F O LD PERTH ART EVENTS CULTURE DESIGN
AUS 11.50 inc GST
ISSUE
SPRING
01
2015
CONTENTS
Locals Love Leederville
12
Explore
44
Listen Up
57
Beaufort Street Festival
88
Word On The Street
Ten Minutes With…
Why Not...
On The Road
Near-perfect weather, stunning beaches and a laidback lifestyle – there’s a lot to love about our fair city. So how do people reckon Perth could still improve?
He’s one of the best beatmakers in the world right now, but Regan ‘Ta-Ku’ Matthews wouldn’t dream of leaving little old Perth. Find out why.
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Rickshaw dining, beachside trapezing and bubble soccer. Shake up your weekend with these off-the-beaten-track ideas.
Our pick of the season’s best art, music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, festivals, and sport.
Perth’s Best Burger
What’s On
We sample the signature burgers from seven of the best local burger joints in the epic quest to find Perth’s best. Do not read on an empty stomach.
Our pick of the season’s best art, music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, festivals, and sport.
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People-Powered Winery
Humans Of Armadale
Everybody Has A Story
Looks We Like
Collector
Road Test
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44
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Commitment Shy
Too Much For Turtle
Double Vision
Face-O-Mat
Vale, Videos
Around The World
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A Pasta Pecking Order
Here’s To You
Log On, Ladies & Gentlemen
A Pet Potrait HowTo
The Writer’s Piece
Trash Is For Tossers
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Sewing Machine History
Zosen Y Mina
Rarriwuy Hick
10 Things I Believe
Rock, Scissors, Leather
Pre-loved Roots
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The Sciene Of Colour
Father And Daughter, Co.
Off The Charts
My Influences
We Like..
Juicy Stakes
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Operation Platypus
Cutting Through Canda
Tiny Stars
McMoons
The Lone Knitter
Snith Stuff
160 Outside The Box
Locals Love Leederville What’s not to love about Leedy, with its indie shops, alfresco dining, pubs and some of the best people watching in town?
Greems & Co.
As cool as the iced chais and frothy milkshakes they serve by the dozen, Greens & Co is an unabashedly bohemian hangout that exemplifies the chilled-out alternative vibe of Oxford Street. Fresh coffees, teas and juices are the chosen liquids here, while the nosh is restricted to a small range of savoury sandwiches, wraps and rolls and a larger selection of irresistible cakes. The
atmosphere is an attraction in itself, what with the myriad hanging, bauble-like lanterns just overhead, cosy sofas, low coffee tables (with optional board games) and colourful walls plastered with live gig, movie and event posters.
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50ml
Filled with mis-matched op-shop furniture. The cutlery, plates and cups get the same treatment. The ceiling is covered in faded red plastic strainers. Asian pop art and a large screen printed head of a geisha on one wall. Your eyes won’t get tired looking around while you wait for your meal or coffee.
Urban Records
These guys sell great music that we use at Jus Burgers, and my wife and I love the clothes (dresses for her). They’ve got a cool range of quirky knick-knacks too. Love it.
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EXPLORE Abandoned South Fremantle Power Station – a decaying, haunted monument to Perth’s history.
Casting an imposing shadow over C.Y. O’Connor beach is a decaying monument to our past and a stunning showcase of brutalist architecture. Closed in 1985, the South Fremantle Power Station now resembles a decrepit shell of its former glory, coated in a mosaic of urban art. The abandoned South Fremantle Power Station in North Coogee was opened in 1951 after five years of construction to power a growing Perth and Fremantle metropolis. Employing over 250 people at its peak, the station was eventually closed after advances in technology (ironically at the now controversial Muja plant) deemed it uneconomical. Technically you aren’t allowed to go in, but if you want to be adventurous, half of the fence on the beach side has been pulled down for your convenience. Once inside the building you’re met with a cavernous chamber, completely empty besides rubble and empty bottles. The walls however are alive with colour. Every nook and cranny available to be painted, has been painted, then repainted, and so on. The internal structure is an incredible 360 degree mosaic of constantly evolving graffiti art. The lengths some people have gone to to get prime real estate is just unbelievable.
