy organ lick or plinking banjo line is pulled off with a feeling of joy.

For all the album’s busy arrangements (and they do get pretty busy), Teague’s voice remains the focal point. It is a really excellent voice, sitting somewhere between Devendra Banhart’s brittle witchiness and Jeff Buckley’s shimmering falsetto (both singers are clearly very influential on Teague’s song writing as well).

Lavender Prayers is, perhaps, not particularly coherent as a single piece of work, more a collection of songs than a cohesive album.

Despite this however, it works, in its own unique way, as an entrance point into the delightful musical world of Teague and his compatriots.

_ALFRED GORMAN

_HENRY ANDERSEN

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Circus Joseph Ashton

TEASE TO PLEASE

Super Dingo

A SUPER DINGO ATE MY PIRATE Tim Ferguson

REVVED UP FOR ROTTOFEST

The fourth annual Rottofest is nearly upon us. Come September, Perth’s culture fans will be ferrying to Rottnest Island for a weekend of film, comedy and music. If you know of a local filmmaker with a penchant for comedic sketches, a desire to show their work to the world and an interest in earning some dollars, point them to rottofest.com.au to enter their stuff. Applications close Friday, April 27.

Acclaimed comedian, writer and producer Tim Ferguson will be hosting the event which runs from September 8-9. Tickets go on sale in June, stay tuned for further details.

Super Dingo Vs The Pirates. Sound strange? Yes, it is. It’s also cultural cringe-worthiness at its ironic best, and it’s attracting viewers from all over. Haven’t heard of it? Perhaps you should join the one million plus viewers on YouTube and check this sci-fi/comedy out. The good news is the second web episode, Super Dingo Vs The Hippies, is in production.

HAVE PRIDE

The ever-glitzy Glammys awards ceremony is back for 2012 and tickets are available for those who want to join in the fun. The event will celebrate outstanding members of the WA Diverse Sexuality and Gender community.

Nominations are still open for the various categories, including Best Community Group and the Freedom Centre Youth Award. Why not book a table to dress up, party, and enjoy a threecourse meal with unlimited drinks at All Seasons Hotel, Northbridge on Saturday, May 19. Tickets are $125 for Pride WA members; $135 for general public. See pridewa.com.au for more.

FEEL THE BEAT

Perth’s jazz powerhouses will come together on Monday, April 30, to commemorate the first international Jazz Day, with the Ellington Jazz Club set to host performances from the Perth Jazz Society, WAYJO, WAAPA, JazzWA and Jaime Oehler’s Blowfish. A worldwide celebration, Jazz Day will bring together music lovers who recognise the freedom and creativity the genre affords, and if you love jazz’s sultry sounds, the only place you want to be on April 30 is the Ellington Jazz Club from 7.30pm. Bookings can be made via (08) 9228 1088.

Not Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy, which opens with a frantic bullet-point voiceover (alarmingly similar to Ewan McGregor’s “Choose Life…” speech), followed by freeze-framed character introductions, and goes on to borrow images and ideas not only from Boyle’s potent sensation, but also pretty much every vastly inferior drug culture film that followed it.

An adaptation of The Undefeated, the third novella in Welsh’s book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance, the film follows drug addict-cum-smuggler Lloyd (Adam Sinclair) and trophy-wife-gone-wild Heather (Smallville’s Kristin Kreuk), an unlikely pair whose use of the so-called “love drug” makes them both unsure about whether their romantic feelings for each other are real or chemically-induced.

Beyond a string of drug-movie clichés, Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy doesn’t have much narrative Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy holding it together. Nor do Sinclair or Kreuk have the dramatic range to cope with the wild extremes Upturning conventions and equally upsetting of addiction, and their romance is doomed by lazy and thrilling audiences worldwide, Danny Boyle’s dialogue and the stars’ lack of on-screen sizzle.

Trainspotting hit the cinema screens in 1996 and Equally distracting is the casting of reality British cinema has never been quite the same star Dean McDermott (aka Mr. Tori Spelling) as since. In fact, the shadow of that reckless hit Heather’s bossy and emotionally abusive husband, of looms so large on the film landscape you might whom she has become bored when she meets Lloyd. think other adaptations of Irvine Welsh’s work Directed by Rob Heydon The very worst thing about Irvine Welsh’s Starring Adam Sinclair, Kristin Kreuk, Billy would do their best to minimise any grounds for Ecstasy, however, is all the ecstasy in it. Or rather, it direct comparison. is the way that all a character has to do is to pop a Boyd, Carlo Rota

IRVINE WELSH’S ECSTASY A Chemical Romance

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The folks behind Sugar Blue Burlesque and Circus Joseph Ashton are joining forces for the Big Top Tease, a night of circadelic entertainment at Langley Park. On for two nights only, the Big Top Tease will be hosted by MC Baron Frauhausen, featuring performances by Sugar Blue Burlesque artistes and Carnies with Candy, plus Circus Joseph Ashton’s Wheel of Death, the amazing Flying Trapeze, incredible acrobats and juggling by Max Balls plus plenty more to keep you on the edge of your seat!

Punters are encouraged to dress up in their finest burlesque or circus gear to be in the running for the best costume prize.

The fun is set to go down on Friday, April 27, and Saturday, April 28, under the big top at Langley Park. Bookings can be made via aladdinstix.com.au.

ART WITH HEART

Just like wine and cheese, art and activism is a match made in heaven. That’s why Amnesty International is hosting its ARTillery festival all over Australia this June. They need artists, musicians, performers and volunteers to help provide awareness of a global Arms Trade Treaty through the 100 day festival. The festival will act as a countdown for the UN negotiations in July. Get inspired to fight through art and apply at artilleryfestival.com by Friday, April 27.

pill, and hey presto, entire personalities suddenly change. Whole lifestyles follow immediately.

That being said, there are a handful of great secondary performances – Billy Boyd (best known for playing hobbit Pippin in Peter Jackson’s epic film trilogy The Lord Of The Rings) is an absolute scene stealer as the pseudo-religious addict Woodsy and Carlo Rota (who may be familiar to watchers of TV thriller 24) is deliciously repellent as the seedy drug lord, Solo. Unfortunately, most of the film is so contrived and self-conscious in its effects that even these talented actors can’t save it from itself.

Billed as a “rom-com for the clubbing generation”, the film’s treatment of addiction and recovery is troubling and by presenting drugs as an absolute negative it minimises the capacity for deeper questions about Lloyd and Heather’s dubious relationship.

Cheesy, derivative and horribly dated, had this appeared among the slurry of late-‘90s club-culture flicks it would have still been pretty bad, but years after Human Traffic, Requiem For A Dream and, of course, Trainspotting, it’s unforgivable and almost unwatchable. _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

of course, and something for the teenagers among us, for the ones who stayed young forever. So we tried to really present a variety. We’ve got psycho films, we’ve got thrillers, we’ve got a sci-fi movie and a horror movie, even a Swiss horror movie - isn’t that surprising?”

That Swiss horror film is Michael Steiner’s Sennentuntschi, a harrowing tale of the supernatural and the weight of the past set in an isolated mountain village. As for the science fiction offering, Hell, it comes with a bleak premise and something of a Hollywood pedigree.

“Hell is a fantastic movie,” Dr Solter says enthusiastically. “It’s actually been produced by Roland Emmerich - he’s our guy in Hollywood. He’s produced big blockbuster hits like Independence Day, so he really knows what he’s doing. Hell describes a scenario where the world has gotten a little warmer; there is not more petrol, there are no more trees, there are gangs out there - Australians will probably be reminded of the Mad Max series.

It’s a post-apocalyptic, post judgement day film. It’s already got an Australian distributor, so I’m really excited about this film, and I think it’s coming up really strong.”

Also on offer is the haunting, human war story 4 Days In May, by writer/director Achi von Borries. Set in the closing days of World War Two, the film deals with a tense stand-off between a Russian

THE AUDI FESTIVAL OF GERMAN FILMS Kraut Rock

unit and a German detachment holed up in an isolated orphanage, and the intersection between duty, pragmatism, and morality.

Those seeking something lighter will find the coming of age story The Crocodiles 3: All For One worth a look, if only to see the typical tropes of youth comedy-dramas filtered through German cultural sensibilities. And for anyone looking darker, more cerebral fare, Christian Schwochow’s Cracks In The Shell charts similar territory to the acclaimed Black Swan, tracing as it does the psychological disintegration of a shy actress unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight.

It’s understandable to ponder if there’s much of an audience for German language films outside of their native soil, what with the dominance of American cinema, but Dr. Solter denounces the notion that these gems will go largely unwatched.

“Hollywood is the big juggernaut out there. Hollywood always plays the role of King Kong; nobody can beat Hollywood. But you know what? There is an audience out there looking for something else, looking for different approaches, different methods, different themes, and there’s a large audience in Australia. We’re expecting 26,000 people to buy tickets for the Festival in 2012.” _TRAVIS JOHNSON

Cracks In The Shell The Audi Festival Of German Films runs from May festival is one of the most popular culture-specific 3-6 at Cinema Paradiso. For screening info and film events in Australia. As Dr Solter explains, “It’s a tickets hit up lunapalace.com.au. public/private partnership; we are supported by many sponsors. It’s a very enthusiastic family out If your knowledge of the cinema of Germany there, and very importantly, it’s an Australian baby: is limited to some vague ideas about silent there’s an Australian jury selecting these films, Expressionism and Leni Riefenstahl in the first half and I am part of this jury. But the majority of the of the 20th century, or perhaps the Mittel-European film critics are Australian based: Richard Kuipers in arthouse surge of the ‘80s and ‘90s, as characterised Adelaide, Peter Krause from Melbourne, and we’ve by filmmakers like Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog, got a couple of others involved in the festival who you are in sore need of some education. And what do introductions, like Eddie Cockerill, who was the better way to get some than at the Audi Festival of film critic for MOMA in New York. So we’ve got a German Films? It’s not just us saying it; new festival couple of VIPs out there, and that’s what we’re here director Dr Arpad Solter is in complete agreement. for: to show the best films from Germany and also “The German films that we have selected from Switzerland, and they’re all contemporary stuff. are a wonderful method to enter a whole world of You don’t find it anywhere else.” culture and language. You’ve got the subtitles and a Anyone expecting a strict diet of pocouple of things are easy to understand and others faced arthouse fare is in for a surprise; the festival are not - that’s why the subtitles are provided. But it encompasses an impressively broad sweep of makes it so much fun to listen to foreign language genres. “I really aim at providing a whole festival films. I do it myself sometimes, just to enjoy the in the strictest sense of the term,” Dr Solter states. sound of language, and sometimes I understand “There’s supposed to be something for everyone; a couple of phrases and am encouraged to learn you’ve got the arthouse movies, you’ve got the more.” controversial and experimental stuff like Combat Of course, there’s more to the festival than Girls, you’ve got the crowd pleasers sticking out like a crash course in linguistics. Now in its 11th year, the Men In The City 2 and Summer In Orange, short films

4 Days In May

The Avengers

THE AVENGERS Gods And Monsters

Directed by Joss Whedon Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hiddleston Marvel’s big gamble paid off. So many things had to go right just for The Avengers to exist as a movie that the fact that it is opening shortly is a kind of miracle.

The failure of any one of its predecessors could have - probably would have - doomed the project before it ever saw the light of day. This kind of franchise worldbuilding hasn’t been attempted before, and even a fair-to-middling result could be considered a victory.

The fact that The Avengers is not just fair, but is actually one of the best big budget blockbusters in recent memory is nothing short of remarkable.

The smartest thing Marvel Studios did was hand the reins to writer/director Joss ‘Buffy’ Whedon, who brings his savvy grasp of genre, character, and group dynamics to the somewhat daunting task of welding together so many disparate properties into a seamless whole. When Thor villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston) sets in motion a plan to conquer the world with the aid of an alien army, SHIELD director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) brings together the Earth’s mightiest heroes: Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth)... you know the names by now. Together, they are our last hope against total annihilation, if only they could stop beating the crap out of each other first. www.xpressmag.com.au

The action is nothing short of spectacular.

Forget Worthington’s cod-classical nonsense - this is a real clash of the titans, with a range and sweep that is truly epic. But in this day and age we’re more than a bit inured to mere spectacle, and so that action is grounded in real emotion, relatable motivations, and ever-escalating stakes, and leavened with humour and pathos. The filmmakers know it’s not enough to see the Hulk bash a man into the ground by his ankles; we need to know why he’s doing it.

Whedon manages to let each character into the spotlight - no mean feat with MVP Downey Jr. snagging a good percentage of Whedon’s trademark snappy dialogue; even possible weak links Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) get their moments to shine. This is the film where Captain America becomes a real leader, where Iron Man understands the sacrifices necessary to be a real hero, and where, at long last, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, replacing Edward Norton, replacing Eric Bana) finally becomes the mean, green smashing machine we’ve always wanted.

This isn’t just a continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a culmination; easily surpassing its predecessors in almost every way. It’s big, loud, brash, popcorn entertainment done oh so right, it makes the Battleships of the world look like graffiti tags on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The gauntlet has been well and truly thrown; this is the blockbuster against which all other such films this year will be measured, and The Dark Knight Rises will need to be nothing short of amazing to even be in the same weight class. _TRAVIS JOHNSON 21

VISUAL ARTS

YES by Amanda Newall Projektet, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Imagine the complexity of the human immune system. There are millions of tiny soldiers inside each of us, who process intruders and decide friends from foe. They are our warriors and our guard dogs, our filters which protect us from outside influences. Now apply this model to society, and culture. Researchers and artists Ola Johansson and Amanda Newall, based in Sweden, examine the uncanny way our immune system has influenced the way we interact with others. In a joint residency between Fremantle Arts Centre and SymbioticA, the biological arts facility at the University of Western Australia, Johansson and Newall have undertaken a series of academic and artistic pursuits to investigate the similarities between our internal and external immune processes. The pair have orchestrated performances, where cells from the body are acted out by members of the local performing arts community. Runs May 19-Jul 15.

