X-Press Magazine

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

The Angels With Dave Gleeson, An Evening On The Green Thurston Moore

BROODING MOORE

Best known as one of the founding members of seminal alt-rock band Sonic Youth and lauded as one of the greatest guitarists of his time, Thurston Moore is heading to Australia this October to perform songs from his latest solo venture, Demolished Thoughts, plus selected tracks from his back catalogue.

Produced by Moore’s friend, the ever revered Beck, Demolished Thoughts is encapsulated by its title; a personal, brooding and stunning foray into the thoughts of the singer songwriter.

Moore will be playing the Rosemount Hotel on Tuesday, October 30, and tickets are on sale now from Handsome Tours, Moshtix and Heatseeker.

GOOD EVENING

An Evening On the Green launches a summer invasion of Australian rock‘n’roll featuring The Angels With Dave Gleeson, Baby Animals, Ian Moss, James Reyne and Boom Crash Opera who are set to join forces for five mouth-watering hours of irresistible Aus rock classics. This formidable touring ensemble touches down at Kings Park on Saturday, November 17. A lovely hot night, kicking back with friends in beautiful surrounds, classic rock pumping, good food and wine... no wonder last season’s version of the tour sold out pronto!

This year’s high-octane celebration is sure to do the same, so get in fast. Tickets to the show will go on sale this Friday, August 17, from adayonthegreen.com.au.

LO AND BEHOLD

She’s a single mother who’s been voted this year’s most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine and who recently walked away from a job that paid her $12 million a season as a judge on American Idol. Now Jennifer Lopez is extending her plan for world domination by bringing her Dance Again tour to Australia in December – the first time she’s ever performed down under. Jenny From The Block is heading our way to promote her latest album, Dance Again ... The Hits, a career retrospective that includes some new tracks with guest stars Pitbull and Flo Rida.

The tour kicks off at the Perth Arena on Thursday, December 6. Visa cardholders can purchase advance tickets across all seating categories from 9.00am on Tuesday, August 14, until 9.00am on Thursday, August 16, or until presale tickets sell out at visaentertainment.com.au.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public, via Ticketek, at 9.00am on Tuesday, August 21.

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Reactions/ Comp

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Flesh

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Music: The Medics

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Music: Linkin Park/ Alpine/ Joe McKee

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Music: The English Beat/ America

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Music: Ricki-Lee/ Black Board Minds

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New Noise

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Eye4 Cover: Go Green

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Urban Central: Go Green

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Eye4 News/ Movies: Bernie/ Holy Motors

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Eye4 Movies: The Bourne Legacy/ Eye2Eye

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Eye4 Arts Listings

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Eye4 Lifestyle/ Art Stories

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Salt Cover: Obesecity 2

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Salt: Cover Story/ News/ The Pharcyde

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Salt: Kraymer/ Drop The Lime/ Rewind: Z-Trip

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Salt: Club Manual/ Scenery/ Rewind: MonoPoly

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Scene: Live

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Scene: Pub Scene/ Pub Blurbs

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Scene: Local Scene

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Tour Trails

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Gig Guide

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Volume

Cover: The Medics play Rottofest which takes place on Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9, on Rottnest Island

Salt: Obesecity 2 is out this Friday, August 17, through Obese Records www.xpressmag.com.au

Grace Barbé

ARTY PARTY TYPES

Jennifer Lopez

On Friday nights throughout September, October and November, the Art Gallery Of Western Australia will feature an array of cultural delights as some of WA’s most talented local musicians bring life to the Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters exhibition.

The new season kicks off on Friday, September 7, with a performance by Grace Barbé Kreol Acoustic. In proceeding weeks, local acts including Rabbit Island, Milly James, Moustache, Joe Black Trio, Daramad, Taal Naan, Diger Rockwell, Felicity Groom, Davey Craddock and Timothy Nelson & The Infidels will invigorate the gallery with their subtle tunes.

Tickets are $19 from 5.30pm every night.

Jay Sean

BRITISH BEATS

R&B megastar Jay Sean is heading down under to impress us with his smooth vocals and infectious beats. The British superstar completely dominated last year with Down and Do You Remember went double platinum in Australia – so we all know you love him. With one show only in WA and supports from Axel Nu and Jerri Demasi, you’d be smart to get in quick for this one. It’s all taking place on Thursday, October 25 at Eve, with tickets on sale now from Ticketek.

Umpire, doin’ it for Radiothon

MAKING IT HAPPEN

RTR FM’s Radiothon is here once again.

The annual fundraiser which raises money for Perth’s finest community radio station is rolling around from Friday, August 17, to Sunday, August 26.

To celebrate the beginning of Radiothon, RTR FM is throwing a massive party in the form of a Northbridge-wide blow out this Saturday, August 18, over four of the city’s most loved venues. The party starts at The Bird for drinks to be enjoyed in the warm afternoon sun and tunes courtesy of Cow Parade Cow, Diger Rockwell, Kučka, Kit Pop and Leure. From there, an array of local talent will take over The Bakery (including Umpire, The Long Lost Brothers, The Chemist, Husband, Simone & Girlfunkle and DJ Chris Wheeldon), Ya Yas (including The Novocaines, The Morning Night, The Spitfires, The Painkillers, Rainy Day Women and DJ Shannon Fox) and the newly re-launched PICA Bar (including Craig Hollywood, Andrew Sinclair, Nick Ridiculous, Wrighteous One, Mama Cass, Rok Riley and Ben Taaffe).

Tickets are $14 for RTR FM subscribers and $20 for non-subscribers and are available now from rtrfm.com.au.

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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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Managing Editor Bob Gordon: editor@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, Daniel Grant, Sammy Granville, Matt Jelonek, Denis Radacic Contributing Writers Henry Andersen, Ashleigh Whyte, Nina Bertok, Shaun Cowe, Derek Cromb, Chris Gibbs, Alfred Gorman, George Green, Alex Griffin, Chris Havercroft, Joshua Hayes, Brendan Holben, Coral Huckstep, Travis Johnson, Rezo Kezerashvili,Tara Lloyd, Adam Morris, Andrew Nelson, Chloe Papas, Daniel Parkinson, Tom Varian, Ben Watson, Jessica Willoughby For band gigs and launches - plugyourgig@xpressmag.com.au

Advertising

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Sales and Marketing Manager Sue Blackwell - advertising@xpressmag.com.au Online Marketing Sue Blackwell - 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 Sue Blackwell - 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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PENNYWISE

MOONRISE KINGDOM

Moonrise Kingdom is the latest film from twotime Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox). Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two 12 year olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore - and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. We have five double passes up for grabs to see this film so get in now to be in the running.

Bernie

THE RAID

Design + Production

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

Printing Rural Press Printing Mandurah

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CAB AUDITED CIRCULATION: 38,000 OCTOBER 2011 – MARCH 2012

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

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.

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The Raid

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Dwight O’Neil

EPISODES

Friends’ favourite Matt LeBlanc teams up with David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik of Mad About You to serve up a single-camera comedy about the television business. Released to DVD and blu ray on August 2, we have five copies of Episodes to giveaway. Get in now for your chance to win.

HIT & RUN PREMIERE

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Art Director

Melissa Erpen

If you are a fan of legendary Southern California punk rock band Pennywise and already have your ticket to their show at Metropolis Freo on Wednesday, August 29, we are giving you the chance to win the ultimate Pennywise experience! How would you like the opportunity to get up on stage with the band and sing Bro Hymn to a screaming audience?! Only ticket holders are in the running to win so if this comp excites you, head to oztix.com.au to get your ticket and email win@xpressmag.com.au with “I wanna sing Bro Hymn” in the subject line!

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

Hit & Run

Production Co-ordinator Ruth Tyndall

Pennywise

Deep in the heart of Jakarta’s slums, there is an unremarkable rundown apartment block that has captured the attention of the police. The building’s innocuous exterior hides a multi-level safe house and a thriving community made up of the world’s most dangerous killers and gangsters. Up until now, the building has been considered untouchable by even the bravest of law enforcement. We have five DVDs of the newly released The Raid up for the taking.

Enter now to win a copy.

LOVE

This visually stunning space odyssey is produced by the band Angels & Airwaves (ex Blink 182), who also wrote the original music score. Lee Miller is sent into space to fix a broken down station. In principle he’s only supposed to be in orbit for a couple of months, but his return will have to wait. The radio captures disturbing, incomprehensible transmissions, and the last message he received from Earth was about some terrible event... We have five doubles up for grabs to see this multi-award winning film so get in now for your chance to win is a wholly unique cinema experience.

DROP THE LIME

For his debut artist album, Enter the Night, Drop The Lime steps out of the mould as a DJ/producer, adding songwriter, guitarist and vocalist to his credits. The first official single to be lifted off the album is Bandit Blues, influenced by Richie Valens.

An epic adventure of mystery, heartbreak and magic, we have five copies of this incredible record up for grabs. Get in now to win.

BERNIE

In Bernie, the local mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow. However, when he kills her, he goes to great lengths to create the illusion that she’s alive. Starring the hilarious Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey this film is guaranteed to provide plenty of belly laughs. Want to win a double pass?

Get in now as we have five up for grabs.

Written, produced and directed by comic talent Dax Shepard (NBC’s Parenthood), Hit & Run is the story of Charlie Bronson, a former getaway driver who busts out of the Witness Protection program to drive his girlfriend to Los Angeles so she can land her dream job. Their road trip grows awkwardly complicated when they are chased by the feds, and increasingly dangerous, when Charlie’s former gang of criminals enter the fray.

Thanks to our wonderful friends at Pinnacle Films, we have a whopping 50 double passes up for grabs to the film premiere at Hoyts Carousel on Monday, August 27, at 6.45pm. Get your entries in quick to win tickets!

MOS SESSIONS 9

Perth’s biggest mid-year party is back… Shake off winter with the next highly anticipated instalment in Ministry’s iconic Sessions series – and join two of the biggest DJs in the country Tom Piper and Timmy Trumpet. The Ts unite to serve up the biggest jams and bangers which are rocking the globe! We have an awesome prize pack up for grabs which includes a double pass to MoS sessions 9 at Villa on Saturday, August 25, and a copy of MoS Sessions 9 CD. Get your entries in now for your chance to win.

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

The Beautiful Girls head to WA next week to play Bunbury, Margaret River and Fremantle. Saturday’s Fremantle show is now sold out and with only limited tickets available to their Friday gig, fans have one more chance to catch the TBG tour with a third Freo date added on Sunday, August 19, at Fly By Night. We are giving our wonderful readers the chance to win one of two incredible Beautiful Girls prize packs each consisting of a double pass to their Sunday night show as well as A t-shirt of your choice at the merch desk, a signed copy of Spooks, Ziggurats, Learn Yourself, Morning Sun and Mat’s new solo record Love Come Save Me. Get in now for your chance to win!

COLD AS ICE Dear X-Press, Why do people come to watch a brilliant show and insist on fucking talking all the way through it? I was sitting in the balcony seats at Icehouse and guys to the side of me and women in front were pissed before they came in (did the bar staff not realise they were getting wine two at a time?).

The woman in front of me couldn’t keep still or shut up. Can I come and visit you at work and annoy the shit out of you for an hour and a half? When they moved to the side of the aisle I and majority behind could actually see and hear the band for the rest of the night! Right at the end just the encore was to start one guy yelled out “The Eagles won...hope you weren’t taping it?”.

Who gives a shit!

As for Icehouse and support Chris Murphy... brilliant! Come back again and hopefully the dickheads stay at home Stuart Madeley

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

FEELIN’ FLY

Remember Like A G6, that song that you couldn’t extract from your brain last year no matter how hard you tried?

The electro-hop geniuses behind that song, Far East Movement, are bringing their beats to our shores.

Get ready to feel so fly and potentially get slizzered, because the LA group have just unleashed their new record, Dirty Bass, featuring some killer dance anthems and a collab with none other than the Biebs.

Far East Movement are bringing US pop duo Karmin along for the party, and will be playing one show only at Eve on Friday, September 28. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek.

Come at me bro! Metallica, headlining Soundwave 2013

WAVES OF AWESOME

Far East Movement

TROY’S IN THE STREAM

As promised, the Soundwave lineup landed with full force last week, wowing even the most cynical festival-goers. Tickets are going to cost a few week’s pocket money at $198.20, but with such a massive lineup and a second announcement still to come, we suggest not missing out! Presale tickets are on sale this Thursday, August 16 and general tickets will be available a week later on Thursday, August 23.

Here’s the current lineup for your perusing pleasure: Metallica, Linkin Park, Blink-182, A Perfect Circle, The Offspring, Paramore, Garbage, Tomahawk, Stone Sour, Kyuss Lives, Anthrax, Sum 41, Dragonforce, All Time Low, Flogging Molly, Ghost, Duff McKagan’s Loaded, Motion City Soundtrack, Lawrence Arms, Kingdom Of Sorrow, Fozzy, Sleeping With Sirens, Cancer Bats, Madball, Vision of Disorder, Pierce the Veil, Periphery, Shai Halud, Of Mice & Men, Miss May I, Danko Jones, Woe Is Me, The Wonder Years, While She Sleeps, Such Gold, Lucero, Six Feet Under, Deaf Havana, Red Fang, Chunk! No Captain Chunk!, Memphis May Fire!

Soundwave hits Perth on March 4, 2013.

After debuting at #1 on the Australian National Country Album chart, much-loved Australian country singer-songwriter Troy Cassar-Daley is set to showcase tunes from his eighth studio album, Home, when he joins Kenny Rogers at the Riverside Theatre on Tuesday, August 21. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek.

ATTABOY GRAMPS

PACKING SHORTS FOR ROTTO

Rottofest, Western Australia’s only ‘overseas’ festival that you don’t need a passport for, has announced its 2012 short film and comedy sketch official selections, which will be screened at the festival on Rottnest Island on Saturday, September 8, and Sunday, September 9. Selected from over 100 entries from across Australia, the 23 shorts will be screened as part of Rottofest’s Funniest Shorts, hosted by renowned Australian comedian Tim Ferguson (of Doug Anthony All Stars fame).

The 23 shorts will be judged by an expert industry panel and are in the running to win thousands of dollars in cash prizes. Head to rottofest.com.au for the complete Rottofest line-up and tickets.

LEB IT BE

Legendary Macedonian progressive-rock/ethnojazz band Leb I Sol are set to touch down on Australian soil for the very first time later this year. Their tour kicks off on Friday, October 26, at the Charles Hotel with local instrumental rockers Smrts in support. Tickets are available now from BOCs or in person at the Charles Hotel Bottle Shop.

Charlie Bucket

FUNKY 50

Set Sail

ON SAIL

Sydney-based folk/indie-pop outfit Set Sail’s spontaneous, guerilla performances around the world have gotten them arrested in Madrid, 26 free beers on a Virgin flight, music placement with American clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch and over 14,000 facebook fans worldwide.

Having recently graced local audiences with their presence as the main support for the Brow Horn Orchestra’s multiple album launches last month, the talented threesome are set to bring their their infectious, energetic and unpredictable live show to WA once more for a one-off show at the Leederville Loungeroom at the The Leederville Hotel on Thursday, August 16.

With raucous locals Crooked Colours and Dead Set Radio in support this will be the perfect way to get your weekend started early!

KIWI FRUITS

More than just your ordinary music festival, the inaugural Kiwi Festival is heading to Rockingham on Saturday, October 13. With food, rides, stalls and entertainment by local talent, this familyfriendly event will be a massive celebration of the Kiwi culture and spirit, bringing together New Zealanders and Australians from across the country. Keep your eyes peeled for the full music line-up which will be announced in these pages in the weeks to come.

After more than a decade of touring and performing with Morgan Heritage, reggae star Gramps Morgan is now revelling in the success of his long foreseen solo career. Morgan brings his famous, soulful voice and lover’s rock reggae style to The Bakery on Sunday, September 2, for one of the biggest local reggae events of 2012. Coupled with supports from Italy’s Super Bros, Zimbabwe’s H-Mut, Kenya’s DJ Ray, Ras Mwas, General Justice, The Empressions and more, the line-up is almost too hot to handle. Pre-sale tickets are just $35 and available now from nowbaking.com.au.

For 50 years, soul music, with its incredible energy and engaging sense of funk, has been an international sensation. On Friday, September 7, the Funk Club will take over Deville’ s Pad for a soul spectacular, with the Funk Club House Band and special guests putting their own spin on the tunes of Mayer Hawthorne, Aloe Blacc, Prince, James Brown, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions, Aretha Franklin and more. DJs Charlie Bucket and Francesco will be spinning too. 50 Years Of Soul is a go from 8pm-2am, $10 entry.

POINT YOUR FINGER

After spending some downtime in the studio with Dann Hume recording their first full-length, Melbourne larrikins Sticky Fingers are heading back out on the road, and they’re comin’ at ya, Perth. If recent singles Caress Your Soul and Happy Endings are anything to go by, you’ll need to prepare yourselves for getting down and dirty with the Sticky boys and their hazy love-rock sound. The lads will be hitting four venues in WA, with shows at the Indi Bar on Thursday, September 27, Settlers Tavern on Friday, September 28, the Prince of Wales in Bunbury on Saturday, September 29 and in Albany at The White Star on Sunday, September 30.

TYME FOR TUJIKO

Electronica princess Tujiko Noriko is gracing us with her much-awaited presence this month, bringing along Tyme, the leader of electro-dub group, MAS. The duo have collaborated on and off for some time now and recently released an album together called GYU. Focusing on experimental electro-pup with a fair smattering of dub and beats, Tyme x Tujiko are sure to bring the fun at The Bird on Tuesday, August 21. Supports will be Diger Rockwell and Mei Saraswati, and tickets are only $5 on the door.

Dappled Cities

A TALE OF DAPPLED CITIES

To celebrate the release of their new album, Lake Air, Dappled Cities are flying out for their first national headline tour in more in two years. Catch them in Perth on Sunday, October 14, at Amplifier.

Tickets on sale from Monday, August 21, through amplifiercapitol.com.au and oztix.com.au.

GOODBYE, BEAUTIFUL

Perth, you aren’t letting The Beautiful Girls go without a fight. Due to popular demand, the bluesy trio have added a third show to their final run of WA shows at the Fly By Night. After almost a decade of chillaxed surfy tunes, the band are calling it quits – but not without a big farewell, with nation-wide shows featuring a split set - half acoustic and half electric. Say goodbye at Settlers Tavern on Thursday, August 16, and the Fly By Night Club on Friday, August 17; Saturday, August 18, and Sunday, August 19.

Peter Combe

COMBE’S OVER

Relive your childhood memories – filtered through the fun of being an adult – with legendary children’s entertainer Peter Combe as he hits the road for a series of concerts just for grown-ups.

The enigmatic artist and multiple ARIA awardwinner has just released his 13th album, Quirky Berserky (The Turkey From Turkey), and to celebrate has organised a series of all-ages shows, followed by a special evening adults-only performance.

Catch the genius behind classics such as Newspaper Mama, Wash Your Face In Orange Juice and Spaghetti Bolognaise at the Fly By Night on Sunday, October 7. Pre-sale tickets are on sale now from flybynight.org. www.xpressmag.com.au

DEEPBLUE, SEE! Millions

MILLIONS’ MINIONS

Local psych-funksters Shy Panther and alt-rockers Violet Scene are set to join Brisbane garage-pop outfit Millions when they touch down at Amplifier on Friday, September 7 for their first ever visit to WA. It promises to be a cracker start to their brief jaunt around the state, which includes a (no doubt) exceptionally hungover set at Rottofest the next day.

Australian string sensations DeepBlue are set to descend upon the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre for one night only on Saturday, September 1. The award-winning ensemble will be unleashing their dynamic and fun brand of performance, which mixes the high energy of a rock‘n’roll band, the intrigue of a theatre show and the classical instruments of an orchestra to create an unforgettable experience. Tickets are on sale now from manpac.com.au.

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THE MEDICS Rotto Bound Having swept the National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs) last weekend in Darwin, Brisbane indie rockers, The Medics, are riding a wave of success which is set to bring them all the way to the West Coast to play part of the music lineup of this year’s Rottofest on Sunday, September 8-9.

Bassist Charles Thomas chats with JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD as he and his bandmates gear up for a weekend of good times on Rottnest Island.

The Medics also play Amplifier on Saturday, August 8.

Only four short years on from releasing their debut self-titled EP, indie rock sensations The Medics are kicking some serious life and career goals.

This includes, but is not limited to, being invited to perform a cover for Triple J’s Like A Version (they performed an outstanding cover of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind), making appearances at some of Australia’s most reputable festivals, including Big Day Out, Laneway and Groovin’ The Moo, taking out the Band Of The Year award at the 2010 Deadly Awards and releasing a highly acclaimed debut LP, Foundations.

Fresh from a performance at this year’s Splendour In The Grass, the boys that make up the Brisbane-based outfit are growing up and preparing to take on the big bad world, one hit single at a time.

As such, it’s hardly surprising that the band’s bassist, Charles Thomas, finds it difficult to pick just one highlight from a jam-packed 18 months. “Definitely releasing our album and debuting on the ARIA charts at #29,” he begins.

“Playing at Splendour was also a big highlight.

And I guess just the fact that we’re definitely not in debt anymore. The money side of stuff is real

The Medics

“There’s always a different vibe everywhere we play, but we honestly love playing in Perth. Perth has such a good vibe.

And I’ve heard the best things about Rottnest. I can’t wait to run around with those big, hairy, cute rats.” good at the moment. Also just that more and more people are getting to know the record.”

The Medics are well and truly examples of the natural talent spawned from pure enjoyment. Getting together to play in early 2007, The Medics were primarily a band for pleasure that has since turned into pretty big business.

“We were all mates in school and we thought, ‘Hey! Lets start a band!’ and that’s pretty much how it started,” Thomas explains.

It’s this relaxed, home-grown attitude that has seen the band and their swoon-worthy tracks – including hit single Griffin – catapult them to instant indie-star status. Yet as Thomas attests, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the young band.

Having made the move from Cairns to Brisbane fairly early on in their career, The Medics initially found it difficult to establish themselves in a saturated indie rock landscape. “People grew up with us in Cairns so when we moved to Brisbane we found that, in a way, the people there were a bit snobby because we were this new band,” he says.

Despite facing discrimination from the occasional Brisbanian, the quartet soon found support where it really counted, impressing the bigwigs at Triple J enough to be featured as a ‘band to watch’ and picking up high rotation for a few of their tunes. “It’s had a massive impact on us,” Thomas says of the exposure. “When people want to listen to new music by emerging bands that’s the station they listen to. A lot of people listen to Triple J and it’s bought us lots of new fans. There’s a bit more momentum now.”

Yet as Thomas explains, being thrown into the spotlight also had its disadvantages – namely a sudden demand for new tunes.

“Everyone was hitting us up for new music but we couldn’t release anything until it was the perfect time,” he says.

That ideal time came in May this year, when they released their highly anticipated debut LP, Foundations. “It had been around for a while,” Thomas says, “but it took some time for the masters to come back. The tracks were ready for quite some time before the album got released.”

Despite Foundations’ launch date lining up with the release of another major Australian indie-rock band’s album, Thomas says he believes the record was released at the right time of the year. “It was a bit of a bummer that it was released on the same day as the new Temper Trap album,” he admits. “I think otherwise it was a really good time in the year to get it out there.”

While a quick rise to the top of the indie music ranks can more often than not mean a quick and fairly brutal fall in this fickle business, The Medics are gradually growing into their own and shaking off any ill-informed judgments. With four NIMAs to their credit (New Talent Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year for Griffin) and a fresh run of tour dates across the country – including a stopover at this year’s Rottofest and a headlining show at Amplifier – there’s no doubt bigger things ahead for this talented young outfit.