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The wind creates an eerie atmosphere as it whips through the thousands of empty window sills, torn remnants of cloth flapping in the breeze. Chains dangle slowly and rustic girders strain as the distant sound of crashing waves haunts the night air. The building is loud yet unnervingly devoid of sound and life. Your mind starts to play tricks on you, you’re sure you just heard footsteps, a voice, breathing. The inevitable rumours surrounding the abandoned - haunted - power station are humbling. If you’re to believe word-of-mouth, underground tunnels connect the power station to the Fremantle Prison, within which occult cults practice their sinister rituals. There is potentially some merit to this as pentagrams are scattered throughout the buildings empty rooms. Many, myself included, have found patches of blood on the floors and walls.
By day the sunlight bounces off the brightly coloured walls, but by night the graffiti adds to the abandoned stations harrowing reputation. This is a place many believe to be haunted. Rumours of murder and suicide are abundant - the latter of which is easy to see as truth, suicides are rarely reported. According to various informal sources, four murders have taken places in the office area. The ghosts
of those said to see their life end here are told to be trapped forever within the monoliths confines. Adding to the daunting rumours are the equally distressing truths. This is a winter refuge of junkies and the homeless. Those sounds you keep telling yourself are in your head may likely be coming from a group of displaced citizens hiding from the realities of the world which has failed them. Whilst the Fremantle Power station was operating it was not immune to tragedy either. Many workers did meet an untimely, gruesome demise inside its walls. From falling to electrical burns and mechanical mishaps, there are plenty of lives consumed by the power station to give rise to haunting stories. Due to its heritage listing, great difficulties have arisen in what to do with the building. Demolition seems the obvious answer due to the enormous cost that would surely be encountered by redeveloping it, but its historical significance has so far prevented this. With new urban developments now sprouting up around the powerhouse it is becoming increasingly urgent a plan is put to place. The once isolated powerhouse is now surrounded by new housing estates, and no prime coastal land to date has been able to escape the clutches of Perth’s unquenchable thirst for development.
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Looks We Like... Herschel Supply Co.: Pop Quiz Bag The Pop-Quiz is an essential backpack from heritage bag makers Herschel Supply Co. Made with a tough woven poly shell, cut in a traditional backpack silhouette and has an eco-friendly reinforced bottom for security. The large main compartment is lined in Herschel’s signature stripe nylon, features internal padded laptop sleeve (fits up to 15” laptops), an internal ‘media pocket’, and front pockets featuring internal mesh organizers, key clip and a waterproof zipper closure. The backpack is finished with a fleece-lined sunglass pocket, synthetic leather base and carries handle, adjustable padded shoulder straps, and logo badge trim.
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Snakadatal – Sleep In The Water The stand-out track has to be ‘Ghost,’ second single from the album and a beautiful track featuring the signature soft and vulnerable vocals of lead female vocalist Phoebe Cockburn atop some perfectly restrained reverb’ing chords and feathered guitar riffs. Just as the name of the album would suggest, this masterpiece from Snakadaktal leaves you feeling as though you’re floating in the sunshine off an island somewhere in the Pacific. The extended atmospheric intro to ‘Fall Underneath’ invites you to take a load off and relax into the album with its guitars, keys and just-heavy-enough bass. The Melbournites have no intention of letting you drift off and keep the pace up in highlight track ‘Hung On Tight.’ The stand-out track has to be ‘Ghost,’ second single from the album and a beautiful track featuring the signature soft and vulnerable vocals of lead female vocalist Phoebe Cockburn atop some perfectly restrained reverb’ing chords and feathered guitar riffs. As is the risk with atmospheric albums, the tracks do start to feel homogeneous, and you find yourself missing the punctuation
between tracks, with only a switch between the poppy boy/girl vocals, some sweeping instrumentals and a different BPM or pitch hinting that you’re onto a new tune. Until you hit ‘The Sun I’, where in the second half of the album you really get the flavours of producer Dann Hume (Lisa Mitchell and Alpine) coming through. It’s a perfectly timed change in tone, and keeps you guessing right up until the last bars of ‘The Sun III’. Overall the first full-length album from the young five-piece band speaks volumes about their potential, if this polished, kaleidoscopic, velvety sound is what they’re producing now, it’s hard to imagine the sound they’ll be producing in guaranteed, and much anticipated, follow-up albums.
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Beaufort Street Festival The Beaufort Street Festival had its fifth year in 2014, and like a rain shower in a desert, the people of Perth took full advantage of this yearly sprinkle of culture.