Kingdom O f Charac ters: G aller y Central, Northbridge A travelling exhibition presented by The Japan Foundation, Kingdom Of Characters showcases decade-by-decade the manga (comic) and anime (animation) characters that have been popular in Japan since the 1950s. It features life-sized figures of Ultraman, Hello Kitty, Mobile Suit Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Pokemon; small figurines; footage; information panels; and a re-created teenager’s room. Runs ’til May 3.

Quarter Acre: Moores Building, Fremantle Th e q u a r te r a c re b l o c k h a s l o n g b e e n a n idealised vision of the basic Australian living space and way of life. It has played a big part in the formation of the nation’s communal psyche. Most Australians begin their life journey confined to the borders of the enclosed universe of the suburban block. Fremantle-based artist Michael O’Connell has captured this paradigm in a new exhibition that looks at a world full of discovery, new adventures and alter egos. Runs ’til May 6.

Polka Dot Vintage Market

TO MARKET, TO MARKET

Vintage lovers will pack out the Claremont Showgrounds this weekend for the Polka Dot Vintage Market, WA’s biggest celebration of fashion and home wares from eras past. With over 300 indoor market stalls overflowing with frocks, suits, tees, accessories, jewellery, home wares, records and more, Polka Dot Vintage Market always packs a big punch, and if you aren’t afraid of sorting through a whole lot of stuff, you’re sure to find something special.

Open on Saturday, April 28, and Sunday, April 29, from 9.30am-4.30pm daily, admission to Polka Dot Vintage Market is only $6, and everyone through the door goes in the running to win $2000 cash! As if that wasn’t already enough to whet your sartorial appetite, parking is free on site and trains will be stopping inside the Showgrounds.

Two Bucks Til Wednesday Vintage Emporium

TWO GOOD

Back again to raise more funds for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, those lovable ladies from Two Bucks Til Wednesday are set to host their Autumn sale on Saturday, April 28, serving up vintage goodies for guys and gals priced between $2-$20. Celebrating their fifth year as a charity, the Two Bucks team will convert the All Of The Above Creative Studio at 140 William into a vintage haven for one day only, selling dresses, trousers, jackets, hats, skirts and more, with every cent raised being donated to the ACRF. Two Bucks has a dedicated cult following who don’t mind lining up for hours before the sales begin, so get down early when doors open at midday on April 28 if you want a take home a tasty slice of vintage pie!

ENTER THE EMPORIUM

The William Street boutique strip has welcomed a new pop up store to its ranks this week with the opening of the Vintage Emporium – a shrine for the worship of all things vintage, retro and second hand. A huge collection of jewellery, clothing, bicycles and other odds and ends await treasure hunters who seek out the Emporium, which is tucked away at 224b William Street (opposite the Universal Bar).

Open seven days a week from 10am5.30pm until the end of June, the Emporium is a must visit for lovers of unique bits and bobs and sustainable fashion. Find out more about what’s on offer at the Vintage Emporium Perth Facebook page. _EMMA BERGMEIER

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Animal Attraction: Linton & Kay Contemporary, Subiaco Celebrating the connection between disparate creatures, the union of Gillie and Marc’s dog and rabbit shatter all of the conventions to become life long soul mates. In the wild, dogs hunt and kill rabbits, but in Gillie and Marc’s world old rules are called into question and enduring love triumphs. In these semi-autobiographical works, Gillie and Marc represent their own unique partnership. Runs ’til May 10.

FutureGen 2012: John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Bentley On display for FotoFreo, FutureGen 2012 is an exhibition of the work of the best graduating and undergraduate photography students from the leading tertiary institutions teaching photography in Australia, together with the best student and graduate student photography from the leading teaching institutions in China. Runs ’til May 11.

Larry Mitchell: A Pilbara project Exhibition: FORM Gallery, Perth It takes a skilled and sensitive artist to interpret the complexities and contradictions of the Pilbara, and show its scenery in a fresh light. In Larry Mitchell: A Pilbara Project Exhibition, we have the opportunity to witness the encounter of one of Australia’s leading visual artists with this vast region, from the industrial landscapes of the Burrup and Port Hedland to the Spinifex-studded hills way east of Newman. Larr y M itchell’s paintings offer a perspective of the Pilbara in painstaking and sometimes painful detail. Runs ’til May 29.

Tales Of Hierachy: Venn Gallery, Perth.

Tales Of Hierarchy is a new body of work from We s te r n Au s t ra l i a n a r t i s t Pat r i c k D o h e r t y featuring a series of paintings, drawings and prints. Doher ty is k nown for his free-style figurative illustrations that portray fantastic sequences and contain rich, colourful imagery.

These epic, imaginative landscapes echo with ancient mythologies, often referencing spiritual, bodily and religious iconography to captivate and confront the audience. Runs from May 4-Jun 8.

Shaun Tan: Suburban Odyssey: Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Shaun Tan has won the world’s most prestigious prizes – an Academy Award for his short film The Lost Thing, and the Astrid Lindgren Award for his work as a children’s illustrator, but he describes himself as ‘a painter who fell into illustration and book publishing’. Fremantle Arts Centre is delighted to present for the first time a collection of Tan’s never before seen paintings along with original drawings and preparatory sketches for the film The Lost Thing. Exhibited together, these works create a vision of Shaun Tan as an artist whose work across genres is built on close observation of the real world through painting and drawing. Runs May 19-Jul 15.

THEATRE/DANCE John Gavin: Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge In a daring and visually arresting first time collaboration between aerialist Dawn Pascoe and actor Nick Candy comes a dynamic new retelling of a landmark West Australian story, John Gavin. In the early hours of Easter Saturday 1844, John Gavin became the first European to be executed in the Swan River Colony. He was tried, convicted and hung within three days and buried without ceremony in an unmarked grave in the Fremantle sand hills. He was 15 years old. 168 years later, highly skilled aerial theatre, dramatic reconstruction and physical performance will re-animate John Gavin and the twisted adolescent dreams that painted him guilty of murdering his master’s son. Runs ’til May 5. Bookings via blueroom.org.au.

National Interest: Heath Ledger Theatre, Northbridge Tony Stewart was just 21 when he was killed in Balibo in October 1975. Thirty-two years after Tony and his television news crew were murdered, the ghosts of the past are awakened again. For Tony’s mother June, these ghosts are real, as tangible as her daughter Jane standing in the kitchen with her. What was a shrewd move in the international power-play of 1975 left a gaping void for each family touched by the tragedy.

The fate of the Balibo Five shocked Australia in 1975 and the issues still reverberate today.

National Interest personalises the headlines with a true story of a family still in the grip of grief, and is a play about justice, time, love, personal reconciliation and the ghosts that we invent that both comfort and haunt us.

Runs from May 5-20. Bookings via BOCS. I (Honestly) Love You: Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge From award winning playwright Damon Lockwood comes a tale of love gained, love lost, and love thrown around a bit. I (Honestly) Love You explores what happens when two people, who share the extremely rare psychological condition of only being able to tell the truth at all times, fall deeply and madly in love. The two age-old enemies of togetherness and honesty tangle desperately in this exciting new play examining the deepest of all human emotions.

Runs May 15-Jun 2. Bookings via blueroom. org.au.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

MAJ MONOLOGUES Going Solo

The final of the Maj Monologues competition will be held between May 2–5 at His Majesty’s Theatre, with each session starting at 7.30pm. Bookings can be made through BOCS.

Skin

SKIN Peeled Raw Humphrey Bower brings his one man show Skin to The Blue Room Theatre from Thursday, April 26, ’til Saturday, May 12. Bookings via blueroom.org.au.

It’s clear that Helpmann Award winning actor Humphrey Bower likes to keep busy. Seemingly mere moments after treading the boards in the confrontational Blackbird, he returns to the stage to perform his own work, a discourse on identity and culture entitled Skin.

“It’s a remount of a show that I did in Melbourne a few years ago,” Bower explains.“But this time I’ve got a different group of people working with me, and I’ve also rewritten quite a bit. It’s based on two stories of my own, two short stories, one of which is actually a story my hairdresser told me about a trip to Vietnam, and the other is based on a trip I took out to the Goldfields in WA In both cases I’ve taken the stories into a mythical, fantastic, almost horror world.”

Describing the two stories, Bower says, “The hairdresser who goes to Vietnam, he gets a fake suntan, and it kind of transforms him; his skin turns bright orange and his head swells up, and he becomes this big unrecognizable creature. It’s a kind of Cronenbergian nightmare. And my story is a ghost story, really, about an encounter with indigenous people in the desert, out on this salt lake. People transform into animals, and I have sex with a ghost... all sorts of things happen that may not have happened in real life.”

The inclusion of fantastical elements in a pair of otherwise realistic travelogues allows Bower to approach his chosen themes in an oblique, allegorical manner.“Both stories are around this theme transformation and identity, and the metaphor of skin: skin colour, identity, sexuality, being comfortable in your own skin - all those sorts of things. I sort of weave in and out of the two stories.”

And though Skin is credited as a solo show, Bower is at pains to point out the invaluable contributions of a number of collaborators.

“There’s two of us performing,” he tells us. “Myself and Leon Ewing, who’s a musician, actor, artist man about town. He’s playing guitar, making all sorts of interesting sounds live with me on stage, so it’s really a two person show. We worked together previously on a show called Wish. And I’ve got a dance choreographer, Sue Peacock, who’s working with me, choreographing me, so there’s quite a lot of stylised movement and dancing. Although I’m not really a dancer.”

Indeed, both Wish and Skin were born out of the same tight-knit group of creatives. As Bower explains, “With this company, Night Train, which I call my chamber theatre company, it gives me a chance to initiate my own work with a bunch of collaborators like Leon and Sue and Andrew Lake, who’s done the lighting for me for a few years now. We’re all kind of misfits, I guess. We work for other companies but we all have our own vision. We trust each other and we can give each other feedback. It’s a very collaborative process.”

Freelance writer and teacher Phil Jeng Kane is an interesting man. He writes, he blogs about the Zeitgeist, and he doesn’t like Matt Smith as The Doctor (something this writer finds almost unforgivable). Active on the West Australian film and literary scene for over 20 years now, he has written for magazines, short films, television, and computer games, as well as co-founding the Over The Fence Film Festival. Kane’s piece Night School, the story of a middle-aged teacher using his classroom as a cross between a soapbox and a therapy session, has won him a place in this year’s Maj Monologues competition.

Over the years Maj Monologues have showcased some of Western Australia’s finest playwrights in action. The 2012 brief for these monologues was simple – write a creative, entertaining, funny or dramatic monologue to the topic ‘Modern Gods’. Up for grabs is $3,000, as well as the opportunity to have your monologue performed

by Perth’s leading actors.

Meet Clive: middle-aged, divorced, and teaching Australian History 101 at night school, he treats his classes as a captive audience for his daily

dramas. “Clive is a rambler, and he likes to just get into subjects and give his opinions on them, and in that way we get to find out more about Clive then we do about history... he could probably be saying all of this to a psychologist,” says Kane. Funny and touching, Clive has opinions about social networking, relationships, life coaches and who the best Pope was.

“Clive is the quintessential modern god.

Regardless of what his happening outside, within this small world he is king, using his influence to ‘teach’ his students about life, the universe, and everything except Australian History,” Kane explains. “When you’re in the tradition of being a teacher, you actually have a lot of influence, or at least you think you do... because he’s teaching night school, and because his students are young but they’re adults, [Clive] kind of wanders into this territory of revealing a bit too much about himself.”

As a teacher, Kane’s exploration of this world comes from an insider’s point of view. “I searched high and low for inspiration, and the fact that I’m also a teacher has nothing to do with the fact that that’s the subject that I ended up choosing,” he says. “What I realised however is that a lot of the stuff that I do day in day out, although it’s my job, is really quite interesting.”

Night School is an intimate exploration into the world of a man who simultaneously dislikes his job but does like a chat. Encouraged by Maj Monologues to be bold, outrageous, and entertaining, the winner of this competition is based on quality of writing, meaning that all of those who have made it to the finals will be well worth checking out. _LEAH BLANKENDAAL

Phil Jeng Kane, author of Night School

_TRAVIS JOHNSON

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Above&Beyond T O

T H E

F U T U R E

A N D

B E Y O N D

Jonathan Grant, Paavo Siljamäki and Tony McGuinness are certified electronic music superstars. They have risen, they have conquered and now they are consolidating their position. This hasn’t been an accidental story of one hit wonders, this trio are at the pinnacle of their chosen profession and they continue to strive for the best. RK chats with Paavo Siljamäki about the life and times of one of the trance world’s greatest outfits.

“This year started really well,” Siljamäki begins.“We played in Dubai for New Year’s Eve which was an amazing experience – we played alongside Groove Armada so you can imagine how fantastic the whole thing was. After that, we did a big bus tour of North America; we played 25 gigs and basically during the whole month [we] had two days off.”