“There’s always a different vibe everywhere we play, but we honestly love playing in Perth. Perth has such a good vibe. And I’ve heard the best things about Rottnest. I can’t wait to run around with those big, hairy, cute rats,” Thomas says, referring, of course, to Rottnest Island’s native rodent, the Quokka.

“As for our live show – People can expect something experimental and energetic.

“We always tend to get into the music and jump around a fair bit. If the crowd gets into it, we get a bit crazy,” he concludes with a laugh. “I always worry about what our drummer Jhindu [Lawrie] is going to do. Recently during our live shows he’s been running into the crowd and bringing all these random people up on stage with him. He just gets so excited. It’s pretty infectious.”

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ALPINE

JOE MCKEE

Talk Rubbish, Drink Whiskey, Dance.

Steppin’ Out

Alpine

Joe McKee

For a man readying himself to step onto stages throughout Australia all on his own, without his once iconic band standing with him, Joe McKee sounds remarkably self-assured. He speaks with JOSHUA KLOKE ahead of his Burning Boy album launch on Friday, August 24, at the Rosemount Hotel.

A humble determination and confidence can be heard in Joe McKee’s voice, both throughout our conversation and on his debut solo album, Burning Boy. It’s a bold reinvention of sonic character for McKee, whose time with Perth fourpiece Snowman ended after eight years together with the release of Absence in 2011.

On Burning Boy, McKee trades the aggressive energy of past Snowman releases for a more tempered yet distinguished approach, in which his deeply resonating pipes are brought to the forefront. It wasn’t a calculated move, though not one he shied away from either.

“Maybe there was something subliminally that was telling me to do that,” McKee considers.

“There are some people that think it’s shrouded in some kind of oceanic reverb, but to me it feels a lot more ‘natured’. When it has my name out there, I didn’t want to hide too much. Perhaps it was a bit of a coming out and that’s what this record is burning off the past and moving forward. Stepping out. There was an intent to expose myself.”

The need for McKee to let the world in, per se, had been building for some time. For the last three years, McKee has been travelling as much as possible, and writing along the way. When asked to name some of the places he’s hit up over the past three years, McKee lists off a barrage of countries throughout Europe that would make any Lonely Planet fanatic salivate. But for McKee, his travels weren’t about bragging rights, but instead to create experiences and absorb sounds that would eventually influence Burning Boy. “The more you travel and the more people you meet, the more sounds you pick up. It’s more about throwing yourself into any situation instead of being in a country and trying to pick up on the local sound. I didn’t go to Spain and try to get into Flamenco music. Through the people I met I found myself experiencing records I hadn’t heard, books I hadn’t read and generally just having experiences that I wouldn’t have had normally.”

After Snowman relocated to London in 2008, McKee experienced something of a disconnect with his Western Australian roots. Augmented by Snowman’s split, Burning Boy is the product of this disconnect.

More contemplative than brooding, McKee’s approach exercises a manner of restraint not often heard in Snowman records. And it’s a level of restraint which he believes not only gives the record emotional weight, but will create a more meaningful resonance with those who hear it.

“Restraint is something that comes with maturity. I wanted to seduce people with this record, rather than bludgeon them. It was a practice in restraint for me and it was about creating something delicate.

It wasn’t an angry record for me; it was an escaping, cathartic record which I didn’t feel the need to exploit.”

Alpine is the name of the band on really eclectic tastes, there’s a whole lot of different influences going into the music,” she explains. “I think everyone’s lips at the moment, a we’re all totally open to playing with different genres.

Melbourne sextet whose first full- I’d love to do a hip hop song. I’m open to where the music organically takes me, and I think that’s the same length record, A Is For Alpine, has just for all of us.”

The album was recorded in a studio in been released to teach us all a lesson Gisborne, owned by the three brothers from NZ altin diverse musicianship and stunning rock band Evermore. Evermore’s drummer, Dan Huume, song writing. CHLOE PAPAS had a chat produced A Is For Alpine, and has also previously Lisa Mitchell. to vocalist and all-round lovely lady worked with “He [Huume] is a creative genius, an Phoebe Baker ahead of Alpine’s shows amazing guy,” Baker enthuses.“We were so lucky that got to record with him because he’s just incredible. at the Newport on Thursday, August 23, we Because it was our first album I think we were a bit The Prince of Wales on Friday, August 24, nervous, and he was really patient and helpful. It was and The Bakery on Saturday, August 25. a great process.”

The often glitter-adorned Baker goes on to Alpine have climbed from strength to strength since their inception in 2009, getting signed almost immediately after putting a few demos online, wowing the nation with their first EP, and dominating nation-wide with sold out shows and tasty support slots.

Just prior to the release of the group’s debut record, Baker stated to X-Press that the band was “nervous and excited.” At this point, however, there’s no doubt that they are happy with the results of the album’s release: a number one spot on the Australian iTunes charts, feature album on Triple J, and glowing reviews from critics and fans country-wide.

Stylistically diverse, the record meanders through genres with ease, proving the band’s expertise.

Baker says that Alpine does make an effort to mix it up a little, but the process is primarily natural.

“Because there’s six of us and we all have

discuss the positives of recording out in the country air, away from the restraints of the big smoke.

“It was just perfect, because you’re out there and you couldn’t walk to a local shop or anything so you were quite isolated, which really makes you focus on the writing and the recording. It made the process a bit more fun and a bit more exciting because you know, it’s like you’re going on holiday. There was cabin fever, but it was mostly fun and we just talked rubbish and drank whiskey and danced.”

Debut records often come with a self-titled or non-risky title, with bands often choosing to play it safe for their first effort. Alpine chose to go with something just that little bit cheeky.

“I actually came up with the album name,” Baker laughs. “I just thought it was kind of fun and playful, a little bit arrogant, and not taking itself too seriously – a little bit self-titled but not too self-titled.”

LINKIN PARK It’s A Livin’ Thing

Linkin Park’s new album, Living Things, comes less than two years after their last album, A Thousand Suns.This is probably a good thing, as PETER HODGSON reports. Linkin Park play Soundwave 2013 on Monday, March 4.

Linkin Park’s 2010 album, A Thousand Suns, divided fans.

Some felt it was a step too far away from the rhythmic, anthemic, alternative-tinged hybrid of hard rock, nu metal and rap that helped them make their name. That didn’t stop it from debuting at #1 on various charts and ultimately selling almost a million copies, but it still meant the band had to step up to reclaim a few skeptical fans when it came time for the follow-up.

And they did. Living Things debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts and sold almost 250, 000 copies in its first week. It seems the shorter-than-usual break between albums and the return to certain old-school Linkin Park elements paid off.

“I think for us we have a habit of releasing albums every three or four years,” guitarist Brad Delson says.“In Linkin Park time, this is like lightspeed!”

The band started writing and recording in between tour legs for A Thousand Suns. By the time they’d finished that album cycle, they already had a huge stash of ideas to work on, so for the last year up until just a couple of months ago they were nutting out Living Things. It’s an album which doesn’t really revisit the band’s past so much as take the occasional fond glance back at it in the rearview mirror.

“Yeah, that’s fair,” Delson confirms. “It’s like putting to work the life lessons of where we’ve been, but through the present point of view. I think sonically, or maybe in terms of song approach, this album is very different from A Thousand Suns, and part of that was the inspiration of doing something in contrast to what we’d just done.That’s what makes the studio so fun.There are no rules.”

Once again Delson’s guitar is up front on Living Things, including a few moments that border on thrash.

There’s no real pattern to how Linkin Park songs get written or at which point the guitar role takes shape for any given track. It’s a very fluid process.

“Sometimes songs will start with words, which is rare but possible. Sometimes it starts with a melody and piano, or a melody and guitar. Sometimes it starts with a beat and we’ll layer melody over it. One thing that Rick (Rubin, producer) would encourage us to do is 16

Linkin Park to put vocals on it right away. That helps us to know if the content is good. ‘Is this song, in its bare bones form, a good song?’.

“Whereas our method of working on our first two albums was almost entirely music-focused first, and then the vocals would go last. People say, ‘is there a message in the album?’ and it’s like, ‘I don’t know! We don’t even know what we just said! We don’t even know what we just played!’. In fact, we make the songs in such a postmodern way that when it’s time to prepare for our tours we literally have to learn how to perform the songs for the first time. In every case, no one has a clue what we’re gonna play and how we’re gonna play it.

“I literally have a CD right now of parts that I’m going to play.We have the song on the left and my part on the right and I’m literally trying to figure out how I played it or how Mike (Shinoda, guitar/vocals) played it, and how I’m going to play it live to make it sound like it does on the record.”

One of Delson’s favourite guitar moments on the new album is Victimized. “I love it. It’s got like a thrash, punk, super-heavy edge. There’s enough of a distinction between that and something that’s more metal-influenced that makes that song so awesome for me. Ugh! I love that song! We’re going to play that song live too. That’s one of the ones I was just listening to try and figure out how to play it.

“Sometimes we’ll try things that seem like it would be the worst idea, and that’s the thing that you hear and go, ‘What is that?’. There’s a lot of

experimentation, and that’s one of the reasons why we spend a year working on an album. If there’s a part we know we need for a song we’ll try for weeks until we find a part that works for the album.”

Recently the band introduced a killer merchandise item that’s utterly unprecedented: a limited edition Transformers set made in collaboration with Hasbro, featuring Linkin Park branding. Based on the 1984 originals,there will be 2000 sets manufactured, featuring Soundwave, Lazerbeak, Buzzsaw and Ravage.

“Joe Hahn (Linkin Park’s DJ) is our resident Transformers connoisseur,” Delson says. “I’ve definitely put in a request for at least one of them. I think I deserve to get at least one of those, don’t you think? I know they’re in very high demand. Those collectibles, especially for people who have a love for avant-garde toys and collectibles, it’s just such a creative world. Joe has such a huge collection of toys and art objects. He went to an exhibition in Berlin last month of someone’s private collection of street culture toys and artist collaboration collectibles. Joe was totally inspired and demoralised at the same time. Whatever Joe had amassed over the last decade, this guy had taken it to such an extreme degree that it was staggering.”

So when can we hope to hear Linkin Park live in Australia again? Delson says the band hopes to be here, “Sooner rather than later - maybe even next year. So I hope for my sake that those rumours are true, because I would love to spend as much time as possible in your neck of the woods.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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Wakeling refers to his upcoming Australian tour as a “holiday” and, more than anything, wants to get to the bottom of the Coriolis effect.

“I’m excited about watching the water go down the plug the opposite way, frankly,” he muses.

When X-Press questions the validity of that particular urban myth (Snopes.com tells us it is in fact false), Wakeling is unfazed.

“I only ever went in the Southern Hemisphere once before,” he says, “to Mauritius, and the water did appear to go down the sink the opposite way there. So I think it would be true.We’ll see. I can’t wait now. I’m even more excited now.

“Problem is,” he laughs, “I’ll get there and by the time I look at the water going down the sink I won’t remember which way ‘round it goes in California!”

It really is refreshing to hear Wakeling, whose decades-long career has been very much political in Two-Tone ska legends The English nature, so excited and amused by a simple urban myth.

Beat perform at the Astor Theatre on Born in Birmingham, the Englishman now resides in California - and the United States is, of course, enduring Saturday, September 1, supported by very interesting times indeed.

Yet unlike many Americans, Wakeling does Special Brew. BEN WATSON speaks to not seem overwhelmed by the enormous changes that singer/guitarist, Dave Wakeling. the country is undergoing. While he admits to being somewhat negative about the future, he also explains It really is tough try to distill a discussion with Dave that he has seen an empire fall before - and the anger Wakeling down to just a few words. and confusion that many (especially older) Americans Founding member of the band The Beat, are grappling with very much mirrors his father’s who now tour as The English Beat and should not struggle back in England in the mid 20th Century. be confused with his former bandmates’ similar There’s an underlying theme of ‘unity’ incarnation The Special Beat, talks in a jocular, friendly to everything Wakeling says. He can talk for hours. manner. Despite the fact that he is doing an interview, Between what he calls the “99 Per Centers” and the Tea he doesn’t sound like he is at work.

Party movement, he sees more common ground than

THE ENGLISH BEAT

Aurora Coriolis

18

Dave Wakeling, The English Beat difference. It’s certainly a brave new age.

“We shall see,” he says of the future, “It’s either going to be the dawning of a new era – Obama might just squeeze in – and if he does then there’s some chance that the people will demand that the government just doesn’t say ‘no’ to everything, and we may get some stuff done if they realise that he is here to stay. Or the money might bowl him out.

“And if the money bowls him out,” he adds quietly,“then anything is possible. Anything’s possible.”

But for now,The English Beat are touring and Wakeling is calling for a party. More than anything, he wants people to dance. And to connect.

“Nobody should feel shy!” he says. “Feel free to dance. It helps the evening and you’re more than welcome. The only thing that I don’t like is, I don’t really like the amateur video night along the front of the stage.

“I’m not really interested in the posterity thing,” he continues. “I’d rather have the concert there and then. I think that makes for the best advice out. I politely request!” he laughs. “If you’re standing there with your phone in front of me, I shall say something.”

America

AMERICA

Rockin’ In The Free World Legendary folk-rock outfit America bring their beautifully bittersweet sound to the Perth Concert Hall for one show only on Wednesday, September 12.TRAVIS JOHNSON talks with founding member, Gerry Beckley.

America is one of those bands that seem halfmythical; a group tied to a time, a place and a feeling that’s hard to encapsulate. It’s not nostalgia, but something more profound. Only a few groups have that kind of cache.

Oddly enough, as Gerry Beckley reminds us, they’ve played with most of them, and quite recently.

“We were there a year-and-a-half ago with kind of a large package,” he recalls of their last visit to Australia. “It was ourselves, Brian Wilson, the group Chicago and Peter Frampton.”

This time, though, America are flying solo, which they’re just fine with. After 42 years in the game, they’re no strangers to touring, and indeed have a gig schedule that would put many younger bands to shame. By this stage, the question isn’t whether the physical rigours of touring have taken their toll, but how, after so many years, so many albums, so many shows, Beckley and his partner, Dewey Bunnell (the other founding member, Dan Peek, left the group in 1977 and passed away last July) remain creatively engaged.

“Interestingly, it has stayed quite fresh for us,” Beckley reflects. “’Creative process’ is obviously a very general term, but there’s all different aspects to what we do. We perform live virtually constantly, yet we still continue to make albums and record. Those are obviously very different processes, but because we do such a variety of things, I think that it helps us stay fresh.We’re not always in the studio, but when we do get in the studio, there is a uniqueness, because it hasn’t happened in months, or maybe a year. So it’s always a pleasure to get back in the studio.

“And our touring schedule is quite different and diverse; it isn’t one of these things where we’re just in different arena every night.We have quite a variety of different music that we play, and every night it’s a different city, a different kind of venue and that helps keep it fresh.”

Indeed, unlike many of their contemporaries, America eschew the perhaps understandable tactic of just playing the hits, preferring instead to sprinkle their set list with newer material as well.

“We have a lot of hits, and that’s not a bad problem to have. The show’s filled with hits. It’s somewhat of a challenge to pick the half a dozen or more other songs that you intersperse through the popular material. Here And Now (2007) was an album of all-new material, and that was a fantastic experience. Each project is different, and it’s a challenge to try and work that into the show each year, but I think it’s a challenge we meet and enjoy, because you want to make a good show for everyone.

“There are people who come every year, and people who come to more than one show a year, so you want to mix it up for their sake as much as your own.”

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

RICKI-LEE No Fear

Black Board Minds

BLACK BOARD MINDS

Medicinal Music

Pop diva Ricki-Lee Coulter is about to unleash her third studio album, a “killer pop-dance record” called Fear & Freedom. Having worked solidly for a year-and-a-half and forking out her own money to record the album in the US, the sassy lass tells ANNABEL MACLEAN she feels like she’s about “to give birth”. Fear & Freedom is out Friday, August 17, through EMI. Ricki-Lee Coulter is one determined lass who loves a great challenge. The down-to-earth singer/ songwriter can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of the record, as she’s not one to keep things to herself, preferring to be upfront and honest in life.

“I don’t know what giving birth is like but I can imagine what it’s like – this [Fear & Freedom] is my kid,” she says.“I feel like I’ve been working on this album for the last year and now I feel like I’m about to give birth, it’s crazy.”

Coulter made a wishlist of producers and writers she wanted to work with on the record and had her dreams come true, working with internationally acclaimed songwriters such as the duo behind KNS Production and writer/producer Billy Mann [Pink, Sting, Robyn].

“Working with Billy Man was − words are almost beyond me,” she says.“There’s not enough time in this interview to talk about how amazing that was. He is someone I’ve looked up to and admired and I’ve loved his songwriting for like 15 years now… he was definitely at the top of my list of people I wanted to work with on this album and I was lucky enough that I got to.

“He’s an amazing writer and an incredible producer and he’s got this way of looking in your eyes and seeing your soul and seeing things in you that you can’t even quite express. Working with him definitely changed the way I approach writing and recording. He made me really dig deep.”

Simply being in the US, however, was a challenge for Coulter while she worked on Fear & Freedom. “I don’t know why but I think when I go overseas, you’re outside of your comfort zone and you’re working with people who are the best in the world – we have amazing producers and writers here in Australia – but I just find that I’m a lot more inspired when I’m outside my comfort zone and when I’m in the States,” she says.

Coulter says she also has her “amazing support network” to thank for keeping her on such an inspired pathway when putting together the record.“My friends are such a big part of my life… my friends and my boyfriend and my family,” she says. “When I write a song, I send them the demo and I ask them what they

Ricki-Lee think and if they like it and what they think could be better… it’s a lot of fun.

“I feel like we’ve all kind of written this album.

They’ve all inspired it because they make my life so happy and they’ve helped me get through a whole lot of ups and downs in life and falling in love definitely has a lot to do with this album.”

Coulter is hitting the road for some in-store signings, you can catch her at Whitford City Shopping Centre at 11.30am and Carousel Shopping Centre at 3.30pm on Sunday, August 26.

As the members of Freo-based dirty rock/surf-pop band Black Board Minds can attest, not all the best remedies come from Big Pharma. Ahead of the launch of their debut LP What Do You See at Mojos this Friday, August 17, JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD chats to Emmet Blackwell about their dedication to promoting the benefits of music therapy.

There is a growing recognition in the medical community that exposure to the arts can help individuals suffering from mental health issues to reconnect with themselves and even slow their rate of decline. Increasingly, music is helping doctors and carers reach those who have become stranded by this debilitating condition.

The four members of Black Board Minds know all about how music can transform the lives of those who suffer from a whole range of mental health problems. “Andrew Miller from the band has a connection to mental health in WA as he works as an occupational therapist at Graylands hospital,” explains Emmet Blackwell, one of the band’s three vocalist/guitarist/ bassists. “I guess this connection through Andrew means that indirectly the whole band is a bit better informed and aware of mental health issues and its links to music.”

Having earned solid critique and spots supporting some of the state’s biggest acts, Black Board Minds are gearing up to release their debut record What Do You See. Although the album represents their coming of age – asserting their musical matriculation and finding a niche – it also reaffirms the band’s dedication to music as medicine for the soul.

Part proceeds from the sale of What Do You See will be used to purchase instruments for patients in psychiatric care facilities. “We all see the high value of music as therapy and mental health facilities are commonly in need of more instruments. Often it just involves fixing up some cheap guitars that get donated to us or passing on old equipment when we are ready to upgrade,” Blackwell says. “We have been doing this for a long time through Andrew and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future.”

While the band’s involvement in raising awareness of psychological well-being combined with their Rorschach-inspired inkblot cover art may lead some to the conclusion that mental health issues are their primary influences, in actuality Blackwell says the major influence on their sound is the “West Coast lifestyles” the band members lead.

“This revolves around the desert, the sun and the surf, lots of road trips all over the state camping, surfing and fishing... we always take acoustic guitars,” he says. “We wanted to capture the natural live sound of the band, which Poons Head Studio owner/engineer/ producer Rob Grant did great.

“We are really happy to have now finished this album, which will enable us to get back to spending more time song writing and jamming with new material. There are going to be lots of extended late night jams, song writing and home recordings taking place for the rest of the year,” Blackwell concludes. “It’s an exciting feeling to be going back into this stage of creativity after so long chipping away at the album.” www.xpressmag.com.au

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YEASAYER Fragrant World

FRANK OCEAN Channel Orange

EMI/Secretly Canadian

Universal

Yeasayer have walked the tightrope between being oddball weirdos and genuine rock heroes like no other in recent years. At times it has seemed that the stranger they get the nearer to pop perfection they arrive. This is certainly true of their third (and highly anticipated) album Fragrant World, the follow-up to 2010’s universally adored Odd Blood.

A dense and textural album with an optimistic core, Fragrant World is catchier, but thornier than its predecessor.

Vocalist Chris Keating thrives as a frontman: He’s sexy when he’s angry, and even sexier when he’s not. And Dan Carey’s (Bat For Lashes) production is shiny and urgent, while his harsher synths and doo-dads hang back like a commentary track.

But making popular music sits uneasily with this art-rock crew, and so although this is Yeasayer’s slickest, catchiest, and potentially most popular LP, it nevertheless reeks with dread. Fragrant World’s comes laden with awkward drums and abstract and electronic textures which roll over acoustic sources.

However, the noises inhabit tunes that are never less than singable. Fingers Never Bleed may be album opener of the year, while the spectacularly lovely Glass Of The Microscope is, implausibly, an art rock ballad. Then, of course, there’s single Henrietta – an odd, addictive, unsettling and beautiful masterpiece.

Richer in both sound and implication, Fragrant World is simply one of this year’s best albums.

Frank Ocean’s already being name-checked as the new king of the slow jam, but Channel Orange has more in common with Stevie Wonder than D’Angelo. The emotional themes that Kanye West and Drake have helped R&B come to terms with in recent years – alienation, selfdoubt, disguising who you are, sex as both an escape and a complication – is combined with a sense of the old-fashioned, widescreen sonic richness that’s been championed by Janelle Monae and The Roots in recent years.

Ocean has something like Stevie Wonder’s light, nimble tone, evident in the mild reproach of Super Rich Kids: “You’ve had a landscaper and a housekeeper since you were born”. But it’s also very much of its time – no more so than the coda of nine-minute centerpiece Pyramids, where some damaged, languid guitars echo Kanye via Bon Iver via yacht rock.

Ocean is also a stunning writer, with a casual gift for stripping ‘traditional’ male insecurities raw – name me another song where a young black man despairs his unrequited love for another man to a sympathetic Muslim taxi driver, let alone one with the refrain “Allahu Akhbar” (the shattering Bad Religion).

Channel Orange is being framed, much too eagerly, as a game-changer in the vein of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Take Care or The ArchAndroid – but it deserves to be heard on its own terms as well: as a gorgeously crafted confessional that becomes more emotionally rewarding on each listen.

_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

_CAITLIN WELSH

GLEN HANSARD Rhythm And Repose

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM Handwritten

Spunk

Mercury/Universal

Glen Hansard has made his mark against sexier and more fancied acts to be the finest Irish export since Feargal Sharkey. His band The Frames are close to untouchable in their native country and are a cracking live act, and to prove they were no fluke Hansard followed up that success with award winning folk duo Swell Seasons. He is now seeing if his golden touch will continue with his first ever solo record Rhythm And Repose.

