Yewth Issue 009

ISSUE 009 WINTER 2017 YEWTHMAG.COM FREE

Printed in Adelaide by Newstyle Print Paper supplied by K.W.Doggett

Made with the support of Carclew

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ISSUE 009 - WINTER 2017 FEATURING:

Q U E S - CRACK- W E S T TION AN- ING UN- T H E EARTHED SWER B A R -

PIERRE MUKEBA

GEORGINA CUE

MOTEZ

TON

TXJ U N - NK GLES

ADELAIDE I M B I K E PRINTS KITCHEN

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Editor’s note It’s been a busy few months here at Yewth…

We’ve opened our new office with support from Renew Adelaide and Carclew, organised a secret show with Bad//Dreems, and against all the odds printed another issue.

Despite months of planning, the path to the printer hasn’t been as smooth as the pages you hold. However, hard work behind the scenes has paid off and we’re proud of this issue and the people in it.

I often wonder if there’ll come a time when we have difficulty finding anyone to feature, but there never fails to be someone new and worthy of recognition for their work within art and music.

It isn’t easy putting all this together, but we wouldn’t have it any other way – we love print, we love collating all this sweet content and we hope you thoroughly enjoy the final product.

- Caleb Sweeting

EDITOR—IN—CHIEF

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Caleb Sweeting caleb@yewthmag.com

Dave Court @dave.court

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Dave Court dave@yewthmag.com

Daniel Marks @markseee

EDITOR / HEAD OF VIDEO

Phil Portellos @philportellos

Lewis Brideson lewis@yewthmag.com

Jess Brohier @jessbrohier

PR / EVENTS

Danny Howe @dannyhowe

Courtney Duka courtney@yewthmag.com ASSISTANT EDITOR

Molly Garcia-Underwood @mollygarciaunderwood

Freya Langley freya@yewthmag.com

Emily Dawe @emilydawe_

ADVERTISING

Evelina Katarzynski @evitrron

Connor Jolly connor@yewthmag.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Sam Kolesnik @skyokes Matthew Hayward @prayersonfireadel Haneen Martin @zombiequeenadl Zane Dean @zanejd

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Pia Gynell-Jorgenson @piapaella Henry Stentiford @1loveadl TALK TO US hello@yewthmag.com FIND US

55 Flinders Street, Adelaide, SA 5000

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SUPPORT US www.patreon.com/yewthmag

Callum Reid @callumcalzar

Front Cover artwork by Jungles

Dave Court @dave.court Ben Robinson @bennomiddlenamerobinson Freya Langley @worstfreya

Back Cover artwork by Pierre Mukeba Injustice and lack of recognition, 2016, brush pen and fabric applique on cotton, 166 x 114cm Inside cover details by Pierre Mukeba Design, layout and typography by Dave Court.

From your first day at SAE, you’ll start creating in world-class facilities, on the latest software and equipment, all under the guidance of our expert lecturers – discover how you could become part of the SAE crew at our Open Night.

BEN MARTIN

/ LABEL MANAGER / GOLDEN ERA RECORDS

I think they are pretty similar, they both seem to be going through a bit of a renaissance at the moment. Both base their sound on the US, but each have their unique elements that makes it their own.

Let’s go back to the beginning. How’d you become involved in Golden Era Records?

I managed a group in Canada and they opened for Hilltop Hoods on their tour in 2010. That group ended up breaking up and I hit up Suff [Matt Lambert, Hilltop Hoods] to see if he had any work. Hoods are very hands on with the label, but they needed someone to be on the ground as they still do a bunch of touring every year, so that’s where I fit in.

Coming from being actively involved in the music industry in Canada, how does the hip hop scene there compare to Australia?

Your title is ‘label manager’, which sounds like an umbrella for being busy AF all the time. What does your role entail?

Marketing, scheduling, A&R, manager, merchandise, tour manager, event planner.

I wear many hats, also, we make hats.

If people follow Golden Era on Snapchat, they’ll see that you’re hitting up new shows all the time – not just hip hop – is there anyone coming up in Adelaide that we should know about?

I really like Young Offenders they sound like the Clash with a modern edge, I think they are headed over to play Glastonbury soon which is pretty cool. There is also a young producer called Rela that I really like, it will be interesting to see what he does.

“If you are doing shows and producing good music I probably know about you.”

How can unsigned hip hop acts get your attention? I know the Hilltop Hoods Initiative is a good way for artists to put themselves out there and an amazing opportunity for the winner.

I think it’s more about having a presence in the scene and doing shows than getting my attention. I am always looking, if you are doing shows and producing good music I probably know about you.

What advice would you give to someone starting out and looking to work in the music industry – specifically for a record label. Where do they begin/cut their teeth?

I started out doing an unpaid internship at a record label while bussing tables at a restaurant. These days I would find a local band you are passionate about that needs a manager and offer to work for them, build up contacts and if the band is successful you can open up other doors for yourself. If you’re passionate about the band and driven to help them succeed you can get far.

Follow and keep up with all things Golden Era: goldenerarecords.com.au @goldenerarecords goldeneraonline Listen to these GE artists—A.B. Original, Adfu, Briggs, Funkoars, Hilltop Hoods, K21, Purpose, Vents

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MARIA AMATO

with your fans and help you maximise the potential to reach new customers.

Tell us a bit about the work AIR does and how you became involved?

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career path similar to yours in the music industry?

/ GENERAL MANAGER / AIR

The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) was founded in 1996 and is based in Melbourne. It is a national, non-government, non-profit trade body that promotes and represents the interests and development of Australian independent artists, labels and distributors.

I was approached directly by the board of AIR back in 2007 and engaged as chief financial officer and was offered the role of general manager last year following the departure of Dan Nevin.

Nowadays it’s very easy to share new music online; how important are independent record labels for up-andcoming bands and artists to ensure their music is heard among the wave of singles and EPs uploaded to Bandcamp, SoundCloud and triple j Unearthed?

I believe it is extremely important to exploit the many platforms available to get your music heard whilst ensuring that your rights are respected and protected. These mediums also provide you with the opportunity to build a strong and engaged connection

Do you find the Australian market is supportive of independent record labels and artists?

The independent recording sector represents 35% of the Australian market and is growing at a steady rate. According to the 2015 Wintel research report, Australia had the fourth highest market share in the world for the independent sector. Australia as a music community is generally very supportive of its artists.

Be prepared to start at the bottom and work your way up. Go and intern for a company you want to work for and learn all you can, work hard and go above and beyond to maximise your chances of getting that foothold you need to get you where you want to go. Most importantly, no matter which career or industry you choose to work in make sure you are passionate about it ‌ Life is a short and wonderful opportunity to be courageous, so take that leap and do what you love.

As general manager of AIR and a successful female leader in a largely male-dominated business, do you think the music industry is heading in the right direction when it comes to gender equality?

Yes, I think it is making a conscious effort to promote and create equal opportunity for talented people to thrive and be recognised in this industry.

The AIR Awards will be held in Adelaide this July, with a two day music industry conference and after-parties happening across the CBD. What can we expect? lndie-Con Australia is AIR’s brand new music industry conference being held over two days at Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide.