Needless to say, their touring schedule was relentless but it was an experience of sorts for the guys. It was the first time they toured with their own production and their own crew.“It was a really cool experience,” Siljamäki says.“We had been working on the show for a while and we knew it would be difficult with all the travelling but it turned out to be one of our best gig experiences.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

www.xpressmag.com.au

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ALL HYPED UP

Next Hype is coming. Brought to you by the dudes who brought DMZ, Dark Sky, Jon Convex and more, Next Hype will be a night committed to delivering the most forward thinking artists in the EDM scene with a focus on post-dubstep, garage, techno and house. Londonbased producer Pariah will be bringing the beats at the upcoming launch of Next Hype alongside Sheffield producer Blawan. Boy Prince, Midnight Mike and Craig Hollywood are on support duties. It all goes down on Thursday, May 10, at Geisha. Tickets are $20; snatch them up from Moshtix now.

and effectively. We can make a record and finish it on Friday and get a reaction and play it out on the same Friday – that for us presents an immediate way of finding out what were doing.”

Siljamäki continues by telling the story of purchasing a grand piano for his home, describing it as the coolest thing he’s done in a long time. “I want to start to write songs for a grand piano instead of the studio which we’ve talked about doing for a while now,” he says.“I want to be able to do something like that at home - a remix and things.” He’s even involved his son in the remix process, keeping things in the family.

Travel wise, the crew recently had a really big celebration in Beirut in Lebanon and are doing a few other big parties this year. Siljamäki explains they’ve also started working on Anjunabeats Volume 10 and while it’s early days for that, the next single Love Is Not Enough featuring Zoë Johnston is already on YouTube. “We’ve got loads of stuff coming out on the sister label with another compilation called Engine Deep 4,” he adds.

Finally, Siljamäki can’t contain his excitement about their upcoming tour down under and it won’t be a half-baked exercise as he explains.

“Obviously, as we’re playing the Creamfields Festival, we’re coming out there with the same crew that we’ve been doing the American tour with,” he says.

“Our lighting guy is amazing and we adore him and we’re basically bringing the whole show to the main stage of Creamfields. I haven’t seen the exact specifications on the stage but I expect we’ll give people a fabulous show so I’m excited!”

» ABOVE & BEYOND » CREAMFIELDS » SATURDAY, MAY 5 @ SUPREME COURT GARDENS

be there,” May says. May stalked legendary Detroit radio DJ The Electrifying Mojo waiting for him in a café for weeks to give him one of Juan Atkins songs to play. It worked too and led to Atkins’ first release.

These stories all signify one trait – passion.

Talking to him today it’s clear the man still loves the music he helped to blossom such as the ground-breaking Nude Photo and Beyond The Dance and he’s keen to educate others about his philosophy of ‘Hi Tech Soul’ (May originally suggested this title for the genre but was overruled). But, he hasn’t released any new material himself in years. “I’m concentrating on my record label, producing new artists, developing new minds,” he explains when asked why. “To me making music is not a desire of mine at the moment but to help others create and develop and to release them on Transmat [his record label] is something I love doing.”

With no recent releases of note and with such an esteemed history behind him the conversation inevitably turns to the old Derrick May days. This year marks the 25th anniversary of seminal track Strings Of Life, possibly the greatest dance track ever written but May is reluctant to commemorate this with a new remix. “There’s been so many people making remixes of it I don’t want to make one,” he says. “I didn’t commission one of those remixes.” In fact it’s surprisingly not the tune he’s most proud of. “For me it’s probably Kao-Tic Harmony,” he says. “Because it Copious amounts have been said was an accomplishment for me, I was heading in a direction musically and was really trying and written about Derrick May different something unique. The response from it was very during his long and illustrious career. little but for me it was my most important track”.

It’s this innovative way of thinking which As one third of the Belleville Three, helped germinate the techno seed but would it have he established techno; the ground- been allowed to grow and blossom without the UK breaking cooler sibling of house and influence and the ensuing compilation Techno! The Dance Sound Of Detroit that rocketed them to so wrote his name in urban folklore New fame? “Ironically I put the same question to Carl forever. But, with a recent production Craig just recently,” May responds. “We were making output of practically nothing, does our own records and they were quite successful in but it was what happened in England that the Detroit demi-god still hold an Chicago truly gave us the level of credibility that enabled us allure some 25 years after delivering to walk the walk. The front cover of Face Magazine was the shit that said ‘these mother fuckers some of the most defining moments -arethat going to be the next thing’. It took the music, the in dance culture? ANDREW NELSON record company, the city of Detroit, it took this whole romantic mysterious thing from these young black finds out. boys that made it what it was to make people heads There are plenty of anecdotes about Derrick May. turn. There has not been a musical explosion like that Kevin Saunderson (of Inner City fame who along with since. Nothing has had that kind of creative cultural May and Juan Atkins make up The Holy Trinity Of devastation since we did that.”

Techno, credited with inventing the genre) knocked him out the first time they met (May had welshed on a bet). Drum’n’bass producer Goldie imprisoned May » DERRICK MAY in his car to play him all 30 minutes of Inner City Life. » FRIDAY, APRIL 27 @ AMBAR “That happened but he didn’t lock me in I wanted to

DERRICK MAY

HANDS UP FOR DETROIT

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If you keep an eye on the iTunes dance album chart then you’ll most probably know the past two records in the British trance Anjunadeep series have scored the #1 spot. To celebrate the release of the latest volume Anjunadeep 04, Australian-export DJ and producer Jaytech will be hitting up Shape on Friday, May 11. Having mixed the latest volume alongside James Grant, expect a super set of deep house and progressive beats when he cruises into town. Hit up shapebar.com.au for more info.

GARDEN BEATS

Above & Beyond Siljamäki describes their most recent big bus tour of North America as a coming of age of sorts for the group and, prior to their forthcoming run of gigs in Australia, the trio are touring South America before heading to Central America and Miami for an encore.

“I can’t believe how much we’ve been travelling!,” he says, still in awe himself.

Touring aside, the gents completed an important LP last year – Group Therapy - and took a well-deserved couple of months break. “There’s also quite a lot of club mixes to come from the album too; we’re working on a few bits and pieces but its early days - we’re not getting too excited about things just yet,” Siljamäki says.

Their 2011 sophomore record Group Therapy was a follow up to the 2006 magnum opus Tri State that firmly established the group as one of the most highly respected EDM outfits of the modern era. The lads won the world over with Group Therapy, a record that saw them transcend genres and gallantly overcome the commercial mediocrity that has surrounded much of more recent music coming from within the electronic spectrum. It is music with soul and emotion but it is also moving and poignant.

From their work with Anjunabeats, to Rollerball and Oceanlab to their seminal material as Above & Beyond, their raison d’être remains the same: to produce good music.“This is hitting the nail on the head,” Siljamäki agrees. “All of these elements, these projects, they are just a feedback loop. We’ve always engaged with our fans actively; we’ve had a forum on our website since the get go; I have to say it’s one of the busiest forums on the web in terms of trance so punters can really talk about anything.

“We might lead the discussion but for the most part, they say this or that, whatever they want really. A lot of these things are rare and most can take a long time to figure out so we think it’s really great that you can engage with the audience so cheaply

JAYTECHING IT

The Aston Shuffle

GET YOUR SHUFFLE ON

Summer may be over but that’s no excuse not to spend a Sunday afternoon outside partying to some super sick beats. Habitat’s series of Garden Parties are about to kick off and boy to they have a cracking line to get the party started – globe-trotting producer James Zabiela, house DJ and producer Alex Niggemann and London beat-maker George Fitzgerald will all be behind the decks to launch the first of the Garden Parties. It’s all happening on Sunday, May 6, at The Court Outdoor Garden. Tickets are $20 on the door before 5pm and $25 after 5pm. Check it out.

With a host of positive reviews for their debut long-player Seventeen Past Midnight and a series of sets played across the country, Canberra lads The Aston Shuffle are bringing their epic beats back to town. If you’ve never seen these guys perform live or behind the decks DJing, you need to witness this shit. The lads play Ambar on Friday, May 25. Tickets are $20 on the door or hit up the Boomtick Shop or iPhone App to guarantee your place on the d-floor.

SCIENCE OF THE BASSMENT KIND

If you’re into your dubstep and drum’n’bass then listen up. This Friday, April 27, a bunch of local DJs will be smashing out some bass beats at the Swan Basement.

Regulars about town Iller Instinct and Harry B will be behind the decks alongside newcomer Stoitzy and crowd favourite Invictus. Starts 8pm and tickets are $10 on the door. Prepare for some serious bass y’all!

SMELL THE ROSES

Deacon Rose is the man behind Triple J’s Mix Up and now, he’s coming to town to smash out some beats. If you’re keen to see this crazy-haired DJ and producer give it what he’s got, make sure you get down to Frat House Fridays on Friday, May 25, at Metro Freo; and Capitol on Saturday, May 26. Do it.

Sampology

APOCALYPSE NOW

Brisbane youngster Sampology is bringing his super fresh audio visual live show Sampology’s Super Visual Apocalypse to town. This lad puts on a brilliant live show. He’s all about performing on two turntables and a big ass screen; montaged together from TV, movies, the internet, custom animations and music videos. This new show will pay homage to the legacy and pizzazz of Bruce Willis as he battles the many doomsday challenges that threaten the world’s existence in 2012. Get set for a sick show when he hits The Bakery on Saturday, June 9. Hit up nowbaking.com.au for tickets.

Galapagoose

GALAPAGOOSE THE EXPERIMENTALIST

Fresh Melbourne beat-maker Galapagoose, aka Trent Gill, loved Galapagos, the track by Chicago band Tortoise so much that he named his project Galapagoose in honour of the track. JOE CASSIDY chats with the experimental producer about his debut record Commitments ahead of his show tomorrow night.

Trent Gill grew up playing jazz guitar and saxophone.

“I’d say the most profound impact is of this training is simply in the music I’ve been exposed to along the way, it definitely opened my mind to the world’s of sound that existed beyond the punk and alternative scenes that I was loosely involved in,” he begins.

All these influences come into play on Gill’s recently released debut record Commitments, out through experimental beat-maker Daedelus’ imprint Magical Properties. Recorded in just six weeks, Gill used Daedelus’ technical prowess to help with his live software arrangement on the record. “I had started playing a lot more guitar and acoustic instruments and just recording as much sound as possible,” he says. “I quickly came to realise that I could use all that material and then spent those six weeks fleshing everything out, adding vocals, drums and synth parts.”

But it wasn’t a pure jam session where Gill simply played what made him feel good during the time. Putting the record together was quite an emotional one for him. “It seemed quite natural to document that moment and those feelings and I feel that’s what the record comes across as,” he says.

Although he doesn’t have a single approach to his way of making music, one of the stand outs on the album is the track One Who Can’t Move, made in a brief 45 minute wait at a Sydney bar. “Most of the tracks have a similarly bizarre and utterly mediocre genesis but I think through all of that things come out being truly honest and far more raw than would otherwise be expected,” he says.

It’s a combination of old-fashioned instruments, hardware, software and even Dictaphone recordings to create a release that he’s clearly proud of. “I really wanted Commitments to be an honest and emotional work and I feel I’ve captured that through most of the album and haven’t held anything back in terms of what I want to express and the stories I feel compelled to tell,” he says.

The album artwork for the record is striking – Gill has produced handmade screenprinted covers. “Those jackets represent a large amount of work by myself and a lovely long list of close friends and family who gave up their evenings to come and help with the process,” he says of the artwork. “In a way it represents the community that has stood behind and helped me to get to where I am now. I place a really high value on physical products and feel that if someone is going to pay more than a few dollars for something it’s important to have something you can really value.”

» GALAPAGOOSE » THURSDAY, APRIL 26 @ THE BIRD X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

KID KENOBI

BEN UFO

Now a family man, DJ and producer Kid Kenobi, aka Jesse Desenberg, is totally committed to the music industry and the bass movement.

With 20 years experience in the scene, RK chats with the lad who’s constantly on the go.

Ben Thomson, aka Ben UFO, is a self confessed geek whose name carries no huge significance other than it allows him to “drift off into space.” JOE CASSIDY chats with the producer and co-founder of Hessle Audio collective ahead of his super secret show in town this weekend.

STRANGE SOUNDS

ADDICTED TO BASS

If you’re a fan of breaks, you will without doubt know Kid Kenobi, the DJ and producer who absolutely smashed it in the early noughties, snapping up awards and making a name for himself in the growing breaks community in Australia. Now, the lad behind the moniker, Jesse Desenberg, is a family man. But, he still manages to maintain a fine balance between touring, managing his label and club night Klub Kids “Spare time, what spare time?,” he says in jest, talking of his family/work balance. “It’s an art form in itself; it needs constant upkeep as it keeps on changing. I’m such of a softy; it’s really hard travelling on the weekend. I miss my family so much! I don’t know how some DJs travel for weeks on end and not see their kids. I’m happy to be just touring Australia on weekends right now. I am, however, planning more international touring for next year but I’ll be taking the family with me. I think I’d go crazy without them.”

But, it isn’t just his family, touring and work in the studio which is keeping him busy. He’s recently started a blog concerned with his history in the EDM scene and the culture which surrounds it all.

“We wanted to give context to our Klub Kids event A Warehouse Jam,” he says, talking about the blog. “The party was intended to be a point of difference in the current EDM climate. To me, there is so much that has been lost and forgotten or buried in the culture of EDM and I felt there needed to be a point of change.