The dissolution of the relationship between Hansard and Markéta Irglová stalled the work of The Swell Season and has shaped this solo album. The content of much of Rhythm And Response is downbeat and heartfelt, but that is hardly new territory from the ginger songwriter. There are moments of folk intimacy, some country stylings and the bombastic swelling moments that have been Hansard’s trademark.

The subtle changes in Hansard’s efforts here may be attributed to his move to New York, but more notably it is the musicians he has surrounded himself with. Rhythm And Response has guests ranging from Brad Albetta and Nico Mulhy to Sam Amidon and half of Springsteen’s horn section adding flourishes without Hansard losing his character along the way.

As his first solo outing Rhythm And Response is more of the same for Hansard. Another batch of heartfelt songs that draw you in like a shallow lake on a warm day.

The big question that has greeted the fourth album by New Jersey punk rock band is will their transition from indie darlings to major label hard hitters be a smooth one.

Surely their close link to the working man’s hero Bruce Springsteen hasn’t done them any harm nor their shared knack for urban romanticism.

The Gaslight Anthem set out to not repeat themselves with Handwritten, and it is the subtle changes that make the album better with each listen.

There are immediate rockers like 45 that have the listener singing along from the first chorus, as well as some more restrained moments like Here Comes My Man which is bound to be a stadium filling favourite.

Brian Fallon’s husky vocals deliver another batch of clever lyrics as he is backed by one of the most underrated rhythm sections going around and some clever riffs from Alex Rosamilia. While Handwritten is in some ways a departure, Desire is a trademark track that proves than when it comes to The Gaslight Anthem you can never get enough of a good thing. There are bold anthems and brash rockers, all done justice by a band who are in a rich vein of form.

The law of averages says that bands should not be as insanely consistent as The Gaslight Anthem.

Handwritten is another stellar addition to one of modern rocks most impressive outfits. _CHRIS HAVERCROFT

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT

TENACIOUS D Rize Of The Fenix Columbia Records

STONEFIELD Bad Reality Wunderkind

If you haven’t heard of Stonefield yet, it’s likely you’ve been residing under a rock.

The four sisters from country Victoria have been making waves around the world for the past two years, and new EP Bad Reality is yet another notch in their collective belts.

Title track Bad Reality fronts up the album and sets the scene; blustering riffs, blaring vocals from drummer and vocalist Amy Findlay, and a hazy rock vibe that transports you directly to the ‘70s, air guitar in hand.

Who Are You? is a standout, the closest to a lyrically rebellious track that the group seem to get, with some killer solos from Hannah Findlay to boot.

Each track is distinctively influenced by ‘70s rock gods – Hendrix, Zeppelin – and for many artists, emulating a genre so closely could lead to accusations of banality and lack of originality. However, the Findlay sisters manage to grab psychedelia by the cahones, make it their own, and rock it hard. Black Water Rising illustrates this perfectly; edgy, gritty tones, combined with some funky keys and a rising chorus.

No Stonefield review could be complete without noting the terrifying level of talent that the four sisters possess, and the unassuming, mature way that they’ve taken on the international music industry.

Stonefield truly are the sisters of psychedelia – here’s to hoping that they continue to own it.

_CHLOE PAPAS 20

Tenacious D are back from the ashes of The Pick Of Destiny movie and various other albums which have failed to live up to the massive success of their song within a song that is Tribute.

Rize Of The Fenix is best enjoyed with your brain switched off. Jack Black takes charge singing, summoning his best impersonations of classic rock singers, taking a sizeable chunk of influence from Ronnie James Dio. Black’s lyrics are extremely silly, focusing on the pursuit of women (Low Hanging’ Fruit), desires of building a Star Wars Death Star (Deth Starr) and the band’s revival on the title track.

The self-referential song The Ballad Of Hollywood Jack And The Rage Kage is Tenacious D’s best attempt to reflect reality. The track follows the story of the band as Jack Black becomes famous and leaves bandmate Kyle Glass who subsequently becomes insane before Black redeems himself.

The music is both a highlight and a lowlight.

At its best the album impersonates rock classics with aplomb. However the impersonations can give the tracks a soulless feel, they leech off music without giving back anything of substance.

That being said, the album can be enjoyed if listened to as a parody album and not taken seriously. It is undoubtedly the D back to their best but the question remains over whether their best is any good. It is an album that teenage boys will love but nearly everyone else will loathe. _AARON CORLETT X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

THE CAST OF CHEERS Family School Boy Error/Co-operative Music

As TV tells it, Cheers is the place that you’re always able to call home, where Kirstie Alley and Ted Danson are waiting with a beer and a dilemma which will niftily resolve itself before the half hour is out.

The Cast Of Cheers are less welcoming; the Irish group’s debut Family is prickly as, sporting 10 songs of deadeyed febrile staccato indie-math; think Foals with cheaper pedals.

Conor Adams’ vocals are heavily indebted to Kele Okereke, but his better lyrics convey a convincing anxiety that Okereke hasn’t managed since the Bush administration, whether he’s stumbling through ill-considered threesomes and or suffering some Western guilt.

To their credit, the band manages to build some interesting grooves here and there (Poce Mit, Trucks At Night) that maintain a threat of excitement.

Just a threat, though; despite these virtues, one gets the overwhelming sense that their songwriting process goes along the lines of jamming out ideas until they resemble their inspirations enough to feel acceptable.

As such, the songcraft tends to be paper-thin (Human Elevator), ham-fisted (Go-Getter) or just boring (Marso Sava), moulding clunky as fuck chanted hooks onto riffs that weren’t worth the time they took to crib.

Still, the dominant theme is one of tastefulness, and if that’s something which is hardly lasting, it keeps them from erring, so Family will tide over all six of you out there waiting hopefully for big things from the new Bloc Party record (nb. stop hoping).

CRYSTAL CASTLES – Plague (Shock) The interwebs has been having kittens this week with news of a forthcoming record from avant-pop electronic duo Crystal Castles. To accompany the announcement, a new track, Plague, has dropped and quite simply, it is five minutes of woozy, electronic goodness. Making their lyrics more audible than ever before packs a visceral wallop far more bruising than anything they’ve produced previously. The way they’ve leapfrogged their contemporaries in terms of ambition and scope is terrifying. Crystal Castles are, once again, in a league of their own. Succumb.

OH MERCY – Drums (EMI) As history has proven time and time again, the sexiest songs are not necessarily those about sex, but they have a palpable erotic charge, a quality which often resides in the smallest details: the way a voice curls around a syllable or a bassline snakes around your hips.

Oh Mercy’s newie Drums has got sex appeal in spades – from the grimy bassline to Alexander Gow’s sweet, sweet falsetto. Wildly overheated, it goes past sexy, all the way through ludicrous and back out into sexy again.

SEAMS – Lyrebird (Independent) An effortless conflation of over-amped belligerence and feisty post-punk mellifluousness, local quartet’s Seams’ recently released single Lyrebird is the darkest, most badass and, frankly, best tune they’ve put forth yet. They’ve hit upon an ideal balance of texture and simplicity, expanding on their basic formula without losing any of their direct, eclectic charm. _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

_ALEX GRIFFIN

EMPRA Empra Thunderheart Records

As a debut release, Melbourne dudes Empra’s self-titled album has set the bar high for the future of the Australian rock scene.

Written as a tribute to lead singer Sanny Veloo’s best friend and band mate who passed away before they could write the album they always wanted to, Empra is a rock album that leaves the sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll behind for honesty and personal anecdotes.

Opening with a track entitled I Won’t Give Up, it’s evident from the top that this is a solid rock album with no unnecessary fancy bits. Hand Me A Livewire is a rad track, gritty and cynical, with lyrics like: “I’m unfriending you on my Facebook/ Are those really tears in your eyes?” and some frantic riffs.

Only Love tips its hat to classic passion-rock ballads, earnest and unassuming. Last track Sabrina, featuring everybody’s favourite lad Wally de Backer (aka Gotye) on the keys, is the token song-about-a-girl, acoustic and a sweet album ender.

There’s no question that the members of Empra are influenced by seminal Aussie rockers like AC/DC and The Living End, with the classic guitar riffs and unforgiving choruses. Yet Veloo and his band mates have managed to inject enough originality into this record to make it their own – and to make it damn good. An awesome first effort.

LIVE FROM THE ARTISTS DEN: ROBERT PLANT & THE BAND OF JOY Universal

Those who like to read deep meanings into things might feel there was something telling in Robert Plant’s decision to resurrect the name Band Of Joy for his 2010 solo album. Originally the name of Plant and John Bonham’s ‘60s psych-blues band, it harks back to a world in which Led Zeppelin never existed.

As that album proved, the spirit of Led Zeppelin, specifically the acoustic side of the band’s third album, continues to inform Plant’s music. Proof lies in a new DVD, which captures Band Of Joy’s 2011 show at Nashville’s historic War Memorial Auditorium.

In the company of Nashville guitarist Buddy Miller (a former Emmylou Harris collaborator) and songwriter Patty Griffin, Plant peddles through an inspired mix of vintage and modern songs. While dedicated fans may enjoy the incarnations of newer tunes, anyone with a passing interest in Zeppelin cuts will enjoy seeing Plant performing touchstones Black Dog, Tangerine and Houses Of The Holy. _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD

_CHLOE PAPAS

FEAR FACTORY The Industrialist

FENNESZ Endless Summer

Candlelight Records/Riot

The Fear Factory machine is back with The Industrialist, the new album which follows on from the Burton/Dino comeback album, Mechanize.

Unfortunately this album is a clear sign that Burton and Dino lack the creative environment of a full band. The album is typical FF, mixing hard core and metal with an industrial edge.

An annoyance of each song is the electronically played drums, which doesn’t offer the songs power or texture and is too high in the mix.

Of course Dino displays his signature machine gun like chugging riffs but there is a significant lack of vibe in Burton’s vocals and the vocal theme seems forced. This is where the album tries to be different but doesn’t succeed and where lies the biggest let down.

The Industrialist is FF’s second shot at a concept album and it fails to deliver as a whole, where Obsolute, FF’s first concept album, is possibly FF’s finest work to date. The Industrialist concept of a futuristic theme where machines and man coincide in existence is not fresh and the most of the songs end up sounding far too similar.

The first six songs – particularly New Messiah, Depraved Mind Murder and God Eater – are the most engaging and dynamic songs but the album grinds to a halt there, with the last five songs failing to hit the mark and unfortunately sounding like a bad imitation band of themselves.

Endless Summer is Fennesz’s beautiful but unlikely combination of his own digital noisescapes and (of all things) a love of the Beach Boys. On paper, it seems like a joke - one can imagine Fennesz posing with a laptop and a surfboard for a cheesy press shot. To his credit, however, Fennesz took the concept with complete sincerity, pulling apart notions of what pop is and how it can be interpreted within a wider musical world. Released in 2001, Endless Summer sits seamlessly between this century and the last. You can hear, amongst those layers of acoustic guitars, the fading naivety of ‘60s America made unreal

by Fennesz’s post-millennial glitch For most listeners, noise music holds the stigma of being inhuman, aggressive and formally incoherent. Endless Summer, however, fits none of these descriptions. For an almost entirely electronic record, it is gorgeously organic. Fennesz’s electronics quiver and bloom in timeless, cascading layers. Even at its most abstract and digital, the album carries a calm poetry to it that remains immersive after countless listens.

Formally too, the album is more accessible than most laptop music. By applying the impatient forms of pop music to electronic noise, Fennesz was forced to speak as clearly and directly as possible – each track an aural haiku which elegantly explores a single idea.

Endless Summer’s success lies in its ability to hold together opposing forces – pop and noise, electronic and acoustic, modernity and nostalgia – without any element feeling compromised.

_CONAN TROUTMAN

_HENRY ANDERSEN

www.xpressmag.com.au

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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TASTE

SNAGS & SONS

THE HYDE PARK HOTEL Renowned for its iconic front bar gigs, The Hyde Park Hotel’s urban chic décor blends with an authentic pub vibe, with all of the classic pub food favourites on offer. Head on in to the Hydey on Thursdays to get in on a kilo of chicken wings for $15, or check out the massive steak sandwich for four. There are 24 beers on tap, 15 ciders and a range of delicious jugtails (cocktails served in a jug) to quench your thirst. The kitchen at the Hydey is open seven days a week from 11am to 10pm, just walk in or book to claim your spot.

CONTACT: hydeparkhotel.com.au, hyde.park@alhgroup.com.au LOCATION: 331 Bulwer Street, North Perth

SNAGS AND SONS Perth’s very first sausage shop nestled in urban Leederville, Snags and Sons offers hungry punters a nostalgic European style deli with a modern twist.

The grazing style menu is full of choices, with sausages, salads, smallgoods and even options for those with a sweet tooth. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, Snags and Sons is home to bratwurst, kransky, boerwors, salsicce, traditional pork sausages plus vegetarian, gluten free and kids choices.

Introducing The X-Press Mag Snag

Since opening their doors a few months back, Snags & Sons has become a fast favourite of Leederville regulars, offering up the healthiest and tastiest snags in town, plus a range of delicious salads, smallgoods and sides that are guaranteed to satisfy every appetite.

Owned by Justin Bell of Jus Burgers fame, Snags & Sons encourages punters to look at the humble sausage in a new light, with a range of gourmet snags on offer, plus traditional fare for folks who prefer the old school approach.

“We all love a Snag right... so why not?” Bell responds when asked why he decided to open up our city’s first snagcentric eatery. “I think the sausage category is one that has great potential, albeit done well. We have a dozen quality snags, grilled smallgoods, vegetarian salads and sides with four different styles of bread to choose from.”

Decked out with a retro provedore vibe, Snags & Sons has plenty of character, and is dedicated to providing value for money and delicious dishes that fill the belly and warm the soul.

“The model was never derived to be

CONTACT: snagsandsons.com.au LOCATION: 749 Newcastle Street, Leederville

Justin Bell puts the finishing touches on the X-Press Mag Snag

Snags & Sons

your average ‘blokey sausage shop’,” Bell explains of the eatery’s fit out. “It needed a feminine touch and to deliver more; from fit out to flavour whilst always providing quality at a great price point.”

Sausages don’t exactly have the best reputation when it comes to health benefits, but Bell is quick to point out that Snags & Sons only use the highest quality, locally sourced ingredients, while minimising fat content in favour of real meat.

“We use quality ingredients with a ‘high cl’ content; which means there’s a very high level of meat in all our snags and you can taste it. We provide oven baked tempeh which is super healthy and comes in a light wrap, as well as a range of freshly made salads.”

As a special treat for our readers, Bell and his Snags & Sons team have been busy concocting a brand new addition to their menu with the introduction of the X-Press Mag Snag, a meal which is sure to put a smile on your dial.

“The X-Press Mag Snag is a fresh, hot French style baguette with a Linley Valley Free Range Pork Sausage, caramelised onions, cheddar cheese, mustard & ketchup... all for $6.90!”

To celebrate the release of the X-Press Mag Snag, Snags & Sons are giving one of our readers the chance to win the ultimate Snags experience, with dinner for you and five friends (including a snag, drink and side each), to be redeemed during August and October. To be in the draw to win the coveted prize all you have to do is like Snags & Sons on Facebook then email us via win@xpressmag.com.au and tell us which item from the Snags & Sons menu gets your mouth watering. We’re also giving away a bunch of vouchers for X-Press Mag Snags, to score yourself a free taste email win@xpressmag.com.au with ‘X-Press Mag Snag’ in the subject line.

Check out everything Snags & Sons has to offer at 749 Newcastle Street, Leederville. View the full menu online at snagsandsons.com.au.

SOURCE FOODS Tucked away on the corner of Beaufort Street and Brisbane Street in Highgate, Source Foods is a café dedicated to tasty treats with minimal ecological impact. Catering to vegetarians, vegans, meat-lovers and those of us who struggle with food allergies and intolerances, Source is open six days a week, with a wide variety of organic, gluten free, free range and fair trade options available.

“At Source Foods we strongly believe that eating fresh and tasty food that is not only sourced from local suppliers but also won’t weigh on your conscience should be within everyone’s reach,” says owner-operator Ben Morris of the café’s approach to eating.

“Wherever possible we choose to use local, free range, organic and high quality products to produce a variety of food options for our customers. We also aim to provide options for different dietary requirements including gluten free, vegetarian and vegan.”

Famous for their Friday burger nights, Source pride themselves on their hallowed O Burger, an organic offering that’s bursting with flavour.

“Our most popular items include the O Burger (organic beef burger) as it is massive and loaded with fresh produce. [Other crowdfavourites include] the free range chicken, avocado and salad sandwich which features our own secret chicken recipe. We feature weekly chicken salad specials (from honey soy to peri peri and garlic and lemon) which are freshly cooked to order and of course for breakfast (all day on the weekends), you can’t go past the Big Eco (with or without the free range bacon) featuring oven roasted tomato, wilted spinach, sautéed rosemary mushrooms and two poached free range eggs on buttered organic toast.”

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Beautiful burgers at Source Foods Never ones to rest on their laurels, Morris and the team at Source are gearing up to launch a new initiative called Live At Source.

“We’ll be inviting original musicians to perform their music to an audience that they invite. We’ll run a small Tapas menu, record the gig (both audio and video) and have a beautiful intimate evening. People are allowed to BYO and pop the drinks in ice cold eskis or we can proivide wine glasses. On top of this we will be launching Source After Dark from Monday to Thursday where we will offer the cafe to private business, groups, teams, etc. People will be able to book Source in five different ways - Source the Workshop, Source the Boardroom, Source the Games Night, Source the Cinema and Source the Recording Studio. We are trying to create a new kind of cafe vibe for the evenings and give a wider audience access to our venue, menu and coffee.”

To find out more about Source hit up sourcefoods.com.au.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

MINI BARS

DRINK GREEN

TOP ORGANIC DROPS The organic beer and wine industry is growing stronger every day as consumers opt for a safer, more sustainable and potentially tastier alternative. A host of local wineries, breweries and distributors have already started specialising in organic products and are reaping the rewards.

Harris Organic Wines is just one of WA’s many wineries concentrating on organic products.

This certified organic winery was established in 1998 and is located in the heart of the Swan Valley, specialising in table wines like Shiraz, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc as well as natural dessert and sparkling wines. The winery also makes a double wood-fired and distilled brandy which is the only certified organic brandy made in Australia.

Harris Organic Wines owner Duncan Harris is quick to point out that organic wine contains no nasty herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers, making them better for you and the environment. “Remember great wine is made in the vineyard,” he muses.

Harris says organic vineyards are generally better managed than conventional vineyards, making for a better end product.

“Therefore the grapes are better and the wine is better,” he explains.

Koala Beer owner Chris Gordon says organic beer may not be ‘better’ but it certainly is different, and Australians are starting to catch on. Koala Beer produces organic beer in the form of Burragum Billi organic lager which has a crisp, dry malt flavour and has a floral, fruity aroma.

Burragum Billi organic lager Much to the delight of coeliacs across the nation, the company has also just produced a pleasant tasting gluten free organic pale ale called Wilde.

Gordon says people who seek out organic products do so because they consider

J&J Vineyard

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them safer and more sustainable.

“Safer because they are assured the beer has nothing unwanted in the bottle - just beer. Pure beer tastes different because it is beer as it used to be made,” Gordon says.

Raw Wine And Beer director Michael Gow started his business in 2002 after drinking a bio dynamic wine and noticing there were only a few available on the market. Gow’s company is an independent organic wine and beer marketing company that distributes nationally, representing wineries and breweries such as Switch, J&J, Jean Paul’s, Avonmore, Bodegas, Bunn, Captain’s Creek, Gardner’s Ground, Kangaroo Hills, Mountain Goat, Richmond Plains and Pig In The House, among others.

“I had worked in the wine industry for 10 years prior to that and thought I should start a wholesale wine business and get more organic and bio dynamic wines out into the market,” Gow says of his move into the organic industry.

Gow reveals that a large part of his customer base consists of organic retailers that can only stock certified organic wine and beer. “A condition of the liquor license is that only wine with a certification logo can be sold at these venues.”

Australian Certified Organic is an Australian certifying body that deals with organic products. Duncan Harris says he joined ACO because it offers more support than other certifiers. “It costs more but it is worth it,” he says.

Most of Raw Wine And Beer’s business comes from people who cannot drink chemical wines. “They get bad reactions like headaches, rashes and hot flushes and once they try our wines they get hooked because they don’t suffer the next day,” Gow explains.

As Raw Wine And Beer’s website outlines, additives and preservatives can cause uncomfortable reactions in some people, which is

Harris Organic Wines where organic wines come to the rescue.

“Australian laws currently permit the use of 19 listed additives and 37 different processing aids in wine manufacturing. These include sulphites (most commonly sulphur dioxide and potassium metabisulphite), egg and milk products, gelatin (a meat product), wheat, isinglass (a fish product), yeast, and other food chemicals. In most instances, these ingredients are relatively benign and unlikely to provoke serious physiological reactions. But if you suffer from allergies, you need to be careful: most wines on the market could potentially cause you grief, even in the smallest doses.”

Whether you’re on the hunt for organic, preservative free or biodynamic beverages, Raw Wine And Beer have just what the sommelier ordered.

Find out more about these, and other organic beverage companies via harrisorganicwine. com.au, koalabeer.com and rawwineandbeer.com.au. _AARON CORLETT

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SHOP FRONT

FAIR’S FAIR

ORGANIC SELECTION Organic Selection is a new Perth born Organic Healthy food store, specialising in raw foods ideal for people looking to detoxify their body and restore their life force essence.

Organic Selection focuses on locally grown produce, working closely with farmers. They cater to people with in food allergies and intolerances and have a good range of gluten and dairy free options.

CONTACT: organicselection.com.au, info@organicselection.com.au, (08) 9276 1884 LOCATION: 243 Walter Road, Morley, 6062

CITY SUMMIT Opening in September – A world class climbing centre in Malaga City Summit is more than just a climbing gym. With 45 top roping stations, three lead walls & Australia’s highest bouldering wall City Summit has something to offer everyone from experienced climbers to beginners.

What we offer: • Top rope, lead climbing & bouldering • Free skills, technique and lead courses • Pro Shop What makes us unique: • Community environment with free wifi, Foxtel and viewing deck • Instructor lead classes/sessions • Dedicated kids club • Café, functions area and catering for private events

Eco And Fair Trade In Perth

Designed to create better working conditions for economically disadvantaged artisans and their families, fair trade products are environmentally and socially sustainable, supporting farmers, workers and artisans who deserve a fair wage. We’ve all heard of fair trade tea and coffee but the same principles extend beyond the realms of food and drink, with fashion, home wares, beauty products and other consumables also available.

As awareness spreads about the fair trade movement, a few specialised fair trade and eco stores have opened their doors around town, providing access to fair trade and environmentally conscious products from every corner of the globe.

One such store is Fair Go Trading on William Street in Northbridge, a boutique bursting at the seams with personality and products. With a background in social justice, owner Bob Roberts opened Fair Go Trading five years ago now, and has enjoyed educating Perth about the benefits of fair trade products, while simultaneously supporting disadvantaged farmers and producers.

“Fair trade tries to change the way we trade with international developing nations.

Fair trade has a system in place that protects producers, particularly people living in poverty, so that when they make their craft they make a sustainable living wage,” Roberts explains of how it works.

“A sustainable wage means that they can afford to send their kids to school, have access to healthcare, have a good environment to work in and get paid a fair wage. There are ten founding principles around it.”

These principles include greater transparency and accountability, fairer trading practices, better working conditions, no child labour or exploitation, non discrimination and environmental sustainability.