“...exploit the many platforms available to get your music heard whilst ensuring that your rights are respected and protected.”

AIR is providing the first conference of its type in Australia that truly addresses the needs and issues affecting independent artists and label businesses that are the backbone of the burgeoning Australian independent music community It is designed to enable participants to gain insights into the latest innovations and technological advancements in products, services and strategies available to the independent music sector, as well as providing an opportunity for the advancement of professional development, leadership and business performance skills The AIR Awards is an invite only industry event and will take place at Queen’s Theatre and will feature performances from

Australia’s best musical talent with 13 award categories across genres including jazz, classical, country, hip hop, hard rock/punk, dance/electronica, blues and roots. This year’s event will also feature after parties hosted by several Australian Independent labels, including Golden Era, Bad Apples, Chugg Music, Future Classic and ABC Music.

The 11th Annual AIR Awards is happening at Queen’s Theatre July 27. The two-day conference will be on 27-28 July as part of Umbrella: Winter City Sounds.

Follow AIR and find out more: /australianindies www.air.org.au

So… you’ve got a crash-hot TUNE™ and you’re looking to get it into the earholes of as many people as possible. Maybe the track has been produced by an industry legend, maybe you recorded it in your bedroom. Your mates all tell you that “it’s siiiiiiiiiiiick”.

So you upload it to triple j Unearthed.

There’s no way they could ignore such a banger, right? Well sometimes, that’s entirely correct. They won’t ignore it.

They’ll spread it far and wide. They’ll feature you as an up-and-comer. They might even chuck you on a festival and help boost your audience.

But what if that’s not the case? What do you do when it seems nobody has noticed your track, it hasn’t had many reviews from presenters, or it hasn’t got the red or green drum next to it for being played on the radio? Maybe what I’m about to write is obvious, maybe not.

If your goal is to be noticed by triple j, then you have to understand a few things.

Firstly, and most importantly, triple j have no obligation to play a song solely because it comes from a young Australian artist that wants exposure. It’s their radio station.

They can play whatever the fuck they want.

There’s not enough hours in the day to play everything submitted to Unearthed (and that’s assuming everything submitted is actually any good). It’s just not possible.

Secondly, triple j’s influence comes from being a tastemaker. Specifically, a tastemaker of new Australian music.

It seems obvious to say, but it’s hugely important to recognise, because it relates to why some types of artists seem to get all the airtime and other legitimately good ones do not.

Neither triple j nor its listeners have the sole power to influence what is popular in the music landscape. It’s a give and take relationship. That’s not to say triple j have no power to shape what is popular. They do. And it’s also not true to say triple j doesn’t support alternative artists, because they definitely do.

But the reality is it’s not as simple as them saying, “hey, we really like this weird band, let’s make them huge”.

They have to be selective about what they push to maintain their tastemaker status.

Inevitably, that means that a lot of artists on Unearthed are not supported to the extent other acts are, because they simply don’t fit into what is popular, and might alienate listeners—who give triple j their power in the first place. Forget what ‘the jays’ used to be like. Their current listeners don’t necessarily have the same taste as you.

Thirdly, your song has to be strong enough to resonate with triple j listeners.

Seriously. If you truly want triple j to pick up your song and run with it, then it has to be the very-best-like-no-one-ever-was.

I truly believe Amy Shark’s ‘Adore’ is pretty much a perfect song, as far as the listenership is concerned. One that many artists could only dream of writing, no matter how simple it sounds. It’s not just incredibly popular because triple j supported it, it’s incredibly popular because it’s one of the strongest pop songs to come out of Australia in recent memory and it happened to resonate with their audience.

If you’re salty that ‘Adore’ is played instead of your songs then either you’re not writing songs that are as strong, or you don’t understand how the music industry works.

Which leads me to my final point.

If you don’t have a song that would resonate that strongly with all listeners (and to put ego aside… most don’t, myself included), then you need to engage in a multitude of activities for every song you upload.

How To Navigate The Music Industry:

Play gigs in support of your song, particularly interstate. It doesn’t matter the size of the shows. They’ll get bigger as you play more and get better at performing.

Email everyone about it. triple j staff, labels, bookers, managers, other artists you want to play with, venues you want to play at, media. The worst they can do is not reply.

Build your following on social media, then spam them—post content they actually like.

Aim to get support slots for bigger acts that you can then use on your ‘band resume’.

Playing with well known artists verifies you to others as being “fkn sick ay”, even if they haven’t listened to you.

Service your song through a music PR company. They’ll do some heavy lifting by promoting you to the media, as well as potentially taking the song into triple j’s music directors (Nick Findlay and Gemma Pike) to get feedback on why they will, or won’t play your track.

Submit your song to online distributors (iTunes, Bandcamp, etc.) and streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.). In particular, you can get a huge amount of new listeners if your song is included on a streaming playlist with many subscribers. Find out how to get on them.

Create dope merch. The more people wearing your tee, the cooler you’ll be, and the bigger your band will seem to those who’ve never heard you.

Ultimately, you’re not going to have a huge amount of success getting rotation from your upload if you don’t seem like a band that is actually doing things. triple j can only play so much music, so they want to pick artists that they think have the potential to do big things, or are already doing big things. If you want them to care about you, force them to.

Upload, listen and discover new Australian music: triplejunearthed.com @triple_j_unearthed /triplejunearthed

WORDS: MATTHEW HAYWARD PHOTOS: DAVE COURT

West Thebarton are living in the moment.

The seven-piece garage rock hydra have come a long way from their early unconventional beginnings to potential pub rock contenders.

Conspicuously named after an online group chat inspired by their rehearsal spaces proximity to one of the west’s lesser-known attractions, the band have now rebranded their fearsome live performances—placing them firmly in the crosshairs as one of South Australia’s leading live acts.

I met with singer Ray Dalfsen out the front of the Exeter Hotel, the notable live music institution and one of the band’s earliest stomping grounds. The Rundle Street shuffle is on full display, from uni students skipping afternoon classes to longtime regulars propping up the front bar. A tracksuit-clad couple menacingly walk their uncomfortably friendly pit bull past the lunchtime crowd while an itinerant man lashes out erratically about the government for anyone who will care to listen. It’s about as typical a posthangover recovery as you can get for a Friday afternoon in the city.

Growing up in a musical family Dalfsen had fairly eclectic tastes, but with a surprisingly early predisposition towards 90s gangster rap. “I had like a bit of a real weird relationship with music growing up. I remember heading to Muses in the mall and getting Death Row Records Greatest Hits. I went up to the counter and the guy was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not selling this to you’,” he laughs.

Playing in knockaround high school bands during his teenage years, Dalfsen started developing a deeper appreciation for garage rock. “When I moved down to high school all my friends were from the northwest or

western suburbs. I pretty much spent all of my growing up period of my life around there,” he contemplates. “That’s where I got a real big appreciation for music everyone kind of enjoyed listening to... classic rock like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin was a big gateway for me.”