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Started in 2010, The Beaufort Street Festival had its fifth year in 2014, and like a rain shower in a desert, the people of Perth took full advantage of this yearly sprinkle of culture. This springtime Saturday had sun and smiles in abundance. It is great to experience Beaufort Street as an avenue where you can just stroll along the stalls without the usual sound of honking cars. However, this was replaced by the music on the several stages along Beaufort, which was all very much upbeat and loud. It is fantastic that local bands have an opportunity to play at a festival like this, which is very important with such a variety of talent here in Perth. I would have loved to get more of an intimate vibe‌like a Sunday on a European cobblestone street. The dandy chansonnier, the singer/songwriter or a folk band is what I missed along Beaufort. Maybe this type of music was to be found behind the gates of another world, the mystic world (in one of the local pubs) of a cold beer or a crisp sauvignon blanc.
The organizers of this festival have done an amazing job, given the circumstances of the strict WA laws. Applause is due for creating a stage for local, emerging artists to show their work, as well as giving local businesses a chance to expose themselves and their products in a different way. Speaking of products, damn some of the prices were high, my wallet left more than just a little bit hurt afterwards. Everyone knows Perth can be overpriced, but a street festival like this should be the segue into a business. Selling products at reasonable prices could be an enormous opportunity to expand the customer circle. Perth is moving forward and The Beaufort Street Festival seems to be a fresh new wind in the sails of the cultural scene. It has so much potential and its foundations are now laid. Next year I would love to see more of the same from such a brilliant festival, possibly with a little more edge.
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The Cornerstone With more than a decade of success behind them, it’s clear sisters-in-law Caroline Thew and Annie Taylor were destined to enter the retail world.
The decision to embark on their first joint business venture, Store, was sparked in late-1999 when the pair returned to Perth from an extensive trip to the UK. To their disappointment, all the pretty wares, cute labels and quirky designer pieces they’d laid eyes on during their travels were no longer in arm’s reach. “We were inspired by the range of unique products (overseas) which were unavailable in the shops here and decided to change that,” Ms Taylor said. The original Store, located along Fremantle’s Market Street, was filled with covetable ornaments, cute contraptions, fun gift ideas and eccentric bits and bobs for the home. “Our name was chosen to reflect the variety of products we stocked, from a frock to a suction hook - we had a bit of everything,” Ms Taylor said. “From the outset we gained the reputation of a shop where you could always find something different.” With a helping hand from husbands Adam Taylor and Kevin Sanderson, the women opened a second Store in Mt Lawley followed
by a bigger sister shop, Corner Store in Claremont, (the St Quentin Avenue shop later relocated to Stirling Highway) which also stocked furniture.
“We have designed all of our stores to have a different character, reflective of our various styles rather than a carbon-copy chain store feel,” Ms Thew said.
The newest addition to the Store family is Corner Store in Fremantle, which opened its doors last month.“The success of Corner Store Claremont spurred us on to return to Fremantle to create our headquarters with (an) attached showroom and warehouse where we can concentrate on providing our own interior- decorating service and develop our own ranges,” Ms Taylor said.
The new shopfront carries many of the signature labels of the earlier stores, including furniture by Sydney brand La Maison - now stocked exclusively at Corner Store - cute floral-print accessories from London designer Cath Kidston, a playful home and stationery line from French label Pylones and a colourful collection of melamine and ceramic tableware by Danish brand Rice.
Set within a refurbished warehouse on South Terrace, formerly the RAC building, its clean, crisp backdrop complements the eclectic and colourful display of homewares, accessories and furniture. The warm, homely set-ups and vibrant displays that fill every corner of the new shop emanate a carefree, whimsical charm - an interior style that stands to be different to the edgier, industrial look of Store on Market Street (which shifted one door down to a new space in June).
“We continue to champion French designer Natalie Lete’s extensive work, from rugs, puppet theatre, scarves and ceramics,” Ms Thew said. “We carry pieces that inspire us from our travels, both virtual and actual, rather than be dictated by trends.” Bringing a fresh pair of eyes to the team is Sydney stylist Jo Carmichael who recently moved to Perth to scope out the local design scene and approached Ms Taylor and Ms Thew to come on board as their in-house interior stylist. “I will be working with the
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Corner Store in sourcing and creating some unique furniture and accessory pieces,� Ms Carmichael said. Having gained a bevy of Eastern States shoppers since launching their online shop, the women said they were happy to keep the Store franchise local - at least for now.