CONTACT: ph: 9248 7035 www.citysummit.com.au info@citysummit.com.au

THE MEET MARKET The Meet Market is Per th’s newest and most sophisticated events business for singles. If you find yourself seeing the same faces week in, week out and you’re in the market to find that special someone, then perhaps The Meet Market’s Spring Fling launch party could be for you!

Head along to the Byrneleigh Hotel in Nedlands on Saturday, September 1, to meet new people in a fun environment minus the dating stigma. A $50 ticket includes drinks, canapés and a goody bag. More info and tickets are available from themeetmarket.com.au or through Moshtix.

CONTACT: themeetmarket.com.au

MATCHES BAR Out On A Limb

Fair Go Trading

“Fair trade tries to change the way we trade with international developing nations. Fair trade has a system in place that protects producers, particularly people living in poverty, so that when they make their craft they make a sustainable living wage” “Most people would understand that fair trade tea and coffee is available but they might not know that you can also get fair trade rice, quinoa and sugar. When people think of fair trade they generally quite often think of tea and coffee, and we’ve got single origin products from Colombia, Ethiopia and Peru.”

Fair Go Trading is also home to a range of hand-made toys, rugs, clothing, bags, books and more; view the full range in store at 456 William Street in Northbridge.

A stone’s throw from bustling Mt Lawley, Maylands is home to its own eco design/ fair trade store called Out On A Limb. Owned by Kiri Dorji and Debbie McMahon, Out On A Limb primarily stocks Australian and New Zealand designed products, focusing on items with eco friendly credentials.

“We opened our door to the public in February 2011 and have since had a wonderful response from both locals and the wider public. Everyone is so thrilled to see the area rejuvenated to complement the already-existing strong community vibe,” Dorji explains.

“We have many very popular products ranging from beautiful bespoke hand-made blackwood circle shelves by Bride and Wolfe (Victoria), lighting by Who Did That (Tasmania) and Joug Design (New Zealand), eco cleaning products by Murchison and Hume (NSW), exquisite ceramics by WA local Melanie Sharpham of Eucalypt Homewares and Dimity Kidston (Victoria), upcycled vintage wool blanket cushions by Seam NZ… plus much more, including jewellery, clothing and art.”

Find out more about all of Out On A Limb’s eco friendly products by visiting 194 Whatley Crescent in Maylands.

Want more info on fair traders? Hit up fairtraders.org.au.

Situated upstairs at 91 James Street, Northbridge, Matches Bar is a new bar with a relaxed atmosphere, classy interior and wide range of music: chilled tunes during the week until our current resident DJs kick it up a notch to a faster house, jazz soul party tunes for the weekend. Matches Bar is a bar where you can dance your ass off while treating yourself to $6 beers and $10 cocktails all night... nice way to start your night, right? So come on down and release the stress of the working week at Matches Bar. Open daily til 12am and free entry.

CONTACT: (08) 9228 1665 LOCATION: 91 James Street, Northbridge 26

Fair Go Trading X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

GET PHYSICAL

ROCKFACE

PERTH SWING DANCE ACADEMY

Climbing To A Fit Life

Ever thought about climbing as a form of fitness? You don’t even have to go outside and brave the weather (and slugs or snakes or insects) to take on climbing. Rockface in Northbridge is open seven days a week and, whether you’re an experienced climber or a first timer, you’ll be welcomed so jump on it.

Perth Swing Dance Academy is a Swing Dance School, specialising in the biggest vintage swing dance of the 1930s, the Lindy Hop. Different from ballroom, it is young, vibrant and energetic, making it perfect for young people looking to make new friends and socialise.

3 Central Locations: FREMANTLE INNALOO – VICTORIA PARK. There is plenty of social dancing in Perth and at least one weekly dance to live music every Friday at the Mustang 7-9:30pm

PARTIES

If you’re keen to have a bit of a climb at Rockface as part of your birthday celebrations, they’d be happy to have you. What’s even better, James Street is just five minute walk away so you’ll be able to have lunch, dinner or drinks with friends afterwards. They don’t have a liquor license so keep that in mind but they are able to organise a table for your presents and food. They also do birthday parties for kids, give them a buzz on (08) 9328 5998 to find out more.

FACILITIES

Rockface is Perth’s biggest climbing venue, with a gym reaching 10m at its highest point.

Rockface has two bouldering caves, three lead climbing walls and a wide range of vertical walls, overhangs, slabs, a shop, a sitting area and both male and female changing rooms with hot showers. Cold drinks and snack foods are also available and they are BYO if you’re having a social or corporate team building event.

CORPORATE TRAINING

Indoor rock climbing is used as an exciting, challenging and new way to break down boundaries and encourage socialisation and team building in an environment which is a little different to the work environment. You won’t even need previous climbing experience; the staff down at Rockface will show you the ropes. And, if you would like catering, you have that option. Rockface can even organise that for you if you wish.

TRAINING COURSES

Rockface has two training courses: Technique Training and Indoor Lead Climbing. Both courses are three to four hours and bookings are required for both courses.

The Technique Training course is $120 per person and the Indoor Lead Climbing course is $100 per person.

More info on the courses is available at rockface.com.au.

Rockface

CONTACT: perthswingdanceacademy.com, mob: 0402556956 LOCATION: FREMANTLE – INNALOO – VICTORIA PARK

A WORD FROM AN ACTIVE CLIMBER

Personal trainer at Fitness First in Floreat, Daniel Spaapen, has been rock-climbing for two years now and says initially, even if you are fit, you’ll be using different muscles climbing which might take a little bit of getting used to. “Most of the hardcore climbers will do stretching and things because it allows you to last longer climbing otherwise you tend to get [cramps] in your arms,” he says.

“The muscles want to explode out, they are really fatigued and they are full of blood. It’s a good idea to warm up and do some stretches for that reason.

Beginners tend to use their upper body too much and they will fatigue very quickly so it is not an easy sport. It takes a lot of training in the gym, in both the climbing gym and outside, to build up the strength that is necessary to climb consistently.”

Spaapen says it’s a matter of getting comfortable with climbing and understanding the basics along with the grading systems which will make climbing a lot easier. “You do have to do a course to be able to lead climb at Rockface,” he says. “They take you through tying knots, climbing technique, clipping in technique, all those sorts of things that go with lead climbing. Tying the knots comes with practice, you can be shown once, they will get you to do it a couple of times when they are happy and the more you climb the more likely you will remember how to do it. The clipping in thing is just practice, the more times you climb, the easier it should become. Then you start hanging upside down which brings a whole new element to climbing.”

ROCKFACE Rockface is the biggest climbing gym in WA and is centrally located in Northbridge.

TEAM BUILDING: Rockface offers Corporate Team Building programs across a broad spectrum of industries. Rock climbing is an exciting, challenging and physical sport, perfect for a corporate team building exercise. The sport is heavily reliant on good communication, trust, problem solving, and team encouragement. All programs can be customized to suit your needs.

No previous climbing experience is necessary Catering services offered Children’s birthday parties welcome 25% DISCOUNT WITH THIS AD CONTACT: (08) 9328 5998 or by email bruno@rockface.com.au LOCATION: 63B John Street, Northbridge 6003

Annette Gohl a tablespoon of UDO’s oil (amazing stuff that gets LOCAL AND LOVING IT and your brain working and nourishes the body and brain

Q&A

with good fats!). A few days in a row of drinking these and I’m usually back on track!

Annette Gohl Editor of WellnessWA.com.au

When you feel like a spot of exercise you…?

Get my yoga on! My gym runs lots of Favourite place for a healthy bite? classes and there are complimentary classes at There are so many! I love CNR Cafe in Northbridge for the amazing vegan brekkie; Eden’s Lululemon which I’m going to be partaking in soon.

Cafe in Subiaco/Nedlands for a green smoothie with I’m also doing a bit of up hill treadmill walking, a spirulina; Aisuru Sushi on William Street for vegan light weights routine, steam room and sauna sessions Japanese food and Meeka in Subiaco for the most and am slowly working through the couch-to-5km amazing Moroccan food! running program.

You’re the queen of green smoothies, when you’re feeling under the weather what do you whip up to kick your body into gear?

One of my favourites is: half a handful of baby kale, a handful of spinach, one cup of blueberries, half a banana, a splash of liquid vitamin B for energy and stress relief, some pepitas for iron www.xpressmag.com.au

When you feel like indulging in something a little less healthy you head to…?

Pearl of Highgate bakery (amazing spinach and ricotta rolls) and San Churro for spanish doughnuts with warm caramel and milk chocolate sauces. Too good to deny!

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Davey Lane

GOING SOLO

Andy Quilty’s portrait of Harald ‘H-Bomb’ Olsen is a finalist in the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture

SWANNING AROUND

One of our state’s most prestigious art competitions, the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture returns in 2012 bigger and better than ever before, complete with a new look, venue and prize. Combining forces with Heritage Perth, this year’s Black Swan Prize for Portraiture offers up over $70,000 in cash prizes, so competition is fierce. The full list of finalists is viewable online (via blackswanprize.com.au), and features the likes of Andy Quilty, Vincent Fantauzzo, Abdul Abdullah, David Spencer and David Bromfield, among others. The exhibition is set to open to the public on Friday, September 21, and will be housed for the first time in the newly refurbished Heritage Building at 137 St Georges Terrace. Stay tuned for more info.

HAVE HOPE

In Perth for an Asialink residency at the Fremantle Arts Centre, Taiwanese artist Chun-ming Chen wants to know what hope means to you. Chen is inviting hopeful individuals to join him at Studio 2 at FAC for a one minute discussion about hope, which will then make up part of Wall of Hope, an ongoing work by the artist. Anyone wanting to get involved can visit Chen on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in August between 11am and 3pm. Find out more at fac.org.au.

He’s toured this wide brown land of ours many times over with bands such as You Am I,The Pictures and The Wrights, but this August Davey Lane will carve his own path, venturing out on a rare solo tour. Touring ahead of the release of his debut solo album The Good Borne Of Bad Tymes, Lane will play a string of dates across WA, starting at the Prince of Wales in Bunbury on Thursday, August 23, with support from The Morning Night and Louis And The Honkytonk; before hitting up the Fly Trap in Freo on Friday, August 24, in support of Jill Burt’s album launch, alongside Richard Lane. He’ll then chase the sun all the way over to The Governor’s Bar on Rotto on Saturday, August 25, with support from the Morning Night; before wrapping up the tour at YaYa’s on Sunday, August 26, with his mates Davey Craddock and The Spectacles. His gigs at The Prince Of Wales and The Governor’s Bar are free, and tickets for his shows at the Fly Trap and YaYa’s will be available on the door.

MoveMe Dance Festival

MOVERS & SHAKERS Roller Derby Grand Final

DOOM DERBY

Forget the Eagles taking on the Dockers, there’s another big derby coming to town. WA’s Roller Derby Grand Final is set to light up your dreary August, taking over the Kingsway Indoor Stadium on Saturday, August 25. Three skating teams are set go head to head, Sonic Doom in black and blue, Electric Screams in silver, gold and white and finally Team Zebra. The game kicks off at 6pm and atmosphere is likely to be electric. Tickets via warollerderby.com.au.

Perth will be transformed into one big dance floor when the MoveMe festival hits town during August and September, celebrating the art of dance and those who are dedicated to it. From August 28-September 2, a feast of performances, forums, showings and workshops will take place in and around Perth, encouraging punters to get in touch with their groovier side. The climax of the festival will be the Australian Dance Awards on Saturday, September 1, at the Heath Ledger Theatre. A host of talented performers will celebrate the art of dance in a range of venues around Perth. For full details about the festival, visit moveme.org.au.

Meow Meow

PUSSY GALORE

The sexy and sensational chanteuse that is Meow Meow is set to sizzle and steam when she brings her unique brand of ‘kamikaze cabaret and performance art exotica’ to the Astor Theatre this November. She’s sold out seasons in cultural capitals such as New York, London and Berlin, and this November Perth cabaret fans will be able to worship at the fabulous throne of Meow Meow when she steps into the spotlight on Friday, November 16, to show us what she’s got. Purrfect.

Bernie

BERNIE

Your Funeral, My Trial Directed by Richard Linklater Starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey Such has been the gravity of Jack Black’s recent crimes against cinema (Gulliver’s Travels, anyone?) that it’s often hard to remember that, when he’s got his game face on, he can be a pretty entertaining guy, and there was a time, not too long ago, when he was pretty much beloved by all and sundry.

Luckily, he’s reteamed with School Of Rock director Richard Linklater to remind us.

Black is Bernie Tiede, an assistant mortician in a small Texas town, and just about the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet. He’s so nice, he even forges a strong friendship with local rich widow Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), an embittered old battleaxe with scarcely a kind word for anyone. Even Bernie has his breaking point, though, and one day he puts four bullets into the old bag’s back. The thing is, Bernie’s such a nice guy, no one blames him for the deed. She must have had it coming, the townsfolk reason, much to the consternation of politically ambitious District Attorney Danny Buck (Matthew McConaughey).

It’s a true story, based on a 1998 article by screenwriter Skip Hollandsworth, and Linklater has made the interesting choice to blur the line between documentary and feature film by interspersing the scripted re-enactments with interviews with the town residents who knew both the deceased and her murderer. The conceit works 28

like a charm, not only adding to the film’s folksy, down-home appeal, but also serving to ground it in reality - once you meet the actual residents of Carthage, Texas, the extremes of behaviour exhibited by the professional cast don’t seem quite so far-fetched.

Black gives a fun performance as the painfully sweet, irrepressibly camp Tiede. It’s both broad and nuanced, letting the inner conflict and loneliness show through the over the top affectations and prissy mannerisms. MacLaine enjoys herself as the hateful, shrewish Nugent, and McConaughey goes to the effort of injecting some internal life into a part that could have thrived solely on his good ol’ boy charm.

The problem is that Bernie doesn’t add up to all that much, in the final analysis. It’s consistently enjoyable, albeit moreso in the first half than the last, and the fact that its shaggy dog story is rooted in actual events gives it a certain cachet, but Linklater doesn’t appear to be actually trying to say anything with the film. It’s strangely themeless; content to wallow in eccentricity without commenting on it. In his original article, Hollandsworth makes a direct comparison to the non-fiction novel Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil; ironically enough, Bernier suffers from the same issues as that work’s film adaptation – it’s affable, but ultimately hollow.

That affability just about carries it, though. For a film about senicide, Bernie is awfully big-hearted. It’s a warm and whimsical tale of murder, passion, and greed, and we don’t get too many of those. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

Holy Motors

HOLY MOTORS Cracked Actor

Directed by Leos Carax Starring Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue It’s been 13 years since French director Leos Carax last put noses out of joint with the controversial Pola X. Now he returns to feature filmmaking with the puzzling, opaque, but utterly delightful Holy Motors.

It’s a difficult film to synopsise in a few words. Carax’s frequent collaboator, Denis Lavant, plays Monsieur Oscar, who travels around Paris in a gleaming white limousine, driven by Celine (Edith Scob). He has a number of ‘appointments’ in his schedule, and in each one he assumes a different identity, completely transforming himself with makeup and costumes, for purposes which are never made clear. At one point, he is an insane homeless man, who disrupts a fashion shoot featuring a beautiful model (Eva Mendes), whom he abducts. At another, he is a dutiful father picking his teenage daughter up from a party. At still another, he’s a criminal settling a score. His employers are never revealed, but there seems to be something otherwordly going on - death and resurrection are part of the package.

So it’s an anthology film of sorts, with Lavant at the centre of a series of distinctive and deranged vignettes. What it means, though, is entirely up for grabs. Is it a commentary on the art of acting?

A meditation on the different personas we all wear

for various occasions and audiences? A metaphysical navel-gazer? All of the above? None?

At the least, it’s never less that utterly engrossing. Lavant is a monstrously talented performer, brave and committed in a way that is rarely seen on the big screen. His ability to completely immerse himself in such a wide variety of roles is truly impressive. For his part, Carax matches his mercurial star by changing his shooting style from vignette to vignette, giving what is essentially a kind of cinematic greats hits compilation.

This is a film that celebrates film itself - it’s completely in love with the endless possibilities of cinema, and you get the sense that Carax was desperate to jam it full of the odd, startling, and beautiful moments that make film such a powerful medium.

Of course, that isn’t to say that Holy Motors is going to suit all tastes. Anyone with a deep-seated need for a conventional narrative is going to go unsatisfied, and those who can’t abide violence and nudity will be likewise dismayed - there’s plenty of both. Carax is a provocateur in the purest sense, and the shocking and perverse is just grist for his creative mill. But that just makes the whole thing more exciting - with all rules of narrative and good taste out the window, the feeling that anything could happen at any time is palpable.

Rarity is its own kind of beauty, and Carax’s authorial voice is rare indeed. We so seldom get a film that is truly different and genuinely unique. Anyone who has grown listless on a steady diet of sequels and remakes is strongly encouraged to check this one out; if nothing else, it’s a timely reminder that there’s still some originality in the world. _TRAVIS JOHNSON X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

The Bourne Legacy

THE BOURNE LEGACY Same Make, Different Model

Directed by Tony Gilroy Starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, Scott Glenn The Jason Bourne series is quite rightly considered a milestone in modern action cinema, as well as being a tidy little cash cow to boot. It comes as no surprise then that Universal wanted the series to keep on rolling, even after actor Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass had their fill of the amnesiac assassin.

Drafting in Tony Gilroy - he had a hand in writing the first three films - as director was a smart move, as was tapping up and comer Jeremy Renner to play the new lead. Still, the question remains, can Bourne be Bourne without, well, Bourne?

When Jason Bourne’s activities bring too much attention to the CIA’s nastier covert operations, shadowy G-man Eric Byer (Edward Norton) is brought in to clean house. This involves terminating anyone who knows too much about the company’s dirty laundry, including a number of special operatives.

One of the targeted agents is Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), a member of Operation Outcome, a program where operatives are enhanced, physically and mentally, by regular doses of medication. When the planned hit on Cross goes awry, he goes on the lam, but seeks out Outcome scientist Marta Shearling (Rachel Weisz), who is also on the hit list, in the hopes of securing more meds.

It’s a chase movie, essentially, with a few bells and whistles thrown in to give the appearance of freshness. Cross’ chemical dependency is a nice touch - without his intelligence enhancers, he’s well below normal, and the spectre of returning retardation gives him a more interesting motivation than merely survival. Anyone unfamiliar with the older films won’t have too much trouble figuring out what’s what, and some familiar faces crop up in what are essentially cameos in order to reassure existing fans that, yes, this film takes place in Bourne’s world, if not his actual life.

Yet there’s something missing - some ineffable quality. Renner is a great lead, bringing a more visceral and dangerous quality to the franchise, and there’s plenty of gunplay, martial arts mayhem, and chases, but it’s starting to seem a little rote by now. It’s ironic, considering the way that Bourne revitalised the action genre not all that long ago, that what set it apart in ‘02 is what makes it seem a little tired in ‘12. The film’s lacklustre climax and resolution doesn’t help matters either; the final action sequence feels tacked on, and the film doesn’t so much end as simply stop - clearly they’re gunning for a sequel.

The Bourne Legacy is polished but perfunctory, bringing all the obvious appeal of the franchise, while skimping on the deeper political and emotional concerns that made preceding films so resonant. It’s not a terrible film, but it’s a fairly undistinguished one, and it feels like all concerned are just treading water until Damon can be enticed back into the fold. _TRAVIS JOHNSON

SPARROW STYLE The bar and retail worlds collide at Cheeky Sparrow on the first Saturday of every month when local clothing, jewellery and lifestyle retailers take over the centrally located venue for a celebration of fashion. Combining vintage threads with cheap coffee and delicious delights, Cheeky Sparrow’s monthly pop up store is definitely worth a lookie.

Photographs by Dan Grant

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VISUAL ARTS 32 Strokes Of Kung Fu: Greenhill Galleries, Claremont It’s been six years since Zhong Chen’s last Perth exhibition and in the years since then, both change and continuity are evident in his paintings – whilst his brushwork has evolved to bold, expressive movements (a progression from his popular pixelated images), his work continues to explore historical and contemporary cultural identity as well as Chen’s own transcultural psyche and feelings of belonging. Runs ’til Aug 25.

Unfounded Findings: Free Range Gallery, Perth In his latest exhibition Alistair Rowe presents new works using assemblage to construct a set of spatial propositions within Free Range Gallery. He uses found glass panes, wooden furniture and gas lanterns. These materials are stacked, leaned and suspended in response to the architecture of the gallery. Runs Aug 17-26.

Light Locker Art Space: Grand Lane, Perth Located within Grand Lane off Murray Street Mall and viewable from Barrack Street, the Light Locker Art Space can be accessed 24/7 but is best viewed at sundown when the lights turn on. Since launching in June 2011, the space has supported and commissioned new works from 21 young artists, with many more to come! This exhibition is the fourth in a year-long program of peer curation, resulting in an organic approach to mapping out artist networks and commonalities.

For this latest exhibition, Joe Matthiessen, Dale Buckley, Kenya Bedford Armstrong, Stephen Genovese and Lyle Branson created new 2D and 3D artworks. Runs ’til Aug 31.

Spatial Drawing: Venn Gallery, Perth Spatial Drawing investigates contemporary approaches to drawing and features three emerging Western Australian artists: Benjamin Forster, Tom Freeman and Clare Peake. Drawing underpins diverse and complex approaches to art making for each of these multi-disciplinary artists, whose practices also comprise of sculpture, video and installation. Spatial Drawing will see each artist explore drawing further through the creation of physical formations and sculptural works that discuss notions of how we engage with space. Runs ’til Aug 31.

The Irregular Correct: New Art From Glasgow: Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Presenting a selection of what’s happening right now in contemporary Glaswegian art, The Irregular Correct: New Art From Glasgow features work by 10 significant artists working across painting, sculpture, installation, live performance video and more. From a gritty port town, Glasgow has evolved into an internationally renowned artistic hotspot and a major influence on British and European art. Dipping into the richness of European art history and with a connection to popular culture and Glasgow’s incredible musical scene (think Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai and Franz Ferdinand), the work in this exhibition resonates with varied and layered content. Runs ’til Sep 16.

World Music: Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Emerging Perth-based artist Andrew Varano presents his first solo exhibition World Music at Fremantle Arts Centre. Featuring kinetic sound sculptures, video installations and Zen fountain prototypes he questions our seemingly inherent desire to set up relationships and narratives between things. Varano uses the ‘memory palace’, a technique to organise memories, to draw on disparate ideas from amateur beekeeping, conspiracy theory, global cultural production and the characters of Moby Dick, trying to reconcile the relationships between tenuous ideas. Runs ’til Sep 16.

Here & Now: Lawrence Wilson Gallery, Nedlands Here & Now is the Lawrence Wilson Gallery’s inaugural annual exhibition of early-career, contemporary Western Australian artists. It surveys the activities of artist run initiatives and places craft-based practices and DIY endeavors within the scope of the gallery, presenting an experimental and interconnected system of art making unique to this time and place. Features work by Tom Freeman, Ben Kovacsy, Clare Peake and Jacob Ogden Smith. Runs ’til Oct 6.

Picasso To Warhol: 14 Modern Masters: Art Gallery Of WA, Northbridge Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters is the exciting launch exhibition of the Australian exclusive partnership between AGWA and MoMA. Featuring over 120 works by 14 of modern art’s most iconic artists including Matisse, Picasso, Pollock and Warhol, this exhibition presents a world-class introduction to the figures who redefined the very idea of art.

Runs ’til Dec 3.

Tricking The Depths by Martin E Wills Tricking The Depths: Bivouac, Northbridge Tricking The Depths is the latest solo exhibition by emerging artist Martin E Wills. A mash-up of science-fiction inspired landscapes and street-art characters, Tricking The Depths explodes as a colourful vista full of meat-men with bouffant hair, all dodging sinister holes in the ocean floor.