I want to bring back some of the values I think we’ve lost. The blog links my history in with the party and what parts of my history inspired me to set this party up.”

Indeed, the name also lends itself to a label with the same name and given his interest in music production; it was a natural next step. “I always have and always will believe in the music first and foremost,” he says. “I never want this to be a label that

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Kid Kenobi sets out to make money. I want it to have a soul. I think the family vibe reinforces that – gives it the feeling of a ‘movement’. That’s starting to happen now. There are so many talented artists on the label that I am so proud and honoured to be associated with.”

Desenberg is currently hard at work in the studio on a new remix for Klub Kids and an artist called TJR. He recently mixed Ministry Of Sound’s Addicted To Bass compilation alongside Perth bad boys Bombs Away and says it was a grand experience.“I was stoked to be asked to mix the comp because the compilation brief was right up my alley - it was all about bass music and wasn’t restricted by genre,” he says. “The Bombs guys are pretty crazy – be interesting to see what happens on tour!”

As for original productions this year, there are plenty in the works so far. “I’ve tried to cut back on remix work as I want to focus on releasing more original music,” he says. “But, before I do that I have remixes for TJR and Doctor Werewolf to complete.

Then I’m on to a new KK single and EP, a free KK EP, and also a Too Fresh single and EP. Hectic!”

» KID KENOBI » SATURDAY, APRIL 28 @ VILLA

It really helps to be a geek these days in the EDM scene. A bit of computer knowledge can go a long way, and while comfortable behind a keyboard, Ben Thomson’s early exposure to vinyl means he’s a traditionalist at heart. He hasn’t yet crossed over from straight DJing to production yet, and he stays relatively coy on the point.

Thomson hails from London where his earlier musical experiences were drawn from his father’s jazz collection and Steely Dan on long drives with the family. This early eclecticism has him getting into anything he can - “there’s so much amazing music being made now that it’s hard to single out any specific area,” he says.

Although not a producer, he likes DJing because he can be more true to himself. But, his most important focus is to ensure that the he and his label retain its uniqueness.

He founded Hessle Audio with David Kennedy, aka Ramadanman, a bass friendly artist whom he met while they were both in line waiting to check out the dubstep night FWD>> at London’s Plastic People club. Thomson had been immersed in the scene for a little while longer but they were both keen on this new sound.

In what seemed like a sign, Kennedy begun university in Leeds where Thomson was already located alongside housemate and later to be Hessle buddies, Kevin McAuley, aka Pangaea. The three had a taste for dubstep after being heavily into the drum’n’bass sound and held regular DJ spots around Leeds.

Thomson’s the kind of guy who doesn’t “consciously keep up with trends” but his #1 priority is that his label stays at the top of its

Ben UFO game and remains unique. And, he’s doing well at that - the label is home to the likes of Pearson Sound and Objekt. While he clearly has a taste for new and interesting sounds, Thomson says it’s not about following the zeitgeist. “We’ve never really consciously tried to keep up with trends or scenes… it’s nice to be part of a movement and to be seen alongside artists and labels I admire but my priority is that the label retains its individuality.”

Although a vinyl devotee, audiences can expect a mostly Serato-based show from Thomson this weekend and he admits his reasoning behind this decision is that doesn’t want his records damaged on the trip. His set won’t be pre-planned as he’s not a fan of feeling like he’s on “auto-pilot”. The sound that is produced by Ben UFO - or at least the tracks he likes to spin and mix - are diverse, solid tunes.

Hessle Audio puts out music that is timeless and that doesn’t get ruined by constant rinsing and this is exactly the attitude Thomson has when it comes to his Ben UFO work. It’s a moniker that really holds true when genredefining is becoming increasingly difficult to place. “My priority is that the label retains its individuality, even if that means moving away from the scenes we’re traditionally been linked to,” he says.“[But] ideally, that won’t be necessary.”

» » » »

BEN UFO SATURDAY, APRIL 28 @ INNER CITY WAREHOUSE (LOCATION REVEALED ON DAY)

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EMPIRE BAR

WEDNESDAY 25/04 Captain Stirling – Fiveo Clancy’s (Applecross) – Upbeat – DJ Andy Connections – DJs Joby /JJ /Rueben Double Lucky – Last Wednesday Eurobar – Wild Wednesdays - DJ iPod/ Ben Pettit Eve – DJ Don Migi/ Skooby The Flying Scotsman – UniQue DJs Gold Bar–DJ Adroc Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart Leederville Hotel – We Love Wednesdays ft DJ Slick Metro Freo - Rapture Mustang – DJ Giles Newport – Newport Wednesdays Sovereign Arms – Lokie Shaw The Deen - DJ Zelimer/ DJ Viper/ DJ Benny/ T– Zone 1 The Queens – Wriggle on YaYa’s - DJ Agent 85/ Dr Zaius

THURSDAY 26/04 Blvd Tavern – DJ Andy Clancy ’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Wrighteous Club Marakesh – DJ Simon Cottesloe Hotel – DJ Shots/ DJ Andy M Empire Bar – Halo/ DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian

FRAT HOUSE FRIDAYS

Eve – DJ Tony Allen Flawless - DJ Zelimir/ DJ Minna/ Flying Scotsman – Cowboys & Indie Kids DJs Leopold Hotel – DJ Riki/ Roger Smart Library - Dorcia Llama Bar – DJ Maxwell/ EMAS/ Lukas Wimler Mint Nightclub – DJ Simon Barwood Mt Henry Tavern - DJ Matty J Mullaloo Beach Hotel - DJ John Paul/ DJ Slick Mustang – DJ James Paramount – DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Jordan South St – DJ Castasia/ Dpad Swinging Pig – DJ Simon The Avenue – Jon Ee The Bird – Galapagoose The Carine Tavern – Punchy & Juicy/ Little Nicky The Causeway – EMAS DJs The Craftsman – Fiveo The Deen – DJ Flex/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge/ DJ Don Migi The East End Bar - The Prestige The Queens – Kapitol The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley The Whistling Kite - DJ Gareth The Velvet Lounge – Hexx ft Ourobonic Plague Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly Woodvale Tavern – DJ Melvin

FRIDAY 27/04 Ambar – Derrick May/ Puff/ Mono Lisa Amplifier – Cowboys & Indie Kids DJs Bar 120 – Funkoars Bar 459 - DJ Smurf Bar Orient – Higher Fyah Reggae Club ft Gridlox/ Badd Dan/ DJ Ted Ro/ The Empressions Beat Nightclub - Play Boheme Bar - DJ Majiika Boulevard Tavern – DJ Andyy Broken Hill Hotel – DJ Nick Alexander Brooklands Tavern - DJ Jayden Capitol – Retro Mash Capitol (Upstairs) – I Love ‘90s ft DJ DTuck Carine Tavern – Greg Packer/ MC Assassin Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Boogie Claremont Hotel – DJ Nick Sheppard/ DJ Max Como Hotel – DJ Gazz Empire Bar – DJs Halo/ Bojan/ Ben Sebastian Eve – DJ Don Migi/ DJ Danny Boi Flawless – Therapy ft Zelimir/ Rob Sharp Flying Scotsman – DJs Jo19/ Rok Riley Flying Scotsman (Defectors) - Back To Mono DJs Ginger Nightclub – Rondevoo Fridayz Gosnells Club – DJ Now

Galapagoose

METRO FREO

Hipe Club - DJ E-Funk Lakers Tavern – Fresh Fridays - DJ Dooey Left Bank – DJ Frankie Button Library – Sneaky Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Morris Malt Super Club - Fiveo Merriwa Tavern – DJ Real McCoy Metro City (Solace Bar) – DJ Slick Metro Freo – Frat House Fridays ft Death Disco DJs Mint Nightclub – Club Retro ft Chris McPhee Mullaloo Beach Hotel - DJ John Paul Mustang – Swing DJ/ DJ James MacArthur Paddy Hannans – Crazy Craig Paramount - DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Jordan Players Bar (Norma Jeans Bar) – Retro DJ Queens Tav – DJ Rueben Rocket Room – DJ Brett Rowe/ DJ Cain Sail & Anchor - Balcony Beatz/ DJ J-MAC Shape - It’s A London Thing ft Duane A/ Trent C/ Rhys D/ Rufkut/ J Rippa/ Ru-Kasu/ Eyan Shape (The Cube) – Strictly Waxed ft Greg Packer/ MC Xsessiv/ Q-Bik & Seeka MC/ Frantik B2B Rufkut Dart/ Mental B2B NVS Sovereign Arms – Aiden Wallis Swan Basement - Bassment Science ft Stoizy/ Harry B/ Invictus/ Iller Instinct The Avenue – JMC The Bakery – Clark The Carine – Mind Electric/ Little Nicky/ Az-T The Causeway – 4by4 DJs The Eastern – DJ Midfield The Generous Squire - DJ Anaru The Queens – DJ Rueben The Saint - DJ Jordan The Shed – DJ Glenn 20 The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly The Vic - DJ Giles The Wembley Hotel – Funky Bottoms/ Jon Ee Windsor – DJ Riki and Ray Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Giles Villa - Speakeasy ft The Rubens/ Rufus/ Rainy Day Women/ Metric DJs YaYa’s – Junk ft DJ Whoa!

SATURDAY 28/04

Funkoars

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Ambar – Japan 4 ft Buda/ Carla/ Ben Mac/ Oli/ Mr Ed Amplifier – Pure Pop ft Eddie Electric Basement On Broadway – DJ Ricky Boheme Bar – Carte Blanche DJs B r o ke n H i l l Tave r n – D J N i c k Alexander/ James Wilson Capitol – Death Disco Capitol (Upstairs) – Cream Of The ‘80s ft DJ Ryan Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Dood Claremont Hotel – DJ Tone Def

AMPLIFIER

Club Bay View – Little Nicky Empire Bar – DJ James Ess Eurobar – Roger Smart/ DJ Raci Eve Nightclub – DJ Don Migi/ DJ Stevie M Flawless - Stache Saturdays ft DJ Zelimir/ DJ Minna Flying Scotsman - Under The Influence DJs Flying Scotsman (Defectors) - Fore DJs High Road Hotel – DJ Simon High Wycombe – DJ Matt Hipe Club – DJ E-Funk Library – MKT ft DJ Riki/ DJ Richie G/ DJ Vicktor Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Liquid Nightclub - DJ Klar55/ DJ Stevie M Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Melvin Malt Super Club – Fiveo Metro City (R&B Lounge) - DJ Slick/ DJ Ruthless/ DJ Soso Metro City - DJ Stevie M/ DJ Matty S/ DJ Ruthless/ DJ Makka Metro Freo – DTuck/ Darren Briais/ DJ Wazz Mint Nightclub – Pop Life ft DJ Aaron/ AJ Mullaloo Beach Hotel – DJ Danny Mustang – Rockabilly DJ/ DJ James MacArthur Niche – Frankie Button/ Cee/ Jonny Zimber Norma Jeans – DJ Darren Oxford Hotel – DJ Sequeria Paramount- DJ Cornflake / DJ Jordan/ DJ Johnny Boi Queens Tav - Gareth Richardson Rocket Room – Delicious (Ladies Only) ft DJ Brett Rowe South St Ale House – DJ Jay Sovereign Arms – Rockwell The Avenue – Jon Ee The Brighton (Upstairs) – Micah/ Kill Dyl/ eSQue The Boheme – DJ Sneakee The Causeway – Sun City DJs The Clink – Az-T The Cornerstone – Aidan Wallis The Craftsman – Tammy Stevens The Deen - DJ Birdie/ DJ JJ/ DJ Tony Allen The Generous Squire – On Tap ft DJ Defanutely The Rosemount Hotel - Funkoars The Saint – DJ Anaru The Shed –DJ Glenn 20 The Wembley – Az-T The Whistling Kite - DJ Craig

Clark

Kid Kenobi The Vic – DJ Kristian Tiger Lil’s – DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Villa - Make The Face ft Kid Kenobi/ Surecut Kids Windsor – DJ Ray Woodvale Tavern – DJ Real McCoy YaYa’s – Saturday Social ft The Kings Of Cheese DJs

SUNDAY 29/04 Captain Stirling – DJ Jay Claremont Hotel – DJ Double Dee Clink – DJ Tony Allen Club Bay View – Fiveo Empire Bar – CB3/ DJ Riki/ DJ Vicktor Euro Bar – DJ Flex Eve Nightclub – DJ Birdie Flying Scotsman – Under The Influence DJs Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Eclectic Picnic Mint - Chris McPhee Mustang – DJ Rockin Rhys Rocket Room – Coyote Ugly The Avenue – Az-T The Causeway – Lukas Wimmler The Cott – Cott Sessions The Kiosk – DJ Cinder The Saint - DJ Anaru The Shed – DJ Andyy

MONDAY 30/04 Bar Orient - DJ White Label Broken Hill Tavern - DJ Mario Tavelli Eastern Hotel – Adam Morris The Deen – Plastic Max/ The Token Gesture The Paddo – DJ John Paul The Shed – DJ Andyy

TUESDAY 01/05 Bar Orient - DJ Lyndon Eastern Hotel – Jon Edwards High Road Hotel – DJ Matty J High Wycombe – DJ Ricky Hipe Club – DJ Roger Smart Players Bar (Norma Jeans Bar) – Stevie M The Cott (Upstairs) –Maxwell/ Jus Haus?/ Damian John Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