A shared devotion towards Australian icons The Cruel Sea and You Am I led Dalfsen to form the proto-garage band TEA with fellow local musicians David Blumberg and Jake Morrison. “We didn’t have a drummer when we started and we just thought ‘fuck it’, he [Blumberg] had an acoustic guitar and I had an electric”, he muses. The line up solidified with Ben Kuerschner on drums and the band eventually recorded and released one selftitled album through Off The Hip Records, a pick-and-mix collection of acerbic mod rock songs highlighted in track titles such as ‘Burnside Mums’ and ‘Lead Shoes’.

Early TEA gigs brought the singer into contact with another young band entering the local music scene, the fuzz drenched, Sonic Youth inspired slackers Horror My Friend. “I don’t know how we all thought about each other at the start, but we kept on seeing each other at shows and I was like ‘Oh yeah I have time for these dudes’.” Both groups bonded together over playing endless gigs to half empty rooms at such dive bars as the Gaslight Tavern and the Crown and Anchor Hotel. With TEA eventually going on hiatus due in part to burn out and overseas travel, Dalfsen and his new acquaintances (singer/guitarists Tom Gordon and Josh Battersby) decided to form a new group.

“We just wanted to make a punk band, like a real like Ty Segall style,” Dalfsen concurs.

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“Seven musicians… what were we thinking?”

“We met up to play garage rock and it was just fucking around at the beginning,” Dalfsen remembers. “Most of it was just like monster riffs, like real chunky bullshit riffs and then I’d just kind of like yell a couple of words over the top, but then kind of think about it a little more and make them into sentences. It was cool because I just tried to see like what words worked in these songs, because I’d never really just improv’d while singing… so that was really cool fun.”

“I think now is one of the best times... there’s lots of unknowns and it’s a really cool feeling.”

While the idea of a supergroup started as a bit of a joke, “Seven musicians… what were we thinking?” Dalfsen grins ruefully, the nascent band played their debut gig at the Exeter Hotel. The core membership continued to grow, with drummer/percussionists Brian Bolado and Hugh Black (formerly of progrockers Archers), guitarist Josh Healey (of

hardcore heavy hitters Sleep Talk) and bass player Nick Horvat all welcomed into the fold. Larger gigs soon followed, with major slots supporting US indie rockers Wavves, Cloud Nothings and future poet laureate Courtney Barnett propelling the band forward.

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With their self-titled EP and recent A side singles ‘Red Or White’ and ‘Dolewave’ released last year through Clarity Records, the band enlisted producer Dylan Adams to record their upcoming debut album.

Impressed by his work on the DMA’s album Hills End, the band were able to secure the Sydney producer on late notice. “Luckily his cousin lives in Adelaide, so that helped. He came down and he was just like a real easy guy to work with,” Dalfsen said. “Having said that, you can tell his style. His style is to make you feel comfortable and not to intimidate you, but when he’s heard a good take that’s enough. But if you do a shit take and think it’s great, he’ll tell you.”

The band demonstrate this new and refined raw power in their latest single, the triple j dominating track ‘Moving Out’. The song humanises the doldrums of the twentysomething share house experience, a blistering anthem which gives a shout out to the band’s spiritual birthplace of Port Adelaide and the western suburbs. “The song’s really strange, it’s kind of like a story,” Dalfsen explains, “but it’s me trying to tell three or four really shitty stories in one.”

“All the share houses I lived in were pretty cool and I’ve had heaps of housemates over the years—it’s just about my perspective. The line to me is like ‘falling in love and moving out’ and feeling a bit shitty because you don’t wanna put people out but hey that’s life you know? What, did you think, were we gonna live together forever?”

With many significant changes in store for the band (dropping the long divisive Brothel Party tag, “we grew up, changed shape, moved on”, Dalfsen concludes).

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With new members and future festival performances quickly approaching, West Thebarton seem destined for greater recognition from within the national consciousness. But for now the future remains as bright as it is uncertain. “I think now is one of the best times... there’s lots of unknowns and it’s a really cool feeling,” Dalfsen muses.

Plus if it doesn’t work out, there’s always life in the west right? Where else would you want to be?

“It’s God’s country mate.”

Follow, listen and keep up with all things West Thebarton: westthebarton.com @westthebarton /westthebartonband

Pierre Mukeba is a natural born story-teller.

The twenty-two-year-old is energetic and lively; exuding such high levels of positivity that you could never imagine what he and his family have been through. The emerging artist was born in Congo before his family fled to Zambia, and then Zimbabwe, before finally being allowed to migrate to Australia.

His first exhibition, Trauma, held at Greenaway Gallery in Kent Town earlier this year, was a coup for artists of colour in Adelaide’s visual arts scene. Featuring a range of brightly coloured, large-scale works on fabric, Mukeba engages his Congolese background and announced his presence in a way that cannot be ignored.

While Mukeba is too young to remember life in Congo, he says “I get flashbacks… I remember the house, I remember playing, but not really anything else… I remember Zambia, it was the best life [we had in Africa]”.

However, he remembers life in Zimbabwe more clearly as his family lived there for a few years from the age of nine or ten.

Mukeba had been going to school for less than six months in Zimbabwe when Robert Mugabe rose to power. Non-Zimbabwean nationals had the choice of living in camps where they would await permanent resettlement, or to flee the country. Having been smuggled into the country and separated from his mother and sisters for a while, his family was eventually reunited in the camps. They survived on meals of rice, beans and porridge with salt as they couldn’t afford sugar. Soon enough, news arrived that his uncle was alive and well in the capital, and he invited Mukeba and his family to live in his small three-bedroom flat. As political tensions rose, Mukeba’s mother and sister were arrested frequently, even once while taking out the rubbish, purely because they were not Zimbabwean. With a light laugh, Mukeba continues to recount “it wasn’t great at all, but we didn’t know any better”.

Mukeba’s family remained in limbo for a full year after being awarded a pass to relocate to Australia, subjected to a series of tests and injections to ensure a clean bill of health.

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Slavelike Labor, 2016, brush pen and fabric applique on cotton, 253 x 113cm

Richard Mpoyi, 2016, brush pen on cotton sheet, 305 x 112 cm

Christine Kitenge, 2016 Brush pen and fabric applique on cotton 230 x 112cm

Impact of Malnutrition 1, 2016, brush pen on cotton, 155 x 89.5 cm

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“I didn’t want it to look like a nice painting… if I draw something, I wanted it to look like how I think, how it looked in Africa.”

They remained in the camps with increasing danger to their personal safety, even having one of his underaged sisters jailed in the meantime. Mukeba and his family were eventually welcomed into Australia in 2007.

“I didn’t really know how to read and write when I came, or really how to speak good English … except for [a few phrases] we learned in Zimbabwe.”

“I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t drawing much in Africa, we were too busy,” Mukeba laughs, bringing a sense of lightheartedness to the dark nature of his life stories. Speaking of his early artistic influence, he fondly recalls a French animated TV show called Galactik Football, which would air every day at 2pm in Zimbabwe.

“I wanted 100% to work in anime … in year 12 I had to draw something big, in pencil, it motivated me.”