Runs ’til Oct 1.

THEATRE/DANCE Breaking Out: The Dolphin Theatre, UWA, Nedlands Breaking Out is a selection of compelling new works devised and choreographed by the graduating dance students of WAAPA with their peers and involving equally imaginative use of music, mostly original scores written, performed and recorded by WAAPA’s Composition and Music Technology students. Runs Aug 21-25. Bookings via waapa.ecu.edu.au.

Book Of Death (A Story Of Life): Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge The latest theatrical work by Renegade Productions, The Book Of Death (A Story Of Life), is a scintillating show about finding hope while facing the certainty of death. Produced by Renegade Productions – the acclaimed creators of Laryngectomy and Luminaire – this new show weaves together image-based performance, original live music, and the simple tale of a couple caught in a loveless relationship to create a cloth that is at once experimental and intimate, vulgar and beautiful.

Runs ’til Aug 25. Bookings via blueroom.org.au.

Tiny Little Tragedies: Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre, Northbridge STRUT presents the world premiere of WA contemporary dance work, Tiny Little Tragedies, created

by Alice Lee Holland, as the featured local production of the inaugural MoveMe dance festival.

Drawing on submitted tragedies from the public’s experiences the result is devastatingly beautiful choreography and movement that is achingly magnetic. Season runs Aug 29-Sep 1. Bookings via BOCS. Home: Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge How do we find refuge when home is lost? Three young people come together to face an unexpected event and all its repercussions. Working from Maurice Maeterlinck’s one-act play of the same name, The Broken Image Ensemble has devised a new work of exquisite beauty and hope. Season runs Aug 28-Sep 15. Bookings via blueroom.org.au.

On The Misconception Of Oedipus: Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre, Northbridge We know how the Oedipus story ends - he murders his father and unwittingly marries his mother.

But where did this shattering tragedy begin? Devised by Zoë Atkinson, Tom Wright and WA’s own award-winning and nationally acclaimed theatre director Matthew Lutton, On The Misconception Of Oedipus turns its eye to Jocasta and Laius, the parents who birthed a child that would bring about their downfall, and in so doing brought into the world more than a man — they created a myth.

Season runs Sep 5-15. Bookings via BOCS. 30

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

PAM ANN Flying High

Australian comedienne Caroline Reid - better known as Pam Ann - hits the tarmac with her new show, Around The World, at The Astor Theatre on Friday, August 24, and Saturday, August 25. Bookings via BOCS. In vino veritas, the old saying goes: in wine, there is truth. Although, in Caroline Reid’s case, that might need to be amended to in vino comoedia - in booze there is laughter. After all, it was drinking that led to the birth of Pam Ann, Reid’s stewardess alter ego.

“Alcohol - purely out of a bottle of vodka,” Reid confirms, going on to tell of a deliberately vague social occasion, the only concrete detail we’re privy to being that it involved costumes.

“I dressed up as a Pan Am flight attendant,” she continues. “And throughout the night, as people got drunker, it went from ‘Pan Am’ after saying it a few times, to ‘Pam Ann’. It really was just born out of that. Having a lot of gays around you helps, too. I guess that they’re my tribe; they’re my friends. You’re just a product of your environment.”

These days she’s more than a product of her environment, though - Pam Ann belongs to the world, having taken her outrageous act to countless countries, and captured such highprofile fans as Elton John and Madonna. Yet, despite the costumes and the controlled image, Reid insists that there is no character - she is Pam; Pam is Caroline.

“I don’t know,” she ponders. “I guess people can still have a go at you even if you are a character or not. I don’t think it really protects you, in a way. I’m really indifferent about it. I think it’s still your voice; it’s still you. It’s just really a premise for a lot of other things I talk about. I travel the world, I do shows in every country, and it’s more of an observation on a country, a culture, a person, people, airlines.”

Tellingly, when asked who her key comedic influences are, Reid doesn’t namecheck lauded character comics such as Andy Kaufman or Peter Sellers; her heroes are raconteurs and iconoclasts, for the most part. “I guess, right at the beginning, the three key people were Barry Humphries, Steven Berkoff, and Sandra Bernhard - they were the three people that I liked a lot.

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Wedding stationery by Annie P Paperie will be on display at Wedding Upmarket

UP, UP AND AWAY

Pam Ann Today I like Lenny Bruce, Dave Chappelle, Billy Connolly - I like his storytelling. There are a lot of comediennes, too, like Joan Rivers. I like people who push the boundaries, take risks, and get complaints.”

Reid herself gets few complaints, though, with Pam Ann having proved wildly popular - something she admits she is still occasionally surprised by. “I guess it’s a weird thing. When you’re passionate about something, I guess it’s a long journey of learning, and I don’t think I’m really there, yet. I’ve still got a lot to learn about the craft and the skill by looking at other people. I don’t think I’m there yet!”

And as for the new show itself, she remains guarded, except to say that it will be “really topical in so far as what’s going in Australia right now with the airline material. Be prepared to feel a little bit hijacked!” _TRAVIS JOHNSON

Love birds and their friends and family will flock to Winthrop Hall at UWA later this month to peruse a huge variety of wares at Wedding Upmarket, a one day, one-stop-shop for all things bridal. From invitations to decorations, flowers to photography, jewellery to caterers, Wedding Upmarket promises to take the stress out of planning your big day.

Taking place on Saturday, August 25, from 10am to 3pm, Wedding Upmarket will feature stalls from a huge range of independent artisans, including Annie P Paperie, Olil Jewellery, Sweet Addition, Sue Lewis Chocolates, Paper Fusion, Olive Farm, Natalie Carr Floral Designs, Loui Col and La Plaeta, among many others.

Whether you’re planning to tie the knot or know somebody who is, Wedding Upmarket is a great way to find out what’s on offer for brides and grooms to be in Perth. Best of all, entry is free! Get the full rundown on the event via perthupmarket.com.au.

PRE LOVED PERFECTION

I Love Polaroid will sell their wares at the Polka Dot Vintage Market

Returning to the Claremont Showgrounds over the weekend of August 18-19, the Polka Dot Vintage Market is WA’s biggest celebration of pre-loved clothing and accessories, and is a must-visit for people who take second hand seriously. Packed to the rafters with ’50s frocks, ’60s prints, ’70s jumpsuits and general bits and bobs from the ’80s and ’90s, Polka Dot caters to a wide variety of vintage lovers, with furniture, records, home wares, collectables, jewellery and fashion galore.

Entry is only $6 and there’s a $2,000 door prize up for grabs over the weekend, so mark it in your diary now! Find out more about the event by hitting up the Polka Dot Vintage Market Facebook page.

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

B E A T S ,

B A S S

&

B U Z Z I N G

E L E C T R O N I C A

Ten years ago, Australian hip hop label Obese Records released Obesecity – a compilation featuring some of the emerging genre’s biggest acts. In 2002, names like the Hilltop Hoods barely registered outside a small but loyal following.Today, however, Australian hip hop has grown to become one of the country’s most popular genres. To celebrate this success, Obese Records is releasing the second instalment of Obesecity this week.

JOSHUA HAYES speaks with two of the artists who contributed to the double album; Ryan Stewart, aka Fluent Form, and Andrew Leslie, aka Bigfoot.

Obesecity was released at a time when Australian hip hop was still fighting for credibility outside its small but loyal following. Triple J’s Hip Hop Show had only just started, and The Nosebleed Section – the song that introduced the genre to regular airplay and the ears of the nation – was still a year away.

The first Obesecity featured many of the artists who would, over the following decade, become some of its biggest and most respected names – the Hilltop Hoods, Koolism, Muph, Plutonic Lab and the late, great Hunter. It also featured the notorious Chopper Reid trying his hand at hip hop on the Lyrical Commission collaboration Machete.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

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Friction

John 00 Fleming Fluent Form

Bigfoot

The album introduced many youngsters to Australian hip hop, including Ryan Stewart. “I was young and dumb and had just dropped out of high school and was doing a lot of drugs and running with the wrong people… so while hip hop was always there and I always loved it and did a bit of writing here and there, I was kind of too out of it to really focus on the music,” he recalls.

“What happened was someone came around with Obesecity, and at that time I was still listening to, predominantly, artists from America, so I hadn’t really heard too much Aussie stuff. He put it on and I realised ‘wow, okay, there’s actually some Australian MCs who share the same passion’… so that was my proper introduction to a lot of names who have gone on to do bigger and better things.”

The experience motivated Stewart to focus on music. His two albums, 2009’s The Furnace and 2011’s Word Merchant, were distributed through Obese Records, and he now works at the label’s retail store in Melbourne. Leslie, meanwhile, is one of the few artists to appear on both instalments of Obesecity.

Having first encountering hip hop as a kid via Rage and graffiti, he began to be inspired by early kings of the local hip hop scene like Prowla and Bias B. “They were just people from where we’re from, doing what we do, talking about real shit, so that did it for me,” he says.

His contribution to the first Obesecity, Destroy The Rhyme, was a collaboration with Fletchrock; a long-time friend of his, recorded when they were also housemates.“We had Ciecmate and Newsense and Art Of War and all those guys coming around a fair bit; I had Hunter living on my couch at the time,” he recalls.

“It was a bit different back then to now, I suppose. Aussie rap was [all] little independent releases and things; even Obese was pretty small scale at that time. The Hoods were still playing fucking small little shows in interstate places and that, you know what I mean? It was a very different climate,” he says.

That has changed, and Obese Records is now home to a number of artists who are regulars on Triple J and the festival circuit, such as Illy, M-Phazes, Muph & Plutonic, Spit Syndicate and label boss Pegz. However, the second instalment of Obesecity focuses on artists distributed by, rather than signed to, the label.

Leslie’s contribution, What I Do, was written and recorded when he thought the album would focus on signed artists. “At that time I didn’t know they were going more for distro artists on the album; I thought it was going to be Illy and that sort of thing, so I thought, well, let’s do… a summary of our general style; some rough battle raps,” he says. “I gravitate towards more rugged, crusty, dirty sound things; not the polished, poppy sort of easy-on-the-ears music, you know what I mean? I grew up with Wu-Tang.”

Meanwhile, Stewart’s contribution, The Code, features Philadelphia rapper Haslo. “I wanted to do something a little bit different, because I knew that most people would be doing a song where it’s Australians only,” he says.“I think it shows that hip hop – as much as [the] album’s about supporting Australian hip hop, which is good – it also shows thought that, in the end, it’s a universal code.”

And he sees the album having the same impact that the original Obesecity had on him a decade ago. “New generations and new years are constantly coming through. There’s gonna be high school kids that’ll hear this one and that’ll inspire them,” Stewart says.“And these artists will be pushed up even further by more ears starting to listen to Australian hip hop; I mean, it’s one of the fastest growing, if not the fastest growing, genre in this country now.”

» OBESECITY 2 [OBESE RECORDS] » OUT FRIDAY, AUGUST 17

GLOBAL TRANCE GROOVES

The one and only John 00 Fleming is coming to town. The UK trance DJ and producer is bringing his progressive beats down under to take on Metro City on Saturday, September 8. Having been in the business for over 20 years and sold over 10 million records and produced 30 mix compilations, Fleming is a pioneer in the scene whose sound is best described as deep and textured progressively edged trance. Tickets are $20 on the door before midnight and $25 thereafter. Doors open at 9pm.

Get on down!

GET BLAZIN’

ZANZIBAR BEATS

There’s a new night in town. It’s called Daisuki and is all about disco, beats, weird and wonderful electronica and late nights melded together into a nice monthly Sunday evenin g package. And, the peeps behind the evening, have got just the perfect duo to launch Daisuki. Melbourne duo Zanzibar Chanel, aka Luis Cran-Lawrence and Zachary Segbedzi, are bringing their crossdressing dance jam spectacle to Geisha this Sunday, August 19. Savoir, Andrew Sinclair, Mei Saraswati, Mostarsk and Willy Suede will be on support duties. Tickets are $10 on the door before 9pm and $12 thereafter.

DROP THE LIME

The Pharcyde has seen many ups and downs since the release of their classic debut, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, 20 years ago.

JOSHUA HAYES speaks with the Los Angeles hip hop group’s remaining members, Bootie Brown, aka Romye Robinson, and Imani, aka Emandu Wilcox, about what’s keeping them busy ahead of their tour to celebrate this milestone.

A New York native of Sicilian blood, Luca Venezia, aka Drop The Lime, exploded onto the nu-electro, bass scene a few years ago, but has been DJing and producing his unique brand of beats for over 10 years.

On his debut artist album, Enter The Night, he reveals his roots and true passion for classic soul and rockabilly. ALFRED GORMAN chats to the enigmatic lad about growing up in New York City, rock’n’roll and what’s in a name.

Kit Pop

LONG LIVE PAPER CHAIN

Local legendary beats label Paper Chain is sadly folding. But, they’re having one last party to celebrate all the good times, great talent which came out of the label and the label itself. It’s all happening this Friday, August 17, at The Bird.

Ta-Ku, Zeke, Kit Pop, Diger Rokwell, Cosmo Gets (DJ set), Rekab, Dr Space, Ylem, Mei Swan, Clunk and Saxon & Boy Prince will all be performing. It’s $5 on the door from 7pm. Get on down and show your support for Paper Chain.

ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK

TWENTY YEARS ON THE BIZARRE RIDE

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Brighton-raised Friction is coming to town.

The UK drum’n’bass DJ and producer began collaborating with local producers Stakka & K-Tee (who were heavily involved in Andy C’s Ram Records label) and then life for the lad starting getting a bit crazy. Highly regarded as one of the biggest drum’n’bass DJs in the world, Friction has gone from strength to strength with his Shogun Audio label and will be unleashing an audio onslaught at Villa on Saturday, September 22.

Joining Friction will be MC Linguistics to bring the rhymes, Ekko & Sidetrack and more. Tickets are on sale now from Moshtix.

Sydney producer Blaze Tripp is heading over west to give your ears a smattering of heavy bass and addictive rhythms. His tracks have got support from the likes of Kissy Sell Out, Elite Force, Toddla T and more. They’ve also made it onto compilations like Fabriclive 44, Ministry Of Sound: Maximum Bass and a bunch more. It’s all happening on Saturday, September 22, at Ambar when he touches down for Japan 4. Buda, Philly Blunt, DNGRFLD and Tee El will be on support duties. Tickets are $15 on the door. Do it.

THE PHARCYDE

1992 was a pivotal year in hip hop; a genre emerging from its late ‘80s ‘golden era’ and on the cusp of commercial dominance for the first time.

Most notably, Dr Dre’s The Chronic captured the boiling-point-tension of day-to-day life in South Central Los Angeles, circa the LA riots.

However, in the same year, four youngsters from the same streets released an equally compelling – if entirely different – take on hip hop that remains one of the genre’s underappreciated classics; The Pharcyde’s jazzy, offbeat and fun Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. Their approach – four laidback stoners cracking ‘yo mama’ jokes and writing melancholy odes to crushes that passed them by – was unlike anything heard in hip hop at that point.

The Pharc yde’s follow up, 1995’s Labcabincalifornia, was largely produced by a thenunknown J Dilla, and the video for its lead single, the timeless Drop, was directed by a then-unknown Spike Jonze. But it, and subsequent releases, failed to recapture the magic of the group’s initial bizarre ride. The years since have been marred by label dramas and infighting (Fatlip left the group soon after Labcabincalifornia, and Slimkid3 a few years later).

For the better part of the last decade, The Pharcyde has consisted of Robinson and Wilcox. All four members occasionally do reunion shows together – Australian punters were lucky enough to catch the whole outfit at Good Vibrations in 2009, and they played a handful of

FOR THE LOVE OF FRICTION

The Pharcyde shows in California earlier this month – but, things still seem rocky; the notes for our interview state that the relationship with the departed members is not to be brought up.

Both remaining members have solo projects in the works – Wilcox, an album called PROBLACCMAJIK, and Robinson, The Birdtalk Mixtape and an album titled GreenLanguage.

They say the upcoming tour is an opportunity to preview some new material, alongside all the fan favourites. “[We’re trying to] let people know that there’s a pulse so they can gradually get into the music,” Wilcox says. “It’s so difficult when you’re trying to put out music as a member of The Pharcyde, because they just want that Pharcyde, they want to compare everything to Bizarre Ride, and I just want to come with something that’s a little different; that’s all.”

Robinson hopes to have GreenLanguage available by early 2013. “I want to shock people as far as the direction I want to go. It may not even be hip hop; I don’t even know if it’s gonna even contain a lot of rapping,” he says. “I just want to do something completely different with the project.”

Kinda like their approach to music when they first began their bizarre ride.

» THE PHARCYDE » SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 @ CAPITOL

One of the first things people ask Luca Venezia is where his moniker came from. The funny thing is, depending what you read, his answer to that question could be anything from his Sicilian grandmother’s medical remedy, a traditional Italian drink, a tribute to the dead or a reference to his Grandfather’s green motorcycle.

It seems Venezia likes to mess with the media in order to retain his mystique, and also, admirably, to take the piss. I mean what’s in a name anyway? No one ever asks Red Hot Chili Peppers or The Smashing Pumpkins where their names come from. Posed with this question, Venezia slyly replies with a cryptic: “Embrace the mystery of mistakes and magic of interpretation.”

Currently touring Europe, he is heading to Ibiza from Edinburgh where he “had a rowdy one”. “[I] ended up getting matching fang tattoos with strange but lovely gals,” he says. “More and more rock’n’roll fans are coming to my gigs. It feels fantastic; I am meeting so many amazing people that weren’t going to my gigs before the album dropped.”

While some older fans of Drop The Lime might not fully appreciate his jump from electro beats and bass to jackin’ rockabilly infused songs with vocals, it’s been a gradual evolution for Venezia. “It’s definitely been gradual but also essential,” he says. “I’ve been wanting to create this sound for quite some time but the timing wasn’t right until now. I love bass music, I love electro but I also love blues and rockabilly. I missed playing guitar, and once I began to play again, songs poured out, as each glass of bourbon poured lovely.”

Growing up in NYC, Venezia was exposed to many sounds and styles in the cultural hotpot that

Drop The Lime is the big apple, “NYC has so many colliding cultures,” he says. “Fashion, music, film, art... all collide and inspire.

It will forever influence me musically. I started playing guitar at seven. Blame it on the Stray Cats, Johnny Cash and Elvis - once I started I couldn’t stop.”

As well as being influenced by the greats, he’s also influenced by the likes of Aphex Twin, Underworld, and Prodigy. “There’s a lot of great new bands today as well - Beach House, Trailer Trash Tracy’s, Twin Shadow.

They’re all doing amazing things musically.”

Venezia also still heads up the Trouble & Bass label, which started as a club night that fast became notorious in the NYC underground. “I’m lucky to have such a strong crew – we are like family. AC Slater, Star Eyes, and The Captain are the core members of T&B. The Captain holds down the fort while I spread the Trouble word in other lands. We’ve got our six year anniversary party in September. Madness will come rattling down.”

While he still DJs, for now, Venezia’s main focus is the live band. “It’s a show, a death cabaret, a devil’s dance,” he says.“A more theatrical, romantic, dark and intimate experience. I don’t want to blast people with spaceship lights, smoke and mirrors. I want the music to matter, and bring the rock’n’roll energy in dance music, with a big sub-woofer bass thud.”

» DROP THE LIME » ENTER THE NIGHT [ULTRA MUSIC] » OUT NOW X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

TURNTABLE RHAPSODY Z-TRIP/ Zeke & Kit Pop/ Ben Parrot The Bakery Saturday, August 11, 2012

Kraymer

KRAYMER SIMMA SOUNDS

It’s been a few good weeks for local fans of turntablism, with the DMC Championship heats held in late July, for the first time in years, and the first visit of the legendary Z-Trip in over two years.

Ben Parrot opened the night, spinning mainly ‘90s hip hop classics, before Zeke & Kit Pop took the stage. Their impressive set of bass music and turntablism largely involved Zeke scratching and manipulating numerous effects nobs as Kit Pop triggered the music and tapped out beats on a drum machine. Zeke’s ridiculous turntablism skills wowed the audience that quickly filled up The Bakery (it’s no surprise that he has been called on to perform with WASO this weekend as part of their Latitude Concert Series), while a dubstep reworking of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Niggas In Paris stood out.

Z-Trip then proved why he earned his reputation as one of the world’s best DJs, kicking off his set by transitioning flawlessly from The Isley Brothers’ laidback Between The Sheets to 140bpm drum’n’bass – in about three minutes. Throughout his almost 90 minute set he touched on almost every genre imaginable, although a rowdy response from the crowd ensured he returned regularly to dubstep.

The set was often a study of contrasts - Cali Swag District’s Teach Me How To Dougie butted up against Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love, while Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain gave way to a mashup with Bone Thugs N Harmony’s Wind Blow.

He often performed live mashups with an instrumental on one turntable and an acapella on the other, such as when he had the crowd singing along to ODB’s Shimmy Shimmy Ya over the Gorillaz’ Dirty Harry. At other times, he seemed to just be showing off – like when he played Pony, scratching Ginuine’s vocals over the classic Timbaland beat.

Videos were being projected on a screen behind the stage, controlled by a visual artist responding to the music Z-Trip played. The projections ranged from computer generated graphics to archival footage to – at the beginning and end of the set – the Aboriginal flag.

Jamaican and Rastafarian flags also got projected, as Z-Trip touched on Damien Marley’s Welcome To Jamrock and Bob Marley’s One Love.

In a set so diverse, there are inevitably some quibbles that could be made - the Hollaback Girl dubstep

Z-Trip (photo by Dan Grant) reworking was probably unnecessary, and just because Z-Trip can transition surprisingly well from The Beatles’Let It Be to Crank That (Soulja Boy), it doesn’t mean he should – but these were minor.

He spun the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage as a tribute to the recently deceased MCA, before stopping the music and announcing that he had time for one more song and that, unlike the rest of his set, he would let it play from beginning to end without scratching or mixing any other tracks in. Cue Bohemian Rhapsody.

It was an odd way to finish the set, which few other DJs would even consider – let alone attempt – but seeing the same punters who were losing their shit to dubstep 10 minutes earlier singing“Galileo Galileo”in the loudest falsettos, they could manage proved that Z-Trip’s instincts are spot on.

» JOSHUA HAYES

Kraymer, aka 24-year-old DJ and producer Mike Swan, recently moved from Melbourne to Sydney.

Dropping beats on Vicious Bitch, Simma Records, San City High and more, the young gun is excited to be returning for Force Majeure with J-Trick this weekend. ANNABEL MACLEAN gets the lowdown.

Mike Swan is going to see Nicki Minaj when she hits Australia for her upcoming national tour. Just joking. But, the young DJ and producer did make a bootleg of Minaj’s track Starships. “Yeah for sure, I’ll be queuing up for that one,” Swan says, speaking of Minaj’s upcoming tour, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

But, Starships isn’t the only project which Swan has been hard at work on. He recently finished a remix alongside Simma Records owner Will Bailey for Sydney duo Doctor Werewolf’s track Lasercat Rocket Attack which he plans on dropping when he touches down in Perth to play Force Majeure this Friday night at Ambar. Swan also has a remix coming out on Kissy Sell Out’s label San City High shortly and some originals dropping on Vicious Bitch soon too.

Then there’s a collaboration EP with Audiobot to be released in a month, fresh beats coming out on Rico Tubb’s label Bass=Win and more killer tracks for Simma Record too.

All of these opportunities have come about since Swan started producing three years ago.