METRO CITY

CAPITOL

VILLA

IN THE THIS WEEK:

COMING UP

Galapagoose Thursday, April 26 @ The Bird

District ft Phetsta/ Smile On Impact/ Kill Dyl/ DYP/ The Tapeheads/ Ol Wright/ MC Deus Friday, May 4 @ Ambar

Clark Friday, April 27 @ The Bakery

It’s A London Thing ft Duane A/ Trent C/ Rhys D/ Rufkut/ J Soul Project ft JT Donaldson Rippa/ Ru-Kasu/ Eyan Saturday, May 5 @ Geisha Friday, April 27 @ Shape Funkoars Friday, April 27 @ Bar 120 Bassment Science ft Stoizy/ Harry B/ Invictus/ Iller Instinct Fr i d a y, A p r i l 2 7 @ S w a n Basement Derrick May Friday, April 27 @ Ambar Speakeasy f t Th e Rubens/ Rufus/Rainy Day Women/ Metric DJs Friday, April 27 @ Villa

Creamfields ft David Guetta/ Above & Beyond/ Dir ty South/ Alesso/ Excision/ W&W/ Giuseppe Ottaviani (live)/ Congorock/ Vitalic/ Sied van Riel/ Tritonal/ Downlink/ ShockOne/ M a R Lo / B o m b s Away / Figure/ MC Stretch Saturday, May 5 @ Supreme Court Gardens

Sub Zero & MC Eksman Funkoars Saturday, May 5 @ Villa Saturday, April 28 @ The Rosemount Hotel Habitat Garden Party f t J a m e s Z a b i e l a / Al ex Ben UFO Saturday, April 28 @ Venue TBC N i g g e m a n n / G e o r g e Fitzgerald Make The Face ft Kid Kenobi/ Sunday, May 6 @ The Court Surecut Kids Saturday, April 28 @ Villa Next Hype ft Pariah/ Blawan

Thursday, May 10 @ Geisha Atmosphere/ Evidence Friday, May 11 @ Villa

Bakery Kings Of Sound 3 ft Phetsta/ MC Xsessiv/ SBX All Stars/ Layla/ Mord Fustang Dazastah/ Greg Packer/ Friday, May 11 @ Ambar MC Assassin/ Killafoe & J.Nitrous/ Rregula/ Q-BIK/ Anjunadeep Vol 04 Seeka MC/ The Stoops/ ft Jaytech Complete/ MC Bear/ Porsah Friday, May 11 @ Shape Laine/ Voltron/ MC Stylee/ Slackjaw/ Zanetic/ Get Sky’High More/ Armee/ LStreet and Saturday, May 12 @ Mojos more Saturday, May 19 @ The Krafty Kuts Rosemount Hotel Saturday, May 12 @ Villa Seven Deadly Sins Launch Night ft DJ Slick/ DJ Matty S/ DJ Stevie M/ DJ Makka/ DJ Ruthless/ DJ Kenny L/ DJ Angry Buda Saturday, May 12 @ Metro City

Groovin’ The Moo ft 360/ Hilltop Hoods/ Adrian Lux/ Beni/ Digitalism/ Hermitude/ Muscles/ Purple Sneaker DJs/ Wavves Saturday, May 19 @ Hay Park, Bunbury

Digitalism/ Adrian Lux Friday, May 18 @ Villa

The Aston Shuffle Friday, May 25 @ Ambar

Showtek Friday, May 18 @ Shape

Frat House Fridays ft Deacon Rose Friday, May 25 @ Metro Freo

Fresh Produce ft The Barons Red/ Tapeheads/ Punchy & Juicy/ StrangerThanDigital/ Informant Friday, May 18 @ Ambar

The Aston Shuffle (DJ set) Friday, May 25 @ Ambar Deacon Rose Saturday, May 26 @ Capitol

Lapalux/ oOoOO Saturday, May 19 @ The Mickey Avalon/ Kid Mac Saturday, May 26 @ The Rosemount Hotel Bad Taste Recordings ft Prolix/ Aeph/ Blokhe4d/ Neonlight Friday, June 1 @ Metro City Slow Roast Records Tour ft Craze/ Codes Saturday, June 2 @ Villa Sebastien Drums Friday, June 8 @ The Court Sampology’s Super Visual Apocolypse Saturday, June 9 @ The Bakery

Derrick May

DERRICK MAY

FRIDAY, APRIL 27 @ AMBAR

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Hype Williams Saturday, June 16 @ The Bakery 360/ Hermitude Friday, June 22 @ Villa 360 Saturday, June 23 @ The Astor 360 Sunday, June 24 @ The Astor

KASPER BJØRKE NO FOOL

Danish producer Kasper Bjørke released his self-ironic third record Fool on April Fools’ Day. Split into two sides, Fool is a pop infused record which takes the listener on a disco voyage. ANNABEL MACLEAN chats with the Copenhagen lad about his decision to resign as the chair of A&R at Fake Diamond Records, Fool and what 2012 holds.

“It’s actually called Wakeboard For Balls,” Bjørke says down the line from his home in Copenhagen in a pleasant Danish accent, having just woken up. “It’s a wake-boarding competition and they’re collecting money for cancer. It’s quite intriguing.”

This isn’t the first beneficial party which Bjørke has been a part of. Last year, he raised $10,000 USD for The Red Cross along with a bunch of DJs from Copenhagen by putting together a party called A Dance For Africa.

He’s hoping to continue his charity work but recently it’s been all go for the young producer and DJ who just released his third studio record Fool. He’s also the manager for Danish producer Trentemøller and has recently started managing young Danish band Reptile Youth. On top of all of this, he now has a weekly radio show on National Radio DR P6 Beat called 4/4. He’s also got a girlfriend, cat and touring to balance on top of all of this – he admits sleep is a rarity at this point in time. “I sleep like little Japanese people, just having naps,” he says.

Having recently given up his position as the head of A&R at Fake Diamond Records which he held for four years, Bjørke says it was a difficult decision to make but one that was necessary.“I signed Oh Land and some of my close friends so it was like I also felt I had an obligation to see their projects through before I left and fortunately I was leaving around the time that the last project [Darkness Falls] I signed was coming out,” he says. “I built the record label to a point where I felt that

Kasper Bjørke ‘now there is a label that can live on’ on the base of the artists that I put into it.

“I felt like my job was done and it was taking up far too much time and energy. Also because I’m an artist myself but I was feeling very frustrated at times because of the financial situations and labels where they have no money and it’s very hard to defend the label side when I was more on the artist side.”

Indeed, Bjørke has been hard at work on Fool; a record which he says is poignant both professionally and personally.“It’s kind of personal but it’s just a matter of coming to a point in your life when you realise that you cannot continue to live the way you used to – both on a private level but also on a professional level,” he says of the reasoning behind the title.“I needed to take some time off to look myself in the mirror… I actually wanted it [Fool] to be like a mirror cover so when you were holding up the CD you would see yourself and then ‘Fool’ but it was too expensive to print it and it wouldn’t work on the iTunes digital release anyway.”

The album title makes reference to the fact that “it’s important to be foolish and to play around and to not always be so serious” according to Bjørke and is a lot more poppy than his previous work. He’ll be touring the record over the year but his touring schedule won’t be as extravagant as previous years. “I’m going to play a few gigs, still a lot, but not as many as I usually do; I’m trying to pick the best gigs with the clubs that I like,” he says.“I’m doing an EP which is going to be fun to make and then I’ll have my radio show which is once a week and I hope to travel a bit in the summer.” Perhaps travel down under? “I wish; I would love to come!”

» KASPER BJØRKE » FOOL [HFN/BALANCE] » OUT NOW

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

RTR FM’s FM’s Peter Barr & Boys Boys Boys!

IN THE PINES

Somerville Auditorium, UWA Sunday, April 22, 2012

So joyfully varied is the line-up at RTR FM’s much-loved annual local music love-in In The Pines that themes emerge by chance. So it proved this year: where one visitor might have seen it as an event strong on peppy pop, another would left convinced it had been focused on ambitious indie rock and bands who’d paid a lot of attention to Nirvana’s back catalogue.

The Nirvana tendency came early with The Love Junkies (following openers Tusk) who were implacable, uncompromising and, dare one say, a little dull. Following the countrified hoedowns and sea-chantey harmonies of The Big Old Bears (who were joined on stage by local troubadour James Teague to great effect), we entered what might be called the power-chord zone as Frozen Ocean (forget Beiber fever, we had Bibby fever! It was an outrage this supremely talented band were scheduled to perform so early in the day) and Suffer proffered visceral blasts of drums, bass and guitar, as well as guttural growls and thrash doubletime tempos.

Next up indie-rock up-and-comers Runner impressed with a set that served as a reminder to the rest of the pretty-rock community that loveliness is worthless if there’s no heart behind it. The members of fellow indie rockers Hang On St. Christopher’s hearts also beat stronger than most as they piled on emotional complexities and angst. In comparison, while local scene mainstay Benedict Moleta seemed as capable as ever at expressing himself, after a forgettable set one couldn’t help but wonder if he is running out of things to say – or, at least, things worth hearing.

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Picking up the pace soon after was psych-rockers Sonpsilo Circus who pedaled out a set that was dark, literate and heavy on pomp and circumstance. Drawing the largest crowd during the day was Drowning Horse whose drone rock took a long, straight drive to euphoric emptiness. The members played through the pieces in unison so slowly and loudly that small discrepancies of timing produced dissonances that worked like sonar drills on your guts. Another highlight of the jam-packed lineup proved to be instrumental outfit SMRTS who had the combination of dynamism and atmosphere that could propel them to much bigger things. In frontman Pex Delibasic – who teased bewitching effects from his instrument – they also had one thing almost every other band at In The Pines lacked: an authentic guitar hero.

The presence of The Leap Year so highly on the bill highlighted the questionable decisions regarding playing times. Although the bicycle loving group had plenty of well polished arsenal at their disposal, their easy-to-digest rock was far less impressive than many of the other bands who preceded them.

Next up, Apricot Rail proved to be the perfect band to play among the cover of pine trees when the days light is beginning to fail.The meandering instruments were crisp, clear and soothing in the fresh evening air. There are few bands making a similar sound to Apricot Rail, and in this town (and many others) they are well ahead of the pack.

By the time local funsters Boys Boys Boys! glistened on stage picnic blankets had been discarded for dancing shoes. There is no doubt that the babes of Euro pop straddle the line between daggy and

Frozen Ocean

Suffer

impeccably cool, but that is not to say that they don’t have songs of worth at their disposal. They danced, sung and punched fists in the air more than seemed humanly possible with the ever smiling Bridget Turner having more infectious fun than anyone at the event.

Finishing off with a ‘running man’ competition Boys Boys Boys! sure know how to party.

It is not the fact that RTR FM offer a family friendly event that allowed San Cisco to be added to the bill, it is a credit to the fledgling band that they have seen such a meteoric rise of the past year. The bright jangle of Golden Revolver captures an understanding of pop music beyond their years. The well fashioned four-piece had new tunes on show like Fred Astaire that saw Scarlett Stevens effortless behind the drum kit. The call and response of smash hit Awkward led to the appropriate amount of enthusiastic dancers. The scary thing about San Cisco is that their journey has just begun and they will get infinitely better.

The Ghost Hotel are no strangers to outdoor shows by now and they brought a confident strut to proceedings. Not content to be awkward indie kids on this evening, they kicked off in frenetic fashion with the rumbling Hand That Bleeds before Dead Letter Heart saw a tide of people sweep towards the stage.

In a short set it was pleasing to see the criminally underrated Jake Snell get a chance to show his wares with the sweet classic rock of Cut Your Losses.

The worst kept secret in Perth has been getting a fair airing this weekend, and In The Pines signaled one of the last times that we will get to call Split Seconds our own before they make the big move to Melbourne town. The big man with little guitar Sean Pollard has a knack for sophisticated melody and Maiden Name is one of his finest. Former band mate and newlywed Nat Carlson joined the quintet on stage for the stylish She Makes Her Own Clothes. By the time the dance floor had cleared after All You Gotta Do people were already starting to miss them.

As In The Pines drew to a close RTR FM thought it only fitting to pour some Sugar Army on us. A marked increase in volume signaled the band’s arrival as they made inroads into a set of angular guitar rock. Sugar Army overcame some technical difficulties to bring a close to another great day of local music to celebrate the nation’s greatest community radio station.

With no never-before-seen acts, secret sets or crazy collaborations, this year’s incarnation of In The Pines saw no need to tinker with a successful formula, and because of that it was less a step forward than a refined restatement of well-known strength.

San Cisco

_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD & CHRIS HAVERCROFT

Sonspilo Circus (All photos: Callum Ponton)

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

MEXICAN STANDOFF The Leederville Hotel Friday, April 20, 2012 Our beloved readers dusted off their sombreros, washed the cat hair off their ponchos and curled their ‘staches for our first X-Press Readers Party of the year at The Leederville Hotel last Friday evening. Psych rock up-and-comers Sugarpuss, rock’n’rollers Cal Peck & The Tramps and Triple J favourites Emperors put their cowboy boots to good use warming up the crowd before headliners The Novocaines rocked the roof off! It was one wild fiesta!

The Shakeys

BEAT NIGHTCLUB Ellie, Bianca

Photographs by Matt Jelonek

A concoction of punk, rock, metal and hardcore will be mixed and flared to create a cocktail of absolute madness this Friday, April 27. All girl punk-band The Shakeys, hard rockers Diamond Eye, metal junkies Reapers Riddle and hardcore aficionados Common Bond will be supplying a wicked mix of local music to let you march to your own beat this weekend.