After completing high school in Australia, Mukeba describes himself as “not too serious, happy living life” to the point where he dropped out of accounting at Flinders University after a year, much to his mother’s distress.

Things started to click, Mukeba recounts constantly drawing, going to a lot of exhibitions and spending much of his time in the Art Gallery of South Australia, but there was something missing: representation.

“I came to realise that I’d go to the art gallery here and there wouldn’t be any black people anywhere, it would just be like really nice paintings with really strong – sergeants – all these figures and they’d all be white and I was like, I guess maybe I should try drawing black people.” He was inspired to draw something to tell a story, draw something to educate people on another level, drawing from his experiences.

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Unbearable, 2016, Brush pen and fabric applique on cotton, 174 x 110cm

Installation view, Physical Injury, 2017 brush pen and fabric applique on cotton 202 x 120cm

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With most African artists Mukeba did come across, he found that their message was uplifting, light and positive, which was not the experience of him and his family.

He was heavily inspired by his uncle, who had taught him the basics of sculpture and drawing, as well as introducing the idea of art as a commodity and a way to make money. Mukeba admits to only really beginning to make ‘serious’ art from the middle of 2016, having never drawn a face beforehand. Mukeba would raid his mother’s closet for traditional Congolese clothing and fabric. Working hard without much money for materials, but determined to create art, Mukeba decided “bedsheets are close enough to a canvas”. He first drew himself as a child, “I wanted it to confront you. I didn’t want it to be nice, it wasn’t a nice experience. I didn’t want it to look like a nice painting… if I draw something, I wanted it to look like how I think, how it looked in Africa.”

True to his formidable nature, Mukeba was introduced to gallerist Paul Greenaway through a friend and had the opportunity to show his portfolio, leading to an offer for a solo exhibition—an impressive feat for any emerging artist. Inspired and encouraged, Mukeba went on to create approximately fifty different works in preparation for Trauma once he had left university. It was through the guidance and curation of Greenaway that Mukeba then sought to destroy any works that did not suit by

setting them alight and then discarding them, focussing the core of his body of work on “what I went through in Africa, what I’ve seen, what’s happening right now or what other people go through ... I pick a section in my life that I think I can draw something … from when something bad happened.”

As with most artists of the diaspora who have experienced trauma, Mukeba’s culture is intrinsically entwined with his talent and strength, all blended together to create large-scale foreboding works restricted by the symbols behind his colour choices. Red for fire, bloodshed, war and power, as well as a personal link to Mukeba’s own Central Africa. Blue for a sense of sincerity which emanates firmly through each piece. Finally, yellow as the universal colour of joy and happiness. Mukeba is deeply unapologetic about the confronting content of his work.

A fact made clear by the scale, the colour and the titles, including; Injustice and Lack of Recognition, Deprived, Dignity and Rape, just to name a few. Pierre Mukeba is demanding our attention and we are standing here, mouth agape, watching and listening for what comes next.

Follow and see more of Pierre Mukeba’s work: @pierre_mukeba gagprojects.com

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INTERVIEW: ZANE DEAN PHOTOS: DANIEL MARKS It’s a sunny, laid-back day in Adelaide’s East End when I sit down to chat with Motez, a man who’s similarly sunny and laid-back disposition belies a pretty incredible career. He’s taken over clubs and festival stages around the world with his signature brand of melodic, bass-driven house music, but his next release is truer to himself than anything he’s put out so far. I sat down with Motez to talk about his next step.

Let’s kick it off by talking about ‘Praise’, which has been out for a little while now. How are you feeling now that the tune is out?

Feeling really good, actually! I like how people have reacted to it. It’s not that it was a surprise per sé, but I didn’t expect it to be this big.

I remember you telling me when ‘Praise’ was about to come out that you wanted

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it to be a bridge between what you’d done and where you were going. Do you think it’s done that?

I think so! ‘Praise’ is more of an ode to what I have done so far, in terms of focusing on something a bit more bass-oriented, but still with a lot of musicality. I’ve tried to take that to another level, because the next release is going to be totally different.

So we’re about to enter a new chapter of Motez… Tell me what’s coming up, what is this new sound?

It’s not really a new sound… I think the next release is going to be something that is more ‘me’ than anything that I’ve released.

But people are probably gonna be really surprised, it’s gonna be a complete change in direction. I’m not saying it’s going to be a permanent change in direction, but I think…

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it’s time now to show the world this track I’ve been working on for the last three and a half years.

It’s actually a really good time for us generally.

I’m just really proud of this city, I’ll stay here as long as I can.

Why now? Why, so many years into your career, are you releasing the thing that’s the most ‘you’?

What do you think is the biggest difference between the artist you are today and the artist you were when you first started to emerge and get your singles out there?

I think it takes time to kind of… lubricate people’s perception, right? I think people are gonna receive it the way that I want it to be received at this point in time.

So, the actual song itself… what can you tell me about it?

Yep, there is a new single coming, sneak peak for Yewth mag readers, it’s titled ‘The Future’, which will support a big tour I’ll be doing. It features Antony and Cleopatra. Antony is Alex Burnett, who is Sparkadia. I’ve been a fan of Sparkadia for years and years, and it was an honour working with them. I went to the Barossa also, and recorded a school choir, St. Jakobi’s, for that song.

So… yeah! It’s a slow jam, it’s groovy, it’s more of a pop song than it is electronic.

How long has it been in the works for?

Oh man. It’s been, probably finished, two and a half years ago? But the choir bit was last minute. We had it mixed down by Eric J who’s a Grammy-winning engineer, he’s mixed people like Flume and Flight Facilities.

He just added that little bit extra to it as well.

So, one thing I’ve always been curious about is the fact that I see a lot of Adelaide artists who aren’t as successful as you make the move to Sydney or to Melbourne, and you’re still doing your thing here. Why are you still here in Adelaide?

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I think… for lack of better words, confidence.

In what you put out. Confidence in releasing things that are more true to yourself. You have more reassurance within yourself of what you want, how you want it to be done, and at the same time… you just don’t give a damn. This is me, this is who I am.

So, let’s talk touring.

You just announced a national tour, your first in over a year, with a a big step up in venue sizes. What have you got in the works for Australia, and in particular, Adelaide?

Yep, I’ve just announced my biggest tour yet, taking my show out of the clubs and into bigger music venues across Australia. As for my hometown of Adelaide, I’m joining forces with the crew at Fat Controller to take over a secret, never before used, warehouse space in the CBD to throw a intimate warehouse party. We did a walkthrough of the space just the other day and it’s really exciting. A big goal for me in planning this tour was to do something extra special for my hometown show, and it’s looking tight. Joining me on the tour will be golden-boy Mickey Kojak and Adelaide’s own Tigerilla. As for my own set and production, it’s gonna be a step up.

I think I’m just coming more around to the fact that I grew up as a musician rather than a DJ… I’ll be playing more live elements. The whole thing is gonna be a little bit bigger. I’m really really excited about that.

That’s very exciting. Can you tell me though… if there’s a banger you’re gonna go to to close out the show? Because I remember Day Club, when you dropped ‘Take On Me’ by A-Ha, that was a moment.