“My stuff came across Acid Jacks and they picked up some tunes and they wanted to release them and things grew after that,” he says. “I got some pretty good support and each release I did from then on got better and better support. It finally got to a point where Will Bailey [Simma Records] got in contact with me and wanted to release some stuff and that was real cool. Then we kind of kicked the whole Simma thing off. We’ve done some collabs since. It’s pretty much been uphill ever since then I guess.”

Having recently re-located from Melbourne to Sydney, Swan is continuing to throw himself in the evolving club scene.“I’ve been up here for about two months so pretty fresh to the whole Sydney lifestyle,”he says.“I personally think the scene up here is a lot better than what Melbourne has to offer. My favourite place to play would have to be in Sydney anyway. This was all thought up before I moved up here... it’s been kinda cool. It was a lot easier coming up here and having a few contacts and stuff like that rather than having to start fresh so it’s been pretty chilled.”

But, Swan’s second favourite place to play is Ambar (his first being an equal tie with Sydney’s Chinese Laundry and World Bar), the home of underground where he’ll be tearing it up alongside up and coming Sydney DJ and producer J-Trick.

“We’re both pretty pumped about Perth, especially after last time; we’re looking forward to it,” he says.

“We’re pretty tight. We’ve been mates for about a year I guess and we kind of hooked up online networking and stuff and started working on some tunes together and Kid Kenobi took one of the tunes and we’re doing another tune for Bass=Win at the moment. We’re always in contact and I consider him a pretty good mate.”

Aside from his upcoming Force Majeure gig, Swan says he’s currently working on a national tour which is all hush hush at the moment. “There’s a tour in the works at the moment - but I can’t really get too into it - but if that pulls off it’s going to be pretty cool,” he concludes.

» KRAYMER » FORCE MAJEURE » FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 @ AMBAR www.xpressmag.com.au

35

PARAMOUNT

CAPITOL

WEDNESDAY 15/08 Blvd Tavern – Dub Step Captain Stirling – Fiveo Clancy’s (Applecross) – Upbeat – DJ Andy Connections – DJs Joby /JJ /Rueben Eurobar – Wild Wednesdays - DJ iPod/ Ben Pettit Flying Scotsman – UniQue DJs/ DJ Bones/ DJ Moflow Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Beaufort Bop ft DJ Anton Maz 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 Paul Burgess

THURSDAY 16/08 Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Wrighteous Claremont Hotel- DJ Fiveo/ Jimmy Thorne Club Marakesh – DJ Simon Cottesloe Hotel – DJ Shots/ DJ Andy M Empire Bar – Halo/ DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Eve – DJ Tony Allen Flying Scotsman – Cowboys & Indie Kids DJs Leopold Hotel – DJ Riki/ Roger Smart

Zeke

36

Killswitch 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 Newport – Bass Culture Paramount – DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Jordan Players Bar – MASH South St – DJ Castasia/ Dpad Swinging Pig – DJ Simon The Avenue – DJ Freedz The Carine Tavern – Punchy & Juicy/ Little Nicky The Causeway – Jaymie Franchina The Craftsman – Roger Smart The Deen – DJ Flex/ DJ Nano/ DJ Surge/ DJ Don Migi The East End Bar - The Prestige ft Az-T The Queens – Kapitol The Whale & Ale – Josh Tilley The Whistling Kite - DJ Gareth Tiger Lils – Paul Malone/ Adam Kelly Toucan - MissChief Mel Velvet Lounge – Descent Woodvale Tavern – DJ Melvin

FRIDAY 17/08 23 Irwin Street, Perth - Syrup ft Zeke/ Clunk/ Ben T/ Rekab/ Nebula/ Easy P Ambar – Force Majeure ft J-Trick & Kraymer/ Philly Blunt/ Punchy & Juicy/ Benny P Amplifier – DJ Jamie Mac Bar 459 - DJ Smurf Bird – Paper Chain Is Dead ft TaKu/ Zeke/ Kit Pop/ Diger Rokwell/ Cosmo Gets (DJ set)/ Rekab/ Dr Space/ Ylem/ Mei Swan/ Clunk/ Saxon & Boy Prince Boheme Bar - DJ Majiika Boulevard Tavern – DJ Andyy Broken Hill Hotel – DJ Nick Alexander Brooklands Tavern - DJ Misschief Mel Capitol – Retro Mash Capitol (Upstairs) – I Love ‘90s Carine Tavern – Greg Packer/ MC Assassin Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Boogie Claremont Hotel – DJ Pasha/ Dale Ingvarson

Kraymer

FRAT HOUSE FRIDAYS

Club Bayview – Amnesia ft Fendi/ Axon/ Fellis Como Hotel – DJ Gazz Eastern Hotel – DJ Munch Empire Bar – Lockie Shaw Eve – DJ Bliss Flawless – DJ Ryan Flying Scotsman – DJs Jo19/ Rok Riley/ Armee Flying Scotsman (Defectors) - Back To Mono DJs Ginger Nightclub – Rondevoo Fridayz Gosnells Club – DJ Now Hipe Club - DJ E-Funk Honey Lounge – DJ Curlee/ Drew Green Lakers Tavern – Fresh Fridays - DJ Dooey Left Bank – DJ Frankie Button Library – DJ Sneaky Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Morris Matches Bar – DJ Fredrick Anderson 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 Norma Jean’s - DJ Ben Paddy Hannans – Crazy Craig Paramount - DJ Johnny Boi/ DJ Jordan Players Bar – Sugar Queens Tav – DJ Rueben Rocket Room – DJ Franky J Sail & Anchor - Balcony Beatz/ DJ J-MAC Shape – Inhibit 6th Birthday ft Killswitch/ Voltron/ Illusiv B2B Dub Z/ Dvise & Bear and more Sovereign Arms – Dylan Hammond The Avenue – JMC The Carine – Mind Electric/ Little Nicky/ Az-T The Causeway – Jus Haus?

The East End Bar – Az-T 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 – Abstar Toucan - DJ Hages Windsor – DJ Riki and Ray Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Giles Villa – Rewind ft Karl Blue/ Junior/ Adroc Ya-Ya’s – Hero DJs ft Pup

SATURDAY 18/08 Ambar – Japan 4 ft Buda/ Oli/ Wish/ Micah/ Bezwun Amplifier – Pure Pop ft Eddie Electric Basement On Broadway – DJ Ricky Boheme Bar – Carte Blanche DJs Broken Hill Tavern – DJ Roger Smart/ Matt Richards/ Ben Dallin Capitol – Death Disco DJs Capitol (Upstairs) – Cream Of The ‘80s ft DJ Ryan Clancy’s (Canning Bridge) - DJ Dood Claremont Hotel – Fiveo/ J.V.R Club Bay View – Fiveo Empire Bar – DJ James Ess Eurobar – Roger Smart/ DJ Raci Eve – Red Hot Bikini Babe Comp ft Eve DJs 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 Honey Lounge – DJ Saxon/ Sardi Library – MKT ft DJ Riki/ DJ Vicktor and more Little Creatures Loft – Marine Beats Liquid Nightclub - DJ Klar55/ DJ Stevie M Llama Bar – DJ Reuben/ DJ Melvin Matches Bar - PJ Stokes/Valerio Malt Super Club – Fiveo Metro City (R&B Lounge) - DJ Slick/DJ Ruthless/DJ Soso/DJ Brett Costello Metro Freo – DTuck/ Darren Briais/ DJ Wazz Mint Nightclub – Pop Life ft DJ Aaron/ AJ Mojos – Jon Wayne/ Mono/Poly 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 Players Bar – DJ Tito Queens Tav - Gareth Richardson Rocket Room – Delicious (Ladies Only) ft DJ Franky J South St Ale House – DJ Jay Sovereign Arms – Rockwell The Avenue – Fiveo The Brighton (Upstairs) – Micah/ Kill Dyl/ eSQue The Boheme – DJ Sneakee The Causeway – Rhys Johnson The Clink –Az-T The Cornerstone – Dylan Hammond The Craftsman – Tammy Stevens The Deen - DJ Birdie/ DJ JJ/ DJ Tony Allen The East End Bar - Fiveo

METRO FREO

The Generous Squire – On Tap ft James Nutley The Saint – DJ Anaru The Shed –DJ Tony Dee The Wembley – Lokie Shaw The Whistling Kite - DJ Craig The Vic – DJ Kristian Tiger Lils – DJ Bojan/ DJ Ben Sebastian Toucan - DJ Sam Spencer Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin Villa - The Potbelleez DJs Windsor – DJ Ray Woodvale Tavern – DJ Real McCoy Ya-Ya’s – Hero DJs ft Pup

SUNDAY 19/08 Captain Stirling – DJ Jay Claremont Hotel – DJ Double Dee Clink – DJ Tony Allen Empire Bar – CB3/ DJ Riki/ DJ Vicktor Euro Bar – DJ Flex Eve – DJ LStreet/ Angry Buda Flying Scotsman – Nathan J/ Nizbet/ Pasha/ Chris Flying Scotsman (Defectors) – Eclectic Picnic Geisha – Daisuki ft Zanzibar Chanel Mint - Chris McPhee Mustang – DJ Rockin Rhys Paramount – Glo/ DJ Slick/ DJ Benny C/ DJ Matty S Players Bar – Electro House Battle Rocket Room – Coyote Ugly Sovereign Arms – Josh Tilley The Avenue – Az-T The Causeway – Lukas Wimmler The Cott – Cott Sessions The Kiosk – DJ Cinder The Saint - DJ Anaru The Shed – DJ Tony Dee

MONDAY 20/08 Bar Orient - DJ White Label Broken Hill Tavern - DJ Mario Tavelli The Deen – Plastic Max/ The Token Gesture The Paddo – DJ John Paul The Shed – DJ Andyy

TUESDAY 21/08 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 Victoria Park Hotel – DJ Melvin

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

SHAPE

THE LICK

Z-TRIP

THE BAKERY

CAUSEWAY

IN THE THIS WEEK:

DJ Havana Brown Friday, August 24 @ Eve Nightclub

Force Majeure ft J-Trick & Kraymer Friday, August 17 @ Ambar

The Pharcyde/ Computer Jay/ DJ Vickone Saturday, August 25 @ Capitol

th

Inhibit 6 Birthday ft Killswitch/ Voltron/ Illusiv B2B Dub Z/ Dvise & Sessions 9 Tour ft Tom Piper & Bear and more Timmy Trumpet Friday, August 17 @ Shape Saturday, August 25 @ Villa Paper Chain Is Dead ft Ta-Ku/ Zeke/ Kit Pop/ Diger Rokwell/ Cosmo Gets (DJ set)/ Rekab/ Dr Space/ Ylem/ Mei Swan/ Clunk/ Saxon & Boy Prince Friday, August 17 @ The Bird DJ Bliss Friday, August 17 @ Eve Nightclub Rewind ft Karl Blue/ Junior/ Adroc Friday, August 17 @ Villa Syrup ft Zeke/ Clunk/ Ben T/ Rekab/ Nebula/ Easy P Friday, August 17 @ 23 Irwin Street, Perth The Potbelleez DJs Saturday, August 18 @ Villa Daisuki ft Zanzibar Chanel Sunday, August 19 @ Geisha

COMING UP DJ Chino (Pitbull’s Official DJ) Thursday, August 23 @ Eve Nightclub White Trance Party Anthems Friday, August 24 @ Villa

Parklife Road Trip ft Sun City DJs/ Audageous/ Zeke & Kit Pop/ Dr Space/ Gran Calavera/ Killafoe Friday, August 31 @ Villa Liquid Stranger Friday, August 31 @ Shape District ft Q-Bik/ Philly Blunt/ Marko Paulo/ JS/ Tonic/ Ol Wright Friday, September 7 @ Ambar Onelove Mobile Disco Friday, September 7 @ Villa Urthboy Saturday, September 8 @ The Rosemount Hotel Triple J House Party Tour ft Nina Las Vegas/ Flume/ Beni/ What So Not/ Deacon Rose Saturday, September 8 @ Capitol Drumsound & Bassline Smith/ Hamilton/ Optiv & BTK Saturday, September 8 @ Villa Roger Shah Friday, September 14 @ Shape Fritz Kalkbrenner Saturday, September 15 @ Geisha

Krayzie Bone/ Wish Bone (Bone Thugs N Harmony) Saturday, September 15 @ Metro City

Seth Sentry Saturday, October 6 @ The Rosemount Hotel

ShockOne Chaos Theory Tour ft ShockOne/ Phetsta/ Dvise and more Saturday, September 15 @ Villa

Paul Oakenfold Saturday, October 6 @ Villa

The Circus Showcase ft Doctor P/ Cookie Monsta/ Funtcase/ Slum Dogz Wednesday, September 19 @ Villa Friction/ MC Linguistics Saturday, September 22 @ Villa Octave One Saturday, September 22 @ The Bakery High Wolf Thursday, September 27 @ PICA Bar Far East Movement Friday, September 28 @ Eve Nightclub Ferry Corsten/ Shogun Sunday, September 30 @ Villa Parklife ft Chairlift/ Modestep/ The Presets/ Nero (live)/ Passion Pit/ Plan B/ Justice (DJ set)/ Robyn/ Benga (live)/ Rusko/ Wiley/ Labrinth/ DJ Fresh (live)/ Flume/ Alison Wonderland/ Lee Foss/ Jack Beats (live) and more Monday, October 1 @ Wellington Square

Too Fresh Friday, August 24 @ Ambar

Seth Sentry Sunday, October 7 @ The Norfolk Hotel This Is Nowhere ft Jimmy Edgar/ Ikonika/ Slugabed/ Salva/ D’eon/ James Ireland/ Move Crew/ Rok Riley/ Travis Doom/ Jo Lettenmaier Sunday, October 14 @ Dolphin Theatre & Lawrence Jackson Court, UWA Jay Sean Thursday, October 25 @ Eve Nightclub Stereosonic ft Tiësto/ Avicii/ Calvin Harris/ Example/ Carl Cox/ Major Lazer/ Laidback Luke/ Martin Solveig/ Dash Berlin/ Markus Schulz/ Diplo/ Sander van Doorn/ Infected Mushroom/ Chuckie/ Flux Pavilion/ Mr Oizo/ Porter Robinson/ Loco Dice/ Bassnectar/ JFK MSTRKRFT/ Excision/ Adam Beyer/ Aly & Fila/ Caspa/ Datsik/ Joris Voorn/ Bingo Players/ Tommy Trash/ Simon Patterson/ Gesaffelstein/ Ørjan Nilsen/ Dillon Francis/ Foreign Beggars/ Zedd/ Brodinski/ Krewella/ Nina Kraviz/ Van She/ Alvin Risk/ Destructo/ MaRLo/ Treasure Fingers/ Bart B More and more Sunday, November 25 @ Claremont Showground (TBC) Sets On The Beach ft lineup TBC Sunday, December 2 @ Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre Sets On The Beach ft lineup TBC Sunday, January 13 @ Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre

Ta-Ku

Big Day Out ft The Bloody Beetroots/ Crystal Castles/ Kaskade/ Pretty Lights/ Nicky Romero/ Morgan Page/ Sampology and more Monday, January 28 @ Claremont Showground

PAPER CHAIN IS DEAD

Sets On The Beach ft lineup TBC Sunday, March 17 @ Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 @ THE BIRD

www.xpressmag.com.au

GLITCH-RICH BEATS JON WAYNE/ MONO POLY/ Maxwell Starks/ James Ireland/ {Move} DJs Mojos Saturday, August 11, 2012 It was a real treat for two seriously awesome artists from two really cool records labels to do a show together in Perth. The venue was a deviation from the usual space these type of electronic artists might find themselves when doing a Perth show but Mojos made a cozy fit for last Saturday night’s highly anticipated show.

With support provided by James Ireland, Maxwell Starks and the {Move} DJs, it was a fitting hook up, our city offering some of our finest, giving thanks to the LA beat-makers for coming down under to showcase their fine skill set.

The always impressive and always danceable James Ireland proved a solid warm up, providing an essential mix of a number of genres to combine with the first part of the evening.

Mr Starks certainly proved a worthy addition to the night’s caliber of artists on the lineup and, as always, the big man provided an utterly cool set.

The first of the two big players to take the stage was Jon Wayne, an interesting choice that proved worthy as his set was not as heavy as Mono/Poly’s. He certainly bought the party, delving into an eclectic mix that blended everything from techno to disco. It was drenched in glitch-rich beats and he proved that beautiful things come in all different types of packages.

He started off with lighter beats which progressively got heavier and capped it off with some neat, quality freestyling.

It seemed, to this listener, not initially what he usually produces but as the set went on, he moved to more familiar territory - bringing a collection of quirky and unique beats that might not initially be thought to work well together but that actually sounded tight.

Mono/Poly got the crowd dancing, providing a quicker, more danceable collection of beats than that offered by Jon Wayne. It was a booty shakin’ feast on the dancefloor as he laid down bass heavy goodness that had the crowd really moving.

The beat scene seems to be going strong at the moment and artists like Mono/Poly are

Mono/Poly (photo by Matt Jelonek) proving they are ahead of the game. His set was unique and unpredictable, a really great surprise, making for a different and thoroughly enjoyable experience in comparison to listening to the radio with a couple of friends at home.

It was heavier, but without taking away from his usual dreamy approach and it was this quality that had the whole dancefloor moving, a solid combination of soft and heavy beats.

His crown interaction wasn’t the best but no-one seemed to mind. After all, you wouldn’t have wanted anything to take away from his solid set.

When Perth plays host to these incredible artists, you’ll have the {Move} crew to thank when you are flat broke, but if the standard of the shows remains this good, then it just will not matter. A grand effort by all.

» JOE CASSIDY

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

than his new home of Melbourne. On the day that saw the release of his outfit Split Seconds’ debut album, he found himself playing a solo gig to open this evening. Playing an acoustic guitar that appears to be ever diminishing in size, Pollard gave evidence of his songwriting prowess as he used a loop pedal to add different flavours to tunes such as local favourite All You Got To Do. Autumn Isles have been kicking around the scene for some time now with their inoffensive take on the pop tune. Lead man Alex Arpino is clearly someone who studies the classics with a focus on the big names from the ‘60s and the ‘70s. The Autumn Isles set was summery in nature but where sounds should have been crisp they were on the muddy side.

With a set that takes no risks Autumn Isles appear destined to always play the role of bridesmaid.

After being one of the most requested acts on local line-ups last year, the award winning 6s & 7s disappeared underground.

To n i g h t s aw t h e i r l o n g ove rd u e re t u r n showcasing that they had lost none of their daring and appeal. With the enigmatic Josh Fontaine flanked by musical savant Stu Loasby, and having songs like A Velvet Coma, Kissing For Science and Smilin’ to air, 6s & 7s are destined to win over any crowd. It may have been a set that felt way too short, yet long enough to remind us of exactly what we have been missing.

With the other acts having sizeable numbers, Even trim things to the bare essentials staying steadfast to the power trio configuration.

Even (Photo: Dan Grant) Front-man Ash Naylor can play like 10 men with an encyclopaedic knowledge of a fretboard.

Tunes from the bands early days littered the start of the set with Little Red Taxi and Stop & Go Man pulling people and their dancing shoes to the front of the stage. Wally Kempton is never too far away from his Chris Judd stubby holder as he offers up rock solid bottom end and sugar sweet harmonies.

When the band turn to the most The Rosemount Hotel recent material they forgo melody and Friday, August 10, 2012 immediacy for more forceful and riff loaded tunes. Naylor played tribute to one of his Melbourne trio Even may these days be better favourite artists with a cracking version of Ziggy known as the band that is fronted by Paul Stardust that gave him ample opportunity for Kelly’s guitarist, but tonight they turned back pulling rock poses and showing off his nous. the clock to before the turn of the century when Black Umbrella is the bands most successful tune they were one of the nation’s most sought after and got the appropriate response but it was the unofficial anthem Don’t Wait that was the icing touring acts.

Since Sean Pollard moved his band on the cake of a polished showing. over east, he has spent more time back in Perth _CHRIS HAVERCROFT

EVEN

6s & 7s/Autumn Isles/Sean Pollard

Jinja Safari (Photo: Alexandra Cohen)

JINJA SAFARI Opossum

The Bakery Wednesday August 8, 2012 When Elvis Presley first appeared on TV he had to be filmed from the waist up because his hip movements were considered ‘too suggestive for broadcast’. It didn’t take long for other rock front-men to outdo Elvis in terms of transgressive antics. In the next decade, Hendrix was lighting his equipment on fire and Jim Morrison was exposing himself to a packed stadium. Part of the joy of rock music is that it has always had as much to do with showmanship and stage presence as it has to do with musicality. After the Perth leg of Jinja Safari’s Blind Date Tour at The Bakery, I was left meditating on what role stage presence has to play in live music.

Back when he was fronting The Mint Chicks, Kody Nielson had a heady reputation for his stage antics.

One particularly noteworthy story is of Nielson, fuelled by punk bravado, using a chainsaw to hack apart a sponsor’s banner during Big Day Out. Nowadays, Nielson is a good deal more restrained, singing and playing drums or keyboards with his new project Opossum.

In terms of song-writing, Nielson’s new band is a big leap up from the Mint Chicks. Opossum have an instantly classic sound, tracing seamless pop melodies around taught Motown grooves with liberal helping of psychedelia. In terms of stage presence however, there seems to have been something lost.

Admittedly, the conditions for Opossum were less than ideal. They suffered technical difficulties and the crowd was still small and mostly seemed more curious than excited, but the band never really worked to get the audience on side. They looked mostly at their

instruments or each-other and their few brief attempts at stage banter mostly fell flat. I’m firmly of the opinion that bands should focus on their song-writing and musicality foremost but Opossum play jubilant, upbeat music which needs to be backed up by excitement and energy or else their excellent tunes end up sounding distant and muted.

Jinja Safari, on the other hand, was all about the performance. The origin story for Jinja Safari is set around a camp-fire at a beach party with singer/guitarist Marcus Azon meeting multi-instrumentalist Cameron ‘Pepa’ Knight. One can imagine the early days of Jinja Safari being much like one of those free-for-all jams that develop at such parties sometimes – where there is always a guitar or two, assorted bits of percussion and everybody gets involved in the singing. Unlike most such jams, Jinja Safari are lucky enough to have a sitar (hot tip: if you have a sitar you will be a hit at parties), but the basic aesthetic is pretty similar. Their music is loose, upbeat, communal and plenty of fun.

There is something cartoonish about the way that Jinja Safari performs. They jump up and down or try to start a clap-along at any opportunity. It’s kind of ridiculous, but it’s done with such abandon that it really is pretty hard to not get swept up in the excess and communal joy of it all. There is a sense of humour to it all as well, making Jinja Safari into friendly, smiling caricatures of the classic front-men. At the end of the set, Pepa Knight even ended up swinging across the ceiling of The Bakery using the scaffolding like monkey bars.

Jinja Safari’s song-writing isn’t of the same ilk as Opossum’s, but their stage presence and audience engagement was exceptional and they gave the better performance of the night. You have to admire any band that can get a party started on a Wednesday night in early August. _HENRY ANDERSEN

Kate Miller-Heidke (photo Callum Ponton)

KATE MILLER-HEIDKE The Beards

Astor Theatre Saturday, August 11, 2012 The success of Kate Miller-Heidke’s 2008 record Curiouser rippled so triumphantly for so long on the Australian pop scene that it’s hard to believe it’s been more than three years since the left-of-centre singer/songwriter released new solo material. While a seemingly never ending tour cycle has seen Miller-Heidke grace local audiences with her presence relatively regularly since that album’s release (including a show at the Astor just five short months ago), the Brisbane-born songstress returned to WA once more to officially launch her new LP Nightflight.