PADDO

Tonight, Wednesday, April 25, Paddo POW will feature The Renzullo Project, The Lapels and Annabel Harvey. Proceedings kick off at 8pm and as always, it’s free entry!

Ben, Noel Sam, Susan

MUSTANG BAR

This Thursday, April 26, the fine folks from the Mustang Bar welcome The Vans, a band not to be missed.With original music that has been compared to Coldplay, The Beatles, Crowded House and Oasis, they capture their audiences with heartfelt ballads and rock songs that guarantee to stay in your head for hours after.

Support comes from The Stanleys and Foam with DJ James MacArthur on the decks till late.

INDI BAR Kim, Al, Bren Lloyd, Simone

This week the mighty Vdelli play their last show before they head off on a massive overseas tour, so be sure to catch the last show of the residency this Friday, April 27. Then on Sunday, April 29, roots troubadour Jay Hoad returns with his one man acoustic show.

RAILWAY HOTEL

Hayley, Claire, Steve

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Heather, Mel, Bryony, Bel

This Friday, April 27, at the Railway Hotel catch The Temes, The Loved Dead, The Old Croak and The Milkmen. Saturday, April 28, the ‘80s party bus that is Oats Supply returns to the Railway with special guest DJ Paul Malone. Doors open at 7.30pm and tickets are available from Heatseeker. Then Sunday, April 29, signifies the return of The Monster Market Day featuring Carnies with Candy along with music from Goat, The Moltens, Cal Peck & The Tramps, Paltiva and Buzz Kill Vamps.

Jesse Jane

VOODOO LOUNGE

Get down to Voodoo Lounge this Thursday, April 26, as they present international porn superstar Jesse Jane who will be performing, speaking, meeting and greeting her fans. Doors open 8pm. Tickets available from Bocs.

THE FLY BY NIGHT CLUB

On Friday May 18, Chris Jagger’s Atcha! will be performing at The Fly By Night. Spearheaded by Chris Jagger’s (brother of Mick Jagger) charisma and wry wit, atcha! presents a highly original mix of rock, growling blues, R&B, country, Cajun and funk. The Fly

By Night are giving away a double pass, simply email sarahb@flybynight.org with“Atcha”in the subject line.

MOJOS BAR

On Thursday, April 26, the first instalment of the highly successful Speakeasy sideshows sees Sydney’s soul blues four piece The Rubens take the stage as part of their national tour. Local support comes from up-andcomers, Stillwater Giants and Crooked Colours.

Mojos has doubles passes to giveaway to the show, simple email mojos@coolperthnights.com with “Speakeasy” in the subject line.

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

This Friday, April 27, local pop-rockers Honeywheeler launch their new single with special guests The Disappointed, The Cabarets and The Dark Woods.

Tickets are $10 on the door from 8pm.To win a double pass to this show email win@rosemounthotel.com.au with ‘Win’ in the subject line.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

CALLING ALL CARS Arts Martial / Further Earth Rosemount Hotel Saturday, April 21, 2012 Local kids Further Earth got the ball rolling at the Rosemont hotel on Saturday evening, drawing a subdued crowd for their Karnivool-esque set, confidently replicating a style that has become commonplace amongst emerging Perth bands in recent years. Instrumentally refined, Further Earth’s well composed songs were complimented by singer Ryan’s vocals, despite the contrived onstage persona of the front man. The guitarist made great use of effects, lending depth to the pensive mood, ensuring the crowd was adequately entertained.

Next up were the ever energetic Arts Martial, Perth’s unofficial Fender ambassadors, demonstrating their skill with unpretentious precision and poise. Spurred on by the band’s enthusiasm, the audience responded immediately to singer Jarrod’s invitation to move closer to the stage, singing along to tracks of the band’s debut EP including Dreams and Running. Arts Martial sounded good when they first burst onto the local music scene back in 2009, but have come along in leaps and bounds, now sounding tighter than ever.

Calling All Cars eventually emerged amidst a rocket launch style countdown, with moody lighting creating suspense and tension that was soon broken by an explosion into the band’s well known track Worlds Collide. The crowd showed their appreciation with vigorous finger pointing and head bobbing and when singer Haydn Ing raised his hands in suggestion that they clap along, there were no signs of hesitation. Amongst favourites from their last album, such as She’s Delirious and Runaway, a couple of new

AMON AMARTH Univserum / Befallen Capitol Thursday, April 19, 2012 A truth can be found in the Viking folklore Swede’s Amon Amarth prescribe themselves to. From the might of the hammer-wielding Thor and power of Odin, the ruler of the gods, each dimension is fleshed out in honour of the lyrical imagery these modern heavy metal godlings have built their career upon.

But their most recent offering, Surtur Rising (2011), holds a special place in their hearts. Named after the Norse fire giant, their latest material weaves tales of how this demon holds the power to destroy the universe. A mission that Amon Amarth are destined to achieve, judging by tonight’s performance.

Taking a step away from the more traditional headliners, Perth’s own death metallers Befallen were in full swing before even half the trailing line of punters were inside the venue. Fresh from the studio, with a new album pegged for release later this year, this five-piece swayed heavily towards the technical – making them the most punishing act of the evening. Not packing any new ideas, energy became their forte.

But the same could not be said for Adelaide’s Univserum.

Although hitting the high mark sonically, their concentration was

HEYTERS GONNA HEYTE

This coming weekend Heytesburg embark on a mini-tour to celebrate the release of their latest EP PYR. Friday, April 27, sees them down in Bunbury at the Prince Of Wales with The Witness and Misty Mountain, while Saturday, April 28, sees them hit the Norfolk Basement with The Witness, Lanark and Control-Control.

PUNKY BREW

Promising “a straight up punk show with no breakdowns, just beer downs” the second instalment of Punktured at the Rocket Room will play host to the aural assault of a line-up of local talented punk bands who’ll leave your ears ringing and eyes watering this Friday, April 27. Headlining the event will be The Decline, who’ll be playing tunes from their lauded sophomore LP Are You Gonna Eat That? Support sets come from 10 Past 6, Blindspot, Silver Lizard and Castle Bravo. Plus, for a treat Double Shots (featuring Ben and Aaron from Blindspot) will be playing acoustic punk covers from 8pm. Entry is $10 on the door.

Calling All Cars (Photo: Stefan Caramia) songs were flung into the set, conveying an air of post apocalyptic angst through strong riffs and disharmonious chords. The audience approved and seemingly welcomed a rest for their vocal chords, as when the familiar tunes such as Hold, Hold Fire reappeared they enthusiastically recommenced shouting lyrics back at the band.

The energy in the room continued to build and was sustained by guitar wielding Ing venturing into the crowd, climbing atop the bar and casually ordering a beer, mid-solo. A risky move if done half heartedly, he pulled it off and was encouraged to stay by punters who passed his mic stand through a parted sea of sweaty bodies, allowing him to finish the song from his pedestal.

A fitting combination of local and interstate acts, the evening reached a crescendo and as punters spilled outside post show, the only sound that remained was the buzz of satisfaction. _ASHLEIGH WHYTE intense – with on-stage personality falling down to musical execution.

Vocalist Adam Soininen’s melodic chords could not save a group that lacked charisma, the frontman standing stoic with the odd horns a failed sign of enthusiasm.

Emerging triumphantly from behind a huge banner blazed with the Surtur Rising cover, Amon Amarth were not here to take prisoners. They were here to slay. Launching into War Of The Gods, the dynamic strings duo of Johan Söderberg and Olavi Mikkonen headbanged in unison – with their commanding frontman, Johan Hegg, raising his hands as a roar surged from the crowd. Continuing into the deep tremolo of Runes To My Memory, it was easy to see these Vikings could bend the rabid pit to do their bidding. Keen to build the celebration, Hegg jumped between the persona of grinning goofball to towering menace – his stature at the forefront of the windmilling.

Full of memorable hooks and blinding trills, sing alongs throughout the two-hour set were aplenty – as were the synonymous fist-pumps from both crowd and band alike. Blitzing through newer picks Destroyer Of The Universe and The Hero before anthems like Death In Fire and the galloping tones of Valhall Awaits Me – no stone was left unturned. But it was when the encore carried the opening notes of Twilight Of The Thunder God through that the Perth horde literally exploded. Marking one of the slickest gigs of the year, fans were left thanking Odin for the consistency and aggressiveness these Swedes bring. _JESSICA WILLOUGHBY

SAY MY NAME SAY MY NAME

With energetic live shows and a unique approach to heavy music, melodic prog-rockers A Nameless Few will explode onto the main stage at the Civic Hotel’s Backroom on Saturday, April 28. Joining the four piece are progressive hard rock outfit Water, the metallic Medusa’s Gaze and thrashers Adverse Reaction. To celebrate a very special engagement and the band’s last show before they hit the studio to record an EP, a door prize is being given away in the form of a brand new ESP-Ltd Electric Guitar. Also, the band will be shouting a limited number free jugs of beer if there are over 100 people in attendance. Entry is $10 on the door.

TEEN DREAM

For all you youngsters, this Saturday, April 28, Rock Scholars is inviting you to celebrate a brand new venue for music fans under 18! The Garage (on 14 McDonald Street in West Osborne Park) is set to host an eclectic lineup, including blues boys The Floors, groovy cats Sugarpuss, voice contortionist Sam Perry and hip hop MC The Empty Cup. Doors open 6pm, entry is $10.

SWEET SIXTEEN

POP PERFECTION

FIRE STARTERS

CLOSING UP SHOP

Perth’s foremost alt rockers The Meaning Of will hit Amplifier with some hard rock this Saturday, April 28, as they take a well-deserved break from recording to celebrate their 16th birthday with music enthusiasts. Also playing are Nevsky Prospekt, This Other Eden and Paltiva. Doors open at 8pm.

San Cisco have had a busy year jet setting around the country to all the major festivals, as well as supporting Architecture in Helsinki, The Grates, Jebediah and Kimbra, but they’ve squeezed in a visit to Mojo’s Bar on Friday, April 27, for their local fans. Pre-sale tickets have sold out so get there at 8pm sharp to buy one of the few remaining tickets.

Support comes from electro twosome Voltaire Twins.

Punk rockers The Spitfires will host an action-packed day at The Rosemount Hotel on Sunday, April 29, to fundraise for their upcoming musical adventures. Kick-starting the day will be a bikini car wash from 12pm ‘til 4pm, followed by a quiz night between 6pm and 9pm. Eligible bachelors and band members Sean and Paul will then auction themselves, along with Will Stoker, Benny Mayhem and Stewart Bank, to some interested punters. To book a table email sean@thespitfires.net.

Expect hearty acoustic tunes from singer/songwriter/tattooist The Mighty Pirate on Friday, April 27, when he joins D At Sea for a swashbuckling night at The Civic Hotel. Argh me hearties!

KOOKY KUCKA

LADY T

Drop by The Moon café this Sunday, April 29, to see electronic experimentalist and self-described “Perth princess” Kucka perform some modern melodies. Also there will be supremely talented local guitarist Craig McElhinney. Entry is free from 8pm. www.xpressmag.com.au

Don’t miss your chance to catch guitar aficionados Vdelli for the last show of their residency this Friday, April 27, at the Indi Bar.

ALL ABOARD

Following a whirlwind overseas tour, roots chanteuse Toby is set to beguile local music lovers with her sultry croon and poignant lyrics when she plays a special intimate show at Clancy’s Fish Pub in Fremantle this Saturday, April 28.