‘Take On Me’ has been part of the show for like a year! It actually started at the Royal Croquet Club, in Adelaide, in 2016. That was the first time I was trialling closing the set with something a little bit different. So, I did ‘Take On Me’, and I just wanted a song that makes people happy, people can sing along to it. You can pretty much put the fader down and people will be singing. And it’s really good to close with that.

Okay… …and it was ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’

by Whitney Houston. *snaps fingers enthusiastically* Yeah, it was like that! So that’s probably gonna be the closing song.

Okay, I’m excited for this. expectations are set for Whitney.

There you go!

Keep up with all things Motez: motez.com.au @motez /motez.music

So I thought, maybe I’ll do the same kind of concept but with a different song. So, I also trialled the first song at Royal Croquet Club in 2017…

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My

Words: Patrick Martin Portrait: Phil Portellos Lookbook: Jess Brohier

In the ritzy London district of Mayfair, the sprawling outer city suburbs of Tokyo and the gritty streets of New York, a new player is stamping his authority on the streetwear scene.

Across these cities steeped in history, a small black and white sphinx spreads across the racks of some of the world’s most exclusive fashion boutiques.

As the garments clad with brash iconography sit comfortably alongside fashion stalwarts like Carhartt and Comme Des Garcons and other new brands of the moment like Palace and Gosha Rubchinskiy, the stately cat has more than one paw in Adelaide’s corner.

The rise to prominence of Jungles clothing in stores like Dover Street Market in New York, Starcow in Paris, BEAMS in Tokyo and Highs and Lows in Perth has been seemingly steady, but ask Artistic Director Jack Ferguson about the brand’s journey and a new story emerges.

Speaking to Jack over the phone from his studio space in Brunswick, Melbourne, the details aren’t clear but his honesty is.

“It’s a bit of a grey area and I can’t really pinpoint where it started,” Jack says, after pondering the existence of the brand he has put all of his energy and more into for the last few years.

“I used to do dumb drawings that were so bad, but for some reason my friends liked them and told me to make shirts. My brother Ben thought it was a good idea and bought me a single colour screen press. I had no money so we had a deal that he pays for the upfront costs, and then if I sell the shirts he gets half of the profit.

“That worked for a while before I realised I could do this instead of getting a real job, so I kind of just cut him out and kept doing it for

myself,” he says, before laughing and offering up an apology to his first business partner.

But despite the brands promising start, it was soon to take a step backwards.

After finishing his product design degree at the University of South Australia in 2011, a career in industrial design creating “anything made of plastic” beckoned. But it wasn’t to be for the then 21-year-old, who took off traveling in order to forget “... the hours of C.A.D” his professional career was set to offer him.

When Jack returned to Adelaide in 2014, he had $100 to his name and he took the first job he could find—a kitchen hand in a Mexican restaurant.

“I had one of those moments where I was like, ‘hey, you need to figure out what the fuck you want to do with your life’,” he says.

“So I started screen printing again. Started Jungles again. And just went for it.”

While the brand is now stocked in over 50 stores in nine countries worldwide and being noticed for its unique approach to appropriation, pop culture and historical moments, Adelaide remains somewhat oblivious to the brand – something which Jack is not surprised by.

For some reason, Adelaide is always a little slow off the mark.

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The closest many local fashion aficionados may have come to Jungles was when it was stocked at the Glenelg Zero Boutique store – the very first store to stock the brand, before being championed locally by Created Range in Regent Arcade.

He says he was never “100 percent confident” in his work, which impacted the way the brand operated in its early years. “The way I marketed my products (in the beginning) was the opposite to what people usually do when they start a brand. I hardly promoted it at all,” he says.

“So that shaped sort of an anti-marketing approach, which when you start a business does not work at all, but through pure persistence, in the end I think I benefited from it because the brand doesn’t look desperate for sales.

“It’s like, ‘hey here’s some stuff, if you like it – cool, if you don’t then that’s cool too, we’re not forcing it on anyone’.” He proudly states that not advertising is one of the brand’s values.

“I barely give away free products to celebrities.

Even high profile people like Wiz Khalifa actually pay for their Jungles shirts.” He describes the Jungles brand in both literal and abstract terms – an understandable concept when you look at Jungles collections as a whole, from individual garments through to the models, photoshoots and final in-store presentations.

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“The overall idea behind Jungles is to emit what I call a feeling of existential freedom,” Jack says confidently. “It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life and try to make rational decisions, despite living in an irrational world.

“I bring in a lot of different references from things that I am interested in. Whether it be shit I’ve seen on signage on the side of the

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road, stuff I’ve come across while traveling, music I listen to and the visuals that go with that, stuff I find in old books, or some other random thing.”

At this moment, almost to exaggerate his point, he confirms that a couple of garments from the next Jungles collection are inspired by cleaning products.

At Jungles, quite literally anything goes.

Despite his haphazard approach to designing—which he says involves listing every idea he has before whittling them down to form a cohesive collection at the last available moment—the aesthetic of the brand remains strong and unified.

For many of the Jungles collections, there is a sense of familiarity—1960s and ‘70s thrash punk references would seem appropriated to many, but they are reworked and repurposed to feel contemporary.

“Everything kind of has this undertone that brings back to the freedom thing,” he says.

But as it turns out, Jack doesn’t describe what he makes as art. Citing artists such as Vernon Courtland Johnson, Raymond Pettibon and Jaime Reid as his artistic influences – the latter two playing major parts in the visual elements of seminal punk bands Black Flag and Sex Pistols respectively – he says that Jungles simply is not art.

“I know actual artists and I look up to so many amazing artists that it is ridiculous to think that I am in the same category as them,” he says bluntly.

Despite Jungles garments sitting on the backs of some of the fashion world’s most influential figures, Jack refuses to forget the roots of the brand, but admits things do change. “It used to be pretty shit, and now it is not as shit as it was,” he says with a laconic laugh.

“The overall idea behind Jungles is to emit what I call a feeling of existential freedom ... the view that humans define their own meaning in life and try to make rational decisions, despite living in an irrational world.�

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“The vision has always been to just try and make things that bring new ideas to the table, and give a reason for something’s existence. I guess that’s still the same. Even after collaborating with massive stores like Dover Street Market, it is humbling to know the people who work there believe in smaller companies like mine.

Despite moving from Adelaide to Melbourne and then the world, Jungles shows no signs of slowing down.

“They (boutique stores) just do whatever they like and see if other people like it too. Zero Boutique in Adelaide launched Jungles to Australia, but Dover Street Market launched Jungles to the world.”

With another collection about to drop and potential distribution deals with major US clothing chains on the discussion table, he refuses to become distracted.

While many hold a romantic view of the fashion industry—one which is exacerbated by stories of globe-trotting brands—Jack says defiantly that it is not the case.

“If my job ever becomes glamorous I will let you know—or actually, I probably won’t, because I will be too up myself to answer your phone calls,” he says with a hearty laugh.

While working “15 hours a day, 7 days a week” for months on end has ruined his travel habit, it has not managed to ruin his sense of humour.

Jack says he is about to move the Jungles headquarters again – this time to a significantly larger warehouse space in Melbourne with fellow Australian trailblazing brand, Bow3ry.

“When I started I never really thought anybody was interested in what I was doing, and because I never did any marketing I never thought anybody was watching, so I just did whatever the hell I wanted and messed around.”

Nothing, it seems, has changed.

Follow, buy and keep up with all things Jungles: www.junglesjungles.com @junglesjungles

Despite Jungles growth, his recent move to Melbourne was not inspired by the seemingly gravitational pull of sprawling city lights.

You won’t hear Jack giving a speech about newfound Melbourne love anytime soon – in fact he says the reason for his move was that there was “no real reason”.

“I need constant stimulation, and I was bored,” he says.

“And now that I run a business I can’t travel for long periods of time, so instead of traveling I just moved to a new city.

Melbourne’s fun.”

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TXNK on the grind for years.

Some artists make names for themselves through the personas they forge on social media, while others manage to push their music and artistry to the forefront of people’s attention.

Then there are a select few who manage to pull off both.

Enter Annabel Hartlett (aka: TXNK), an Adelaide-based music producer/DJ/business owner extraordinaire who quite literally does it all; breaking the mould of what it takes to be a successful artist in today’s ever changing music industry. TXNK is a true tastemaker, combining an eclectic mix of style, imagery and implementing her own creative flair within the Australian trap and bass music scene. Whether it be the music she creates, the clothes she wears, the people she’s managed to align herself with, or the raw, undeniable talent she possesses, this artist’s journey to the top has certainly been a long time coming.

Rather than the overnight success stories that seem to pop up more and more frequently,

has

been

“I started DJ’ing seven years ago. The Bloody Beetroots were in full swing back then and one day when I was still at school a friend showed me the music video for their song ‘Cornelius’ [which, coincidentally, was filmed at Electric Circus here in Adelaide]. I saw that and I thought ‘I wanna be a DJ’, so I saved up some money working at a bakery, bought myself some CDJs and a mixer, learnt how to DJ off of YouTube and practiced until I thought ‘oh yeah, I can do this’. Producing was always the next step though, so I started studying at SAE Audio Institute and it sort of grew from there.”

On the back of her latest single release, ‘Runnin’, and her recent signing to booking agency Falcona, TXNK has truly cemented herself as one to watch in the Australian trap and bass music scene. Fusing heavy, festival-based elements with melodic synths and hard-hitting percussion, ‘Runnin’ is a perfect fusion of all aspects that TXNK draws influence from right down to the single’s artwork.

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“I’m just trying to focus on what I like and not focus on whether or not it’s going to be successful.

That’s happiness right there.”

Gaining the approval of contemporaries such as Spenda C and airtime on Fresh 92.7 and triple j, the tune would not sound out of place on the main stages of major American festivals such as EDC and UMF. As a matter of fact, TXNK specifically had major American artists such as Flosstradamus in the back of her mind when creating the song.

“I’m really influenced by the more rave-y, festival trap kind of artists that are big in America, but I also want to be able to fuse that with more melodic elements. Aussie artists like Enschway, Slumberjack and What So Not are a perfect example of this; they have that whole melodic, yet really punchy style of music that I love.”

Blending trends from modern American hip hop and trap music culture with the sounds and styles of her Australian contemporaries, TXNK’s style in fashion and music is truly her own with years worth of artistic inspiration on which to draw.

“Fashion and looking a bit wacky has always been a big part of me. I have my own little blog and I get lots of inspiration from that.

I do eventually want to get into fashion and start making my own streetwear down the track.”

Behind all of the branding and her artist profile, TXNK, her humility shines through; she still wants to be seen as an ordinary person, insecurities and all.

“I think I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to making songs, because I just think it won’t be good enough. I think a lot of artists have that in their mind though.

It’s hard to be extremely confident in what you’re doing, and although you might really like it, somebody else might not. I’m just trying to focus on what I like and not focus on whether or not it’s going to be successful.

That’s happiness right there.”

Follow, listen and keep up with all things TXNK @txnk /iamtxnk /iamtxnk

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Georgina Cue is a contemporary artist based in Melbourne who combines a range of mediums into an exciting and dynamic practice.

Her work includes photography, video, spray paint, costume, body paint and embroidery. She samples imagery and themes from throughout history with a heavy aesthetic bent towards early 20th century constructivist and expressionist cinema, drawing inspiration from their painted, graphic and exaggerated sets. Combining this with contemporary painting, graffiti and performance influences, she is currently producing video and photography works, a set of which was notably selected as a finalist in the inaugural Ramsay Art Prize at the Art Gallery Of South Australia.

Hey Georgina, what’s goin’ on? What are you up to at the moment?

Currently I’m working toward a solo exhibition of a new series of photographs. I’ve just been going over the final edits to make sure they are print ready, organising framing, scale, etc.

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Up until last year you used to do some incredibly detailed and, I imagine, time consuming embroidery tromp l’oeil and abstract installation work. What prompted the change to the sort of things you’re currently making?

There was never a decisive moment when I thought I would move from embroidered sculpture into photography and performance. For some time I had wanted to expand the materials and processes used in my work, so that I could open up options for different projects.

The current work I’m making was an incidental outcome of moving back into my parents’ house. I began using their garage as a space to make sets. I learned a very quick way to make ‘sketches’ of photographs using my phone and an app called 8mm, which converts video into a noir style film. From that point onward I began building more sets, while writing a script for a video. I would say using my parents garage as a working space has shaped my current direction, as it is a very large space ideal for shooting videos and photographs.

Can you outline the process of how you go about making these photo and video works?

Usually I begin by collecting source material; photographs, texts and work by particular artists. I hoard a lot of images! For my current project I collected around 1500 photographs; costumes, stage productions, artists, portraits, film stills. Currently I have been researching a lot of Dada and constructivist theatre.

The content of my research then often directs the course of the work I make. I select perhaps 30 images that I know I want to work with.

I begin with a vague idea of what I want to produce; for example the colours I want to use, the materials, and whether it will be a series of photographs, sculpture or a video. Then I begin experimenting in my studio; building sets, making costumes. I document everything as I go.

If I decide to make photographs, I’ll make a selection of the best images I’ve produced along the way and workshop from there.

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Then I use a professional photographer to recreate the images I’ve chosen, and to help direct me into the correct pose. There is also a lot of post-editing involved to get the effect I want.

At first it seemed to me like a kind of complete turnaround from the tight meticulous details to loose spray paint and janky cardboard sets—but thinking about it there are a lot of similarities in concept. Before I really knew much about your practice I saw your video at FELTdark. At first impression it looks genuinely like an artefact from the 1920s, then something twigs to break the illusion, your sneakers or garage door or whatever—or that was what happened with me—is that the intention? To be a bit tromp l’oeil-ish with a first impression then a reveal?

I’m glad you mentioned that! This is certainly a running theme throughout my work which ties together the earlier embroidered installations to my current photographs and videos. I’m very interested in the point of tension that occurs between the structural support of my work and the illusionistic, representational surfaces. In my embroidery work, I often left exposed the wooden framework that was used to support the tapestry canvas. In the video and

photographic series, the illusion is broken by revealing contemporary articles of clothing, and filming scenes in my house. Shifting my work into photography has given me more opportunity to play with this idea of breaking the illusion by revealing the materials I’ve used that hold together the sets.

What do you see as the difference between your photo and video works?

Are the photos intended as stills from a movie set, or something else?

Initially the photographs were an unexpected outcome from my film project. I hadn’t intended to produce a series of photographs with the video work, I just set aside a day and asked my friend, Adrian Stojkovich, to photograph me on the sets. I was pleased by the result—and because the outcome was incidental. I think the photographs looked exciting and different. The video was much more controlled and I had a specific outcome in mind.

For my latest series of photographs I have produced new sets with the intention of them being photographed.

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Living Room (Sonia), 2016, archival inkjet print on rag paper, 102 x 70 cm; Courtesy of the artist.

Living Room (Aelita), 2016, archival inkjet print on rag paper, 102 x 70 cm; Courtesy of the artist.

Do you think you would ever exhibit the sets that you make as an installation?

I’ve toyed with that idea quite a lot, but the sets are very low-fi and ad-hoc in the flesh. They have an entirely different aesthetic when you see them in real life. To create the effect I want, I think they need to be mediated through photography and film.

It is because I want the materials to be more ambiguous at first impression, which is an effect that can only be created through photography. I also don’t want the work to be read as just an installation. I like the idea of combining painting, installation and performance together, so that even when the final outcome is a photograph, it’s hard to categorise exactly what the work is.

You are the subject of the work—how much is that you as yourself, and how much is a character once you paint on the makeup? What do you see as the difference?

Once in costume and makeup I feel like a character. Quite often the design of these characters are based on real women, in addition to costume designs from historical ephemera. For example, in my recent work I have portrayed myself as a grecian sculpture that is loosely based on a character Lee Miller played in Jean Cocteau’s 1932 film The Blood of a Poet. I become a prop that fuses together these historical references. The challenge is that, unlike the sets, using the body as a prop is much more difficult. Every subtle expression and gesture changes the entire photograph.

Even dressed up, I am still the subject of my work and the end result is a self-portrait photograph. By dressing up and emerging in the sets, I hope to insinuate myself into a wider history of self-portraiture, outside the photo itself.

You balance and blend the aesthetic of graffiti and contemporary painting with constructivist film aesthetic so effectively. It seems kind of like you flip the concept of cinematic stage production—expertly crafted sets versus quick and disposable cardboard in a garage. Are you handling the concept of the femme fatale from those films in a similar way? I don’t know heaps about the portrayal of female characters in those films, I imagine not great as it was 100 years ago?

I once read a Jean Luc-Goddard quote which stated: “The history of cinema is boys photographing girls.” The femme fatale is an archetype that predates cinema. It exists

in a lot of folklore in ancient cultures as representing the dangers of female sexuality.

I find the character of the femme fatale in 20th century cinema interesting because she appears as a sexually liberated, powerful woman. But in reality, she’s an archetype that’s largely been created by men. Early 20th century silent films were mostly directed by men, and this is the time the femme fatale emerged on screen. I’m not necessarily attempting to make work that addresses these issues in a feminist way. However, I am interested in the dynamics between men and women in film and art, and how female identity has been portrayed in 20th century art.

Thanks for chatting Georgina, what have you got coming up next?

I have a solo show opening at TCB art inc. I will be presenting a new series of photographs, which are more ambitious in scale from my previous work.

Check out Georgina Cue’s latest exhibition this July at TCB art inc., Melbourne. georginacue.com @georginacue

IMPRINTS Interview by Ben Robinson Photos by Emily Dawe

Tucked and hidden amongst the ever-changing west end of Adelaide is one establishment that holds on dearly to its roots. Not deterred by the 21st century or the progressing landscape in which they are cemented, the establishment in question has stayed true to their services ever since its foundation in 1984. The establishment is Imprints Booksellers, and the service is—you guessed it—books. Not e-books, not Kindles, not Amazon.com memberships—real print books. To pay tribute to one of Adelaide’s most beloved book merchants, I sat down with owner Jason Lake to discuss the pros and cons of running a business on Hindley Street, the censorship of art, and whether or not print will ever die.

Imprints has been around since 1984, how did you become the owner?

I worked here for a number of years, started working here in 1993, when the old owners had enough and wanted to move on. They offered it to myself and my colleague Katherine, we discussed it and we went halves. That was in 2007-ish, 2008, we can never remember… we should know… approximately ten years.

Imprints has been a fixture on the west end (specifically Hindley Street) since its inception – how important is the store’s location?

Look, it’s a tough one. When we first opened, there was nothing like it on Hindley Street. Hindley Street was a very different street at the time. It was such a diverse street, lots of cafes, restaurants, lots of banks, lots of cinemas. There was the night-time of course, the night-time economy, but it was more of a balance, there was both a valid day and night-time economy. As things changed and the city focus shifted to the east end, Hindley Street lost a lot of its diversity—the banks closed as they did in many places, the cinemas closed and moved out. We’ve thought of moving numerous times, but the financial cost of moving is very high. We have a long term landlord and we’ve been in this spot coming on 17 years [they moved about 80 metres down the street], and we have a good relationship with our landlord, he’s very generous to us.

The last few years have been tough with the rise of eBooks and book shops have been closing, and it’s been important that we feel safe in our spot and we do here. It’s not always the best place for people to come, but we are eternally optimistic about Hindley Street, and think that the shift is coming.

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With a hospital opening they will no longer be able to ignore this part of town, it will finally change for the better. I love Hindley Street, we love Hindley Street, and I think it’s important to have some businesses that offer something different on this street.

You’ve talked about the diversity of Hindley Street, and the range of books available in-store is very eclectic, is diversity important to Imprints?

Very much so. You can’t survive selling the one book or the one genre, so what we put on our shelves is vitally important. Our stock selection is influenced by the three of us that work here, by our regular customers. We offer very much a curated selection of both new and secondhand books. We order for ourselves, we order for our customers, and then of course, being a general retailer, you take punts on many things. We read industry journals, we read reviews, all three of us read a lot, which influences our choice of stock. The more diverse the better.

“I truly believe that the print form and the true book form will endure.”

In the past Imprints has stocked American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis which, due to extremely graphic content, has to be sold shrink-wrapped in certain countries (including Australia). What are your thoughts now looking back on selling the non-shrink wrapped copy which resulted in a bit of controversy?

I would like that kind of publicity every year. Honestly, we can’t afford to buy that kind of publicity. It was a silly complaint by a customer, we were totally innocent.

The publishers supplied us with a new edition of American Psycho without its shrink wrap, we just assumed that the restriction had been lifted and put it on the shelf as such. Then some old lady heard somebody talking about the fact that they purchased a copy of the book from a retailer without the plastic. She then rang around bookshops, and I took this phone call, and she asked me if we were selling it, and if so was it without it’s wrapper? I said yes it was, she then went and complained to the police, who then arrived one Friday morning and very politely and gently it was requested that we remove it from the shelf. We then went and wrapped it in brown paper and put a big ‘R’ on it, and put it back on the shelf. We’ve never sold as many copies of American Psycho in such a short space of time. She bought us publicity that we couldn’t afford to pay for.

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“There are so many books around, it’s going to take generations or one massive natural disaster to wipe out all the printed material on this planet.�

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That idea of age-restrictions on books and shrink-wrapping the covers, are you for or against?

Sales wise, maybe shrink-wrap a few more other books. When that first came out, it was unlike anything that had been published before. It was incredibly graphic, incredibly violent, and there were depictions of extreme violence perpetrated against women and other individuals. But it’s actually a work of satire, and I think people missed the whole point that it is a work of satire.

Compared to a lot of contemporary crime, there’s nothing worse in that book that you can’t get from a lot of general crime fiction these days. There’s some very violent, dark crime out there that anyone can walk through our doors and purchase, you don’t have to be 18. It’s silly, it should be lifted. There’s no reason for that particular book to be shrink-wrapped any longer. However, I think we sell more copies of it because it is.

Would you say that you have a moral duty to your customers as a bookseller?

That’s such a tricky one… I mean, we all draw our boundaries when it comes to our individual morals. There is a responsibility, but… there are some books that I wouldn’t sell to someone under 18. Yes I have a moral responsibility as a bookseller, but it’s hard to pick the books that… there are some books that have no violence, whether it be graphic or not, that I wouldn’t sell to an underage person because there is no reason for them to read that book. There are other books that perhaps have some violence or sex that I would sell to an underage person if I knew them; if I knew their reading likes and dislikes, and especially if I knew that they had an adult they could engage in conversation with. I’m always an advocate for reading above your level, to be challenged by what you’re reading.

With Dymocks up the road and book apps available on everyone’s phone, how does Imprints prosper against the competition?

I think it’s because of what we offer. We offer a curated selection; we’re not trying to please everybody. A lot of people who walk through our door won’t find something on the shelf that they want, and that’s fine. Dymocks are what they are, they’re a mega chain bookstore, we don’t do knick-knacks and nonbook related products, we just sell books. With us you can actually build a relationship, we have the ability to build a relationship with our customers. If you walk through our door two or three times, we’ll start to get to know you and your likes and dislikes, and if a customer requests recommendations, we are pretty sure we can put the right book in their hands. It may not be a book they’ve ever heard of, or a book they wanted to read, but go and read it and come back and have a talk to us about it.

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Nine times out of ten we’ve chosen the right thing… I think, from the feedback we’ve had anyway. So it’s the experience, it’s a different experience than walking into a chain bookshop.

Lastly, do you think print will ever die?

No, never. The book will never die. It’s the perfect delivery for… there’s nothing like reading a book. The thing with books, when the lights go out, you can read your book. If you’ve got the sun (hopefully the sun’s still around), you’ve got a stub of a candle, you can read your book. You can’t charge your e-reader or your phone once it’s dead if there’s no electricity. You may be limited to reading in the daylight, but so be it. If it’s a bad book, you can always set fire to it and keep yourself warm, and there are many bad books out there. I truly believe that the print form and the true book form will endure. It’s been around for too long, and I think too many people have too much invested in it. There are so many books around, it’s going to take generations or one massive natural disaster to wipe out all the printed material on this planet. There’s too much of it out there, it’ll survive. It has to, otherwise I’d have to go and get a real job… I can’t envisage doing that.

Discover Imprints Booksellers in person and online: imprints.com.au 107 Hindley Street, Adelaide /imprints.booksellers

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DZ DEATHRAYS SHOT BY HARRY ALLWOOD GIG GUIDE: WWW.FATCONTROLLER.CLUB #LIVEATTHEFATMAN

Photos: Evelina Katarzynski Words: Freya Langley It’s 5:30pm on a Wednesday night and a handful of people are tinkering with their bikes in the delightfully chaotic and colourful Adelaide Bike Kitchen. Inspired by similar projects in Vienna and Vancouver, Adelaide Bike Kitchen is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run bicycle repair and service centre. Eighty people showed up to the first meeting in 2012 and so Adelaide Bike Kitchen was born.

Since this first meeting, the ever-evolving brainchild of Reb Rowe and Joey Fagan has grown to be so much more than the free bicycle servicing it was founded upon. Now open three times a week, the Adelaide Bike Kitchen supports a huge community of people who love bikes for what they are. “We aim to provide a community space for affordable and accessible bike maintenance” reads a handwritten poster on the wall. Reb and Joey and the community have recently been working to redevelop their vision for the collective as their role in the broader community continues to evolve.

“The cool thing about Adelaide is that it’s so well-connected. It made that really possible. In other cities they may struggle, or they may not get as much diversity as we did.”

Essentially, Bike Kitchen serves to help people to fix their own bicycles while reducing waste by reusing as many parts as possible. The entirely volunteer-run organisation provides a workshop with tools and bottomless spare parts and bike mechanics to show people how to repair and make the most of their bikes. It’s become an important community institution, offering a safe-space, friendly faces, and a sense of purpose. Adelaide Bike Kitchen seeks to fend off social isolation through creating a community space based around a common thread – bicycles.

“We try really hard to make this a safe space where anyone can come here, judgement free, and work on their bike and learn about things. We put a pretty strong emphasis on making people responsible and holding them accountable for their behaviour. The only way we can support each other in a safe space is when everyone is working together towards it.

e k

i b

It’s not just about benefiting from it, but also contributing to it. It’s a little world of social change we’re trying to experiment with in a low-risk environment.”

Underpinning the collective’s ethos, are strong messages of sustainability and waste reduction. Diverting waste away from landfill is achieved through reusing and recycling as many bicycle parts as possible. Through sharing resources, consumption is reduced. An understanding of how bikes work and how to look after them fosters a strong relationship with the mode of transport and ensures that bikes are functional and accessible for those dependent on them.

Moving forward, the collective will be finding another space to pedal social change. But nothing has ground to a halt yet – it’s ride or die at the Bike Kitchen. As always, the group is running teambuilding workshops in conjunction with the Bikes for Refugees initiative to provide bicycles to new arrival families.

Businesses are able to develop and strengthen their teams through repairing and refurbishing bikes for the charity, which empowers and connects disadvantaged groups. As well as this, a youth program is in the pipeline for later in the year.

“If we could encourage more people to starting riding their bikes one day in a week, that would be awesome. If people could feel comfortable to service their bikes or at least keep them clean themselves, I think that would be really beneficial”.

You can find Adelaide Bike Kitchen at 2/25 Third Street, Bowden. Use of the workshop is granted with a $2 donation per hour. But for people in need, use of the space is guaranteed through volunteering their time. To find out more about the work they do, the team development workshops, or to get involved, contact adelaidebikekitchen@gmail.com.

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8 July doors 6pm s Mile Die Club v Wild Hearse 22 July doors 4pm llers Mile Die Club v Road Train Ro ld Hearses then Salty Dolls v Wi 5 August

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Bad//Dreems and Step-Panther secret show at Yewth office Disposable camera shots by @dave.court