Kicking off proceedings, Australia’s favourite facially hirsute outfit The Beards captivated the crowd with their witty chat and prompted sing-alongs as they played through a collection of tracks from all three of their albums including Shaved Off His Beard, The Beard Accessory Store and the hilarious If Your Dad Doesn’t Have A Beard, You’ve Got Two Mums. While after 45 minutes of beard-related tunes, one couldn’t help but wonder if they’ll ever trim those overgrown lyrics, in the eyes of tonight’s whooping followers, The Beards could do no wrong.

A light-hearted quirky element has always been crucial in tempering Kate Miller-Heidke’s sometimes frilly tone, but during tonight’s set she let her sentimental side dominate. Of the handful of songs from Nightflight, opener The Tiger Inside Will Eat The Child made the greatest impression, as almost the only deviation from the disappointingly dreary dirge too many of the new tunes lapsed into.

The second half of the set was undoubtedly superior to the first, with Miller-Hiedke’s polished pop-sensibilities far more pronounced during crowd favourites Last Day On Earth (aka “that song from Neighbours”) and Can’t Shake It. It is these tunes which www.xpressmag.com.au

best demonstrate the singer/songwriter’s joy of playing with her voice, of lightening it, of inflecting it, of exposing the quirks. Miller-Heidke can be a self-absorbed performer, but there is no denying her meticulous musicianship.

Miller-Heidke is known and loved by fans for her often unusual cover versions (previous live shows have seen her take on everything from Britney Spears’ Toxic to Talking Head’s Psycho Killer). Tonight, however, a mash up of Eminem’s The Real Slim Shady with Nicki Minaj’s verse from Kanye West’s Monster floundered, labouring under the weight of its own portentousness.

Later in the evening, a cover of The Beards’ You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man was better, with a cameo appearance from frontman Johann Beardraven providing a welcome lift in mood and flow.

Unfortunately, however, Miller-Heidke’s disingenuous sense of pop fun suffered when she again deviated into heavy-handed melodrama. New tune Sarah – the tale of a teenage girl who is abducted at a music festival – was overblown in its execution and proved that even when provided with thoughtprovoking subject matter, there are no edges in MillerHeidke’s music.

As just over an hour’s listening proved, there was room for a good deal more deviation. Tunes from the new album more than proved Miller-Heidke’s songwriting has become increasingly ambiguous, and as a performer, she’s equally enigmatic. Fluctuating between a portable keyboard and a sole mic stand, her flowing vocals more a stream of sound than actual words, she seemed a long way away. Wherever she was in her head, it wasn’t Mt Lawley, and while inscrutability may be a prime Miller-Heidke selling point, it’s ultimately not one of the building blocks of a great gig. _JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD 39

HYDE PARK HOTEL

WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND

Lixy headlines weekly student/indie night THursty at the Hyde Park Hotel, this Thursday August 16.Then on Friday, August 17, catch local blues musician Nathan Gaunt in the arvo, before King Of North, Hailmary, The Other Eden and Unicorn Thieves take over from 9pm. On Saturday, August 18, catch Nevsky Prospekt, Hyde, Red Sky and Evergone from 8pm.

The lucky winners of X-Press Magazine’s Ultimate After Work Drinks competition redeemed their prize over the weekend, hitting the town for a big Friday at three of Perth’s best venues. Stopping in to drink and dine at The George, Wolf Lane and The Aviary, the winners experienced the very best Perth’s nightlife has to offer.

PADDO Chris & Lisa

Photographs by Matt Jelonek

Tonight, Wednesday, August 15, Paddo POW will host Nat Ripepi, Rose Parker and Annabelle Harvey from 8pm. Also, Oktoberfest at The Paddo is back on Saturday, October 20, from 12pm ‘til 6pm! Tickets are only $20 +BF and are available from paddo.com.au.

EAST END BAR

We can get you on the door list to The Prestige, a night of house, funk and electro, this Thursday, after 10pm by simply emailing win@xpressmag.com.au with ‘Prestige’ in the subject line.

Milan, Steve & Dirk Ashley & Danni

MATCHES BAR

Situated upstairs at 91 James Street, Northbridge, Matches is a new bar with a relaxed atmosphere, classy interior and pumping music. Whether it’s a chilled weeknight vibe you’re craving or a party atmosphere for the weekend (you can dance your ass off while treating yourself to $6 beers and $10 cocktails) Matches have you covered. Matches is giving a group of four people their first drink free on arrival for this Friday, August 17. Simply email ‘Matches’ to win@xpressmag. com.au to be in the running.

INDI BAR Valentina & Francesco Alex & Phoebe

Whether he’s playing the part of a smooth, soulful, blues crooner or a rock‘n’roll madman about to explode, Vdelli has made a name for himself as one of Perth’s premier players throughout his colorful career. This Sunday, August 19, the man and his band will rock your socks off.

MOJOS BAR

Stephanie & Isaac

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Adelle, Shauna, Lara & Linda

This Friday, August 17, Black Board Minds launch their debut LP What Do You See with support from Rainy Day Women, Deep River Collective and Jane Azzopardi. Saturday, August 18, will see popular party starters Dilip N The Davs host Freo Love Fest – a joyous communal celebration of all that makes Freo what it is. To win a double pass to this gig simply email mojos@coolperthnights.com with ‘Freo Love’ in the subject line.

ROCKET ROOM

Wash launch their long awaited single Florentine Dreams this Friday, August 17, with support from Harlequin League, Dead Set Radio, The Coalminers Sect and The MDC.

NEWPORT HOTEL

To celebrate the Newport’s refurb, the generous folks are giving away an ultimate function pack to one lucky reader and their friends, with the winner getting to choose from one of the snazzy new rooms in which to host a three hour event, with a $300 bar tab, security hire and VIP drink deals all night. To go into the draw to win this fantastic package email zoe@thenewport.com with ‘ultimate function’ in the subject line.

ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

This Friday, August 17, the Rosemount Hotel hosts a night of local punk rock featuring Grim Fandango, Negative Reinforcement, Sail On! Sail On!, Amend and Dyatlov. Doors open 8pm and entry is $8. To win a double pass to this show email win@ rosemounthotel.com.au with ‘Win’ in the subject line.

RAILWAY HOTEL

This Friday, August 17, catch a metal feast with A Nameless Fear, Silver Grenade, Nightmare Effect and John Winter hitting the stage. Doors open 8pm, $8 entry. Saturday, August 18, local rockers When Summer Ends launch their debut EP with special guests Nymph Honey, Empty Pocket and The Littlest Fox. Doors 8pm, $5 entry or $10 with a copy of the EP.

YA YA’S

Ya Ya’s plays host to a slew of local musical goodness this week, including James Teague, Stereoflower, Cow Parade Cow and Nevada Pilot on Friday, August 17, and The Morning Night, The Novocaines, The Spitfires and heaps more as part of the RTR FM Radiothon Opening Party (see Gig Guide for the full line-up) on Saturday, August 18.

BEAT NIGHTCLUB

The Devil Rides Out are taking the rest of 2012 to record something new, so their show at Beat on Friday, August 17, will be your final chance to see them live this year. Support comes from Brutus and Opia. Then on Saturday, August 18, catch a live performance from hardcore heavyweights Saviour.

X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

DAM FEW Twice As Nice

A sense of perfectionism led local rockers Dam Few Dam Few to abandon work on an EP in favour of cultivating just two of their god won’t save you tonight’.” tunes. JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD sat Originally conceived as an EP, Scarlett/ was engineered and produced by Dawson, down with bassist Angus Dawson to get Animosity a recent graduate from the Music Production program the lowdown on Scarlett and Animosity, at WAAPA.“The vision we had at the start of the project very different to how it ended,” Dawson explains. which they’re launching as a double was “We started with three songs that were to make up our A-side at the Rosemount Hotel this EP. As we were getting close to finishing the recording side of these three we finished writing two new songs Saturday, August 18. that we were really proud of and decided to tack them on to the EP. Once the recording was finished it became As bassist Angus Dawson attests, for a band such as apparent that our new songs (Scarlett and Animosity) Dam Few – who apply a certain conceptual rigour to were quite superior to our original three. Accordingly, their tunes – the double A-side is a way of allowing we discarded those three and decided to make a space for stylistic experiments. double A-side.”

“Scarlett is a bouncy, cute, she-loves-me-sheIt is this total dedication to the creative loves-me-not tune with a semi pre-pedophiliac twist on process which characterises the work of Dam Few.“It’s the lyrics,” explains Dawson. “We’d never really written a such a universal language and it’s great to be a part of song like it so it was a really fun process, which I guess that,” Dawson attests. influenced that actual fun and innocent naivety of the Having spent months perfect their tunes, song itself.”

Dam Few are finally ready to share their double A-side In contrast, Dawson describes it’s “brother” with the side at a launch party this weekend. “We tune Animosity as a darker, more visceral song.“I think the managed to pull together an amazing line up for the lyrical content for that song revolved around our hate of night. Joining us will be Jacob Diamond, Patient Little modern music that has no emotion, no honesty and no Sister, Dead Owls and Harlequin League... The night colour to the song writing. We got pretty angry one day itself will be pretty musically diverse so I reckon it’s safe [and came up with the lyrics] ‘Hold on to your pride because to say there’s something for everyone.”

Wash

ADAM WASH PAGE

Tell me a little about your new single Florentine Dreams?

It’s a song about being young and growing up in Perth. It’s like Jumping Jack Flash crossed with The Smiths. Having said that, it sounds like nothing else around at the moment. We recorded it live in two takes at Loop Studios back in February and I’ve listened to it for three months straight just to double-check it really is as good as I think it is. Sure enough it still stands up next to all my favorite records so I’m double proud of it and can’t wait for people to hear it!

Is there a message behind the tune?

People ask me what a Florentine Dream is and what it’s got to do with Perth, but a Florentine Dream is someone’s aspirations and yearnings.

Florence was the epicenter of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment where everyone was striving to reach their potential. I’ve gone and put that in a parochial setting, how it can be tough working out who you are in a little city, yet vital. The song starts off euphoric and cheeky, and then goes all melancholy in the chorus, yet by the end the confidence is back and it ends in revelation. It’s instant yet articulate. I reckon people will relate to it.

What can punters expect at your upcoming single launch?

Just four lads walk on stage and give it their absolute all. When you come to a Wash gig, you now it’s a genuine band playing the songs they were born to play. Same with everyone that comes: They know the songs we’re singing are relevant to their lives. There are no lame indie pretences or laptops or anything contrived. We play a gig every week, you know what I mean? Be it a headline, a support, an open-mic or even a party: so it’s just the next gig! Only you’ll be able to buy our single there and it’s a great venue too – the best sound – I’ll be enjoying myself don’t you worry!

Having spent the last 12 months living in New Zealand, Adam Page returns to the Ellington with his high energy and hilarious solo looping show next Tuesday, August 21.

AARON CORLETT learnt a little more about his eclectic influences…

Who are your most admired saxophonists?

So many players influence me. In the beginning it was Michael Brecker and John Coltrane... and, sorry to say it, but I did have Kenny G’s Breathless album. How could I resist that perm?

But really, as a young whipper snapper on the horn I was heavily influenced by guitarists actually; Steve Vai, Joe Satriani but especially Eddie Van Halen. He really taught me how to perform and bust out with all of my heart and soul.

Who influenced your decision to use loop pedals?

A singer named Vinx De Jong. He sang in a band called Jungle Funk in the late ‘90s. I saw the band perform in ‘98. He did a solo vocal loop and I had to scrape my bottom jaw off of the ground. I’d never heard anything like it. It was true inspiration.

The very next day I bought my first loop pedal, which still features in my set to this day. I also love the looping work of a couple of Aussie mates, Mal Webb and Darren Percival. They are mean as.

What can audiences expect from an Adam Page live show?

Lots and lots of beard. And a little bit of Wash launch Florentine Dreams this Friday, August music… but mostly beard. And some pretty serious 17, at the Rocket Room. Support comes from The dance moves. So you think you can dance? Yes I can.

MDC, The Coalminer’s Sect, Dead Set Radio and Harlequin League.

GO FOR GOLD

Forget the Olympics. Are you an aspiring young muso (aged 12-18) who wants to win recording time, vouchers, tuition, band merch and more to kickstart your music career? Well the City of Joondalup’s Battle Of The Bands Competition is back with entries now open for contemporary, original, up-and-coming duos, trios and bands.

Entries close Friday, August 24, so hit up y-lounge. com.au for full deets and entry packs! www.xpressmag.com.au

RISING FROM THE ASHES

This Friday, August 17, the Charles Hotel will host Raise The Roof, a fundraising gig for Stone Circle bassist Craig Skelton and his family after fire destroyed their family home and everything in it.

Please come along and support this worthwhile cause. Doors open at 7.30pm with a massive lineup of local talent including Baby Jane, Gazman Campbell, Diamond Eye, Lady Zep, Jac Dalton, Chris Gibbs and Stone Circle. Entry will be $20 on the door.

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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.

Stonefield, August 16, Newport; August 17, Settlers Tavern; August 18 Studio 146 Albany

Missy Higgins, December 8, Fremantle Arts Centre

Thurston Moore, October 30, Rosemount Hotel

26 Mojos Bar HETTY KATE 25 The Ellington THE PHARCYDE NASUM / DYSCARNATE 25 Capitol 15 Amplifier Bar SPLIT SECONDS 25 Amplifier PSEUDO ECHO TRANSIT 25 Charles Hotel 15 YMCA HQ THE LAURELS 16 Amplifier Bar 25 Mojos Bar THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS MARIA MINERVA 26 Maylands Yacht Club 15 Prince Of Wales PER PURPOSE / RITES 16 Settlers Tavern WILD 17 & 18 Fly By Night 27 Galleria East Perth TERRIBLE TRUTHS / PER TONI CHILDS PURPOSE 15 Bunbury Regional 28 Dada Records Entertainment Centre PENNYWISE / THE 16 Fly By Night Club MENZINGERS / SHARKS 17 Goldfields Arts Centre 29 Metropolis Fremantle Kalgoorlie SLASH FEAT. MYLES KENNEDY & THE 18 Esperance Civic CONSPIRATORS Centre 19 Albany Entertainment 30 Metro City ILLY Centre 31 Metropolis Fremantle TIM HART STONEFIELD 31 The Ellington 16 Newport THE SMITH STREET BAND OWL EYES 31 Rosemount Hotel 16 Artbar PSYCROPTIC 31 Amplifier Bar

GIAN SLATER 7 Midland Oval TBA) THE AMITY AFFLICTION 10 Civic Hotel 21 & 22 The Ellington HANSON / MATT WERTZ / THE GHOST INSIDE / ELTON JOHN 22 Metropolis Fremantle ARCHITECTS 12 Perth Arena 7 & 8 Metropolis Fremantle SIGUR ROS GYROSCOPE CANNIBAL CORPSE / 22 Rosemount Hotel 13 Belvoir Amphitheatre DISENTOMB / ENTRAILS THE BEARDS / THE NEWTON FAULKNER ERADICATED 22 Fly By Night SNOWDROPPERS 9 Capitol XAVIER RUDD 15 Prince Of Wales 25 Goldfields Arts Centre STEEL PANTHER 16 Settlers Tavern 11 Metro City Kalgoorlie 17 Rosemount Hotel 26 Esperance Civic Centre PAUL CAPSIS 18 Indi Bar 28 Albany Entertainment 11 Artbar NICKELBACK / JACKSON MUMFORD & SONS / Centre FIREBIRD 29 Fremantle Arts Centre EDWARD SHARPE & 17 Perth Arena 30 Caves House Yallingup THE MAGNETIC ZEROS / STEREOSONIC (Tiësto, WILLY MASON SOLA ROSA Avicii, Calvin Harris, 12 & 13 Belvoir 26 Indi Bar Example, Carl Cox, Major 28 Clancy’s Dunsborough Amphitheatre Lazer, and more) SOUND OF SEASONS 29 Amplifier 25 Claremont 12 Metropolis Fremantle Showgrounds HIGH WOLF 13 Amplifier Bar 27 PICA Bar 14 YMCA HQ TIM ROGERS DECEMBER 27 Clancy’s Dunsborough DAVE WARNER’S FROM JUSTINE CLARKE THE SUBURBS 28 Fly By Night Club 1 Astor Theatre 13 Charles Hotel 29 Rosemount Hotel SIMPLE MINDS / DEVO / COUNT BASIE JULIA STONE THE CHURCH / MODELS ORCHESTRA 28 Astor Theatre 4 Kings Park & Botanical STEPHEN MALKMUS & 14 Perth Concert Hall Garden EVERCLEAR THE JICKS KASEY CHAMBERS/ 14 Capitol 28 Rosemount Hotel SHANE NICHOLSON THIS IS NOWHERE FAR EAST MOVEMENT 5 Albany Entertainment (Tortoise, Xiu Xiu, Grails, Centre 28 Eve Nightclub Beach Fossils, The Bank 6 Civic Centre Esperance AARON GOLDBERG Holidays, HTRK, Puro 28 & 29 The Ellington 7 Goldfields Arts Centre KATIE NOONAN & KARIN Instinct, High Tea, New 8 Mundaring Weir Hotel HUNTING GROUNDS SEPTEMBER War and more) SCHAUPP 16 Prince Of Wales JLO TIM HART 14 Somerville Auditorium 6 Perth Arena 28 Winthrop Hall UWA 17 Amplifier 1 Newport Hotel 29 Mandurah Performing and surrounds MISSY HIGGINS ILLY KARISE EDEN Arts Centre 8 Fremantle Arts Centre HILLTOP HOODS 1 Capitol 16 & 17 St Joseph’s Church NICKI MINAJ / TYGA SIX60 17 Challenge Stadium THE ENGLISH BEAT Subiaco 29 Metro City 8 Perth Arena 1 Astor Theatre TODD MCKENNEY SHIHAD REGINA SPEKTOR OWL EYES / PSYCROPTIC 18 & 19 Astor Theatre 28 Amplifier 19 Belvoir Amphitheatre STONEFIELD 1 Eliot Street Bar Bunbury 30 Mojos Bar CLARE BOWDITCH 2 Newport Hotel 17 Settlers Tavern WAVE ROCK WEEKENDER 20 Astor Theatre JANUARY 2013 GRAMPS MORGAN 18 Studio 146 Albany (Stephen Malkmus & The PAUL HEATON SOUTHBOUND (The 2 The Bakery Jicks, Tim Rogers, Shihad, 21 Fly By Night Flaming Lips, SBTRKT, SHELLAC and more) NORTH WEST FESTIVAL HOWARD JONES Best Coast, Beach House, 5 Astor Theatre 29 - 30 Wave Rock Caravan 25 Rosemount Hotel (Hilltop Hoods, The Boy & Bear, Coolio, JOSE FELICIANO LEB I SOL Park Living End, The Cat The Vaccines, Bombay Regal Theatre 26 Chares Hotel RUSSIAN CIRCLES / Empire, Regurgitator, 5THE Bicycle Club, First Aid Kit, BEACH BOYS BASTARDFEST(Astriaal, EAGLE TWIN Dead Letter Circus, and 6 Burswood Dome Hilltop Hoods, Hot Chip, Fuck I’m Dead, 30 The Bakery more) Maximo Park, Millions, MILLIONS Desecrator, and more) FEAR FACTORY 18 Port Hedland Turf Totally Enormous Extinct 7 Amplifier 27 Civic Hotel 30 Capitol Club DAMIEN LEITH THE LIGHTHOUSE TRIO Dinosaurs, Angus Stone, Ball Park Music, Cosmo OCTOBER 8 Astor Theatre 27 & 28 The Ellington Jarvis, Django Django, RUFUS THE MEDICS JOE BONAMASSA GREENTHIEF The Hives, Jinjo Safari, 18 Amplifier 8 Amplifier 1 Perth Concert Hall 27 Rocket Room Lisa Mitchell, Matt Corby, 19 Newport Hotel URTHBOY PARKLIFE (The Presets, 28 Prince Of Wales Sharon Van Etten, Two 8 Rosemount Hotel Nero, Passion Pit, Plan 29 Newport Hotel Door Cinema Club ) JOHN 00 FLEMING/ B, Rusko, Tame Impala, SUNN O))) / PELICAN GEORGE GARZONE 4 & 5 Sir Stewart Bovell JASON CREEK Chiddy Bang, Robyn, and 28 Capitol 18 & 19 The Ellington 8 Metro City more) ROCK IT (The Black Keys, Park Busselton ROTTOFEST (Millions and 1 Wellington Square John Butler Trio, Birds Of SANDI THOM KENNY ROGERS more) NEKROMANTIX Tokyo, The Panics Lanie 10 Fly By Night 21 Riverside Theatre NIGHTWISH 8 & 9 Rottnest Island 2 Rosemount Hotel Lane, Last Dinosaurs, 20 Metropolis Fremantle SUBHUMANS DEFEATER / Royal Headache, 12 Amplifier BLACKLISTED ADAM PAGE Graveyard Train, Brothers WEEZER 23 Perth Arena JONAH MATRANGA 3 Amplifier Grim, The Toot Toot 21 The Ellington BIG DAY OUT (Red 12 Amplifier 4 YMCA HQ Toots, and more) Hot Chili Peppers, The AUGUST 14 C5 Metropolis MARTIKA 28 Joondalup Arena Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ADAM PAGE Fremantle 4 Metropolis Fremantle THURSTON MOORE Vampire Weekend, Band 23 Albany Entertainment AMERICA OH MERCY 30 Rosemount Hotel Of Horses, Kaskade, Centre 12 Perth Concert Hall 4 Settlers Tavern NOVEMBER Animal Collective, BURNING LOVE PATRICK WOLF 5 Norfolk Basement Against Me!, 360, Foals, HOT CHELLE RAE / CHER 22 The Den 14 Fly By Night 6 The Bakery B.O.B, Sleigh Bells, Jeff LLOYD HERMAN’S HERMITS KATCHAFIRE SETH SENTRY The Brotherhood, Off!, 1 Challenge Stadium 22 Friends Restaurant 14 Astor Theatre 4 Studio 146 Albany Grinspoon, Jagwar Ma, BILLY BRAGG PASSENGER / THE FALLS 15 Settlers Tavern 5 Prince Of Wales 2 Astor Theatre Delta Spirit, Everytime I 22 Rosemount Hotel 16 Prince Of Wales 6 Rosemount Hotel AT THE GATES Die, House Vs Hurricane, PITBULL / TAIO CRUZ EARTH / MARGINS 7 Norfolk Hotel Alabama Shakes, and / HAVANA BROWN / 15 Rosemount Hotel KELLY CLARKSON / THE 3 Capitol THE LIVING END more) TIMOMATIC INVADERS FRAY 1-7 Rosemount Hotel 28 Claremont 23 Burswood Dome 15 Charles Hotel 5 Challenge Stadium EMMYLOU HARRIS Showgrounds DANIEL GASSIN JASON BONHAM’S LED THE RUBENS 6 Perth Concert Hall 23 The Ellington ZEPPELIN’S EXPERIENCE 5 Capitol JOSH PYKE ALPINE 15 POSTPONED 6 Prince Of Wales FEBRUARY 8 Artbar 23 Newport Hotel RUFUS WAINWRIGHT 7 Newport Hotel CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE ED SHEERAN 24 Prince Of Wales 19 Riverside Theatre TZU BAND 23 Challenge Stadium 25 The Bakery WHEATUS 5 Baqr 120 8 Fly By Night JOE MCKEE 20 Metropolis Fremantle 6 Amplifier GEORGE MICHAEL 24 Rosemount Hotel MYSTERY JETS 7 Prince Of Wales SEPTEMBER 20 Capitol BONNIWELLS HYPERFEST (Bluejuice, 10 Perth Arena ONE DIRECTION FEAR FACTORY 24 Velvet Lounge Seth Sentry, Grey Ghost,, PROGFEST (Ne Obliviscaris, and more 28 & 29 Perth Arena 20 Capitol 25 Dada Records and more TBA)