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An Horse, May 25, Rosemount Hotel HUSKY 4 The Bakery RESIST THE THOUGHT 4 Rosemount Hotel 6 YMCA HQ FU MANCHU / BLACK COBRA 5 Rosemount Hotel 25 Amplifier DEVILDRIVER / DARKEST HOUR / SIX AN HORSE FEET UNDER 25 Rosemount Hotel 9 Capitol FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS BLEEDING WILLIAM ELLIOTT KNEES CLUB / /WHITMORE / THE SMITH STREET BAND DUNE RATS 9 Amplifier 25 Indi Bar DEAD LETTER CIRCUS 26 Prince Of Wales 10 Prince Of Wales 27 Amplifier 11 Metropolis 28 Mojos Bar Fremantle 12 Capitol WHITLEY BOY & BEAR 26 Newport 10 Albany Entertainment Centre Bunbury GALAPAGOOSE 11 Entertainment Centre 26 The Bird 12 Fremantle Arts Centre 13 Mandurah CLARK Performing Arts 27 The Bakery STEVE POLTZ 10 Fly Trap THE FUNKOARS CLAIRY BROWNE 27 Bar 120 & THE BANGIN’ 28 Rosemount Hotel RACKETTES 11 Fly By Night HARD-ONS POND / THE 11 Civic Hotel LAURELS 12 Prince Of Wales 28 The Bakery 13 Indi Bar SICK OF IT ALL / FRONT THE RUBENS / AGNOSTIC 11 Amplifier RUFUS ATMOSPHERE 27 Villa 11 Villa CLARY BROWNE & THE BANGIN’ PAUA RACKETTES 27 Fly By Night 11 Fly By Night KRISTIN BERADI 11 & 12 The Ellington HOODOO GURUS / REDD SKY’HIGH 12 Mojos Bar KROSS / THE LANIE LANE / STEVE FLESHTONES SMYTH 12 Fly By Night Club 28 Astor Theatre 13 Amplifier RALPH MCTELL THE MOUNTAIN 13 Fly By Night STEVE SMYTH GOATS / 15 Mojos Bar CATHERINE 16 Indi Bar TRAICOS DANIEL CHAMPAGNE 16 Mojos Bar & PHILIP THE HALF PINTS EVERALL 16 Prince Of Wales 1 The Bakery 17 Ya Ya’s 19 Swan Basement DAVID CAMPBELL MAY 16 Mandurah MIKE STEWART Performing Arts Centre 2 The Ellington 17 Queens Park GOSSLING Theatre Geraldton 2 Little Creatures Loft 18 Perth Concert 3 The Bird 19 Bunbury Regional DZ DEATHRAYS Entertainment Centre 3 Prince Of Wales ANDREW W.K. 4 Amplifier 17 The Bakery 5 Mojos Bar FLORENCE + THE TOPNOVIL MACHINE / BLOOD 3 Villa ORANGE 4 Rocket Room 17 Burswood Dome 5 Prince Of Wales WAVVES / SURES 6 The Newport 18 Rosemount Hotel PJ O’BRIEN THE GETAWAY PLAN / 3 Albany Blues Club NEW EMPIRE 4 Southwest Blues Club 18 Amplifier THE MACCABEES Bunbury 18 Capitol 5 Hyde Park Hotel KAISER CHIEFS / DEEP 6 Mt Helena Tavern SEA ARCADE / LOON 8 Charles Hotel LAKE 9 Mojos Bar 18 Metro City 12 Settlers Tavern

APRIL 25 – MAY 1

AUGUST BURNS RED / BLESSTHEFALL / NORTHLANE

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Whitley, May 26, Newport CHRIS JAGGER 18 Fly By Night Club NATASHA MOUSUFF 18 & 19 The Ellington MANHATTAN JINX 18 The Den 19 Railway Hotel DREAM ON DREAMER 18 Metropolis Fremantle 19 Amplifier 20 YMCA HQ GROOVIN THE MOO (360, Andrew W.K One-Man-Party Tour, City And Colour, Digitalism, The Getaway Plan, Hilltop Hoods, Kaiser Chiefs, The Maccabees, Public Enemy, Wavves, Ball Park Music and more TBA) 19 Hay Park Bunbury NATURALLY 7 19 Perth Concert Hall LAPALUX / OOOOO 19 The Bakery HANNIBAL MEANS 20 The Ellington CITY AND COLOUR 20 Fremantle Arts Centre MUTEMATH 20 Amplifier THE POOR 20 Newport EUGENE BRIDGES 21 Charles Hotel KIMBRA / DANIEL MERRIWEATHER / SAM LAWRENCE 21 Metro City THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE / THE RAVEONETTES 22 Astor Theatre ANTI-FLAG / STRIKE ANYWHERE / FLATLINERS 24 Capitol S-CLUB / BIG BROVAZ 25 Metro City HANK MARVIN QUARTET 25 & 26 The Ellington CATCALL 26 Amplifier BITTER END 26 The Den 27 YMCA HQ LIAM BURROWS 26 Friends Restaurant 27 Jazz Fremantle THE OCEAN 27 The Bakery BARNEY MCALL 27 The Ellington NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK / BACKSTREET BOYS 29 Burswood Dome BOB HIRST 30 & 31 The Ellington ASH GRUNWALD 30 Indi Bar 31Redcliffe On The Murray LIZ STRINGER 31 Fly By Night Club TIJUANA CARTEL 31 Prince Of Wales

JUNE ASH GRUNWALD 1 Prince Of Wales 2 Karratha Tavern 3 Fly By Night Club LIZ STRINGER 1 Indi Bar 3 Redcliffe On The Murray

HARRY MANX 1 Fly By Night REEF 1 Metropolis Fremantle TIJUANA CARTEL 1 Settlers Tavern 2 White Star 8 Divers 9 Hotel Kununurra 15 The Bakery MISSY HIGGINS / BUTTERFLY BOUCHER 2 Astor Theatre ERIC BOGLE WITH JOHN MUNRO 2 Fly By Night JOSH KYLE 2 The Ellington KIMBERLEY MOON EXPERIENCE (Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers, The Black Sorrows and more) 2 Jim Hughes Amphitheatre Ord River SEAN COFFIN 3 The Ellington THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT / NUMBERS RADIO / GREENTHIEF 2 Prince Of Wales 3 Metro City SAMUEL YIRGA QUARTET 4 & 5 The Ellington THE JEZABELS / LIGHTS 5 Metro City SILVERSTEIN 7 Villa EAST 17 7 Metropolis Fremantle TINA ARENA 8 Riverside Theatre MATT CORBY / ALPINE 9 & 10 Astor Theatre LAURA 9 Rosemount Hotel 10 Mojos Bar THE MISSION IN MOTION 9 Amplifier 10 Newport DEF FX 11 The Bakery FRENZAL RHOMB 14 Settlers Tavern 15 Prince Of Wales 16 Rosemount Hotel THE BLACK SEEDS 14 The Bakery TIM FREEDMAN 14-16 The Ellington GASSOLINE INC 15 Rocket Room LISA MITCHELL / GEORGIA FAIR 15 St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco LENNY HENRY 15 Burswood Theatre DEEP SEA ARCADE / THE CAIROS / WOE & FLUTTER 15 Indi Bar 16 Amplifier 17 Mojos TREVOR WATTS/ VERYAN WESTON 19 The Ellington GUY SEBASTIAN 19 His Majesty’s Theatre 20 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN 21 Astor Theatre 360 / GOSSLING / HERMITUDE / BAM BAM 22 & 23 Villa 23 & 24 Astor Theatre CHARGE GROUP / JOE MCKEE 23 Dadas BURIED IN VERONA/

Rufus, May 27, Villa THE PLOT IN YOU/ SILENT SCREAMS 24 YMCA HQ (Day) 24 Amplifier (Night) KARNIVOOL 22 & 23 Mermaid Hotel Dampier 27 Prince Of Wales NADIA ACKERMAN 28 The Ellington JUDITH DURHAM 30 Riverside Theatre

JULY CEREMONY 3 The Den 4 YMCA HQ THE BAMBOOS 6 The Bakery BUSBY MAROU 6 Prince Of Wales 7 Rosemount Hotel 8 Newport LADY GAGA 7 & 8 Burswood Dome TERROR 12 Amplifier FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS 18 & 19 Challenge Stadium MELISSA ETHERIDGE 20 Riverside Theatre LADYHAWKE 24 The Bakery TEA PARTY 26 Metro City KARNIVOOL 27 & 28 Rosemount Hotel NARISSA CAMPBELL 27 & 28 The Ellington EIFFEL 65 / N-TRANCE 28 Metropolis Fremantle

AUGUST ED SHEERAN 6 Riverside Theatre BELL BIV DEVOE / GINUWINE 9 Astor Theatre BOB BARRETT 9 The Ellington HILLTOP HOODS 17 Challenge Stadium NORTH WEST FESTIVAL (Hilltop Hoods and more TBA) 18 McGregor Street Reserve Port Hedland

SEPTEMBER THE ENGLISH BEAT 1 Astor Theatre DAMIEN LEITH 7 Mandurah Performing Arts Centre 8 Astor Theatre SUBHUMANS 12 Amplifier WHEATUS 20 Metropolis Fremantle HANSON 22 Metropolis Fremantle

OCTOBER CANNIBAL CORPSE 9 Capitol BASTARDFEST 27 Civic Hotel ROCK IT (The Black Keys and more TBA) 28 Joondalup Arena

SEPTEMBER 2013 ONE DIRECTION 28 & 29 Venue TBA

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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Iller Instinct, Friday at Swan Basement

WEDNESDAY 25.04 AMPLIFIER August Burns Red Blessthefall Northlane In League BALMORAL Electrophobia BAR 120 Felix BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ James Wilson BLACK BETTY’S Blue Gene CLAREMONT HOTEL Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Bloozology HALE ROAD TAVERN Fenton Wilde INDI BAR Bleeding Knees Club Dune Rats KALAMUNDA HOTEL Bernadine LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy LUCKY SHAG Howie Morgan MOJOS BAR (ARVO) Our Man In Berlin The Empty Cup Rachael & Henry Climb A Hill Mulder Rich Widow The Flower Drums Mike Podmore Sean O’Neil Matty & Dave Turin Robinson Ebony Talia MOJOS BAR Junior Bowles Mitch Becker Cas & Al MUSTANG Millhouse PADDO The Renzullo Project The Lapels Annabel Harvey PADDY HANNANS 5 Shots REGAL THEATRE Courtney Murphy

The Stanleys, Thursday at Mustang Bar

ROSEMOUNT An Horse Kill Teen Angst The Leap Year ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) David Fyffe SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Greg Carter THE SHED James Wilson Huge UNIVERSAL Strutt YA YA’S B!g Bad Wolf

THURSDAY 26.04 BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Stu Harcourt BLACK BETTYS Empires Laid Waste Animalistic Befallen BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke COMO HOTEL The Other Guys DEVILLES PAD Rock‘n’Roll Karaoke ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Blue Hornet ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Cathrine Summers FUSE BAR Howie Morgan HYDE PARK HOTEL Raw Hyde Open Mic INDI BAR Bex’s Open Mic Night LUCKY SHAG JamesWilson MARKET CITY TAVERN JK James Mathews Andrew Bond Marcilo Agro Die Human MOJOS BAR The Rubens Stillwater Giants Crooked Colours MUSTANG BAR The Stanleys The Vans Foam

Vdelli

VDELLI

FRIDAY, APRIL 27 INDI BAR

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NEWPORT Whitley Mama Boots NORFOLK BASEMENT The Tumblers Mezzanine Louis & The Honky Tonk Nevada Pilot OCEAN BEACH HOTEL Open Mic Night OXFORD HOTEL Johnny Taylor PADDY HANNANS Dr Bogus RIGBY’S Open Mic ROSEMOUNT Brutus The Wishers Datura The Disintegrates ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Clayton Bolger ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDE) Fenton Wilde SOVEREIGN ARMS David Fyffe STEVE’S BAR John Shaw SWAN LOUNGE The phonetics THE BIRD Galapagoose Kit Pop Zehnmee Sleepyhead Ben M Ben T THE BOAT Jen De Ness THE BROOK Open Mic Night THE GATE Better Days UNIVERSAL Off The Record VELVET LOUNGE HEXX YA YA’S Shock Octopus Wash Misty Mountain

FRIDAY 27.04 7th AVENUE Midnight Rambler AMPLIFIER Bleeding Knees Club BAILEY BAR Mod Squad BALLYS BAR Christian Thompson BALMORAL The Other Guys BAR 120 Funkoars BEAT NIGHTCLUB Reapers Riddle Common Bond Diamond Eye The Shakeys BELMONT TAVERN Everlong Acoustic BENNYS Faces BLACK BETTYS Everlong BOAB TAVERN Zenburger BRASS MONKEY Kate Gilbertson

Sean Pollard, Friday at Ellington Jazz Club

CAPTAIN STIRLING Bluebottles CARLISLE HOTEL Reload CHASE BAR One Trick Phonies CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN) D At Sea The Main Attraction CLAREMONT HOTEL Nick Sheppard Aires Linares COMO HOTEL Tip Top Sound CRAFTSMAN 5th Avenue DEVILLES PAD Wayjo Les Sataniques EAST 150 Trevor Jalla ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Darren Reid ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Sean Pollard & Ben Witt Kanye West Interpretations EMPIRE Halo FLY BY NIGHT CLUB Paua FUSE BAR Groove Karaoke GLOUCESTER PARK Undercover Acoustic EAST 150 BAR Trevor Jalla EMPIRE Halo GREENWOOD Greg Carter HIGH ROAD HOTEL Damien Cripps Band HIGH WYCOMBE Chris Murphy INDI BAR Vdelli KALAMUNDA HOTEL Parker Avenue MERRIWA TAVERN Spritzer MIGHTY QUINN TAVERN Kontraband MOJOS BAR (ARVO) Peter Bibby MOJOS BAR San Cisco Voltaire Twins Seams MOON & SIXPENCE Soul Corporation MUSTANG BAR Harry Deluxe Cheeky Monkeys NEWPORT Party Rockers OXFORD HOTEL Recliners PADDO Sean Scott PADDY HANNANS Gun Shy Romeos PARAMOUNT Flyte RAILWAY HOTEL The Temes The Loved Dead The Old Croak The Milkmen

REGAL THEATRE LOUNGE Courtney Murphy ROCKET ROOM The Decline 10 Past 6 Blindspot Silver Lizard Castle Bravo Double Shots ROSE & CROWN Adam James ROSEMOUNT Honeywheeler The Disappointed The Cabarets The Dark Woods ROSEY O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Spyce ROSEY O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Neil Colliss SETTLERS TAVERN The Ghost Hotel Polly Medlen SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Dirty Scoundrels STIRLING ARMS Helen Shanahan SWAN BASEMENT Iller Instinct Invictus Harry B Stoitzy SWAN LOUNGE Kaya Brothers Stopmotion We Build Pyramids The Plugs SWINGING PIG Better Days Greg Carter THE BIRD Sugarpuss Hootananny THE BOAT Pop Candy THE GATE Smoking Section THE SHED Kickstart THE VIC The Mojos TRADEWINDS James Wilson UNIVERSAL Nightmoves VELVET LOUNGE Jay Hoad Rose Parker Nat Ripepi VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Ivan Ribic VILLA The Rubens Rufus WANNEROO TAVERN Clayton Bolger WOODVALE TAVERN Dr Bogus YA YA’S Nuns Spilt Cities Antelope

SATURDAY 28.04 AMPLIFIER The Meaning Of Nevsky Prospekt This Other Eden Paltiva

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

Listing deadline is Monday 5pm. The Gig-Guide is a service to advertisers listing bands.