THIS WEEK AUGUST 15 – 21

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X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

www.xpressmag.com.au

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Husband, Thursday at Mojos Bar

WEDNESDAY 15.08 AMPLIFIER Nasum Dyscarnate BALMORAL Nathan Gaunt BAR 120 Felix BRASS MONKEY Sugar Blue Burlesque BUNBURY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE Toni Childs CLANCY’S CANNING BRIDGE Badger And Fox Junior Bowles CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Chet Leonard’s Bingotheque CLAREMONT HOTEL Open Mic Night ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Rick Webster Allria Wilson GREENWOOD Bernardine HALE ROAD TAVERN Fenton Wilde LUCKY SHAG Ben Merito MOJOS BAR Andrew Winton Morgan Bain MUSTANG Easy Tigers DJ Giles NEWPORT Newport Wednesdays PADDO Rose Parker Annabelle Harvey Nat Ripepi PRINCE OF WALES The Beautiful Girls ROSEMOUNT Make Believe Me Drawing North Here Come The Cavalry Emberville ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) David Fyffe THE BROWN FOX Courtney Murphy THE MOON James Teague Hayden Mansell Jacob Diamond

UNIVERSAL Strutt YA YA’S Rotaxus Idle Front Midnight Mules Supergames YMCA HQ Transit We Are The Emergency Monuments Black Birds

THURSDAY 16.08 AMPLIFIER Transit Colour The Sky The Milkshake Strategy Monuments ART BAR Owl Eyes BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Chasing Calee BRASS MONKEY Rhythm Bound Karaoke BRIGHTON Open Mic Night BROOKLANDS TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke CLANCY’S FREMANTLE The Burger Kings COMO HOTEL Courtney Murphy DEVILLES PAD Rock ‘N’ Roll Karaoke ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Mike Pigneguy Awakenings Ensemble FLY BY NIGHT CLUB Toni Childs HYDE PARK HOTEL Lixy INDI BAR Jay Grafton Ricki Green Elouise Ashton LUCKY SHAG James Wilson MARKET CITY TAVERN Sarina Cooper Tamika James Matthews Ebonnie In Orbit MOJOS BAR Husband Our Man In Berlin Sean O’Neill Craig Hollywood V’s Harvey Rae

Black Board Minds

BLACK BOARD MINDS RAINY DAY WOMEN DEEP RIVER COLLECTIVE JANE AZZOPARDI

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17 MOJOS BAR

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The Chevelles, Friday at Deville’s Pad MUSTANG BAR Datura Sugarpuss The Delaines NEWPORT Stonefield Emperors The Love Junkies NORFOLK BASEMENT Red Engine Caves Foam New Ruins OCEAN BEACH HOTEL Open Mic Night OXFORD HOTEL Johnny Taylor PADDY HANNANS Dr Bogus PRINCE OF WALES Hunting Grounds ROSEMOUNT The Whores The History Of Supersalt Sully ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Clayton Bolger ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Neil Colliss SETTLERS TAVERN The Beautiful Girls SOVEREIGN ARMS David Fyffe THE BIRD Templar Soundsystem THE BOAT Jen De Ness THE BROOK Open Mic Night THE GATE One Trick Phonies THE SHED Shillelagh Law TOUCAN MissChief Mel UNIVERSAL Off The Record WOODVALE Two Plus One YA YA’S Helen Shanahan Bruno Oliver Booth Edie Green Auralia Scott

FRIDAY 17.08

7th AVENUE Pop Candy AMPLIFIER Hunting Grounds BAILEY BAR Mod Squad BAKERY Lucky Dip BALLYS BAR Anderson BALMORAL The Recliners BEAT NIGHTCLUB The Devil Rides Out Brutus Opia BENTLEY HOTEL Sophie Jane BLACK BETTYS Everlong BRASS MONKEY Adriam Wilson BROADWAY TAVERN Starmaker Karaoke BROKEN HILL HOTEL Nat Ripepi CAPTAIN STIRLING The Bluebottles CARLISLE HOTEL Reload CHALLENGE STADIUM Hilltop Hoods CHARLES HOTEL Raise The Roof Gazman Campbell’s Crown Jewels Diamond Eye Lady Zeppelin The Jac Dalton Band

James Teague, Friday at Ya Ya’s

Babyjane Chris Gibbs CHASE BAR Chasing Calee CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN) Astro Pig The Lungs Evergone Die Human CLANCY’S CITY BEACH Belleville Gypsy Jazz CLANCY’S DUNSBOROUGH New Soundland CLANCY’S FREMANTLE The Seals COMO HOTEL Trevor Jalla DEVILLES PAD The Chevelles The Volcanics EAST 150 Adam James EASTERN HOTEL Matt Milford ELEPHANT & WHEELBARROW Switch ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB The Glyn McDonald Trio Libby Hammer Quintet Deuces Cristal Phillips Solomon Pitt EMPIRE Howie Morgan FLY BY NIGHT CLUB The Beautiful Girls FUSE BAR Groove Karaoke GREENWOOD Greg Carter HERDSMAN Ali Towers Duo HIGH ROAD HOTEL Clayton Bolger Damien Cripps Band HIGHWAY HOTEL Northern Muse HYDE PARK HOTEL Nathan Gaunt King Of The North Hailmary The Other Eden Unicorn Thieves INDIAN OCEAN BREW Ben Merito KALAMUNDA HOTEL New Vintage LANGFORD ALEHOUSE DJ Cal LAST DROP TAVERN Neil Adams LEGENDS The Organ Grinders LIBRARY Sneaky MARKET CITY TAVERN Chris Keeble Brad Wintle MOJOS BAR Black Board Minds Rainy Day Women Deep River Collective Jane Azzopardi MOON & SIXPENCE Soul Corporation MUSTANG BAR Oz Big Band Cheeky Monkeys NEWPORT Party Rockers NORFOLK BASEMENT Custom Royal The Cabarets Dylan McCoy PADDO Simon Kelly PARAMOUNT Flyte PLAYERS BAR Battle Of The Bands Heat Three PRINCESS ROAD TAVERN Deuce RAILWAY HOTEL

A Nameless Fear Silver Grenade Nightmare Effect John Winter ROCKET ROOM WASH Harlequin League Dead Set Radio The Coalminers Sect The MDC Extreme Aggression feat. DJ Perry ROSEMOUNT Grim Fandango Negative Reinforcement Sail On! Sail On! Amend Dyatlov ROSEY O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Neil Colliss SAIL & ANCHOR Howie Morgan Childs Play SETTLERS TAVERN Owl Eyes Stonefield SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Robbie King Karaoke SPRINGS TAVERN Greg Carter Karaoke SWAN BASEMENT Piano Donkey Zeks SWAN LOUNGE Minky G The Renzullo Project Bernadine Grigson Erryn Grima SWINGING PIG Better Days Greg Carter THE BAILEY Mod Squad THE BELMONT James Wilson THE BIRD Paper Chain Is Dead Ku Zeke Kit Pop Diger Rokwell Cosmo Gets (DJ Set) Rekab Dr Space YLEM Mei Swan Clunk Saxon & Boy Prince THE BOAT The Organ Grinders THE BROOK Tod Woodward THE EASTERN Neil Colliss THE GATE Smoking Section THE SHED Kickstart THE VIC Jen De Ness TIGER LILS Paul Malone Adam Kelly Alex Koresis UNIVERSAL Nightmoves Retriofit VELVET LOUNGE The Wine-Dark Sea Stoney Joe Gareth Edwards VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Ivan Ribic WANNEROO TAVERN Mike Nayar WOODVALE TAVERN Dr Bogus YA YA’S James Teague Stereoflower Cow Parade Cow Nevada Pilot

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.

Nevsky Prospekt, Saturday at Hyde Park Hotel

SATURDAY 18.08 ADMIRAL Better Days AMPLIFIER Rufus BAKERY RTRFM Radiothon Party Umpire The Long Lost Brothers The Chemist Husband Simone & Girlfunkle DJ Chris Wheeldon BALLYS BAR Dove BALMORAL Retriofit BAILEY BAR Lush BAR 120 Flyte BEAT NIGHTCLUB Runaways Saviour BELGIAN BEER CAFÉ Howie Morgan BLACK BETTY’S J Babies BURSWOOD (PRIZE DRAW STAGE) Hi NRG CIVIC BACK ROOM Jah Noko Reggae Launch Ronnak Rae & Band Ngati CIVIC HOTEL (THE DEN) Shouting At Camels The Midnight Mules Choking Stanley Calectasia CLANCY’S CANNING BRIDGE Mister Duo CLANCY’S CITY BEACH Jonny Nandez Hammond Explosion CLANCY’S FREMANTLE Bears And Dolls CLAREMONT HOTEL Pete Busher & The Lone Rangers COMO HOTEL Howie Morgan DEVILLES PAD Johnny Nandez Hammond Explosion Mondo Inferno DJs ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Trevor Jalla Trio George Garzone Deuces Cristal Phillips Solomon Pitt EMPIRE James Ess FLY BY NIGHT CLUB The Beautiful Girls GREENWOOD Cargo Beat HIGH ROAD HOTEL Dr Bogus HYDE PARK HOTEL King Of The North Nevsky Prospekt Hyte Red Sky Evergone INDI BAR Bex’s Open Mic Night LAKERS The Organ Grinders LANGFORD ALEHOUSE Die Hard Karaoke LEOPOLD HOTEL Steve Hepple LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) John & Shaun Sandosham M ON THE POINT Rhythm 22 MOJOS BAR Freo Love Fest Dilip N The Davs

Batuque Bacana SOL-R Dream Tree Collective Screetch MUSTANG The Burger Kings Milhouse Switch NEWPORT Kizzy Gravity NORFOLK BASEMENT Tim Gordon Band Nevada Pilot The Bostons David Craft OSBORNE PARK HOTEL Nathan Gaunt PARAMOUNT Felix PEEL ALEHOUSE Spritzer PICA BAR RTR FM Radiothon Party Craig Hollywood Andrew Sinclair Nick Ridiculous Wrighteous Mama Cass Rok Riley Ben Taaffe PORT HEDLAND TURF CLUB North West Festival Hilltop Hoods The Living End The Cat Empire Regurgitator Dead Letter Circus and more QUARIE BAR Electrophobia RAILWAY HOTEL When Summer Ends Nymph Honey Empty Pocket The Littlest Fox ROCKET ROOM Kickstart ROSEMOUNT Dam Few Harlequin League Dead Owls Patient Little Sister Jacob Diamond ROSIE O’GRADY’S (FREMANTLE) Flavor ROSIE O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Blue Gene SAIL & ANCHOR The Kickstarts T-King STEVES BAR Trent Williams STUDIO 146 Owl Eyes Stonefield SWAN BASEMENT Chronicle Tektonik Ghost Kontempt Daniel Ray SWAN LOUNGE The Foctaves Some Lone Ranger Wayfarer SWINGING PIG Half Step Down Greg Carter THE BAILEY Insideout THE BIRD RTR FM Radiothon Party Leure Kit Pop Kucka Diger Rockwell Cow Parade Cow THE BOAT 11:11 THE GATE Dirty Scoundrels THE SHED Huge

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Friday Friday Travis Caudle Dam Few, Saturday at Travis Caudle FlyBy ByNight Night Rosemount Hotel Fly UNIVERSAL Soul Corporation WANNEROO TAVERN Mod Squad WOODVALE TAVERN The Damien Cripps Band YA YA’S RTR FM Radiothon Party The Novocaines The Morning Night The Spitfires The Painkillers Rainy Day Women DJ Shannon Fox

SUNDAY 19.08

7TH AVENUE Reckless Kelly BALLY’S BAR Greg Carter BALMORAL Chasing Calee BAR ORIENT Matt Milford BROKEN HILL HOTEL The Organ Grinders CAPTAIN STIRLING Christian Parkinson CARINE Wesley Goodlet Jamboree Scouts CHASE BAR James Wilson CLANCY’S FREMANTLE The Zydecats CLANCY’S DUNSBOROUGH Ruby Boots CLAREMONT HOTEL Sunday Driver COMO HOTEL Pat Nicholson ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB George Garzone EMPIRE CB3 FLY BY NIGHT CLUB The Beautiful Girls FLY TRAP Stage Fright Open Mic GEISHA BAR Zanzibar Chanel Savoir Mostarsk DJ Willy Suede HIGH ROAD HOTEL Nat Ripepi INDIAN OCEAN BREW CO Retriofit INDI BAR Vdelli KALAMUNDA HOTEL Alitia Martin KULCHA The Caravan Club Belleville Gyspy Swing LAKERS TAVERN Jamie Powers LANGFORD ALEHOUSE Guy Tucker M ON THE POINT Electrophobia MOJOS BAR (ARVO) Blokes In Coats MOJOS BAR (EVE) Salamander Brown Sub Ordinance Kurbist Gong Band Chris Cobilis Craig McElhinney Mitchell Freeway MUSTANG BAR Peter Busher & The Lone Rangers NEWPORT Tim Nelson Rufus Crooked Colours Carl Fox NORTHLANDS TAVERN Chris Gibbs

Carl Fox, Sunday at Newport

OCEAN VIEW TAVERN Neil Colliss PADDO Paperfly Delusions Of Grandeur Brown Study PEEL ALE HOUSE Scott Nelson PIG & WHISTLE One Trick Ponies PINK DUCK Kevin Conway PRINCIPAL Stella Donnelly QUARIE BAR Jack & Jill QUEENS TAVERN Big Bamboo ROSEY O’GRADY’S (NORTHBRIDGE) Jonathan Dempsey SAIL & ANCHOR Easy Way Out SOUTH ST ALE HOUSE Ryan Dillon SOVEREIGN ARMS Ivan Ribic SPRINGS TAVERN Christian Thompson STIRLING ARMS Leighton Keepa SWAN LOUNGE Lipstick Pickup Kelly McMahen THE BIRD Sam Perry Hamish Rahn & Friends THE GATE Better Days THE MOON Wolves At The Door THE SAINT Howie Morgan Project THE SHED The Healy’s Blue Hornet UNIVERSAL Retriofit VICTORIA PARK HOTEL Neil Colliss WOODVALE TAVERN Good Karma

MONDAY 20.08 BRASS MONKEY James Wilson ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Sound Lounge INDI BAR Ben Merito

LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) Courtney Murphy MOJOS BAR Wide Open Mic Night MUSTANG BAR Marco & The Alley Cats THE DEEN Plastic Max & The Token Gesture YA YA’S Big Tommo’s Variety Open Mic

TUESDAY 21.08 ELLINGTON JAZZ CLUB Adam Page Sam Perry INDI BAR Shovel & The Gun LOBBY LOUNGE (BURSWOOD) John Sandosham LUCKY SHAG Leighton Keepa MERRIWA TAVERN Celebrations Karaoke MOJOS BAR Andy White Antipoet V The Enforcer Astro PADDO Simon Kelly PRINCE OF WALES Open Mic Night RIVERSIDE THEATRE Kenny Rogers SETTLERS TAVERN Open Mic Night THE BIRD Tyme. x Tujiko Diger Rockwell Mei Saraswati TWO ROCKS TAVERN Jump For Joy Karaoke YA YA’S Fuzz Bucket We Move Walls Ermine Coat Ellen Oosterbaan

The Chemist

RTR FM RADIOTHON OPENING PARTY THE CHEMIST, UMPIRE, COW PARADE COW, THE LONG LOST BROTHERS, THE NOVOCAINES, THE MORNING NIGHT AND MORE…

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18 THE BIRD,THE BAKERY,YA YA’S & PICA BAR

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

MUSOS WANTED BASS PLAYER WANTED Original Alt/heavy rock. Age 18-35. Infl, Tool, SndGdn, FnM, AiC. No costs. Call Chris 0400 782 905 BASS PLAYER WANTED To join in electric Blues band. Needs to be reliable, love the Blues/Rock and have fun. Ring Wes 0405 455 133.

GUITARIST/ BACK UP VOCALIST WANTED For Alt Rock band Hostile Little Face. Currently gigging. Must have own gear, love the tunes, live experience preferred.Dedicated applicants only. Mitch 0439 679 947.

LEAD GUITARIST WANTED for working cover band. RU enthusiastic and easy going? If this sounds like you call Phil 0418 440 977 or Peter 0414 1611 110 MALE VOCALIST OR GUITARIST 40+ wanted for accoustic/electric duo/trio? Playing rock/pop based covers 80’s to 00’s. Playing everything live, no backing tracks. I want people that are driven, focused and most of all reliable. Own transport essent. 0430 695 287.

METAL BAND SEEKS NEW BASSIST Influences include Sepultura, Slayer, Fear Factory, Chimaira, Machine Head, Hatebreed & more. Send tx to 0422 442 368. Must be dedicated.

OPEN MIC NIGHT Every Thursday at Moondyne Joes. All welcome. Friendly atmosphere, Call Mark 0409 137 850.

OPEN MIC NIGHT every Thursday night at Indi Bar. Just call Tash on 0458 095 364.

OPEN MIC NIGHT Every Tuesday night at the Craigie Tavern 8-11pm. Call Corey for bookings 0431 448 235 PERCUSSIONIST 40+ wanted for accoustic/ electric duo/trio? Playing rock/pop based covers 80’s - 00’s. Must own a Cajon or Djembe drum. I want people that are driven, focused and most of all reliable. 0430 695 287 SINGER WANTED For new Perth based

stoner Rock/Metal band. Influences BLS, Machine Head, Down. Link www.myspace. com/project61XX19. Ph 0412 417 301.

SINGER WANTED For working duo. Must have strong voice & stage presence. No time wasters. Ph: 0406 382 078.

VOCALIST WANTED For Alt Rock covers band. Playing AIC, STP, PJ, QOTSA, Sound Garden, Audio Slave & Tea Party. Gigs waiting.

Interested parties please call Jarrod on 0424 448 289 for auditions.

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT PHOTOGR APHY Pr o m o photography, studio, live, location.

M i k e W y l i e 0 4 1 7 9 7 5 9 6 4 w w w. projectphotography.com When its time to ice the cake... * LIGHTING * AUDIO* STAGING * www. nightstarlightingaudio.com.au www. nightstarlightingaudio.com.au www. instandt.com.au www.instandt.com.au 9381 2363/ 9444 6651 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 Vox P.A’s and Funktion-One concert systems. Beat any quote. 9307 8594/ mob 0404 410 020. perthconcertsound.com.au.

PA HIRE, PRO SYSTEM, FULL FOLD BACK Experienced operator. Optional light show.

Fidelity sound on 0404 331 320.

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 ORACLE SOUND RECORDING STUDIO Multitrack Studio In Osbourne Park Specialising In Punk, Metal and Hardcore.

Tracking, Mixing and Song Writing available.

Matt 0420 308 935 or Jay 0410 383 630. www.oraclesound.com.au 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 R E CO R D I N G M I X I N G M A S T E R I N G PRODUCING Fremantle location. Call Pete Kitchen Cooked Records. Ph 0407 363 764 / 9336 3764 REVOLVER SOUND STUDIO Ph 9272 7505. www.revolverstudio.com.au SONGWRITERS! - UNLOCK YOUR 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

REHEARSAL STUDIOS AAA VHS REHEARSAL ROOMS Great facilities, great vibe & great price!!! Unit 5 /16 Peel Road, O’Connor. Phone 9418 5815 or 0413 732 885 BIGBEAT SOUND STUDIO Clean rooms, all new PA systems, air-con and good parking .

Willetton Ph: 0425 698 117.

PLATINUM SOUND ROOMS Professional rehearsal rooms, airconditioned, quality PAs mob 0418 944 722 TUITION AAA CLEAVER ACADEMY OF VOICE Voice training for singers that really works. All techniques including speech level. Phone 9272 4497 mb 0417 928 998. ***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 DRUM LESSONS All styles, WAAPA prep.

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

GUITAR LESSONS For beginner students.

Learn how to start from the beginning, play your favourite songs, chords, solos and more.

6 years teaching experience. Guitars and Amps available for hire. Lessons in Duncraig, call Luke on 0400021560.

G U I TA R I S T / VO C A L I S T S I N C E 1 9 8 0 Beginners-Intermediate. Results fast. Visiting all suburbs. $40p/h. kinetikindred.com Ph: 0431 074 047.

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.

ON THE GEAR

SCHECTER HELLRAISER ELECTRIC GUITAR

Having switched wholesalers in Australia a few times in

DW DRUMS PERFORMANCE recent years, Schecter Guitars have found a new home with Intermusic Distribution. One of the newer models SERIES DRUM KIT available is the Hellraiser.

DW Drums Performance Series Drum Kit Revered by drummers worldwide and played exclusively by many of the greats including Dave Grohl, Jason Bonham and Roger Taylor, DW is currently celebrating 40 years in the drum business.

Aimed at serious drummers looking for maximum quality at a mid-range price,DW’s Performance Series offers a brand new shell technology devised by John Good and the DW Custom Shell Shop in California, which combines the latest grain orientation technology and hand-selected North American Hard Rock Maple.

Visually, these kits are stunning. Inspired by a Custom Series kit, the Performance Series features new quarter turret lugs, low mass die-cast claw hook, new badge, logo head and a choice of 5 hand-sprayed Specialty Lacquer or 3 ultra-durable FinishPly finishes.

Ultimately it’s about the tone, which is deep, rich and resonant. In fact when this kit was demonstrated, I experienced one of those rare but rewarding moments where the ‘ideal’ sound in my head I was expecting to hear was exactly what was delivered.The superior sound is largely due to the HVX shells, along with DW heads by Remo USA, suspension tom mounts, True Pitch tuning and DW 45 degree back-cut bearing edges.

In order to provide these quality drums to professional players at mid-level prices, only the actual shells are included in this series of kit, all pedals, stands, cymbals and accessories are sold separately. There is also an assumption there that the level of musician likely to purchase a DW kit of this quality and level more than likely already has a hardware and accessories preference anyway.

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It’s certainly an inviting instrument to play; a guitar that entices the player to keep exploring the fretboard and revel in the ensuing tones. The fretboard, featuring 24 jumbo frets, is easy to navigate and the neck is of a perfect size to execute intricate melodic passages and extended chord shapes. A three-piece mahogany neck flows seamlessly into the body of the guitar, combining with a very comfortable cutaway to allow the utmost accessibility to the higher frets.

The EMG active pickup configuration (comprised of an 81 and an 89 EMG series) ensures an abundance of gain, yet surprisingly many subdued tones can also be coaxed from this instrument.Each humbucker pickup can be coil-tapped back to a single soil pickup using the push/pull function on the corresponding volume pot, and similarly to a Les Paul each pickup features an individual tone pot. A three-way toggle switch allows the standard configuration changes one would expect from this pickup configuration.

Grover Rotomatic tuners and a Floyd Rose 1000 series tremolo system provide finer accuracy and greater stability in the tuning and intonation department, and while double-stop bends are (and have always been) a bit of a challenge on floating tremelo systems, the payoff of such smooth, sensitive vibrato when using the bar more than compensates.

This guitar is obviously aimed at the hard rock and metal market, however the overall feel, attack and look would also be suited to fusion and commercial rock musicians. _CHRIS GIBBS

Schecter C-1 Floyd Rose Hellraiser electric guitar X-Press – First on the street, Wednesdays

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