All inclusions are at the discretion of X-Press Magazine. Email reception@xpressmag.com.au or fax 9213 2882.

Heytesburg, Saturday at Norfolk Basement ASTOR THEATRE Hoodoo Gurus Redd Kross The Fleshtones BAILEY BAR The Damien Cripps Band BAKERY Pond The Laurels BALMORAL Retriofit BALLYS BAR Sophie Jane BAR 120 Flyte BEAT Runaways BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Chris Murphy BLACK BETTY’S J Babies BROOK Better Days BROOKLANDS TAVERN Lady Zeppelin Mike De Velta BURSWOOD (PRIZE DRAW STAGE) Switch CAPITOL Six60 CAPTAIN STIRLING Howie Morgan Duo CIVIC HOTEL A Nameless Fear Adverse Reaction Medusas Gaze Water CLANCY’S FISH PUB (FREMANTLE) Toby CLAREMONT HOTEL The Zydecats COMO HOTEL Tip Top Sound CORE CIDER Adrian Wilson DEVILLES PAD Soul Galore Stratosfunk ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Gun Shy Romeos ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB The Adrian Cunningham Quartet With James Flynn BUMP FLY TRAP Bad Shannon HIGH ROAD HOTEL Dr Bogus HYDE PARK HOTEL Wrong Town Sticky Sweet Pheonix Down INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO The Other Guys INDI BAR Blue Shady LAKERS TAVERN Lush LEOPOLD HOTEL Steve Hepple LEISURE INN Cold Steel Blooz LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Pop Candy

MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOON & SIXPENCE Blaze M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MOJOS BAR Bleeding Knees Club Dune Rats Frozen Ocean MUSTANG 10 Cent Billionaire The Continentals NEWPORT Kizzy Gravity NORFOLK BASEMENT Heytesburg The Witness Lanark Control Control PADDY HANNAN’S Decoy PARAMOUNT Felix RAILWAY HOTEL Oats Supply RAVENSWOOD HOTEL Swamp Donkey ROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROSEMOUNT The Founkoars Optamus Mortar Bitter Belief ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Flavor ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Blue Gene SPEARWOOD TAVERN Nasty Dogz STEVES BAR David Sofield SWAN BASEMENT Left To Die Bloodklot 26 Parallel Broken Silence SWAN LOUNGE Georgi Kay Bedouin Sea Jade Diary Darren Guthrie Alanna Eileen SWINGING PIG Greg Carter THE BIRD Foxman Graceberg THE BOAT Free Radicals THE GARAGE The Floors Sugarpuss Sam Perry The Empty Cup THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE SHED Huge THE WHALE & ALE Modsquad TRADEWINDS Bernardine TWO ROCKS TAVERN Neil Colliss UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WANNEROO TAVERN Greg Carter

www.xpressmag.com.au

Friday Toby, Saturday at Clancy’s Friday Travis Caudle Fish Pub Fremantle Travis Caudle FlyBy ByNight Night Fly

Buzz Kill Vamps, Sunday at Railway Hotel

NEWPORT Tim Nelson Sean Pollard Ben Witt PADDY MAGUIRES Rick Twine PINK DUCK Neil Colliss PRINCIPAL SUNDAY 29.04 Stella Donnelly 7TH AVENUE QUARIE BAR Reckless Kelly Jack & Jill BAKERY RAILWAY HOTEL The Mountain Goats Goat Catherine Traicos The Moltens Philip Everall Cal Peck & The Tramps BALLY’S BAR Paltiva Greg Carter Buzz Kill Vamps BALMORAL Carnies With Candy Cranky RAVENSWOOD HOTEL BROKEN HILL HOTEL Sophistikatz Chris Murphy SAIL & ANCHOR BROOKLANDS TAVERN Shawne + Luc Greg Carter SOVEREIGN ARMS BURSWOOD (PRIZE Ivan Ribic DRAW STAGE) THE BIRD Plastic Max & The Token Ru-Kasu Gesture THE GATE CAPTAIN STIRLING Better Days Ali Towers THE MOON CARINE Kucka Wesley Goodlet Craig McElhinney Jamboree Scouts THE SAINT CHASE BAR The Howie Morgan James Wilson Project CLAREMONT HOTEL Mike Nayar Sunday Driver THE SHED COMO HOTEL The Healy’s David Fyffe Blue Hornet EAST 150 BAR TWO ROCKS TAVERN Everlong Acoustic Ryan Dillon SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE ELEPHANT & Blackhart & Strangelove WHEELBARROW SOVEREIGN ARMS Daren Reid & The Soul Ivan Ribic City Groove ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB SPRINGS TAVERN Adrian Wilson Jazz Voyces SWAN BASEMENT Shameem The Partisan Approach FLY TRAP Sweet Arcadem Random Act Jay Grafton & Band HIGH WYCOMBE Empty Pocket HOTEL SWAN LOUNGE The Organ Grinders Blank Page Refugees HIGH RD Michael Triscari Mike Nayar Lucas Jones HYDE PARK HOTEL SWINGING PIG Simon Kelly Adam James Sophie Jane INDIAN OCEAN BREW UNIVERSAL Retriofit CO VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Dove Paul Foster Retriofit INDI BAR Jay Hoad Rose Parker KALAMUNDA HOTEL Alitia Martin LAKERS TAVERN Jamie Powers LAST DROP TAVERN John Unitt LEISURE INN Steve Hepple M ON THE POINT The Mojos MOJOS BAR Oak Tree Suite Saysky Death & A Cure MUSTANG BAR Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers WOODVALE TAVERN Daren Reid & The Soul City Groove YA YA’S Grim Fandango Callum Fox Liz Wreck

WOODVALE TAVERN Good Karma XRAY John Bannister The Charisma Brothers

MONDAY 30.04 BRASS MONKEY The Organ Grinders ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB UNESCO LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy MOJOS BAR Wide Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Marco & The Alley Cats THE BIRD Mace Francis Orchestra THE DEEN Plastic Max & The Token Gesture

TUESDAY 01.05 ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Elbow Grease LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) John Sandosham LUCKY SHAG Christian Thompson MOJOS BAR Sprawl Salamander Race To Your Face Mostarsk Aurora PADDO Stu Harcourt PRINCE OF WALES Open Mic Night SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night TWO ROCKS TAVERN Jump For Joy Karaoke X-WRAY CAFE Open Piano Night YAYA’S Kathleen Ann Edward Pop Jessica Marshall Helen Shanahan

A Nameless Few

A NAMELESS FEW ADVERSE REACTION MEDUSAS GAZE WATER

SATURDAY,APRIL 28 CIVIC HOTEL

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Classifieds and Music Services Hotline: 9213 2888 Display ads: musicservices@xpressmag.com.au Deadline: 4pm Monday Credit cards welcome

HAIR, HEALTH & HAPPINESS MENS WAXING/CLIPPING Itís a guy thing! Hair removal for men, private, qualified, experienced. Ph Athletes Effigy 9384 2950 MUSOS WANTED BASS PLAYER For “AUSSIE ROCK TRIBUTE”. Must be dedicated with experience. Vocal ability a plus. 0409 370 900.

BASS PLAYER Middle aged guy, v reliable, v exp muso, seeks working blues band with both a traditional & modern approach to style. Peter 0437 377 361.

BASS PLAYER NEEDED To join Metal band, TUSK. Must have good gear, own transport & be dedicated. Gigs booked.

Influences, Lamb Of God, Meshuggah, Phycoptic & Whitechapel. Call Mitch 0431 345 750.

B A S S I S T S E E K S G U I TA R I S T & DRUMMER Aged 20-32 to form death metal band. Influences: Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Immolation, Gorguts, Nocturnus, Agressor, Metallica. 0419 043 293.

DRUMMER WANTED For original band.

Influences include, Oasis, AC/DC, The Angels & The Smithereens. Call Brett 0405 578 625.

DRUMMER WANTED To per form original music. Dynamic & lay back tunes.

Influences Buckley, Cornell & Del Ray. Ph: 0415 252 323.

EXPERIENCED LEAD FEMALE VOCALIST WANTED For working 80’s cover band. No time wasters. Ph: 0439 408 909.

EXPERIENCED VOCALIST For original electronic & house music. seerstudios@ iinet.net.au FEM SINGER REQ. For classic hits duo.

Regular gigs. Good $$$. If you don’t have an amazing voice, don’t apply. Ph: 0404 556 592.

MALE GUITARIST WITH VOCALS Wanted to form acoustic duo playing covers 70s-00s. Looking for someone aged 45+ with minimal commitments & years of experience with a passion for performing. Prefer someone living close to the city. Ph: 0404 189 656.

OPEN MIC COMPETITION 1st prize $2000 cash. Starts Thursday April 26th.

Visit marketcitytavern.com.au for details.

OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Bex on 0404 917 632 OPEN MIC NIGHT Every Tuesday night at the Craigie Tavern 8-11pm. Call Corey for bookings 0431 448 235

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PROFICIENT KEYBOARD & GUITARIST Wanted to jam in Country Rock style band.

Fremantle area. Able to learn original songs.

Ph Ken 0437 225 575.

ROBBIE WILLIAMS TRIBUTE Performing to backing tracks. Focus Promotions. Mon-Fri. 9-5pm. 9272 4144.

WA N T E D : 5 0 ’s D A N C E B A N D FOR RESIDENCY Similar to Perth 80’s Band ‘Teddy Bears’. Send Info to Soundzmusicperth@gmail.com or PO Box 307, Joondalup DC, 6919 WANTED; SINGER/GUITARIST (25-35YO) To complete working Acoustic Duo. Must be reliable, Have quality gear and own transport.3 Gigs per week, will pay $200 per gig. Call Scott on 0438911898.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGRAPHY Promo photography, studio, live, location.

Mike Wylie 0417 975 964 w w w p r o j e c t p h o t o g r a p h y. c o m 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 MATRIX PRODUCTIONS AUSTRALIA Lighting, staging, sound systems, smoke machines, night club FX, intelligent lighting, strobes & mirror balls, crowd barriers, video projectors. 9371 1551 PA HIRE FX Lights club to concert size. Pro Equipment www.perthconcertsound.com. au.. Ph 9307 8594 / mob 0404 410 020 / 9309 6219 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 AVALON STUDIOS BIBRA LAKE One of Perths best equipped studio. Record to analog tape or digital, Avalon pre amps, Neumann mics,the latest and best universal audio, plug in’s for digital recordings. All styles of music, $55 per hour call Tony 0411 118304 email - avalonstudios@bigpond. com GOLDDUSTCONSTRUCTION.COM Production, mixing, recording and composition for your music. Unique award winning skills to take songs from ideas to finished mixes or to fulfill the potential in existing ones. Located in Subiaco. $60 p/h.

Andrew 0408 097 407

LAYER CAKE AUDIO Fully equipped, world-class, spacious recording facility with an internationally experienced and award winning engineer. From preproduction through to final product, full showcasing rehearsals and project management. Call Sebastien or Kieran on 0437 592 849 or email us: layercakeaudio@ gmail.com POONS HEAD MASTERING Analog mastering at its best. Clients include Mink Mussel Creek, Jeff Martin,The Panics, Pond + The Floors.World class facility.World class results. www.poonshead.com 9339 47 91 RECORDING MIXING MASTERING 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! - UNLOCKYOUR SONGS’ POTENTIAL +FREE BAND APPRAISALS. UK Producer, 40,000+ hours studio experience. 20 yrs in London with bands and songwriters. 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 Professional recording & mixing. Clients include Abbe May, Pond, Felicity Groom & The Silentís. Ph: 0409 297 362.

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

PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 STREAM STUDIOS The place to rehearse in Perth.. Phone: 0403 152 009 www. streamrehearsal.com.au TUITION AAA CLEAVER ACADEMY OF VOICE Professional vocal training for singers All Styles and levels.

Have some fun & learn new skills!

Speech level training included.

Phone 92724497 for info.W/Pth Mt Lawley. ***GUITAR LESSONS*** The Guitar Specialist. Beg-adv, all styles and levels including bass. Cliff Lynton Guitar Institute.

Mt Lawley 9342 3484 / www.clifflynton. com BASS LESSONS Rock, funk & jazz. Tony Gibbs 9470 6131 DJ TUITION Specialises in scratching & cutting. Over 15 yrs experience. Beg-Adv welcome. Potential gigs waiting. Ph DJ Munch: 0412 334 510.

DRUM LESSONS All styles, WAAPA prep.

Modern techniques, rudiments, soloing, favourite songs. Beg-Adv. Ph: Pascal 0413 172 817. Available 7 days & all holidays.

SINGING LESSONS Learn a technique that actually works! The method used by over 120 Grammy award winners.Certified Speech Level singing instructor.Call Simon 0431335495.

SINGING TEACHER COT TESLOE E x p e r i e n ce d te a c h e r p rov i d i n g comfortable & fun learning for all levels and age groups Cost $55/hr. Any queries email Felicity:fpmusicservices@gmail.com

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays